THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

THE ONE YEAR BIBLE OCTOBER 22 "WHERE IS GOD IN LIFE'S TRAGEDIES?"

2026-10-22T07:02:31.112-07:00

Certainly, many of life's tragedies we are not going to get an explanation on. We will have to wait until we get on the other side of eternity before we can any reasonable explanation. Right now, all we can do is grieve and maintain our faith in God, when it seems hard, in the midst of tragedy. The end of the story that we read today is that Gedaliah is murdered and the rest of the Jews that are with him are slaughtered. First question we are going to ask is going to be, "where was God?", not "why did Ishmael do such a wicked thing?" No, the 1st question is always, "where was God?" However this is one story that we do get privy insight into, unlike most other tragedies, in this story we get to see the whole story unfold. It starts with a solemn warning to Gedaliah. Johanan is able to find out (now how was Johanan able to find out except by divine orchestration or you can say "coincidence" but I won't). So Johanan is able to find out, by divine orchestration that there is going to be an attempt to assassinate Gedaliah. "Phew, that's a good thing, a tragedy averted, Gedaliah won't be assassinated and the Jews that are with him will not be murdered and all thrown into a cistern. Thank-you Jesus! Isn't God good!!! Oh wait, that's not how it goes.....Gedaliah doesn't listen to the warning, proceeds in his stubbornness and perhaps a bit of arrogance (nothing can touch me I'm God's leader and child) and the tragedy, that God was trying to avert, comes to pass, regardless and instead of everyone shouting "praise God, He is good!" They are shouting, "where was God!!" We don't have answers and explanations into every tragedy that happens in life, but our reading today does give us insight that perhaps, many tragedies in life, God did try to prevent but it was a stubborn, perhaps arrogant or prideful person that caused the tragedy NOT to be averted and what we have in the end, is not people praising God, but cursing, accusing Him and shouting "where's God!"

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE OCTOBER 21 "HOW ABOUT A LITTLE RESPECT"

2026-10-21T06:39:57.004-07:00

This is only proof to me, for what I've often thought was the case; and that is, often we don’t offer the same common courtesies to one another, that we often offer to those whom we are not even that close with. Why is that? Is it because we take each other for granted? What Paul is saying almost doesn't make sense, “if the masters are believers that is no excuse for being disrespectful….they should work “all the harder” because their masters are believers” I definitely would agree with that. How about you? Why is it that sometimes are poorest performance is what we do for one another or what we do for the church. Often someone has to come in behind the previous person and re-do what that person did because it was done with such a poor effort. We are short with each other, rude and inconsiderate. Paul notices this, he realizes that sometimes the fact that we are dealing with another Christian will not bring the best out of us, but the worse. If we were dealing with a sinner or somebody “outside the church” we would do our best to make sure we behaved, kept a smile on our face and made sure we behaved the way we know we should be, as a Christian, lest that person call us out. However when we are simply around family, when we are just around the same people we see every Sunday, (Wednesday) we tend to just be lax and unrestrained in our behavior. This catches Paul’s attention and he says it should be the opposite. If anything, when we are dealing with each other, as fellow believers we should be even more respectful towards one another, we should try even harder to please one another, not less! Basically what Paul is saying, “is things are totally backwards here!” We treat people of the world better than we treat those in our own house; both our house at home and the house of God. One son told his father, “dad I wish I was a sinner”. His father answered, “son, why in the world would you say something like that!” His son replied, “because you’ll do anything for a sinner, but not for me!” And how true that is! The bible clearly states that we, “of the House of God” ought to give each other preferential treatment. Yes we need to be there for the world, but even before that, we need to be there for each other, above all else. People miss the days when they first came in to the church because that’s when they felt loved. People say the only time anyone ever calls is when they stop coming to church and then it’s too late. The truth is, we do take each other for granted and we do often treat the ones closest to us, the worse. Paul warns us, God is warning us, “don’t’ think you can just “be you”, let you guard down and disrespect someone, just because they are a Christian. Paul says, if anything, you should be even more respectful and make that much more of an effort, because they are a fellow believer.

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE OCTOBER 20 "JEREMIAH THE TRICKSTER"

2026-10-20T06:24:10.497-07:00

We know Jeremiah as The Prophet, but we don’t know Jeremiah, as The Trickster! Jeremiah is entering into some under cover work here, for God. Jeremiah is being used by God to try to trick this good folks into drinking some wine. These believers really have something solid working in their lives that we would be wise to envy and want for ourselves and our families. This is my personnel opinion, but who cares about my personnel opinion. What’s even more note worthy, is that this is God’s opinion too! Can you imagine yourself sitting in the presence of the great prophet Jeremiah and he says, “come now, sit and have a cup of wine”. Unless Jeremiah is acting very odd or suspicious, I would think, “this must be okay” after all, Jeremiah is a man of God if there ever was. If Jeremiah says, it’s okay, let’s drink up!! These people, the Recabites have an amazing ability to not allow themselves to be influenced by others, no matter how much clout or status, those people have or in this case, this individual. A wife or husband falls because their spouse falls, congregation members fall because their pastor falls, children stray when their parents become lukewarm or turn against their faith. In each of these situations, someone fell; someone stumbled because of the influence of another. It is tragic when someone falls because someone they looked up to fell or influenced them to stumble. Even Jesus brings this up in the Gospels, “woe unto those that cause one of these little ones to stumble, for it would be better for them if they hung a millstone around their necks….” We should not take lightly being a stumbling block to anybody. And while we must be cautious not to be a stumbling block we must also make sure that we don’t allow anybody, no matter who they are, what reputation they have, to be a stumbling block for us. This is what God praises and commends about the Recabites. God understands the influence and name that Jeremiah has, but yet, even under Jeremiah, these people, respectfully decline. And how does God respond to that? “This is what the lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Go and say to the people in Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Come and learn a lesson about how to obey me.The Recabites do not drink wine to this day because their ancestor Jehonadab told them not to. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you refuse to obey me. Time after time I sent you prophets, who told you, “Turn from your wicked ways, and start doing things right. Stop worshiping other gods so that you might live in peace here in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you would not listen to me or obey me. God is contrasting how one group is not only not being told by God what to do, obeys, even with the influence of Jeremiah, they don’t compromise; and yet the other group who is constantly being told by God, what to do, still won’t obey? This contrast of Christians still exists today. There are those that will receive endless counsel, direction and words spoken to them over and over again, yet still do not obey and then you have other Christians, that don’t constantly receive words, have had numerous Godly examples in their life fall and disappoint them, yet they go on to obey God, nonetheless. I believe God sees this and applauds them, praises them as much as He did the family of the Recabites. Every one of us has the opportunity to be the Recabites. If you are a parent, you have the opportunity to set this kind of example for your children. A Christian family that is not swayed by public opinion, is not swayed by who’s falling, who’s compromising and who’s not, but that you as a parent would display to your children an obedience and faithfulness to God that is unwavering.

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE OCTOBER 19 "EVER BREAK A PROMISE TO GOD?"

2026-10-19T07:03:16.563-07:00

There's nothing wrong with being moved by emotion and then making pledges, promises or commitments based off of that. Is it possible that we could be manipulated by others, of course, there's always that chance. Are some people mentally or emotionally week and very susceptible to people with strong personalities, of course, that's where we get cults from. You have one strong, charismatic, type-A personality who preys and draws upon the weaker to follow him by his manipulation. So now that we got all that out of the way, for the rest of us, that are able to guard ourselves, and make sensible decisions, while being moved with emotion, we have an obligation to follow through on those. Even more so when we have been moved upon to "do good" and we do it not. For one reason or another, the people make a decision to release the Hebrew slaves and not for no apparent reason either. God had established the year of Jubilee, where all slaves and debts were released. Bankruptcy Courts still follow this rule today! The slaves had not been released as prescribed by the law, they are convicted, agree to release the slaves, but then renege on their promise and God is quite perturbed over the whole affair. Why did they go back on their promise, do you think? The answer is obvious, that their good deed, the right decision, the moral thing to do, not actually to play out in "real time" and cost them. Often we renege on good and moral decisions we have made, when it begins to cost us,...and all God's people said...AMEN! It starts with Salvation and continues from there. Many are moved to give their lives to Christ, to surrender all, to give up their sin.......until.....it begins to cost them, then they renege. Then they say, "oh it was just a low point in my life", "oh, I was just manipulated by the Preacher". No, it was none of those, the truth is you, we, were moved "yes by emotion" but it was to do a good thing and there was no manipulation involved, it is simply when the cost began to play out in your life, you reneged on that promise. We don't hear God speak often do we! We make promises everyday day, week, month and year, to God, and half the time don't follow through. Do we hear any displeasure from God, does lightning strike us.....of course not. So we go on with our merry lives thinking "it's no big deal". Our story reveals to us that it is a big deal. God's not speaking audibly today because He has already said all He has to say, in His Word, if we will just take the time to read. And over and over in His Word, it is stated, "better not to make a vow to God, then to make it and then not follow through". It's never too late to go back and follow through or to re-commit to a promise, a pledge, or commitment you made to God. I guarantee if you do, you will sleep a lot better tonight and have a much better experience next time your Worship God in church. Guilt is a nasty burden to carry, but it is a good thing, if we respond to it!

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE OCTOBER 18 "DOES GOD HAVE A SICK SENSE OF HUMOUR?"

