Trials, Choices, and our Lessons of Faith

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Trials and Faith

When we face trials in our lives God will teach us lessons in faith through them, and the hardships we encounter will be of varying degrees, but every once in a while we will face one that is so overwhelming, and so devastating, that it shakes our faith to its very core, and those are the storms that break loose the loose debris of our self-imposed religion. These are the disasters that leave us with only the cornerstone of Jesus, and the solid foundational stones of God standing. It is in such times, when we think all is lost, that we will find our belief is still intact beneath the rubble, and that the things of God which are firm, and never changing have not only survived, but have become more deeply imbedded in us. Each of us will go through minor tremors, and fires of varying degrees, but when that magnitude 10 quake comes, or the fierce fires rage, what will we find standing when their dust has settled?

Who among us can fight for God?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Fighting

It is a common misconception that we need to fight God’s battles for Him. Christian’s who think that they must aggressively defend God, or Jesus Christ, from the world are mistaken. As humans we carry a lot of defensive anger around in us, and it will bubble to the surface when we, or our families, are threatened in any way. If you aren’t inclined to believe this then try disparaging someone’s parents, correcting their child, or doing just about anything that makes them feel their loved ones are facing harm in some way. We allow this anger to bleed over into our faith too, and will turn neighbors into enemies over our desire to defend God, and even our liturgy. We will lash out at others who don’t believe as we do, and will even go to war over these differences. We act as though God needs for us to fight His battles, when all He really wants us to do is to show others who He is by standing firm in our spiritual lives, revealing the nature of His Son Jesus to the world, and then by trusting in Him as He wages spiritual war.

God’s Will; do we do more than obey it?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Doing God’s Will

When the Lord our God gives us a bitter cup, and tells us to drink, what is our response? When we are told to face the death of a loved one, or perhaps our own death, do we walk dutifully into it, or do we resist it with all our might? What was Abraham’s response when he was asked to sacrifice his only son Isaac; did he hesitate to obey? In similar fashion, Jesus didn’t want to die, but more than that, He didn’t want to disobey the will of His Father. So He healed the ear that Peter had cut from the soldier’s head as he tried to rescue Jesus, and then our savior told him to put up his sword. Jesus didn’t just obey, but he helped to facilitate God’s will. Do we do this when we come to know God’s will for us? Is it in us to not only obey, but to contribute to God’s will for us?

Defeating our Thoughts of past Sin, to gain Eternity

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Tempting Thoughts


If we choose to follow the world over Yahweh the God of Abraham, then the fallen person within us, that we have chosen, will most certainly become who we are once again. Do we seek the false treasures, pleasures, and happiness that the world has to offer us over all that God desires to give us, and to do in our lives? Were we once focused on the Lord, only to have our hearts cool towards Him, and have we turned back towards the easy way, and those things that drove our lives before we first came to know Jesus? Are we no longer adhering to God’s commandments… only seeking what pleases the fallen man, or woman, within us rather than the suffering heart of Jesus that picking up our cross, and following Him requires? Well, God looks for those whose hearts are blameless, and only in Christ can we become pure.

Trusting completely in, and Leaning heavily on, our God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Trust

When our enemies are marching against us, or problems appear ready to overcome us, we drop to our knees and pray, but quite often we hear only silence. However, God is not impressed with the strength of our adversaries like we are, nor does He fear the impending doom of problems that cause us to quake. He remains calm before calamity because it is He who has made the raging sea, and He who calms it. When facing the armies that assemble against us He remains still, even though our enemies might run at us like prides of lions. And, even if every pride in the land were gathered together as one, He is unimpressed, because they were made by His hand, and can be easily defeated with a single Word from His mouth. Do we doubt that God hears our prayers, or do we mistake His silence as a sign of fear or His inability to help us? Do we lean on Him as completely as we should… with all certainty?

Our Deliberate Travels of Faith

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Traveling

We travel the earth today in similar fashion to Jesus, and His disciples, but do we spread the gospel as we do so? A journey that took Jesus weeks and months to complete is now possible in minutes, and hours, but does that afford us the opportunity to interact with others as He was able to do? Is spreading the good news of Jesus Christ even something we consider a priority as we go, or is it something that maybe, just maybe, is an afterthought that we might stumble upon as we sit in an airplane high above the clouds? If we could travel by any means available to us, and it would not cost us a penny more, which method would we choose? In all honesty wouldn’t it be the fastest, and the one that provided us with the most comfort? Where is our Emmaus today? Where is the wind in our sails as we leave a crowd on one shore and teach a lesson of faith to our companions upon a stormy sea, as we sail to meet a waiting crowd on a distant shore?

Overcoming the World with Love

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Overcoming the World

Have we overcome the earth? There are men and women in this world that have so much wealth that they couldn’t possibly spend it in a dozen lifetimes, and yet they continue to be obsessed with it, protecting it, hoarding it, and focusing on making more. They feel like it gives them power, that they have overcome the world, and are its masters, but in truth their wealth has ensnared them, and owns them. Jesus came into this world born of meager parents, and walked across it with little more than the clothes on his back, yet He was free of poverty, because He had truly overcome the world. When we finally see as He saw, that what matters in this world is loving God, winning each soul’s deliverance from sin, and then returning it to our Heavenly Father, then we too will have overcome the world, and will have glorified God… Can we honestly say that we have overcome the world?

