Morning Devotions

Dealing With Broken Relationships By Adrian Rogers, May 13, 2021 BIBLE MEDITATION:... Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. ... (Matthew 18:15 and Galatians 6:1) DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: Broken relationships in the church are a very painful problem that disgraces God and discourages a community of believers. There is nothing worse than a church without harmony and there is nothing better than a church with harmony. In Matthew 18, Jesus explained how to heal broken relationships. First, we must consider our relationship with the person who has sinned against us. If he is a brother in Christ, we are members of the same body; harming him harms us. If he is lost, he needs our pity and prayers all the more; regardless, he is to be loved no matter what. Next, we must remember our responsibility to make it right between us (Galatians 6:1). We have to ask ourselves: Are we sinning in a similar way? Have we been praying for that person and setting a good example? ACTION POINT: Pray about ways you might seek to reconcile with others in the church this week. Write down the specific steps you need to take toward healing a broken relationship. For more ways to spend time in God’s Word, check out the devotional books in our store.

Perhaps you didn’t have a good beginning upon which to build. Maybe your parents fought constantly or divorced early on. Maybe you didn’t come from a nice neighborhood or a school system whose funding indicated that they took your future seriously. Maybe you had to raise yourself because your mom worked three jobs. Or maybe you lived in the suburbs, but you were abused and neglected. Whatever the case, where you start has nothing to do with where you are going. After all, Jes...us started out in an obscure town named Nazareth. Since Jesus came from this no-name place, He can meet you in any place at any time, even when your life seems worthless. He can turn it around and set you on your feet if you will just look to Jesus from Nazareth. This strips us of any excuses we might have: If it weren’t for him, or If it weren’t for them, or If it weren’t for that circumstance, or my background, or my limitations. All that is real, yes, But in the name of Jesus Christ, the one from Nazareth, you don’t need to be whining anymore. You can get up. You can walk. You can be responsible. You are no longer to see yourself as a victim. Your relationship with Jesus Christ makes you an overcomer (1 John 5:4). What do you need to let go of to be an overcomer? Who do you need to stop blaming so you can move on? We hope this plan encouraged you. Learn more about Tony Evans and Kingdom Men Rising here.

King David was a successful warrior even though he grew up herding sheep, skipping rocks and playing instruments. David didn’t attend military school. But he knew who was in charge. And because of that, he won his battles and his wars (see 1 Chronicles 18:1). A critical element of David’s military leadership was his willingness to seek God’s guidance. No other biblical narrative contains more inquiries of God than David’s story. And when he sought God’s will and God’s way, he... got an answer. As a result, David stood strongly positioned to defeat every enemy and rescue his people from every challenge. David, who was a kingdom man after God’s own heart, understood the value of this treasure called guidance. And he feared God, which enabled him to follow God more fully. Life is full of choices. The problem we face is that we cannot see what’s just around the bend. Like being on a highway of many twists and turns, we are unable to see around the next turn. We must slow down because we don’t know what’s coming next. That’s why David prayed a prayer we should all pray: Make me know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths (Psalm 25:4). That’s not just a sweet verse to put on a coffee mug. It’s a game plan for life. Where are you getting the wisdom to make good decisions? Where are you putting your trust? See more

What would you say to a basketball player who kept constantly running toward the wrong basket? You’d probably tell him to go sit down. As a coach, you wouldn’t have time for that. Thankfully, God doesn’t exist in time, and He’s not bound by the same limitations like we are. He’s got all the time in the world, and then some. And He doesn’t kick us off the team for running in the wrong direction. God grasps that none of us is perfect and we all fall short (Romans 3:23). Yet tha...t doesn’t make our rebellion any less serious. His patience doesn’t translate into a free pass to keep running in circles. Instead, it means helping us along as we grow. If you have found yourself heading in the wrong direction by what you think, say or doturn around. There’s no time like the present to get back into alignment with God. He wants you to follow Him. He doesn’t want to see you suffer the consequences of a life apart from Him and His rule over your life. So, use His patience for a good purpose. Do you ever feel like you are spending a lot of time moving in the wrong direction? How are you responding to God’s patience? See more

The Holy Spirit Is Our Refiner When the Spirit came upon the 120 disciples in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost, He was manifested in primarily two ways: (1) the sound of a rushing wind and (2) flames of fire that miraculously appeared on each person’s head. We do not know the exact nature of this fire; it obviously was not physical fire or it would have burned everyone’s hair! It was most likely the visual manifestation of the Spirit’s presence. But most assuredly this ...fire also represents to us the holiness of God. Are you willing to allow God to purify you, even in hidden areas? Suppose you have lived in the same house for 24 years and you decide to move. The process of packing and cleaning that house is never easy. Imagine what you will see if you pull your refrigerator out from the wall to put it on the moving van. It has been in the same corner of the kitchen for a long time. No one has ever swept under it. The tile would be filthy. The floor might be caked with layers of grime, dust, stray nutshells, specks of rotted food, lost hair bands, dog hair, and unidentified stains that have been there for more than two decades. Yuck! This would require some special cleaning to get your house ready for a new owner. It is a scary thought, but you may have areas such as this in your own life. Sometimes we hide our secret sins in private compartments. We know how to mask our ugliest attitudes. But when the Spirit comes in power, He comes to scour us of our grit and grime. He moves the furniture around in our lives in order to cleanse us of resentment, anger, shame, addictive behavior, and so many other things that can create distance between us and God. I encourage you to open your heart to the Spirit’s fire. See more

The Holy Spirit Is Our Comforter Before Jesus went to the cross, He spent a lot of time with His disciples and opened His heart to share many things with them. During His last crucial hours with His closest followerswhom He called friendsHe talked a lot about the Holy Spirit. He wanted His disciples to know they would not be alone even though He was leaving them. Jesus told them in John 14:1618: I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be w...ith you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After Jesus was raised from the dead, when His dejected disciples were huddled inside a house with the doors shut, Jesus appeared to them. After He showed them His pierced hands and the wound in His side, He breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). We often think the Spirit was first given on the Day of Pentecost, but that experience was the disciples’ second encounter with the Spirit. Their first introduction occurred Sunday evening of the Resurrection. The Helper had come, just as Jesus had promised! We have been given an amazing gift. When the Spirit came to dwell in you, He brought the eternal life of God. He gives you the very breath of heaven. He infuses you with God’s presence. And more than that, He sets up eternal residence in you so you will never feel alone. Christians can literally sense the presence of the Holy Spirit in themselves, and as we grow in our faith we learn to hear His comforting voice. I have learned to especially appreciate the presence of the Helper when I go through difficult times of trial, discouragement, or struggle. The Spirit sustains me with supernatural strength and hope. When I experience grief, the Spirit cheers me; when I am mistreated or persecuted, He gives me miraculous grace to endure; when I am See more