Good morning, Family:

What do you think of when you hear the word Covenant? I think of God and the Covenant he made with the people of Israel in the Old Testment. God told the people that a New Covenant was in the making. A Covenant that would allow them to have a personal relationship with Him and that would also forgive them of their iniquities or sin. Jeremiah 31 is the first glimpse we get of the New Covenant that is being worked on behind the scenes.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

English Standard Version (ESV)

The New Covenant

³¹ “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,³² not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Good morning, Family:

This scripture passage, and the worship video following, was on my heart this morning.

I love you, All. I pray that you have an amazing Tuesday. 

1 Peter 1:1-16

The Message (MSG)

1 ^1-2 I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!

A New Life

^3-5 What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.

^6-7 I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it provedpure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

^8-9 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

^10-12 The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah’s Spirit let them in on some of it—that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves—through the Holy Spirit—the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!

A Future in God

^13-16 So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.”

Rev. Marcia Davis

 

 

Good morning Family, 

Happy Monday. Let’s go ahead a jump into today’s devotional. What an interesting title, huh? This morning, as I was getting dressed for work, I was watching the news, as I always do each morning. However, today, the Holy Spirit urged me to watch an episode of Dr. Tony Evan’s that I had recorded on Sunday.

Dr. Evans is one of favorite spiritual teachers. He breaks the Word of God down so well. He uses wonderful stories, symbols and analogies to teach the bible. Dr. Evans’ message was coming from Ephesians 6:10-18, which speaks about Spirital Ware.

 This morning, he was comparing spiritual and physical warfare to a tree. He said, the fruit that grows on the tree is the phyical evidence or manifestation of the spiritual warfare that we experience on the earthly realm, through our five senses, which are taste, smell, touch  see and hear. However, the unseen spiritual warfare, is the spiritual warfare that we CANNOT see, taste, feel, touch and hear. The unseen spiritual battles,  fought in the heavenly realm, are just like the roots of tree we cannot see. 

When we see that the fruit on a tree is bad, almost always, in order to find the problem, we will have to check the tree’s root system.

What foundation is your root planted in? Was good soil used when planting. Has it been watered? Has it received the right amount of the sun.

Colossians 2:6-7

The Message (MSG)

From the Shadows to the Substance

^6-7 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start livingit! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

One thing I remind people is, “Your fruit will always tell on you.” 

How is your fruit looking today? Are people encouraged and nourished by the fruit of your life? Or has your fruit been compromised at the root? Call on the Master of the Trees. If we are Christians, people should know us by our love. 

Happy Growing, 

Rev. Marcia Davis