An Acorn

Like a mighty oak tree starts out as a little acorn, the growth in us has to start with a simple step on our part. We have to put feet to our faith. We have to believe that the promise is true and walk forth in that truth. Then it all falls in place. ~ DickEvans.org

Spread the Message

God did not say to sit back and wait for others to spread the gospel message. No, He told each and every one of us to go. God wants each of us being busy spreading the message. And all we have to do is tell our story; the story of the gospel in our lives. ~ DickEvans.org

Tempted

We are tempted day in and day out to sway off the God track for our life and into the mainstream of pleasure. His right and today's right are not always in alignment and it is His way if we want to stay on track. And keeping our eyes on Him, that is the key. That is devotion to God. ~ DickEvans.org

When We Pray

When we pray, we need to remember to give God thanks for what He has already done for us and through us; even the little things He does each day. He expects us to be alert. And yet, how often are we so wrapped up in what we are praying for that we miss what He is trying to tell us? ~ DickEvans.org

Our Lifestyle

It isn't about what we say. It is about who we are. People only listen to us to the extent that our character and our lifestyle matches our mouth. Jesus taught using the show and tell method. His character and lifestyle matched all that He taught. We say that we are following Him so all that we say should match who we are. ~ DickEvans.org

Change

We are not changed by simply knowing God's word. We are changed by doing God's word.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (ESV)
For we walk by faith, not by sight.

The changes occur as we believe what is written and walk forth in faith knowing it is truth.

Many spend a lifetime studying the word of God. They analyze it. They read what others have said about it. They dissect each word. They can quote chapter and verse. The words they read remain words. The only change is increased knowledge.

John 6:29 (NKJV)
Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."

It doesn't take knowledge, it takes belief and the faith to step out and act on that belief. Jesus told his disciples that the only work there was to do was to believe in him, the one the father sent.

So it does not matter how long someone has been born again. It does not matter if they have memorized the Scriptures. It does not matter how long they have been going to a church.

John 14:26 (NKJV)
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

All it takes is to receive it, believe it, and walk in it. The Holy Spirit resides in every born-again believer. God's word tells us so and He also tells us... Believe it. Walk in it. See what God will do.

Truth

God’s truth is still truth. We must be careful about embracing any theology that takes away from the truth of His grace. We no longer have to work at pleasing God. We did that when we asked Jesus into our heart and became born again. ~ DickEvans.org

Debates

God doesn't want debates between believers. He wants us to listen and obey. He wants action. As we yield to Him, allowing His word to transform us, He will energize us to go forth, like in the training that the professional players go through, this spiritual fitness happens and growth occurs. ~ DickEvans.org

Stuff Happens

We would like to think that we will always walk in peace through green valleys with sunshine all around because we are Christians. There is no secret that we are missing. Stuff happens. No matter what is going on around us, it is imperative that we keep our focus on God. He will never fail us. ~ DickEvans.org

Don't Worry

There was a song from 1988 called with Don't worry, Be happy. That is easy to say. However, to stop worrying takes more than a positive attitude. Sure, we can pump so much good in that we bury the worry. But it is still there working in the background and it shows in our behavior. When we give our worry to God and let go of it, it no longer has to run in the background overshadowing other things that we do. ~ DickEvans.org

Opposition

If we are a closet Christian, only coming out for Sunday morning or when in the presence of other believers, there is little suffering to be had and little growth that occurs. But as we march forward in Christ with His banner high, there will be opposition. But through it all, God comforts us and we grow in Him. ~ DickEvans.org

Others Notice

As you and I, born again believers, walk the walk, others notice. They see our change, not by what we say but by the life that we lead. They see us become more and more like Christ; they see our character change and they want to know more. Our lives silence the accusations. ~ DickEvans.org

Where is Your Faith

Matthew 8:17 NIV
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases."

Jesus went to the cross for all of humanity. He took away all infirmity forever. And yet as believers we seem to have more faith in the medical and pharmaceutical companies than in God for healing. We know He can heal us, or so we say.

Sure Jesus went to the cross and and we believe He did. But we say that He gave us doctors to fix what He already healed in us that day two thousand years ago.

Mark 9:24 NIV
Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

He said the only work for us is to believe in the one the father sent. And that is Jesus and the finished work of the cross.

