All in Daily Devotional

Our Conscience - The Eye of the Soul

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Conscience Judgement

We will all be resurrected into judgement one day, so are we maintaining a clear conscience as we go about living our lives of faith? This morning, I am concerned with allowing my own conscience to guide me as I follow God's commandments and prepare myself to stand in the judgement of Christ before Him. I listen intently to it so that on the day when I account for my sins I will be perceived as pure by the profession of my conscience which was formed and reformed by my righteous spiritual knowledge and understanding. Are our consciences clean, and have they been cleansed by the blood of Jesus as we have undergone our transformation in Him… made new in Jesus Christ?

Comfortable With God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Saving Sinners

Are there situations and places where we don't feel at home with God? This is my morning thought. Our goal in faith should be to remain comfortably in the presence of God wherever we are and in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in... So how do we get there? It is easy to walk with Him when all is going well in our lives of faith and we are not experiencing spiritual challenges, but what about those times when we are facing storms and temptations?

What am I in Life and Faith Without Love?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Life Without Love

Do we know what love is, and do we understand the depth to which it should be experienced and applied to those around us? This is our contemplation today, and let’s ask ourselves if we are truly showing others the love of God and Jesus Christ as it is described in scripture and shown to us through Jesus Christ. But before we can know if we are showing it, or fully giving it, we must first know what love looks like so that we can recognize it in our lives. Scripture helps us to recognize it by describing its attributes…

Knee Jerk Faith

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Practicing Faith

How do we practice our faith? Do we add to it each day by striving to make the level of faithfulness that we reached the day before something we can perform automatically…a spiritual reflex? I hope that our faith becomes reflexive and doesn’t require us to relearn or concentrate on it day after day. I pray that our faith becomes ingrained in us by repetition and working to deepen it over time. For this to happen it requires us to continuously practice our liturgy, study scripture, and to do the other things of faith that we have already mastered, and then to build upon them by adding God’s new lessons and revelations atop this foundation. We need to continue practicing what we have heard preached in church, what we have learned during our walk of faith, and then to build upon these things as we continue walking in a newness of faith each day.

Leaning on the Revelation of God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Fishers of Men

Does God reveal Himself to us each day? If we are anticipating a revelation of God, we are more than likely going to receive it. Looking for God implies that He is central to our lives, and has replaced self as the driving force in them. When we look inward for the answer to our problems, we get a solution that is limited by our own intellect and experience, but when we turn to God the possibilities are endless.

Leaving Home to Follow Jesus

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Immediately Following Jesus

Placing our relationship with Jesus above all others in our life. Is this something that we are willing, or able, to do? Could we walk away from home and family if Jesus asked us to "follow me, and I will make you fishers of men"? Peter and Andrew left far more than just their nets... they left their homes and families to follow Jesus. Have we seriously thought about how we would react if Jesus walked up to us and said, "follow me?" So I ask again… Would we, or could we, just walk away from our home and family to follow Him? Could we love Him more than our wives, and our children… could we love our families less than Him?

Of Love, Life, and a Contract with God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, A Contract with God

We don't find Jesus through an academic study of scripture nearly as much as scripture is revealed to us while walking with Him. Don’t each of us remember a time when we were mired down in our study of the Bible to the point that we couldn’t touch the living Christ there? But, once we have met Him in the gospel, doesn’t He bring the whole of scripture alive for us and set us free in it.

Our Sympathy and Will vs. the Will of God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Sympathy and Will

When we offer intercessory prayers for those around us, is our own sympathy for them getting in the way of offering effective prayer? Are we putting our own desires for their wellbeing between them and God? Scripture tells us to pray for others, and in fact I am a dedicated intercessor. I pray for others every day, and not just trivially. Although this is something we are called to do many of us have the misconceived notion that intercessory prayer is some flowing oration suitable for publication... but it is not. Intercessory prayers should be comprised of real language to a real God in the midst of real-life issues, and we are meant to ask that His real will be done. Intercessory prayer allows us to reconcile our will with God’s.

Walking With the Invisible

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Real God

When we follow God are we walking close enough to actually see Him? When we look ahead can we see Him there with Jesus as He leads us on? Paul spoke of how Moses endured hardship by “seeing Him who is invisible", but does our own faith allow us to see God in this way, or does He remain invisible to us in our times of fear, suffering, and temptation? Have we experienced God in such a way that He is forever real to us? When we think of God are we remembering Him by what He has been and done in our lives and as being tangible and real, or is He simply imagined and invisible to us; A God that exists in our mustard seed of faith alone?

The Spontaneous Love of God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Love and God

Love is many things, but more than just these things it is spontaneous.  We don't set out to love someone, it just happens, and if that spontaneity isn't present then it isn't love. How do we feel towards and approach God? Is it always in love, or out of need? Paul tells us in First Corinthians about the attributes of love. As he expounds on love he isn't telling us so much about how to love but is describing to us what love is... if you feel these things and see these things, then you are in love. But, if they must be developed or contrived, then you are experiencing something else which has no strong anchorage against the storms of life... nor safe harbor for our loving faith.

Are we Strong Enough to Submit?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Submitting to God

We live in a culture that honors self-assuredness and strength in pursuit of fame and fortune over all else, but God, on the other hand, places meekness and humility above pride and strength. When it comes to real strength, He is looking for how it relates to our faith and spiritual character alone. If we want to have what is really valuable in life, and to live our lives abundantly, then we need to hand ourselves over to God. This is a humbling thing, but not a weak one. To yield ourselves totally to the Lord requires great strength of character and faith. It requires us to trust in Him completely and without question… it redefines meekness as men are inclined to think of it.

Are We Lost in a Case of the “I Wants”

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Worldly Wants

Do we want to be great men and women of faith? Is our goal to be like Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, or Martin Luther King? Is working quietly in the trenches of faith unappealing to us? Did the first sentence of your prayer this morning contain "give me", "make me", or "let me?" Well, God sees no need for you to be great in the world unless it just so happens that by so doing it meets a necessity of His will. As a matter of fact, some of the biggest disappointments in the Bible have been great people (like Nebuchadnezzar and Delilah) but men like David became great despite themselves because God needed them for that purpose or as an example. Often (also like David) they were great without having sought greatness.

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