Refusing to Move into the Darkness

My husband and I just made a major move halfway across the U.S. It's a challenging time as we learn what we need to know about our new location and seek to fulfill God's purposes. 

But the challenges my husband and I face in our move are nothing compared to the challenges all Christians are facing as our world “moves” farther away from God and farther into the darkness of a Romans 1:18-32 world, where sins are celebrated and God's truth is mocked. 

We're facing new challenges, but we have some wonderful examples to help us shine in the darkness (Matthew 5:14-16).

✔ Like David, we can come against our “Goliaths” in the name of the Lord our God, trusting God's strength, not our own (1 Samuel 17:45).  

✔ Like Joseph, we can see God’s good purposes in seemingly bad circumstances (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28).  

✔ Like Queen Esther, we can bravely take advantage of the opportunities in our sphere of influence, knowing we are born “for such a time as this” (Esther 1-10; Esther 4:14). 

✔ Like Paul, our desire to serve the Lord can be our driving force (Philippians 3:7-14). 

Our world has “moved,” dear Christians, but we can stay grounded in God's purposes, facing our challenges fully engaged and fully protected (Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 6:10-18). 

 

See these devotions that give further insights to each bullet point:

 

✔ Some Trust in Chariots and Some in Horses

    You can also listen to this devotion on YouTube: Some Trust in Chariots 

✔ Joe's Secret 

✔ Let's Not Remain Silent

✔ Serious, Deliberate, Wholehearted

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The Freedom of Contentment

“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.”  

G. K. Chesterton

Our grandparents saved for years to buy things we get on credit the minute we want them. 

We no longer understand the difference between a want and a need, and our culture encourages us to live beyond our means.

The worst part: we think we deserve these things—and that’s the belief that enslaves us.

Paul said, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through [Christ] who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:12-13 

Today let’s take a moment to thank God for His provision and beg Him for contentment in whatever situation we find ourselves.

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For some additional insights on worldly values and to hear what I got paid for my childhood Barbie doll, see Do You Value What God Values?

To see the discounted price of my book Wisdom for Life check out: Amazon, CBD, and the other sites listed here: Wisdom for Life.

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Expecting Hardships

Before I became a Christian I was a happy wife and mother, but inwardly I was discontent. I wasn't sure why, but when I found Christ, it all made sense. I needed Jesus to give my  life meaning and purpose, grace and forgiveness, wisdom and truth.

During the first few months of my new faith, I heard teachings that claimed Christians are promised healing and comfort in life. It sounded great! But it didn't take long to realize those teachings didn't match the things I was reading in Scripture.

In many ways, Scripture prepares Christians for more difficulties, not fewer (e.g., John 15:18-21; 2 Corinthians 4:8-11). And the longer I've been a Christian, I've definitely faced more challenging difficulties than during my unsaved years. Life has gotten harder in one sense, but I've seen how my difficulties have provided wonderful opportunities to grow in my faith. Through hardship, I've better understood the awesome character of my Lord.

As Jesus explains in John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 

Whatever hardships or challenges you're facing, remember that earth isn't your home. We're aliens and strangers here dealing with earthly problems. But we're headed for a place of peace and joy beyond our imaginations (Hebrews 11:13-16).  

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For more on this subject, see Solid Food Faith and Aliens and Strangers. And if you'd like to know what Scripture teaches about healing, see The Biblical View of Healing. 

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Mistreated or Misunderstood? These 5 Scriptures Will Help!

We all face injustice at times in our lives.

So how do we keep it from disabling us with anger, fear, resentment, or sorrow? 

1. Remember that Jesus is our example. Nothing we experience can compare to the injustice Jesus experienced. See Philippians 2:5-11. 

2. Remember that Jesus fully understands our pain. He's been in our shoes and knows how we feel. He can fully sympathize and fully comfort us. See Hebrews 2:14-18. 

3. Don't let injustice enslave you. Instead, overcome injustice by showing goodness to others, even to your offenders. This is perhaps the hardest principle in this list, but it's truly is a key to freedom. See Romans 12:21.

4. Find extra time with Christ, His Word, and Christian fellowship so His Word influences you more than the words of your injustice. See Colossians 3:15-16. 

5. Believe that God will work this injustice for your good and the good of others. See Romans 8:28. 

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I encourage you to check out the Bite Size Bible Study that gives more insights on this devotion: 5 Verses to Help You Face Injustice.

I also encourage you to check out the Wisdom for Life Devotional. It contains 100 one-minute devotions to challenge, encourage, instruct, and inspire your love for God's Word: Wisdom for Life. Read the story behind Wisdom for Life HERE. And find out about the two free Bible studies with purchase HERE. You can read the first four devotions in the book by clicking "look inside" on Lifeway or Amazon.