2026-10-18T07:47:24.723-07:00

WE read in the Book of Psalms quite a depressing passage, written by a man who really seems to be struggling in his Faith, depressed and at Witt's end. Have you been there or are you there today? As depressing as it is to read I am glad that God did not purposely keep such writings out of his Book.

¹⁴ Why, LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me......You have taken from me friend and neighbor— darkness is my closest friend."  That's some scary stuff coming out of the mouth of someone that supposedly has a relationship with God. He's accusing God of rejecting him, hiding from him and taking from him. It would be wise before we passed judgement on this fellow, that we realize if we serve God for any length of time, we too will have to cross this bridge to continue along God's path for your life. Everyone comes to this bridge, to various degrees and must either cross it and go on or turn back. Jesus himself cried out "why have you forsaken me" and so will we at one point or another, sometimes more than once. At this crossroads in our faith we have two choices. We either continue to cry out to God as the man is doing or we quit, we decide "that's it, I am done with this whole faith and God thing" I am done praying and asking and hearing or seeing nothing back; except that things get worse.
     Question is, why would a good and loving God not immediately answer a Faithful man's prayer for work when there is no food in the fridge, kids have clothing needs, electricity is being shut off and the threat of a foreclosure is looming over their heads? Why wouldn't God in an instant help that man out rather than allow him to suffer and get deeper and deeper and more and more depressed. Why would God allow a loving, single mom, to die of cancer and leave her kids with no man, no dad? Why? Why? Why? When God doesn't make sense it's easy to start thinking twisted about God. Does God have a sick sense of Humor, as the writer of Depeche Mode wrote in his song, "Blasphemous Rumors?" As the chorus to the song goes..."and I don't want to start any blasphemous rumors but I think that God got a sick sense of humor and when I die, I expect to find him laughing..." There are Christians out there that would not go so far as this man and write a song about it, but if they would be honest they do have some feelings of resentment and bitterness towards God.
     I am amazed in speaking with parishioners how much they disagree with a lot of the decisions a Pastor makes from week to week and month to month. They could name numerous decisions where they do not believe he ruled justly or fairly, but yet they continue to attend his church and be cordial with him. What can happen is we can also begin to think we can take this approach with God. There are many Christians still "supposedly" serving God but yet they have issues with God on many events that have happened or even, not happened for that matter. While I agree that we cannot always agree with our Pastors on every decision they make, we know that man is fallible and he's imperfect and some of his decisions may not always be right and mature Christians accept this and go on to serve God and submit to their Pastors regardless. However, we cannot take this approach with God and think that it works just as well. We cannot think of God as one "who made a bad decision or acted unjustly or unfairly". We can say with a Godly man, "we will just have to agree to disagree" but we cannot say to God that we disagree. Why? The answer is that we by Faith, must always believe that God is perfect and his ways are perfect and his ways are always just. We cannot taint or pervert the character of God in order to prove ourselves right. It is okay for a human to say to another human, "you could be wrong and I could be right" but it is quite arrogant for a mortal to tell God that He is wrong. We are speaking about the God who is the Alpha and the Omega. This is the God who is omniscient. He knows what the end will be, He's knows what is best for us, our lives and our future and He died for us, for out best interest, not his. According to his word, "all His ways are just, all His ways are true". No matter how ugly the circumstances or how dark the hour or how silent God is we must never lose faith and we must never allow our hearts to become bitter and resentful towards God.
     Ever stop looking for something because you were convinced it was not there? You were so convinced it was not there, that you quit looking and you were willing to get into a heated argument with the individual that told you it was where he said it was. However the worst part is, is that you gave up, you quit looking and decided just to go on without it. Only to find out that it was there, you just did not look hard enough. God is there, never stop looking, never stop searching, never stop crying out, He is there. Don't quit looking and decide just to go on without Him. Then what should you do? You should keep calling out, keep believing that He is who He says He is even though all evidence may be contrary (this is Faith, not being foolish as some might say) keep putting one foot in front of the other and eventually He will appear. It's not an if, it's not a maybe, it's a GUARANTEE.
     Like the Psalmist, you have a choice, get bitter and resentful at God or hold on for dear life and wait for his glorious appearing.

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE OCTOBER 17 "DON'T THROW IN THE TOWEL YET"

2026-10-17T07:04:58.000-07:00

"Don't throw in the towel yet" ....This idiom comes from the world of boxing, when a boxer's manager or coach throws the white towel into the ring, signaling that his boxer is done, he can fight no more. We should have this idiom up on our fridges, up on the mirror in our bathroom or we could simply read the Word of God and get it there. Jeremiah 30:7 "It will be a time of trouble for my people, yet in the end they will be saved out of it.” How important it is to know that. If we can see the goal in sight, it re-invigorates us to keep pushing forward. We've all heard the story of the world distance swimmer that stopped short of the beach because it was hidden by the clouds and fog. Had she seen the shore was so close in sight, she would have pressed on, but exhausted and discouraged, not able to see the shore, she gave up. Praise be to you, who does not need the shore in sight to keep pressing on, but for the rest of us, we do! Hold on! There are better days ahead. As I mentioned a few days ago, this is not something we can just speak to anyone in any situation. However, concerning God's people, who are repentant, who are genuinely serving and seeking God, yet going through rough times or reaping from some bad decisions, God will say, "though sorrow may last through the night, joy comes in the morning". The idea of only one night of sorrow, of course is not to be taken literally, but simply to imply that with God, there's always hope, that He will turn things around for us, in our favor, if we don't let go of Him or "Throw in the Towel". No Christian in their right mind will ever look back and say, "I'm so glad I threw in the towel" It will always be regret, more than anything, for those that throw in the towel. Every Christian who did not throw in the towel, but held on to God's Word for better days to come, will always confirm that they are so glad they did so. Whether that was throw in the towel for a marriage, a church, a convert, a job, a healing, or even your own salvation, those who heard God's Word's, "It will be a time of trouble for my people, yet in the end they will be saved" are those who found themselves back in the City of God (God's will and blessing). And we know, through history, that the captivity did end and the people who held on, who did not throw in the towel, did as God said, find themselves back in Jerusalem! We would be naive to think that everyone who heard Jeremiah's words of hope from God held on to them. I'm sure there were those who still gave up, I"m sure there are those who turned bitter and angry against God, but there are also those who held on to every word. Which will you be, which are you? No matter where you are at today, the Hope, with God is that if you hold on, He will bring you back to Jerusalem!

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB OCTOBER 16 "ARE YOU A FALSE PROPHET?"

2026-10-16T06:14:52.646-07:00

Who would know, that one of the most famous passages of the bible "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." was spoken to a people that were exiled, captives in Babylon. There were probably two groups of responses the day this word went out from Jeremiah. One group would have greatly resented these words, almost as if Jeremiah was patronizing them. Here they are, at rock bottom, have just been taken from Jerusalem to Babylon, their city has fallen and they are now captives in a foreign land, "and you Jeremiah are going to tell me about the goods things God has for us, is this captivity part of that great plan...get out of here Jeremiah, before we stone you!". The other group of people would have believed Jeremiah; and taken those words as words of hope for a better future. I wonder which group I would have been in? The classic mantra of Christians and Non-Christians, to people that are down on their luck is always, "hold on, the future is bright" This saying has pretty much become cliché to say, in hard times. However, just because someone says it, just because it has become cliché, doesn't mean it's true!! There are times when we are being false prophets, just like Ahab, wanting to prophesy good news and we become false prophets for God because events get worse for that person, not better and then they remember what we had spoken to them about things getting better and they either resent us or God for it. Yet God is in the back round saying, "I never told them to say that!" There is not a rainbow at the end of every storm. There is not always light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes people die in the storm, sometimes people never come out of the tunnel to see the light. As Christians we have to be careful of what we say and what we speak, less we too become false messengers of hope. Many times events are actually going to get worse for people, because though we may love them, and wish the best for them, they are still unrepentant in their ways and it doesn't matter what you prophesy to them, it's not going to get better for them until they learn the lesson God is trying to teach them. Jeremiah is the true prophet in our story and Ahab is the false prophet. Ahab, is more like us. He does not hear from God and just wants to say nice and comforting things to people in distress. Jeremiah, unlike us, is not so concerned about speaking comforting words as he is speaking what God wants him to speak. Jeremiah has a keen ability to hear from God and prophecy what is true, not what is comforting. Jeremiah does not prophecy out of the inclinations of his own heart, as many wannabe prophets do. Jeremiah tells them you might as well establish yourselves here, because you are going to be here for quite a while. There is a hope, there is a future, but for now, this is where you are at and you might as well make the most of it because you are NOT leaving anytime soon (not for 70 yrs). Most of us don't have the ability to hear from God the way Jeremiah did and often find ourselves being the false prophet, instead of the true prophet Jeremiah; and we don't do this on purpose, it is simply because we are trying to be what we are not and trying to predict a future that simply is not, for the ones we love and care for. But until they learn the lesson God is trying to teach them, they better get used to where they are because they are going to be there for a while...., would you prophesy that to them?

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 15 "SHOULD I SPEAK MY MIND?"

