DAY 7: THOUGH NONE GO WITH ME, STILL I WILL FOLLOW

There comes a time in all of our walks with Jesus, that spiritual boldness must take over… A fearlessness to SPEAK OUT the truth of the written Word of God despite how contrary it may be to the culture or order of the day. Not out of a cantankerous or brash spirit, no… that approach never brought anybody into a relationship with the real Jesus. That approach has only brought people into a relationship with religion (a list of do’s and don’ts that are impossible to keep in your own strength).

The kind of boldness that I’m talking about speaking with is an undaunted authority that rises up in the hearts of believers and lovingly plants its stake in the ground and says, “Jesus has changed my life! He set me free! He cleansed me of my sins and has even changed my old desires through His Holy Spirit living inside of me! If He could do all this for me, He surely wouldn’t hold back for anyone else! I believe Jesus is who He says He is! He is the way, the truth, and the life! He is the son of God and He did die for my sins! And yes, He did rise up out of that grave on the third day - and HE IS ALIVE AND COMING BACK AGAIN!!!”

To say these things unapologetically with the boldness I am talking about will absolutely cause controversy. It will absolutely cause the world to shun you. It will absolutely cause you to be listed as “one of those types of Christians”. Especially, as we get closer to the return of Jesus. He told us so in Matthew 24.

“Then they will hand you over to [endure] tribulation, and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will be offended and repelled [by their association with Me] and will fall away [from the One whom they should trust] and will betray one another [handing over believers to their persecutors] and will hate one another.”

Continue reading... the complete 3-day plan can be found on the YouVersion app.

Consumed By Fire is...

No strangers to the road life, up-and coming Contemporary Christian Music band, Consumed By Fire, are living out the name of their band in a brand-new way. Comprised of Caleb Ward (lead vocals), Jordan Ward (harmonies/percussion), Josh Ward (guitar/harmonies), the three brothers from Oklahoma are living out God’s calling for their lives, to share God’s grace far and wide through music.

“If it wasn’t this form of ministry, if it wasn’t music, it would just be something else. Ministry is what we were born to do,” Caleb says. The band’s sound, heavily influenced by the music they grew up on, is thanks in part to their father’s eclectic taste. Filled with honest truths and the band’s honed musicality, “First Things First,” the band’s current radio single, is evidence of Consumed By Fire’s family bond and the unconditional love of both their earthly and heavenly fathers.

As their single climbs up the radio charts, the band is already receiving media attention with spotlights from KLove and Air1 Radio, praising the band for their“deft lyricism and tight harmonies.” With new music on the horizon as well as upcoming tour dates, the band is ready for a new, exciting year of music.

To learn more, visit ConsumedByFire.com

DAY 6: KEEP ON WALKING: A word of encouragement

In this walk with Jesus there will be moments of fatigue and moments where the passion doesn’t quite feel like it did when you first started. There will be hurt, broken promises, and the opportunity for offense… But keep on walking in love. Don’t buy the lie that people are your problem because they aren’t (Ephesians 6:12).

In this walk with Jesus you’re gonna have tremendous passion to share the Gospel and use the gifts He’s given you to spread the message... And there will be some wins! Praise God for every one, big and small. Don’t ever say something is too small of a victory to Praise God over. Remember the law of gratitude; the things you are grateful for are the things that will multiply. So don’t entertain a spirit of murmuring and complaining. That attitude will only cause delay. Keep on walking in trust. Keep on walking in thanksgiving.

There will be disappointments and times where you feel like the road you’re on doesn’t look like the vision that God showed you in the beginning. There will be moments that feel like great sacrifice, intense frustration, and times where you even say, “I quit” (we’ve been there too)… But walk in a spirit of endurance.

Continue reading... the complete 3-day plan can be found on the YouVersion app.

Consumed By Fire is...

No strangers to the road life, up-and coming Contemporary Christian Music band, Consumed By Fire, are living out the name of their band in a brand-new way. Comprised of Caleb Ward (lead vocals), Jordan Ward (harmonies/percussion), Josh Ward (guitar/harmonies), the three brothers from Oklahoma are living out God’s calling for their lives, to share God’s grace far and wide through music.

