The Daily Dose

Embrace what is good

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.  Romans 12:9

This is a pretty simple message, but not so easy to live by.  To hate what is evil, and cling to or embrace what is good.  If you are not sure what that looks like or even how to do it, Paul lays it out in the following verses.  Verses 10-17 of this chapter is a list of ways to shun evil and do good.  It is a straightforward list and when you read through it, I’m sure you will agree that it makes sense.  However, read it again and think about each directive on the list and you will come to realize that help will be needed to accomplish all that is written here.  Thank goodness for the Holy Spirit who empowers, enables and even equips us to live this kind of life that honors God. 

Read over the list several times and then ask the Holy Spirit to help and empower you today to not only remember these things, but also to do them.

1. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love
2.  Honor others by giving preference to them – put others first
3. Do not neglect to be diligent
4. Be fervent/passionate in spirit
5. serving the Lord (By loving others)
6. rejoicing in hope (be joyful)
7. patient in tribulation
8. constant in prayer
9. distributing to the needs of the saints
10. given to hospitality
11. Bless those who persecute you
12. bless and do not curse (with your words and thoughts)
13. Rejoice with those who rejoice
14. weep with those who weep
15. Be of the same mind toward one another – in agreement
16. Do not set your mind on high/self promoting things, but associate with the humble
17. Do not be wise in your own opinion
18. Repay no one evil for evil – pay back
19. Have regard/think about good things in the sight of all people

Today I want to encourage you to turn away from what is evil and embrace what is good by doing what is good.  Submit and surrender all of your heart and attitudes over to your Heavenly Father.  Ask the Holy Spirit to make His heart real in your life and let it show up in the way you love others and the words of encouragement you speak.  Put away the cursing and complaining you used to do and begin to speak life and joy into others.  Look for the good in those people around you and help draw that out of them.  See their potential and inspire them to live up to it.  Anyone can surrender to the evil ways of the world and most do, but that is not for God’s people.  We are different, and that should be recognized by the way we love like Jesus loved.

Today’s scripture reading: Romans 12:9-17

What is your gift

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: Romans 12:6

You have gifts.  We all do!  Talents and abilities that we use in life, hopefully for God’s glory and His kingdom’s progress here in the world.  We talked about gifting’s in chapter 11 of Romans and how God gives gifts to us that never go away.  Even if you don’t use them, they are still buried somewhere inside of you.

Today’s reading is about using our gifts in proportion to our faith.   What does that even mean?  Well, your gifts will never pass up where you are spiritually.  If your relationship with God is in its infancy, your gift will only be developed at that level.  As you grow in your relationship and walk closer to Him through the Holy Spirit each day, your gifts will become more developed and more utilized.  More opportunities will come for you to use them and you will operate in those abilities more comfortably.  You will have a knowing that this is what you were born to do and it will make life worth living.

A good scriptural example of this is the life of Joseph, Jacob’s son.   As a young man, he had been gifted with dreams and interpretations, but he didn’t know what to do with it.  He ended up in a place he did not want to be.  As he was faithful in his service and kept his heart toward God, his gifting began to grow and develop until it was the very thing that opened the door for him to step into his purpose for living.  He saved his family and his nation.

That’s all fine and good, but how does that apply to us today?  As we begin to humble ourselves and come together with other members of the body of believers, each of us grow and develop in our gifts and calling.  As we serve one another and grow, doors and opportunities will open up for us to step into the purpose we have been given life.

Today I want to encourage you to discover your gifts.  If you already know what they are, begin to use them to bless and serve others.  This is the true reason we have been gifted, to work with others to grow God’s kingdom, not for personal gain.  As you serve faithfully, like Joseph did, opportunities will come your way that will put you right in the place you were created to be.  If you do not know what your gifts are, begin to pray about them.  Be faithful to serve where you are.  Even in your secular job, be helpful and go the extra mile to grow in your faithfulness.  Your gift will begin to show up in what you excel in.  Always be on the look out for who you can bless and who you can serve and you will soon find you are on the road to all you were created to be.

