Receiving Blessings Great and Small

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Receiving Blessings

When we follow the Lord with all our heart He blesses us. When we obey Him, and remain in His will, He rewards us. Let’s think back on those times when it would have been easier to go along with the crowd, turn a blind eye to something we knew was wrong, or not to give of ourselves because it would hurt us to do so; yet, we remained true to the Lord in these things. Did we not receive a blessing from being faithful? Our obedience never goes without notice, or reward, and the more difficult, or painful the effort, the greater we are blessed… sometimes with riches or earthly things, but always with spiritual wealth.

What is the Condition of My Faith?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , True Faith

As we approach Christmas morning and our celebration of the birth of Christ, let’s take this opportunity to do some soul searching, and begin by asking ourselves the straightforward question… “What is the condition of my faith?” Given the difficulties of the past two years with the COVID virus our relationships with the Lord, and each other, may have become strained. Perhaps we have walked away, or simply slipped into a sense of malaise concerning church. These have been years like none other in modern times. Satan has successfully renewed man’s age old fear of death, and used it to separate us from God who is life.

The Plague of Humanism, and Our Hope for the Church

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Humanism vs Faith

As faith fades from a people, and a nation, so do the blessings that God wants to bestow on them. When a people or nation rejects, or refuses to acknowledge that God is Lord, and does not serve Him, they lose their heritage in Him. Whether a country is one that was once faithful but has turned away, or one that is hearing the gospel and Word of God for the first time but refuses to accept it, the result is the same; God withdraws His hand from them, and His blessings are lost. Their heritage becomes a worldly one because they have chosen themselves, and this world, to be their gods…

Prayer- Joining Together in Laughter as well as Tears

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Joint Prayer

As Christians we are often asked by the people around us for prayer. They ask us to lift them up individually, or to pray for their friends, loved ones, and various happenings in their lives. When we do so there is power in our individual prayers of intercession, but Oh the power, and might, of joint prayer. When we pray as one within God’s will, and with the full confidence of His promised answer… our spirits soar. However, when we do this together as a group, or church, something even more amazing, and beautiful occurs. Suddenly the incredible flight of a single prayer joins with all the others to soar before the throne as they turn together in symphony like a flight of pigeons. They wheel high overhead turning this way and that in unison, and seem to do so almost effortlessly as they join with the others to protect us from the falcons, hawks, and goshawks, that flash ominously through our lives.

Pleasing our Heavenly Father

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Pleasing God

Are we pleasing our Father? Do we do the will of God, and obey His commandments? These are the things that bring Him pleasure. Obeying them always describes the life of Jesus Christ, because if nothing else, He was forever an obedient Son. God is with us always, but for us to be actively engaged with Him we should do just as Jesus did… do the things that please God our Father.

Beyond the What - Do we know How to Pray?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Prayer

Many ask about prayer, and how they can go about praying so that their prayers might be more effective and powerful. In truth, they want their prayers to be answered, but the real question they should ask is one similar to what the disciples asked Jesus… the disciples asked Him to TEACH them to pray and so He taught them a prayer, but had they asked HOW they should pray He would have pointed to His life… in Him we learn to pray always, pray for prayer, affix ourselves in faith, pray the simple, humble, prayers of a child, and never give up on a prayer because in offering it our faith is becoming rooted. Effective prayer is more about the How, and less about the what; it is worship, and it is kneeling in the will of God. So, how do we pray? How do you pray?

Receiving Strength in our Moments, and Seasons, of Exhaustion

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Strength , Energy

The apostle Paul worked tirelessly to teach and spread the good news of Jesus Christ, and many of us today owe our salvation, and eternal lives, to those seeds he planted, but even Paul would have grown tired in this effort had he not been infused with the energy of Jesus. The most gratifying tasks in our lives can grow wearisome over time, or by sheer exhaustion as our strength is sapped by the heavy lifting, or aging. Are we as energetic in our faith today as we once were? Do we feel weary and depleted, as day after day we go out into the world to spread the gospel message? Well we should look to the Lord as we struggle to walk on… asking for His energy to powerfully work in us, and the wisdom needed to make our efforts more efficient.

