Costly

Luke 14:25-33

The words of Jesus in Luke 14:25-33 are some of the heaviest words I have read in The Bible. The words Jesus said in these verses carry a lot of weight. The words are hard to read, and you may find yourself confused with some of the things Jesus said especially in verse 26.

Did Jesus really say to hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers sisters, and yourself? He certainly did say that. If this is your first time reading these verses, you may have some feelings about them. You may be confused, angry, upset, sad, and/or disgusted. Feel all of that, but do not get so frustrated that you do not seek to understand and turn away. There is a message in the text. Before moving forward, pray, and then let me explain.

The meaning behind verse 26 is that you should be so devoted to God that it looks like you hate the ones closest to you. You will not actually hate them, for you are called to love. However, it will look like you are not spending as much time with or doing as much for them. You will be so committed to God that you will prioritize your obligation to Him over your obligation to anyone else. Others will take a back seat. They will not come before God.

This type of commitment looks like spending time with God before you do with your spouse, family, or friends. It looks like saying no to your spouse, family, or friends to do something for God. It looks like moving away from family, because The Lord told you to move for His sake. For some, it looks like ending relationships because the relationships are holding them back from following Jesus. Examples are ungodly friendships, family, or a boyfriend or girlfriend that lead you away from The Lord. Do not get it twisted, I am not saying everyone needs to cut off everyone and be in isolation, or everyone needs to neglect those around them. Some need to cut off relationships. Others should still have the relationships, but do not let them interfere with devotion to God. Still, take care of your loved ones, but do not let them consume your life to the point God is second. The Lord must be The Lord in your life, and He must have the throne in your life.

Verse 27 tells us that whoever does not bear their cross cannot be The Lord’s disciple. What does this mean? First, I want to say that I am reminded of this verse from a few chapters before, 'And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Daily, you must nail to the cross anything that you would give your all to, your being to, your worship to, or your life to. In other words, you must surrender idols. And then daily you must carry the burden of being a Christ follower. Yes, Jesus’s burden is light in that He does not impose rules that are hard to follow like the Pharisees did (See Matthew 11:30). Rather, the burden is heavy, because following Jesus is costly. You will have to surrender things daily; meaning, you will have to not let them have first place in your life or altogether give them up through letting go of your emotional hold to them and/or decrease or eliminate your devotion to them for His sake and carry that burden daily. The persecution and the hardships that come from being a Christ follower are costs that will be daily burdens too.

In verses 28-32, Jesus says a builder will consider the cost of building a building, and a king will consider the cost of a war before deciding to proceed. So, you too should count up the costs of being a disciple of Christ and consider if it’s worth it.

Verse 33 ends with whoever does not denounce all they have cannot be Jesus’s disciple. There is not one thing or person in your life that you can hold on to. If you are not willing to surrender everyone and everything you cannot be a disciple of Christ. If you are unwilling to surrender everyone and everything to Christ then you are holding on to people and those things in an attempt to not lose your life. You are afraid that surrendering will mean you will lose your life as you know it. I only know this from personal experience, and I want to remind you of this verse: 'For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it ' (Luke 9:24).

You must surrender all. To surrender all means to let go. You believe nothing and no one is yours to hold on to and you give all to God. You surrender to decide for Christ to be first and to be your master.

So the question you need to ask yourself is what is it going to cost you to follow Jesus? Then consider whether it is worth the cost. This week, examine yourself pray, and ask God what you need to surrender. I cannot answer the first question for you, but I will say that I think following Jesus is worth the cost. If you continue to follow Jesus in your life, you will see and be like Paul and consider all as loss for knowing Christ (See Philippians 3:8). The suffering you have or will experience from the cost will not compare to the joy that is coming (see Romas 8:18).

Empty

' As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. '

Psalm 42:1

On September 1, 2024, God instructed me to fast dinner. For three weeks or twenty-one days, I did not eat dinner. I know this may not seem significant, but anyone who knows me knows that I never skip dinner. I have skipped breakfast a lot and have recently been able to skip lunch. But up until the fast, I could probably only recall skipping dinner during college when I was crunching on time to study or complete assignments. Skipping meals or not eating can take a toll on me too. It is hard for me to concentrate and it can be difficult to get along with me when I am hungry. Also, I have felt shaky and have passed out before from not eating. The fast was certainly not easy for me, but I appreciate the difficulty. It impacted me greatly.

It was in the moments where I had the urgency to eat, the moments where I had cravings coming to my mind, the moments where I felt sick and thought I was going to pass out, the moments I felt empty in my stomach and empty in my mind from lack of concentration that I had to be dependent on God. A greater level of dependency resulted from this fast. God met me right in those moments. Whether you believe it or not, God made me full physically in addition to making me full mentally.