Today’s scripture reading: Romans 12:3-8

Renewed mind

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Romans 12:1-2

Today I want to talk about renewing your mind.  What does is the meaning of renew?  The best description I have come up with is rebuild.  Renewing your mind is like tearing down your old way of thinking and building or replacing it with a new thought process that lines up with God and His Word. It’s like doing a “thought life” renovation.  However, it doesn’t stop there, it is continuous.  Renewing your mind is something that needs to be done daily to purge out the world view you are continuously exposed to.  You could say “flushing” out the wrong thoughts you had yesterday and filling back up with God thoughts from God’s Word today.  Renewing your mind is a process that can only be accomplished by taking in the Word of God.  By lining your thinking up with God’s Word and God’s ways, you are lining your thoughts up with God Himself.

In today’s scripture Paul starts out by pleading with His readers (body of believers) by God’s mercy or God’s goodness in place of our deserved punishment.  He wants his readers to honor God by giving their body/lives as a “living” sacrifice not a dead one.  A living sacrifice is different than the sacrifice of blood that was required under the old covenant.  In becoming a living sacrifice/offering we submit our life to God by being willing and obedient in all things.  This is seemingly not an easy position to stay in.  Most of us are “living sacrifices” that keep getting up off the altar because we are off doing our own thing again.  However, Paul says this is our reasonable service or, in other words, the very least we should be doing because of what He has done for us.  We can maintain our offering by purposefully submitting to God and His Word every day and trusting Him to lead our steps and attitude.

Next, he goes on to talk about renewing your mind, rebuilding to be transformed.  The reality is that renewal of the mind is the only way to become the “living sacrifice”.  It is not something you can do in your own efforts.  To be a truly living sacrifice, there must be a daily submission to God’s plan and Word and then a willing heart to obey the direction He gives.  He ends this thought by saying this is the only way to demonstrate the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. These are three different progressions.  1. turning from doing evil to doing good 2. becoming accepted or pleasing by serving others 3. walking out the perfect will/plan of God to completion!

Today, I want to encourage you to examine your life as a living sacrifice.  Ask yourself if you are laying down your life/will daily to pick up the plan God has for you by renewing/lining up your thoughts with His Word.  Then ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and make His path plain and His voice loud and clear so you can willingly obey every direction He gives.  Then remember to thank Him for empowering you to offer up your life and lead your life in the way you should go.

Today’s scripture reading: Romans 12

Gifts and calling

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  Romans 11:29

If you are anything like me, you have probably messed up a lot in life.  However, as much as I missed it, the gifts and abilities that God gave me always showed up.  I used them at my jobs and in my homes, though I only was doing what I needed to do to survive.  The talents and skills still needed to be developed and grown.  I didn’t realize that I was being successful many times because of God’s blessing and because of the abilities God equipped me with.  All that God had put in me from the beginning, had never changed and never will.  I just didn’t use them for the right purpose.  It was all about me, mine and surviving.

You can quite easily see this in the world today.  It is really how most people live.  Some may look very successful because they have a lot of things and money, but they are empty inside because they are using what God gave them to use for His kingdom progress for their own glory.

In today’s reading, Paul is talking again about the people of Israel rejecting their Messiah, Jesus.  He says that because they did not receive their Savior, they have been cut off from the from the root, or the source of salvation.  We as people outside of the Jewish nation have been grafted/implanted to the root.  He also says that the Hebrew people can be grafted back in because that was God’s original plan to begin with.  He has not shut them off completely.  No, His desire is to have them come back and be reattached to the root.  His calling to them and His gifts are irrevocable and have not and will not ever change.

Today I want to encourage you to take a look at the gifts and calling on your life.  Consider if you are using them for God’s glory and Kingdom purposes.  If you conclude that you are using them solely for your own survival or success, turn them over to your Father today.  If you are not sure what He has gifted you or called you to, spend some time talking to Him about it.  Ask Him to reveal to you the strengths He has placed within you.  One technique I have discovered is to do a little extreme dreaming.  What I am talking about is think about what you would like to do if you didn’t have to think about survival.  If time and money were not an issue, what is in your heart to do.  The dream may not look doable, but it will reveal the desire of your heart.  You will finally understand what you were created for because it is what you have been gifted and called to do.  Those gifts and that call will never go away, so you might as well surrender it to Him today and fulfill all that is inside you to do.

