June 1
“For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17).
Beloved, God does His housecleaning within His own house. He is faithful to refine and rebuke us because we are His children. And if children, then we are heirs—heirs to all of His riches, all of His power, all of His eternity. Then what do we expect as we need refining? What would you have our heavenly Father do? It begins with God’s household. But once again, we are reminded that all others are not as fortunate. What will be the outcome for those who do not obey or accept the gospel?
Beloved, the only way to press forward is to look at the destitution of all those who do not know God. Oh, yes, we suffer, but never alone, never without hope, never without a future. We must rejoice! Rejoice always!! And then again, rejoice!!
Today, seek out the lost and suffering. Take and accept well the disciplines of the Lord that prove you truly are one of His children.
June 2
“To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing” (1 Pet. 3:8–9).
Beloved, it is His intent that all the evil that is coming against you is to give you part of His inheritance. Unfortunately, we fail to see the evil and insults in this most precious package. We become hurt or offended, never looking at the One who holds all the blessings, the hand that bears the scar of the nails driven deep. Instead of returning the evil and the insults that were cast at Him, instead of calling “at once” a legion of angels, Jesus laid himself down on a cross and inherited the blessing of eternal life for us.
Beloved, will you lie upon your cross? Will you open wide your arms and die to yourself? Will you do it for the ones you love while they are yet sinners? Do you have the greatest of all love, the love that would lay down his life and future for a friend?
June 3
“Behold, we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful” (James 5:11).
Beloved, do you count those blessed who have endured? We all do. After the endurance has been completed, after we are able to see the outcome of the Lord’s dealing with them, we count those blessed. But do you count your longsuffering blessed? Can you see that once it is complete, others will be encouraged by your testimony? That it will prove to others that the Lord is full of compassion, that He is merciful? But so many do not endure. So many give up. So many fall away from the truth. So many become entangled with the cares of the world or with the sins of the flesh.
Beloved, our lost and dying and suffering world will never know the compassion and the mercies of God unless we allow them to be seen in our life. We must die to self and take up the cross that lies at our feet. We must seek His face daily and rely on His mercies every morning. We must say, “Here I am, send me.”
June 4
“For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness” (Heb. 12:10).
Beloved, it is through this severe and painful disciplining that we may share His holiness. We cannot come by it any other way. Many have tried, but none will gain entrance into His holiness without suffering, for a short time, what seems best to Him. Who can know the mind of God? Who are we that we have become His counselor? How could we ever doubt His love for us? God sent His Son, and Jesus took the shame and became sin for us. Could we ever doubt His love or His reason for why we continue to suffer, still waiting for His redemption in our circumstance? Will we doubt as the storms rage that He could not, at any minute, call on the seas to “be still”?
Beloved, this suffering is for our good. We have seen those who suffer, who endure to the end, those who have a testimony. But we were not there during the many years of suffering. We do not know the nights of crying, wailing, and pleading. We only see the mercies of God. Do you look at others who suffer and compare yours to be much beyond theirs? Do you minimize those who have endured, thinking that your suffering or circumstance is worse? Beloved, the meaning of endure is to have the mind of Christ. And our Lord says that He cares about our grief. That He intercedes for us. His mind for us is that He pitieth His children. Can we do less?
June 5
“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (Heb. 4:14).
Beloved, hold fast the confessions of your lips. Let us not forget that our Jesus, the Son of the Almighty, passed through the heavens. He is now our high priest. He is there making intercession for us. How the devil tempts us to let go of our confessions. To make us believe that the Lord will not answer our prayers. That it is just not in His will, that which the Spirit laid on our hearts! Lies. They are nothing more than lies. Yet, if we give lip to them, then they will begin to bring doubt to our faith. Then we become doubleminded. There the enemy knows that we can expect nothing from God. This was his intent.
Yet, Beloved, we cannot be ill in our confession and slip into spiritual arrogance. We cannot focus our walk into a battle between the enemy and us. It is there where so many fall. So many adopt a speech of arrogance that puts us in opposition to the One who can save us! Was it not the youths who believed that God would deliver them from the fiery furnace yet spoke humbly that “even if He should not . . .”? It was Paul who would spoke with humility, “If God should will it so”—a man who knew the will of God through and through that he should write the greatest majority of the New Testament. Yes, we have confidence in Him, yet in humility of our fallen human nature and our total dependency on and need for a Savior, should we confess.
