Faith Builders Devotional

Daily Devotional

January 25 - January 31 2026

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. NKJV

Marriage is a wonderful part of life. Marriage is the foundation of the family. When you get married the physical part brings two individuals together. A man and woman come together into one new household. Children are God’s fulfillment of the marriage. But just as we must keep up our relationship with God, we also need to keep up our relationship with our spouse.

A vast majority of the pain that we have in this world is caused by people who were the children of a broken family. If you look at their family, you will see many homosexuals, alcoholics, thieves, violence, immorality and even murderers, became that way because they did not grow up with a father and mother who put Yahweh and His kingdom first. They may have not even had a mom or dad at all. A family needs to be a place that nurtures the children and helps them to grow up in the ways of God. Family is the foundation of society and the husband and wife is the core of that foundation.

What you put into your marriage is likely what you will get out of it. Genesis 2:24 says the two shall become one. That means a man and a woman, from two different families, leave their family and marry to create one new family. Marriage is a union of equals but the husband and wife have different roles.

The husband is responsible for financially taking care of the family as well as the spiritual welfare of the family. That means the husband needs to support his family through a good job and make sure his wife and kids are in church and growing spiritually. The wife is equal with the husband, but responsible for the things of the household (Proverbs 31:10). She manages the resources of the family with the husband. The wife is responsible for the day to day operations of the family. Of course, you can sometimes have variations in the extent of each role, whoever these roles are extremely important.

When you first get married, it is a long honeymoon. It seems that no matter what the husband or wife does, it is a match made in heaven, they can do no wrong. But as time progresses and the husband and wife get to know each other many people have the thought, ‘Did I marry the right person?’ Of course, you have to stay committed to keep that marriage covenant you made. It is essential that you marry a person like you who knows and believes in God.

When I was married, I was young and from a wonderfully solid family. We have great relationships. I had two brothers and a sister that were very involved in my life as well as my father and mother. The trouble was I was too involved with this extended family (people that are not your spouse or children) and listening to what they said above what my wife wanted. In my first year of marriage, I remember getting into arguments with my wife several times as she was concerned about my extended family’s influence on me. The whole root of the problem was that I had not broken emotionally from my extended family and fully focused on her and building our family.

Genesis 2:24 says we need to leave our extended family (father and mother) and when I read this the Holy Spirit showed me I needed to refocus my energies and communications on my new bride. When I did that insecurity my wife was feeling vanished and our relationship continued to develop as God wanted it to. We apologized to each other and moved on in our lives together.

If you would like to be married, God wants you to be married to a wonderful man or woman that knows Him. If they know Him, your marriage will last and you will be amazed at what God will work through the two of you. If you have married an unbeliever, yes, you have some work ahead of you. God is gracious. The biggest thing is to pray for wisdom (James 1:5), that the Holy Spirit will draw your unbelieving spouse, and remain faithful in your relationship with the Creator more than anything. I’ve found, the better relationship you have with Yahweh, the better your marriage will be with your spouse.

If you are not married yet, now is a good time to start praying for that person God has for you. Pray that God will raise them up in His ways and their family will be a great support. Praise God for strong families!

Jan26

Release from Fear

Matt 8:26-27
26	But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" NKJV There are two forces for a believer. There is fear and there is faith. Fear says, “I am not sure about the future”, “Does God really have a plan for me?”, “Maybe God didn’t tell me to marry my spouse”, “Will God really help me through this economic difficulty?”, “But I am not from a good family…”, Did God really say..”. The list goes on and on. Fear binds people up and prevents them from realizing their potential in God. This is the fear that gripped the friends of Jesus when the great tempest hit the large lake they were on. The word tempest is literally ‘seismos’ in the Greek, meaning a great shaking. The enemy was attacking to try to kill Jesus. It was a huge, massive shaking. His friends were sure they were going to die in a sinking ship. Did you get that? They were sure that they were going to die. They believed they would die. They had faith in their fear. Faith and fear are opposite forces. If your fear is strong your faith is weak. If your faith is strong, fear has a hard time existing. Jesus scolded them for having little faith and great fear. Fear will open you up for attack. If you look at Job, after he was attacked by the enemy with family members dying in house collapses, lightning strikes, and raids by neighboring robbers. He went through a hard time, but you could see what was in his heart that opened him up to attack when he said,
25	For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me. (Job 3:25) NKJV Job was afraid that what would that his family would do something evil (Job 1:5). Fear had opened him up to attack. What he feared came upon him. God’s power is faith. Speak faith in your life and things will change. Speak faith and fear will get smaller and smaller until it is overwhelmed by your powerful faith. What you believe for in ‘faith’ WILL come upon you.