2026-10-15T06:22:23.525-07:00

I'm feeling for Jeremiah, this morning! Are you? If you're not, than you're pretty cold. The statements that God is having Jeremiah speak to these people is likely to leave him without any friends at best, and get him beat up or killed, at worse. If I spoke my mind, I would have a very hard life too. At work, at school functions, family get togethers, If we spoke our minds we would find ourselves the most hated in the neighborhood. People would talk about us. When they saw us coming they all would scatter or block us out of the conversation. We would be deemed as "haters", "insensitive", religious fanatics. My heart goes out to Jeremiah, it always has. If ever I feel sorry for myself or feel bad for any persecution I may face, I think of Jeremiah. Let me ask, does God still ask us to speak our minds? Are we withholding more than we should? Should we be speaking out more? My guess is, the answer is yes to some of those questions. We should speak out more and we do withhold to often. However, should we speak our minds? I would say the answer to that is NO. Jeremiah did not speak his mind, he spoke God's mind. Listening to a conversation about a teenager that died in a car accident, partying one night, I might think, "and as tragic as that is, what's worse is he is probably in Hell". Imagine voicing those thoughts, even if true, to a crowd of mourners and those mourners may even be saying, "at least he's in peace right now". Do I speak my mind? When do we speak our minds, when do we speak truth? Is there ever a right time or a right place? You will find that often the answer to that is also "no". There never seems to be a right time or a right place. I have in the past tried waiting and waiting for the perfect time to speak and it never seems to come. Just when I think, "here is the right time" some kind of interruption comes. Some Christians are bold and insensitive and say whatever comes to their mind. Other Christians don't say anything they know is true for fear of the people. Could there be some place in the middle we can meet? Those that are bold and speak out "the truth" no matter what the situation, will claim "Jeremiah" as their defense. And who can argue with that? Jeremiah did speak some crazy judgments and pronouncements in his day and was not one bit, politically correct. Jeremiah offended and spoke doom and gloom to the people. We cannot deny Jeremiah, a man of God did this and so did John the Baptist and many other Prophets. The question to ask ourselves is...."are we prophets?". We know God will raise up Prophets in the end times and the book of Revelations makes mention of two prophets at the Wailing Wall. The Bible refers to us as Priests, not necessarily prophets. Priests intercede for others, help others, encourage and yes, speak God's Word too. The Priest incorporates all methods, he exhorts and he corrects. The Priest is neither silent, nor is he a constant voice of Judgment. The Prophet Jeremiah, had a clear calling which he was told from very early on in his life, that he would boldly speak the truth and the judgment to come upon Israel. The 21st Century Christian, you can say, is all, he/she is the Prophet, Priest, Shepherd and Evangelist. Somehow, with the help of the Holy Spirit and a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit we have to discern what role we are to play on any given day or time. I can deem myself to be the Prophet one day and show up at a funeral of someone who everybody knew was a hard core sinner and begin preaching about the judgment of the wicked and see myself being bold for God as Jeremiah; and walk away feeling tremendously used by God, but was I? I think we can all agree that it is difficult to discern what to say and what not to say and at what time. As Christians we do have a lot of knowledge, insight and revelation that many people in the world are completely ignorant to. The question is, "should I speak my mind, should I speak out, should I really say this?" the answer to that question is what we are going to say, where we are going to say it and at what time never matters, what really matters would be, is God asking you to speak that at that time?" Not should I speak my mind right now, but should you speak God's mind at that moment. We will never go wrong speaking what God has asked us to speak, no matter what it is or no matter what time or place. However, the question now is, "is God asking me to speak this or is it me?" And that, is where you have to learn to discern God's still small voice and it will only be learned, unfortunately, through trial and error. Jeremiah was rough, Jeremiah spoke rough words, but it's important to remember, Jeremiah was always clear on who was asking him to say these things & why. Jeremiah always knew, he was not speaking his mind, but God's and that is the same place we need to be as Christians, Prophets, Priests & Evangelists, in the 21st Century.

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

"Read The One Year Bible Devotional on Amazon"

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 14 "DREAMS, DREAMS...WHAT DO THEY MEAN?"

2026-10-14T06:33:56.000-07:00

I ONCE had a woman cover over to my house, she wanted to "talk with me", that's always a little nerve wrecking. So I said come on over, my wife is here and we can sit down together, with my wife. Well don't you know she wanted to tell me about her dreams and have me interpret what those dreams meant. Not only what they meant, but what "spiritual" aspect was to be applied. This is where we get into trouble as Christians; we know as Christians that we are not just functioning in the "natural" but also in the supernatural and we have a hard time knowing where to draw the lines. Truth is, we will never know "exactly" where to draw the lines, but the New Testament does caution us to discern and "test the spirits", to discern "Prophecy's" and judge them as to whether they be from God or "the delusions of man's own heart". However this can also lead us down another slippery slope, where the church becomes very cynical to Prophecy and there is no room for the Holy Spirit to move. (Paul also warns not to have contempt for prophecy). We read that when Mary, the mother of Jesus heard all these "unbelievable" prophecies spoken about Jesus, she just treasured them in her heart. She did not go out and try to make them happen and neither did she change the course of her life because of them. She let God do all that, which He did. She (Mary) treasured them in her heart. That's the best we can do with dreams and prophecies. We want to have a dream and use that dream to catapult us into our "destiny". We will wake up the next morning and quit are jobs, divorce our wives, kick the dog out, sell the house and move up to the mountains to reach.....? How about we store the dream away, or store the prophecy in our memory bank; in our heart and allow God, in his sovereignty to bring about his purposes. We make horrible amateur providence's. We ought to let God lead us by "divine providence". If you have a dream, someone prophecies over you, gives you a "word of knowledge" store it away, treasure it in your heart and go on living your life just as you were. If you are going to change anything at all, change the intensity to which you have been pursuing God, to a greater level, you can never lose out doing that! Do you have dreams, do you want them interpreted? Why? Do you want a word, do you want a prophecy? Why? The answer...because I want direction, I want clarity of mind, I want to know what I am supposed to do, where I am supposed to be, I'm confused and this would help. Would it really?

In our text today, in Jeremiah, God has had it with these so called Prophets, prophesying out of their dreams. Surely the dreams of these men must have seemed spiritual, of some sort, for them to be prompted to prophesy because of them, but in the end, God says, "they are false, their dreams don't mean squat and they are giving the people "false" prophesies and false hope. God goes on to say they are prophesying out of their own delusions. In other words, some of these men are flat out frauds, but even scarier is that some of them think they are prophesying something spiritual, something "right" and something God would have them to speak but yet they are so far off; what they are saying, is actually a lie". Don't try to find God's path through dreams and prophecies. Yes they have their place, but nothing replaces a vital, on-going, vibrant relationship with God when it comes to direction in life. Jesus said, "if you will abide in me I will abide in you" and if we will simply attend to that, God will do the rest, dreams or no dreams, prophecies or no prophecies, God will get you to your Jerusalem, you can count on it!

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 13 “MAYBE IT’S TIME TO CHANGE?”

2026-10-13T06:23:39.000-07:00

DON'T remind me of who I am or don't try to label me!!! We hate that, when people say, "you've always had a temper" or whatever it is they try to label on us. I'm not sure I like being labeled or told "you've always..." however sometimes it's true and cuts like a knife, but then there are times that the individual who voiced his or her opinion is completely wrong in his or her judgement. I think it's safe to say that if God himself says, "this is how you are and this is how you've always been" then it's time to listen and begin to look introspectively at ourselves. He might just be right!!!

This verse would be quite a shock for any of us to hear, it is Verse 21 in Jeremiah, "I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me.". In most cases this is where we would say, "who do you think you are, telling me...." but in this case, it being God, we might just want to listen and take it. This scripture shows us that God has known our ways since our youth, whether we have been living for him or not, He is well acquainted with our ways and He also is not neutral on us but has an opinion of every human on the earth. What is God's opinion of you and I? His opinion of Abarim is one that Abarim has never listened to Him, one that, since his youth, has never obeyed him. So that means that since this man was a kid God has been at work in his life. I would say I always felt this "unseen force" working in my life since I was a kid. My presumption was that "this force" was always working against me, but it was actually God working on my behalf. Jesus describes this to Saul of Tarsus (before he's converted to Paul) as "why do you kick against the goads". In short, why are you fighting me Paul???

In our stubbornness, in our rebellion and disobedience often it is God we are fighting against. For sure God would look upon my youth and say, "He never obeyed, never listened". I hope that He (God) would look at my life now, as an Adult and say, "He does listen and obey, more than not". For this individual it is not the case, God says, "you haven't changed one bit. You didn't listen to me when you were a youth and you still don't listen".

Maybe it's time to change? Maybe it's time to stop being stubborn and rebellious? Maybe it's time to change God's opinion of us. It's not hard to hear God's voice, it's only hard to listen. If a short time after you yell at and belittle your wife you begin to feel convicted (Holy Spirit) and a voice in your conscience says, "then go tell her your sorry and apologize" you can know that's not you speaking. If you are ripping your employees off and a voice in your conscience says, "stop ripping these people off, they work hard for their money" you can know, that's not your voice but the voice of God. It is not hard to hear the voice of God, if you want a clue, often times God's voice runs contrary to how we think and what we would do. In our text, God's voice is saying, “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor." It is obvious to the King that this is not his voice but God's voice speaking. His voice (the King) says, "it is smart to get a head by ripping people off, getting free labor, just because he can. God's voice is "you're unrighteous, you're not paying these people for their labor". However, this King will not listen, He has never listened and he never changes. I've met people like that and I mean, I've met people like that in the church. They have become somewhat religious and part of the church, but they still have the tendency not to listen to God's voice in key areas and key decisions of their life. The result is the same result as in our text. I dare to see where they find themselves in their 70's & 80's should Jesus tarry. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to change. That God would be able to look at our lives and say something differently than what He said about this King. That God would say about us, "he did not listen to me in his youth, but as an Adult he grew up and lived and obedient life and because of such, I blessed him".