June 6
“Looking upon them, Jesus said, ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God’” (Mark 10:27).
Beloved, your situation is impossible. Without God, apart from Him, you can do nothing to turn the tide, turn the heart, save yourself from your situation or the destiny that looms before you. But not so with God! For all things are possible for us in the midst of God, when we are with Him!!
Beloved, are you with God? Do you walk daily with Him? Is He your guide, or have you looked to another? Beloved, you must be hidden in Him. You must be with Him. If you do not radiate with the love of God, which comes from a deep and intimate walk with Him, how will you turn the hearts of those around you?
Beloved, join with God. Go with His plan; look at your situation as He does. He is not distressed. He is not confused. He does not sit and wonder or worry. And it is our faith in Him that relieves us of all our distresses. Leave your situation with Him, for all things are possible with God!
June 7
“And Jesus answered saying to them, ‘Have faith in God’” (Mark 11:22).
Beloved, where is your faith? Is it in what you see? Is it in your faithfulness to follow carefully the principles for restoration? Is it in being a part of or around those who, too, seek restoration for their lives? Is it in a “word” that was spoken to you? Or is your faith in God?
How simple: “Have faith in God.”
The concept is almost beyond our grasp. We feel there must be more to it. But there it is. “Have faith in God.”
Beloved, this is our root. This is our cornerstone. This is our foundation, our faith in God.
This morning, do not rush out without first making sure that the foundation of your faith is your faith in God. Speak to Him from your heart and settle this in your mind and heart. Have faith in God.
June 8
“Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him” (Mark 11:23).
Beloved, are you living in anticipation? Do you live in expectancy? Or, is your heart a heart of dread—“What may happen today?” Beloved, to move a mountain, we must live expecting our needs to be met. No, we do not have the power in ourselves, but in our faith in Him. God then says that as we wait, watching, expecting, believing, our mountain will be moved—it will be granted to us!
How glorious!! Our only requirement to see the mountain move toward that sea, to be cast forever gone, is our faith in Him. No doubt may pollute our hearts, but they must be filled with pure and simple faith in God.
Beloved, look carefully at the mountain and see it move toward the sea. Now do not doubt that it is going to happen, and yes, it will be granted to you!
June 9
“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you” (Mark 11:24).
Beloved, believe that you have already received them. Is your heart settled that what you have petitioned God for He has already given to you? Does your countenance reflect your heart of trust in God? Beloved, again it is faith that God says will be the catalyst to your blessings being manifested in the flesh.
Beloved, let us also not fail or neglect to pray for what we ask for. Do you rush about, maybe asking others to pray, but failing to really pray for your petition yourself? Our prayer life is the incense before the Lord.
Has your flame gone out?
Have you neglected to keep your heart’s desire before Him who can grant your petition?
When there are enough of your tears captured in the heavenlies, then the showers of blessings will come. Never give your tears away. They belong to the Lord alone. For there in His bottle does He store them.
June 10
“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions” (Mark 11:25–26).
Beloved, forgive. Oh, how many wait, even with expectancy, yet fail this all-important principle—to forgive. They see the sin of others but are blind to their own. Or they measure their sin as less offensive to God. Oh, Beloved, our sins, all sins, separate us from God. A holy God cannot come close to sin. And the sin of pride and arrogance is the greatest.
Have you sought God’s forgiveness but refuse to release your offenders from their debt?
Beloved, is it easy to see what every one else is doing wrong? Then, my Beloved, you have not forgiven. For truly when we see ourselves in our sin, we become blind to the sins of all others. But when we have been forgiven, because we have seen ourselves as the sinners that we are and have received God’s mercy, the sins of others are quickly forgiven. For the Father’s forgiveness gives us new eyes and a new heart.
June 11
“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows’” (Mal. 3:10).
Beloved, are you giving God the first of everything? First in your day, first in your giving, first in your heart? God says this promise is so sure that He asks us to test Him and see if He can be found faithful. What an awesome promise! This verse literally says, “Give me all that you have and I, God, will give you all that I’ve got!” However, we fail in our part, thus failing to receive.
