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| Today |  | September 27 - October 3 2026 |  |
Sep27
How Child Discipline Affects The Future
Prov 23:13-14 | |
| 13 | Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. |
| 14 | You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol. NASU When I worked for the telephone company I remember a guy who was married to a Puerto Rican lady with two daughters. I was just young with a lovely wife and my one baby girl. When talking about disciplining his teenage daughters, he said he had never spanked them and he only disciplined them by “talking to them”. Even as a young dad, I knew that there was something wrong there. I later read Proverbs 22:15 which says, |
| 15 | Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him. NKJV There really was something wrong with that way of thinking you can just ‘talk’ to a child. When they are young they need to be corrected. Does Proverbs 13:23 advocate that parents that are followers of Jesus are to beat our children? Are we supposed to abuse them or hurt them to teach them something? Absolutely and completely not! You should never do anything to hurt your child. Check out the same verse in the amplified translation |
Prov 23:13-14 | |
| 13 | Withhold not discipline from the child; for if you strike and punish him with the [reedlike] rod, he will not die. |
| 14 | You shall whip him with the rod and deliver his life from Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead). AMP When we are children, we do childlike things. We generally know what is right and wrong, but if we don’t know that there are consequences to doing wrong when we are young, we are going to learn the hard way when we are old. Prisons in the US are filled with a large group of men who were raised without their father. That’s right, for most houses no father means no discipline. These guys grew up without someone to help form them into men of integrity and understanding. This is the wonderful thing about the family, both the father and mother have very important roles. The mother disciplines as well, but a father should be a role model for his children in being a contributor to society. Your children are watching; what you say and do is being recorded in their little minds. While attending the Brownsville revival, the Holy Spirit told me I needed to protect my soul (mind, will, emotions) from the perversion in films. I decided to stop watching anything with the bad ratings from that day onwards. Even at home or by myself, I do not watch these films because they are trashy. I noticed my children do the same. It is the same for diet (what I eat), how I talk, where I go, my kids are watching. They see my habits, my hobbies, and everything I do with my time. So what about physical discipline? The world advocates that you don’t physically touch your children. If that works, then why are prisons busting with adults who were not disciplined as kids? At the same time, you should never hit your child anywhere but in the rear-end. You should never punch, slap, hit, or do anything that is abusive. Mostly importantly, if you have to discipline your child then it is best not to do it when you are in anger. You are never disciplining them because you want to hurt them. Once they get to the age of accountability then the is the time where you can rejoice because you don’t have to mess about with the physical discipline and you can move on to the education of their minds. That is really a pleasure to grow with your children. As I read about men of God placing their hands of their children, and blessing them. I started to do them same. Child psychologists say that you should use an inanimate object (proverbs advocates a reed), but that you never spank your children with your hands. The hands that love kids should not be used to spank them. My father and mother used a horse whip. That whip made a lot of noise and was scary but really didn’t hurt that much. I praise God for a father who taught me discipline. Without it, I could be in prison or doing something that is not realizing my true potential in Jesus. As you think about your kids, bless them today. Teach them, discipline them, be an example to them as Jesus is an example to us. You are a huge influence on them and what they do in the future. Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 24 | |
Sep28
Immanuel- God With Us
Matt 1:22-23 | |
