August 25

My daughter and I took a trip down to South Florida to the island where I left my phone to pick it up. When we got to our exit, we noticed a sign that said Warm Mineral Springs. I had seen it before and had always been curious about it. We decided that on our way back, we would go by to see what it was all about. When we got there, we didn’t get to touch it because they wanted twenty dollars each to get in! They were nice enough to let us look at it. After we left, we looked it up on the internet. Come to find out, it has four springs that feed into it. Two of the vents have temperatures of 76 degrees and two have temperatures of 97 degrees. The combination gives a temperature of 87 degrees year round. It’s a very large sinkhole that is very deep. The bones of prehistoric animals and humans were found in it. This may have been the Fountain of Youth that Ponce de Leon was looking for. I never knew we had hot vents in Florida!

You never know exactly what’s going on with our great planet because we only get bits and pieces of information from different sources. This is why it’s important that we continue to search the scriptures; it is our source for information from the beginning of time to the end of time. The one thing we can count on is Jesus, our doorway to everlasting life. When you enter through that door, you are then seated in Heavenly places and your eternal destination is no longer a question.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, Ephesians 1:3

August 24

Oh, the struggles we face! I left my phone and iPad on the island! I’m just kidding about the struggle, it’s been no struggle at all, inconvenient, but not a struggle. Do you do that? Do you get worked up over things that don’t matter? I’ve moved on from the book of James and have started in Ephesians. The Apostle Paul wrote Ephesians, and right away I noticed a difference in the writing style. You think you have problems, imagine being in prison or confined to your home unable to move about freely. He didn’t have the technology to keep himself busy, just a pen and paper. While confined, he didn’t stop teaching, he wrote letters to the churches, giving them instructions. He wrote every thought down, and you can tell that by the way some of the sentences became paragraphs. The Holy Spirit worked feverishly through him, giving him every detail that God wanted to bring to the gentiles, me and you! Many people face challenges, but make sure your issues are not things you’ve brought upon yourself because of wrong thinking. Paul could have easily laid in his bed and became depressed over his situation, but he didn’t. He may have been a little depressed, nevertheless he did what God called him to do. If you are facing problems, ask God if you are feeling the way you are because of a challenge He has given you, or if it’s of your own doing. Then ask Him how you should remedy it.

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. Ephesians 3:1-3

August 23

One topic we all struggle with is sickness. It may not be our own, but someone we love. Our biggest question is why? Our world was free from sickness before sin. That’s been a long time! It began with Adam and Eve and has run rampant ever since. We have to ask, why did Jesus tell those He healed to go and sin no more? Did their condition have to do with their own sin? It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Especially the story where Jesus had healed a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. He was laying by the pool waiting for it to be stirred, but couldn’t get in, and had no one to help him. Jesus came and healed him, then later told him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” So you see by this, Jesus’s instruction was to instill fear of the worst, so he wouldn’t go into a lifestyle of sin now that he can move freely. Now I’m not saying that your condition has anything to do with your own sin, because we are living in a world that evil has entered in, but whether it be Adam’s sin or your own sin, prayer is the only option we have when seeking healing. Never think you are healed without God’s permission, it’s guaranteed that if you are better it’s because He allowed it. The instruction for today is to ask forgiveness and pray with faith.

And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:15-16

August 22

We have many people in our lives that we consider friends. Some are co-workers, some are from school, or church, but then there might be one who grabs a hold of your heart. This one friend might be a match that God pulled the strings in order to bring the two of you together. There is a moment that you know; it’s as if God shines a spotlight on that human and says “this is my gift to you, a true friend.” It’s in that moment that your souls are knit together, and a godly bond is created. I believe that this might be a rarity, so if you find it, don’t let it go. Jesus says “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus laid His life down for us; it doesn’t get any better than that! God gives us an example of what true friendship should look like with David and Jonathan. They were beautifully bound together. Scripture says that Jonathan loved David as his own soul. If you find this kind of friendship, cultivate it, and cherish it.

