Your God Is The God

Your God Is The God by Kirk Hunt

The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 2:37-38 NKJV
Please, also read Daniel 2:1-11.

Daniel said the words the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the soothsayers could not. Daniel repeated the King’s secret dream in exact detail, then revealed its hidden meaning at the same time. Daniel proved that God is the God.

Too often, we confuse our assignment to be engaged and obedient with His power and sovereignty. Daniel was aware of Nebuchadnezzar’s impossible task, and the very serious death warrant he issued for failure to complete the task. After prayer, and n obedience, Daniel received both dream and interpretation from God, through a vision.

Daniel was careful to give credit to God for the completion of this impossible task. In reverence and humility, King Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged God is the God. Daniel’s obedience helped others to learn what Daniel already knew: only God is God.

Let God be God. Your part is to be engaged. Obedience to your sovereign God is the hard part. Watch as He proves, yet again, that He is the only God.

Think: Your God is the God. He is the only omnipotent, omniscient God.

Pray: “Father-God, help me to remember that You are the only God, and all I need.

Copyright © February 2024, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

Not My Own Will

Not My Own Will by Kirk Hunt

And Moses said: “By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will.

But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord.”

Numbers 16:28, 30 NKJV
Please also read Numbers 16:1-40

Moses declared God’s Will, before witnesses. The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ended with an abrupt, final, and unappealable act of God. Moses understood the mutiny of these men was not against a human leader, but directed at the sovereign God of the universe.

As a man or woman of God, it is not supposed to be about your feelings, vision, or thoughts. You are an instrument of Father-God. From the first gasp through the last sigh, it is supposed to be God’s Will that commands and controls.

Do we, and they, sometimes forget who is supposed to be in charge of the universe, yet alone local affairs? To our shame and peril, we sometimes forget that God is big and we are small. Korah, and his co-conspirators, paid for their God-directed rebellion with their lives.

Make very sure you are performing God’s will and not your own. Your blessing and safety lay in Father-God’s will. And trust that God will address the mutineers at His convenience.

Think: Whose will am I trying to enact?

Pray:Not my own will but Yours, Father-God.”

Copyright © May 2022, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

Obey And Live

Obey And Live by Kirk Hunt

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

Numbers 21:7-8 NKJV
Please also read Numbers 21:4-9

Not learning enough from Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16), God’s people again spoke against God, and God’s appointed leader. Because of their disobedience and rebellion, God sent “fiery serpents” among them. The cure for the sins of God’s people was an act of submission and obedience.

Moses, at God’s direction, mounted a bronze snake on a pole. Those suffering from snakebite had a simple test: look up and live. God did not remove the serpents, but He provided a way to survive serpent bites. If the people could exercise enough obedience and submission to do as instructed.

The powerless bronze image was a symbol or focus point for a man’s or woman’s obedience and submission. A heart submitted to God would understand the need for confessing sin and obedience. A mind and soul obedient to God’s command would look up and live.

You can choose today. Hearts, obedient and submitted to God, can live. Rebellious and disobedient men and women will suffer and die. Your choices are that stark and clear.

Think: Am I willing to be submitted and obedient to God?

Pray: “Lord, I choose to be submitted and obedient to You.”

Copyright © August 2021, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

A Mother’s Confidence

A Mother’s Confidence by Kirk Hunt

Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

John 2:4-5 NKJV
Please read John 2:1-11

A wedding in the era that Jesus walked among us, was a major affair, important for the entire community, not just the family. To prevent an embarrassment of epic scope, Mary asked her Son, Jesus, for a literal miracle. Despite His answer, she acted with a Mother’s confidence.

Running out of wine would be a humiliation for everyone involved with the wedding. Mary, somehow connected to the affair, knew who could help. Despite His refusal to act, she committed her Son, as only a mother can.

The miracle of the Cana wedding proves that Jesus is concerned about every aspect of our lives. What concerns you concerns Him. As fits in His divine plan, Jesus acts on your behalf. Mary knew and understood Messiah’s power. She acted in the confidence that comes only from strong faith.

A mother’s confidence in her child is a special, beautiful thing. A mother’s confidence in Jesus Christ is also special and beautiful. Man or woman, boy or girl, you can act with confidence through faith in Jesus. Because He already cares for you.

Think: My confidence comes through my faith in Jesus.

Pray: “Lord, strengthen my faith so that my confidence in You.”

Copyright © May 2021, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

Healing In The Spit

Healing in The Spit by Kirk Hunt

When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

John 9:6-7 NKJV

Faced with a blind man, Jesus chose to make mud with His own spit then anointed the man’s eyes. Some would call Jesus’ actions humiliating. The blind man called those same actions healing. Too often, we are more concerned with the means rather than the outcome.

Healing the man’s blindness was the important part. The means of healing were far less important. So the blind endured having spit and mud rubbed on his eyes. He obediently followed Jesus’ instruction to wash his face in a specific location.

