Faithfully Facing the World, Together and Alone.

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Trouble and Faith

What do we do when the articles of our faith go missing from within our churches? What do we seek when the Arc of our faith can no longer be found in the houses of worship where we once experienced God’s presence, and forgiveness? If every church, cathedral, temple, and house of worship, were demolished, where would we turn to find God? We should do what so many of us did during the COVID 19 pandemic, and what so many others have done under extreme persecution, we open His Word in our hearts, and seek God in our quiet places by retreating into our own temples to worship Him… into the temples of our bodies, and the safe havens of our homes. In these, the personal sanctuaries of our faith, and belief, we find God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. In these places our spirituality remains safe, and is secure from its enemies. The door to heaven remains open.

Do our Inequities Alter God’s Faithfulness?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , God’s Faithfulness

Today let’s think about a question that many have considered in the past, and is raised Biblically for us in the book of Romans. Our question today is this… Does God cease to be faithful just because we do? When we waver in our faith, or lose hope in a prayer, does this nullify God’s promises, or make His truth any less true? Does our lack of faithfulness change Him in any way?

Baptized into the Death of Jesus

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Baptism into Death

Death is not a topic that we as people like to dwell on, but it is one of the central themes to us as Christians. It goes hand in hand with resurrection. We symbolically recognize this in our baptism by being immersed, or dying to our old selves, and it concludes with our being raised up out of the baptismal water, resurrected, to live as new creations. Without Jesus suffering, bleeding, and carrying our sin into death, then rising again righteous and glorified from the grave, what hope would we have of salvation and eternity? How would our sin have been absolved? The Angels sang in celebration at His birth, and all of heaven and earth stood still at the moment of His death, but we are not privy to what transpired in heaven at the moment of His resurrection; it remains a mystery to us now, just as it did then, and all we hear on this subject is divine silence. We do know that our sin died, and we weren’t made one with Him.

Trials, Endurance, Character, and hope that becomes Salvation

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Hope of Salvation

People face many trials in their lives, and as Christians we are not exempt from them. It is common for new Christians to think that because we experience a deep seated hope in salvation that this implies that our hardships in life will vanish, but to the surprise of many we find that they do not, and are a necessary part of a robust faith. Suffering through trials increases the endurance of our faith, which in turn strengthens our character, and this leads us to an amazing hope, and at last, a confidence in our salvation through Jesus Christ. When we suffer, and we do so in Jesus, something amazing happens… our faith, and walk with Him becomes stronger, and sweeter. The confidence, and hope, we have of salvation wells up in us, and God’s will for us in Christ, extends beyond our earlier hope into reality.

Acknowledging God’s Holiness

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , God’s Holiness

Are we brazen enough to think that we can command regarding His promises, or to tell Him to do the things we want Him to do? Are we like insolent children who don’t ask but attempt to demand their fathers to do this, or to give them that? The God of all creation, and more, is not ours to order about, but to obey. His promises are just that… HIS promises. The love that God shows us is not an obligation but a gift, and more than that… it is to be returned in kind. We are meant to ask so that we should receive, and to love just as we are loved. Are we approaching God in this manner? Are we humble, and filled with awe in His presence? Or, are we insolent, and demanding like spoiled children? Do we approach him as the almighty I Am that He is, and do we acknowledge His Holiness?

Unwavering Faith in Our Every Step

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Unwavering Faith

Have we ever stepped out in faith, and then somewhere along the way let doubt overcome us? Have we had a moment like Peter did in which he started walking across the water in obedience to Jesus, but let what was happening around him, the wind and the waves, undermine his faith? Perhaps our moment was different, maybe we were called to answer a mission need in a foreign country, but some danger in that country caused us not to go. Or just maybe it was a small still voice telling us to talk to someone about the Lord, and at the last minute we feared that they might have an adverse reaction, and turned away. How strong is our faith today, and are we still walking on the water?

The Angel that Strengthened Jesus

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , God’s Love

When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, that the cup be taken from Him, and His prayer was so fervent that His sweat fell like blood, an Angel was sent to strengthen Him, and for years I read this to mean that the Angel strengthened His faith, and gave Him the physical determination to obey God’s Will, but then it dawned on me that I was wrong. Jesus had perfect faith, belief, and never wavered in obeying God’s will. What I now envision the Angel bringing Jesus was the strength of God’s love. I see an Angel holding Him in a loving embrace, and covering Him with His Father’s love. When sin and death passed away and the world was transformed, Jesus endured all of the suffering, and took on the world’s sin, not by some miraculous degree of physical fortitude, but through the power of love. Do we look to God’s love when we face the hard things in our lives? Do we feel the loving embrace of our Father as unseen Angels hold us close?

