Streamglobe Devotional

STREAMGLOBE DEVOTIONAL Broadcast 4859 Topic: Called to be Holy Click here for the audio version: streamglobe.org/aud4859 1 Peter 1:14-16 (NET) “Like obedient children, do not comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct, for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, because I am holy.’” Before Don accepted the Lord Jesus, he was a pimp, a chronic womanizer, and a drug addict. But when he believed in Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit began transforming him from within. This transformation changed what he truly wanted. Even though Don had been accustomed to a sinful lifestyle, the new birth gave him a genuine desire to live a holy life. Whenever he slipped back into his old ways, he felt miserable. The problem was that he did not know how to stop falling into the same patterns. When he shared his burden with his pastor, his pastor immediately recommended that he get a discipler. The role of the discipler was to train Don in the way of holiness. But for this arrangement to work, Don had to submit himself to discipleship and be completely truthful about his struggles. One of the first things his discipler instructed him to do was to leave social media. He was also told to block certain contacts and stop responding to certain calls. Because Don was willing to submit to discipleship, he eventually became free from a lifestyle characterized by defilement. Don had been a believer for about a year before he met his discipler, yet he remained trapped in patterns of defilement for several more months. He did not know that freedom was possible, but through discipleship, prayer, discipline, and the power of the Holy Spirit, he began to experience practical holiness. For us who are being made saints, holiness is not an option. It is a necessity. There are dimensions of our God-given destiny that require corresponding growth in holiness. The enemy knows this, which is why h

STREAMGOBE DEVOTIONAL Broadcast 4860 Topic: Called to be Holy 2 Click here for the audio version: streamglobe.org/aud4860 1 Peter 1:15-16 (NET) “But, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct, for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, because I am holy.’” After Don began making progress in his walk with God, he discovered something important. His new birth had given him a new nature and a desire for holiness, but he still had to learn how to live according to that new nature. His discipler helped him understand that holiness sometimes requires separation. There were people he could no longer relate to in the same way. There were places he could no longer visit. There were conversations he could no longer participate in. There were things he could no longer watch. Some of the phone numbers in his contacts had to be deleted, and some relationships had to end completely. At first, Don thought these instructions were too extreme. But as he continued in discipleship, he began to understand that his old environment was constantly feeding the desires he was trying to overcome. You cannot continually feed the flesh and expect the spirit to dominate your life. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is remove yourself from an environment that continually exposes you to temptation. This is why discipleship is important. A believer may genuinely love Jesus and desire holiness but still lack the wisdom and discipline required to walk consistently in it. A mature believer can help identify patterns that the younger believer cannot yet see. Holiness is not merely avoiding certain sins. It is learning to love what God loves and hate what defiles His nature in us. It involves training our desires, renewing our minds, controlling our bodies, choosing our relationships carefully, and ordering our lives around God's will. The Holy Spirit does not merely tell us what is right. He empowers us to do what is right. But we must cooperate w

STREAMGLOBE DEVOTIONAL Broadcast 4861 Topic: Activating the Blessing 1 Click here for the audio version: streamglobe.org/aud4861 Psalms 119:1 (NET) How blessed are those whose actions are blameless, who obey the law of the Lord. After Maurine finished her training and started her own business, she observed that things were unusually tight for her. She wasn't getting customers, and the few she got owed her. Because she was a spiritual person, she knew something was spiritually out of order. She started seeking to know what to do to break the limitation and walk in her blessings as God's child. After listening to an audio sermon on her phone, she realized that she had been wrong in not honoring her parents all the while, and that could be the reason things were not going well with her business. She decided at that moment that she would commit herself to honor her parents every month with a token. Six months later, Maurine's financial situation changed dramatically. Her business began to flourish. She had many apprentices and so many customers that she could barely cope with the demand. This promotion followed her decision to obey the command of the Lord that children should honor their parents (see Eph. 6:1-2). We have seen earlier that the law of the Lord for the believer is not the 613 laws of the Torah, nor is it simply the Ten Commandments. The believer is not under the Old Testament law, but this does not mean that we are without law. Paul says we are “under the law of Christ” (1 Cor. 9:21). Of the Ten Commandments, the Lord, through His teachings and those of His apostles, reaffirmed many of the moral principles. He also gave His followers commandments that go beyond the Old Testament law. For example, He commands us not to live in anxiety (Matt. 6:25; Phil. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:7), to turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:38-39), and to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44). Go into today remembering that believers who desire to walk in the practical manifestation of God's

