Tarry not in your Faith but flow like Living Water

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional

What is it that causes us to move, most of the time it is because where we are has become uncomfortable, and in this way the allure of the slightest good beckons us to come. Most of us like to remain where we feel comfortable, and once we have put down roots we are reluctant to change, but not changing also means not growing. The shepherd knows this bout his sheep, and God knows this about us, so the shepherd drives his sheep to new pastures, and the Lord urges us towards a stronger faith with every storm we encounter.

Victory, our Joyous Song, and the final Wrath of God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Final Wrath of God

As I read Revelation today I came to the account of the seven angels who brought the final wrath of God on the world in the form of seven plagues, but this image was not all gloom and doom; with them came those who had conquered the beast along with its image and the number of its name. These conquerors were singing the song of Moses, and Jesus Christ, and I thought to myself that I wanted to be counted in that number. I want to be one of the victors who will sing with great joy, knowing that the final plagues are at hand. I want to be one who will lift his voice joyfully in the realization that the final victory is at hand. Mighty is our God, merciful and full of grace is He, yet perfect is His judgement upon the world. Do we long for this day?

Claim Joy in Jesus, and the Promise of Life Eternal

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Ressurection, Easter

Easter is approaching and we will remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as we walk into this season, but we don’t do so by rending our clothing, and mourning His death alone; we also celebrate His rebirth, the resurrection! Remaining in grief and sorrow is to deny the will of God, and to negate Christ’s great obedience and love that was manifest in His death. The blood, and body of Jesus means little to us without the power that His resurrection brings. It is the difference between hope, and lost hope, eternal sorrow, and eternal joy. Do we choose then to remain on Calvary, or at the grave? I pray we don’t, because our Lord has risen, and He has claimed victory for us against all sin and death! Our faith is not based on mourning His death, but celebrating His life. How do we approach Calvary, and the death of those we love?

What does the Wilderness hold for us?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , The Wilderness

How many times have we been led by the Spirit into a wilderness of some type, and to what end were we led there? Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, but we really don’t know what went on there during those forty days prior to the three temptations except that he fasted, and became hungry. What we do know is that at the end of His time in the wilderness He successfully faced the temptations that we are so familiar with. So what is it that takes 40 days to accomplish that can prepare us to face such trials?

Ukraine, Russia, and the True Enemy we all face

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Our True Enemy

There are times in our lives when we come under attack. It might be on the schoolyard at the hands of a bully, in the workplace as someone tries to ruin our business, take our job, or destroy our good name, and it might be in the world when an enemy wants to subjugate us, or lay our country to waste. But the worst attack of all is a spiritual attack when the minions, or forces of evil, want to separate us from God, and silence the voice of Jesus within us. How do we pray when evil comes to destroy the love we have for God, or pluck Christ from us? How do we gather our strength, and awaken our faith for the battle that is coming? We pray a prayer that will muster our faith, and call on the promises that have been made to us. We pray for discernment, and for God to defend us… to protect us.

Remembrance, Assuredness, and Hope in our Prayers

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Hope

When God makes a promise to us it is His bond, and He needs no reminder of it, so why is it that we feel inclined to remind Him of His Word in our prayers? We do this, not for God’s benefit, but to remind ourselves of what He has said, insure ourselves that we are praying as we should, and to give ourselves renewed hope. Remembrance, assuredness, and hope, or in other words, His Word, His promise, and our faith, how can we possibly pray without any one of these being present… even if they manifest themselves in something as simple as a groan?

Ukraine… Strengthening our faith in the Presence of War

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Faith in our Suffering

We watch yet again as Christians face adversity and suffering. We see the Ukrainian believers set upon by evil men who seek to conquer their neighbors, and subjugate others. Even as the bombs fall and the rockets streak across the Ukrainian night sky, we watch our brothers and sisters in Christ praying for relief, and for deliverance from this horde. They are not alone, and we also see the Christians in Russia praying for peace, and the recall of their countrymen, the Russian troops. Evil… it knows no borders, nor language barriers, and the suffering that comes as a result of it cuts like a double edged sword. So where is God in the midst of such human travail sadness, and suffering? We find Him right there in the heart of it saying “Turn to me!”, “Return to me!”… “lean on me!” In our weaknesses and desperation, we find strength in Christ.

