Pastor Tom's Daily Devotional

Proverbs 17:22 (NKJV) A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. Living this scripture is not always easy, but it is always good.  I remember as a kid that my mom would say, ”You need to take your medicine,” and I would close my mouth so tight and say, “No, I do not want to!”  She would try to pry my mouth open, and finally she would call my dad, and then I better open my mouth.  It is funny, but in this verse we need to do the same thing. Take your medicine.  What is the medicine we take?  It is a merry heart.  This verse shows us that if we have a merry heart, it works like medicine to our being.  When we are grumpy, and do not have a cheerfulness about us, it dries us up.  You might say, “Well, I do not feel like it,” or “I feel like I am just faking it.”  At first, that is how you are going to feel, but as you continue to let joy and happiness rise up in you, it will take over and even bec...

Proverbs 27:17 (NKJV) As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. This is such a powerful verse, that I want us to look at it from a few other translations: Proverbs 27:17 (NLT) As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. Proverbs 27:17 (MSG) You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 (TLB) A friendly discussion is as stimulating as the sparks that fly when iron strikes iron. Proverbs 27:17 (CEV) Just as iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other. Proverbs 27:17 (NCV) As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other. When a couple of people get together, it helps them to sharpen one another.  To me, this is why church is so valuable.  When we get together with other believers in a group setting under the anointing of God, Holy Spirit sparks fly! I have had times of just sitting with another person, and it caused me to look within and say, “Man, ...

Joshua 1:8 (NKJV) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. God’s Word gives us the ABC’s to achieving success in life, and it is found in this verse.  If we would take time each day to meditate on God’s Word, the Bible says that the things of life will work out.  One translation says it like this: “We will deal wisely in the affairs of life.”  I like that! We want to do God’s will each and every day, but the things of this world (and the way we think) get in the way.  When we let our minds get filled with Him, and think about Him and His Word, victory comes.  I know that I love God so much, but when I get busy with life, or worry sets in, I kind of drift with my mind.  Here He tells us to think about His Word day and night, and it will guid...

1 John 2:15-17 (NKJV) 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. One thing that we should desire more than anything is the love of the Father.  If there is anything that displeases God, we should avoid it, because our heart is for Him.  I love my wife, so I do not go out of my way to do things that hurt her.  I look for things that will bless her. Here, God tell us not to love the world’s system, or the spirit of the age.  He also tells us what some of these things are: “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Think about it.  God wants the best for us, and He wants us to live the abundant life.  He ...

Psalm 139:7-10 (NKJV) 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. God, our Heavenly Father, is everywhere.  Perhaps that may worry some people, but one thing we need to know is that He is everywhere to help and bless us.  God, our Father, is not like some earthly fathers that are looking for their kids to make a mistake.  No, He is looking to see all the good things we do! When we understand that God sees us through Christ, it changes everything.  Christ is perfect, and God sees me through Christ’s perfection.  It is like God wears red colored glasses, so every time He sees me, He sees me washed in the blood of Jesus. What this does to us is it gives us the freedom to get t...

1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV) Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? It always amazes me that God, by His Spirit, dwells in us.  In the Old Covenant, God’s Spirit came upon people, but never dwelled within them.  Yet here we are, born again, new creations in Christ, and the All-Powerful, Holy Spirit lives in us! In John 14, Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will be with us and in us.  The Amplified version shows us all the different things that He will do within us.  Look at this passage: John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever— 17 the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with yo...

John 15:7 (NKJV) If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. I love the way this verse is written in some different translations.  Check these out: John 15:7 (AMP) If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. John 15:7 (NLT) But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! John 15:7 (MSG) But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. Powerful, right?  If we live and remain in His Word, the powerful Word of Almighty God, if we, as the Amplified Version says, stay “vitally united to Him,” we can ask what we will, and it will be done for us. So, as we live our lives, look to Him as your source, and believe Him e...

1 John 3:1 (NKJV) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Behold His love, that He would call us His children!  He did not have to.  He could have called us His servants, but no, not our Heavenly Father!  He calls us His children! Today, we can declare that we are children of the Most High God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who made all the good that we see.  He made us, and loves us, and wants to be a Father to us.  To me, this is truly amazing! The Creator of the Grand Canyon, the Creator of Niagara Falls, the Creator of the butterfly, and the Creator of the rose is my Creator, and He calls me His child.  I do not know if this is getting you excited today, but it has me jumping on the inside! So today, do not let a minute go by without talking to Him, your Heavenly Father, Who made you, loves you, an...