Empty was the perfect physical and mental state to be in. It positioned me to lean into God and he filled me. Even though I battled cravings, I was still turned from desiring a loaf of bread to desiring The Bread of Life, Jesus. I became like the writer of Psalm 42:1 when I fixed my attention on The One Who is seated on the throne in heaven. I thirsted and hungered for God and he satisfied me. From there, my longing for God increased.

I say all of this to not point you in the direction of a fast, although if you feel pressed now by The Spirit to do one, then by all means be obedient, but to encourage you to pray and ask The Lord what you need to empty yourself from. What is it that you need to let go? What is it that you need to surrender to The Lord? What is distracting you? Who or what has the throne in your life?

Pray and ask The Lord to reveal to you what needs to be emptied, and then ask God to make you hungry and thirsty for Him. And then do not just stay empty, hungry, and thirsty, ask The Spirit to fill you. Seek Jesus in The Word, in prayer, in worship, because remember He is the bread of life that satisfies (see John 6:35). Yes, starting from a place of emptiness is the best starting point because you can be positioned to be hungry or thirsty so then God can fill you.

Example of Prayer for this week:

Lord, reveal to me anything that I need to empty myself from. Tear down any idol, remove any distraction, silence any lie, heal any brokenness or trauma, completely deplete me of anything so that I become empty and all that is left is a thirst and hunger for You. Jesus, I thank You that You are The Bread of Life that truly satisfies and You will satisfy the thirst and fill the hunger. May I seek You more, Lord, so that I will find You more. In Jesus name, amen.

If you have never known The Lord please visit our Next tab and go to the salvation part. You will find information about salvation and a prayer for salvation.

Dwelling Place

Psalm 91

STOP!!!!! Before you read this devotional, read Psalm 91 and ask in prayer for The Lord to reveal Himself to you in the chapter. Ask The Lord in prayer to give you wisdom and understanding of the chapter. The Lord may want to show you something you would not have received if you had not read the chapter yourself first.

The Psalm 91 title listed above is a hyperlink. The link will take you directly to the chapter on YouVersion. The chapter is in the NKJV translation, but you may change it to any translation you prefer. I will be referencing the NKJV throughout the devotional.

Now that you have read the chapter, let me tell you my history with Psalm 91. I have hung out in this chapter many times. It is the chapter I have read the most in The Bible. At one point in my life, I read it every day. I read it when the religious voice in me said, “I must read something in The Bible to say I have read The Bible today.” I have read it in times of anxiety. I have read it in times of depression. I have read it in times of trouble. I have read it during times of joy.

Particularly, I am drawn to the first verse. It says, “‘He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty’” (Psalms 91:1 NKJV). It has always been mysterious and soothing to me. It leads me to ask a few questions. What is the secret place that we should dwell in? What does dwell mean? What does abide mean? What does the shadow of The Almighty mean? Definitions of some of the words from the verse and looking at the verse in various translations answer the questions.

According to the Logos Bible App, secret place is defined as a hiding place. The CSB version of The Bible puts protection in verse one instead of secret place, so it also means a place of protection. According to Google, dwell is defined as living or residing in a particular place. Abide is a synonym for dwell. According to the Logos Bible App, The word shadow used in the verse is defined as protection. However, in our culture, we know shadow as in we see our shadow when the sun is out. So you could think of the word shadow used here as meaning God’s shadow. The Hebrew word for Almighty is Shadday, translated in English as Shaddai. You may have heard of El Shaddai, which means God Almighty.

The definitions bring clarity to the verse. If we think of shadow in terms of when we see our shadow when the sun is out then the meaning of the verse could be to be so close to God that you are by His shadow. To be by His shadow would mean that you are in the presence of God which is the safest place to be. It is a secret place because few go into His presence. Scripture tells us that narrow is the gate and that many are called but few are chosen (See Matthew 7:14 and Matthew 22:14), so we know few enter into His presence. If we think of shadow in terms of protection, meaning God’s protection, still, it is the safest place to be, and a hidden place that few ever go. The verse can be interrupted like this: The one who lives in safety will live in the presence of El Shaddai.

When I think of the secret place or this place of God’s protection, I think of the Garden of Eden mentioned in Genesis. In Genesis, we see that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, a secret place in God’s presence. They were hidden there. They walked with God in the cool of the day. Because of sin, we cannot go to this place physically. However, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, we can enter into God’s presence now (see Ephesians 3:12 and Hebrews 10:19-22). And we can become hidden in that we can come out of the secular world and enter right before Him.

How can we enter into the secret place (God’s protection or presence)? We enter by devoting ourselves to spending time with Him through, The Word, prayer, and worship. We need time set aside to devote to Him, and we also need to invite God into our daily activities. When we begin to seek God, we will enter into His presence.