Our Hope in the Midst of Crisis

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Hope

What is the condition of our hope in Jesus Christ today? Are we dejected, walking disappointedly, and in possible disbelief, towards Emmaus, or are we facing life with hopeful prayer on our lips, and with our eyes fixed on the sky as we anticipate His imminent return? Sometimes the world deals us a terrible blow that knocks the wind out of us, and we find ourselves facing a crisis of faith, but the proper way to deal with those occurrences is to redouble the intensity of our prayers, and lean on the Holy Spirit for the remembrance of all we have been promised… “I am with you always”, and “I have overcome the world.” to mention just two.

Where does our Strength come from?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Strength and Faith

We are believers, Christians, and yet we can still lose our grasp on the eternal promise that is offered us by God through Jesus Christ. We come to know Him, pick up our cross, and follow after Him, yet if not careful, somewhere along the way we can become fatigued, we can allow our heart to slip into sinfulness, or we might gaze too long into the evil eyes of the world, and in this way can become corrupt… lost.

God’s Word is our Feast, and the Spice of Life

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , God’s Word

There is an old saying that goes like this “Variety is the spice of life”, and we all adhere to it in one way or another. We don’t like to vacation in the same place all the time, we like to watch different shows on television, and we certainly like to eat a variety of foods. The same is true in our spiritual lives. Although we might have favorite verses of scripture that resonate with us, that we commit to memory, and which seem to apply especially well to our lives, all scripture is meant to be taught, learned, and made a part of who we are as men and women of faith.

Strengthening our souls, and faith, to win the spiritual war

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Spiritual Warfare

We read in scripture that our faith requires attention and strengthening in order for us to face the many tribulations we will encounter in this fallen world. Our road to righteousness is hard, and filled with many obstacles that must be overcome before we can win the day, and enter into Heaven. We sing about the hour we first believed, and how we felt when we took that first sweet taste of eternity with Jesus, but as glorious as that moment was, it was only the beginning of our journey, the infancy of our faith, and was meant to prepare us for the initial hardships that lay ahead. We go on to read the words of encouragement that Paul, Peter, James, and others wrote, and listen to the teaching of Jesus. We know by them that though we win today’s battle, the spiritual war that rages on is long, and will demand much of us. We are told to put on our armor every day, exercise our faith to increase it, and face the dark enemy with an increased vigor. The time to rest has not yet come.

Alone Each and Every Morning with God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Waking with God

Each and every morning I rise, and spend the first hours of my day alone with God. I read His Word, and I pray in the name of His Son Jesus Christ. Then I write what the spirit has given me. There is no substitute for this time when we present ourselves to the Lord. We are made new in faith by committing ourselves fresh to Jesus Christ, and finding ourselves awash in the Holy Spirit in these quiet moments with God. Long before we walk into the world we should embrace Him. We are not meant to prepare ourselves in the morning, but to do so before our morning begins. God told Moses to be ready BY morning, and so we are to do the same. We should close our eyes each evening with a prayer flowing from our mouths; longing in excited anticipation for the moment when our eyes will reopen, and we will take our Father’s hand once more. We should yearn for the feeling of joy that our first breath will bring as we begin the new day in His presence.

Lead Lines, and the Deeper Truths of God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Fathoming Faith

A lead line is a weighted rope used aboard ships to measure the depth of the water at their bow. Do we know how deep our faith has become, and do we find confidence, or perhaps complacency, in knowing it is beyond our ability to measure? As we fathom our faith, the depth and intricacy of God can often exceed our ability to determine it, and when we face such unreachable, and unsearchable depths we can often become complacent, and fall back on our own understanding, but among many other things, God’s Holy Spirit adds cord to our lead line, and reveals the deeper truths that wait for us as we sail into the unknown mysteries of God.

Ukraine, the latest Battlefield of Faith

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Spiritual War

We all watch the images on television of the atrocity that is unfolding in Ukraine, and we listen to the hymns being sung in the city streets there. Our tears flow as we watch tanks running over cars filled with people, and the shelling of apartment buildings, churches, and public places while prayers are being offered up underground in subways, and cellars, but persecution and destruction are nothing new for us as Christians… it is an age old story of assault that is perpetrated by Satan, the evil one.

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