Worshipping God as we should

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Worshipping

Do we worship, honor, and obey God above all else as we should? When the laws of men ask us to disobey His commands and commandments, are we courageous enough in our faith to say no? Would we be willing to abandon our home and become aliens in a foreign land if that is what it takes to remain righteous? God abhors sin, and just because we are told to honor our leaders, we are still subject to God. Sometimes the penalty for disregarding man’s law can be great, and when this is the case then we face a decision that tests our faith to its very core. This is when we must determine who we serve… will it be God, or man?

Dreams, Prophesies, and Visions; in this the Age of Spirit and Truth

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Dreams

Do you dream and awaken in surprise to find that what you thought was real, was only a dream? Have you ever had a heart to heart conversations with the Lord, or received a Word from Him, that was incredibly wonderful, and so vividly real that you just knew it had to be prophetic, or biblical? Most of the time our dreams are transient, and fade from our memory once we are fully awake, but occasionally, especially if we tell someone what we have dreamed, they become lasting memories. When the Lord actually speaks to us in our dreams, they bridge the ether between the physical and spiritual world so completely that we wake up with the tastes and smells of heaven still fresh in our senses. Dreams are not of the past, and yes, we still dream divine dreams today…

Storms, Faith, and the Strengthening

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Strengthening Faith

Are we in the midst of a storm right now, and if so is it physical, spiritual, or a combination of the two? Sometimes we find ourselves physically challenged but our faith allows us to weather that challenge rather easily, sometimes we are tempted by the dark one in such a way that our spirit is directly under attack, but on occasion we face exceptionally violent storms when the physical things that we hold dear come under such horrific attack, that these storms shake us to our spiritual core, and loosen their roots. It is the latter two storms that Job faced which brought him such pain, and suffering, that he was nearly devastated, but once the wind had died, and the hail no longer pummeled him, he found that not only had his faith triumphed, but that it had grown, been purified, and was strengthened beyond belief. Are we being refined in our storms? In the end will our faith shine like gold?

Called into God’s Service, and maybe Called again, and again

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Receiving a Calling

My dear friend, and the Connection Minister at my church, Pastor Scott Hodgin, is moving to Ohio where he will teach Bible and Worship Ministry at a Christian Academy, and an English course at Cedarville University, which is a nearby Baptist university. He had been called into service as a pastor at my church to jump start its outreach into the community, and to fire up the men’s program. In less than two years he had done both, and now God is calling him to begin something new.

Proverbs, Baseball, and Swinging our Bat of Faith

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Sports and Faith

As we pick up our cross, and follow Jesus, are our eyes fixed on him alone? If so then we will walk a straight path, because our Heavenly Father has made that path straight for Jesus, and we are meant to walk it with Him. If we listen to the teaching, and follow every step that Jesus walks, placing our foot where His has been, then we will be as He is, and live in eternity before our Father as He does. Are our eyes fixed on Him? Are we learning every lesson we are being taught?

Are we walking in Fear through a Dark Valley?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Valley of Death

I was speaking with a good friend yesterday about a place known to all who even casually read scripture, “The Valley of the Shadow of Death”, and he mentioned that as he toured Jerusalem that this was presented as a real place, The Kidron Valley. We quote this phrase when we are facing terrible situations in which we might truly die, and we have also affixed many figurative meanings to it as well, but when David was writing this psalm (23rd Psalm) he might, quite literally, have been writing about this very real valley; an evil place of deep darkness where children were sacrificed to Baal. Are we facing a place of evil in our lives today? Are we at the entrance to a very real valley of deep darkness in our lives, a place where death awaits, or are we walking through a more figurative place, such as a season of darkness and evil?

Our Burdens, and the Miracles within Them

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Burdens and Faith

Have we ever taken on a duty that is distasteful, or shouldered a hardship, or responsibility, that weighed us down, but, out of necessity, we had to bear? Were our labors meant to help someone in need? There are many things in life that we do simply because they must be done, not because we enjoy doing them. But, if we are doing them out of kindness to someone, and we do these things with a good Christian heart, something wonderful happens as we work at them… we develop a taste for the distasteful, and the burdens we bear for others become light to us, and often a pleasure. If we approach such situations with the caring, and the love of Christ, we find that our love and kindness will reward us. Can we remember such times in our lives?

Made pure in the heat of God’s furnace

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Perfection , Purification

As Christians we realize that we are being refined each and every day by trials and tribulations. This is our furnace, fired so that once purified we will shine like the sun, and just as pure gold we will become soft and malleable in the hand of our Heavenly Father. 100% pure gold is easily cast or molded into shape, but even though it can easily be made into intricate shapes, it is prone to damage, and can be bent out of shape. Once refined by God we too are precious, beautiful, and highly sought after, but we must also be guarded, protected, and treated with great care lest we be crushed, or bent. The more pure our faith, the more susceptible we are to being damaged by the slightest hint of sin, and the more attentive our Father must be to us. We are susceptible to damage, innocent, and childlike… we are His prized possession.

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