Daily Inspirations

  Good morning. We like to take our own revenge – getting even with someone. However: judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. But you don't know what he/she did to me. I know we think we will feel better if we take revenge, but in actuality we won't. If we show mercy, we will heap coals of fire upon their heads. Now for James' big question: what use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? Of course we are not saved by works of the law. You remember that Paul says that we are saved by grace and not by works. But if you are saved, you should be doing good deeds daily. We should be able to judge by one's fruit. Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. It's kind of like the glue that needs two chemicals for it to work. One is no good without the other. You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my fa...

  Good morning. Back to James: my brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. He then talks about various appearances of the rich versus the poor, and showing favoritism to the rich. You have become judges with evil motives. That's an easy thing to do in churches. Too many times the rich are placed on various boards in the church. Also sometimes pastors are afraid to do anything that would upset the rich people. Did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? Obviously you cannot buy your way into heaven. He then call something the Royal law: "you shall love your neighbor as yourself". But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. But it is such a little transgression you may say. However if you keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, you have become guilty of all. Of ...

  Good morning. Here's one of those uh-oh scriptures. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. If you think you have arrived, you usually do not keep it to yourself. You look down on others, and when you do, something bad comes out of your mouth towards them. You definitely want to share their faults with everyone else. You need to put action behind your words. It says that he deceives his own heart, not the other way around. His heart knows he is not right with God. The more he puts down others, the more his heart believes the untruth. How can you know that you are walking the walk and not just talking the talk? This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. If the church took care of the widows and orphans, there would be no need for the government to do so. In th...

  Good morning. Prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. How can you prove yourself a doer of the word - by doing the word. And of course we've mentioned many times about people sitting in church hearing the word, but it not affecting their lives whatsoever. That's because they don't do what they hear. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror, for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. These people "glance at the word" like glancing in a mirror. What they see in the mirror does not make them want to change anything. But the one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. The words translated "looks intently" are the same ones that were used of ...

  Good morning. Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. As soon as we think we hear something, we react. We don't even bother finding out the details. Contrary to the admonition to be slow to speak and slow to anger, we are always rushing in to speak what is on our little minds and express our great anger. Too many times we later regret what we said or did. We think we have justification. In the end, the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. We claim it is righteous indignation. God does not need our help in promoting righteousness. The end does not justify the means. So what should we do? Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. It is up to us to put them aside. They do not go away on their own. We have to humble ourselves to receive the word. We cannot go around thinking that we know more than anyone else. It is the word implanted...

  Good morning. Speaking of temptation: each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. So it comes from within. Then when lust has conceived, it guess birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Sin has a certain outcome – death. Do not be deceived my brethren. Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. God does not change. He did not give good gifts in the past and now gives bad ones. If you have received a good gift – it came from God. In the 10th chapter of Proverbs it says: it is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it. When the devil gives you something, sorrow always trails right along behind. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures. We were not an accident looking for some place to happ...

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a really great one with friends and family. The following is without comment. Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee call Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was very perplexed at the statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." Mary said to the angel, "how can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel answered and...

  Good morning. Now a statement that seems opposite of the norm. Let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position. You do not think of a person of humble circumstances having a high position. Usually people in high positions are wealthy - either people naturally give high positions to those who are wealthy, or those who are wealthy demand a high position. Those of humble circumstances usually take whatever they can get. What does he say that the rich should do? Let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. Back to encountering various trials: blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. So if we keep on keeping on and endure, then we will be blessed. For once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised, to those who love Him. Now that is an excellent promise! Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himsel...

  Good morning. So far so good. OK so we are enduring through the testing of our faith. Sometimes people can endure things but have a bad attitude in doing so. Let endurance have its perfect results that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Wouldn't that be a great label to have – perfect and complete? But what if we are lacking wisdom? Let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (remember you don't have because you don't ask). Of course too many times we only want "wisdom" that confirms what we already want to do. But as in everything we ask of God – let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. That kind of person is susceptible to believing anything he hears. That kind of person is mentally "seasick". Let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double minded man, un...