STREAMGLOBE DEVOTIONAL Broadcast 4862 Topic: Activating the Blessing 1 Click here for the audio version: streamglobe.org/aud4862 Philippians 4:6-7 (NET) Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Many believers treat some of the Lord’s commands more seriously than others. A good example is the command in today’s Bible verses, which echoes the Lord’s teaching in Matthew 6. See what the Lord says: Matthew 6:25 (ESV) “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” We saw yesterday that believers who walk in the practical manifestation of God’s blessings are those who live in obedience to the commands of the Lord. There are dimensions of God’s blessings that become evident as we understand and obey His principles and commands. For example, those who understand and practice the biblical principle of honor will experience its benefits, including favor and the blessing associated with honoring parents. That is why the command to honor our parents is accompanied by a promise of long life and well-being (see Eph. 6:1-3). In the same way, the command of the Lord that instructs us not to be anxious points us toward the peace of God. When we obey this command by taking our concerns to God in prayer and thanksgiving, His peace guards our hearts and minds (Phil. 4:6-7). Peace for the believer is not merely the absence of trouble or turbulence. It is a spiritual reality that enables us to remain stable and confident in God even in difficult circumstances. Jesus also associated peace with the ministry of His Kingdom (Luke 10:6). Go into today remembering that anxiety is a thief that can rob God’s people of the peace He wants

STREAMGLOBE DEVOTIONAL Broadcast 4863 Topic: Activating the Blessing 3 Click here for the audio version: streamglobe.org/aud4863 Philippians 4:6-7 (NET) Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. After Maureen’s business began doing very well, she faced a new set of challenges she had never anticipated. Some “influential” people in her town approached her and told her that if she refused to join their secret society, they would run her out of business. They gave her examples of people who had refused to join and were subsequently forced out of business. They also pointed to several “successful” business people in the town who, according to them, belonged to their society. Maureen knew she could never join them because she was a child of God. However, their threats frightened her so much that she began having difficulty sleeping at night. One night, she decided to spend the entire night praying in the Spirit about the situation. After praying for some time, she noticed something had changed. The fear and anxiety that had filled her heart were gone. She was no longer afraid. Instead, she became confident that the Lord was with her and would fight for her. Months passed, but Maureen never heard from those people again. She even noticed that their leader would avoid her whenever he saw her in the market. Meanwhile, her business continued to grow. In this life, situations will arise that seek to push us into anxiety and fear. God knows this, which is why He instructs us to bring everything to Him in prayer. One of the signs that we have truly prayed through concerning a matter is that the peace of God begins to replace the anxiety in our hearts. The circumstances may not have changed yet, but something has changed within us. We become confident that God is in control.

STREAMGLOBE DEVOTIONAL Broadcast 4865 Topic: Signs of Growth Click here for the audio version: streamglobe.org/aud4865 Ephesians 4:14 (NET) So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. Sandra was facing a challenge that deeply troubled her. She was a believer and had certain spiritual gifts, but this particular problem proved stubborn. She prayed and fasted about it for months, yet the situation remained. Eventually, she decided to meet with her discipler, an older and more spiritually mature woman. After listening to Sandra, her discipler received prophetic insight concerning the problem and prayed for her from that understanding. The problem was subsequently resolved. Sandra was amazed. Her discipler had prayed once concerning a problem she had battled for months. The difference was in her discipler's spiritual maturity. Sandra knew it was time for her to grow; it was time to be less self-centered and more selfless. One attribute of spiritual maturity is the willingness to give. Babies primarily know how to receive, but as children grow into responsible adults, they learn to contribute and care for others. There are believers who give to God’s work primarily because they expect to receive something in return. This is still the “take, take” mentality of spiritual infancy. Spiritually mature believers give because of love. They understand that they are already blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms (Eph. 1:3). They give purposefully and cheerfully (2 Cor. 9:7), supporting the Gospel, meeting needs, and honoring those who faithfully minister spiritual things to them. Mature believers are also stable. They are not easily tossed about by every wind of doctrine or manipulated by promises of instant breakthroughs. They are grounded in God’s Word and act from conviction rather than impulse. Go

STREAMGLOBE DEVOTIONAL Broadcast 4866 Topic: Call to Preach and Teach Click here for the audio version: streamglobe.org/aud4866 1 Corinthians 9:16 (NET) For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason for boasting, because I am compelled to do this. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! When Gbenga was a child, he had several dreams in which he saw himself preaching at large crusade grounds. It seemed to him that this was the kind of life the Lord was calling him to live. But as he grew older and became increasingly occupied with the vicissitudes of life, he became less certain about his calling. Eventually, more than anything else, Gbenga wanted to be certain about what the Lord had called him to do. Many people have asked me how they can know if they are called to preach and teach. The fivefold ministries all involve preaching, teaching, or communicating God’s truth in different ways. My first concern is to establish that such a believer is spiritually healthy. After that, one important thing to look for is a genuine and persistent desire to preach or teach, even when there is no physical reward, recognition, or glory attached to it. Those who are truly called do not need to be constantly persuaded to minister. There is a compelling desire within them to communicate the Gospel. They may even be willing to make significant personal sacrifices simply to have the opportunity to reach people with God’s Word. Like Jeremiah, they may try to hold themselves back, but the Word becomes like a fire shut up in their bones (Jer. 20:9). Like Paul, they can say, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” For someone who is genuinely called to preach or teach, earthly achievements alone will not produce lasting fulfillment. There will be a persistent sense that something is missing until they begin to fulfill the assignment God has placed upon their lives. Go into today asking the Lord to deliver you from every spiritual condition that could hinder you from discerning