Scripture Snippets

  James 1:5 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. One day when I was younger, actually not that young, I was in my twenties, my father asked me if I knew the difference between knowledge and wisdom.  I must confess, I was at a loss of words.  I gave a definition but it was messed up and contradictory.  My dad taught me a valuable lesson then that I have found out in my life is not taught much today. My dad used a saying that he still uses today.  “Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.  Wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad.”   Knowledge is when we know the facts.  Wisdom is practically applying the knowledge that we have.  God seeks for us to be wise.  So much so that basically the whole book of Proverbs is an instruction book on wisdom.   We have the knowledge we need.  We have the Bible to help guide us and we have the Holy Spirit to instruct us on what we should or should not do.  Wisdom

  Matthew 5:38-42 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. I know, you may have seen the title of this devotional and thought, oh great, Andy’s following in line with all the preachers and is now going to preach nothing about money.  Well, that’s not exactly right.  Will money be a topic discussed in this devotional? Yes?  However, I’m going to discuss the error that Christians have in thinking that when God wants us to give that He’s only talking about money.  God’s not just talking about money.  He’s talking about a whole lot more. The principle of tithing comes from a number of verses and we us

  Romans 12:1-2 12 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. 2 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. I was a child of the 80’s.  In a way, I guess some can say that I really still am.  I still collect comics and I still love pop culture from when I was a kid.  The cool thing that has happened over the past 10 years is those things I loved are coming back!  Comic book craze is going strong, shows like Thundercats, GI Joe, and the one I want to talk about today, Transformers, have become pop culture phenomenons. Yes, you read the title of today’s devotional right.  We are called to transform.  Paul tells us in the book of Romans that we should never be conformed to the ways of this world.  We should never say, hey even though that goes aga

  Galatians 2:20 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Death is something that we all hate to talk about.  While it has become a reality in our world because of sin, it’s something all of us hate to discuss.  This is because death should have never been a part of our world.  God created everything perfect but due to mankind’s sin, death entered it.  Whenever we hear about Christianity one of the main things we hear about it is being born again and having eternal life.  We have a tendency to forget that death has a part in that process as well. Just as Christ was crucified on the cross, when we surrender ourselves to Him, we realize by His power, it’s no longer us who live.  We died to sin, but Christ raised us anew by His power so now it is Christ that lives within us. When we are saved, the Holy Spirit takes up residen

  Ephesians 6:10-20 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to

  Ephesians 1:15-18 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, Hope.  What do you think of when you hear that word?  Many think of the future and what future events may hold.  To a lot of us it has a sense of things to come.  While hope can certainly attain to that, we should also remember that hope is very much a present thing as well. Here is Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul mentions his prayers that he gives towards the church.  He mentions how he heard of their faith and the love they have for the followers of Jesus.  He states that

  Luke 6:36 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. In yesterday’s devotion, we gave the definition of mercy and grace and outlined how the two are different.  Mercy is when God doesn’t give us what we deserve.  That is a very sobering statement in the light of our own salvation.  What did we deserve?  Let’s look at two different verses. Romans 3:23 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 6:23 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Based on these two verses, we realize what we all deserve and it’s very sobering.  We all deserve death.  We have all sinned.  There is not one person that is innocent, but we are all guilty and the penalty is death.  However, because we serve a merciful God, God gave us a way out.  He gave us the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.  We deserve death, but God didn’t give us death.  We serve a merciful God and stated in Luke, we are commanded to be merciful