Daily Devotional
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| Today |  | 2025年11月17日 - 2025年11月21日 |  |
11月16日
Everything You Need To Know About Jesus
Matt 18:22 | |
| 22 | Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. NKJV If there is any way to summarize how Jesus changed the world with His death and resurrection, it would be in what He preached. There have been many great teachers and leaders with charisma around the world but no one really changed the world like the Son of God did. He did what He did and said what He did. What made King Jesus different? The differentiation is He preached love and forgiveness and He showed how it was done. In Matthew 18:22, one of Jesus’ followers asked Him how many times we are supposed to forgive people. This guy (Peter) had been around Jesus for some time now and Peter knew we are to love and forgive people, but probably thought surely there is some limit to how many times we must forgive people. After all, we can’t keep on forgiving and forgiving people... Jesus responded that we are to forgive people seventy times seven times. Does that mean if someone wrongs you, you are to forgive 490 times? Most likely, but more likely it means infinitely. Why bother counting if you are going to forgive people that many times? Jesus shares on forgiveness in Matthew when it comes to praying. Matthew 5:23-24 says |
| 23 | Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. NKJV This is revolutionary. When you are praying and someone comes to mind, you need go make every effort to be reconciled to them. Amazing! You need to go be reconciled to them. It doesn’t say you are to wait for a person who is offended to come to you. You are to go to them. Regardless of whether or not they forgive, you’ve got to initiate. The world doesn’t say that. They sometimes go off on the Old Testament legal requirement for criminals... the eye for eye, and the tooth for tooth. Yes, if a man murders another he can ask forgiveness of the surviving family for the crime, but he must still pay the price for the laws he broke. That is what the ‘eye for eye’ was talking about. The culture of Jesus is that we are to go those we have offended and ask forgiveness and mean it. On 11 September 2011, 19 men filled with hate, armed themselves with box cutters try to change the world. They may have stirred up hate towards themselves, their religion, and their culture. However, hate goes no where. Hate is a dead end. Of course, our legal system is to prosecute them for their crimes, but what are we are supposed to do? What does Jesus say we are to do with these people? We are to do what Jesus did for those killed Him. He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”. We are to forgive even if they’re not sorry. Everything you need to know about Jesus is summarized in two words, love and forgiveness. Won’t you participate in love and forgiveness today? That is what will change the world. It all starts with the individual, you and I. Forgive others and you shall be forgiven. Don’t give anyone a reason to hold something against you whether you’re right or wrong. You’ll be so glad you use that as a guideline. Everything you need to know about Jesus could almost be summed up in love and forgiveness. But of course, once you know Him, there’s so much more. Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 8 | |
| Annual Bible Reading Plan at www.vwc.jp | |
11月17日
Dealing With Demons In The Church
1 Tim 4:1 | |
| Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, NKJV Going about your day as a lost person in a big metro area can become monotonous. Get up in the AM, wash your face, eat breakfast, jump on the train (or sometimes in the car) and head off to work. Nip off to lunch at 12pm and back to the office in the afternoon. About 3PM or so many folks run and get a snack and finish work sometime after six. Head home, have dinner shower, talk to the family, and hit the hay (bed). Then wake up in the morning and do it all over again. If this is all we think about in life as a follower of Jesus and The Way, then likely we are just living in the physical world. We are forgetting that there is a spiritual world that surrounds us that is more real then the physical world that we see with our eyes. When you learn to see with your spiritual eyes, a lot will open up to you. If you want to be spiritual, you have to make the effort. James 4:8 says, | |
| 8 | Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. NKJV You’ve got to draw near to God. You must make the first move. You need to clean your hands (get free from your wrongs) by the blood and forgiveness through King Jesus. When you draw near to Him, then He will respond and come near to you. Love is a choice and the Father wants you to choose to love Him. But who is this double-minded? I suppose it is open to interpretation, but to me a double minded person is someone who is always looking to the right and the left. Who is looking at God, but is also very distracted by the things of this world. “If I only work hard for now I can get that car then I’ll start going back to prayer meeting.” “Well, I give from time to time, God will still bless me even though I don’t give my full tithe.” “I’ll just do it this time and ask God to forgive me later.” These are examples of being double-minded. In the meantime, there is a spiritual world around you. There are demons, spiritual beings that are tasked with