  Good morning. We are now into the book of James. We have looked at a lot of verses in James before, so there's gonna be a lot of repetition. There is a dispute as to when it was written. I prefer to go with an earlier date before James came to a full revelation about the Gentile converts. The book says that it was written to the 12 tribes of Israel who were dispersed. It seems to be very much based on the Law of Moses. We tend to think that all of the early believers knew everything there was to know about Christianity on the day of Pentecost. However the book of Acts shows that they had to learn things as they went along. God used Peter fairly early on to show them that the Gentiles could receive the Holy Spirit too. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Yeah, I'm really happy I'm going through all of this. Of course our trials are not like theirs. Their very lives were in danger....

  Good morning. Not only should we continue to offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, we should not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Notice it says that doing good and sharing are sacrifices. That helps to confirm that the previous verse does not mean the sacrifice of praise is praising God even when you don't feel like it or have no reason to do so. We don't have animal sacrifices to God, so this is the way we offer up Thanksgiving to Him. Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. There are those that use this verse and others to say "we have control over your life. You can't do anything major without consulting us first". If you don't conform, they kick you out of the church. Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you, the reader, in eve...

  Good morning. Picking up where we left off: do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. Now he was probably talking about things concerning the law of Moses; however it is true for us too, but not about foods. There are a lot of strange teachings, especially among Pentecostals. People hear what they think is a new revelation and they quickly jump onto the bandwagon. We've had enough of this foundation teaching (which he talked about chapters ago), and want something new and exciting that nobody else knows about. We are members of an exclusive club. And since we "know everything there is to know about the basic things", then usually it's about the end times. That's something that people just might not know everything about. And if we can just find that one thing that very few people know about, then we can become a member of that exclusive club. The problem is they hold on for d...

  Good morning. Remember those who led you, and spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Too often we forget those who helped us when we were brand new Christians. We get to the point where we think we don't need them – that we know more than they do. They did not speak their opinions; they spoke the word of God to us. When we look at their lives and see that they turned out well, we need to imitate their faith. Just like little children imitate their parents, we should imitate our spiritual parents. "But they are old fashioned and their beliefs are out of date", you say. Some things may be out of date, but their core beliefs are not. That's because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. He does not change, and our core beliefs should not either. The music and other things might change, but Jesus and our core beliefs do not. Father thank You that the reader walks in Your word just as he/s...

  Good morning. Let the love of the brethren continue. Love is a natural thing from Christians; so it seems strange that he would say to let it continue. Sadly many Christians do not. Sometimes it's different beliefs about doctrines, but other times it's disagreements about natural things that causes love to discontinue. It reminds me of the song that goes "I believe in this, you believe in that; this and that are keeping us from loving one another". Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Yesterday the pastor went even further. He admonished us to entertain fellow believers, even giving them shelter in our homes for the night. Let your character be free from the love of money (remember that money is the root of all evil), being content with what you have; for He Himself said "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you". Because of that we can say with confidence "the Lord...

  Good morning. So we not only come to the church of the firstborn; we also come to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth (Moses), much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. The judgment of mankind today is much surer than that of those in the past. His voice shook the earth then. That would have been very scary to be at that mountain. That's nothing compared to what will happen: "yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven". The good news is: we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken. Let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire. How grateful we should be that we...

  Good morning. Back to Hebrews: that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. Even afterwards, when he desired to inherit a blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. Now with our usual understanding of repentance, I used to think that he was seeking for his own change of heart with tears. But the word translated repentance actually means after thinking about it, you change your mind. He was not seeking to change his own mind, but rather his father Isaac's mind with tears; so that he could receive a blessing. Then he talks about; we have not come to a mountain like the children of Israel did on Mt. Sinai. We have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the General assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. We have not come to a physical mountain but rather a spiritual one. We are ...