| 22 | So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." NKJV The world’s most important birthday is celebrated on Christmas day. It is the birthday of God into human form. A young woman demonstrated her love for God and that was evident in her response in Luke 1:46-55 to Elizabeth. She was filled with God’s Word and it came out her mouth. (What is in your soul is going to always come out of your mouth at some time or another). The beautiful thing is that God uses those who are filled with His Word. That’s why he selected Mary. While Mary is someone we’ll be able to talk to in heaven, the work of her Son changed the world. It’s all about Jesus. He is the reason for everything. Jesus is God. The birth of Jesus is God being born as man. If I as a male tell a pregnant woman, “I feel for you” as she is carrying around the weight of a 8 month old child in her womb, how can she believe me? I have never never carried a baby, nor will I ever birth a child. It is impossible for me to relate to her. For God to be born as a man, He eliminated anything people can say. Jesus has experienced everything that we could have possibly experienced. Everything! Sadness, doubt, fear, temptation, failure of friends, everything you can think of He can say, “I feel for you”. Yet he was perfect and did not sin like we did. Not only does He feel for us, but he has redeemed us making us spiritually perfect before God. Hallelujah! But that is not all there is to ‘God with us’, our Immanuel. As I was praying about the new year in the last week of December, I went early to our church facility each day to pray and seek His face. I prayed for direction, wisdom, and guidance for what Yahweh wanted us to do in our church family for the new year. What a good thing to be in God’s presence! For the new year He showed me two things that I need to do to be successful. For a amazing new year I need to 1) seek good and not evil and 2) sing & rejoice no matter what the situation. He showed me in His Word. 1) Seek good and not evil- |
Amos 5:14 | |
| 14 | Seek good and not evil, That you may live; So the Lord God of hosts will be with you, As you have spoken. NKJV 2) Sing & rejoice no matter what the situation |
Zech 2:10-11 | |
| 10 | "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," says the Lord. 11 "Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. NKJV If I seek good and not evil, God can be with me. If I am doing wrong, evil, things, He cannot even be with me. God’s presence leaves us when we are in sin. The key is quickly repent and turn back to Him before it is too late. And as you are going about your day, you’ve got to remember to sing and rejoice, no matter what. Whether your bank account is full or empty, sing & rejoice. Whether you’ve got the best or the worst job, sing & rejoice. Whether you’re fighting sickness or walking in divine health, sing & rejoice. Whether you had a miscarriage or have 3 kids, sing & rejoice. If you do these two things in the new year, you are going to see a difference. You are going to have the best. You are going to have the best families, professions, businesses, equipment, health, prosperity... you’re going to have the best if you serve Him with everything you got. It may not always be easy but if we look at great leaders in the faith like Daniel, Joseph, Smith Wigglesworth, and countless others you can see they had the best because they believed the best and acted. Most importantly follow Jesus! God with us, our awesome Immanuel! Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 27 | |
Sep29
Two Coins & The Law Of Reciprocity
Matt 25:17 | |
| 17 | And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. NKJV My parents bought me a study Bible when I was in middle school. It was very nice because it had a wonderful concordance where I could study the cross references to any part of the scriptures. Around the house, there were things for me to do. I had various animals to care for so I would wake early in the morning, and go down to the barn to feed the horses, goats, and whatever else we happened to have that year. The winter was cold but I still would get up and take care of the animals. It was always nice to bring the fresh milk up to the house to drink. It was always nice and warm when it was fresh. We had the best testing goat’s milk that made the wonderful ice cream to boot! After doing these daily chores I would settle down to the fold-out desk attached to my bedroom wall to read the Bible my parents had given me before going to school. I remember always enjoying the New Testament after finishing reading the Old. I love Jesus. One story I never really understood until I got strong faith was the story of the five talents. We didn’t have much growing up compared to the kids of today so maybe I didn’t understand why the guys who doubled what they were given had favor with the master. We all must understand this as believers. If you use what you’ve got, God will give you more. However, if you just sit on what you have, you will never experience increase. Never. I know a man who worked for a large company. He worked very hard but noticed that he was limited to a certain salary. Even though his sales numbers were double that of his fellow employees his company only paid him about 10% more than the guys who were just killing time at the office and not working hard. Later, he changed companies and worked very hard at the new company as well. It was that time that he decided he wanted to create his own business. He and his wife were faithful tithers and God blessed them, with each job change he experienced a doubling of his salary. God was blessing them because they were faithful in giving their first-fruit tithes back to Him. He still knew God had more. He and is wife agreed that they wanted to start