Blog Posts - Toni Writing for The Master

DAILY DEVOTION

1/11/2022

Is Hope For an Afterlife Realistic?
By Toni Smothers
Scripture Reading for the day: John 4:4-29

Scripture Quote: “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (NIV)

Jesus told the woman from Samaria that he’d give her water that would cause her to never thirst again. We might find what he said a little confusing at first, but, further study explains that the ever thirst quenching water is actually God’s Holy Spirit. It wells up within us when we first believe and accept Christ into our hearts.

The Holy Spirit teaches, comforts and convicts us from that first moment we believed and remains within us throughout our lives. The more we seek to know God's ways, the stronger The Spirit's guidance will be. Conversely, if we should begin to listen more to the flesh, the Spirit’s influence will weaken and we will eventually go off course. The Holy Spirit will never force us to listen to Him. It's up to us to remain in tune with his guidance.

Once we understand all that our Father God has provided for us to live with joy and peace in our everyday lives, we will see clearly that we were created to live with our Lord and Savior, Jesus, now and for eternity.

Today’s meditation: There is no doubt that as soon as we repent, believe and follow Jesus, we are given the gift of eternal life with Him in heaven.

Memory Verse: “But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31 (NIV)

DAILY DEVOTION

1/11/2022

DAILY DEVOTION

1/10/2022

Inseparable Love
Toni Smothers

Scripture Reading: Revelations 7:14-17

Scripture Quote: “Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death?” Romans 8:35 (CEV)

Sometimes leaning into God's love is the only thing we have the strength to do - That communion and support will never desert us. Real love isn't our love for Him, but it is His great love for us. Before the earth was created, God chose us to be His own - We have such an advantage dealing with trouble. Life is full of trials, there's some for you, some for me, some for everyone, even the spiritually indifferent. Hardship and sorrow abound for every person that lives and breathes. But it is the response to our difficulties that testifies to our deep conviction in the love of God.

Consider the persecutions and tribulations that befell Christ's followers during the time Jesus lived and even more so after His death. A follower's faith was grounds for brutal punishment, imprisonment and even death. Today we have radical Muslims beheading those Christians that will not deny who they are and what they believe. We may face that kind of tyranny some day too, but even fear of death won’t steal our relationship to God through Christ. We are His and He is ours; nothing, especially not death, can take that away.

Today’s meditation: Even life’s worst cannot steal God’s love from us.

Memory Verse: "I am sure that nothing can separate us from God's love--not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future," Romans 8:38 (CEV)

DAILY DEVOTON

1/10/2022

DAILY DEVOTION

1/7/2022

Inseparable Love

Toni Smothers

Scripture Reading: Revelations 7:14-17

Scripture Quote: “Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death?” Romans 8:35 (CEV)

Sometimes leaning into God's love is the only thing we have the strength to do - That communion and support will never desert us. Real love isn't our love for Him, but it is His great love for us. Before the earth was created, God chose us to be His own - We have such an advantage dealing with trouble. Life is full of trials, there's some for you, some for me, some for everyone, even the spiritually indifferent. Hardship and sorrow abound for every person that lives and breathes. But it is the response to our difficulties that testifies to our deep conviction in the love of God.

Consider the persecutions and tribulations that befell Christ's followers during the time Jesus lived and even more so after His death. A follower's faith was grounds for brutal punishment, imprisonment and even death. Today we have radical Muslims beheading those Christians that will not deny who they are and what they believe. We may face that kind of tyranny some day too, but even fear of death won’t steal our relationship to God through Christ. We are His and He is ours; nothing, especially not death, can take that away.

Today’s meditation: Even life’s worst cannot steal God’s love from us.

Memory Verse: "I am sure that nothing can separate us from God's love--not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future," Romans 8:38 (CEV)

DAILY DEVOTION

1/6/2022

Indwelling Spirit

By, Toni Smothers

Scripture Reading: Exodus 33:13-19

Scripture Quote: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:25-27 (NIV)

Christian, desire total integration, body, soul and spirit, with God's Holy Spirit, which is often referred to as clean or flowing water. Don't misunderstand, I know that we are born again believers who have been baptized in the Spirit of Christ. He lives within us and the bounty of that is inexplicable. His Spirit is the power behind our faith and trust in Him. He does it all for us, if we only believe the size of a mustard seed.

The more we surrender our wills to God, the more He fills us with love, joy, peace and all the fruit of His Spirit. It's a true mystery how we could ever sin against so good a God and so loving a Savior. We were bought by Christ's own blood - Ponder the pain and total submission of our beloved Jesus. There is no greater, more precious love than that of our Father, God. Only through His continued indwelling can we learn to leave the path of sin to walk the narrow way with Him.

