Seek The Fruits Of The Spirit

Seek The Fruits Of The Spirit “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6 Have you ever thought about what comes out of us when the pressure of life comes upon us? That question is something that we all need to ask ourselves and take a close look at what the real answer is. If the fruit of the Spirit and the righteousness of the Lord do not come out, then we need to allow the Lord to do some work in our life. Jesus tells us that the fruit of the Spirit should be love, joy, peace longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, and should be shown coming from us at all times. Are these the fruits that flow from your mouth and your actions, when the trials of life come upon you? What comes out of us reveal the true character and nature that is inside us to others, and if we do not exhibit these fruits in our times of stress we need to earnestly seek Jesus to change things in our lives. If you find yourself lacking in this regard, and desire to change and want to become a person who resembles Christ in your actions and speech there are two things that you must do. First get in the Word. That means to read and study your Bible, and begin to put the wisdom and knowledge that you find to practice in your every day life. When we put God’s word in our heart we are able to stand against sin and act with the character of Christ, when we are feeling the pressure of the world trying to squeeze us. Second, we need to obey the scripture above and get hungry and thirsty for this righteousness. If you are filled with the righteousness of God, then the only thing that will pour out of you when the pressures of life come will be the righteousness of the Lord. All the righteousness you have filled yourself with, will now come out and you will become a true witness for Christ by your conduct. My Daily Devotional Volume III August 29 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Be An Encourager

Be An Encourager “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1st Thessalonians 5:11 Having spent my entire 45 year career in administration I have encountered many people, including many managers who were critical of almost anything and anybody they met. These people were very negative individuals and hardly every had anything positive to say about anything or anybody. These same individuals always seemed to be ones that were unhappy with themselves and never had any joy in their lives. I am sure each of you has people in your lives at this time that are similar to the ones I am describing. I have always believed that Jesus wants us to be encouragers instead of being critical, complainers and negative, and I have never condoned this kind of behavior with the people I supervised. The Bible gives us many scriptures, such as the one above, where we are to always be uplifting and to always build each other up. No matter how rough your day is today, speak words that uplift and encourage those around you. Encourage others when you notice them doing a good job or a good deed. You can do this with all the people you come into contact with, such as store clerks, auto mechanics, food service employees, your friends and neighbors. Always give compliments for good service and good works and deeds. You can change your own life and your own attitude by choosing to speak positive words. We can improve our relationships with others by leaps and bounds when we become encouragers instead of critics. You will become an ambassador for Jesus when you begin to embrace this habit as people will begin to see Christ in you, and His righteousness will begin to shine upon you. You will be in God’s favor when you choose to bless others through your kind words. My Daily Devotional Volume III August 28 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Let God Protect You

Let God Protect You “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” 1st John 5:18-19 The above scripture is another warning from God about the importance of removing any sin from our life, as it tells us that anyone born of God does not continue to sin. The devil is all around us, enticing and luring us into temptation, and wanting us to sin in our daily walk with God. The world is an evil place and Jesus tells us it is under the control of Satan. However God tells us throughout the Bible how we are to resist Satan and his attacks on us, and in his Holy Word gives us the wisdom and knowledge to withstand Satan’s attacks against us. It is not easy to live with the temptations that surrounds us without the help of God, but when we truly have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and have put God as number one in our lives, he promises that he will give us the strength and ability to endure all the obstacles we will face and let us be victorious in our lives. He tells us that we need to arm ourselves with the armor of God and with his help we can overcome all the temptations that Satan will put in front of us. Reading our Bibles and discerning the wisdom of God’s Holy word will be our shield to withstand Satan’s attacks against us. We need to constantly be on our guard and think and live each moment and hour of our daily lives with the thought that Jesus is watching our every move and knows our every thought. There is too much at stake in our lives to let Satan entice us and influence our lives and cause us to miss an eternal life in Heaven. I would encourage each of you to live every minute of your life for God and let him lead and guide you in your journey to an eternal life. My Daily Devotional Volume III August 27 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Your Life Is In The Balance