Knowing and Doing the Will of God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , God’s Will

We are meant to do the will of God, but do we know what that is, and if not, how do we come to know it? We can’t discern the entire will of God on our own, because it is too deep and broad for us, but He will show it to us in bits and pieces as His Holy Spirit guides us day by day in understanding, and obedience. We come to know it through prayer, studying His Word, and listening for His voice. We will know it is His will, not ours, by testing what we hear in this way.

Following God’s Voice to a Righteous Life

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , God’s Voice and Forgiveness

Do we listen for spiritual guidance in our everyday earthly walk, or do we believe that our journey through the world is separate from our walk of faith? Do we only hear God when we want help, and attempt to turn Him on and off like a spigot in other matters? Do we listen for His voice in the spiritual, but cover our ears otherwise? Before knowing God, and Jesus Christ we become accustomed to determining our own way, and walk or run as we like; this is the earthly way before we know the Lord. But, once we believe we are transformed, and our world ceases to be governed by our own decisions… we are ruled by He who created the world, and His Son Jesus who has conquered it. Are we prepared to live a righteous life? Are we prepared to face the consequences of continued sinning?

Wheat, Living Bread, and Eternity in every Crumb

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Living Bread

We are like the grain that becomes the bread, the body of Christ. We haven’t always been bread. We start as a seed, then a sprout, a seedling, a flowering stalk, a waving head, then the mature grain that is harvested, threshed, gathered, and finally ground by a mill into flour. Our life in the field might seem calm and glorious, but unless we are cut, threshed, and ground, we aren’t suitable for God’s purposes… to become the bread of life. Then, and only then, are we baked, and finally broken to be shared with the many… asking only that they remember all that has led us to this moment. Are we ready to be sowed in the field? How about ground by the mill?

Becoming Transformed by God’s Word, and Spiritual Song

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

We read a psalm that we didn’t write, about a time that we didn’t live, and yet it becomes our own. The emotion, the faith, and the belief are suddenly ours, and the I becomes us, just as if we were saying it and writing it. David writes “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want”, and those words relieve our wants; the green pastures become ours to rest in, and the still waters are as smooth and crystal clear as if we are seeing them with our own eyes. Some might call this imagination, but the faithful call it the Holy Spirit. We read more than what David saw with his eyes, we are lead to feel the relationship he felt with the Lord. Do we feel it? Do we live that gift as we are immersed in each verse? Is the comfort of David ours as his words are transformed within us? Does the I, and the me, that he wrote become us?

Are we at peace? Are we still?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Peace and Still

We read the account of Jesus calming the sea and marvel at His power, and command over it, but if we read this passage carefully we see that He gave two commands here. The first was a single word… “Peace!”, and the second was “Be still!” Although these are commands that scripture says He spoke to calm the sea, we should hear, and obey them in our own lives too… not to calm various situations we find ourselves in, although this would be appropriate, but to bring peace to our souls, and still our spirits. The first to bring us calm, and the second as we feel the presence of God. Do we hear Him in this way in the midst of the storms we encounter?

The Power of One Prayer to Save and Deliver Us

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Individual Prayer

When we are facing great danger or eminent threat, who do we turn to for our salvation? Do we think that an army can save us, or the money of the wealthy will purchase peace and safety from our attackers? Perhaps we believe that our deliverance will be in a bottle of pills, or by the skill of a surgeon, but whatever, or whoever we rush to, they are nothing without the hand of God guiding them, and we can expect nothing unless our trust, and faith are in anything other than the Lord. Where does our help really come from, and do we place our confidence in God, or in the actions of those who can guarantee nothing?

Forgetting the pain of trial, and remembering the reward of God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Blessing

When Joseph had been through all his boyhood suffering, been sold into slavery, and had risen to power in Egypt, he was blessed with two sons. The first he named after God’s mercy for allowing him to forget those hardships, and the second he named for the blessings God poured out on him after his afflictions. We should take note that although we face trouble in our lives the Lord is merciful in them, and that blessings rise from their ashes. Do we look at our lives like a burning house, and forget this short lived suffering while seeing what our Father is preparing to build for us on that very spot?

Morning Prayers, and the Desperation of our Soul

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Morning Prayers

Do our prayers begin to rise up before our feet hit the floor each morning? Do we thank the Lord for this new day, and ask Him to lead us in it before we stand erect to face the world? It is one thing to seek God in prayer when we will confront something difficult in the coming day, or are being pursued by an enemy, and are desperate for help, but what about the desperation of our soul? That deep longing that yearns for the presence of the Lord? Do we long for Jesus to awaken in us, and God to lift us up as we breathe the first breaths of each new dawn? Is our faith rekindled and the fire of our soul’s desire for our relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, bursting into flame to light our way… even before we reach our prayer chair or closet? Ask yourself… at what point in my day does my soul desire to enter into the presence of God?

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