Seek First – Kingdom Focused Devotionals

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:33-34 (NIV)

Do you remember the days when the nurse would ask you to stick out your tongue in order to insert a thermometer? The process was to detect your physical temperature. Your tongue is also an indicator of your spiritual temperature. The words you speak reflect what’s in your heart. Jesus affirmed that the mouth speaks out of the overflow of the heart.

Biting your tongue is not sufficient. It’s really not about your tongue. It’s about your heart. Whatever is in your heart will be displayed by your speech. The way you speak to others will exhibit what’s in your heart. Just as a good tree will bear good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit, your words will bear fruit based on the spiritual condition of your heart.

Open your mouth and stick out your tongue. What has your tongue revealed about your heart this week? Examine the words you have spoken. Have you been gracious and kind in your conversations? Have your interactions revealed a heart aligned with God’s heart? 

**Current devotions are from Dr. Trammell’s new devotional book available from Auxano Press **

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)

Faith works through you. God works in you so that He can do a work through you. God’s heart is for the nations to worship Him. Can you see it? Imagine every person on planet earth from every language confessing Jesus as Lord and joining God in His redemptive activity. Imagine being so in tune with God’s work in you that you naturally allow God to work through you to touch the nations for His glory. As you pray, give, and go so that everyone may know of God’s love personally, the kingdom of God expands. The number of people delivered from the clutches of hell and placed in the kingdom of light multiplies as you faithfully allow God to work through you.

• “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph 2:10 (NIV)

You have been formed and fashioned by God to know Him personally through a saving relationship made possible by the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross. Now that you know Him personally, make Jesus known. Give your life to expressing your faith in Jesus in such a way that those who don’t know Jesus will come to know Him personally. Let the faith that worked for you in salvation work in you and through you to bring others to a saving faith in Jesus. 

**Current devotions are from Dr. Trammell’s new devotional book available from Auxano Press ** 

“Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:4 (NIV)

How does faith work?

Faith works in you. God’s desire and design for you is to bring you to a point of maturity and completion. You are still in the process of becoming who you are in Christ. Each day, you are either becoming more like Christ or less like Christ. As John Eldredge says in his book, Walking with God, “We see the original and intended shape of our lives in Jesus.” Jesus is the model to follow.

• “Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.” Col 4:12 (NIV)

• “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Heb 5:13-14 (NIV)

God wants you to develop the faith He has placed inside of you. The orientation of your entire life is to be focused on growing spiritually and being used of God perpetually. Feed the faith planted in you by nurturing your walk with God daily. Your moment by moment awareness of God’s activity in you and around you will produce a desire to mature in the faith.

Are you working out the faith that God has put in you? Are you growing in your love relationship with Jesus? 

**Current devotions are from Dr. Trammell’s new devotional book available from Auxano Press **

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

How does faith work?

Faith works for you. God is always at work to bring us to the point of recognizing our need for a saving relationship with Jesus. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and convinces us of our need for salvation. God enables us through faith to respond to His gift of eternal life. In faith, we choose to receive God’s provision of forgiveness made available through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

• “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIV)

• “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Rom 10:9-10 (NIV)

Have you experienced faith working for you? God took the initiative to bring you into a right relationship with Himself. Jesus paid the ultimate price for the forgiveness of your sins. At salvation, you became the temple of the Holy Spirit. Faith is not a feeling. Faith is a fact of God’s activity in your life. 

**Current devotions are from Dr. Trammell’s new devotional book available from Auxano Press **

“You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless ? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.” James 2:20-22 (NIV)

Your good works will not produce salvation.

If only you could work your way to Heaven! Then the challenge would be knowing how much work would be required by God for you to deserve entrance into Heaven. How would you know if you have done enough to get there? What if you almost made it but fell short by one good deed? Fortunately, God does not base your salvation on your works.

The Bible does not present a works salvation, but a salvation that works. You cannot work for your salvation, but your salvation will be evidenced by good works. In response to God’s gracious gift of salvation, you will want to express your appreciation to God through deeds of righteousness. Your deeds will not produce righteousness, but your righteousness in Christ will produce righteous deeds. Your “want to” changes as a result of your salvation.

• “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor 5:21 (NIV)

• “Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” 1 John 3:24 (NIV)

Your salvation is a gift from God and is marked by a life of obedience.

**Current devotions are from Dr. Trammell’s new devotional book available from Auxano Press **

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?” James 2:14 (NIV)

You can profess Christ and not possess Christ.

What does it take for a person to be saved? Is it possible to have saving faith without deeds? Will my faith be demonstrated by my deeds? So many have embraced an “easy believism” theology which can produce a false sense of security. You can spend your entire life on the earth thinking that you are saved and in reality, be lost.

• “‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.’” Matt 7:21 (NIV)

• “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Pet 1:10-11 (NIV)

Your eternal destiny is determined by how you respond to God’s offer of salvation found in Christ alone. Knowing about Christ is not sufficient for salvation. You must know Christ personally through faith in the completed work of Jesus on the cross. Take inventory of your spiritual condition. Don’t rely on feelings. Trace your steps and identify the moment you had a life-changing experience. Clarify your conversion experience. When did you come to realize your sin and your need for God’s forgiveness? When you did acknowledge that Jesus is God’s Son and the only way to Heaven? When did you receive God’s gift of eternal life? 

**Current devotions are from Dr. Trammell’s new devotional book available from Auxano Press **

“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” James 2:12-13 (NIV)

Grace is getting what we do not deserve. We do not deserve God’s love. We do not deserve God’s gift of eternal life. We do not deserve our new identity in Christ. We do not deserve having our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Yet, God graced us with these and many other spiritual realities.

Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Because of our sin, we deserve separation, punishment, and alienation. Because of our sin, we deserve eternal damnation. Because of our sin, we deserve total isolation from God’s abiding Presence. Yet, God extends His mercy to us and did not give us what we deserved. Instead, God has blessed us, redeemed us, included us, sealed us, and lavished us with His love.

Because of God’s mercy, we have a song to sing and a message to declare. As recipients of God’s mercy, we have been given a clean canvas upon which we join God in His redemptive activity.

May God’s merciful treatment of us radically transform our conversation and our conduct! May our words and our walk exhibit mercy to others as God has exhibited to us!

• “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 (NIV)

Viewing others from God’s perspective will produce the fragrance of mercy in our lives. May that aroma bring others closer to the love of God that we have found in Christ!

**Current devotions are from Dr. Trammell’s new devotional book available from Auxano Press **

“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” James 2:12-13 (NIV)

Imagine being transferred instantly before the throne of God. You are standing before God right now. You fall on your face before God and He asks you to give an account for your treatment of others. Where would that place you in the area of God’s approval and affirmation? How would you measure up to God’s standard of perfection?

God is a God of justice. And yes, God is a God of mercy. Without God’s justice, mercy would not exist. Without God’s mercy, justice would not exist. God declared His justice on your sin when Jesus took upon God’s wrath for your sin on the cross. God demonstrated His mercy by providing for the forgiveness of your sin. How will you treat others in light of what God has done for you?

• “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matt 5:7 (NIV)

• “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matt 7:1-2 (NIV)

Our tendency is to use binoculars when judging our lives and using a microscope when judging the lives of others. Thank God for His mercy. God wants our conversation and our conduct to reflect the mercy we have received from Him. God is not asking us to do anything in our relationship with others that He has not already done for us.

**Current devotions are from Dr. Trammell’s new devotional book available from Auxano Press **