Scott’s Devotions

Devotions

“No Room For Fear”

“There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life – fear of death, fear of judgment – is one not yet fully formed in love”
(1John 4:18, The Message Bible).I truly believe that fear is one of the deadliest forms of warfare that comes against the believer’s life. In our country today, the spirit of fear has been released in such a way that not even history has ever seen anything like it before. This surely confirms your heavenly Father’s soon coming return. However, you as his beloved child should not fear (2 Timothy 1:7), but rather live life to the fullest each day doing what he has called you to do. And do it with all your heart in such a way that you will glorify your Father in Heaven here on earth. As you can imagine fear is the driving force behind my professional sport of bull riding, and every time we compete we have a choice. To either accept it or to use it to our advantage. Notice I didn’t say that we get rid of it. Because in the natural what we are doing is, to say the least, dangerous and can be quite scary. However, fear can be simple as an emotion, but by know means should it ever drive you under its own terms. That is where it crosses the line and you must deal with it according to the word of God. It’s like there is a real fear, which is an emotion, but then there is a fear, which has a spirit of death on it. I know personally speaking that my ability to put the spirit of fear under my feet (when I was preparing to ride a bull) was because I had confidence in knowing that I was doing what I was born to do. As a result, a deep love was birthed in me for both the Lord and for the sport. There is no greater satisfaction in this world than knowing that you are in your perfect place with God and in life. (Psalm 37:4). But on the other hand, millions upon millions of people will succumb to the spirit of fear causing them to reject the very life in which Jesus suffered for them so they could live free. You must know the word (Proverbs 4:20-23) and whatever you do, don’t give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27). The only power he has over you is what you give him. God wants to perfect you in His love so that you will have no room for fear in your life.

Get Serious: God has done his part in Jesus (I John 3:8), and now it’s your responsibility to take action and fight to rid yourself of the spirit of fear. God will empower you all the way as you learn to trust him.

Go Deep: Psalm 91, Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 29:25, Isaiah 41:10, Matthew 10:28, Romans 8:15, and Hebrews 2:15.

 

“Conquering the Beast”

“We use our powerful God tools for smashing warped philosophies, and tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ”

(2 Corinthians 10:5, The MessageBible).

I imagine that every person reading this has experienced a time where it seemed that there was an all out battle taking place in his or her soul (mind, will and emotions). The battle is real, and it is within. You might be able to relate to the apostle Paul when he says, “…for what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice” (Romans 7:15). Like Paul, you will face many beasts in life.

As a professional bull rider, I have faced enormous beasts daily en route to establishing myself as a world champion. Bull riding has been classified as one of the most dangerous sports in the world, and I’ve been greatly blessed of the Lord to be used by Him as an ambassador for His kingdom in the arena. But today I want to talk to you about the arena of life. If you are going to succeed in life, you must conquer the beast within. You will need every tool that the Lord has given you (i.e. prayer, faith, courage). A beast can be anything that opposes God’s will for your life and tries to place you in bondage. Remember the very moment in which you surrendered you’re life to Jesus as an act of your free will? That very decision instantly made you a world champion in Christ and you became his ambassador. When you entered into the light (a personal relationship with Jesus), you left the kingdom of darkness – where you had once held residency – behind. In doing so, you became a huge threat to your former landlord, the devil. He then launched a massive attack against your soul. Your soul – your mind, will, and emotions – is your control center and based on the information you program it with, that is what will become of your future. The enemy desires to entangle you to believe his lies that his world system is the only information you need. But I’m here to tell you by the Spirit of the Lord, you are a conqueror and you have been given all dominion (Genesis 1:26), power and authority over your enemy (Luke 9:1) or any beast that would dare to stand in your way of fulfilling your God-given destiny!

Get Serious: Seek God’s face today, and allow His Spirit to reveal the beasts in your life that need to be evicted and destroyed. Most people know that God is a conqueror, but you must see yourself as one as well, for you are created in His image (Genesis 1:26).

