All in Devotion

Prayer, and the Language of Tears

Richard Forbes
Christian , Devotion, Praying

Baptizing tears... This is a description of the tears we cry in our prayer closets. Seeking the face of God moves us emotionally, and as we approach Him tears often flow. For the most part, people attribute tears to sadness or distress, and this is how the bible uses them in symbolism, but they are much more than that. People cry when strong emotion overcomes them... Great beauty, intense pain, fantastic joy, deep commitment, unbounded faith, the grandness of a moment before God, and other experiences of overwhelming sensory, emotional, or spiritual awakening.

Taking No Offense in Jesus

Richard Forbes
Christian , Devotion, Offense

Are we blessed in the relationship we have with Jesus Christ? When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether He was the Messiah that they had been waiting for, Jesus told them to recount for John all the miracles He had performed, and that He preached the good news, but then He said something quite different… He told them to tell John that those who were not offended by who He was would be blessed.

Do not be Harsh - Marriage, and how to love God, Jesus, and your Wife

Richard Forbes
Christian, Daily Devotion, Devotion, Marriage, Love

A married man says he loves his wife, and I hope that is true, but how do we gauge whether we are honestly loving her as we should? The only true measure is to compare our love for her against the love of Jesus for His bride... the Church. Comparing ourselves against other men is to make a flawed comparison; only when we go to scripture and use Jesus as our model are we able to truthfully understand the love we should have.

Attempting to Cast our Shadow upon the Light of God

Richard Forbes
Devotion, Yielding, Relationship, Daily Devotion, Humility, Christian

When you enter your time of devotion and reading the scriptures, is your intention to study the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God, like a scientist would study a specimen in a lab? If you are a pastor are you looking for eloquence and inspiration that can be used in your sermons? If so then you are treating your relationship and faith as if they were something you might own, and not the love of your life that you should be immersed in, and changed by.

The Music in God’s Word

Richard Forbes
Christian, Understanding, Devotion, Holy Spirit, Comfort

Is the Word of God alive to you? Is the gospel of Jesus Christ breathing within your being? If we really desire the Word to come alive and to infuse us with the life that only God can provide, then we need the Holy Spirit moving within us. It is the difference between a grade school child reading “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, (the work of poet Lord Alfred Tennyson), and sitting at his feet while Tennyson himself reads the verse. The Spirit brings life to the Word for us.

Of Oil and Spirit; The Anointing

Richard Forbes
Devotion, Healing, Oil, Christian, Holy Spirit, Anointing

Have you ever been anointed with oil? Has a Pastor, or elder, prayed over you as they took oil, and applied it to you? Did you understand what was happening at that moment, or did you think it was merely an aromatic balm, or lotion; symbolic? Anointing is a sacred practice and is Holy; in so doing the one being anointed is being made Holy, Consecrated, and being set apart. Let’s look at this further. 

Prayer: Who Taught You to Pray?

Richard Forbes
Christian, Prayer, Devotion

Who taught you how to pray? Did you learn so long ago that you can’t actually remember? Did you learn by reciting common prayer in church? Perhaps your mother and father taught you as a child. For something so crucial and basic to our faith and relationship with Jesus and God, we appear to approach it in an often haphazard manner. So how should we pray?

Whose Child am I, and how Complete is my Love?

Richard Forbes
Child of God, Christian, Daily Devotion, Devotion, Love

How much of ourselves have we given to God in love? Do we conform to His will in all things, or only as much as we think it will take to please Him? Jesus was the most amazing and incredible man to have ever lived, and yet He subjected Himself in His entirety to God... He leads us in understanding the true nature of God’s expectation of us. He demonstrates what it means to be a loving Child of God.