“If it wasn’t this form of ministry, if it wasn’t music, it would just be something else. Ministry is what we were born to do,” Caleb says. The band’s sound, heavily influenced by the music they grew up on, is thanks in part to their father’s eclectic taste. Filled with honest truths and the band’s honed musicality, “First Things First,” the band’s current radio single, is evidence of Consumed By Fire’s family bond and the unconditional love of both their earthly and heavenly fathers.

As their single climbs up the radio charts, the band is already receiving media attention with spotlights from KLove and Air1 Radio, praising the band for their“deft lyricism and tight harmonies.” With new music on the horizon as well as upcoming tour dates, the band is ready for a new, exciting year of music.

To learn more, visit ConsumedByFire.com

DAY 5: WALK BY THE SPIRIT

I felt the need to say something similar to this when writing to you in the “Keeping the First Things First” devotional… And that is, I don’t want you to hear the words of “Walk With Jesus” and get caught up in a performance driven mindset. I don’t want you to hear this song and think it’s your new “self-help” anthem.

This is a lifestyle… And this lifestyle is a life in the Spirit. If there’s one thing that will burn you out and get you to stop walking, it will be the performance mindset. It’ll be the idea that “you’ve gotta try harder and we’re all counting on you not to mess up”. Religion constantly paints the picture that God has all these rules for you to keep and if you mess up and break one of the rules, then He’s displeased with you and that’s it. The good news, however, is that Jesus took the penalty of sin on your behalf and has provided the atonement needed for sin. Now, sin is to no longer have dominion over you because of a new life in the Spirit (Romans 6:14). Believer, let me tell you, God is actually the one who is responsible for getting the good out of you. He is the one who has made the promise to never leave you, never forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), to never give up on you in your process.

Continue reading... the complete 3-day plan can be found on the YouVersion app.

Consumed By Fire is...

No strangers to the road life, up-and coming Contemporary Christian Music band, Consumed By Fire, are living out the name of their band in a brand-new way. Comprised of Caleb Ward (lead vocals), Jordan Ward (harmonies/percussion), Josh Ward (guitar/harmonies), the three brothers from Oklahoma are living out God’s calling for their lives, to share God’s grace far and wide through music.

“If it wasn’t this form of ministry, if it wasn’t music, it would just be something else. Ministry is what we were born to do,” Caleb says. The band’s sound, heavily influenced by the music they grew up on, is thanks in part to their father’s eclectic taste. Filled with honest truths and the band’s honed musicality, “First Things First,” the band’s current radio single, is evidence of Consumed By Fire’s family bond and the unconditional love of both their earthly and heavenly fathers.

As their single climbs up the radio charts, the band is already receiving media attention with spotlights from KLove and Air1 Radio, praising the band for their“deft lyricism and tight harmonies.” With new music on the horizon as well as upcoming tour dates, the band is ready for a new, exciting year of music.

To learn more, visit ConsumedByFire.com

DAY 4: WALK BY FAITH

This “Walk With Jesus” can largely be summed up in one sentence, “Grace made it, faith takes it.” Let’s refer back to a scripture we’ve already referenced on Day 1 of our devotional.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”

Ephesians 2:8 KJV

Notice, this gift of salvation is extended to us by way of GRACE and received THROUGH FAITH.

This is the whole ball game, folks. As new covenant believers, our trust and faith is not supposed to be like it was under the old system that brought forth a demand and pressure on our “holiness performance”. In our new covenant agreement, it says THE WORK IS FINISHED and completed by the blood of Jesus (John 19:30). You are no longer TRYING to be righteous and falling short at every turn, no, you have now been DECLARED righteous, holy, and redeemed by what has been done FOR you (Romans 5:1). Now it’s up to you to take that righteousness provided by GRACE through the measure of FAITH that has already been distributed to every man (Romans 12:3).

Grace is an unmerited favor poured out on us. GOD did that for us. It takes FAITH to believe in what GOD did for us through the sacrifice of Jesus. It takes FAITH to believe that the blood of Jesus was enough and to receive that which grace has made available. Without that faith, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

“For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed in (trusted, relied on) God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness (right living, right standing with God).””

Romans 4:3 AMP

Here we see that Abraham was credited with righteousness because of his BELIEF… And scripture says that is the same way we are credited righteousness as well.

Continue reading... the complete 3-day plan can be found on the YouVersion app.

Consumed By Fire is...

