Pastor Tom's Daily Devotional

Hebrews 2:11 (NKJV) For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. What an amazing fact that we receive from God’s Word, that Jesus would call us brothers!  Here we are talking about the King of the universe, and He calls us His brothers! They say that Alexander the Great, one of the greatest military persons of all time, would take his mighty soldiers and bring them up on a platform and tell everyone of their feats and then say, “This is the brother of Alexander.”  In everyone's eyes, this soldier was now close to their leader. Well, I do not know about you, but I am close with Jesus!  God is my Father, Jesus is my Brother, and the Holy Spirit is my Helper.  How can we lose?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  God, our Father, is on our side, and He wants us to win in life.  Do not get discouraged and say, “How am I going to get this don...

Proverbs 10:22 (NKJV) The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. This is such a rich verse, right?  When God blesses, it makes us rich.  So what is rich?  Well, to the world, rich is having lots of money and lots of things.  We know from the scripture that money and things in themselves are not bad, but what they do to us can make them bad. So when we say, “God’s blessings make us rich,” I think we need to look beyond just earthly wealth and see the spiritual wealth that God, our Father, has for us while we live on this earth, and for all eternity.  To be blessed by God, to me, means having a close and intimate fellowship with Him.  It means to be blessed spiritually, mentally, and physically. For us to be well in heart, soul, and body is beyond the few things that this world can offer.  When I look at some very rich people, I would not want the life that they have.  Yet I look at others that have earthl...

Psalms 30:11 (NKJV) You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness... When we are going through those times that feel like we are in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, God has not left us!  His Word declares that He will never leave us or forsake us.  This verse brings out that God, our Heavenly Father, will turn our mourning into dancing.  Wow!  What a contrast: mourning to dancing. These two are on separate plains, yet this is what our Father says He will do.  He will take those times in our lives when we hurt and mourn within and give us such joy that we want to dance in His presence, and to enjoy Him and all that He is.  God is so full!  He is so great!  He is the One who will take our sackcloth away, and clothe us with His gladness. So today, if you are struggling with something and it seems like you cannot get the victory, hold on!  There is a dance coming your ...

Psalms 30:5 (NKJV) For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Have you ever had a time where there was such weeping in your heart?  Not necessarily physical pain, but pain of the heart?  Maybe somebody did you wrong, or something happened that hurt so badly you just about put yourself to bed with tears.  Or maybe it was a pain that you did not understand; something within you made you weep the night away.  It could have been tears in a prayer as you interceded, not knowing who or what you were praying for, but you knew that you could not, or you should not, let go. This verse is for you then, because there are times that we are in anguish of heart.  Words cannot describe what it is, but we need to weep, we need to pray, and we need to hold on.  Even if it is because someone did us wrong, and we struggle in those times.  We hurt within, yet God says when we...

Mark 16:17-18 (NKJV) And these signs will follow those who believe... 18....they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. God, our Father, has made provision for us in all areas.  God cares about our eternal well-being, and He cares about our life here on the earth.  Jesus came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. Healing is the children's bread, and it belongs to those who are in Christ Jesus. When we look at this verse, it says that the believing ones would lay hands on the sick and they will recover.  Many times, we miss it when we have hands laid on us and we do not see any change. But this verse says that they shall recover.  It might happen instantly, or it might happen in a while.  What we need to do is to hold on to the promise that we will recover. We are not to be moved by sight, but by faith in His Word, and as we hold on to his precious promises, they will come to pass.  There are times when holding on seem...

Luke 13:16 (NKJV) So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath? As we look into the works of Jesus, we see here how the religious community did not care that this woman was bound.  They only cared about their religious order.  Well, Jesus shook up their order and showed where this sickness came from. Jesus puts it out pretty clearly who bound this woman.  Many would say "Well, God must be trying to teach her something through this sickness," but here Jesus says that it was satan that had bound up this woman, and that it was God’s will that she be free.  When things come against us (and things will come against us as long as we are in this fallen world), the first step to victory is to know where it is coming from. Jesus put the blame where the blame was due.  Satan had bound this woman, not God, our loving Heavenly Father.  There is no s...

Acts 10:38 (NKJV) …how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. As we continue to look at the heart of God, we see in this verse that God was working, through Jesus, to bring healing and good to humanity.  Jesus was anointed by God, with the powerful Holy Spirit, to go and heal.  He also showed us that healing is good.  I do not know about you, but when sickness comes against me or someone I love, I never see it as a good thing.  I never say, “God must be trying to teach me something through this.” No!  We have an enemy of God who is coming against us, and God has given us His Word and the blood of Jesus to fight him and defeat him. In Revelation 12:11 it says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”   We overcome the ...