Daily Devotion
July 6, 2025
Hebrews 6:10 “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister”
The scriptures tell us in Proverbs 15:3, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good”. Whenever we do good, and especially when we do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, God takes notice. He is calling us out of this selfish, me-first world and setting us apart for His purpose: To love Him and to love each other. The Bible tells us that even the smallest things we do for others are important to the Lord as taught in Mark 9:41, “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward”. Maybe we think the Lord’s work is doing mighty, amazing things. But if that’s the case, most of us will never reach those levels. To God, it’s not the size of the work, but it’s the condition of our hearts and our motives. If the person who sweeps the floor of the Sunday School room does it for the glory of God and is faithful in that work, it’s just as important as many of the highly visible things. Some people want the limelight. They thrive on the recognition they receive from doing things people notice. If that’s their heart, their motivation, their reward may just be the accolades they receive in this life. But today’s verse tells us that God remembers our work and labor of love when we walk in ministry, doing good in His name. Maybe we can make it a daily point to begin each day with a prayer like this: “Lord, show me someone today that I can encourage and be a blessing. Give me open doors and opportunities to do good in Your name. Open my eyes of understanding so I can see each opportunity as an opportunity to minister”. It’s the small things: Holding a door for someone, a greeting of kindness, a phone call to someone we know is going through a trial, or a visit to someone who is sick or shut-in. God sees us and remembers. Don’t worry about not having the big stuff to do. If we are faithful in the small things, God will move us to other places where He wants us. Let it be your ministry of service, the ministry of small but important things.
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July 5, 2025
Lamentations 3:22-23 “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness”
Do you ever wish you could do things over and have a new, fresh start? That’s what the Lord was offering to Israel in today’s verses. They had made many bad choices, followed after false gods, and ignored God’s warnings. They were suffering the consequences of their decisions, and it was a painful time. But the Lord reminded them of how much He cared for them with the words, “the LORD’S mercies”, meaning His steadfast love. Even though they were being corrected for their rebellion against Him, He would never destroy them. Every day was a new day of new mercy and compassion, an opportunity to restart and do right before God. We have all sinned and come short of God’s will for us. We have all, like a bunch of stubborn sheep, wandered in our own ways, ignoring the Lord’s Word. We have all made bad choices and suffered the consequences of those decisions. But God remains faithfully determined to forgive us, bless us, restore us, and give us a fresh new start. Maybe we get stuck remembering all the ways we messed up. We might live with a heavy load of regrets, shame, and even self-loathing. Or, we might try to get peace from those bad memories by hardening ourselves and trying to convince ourselves that’s just how life is. But there’s a better way, a way of peace and joy. We can run to Jesus and trust in His complete forgiveness and mercy. He will totally forgive us of our wrongs and give us a brand-new start. He will justify us, a word that means He will never remember our past against us, and He will teach us to forgive ourselves and put it all away. People may never forget the path we walked, but God will. People may try to goad us into living in the past, but God never will. Every morning when we wake up, we can say, “Thank You Jesus, for this new day. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Thank You for a new start, a life reset. Help me live this day loving You and loving others. Give me the grace to make good decisions, choices that honor You and that bring blessings to me and my family”. God is not holding our past against us, but He is encouraging us to receive His offer to start anew. He declares a new day, one of goodness and grace.
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July 4, 2025
John 8:36 “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed”
Let freedom ring! This line is from the patriotic song, “America” (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee), written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831. We celebrate our nation today and the freedoms we have, remembering that our freedom was not free but paid for by the great sacrifices of others. Shame on those who would take this nation for granted and act as if it means nothing to be free, as if what we have in the USA is common or unwanted. Shame on those who carry on as if we should be ashamed of who we are as Americans and live sniveling and apologizing for our citizenship in this amazing country. If they don’t like it here, they should self-deport. Let them go somewhere they think is better, and we who love it here would be glad to see them go. Because, why should they remain here, enjoying freedom and opportunity yet hating and despising it, saying they are miserable? But there is a different kind of freedom declared in today’s verse, the freedom that comes from the salvation of Jesus Christ. To the Jews, Jesus was telling them He would set them free from the great burden of trying to keep the Law of Moses. To all of us, He is saying He will set us free from the power and penalty of sin. Nothing or no one else can do that. But, by the grace and mercy of God, those who put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior are completely set free from sin. Romans 8:2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. Those who are trapped in addictions and suffering from the fallout of their bad choices, He declares, there is freedom. We are free from the darkness of unbelief, and now we walk in the light of truth. We are delivered, set free from the lies of the enemy, the flesh, and the devil. And, we have been set free from the curse caused by the fall of Adam, our federal head. As a part of this freedom, one day soon, the entire creation will be free from the curse. So, today, believers can celebrate freedom from both perspectives: We can salute the American flag and rejoice in our great freedoms. Hot Dogs, hamburgers, and watermelon for everyone. We can also bow our heads and bend our knees to the Lord, Jesus Christ, and say, “Thank You for setting us eternally free”.
