Toni Writing for The Master - Daily Devotional

Daily devotion

11/21/2018

Emmanuel - God With Us

Scripture Reading for the day:  Luke 2:5-21
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Scripture Quote: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)

           Jesus came to us as an infant, born through the power of the Holy Spirit to the Virgin Mary. Joseph, her betrothed, believed when the angel told him that Mary was truly a virgin and that he should take her to be his wife. The faith that Mary and Joseph demonstrated was tremendous.

           Jesus was born in a stable. He was wrapped in bands of material and was laid where cattle were fed. Shepherds came from all around to see the baby the angels told them had come to be their Savior.

           Jesus had a very poor beginning, yet, because of His life, we have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God's own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness - when he sent Jesus to dwell among us, to teach us and show us by His example, how to love in its truest sense.

Today’s meditation: Celebrate Christ’s birth and what His coming has done for believers everywhere!

Memory Verse: “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11 (NIV)

Daily devotion

11/20/2018

Emmanuel - God With Us

Scripture Reading for the day:  Luke 2:5-21
click here to read the scripture
Scripture Quote: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)

           Jesus came to us as an infant, born through the power of the Holy Spirit to the Virgin Mary. Joseph, her betrothed, believed when the angel told him that Mary was truly a virgin and that he should take her to be his wife. The faith that Mary and Joseph demonstrated was tremendous.

           Jesus was born in a stable. He was wrapped in bands of material, and was laid where cattle were fed. Shepherds came from all around to see the baby the angels told them had come to be their Savior.

           Jesus had a very poor beginning, yet, because of His life, we have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God's own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness - when he sent Jesus to dwell among us, to teach us and show us by His example, how to love in its truest sense.

Today’s meditation: Celebrate Christ’s birth and what His coming has done for believers everywhere!

Memory Verse: “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11 (NIV)

Daily devotion

11/19/2018

Elected Child of God

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:3-8
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Scripture Quote: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” Ephesians 1:18 (NIV)

While it’s true that if we use all our mental ability to realize our election as a child of God, it still boggles the mind, as well as the heart. Unless we do accept that we are His own, however, bought by the blood of the Lamb, we are still navigating on a slippery slope of religion-eez. An irritable person, still set on having his own way, doesn’t yet have the joy of adoption in his heart, which makes for a fence-sitting Christian at best. God shouldn’t have to tolerate the hesitance in us, but find us full of spiritual vigor and joy. Our Father will allow us to refuse His grace, though that would never be His choice.

God will stand back, allowing the natural consequences of our actions, and the actions of others in our life, to play out - So free will can be a curse, as well as a blessing. We are not robots automatically following God's dictates. We may, and often have, chosen to make our own way, without the Holy Spirit's council. It is much better to seek first, and always, God's wisdom and purpose for our lives - Not as robots, but as His precious children.

Today’s meditation: The joy of the Lord is as real as we are.

Memory Verse: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Ephesians 4:1 (NIV)

Daily devotion

11/16/2018

Effects of Sin

Scripture Reading: Genesis 37 & 39
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Scripture Quote: "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” Genesis 45:8 (NIV)

Temptation and sinful choices draw people into trouble and can damage relationships, even ruin lives. In Joseph’s story, God didn’t let other people’s sin destroy Joseph - God made sure he prospered. But, that doesn’t always happen. We can’t always expect God to bail us out. Joseph did have to go through many trails until, through God’s help, he came out of them victorious. He was a treasured son, a hated brother, a slave, manager of Potiphar’s affairs, a prisoner, and eventually, a great leader.

Joseph first suffered from being tactless with his brothers,(sin)and his father’s favoritism,(sin), which caused his brother’s murderous jealousy,(sin). His servitude as a captured slave was exemplary so God blessed him with a great position. But then Potiphar’s wife, Zuleika, lusted after Joseph,(sin). He refused her and ended up unjustly imprisoned because of her lies,(sin). Except for bragging as a young man, all of Joseph’s predicaments were the result of other people’s sinfulness. It’s like the ramifications of the sinfulness of Adam and Eve. Sin stains everything around it. As Christians, we must avoid temptations, of course, but we also need to avoid others that are living in sin.