Beloved, it is in faith that we give. We give our heart to the unlovable, in faith, knowing that we can be rejected. Yet, when rejected, He floods us with the peace that surpasses all our understanding. We give to the needy, expecting nothing, but He gives us everything. In the heavens there are storehouses filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Not all are material—there are many more riches for the heart. God is more than willing to pour those blessings all over your life, if only you will pour out what you have to others. Let go and let God bless you.
June 12
“And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time” (Luke 1:20).
Beloved, we are so unaware of the things and workings of God. If we were to really know them, we would never doubt. God has given us promises—things that have been written on His calendar, promises that are to be fulfilled at a proper time. However, our words are the only danger to these blessings coming to pass. This is why Zacharias was unable to speak. If he doubted God right there before the angel, how much more would he speak against the promise of a son to his aged wife Elisabeth once he left the temple?
Beloved, has God given you a promise? Have you spoken for it faithfully? Have you shared it with those who would speak against it? Beloved, our words of faith or curse are powerful. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit—the same Spirit that was with God when He spoke, not fashioned, but spoke the world into existence! God knows the power of our words to advance His promises or to annihilate them. Our enemy knows them too. This is why he schemes troubles or situations or what “appears” to be defeat, so that we will speak against our promise and thus close the windows of heaven with our miracle never being manifested.
June 13
“For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sown” (Ezek. 36:9).
Beloved, oh, how painful the plow blade! Through this trial you have felt God pierce through the tough, hard ground in your life. You cry out in pain as He plows along row after row. It is not just this area that has gone hard, but every area of your life. Yet, Beloved, He is not doing so just to leave this turned soil bare, but He has plans for it—plans for good, for a future. Once every corner has been pierced through and turned up, then He will plant seeds for the harvest, seeds of promises that He will plant into your heart. Gentle showers will water what has been planted, and as in all fields that yield much, we can expect rain, rain, and more rain. The trials may pour, but all are intended to water what has been planted.
Yet, Beloved, so small is the tiny green shoot that begins to emerge just there in the dirt: new life—tender, fragile, but new. More rain, more sun, and it grows. Soon there are fields where once there was hard, worthless soil. Soon there will be a harvest that will help feed the hungry, the downhearted, the faint.
Allow the blade to turn up the hard soil of your heart. Welcome the rains that will continue to moisten the soil turned. Do not fear the storms that will come. Do not minimize the tiny tender shoot. Because in due season, if you faint not, you will reap a bountiful harvest.
June 14
“For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be cultivated and sown” (Ezek. 36:9).
Beloved, when God sees fit to cultivate you, to turn your soil, He is for you. We must never doubt the love of our Father, who proved that “while we were yet sinners . . .” He need not prove Himself by removing the plow blade, for without it we would hence stay in our own sorry state—hard, worthless. But glory to God, He is for us!! And He promised to do the work Himself! Oh, how we look at the blade as the instrument that is hurting us so, cursing the instrument while failing to look at Who holds that scalpel. God must allow it; it is in His hands. What or whom He uses has been carefully and thoughtfully decided before you were even aware of the need for such a surgery on your heart.
Beloved, the Lord will use the sharpest blade to cut the deepest. It is there, unseen by our eyes, but forever before His, that the wickedness of our hearts must be purged. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” God says that He is for you; therefore, if He is for you, no one can really be against you. God will use even their wrong and evil intentions for our good; that is His promise to us.
June 15
“Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven, with the saving strength of His right hand” (Ps. 20:6).
Beloved, do you really know that the Lord can do all things? Do you doubt His ability to stop a situation, turn a circumstance, turn the heart of the ones you love back to you? Will it be when He does something miraculous—is that what it will take?
Beloved, do you minimize the small daily things of the Lord? It was in this mindset that the Israelites made their decision to die in the desert. God was looking for praises in the very small things, the trust that He so deserves, so that He could bless them and lead them into the promised land. Can you? Will you say, without hesitation or doubt, “I know . . .”?
June 16
“I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).
Beloved, God has a purpose for all things. He is not as interested in our comfort as He is in our conversion. We are told that we will suffer, just as our Savior suffered, to learn obedience. Some panic as a dreaded event is fast approaching, forgetting that He has a purpose in mind that cannot be thwarted.