their own business. As the man was praying about it he was concerned about doing something on his own and shared his heart with the Lord about it. One morning in prayer, God spoke to His spirit and said, “Don’t be anxious, for your new business there will be no ceiling to what you can earn. But remember, there is no ceiling but there is also no floor”. I know this man very well, because this man was me. If you want to multiply your resources, you have to faithfully use was you got. You cannot just hope that something will come in. You must use the two coins that you have. Maybe not even both at once, but you have to be ready to invest what you have. It works in business and it works in life as well. God is watching what we do with everything we have. Matt 25:35 says, |
| 35 | for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in.. NKJV What you put into something is what you are going to get out of it. This is what one famous man of God calls the law of reciprocity. What you put it, is what you are going to get out. What are you doing with your two coins today? Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 28 | |
Sep30
The God Of Promises Kept
Jeremiah 30:3 | |
| 3 | For behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,' says the Lord. 'And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.'" NKJV If you look at the children in family, you can pretty much determine what kind of parents they have. If elementary school students come to school with the hair in disarray or their clothing soiled and dirty it is pretty safe to assume that the parents are not detailed people. But the kids who are dressed up nice and proper in clean clothing, with their hair combed back and prepared looking are likely coming from parents that care about the details. You see our children are a reflection of us. Yahweh is God. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is three but yet He is one. He is our father and we who believe are His children, His sons (whether male or female). We are a reflection of Him. Just as anyone could say someone is their father, if someone believes them, then whatever they do is related back to the father. Many unbelievers have prejudiced themselves against God because of the hypocritical actions of someone who professes to be a Christian. We can’t have that. We who are the sons of God have to make sure that we are reflecting the awesome light of the almighty God to the people around us. We must show unbelievers why they should believe. We who believe and trust Him, are a reflection of our Father God. God is gracious to those who live by faith. Hebrews 10:38 says, |
| 38 | Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." NKJV God is not happy when we draw away from Him. We’ve got to live by faith daily. That is what Abraham did and God has kept His promise. Not only to Abraham but to Abraham’s seed, his ancestors. I recently met a famous government minister from the State of Israel. Just being able to do that is exciting. Why? God is a promise keeper and you see that He keep His promise He spoke through Jeremiah (Jer 30:3) to Abraham’s seed. Technically, Israel should not exist as a nation, so there shouldn’t be a person for me to meet. After the resurrection of King Jesus from the dead, the believers started to spread around the world and share what Jesus had done for them. However, the so-called ‘zealot’ group of Israel rose up against their Roman rulers. In 70 AD the temple was destroyed by the Romans as the zealot people in Israel had rebelled and the nation paid a heavy price. Although not completely due to this, the seed of Abraham, the Israelis were spread throughout the earth and their nation disappeared. Remember there were nearly 1m who were murdered by Adolph Hitler and his regime in Germany in the 1930s and 40s. A very sad and tragic thing to fall away from the most High God. He wants to protect and keep us but so often believers get out from under His protection by sin and not listening to His voice. Nearly 2000 years later, God showed that He is a promise keeper. He brought the people of Israel back together under the flag of this new nation Israel in 1948. We know of no other group that was blown across the world and mixed into other cultures to later reemerge back to the exact country and land where there ancestors came from 1800 years before. It is simply amazing! It is simply God keeping His promises to Abraham and his descendants. Remember, your God is the God of promises. He is not a man that He would lie. He never goes back on His word. |
Romans 4:13 | |
| For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. NKJV The promise of God does not come to us by just following some rules, rituals, or traditions, it flows by faith. The God kind of faith that speaks what we expect not what we have. Abraham believed God would do what He promised (he ‘faithed’) and God did. You can do the same as God is no respecter of persons, there are no classes, titles, degrees, or anything else that impresses Yahweh. He is only impressed by faith. Faith pleases God. | |
Heb 11:6 | |
