Inside Out Devotionals

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 A promise is a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen. The bible is packed with promises from a lovely Father to his beloved children. All his promises work together to his ultimate plan about us reigning on earth with Jesus forever.  Everything God has ever spoken to a particular person is aligned with this purpose. The closest we get to Jesus, more we get to learn about his plans and how every single thing that happens in our lives is carefully coordinated to his plans.  It was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. Genesis 45:8 Through night dreams God spoke to Joseph, son of Israel, about his future as a ruler. When Joseph ...

 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man  which was blind from his birth. John 9:1 Most of us think that in order to have good things happen in our lives we need either to be born with the right skills, or to work hard, or to be acquainted with the right people!  But Jesus doesn´t need to go through this list to bless us! In the passage above we can tell that the blind man´s chance to receive his sight was null! Maybe he didn´t even have such a strong desire about it since he had never seen and wouldn´t really know how it felt like! He probably didn´t even get to know that Jesus was passing by. From what we read, he didn´t even know who Jesus was - unlike the other blind man, Bartimaeus, who KNEW Jesus was passing by and began to SHOUT “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:46-47). So God looked on the Israelites  and was concerned about them. Exodus 2:25 This other blind man didn´t have such information before hand! ...

The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places;  yea, I have a goodly heritage. Psalm 16:6 Here is an allusion to the ancient division of the land by casting lots among the Israelites. God instructed them to cast lots so that they would get to know His will for a given situation.  I keep my eyes always on the Lord.     With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 16:8 No matter HOW things turn out for us, we should never fear that people could take advantage or harm us! We need to trust that God is working behind the scenes of everything that happens in our lives! Let´s say we are hoping for a promotion at our workplace but it ends up going to someone else. There are 2 truths here: 1) God´s goodness reaches every man, for this is his NATURE! It is about who He is and not about who is getting the promotion; 2) whatever He has designed to be ours cannot be plucked out of his hands - it WILL find its destination! So, eve...

"My times are in your hands;     deliver me from the hands of my enemies,     from those who pursue me." Psalm 31:15 Whenever something doesn´t go the way we wished, we try to comfort ourselves or others around us by quoting Ecc 3:1 "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven".  While that saying is proper and true, it shouldn´t be an excuse for us for being timid before God and his promises, knowing that He actually owns times and seasons!   Jesus replied,  “My hour has not yet come." John 2:4 The bible tells us about the first miracle performed by Jesus. At that occasion, his mom told him that they had ran out of wine; Jesus replied that his hour had not come yet. Curiously, it seems that Jesus actually changed his mind 3 verses later: Jesus said to the servants,  “Fill the jars with water” John 2:7 Jesus doesn´t depend on the RIGHT TIME or SEASON to act! He i...

In Him was life;  and the life was the light of men. John 1:4 Although every day we are crushed by so many decisions we need to make, the fact is that there are not many choices concerning to living life. We either choose to LIVE with Jesus or without Him - concerning every situation we face throughout the day. There is no in-between.   For you died [to this world],  and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.  Colossians 3:3 (AMP) Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed by the feeling of being imprisoned  by things surrounding us. Thoughts telling us that life with God doesn´t give us choices to live the way we wanted it . BUT we need to remember 2 things: 1) living life the way we wanted never really took us anywhere profitable, it never really brought us REAL fulfillment; 2) it is not about being able to make choices, for we have ALREADY made a choice the day we decided to trust Jesus our lives!  And so we know and...

 ...and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Colossians 3:10 Happy 2018! I personally love cycles (days, weeks, months, years, birthdays). They are opportunities of having things made new. Even God works this way! The bible is full of cycles, times marked by feasts, dates, etc...   Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,  for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning... Lamentations 3:22-23 Cycles are instruments of HOPE in our lives for no matter if we failed last year, or yesterday: every morning we should know that His mercies and love are renewed! Because of Jesus, God sees us as brand NEW every day!  Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16 We all see things in our lives that we wish they were different. Sometimes we even wonder how could we be a ...

 God was with Joshua.  He became famous all over the land. Joshua 6:27 Every person faces situations that are big challenges in their lives. But we are usually not aware that those things which were meant to destroy our lives are the very things which will promote us.  We are spiritual beings, therefore our fight is not against things or people (Ephesians 6:12). There is an invisible battle constantly going on that tries to stop us and keep us from living the amazing life God has planned for us. Most of time our Opponent will try to trouble us with things that God meant to bring glory to our lives. When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Exodus 15:19 The walls in Jericho were not meant to stop Joshua from advancing towards the promised land, they were there rather to promote him. The red sea before Mos...

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. Psalm 23:1 If we look closely to our lives we will realize that we don´t have everything we need to accomplish the things we want! People spend years of their lives wishing that they would see things in a different way, with good eyes; in their minds, the reason for not succeeding in certain areas of their lives is this lack of vision.  Sacrifice and offering you did not desire     but my ears you have opened  Psalm 40:6 Last week I read an article about an English blind man who has travelled to over 100 countries totally by himself. Most of us would feel limited by such disability and would use it as the great excuse for not enjoying life as we wished. Well, this guy says that it does take him much longer to get to places and to get around there if compared to other people. The fact is that he has probably experienced much more than all of us did inspite of all his limitations. In the article, th...

In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33 It is no news that believers and non-believers go through hardships. Jesus warned us that we would experience difficulties that would cause us to feel like there was no way to scape, or we were without options.  People pressure us. Life in community pressures us. And most of time we will give up projects and dreams because of how we feel about such pressures, for we wish things didn´t happen that way. Before a word is on my tongue     you, Lord, know it completely. Psalm 139:4 ... all the days ordained for me were written in your book     before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16 But we should not forget that NONE of these happenings is unknown or unseen by our Father in Heaven. Nothing catches Him by surprise! All our days pass before and through Him first before we get to live each one of them! This is the kind of thought that...

  I sought the Lord, and he heard me,  and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4 Have you ever wondered why people lie? The bible tells us the story of Abraham that told pharaoh that Sarah was his sister, although she was his wife (Genesis 12:11-19). Why did he do that? It says that Abraham was afraid that pharaoh would kill him in order to take his wife for himself. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,  because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1John 4:18 The root of all lie is: fear! Once a mother complained to me about this habit of lying that her son had and how much she wished he would tell her the truth. She said he would tell her he was going to school but in fact he was going to play with his friends. So I asked her... what would happen if he told her the truth, and she replied he would be in big trouble! No wonder he wouldn´t tell her the truth! So we can...