Your Life Is In The Balance “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” Hebrews 10:26 This is another powerful scripture that Jesus gives us that tells us that once we have received Jesus into our hearts that we must change our ways and not continue in our sinful ways. The wages of sin is death and will lead to our eternal destruction. When we accept Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior he forgives all our sins and allows us to start a new life and a new beginning. We are forgiven of all our past sins and now need to make God first in our lives. We must now begin to obey God’s commands, and this must now become the most important thing in our life. I am afraid that many people do not put God first in their lives as is evidenced from their actions and behavior, even though they show up at church on Sunday. God needs to be first in all our lives, throughout our entire week, not just on Sunday. We need to devote time to him every day and in everything we do. Our lives must revolve around him. How much time do you devote to God daily, either through prayer or reading the Bible, and spending on the concerns of others? Jesus tells us that his number one commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and also to love your neighbor as yourself. I would encourage each of you to reflect back on your daily walk with God to see if you are truly living up to God’s greatest command for your life. It is not too late to begin to honor God and make him number one in your life. An eternal life with God must be your goal, and only you are able to make this become a reality, as the truth is before you and your life is in the balance. My Daily Devotional Volume III August 26 Robert William Brock, Jr

Our Purpose In Life

Our Purpose In Life “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” 2nd Corinthians 5:5 God has a plan and a purpose for your life and this plan and purpose was known by Him before you were born and still in your mother’s womb. It should be your main objective in life to find out what God’s will for your life is, and to work towards meeting this objective. God will lead you to fulfill this purpose if you will let Him lead and direct your life, in everything you do. One of the first steps you must make is to fully accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. When you accept Jesus and ask Him to come into your heart He is ready to take you to the next step in finding your purpose in life. When you accept Jesus you are going to make Him number one in your life. You are going to obey and follow His commands and live your life in a way that will be pleasing to Him. You will cast aside all the worldly pleasures and focus your future to doing His will. This does not mean that everything will be rosy in your future, but with your destination, which is heaven, in front of you, you must forge ahead despite any setbacks. There will be challenges ahead, as Satan knows what is happening and will come against you with all his schemes, but you must not let setbacks determine the final outcome which is a place reserved for you in heaven. You must now determine what is important in serving God and make Him number one in your life. You have complete control of your time and your life, and only you can determine what your real priorities are. God tells each of us what His chief priorities are and all of us need to make His priorities our chief priorities. The will of God must be the most important thing to us every minute of every day. Our goal must be to serve God. My Daily Devotional Volume III August 24 Robert William Brock, Jr.

The Gift Of Leadership

The Gift of Leadership “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.” Romans 12:6-8 I believe that God gives each of us gifts to use throughout our lives such as indicated in the Scripture above. The gift of leadership is one which I would like to discuss at this time. A leader has the power and ability to do great things, if and when he is given this gift by the power of our Holy God. We can see that God gave many of the great men of the Bible this power of leadership and through them he set an example for what the power of leadership can do. David was a great leader, and when he followed the will of God he conquered many kingdoms and his nation prospered. Moses, a man of humble beginnings became a great leader and let the people of Israel out of bondage and into their promised land. All of his problems, such as his speech, did not hinder his gift of leadership. If God has given you the gift of leadership, this is something to be proud of, as this is one of God’s gifts that can change the destiny of mankind if the will of God is followed. Wars have been won, nations have been conquered, organizations have prospered, lifestyles have been altered and people’s lives have been changed forever, all because leaders have used this great gift of leadership from God. If God has bestowed this gift upon you, remember to govern diligently and keep God first and foremost in your life and let him lead and direct your path and be a witness to others that God’s will is directing your life. My Daily Devotional Volume IIi August 22 Robert William Brock, Jr.

The Road To Heaven

The Road to Heaven “But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” 1st John 3:5-6 This is a powerful scripture and one that every new Christian needs to embrace. Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God promises to take away our past sins and forgive us. He puts into our hearts the desire to be righteous from that point forward, and live a life that would be pleasing to Him. The sins of our past are now forgiven, and we are to move forward in our life, living and obeying the commands of God. We must now make God first and foremost in our daily lives, and follow His will in all things that we do. There is no more room in our life to continue to sin, as we did before we were saved and accepted Him. Our thoughts, our behavior and our actions must now be centered around Jesus and following and obeying His commands. The Bible tells us that the road is narrow that leads to Heaven, and few will find it, but wide is the road that leads to destruction. The Christian that finds this narrow road will be the ones that seek His commands and live them out in their daily life. The road to Heaven is given to us in God’s Holy Word, and we must begin to embrace God’s commands for our lives and live each day holding these truths in our hearts and displaying them in our thoughts and actions. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our lives will be changed, and our focus will now be on serving Him and not on the things of the world. Obeying God’s commands must now become the number one priority in our lives, and we must go forward with the knowledge that one day we will stand before God and give account of all we have done. We must commit our life to Jesus. My Daily Devotional Volume III August 21 Robert William Brock, Jr.