  Good morning. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. First of all it is in the imperative tense. That means it is not a suggestion – it is a command. Secondly, we have to pursue peace and sanctification. They don't just happen without effort (legally sanctification does, but experientially it does not). In today's world, it takes a lot of effort to have peace with others. They don't want peace. It's like Israel with some of the groups they have conflicts with. The groups don't really want to have peace with Israel. No matter what Israel might do, they would still want the destruction of Israel. Do you want to see the Lord – pursue sanctification. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. A root of bitterness can be very hard to get rid of. It's like some plants that you would like to get rid of. If you just chop t...

  Good morning. Continuing on the theme of discipline: but if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Ouch! God only disciplines His children; so if He's not disciplining you, then you're not His child. We had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live? Too many even of God's children do not respect Him. If you don't respect God when you are "little" spirituality, then you won't respect Him when you "get older". Disciplining is for training; it is not to inflict wrath. They did not want to be trained – they were strong-willed children in the Lord. God disciplines us for our good, that we may share His Holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. No one says "...

  Good morning. OK so we have fixed our eyes on Jesus – what else? Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. As we said before, it is easy to give up when things look bad. But Jesus did not give up; and neither should we. Do not forget the exhortation addressed to you as children: "do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines". Of course we felt that way when we disciplined our children. It's hard to feel that way on this side of the discipline. Why do we endure all of the sufferings we have gone through? It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? The military and all sports coaches make their "team" go through strict training – not to hurt them, but to discipline them. If they can hold up under strict discipli...

  Good morning. The author now mentions several people who were terribly mistreated and yet all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect. They endured a lot, but did not give up – they kept the faith. So what should we do? Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. The cloud of witnesses were able to do it, and so should we. They could have given in to the pressure, but they resisted. Too many times we look at the things entangling our feet. Instead we are to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Instead of fixing our eyes on the...

  Good morning. Continuing with the children of Israel: by faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. I don't know if it was like in the movie the 10 Commandments with the water rising high on either side of them. If so, I don't know if I would've gone across. After all, who knows if it would've stayed that way and not come crashing down upon me. Notice they went across as on dry land. After centuries of the water being there, it would be very muddy and hard to walk upon. Exodus says that God made the wind blow across there all night long; so that is probably what dried it out. Then of course there was that problem of all those Egyptians and the chariots right behind them. That would be motivation enough to go forward. Sometimes it takes something like that to get us moving in the direction God wants us to go. And it was by faith that the walls of Jericho fell down, after...

  Good morning. He then talks about Isaac blessing Jacob and Esau, and Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph, and then finally Joseph mentioning the exodus of the sons of Israel and giving orders concerning his bones. While Joseph was alive, it did not look like Israel was ever going back to the promised land. After all, they had the best land of Egypt. Why would they want to go back to the unknown? This was before they were enslaved. Sometimes the "good" of the now keeps us from obtaining the "best" of the future. When we settle for the good, it obscures our vision of the best. We then come to think that this is the best that God has for us. Is there some good that you are settling for instead of waiting for the best – don't! The children of Israel may have forgotten, but Joseph did not. Then he talks about Moses' parents hiding him for three months ... Moses left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen. Now if yo...

  Good morning. So all of these people of faith that the writer of Hebrews has been talking about made it clear that they were seeking a country of their own. If they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. They kept their eyes on the prize. Remember the people of Israel in the wilderness – when things got rough, they began to bemoan what they had left behind in Egypt. These people of faith did not. They did not say "woe is me – things are bad". They kept looking forward and not back. They did not say "it is too hard – I'm going back". They desired a better country, that is a heavenly one. And because of that God was not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son. It was a long and hard road to get Isaac. Now God was asking him to give up his o...