taking you down. In our church we all know their purpose is to do one or all of the following; kill, steal, and destroy. If they can’t get you through substance abuse, sexual impurity, or material things, they’ll try to pull you down by other ways. One way is through false teachers in or outside of the church. Yes, demons go to church. We’ve had a lot of them come to our church, but we see they tend to flee when you are preaching the uncompromising Word of God, demonstrating signs and wonders, and are baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit. As a follower of Jesus, you are not a robot just to do what you are told. You are a close friend of God representing Him on this earth until Jesus returns. You need to be responsible for making sure who you are listening to, supporting, and participating with. They must be people who preach God’s Word and nothing that contradicts that. If a preacher has a teaching point, there must be two or three justifications in the Word to prove that is true, otherwise it is just hot air. If you are not careful you could be enticed by people preaching their own messages that may sound like the Way but are running in the wrong direction. |
| 1 | Timothy 4:1 makes it clear that there will be those who fall away because they are not faithful to the Word. That will not be you or I because we will be committed to Him. Remember these people have a seared conscience (verse 2). That means they are already misled, they don’t care about you or I. They are controlled either knowingly or (they may be) oblivious to demons. How do these people do it? If you read on in 1 Timothy, you can see. These deceived teachers tell you, you can’t do this, you can’t eat that, you shouldn’t do that or conversely you have to go there, you have to eat that, you have to do such and such. They put rules on you. These days the places you can see the same things are, people telling you to study more on spiritual warfare or demons more than necessary. You see others going way off in the spiritual dance classes, doing deep studies about that universe and aliens or other distractions that make no difference in the Kingdom of God’s Way. If you are in this type of church or under what seems to be a false teacher, pray about it as the Holy Spirit to show you. Sometimes he may tell you to go with others to talk to the false teacher, but most the time He will likely tell you to get out. Be led by the Holy Spirit. We must be diligent and we must be focused as a believer. Hebrews 10:22-23 sums it up, |
| 22 | let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. NKJV He is faithful! Hallelujah! Today’s Reading- |
Revelation 1 | |
Proverbs 15 | |
11月18日
Clothed In Power
| Luke 24:45,46 | |
| 45 | Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, NASU The connection between how well you know the Word of God and how well you know the God of the Word is hard to divide with any scissors, knife, or even fine laser cutting tool. If you don’t know the Word of God, as a follower of Jesus you will be weak. If someone says they are a follower of the Way of Jesus but never read His Word, then they are spiritually starving. Have you ever been to a nation or even a place where people are starving? When you are healthy you eat natural foods and avoid processed junk that was made by some machine and altered from its original state. That food is fuel for your body. When you eat, your natural body takes in these foods such as breads and grains and breaks it down and turns it into energy, takes the nutrients and spreads it through your body via your blood stream. When you eat right, the proteins you take in through meat, dairy products, beans and other sources is used to rebuild your muscles after you exercise, making you stronger after each time you work out. Eating right and exercise makes your body stronger so that when sickness comes you can fight it off even better. The body God gave you is amazing! In nations or areas where there is an issue with starvation, people are not able to take in the good food they need, nor get the nutrients to make their bodies strong. With poor nutrition usually comes sickness and disease. Why? The people’s bodies are not being built up with the food they need to create the energy, strength, and health that is required. Starving people are weak, malnourished, and very susceptible to whatever comes along. Praise God, we don’t have to be that way spiritually. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 which says, ...that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. NKJV Spiritual people are people who are spiritually hungry. It sounds so simple but it is so true. People that are not spiritually hungry are starving. They have no power, they have no endurance, there prayers are abysmal. They pray but nothing happens because they have none of the energy of God flowing through their spirit. It is interesting in Luke 24 how Jesus met His friends and as He shared with them, their eyes were opened to the scriptures. Evidently they knew the scriptures, but once you have the baptism of the Spirit and the power of God on you, things open up even more. Before King Jesus ascends to heaven, He tells them not to disperse yet. In Luke 24:49 He says, |