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 12 “SOBRIETY A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE?”

2026-10-12T06:40:36.179-07:00

Christians want to fight for their right to drink. Of all the battle grounds that a Christian must choose to fight on or not, this is one that Christians will fight 'till their death, their right "to drink". We all know, some Christians drink and other Christians don't. We all know, some Christians get a good buzz and other Christians don't, some Christians get drunk and other Christians don't. Which Christian are you? Is sobriety still a Christian virtue? As we read in Thessalonians, we are reminded of who we are; we are Children of the Light, Children of the Day, Children of Sobriety. There's nothing more embarrassing than the drunk uncle at the wedding, the drunk father or mother at the family gathering. As Christians, we of all people should be sober and practice sobriety. Drunkenness is an altered state of mind. I have not heard of too many Christians that will push for their right to smoke weed, but they are the same. Whether you are stoned or drunk, you are not sober, you are in an altered state of mind. You will do things when drunk that you would not do sober. You will say things when you are intoxicated, that you would not do when sober. You will flirt, compromise, and do many other things that you would not do sober. We as Christians are called to be sober minded. It doesn't take too many glasses of wine or too many beers to start to decline into that altered state of mind. No doubt, drinking loosens us up. "Here, have a drink, loosen up" is the phrase we often hear. And once we loosen up, all self restraint, goes out the window. We have all heard of the horror story of Michael English and Marabeth Jordon (Group First Call) who went on tour together and did just fine through out the tour, until the last night of the concert tour, decided to celebrate with a bottle of wine. Both were married at the time to other spouses, perhaps there was a mutual attraction between the two through out the tour, but sobriety allowed them to exercise self restraint. "Have a drink, loosen up" is the mantra, well they had a drink and really loosened up, loosened all their clothes off and the rest is history. Is sobriety still a virtue of the Christian? A righteous, moral life is hard enough to live when we are sober and in our right minds, how can we even think we will succeed when intoxicated. We wish (at least I do) that it plainly stated in the Bible that drinking is a sin, but we know it does not. Drunkenness is a sin and is plainly stated. And so because it does not plainly state, "drinking a glass of wine is a sin" we will then have a glass, or two or three...". However remember, it does state in the bible that those that wanted to be "consecrated unto God" were not to drink any kind of wine. Why would God have made that a requirement? Why would God have written, "if you want to come to the next level with me, abstain from alcohol, give up your right to drink!" Is sobriety still a virtue of the Christian? You'd better darn well believe it is. I'm not a Baptist and I'm not and Apostolic Pentecostal, but yet I can still make a stand, in my house and in my life, that some things in life we are better without and the best place for me to be, each and every day, is in sobriety and If I feel the need to "loosen up" I have a whole list of things I can do in life, that allows me to loosen up, that does not involve me flirting with alcohol and seeing how far I can push my freedom as a Christian. Paul wrote, "I am free to do all things, but not all things are profitable for me to do". Paul also wrote, "that I must be careful in exercising my freedoms that I don't cause Christians that are weaker to stumble." You'd better make sure, that in your fighting for your right to drink, you fighting for your right to exercise "your Christian freedoms" that you don't cause "one of these little ones to stumble" whether that's your own children or a new Christian in your church, you'd better be careful because Jesus' warning is stern to those who cause others to stumble just because they want to exercise their freedoms......in Christ!"

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 11 "SEXUAL SIN IN THE CHURCH"

2026-10-11T06:51:10.257-07:00

Our society is obsessed with sexual immorality. Our society is not obsessed with sex, just immoral sex. There's no headline news about any monogamous, married couples having sex; no that's boring, that's sanctioned by God. What we like is the notty, the immoral, the illicit, affairs, sex videos, anything that defies God's moral laws; is really what our society is about. Sexual perversion is the reason for the original flood, but nobody knows or cares about that. Now sexual sin is being pushed upon the church and to be accepted as "the norm" in the church because it's so flagrant outside the church. We want to blame sexual sin on "the last days". However, if Paul is writing about the subject a few thousand years ago; and God flooded the earth because of it at least a millennia before that, then we know that sexual sin has nothing to do with "the last days" it's simply part of our fallen nature. Paul is addressing the church, challenging them to live holy and pure lives and to exercise control over their bodies and not give in to their lusts and perversion, "as the pagans do". This is the sharp contrast that Paul is trying to make. So listen up, "this is what pagans do!". Sexual sin is not to be tolerated in the church because it's "what pagans do". If you will not (the choice is yours) control your body and your sexual passions than you are a pagan. I heard of a Pastor recently who was baptizing a couple that is shacking up together and fornicating and he told them, "you two really should get married" and then baptized them! How different this is from John the Baptist who sent those away that were coming to get baptized and told them, "first, go show fruits of repentance, then come back and I'll baptize you". Paul would have told this couple, "you are no better than pagans, no I'm not baptizing you, as a matter a fact, if you don't repent, you will be kicked out of the church". That's what Paul would have done and that's what he suggested to the leaders of the Corinthian church to do, "cast the fornicator out from among you". If we want to talk about the last days, then let me say, what will separate the church from the world, in the last days, will be the church's stance on morality. The hallmark of the Christian Church is "morality". Prior to Jesus, Israel, Rome, Italy, Egypt and many other nations were filled with religion and deity's. What Christianity brought to the world was not another religion, but rather Christianity brought morality to a pagan, religious culture. The day we give up our stance on morality, sexual purity, then we become just another noise, among the many, many religions that fill the earth, but are nothing more than man's deluded attempt, to reconcile himself with God, on his terms, not God's.

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 10 "WHAT? PAUL STOPPED BY SATAN?"

2026-10-10T07:06:47.711-07:00

"Satan prevented us from seeing you" these are not words, we often read from the great Apostle Paul. It reminds me of Daniel, who is told by the mighty Archangel, that the "prince of Persia" withstood him". The reality is, we don't always get what we want, simply by "name it and claim it" theology. It is mentioned in the Gospels when Jesus was crucified, "this is the hour when darkness reigns". Satan and the principalities that work against us, do have their seasons, "their hour" and sometimes do get to put a "check mark" next to the heading of "victory" on their chart, if they keep one. How can we deny that Sept 11, 2001 was not a great victory for the Kingdom of Darkness, Osama Bin Laden and the Muslim Terrorist, it surely was "the hour where darkness reigned". Paul is a mature enough Christian to admit, "Satan stopped us" and Paul doesn't allow this loss to set him into some theological dilemma, ie: "if God is really omnipotent why were we stopped? Is God all powerful or not?" Paul doesn't get caught up in this, he simply acknowledges the defeat and moves on, not questioning God or His authority. There's nothing wrong with theology and studying God's word, it is encouraged by scripture and anyone with any sense, but that doesn't mean that we don't allow room for "mystery". Scripture tells us, "the secret things belong to the Lord our God". We will never be able to put God in a box and dissect him like a laboratory project. Why would God allow Satan to stop Paul from visiting the Thessalonians, is a question we all want the answer too, but that none of us are going to get. Tragedy happens everyday in our world; every suicide is a great victory for the Kingdom of Darkness, but yet it happens, rape, murder..... Some time back what made the headline news was the burglary break-in into a Pastor's home, the Pastor was not home, but his wife was and she was sexually assaulted and murdered. How do you fit that into your theology? If you are not careful, such demonic victories, can cause you to turn on God or lose faith in God, that He actually is omnipotent and sovereign. Paul was mature enough to accept a defeat, by Satan himself and yet still going to become one of the most effective Christians that ever lived and we must be able to do the same.

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

"Read The One Year Bible Devotional on Amazon"

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 9 "MAYBE BACKSLIDING ISN'T SUCH A GOOD IDEA?"

2026-10-09T05:57:17.370-07:00

IF you've been in the church for any number of years, you will know that "backsliding" is par for the course in the goings on,of the local assembly. There are multitudes that are in and out of the church and cannot make up their minds as to whether or not to give themselves fully to serving God or many others that have out rightly turned away and become apostates & reprobates. As a Christian we can become quite accustomed to this epidemic in the church, but it is no small thing in the eyes of God. I have heard the scripture "God is married to the backslider" quoted many times, but here is a scripture I HAVE NEVER heard quoted. It is not that I haven't heard it quoted in a few years, but rather I have not heard it quoted in 20 something years. However, it is here, in black and white for us to read today. Verse 7 "You keep on backsliding, so I will lay hands on you and destroy you; I can no longer show compassion". Will anybody believe me that that's in the bible?

