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The Anointing of the Holy Spirit I Daily Walk Devotion

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The Anointing of the Holy Spirit

Every believer needs to aware of the spiritual scams out there. Ministers and businessmen will prey upon the innocent and naive. They will take a smidgen of scripture and twist it to make it serve their purposes so they can extract your money from your wallet. You need to understand that only God chooses who to work through, and it is those He puts the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

‭‭ACTS‬ ‭19:11-12‬

“God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out.”

Paul had a special anointing. Part of it came from being called as an apostle, and part of it came out of necessity. His ministry to the Gentiles was expanding, and he couldn’t be everywhere at once. People would take handkerchiefs that he had touched, and when the ailing person would touch them, the sicknesses and diseases would leave. God used it as a way for people to be healed and as a testimony to the power of God. Word would spread, and it would make people interested in the Gospel.

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Falling Away from Your Faith I Daily Walk Devotion

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Falling Away from Your Faith

I am going to address a passage today that sparks a lot of debate, falling away from your faith. The writer of Hebrews addresses this issue in chapter six, and he doesn’t paint a pretty picture. If you have experienced life with Jesus and then turned away, there is no turning back.

‭‭HEBREWS‬ ‭6:4-6

“For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

This is one of the most controversial passages in all of the Bible. Are the people talked about in this passage actually saved? That is where the divided line has separated scholars for centuries. If these people aren’t saved, they have experienced some wonderful spiritual experiences that some Christians haven’t. If they are saved and then fall away, it is impossible for them to come back. I’m not here to settle the argument for you, but much of the language in this passage points to the person experiencing salvation. “Tasted the heavenly gift” and “partakers of the Holy Spirit” are used in other parts of the New Testament to describe believers.

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Should Churches Pay Pastors? I Daily Walk Devotion

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Should Churches Pay Pastors?

Should the church pay pastors? There are a lot of people who don’t think so. They use Jesus and Paul as models of people who didn’t take money for their ministry. While I understand what they are saying, I disagree. Jesus was supported by wealthy and women, and Judas was the one who held the money box. Paul didn’t receive money from the church in the city he was working but did from previous churches he planted. Such is the case in the verse we look at today.

‭‭Acts‬ ‭18:5‬

“But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.”

Paul was a tentmaker by trade. He was skilled in working with black leather that produced these canopies desired by the Roman Army. He learned this skill from his father in Taurus. When he left Athens, he went to Corinth and immediately went to the agora, or marketplace, and plied his trade. When Timothy and Silas joined him, he left Tentmaking to focus solely on teaching the Word of God. Some have used this text to show that pastors should be bi-vocational (working a secular job while pastoring). It supports the opposite. Paul received support from churches in Macedonia like the Philippian church and devoted his time to building the church in Corinth.

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Praise the Power of the Lord I Daily Walk Devotion

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Praise the Power of the Lord

Humility isn’t found in too many places of power. So much energy is expended on leaders extolling their greatness and downplaying their weaknesses. Very few, if any, world leaders recognize the sovereign power of the Almighty Lord. King David was a sharp contrast to today’s governors. He exalted the Lord and always remembered where his power came from. You would do well to praise the power of the Lord.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭21:13

“Be exalted, O LORD, in Your strength; We will sing and praise Your power.”

Psalm 21 is King David extolling the virtues of God leading a king. He spends the whole chapter praising God for the strength that God gives leaders and the benefits that come from that. When a king puts his trust in the Lord, he won’t be moved, and his enemies will be defeated. David lived by this, and God fulfilled all of it during his reign. He was the only king who abided by it entirely. The rest of the kings in Israel, save a few, either struggled to honor God or outright rejected Him.

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Leap of Faith I Daily Walk Devotion

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Leap of Faith

I went bungee jumping once. Jumping would be a generous description. I got to to the top of the tower, looked down, and more or less leaned over and let gravity do the rest. There was no spring in my legs or lift off from my feet. As I barreled down to my certain death, I thought, “Why did I do this?” After several bounces, I finally rested in the airbag underneath me. It took a leap of faith to do it. When Jesus called his disciples to follow Him, it took another kind of leap of faith.

