Philippians 4:13

Verse of the Day: Philippians 4:13

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13

Have you ever felt that you needed to do something, but could not because you did not have the strength?  I think we all have.  This can be very frustrating if we know we must get that ‘something’ done.  The apostle Paul knows full well what this is like.

Look at 2 Corinthians 11:21-28, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.”  It is amazing how he suffered so much at the hands of men, but was able to do all he did, not through his own strength, but that strength given him by Christ.”

God does not show favoritism.  If you are doing the Lord’s work, He will give you all you need to accomplish it, including the strength needed to finish.  Do not give up when you grow weary.  Pray for His strength and He will provide it.  He will never command us to do something we are incapable of accomplishing.  Tap into all He gives you and make it happen.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

John 1:10

Verse of the Day: John 1:10

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” – John 1:10 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” John 1:1-3.  Through Christ, everything that exists that came into existence was through Him.

Today’s verse states that the creator of all creation came to the world and they did not know Him.  This is a sad thing because throughout the entire Old Testament, it was prophesized that He would come.  And it is important to understand that all, not just some, but all the prophesies regarding the Christ, the much-anticipated Messiah, was fulfilled.  The problem was either the Jewish leadership did not understand their scriptures, or they ignored their scriptures regarding His coming. We have had 2000 years since Jesus was here on earth in human form and too many still do not know Him.  The reasons are similar; they either do not understand what the scriptures say, or they ignore it because it is not that important to them.  And that is why we are here.  As Jesus sent His disciples out to declare the truth of who He is, He now sends us, His disciples of today to do the same.  I encourage you to be attentive for opportunities to introduce them to Jesus, who is the only way of salvation.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

Genesis 15:6

Verse of the Day: Genesis 15:6

“Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” – Genesis 15:6

Abram was told by God not to be afraid for He would shield Him.  Moreover, Abram would be given a great reward.  However, Abram responded to God with by asking “What will you give me, for I am childless, and my heir will be Eliezer my servant.  (In nomadic tribes, if a man was childless, his heir was his chief servant).  Then we read in verse 4, “Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, ‘This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.’”  Then He tells Abram that if He could count the stars, that would be the number of his descendants.

What is amazing about this story is that Abram was somewhere between 75 and 85 years old, while Sara would have been between 65 and 75 years old, long after the age of childbearing.  However, as we see in our focus verse, Abram believed God, and because he believed, God declared Abram righteous.

There are two things we can glean from this.  First, God can do anything no matter how impossible it may look to be.  If God promises us something, it will come to pass.  There is no doubt.  So, you can look at the promises of God throughout the scriptures and know that they can and will be done.   And second, this is a beautiful picture of the gospel.  If we truly believe that Christ died, was buried and then rose again for us, then our salvation is sure.  Note Jesus’ words in John’s gospel, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16  Do you truly believe?  If so, then God has declared you righteous.  Rejoice!

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

Colossians 2:6

Verse of the Day Devotion: Colossians 2:6

“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,” – Colossians 2:6  

Paul here is encouraging the church in Colossae to live life as it is intended as followers of Christ.  He specifically says, ‘as you received Christ Jesus the Lord walk in Him’.  Not as you received the doctrines of God, walk in them.  He is being very explicit here.

When we accepted Christ as our savior, we received the Spirit of Life in Christ.  This is His spirit residing in us.  We will have this Spirit in us if we are truly saved.  Paul says later in a letter, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Romans 8:9 If we are saved, we do not live in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in us.  If He does not dwell in us, then we are not truly Christians.

So, if we have received the Spirit of God in us, then we are saved, so we must walk in Him.  To walk in Him means in this context, to conduct ourselves in the way Christ did and desires us to live.  The Law does not save, but it shows us the character of God and thus how we should live.  In the same faith, love and holiness He did.  Now we will occasionally fail in this, but when we do, we confess it to God and turn back to the life we should live.