Knowing God but not serving God is like owning a car and ignoring the; check engine light, thermostat, change oil light, ignoring squeaking brakes and the smoke coming out of your exhaust. You may be able to say "you own a car" like the rest of us, but eventually your car will break down and you will be walking or mooching rides. Should you decide one day to now attend to the lights and warnings it will be very costly and your mechanic may advise it is not worth it at this point. Knowing God and ignoring the Holy Spirit will cause a break down and when and if you do decide to return to the Lord it will be very costly. Now you will not have a mechanic advising you that it is not worth the cost and neither will you have God telling you it's not worth it, but your own conscience may advice you of such. Yes, it is when someone realizes they can't afford to get on without their car that they finally attempt to fix it but they normally can't afford it. And most backsliders that realize they cannot get on without God do "attempt" to come back, but normally can't afford (metaphorically speaking) to come back. There is so much to repair it seems futile (although it is never futile). Later on in our text God says he has, "withdrawn his blessing" well this only compounds the problem. Credit cards have "compounded interest" in other words, not only are you charged interest on what you have not paid, but the bank then turns around and charges you interest on the interest that they are charging you, making it almost impossible to repay the dept and get back on track. Many have watched a backslider relentlessly try to "get back on track". Backsliding is plagued with problems from bad decisions but it is compounded by the fact that on top off "self induced" problems, God in the midst of that has also chosen to withdraw his blessing, which only compounds the problems. Most of us do not realize what it is to step out from under the blessing of God or have his blessing withdrawn, but know this, it is not a pretty site. And so the dilemma of the backslider is not only does he have many problems, much confusion and lack of direction, but he does not have God's covering and in bitterness he now cries out to God and hears no answer, gets no help and this only further induces him/her into his backsliden ways and begins to produce a bitterness in the heart of the individual towards God. Ever try to save a marriage where one or both spouses have become bitter? Ever try to restore a Christian to God who has become bitter towards God? Why are they bitter towards God...because He has withdrawn his blessing, but why has He done this...because they have not been faithful, but of course they don't see this. Verse 10 "When you tell these people all this and they ask you, 'why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?" This is the problem, backsliders don't see where they have sinned all they see is that God has abandoned them and they do not know why? They see their sin differently, of course than God sees it. They see their sin as simply "I have questions" "I have doubts" "I struggle" but yet isn't this the plight of most Christians, isn't that the walk we must all walk. We must all press through and fight the fight of faith. We all have questions, we all have unanswered prayers and doubts, but yet we continue to serve God, trust him and obey him, in the midst of all the uncertainty.
Thank God for every backslider that successfully returns to God and makes it, but truth be known and in line with scripture, most do not. Better periodic maintenance in your Christian life than to completely let it unravel (for whatever reason and I'm sure there are many) and then try to fix a broken down clunker. The true backslider has allowed years of neglect affect his relationship with God and that has put him in his apathetic state. The grossly over weight person has years of neglect invested in that weight. Will they ever lose the weight? Some will most don't, it's to hard a hill to climb. You may want to try climbing some smaller hills before you attempt to climb Mt. Everest. If they had tackled their weight problem when it was 10-20 lbs they, with much work could have done it, but now it's 50-100lbs and most are past the point of no return, sadly enough. Will most ever restore that neglected car? No, most won't be able to, they will trade it in for almost nothing and try to start new. Will most backsliders make it back? No, most will not, but a few will. Maybe backsliding is not such a good idea after all. Maybe dealing with issues while they are still small and manageable is really what God expects out of us, in life. Deal with the relationship before it escalates to the point of no return, deal with the debt before it escalates to the point of no return, deal with your weight before you reach the point of no return and last but not least, deal with the spiritual issues that resonate in your heart, before they grow beyond with what you can cope or come back from. Don't linger in your backsliden state because both you and God may reach a point where one of you says, THAT'S IT. Verse 6 " You keep on backsliding.....I can no longer show compassion". Many may be upset with this post, because it does not give a lot of hope (and we are always supposed to give a lot of hope) but perhaps this is post/blog is more to warn those that are heading down that path, rather than to try to reach out to those that have already made the decision to go down that path. We will have far more success in averting backsliders than we will trying to go out and brings those back that are already backslidden just as we would have much more success in finding people that are only 5-10 lbs over weight and getting them into shape than trying to find someone who is already obese and trying to convince them they can lose 50-100lbs. God has done everything to save us and he has left only one thing to us, and even that we cannot do, and that is simply for us to maintain and upkeep the relationship with him that he did everything to initiate and start up. We did nothing to be saved, even the Faith we had to believe "unto salvation" was given from him, and then He says, "now abide in me....." and we cannot even muster the strength, resolve or fortitude to do that. It is a sad state of affairs, the human heart, isn't it!

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB, OCTOBER 8 "DYNAMICS OF A HEALTHY FAMILY"

2026-10-08T05:54:23.502-07:00

It has been said, "Constructions workers build houses, families build homes". Paul may not have had a family, but he has definitely tapped into "the mind of Christ" for the family, here in his epistle to the Colossians. It just goes to show, that God can give us wisdom and insight we need to navigate through life properly and we do not always need experience to have wisdom & insight. Paul gives us great wisdom and insight into the 4 dynamics of a successful family. Not in any order of priority, but he starts with wives being submitted to their husbands, husbands not to be harsh with their wives, children to be obedient to their parents and parents not exasperating their children unto anger (as we often do). Turmoil in a home is when one or worse, all of these elements are out of place. How often parents are fighting and frustrated because the kids are misbehaving. How often the children listen to the mom and dad go out at it because the wife is bent on leading and having her way. How often the children watch dad treat mom horribly and how often parents over step their place and enrage their kids. Unfortunately, I have just described the average home in America. Home is not a place the family is longing to be anymore, it is the last place they want to be. The dinner table at 6pm is empty because nobody wants to be there. Teenagers want to be home as little as possible, dad wants to stay at the office as late as he can to avoid going home and having to deal with a contentious wife. The wife is looking to get out of the house because she's tired of being bullied by her husband. Children have been enraged and are bitter towards their parents. Is this really the idea God had when He thought about "The Family". If we would simply follow these 4 dynamics that Paul lays down for us to follow, inspired by God himself, the family could begin to thrive, once again! The home could be a place of blessing, a sanctuary to come in, from the madness outside. When we would prefer to be at work, or anywhere else besides home, we have to face the facts, that we have failed in "building our home". Proverbs admonishes us, "the wise woman builds her home, the foolish one tares it down". The women does have a lot of influence in the home, but it would not be honest to say, that it all rests on her shoulders. According to Paul, according to God, it's a team effort, are you doing your part?

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 7 "WILL A MIRACLE REALLY WORK?"

2026-10-07T05:15:15.034-07:00

"IN spite of all this they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe." As we have learned (I hope) with our children, spoiling them and showering them with gifts does not lead them to love, respect and obey us. God himself has seen that giving people what they want and working miracles in their midst has not converted their hearts, one iota! Question to ask then is this, "if God spoiling and doing miracles doesn't change a sinner's heart, what does? Isn't that what we pray for, for God to do a miracle in a family member, whether it be a financial miracle or a miracle healing of a fatal disease. Then we and the family member, that we were praying for, witness for ourselves this prayer answered, the miracle happens, they are healed or receive a miraculous blessing and we think now they will "get saved" and serve God, but yet to our amazement, they do not!

What are you praying for, concerning your family, co-workers and friends? Are you praying that God would do a miracle in their lives; that they would know that He is real, that He really does exist, is this what they need? I know in my own experience the miracles came after I surrendered my life to Jesus, not before. I read today of an anti-religious poster an atheist put up at my friend's work place, it said "funny if you're an individual who believes in an invisible person you call him crazy, but if you can get many people to believe in that invisible person you call it "Religion". Pretty witty, I must say! Only problem is God is not invisible to the millions He has chosen to reveal himself too. If God is invisible, He's only invisible to those whom he chooses to make himself invisible to. I have seen God many times. I saw God when my wife's enormous cyst on her wrist, after prayer to the "invisible God" completely vanished away and all pain along with it went away. I saw God when my son's leg grew out a quarter of an inch and he saw and felt it too. I could go on and on about how many times I have seen "the invisible God" but unfortunately to many, I saw God after I made a decision to repent. Even Jesus said, "you sinful and adulterous generation, you want to see a miracle to beleive and the only miracle you're going to get is so as Jonah was in the belly of a whale, 3 days and 3 nights so will the Son of Man be ......" in other words, Jesus was saying the only miracle the unrepentant will get is Jesus Christ dieing on the cross (for them) and raising from the dead. Once the unbeliever can appropriate this to their life, then the confirming miracles will follow. The angel explains to the rich man in Sheol that even if someone was to rise from the dead and appear to them (unsaved family) they would not repent.
In our text we see that God has gone out of his way to cater to these people, but yet their hearts have not changed. It is not the miracles that convert, it is the miracles that keep us, after we convert. So what causes a man and/or woman to convert, that is a mystery. Why there are two thieves on a cross, both witness the same miracle of Jesus Christ, one repents, converts and the other man's heart only hardens more. Two people can witness the same miracle, yet one converts and the other does not. If all it took was miracles to convert, the church of Jesus Christ would be exploding with growth. Conversion is an issue of the heart and why one heart repents at the sight of God's miracles and another heart does not, only God knows. We can say the difference is "one chose to believe and the other chose not to" but if this is the case than we can take credit for our salvation and the bible says we cannot take any. The bible says even the faith we had to believe was given to us by God. Thence, salvation is a mystery that remains with God, but we know one thing for sure, from our text, that God has tried in the past, to lavish humanity with miracles in hopes that they would turn from their sins, believe in him and serve him, but they have not. So if you're praying for God to reveal yourself to your unsaved family, friends and/or co-worker, through a big, great miracle, you may want to re-consider your prayer or you may be disappointed when the miracle comes and yet they do not convert.