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July 3, 2025
Luke 8:15 “But that (seed) on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience”
My dad had a Gravely cultivator, and he was proud of it. It was a unique, strong, walk-behind rotary tiller that could break new ground for a garden and then, with several passes, break the soil into fine bits like a lettuce bed. As I remember, he would start it by wrapping a leather strap around the flywheel, closing the choke, and pulling hard on the strap. He also had a sickle-bar attachment for it that could mow weeds like a small bushhog. It was the tool that made for fine gardening. Dad and Mom would carefully work the garden, and Mom would can as many as a hundred cans of green beans a year in quart Mason jars because the soil they tended was good and produced well. That’s what today’s verse is speaking about, using the good soil of a garden as a metaphor for our hearts. When we hear the Word of God, it’s like a seed that’s planted into our hearts, and even though the seed of God’s Word is perfect and powerful, the outcome of what happens to the seed depends upon the condition of our hearts. Just as a garden needs to be cleared of stones, weeds, insects, and other things that can keep the seeds from sprouting, growing, and producing a crop, our hearts need help. The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”. The same Word of God that is seed to produce God’s will in us is also a hammer that breaks the rocks of pride and stubbornness, an herbicide that destroys the weeds of unbelief and false teaching, and an insecticide that kills the bugs of sin. And, the Word of God is a rake that levels our heart’s soil and prepares it for more of God’s seed. The Word of God is water that soaks our dry, thirsty hearts and the fertilizer that gives strength for our growth and maturity until we produce the fruit that honors God and brings us joy. It takes time because it’s a process, as the scriptures here say we, “Bring forth fruit with patience”. We might have a root of bitterness, a stump of some old leftover sin, or a place of a poisoned past that has to be cleared out, but God’s Word will not fail. We will bear good fruit if we will keep honoring God, submitting and opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s cleansing, and standing in agreement with the truth. Our prayer is, “Lord, help me to have an honest, good-ground heart”.
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July 2, 2025
Romans 13:1-2 “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation”
The “higher powers” reference here is not referring to the spiritual power of God but to earthly governance, and God is telling us to put ourselves in subjection to governing authorities. When Jesus was here, He did not rebel against or resist the Roman rule, even though that’s what His followers wanted Him to do. He didn’t preach against the Roman Empire even though it was a pagan, idol-worshipping, corrupt, wicked, and immoral rule. Instead, He preached against the false religion of the Jews and offered hope. Take note of God’s Words in today’s verses: “For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God”. Often, it is not evident that God is working through leaders who are far from His truth. But even though we can’t see it at the moment, He is. The resistance we’re watching play out nowadays is not of God because the scriptures plainly declare: “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power (sets themselves against governing authority), resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation”. We may not like the ruling authority, but if we resist and the word means “to set oneself in opposition”, we are setting ourselves against God and will be judged by Him that rebellion. God is not blind or confused about what happens on this earth, and He is not going to allow the perversion of justice and wicked laws and the governing rule of humanity to continue forever. All governments are corrupt and immoral, some more so than others. Our best scriptural course of action in times of our nation’s waywardness is to fall on our faces before the God of heaven and earth and implore Him to intervene, not rioting in the streets, calling for insurrection. Just as God promises to bring judgment against those who resist authority, He will always bless those who live in obedience to His Word. Titus 3, paraphrased, tells us to remember to willingly place ourselves under the authority of governing laws and obey them. We shouldn’t curse anyone or be quarrelsome, but be gentle and courteous to everyone. Depending on which news or social media influencers people listen to, it can be easy to get riled and angry at current events and the actions (or inactions) of those in authority. But God sees it all and nothing takes Him by surprise. His plans are right on track, and He has already determined the outcome.
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July 1, 2025
Luke 5:4-5 “Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught (A great haul of fish). And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”
At that moment, Simon Peter had a choice to make. He, a seasoned, experienced fisherman, had fished all night but caught no fish, meaning that the timing for catching fish was wrong. He could have chosen to ignore the Lord’s Word, for after all, Jesus had been raised as a carpenter, not a fisherman. Or, he could obey the Word of Christ. He chose to obey as the Bible tells us, he said, “Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net”. Maybe everything inside him was screaming, “This is a waste of time and energy because the fish are nowhere to be found today.” But when he obeyed Jesus’ words, the Bible says, in verses 6-7, “And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink”. This miracle changed Peter’s life because the Lord told him, “From henceforth thou shalt catch men”. When we make our life’s choices based on God’s Word, it not only changes us, it brings us into agreement with what God says, and we reap the benefits of obedience. The more of God’s Word we have in our thoughts and embedded deep within us, the easier it is to follow its truths. When we say we build our lives on Jesus, that’s what we mean. We stay close to Him in our everyday walk by praying, meditating on Him, and learning to lean on the Holy Spirit. That’s what the scriptures call abiding in Him. And, a part of the abiding is reading His Word and allowing the truth of the Word to become our compass, our map. The Lord is ready to help us in everything we do, every decision we make, and every situation we are in. His Word is filled with promises and directions that will lead us in a way of peace, blessings, and success. Like Peter, we might feel like we know what to do, or not do, and that our wisdom is well-founded. But if we say, “Nevertheless, upon Your Word Lord, I will make my choices, act, and trust You for the outcome”, God will bless our obedience.
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