Are our Prayers Right Facing?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Lord’s Prayer

When we read the scriptures dealing with the Lord’s Prayer, we memorize them as a recitation. We repeat these words faithfully, and recognize the importance of their detailed instruction, but do we use them as a template for our own daily prayers? So many of us are accustomed to praying first for ourselves, and then secondly for the kingdom of God, but are our desires, which comprise our prayers, out of order? Are they wrong facing, and looking first towards our humanity, and then towards the divine?

Do We Judge the Faith of Others by Ours, or Ourselves by Theirs?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Spiritual Jealousy and Judging

Is there such a thing as spiritual jealousy that can get in the way of our personal pursuit of faith? Are we ever tempted to look at the walk of another and judge either ourselves, or that person? The answer is yes, and there is danger in this because of its effect on our ability to focus on the faith, and salvation, we are personally meant to seek. Faith is as individual as a fingerprint, and as intimately defining as our DNA. Every individual’s walk of faith is perfectly designed by God for he who walks it.

Do we believe like a modern day Thomas?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Belief or Faith

We are Christians because we believe in Jesus Christ, but we are called to believe in Him through our faith. The story of Thomas refusing to believe that Jesus had risen until he actually touched his wounds is the greatest example of the necessity of faith that we read in the Bible. Thomas sat at the feet of Jesus, and witnessed His life and miracles, yet when it came time to truly believe what he had heard and seen, he lacked the faith to do so. Is this our story too? Are we modern day versions of Thomas? Are we waiting on Jesus to present Himself to us before we can actually believe?

Knowing, and Obeying, the Watchmen in our Lives?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Spiritual Watchmen

When your family is facing impending danger who is it that sounds the alarm? Every family seems to have someone who stands watch, and serves as our watchman. This is more than true in the Bible as both spiritual and physical warnings are issued. The two big questions are these… does the watchman honor his calling by sounding the alarm, and, do we pay attention once that the warning has been issued? If we are reluctant to sound the alarm, or upon hearing, we don’t react to the trumpets sounding in the night, then we are truly lost.

Are we weary, and traveling the road to Emmaus?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Tired in Our Service

There are times in our lives of faith that we find ourselves sad. We feel like our spirits have faded and that our prayers are falling rather than rising from our lips. We continue on in our belief, but the joy in us has been diminished in some way. When this occurs we have lost sight of the fact that God is there with us, and that Jesus is abiding in us… we are saddened, perhaps disappointed, or mourning, even though we are standing in the very presence of God. Oh how incredulous we are, even while we are walking towards Emmaus with Jesus. In this glorious moment we are not seeing, or realizing, that He is speaking to us. This occurred on the road to Emmaus, and it happens to us today.

Does God Cause us to Suffer?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Does God Cause us to Suffer

When we first witness to someone who has never heard the good news of Christ, or when we are having a gospel conversation with a person who is struggling on the verge of believing, one of their most pressing questions they ask is “if there is a God, and He is good, then why do bad things happen to good people? Why was His Son made to suffer and die for us?” It seems we are alright with the notion of bad people suffering, or being punished, but yet we stumble when those we see as good are allowed to face hardship, pain, or tribulation. So how do we speak to them about the nature of life in the world, sin vs righteousness, and the fact that without sickness there can be no healing, unless there is suffering, we can’t know joy, or… without having come face to face with bad, or worse yet, evil, then we can never truly know what is good.

Recognizing the Voice of God.

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Knowing God’s Voice

When we hear the Lord speaking to us what does that sound like? What is it about His voice that convinces us that we are actually speaking with Him, and later, when He speaks again how is it that we recognize His voice as being the same? We read in scripture of God speaking, we imagine Him speaking before He talks to us the first time, and we know somehow that we will knowHim when he does, but how is that? Do I hear Him as you hear Him, as someone else hears Him? If He whispers, shouts, or speaks in a normal tone how do we recognize that it is the same person; is it just like how we know our earthly father’s voice? The voice of God… so mysterious… so indescribable, and yet so distinct and certain. How does our Father sound to us?

Trusting Enough to Let Go

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Trusting in Prayer

When we are in need of a miraculous healing, defense, or some other thing that is beyond our ability, we come to the Lord in prayer. We meet Jesus, and ask Him to step into our lives and provide what we need, but do we really believe He can do what we are asking? Jesus will ask us about our faith, and we will most likely say that we believe, but do we really? Are we ready to hand our problem to Him with absolute certainty that He is able to do this?

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