No strangers to the road life, up-and coming Contemporary Christian Music band, Consumed By Fire, are living out the name of their band in a brand-new way. Comprised of Caleb Ward (lead vocals), Jordan Ward (harmonies/percussion), Josh Ward (guitar/harmonies), the three brothers from Oklahoma are living out God’s calling for their lives, to share God’s grace far and wide through music.

“If it wasn’t this form of ministry, if it wasn’t music, it would just be something else. Ministry is what we were born to do,” Caleb says. The band’s sound, heavily influenced by the music they grew up on, is thanks in part to their father’s eclectic taste. Filled with honest truths and the band’s honed musicality, “First Things First,” the band’s current radio single, is evidence of Consumed By Fire’s family bond and the unconditional love of both their earthly and heavenly fathers.

As their single climbs up the radio charts, the band is already receiving media attention with spotlights from KLove and Air1 Radio, praising the band for their“deft lyricism and tight harmonies.” With new music on the horizon as well as upcoming tour dates, the band is ready for a new, exciting year of music.

To learn more, visit ConsumedByFire.com

DAY 3: WALK IN LOVE

If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been weaving in and out of this subject already in days 1 & 2 - and let me just tell you, we’ll continue seeing the theme of “LOVE” finding its way into the coming days of this devotional. This is how it should be. As we mentioned in Day 2, this is how the world knows who we belong to (by how we love each other).

But even deeper than that, Paul gave us a powerful nugget of truth in Galatians 5:6 when he was talking about the fruits of the Spirit. He informed us that “faith works BY LOVE”. What a powerful statement. When we really break down Koine Greek on this verse we’d see “pistis energeo by agape”, which could easily be translated as “the WALK of faith as a believer is energized by the God kind of love”. One of the best ways to view agape love is simply “unconditionally, seeing people as valuable & precious”.

In Mark 11:22-26, Jesus outlined what it takes to have what could be called (after reading these red letters) “mountain moving faith”. He wrapped up His message on mountain moving faith in verses 25 & 26 instructing His disciples that when we stand praying, we are to FORGIVE anybody that we have fought against so that God can also forgive US. This love thing is a big deal y’all. It’s how faith works! It’s the fuel of the kingdom!

You see, we are not walking in the fullness of what this walk with Jesus has to offer until we are committed to walking in the love of God. This could be a whole BOOK in and of itself, but let me try to break this down practically, quickly, and as efficiently as I can.

When it comes to a committed walk of love, we have to ask ourselves the following basic questions...

Continue reading... the complete 3-day plan can be found on the YouVersion app.

Consumed By Fire is...

No strangers to the road life, up-and coming Contemporary Christian Music band, Consumed By Fire, are living out the name of their band in a brand-new way. Comprised of Caleb Ward (lead vocals), Jordan Ward (harmonies/percussion), Josh Ward (guitar/harmonies), the three brothers from Oklahoma are living out God’s calling for their lives, to share God’s grace far and wide through music.

“If it wasn’t this form of ministry, if it wasn’t music, it would just be something else. Ministry is what we were born to do,” Caleb says. The band’s sound, heavily influenced by the music they grew up on, is thanks in part to their father’s eclectic taste. Filled with honest truths and the band’s honed musicality, “First Things First,” the band’s current radio single, is evidence of Consumed By Fire’s family bond and the unconditional love of both their earthly and heavenly fathers.

As their single climbs up the radio charts, the band is already receiving media attention with spotlights from KLove and Air1 Radio, praising the band for their“deft lyricism and tight harmonies.” With new music on the horizon as well as upcoming tour dates, the band is ready for a new, exciting year of music.

To learn more, visit ConsumedByFire.com

DAY 2: FISHERS OF MEN: Passion for the ONE That’s Lost

I love the story of the day when Peter met Jesus. You see, Peter and his brother were commercial fishermen. They knew all things FISHING. Well, they were up on the shores of Lake Gennesaret once cleaning their nets after fishing ALL NIGHT long and not catching so much as a minnow. At this same time that they were cleaning their nets, Jesus was teaching on the shore and the crowds began to really press in and He noticed a couple of boats tied up and asked if He could climb up in the one that belonged to Peter (who was called Simon at that time). Peter pushed the boat out from the shore a bit and let Jesus use his boat as a pulpit to teach from.

