God's Stand On Sin

God’s Stand On Sin “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Psalm 51:1-2 The above scripture was David’s humble prayer for forgiveness and cleansing of his sins. We see many scriptures throughout the Bible where David and others were asking God to forgive them when they had sinned against God. Even as David had sinned when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, sin is a transgression of a command from God, and thus all sin is against God, whether it has injured another human being or not. There is no justification for a Christian to continue to go on sinning after he has accepted Jesus as his savior. 1st John 3:9 “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.” All Christians need to take heed, and begin to ask God for wisdom and guidance in their daily life, to give them the strength and courage to live a life that is pleasing in the sight of God. There is no excuse for sin in your daily life when you have accepted Jesus into your heart. When we stand before God at our Day of Judgment there is no excuse that we will be able to bring to the table, that can defend our reason for sin. God has given us His commands that we are to follow, and the Bible clearly spells out how we are to live our lives obeying and following these commands. Our lives need to be characterized not by sin, but by doing what is right, which is what we must practice in our daily living. Our focus each and every day must be to do what is pleasing in the sight of God, and our actions and our thoughts must demonstrate this as we are a witness to God in all we do. My Daily Devotional Volume III September 16 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Be A Witness For God

Be A Witness For God “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 1st Peter 3:12 During all my years in Health Care Administration it was always so obvious just how much the eyes of all my employees were on me. Corporate America has a way of taking a toll on a Christian, as almost all business settings have similar environments, consisting of backstabbing, rumor mills, brownnosing up to the boss and pushing to get ahead. With all the emphasis to move up the corporate ladder it is a wonder that any work gets accomplished with all the individual agendas among the employees. If you are a Christian working in this environment you come even more under the watchful eye and scrutiny of all the other members of the workforce. They watch to see if you are prone to lose your cool, to become angry or to say words that are disrespectful to others when things do not go your way. Any kind of behavior that is unbecoming of a Christian gives others room to doubt your actual Christianity. A Christian has a very big responsibility in their workplace to be a person of character at all times, and in all situations. You cannot be caring and respectful one day and uncaring and disrespectful the next. Your daily walk, your actions and your behavior quickly tell others the true person you are, and you will either be known as a true witness for God or you will not. There is little room for error if you are not truly walking and being a witness for God as people will quickly find you out. I would encourage each of you before you go out into your workplace each day, to ask God to give you the patience, the understanding and ability to conduct yourselves in the way that will be pleasing to God, as you are His witness wherever you go. My Daily Devotional Volume III September 14 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Use Words Wisely

Use Words Wisely “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” Proverbs 25:11 Have you ever thought about your choice of words that you use daily? Just being able to say the right word, the helpful word, the encouraging, correcting, guiding, blessing word is like apples of gold set forth in a stunning and beautiful way as the scripture above indicates. There is something incredibly powerful about our words, especially when the right word is said in the right way at the right moment. We all need to take time to reflect on the nature of our own speech and the words that we use. We need to ask ourselves if our words reveal us to be a believer, blesser, builder, encourager, teacher, counselor, consoler and friend, which is what our words need to convey to others. If we find that our words convey us as a grumbler, complainer, criticizer or blamer we need to try to adjust our attitude, as this is not the nature that God would want us to have and convey to others. James 3:9 “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.” Perhaps you may find that you are a little bit of all these things, the up-lifter and encourager at certain times, and a demoralizer and discourager at other times. God wants us to be a positive influence at all times in our lives; to be uplifting and encouraging; to be faithful in all things, and to be a witness of God’s grace wherever we are and in whatever we do. We must guard our use of words so that they always show the love in our hearts. Your words can carry a powerful message, and be a blessing to others, and you must allow the Holy Spirit to be the master of your tongue, so that what you say, when you say it, and how you say it, may build people and honor your Lord with apples of gold in a setting of silver. My Daily Devotional Volume III September 13 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Sow Good Seeds

Sow Good Seeds “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.” Matthew 13:24-26 In a nearby city there is an annual festival called the Johnny Appleseed Festival named after the legendary character that supposedly went around the country planting apple seeds. This is a fun festival where hundreds of families get together each fall to celebrate this historic event. The scripture above also tells us a story about planting seeds, and the result of the type of seed we sow in our families. Parents have the choice of sowing good seeds like the wheat, or bad seeds like the weeds in their homes and families. The dysfunctional families that are springing up all around us are prime examples where the parents have sown weeds in their homes, and they are choking the life out of families today. The divorce rate is growing astronomically in our society. The weeds of contention, strife, hostility and unkind words are so prevalent in families today, that the children that come from these broken homes carry this baggage to their own families and the trend continues. I recently heard a program from one of the leading pastors in the country about disciplining unruly children, and how oftentimes the cause of these children’s behavioral problems are “learned behavior”. He stated that 99.9% of this learned behavior comes from home life. I would encourage all parents to begin to get these bad seeds out of your family, and begin to sow love, peace and joy in your family instead. We must begin to be the living examples for our children in our daily walk, and bring God back into our homes and reverse this trend. My Daily Devotional Volume III September 12 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Visions From God