| 49 | "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." NASU I love that! If you want to be clothed with power, there is a connection between your knowledge of Jesus, the Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit. You’ve got to understand that. Hallelujah! When you discover this, you can be “clothed with power from on high”. Just as a garment covers you, like clothing covers you from a hat on your head to the shoes on your feet, you can be covered in the power of God. Surrounded. Good clothing doesn’t just cover your arm or legs. It covers you completely all away around your arms, legs, torso, neck. You are covered. As you read the Word today, ask the Holy Spirit to teach you. Ask Him to reveal to you more about how that reading today applies to you now. Then get ready because His mercies are new every morning! Great is His faithfulness! Today’s Reading- Revelation 2,3 |
Proverbs 18 | |
11月19日
Reaching Faith
Mark 6:56 | |
| 56 | Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well. NKJV The story of the woman who got her healing through the power of faith in Jesus after spending all she had on doctors was beautiful. I love how she just said to herself, if I just touch the edge of His clothes I will be made well. When she touched Him, in the crowd of people all around Him, that healing power ignited with her faith. Her faith reminds me of a lighting rod high on the top of a building. Like a little needle pointing high in the sky, a lightning rod is designed to catch the lighting in those high places and bring it down to earth. The higher the rod is above the building, the better chance the falling lightning will hit the rod, and be routed down to the grounded wire all the way down in the base of the building. Although it is heigh-related, it is like that rod draws it and conducts it down to the earth. Isn’t that just like faith? Jesus told so many people, “YOUR faith has made YOU well”. No faith? Then you can know that beyond a shadow of a doubt, things are not going to get better. Why? You are likely living in fear. An insightful thing about the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is that you can see the same eye-witness accounts of the great works of Jesus. Although, they share the same stories from the eyes of a tax collector, fishermen, and doctor, you can also see other things that were going on from the four gospels. When I read Mark 6:56, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. I realized that the woman with the internal bleeding that received her healing when she touched King Jesus’ clothing was not the first person to experience the power of touching someone with faith. Evidently other people had been doing the same thing, and that is why she did it. |
Mark 3:10 | |
| For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. NKJV There were certainly other people who experienced similar stories of victory. What made King Jesus so different? He was baptized in the Spirit, and He spent time every day going off to the quiet places to spent time with the Father. If you want to have the power of God in your life, you’ve got to spend time with Him. That is what happened in Acts. | |
Acts 5:15-16 | |
| 15 | so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. NKJV Just the shadow of these believers, who followed Jesus with everything they had, falling on people brought healing. THAT is the anointing that comes from daily time in His presence. We serve an awesome God. Not only was He out there meeting people where they were at, He also reached out to touch them. Things happened. Luke 6:19 says, And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all. NKJV He healed them all. Are you reaching for God today or are you distracted by the cares of life? If you reach out in faith to touch God by the power of the Name of Jesus, you will be changed. Reach out in faith right now. Today’s Reading- Revelation 4,5 |
Proverbs 19 | |
11月20日
Worldly Wisdom
1 Cor 1:25 | |
| 25 | Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. NKJV Have you ever met someone who thinks they know it all. They try to explain God away because they don’t know Him. I have met plenty of people like this. When you got to a public university you have all these teachers or professors who try to impress each other and express their great sense of knowledge. From my time in High School, I always started carrying a Bible in my backpack or bag. I knew that God’s Word was treasure and I wanted to keep it near me. Unfortunately, it was not until University that I discovered that I had to get God’s Word from those pages and into my mind. There it would filter into my spirit and change me. There is vast wisdom in the Word of God. We know that if we read Proverbs we will get insights into life. Reading Proverbs every day for that day (12th day of the month, read Proverbs chapter 12 for example) really helps you to understand people, life, the world, why certain things are done. People have not changed. There are good people out there, but there are a lot more cheaters, thieves, sneaks and all sorts of others that you can better understand if you have the wisdom of the Word. There are also some very smart people out that accomplish some amazing things. In my home state there is a bridge called the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. It is a very high suspension bridge connecting to land masses in Washington. The platform of the bridge is suspended high above the waters of the Puget Sound. It is amazing that they were able to connect these two places so people can travel from directly from point A to point B without