Daily Devotional By Archbishop Foley Beach

Think of Your Fast as a Feast with Jesus

MESSAGE SUMMARY: Most of the time when we are fasting, we are thinking about what we must give up in the fast. Instead, in your fasting, rather than focusing on “going without” we should think of fasting as a call by Jesus to come to Him and feast with Him. Paul’s example for us, in Acts 14:22-23, occurs after he had been stoned and left for dead after preaching the Gospel in Antioch. Rather than leaving the field of discipleship in fear, Paul returned the next day to preach the Gospel and: “strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.". In your feast with Jesus, we can drink heartily of His Word to let Jesus satisfy and nourish you.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, Because of who I am in Jesus Christ, I will not be driven by Resentment. Rather, I will abide in the Lord’s Compassion. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).

 

THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Am I Ready to Pray? (Bude, Cornwall, UK)", at our Website: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/listen/.

 

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

 

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

 

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

 

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Luke 2:36-38; Matthew 19:16-30; 2 Samuel 12:15-17; Psalms 55b:13-23.

Fasting Signifies Your Commitment to Seeking Your Personal Relationship with God

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

In the early Christian Church, which was under great stress and constant physical danger, God’s direction and blessing was needed. Therefore, fasting was considered by Church leaders as a key element of their communion with God when they needed both His direction and blessing, as we find in Acts 14:23: “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.". As a challenge, "consider the food issue" in your life, especially when you need God’s direction in your life, because food has such a stronghold on us. Fasting and tithing can significantly deepen your relationship with God because it is not easy; but success in fasting, especially with food, can symbolize your victory over yourself and your commitment to your personal relationship with God.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that, because I am in Jesus Christ, God isn’t finished with me yet. (Philippians 1:6).  “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”. (Philippians 4:14).

 

THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Am I Ready to Pray? (Bude, Cornwall, UK)", at our Website: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/listen/.

 

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

 

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

 

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

 

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 4:1-2; Matthew 6:16-18; 2 Samuel 12:15-17; Psalms 55a:1-12.

Your Temptations Are Not Your Sins; Giving in to Temptations is Your Sin

MESSAGE SUMMARY: We are and will be tempted again and again, but the temptation itself is not the sin. The sin resides in grabbing onto the temptation; dwelling on the temptation; and following through on the temptation. Jesus was tempted, and He always faced temptation by quoting scripture to the temptation source. As Jesus tells us about Temptation and sin in Mathew 18:7-8: “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.". We can follow Jesus’ example by using scripture to deal with a temptation – there is scripture to deal with every temptation that we may face.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Self-centeredness. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit’s fruit of Love. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f).

 

THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Am I Ready to Pray? (Bude, Cornwall, UK)", at our Website: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/listen/.

 

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

 

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

 

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

 

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Mathew 4:1-11; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Hebrews 4:14-16; Psalms 54:1-7.

Is Your Faith Yours, or Is Your Faith Really the Faith of Others?

MESSAGE SUMMARY: We first believed because of what our parents taught us; but then we heard for ourselves, and we believed. You and cannot live on another’s faith in Jesus – With regards to faith, “God has no grandchildren”, only His Children; therefore, your Salvation comes only from your faith and not the faith of others. Each of us must hear for ourselves and come to the Lord in our own faith. As Paul tells us in Romans 10:16-17: “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." You and I each will stand before the Lord alone in judgment -- we will speak for ourselves with only Jesus to speak for us. Others to whom we minister, such as our children, can her about the Lord and the Gospel from us – for the first time or in reinforcement – but they must hear for themselves and believe for themselves to be saved.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Because of who I am in Jesus Christ, I will not be driven by Anger. Rather, I will abide in the Lord’s Forgiveness. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).

 

THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Am I Ready to Pray? (Bude, Cornwall, UK)", at our Website: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/listen/.

 

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

 

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

 

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

 

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): 2 Timothy 1:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; Matthew 7:24-27; Psalms 53:1-6.

Do You Pray: “Not My Will But Thy Will”?

MESSAGE SUMMARY: In a time in which we hear so much about self-help, self-image, and self-actualization, Jesus is saying self-denial is the way to life. Jesus tells us, in Matthew 16:24, that self-denial is a key element in following Him: “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’". “Taking up one’s cross” means to die to self-ambitions. When we die to our self-ambitious and put them on the cross, Jesus’ life moves through us: “Not my will but Thy will.”. By denying self, we become alive in Jesus; and His Spirit flows through us – we experience eternal life and abundant life.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Am I Ready to Pray? (Bude, Cornwall, UK)", at our Website: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/listen/.

 

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

 

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

 

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

 

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 16:24; Mathew 10:38-39; Galatians 6:14-17; Psalms 52:1-9.