 

You can sign up for a free subscription to Bible Love Notes and get a free e-booklet. Find out more HERE.

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Avoiding Worldly Lies

It's hard to believe we live in a time in history when God's obvious, purposeful creation design is rejected, even by brilliant scholars. When children without adult reasoning skills are allowed to make life-altering decisions about their God-given gender.

But it's even harder to believe that throughout history people have rejected God Himself, even though He has made Himself known in obvious ways (Romans 1:18-21).

Sadly, when someone ignores the obvious truths about God, Satan has great power in controlling their minds:

"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." 2 Corinthians 4:4

Satan can’t control Christians the same way he controls unbelievers. But we can fall for his schemes if we don’t put on the full armor of God, staying alert, judging all things with God’s Word, and recognizing cultural lies. 

As Ephesians 6:10-18 explains, if we want to be strong in the Lord's mighty power, we must put on "the full armor of God," recognizing and standing against the devil's schemes.

We aren't merely dealing with human beings. We're dealing with rulers of darkness. 

From start to finish, each element in God's armor depends on God's unchanging, relevant, perfect Word. We need the protection of biblical truth and righteousness.

So let's put on that armor by reading, studying, believing, and sharing God's Word accurately, carefully, and fully. 

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See Don't Let Your Quiet Time Become Rigid and Dry and 10 Facts about False Teachers. 

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Prepared or Popular, Serious or Half-hearted

We are seeing our world become increasingly evil as Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers (Matthew 7:13-14; 2 Corinthians 4:4). Being a Christian isn’t popular or easy. 

So how do we stand firm and reject compromise?

We continually renew our minds in God's Word. And we address any  and all errors in teachings that alter, add to, or misuse God's Word. 

Satan has always mixed truth with error, and he knows that if he can get us to accept small errors, we'll lose our discernment and eventually accept large errors.

That's why we must scrutinize anything presented as biblical, whether a book, teacher, church, mini-series, movie, or song. This is the only way we can protect our minds and hearts (Proverbs 4:23).  

We may be called picky, legalistic, and negative by other professing Christians, but we must be willing to suffer rejection and criticism. Any changes people make to God's Word should offend us. 

This won't make us popular. Our Lord told us that those with real faith will be persecuted, slandered, and hated, but our reward in heaven is great (Matthew 5:10-12)!

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes." Romans 1:16

I address this subject not simply because it's what God calls us to do, but also because I am grieved by the number of Christians who blindly accept errors, especially when those errors are attractively presented. 

 

See 4 Bad Excuses for Accepting Books and Entertainment That Distort the Gospel.

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Aha Moments

Often while reading Scripture, I get an "aha moment."

Recently, while worrying (i.e., failing to trust God), I read John 16 where Jesus is talking to the disciples about the sorrow they'll feel when He dies. He encourages them by telling them they'll again rejoice…and here's where my aha moment came: 

He says (vs. 22), "No one will take away your joy." 

No one can take away the joy of knowing the risen Jesus because it's a joy that isn't dependent on people or circumstances. 

It's a joy dependent on Jesus alone. 

If we lose it, then we've given it away—it hasn't been taken from us. Nothing about Jesus can make us sad or lonely or forgotten or misunderstood or hopeless. 

No one can take away our joy in Jesus. No one.

Jesus knows us and our circumstances, and He knows exactly what we need to hear. 

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take ♥! I have overcome the world." Jesus (John 16:33)

Aha!

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To hear about the “aha moments” that led me to start writing Bible Love Notes, see Why Gail Has Written 1-Minute Devotions for 13 Years. Or listen to this devotion on YouTube: Gail's Romans 8:28 Miracle.

My book Wisdom for Life also contains a number of my “aha moments.” It contains 100 one-minute devotions to challenge, encourage, instruct, and inspire your love for God's Word. Read the story behind Wisdom for Life HERE. And find out about the two free Bible studies with purchase HERE. You can read the first four devotions in the book by clicking "look inside" on Lifeway or Amazon. In addition, you can buy the book in Kindle format on Amazon and as an ebook on other sites.

 

If you enjoy reading Bible Love Notes, please encourage your friends to sign up for a free subscription HERE.

 

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How Can We Bear Watching Loved Ones Reject the Lord?

In the last 15-20 years, many professing Christians have gone from the narrow path to the wide highway (Matthew 7:13-14). 

Because our culture has grown so wicked, many families are in distress as loved ones walk away from the Lord and reject friends and family members who remain faithful to God (Matthew 24:12-13).

