Loving as we are able, to the limits of our being

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Love

We know that God loves us, and that the depth of His love is unfathomable. We know this because He sent His only begotten Son to die for us, even though we were lost in our sin. By this unbound love He redeemed us, and for this we love Him in return, and praise His name. But, can we possibly love Him as He loves us? We strive to do so, but can we truly grasp the fullness of being loved as He loves us? Our love falls far short of God’s, yet we offer Him all that we have, and give Him all we are capable of, pressing the very limits of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is His commandment; not that we love him as He is able to love us, but that we love Him to the limits of our ability, with all we are capable of. Is this how we find ourselves loving God today?

Are the Wrinkles of Age increasing our Faith?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Daily Renewal of Faith

As we age, and our bodies begin to show signs of mortality, it is easy for the suffering believer to lose sight of the fact that this inevitable physical aging is not a total fading away, but one of the body only. Our daily pains, and other age related encumbrances can cause us to focus our attention on what ails us physically each day, and to lose sight of the spiritual growth, and renewal that we are experiencing at the very same moment. Today let’s redirect our attention away from what the world is reclaiming, and take heart in what Jesus, and the Spirit are renewing, and increasing further, as they prepare us for eternity with God.

Do we lean on God, and trust Him to make our decisions?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Making Decisions

When decisions are to be made how do we make them? Do we use our own intellect, and reason within ourselves until at last we think we have the right answer? This is the way of a natural, or worldly, man, and as such the world places a great deal of value in those who are self-sufficient like this. We honor self-made men and women, those who are self-assured, self-reliant, and contain all the other “selfs” that we can think of, but is this really what God desires us to do?

For His Glory, and in the Name of Jesus

Richard Forbes
Praying as We Should

In the gospel of John, the Apostle describes to us a historical progression in the method of praying for miracles, and our other divine petitions. He begins with a quote from Jesus in which Christ tells us to ask of Him, in His name, for the things we desire, but as the New Covenant is realized, and the Holy Spirit is poured out on us, John reveals a new, and revised, method via another amazing quote of Jesus. Our Savior tells us that we are no longer to ask Him for these things, but to ask God, our Father, directly. Although we are still to ask the Lord in His name, the name of Jesus. Now, In this, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, we truly are new creatures… having become much more like Christ.

Written on our hearts, and Spoken by our tongues… God’s Word

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Living God’s Word

Oh, I pray that we would all be seen as letters from Christ. I pray that our hearts would contain the Word of God, written there by His mighty finger as it moves within us. I pray that we each make our hearts and spirits to be living tablets, spiritual scrolls, and that we open them to Him. When we turn our gaze inward I pray that we find His Word there. When those around us watch us living out our lives it is my deepest desire that they see the image of Jesus Christ, and hear God’s Word, alive, and powerful, as if read aloud, and echoing from the mountains, and through the valleys of our lives and beings. Do others see our faith thriving within us as their example, and edification as they walk the pilgrim’s path towards their own righteousness, and as they seek holiness, and perfection within themselves? Are these prayers rising from your heart today?

Jew or Gentile, this is our solution to Sin

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Believing

Peter preached the gospel of Jesus to the Jews, and told them how they had crucified the Son of God. When they came to understand this as truth they were distraught, and asked what they could do to save themselves. Today we hear the same gospel, and find that we are just as lost to sin as they were. When we come to understand this truth we are equally distraught, but brothers and sisters, fear not, because the solution that Peter preached to the Jews in his day is still sufficient to save us today.

The Many Circumcisions we Endure

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Circumcision of the Heart

Many people come to know Jesus during a time in their lives when they are suffering through some affliction, and are made to feel the slightest breeze across their soar bodies and spirits. We call this having our hearts circumcised, and in this moment of wincing pain we become receptive to Christ’s message of redemption, healing, joy, and peace. When we look back on our personal moment of salvation can we relate to this? If not, then perhaps we can identify another time in our walk of faith when we were made tender to the touch of God… and felt the ever so slight brush of the Holy Spirit as He wafted about, and through us.