Today’s meditation: Sin builds like a snowball – Stay out of its way.
Memory Verse: “Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.” Genesis 41:39 (NIV)

Daily devotion

11/15/2018

Drunkenness

Scripture Reading for the day: 1 Corinthians 6:9-11,
1 Corinthians: 6:9-11
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Scripture Quote: “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do--living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” 1Peter 4:1-3 (NIV)

Those who drink alcohol, pouring it repeatedly until they are drunk, will be filled with shame in the end, instead of the great immediate fun they anticipate. The cup from the LORD's right hand is coming around to them, and disgrace will follow. Drunkenness and excess lead to corruptible desire. Such indulgence has a tendency to excite lust by removing the barriers of God's standard of moral behavior.

God wants us to retain His truth and live according to its dictates, especially if it seems difficult to our flesh to do so. We are His children and answerable to His vision for our lives. We are all guardians of the talents entrusted to us by our Heavenly Father. So, if we who are called Christians are guilty of drunkenness, there could be no difference except in profession, between us and the most abominable of the nonbelievers.

Today’s meditation: God's grace is sufficient to enable the casting aside of ungodly desires.

Memory Verse: “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.”
Romans 13:13 (NIV)

Daily devotion

11/14/2018

Don’t Stand Next to Sin

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 2:1-5 (All Scripture Quotes are CEV)
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Scripture Quote: You have been trusted with a wonderful treasure. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you.
(2 Timothy 3:12)

It’s easy to sometimes feel tempted to compromise with those in the world we care for - We make excuses for them, coming alongside them with the hope of showing them our love for Jesus and the truth in His Gospel. The only trouble is that we can lose our way, if we get our own focus mixed up. We make a huge mistake if we rationalize ungodly behavior because we want to be helpful to someone. We make a huge mistake if we rationalize ungodly behavior because we want to be helpful to someone.

Loving others is certainly a very high priority for a Christian, but following the mandates of the Lord is always the absolute priority - We do well to never forget that because Christians have no immunity to the propensity to fall into sin. We can’t be helpful to others without the constant rejuvenation by the Holy Spirit within our hearts and minds. So, we must first point our intent in God’s direction to be the beneficiary of His strength and truth. Compromise is too dangerous for any of us. Showing Christ-like behavior will keep us safely within God's circle of blessing, so that we may be in a proper position to reach out and invite others to join us.

Today’s meditation: Sharing the Gospel takes deliberate preparation.

Memory Verse: He wanted us to be his own special people, and so he sent the true message to give us new birth. (James 1:18)

Daily devotion

11/13/2018

Doing Good

Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:13-16
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Scripture Quote: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV)

We were created by God as a living human being and were, therefore, the creatures of God at our birth. Again, by His incredible power, we were recreated by faith in Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection. He has saved us and given us the Holy Spirit so that we can demonstrate to the world God's truth and love. We weren't saved to simply sit around and bask in His great love for us. We are not saved by our goodness or good works, but we are saved by God's free mercy - As a consequence of that, we are now called to do good works to glorify God and show kindness to one another.

God treats us much better than we deserve. In ourselves, we have nothing to brag about. That's why God sent Jesus to save us. He has set us apart to abide in us through His Holy Spirit. Every day, every minute, we need to lean on Him. From the first inspiration of God upon our souls, we began to love goodness and holiness and have since yearned to walk in them to glorify God. Obedience to the will of God means doing whatever good we can, whenever we can.

Today’s meditation: We were created for good works.

Memory Verse: For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10 NIV)

November 11th, 2018

11/11/2018

Does Prayer Have Real Power?

Scripture Reading for the day: 1 Corinthians 1:17-18
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Scripture Quote: For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:4
     The bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. All through the word we read that prayer is the way to communicate with our Heavenly Father. Unbelievers think that prayer is ineffective and silly, but I believe God’s word, not the opinion of the unsaved sinner. Actually, those are people that need you to pray for them.

     You may be like me, with less than super credentials. No matter how much or little we know, as believers in Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection, we have been given the gift of prayer. Use it and seek the power of God in your life for yourself and for those you love.

