Pastor Tom's Daily Devotional

2 Kings 6:17 (NKJV) And Elisha prayed, and said, "LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Oh, if we could ever get our eyes open to the army that God has all around us!  It is an army of mighty angels.  It is an army of powerful beings that could take care of any situation that comes against us. In Hebrews 1:14 it says this about angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”  Who are those who will inherit salvation?  That is us!  We are the ones that are born again, new creations in Christ, and God has sent His angels to help us in life. As children, we used to call them our guardian angel, and we thought of them as little cotton puffs that floated around.  But now we see from the Word of God that these heavenly beings are mighty and...

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NKJV) 9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!"  So God granted him what he requested. I love this story about Jabez.  Here is a man whose mother gave him a bad name, but he would not accept it.  He did what we all need to do when life throws us a curve ball: he called on God.  Each of us has stuff from our past, yet, even with all that stuff, we can let life make us bitter, or make us better.  It is really our call how we want to live.  Do we want to be blessed?  Then call on the Name of the Lord.  Do we want to stay in bitterness?  Then do not do anything. The old saying is so true, “When life throws you a lemon, ma...

Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. There is a song we used to sing, and it went like this: “Look to Jesus and believe, look to Jesus and receive.”  That is the truth!  When we look to Jesus believing, He seems to get everything put together for us.  I want my life to be a reflection of Him.  The way that I see a reflection is by looking into a mirror. This verse is saying to us to look to Jesus.  He is the One that began this work in us, and He is the One that will bring it to completion. The NASB says it like this, “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”  I like that!  What I have to do is fix my eyes on Him, and He will do the rest.  He started this work in my life many years ago.  For some of you, it could be many years, or just a few days, but it does not matter.  What matters is that He is going to do a perfect work within us. I always say it like this:...

Isaiah 22:22 (NKJV) The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open. Our Lord Jesus is the One who can open doors for us and also close doors for us.  What a comfort to know this.  Many times I come to a place of prayer, and I do not know what to do, or what decision to make.  So I pray this prayer: “Heavenly Father, You said that You would open doors for me and also close doors for me.  I have this decision to make, and I am not sure what to do, but my trust is in You.  I believe that you will open this door if it is Your will, or shut this door if it is not Your will.  I thank you for this in Jesus’ Name!” In a prayer like this, we put our complete trust in the will of God, which is always the best.  Now, in saying that, we have to accept what God knows is best for us, and that might not always be what we want.  We might want what we just ...

Hebrews 10:35-36 (NKJV) 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. Many times, we can feel like hanging it all up.  You know, when we say things like: “Is this really ever going to happen?  Will this healing ever manifest?  I have been praying for a mate for so long, and it just seems like I am getting older and older.” In this verse, it says, “DO NOT GIVE UP!”  It is not always easy, but I will tell you, it is rewarding.  Remember that God is always doing a work in us and around us.  He is bringing situations together, and when it involves others, He has to get everything all lined up, and He is the only One Who knows how that all works. God is developing us into the image of His dear Son, so when it takes a little longer then we would like it to, hold on!  Let God, your loving Father, take the reins...

Galatians 6:9 (NKJV) And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. It is so easy to get weary and lose heart.  We gave it our best, but it was not good enough.  We went out of our way to help, and no one even noticed.  Life brings many times where we can get discouraged and ask, “Why?”  Yet, one thing that we have to always remember is that God knows, God sees, and God rewards.  He sees you in the prayer closet making intercession for someone else.  He sees you when you give your last dollar to help someone else.  God knows, and God sees. This Scripture tells us to not get weary, because at the right time the answer will come.  God has a book in which He records all the good that you have done.  The reference to it is found in Malachi 3:16, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written befor...

Proverbs 4:20-23 (NKJV) 20 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. The last part of these verses that I would like to look at is verse 23: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”  The word “keep” means to watch, and to guard.  God told Adam to keep the garden, and God is telling us to keep, guard, and watch our hearts. Our heart is where all life is, and God knows that if we do not watch what gets into our hearts, we can let the enemy control us.  Our heart is not the pump in our physical body, but the spirit man within us.  That is the real us, the one that is born-again when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  Peter said in, 1 Peter 2:2, “As ...

Proverbs 4:20-23 (NKJV) 20 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. They are health to all our flesh.  I will take that, how about you?  As we put into practice all the parts that we have been talking about these last few days, God’s Word becomes, as one person said, “Medicine to all our flesh.” I do not know about you, but when I am hurting, I want some good medicine so that the pain will go away.   Here, it says that God’s Word is our medicine.  As I read it, and attend to it, and incline my ear to it, and keep it before my eyes, and let it have first place in my heart, it produces medicine to me and my flesh.  It brings heath to my body! So many people spend so much time trying to ...

Proverbs 4:20-23 (NKJV) 20 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Life is what we want!  Jesus said in the second part of John 10:10 ”…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  God wants us to have a good, full life; a life filled with Himself; a life of victory and success. So how do we have this?  This verse says that we get life when we find the Word.  His Word is like a treasure.  You can get good things from it by reading it, but the true wealth of His Word comes as we dig into it. Look at Psalm 19:10: “More to be desired are they then gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”  His Word must become more v...