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 6 "NO! NOT ALL ARE WELCOME"

2026-10-06T06:04:10.835-07:00

The Church's mantra is always, "Everyone Welcome!", but do we really mean that? Is everyone really welcome? One preacher coined the term "religious devils", are religious devils really welcome into your church? Are people who sow and spread false teachings and doctrines in your church..., really welcome? Are those that cause divisions and strife really welcome in your church? Is the couple that caused a rebellion and church split, in their last church, really welcome? Is everyone really welcome? And I think, if we would be honest, the answer would be "no", not everyone is welcome, after all. Paul is writing the this letter to the house Church at Colosse. The house church that is meeting there of course has "everyone welcome" on their door and on their flyers. And guess what, everyone is walking in and causing major confusion and discord. People promoting the worship of Angels, pious self-denials (sounds like Lent for the Catholics). Trying to convince these converts that Grace isn't good enough, there's rules, "don't touch, don't handle, don't taste". Paul goes on to write, "these rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires."If only we had an usher at the front door, that he could waive over those coming in on Sunday Mornings and just like at the airport, the wand would beep if those people were trying to carry in any false doctrines, malicious intents or were simply carrying a spirit of rebellion, strife & divisions. The wand would beep and the usher would have the pleasant duty of saying, "sorry, you can't come in with that!". "But I thought everyone was welcome?". "No, we took down that sign last month! We don't have an "everyone welcome" policy anymore!". After all, if we are willing to take those measures to protect an aircraft, how much more so should we take those measures to protect God's Church? On an aircraft you have a bunch of disconnected strangers in a Church we have families, people that have served God for years together and then one religious devil comes in and begins to sow seeds of discord, mistrust and everything is turned upside down. I remember a situation where a church counsel actually did meet to discuss letting in a particular individual into the church. He had been kicked out of his previous church for having sex with a minor in that congregation. This had been almost a year prior, he seemed repentant and so he was let in and ended up taking advantage of a girl in our congregation. Is the policy "everyone welcome" really Christian? Is that really love that we would let just anyone walk in and trample over the people we love? Would a loving father let just let every bum that comes by take advantage of his daughter? After all, we're good, nice Christian people here! Unfortunately and I do mean "unfortunately" we cannot stand at the door and interrogate people as they come in and unfortunately no wand has yet been invented that we can waive over people to detect impure motives and/or agendas. So in a sense, I guess everyone can come, but not everyone will stay! God does prune His Church, I do know that. There are some people that are no longer coming that need to be chased down and try to talk some sense into and there are others that have left, that we need to simply "let be". Many times good Christians find themselves chasing after people, begging them to return, that God himself has purged from the Church. We may not have a wand to pass over people Sunday after Sunday, but we can contend for the Holy Spirit's presence and we can contend for the Holy Spirit to have right away in the Church and to help us with what we often are not discerning or seeing in the visible realm. Every Church has witnessed the phenomena of someone or a couple leaving, was disheartened by that, but then the church grew afterwards and everyone sits and scratches their head and wonders, "how odd is that?". We know that God was very displeased with Miriam and Aaron speaking behind Moses' back. Moses had no knowledge, Moses had no wand to wave over them, but yet God was faithful to look after Moses and his congregation (so to speak). If we speak against our Church, against our Pastor and we do not eventually get our hearts right, God will eventually judge us and purge us. Everyone will wonder, "what happened to so and so" and often nobody knows what really went down. Just remember this, not everyone in your Church was sent there by God; as you would like to believe. There are people in every Church; in every city across America that God has not placed there. They are there to sow discord, mistrust, create divisions and strife and once the damage is done then they will leave and go on their merry way and bad mouth the Church afterwards; to add insult to injury and the quicker they leave the better. And wise is the Church, the man or the women, who can discern who God has purged and whom the devil has purged. How do we know and can we make a great mistake in trying to discern which is which? Perhaps, but Jesus said, "by their fruits you will know them". Look at the fruit, what kind of fruit did their life produce while in the church and what was the result of the church once they were gone? I would say always error on the side of caution, by and large, if someone leaves, we go after them and it is in the going "after them" often that we begin to discern, "leave them alone, let them be". Love those that come, love those that leave, go after those that leave, but also be sensitive to God's still small voice when sometimes, to our confusion, we hear, "just let things be as they are, stop trying to force this" and then we must trust and let go, even though, we don't understand. God loves them more, than we will ever love or understand and we must simply trust that Jesus is still Head of his Church and He is still a God that prunes His church in ways we often will never understand, on this side of eternity.

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 5 "BEWARE OF NOSTALGIA"

2026-10-05T06:02:15.961-07:00

The Psalmist is reminiscing of the "good 'ol days of old". Nostalgia..."a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact, to a former time in one's life". Beware of nostalgia, it sometimes brings to us good memories of the past but it can also create of false impression of the past and create in our minds and feelings, what never was! Nostalgia also has the ability to create a discontentment for the present, while longing for the past. A song, a smell, certain seasons & smells or deja-vu's can immediately create a sense of nostalgia. If we can appreciate them and move on, that's fine, but if it creates a longing for the past, that's not fine. Beware of nostalgia, it's a slippery slope. It can create utopia's out of what was really a nightmare chapter of our lives. When we were in that chapter of our lives, we couldn't wait to get out, now, we are reminiscing...thinking, "those were the good 'ol days..." were they really? This is the state of mind of the Psalmist, in our reading today, it's a very melancholy state of mind. The Psalmist goes from nostalgia to "do I still have a song in the night to sing" and this is the problem with nostalgia, it creates a discontentment for the present and steals our song away for the present. And let's say for arguments sake, that there is a valid argument that the past was better, then contend for your present and future. Cry out to the God who's promise is that our best years are not to be behind us, but in front of us. Cry out to the God who saves his "best for last". It's not God that has created a life for us that makes us long for our past, it's our decisions. It's the decisions that Israel has made that puts them in this state of melancholy, not God. Longing for our past, for "the days of 'old" not only depresses us but jeopardizes our future. I am not a big fan of nostalgia or melancholy, though I am just as susceptible to them as anybody else. I do and can get caught up in both. I can relate to the Psalmist, but I must shake myself loose of it's grip and quote another Psalm, "oh my soul, why so downcast within me, put your faith and hope in God!". Melancholy is like the food that makes us sick, but we continue to consume, why? We sit around and purposely listen to songs of the past and bring ourselves into this state of mind, why? Why do we poke at a scab, why do we play with a sore tooth with our tongue, why do we agitate an infection, is there a little of a masochist in each of us? I believe the answer to that is yes. Beware of nostalgia, beware of playing and manipulating your emotions, you may find one day, that you are now caught in a state of melancholy and cannot get out. Jesus mentioned over and over in the Gospels, that our portion is "joy" and "that your joy may be full". Some of us, may like to get down, down, down and then get high, high, high....we like the fluctuation of emotions rather than being stoic, but emotions are not to be played with. Are you caught up in nostalgia and melancholy? Shake yourself out of it before you get so low, you cannot get out, "oh my soul, why so downcast within”.

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 4 "SO MUCH FOR THE IDEA OF, WE CREATED GOD"

2026-10-04T06:59:16.148-07:00

Ever hear that argument from atheists, "I believe human beings are really creative and invented God to help them through tough times and un-explainable events". Well, if human beings created God to help them, why does history show that human beings want nothing to do with who they (according to atheists..) created? The atheist says "we created God for us, to help us believe, but history has shown that humans want nothing to do with God? So which is it? In our text today in Jeremiah we read, "why do my people say, at least we are free from God, we don't need him anymore". Atheists embrace many fallacies and one of them is that they are living in a Christian World and they are the rugged few that reject God , so they come up with ridiculous theories that "we" created this notion of God because that's what we wanted. If that's the case, then when Pontius Pilate offered humans and option to release Barabbas, the loathe some murderer, or Jesus, why did they choose for Barabbas to be released and Jesus to be executed? And the answer to that is man has not wanted God and it makes no sense that God was our idea. We think today and only today our society has gone secular, but the bible (and history in case you are atheist and don't believe in the bible) shows us man has always wanted to be free from the restraints of God. The only difference between a worldly (secular) citizen and an atheist is that the secular citizens lives his life in defiance of God, while believing in Him and the atheist dismisses God so they too can live in defiance of God, but not have to feel guilty or fear death, because they have dismissed God's existence. In the end, the secular citizen and the atheist are the same, in that each of them must wake up each day and suppress the truth, ie: that there is a God and one day they will answer to Him. The Christian is simply the atheist or secular citizen that finally decides just to submit his/her rebellious will to God, do right and then stop suppressing what they have always known....and what is that you ask? That there is a God and that they have been in rebellion, set on their own course to do their own will, as Frank Sinatra so boldly proclaimed in his hit song, that the world applauded, "I did it may way!" You can do it "your way" but then have the guts to face up to the consequences rather than fabricate the "true lie" that there is no God. If there's anything we can say man has invented, it's not the notion of God that man has invented, it's the notion that "there is no God" that man has invented and to that God responds in Psalm 14:1 "the fool has said in his heart, there is no God". Why don't you share this with your atheist acquaintances or compadres!