Jan27

Empowered Prayer- Praying In The Spirit

Rom 8:28
28	And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. NKJV Romans 8:28 is probably the most misinterpreted scripture by Christians than any other. Unknowing Christians have heard some traditional pastor or leader have a tragedy and quote this scripture to somehow get comfort. They get confused and try to use the same scripture. They are trying to help, but it comes out wrong. Someone gets killed in an automobile accident and another person will say to others in an attempt to comfort… “Well, you know, all things were together for good for those who love God…” It is such a defeatist attitude that any student of the Bible cringes when you hear someone misquote this great scripture. This is not what this Word means. What exactly does this mean? If you want to understand anything in reading, you have to always look at the context of the passage. Romans 8:28 should be read from the beginning of the thought starting in verse 26.
Rom 8:26-27
26	Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. NKJV This means the Holy Spirit wants to help us when we don’t know how to pray for ourselves or others. Then, we have Romans 8:28;
28	And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. NKJV The Spirit helps in our weaknesses. When is this? When we are praying in the Spirit. What is praying in the Spirit? Praying in the Spirit is brought up in Ephesians 6:18 and Jude 20. It is prayer where the Holy Spirit is moving and guiding your prayers. When I pray in tongues, I immediately sense the Holy Spirit’s direction in my prayers. Praying in the Spirit almost always starts with praying in tongues (1 Cor 14:4). You may not know exactly how to pray, but God wants to help. When you have received the infilling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), the Spirit prays with you through your spirit for any situation that may come up. That is awesome! When you are praying in the Spirit, you can know that all things are going to work together for good because you are praying. This is why prayer is so important. If you are not praying, who is? If you have not received the gift of the Holy Spirit or tongues, pray ‘Father, I thank you for life and salvation through my Messiah Jesus. I pray right now, and receive the gift of your Holy Spirit so that I can be empowered just like you empowered the first Christian believers in Acts 2. Fill me to overflowing in the powerful Name of Jesus. I want to pray your will by the power of the Holy Spirit daily. Amen!’

Jan28

Talk About His Goodness

1 Chron 16:8-12

Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! 9 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! 10 Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord! 11 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore! 12 Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth…NKJV

For most of us, not every day is easy. Some days are happy and we feel we are on the top of the world, and other days we can feel like we are being trampled by the world. I’ve heard the good days described as “mountain-top experiences”, and bad days being described as “being in the valley”.

Do you want to know how to have a great day? Well, 1 Chronicles lays it right out for us. It starts by giving thanks to Yahweh. Thank Him for His goodness. Thank Him for his blessings. Just call on Him.

As you are praising Him, you are going to remember all the great things He has done for you. I will never forget our pastor in Washington state at the church we got married. He preached a message one Sunday called ‘Tell Stories’. That message has stuck with me for decades. The whole point was to talk about what God is doing in your life. Tell people about how God saved you. Tell them about He delivered you from bad habits. Tell them about how He took you from nothing to abundance. As you talk about Him, you remember more about what He has done for you.

Before I went in to the ministry, I started keeping a prayer journal of the requests I brought before God. I write the date I entered it, and the date we got the answer. I have made some prayers that were a bit off of God’s will for me. However other than my own misunderstandings, I have checked off every prayer, which number to hundreds. God is awesome! He answers prayer.

When I go into my prayer time and I look at that list of answered prayers, I have so much to thank him for.

Get out of the spiritual valley. Tell someone today about what God is doing in your life.

Jan29

The Fight Is Real

Eph 6:12-13
12	For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. NKJV There are fights going around us every day. Of course, there are occasionally people fighting around us, but there is a greater fight that affects us more than we know. It is spiritual war. We have an enemy that wants to steal from us, destroy our relationships or things, and downright kill us. If you think they don’t affect you, you are gravely mistaken. For my first eleven years of being a believer I was oblivious to these daily fights. I thought that everything that came along was something ‘God allowed’ because it happened. If you remember, in Matthew 8, there was a supernatural storm when Jesus was in a ship heading across a lake. The storm was described as seismos, which means “a great shaking” with huge waves crashing over the boat. This same word is used for the earthquake that shook Paul and Silas out of prison in Acts 16:26. This was an attack of the enemy. The enemy will try to attack you spiritually through discouragement, doubt, and unbelief. The enemy will also try to take you out with sickness, disease and even physical injury sometimes through the things around you or people. Jesus said their motivation is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). But God is so much bigger than that. 1 John 4:4 says
4	You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. NKJV Don’t accept anything that comes to your life as something from God. You have to realize there is an enemy and he and his team want to take your joy and take your victory. You have to take up the armor of the spirit and fight. You fight with the Sword of the Spirit, by speaking the Word of God over your situations. You use the shield of faith to protect yourself from attack. Faith and God’s Word our powerful forces for the believer. When there is tension at the office, bind it in Jesus’s Name and speak peace and ask the Holy Spirit to move in the situation. When you feel discouraged or down, bind that and start praising Yahweh for His goodness. When unclean thoughts come to mind, rebuke them in Jesus’s Name. When you feel a sore throat or cold coming on, rebuke it and fight it in Jesus Name. When doubts arise about your future, you speak faith and say,” God has a plan to prosper me and give me good success!” Just remember, if it is not about living long and living strong, then it is probably not of God. Why else would God promise make this promise to us in Psalm 91:16?
16	With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation. NKJV Thank God that you live long, strong, and satisfied as He is showing you His salvation. Take up your spiritual armor and fight the good fight. To me, the only good fight is the one you win. We definitely win if we do our part.