As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 1 Samuel 18:1

August 21

Our vacation place had been empty for quite a while, so when I walked in, I realized something was wrong. It always has a bit of smell from being closed without air circulation, but this time it was a little musty. We had forgotten to take the trash out! I don’t know what was in it, but we had a gazillion fruit flies, most were dead, thank goodness. We had been away so long, I guess everything had dried up. We were lucky that it didn’t smell like rot. I had to clean before I could relax. I think God sends me through the gauntlet, just so I can give you life examples of spiritual truths. It’s okay, He knows I can handle it. So here is the spiritual truth: There are issues from your past that have long been forgotten, dried up so to speak, but it’s still a disgusting mess that needs to be cleaned up. It may not stink like it did way back then, but that’s just because you’re used to living with it. Today, ask God what you need to confess from your past. It has long been forgiven because of Jesus, but sometimes we need to be freed from our musty past so that it doesn’t come back to haunt us.

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”... Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:32, 34-36

August 20

It’s very easy to love a friend who is always there for you, and stands by you through thick and thin. On the other hand, it’s easy to hate your enemies. As a follower of Christ, we are commanded to love. What does that mean? Are we to love our enemies? “But Lord, look what they’ve done to me! How am I to love them?” Our goal, during this lifetime, is to become as much like Jesus as we can, and He loves everyone, even those who deny Him and follow their own path. I’m just going to show you my sin nature for a moment, please bear with me. When someone intentionally hurts me, belittles, or is downright evil to me, all I want to do is lash out. What does Jesus say about that? Pray for those who persecute you! Yes! I can do that. “I pray that hell and damnation fall upon them and that they experience the full extent of God’s wrath!” No! No! No! That is not how we are to pray! The Matthew Henry Commentary says it like this: 

We must pray that God will forgive them, that they may never fare the worse for anything they have done against us, and that he would make them to be at peace with us; and this is one way of making them so.

It is so hard to pray that way, but so healing. Something changes inside of you when you pray for good towards them. This is just my opinion, but I think the Holy Spirit takes over for you at that point, and comforts your heart with peace. I know this one is hard to put into practice, but try it and see what happens.

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? Matthew 5:44-46

August 19

For the past few days, I’ve been reading and editing portions of my devotionals from last year because I’m getting ready to put them together into another book. There is a website that will help you edit, it’s called Grammarly. Now I know a human put this together, however, I’m not sure how it knows whether my sentence is in a passive voice or not, heck I don’t quite understand what that is anyway. I could be writing one right now and wouldn’t know it! It gives me examples of a passive voice, verses an active voice, but it still doesn’t click with me. I guess I need to spend a day with someone who can drill that into my head. When I get it, you will never see another passive voice from me again, but until then, I’m sorry. I must have missed that lesson in English class while day dreaming of frolicking on the beach. Anyway, how does a computer know this? It probably has to do with the structure of the sentence. Here’s my comparison: the Holy Spirit is like Grammarly, except that He edits us as we go. We have to be diligent in listening and making the change before we take action. The Holy Spirit is not a computer and He helps us make decisions in real time based on our situation. He knows what others are thinking and how they will feel if we make a bad decision or say something hurtful. That’s why we get a check in our spirit. Are you convicted? If not, you need to check your salvation! No salvation, no Holy Spirit! If only Grammarly could give me that same check when I write a bad sentence.

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: John 16:8

August 18

We never want to be used by the enemy to attack another Christian, that’s why God gave us guidelines for handling our disputes. At no point does His word say we should publicly expose what we consider sin. Look at the story of the women accused of adultery; the Pharisees brought her to Jesus, trying to find a reason to charge Him. They wanted to catch Him disobeying the Law. He knelt down and began to write in the sand, He stood up and said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” He bent down again and one by one they walked away. 

Too many times we relentlessly tear one another apart and publicly expose them to the scrutiny of bystanders who have nothing to do with the situation. I stood by and watched as this happened to my very dear friend. It was a vicious verbal public beating by people who once called her a friend. She was tried and punished, and not once did she speak out in her defense. My heart was broken. God gave her strength to endure. Good will come from this because He never lets the enemy have the final say. 