Today’s scripture reading: Romans 11

How does faith come?

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”     Romans 10:17

I don’t want to skip over this scripture which has been pivotal in my faith walk. I think of it often and used to believe that it was talking about growing my faith.  I thought that in order to have stronger faith it was all about getting more of God’s Word (the Bible) on the inside of me.  It is true that taking in and knowing more of the scripture enables me to know more of who God is, what He is like and trust Him more, but that isn’t a true relationship with God.  A relationship with God grows from personal interaction with Him.  Knowing that He hears me when I talk to Him and me purposefully listening to what He is speaking to my heart.  This is also where faith comes from.

I want to explore faith in this context because faith is all about our relationship with the Father through our Savior Jesus with the help or empowerment (ability to hear God’s message) from His Holy Spirit.  Faith is not believing for what God can do, it’s acting on what God has said He will do.  (This explains the phrase “God’s will”.)  Making decisions based on what God can do isn’t wisdom or faith.  Let’s look again at the clear biblical definition of how faith comes.  The true biblical meaning of how faith comes is found in today’s scripture that says faith comes by hearing.  It’s as simple as that.  Purposefully seeking God for what to believe and how to pray for a specific problem or circumstance is where we place our faith.

Again, I’ll use the illustration of Peter stepping out of the boat when acting on the Word Jesus gave him.  If Jesus hadn’t told Him to come, Peter would not have had any reason to have faith to step out of the boat.  Peter’s faith was based on Jesus’ word or permission to come to Him on the water (see Matthew 14:28).

The point is that if God hasn’t said it, there is nothing to have faith in.  Faith doesn’t begin with you or me, faith begins with God.  If God has said it, we can have faith for it!  Faith isn’t about us, it’s about God and His Words.  Faith is less about what we can do and more about what we can hear.  This is good news because it takes all the pressure off us and the mystery out of the circumstances.  It also gives a vision and a hope of what God says the outcome will be.  We don’t have to imagine how God will get us there, we just have to believe that He showed us the end result and has the power to make it happen.  If you can hear it, He can do it.  A faith life realizes that God-given faith is powerful and can move mountains and that you don’t need a lot of it for impossible things to happen.  Jesus said if you have faith even the size of a mustard seed (Matt. 17:20) you can move mountains.  That means a faith life has little to do with what you contribute to it and a lot to do with what God is speaking into it.   Faith is about trusting the One who is speaking not trusting your own ability to perfectly believe.  Glory to God!

Today I want to encourage you to get a “Word” from God to hang on to in faith.  Faith is like a hanger you hang on the “rod” of God’s Word.  If there isn’t any Word from God (rod) your hanger just falls to the ground.  Realize that faith isn’t about believing for whatever you want, it’s about believing God for what He has said.  Our Heavenly Father has the answer and solutions for all our trouble, and He desires to get us to the best results. It’s up to us to take the time to hear from Him.  If we know we’ve heard Him, whether through scripture or His still small voice, we can have mountain moving faith as we believe Him to accomplish His Word and promises!  Thank Him every day for the words He has given you through scripture or speaking to your heart and every time you are tempted to worry about the situation, just thank Him some more that He has spoken the answer and is working on it, even right now.

Today’s scripture reading: Romans 10:14-21

Beautiful feet

And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” Romans 10:15

Do you have beautiful feet?  Do you proclaim the gospel of peace?  I am talking about the good news that Jesus came to pay our debt and be our Savior, but I am also talking about bringing peace with you wherever you go?  The message of peace can be many things and you do not need to be a preacher to share it. 

Yes, the message of peace is salvation, but the starting ground is to bring peace with you.  Bring peace into every relationship you have.  Bring peace into every conflict you come upon.  Instead of taking one side or the other, find a peaceful solution that brings both sides into agreement.  Now that’s wisdom that will open the hearts of all those involved to God’s great gift of eternal life with Him.