Afterwards, Jesus looked at Peter and the boys and basically told them He wanted to go fishin’ and bless their business (Ward’s translation). Peter was like, “Master, I’m telling ya, we know what we’re doing and trust me - there ain’t nothing to be caught out there! We been fishin’ all night man!” At this point, I can just imagine Jesus sort of smiling. Then Peter says, “Nevertheless, because YOU say so, we’re gonna go fishing again”.

The Bible tells us in Luke 5:6 that when they let their nets down again with Jesus that their huge commercial sized fishing nets became so filled up with fish that they began to break the nets and sink the boat. So they had to call the other fishermen around them to come help! I can just see Jesus getting a big kick out of this, laughing and grinning, can’t you!?

After experiencing such a miraculous show of God’s goodness, the Bible says that Peter fell to his knees saying, “Depart from me, Lord! I’m a sinful man!”

Continue reading... the complete 3-day plan can be found on the YouVersion app.

Consumed By Fire is...

No strangers to the road life, up-and coming Contemporary Christian Music band, Consumed By Fire, are living out the name of their band in a brand-new way. Comprised of Caleb Ward (lead vocals), Jordan Ward (harmonies/percussion), Josh Ward (guitar/harmonies), the three brothers from Oklahoma are living out God’s calling for their lives, to share God’s grace far and wide through music.

“If it wasn’t this form of ministry, if it wasn’t music, it would just be something else. Ministry is what we were born to do,” Caleb says. The band’s sound, heavily influenced by the music they grew up on, is thanks in part to their father’s eclectic taste. Filled with honest truths and the band’s honed musicality, “First Things First,” the band’s current radio single, is evidence of Consumed By Fire’s family bond and the unconditional love of both their earthly and heavenly fathers.

As their single climbs up the radio charts, the band is already receiving media attention with spotlights from KLove and Air1 Radio, praising the band for their“deft lyricism and tight harmonies.” With new music on the horizon as well as upcoming tour dates, the band is ready for a new, exciting year of music.

To learn more, visit ConsumedByFire.com

DAY 1: I HAVE DECIDED TO FOLLOW JESUS

I want to take you back to the first day you met the real Jesus. The relief you felt when you realized you could be set free from that addiction, you could be made brand new, and receive a fresh start. The moment you heard the words of Jesus saying, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30).”

Can you remember the moment that you realized you were in need of a savior? Can you remember the awareness of the void that sat inside the core of your being and how the Holy Spirit revealed to you that the only person that could fill that void was Jesus?? Remember the passion that came out of this experience. The new fire you never knew you could have for this thing called “the Gospel”. You had to tell everybody about it! It took you over and immediately started changing you from the inside out. You truly did become “born again”. Perhaps even the closest people around began to say things like, “you’ve changed” or they asked questions like “what’s gotten into you!?”.

The closest comparison you might use to describe this experience to somebody that’s never been born again is probably the feelings and changes that happen when somebody has fallen in love. It takes over their thoughts, they walk around with that silly little smile, and they wanna spend all their time with that person! Funny enough, for everybody close to them that’s never met this other person they sorta have the tendency to either get annoyed or flat out curious if this person their friend or family has fallen in love with actually “lives up to the hype”.

Continue reading... the complete 3-day plan can be found on the YouVersion app.

Consumed By Fire is...

No strangers to the road life, up-and coming Contemporary Christian Music band, Consumed By Fire, are living out the name of their band in a brand-new way. Comprised of Caleb Ward (lead vocals), Jordan Ward (harmonies/percussion), Josh Ward (guitar/harmonies), the three brothers from Oklahoma are living out God’s calling for their lives, to share God’s grace far and wide through music.

“If it wasn’t this form of ministry, if it wasn’t music, it would just be something else. Ministry is what we were born to do,” Caleb says. The band’s sound, heavily influenced by the music they grew up on, is thanks in part to their father’s eclectic taste. Filled with honest truths and the band’s honed musicality, “First Things First,” the band’s current radio single, is evidence of Consumed By Fire’s family bond and the unconditional love of both their earthly and heavenly fathers.

As their single climbs up the radio charts, the band is already receiving media attention with spotlights from KLove and Air1 Radio, praising the band for their“deft lyricism and tight harmonies.” With new music on the horizon as well as upcoming tour dates, the band is ready for a new, exciting year of music.

To learn more, visit ConsumedByFire.com