a big detour to follow the land. The engineering, the mechanics, and the construction skill to build the bridge was amazing. One small calculation error and the bridge would become a dangerous death trap for the cars traveling across. The current bridge is not actually the first time it was built. There was a previous bridge that collapsed in 7 November 1940. A wind storm had come and it was thrashing in the wind as the storm blew between the two sides of land over the water of the Narrows Straights. The bridge collapsed and fell into the water near 60 meters below (about the height of a 20 story building). The new bridge was completed in 1950 and was later expanded in 2007 to add another bridge next to it. It is an important bridge today and demonstrates what you can do with human wisdom. Although, I believe that a large majority of intelligent people building bridges, tall buildings, sending rockets to the moon, design satellites and so on are people who love Jesus, I am sure there are people who don’t Him as well. However, the point is that there is a lot of wisdom out there to do some amazing things. It is pretty impressive what humans can do. However, that wisdom is nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to Yahweh. Nothing can come even close to Him. Man’s greatest wisdom is foolishness to Him 1 Cor 1:25 shows us. The funny thing is that just a couple verses farther we see that God even uses the simple things to show everyone He is the Creator and that even thing will be accountable back to Him at the judgment. 1 Cor 1:27 says, But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; NKJV It is great to study and become a master at engineering, art, science, or some other area. However, we have got to remember that we are nothing compared to Him. He is more brilliant that the greatest anyone can offer. There is none like Him. Won’t you give Him the glory today! Today’s Reading- Revelation 6,7 |
Proverbs 20 | |
11月21日
Consumerism And What Really Matters
Mark 13:31 | |
| Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. NKJV If you have ever followed around a Japanese or Korean you’ll often notice one thing. They love to shop. After World Word II in Japan in the 1940s and after the Korean War (which technically never finished) in the 1950s, the people had to rebuild the countries. They had to reach out and rebuild all that was lost in war. War is definitely not a good thing, but it has been used to stop evil people from doing more evil in the world. Walking the streets of Seoul, you can speak Japanese to many of the shop keepers because the Japanese are heading over to go shopping. Buying brands of leather goods, watches, clothing, and various other items. All the brands have a name...and a price. The owners of these brands have paid huge amounts to advertising firms to creatively get your attention. They tell you have to have a certain watch, car, dress, handbag, glasses, necktie... whatever they can get you to believe you need. They are trying to create consumption. The purpose is to make you consume their product to ‘feel good’ about yourself; to be a consumer. This is consumerism. Consumerism isn’t limited to the streets of North Asia. We find consumers all around the world. Companies trying to influence or motivate you to buy their product because it is Swiss, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, etc. If you have every been to a shopping mall in the US or even the Philippines you see people trying to sell all sorts of things. Consumption is a world-wide trend. Consumption changes, fads change, fashion changes. God’s Word will never change. It is always the same. Literally, everything we have before us is going to pass away. That is everything, including these things we are consumed. It does not matter what car you drive, purse you have, watch you sport, pen you use. It really just does not matter. Consumption is just now. It does not matter into the future. The Bible is God’s Word. Jesus is the Word. Jesus is God. Do you know Him? How well do you know Him? He is forever. Only by really knowing Him will you be forever. Isaiah 51:6 says | |
| 6 | Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished. NKJV Of course, if you want to talk about how long God’s Word is going to be around, you must read Isaiah 40:8 which says, The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever." NKJV As a teenager, most of us think we know more than our parents. We wonder, “What does my father think that I don’t already know about that?” As you get older, you realize how much you have learned and can learn from your father and mother. My father has been a wonderful blessing to me. The greatest thing he did for me was to get me to that church in Oregon in 1978 where as a young boy where I repented, accepted the work of King Jesus, and turned to God. Zech 1:6 sums it up beautifully. |
| 6 | Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers? NKJV My heritage of faith, was something he and my mother helped to connect me to. The responsibility of you and your spouse is to make sure our children have the opportunity to know Jesus for themselves is up to them. Once they get to the age of accountability, they are responsible for themselves. Don’t be consumed with things or just trying to live. Be consumed with going for a deeper relationship with Jesus. Today’s Reading- Revelation 8,9 |
Proverbs 21 | |
11月22日
Pull Them Down!