Is His purpose to show Himself in His glorious power by showing up in the very last minute? Is it His purpose to allow you to go through the blaze of a particular trial in order to burn up all last remaining doubt, replacing it with a trust that you will need in the future?
No purpose of His can be thwarted. Let us seek His purpose for all that we face.
June 17
“Seven periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes” (Dan. 4:25).
Beloved, God tells us that until we recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and that this mighty God bestows blessings on whomever He wishes, we too will be like unto the cattle. We will wait for our blessing, but we will not receive it. It is God alone who is mighty. It is His will, His desires for us on earth as He sees fit in heaven, that we must seek. It is not our desires, but His. This comes by trust that He indeed loves us and has promised that all that He allows will be for our good!
But not until you recognize . . .
June 18
“And Samuel said, ‘Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams’” (1 Sam. 15:22).
Beloved, your Lord doesn’t want you to sacrifice, give up things, take the hard road. Your Lord delights in you obeying His voice. It is a still small voice that you must often strain to hear. Once you hear, do you obey?
Oh, Beloved, it is in the obedience to that still small voice that you will find the peace and protection you long to have. It is there at the end of much obedience that you earn the power and strength to stand against the onslaught of attacks that now wound and damage your spirit and soul, which result in the pain that you continually feel.
Beloved, take a few moments to sit and listen for the tender, sweet voice of the Lord as you seek Him for guidance, moment-by-moment through this day. Obey His voice today. Do not give sleep to your eyes tonight until you first delight the Lord with your obedience to His voice.
June 19
“Remember the word to Your servant, in which You have made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me” (Ps. 119:49–50).
Beloved, has the Lord given you a word of hope? Where have you kept this word? Is it hidden deep in your heart? Is it meditated on day and night? Is it ready on your lips when someone asks you to give an account of the hope that is in you?
This must be your comfort in the affliction that you face. This alone will revive you and be with you until the victory is crossed. Cherish this word, blessed servant of the Lord. It is His promise to you.
June 20
“Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice; because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you” (Is. 60:5).
Beloved, God promises that He will allow us to see incredible blessings that have not yet manifested themselves. The heart that is currently pierced through, the heart that aches and yearns, will be transformed in an instant to a heart that thrills and rejoices at what it will soon see. Our faces will be radiant with the love of the Lord, faces transformed into His likeness.
Beloved, all of this will come to you. You do not need to go out and seek it for yourself. No, the blessings are when we seek Him, when we seek His face—not His hand, but His face. This is the transformation that He seeks for us.
Beloved, do not look for the path to your restoration. Seek His face so that when the world looks at you, your face will be radiant and they, too, shall never be the same.
June 21
“Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am” (Phil. 4:11).
Beloved, before the Lord will turn your loved-one’s heart back to you, He is determined to teach you, so that you will learn many things. One very important thing is contentment. You must be content with where He has you now before He can restore you. I have never failed to see this happen.
Yet, this contentment must be contentment in Him. Some are “content” with their life without their promise, but it is more a “settling for” than true contentment. Contentment is utter peace and deep joy in being hidden in Him. It is a place that is not affected by surroundings or circumstances, but of total peace. Others continue to fret or panic or see what else they can “try to do.” The one who has learned contentment is anxious for nothing, happily hidden in Him.
June 22
“Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. And when he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.’ But he said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’” (Gen. 32:24–26).
Beloved, has this trial been one of wrestling with God for Him to bless you? Not until you are at the place where you will stop wrestling and instead hold onto God will the blessings come. Jacob wrestled until his hip would forever be out of joint, requiring him to forever lean on the Lord. Then he determined to hang on until morning.
Are you through wrestling? Are you now, hip out of joint, willing to hold on until the dawn comes to receive your promise?
June 23
“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name” (Heb. 13:15).
Beloved, are the only words that your Lord hears those of your pleading, begging, crying out for His mercy? Are you truly and faithfully believing in the promises He has given you and His power to fulfill them as He has promised?
Then why not praise Him? Those who wandered in the desert murmured and complained, as they did not trust Him. This brought more tests and trials. This brought more years of wandering. This brought ultimate judgment as He swore they would not enter into His rest. Praise Him, for He is worthy and faithful! Give Him your sacrifice of praise right now, today, and forever.
June 24
“And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people” (Acts 12:4).