The blind man wanted to see. The indignity of his healing quickly gave way to the joy of vision. The price of God’s process is a bargain, considering the outcomes He gives.

Perhaps you feel that God has anointed your life with muddy spit. Maybe You feel humiliated as you follow His instructions to parade around in public before cleaning off the mud. God’s process does not always make sense to us, but His outcomes are always a blessing.

Follow His process and receive His ordained outcome. Your obedience is the price you must pay to receive His blessings. In the end, you will consider the whole process a bargain.

Think: Regardless of the means God chooses, it is the outcome that is important.

Pray: “Lord, help me to see what You doing, not how You are doing it.”

Copyright © March 2021, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

How To Correct And Rebuke Yourself

How To Correct And Rebuke Yourself by Kirk Hunt

“Your own wickedness will correct you,
And your backslidings will rebuke you.
Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing
That you have forsaken the Lord your God,
And the fear of Me is not in you,”
Says the Lord God of hosts

Jeremiah 2:19 NKJV

Instead of repenting and asking God for help, ancient Israel turned (again) to idolatry and foreign alliances. Their sin made them weaker. Their errors only served to speed up and intensify their correction and rebuke. The nation would be exiled in Babylon.

Israel came to understand, as early as their forced march to captivity, how choosing sin led to their downfall. Internal error, not external threats, led to their exile. Please know that self-correction and self-rebuke applies to whole nations as much as individual men and women.

Like the Prodigal Son, we come to ourselves in a humiliating circumstance (pig pen) of our own making. Our rebellion, lust and greed always leads us to a place of debasement away from God’s perfect will. Prayerfully, in that place of correction and rebuke, we turn back to Father-God. Know that God always loves us, despite our error and in the midst of our sin. Our chosen sin causes our separation, not His Heart.

God did not allow the Babylonians to exterminate Israel. In fact, God commanded His people to live, grow and increase during the Babylonian Captivity. Father-God loves you, even now. Allow the correction and rebuke of your circumstance to drive your heart back to Him in repentance.

Think: My self-inflicted correction and rebuke is an opportunity to repent.

Pray: “Lord, help me to repent and return to You.”

Copyright © February 2021, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

Be No More

Be No More by Kirk Hunt

Wait on the Lord,
And keep His way,
And He shall exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a native green tree.

Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.

Psalms 37:34-36 NKJV

It sometimes seems that nothing can touch or impact the wicked. Do not be fooled, God’s justice and judgment cannot be delayed forever. The villains will (suddenly) be no more.

I confess, my heart and spirit too often look on with frustration and aggravation. The wicked and unrighteous seem to enjoy wealth and ease with impunity. It seems, to my natural eyes, that the villains are having a good time and winning easily.

Of course, I have to stop and see the situation with spiritual eyes. God’s faithful people possess now, and will inherit, good things and blessed circumstances. No matter how large wicked men and women live, they will disappear with hardly a trace.

My job is to carefully work out my soul’s salvation. If I can help anyone else reach Jesus, I am blessed in great measure. In the meanwhile, I do not have the luxury of worrying, from a distance, about the spiritual lives of other men and women.

Scripture promises we will all reap what we sow. The wicked will get their harvest, sooner or later. In the meanwhile, I am sowing as much good for His Kingdom as I can.

Think: No matter what they do, I must remain a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Pray: “Lord, help me keep my eyes on You.”

Copyright © February 2021, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

Give Us A King

Give Us A King by Kirk Hunt

But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.

1 Samuel 8: 6-8 NKJV

The people of Israel demanded a king. They rejected the perfection of Jehovah-Jireh. In His place, they wanted an imperfect, fallible man.

Samuel tried to explain the error of their request. A king would demand taxes, force labor, take military conscripts and seize property and lands. Still, they answered, “We want a king like the other nations.”

God’s people, Christian disciples, are not like “other nations.” We are supposed to operate through the Holy Spirit. Our greatest power is supposed to be the love we receive from God and share with others.

For too long, too many have sought to make Christianity just another secular power group. When Christians seek mere political or financial power, we debase ourselves and reflect poorly on Father-God. God’s people should operate on a higher level.

I pray that Christians will return to God and operate in His power. After the revival in the Church, the nations will listen. Our great impact and influence in the world will flow from His power, not ours.

Like ancient Israel, modern Christians have rejected God and chosen a lesser path. It is not too late. Return to Him and wield the great power of His love in your heart and theirs.

Think: I want Father-God to reign over me, not some fallible man or woman.

Pray: “Lord, I bend my knee and heart to You alone.”

Copyright © February 2021, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

Flying On Instruments

Flying On Instruments by Kirk Hunt

Now the Lord had said to Abram:
Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.

Genesis 12:1 NKJV

Pack up. Move out. I will tell you where you are going, later.” Abram, later renamed Abraham, led his household into the wilderness on God’s Word, alone. At God’s command, Abram started flying on instruments.

