Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you. Don't quench the Spirit. Don't despise prophesies. Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 WEBWhile traveling through Milwaukee Wisconsin, we stopped at an old smokehouse restaurant and ordered some wood-smoked baby back ribs. They cooked them right over a wood fire and they were nothing short of amazing, but they were full of bones which we had to slowly pick through. It was so worth it, and years later I still remember eating there. We ate the meat, and threw out the bones.
In our church experience, I have heard great men of God say things that I did not understand, or really even agree with. I used to try and make it all fit somehow anyway, but that created a mess in my mind. In the end, I had to start over and only keep the simple things that I can understand, and let that slowly build. Albert Einstein said: 'If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.' When I hear something that doesn't seem to fit now, I put it on the shelf and think about it a while, and it may just get thrown out.
On the other hand, there have been sound biblical truths abused and now mentioning them is almost considered 'taboo.' Yet the truth will always be the truth. Our enemy loves to make our messages out of balance, too much or too little. He works to blacklist the blessings of God and to quietly erase them from our messages. In order to rob us of the blessings, he will make something that God intended for our good, look bad. Then what could have been a blessing, is turned into a curse.
'Give and it will be given to you (Luke 6:38)' will always work, regardless of how many charlatans have abused it in the past. By hiding this truth, and removing it from our messages, the enemy essentially hides the key to the cell door of poverty prison and keeps God's people locked inside. Many begin to agree with him and believe 'Keep it all for yourself and you will prosper.' Yet, that is not what Jesus told us. The truth has been reversed, and the blessing made into a curse (Malachi 3:9).
Another important truth that has been neglected is that we are not to 'quench' the Spirit of God. This essentially means 'Putting out the fire' and it is speaking of the Holy Spirit, not about people who may be speaking out of order. The Holy Spirit brings warmth and light to the Christian life ever since the day that He came on the Apostles as 'tongues of fire' (Acts 2:3, Matthew 3:11).
Paul especially singled out one spiritual gift with 'Do not despise prophecies' (1Thessalonians 5:20). When you enter a church that is spiritually dead, water has been thrown on the fire, and what you are left with is a cold, dead, religious experience. I know the hair on your neck is probably rising, but I am only writing what the New Testament teaches as the truth. We cannot treat the Bible like a buffet and silently drop the parts that our denomination disagrees with, or even reverse their meaning into 'Despise all prophecies.' The Holy Spirit is still alive today, the book of Acts is still as relevant as ever, and so is prophecy.
Be open to new things. Keep what is good, throw out the bad. None of us are as smart as all of us combined. None of us have the entire truth, only parts of it, but all together we make up the body of Christ. Do not try and keep what you do not yet understand. God is able to quicken His word and make it understandable, when He chooses to.
We are to test all things and keep what is good. We cannot ignore truth because someone abused it in the past. We cannot limit God to our church experience so far. Jesus did no mighty works in His hometown because of their unbelief, but He did miracles everywhere else (Matthew 14:57). What if we are like them?
Prayer: Heavenly Father I believe, help my unbelief. Lord do not pass me by but include me in what You are doing today. I want more of You in my life. Teach me what I need to know and fire me up God. Dry up the water that has been thrown on my life and make me a torch for You in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.Note: Our weekly RHM Live church service will be happening this morning at 10am EST. Join us for a time of worship, interactive prayer, and fellowship, and to hear what has been happening recently in our lives. To participate in the chatroom you need to have a site account, but if not, you can still watch the video of the study. Service starts at 10am EST, but all are encouraged to show up 15 minutes early for fellowship, and to make sure the stream is working for you before we start. Love you all! Here is the link to join:
RHM Live > You can subscribe to our daily devotional here <
Amen
Amen! Thank You Lord!
Amen. I choose to believe in you Lord Jesus. I pray for those who don't. Amen
Amen
Amen Father
Amen pastor Dion and you are so right on and yes the hair on my neck stood up more than once reading your words from our father thank you Jesus for opening eyes and hearts
Amen
Amen!!
Amen, Pastor Dion!
Please God give me a fighting spirit. Don't let me get so discouraged. Praise God Amen
Amen, thank you Pastor Dion.
Amen
Yes yes. Father God assist us in discernment and obedience to the Holy Spirit. Never do I want to quench You, Holy Spirit
Thank you Jesus for knowledge and discernment. Thank you for the fire in my heart. Amen
Amen! Help my unbelief and guide me to Your plans.
I enjoyed the service this morning I am really enjoying the music and what is being said but I'm really frustrated because I don't know how to make comments in that part of the service where it ends in prayer requests are taking I'm using my iPhone so maybe the feature where I need to click or share or post is not available if you can shed light on this message me back thank you
Hi Julia! On a phone, the chat is in a different window from the video portion, so that may be part of the problem. If you did see others in chat and couldn't post, feel free to email me (just reply to any of the devotional emails) and we can go into more detail.
I especially like, "Give and it will be given unto you." My spirit has been encouraged to give to an organization that provides meals for the school children who are at home because of the Coronavirus. They are missing the school lunch and I can help. Thank God for the prompting of the Holy Spirit. I will prepare a check to mail today. Thank you for the reminder!
Even though I am only allowed to tithe on my social security, God has given unto "us." and I am so very grateful. I pray the Lord will touch the heart of my beloved husband to do more. thank you Lord for your many blessings.
Dear Father please give us the strength to be closer to Your teachings and protect us from the snares of the devil, that Your Holy Spirit be with us in every walk of life. Teach us what You as our Father wants us to be and follow, in the name of Your Son Jesus we pray, Amen. Glory be to You oh Lord.
Great devotional Pastor, we need not to forget the word of the Lord. Thank you and Sylvia for your words, God bless you both.
if you hear about the Constantine things and realize what precisely they are accusing with and take that to Jesus' things and hear Him you'll see I pray quickly that the opposite of what they do to lead many astray and deafen people by and bind them up from truth is exactly how Jesus teaches us everything. do not be afraid of them, we were warned that they would come. With every word from His mouth again, we are never far from home. Hear Him declare by all His Things His name with the apostles from the new wine skins that Jesus designed by spirit to lead us into all truth by. Jesus Christ is from the beginning ♡ be blessed and see and hear the things He says The Truth & The Amen
Amen, sister <3!
Amen!
Thank you. I think God likes to use you to speak to me because when I tell him whats troubling me, your devotional answers my exact question. I was confused and crying in my heart because many brothers and pastors whom have taught me and blessed me much, supported the peace plan that divides Israel and defended this using semantics and unbiblical truths. I asked Papa God if I should ever listen to another word they said? My inner two year old had a fit and blocked their Youtube channels in a show of my disappointment. I did not know what to do or who to look for, for answers...God of course. Man may disappoint me, but God never will..eat the truth and throw out the bones! Thank you so much!! God is so amazing!
Amen!
Yes Lord Jesus, amen