Go Deep: Read Galatians 5, Romans 8, and Colossians 3:1-10.

 

 “Changed From The Inside Out”

 

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God”
(Romans 12:2, New King James).

“Don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you” 
(Romans 12:2, The Message Bible).

If I had the opportunity to share one life-changing Scripture with the world, this would be it. It totally transformed my life when I had finally come to recognize that there must be more to the Christian life than what I was experiencing. Like so many of you reading this, I was so desperately desiring to change and to live in victory. Isn’t it amazing how the world would try to make you believe that the definition of victory is in what we look like and what we have on the outside? Its system even drives you to think that by obtaining many accomplishments, you will become happy and victorious. These things are the weapons of deception in which your adversary Satan uses so that he might come to steal, kill, and destroy your destiny (John 10:10). However, his top priority is to stop the advancements of the kingdom of God here on earth. In order for him to accomplish that, he knows how limited his power over you is. Since Jesus has already paid the price for your complete victory with his own blood, He has erected his battlefield in every believer’s mind. My purpose for sharing all of this with you is to say that for many years, I was entirely deceived and never even knew it. It all started with thinking that I needed something like a World Championship to be used by God. The Lord revealed through His life-changing Word the schemes the devil had plotted against my mind in an effort to destroy my life. I was shocked and set free to think that all God wanted was my heart opened and my minded renewed to His Word. I repented of all of the works I had performed and for believing the lies of the enemy (Hosanna 4:6). Then I humbled myself and asked God to help me change, a powerful force (revelation knowledge) was released into my life (John 8:32). The greatest deception of all was that I actually thought I could change myself. I can’t and neither can you. Even if we could change on our own, it would only be on the outside and would therefore only have temporal results. God’s way of changing us is from the inside out and it has eternal rewards. It will not be an easy fight to test and prove what is God’s perfect will. But you are more than a conqueror through Him who loves you. I pray that today you will enter into the magnificent process of allowing God the opportunity to radically change you forever.

Get Serious: Be honest with yourself and ask yourself this question, “Has the enemy used his tools of deception in any area of your life?” If so, are you willing to allow the Lord to show you the areas where you need to be healed?

Go Deep: Proverbs 6:23, Ephesians 4:3, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Colossians 1:19, and 1 John 5: 20.

“The Power of Vision”

 

“Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he who keeps the law, he is blessed” (Proverbs 29:18).

I love this verse and believe it to be a truly powerful principle. All anyone has to do is watch the evening news or read their local newspaper to see that we are experiencing an epidemic of people who seem to have no vision for their lives. This is deeply troubling when one understands that the rest of the verse clearly states these very people will perish. Vision is a necessity in life if you are to be all that God created you to be.

I can’t tell you how many times I saw myself wearing the gold buckle long before they ever crowned me as a world champion bull rider. I believe the dream or vision that I had as a small boy to be the very best bull rider in the world was first placed into my heart by the Spirit of God as a desire or seed. I would have many hard and painful years of sacrificing to see my dream come to pass, but the most wonderful thing was how God never left my side and always provided me with His strength to never give up. He gave me the dream or planted the seed within me. He led me down the proper paths or cultivated the seed through my efforts. And finally, He then gave me the perseverance to continue attempting to win the world title or to wait until it came time to harvest that seed. Today as you read this devotion, may God alone receive all of the Glory. As you surely know there are many things in life that will come against your true purpose. However, you to must never give up on your God-given vision. Your vision is like a blueprint of your life, and it will keep you on track if you will stay before the Father with a pure heart and keep that deep desire to obey Him. You must also remember that God wants nothing but the very best for your life (Proverbs 37:4). Start today by making a commitment to Jesus, not only so you won’t parish but that you will also experience the power of your vision, changing your future.

Get Serious: Are you willing to pay the price to see God’s vision for your life fulfilled?

Go Deep: Matthew 12:33-35, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:22-24, Habakkuk 2:2-3, Philippians 3: 13-14, Ephesians 1: 3-6, Psalms 1:1-3 and James 2:14:17.