Here in Romans 10, Paul is quoting an old testament scripture, so it was actually written before Jesus came.  The gospel of peace was bringing glad tidings (news) about good things.  It is choosing to focus on the good side of everything.  Anyone can pick out the problems and complain about the rules, and most do, but true wisdom comes when you can see the good in every person and every situation.  When you do this, you will truly have beautiful feet that carry goodness and good news wherever you are.  Soon everyone will be glad to see you coming because you have a reputation of bringing good news and peace into every conflict.  Your counsel will be sought after and your feet will be blessed.

Today I want to encourage you to have beautiful feet by spreading peace continually.  Do not try to fit into a conflict on a side, bring the solution to every situation by bringing peace and goodness with you always. When you don’t know what the answer is, simply pray a short prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal a peaceful resolution to you. Then look and listen on the inside for what He gives you. It isn’t hard, it just takes a heart and feet that are set on the eternal love of God. Make your feet beautiful today by bringing the good news of God’s love and peace continuously.

Today’s scripture reading: Romans 10:14-21

Your faith words

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): Romans 10:8

The beginning of Romans 10 is a continuation of the apostle Paul’s heart ache for the nation of Israel.  Again, he talks about his desire to see them receive their Messiah.  He goes on to talk about how they are clinging to the law and their own righteous acts to get them to God.  Then he begins to talk about how different it is to live by faith instead of by the law. He says you don’t have to raise yourself high above others or go down to the abyss.  The word of faith is right where you are: in your mouth and in your heart.  He goes through a few well know phrases such as confession with your mouth and believing in your heart to be saved.  He finishes this first section of the chapter by saying: Anyone, whether Jew or Greek can call on the name of the Lord to be saved!

This is great news, and I am so thankful that salvation is available to all.  The Jewish people of Paul’s day where not so excited about it.  They liked having their exclusive righteousness that could only be obtained by fulfilling the law.  The only problem with that was they were unable to fulfill the law.  Only Jesus fulfilled the law and in doing so, we are no longer required to.  We only need to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him up from the dead, then we are saved! This is the entrance to salvation in Jesus.

This is not to say that we no longer need laws.  The law is important and is in place for our protection.  However, if we live by the new commandment that Jesus gave in John 15, to love one another, we would automatically keep the law.  In loving others and loving God, we always consider others ahead of ourselves and therefore we will not hurt others in any way.  The law is not just a list of rules to control people, it is a standard of government to protect people from being hurt by other people.

God’s law of love supersedes everything else.  His love works through relationship, and it is God greatest desire to have a Father – child relationship with all His family.  He wants to care, provide and love each of us the way we do our families here in our world (but better).  If we love our Father the way He desires us to love, we will be more concerned about doing what is helpful in growing the kingdom, not worried about lying, stealing and killing.

Today I want to encourage you to speak the word of faith that is in your heart.  Begin by calling on the name of the Lord to be saved.  Strengthen and reinforce your love for your Heavenly Father by loving those around you.  Follow His example by putting other’s needs above your own.  In this way you will never be put to shame (vs. 11).

Today’s scripture reading: Romans 10:1-13

Live your unique life

But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” Romans 9:20

Who were you created to be?  What is your purpose?  As a born again, child of God, He created you especially for some significant reason.  He has gifted you with talents and abilities that are intended to be used to glorify God by bringing others to Him to be part of His family.

If you are anything like I was, you may not know what you can be doing to lead others to your Father.  Maybe you have even tried to fit into someone else’s calling.  Maybe you are of the mindset that there are only 5 different ministries and you have to fit into one of those categories.  Yet as hard as you try, you just cannot seem to find your planned place.

Today’s scripture talks about this idea that God created each of us for His purpose and to accomplish His works here in the world while we are here.  He doesn’t want us to try to be like others or try to do ministry that fits into the pattern of the religious.  He wants us to glorify Him right where we are.  By submitting to Him each day and offering up our lives as a living sacrifice, we make ourselves available for His plan and His glory.  We are not born into this world to be a child to grow up, get a career and work for 50 years to make enough money to survive until we die.  We are here to impact the world around us. Yes, we go to work and yes, we earn a living, but that is not the purpose for our existence.  Our purpose and God’s plan is to be His child that loves, honors and glorifies Him by loving and serving the people He places around us each day.  This is good news!  You no longer need to wonder where do you fit and what should you be doing?  Love and serve the ones God brings your way and new doors will open each day as you submit your gifts and abilities to Him before you start.

