Kidzablaze Devotions

Ephesians 6:5-8

5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ;

6 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.

7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men,

8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

As the saying goes, “If you love what you do, you will not work a day in your life.” But we don’t always get to do what we like or labor alongside easy-going people. Just about any job—even a well-loved one—has low points and tasks that feel like drudgery. Our attitude, then, cannot be based upon the work itself or our feelings; rather, it must…

Psalm 67:1-7

1 God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us-- Selah.

2 That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.

3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah.

5 Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.

Psalm 5:11-12

11 But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You.

12 For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield.

Have you ever sneezed in public? Someone usually says, “Bless you!” Stop and think about what that common expression actually means—literally, it’s a request for divine favor. If we truly want blessing to occur, there are several things we can do.

First, we can bless people by praying for them, and we should be specific when bringing petitions to the Lord. Imagine how others will be encouraged when they see that we cared enough to pray thoughtfully—and God cared enough to fulfill the request.

Second, we can ask the Lord’s favor on events and situations.…

Joshua 1:7

7 ``Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.

To most people, the word success means “wealth” or “power.” If you stopped the average person on the street and asked whether he is successful, there’s a good chance he might mention his career or investments. Many people simply have no other frame of reference for the concept. But material wealth has nothing to do with spiritual success.

The Lord calls His children to live triumphantly. If the pursuit of success were sinful, how could the Lord have made the promise found in Joshua 1:7? Was He promising money or fame? No. The Lord was promising success as He defined it for His servant.

For…

John 16:12-15

12 ``I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

13 ``But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

14 ``He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.

15 ``All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

All of God’s children are on a journey.  And as we travel through life toward our eternal home, we will face many choices. Forks in the road will challenge and frustrate us. In such circumstances, how can we know which way to go?

Galatians 5:22-26

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

James 1:2-4

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Have you ever wondered, Why would a loving heavenly Father allow His children to go through trials and sorrow? It can be baffling when the all-powerful God of love seems to stand by silently while painful things happen.

The Word of God is the place we can find an answer. Even so, today’s reading can be hard to understand or accept. One might read James’s exhortation to be joyful in the face of trials and think, Count me out! Difficulties and joy just don’t seem to go together—that is, unless we understand God’s perspective of what life is about.

Matthew 5:13-16

13 ``You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

14 ``You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;

15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

16 ``Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Ask yourself this question: When it comes to my faith, what kind of light am I? Is your light a flicker others can see only if they’re really looking? Or is it the kind that brightens everything…

Jeremiah 24:7

7 `I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

Many of us have been blessed with close friends. Imagine if we never spent time with them but instead just thought and talked about how wonderful these special people are. Wouldn’t it be strange? Yet some Christians do just that. Though they accumulate knowledge about God, they miss out on rich fellowship with their heavenly Father, the best friend anyone could ever have.

It is possible to fill our life with spiritual information and activities—all of which are good—but fail to develop a close relationship with God. Scripture tells of many people whose personal encounter with Him was energizing and life-changing. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, the Samaritan woman, and Paul are…

Proverbs 3:3-6

3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

If God is all-powerful, why don’t more people experience miraculous healings? There are several reasons for this. Sometimes we do not ask Him. Other times, we might ask but with wrong motives or a lack of faith. And then there is the reason that we do not like to hear: God may choose not to heal.

Judges 16:1-31

1 Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.

2 When it was told to the Gazites, saying, ``Samson has come here," they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, `` Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him."

3 Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron.

4 After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 The lords of the Philistines came…

Judges 14:1-20

1 Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.

2 So he came back and told his father and mother, ``I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife."

3 Then his father and his mother said to him, ``Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, ``Get her for me, for she looks good to me."

4 However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

5 Then Samson went down to Timnah with his…

Genesis 5:21-24

21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.

22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.

23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

2 Corinthians 5:18

Matthew 6:16-21

16 ``Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

17 ``But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face

18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

19 ``Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

20 ``But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

Mark 11:20-26

20 As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.

21 Being reminded, Peter said to Him, ``Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered."

22 And Jesus answered saying to them, ``Have faith in God.

23 ``Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.

24 ``Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

Psalm 27:7-14

7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me.

8 When You said, ``Seek My face," my heart said to You, ``Your face, O LORD, I shall seek."

9 Do not hide Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation!

10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the LORD will take me up.

11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes.

Romans 5:1-6

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 3:10-18

10 as it is written, ``THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;

11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;

12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."

13 ``THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING," ``THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS";

14 ``WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS";

2 Samuel 7:18-22

18 Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD, and he said, ``Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?

19 ``And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord GOD, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future. And this is the custom of man, O Lord GOD.

20 ``Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord GOD!

21 ``For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know.

22 ``For this reason You are great, O Lord GOD; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Philippians 3:13-15

13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;

Have you ever attempted to walk in a straight line while looking at your feet? (Try this on a beach or in wet grass so you can look back at your footprints. It’s interesting to see what happens.)  You’ll probably be surprised at how crooked your steps are. But fix your eyes on something far away, and each step will generally point in the desired direction—toward that distant focal point.

Our…

Luke 12:15-21

15 Then He said to them, ``Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."

16 And He told them a parable, saying, ``The land of a rich man was very productive.

17 ``And he began reasoning to himself, saying, `What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?'

18 ``Then he said, `This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19 `And I will say to my soul, ``Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'

2 Timothy 4:6-8

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Our culture tries to postpone death. Vitamins, exercise, and diet are ways we attempt to live as long as possible. Not that these things are bad! Motive, however, is key.

Take, for example, the fact that our bodies are God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). Not only should we take care of His dwelling, but also, since He has good works for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), we should do…