He took all our sickness. All infirmity. All curses. And yet we act as unbelievers. We say we have faith but do not act as if we really do. Our faith is carnal. It is in man's ability to fix things. Lord I believe. Help me with my unbelief.

We tend to worship things made by man's hands while we give lip service to the maker of everything. And we excuse our behavior by saying that He made everything so when we have faith in what man has done we are having faith in God because He gave man the intelligence to create things to fix us.

Hebrews 11:1 NIV
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

It is always easier to believe what we can see. But then where is our faith? Faith is knowing that what we have never seen before can happen.

When we step back from our belief in man and from our own self reliance and give it to God knowing He will do what seems impossible, the impossible becomes reality.

Faith is an action word. As we step out risking it all, God is right there for us. And all the faith we need, the faith that raised Lazarus from the dead, is in us. Holy Spirit, the spirit of Christ is in us.

John 6:19 NIV
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

We just need to believe. We need to practice His presence in our daily lives and see the amazing things He will do for us and through us.

His Presence

As believers and followers of Christ we belong to Him. We don't have to say a word. His presence permeates the air around us and others can feel it. It is the words that follow our presence that either draws others or drives them away. As we let His love surround all that we do and say, their fear is replaced with a desire to know Him. ~ DickEvans.org

Be Ready

Then it happens. Someone at work brings up church and you freeze. Somebody else, that knows you are a believer, points to you like you should have the answers. And we should have the answers. Christ is Lord of our lives and if He truly is we have a daily relationship with Him. We know Him better than that football team we were bragging on just minutes before and we should be ready to explain our Christian hope. ~ DickEvans.org

Transformation

When we accepted Christ into our life, we became a new person. We were given the mind of Christ even though we might not act like it right away. There is a transformation period that begins the instant we become a believer until we go on to be with God in eternity. If we let Him in each day by reading His word and by building our relationship with Him, He changes the way we think. The more we begin to think as He thinks, the more we come to know His perfect will. ~ DickEvans.org

Be Covered

Many live in an area of the country that is cold in the winter and the ground is covered with snow. These are times that call for special clothing when we venture outside. As Ephesians 6:13 tells us to "Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm." Both in the flesh and in the spirit, we get dressed for the season. ~ DickEvans.org

Stuff Happens

As Christians we are no different than anyone else in this world when it comes to circumstances. Stuff happens to each of us. The difference is not in what comes our way each day. The difference is in how we handle it. Love makes the difference. We are called to follow Jesus in all that we do and He did not retaliate. He did not get even. He turned it all over to God and moved on. ~ DickEvans.org

Obey

First we must believe in Jesus. Then we must obey all that He tells us. That was all, not some of it. And we hear Him in His Word as we read each day. We hear it in the nudging we get from Holy Spirit. And we hear it in answer to prayer. As we ask Him, He answers, but then we must obey. ~ DickEvans.org

Be in the Word

1 John 2:27
As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him.

We are told in many circles how important it is to be in God's word. Yet how many of us really do spend time each day reading His word?

Many of us enjoy reading devotionals written by other men and women about what one particular passage in Scripture means to them. Often they just take that piece of scripture and combine it with two or three others to create their own word.

It's pretty much all good stuff. And yet it's not our revelation. Perhaps it was Holy Spirit motivated and perhaps not. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us directly as we read God's word as it is written in our Bible.

We even get Bible verses sent to us by various apps on our phones or computers and that's good too, but it is only glimpses of one or two passages. I believe we need to be engulfed in His word. We need to start on one of the books of the Bible and read it through, perhaps even more than once. Meditate on it. Ask Holy Spirit for fresh revelation for today.

It is through this quiet time with Him that our true growth comes. It doesn't come from absorbing information others have penned. It comes from Holy Spirit teaching us all things.

Father God help me to make a good habit of reading Your word every day asking Holy Spirit to reveal truth to me as I need to see it. To allow myself to be changed to be more Christlike. In Jesus name, I pray, amen.