| But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. NKJV Are you believing God’s promise for you today? Be a reflection of your heavenly Father to the people around you today. Then watch and see as the promises He made to you materialize. Hallelujah! Today’s Reading- | |
Proverbs 29 | |
Oct1
God Revealed
John 14:21 | |
| 21 | He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." NKJV Many people come to the point where they realize that they are not living on the earth by accident. They realize that the chances of them just coming into existence by chance are zero. When a follower of Jesus tells them that God loves them and He has a plan for them, that is when they come to the most important decision of their lives. Will they follow Jesus and connect with the Almighty God the Creator of the Universe, or will they just ignore the call and end up forever separated from Him? It all comes down to the individual. The first step to a spiritual life is repenting and turning to Jesus. The next step is to go deeper. This step never has to end because God is so deep that we humans can never understand everything about Him. How do we go deeper with God? Just like our bodies hunger for food, we need to be hungry spiritually for spiritual food. John 14:21 says that the Lord Jesus wants to manifest Himself to us. However with God, we always need to take the first step. He will never force Himself on His creation. In this era, He wants to give us a chance to choose of our own freewill. But one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus made it clear that He wants to manifest Himself to us. The word here for ‘manifest’ in the original Greek language is emphanizo. It means to reveal, appear, come into view. If you want to go deeper, King Jesus told us what we need to do to manifest Himself to you but you have to take the first step. If you look back at John 14:21 you’ll see that -He or she who has God’s commandments (His word, the Bible) and keeps the word, that is the person who loves Jesus. -He or she who loves Jesus is loved by the Father God. These are the people that Jesus promises He is going to reveal Himself to you. I learned when I started hungering for more of God that I have to take the first step. I prayed for God to reveal Himself to me. The first thing He did in response to me was to connect my wife and I to a passionate follower of Jesus at the church we were attending who was feeding on the Word. We asked her if she wanted to have a Bible study during the week which she agreed to. Months later she told us how the Jesus had revealed to her that we were going to come to her and told her to prepare. A similar thing happened to me in our church. He told me when our Tokyo church was small to start raising up leaders. Once the influx of people came in, we would be ready to handle the people as the family, or body, of Christ. With God, you are prepared because you are ‘pre-prayed’ before anything happens. Don’t walk through life just falling into whatever comes and blindly thinking it is God’s will. Love Jesus, love His word the Bible meditating on it day and night, and spend time in His presence and talking to Him when you are about your business. He will reveal Himself to you as He promised if you do what He directed. Hallelujah! Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 4 | |
Oct2
Seared Conscience
1 Tim 4:2 | |
| 2 | ...speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron... NKJV In Japan they love fish. Most of the time they don’t cook it but just prepare it to eat it raw with vinegared-rice. In the United States of course sushi and sashimi (raw fish) are popular but many times they cook fish by searing it. Seared fish is slightly cooked on the outside and lightly cooked on the inside. You can usually see the searing from the grill it was cooked on. When a fish is seared, it is not easy to tell if it is cooked on the inside or not. The outside is cooked looking so once it is seared it is hard to the get meat to absorb any flavorings because the searing. In 1 Timothy 4:2 we are told about people with ‘seared consciences’. People with seared consciences are not held in high regard because they are described as hypocrites (people who do the opposite of what they tell others to do) and liars. That is pretty strong. Let’s read the verse in context to get a better feel for what it says. |
1 Tim 4:1-4 | |
| Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. NKJV When you read it in context you see that people with seared consciences are people who are spiritually burned. They have blocked themselves off spiritually to the things of God and won’t allow the flavoring of the Holy Spirit to come in and change them. They are not open to the things of God but are happy to control others by invoking the name of God. Good has given us all a conscience so that we can know what is good and right, and what is wrong and immoral. The murderer knows what he is doing is wrong. The robber knows that they are hurting people when they steal things. But here we are talking about people in the church. These people in the church are denying the power of God and to truly follow Him. According to Timothy, their direction is not from God at all but is from doctrines of demons and deceiving spirits. They’re base is evil. If someone wants to be evil, for now, they have the ability to make that decision. Romans 1:28 says, | |