Follow the Lord’s guidelines when situations seem wrong. Take your concerns directly to that person and try to resolve the dispute one on one. If that doesn’t work, you take someone with you. If there is still no resolution, you can take it before your church. If these guidelines had been followed in my friend's case, it could have been resolved without ever being exposed. Be careful out there, we have enough trouble with non-believers, we shouldn’t torment our own.

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Matthew 18:15-17

August 17

As I’m traveling along a path through the Bible, the path that God placed me on, I’m finding that it’s playing out in real life! A bit of righteous fear of the Lord comes over me, not because He would harm me, but because of how close He is to me! It’s especially haunting, because I’m systematically reading through the Book of James. The words, the situation, and the outcome are the same. If I were an unbeliever, reading this portion of scripture and compared it to the situation before me, I would cry in repentance and come to Jesus! However, if my heart is hardened, the scripture would be twisted by the enemy, to keep me deceived. If you don’t read God’s word with a repentant heart, and a desire to know its life giving truth, it will mean nothing to you. Today’s message is a warning. Be careful out there, God is closer than you think! He knows your every move, and what’s even scarier is that He knows your heart! Come before Him with clean hands and a pure heart.

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Psalms 24:3-5

August 16

Do you ever wake up with something troubling on your mind? This happens to me more often than not. Well, that’s why you’re getting this devotional today. I woke up thinking about home owners association issues! We have stuff going on in our neighborhood and a specific guy who is very needling. I don’t like waking up with a nagging feeling, it’s not refreshing. So before I even looked at the next section of verses in my Bible, I asked God to give me something that would help me as well as others. You're not going to believe what verse came next in my study of James - time is too short for you to be concerned about tomorrow! I am often floored by how close He is and how devoted He is to me and my everyday cares. 

I’m torn about which direction to take this writing. Do I tell you how awestruck I am about God’s love for me and you, or do I encourage you to leave your cares to Him? I just can’t get over this incredible feeling! In a moment's time I went from worry and discouragement to elation, because I know He heard me and because He doesn’t want His daughter to be fretful. This man obviously doesn’t know who I am, or who my Father is! If he did, he might be more concerned with the repercussions of coming against His favorite child than worrying about whether the HOA is going to pay to fill a hole in his yard! Get a shovel mister and fill in your own hole! Okay, so now you see how ridiculous my worry was. What’s on your mind that needs to be thrown in the trash heap? The Father, who loves you because you’re His favorite, doesn’t want you to concern yourself about tomorrow; were not here long enough for all that!

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James 4:13-15

August 15

We are all guilty of trying to walk the line between God and the world. My picture of this type of double mindedness is someone who is partying like a rock star, drunk in the club, trying to bring someone to Jesus. It could also be a person who had thoughts of disgust and disdain for someone right before going to God in prayer. I’ve used this example before, but it’s fitting to use it again. I love my little dogs! They make me laugh, they are loving and sweet when they curl up in my lap, and they keep me entertained. Sometimes when I turn them loose in the yard, they will make their way to the stinkiest thing they can find, and roll in it. Then they want to love on me! Yuck! Another example might be when your child tries to come into the house after they’ve been playing in the mud. In both of these cases, they need baths! When we want to draw near to the Father, we need to be clean, free from sin. Confess your sin, and clothe yourself in the righteousness of Jesus. When we humble ourselves before the Father who loves us, He will exalt us.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:8-10

August 14

When I’m writing, I sit near a window. Sometimes the early morning sun will shine so bright that I have to shade my eyes. What I noticed was, if I hold my hand or an object in the beam, I can direct the light onto something else. It can shoot clear across the room, and it looks like someone just turned on a flashlight! The light then transforms the object that it’s shining on from darkness to being in the spotlight. When Jesus told us that He is the light of the world, this is exactly what He meant. We are the object that His beam is shining on and we can direct that beam anywhere! Another thing about that bright light, if you look directly at it, you can’t see anything else. If you look directly at Jesus, will you then see everyone through His light in your eyes? Also, if you’re not a reflection of Him, who are you reflecting, darkness? There is no reflection in darkness, you are just consumed by it. If you are a follower of Christ, you cannot be consumed by darkness, and you will not stumble because you have the light of life. There are two lessons here: shine your light on others so they see Jesus through you, and start looking at others through His eyes.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