Today’s meditation: Realize how blessed you are.

Memory Verse: “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.” Isaiah 26:4 (NIV)

DAILY DEVOTION

1/5/2022

Humility

By, Toni Smothers

Scripture Reading: Ruth 1:1-16

Scripture Quote: "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.” Ruth 3:10-11 (NIV)

When Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, lost their husbands, Naomi tried to send Ruth back to her Moabite people, but Ruth would not leave Naomi. Ruth was a humble woman who always trusted God, which is portrayed throughout the book of Ruth. She had a relative on her husband's side named Boaz. Ruth went out into Boaz's cornfields, following after the reapers. In humility and gratitude Ruth collected the left over ears and pieces of corn that the reapers had left behind. And later, her humble spirit shows up again when Ruth spoke to Boaz in total subservience to him - So they were married and became part of the royal lineage of Jesus.

Christians are so blessed, yet completely unworthy, and that should be humbling. Knowing our true nature, the way we tend to leave God back in our prayer rooms during our busy day, is good reason to consider humility towards others. If we all came to this conclusion, then we would all think better of others than ourselves which might mean that we would all become humble servants to each other.

Today’s meditation: Daily serve yourself some humble-pie.

Memory Verse: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves," Philippians 2:3

DAILY DEVOTION

1/4/2022

Humility Leads to Love

By, Toni Smothers
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:3-8
Scripture Quote: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isa 53:5 NIV

It’s hard and extremely humbling when we accept the truth that the only good in us are those spiritual traits and innate talents that God has given us. On our own, we are cruel and self-serving at best. But when we face the truth about ourselves, we gradually realize our wickedness and we can also admit that we know little more than a small child knows about God.
It takes growing in His Word to grasp God’s generosity and patience with us. As a result, we acknowledge and revere His Great Name. It is in that state of humility and reverence for God that we will begin to understand the enormity of what Jesus did when He chose to die in order to redeem us. The Holy Spirit that Jesus sent to comfort and guide us is absolutely transforming. The expression of God's Spirit living within us comes out as love, which gives us an intense desire to please God and to be kind to others. In 1 Corinthians 13:3-8 in the Bible it tells us just what our new love, our spirit-filled love, acts like.
Today’s meditation: Flee from all sin and pursue love.
Memory verse: “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” 1Cor 13:6 NIV

DAILY DEVOTION

1/3/2022

How Much is Enough?

Toni Smothers

Scripture Reading: Titus 6:6-12

Scripture Quote: Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5 (NIV)

We believe that we need to have food, clothing and a place to live as bare minimums for our survival, but that's more than Jesus had - His home was where he was staying at the time. Our world is very different than it was during Jesus' life, yet not really all that different. Back then, like today, people usually tend to feel increasingly secure as they progress in their incomes and lifestyles. The bigger their home and the newer their car, the more they feel accomplished. But Christians sometimes need to pause and begin to realize that our faith may be in the wrong place.

If a Believer has God's Word in his mind and soul, even if he has a lack of food or shelter, he still has Christ in his heart, which is great gain by an eternal perspective. We require a lot less of the world when we cling firmly to the sufficiency of our Lord and Savior. Money is not the root of all evil as some who misquote the Bible say. It is only one of the worlds temptations that would attempt to lead us away from the truth. Do not love money and believe in an ever increasing need for it. But rather let us pursue our highest calling to walk intimately with our Lord, anticipating His return in glory.

Today’s meditation: Love the Lord and always trust in His provision.

Memory Verse: Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; Psalms 37:16 (NIV)

DAILY DEVOTION

12/24/2021

Hospitality & Harmony
Toni Smothers

Scripture Reading: Romans 15:4-13

Scripture Quote: “Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” Jude 1:21-23 (NIV)

Christians are the church and the body of our Lord, Jesus. We need the church to keep us fully in the love of God. We stray when we devalue the importance of continued fellowship in worship with each other. The world is very hospitable to the floundering Christian. We need to be all the more hospitable with each other and with that stranger or struggling Christian. Support, earnestness and encouragement all create a peaceful, harmonious group. We need to be conscientious about building each other up with prayer and with hospitable, welcoming attitudes. We need to also be completely rooted in God's Word.

We are judged by the world around us who are hopeful that they can find some condemnation of us that supports their distrust and disbelief. We are known by the fruit of our lives. Harmony stems from our relationship to Jesus acted out. The discord of sin can destroy harmony and must be avoided. When the church displays hospitality and harmony she is a powerful witness to the world.

Today’s meditation: Be welcoming and generous to everyone.

Memory Verse: “I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another.” Romans 15:14 (NIV)

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 10 pound, furry, Morky muse, '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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