Pastor Tom's Daily Devotional

John 15:12 (NKJV) This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. When Jesus says that something is a commandment, we know that He is not just suggesting it, but it is something that He wants us to do.  The commands of God are not to hurt us, but to bless us.  Wherever we see that God tells us something as a command, He is looking to get a window open in our lives, so that He can pour us out a blessing. In this verse, the Bible teaches us that love is not something that we can choose to do if we would like, but that it is a command for us to live by.  God wants Christians to be different than the people of the world.  He does not want us being a bunch of gossipers and backbiters, but people that believe the best of one another.  He wants us to go the extra mile in love for each other. If we choose to live by God's command of love, it will protect us from what the enemy wants to bring against us.  Satan has no p...

Romans 5:19-21 (NKJV) For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul wraps up this great teaching with a bang.  He shows us what we received because of Adam.  Again let me say, it was not good.  Because of Adam, we received condemnation, disobedience, sin, death, and eternal damnation.  But because of Jesus, we received redemption, life, health, joy, peace, and eternity with Him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Sin might be strong, but like verse 20 says here, “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”  Grace is so much more powerful than sin!  Grace, God’s undeserved favor, is so much greater than what Adam did. ...

Ephesians 6:18 (NKJV) Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. The last part of this great armor that the Lord has given to us is our prayer life.  As we take time to pray each day, it is a protection in our lives.  It might not be one specifically mentioned as a piece of armor, but it is still so important! Here it says to pray always .  In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 it says, “Pray without ceasing.”  “Well,” you might say, “how in the world do I do that?  How do I go to work, and all the other things I have to do in the course of a day, and pray without stopping?”  What I believe these verses are saying is to have an attitude of prayer .  There are so many types and ways to pray, and we can use them throughout the day.  Let me give you a few. There is the prayer of praise and worship, the prayer of petition and supplicatio...

Ephesians 6:17 (NKJV) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God Now, here we are with our offensive weapon.  You see, every piece of the armor that we have put on so far has been defensive.  They have protected each part of us.  Now we are given a sword: The sword of the Spirit.  The Bible tells us that this weapon is the Word of God . As we get the Word into our heart and speak it with our mouth, as we take God’s Word and make it sharp within us, it causes the enemy to flee. Look at how it states it in Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” God’s Word on our lips in fait...

Ephesians 6:17 (NKJV) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. “Get your head covered, it is cold outside!”  How many remember your mom or dad saying that to you?  Well, it is the same here.  We need to get our heads covered.  The enemy is always looking to get a thought-bomb into our mind.  He wants to bring doubt and unbelief.  He knows that if he can get us to doubt God’s Word, he can defeat us. In this verse, it tells us to take the “helmet of salvation.”  Our salvation is the most powerful of all gifts that God has given to us.  We are saved because of what Jesus did on the cross.  When Jesus’ disciples came back from preaching the Gospel, they were all excited because of all the miracles that they had witnessed, yet Jesus gets them right on track again.  He said in Luke 10:20, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rej...

Ephesians 6:16 (NKJV) …above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Our next piece of the armor of God is our shield of faith.  This is such an important piece of armor that we need each and every day.  You see, the enemy is coming at us with fiery darts, and if we do not have our shield held up, they will get through, and can cause problems in our lives. So what is this shield?  The shield that God wants us to have each day is our strong faith.  We see in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  Our faith is such a major part of our Christian life.  Over and over we see in the gospels that Jesus said it was faith that brought forth miracles.  Now that we see where faith comes from, we need to be in the Word and keep our shield held high with the power of God.  When the enemy comes against us with thought-bombs like, “You ...

Ephesians 6:15 (NKJV) And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Our next piece of armor is for our feet.  This verse says to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.  The Gospel is GOOD NEWS.  We are to proclaim this good news that Jesus gave us to share.  Again, it is the Word of God that is good news. Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." Jesus brought out that the gospel was to heal the sick, help the poor, bring liberty to the captive, and to proclaim God’s “Year of Jubilee.”  The true Gospel of Jesus Christ must be a Gospel of good news.  In this great Gospel, we are to pray for the sick, p...

Ephesians 6:13-14 (NKJV) Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Yesterday, we looked at our waist being girded with truth. Today, let us look at the next piece of our armor, which is the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate was the piece of armor that protected all of the vital organs. This piece of the armor protected the soldier’s heart, lungs, stomach, liver, etc. Without this piece of armor, the soldier was open to a quick hit by a sword, arrow, or stone, but with his breastplate on, when the enemy brought an attack to his chest area, it would bounce off. For us as Christians, when we have our breastplate on, we are protected from the enemy's attack. So what is this piece of armor for us? It is the righteousness of Jesus. The Scripture states in 1 Corinthians 1:30, “But ...

Ephesians 6:13-14(NKJV) Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. God wants us to put on His armor so that we are able to stand in the evil day.  When is the evil day?  Well, I would say it is today!  So let us get started by getting this armor on. There is an interesting statement here when it says, “Having done all, to stand.  Stand therefore…”  This is an old military phrase which means that after you have won a battle, be ready to go into battle again.  In other words, never let your guard down.  Always be ready for the enemy to come at you. The first piece of the armor that He talks about is to have our waist girded with truth.  To do this, I need to know what truth is, and the Bible makes that very clear.  Jesus said in John 17:...