2 Cor 10:4 | |
| 4 | For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds NKJV Ever been in a fight? Maybe in a school yard scuffle that left you with a bloody nose or a black eye? Maybe you won the fight and came out “clean”, maybe not. When we are young we think that by physically dealing with someone, we can eliminate the problem. Usually not true, but in some cases you have to take action. When my parents moved to Washington, a neighborhood boy was hassling my sisters. It got pretty bad. As a 5th grader I confronted him and a fight ensued. It was a pretty quick confrontation and after that point we did not have trouble with him again. In the physical realm, fighting someone with hands and feet is not all that productive when you become adults. In the spiritual realm, fighting the demonic spirits is something you must know about. It is not really a fight, it is more getting those spirits out of places they shouldn’t be. One Sunday as I preached the Word, I looked out across the church congregation. One young woman was sitting there staring at me. Her face was clearly not her. She was under the control of a demon. I could see the hate in her eyes, but I knew it wasn’t her. In the middle of my message I rebuked the demon and saw her face go back to a blankness. I could see that demon couldn’t manifest itself when I took authority over it in the powerful name of Jesus. When you pray each day, it is not just “God bless (or protect) Mr. X or Ms. Y”. There are times when you feel spiritual tension or oppression. Those are the times when you have to fight the spiritual fight. It is not a playground slug-it-out. The King Jesus gave you authority for a reason saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth...” Matt 28:18 NKJV Then He told us go and make disciples. He gave you His authority so that you could fight. When the attack comes, you can quickly defeat it through your faith and His power. When I speak the Name of Jesus as a Spirit-filled believer, diseases dissipate, controlling spirits flee, deformities are fixed by the power of God. God works through His people, that is why if you are praying things happen. With His Name, if you are not saying, then nothing happens. As you go about your day, use your spiritual weapons to tear down strongholds of fear, doubt, rebellion, lack, tension, hate, unforgiveness, and whatever else puts itself up against the knowledge and liberty of God. When you take authority over these spirits, things happen. It is not magical. It is because you have the Creator of the universe and His legions of angels behind you every time you connect the physical with the spiritual by using His awesome name. Thousands of years ago, Daniel prophesied about the authority we have through our King saying, |
| 14 | Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7:14 NKJV As you pray today and talk to Him, ask Him for wisdom on what around you is of Him, and what is blocking the increasing of His Kingdom. Take every opportunity to get to church prayer meetings and intercede for your nation and break down everything that is trying to hold back the Kingdom of God. Nothing can hold it back, but you are His hands and feet and you have to bring it to pass. Pull down the enemy’s strongholds and build up the Kingdom of God wherever you go through speaking it out in prayer and pulling down the illegitimate strongholds of darkness. If you don’t do it, who will? Today’s Reading- |
Proverbs 13 | |
| Annual Bible Reading Plan at www.vwc.jp | |
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