Visions from God “Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” Nehemiah 2:17 I love the story of Nehemiah who had the great vision of rebuilding the walls and the city of Jerusalem seventy years after King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it. Nehemiah traveled to Jerusalem, which was a city he had never seen, and went out by night to survey the wall and the city. He inspected all that needed to be repaired and scoped out what materials and manpower would be needed to complete the project. Nehemiah was a man of vision, and a man that had his plans in order to know the steps that would be necessary to rebuild the wall and the city. I believe that all of us need to have our visions firmly implanted into our minds as to what God is leading us to do. I know that God has given me the vision for my ministry, and through His direction and guidance I am seeing a tremendous result as I implement His plan for my life. The thing that I discovered that made Nehemiah so successful in getting his vision accomplished was that he planned in advance every task and every job, and organized and worked together with many others to get the job done. A vision without a plan is only a wish, but with a plan it can become a reality. I have heard many people throughout the years say they have a vision of something they want to happen, but so often this vision does not come to fruition because they do not have a plan. God will put many visions into your mind, big ones and small ones, visions for your family, your place of work, and your community. When God places these visions in your mind just remember that planning will turn these visions into reality, and God will give you direction and wisdom to make these plans come true. My Daily Devotional Volume III September 10 Robert William Brock, Jr.

The Return Of Christ

The Return of Christ “For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” 1st Thessalonians 5:2 How close are we to the return of Jesus Christ? What are the signs that tell us that his return is near? The most thrilling event in all of human history is yet to come, as our Lord Jesus Christ will return to this earth in His power and glory to set up His kingdom that will last 1,000 years. Most Christian scholars believe that His return is soon. Even unbelievers are taking a closer look at biblical prophecies that predict the end of all things. Without question the Bible is very clear about the subject of Jesus’ coming again and how it should affect believers today. In the scripture above the Apostle Peter is telling us that the return of Jesus will be like a thief in the night, as no one knows the time or day of this great event. I strongly believe that all Christians need to take a hard look at their daily Christian life and their lifestyle to make sure that their lives are in order, to be one of the chosen people on this great judgment day. If you find that there are things in your life that are not pleasing to God, this is the time to change the things that are not as they should be according to God’s word. This is something that we must not put off any longer as we may have done in the past. There is nothing more important than making sure our home in heaven is guaranteed, and that we have committed the rest of our life to serving God and obeying His commands. I would encourage each of you to prepare your hearts to receive God’s word, and allow the Holy Spirit to ignite a passion in you for Christ’s return. We need to ask the Lord for wisdom and guidance and renew our personal devotion to Him, and further prepare ourselves for that great and glorious day, and the return of our Lord. My Daily Devotional Volume III September 9 Robert William Brock, Jr.

God Is Faithful

God is Faithful “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” Psalm 91:4 William Penn, the founder of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, was well liked by the Indians. Once they told him he could have as much of their land as he could walk on foot in a single day. So, early the next morning he started out and walked until late that night. When he finally went to claim his land, the Indians were greatly surprised for they really didn’t think he would take them seriously. But they kept their promise and gave him a large area which today is part of the city of Philadelphia. William Penn simply believed what they said, and found the Indians to be faithful to their words. I can certainly count on God to be faithful to His words in my life. There are many times during each of our lives when we are disappointed with others, as they have let us down and not lived up to their promises to us. These disappointments can color our outlook on life, and can even change the way we see God. I know several family members that have turned their backs on God because of disappointments in their lives and now they blame God for these disappointments. They are missing so much as God was not to blame for any of these disappointments, but their hearts have been hardened to the point that they have forsaken God. Each of us is going to be faced with disappointments throughout our lives, and when these disappointments come we must not allow them to cause us to doubt God, as He continues to be faithful to those who believe in Him. When times of trouble face us, we need to turn to God even more, and depend upon Him to let us endure and be victorious. We can depend upon God, who is faithful to those who believe. My Daily Devotional Volume III September 8 Robert William Brock, Jr.