  Good morning. Now we get to Abraham – he describes what Abraham went through, which we have already talked about. He was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Then he talks about Sarah. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. If you read Genesis, that's not what it looked like. Sarah laughed when she overheard that she was to have a baby. Then again maybe he was talking about Abraham's faith and not Sarah's. There was born of one man, and him (I love this part) as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven. Remember we said earlier that he only had Isaac as far as the promise was concerned, and Isaac only had Jacob and Esau. It was not an auspicious beginning to having descendants as many as the stars of heaven. All of these that he has talked about in this chapter died in faith, without receiving the ...

  Good morning. Continuing with the people of faith: it was by faith that Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death. He was pleasing to God. And without faith – it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Remember that Jesus said, "I am", and here it says we must believe that God is. We must also believe that God will reward us when we seek Him. He will let us find Him. Too many Christians are seeking things, not God. He goes on: God told Noah to build an ark. Why would you need an ark? Noah had been alive for hundreds of years and had never seen any reason for needing a big boat. There may have been water around, but how are you going to get this big boat into the water? If he had seen boats before, they would've been nothing like this. And yet he believed God and built the boat. It does not say how much, if at all, his three sons helped him. I'm sure he was the laughings...

  Good morning. You are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of your soul. But what is faith? Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. As we've said before – if you can see it, it is not hope. So what good is faith? By it the men of old gained approval. Abraham did not heal anybody or perform any miracles, but he definitely had approval because of his faith. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. That is actually amazing for 2000 years ago. Mankind's scientific understanding of the creation was limited back then. And of course God had faith that by His word worlds would come into existence. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he stil...

  Good morning. Continuing: you showed sympathy to the prisoners, and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one. Could we joyfully accept it if someone seized our property because we were Christians? Not many of us would. They are after all just things that we cannot take with us, and which are destined for destruction. Don't throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. I'm sure you've heard illustrations of miners stopping just short of the mother-lode. It is hard to keep on keeping on when you don't see the end in sight. For yet in a little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay, but My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. For over 40 years I've heard that Jesus could come at any moment. Many hav...

  Good morning. Continuing with the theme of judgment: anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? This reminds us of earlier when he said they partook of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good word of God and the powers of the ages to come, and then fallen away, that it was impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. Whether or not they lose their salvation, there will be severe punishment. God knows just what to do - it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. When people do this, they become some of the severest critics of Christianity. They don't want to believe in it, because they know how horrible ...

  Good morning. In addition to stimulating one another to love and good deeds, we should not be forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. There are no lone rangers in the kingdom of God. Even in the best of times, we should be meeting with other Christians. In these days, as the end is drawing near, we should be even more diligent to meet with other Christians. We need their comfort, encouragement, and counsel. In this verse he says that some have even made it a habit to not assemble. It does not take too many times doing something for it to become a habit. It then becomes very difficult to break that habit. In fact many times people don't even want to break that habit. They have comfort in that routine. In this case, they don't want people telling them that they are doing something wrong. Would you want to go to a group that you know would tell you you're doing something...

  Good morning. We saw before that we have confidence to enter into the holy place because of the blood of Jesus: by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.   And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Remember in 9:13 the sprinkling of those who had been defiled in order to sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh - here we have our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. What was done back then was a symbol of what is done now. And we are to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Remember – hope seen is not hope. We can't let circumstances cause us to waiver. Because God is faithful, we can be certain that we will have what He promised us. Remember: never, never, never give up! And so what should we...

  Good morning. All of those sacrifices made year after year could not make perfect those who drew near. It is impossible for the blood of animals to take away sins. However the blood of Jesus did! By God's will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. After He finished, He sat down at the right hand of God till His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. His sacrifice of Himself did not last for just one year. By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. One sacrifice is all it took. Legally we were sanctified – that's what the word Saint means – when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Experientially it is a lifelong process. God said that our sins and lawless deeds He will remember no more. I'm sure you've heard many illustrations where people kept confessing a sin over and over and God saying "what are you talking about?" So since we are forgiven, there is no need for...