| 28 | And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; NKJV If you want to do wrong and hurt others, you can do that but remember you will be judged for what you have done. These people with seared consciences will be judged because they know what they are doing is wrong. They have become insensitive to the things of God and have fallen to the lusts of the flesh. We must keep our consciences clear otherwise we can fall under the influence of evil. What has happened? Their consciences have been seared. They have denied the truth and gone with the forces of darkness. Your conscience becomes seared when you ignore it’s guidance. You’ve got to keep a clear conscience by confessing your wrong actions, thoughts, or attitudes immediately. If not, you become flavorless because when you felt the conviction for doing or saying something wrong you didn’t repent and get right with God. You ignored it and got pulled deeper into the spiritual manure pile. Ephesians 4:19 describes it as |
| 19 | ...who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. NKJV God has a much better plan! If you are in sin, don’t ignore your conscience, it is there to guide you. Return to God now by repenting and turning from that sin. Pray this prayer- Father God, I ask you for your forgiveness now for _________(fill in the sin). In the mighty Name of Jesus I turn from this sin right now and I refuse to fall back into it. I thank you Father that you have forgiven me and washed me clean. From this day forth, Holy Spirit I pray according to James 1:5 that you will give me wisdom on how to overcome and walk pure for you. In the Name of Jesus I pray. AMEN! Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 5 | |
Oct3
How To Hear And Be Taught By God
Hebrews 12:6 | |
| 6 | For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." NKJV Just like anything, people can run off on little rabbit trails away from the road that they are supposed to take. They get detoured or caught up on things that don’t matter. There is one group who prays to Mary, the birth mother of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Although the Bible doesn’t really talk much about Mary after Jesus is born, this group has a whole theology built around praying to Mary. When you ask a devout follower of this group why they pray to Mary, they usually respond, “We don’t pray to Mary, we pray ‘through’ Mary”. Did Jesus tell anyone to pray to God through Mary? In John 16:23 He said, |
| 23 | "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. NKJV We are not to pray to Mary. We are to pray to the Father in Jesus’ Name. When people tell you something, make sure it is line with the Word of God. If it is not, you will end up spiritually shipwrecked. If they tell you something from the Word of God, make sure there are two or three scriptures to confirm and support whatever point they are trying to make. Throughout my youth I was a wrestler. I was a good wrestler too. I had a father who was the state champion and started me wrestling when I was 5 years old and it was second nature to me. I had read places like Hebrews 12:6 and been around someone where I got twisted ideas on God. I knew He was loving but for some reason I also thought He was some ogre in heaven that had to beat us when we sinned or didn’t act right. I don’t know what I was thinking but I remember losing wrestling matches that I should have won because I didn’t have my thinking right. I was thinking that because I had failed or did something wrong, God wouldn’t bless me so I couldn’t win. I went into the ring and had already lost the match before I started. That was not God’s plan. God doesn’t beat up His children! He is not a child abuser. So how does He teach us, His children? 2 Tim 3:16-17 tell us. |
| 16 | All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. NKJV God teaches through the Word. If you don’t know your Bible, you are not going to learn anything because the Holy Spirit will likely not be able to get through to you. But Timothy tells us that the Word is for teaching, correcting, and instructing in God’s ways. Why? So that we can do every good work... So that we can do great things! It is all about the Word. Jesus is the Word. We’ve got to be Jesus people, we’ve got to be Word people. There is power in the Word. Hebrews 4:12 says, |
| 12 | For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. NKJV Connect with the power of God. His power is Jesus, Jesus is the Word. The Bible is God’s Word. You can have what it says. You can do what it can says you can do. You will have great success when you read it, meditate it, and pray it. Let the Holy Spirit teach you great things in the Word today! Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 7 | |
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