Jan30

Right And Wrong Anger

Eph 4:26-27
26	"Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. NKJV Anger is something that all of us have to deal with. The Word does not speak against getting angry, even Yahweh gets angry. But it does speak against getting angry and doing something rash or extreme that hurts others. In Mark 3:5, Jesus was angry in the church. A man with a deformed hand was there needing God’s compassion. He needed heal. People we’re there watching to see if Jesus would heal him so they could accuse him of working on the Sabbath day. He asked, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" Then he touched him and healed the guy completely. Immediately after that, those religious folks went out and plotted how they could kill Jesus. Can you believe it? I would rejoice and be so happy to see the guy healed. Religion blinds people and the enemy loves to use that. It is true even with people who say they are ‘Christian’. It is really Christianity just like every other religious ‘ism’, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism… `traditions of men` not relationship with Yahweh. Jesus was angry, and rightfully so. God’s anger is called righteous indignation. With us, we are becoming more and more like Jesus ever day that we seek Him with all our being. However, sometimes we need to deal with anger in a different way. I grew up going to public school like the majority of American kids. Unlike a Christian school, you experience a bit more of the world from an early age. Many of the kids used foul language and at one point, I noticed I started doing the same thing when I got angry. When I got mad, I thought swearing would make me feel better. Well, actually getting mad and slamming something down, kicking something, hitting something and swearing left me feeling silly and asking forgiveness to the Father. I didn’t feel good I just felt dirty as I had allowed the world’s ways to come on me. God is faithful, as He forgave and gives me the power by the Holy Spirit to overcome bad habits like that. God doesn’t want us getting mad and doing stupid things. Yahweh says, "Come out from among them, And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you."
18	'I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says [Yahweh] the Lord Almighty." 2 Cor 6:17-18 NKJV We can’t be like the world. We can be indignant about God’s Kingdom. But we have to keep our anger in control. If you feel yourself getting angry too easily about silly things, then you better deal with it because it will damage your testimony to those unbelievers around you. As believers, God wants us to be forgiving more than anything else. But that doesn’t mean we should not stand up for God and His Kingdom. Come out and be different from the world. The world will see and want to know the peace, the patience and especially the joy we all have. Prayer- Father, forgive me for getting angry about small things. I know that you want me to have patience and display the fruit of the Spirit in my life. I thank you that by the blood of Jesus you have forgiven me and I have the victory! Holy Spirit, I pray that you remind me and help me to keep my anger under control. I thank you for the passion I have for your Kingdom. In Jesus’s mighty Name. amen!

Jan31

Get Out Of the Enemy’s Camp

Matt 8:28-29
28	When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. 29 And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" NKJV Jesus arrived by boat from the other side of the lake. He arrived to an area where there were apparently some cliffs with caves. People had used the area for burying their dead. Two demon-possessed guys were living in this area. The Word says they were ‘fierce’ or mean. One thing I have noticed is that much of the world doesn’t want to deal with the spirit world. Not only do they not want to deal with it, but most people run when they see anything bizarre. In this case, I would guess these demonically manipulated guys became notorious over the area because people were scared of them and probably stayed away. The only people around were some pig farmers. At the same time, people didn’t want to be around them, so they were outcasts from the city. When you repent, get born from above, and filled with the Holy Spirit, demons are going to see the power of the Holy Spirit on you. Whether we like it or not, it is a fight to live on this earth. If you are not with Yahweh, then you are condemned to be forever separated from God. There are some however that have given in to the enemy and ended up under their control. These men in Gergesenes were exactly in that trouble. In the Amplified Bible, Ephesians 4:27 says,
27	Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him]. AMP It gives a clear exhortation for believers not to give a foothold to the enemy. What type of things can become a foothold? Drugs (alcohol, even prescription), sexual impurity, evil activities, unforgiveness, hate, compromise… there are many things that can give the enemy easier access to us but the easy way to identify them is these things are all negative. They want to control us. There are demons for just about every evil thing you can imagine. That is not God’s plan for us. Back in Gergesenes, these two men were being controlled by demons. Somewhere in their lives, they had given a foothold to the enemy to get in their lives and they were paying the price. I am sure it was a bit different for each of them, but the end result was the same. Notice that these guys weren’t really happy, weren’t real comfortable where they lived, and weren’t real friendly. This is how people can eventually end up if they allow the enemy a foothold. That partying every night seems so fun, but then the alcoholism creeps in. You have to have a drink on week nights. Then you have to have a drink at the office during the day. Before you know it, you get fired from the job. There are so many things like this that can mess us up. Don’t give the enemy a foothold in your life. These two men were freed because they probably realized the enemy didn’t want them happy but really wanted them dead. They were fed up with living outside in the rocks, and decided to turn to God because when they saw Jesus, they saw hope. Don’t give the enemy a foothold in your life. Be so filled with the Spirit that you are overflowing with the presence of God. God wants you to be free, He wants you to be blessed, and He wants you to be so filled with His presence that others will see you and want to be like you. They want that Holy Spirit confidence, that joy for any situation, that love, but most importantly they want that peace that you have as a believer. Show the world you've got God in you!

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