The Unpaved Roads

Jesus wants us to be walking with Him. Anytime we move off that straight and narrow path, we slip onto the unpaved roads of life filled with temptation to sin. And sin we do. We might be well within our society's rules and laws, but not walking the path He has for us and that is sin. It is time that we stop letting temptation lead us; time to stop being a slave to sin. ~ DickEvans.org

Bondservant

We are to be slaves to Christ and to nothing else. We are called to be His bondservant which is another word for slave or servant. We are to serve Him and serve others for Him. He told us to treat even the least of men no differently than we would treat Him. As His followers, we are to be a servant to all. ~ DickEvans.org

God First

If we put God first in all that we do, we will have what we need in this life. And that does not mean that we will be poor, unsuccessful people. No, we can have just as much as all those others. But we will have it without it having a hold on us. Things are things and God is God. When things become more important, the only person we are really impressing is ourselves. ~ DickEvans.org

Business

Many are in the business of ministry today. They sell their books, their videos, and even themselves. God's word and His principles are used day in and day out by many that call themselves Christians. He has a plan for each and every one of us and that plan is for His purposes, not for ours. As we do that, there is no need for us to go forward with our hand out. As we step out in His plan, He takes care of us. ~ DickEvans.org

Receive It

Before Christ, every Jew lived life attempting to obey the rules, the law. But Christ came to fulfill the law. He came to set us free from it. No longer do we have to fulfill the law to receive our salvation. It is not that we don't live up to the same laws as best we can. It is that obeying the letter of the law is not a requirement for salvation. The only requirement is that we reach out in faith and receive it. ~ DickEvans.org

The Switch

When our hearts are filled with the light of Jesus, with the presence of God, we understand things that were never clear before. We see with new eyes and hear with new ears. And all we need to do is ask. All we need to do is reach out in faith and turn on the switch. ~ DickEvans.org

The Struggle

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Our struggle isn't with the world. Our struggle is within our self trying to get out of our worldly ways and walk in the spirit. As born again believers we we have the kingdom of God within.

All we will ever need is right here within reach. And all we have to do is die to our self to obtain it all. The maker of the universe abides in us. In Him we have it all.

We have freedom from all our earthly desires and burdens. We are covered by the blood of Jesus and walk in all the promises of the Bible. We just have to step out of the old and into the new.

We are Spirit, Soul and Body. But the only part that is completed is our spirit. Holy Spirit and our spirit are one. When that occurred we became born again. But our body and soul stayed right where they were. Our thoughts and habits remained.

We work out the salvation of our soul through the renewing of our mind. The more Christ like our thinking the more it is renewed to be like the mind of Jesus. The more we listen and obey the Holy Spirit the more we grow and the more our mind is renewed. The more we read God's word the more our mind is renewed.

Many rely on their old thinking even when praying or being prayed for. So many when prayed for tell us that nothing happened but then tell us they know God is working on healing them.

No, He is not. The devil is working, not God. Jesus went to the cross and took all infirmity, all burdens, all struggles, all sickness and disease, poverty, curses, and more. He wiped out our debt. We are totally free of it all.

And yet we allow the enemy to tell us otherwise. We let him keep us from receiving the healing we already have. The healing Jesus paid the price for at the cross. He tells us that the only work for us is to believe in Him and to receive what He already paid for.

Father God. Help me to walk in the spirit. Help me to let go of fleshly desires. Renew my mind and keep me from falling back on my old ways picking back up old habits. I believe Lord. Help me to receive that which you have already given me. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen

Ask for Help

Our heavenly Father looks at our choices and must shake His head frequently. His discipline is always right and good for us. He knows what we need to learn and lets us go around that mountain as many times as it is necessary for us to finally get it right. For some of us, that could be a long time if we keep relying on ourselves instead of asking for the Holy Spirit's help. ~ DickEvans.org

Our Father

When we received Christ as our Lord and Savior, we became born again. Whenever there is a birth, there is a father involved and he is our Father God. We all have the same Father in Heaven. We are His children because we believed; we stretched out in the faith we had and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He is our Father and all of His children are our brothers and sisters; all part of one big family for eternity. ~ DickEvans.org

God wants it all

We have become Christians, followers of Christ. We have taken a stand against the wrong in this world, against error in every form that satan uses to dish it out. Yet we continue to do the things we always did, enjoying the world as we enjoyed it before. God wants it all, not just Sunday mornings. ~ DickEvans.org

Go Forth

God wants to use us. He has a plan that has been waiting for us to fulfill since the beginning of time. As we walk forth in who we are becoming in Christ, we walk as His ambassadors fulfilling that plan? When we go forth in faith, He is ready and will use us mightily. ~ DickEvans.org