Today I want to encourage you to submit your life and your will over to the plan and purpose of God for your life.  Don’t try to copy or imitate other ministries that appear to be successful.  Do the unique thing God has planned for you.  Then you will find true freedom and  satisfaction in life and then you will have joy and contentment in knowing that you are living the life you were created to live.

Today’s scripture reading: Romans 9:6-33

Don’t miss it

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race. Romans 9:2-3

If you look around today at what is going on in the world, it can be easy to get overwhelmed and become disappointed or even depressed.  It looks like the whole earth is going down hill fast.  From politics to climate changes, it certainly looks like all of creation is groaning for the children of God to be revealed. (see Romans 8:20) Yet the greatest tragedy is the lack of regard for God or any concern for eternity. Everywhere you go, you can hear people talking about the latest controversy, but forget that there is more to it all.

The apostle Paul knew something about how that feels.  In his day all of the people of Israel were waiting for their Messiah, they had been praying for generations for Messiah to come.  How disappointing it must have been to the New Testament church when He was so widely rejected by His own people.  Especially the religious sect who knew the scriptures and prophecies of Messiah’s coming better than anyone else.  Jesus even said when He was here “How hypocritical those are that can predict the weather but cannot discern the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3 my paraphrase)

In today’s reading, Paul talks about the great burden he had for the Israeli people.  He was willing to do anything for them so they would believe that Jesus was their Messiah.  He knew they were missing out on the provision Jesus made for a secured eternity with Him and help for this life too.  He wanted them to understand the magnitude of the love of God for them, but their pride held them to their traditions and the law.  They completely missed it.

Today we face a similar dilemma.  How many times do we see people in the church turn all the focus to religious acts or worldly ways instead of their relationship with the Heavenly Father.  How many angry people do we see fighting against political leaders and generally everyone around them.  Pride is rampant in the church and so many people can see things are bad, but don’t even realize that we have been looking for this time all our lives.  The time of Jesus’ return to get His people before that great and terrible time of judgement.

Today I want to encourage you: Don’t miss it!  Don’t miss out on the end time harvest that is taking place even right now in our world.  Things may look bad, but God is doing great and mighty things too.  Determine that you are going to be as productive as possible for Kingdom progress.  Jesus is coming back soon, so don’t miss out by being part of the complaining church full of criticism and condemnation.  Instead, be part of HIs glorious church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27). 

Today’s scripture reading: Romans 9:1-5

More than conquerors?

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  Romans 8:37

More than conquerors?  How could the apostle Paul say they were more than conquerors?  What does that even mean?  He goes through a long list of things that they have been up against and then he says, even though we have gone through all these things, we are more than a conqueror.  So who is the conqueror that we are more than? Even though they have been through tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and sword, he is confident that these things cannot separate them from God’s love. 

How can Paul be so sure that they will overcome these things and still be connected to our Heavenly Father?  The answer is in Jesus.  He already conquered all these things, so we no longer have to.  We only need to believe that we are more than a conqueror now that we are in Christ Jesus and nothing that comes against us will be able to keep us from God’s love.  He is eternally holding us through our Savior Jesus.

Now we can be as convinced as Paul was that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of our Father.  We are truly more than a conqueror because Jesus did all the hard work and gave us His victory when he defeated the enemy at His death, burial, resurrection and ascension into heaven.  He fought the battle and then gave us all the benefits of that achievement!  We get the prize, and we get His success as our very own.  There just isn’t any way to truly get this supernatural truth into our  natural way of thinking, but with His help we can begin to grasp the extent of this great conquest and we will celebrate with Him for all eternity!

Today I want to encourage you to take a few moments to think about what it means to be more than a conqueror.  Consider what it would be like in the natural world to have someone fight the hardest battle ever fought and then give you the prize and reward they fought for.  Then transfer that over into the supernatural and think about all Jesus did for us so we wouldn’t have to go through that battle.  Now spend some time rejoicing that you are more than a conqueror because you get to enjoy the victory over all created things and you never had to go to battle, all you need is to receive life in Jesus as your Savior and Champion.

Today’s scripture reading: Romans 8:31-39