August 13

I’m one of those who needs my quiet time, so I schedule time alone first thing in the morning before the exuberant, overly excited, extrovert of a man wakes up. Otherwise, no matter where I’m at in the house, I can hear him. Don’t get me wrong, I need him to be the way he is because he helps me reach the potential I could never get to by myself. I’m very independent and can do almost anything a man can do, but do I really want to? I don’t think so. Independence is probably the biggest drawback of being me. It’s just my nature, it’s the way God created me. Opening myself up for scrutiny, or even just letting someone know what I’m incapable of doing, is just unnatural for me. As much as I love my independence, I know that I need others. As an example, my dog Rudy needs me. He has really long hair, and he doesn’t have the ability to trim it out of his eyes, so I have to do it for him. Like Rudy there are just some things we cannot do. No matter how independent we are, we all need other people. Don’t neglect your friends or your spouse, you need them.

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

I don’t know who this was for this morning, but I had a really hard time writing it. Please tell me so I can pray for you.

August 12

I read an article that pitted one political official against another. Both are seeking the same office. Both officials have failed the people on this particular issue, but neither are completely responsible. However, that’s not what you hear in the advertising. You can see the devil at work in this. His signature is all over the advertising of candidates, and his most useful tool is his lies. He stirs up strife and hatred among people, and causes bickering and fighting. If you do any amount of research on a particular candidate you will find that what is advertised is only partial truth, and is completely unrecognizable from the whole truth. His goal is to keep us at odds with one another, so we believe the lies. We want to believe the lies because it makes it easier for us to choose a candidate, and we want them to give us our desires. That is the key! We want them to give us our desires! It’s all self serving. We don’t even ask God, because what we want is for our own earthly pleasure. When we do ask, our motives are all wrong, and He doesn’t give us what we want. Submit yourself to God and resist the devil and his lies. When voting, ask God to give you sound judgment so that you follow His desires.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. James 4:1-3

August 11

I believe that God gives us assignments in the secular world as a teaching tool. Most Christians that I know, have jobs outside of their faith. This is good for observation. Even with our Christian dealings, when you are diligent in your devotion to studying the Word, it’s easy to tell who seeks the counsel of God and who doesn’t. In secular dealings, we see the frustration of misunderstandings, the confusion of misguidance, lack of peace, bitter jealousy, and selfish ambition. Though they think they are wise, their wisdom is not from above, it’s from the demonic. When I see these things play out before my eyes, it just makes my point! I watched as a person, whom I thought had everything together, also a business owner making a good living, get frustrated over lack of knowledge on a subject. They gave up, shut their book, and lashed out at those who were in their presence, rather than seek to understand. People like this do not draw my anger, they draw my pity, because their soul is lost. Here is the difference: you who are saved have the ear of God, a Savior who understands, a companion who guides you to the truth, and a book of God’s very own words. Use these tools to your advantage and the wisdom which comes from above will be downloaded into your heart. 

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. James 3:13-15

August 10

My daughter and I have many dealings together. We are partners in real estate and work very closely on various aspects of our business. Occasionally we will run across other humans who try our patience and push us to the edge of our faith. Though we are careful not to step across the line between good and evil, the temptation is real, and if it wasn’t for Jesus, some poor soul would have their heart yanked out and sliced into a million pieces! I know I just wrote about keeping control of your tongue a few days ago, but James comes back to that again in chapter 3. The timing is perfect, because she and I were just talking about this very thing. She said that when she worked as a deputy in the jail, that some of the people couldn’t hear her unless she stooped to their level and blasted them with the same language they used, and it was the only way to shut them down. The tongue is a very powerful weapon, and it can make you or break you. James describes the tongue as fire, poison, and salt! We are able to tame wild animals, yet cannot tame the tongue! At the end of our conversation, we decided that being we are not dealing with inmates, we would continue to keep our mouths on a tight leash, so that we maintain our good testimony through our dealings. My suggestion to you is that you do the same. We certainly don’t want to disappoint our Savior.