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4:19

“And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

These words changed these men’s lives. They were fishermen by trade, a demanding profession that often meant being up all night. Some nights were successful, but many weren’t. Now a rabbi comes and tells them to leave their nets because he will make them fisher of men. He was asking them to take a leap of faith from something they grew up doing to the unknown. Following Jesus is always a leap into the unknown, but they did it without hesitation and, in the process, was part of changing the world.

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You Can't Claim Ignorance I Daily Walk Devotion

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You Can’t Claim Ignorance

There are a lot of people that claim ignorance when confronted with something they have done. They think their reply, “I don’t know,” will get them off the hook. Paul could sense that when he was speaking to the intellectuals in Athens. You can’t claim ignorance about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That time is done.

‭‭Acts‬ ‭17:30-31

“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

When Paul stood on Mars Hill in Athens addressing the philosophers, he told them the time of ignorance is done. They no longer could claim that they didn’t know about Jesus because he had preached the Gospel to them, and their only recourse was to repent of their sins. Paul also put a sense of urgency in his message because he tells them one day, the Man appointed by God will judge the world, and they will have to answer for their lives if they have rejected the Gospel. That Man has earned that position by dying on the cross and being raised from the dead.

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Examine the Scriptures I Daily Walk Devotion

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Examine the Scriptures

Were you a good student in school? Did you get good grades and enjoy the classroom experience? Not everyone can say that, but you can be a good student of the Bible when you examine the scriptures. We see a group of people today who heard Paul preach and were eager to explore what God’s Word had to say.

‭‭Acts‬ ‭17:11

“Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

Paul got ran out of Thessalonica for preaching the Gospel and headed to a smaller village called Berea. When he got to the synagogue there, he preached the Gospel, and instead of getting upset and arguing, they received the Word and then went and examined the scriptures for themselves. They didn’t let other people tell them what to believe but were eager to see if what Paul told them was true. Many came back the next Sabbath and believed in Jesus, while some refused. Everyone was noble-minded about it, which means they were non-combative and listened with an open mind.

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Separating the Wheat From the Chaff I Daily Walk Devotion

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Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

When farmers harvest wheat, they need to remove the stalk and the outer shell, called the chaff, to get to the kernel. They have to beat the wheat plant to separate what is useful from what is useless. Jesus uses this as an example of how God will come for His followers. One day God will come for His people like a farmer separating the wheat from the chaff.

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭3:12

“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

A winnowing fork is used to separate the long stalks of wheat from the kernels. It also beats off the outer layer of the kernel known as the chaff. The heavier wheat kernel would fall to the floor, and the lighter stalk would be tossed into the fire. It’s the kernel that is ground to produce flour. Everything else is useless. Jesus uses this analogy to tell us how God will separate what is valuable from what is useless.

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A Warning to Those Who Plot Evil I Daily Walk Devotion

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A Warning to Those Who Plot Evil

Most of you have encountered people who are straight-up evil. They don’t have any redeeming qualities, and their words and actions produce strife for all those around them. It’s been that way since the beginning of time. Today’s passage should give you some comfort. God gives a warning to those who plot evil.

‭‭Micah‬ ‭2:1‬

“Woe to those who scheme iniquity, Who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, For it is in the power of their hands.”

Micah is one of the minor prophets. His message isn’t less than the more well know prophets. He packs some powerful prophecy into his relatively small book. Here is this passage he sends out a warning to those who plot evil and comfort to those (read Israel) who are suffering from these scoundrels. He uses the term “Woe,” which loses some of its power in English but shouldn’t be overlooked. Woe means either pain or calamity, and here both could apply. Some severe consequences are coming for those who plot evil.

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Taming the Tongue I Daily Walk Devotion

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Taming the Tongue

Ever heard the saying, “He swears like a sailor?” It refers to a person who lets loose with a string of profanities that would make most people blush. It is also symbolic of a person who can’t control their tongue. David knew the struggles that came with taming the tongue. That’s why he prayed that his speech would be acceptable to the Lord.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭19:14

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

David knew the power of the tongue. He knew that his words were a result of what he was meditating on in his heart. If he was going to glorify the Lord, he knew that whatever he said had to be acceptable. There were many areas where David stumbled, but his speech wasn’t one of them. Even when he was justified to be angry, he was often humble. This was a result of the fact that he knew God was his rock and redeemer. David knew he didn’t deserve any blessing, and he deserved punishment for his sins, but God showed him mercy.

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