Matthew 10:18-20 English Standard Version

18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 

Are we there yet?

The early church was met with great resistance and were persecuted to death, not literally but actually. Early Christ were put to death for their faith.

Puritans fled to the eastern shores of the new world in order to worship as they chose. Persecution did not stop with the first century church. It changed faces, presented itself in different forms, different reasons, and different tactics, but it continues today.

My first inclination about what the Lord had to say through me today came from thinking that the title would be called “Today”. I had a verse in mind. It was this.

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Yesterday when I thought about today’s devotional I was distracted by events of yesterday. I left my quiet time and attended to my responsibilities, to help where I was needed in the moment.

Having left yesterday behind, knowing I did everything required of me, I am now free to listen to the Lord today and speak for Him in those things that He wants addressed.

There has been an assault on free speech of late. It has not gone unnoticed in some circles and for some of us it feels like someone else’s problem. I detest fate speech but to assail their right to speak, I am making an argument that if anyone says sharing the gospel is hate speech, then I endanger my right to spread the gospel liberally.

There are places in the world where my gospel cannot be heard because those citizens live in a closed society where internet access is forbidden by strict laws and penalties for violation. They do not have freedom of speech, they are allowed to believe only what the government controlled media puts out. They lie to their people.

Who is the author of lies?

When you exercise your freedom of information do you hear lies? Do you know the truth when you hear it? The only source of truth is the Spirit of Truth. Seek Him for answers.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

The sun controls the seasons on the earth.

The Son controls the seasons of our lives.

Acts 17:25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

This is true but that is not something everyone believes.

The number of individuals that celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ is just a tiny fraction of the total population of the planet. The commerce of the season began even before Halloween this year. I get it but I don’t appreciate it. I grew up in a summer resort village where the visitors to our beaches during June, July and August meant everything financially. Businesses lived or died just from those summer sales.

I will not condemn anyone for what this current season means to them or how they choose to celebrate it or with whom they share it. That is not what I am called to do.

For me, personally, it is renewal time. I fund http://www.hiscup.net alone without seeking or accepting donations. Sharing of the gospel is free and should be done without cost to those who need to hear it the most. That effort does not live or die because of commerce, it will live or die by the will of God the Father as administered by His Son, Jesus Christ. This is as it should be.

The bible does not give a specific date that our Savior was born. There are hints, some vague references, some clues, and that may well be intentional. While God the Father knew on what specific date and time we would be born again, we did not. This is the only gift for any season that really matters.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

We celebrate birthdays because we have birth certificates. So we celebrate being born again?

Ecclesiastes 5:19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.

He has given you today, rejoice and be glad in it.