Outward, or Inward, where does our beauty reside?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Inner Self

Do you look in the mirror and like who you see there? Do you see every blemish, every imperfection, and pray that they be removed from you? Perhaps you are even discouraged by them, becoming depressed, or cursing God for allowing you to remain this way. Well, you are judging yourself wrongly as man judges you, and have missed the amazing beauty that God has created in you, and in whose image you were made. You are missing the eternal beauty that only comes from within… from your spirit as it abides in Christ, and He in you.

Is our Liturgy Dead to Us?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Liturgy and Dead Works

Every Church employs liturgy, even if they don’t call it that. We go through our liturgical rites and rituals as we worship, and many of them remind us of the more important things of Christian faith, but in the end they are just empty actions without the Holy Spirit helping us to infuse them with the blood and life of Christ. What is communion if we can’t remember Jesus in it, ingesting His body and drinking His blood as we partake of the elements? What is baptism but a refreshing dip without the Holy Spirit opening our eyes to the truth of Jesus, and being born again? If our liturgical actions become performa, and don’t include Jesus then they are nothing but dead works.

Lifting Up Morning Prayer, in our Joy, or Sorrow

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Morning prayer

How do we begin and end each day? Do we open our eyes with praise and thanksgiving on our lips? Do we do this in the hard to times as well as the good? Relationships are built from constant attention, but they are made strong in times of hardship, sorrow, and suffering. In times like this we see what is true about our love as we lean on a friend, or share in a disappointment. Praising God is not meant to be a “Happy Time Only” event, and requires discipline as we come to Him EVERY day, and in ALL things.

Throwing off Sadness, and Hopelessness, for Eternal Joy in Jesus

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Hope and Joy

Christianity isn’t burdensome, nor is it filled with somber tones and sadness. Our faith in Jesus is meant to be overflowing with hope, and all the joy and peace of God. His crucifixion is not the culmination of a life filled with hopelessness and suffering, but is a momentary shout of pain, and death, that was the means by which he shouldered the bitterness of the world and redeemed us. Through this we have come to realize the hope of ages. He passed through those brief days and then rose to a new and amazing height of joy. His words “It is done” are not words of defeat, but of joy and of a Hope now realized. In them His sacrifice was complete, He arose, and the joy, and hope, of all Christianity lifted up with Him to embrace us in the arms of God’s eternal joy and peace.

Living Water, the Living Spirit, and our Living Testimony

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , God’s Power in Us, God’s Provision, Inheritance

Living water flows from Jesus Christ, and we accept this readily, but we don’t consider often enough that this same living water flows from us. We hear that we should believe in Jesus, and that He is the living Son of God, but we don’t dwell so much on how the power of Christ abides in us. Scripture tells us that Christ abides in us, and we in Him, and as the truth of this becomes apparent to us, the further truth of His power residing in us becomes apparent as well.

Saved by Christ, and Sanctified by the Holy Spirit

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Sanctification , Soldiers, Holy

It is the Holy Spirit’s job to sanctify us, but do we treat his presence too lightly, and deny him the full access to our spirit that he requires to make this happen... to make us holy? Do we as Christians seek to become better men and women in Christ, but stop short of committing ourselves to the pursuit of holiness, and perfection, that should be our greater goal? Are we satisfied with doing enough to be saved, yet fall short of pursuing sanctification, and holiness?

Intellect, Spirit, Understanding God, and our Inheritance

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Understanding God

We are not meant to understand scripture with our intellect alone, but in a much deeper sense we are to engage God’s Word with our spirits. We can read that “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son” (John 3:16), and understand that it was out of love that Jesus was sent to us, but until our spirit reveals to us the depth and breadth of that love, and who Jesus is, then we don’t truly grasp the deeper meaning of those Words. We can’t feel that love as it was given, and enter into it. We need the Holy Spirit’s help in gaining this level of wisdom, and receiving this revelation.

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