Pastor Tom's Daily Devotional

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 (NKJV) Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. Christians back in the church at Thessalonica were wondering, just like we are, when was Jesus going to return.  Paul gives some great instruction in His two letters to this church, that the day had not come, and that we need to not be shaken, but continue to watch for the signs of the times, and be busy doing the work of the Lord. You see, we can get so caught up with end-time prophecy that we can forget that there is a lost world out there that needs Jesus.  Jesus even told His disciples not to spend all their time wondering whe...

Song of Songs 8:7 (NKJV) Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised. Song of Songs 8:7 (TLB) Many waters cannot quench the flame of love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man tried to buy it with everything he owned, he couldn’t do it." Love.  We hear it spoken over and over by so many, yet we wonder, do people really know what love is?  One minute we are saying, “I love you,” and the next we are saying, “I cannot stand you.”  You see, love is from God, and really, God is Love.  To truly understand love, we have to come to a place of seeing Who God is.  God is all-giving.  His love is an all-giving love. As today’s verse states, we cannot buy love with all the wealth that we have.  You know you cannot buy God.  But when we freely receive from Him and let His very being flow from us, it will bless those around us, a...

Jude 1:24-25 (NKJV) Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Wow!  What a way to end a letter, “Now to Him Who can keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless.”   When Jesus did a work in us, it was not a half-work, but a complete work.  He is the One Who will keep us, as the Amplified Bible says, from stumbling, slipping, or falling.  That is a pretty good promise, right?  You see, when we look to ourselves, we see faults and mistakes, but when we look to Jesus, we see perfection and grace.  The amazing thing is that when God sees us, He sees us in Jesus.  He sees us the way that He sees His perfect Son.  That is why this scripture states that He can keep us from falling. Too many times, we try to live this Ch...

Jude 1:20-21 (NKJV) But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Praying in the Holy Spirit is a powerful way to stay built up.  It is also a great way to stay strong in the Lord and in His power.  You might ask, “What does that mean to pray in the Holy Spirit?”  Well, I always like to have the Bible interpret the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 it says, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.  What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” So we see that praying in tongues is praying in the spirit, or praying in the Holy Spirit.  God has given to each and every believer the beautiful gift of the Holy Spirit, and we c...

Ezra 3:11 (NKJV) And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD: "For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel." Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. I am always amazed at people that can shout and scream at football games, and every other sporting event, but when they come to church, they are so quiet and look at other people who are praising God loudly like they are crazy.  Yet when I look into the Bible, I see that God is happy when we shout and celebrate for Him! We see in this verse that after the people laid the foundation to the temple, they got excited and they rejoiced!  Every time we build something new for the Kingdom of God, we need to get excited too!  Maybe it is a new facility at our home church, or a work overseas.  Whatever it might be, we need to shout and praise God, because it goes against everythi...

Genesis 22:1-2 (NKJV) Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So many people read this story of God asking Abraham to offer His son and say, “How can God do that?”  He is not like that anywhere else, so why would He ask this man, Abraham, to offer his only son?  We will never understand the Old Testament until we get a revelation of the New Testament; until we see Jesus! The Old Testament is “types and shadows” of the New, so when we look at a story like this and see Jesus in it, it brings great blessing.  Abraham was a covenant man with God, and as a covenant man, what was his belonged to his covenant partner.   Here, God and Abraham had made a covenant, and so for...

Exodus 15:23-25 (NKJV) Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" 25 So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet... What a beautiful picture of our lives before the cross, and after.  Here we are in life, bitter with sin, and getting more bitter each day.  People say they enjoy sinning, but deep within, sin pulls us down, and at times, it seems like there is no way to get back up.  Thank God for Jesus and what He did on the cross for us! You see, when Moses heard the people complaining, he cried out to the Lord.  God could have told Moses so many things, but He showed him a tree and He said to cast the tree into the water, and the water would become sweet.   So it is for us.  It is when we lo...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NKJV) To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. As we read today’s verses, we can see that this is so true.  Life has its ups and downs; its days of great victory and its days of trial.  But what I have found out is that when we put God in charge of our lives, He helps us get through those rough times.  He promi...

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV) If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. God is looking for a separate people; a people set apart unto Himself; a special people that will not get caught up in the things of this world, but will be a treasure unto Him.  In this verse, we see God talking to us, and not to the evil ones in the world.  He is saying, “If my people …”  That is me and you!  We are the people of God, and if we, the people of God, are doing things that are not pleasing to Him, then we need to change some stuff or we are not going to see healing in our land. If you read the book of Daniel, when he came to pray to God, He did not say that it is everyone else’s fault.  He said, “We have sinned.”  He included himself in the sins of the nation, and here God is telling us to do the same...