Abram’s obedience was an act of faith. He left home, hearth, kith and kin, for whereabouts to be determined. Faith is the only rational explanation.

Aircraft have long had the ability to fly on instruments. On instruments, a pilot doesn’t need to see out of the cockpit at all. The pilot trusts the instruments, and the instruments get the pilot (safely) to the destination.

The things God asks of us are sometimes too big for us. The ending is too far for us to see. Worse, we can see the goal, but the path to the goal seems impossible to us. The God of creation asks you, and I, to trust Him.

He sees farther and deeper than we can. His knowledge exceeds the total of all humanity. His power exceeds anything and everything.

God faithfully led Abram to Canaan, and established him as a father of nations. You can put your faith in God, just as Abram did. Your faith and obedience will land you safely in His purpose for your life.

Think: I can trust Him. Especially through the instruments of faith.

Pray: “Lord, help me respond to You in faith and obedience.”

Copyright © November 2020, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

Obey God Or Your Hardened Heart?

Obey God Or Your Hardened Heart? by Kirk Hunt

But the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

Exodus 11:9-10 NKJV

Pharaoh denied, once again, Moses’ request to end the slavery of the Israelites. Despite the prior nine plagues that had wracked and ruined Egypt, Pharaoh refused to end the injustice against the people of God. Pharaoh set the stage for the tenth plague with his hardened heart and willful disobedience.

Many Bible scholars state that the ten plagues of Egypt systematically denied and refuted the supposed power of the Egyptian pantheon. God displayed His power over His creation and the Egyptians for all to see. The pagan myths of the Egyptians failed to stand against the actual power of God.

The nationwide suffering of the Egyptians could not be denied or hidden. Still, Pharaoh persisted. As each plague grew in power and punishment, one man led his nation in opposition to God. Pharaoh could have avoided the tenth plague. Instead, He chose rebellion and disobedience.

You have a choice. You can choose to harden your heart and embrace your tenth plague. Or you can chose belief and obedience to God.

Think: I can chose between my hard heart and obedience to God.

Pray: “Lord, please make my heart obedient and pliable in Your Hands.”

Copyright © July 2020, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press. You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

Calm Your Storm

Calm Your Storm by Kirk Hunt

Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.”   So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

Jonah 1:14–15 NKJV
Please also read Jonah 1:1–17

Rank pagans trembled while God’s prophet stood in calm stillness.  The deck pitched violently as the storm continued to rage, threatening the lives of all aboard.  To restore calm, all the sailors had to do was throw a man overboard.

Jonah, a prophet of God, had attempted to flee from his calling and assignment.  God had sent him to Nineveh (see northern Iraq) but Jonah willfully tried to sail to Tarshish (far western Mediterranean).  The storm that enveloped the ship was only a small reflection of God’s judgment and displeasure with his disobedient man.

What task has God given you?  Are you working toward your assignment or trying to run away?  Following God’s purpose will lead to calm and peace.  Sin and rebellion will generate storms and turmoil in your soul.  And the people around you may have to suffer along with you.

God’s purpose is rarely the easy way, but there is always joyous calm on His path.  His love for us is great and He wants us to experience the blessings of obedience.  And there is love in His correction.  He will patiently and lovingly discipline you as long you think it is necessary.

Father-God loved Jonah too much to let him continue in sin and disobedience.  The sailors were ready to be obedient and save the ship and their lives.  Finally, Jonah decided he was ready to throw his sin and rebellion overboard.  Are you ready for calm in your soul?

Think:      What do I need to throw overboard to restore God’s calm in my life?

Pray:         “Lord, help me throw distraction, sin and error out of my life.”

 

Copyright © January 2020, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press.  You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

Yet He Passed Away

Yet He Passed Away by Kirk Hunt

I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a native green tree.
Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.

Psalm 37:35-36 NKJV
Please also read Psalm 37:1–40

Too often, I despair that the wicked are winning.  I have caught myself fretting that the ruthless and unscrupulous are being established, never to be dislodged.  Then, suddenly, they pass away and can not be found, even if you wanted to see them. 

I am not the first God-follower to think so.  Psalm 37, written by David, speaks to my own concerns.  The wicked may indeed prosper for a season, but not they shall not triumph.  No matter how it looks now, God’s justice is on the way.

In my own life, I have seen men and women suddenly receive justice.  Before, it seemed the wicked ones were immune to the laws of God and man.  After, I trembled at the thoroughness of God’s sovereign and merciless justice. 

On bended knee, I pray that I live in obedience to His Word and law.  I never want to be the one that God’s people cry out against.  I want always to be found, doing Kingdom work the way God wants it done.

Play it straight, since God is watching.  Follow God’s Word and law, the way you know it should be done.  His sword of justice is quick, terrible and not to be denied by mere humans.

Think:      The wicked will receive justice, sooner and more thoroughly than you think.

Pray:         “Lord, help me to be found at all times as Your obedient servant.”

 

Copyright © April 2019, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press.  You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.