As a Christian, God Sees You, Through Jesus, as His Son or Daughter

MESSAGE SUMMARY: As Christians, God sees us, positionally, through Jesus. Therefore, God sees us as being in Jesus. God does not see us with all our frailties and life messes -- He sees us in Jesus. Because we are in Jesus, God sees us as His sons and daughters. In our prayers, therefore, we pray in the Holy Spirit; and we come to the Father through the name of Jesus -- praying through the Son. In Jesus’ Great Commission to us in Matthew 28:19, Jesus both instructs us regarding how His followers are to relate to our Trinitarian Deity of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit while, at the same time, making clear His place, as The Son, in the Trinity: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit . . .". Are you advantaging God’s great gift to you – you can pray through Jesus, His Son? Think about the magnitude of God’s gift and Pray through the Son.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because I am in Jesus Christ, I will entrust to Him my future. I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.  (From 2 Timothy 1:12).

 

THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Beginnings of Prayer – Part 5: Start Now and Improve Your Prayer Life -- A Robust Prayer Life Will Transform Your Life", at our Website: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/listen/.

 

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

 

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

 

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

 

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Jude 1:20; Matthew 6:9-15; Ephesians 6:18; Psalms 51b:11-19.

“God's Kindness is Meant to Lead You to Repentance”, to Him, of Your Sins

MESSAGE SUMMARY: Penitence is not a once in a lifetime occurrence. It is a daily and moment by moment occurrence. None of us is perfect, and not one of us always does the will of God. Paul, in Romans 2:4-5, is unequivocal in establishing the need for your continuing penitence and the consequences of your not repenting of your sins on a real-time basis: “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.". Therefore, we need to repent and return to the Lord. You can become cocky and arrogant in your spiritual life – “I am a Christian; God has done this for me.”. As the Psalmist tells us in Psalms 32:5 of his confession and his penitence: “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.". You can rest on our perceived laurels; but these perceptions, of personal goodness and righteousness, can lead you quickly to a need for your penitence.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Insensitivity. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit’s fruit of Gentleness. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f).

 

THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Praying with Perseverance (Fowery Parish; Cornwall, UK)", at our Website: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/listen/.

 

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

 

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

 

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

 

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  Mathew 3:8-11; Romans 2:4-5; 2 Corinthians 7:10; Psalms 51a:1-10.

God Has Unconditional Love for You!

MESSAGE SUMMARY: No one, including you, can separate you from the love of God. While we were and are still sinners, Jesus the Christ died for us. God loves you exactly where you are; God loves you no matter what you said about Him; and He loves you no matter what you have done. In Romans 5:8-11, Paul confirms God’s unconditional love for us: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.".

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, Because of who I am in Jesus Christ, I will not be driven by Past Failures. Rather, I will abide in the Lord’s Grace. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).

 

THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Praying with Perseverance (Fowery Parish; Cornwall, UK)", at our Website: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/listen/.

 

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

 

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

 

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

 

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Romans 6:23; John 17:1-26; John 5:24; Psalms 50b:13-23.

Jesus Asks You: “But Who Do You Say that I Am?”

MESSAGE SUMMARY: In Mark 8:29, Jesus asked His Disciples the question He asks you: “And he asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Christ {Messiah}.’".As Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1-6: “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.”.  God IS Father, IS Son and IS Holy Spirit. Jesus told the crowd in the Temple; and He tells us, as it is recorded for us now by the Apostle John, in John 10:25,30: “Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me . . . I and the Father are one.’”. Also, Jesus provides more insights to your Trinitarian relationship with God in John 14:18-20: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.".  God is one God, but He is in three natures: God is Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when you pray, you are praying to one triune being – God, the Creator of the Universe.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that, because I am in Jesus Christ, I will not be anxious.  (Philippians 4:6f). “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”. (Philippians 4:14).

 

THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Praying with Perseverance (Fowery Parish; Cornwall, UK)", at our Website: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/listen/.

 

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

 

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

 

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

 

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Ephesians 4:1-8; John 10:24-30; Mark 1:9-11; Psalms 50a:1-12.

Some Issues in Your Life Require Your Focus on God Through Prayer and Fasting

MESSAGE SUMMARY: There are times when we need clarity, understanding, knowledge and insights from the Lord about the specific issues that we are facing. The Lord will speak to us, but sometimes it takes our listening and fasting to hear Him. For example, when Joel received a Word when the land was to be destroyed, he called a fast (i.e. Joel 1:14): “Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.”. Some things we are facing in our lives must be dealt with by both prayer and fasting. Fasting releases a spiritual power – in our weakness, God is made strong in our life. Daniel’s prayer, from Daniel 9:3-5, provides a context for asking direction from God: “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, ‘O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.’".

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Addictions. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit’s fruit of Self-Control. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f).

 

THIS SUNDAY’S SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Praying with Perseverance (Fowery Parish; Cornwall, UK)", at our Website: www.AWordFromTheLord.org/listen/.

 

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S RECENT VIDEOS:  https://awftlvser.podbean.com/.

 

A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.

 

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

 

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Joel 1:13-16; Matthew 6:16; Daniel 9:3-7; Psalms 49b:11-20.