The proof of our salvation is the life we live as a result of it.  Do we live totally committed to God, or not?  Paul is telling us that Christ gave it all for us.  We should desire, because of the Spirit that lives in us, to do the same for Him.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

Luke 9:35

Verse of the Day Devotion: Luke 9:35

“Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, this is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” – Luke 9:35

This passage is found at the end of what is called the transfiguration.  Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him up onto a mountain to pray.  While Jesus was praying, it says that something changed with Him.  He was transfigured.  “And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.”  Luke 9-29.  Matthew gives us a more detailed description of the change in Jesus.  “And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.”  Matthew 17:2. And with Him stood two other men, also appearing in glory, Elijah and Moses.

After a time, the voice of God the Father came from out of the clouds saying, ‘Listen to my Son, the chosen one.’  This is key.  As the disciples were told to listen to Jesus, we are to as well.  Too often we only listen to pastors and teachers when it comes to theological issues, and just accept what they say.  This is where heretical teachings and practices arise.  The question we should ask is, ‘Does what they are saying line up with the Word of God?’  If it does, then accept it and follow it.  If it does not, then reject it.

Paul spoke of the Bereans in Acts 17, and this should be our mindset.  “Now these (Jews from Berea) were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”  Acts 17:11.   They did not take what Paul said without checking it out first.  We also should not accept what someone tells us, even if they are greatly credentialed, without checking it out ourselves.  There are some things that are obvious, however, if you have not heard it before or are questioning the accuracy of the interpretation, look it up.  And while checking it out, pray that God will reveal the truth to you.  Let Christ be the one who validates what men say.

Now this does require discipline.  We must be willing and desirous of knowing the reality of what is being said.  Let Him show you the truth.  He will never lead you astray and will always guide you, through His Spirit, into all truth.  And is not the truth what we are striving for?

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

Isaiah 53:6

Verse of the Day Devotion: Isaiah 53:6  All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

This is a very important verse for us to understand, especially when it comes to our ministry to both the saved and unsaved.  It is important because of the first three words of this verse; ‘All of us.’  We must remember this in all aspects of our ministry.  This picture of sheep is a popular one within the scriptures.  “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, For I do not forget Your commandments.”  Psalm 119:176.  Also, “For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:25.  And finally, this lesson from Jesus tells us, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying. If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.” Matthew 18:10-14

We all have gone astray from God.  We all have walked away from Him and, as the verse says, have turned to our own ways instead of following after God.  This started in the Garden with Adam and Eve.  “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:6.  They listened to the lies of the serpent rather than the truth from God.  And as it says in our focus verse, “… Each of us has turned to his own way …”.

We were not able, because of our iniquity, to resolve the issue ourselves since it required a perfect sacrifice, one without any spot or blemish.  But the Lord had an answer, which was to send His Son, to live a perfect life, and then die, paying for the iniquities of the rest of us.  The Messiah, the long-awaited promise, who came in human form as Jesus, paid the complete penalty for everyone, and we have our sins forgiven if we simply believe in Christ, and declare Him Lord.  “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Romans 10:9-10.  Also, there are times when we mess up and do things we should not.  He has a solution for that as well. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

However, we must not think differently about others than we do ourselves, except that we look at them more highly.  “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4   I have seen too often Christians who look down on others who do not have the knowledge or goodness they do.  We cannot think this way, because we at one time were in the position, and it was only by the grace of God that we were restored.  These learned the truth, and it is theirs and all of our jobs, as Christians to teach others and help them grow in Christ.

We must not decide there are people who are so bad or too low that we will not reach out to them.  They may do horrible things, but they deserve to be reached out to as well as we did and do.  Paul put it well, “Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.”  Romans 12:16.  We are called to go into world and make disciples of all men.  We are called to go into the highways and byways and compel them to come to the Lord.  Again, we all were lost.  We all went our own way.  However, someone came to us and showed us the truth and helped us understand.  We were saved by the blood of Christ when we accepted Him, and so it is our job to help others be saved by accepting Him as well.

No one is too far gone for us to ignore.  He has placed this calling on us, formerly sinners, who now understand.  We must reach out to all whom God brings our way.  It only takes one sin to corrupt, and we were corrupt.  So, as someone did for us, let’s go out and do for others.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.