I have been there. I have entered so deep into God’s presence that it felt as though I was in heaven right before the throne. I experienced His presence like this by seeking Him. I made God my refuge and fortress like the writer of Psalm 91 said in verse 2. He became The One I ran to in the good times and bad times. I clung to Him with everything in me. I made God my dwelling place.

There are benefits to making God our dwelling place. Verses three through thirteen tell us the promise of safety for dwelling with God. How can we interpret this safety that is promised in Psalms 91 when we see Christians die left and right from disasters, persecution, and/or suffer immense pain and hardships? It must be interpreted through a heavenly lens. We must fix our eyes on the things above, not the things on the earth (see Colossians 3:2), knowing that what God spoke will surely come to pass. We can rest assured that the promises may not come to pass in this life but they will in the next one. And even when we suffer difficulties or die, we can be confident of this: that nothing can separate us from God. Particularly, God will keep us to Him (see Jude 1:1). We will always be in God’s love, because nothing will separate us from God’s love (see Romans 8:38-39). We have a living hope.

The ending of the chapter, Verses fourteen through sixteen describes God’s response to us living with Him. There are even more promises. These promises too could be in this life or the next one. The key takeaways from verses fourteen through sixteen are that God will respond and bless us when we seek Him, make Him our dwelling place, and make Him our refuge.

I hope that you have a better understanding of Psalms 91. Even if you do have a better understanding of it, still study the entire chapter this week. Seek God through it. If you have not made God your dwelling place or you have let go of God being your dwelling place, let time in the chapter be your beginning or your restart of devoting yourself to making God your dwelling place.

Times of Refreshing

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,”

Acts 3:19-20 ESV

This chapter in Acts begins with a lame man healed. Peter and John encountered a man who had been lame since birth. Peter commanded the lame man to rise and walk in the name of Jesus, and so he did. Now healed, he decides to follow Peter and John. The crowd takes notice and is so amazed that they decide to follow Peter and John too. Peter decides to address the crowd and points them to who they should truly follow. He explains to them that God is the one who has healed the man and then explains how Jesus is the Anointed One that was foretold by the prophets. He then tells the crowd the words in Acts 3:19-20.

Peter says two interesting words: repent and refreshing. I want to take a look at both of these words. For starters; let’s look at both words in Greek, beginning with repent. I found online that the Greek word for repent is either metanoia or metamelomai. It means to change one’s mind. I found online the Greek word for refreshing is either anapsuxis or anapsucho, meaning refreshing or cooling. Also, I want to note that a synonym for the word refreshing is reviving. Reviving means to be brought back to life.

Let’s now go back to what Peter said. He said to repent (change one’s mind) and then their sins would be blotted out and times of refreshing (cooling, reviving) would come. Sins would be wiped away and then cooling, refreshing, and reviving would happen.

It is repentance that opens yourself up or positions you to be revived and refreshed by God. The Spirit reveals to you the sin that is entangling you, the sin of idol worship, and the sin that distracts from hearing and discerning the voice of God and doing His will. The dryness and dead things of sin are exposed, and The Spirit leads us to empty ourselves of the sin and turn back to The Lord. The turning back positions us for The Lord to refresh us. Repentance leads to revival.

One can infer that the group of people that Peter was speaking to were probably weighed down by the heaviness of sin. They probably had thoughts, beliefs, and ways they needed to turn from so that they could get back to God.

We find out later in the chapter that people did respond and repent and were brought back to life. Five thousand were added to the church that day. They repented (turned from their thought, ways, and actions) and the times of refreshing came. And what God spoke through Peter to the audience back then are words that we can take hold of today. If we repent as the verses say, times of refreshing may come upon us too. Revival would take place in us.

Go back and reread Acts chapter 3, verses nineteen through twenty. As you read let the words Peter spoke stir up in you. Let us examine ourselves this week through prayer. Below is an example of a prayer to pray for those who do not know The Lord Jesus to come to know Him and a prayer to come back to The Lord.

Prayer for Those who don’t know The Lord:

Jesus, I come to you to ask for forgiveness of my sins; save me, and make me a new person. Today, I choose to turn away from a life of sin and choose to follow you. I declare, Jesus you are Lord of my life. I thank You, Lord, for dying on the cross for my sins and raising up from the dead to save me. I believe in You and what you have done for me. In Jesus name, amen.

Prayer to turn back to The Lord:

Jesus, I confess that I have not been close to you. Forgive me and draw me near to You. I repent and draw near to you. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from them. I turn away from my sins and idols, and ask that You would break any bondage or attachment I have to any sin or idol. And Lord, refresh, revive, and restore me. May a fresh anointing fall on me. In Jesus name, amen.