Beloved, your loved-one may be bound in chains of sin. Your loved-one may be guarded by those who want them to stay in their present situation. But through your prayers, your loved-one will be released!
Oh, the glory and power of the Holy Spirit! There is nothing and no one who can resist His power. God’s power of righteousness cannot be matched or thwarted. So often we look at where our loved-one is, who he/she is with, and what our loved-one has spoken to us in anger or pain. Yet, Beloved, none of this matters with God!
Peter was guarded and chained to four soldiers, but when prayers were offered, God heard and moved on his behalf.
June 25
“And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people” (Acts 12:4).
Beloved, there is no doubt of the devil’s intent in seizing your loved-one. It was Herod’s intent to kill Peter just as he had killed James. You may have seen others destroyed by the very thing you are facing—but it does not need to befall you!
Pray! Pray earnestly.
Do not neglect pleading to your heavenly Father in your prayer closet until you are settled that He has heard and will answer your prayer.
Beloved, your loved-one may have spoken the devil’s destructive intent as their own, but once the light comes into their darkness, they will awaken and walk toward the gates that had them once bound, into freedom.
Beloved, make sure that the gates of your heart are ready to open when your loved-one turns toward you. Your loved-one may be on their way now.
June 26
“So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God” (Acts 12:5).
Beloved, how fervent are your prayers? Have you become preoccupied with many encumbrances? Are the cares of the world choking out the time with God?
When was the last time you lay down prostate before the Lord fervently praying for the release of your loved-one? In your prayer closet is where the battle will be won.
Meet with the Lord daily, hourly, and at every moment. Use the pain in you heart and in your gut as an alarm to seek Him. Never cease, never give in, never give up the seeking Him that will signal the release of your loved-one.
Once your loved-one is free, you will enjoy the sweet fellowship that you have only dreamed about. Seek Him fervently!
June 27
“And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and roused him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And his chains fell off his hands” (Acts 12:7).
Beloved, here again we see how God moves suddenly. The angel suddenly appeared, suddenly came into the midst of the darkness, suddenly showed up right where the prisoner was being held.
Beloved, an angel of the Lord will suddenly appear in your loved-one’s darkness, in the prison where your loved-one is being held—suddenly! It’s not when you think it will happen, but at the perfect, appointed moment. It will happen when you pray. Lift up your prayers to the heavens, and, when there are so many that heaven can no longer hold them up, your blessings will become showers of promises that He has given you. Pray.
June 28
“And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and roused him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And his chains fell off his hands” (Acts 12:7).
Beloved, never forget that your loved-one is living in darkness. Never forget it for a moment. Where there is no light, there is fear. Where there is no light, a prisoner gropes to find a way. Where there is no light, there are thoughts and words that would not be spoken if there were light.
Beloved, a light can be shone into the cell of your loved-one’s darkness. It’s the Light from heaven. It was sent to Peter because of the prayers of those who would not accept the death sentence of the one they loved, but were fervent to pray through to victory.
Beloved, today, pray that your loved-one will be give the light from above this very day. Pray.
June 29
“And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and roused him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And his chains fell off his hands” (Acts 12:7).
Beloved, your loved-one may be sleeping, unafraid of the fate that awaits them. But, praise the Lord, God will send an angel to strike them and rouse them in their weariness.
Maybe your loved-one has tried to free themselves, but found they were too tightly bound or that they were guarded. So they gave up and resigned themselves to sin and bondage.
Maybe your loved-one thinks they are happy or content in their present situation. Are they still seeking the solitude of another person in order to find relief from your pursuits, from your arguing, from your super-spiritualism?
Beloved, check your attitude and the way you speak to others so that your loved-one will desire to be delivered from sin and bondage.
June 30
“And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and roused him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And his chains fell off his hands” (Acts 12:7).
Beloved, there will be a moment of escape for your loved-one. There will be a brief moment to flee when an angel of the Lord will say “Get up quickly.” Are you sure your loved-one will want to go? Have you been praying for God to turn their heart to you? Have you ask the Lord to put a muzzle over your mouth? Have you refrained from comments spoken to or about your loved-one to others? Has your countenance been radiant and has love shown in your eyes? If it has, soon, suddenly, the angels of the Lord will speak to your loved-one to “get up quickly,” and they will follow!