     Do we really believe that our prayers are powerful? Well, modesty aside, “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but they have divine power to destroy strong holds.” (2 Corinthians 10:4)We have a mighty God who gives us all the power we need to fight the enemy and cover those we pray for, if we will only believe.

Today’s meditation: When we connect with God through prayer, His power is given to us. Have faith in your prayers and watch God move mountains.
Memory Verse: The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16

Daily devotion

11/9/2018

Does Christ Offend You?

Scripture Reading: Matthew 11:2-11
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Scripture Quote: Therefore, dear friends, since you have been warned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 2 Peter 3:17 (NIV)

When Jesus walked on earth, he offended many people, even including John the Baptist, who pictured a fierier Messiah. Thank God that Jesus still continues to offend us. Christ offended John the Baptist by His gracious dealings with sinners. He rebuked the religious leaders of His day who prized pious rules overextending themselves in love to their fellow sinners. Christ continues to unnerve us today by saying that we must die to self, take up our cross and follow Him.

The rich young ruler was offended by Christ' admonition to sell everything that he had and give it to the poor. The Jews were scandalized by a dying Messiah and the Gentiles were confused by a God who would lay down His powers to descend to the level of humanity - And on and on it goes: many today are offended about Christ's teaching against divorce. In a world where over 60 percent of marriages end in divorce, this is an offensive teaching. Nevertheless, we are Christians and compelled to acknowledge all of God's teaching as infallible. Since we trust in a Savior that actually gave His life's blood to return us to the Father, we can choose not to be offended, but repent and be obedient to his law, resting in His joy and peace.

Today’s meditation: Be offended by evil, but learn from God’s Word.

Memory Verse: Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the LORD. Psalms 4:5 (NIV)

Daily devotion

11/8/2018

Do You Know About Jesus’ Grace?

Scripture Reading for the day: John 1:10-14
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Jesus didn’t care about riches, that’s for sure. I sometimes wonder if He came to bring his message of salvation today, just how he would be received. Would he come as a homeless man, seeking a dozen men to follow Him and learn about God’s grace, like he did with His disciples long ago? Would His poverty and disregard for money or status be accepted by any group living in this present age? Or would we look down on Jesus, even call him a bum? You know what, He would still love all of us anyway, because that is who He is!

Jesus knew His fate from the beginning. He gave up His spiritual riches for the sake of our spiritual ignorance. He willingly became poor and humble, living as a man, alongside humanity’s sinfulness. He was the creator of all things, yet He was rejected, beaten, tortured and ultimately murdered because His message of grace usurped the authenticity and authority of the Pharisees and Sadducees - Are we sometimes as clueless as them?

Scripture Quote: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, for your sakes He became poor, in order that you might be made rich through His poverty.” 2 Corinthians 8:9 (MKJV)

Today’s meditation: Are our independent, success oriented goals a major stumbling block to our pursuit of a true, deep relationship with our Savior?

Memory Verse: For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2Co 5:21 (MKJV)

2 Timothy 3:16-17New International Version (NIV) 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work

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Bio: Toni Smothers has written articles for “Total Health”, “Let’s Live”, “People In Action” and “The North American Mentor” magazines. She is a member of the Faithwriters.com writing community and was previously the editor for the teen section of their on-line magazine. She has written many programs, sermons, and skits and has edited several websites. Additionally, she has answered hundreds of questions for GotQuestions.org, a biblical resource site. Here is just one of their many testimonials: "Thank you for this insightful website! I was able to look up many questions I have asked over the years since becoming saved. The site is easy to navigate and gave me so much biblical background for answers that I feel my armor has been strengthened. You and your staff be encouraged to continue to speak the truth for God's glory." When Toni is not writing, she can usually be found cuddling with her 5 pound, furry, Chihuahua muse, “Princess Sweet Pea.” Toni Smothers studied homeopathy extensively and became a proficient layman. She wrote about homeopathy for “Total Health” and “Let’s Live” magazines. Smothers describes her experience befriending a refugee family from Laos in her article published in the travel magazine, “People in Action.” Additionally, “American Mentor” magazine has published some of her poetry. Smothers drew upon her fun experiences as a youth pastor to provide the needed insight to function as the editor of the teen section of “Faithwriters” magazine and she is a member of the Faithwriters.com writer’s community.

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