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 3 "CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO WOMEN"

2026-10-03T08:02:56.619-07:00

Many Christians are "fruitless or spiritually childless". They've never lead anyone to Christ, normally don't engage in that arena of evangelism, they just come to Church on Sundays and lead a decent, Christian, moral life. They have never really dealt with the heartache of investing in someone that turns on you or walks away, back into their life of sin and destruction, but neither do they know the "joy" of fruit, the joy of being used by God to see another life transformed, right before your eyes; and make Heaven their home. Paul writes, "friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work". If you have ever labored in this area you will find how true this statement is. As much as I've been hurt, I must also say, that many, many good relationships, that became a great blessing to me, were from fruit that I labored for. My joy, when nothing else is going right, is in them and they are the crown for all my work too! How about you? That being said, nothing hurts us more than watching 2 people we love, devour each other. The fact is two Christians, that each love God can still have severe disagreements and conflict.Paul knows both these sisters personally. Each of these women, Euodia and Syntyche, are Paul's fruit, have become his friends and have each been a blessing to him and a help in his ministry. Paul sees the good in Eudia and he sees the good in Syntyche. Paul does not take sides, he doesn't try to point out who's wrong and who's right, because chances are, neither is right or wrong, it's just a conflict of opinion, misunderstanding or gossip. Paul's desire is that they would just resolve their conflict and that those in the church would somehow help. It grieves us to see the people we love fight with each other especially when we can see the good in each of them, if only they would see what we see. Church members are constantly getting in petty fights and arguments, trying to turn the Pastor or other Church members against the one they are in conflict with. The problem is, we, like Paul, looking from the outside in, see both, as good Christians and we wonder why they so dislike each other. Paul writes, these are both good sisters who have labored with me and whose names are written in The Book of Life, if only they would see that....Who are you fighting with, who are you in conflict with? Do you see that sister, that individual with horns on her head, do you see her as an enemy, arch-rival, is she a "she-devil?" The problem is we don't see her like that and we don't see you like that. And even more important, neither does Jesus. It grieves us when our children fight; as we love them both and see the qualities in each of them and we wish they would only see that themselves and stop fighting. We grieve God when we fight, we grieve God when we slander one of his daughters that He loves so much. We make our conflicts personnel and begin to slander and question other people's salvation, their motives and their heart and we cross the line. We grieve God and we grieve the Church that watches, discouragingly at two sisters who simply cannot get along, and love each other, when we see the good in both of them. We never find out if these two sisters, in our text, reconcile or if they just continue to fight and grieve God and grieve their Church or if one of them ends up leaving the Church to go to another, as tragic as that would be. I can get up Sunday mornings and leave for Church with so much excitement and enthusiasm for the day and leave Church on Sundays depressed and discouraged because there was fighting amongst two sisters, two brothers or a brother and sister. This is not what I went to Church for, do they not realize that, do they not care that their fighting brings everyone down with them? They are so consumed by their hatred or animosity that it just rides right over and crushes the Holy Spirit who is standing in their way, saying "stop, stop, you're destroying everything I'm trying to do". I hope these two sisters reconciled and I hope so do you because it really does grieve God and your Church, that you say you love so much, be reconciled with each other, stop fighting, settle your disagreements! "Don't tell me what to do!", you say. Well I'm not, read God's word, He's telling you, not me, will you listen to Him?

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, OCTOBER 2 "WHAT DO YOU BASE YOUR SUCCESS ON?"

2026-10-02T07:06:47.958-07:00

What do you base your success on? We all, secretly in our minds, base our success on something, whether we will admit it or not. "I know, the secret of my success". Others are not so closed about "the secret of their success" because they don't think "their secret" is conceited. One Pastor accredits the secret of his success to his Tuesday Night prayer meetings. "That's the key, right there!". We listen and we think, "makes sense, prayer, of course prayer is the key, let's implement Tuesday night prayer meetings in our Church". However, this Church finds no success in these Tuesday night prayer meetings, they can't pay or offer enough food, to gather any kind of substantial crowd to participate in these Tuesday night prayer meetings, another Church is able to rally good support for the meetings, but a year or two down the road, they cannot say that they have seen any difference. The church who bases the secret of their success on Tuesday night prayer meetings went from 30 people to 3000 people, other churches that have tried the "secret recipe" for success have gone from 30, to .....31, back down to 20, back up to 25, etc...etc.... No, that's not the secret, then we hear of how one Church began to do street meetings every Friday night and saw their Church go from 35 to 250 people. " I'll tell you what the secret was brother, we started doing these street meetings....". And so what do we do, we start Friday night street meetings. The results....a church member gets in a fight with a heckler and five people leave the Church. Net gain, - 5 from Street Meetings. Paul lists all his credentials and boy does he have some credentials but yet attributes none of these to his success. "I count them all as dung...". It would have been so easy for Paul to think, all that knowledge I have, all that training, surely that's why I have the success I have, I know that none of those fishermen disciples had much of a formal education. That's why God is using me more, but how could I ever express that? I will keep it to myself, but I know...." Or Paul could have thought it was because he was "a Hebrew of Hebrews, of the best stock, of the tribes of Israel, it must be, that somehow that is linked to my success, wow, it's a good thing I came from good stock". We all do this, we all want to figure out "the reason for success" we all want to be able to "figure out the why". However Paul does not allow himself to be lured into this thought of mind that can only lead to false conclusions and assessments. Paul never gave in to the temptation to write a book on "the five keys to successful missions work". What do you attribute your success to? Is it because you have such a great heart for God and He sees that or is it because of your charm and personality? Is it because of your great looks and humor? Is it simply because you’re so a “go-getter” attitude type of person? Is it because you are such a better preacher? Is it because of your awesome interpersonal people skills? C’mon, tell us what you secretly think is the cause of your success?Are you tempted to write a book on the "secrets of your success?". The moment you think you have found the key, the moment you voice to others "what the key is" to your success, don't be surprised if the success begins to diminish from that point on. Can it be "that there is no key", can it be that your success, Paul's success, any Church's or Christians' success has nothing to do, particularly, with any "specifics" but rather it is simply God's Grace upon that Church, God's Grace upon that Christian, God's Grace upon that ministry and of course the temptation then is to ask, "but why is God's Grace upon that Christian, why is God's Grace upon..." And I recommend YOU DON'T. We human beings, are hopelessly pre-occupied with wanting to figure everything out, figure out every "why"; make a formula, package it and sell it. And perhaps in some ways, God has put that in us; and in the physical realm, it may work well, but in the spiritual realm, we are out of our league and when we try to apply some kind of theorem to the things of God; we insult God, grieve the Holy Spirit and often put a wet blanket upon the fire that God was breathing. Next time you are tempted to figure out "the why" and how, suffice it to say, it is simply God's Grace and more of it I need, that's all I need to know, the rest I leave up to God.

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB, OCTOBER 1 "CHURCH & CHRISTIAN BASHING"

2026-10-01T06:47:17.363-07:00

I AM appalled too at the lack of support within the church. Verse 5, "I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support". Often in the church this is the case, you look for support in a Godly endeavor and are surprised when nobody signs up or shows up. It is always interesting to watch a young zealot announce his event, outreach, activity and only to find out that not so many shared his enthusiasm. There is a book that is a good read, it is called, "What happens to the other 80%" and this is speaking about the 80% of the church, obviously the majority, that finds itself totally un-involved in the affairs and functions of the church. Yes I am appalled too and so is every layman, Pastor and disciple that is trying to do his best. However, we must also be careful against the enemy's strategy to disparage us against "The Church". What I am noticing of late, is a trend of Church and Christian bashing, that is coming not from the outside world, but from within the church. We are beginning to turn on ourselves and as I'm sure we all know, "no kingdom divided against itself will stand". Christian books, sermons and conferences today, seem to spend a whole lot of time criticizing and bashing the Church. We know the Church is flawed, it has always been flawed and wills always be until Jesus' return. Church bashing other churches and Christians bashing other Christians is not going to advance God's Kingdom nor is it going to be a remedy to a flawed church and what good are we going to get out of it. The rhetoric today is, "the church is apathetic, the church is lukewarm, Christians are carnal, Christians are not rising up, Christians aren't doing anything, we're cowards, we're not the father's we should be, we're not the mother's we should be, and we could go on and on...and we do, but I believe the enemy will exploit this to our demise.

If we behaved like this in our marriages we would ALL be divorced and if not divorced we would have miserable marriages. IN a marriage you have to de-focus from the negatives and focus on the positives in your spouse, otherwise......

Surely Christians, surely the Church is doing something right? This is a rhetorical question because I know we are! There is some tremendous Christians out there, raising Godly children and being a the "salt of the earth" and a great testimony in their community and there is some tremendous churches out there doing their best to be "the Light on The Hill". We still have couples "forsaking all" to be missionaries, we still have Children rising up and taking the mantle to the next level, we still have ministries forming, souls getting saved and lives being changed. Christians are impacting the radio, the media, the movies and are writing top selling books and novels. Christians are rising up in politics, speaking out in town hall meetings and making progress.
Could the church be doing more, of course. Could the balance in the church be a little better than 80/20, could be much better (after all, where are the other 80% and what are they doing?), but if we choose to turn on each other and get into this trend of Christians bashing Christians than what good can come out of that? We already have the world against us, we already have the Prince of this World against us, the media against us, often the government against us...are we now going to turn on each other too? And if we bash other Christians that can only lead to one conclusion and that is that we are saying, "we are better". And it seems that every church and every Christian seems to think they are better than the one next door or down the street. Could it be that neither is better? Could it be that each church and each Christian has their flaws and their positives? Could it be that we are all flawed vessels but yet God chooses to work through us. Not just through one church or one group of Christians but God chooses to work through all of us collectively.
Remember when the disciples were with Jesus and they saw "another" group of disciples that were not part of their group, and what did they say?" If only they had said, "Praise God Lord, look, other men doing a work for our Heavenly Father and advancing his Kingdom on the Earth" However they did not say that! What did they say..."Lord, look at those men over there, what do they think they're doing, do you want us to go over there and stop them!" And of course Jesus said, "no! leave them alone, for he that is not against us is with us". We must never forget those words! We are standing around bashing those that are on our side simply trying to do a work for God and we, like the disciples, are prejudiced against any other group, than ours, that is trying to do something for God. God is much bigger than our little organization, our little church and our little group. God is doing a work in the earth and he is using various churches, various denominations, various Pastors and Leaders and various countries to do it and it's time to put aside our prejudices and stop bashing each other, "for he that is not against us, is with us". There is a whole harvest of souls out there to be reaped, let's not waste our time criticizing the methods of the church or the christian next door or down the street and focus rather on the person down the street or next door, that does not know, nor has ever experienced, the Saving Love and Grace, of Jesus Christ. And ALL God's people said....AMEN!

