Pastor Tom's Daily Devotional

James 1:22-25 (NKJV) But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. God does not want the Bible to become just a book of rules and regulations.  He wants His Word to be our life, to be our strength, and to be our everything.  That is why it is so important to not let the Bible be just a book we read , but a book that we live .  God’s Word is truth, and everything else in life has to bow to it. When I make a decision in my life to let God’s Word take first place and to do what it says, it changes everything!  It changes my attitude, it changes the way I see thi...

John 8:31-32 (NKJV) Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” When we take time each day to abide in the words of Jesus, it makes us a true disciple of His.  You see, if we call ourselves Christians, yet do not know what the Commander-in-Chief’s orders are, then how can we move in His will?  As we open the Bible and read the amazing Word of God, it truly sets us free! God's Word is a lamp to our feet; it is a compass throughout our lives.  It will guide us and lead us in all that we do.  We can call the Bible a roadmap for our lives here on earth.  There is no other book on planet earth like it.  So many have tried to destroy it, and many are still trying, but I can say with bold confidence that they, and we, will be gone one day, but God's Word will continue marching on! In today’s passage, Jesus is talk...

Hebrews 11:1-3 (NKJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Our God is a NOW God.  He knows the past and the future, but He is a now God.  All that He is doing is in the now, because our God is a God of faith.  This is the way that God sees us also.  He sees us healed now .  He sees us set free now .  And this is the way that God wants us to see ourselves: through His Word.  He wants us to see it done now .  Not tomorrow.  Not in the sweet by-and-by.  NOW! Faith in the now gives substance to the things that we hope for.  If we always see it as future, than it is still in the hope realm, because hope is not substance.  Let me show you what I mean.  The Bible declar...

Romans 14:10-13 (NKJV) But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: "As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way. Many look at these verses and say, “What a scary day that is going to be, to stand before Christ and give an account for our lives.”  But we need to remember one thing: All of our sins are washed away because of the blood of Jesus!  You see, when you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, His blood, and His work on the cross, made you the righteousness of God, in Him. So what does this mean?  In the Greek, this word judgment seat is talking about the bema seat, or the ...

John 20:11-17 (NKJV) But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 Then they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." 14 Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, "Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him, "Rabboni!" (which is to say, Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; ...

Colossians 1:15-18 (NKJV) 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. When we look at Jesus, do you know Who we see?  We see the Father God!  Jesus is Almighty God in the flesh.  It is so hard for us as humans to see God, because He is a Spirit, but when Jesus put on flesh and became like us, we could see God.  Now we could understand Him. So what is God like?  He is everything that Jesus is like.  Jesus never made one person sick.  He only went about doing good and healing all that were opp...

Matthew 27:50-51 (NKJV) And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split. John 19:28-30 (NKJV) After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!" 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. As Jesus was dying on the cross, at just the right moment, He yielded up His spirit.  He took all of our sins and shouted, “It is finished!”  What was going on?  Well at this moment, the high priest was in the temple killing the lamb for the Passover, and the true Lamb of God was being given for the world.  The high priest took this lamb, k...

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT) Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek His will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Trusting in our Father God should be as simple as a child trusting his father.  As Jesus said, except we become as little children, we will not see the kingdom of God.  But what happens in life is that we have many disappointments and let-downs, and with that comes a lack of trust. Our Father God will never let us down.  He is faithful and He is true.  This verse puts our relationship to our Father on a heart-to-heart level.  This verse states that we are to trust Him with all of our heart.  One thing that I have found out is that my mind can get in the way many times, but if I keep my heart on Him, all is going to come together. I love how verse 6 says to “Seek His will in all you do.”  Too often people say, “Well, I would do God’s will if I knew what it wa...

1 John 1:9 (NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I am always so amazed when I think of the complete work of our Heavenly Father.  He knew us so well, and He knew that even with all of our sins forgiven and washed under the blood of Jesus, we would still make mistakes and when we did, we would feel the guilt and condemnation of those sins. We need to understand that once we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, all of our sins, past, present and future, have been washed in His blood and they are gone!  When we do sin, it can make us feel like we are separated from God, however, He does not separate Himself from us.  When we ask Him to forgive us, it gets us back into fellowship. God has taken care of everything for us and has made confession a way of saying, “Father, I am sorry.  I messed up again, and I ask you to forgive me.  I do not want this sin to h...