From the Kitchen Table

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 3 Day 2

Therefore, when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith,             1 Thessalonians 3:1-2

It’s easy to worry about a person’s feelings when what really matters is their faith.  Feelings follow faith.  When feelings become the priority, frustration becomes the reality.  A spiritual parent, or mentor, addresses your faith knowing that feelings follow close behind.  It’s possible to become a spiritual orphan without a spiritual parent.  Find one and be one.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 2  Day 14

For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul,  more than once—and yet Satan hindered us.                  1 Thessalonians 2:18

Don’t forget who and what you’re dealing with on this journey.  We have an enemy, and he is defeated but he is not dead.  Satan works through the agreement of men to aggravate the sons of God.  Where there is agreement there is authority.  That’s how Satan works with men but it’s also how we walk with God.  Don’t live for the approval of men, that’s often who Satan uses to hinder you.  Live in agreement with God and you will see the aspirations of men and the one they serve.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 2 Day 13

They are not pleasing to God but hostile to all men, ¹⁶  hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.

1 Thessalonians 2:15-16

Don’t let the resistance of others steal the rejoicing that comes from God.  A world of darkness doesn’t embrace the world of light and love that Jesus brings to us.  The sad part is that those who hate and hinder the word and work of God are filling up for themselves, the measure of their sins.  It’s one thing to reject God personally, but it’s quite another to hinder another person from receiving God.  It’s very clear here, don’t hinder others from knowing God.  Judgment is coming for those who do such a thing.  Pray for them!

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 2  Day 12

who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God but hostile to all men.

1 Thessalonians 2:15

There is suffering because there is Satan and sin.  Don’t blame it on God; anything built on deception loves & needs darkness, not light.  Now we stand in a place where we must stand for what is good and right and true.  Don’t take it personally, it’s a spiritual thing and darkness fears the power of light and love, the things that please God.  Hold the hand of God and stand with Him.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 2 Day 11

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,            1 Thessalonians 2:14

We become what we really believe, and we will suffer for what we really stand for.  We don’t have to tell it over and over again, we just live it day after day, letting what we believe become how we behave.  That’s a disciple, that’s a follower of Jesus.  We don’t just say things are important, we make things important and it begins with believing what’s good and right and true.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 2  Day 10

For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.

1 Thessalonians 2:13

Always stay grateful.  It’s amazing what a grateful person can see and do.  But it’s awesome what a grateful person in God can see and do.  Those who are grateful in God are grateful for the good that God does in and through themselves and others.  There is power in the word of God.  God speaks and releases the power of His heart into this universe, and it is awesome.  Nothing else can compare.  Be grateful for the word of God and the world it touches.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 2  Day 9

just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and  imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, ¹² so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.              1 Thessalonians 2:11-12

Everyone was born to a parent but not everyone has a parent.  What a difference they make in our lives.  They encourage us in the faith and lead us into the future God has for us.  Do you have one?  Will you be one?

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 2  Day 7

For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God              1 Thessalonians 2:9

Recall what you saw.  When it comes to love, look for something lovely.  Love doesn’t come in words only but in work and walk.  If there is no effort in love, there will be no evidence of love.  God sent and Jesus came.  The Holy Spirit comes and talks and touches and takes into the glories of God.  Don’t be fooled, lust takes but love gives.  Think about it!

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 2  Day 6

Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.                    1 Thessalonians 2:8

Knowing the love of Jesus makes us love with the love of Jesus.  It is the love of God and love for God that motivates the love of God’s ministers.  Love gives, it doesn’t keep.  All that God has given is meant to be given away.  He has more & loves even more.  People need the same of you we needed and found in the love of God and that love reaches past today and into eternity.  Think about that.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

1 Thessalonians 2  Day 4

For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness— ⁶ nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority.

 1 Thessalonians 2:5-6

Living to impress man will keep us from being impressed by God.  Resist the temptation to live for prizes of this world rather than the passions and promises of God.  He is glory and He gives glory.  Living to walk with Him will release us from insisting on man’s authority for some things to receive His authority for all things.