In Psalm 55, David tells God that his thoughts trouble him and he wishes he could fly like a dove away from it all. He admits that the betrayal of loved ones is harder to bear than other types of betrayal.

He says, “If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it,” but instead, it is “my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God.”

When someone close to us rejects God, it's a difficult pain to endure. David honestly shares his sorrow and even his anger regarding this type of betrayal. But he concludes with this important truth: 

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” 

Before it happened to me, I might have thought I couldn't handle watching several of my loved ones reject God and reject me. Instead, the tragedy of their decisions has taught me to cast my cares on the Lord, and I’ve learned that He truly can sustain me. 

With God’s help, these painful betrayals can strengthen our faith (Romans 8:28; 1 Peter 1:3-7).  

If you are experiencing this type of sorrow, I pray you will cast your cares on the Lord.

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For more comfort and encouragement, see Be Prepared: Persecution May Come from Family and  Why Some Folks Have Created a New Jesus. I also encourage you to check out the Bite Size Bible Study A Woman Who Said Goodbye to Her Faith. It tells the true story of a woman whom I knew personally who went from light to darkness. She was not one of my closest loved ones, but I cared about her, and I was surprised how clearly her life illustrated the things which draw people away from God. 

Are You Fireproof?

In pioneer days, fires were an ever-present danger to frontier farmers.

When the prairie grasses became dry and parched, the whole prairie became kindling. Huge walls of flames rolled over acre after acre destroying everything in their path.

Wise frontiersmen prepared for this natural disaster by burning a band around their property and keeping foliage from growing in that area. Then, when they saw glistening flames on the horizon, they started fires outside that ring to move toward the inferno and safely away from their inner circle of life. 

What a relevant illustration of spiritual protection!

If we do nothing to protect ourselves from poisonous teachings and worldly weeds surrounding us, we'll barely escape through the flames at the final judgment (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

That's why we carefully, prayerfully, and wisely burn a band around our faith, getting rid of all the useless weeds of error and compromise. 

Then, when the flames of Satan rage all around us, we will be able to fight fire with fire by aggressively rejecting greater errors and compromise, resting safely in the protection of God's Word and our Savior's love.

So let's pray about any weeds that might be negatively influencing our walk with the Lord and let's thank God for our "fire insurance" (Revelation 21:6-8).

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See 3 Ways to Protect Yourself from False Philosophies in the Church. To read more about this frontier method of fire protection: Prairie Fires.

I encourage you to check out the Wisdom for Life devotional. It contains 100 one-minute devotions to challenge, encourage, instruct, and inspire your love for God's Word. Read the story behind Wisdom for Life HERE. And find out about the two free Bible studies with purchase HERE. You can read the first four devotions in the book by clicking "look inside" on Lifeway or Amazon. In addition, you can buy the book in Kindle format on Amazon and as an ebook on other sites.

 

I also encourage you to sign up for a free subscription to Bible Love Notes and get a free e-booklet. Find out more HERE.

 

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Gossip is Overrated, Other Sins are Underrated

Dear Subscribers: This devotion was published last Monday, but due to a problem with our subscriber service, it didn't go out. So we are sending it out today. We're sorry for the inconvenience of not having a devotion last Monday. ~ Michael and Gail Purath

If you want to hear “our job is to love, not to judge” or “that sin is no worse than other sins,” don’t bring up gossip, greed, drunkenness, or slander. 

But when you discuss God’s strong condemnation of homosexuality in passages like 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, be prepared to hear lots of soft responses. You might also hear how gay people are mistreated by Christians even though you've never met a Christian who mistreated a gay person. 

If you’re in a group of Christians where someone mentions homosexuality and you begin hearing soft responses, why not bring up some other sin such as gossip and see if anyone says we should love gossips and not judge them. See if anyone talks about Christians mistreating gossips. 

We don’t call passages about slander, gossip, or greed “clobber passages.” But that’s the name many “Christians” give passages about homosexuality. 

This shows us that culture has influenced Christianity regarding LGBTQ lifestyles, making them “protected sins.” 

We need to understand this truth: When people insist on treating sexual sins softly, they are judging God because God does not treat them softly.

Let's not be taken in by this rhetoric. Let's call sin, sin. Let's admit that it's something we can overcome if we trust Christ. Let's quit sugar-coating sins to accommodate our ungodly culture. 

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Note: When you talk about sexual sins, people sometimes bring up John 8:1-11, using it to claim that God doesn't judge people who commit sexual sins and neither should we. To understand that error, see The Fake Jesus Changes the Meaning of John 8:1-11.  When we talk about sexual sins, it's also common for people to claim that all sins are the same in God's eyes. This devotion will help you answer that error: All Sins Are Not the Same.

 

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