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB, SEPTEMBER 30 “POURING OUT YOUR LIFE TO GOD”

2026-09-30T06:17:20.314-07:00

Wherever is the concept of "pouring out your life" for Christ, in the Church today? The Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal Denomination is now shutting down their Sunday evening services. It's too much, twice on Sundays, those days are gone. It's too much to ask a Christian to come to Church twice on Sundays, once in the morning and the return for the evening service. "People want their family time together at night" said one Assembly of God Pastor. How can one argue against a Christian wanting "family time" together? So what does "family time" look like on a Sunday evening? Well, it looks like this..., dad flopped in front of the T.V. watching Football, junior in his room playing X-Box, Susie in her room on Facebook and mom in her room sleeping. Great "family time" isn't it! Really what people want is not "family time", they want more "me time", more "rest time" all under the guise of ....."we just want to stay home and have some family time', well how can anyone argue against that?! Paul was a radical Christian who I don't believe would have done well in the Christian circles that we traffic in; here in the 21st Century. Paul most definitely would not have had a church of 50,000 people, maybe 50, but not 50,000. Paul's commitment, his challenge for Christians to "pour out their lives" for Christ would seem far to radical for today's Christian. Today's Christian is not far, in ideals, from the the secularist, atheist and/or agnostic, Their ideas for the "elixir" of life is, rest, then more rest; then leisure time; then vacations and then some more! Commercials on T.V., commercials on the radio, "are you tired, run down....then what you need is this drink or this vitamin" as if there is something wrong with you if "you are tired". What is wrong with you? Why are you tired, what is the cause, how can you resolve this great abuse of your life, that you, as a human being should be tired?". Well, what if in retrospect, they realize they're tired because of Christ? What if in reflection, they realize they are tired because of "their ministry" or their commitments to Church? We know our unsaved family members will be quick to be the Devil's advocate and convince us we are "too committed" to our churches, we are giving too much of ourselves to this "Christian thing" we are involved in and that life, is about being rested, life is about leisure and vacations and many allow themselves to be seduced into this carnal and secular mindset. But yet Paul's idea of life was being "spent for Christ!". Modern translation, "worn out for Christ". "Paul, you poor boy, you look worn out, you need to get out of the ministry and rest, it would do you good?" Paul would have said, "get behind me Satan for you do not have the purposes of God in mind". You will find that Christians today just want to go home after work, Monday night, take off their shoes, rest and be left alone. That's not so bad, but it's not just Monday Night, it's Tuesday night, it's Wednesday Night, it's every night of every week. I don't want to be pestered by The Church during the week, I go Sunday Mornings and that's enough. "Why is the Church planning events during the week and on Saturday, don't they know we have our own lives?" Many Christians today probably feel a Church that has services Sunday evenings should be reported to some kind of authority, "for abuse". The question to ask is, "has the 21st Century lost the essence of Consecration, the essence of sacrifice, self-denial, in short, has the 21st Century Christian lost the essence of Christianity? Paul described himself "as a slave to Christ". How would you describe your Christian walk with God? Are you "pouring out your life to Christ" or are you sitting on the couch pouring yourself another ice tea, or worse, another beer? Is your manta, "rest, rest, leisure and more rest" or is your mantra, "I have but one life, a short life, here on earth, to live for Christ and may I be a poured out offering for Jesus, as He was for me!"

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE INE YEAR BIBLE CLUB, SEPTEMBER 29 "GOD'S SILENCE DRIVE YOU CRAZY?"

2026-09-29T06:43:06.378-07:00

What has God's silence accomplished or not accomplished? We know He is the "invisible God" but He is also, very often, the "silent God". In Isaiah we read today, "Is it because of my long silence that you no longer fear me?". God realizes everything He does and the ramifications of that. He understands what drives us crazy, He understands his silence and the pretense of being "aloof" might only encourage some further into their Lascivious & rebellious life style. The question is not how often does God speak, but rather, when He speaks, whether often or little, do we listen? And so now God is speaking, is anyone listening ? "You have been unfaithful, you have put pagan symbols on your doorposts and behind your doors." We want God to speak, but when He speaks we ignore him and then when He doesn't speak we accuse him of neglecting us, or we accuse him for our struggle of Faith, because we never hear from him. God cannot win, with people who do not have a right heart towards him. "Is it because of my long silence that you no longer fear me?"

It's a rhetorical question, as most questions that come from God. However, what kind of relationship is a relationship that is constantly run by fear and threats? This kind of relationship is to no advantage to anyone and it's a relationship based on a some very precarious grounds. Can God be silent and can He stop threatening and just see people serve based on what He has already spoken in the past and serve him based on their love for Him? God's silence will make the wicked more wicked, but God's silence will also cause people of faith to increase their faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. Carnal Christians need the constant voice and the constant threat of God, to be obedient. God's true Children serve him even when the Master is gone away from the house for a while. When the Master returns He finds the faithful about their Father's business and when the Master returns He also finds the unfaithful back at what He has threatened them over and over, what not to do. If you can't trust your children when you are away, then you are only deluded to think that you can trust them when you are not away. If God cant' trust us in silence, if God can't trust us in his absence (or at least seemingly absent) then He cannot trust us at all. If you're waiting for lightning to strike and barely miss you, so fear can get in you and straighten you up to serve God, I've got some news for you, it's probably not coming. If you're waiting for something bad to happen to you as some kind of sign of omen, that God is against you so you can know and repent, I got some bad news for you, it probably isn't coming. So what does God's silence accomplish? It weeds out the faithful from the unfaithful. It weeds out the genuine from the disingenuous. It brings out the carnality of the carnal and brings out the Faith of the Faithful. It forces a relationship to be forged out of love and obedience, not just fear. It releases people, gives the freedom to serve God or not and it creates a relationship where I am serving you now because I love you and want to; not just because I fear you and you will strike me with lightning or send me to hell if I don't. Yes, "fear of God is the beginning, of all wisdom" , but remember, "it's the beginning" in other words, we should at some point in our relationship progress on and move on to a place where now our relationship is not just based on fear but has moved towards a love and appreciation of this God that we have come to know and love. Now, we sin not, because we know it hurts God, whether perhaps in the beginning, we stopped sinning because of the fear of Hell. Joseph in the Old Testament, does not sin and commit adultery because he does not want to sin against God. I'm not sure what understanding Joseph had of the afterlife, about hell and judgement but we know by readying his story that he had an immense love for God. God's silence in those days caused most of his brothers only to become more wicked, but it also caused Joseph to become more devout and so can God's silence do the same for us, God's silence will either make or break us!

Richard P. Swift is Pastor of The Door San Angelo and author of the bestselling devotional, The One Year Bible Devotional.

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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB, SEPTEMBER 28, "IS GOD LIKE US?"

2026-09-28T09:36:42.537-07:00

I'M READING Isaiah 54:7 "For a brief moment I abandoned you, in a surge of anger I hit my face from you for a moment..." Recently in anger I was thinking, i'm just going to boycott them, I'm just going to give them the cold shoulder...IN A SURGE OF ANGER I .... often how we treat people after a let down, after they've dropped the ball, failed us, let us down, is definately noticeable. As I'm reading this I'm thinking, "Wow, God is just like me!" Of course, leave it to a human to think, "God is like him". How dumb can we be, how egocentric can we be! I'm pretty sure God is ZERO PERCENT anything like us. It is more that we are like Him. It is, according to His Word, "we are created in His IMAGE. That tells me that my emotions, my anger, come from Him. God has made us to feel, God has made us to be anger over certain thing. It is not virtue in anyway to boast not being angry over injustice, child abuse, sex traffficking and we could go on. Do you feel? Does nothing bother you? Do people that just sin recklessly and damage themselves and others; do you not get upset over that? Is being Stoic some kind of new Godly virtue? I think not! FEEL! GET ANGRY! [ and sin not] . There's a time to "Flip the Tables", there's a time to get down right STERN with religious devils. "In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a time", says The Lord. " I need my space, don't talk to me right now, give me a day or two" Nothing wrong with that. Now we must also read the rest, "but with deep compassion I will bring you back, I wll have compassion on you, says the Lord. The difference between us and God; God always comes back, cools down, forgives, loves and offers compassion. If we are going to be FULLY like God, we cannot just say, "Well God gets angry too, you know!". Yes, he does, but to be fully like God [at least in this area] we must also forgive, come back, settle down, and love again, have compassion on them, an not Boycott them, not write them out of the will, not give them a cold shoulder everytime you see them for months on end. Maybe right now, "you are in that surge of anger". Okay, I gotcha, God says, I created you in my image. Take a few days, says the Lord. But REMEMBER, I expect you also, at some point, sooner than later, to return to them, and forgive and love them, ONCE AGAIN.