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. James 3:9-10

August 9

My husband and I are partners together in property management. He makes sure the properties are maintained, handles the move-in and move-out preparations, coordinates the contractors as needed, and all the physical involvement. I take care of the clerical side by, collecting payments and keeping track of who’ve paid, preparing and having signed leases and renewals, insurance, and banking. We work together hand in hand. He couldn’t manage very well without me and I couldn’t manage very well without him. It takes both of us to show a profit. The Christian walk is similar to our working relationship. As a comparison, I would be the faith side of the relationship because you don’t see what I do, and my husband the works side of the relationship because what he does is seen by everyone. If you love Jesus and have faith that He is who He says He is, others will be able to see it by what pours out of you. Your faith together with your works will reveal itself as a profit for the Lord. They work together hand in hand.

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. James 2:17-18

August 8

A person who is rich has financial freedom and are not restrained by the cost. If they see something they want, their wealth will give them the liberty to get what they desire. Though they are free to purchase whatever they want, they are careful with their money, that’s how they got rich to begin with, and that’s how they maintain their wealth. Compare that to freedom from the law of Moses - including the commandments. We are under the gospel, because Jesus was the only one who could keep the law of Moses, everyone else sinned, because it is impossible for the natural man to keep the law. Because we trust in Him and what He did for us by His death and resurrection, we are free from having to keep the law! God’s grace, undeserved favor, is what we have to be thankful to Jesus for, and is what gives us freedom. Mercy, withholding punishment, and is what keeps us from having to pay the price for our disobedience. Like the wealthy person, we are free to spend our freedom however we want, but we don’t because we don’t want to waste it on frivolous things. However, we should show mercy to those who frivolously spend their freedom. Mercy triumphs over judgment! 

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:12-13

August 7

My church does many things well, but there is one thing it does best, it loves people. We don’t look upon one person as being more deserving than another, we look upon everyone the same, as deserving of love, and love them with the love of Jesus. We aren’t concerned with their status or how much money they have, were concerned about their heart. In all my years of going to church, I’ve seen nothing like it. So many people have a preconceived idea of what church looks like, and let me tell you “church people,” it doesn’t look good for us! They see us in our Sunday best and we don’t look like them, and they can’t identify with us. The man standing at the door with a suit and tie will make the average person feel uncomfortable. We should make it a point to love everyone like they are Jesus in disguise, or that we are entertaining angels unawares. We should love our neighbors as ourselves, even when they don’t seem lovable. James calls this the royal law. I love that, don’t you! If you are turning your nose up or looking down on anyone, does the Holy Spirit really reside in you?

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. James 2:8-9

August 6

My grandson, who is six, knows Jesus and the Holy Spirit resides within him. How do we know? Because of his actions! He’s just like the rest of us who struggle with sin, but he knows where to turn when he does. Here is more evidence: His mother kept hearing him mumbling under his breath and ask him what he was saying. His reply was, “I keep thinking of cuss words and have to ask Jesus to forgive me!” We had quite a chuckle over that! He doesn’t know the Bible fully, yet the Holy Spirit is teaching him. We certainly don’t want him to cuss, but his use of the proper words is hardly a problem unless he’s cursing the Lord’s name when it should be revered. What matters is the condition of his heart. The Holy Spirit is teaching him to be obedient to his parents who want him to keep his language clean. When the Bible talks about keeping an undefiled tongue, it’s referring to trashing others, and cutting them down. When you are tempted to blast someone for their faults, remember to bridle your tongue! As a parent, we should set the example and not let our children hear us talking bad about others, but when we do, they should hear us ask for forgiveness.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. James 1:26