Month: September 2023

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Thessalonians 5  Day 10

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴  Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Don’t let your day get you down.  Sometimes it is so easy to focus on our failure rather than God’s favor.  God is the God of peace, and His purpose is you and your purity, your full and whole salvation.  If we will humble ourselves and repent, His work will be loosed in our lives to live looking for Jesus.  God will save our whole spirit, soul, and body.  He will bring it to pass in those who believe in and bow to Him.  It’s His word to us today.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Thessalonians 5  Day 9

Do not quench the Spirit; ²⁰ do not despise prophetic utterances. ²¹ But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; ²² abstain from every form of evil.                    1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

The best way to stay sensitive to the Spirit is to keep singing praise to our God.  Stay humble to the Spirit of God and you’ll keep hearing the voice of God.  Don’t be carried away by the lust, pride, and fear of the flesh and the Spirit will bring you the things of heaven.  Keep praising and you won’t have to pretend.  God will keep you from evil.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Thessalonians 5  Day 8

Rejoice always; ¹⁷  pray without ceasing; ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

The best way to keep our minds in the right place is to keep our hearts in the right place.  Rejoice always in all that God has done for you, in us, and is doing through us.  Keep praying, God is waiting for us to get involved by asking Him to become involved.  Praising and praying are two things God has planned for our lives and these two things characterize those looking for Jesus to come again.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Thessalonians 5  Day  7

We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.

 1 Thessalonians 5:14-16

Just as a godly mentor doesn’t live for themselves, don’t just live for yourself.  Be the witness of Jesus today.  Live in the divine, not the drama that fills our world.  Live to see others find Jesus, know Jesus, and look for Jesus.  Don’t agree with evil but always look for good.  Be careful, evil isn’t always black but rather gray.  Evil is the perversion of good because evil on its own will destroy itself.  Perversion is the problem.  Be good, do good, think good.

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1 Thessalonians 5  Day 6

But we request of you, brethren, that you  appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, ¹³ and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work.           1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

Who do you appreciate as a spiritual leader and mentor in your life?  We all need them.  We need fathers in the faith who instruct us in the revelation of God.  No one person has the full revelation of God on his own.  Understand that there is what God has said and there is what God is saying.  Learning to hear both will entail a spiritual mentor in the faith.  These are believers who bring understanding to what we hear God saying in our spirit.  Have a spiritual mentor so that you can be a spiritual mentor.

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1 Thessalonians 5 Day 5

For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰  who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.               1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

God has not destined us for wrath!  His wrath, against sin, was satisfied on the cross and through the death of Jesus.  There is no wrath for those who have believed and bowed to Jesus whether they are awake or asleep.  Figure that!  God’s plans for us are all good in the here and now and the then and there.  Keep reminding everyone that Jesus is coming, God is good and we have been destined for life!

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 5 Day 4

For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. ⁸ But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.                   1 Thessalonians 5:7-8

Those who are calm, cool, collected, confident and courageous live from faith, with hope, in love.  Their mind is never turned over to the obscure and opaque of this world.  The real believer lives protected and purposed by the word, the will, and the work of God.  That’s their confession & that’s their confidence.  Their mind is constantly empowered & encouraged by the light of God’s wisdom, knowledge and discernment.  These live pointed to and purposed for heaven.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 5  Day 3

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you  like a thief; ⁵ for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; ⁶ so then let us not sleep as  others do but let us be alert and  sober.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-6

There are no surprises in the light, only discoveries.  God doesn’t leave His children in the fear of darkness but gives them the joy of expectation in the light.  We can see it coming.  Darkness belongs to those who let their hearts and heads abide in the darkness of a lost world.  The Bible calls that sleeping.  Live alert and amiable in Jesus and you won’t find yourself alarmed and anxious in life.  Don’t worry, Jesus is coming.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 5 Day 2

While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then  destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.                     1 Thessalonians 5:3

It’s not what you say or what they say, it’s always about what God says.  There is no way to predict the future without the wisdom of the Father.  Man says what he most wants or most fears; God says what He knows.  Don’t let the voice of man determine your attitude about today or tomorrow.  Rely on the voice of God for your day and your days.  Man will always be surprised by the actions of God.  Live ready!

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Thessalonians 5  Day 1

Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. ² For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-2

Live for Jesus like there’s no tomorrow.   Make the most of today, there’s no way to predict tomorrow.  The most important thing to think about and prepare for is the return of Jesus because we can count on it.  Jesus is coming back and that’s no prediction, that’s a promise.  Live ready!