Daily Devotional 8-31-2021
1Th 4:7 For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness. Paul’s first reason looks forward to the prospect of future punishment, but his second reason looks back to the purpose for which God called each Christian to Himself. God’s plan for a Christian includes purifying his life. Sexual immorality frustrates the purpose of God’s call. Certain pagan cults promoted unclean ceremonies, but Christ’s plans for a Christian are to clean him up. A holy life demonstrates God’s supernatural power at work overcoming what is natural, and it glorifies God.
Daily Devotional 8-30-2021
Lam 3:21-23 Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: (22) Because of the LORD’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. (23) They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! Could Judah push God so far that He would finally abandon her forever? Was God’s supply of loyal love and compassion limited? Jeremiah’s answer was no. God’s mercies are new every morning. God offered a fresh supply of loyal love every day to His covenant people. Much like the manna in the wilderness, the supply could not be exhausted. This truth caused Jeremiah to call out in praise, Great is Your faithfulness. He was taken back by the limitless supply of God’s grace offered to him. Because of this, Jeremiah resolved to wait for God to act, bringing about restoration and blessing. He could trust God despite his circumstances because he…
Daily Devotional 8-29-2021
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Basic to an understanding of this verse is the meaning of union with Christ. This doctrine explains that believers have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ and into the church, the body of all true believers. Having been thus united to Christ, believers share in His death, burial, and resurrection. Paul could therefore write, I have been “crucified with Christ”. This brought death to the Law. It also brought a change in regard to one’s self: and I no longer live. The self-righteous, self-centered Saul died. Further, death with Christ ended Paul’s enthronement of self; he yielded the throne of his life to Another,…
Daily Devotional 28-8-2021
Eph 3:8-9 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ, (9) and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. Two infinitives state Paul’s functioning in this ministry. First, he was to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Second, he was to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery. Though Paul ministered to both Jews and Gentiles, he was especially designated as the apostle “to the Gentiles”. The Gentiles can know something of the riches of Christ’s. Yet Christ’s fathomless spiritual wealth can never be fully comprehended. Paul was to disclose publicly to everyone, not just the Ephesians this stewardship of God’s sacred secret. This secret had been hidden in God, the Creator of the universe. Even before creating all things…
Daily Devotional 8-27-2021
Isa 62:5 For as a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you; and as a groom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you. The city’s new relationship with God is compared to the happiness of a marriage. Rather than being called Deserted or Desolate, previous characteristics of the city, Jerusalem will be named Hephzibah (“My delight is in her”) and Beulah (“Married one”). The words so will your sons marry you (Jerusalem) imply that people again will live in Jerusalem and God will be happy about the wonderful state of affairs
Daily Devotional 8-26-2021
Psa 42:1-2 For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. (2) My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? The psalmist begins with a compelling and beloved image. He thirsts for God as a deer thirsts for water in the desert. The psalmist’s “soul” is himself, and the living God will satisfy him in the same way that streams of water satisfy the deer. The longing for God provokes a question: “When shall I come to the temple where God dwells and see His face?”.
Daily Devotional 08-25-2021
Psa 51:1 For the choir director. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba. Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love; according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. (2) Completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. David appealed to God’s love and compassion as he petitioned the Lord to forgive him by grace and cleanse him from sin. God’s attributes of unfailing love for His servant and His compassion for the helpless, were the basis for David’s appeal for mercy. It is also a recognition that David did not deserve forgiveness. God’s forgiveness is by His grace alone. The three verbs David employed here are figurative. “Blot out” implies a comparison with human records that can be erased; “wash away” compares forgiveness with washing clothing (often viewed as an extension of a person),…
Daily Devotion 8-24-2021
Isa 26:12-15 LORD, you will establish peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us. (13) LORD our God, lords other than you have owned us, but we remember your name alone. (14) The dead do not live; departed spirits do not rise up. Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them; you have wiped out all memory of them. (15) You have added to the nation, LORD. You have added to the nation; you are honored. You have expanded all the borders of the land. In the kingdom believers will enjoy the peace God gives and will recognize God’s work on their behalf. They will affirm that they remained true to God even though they will have been under the domination of others. Those who will seek to dominate the remnant will be dead, under God’s judgment. Sheol shall greet the departed spirits. In contrast the…
Daily Devotional 8-23-2021
Php 3:10-11 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, (11) assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. To know Christ by experience & to experience the power of His resurrection was also the apostle’s goal. The power which brought Christ forth from the dead now operates in believers’ lives since they have been “raised with Christ”. “Power” means ability to overcome resistance. By setting forth his own goals and ambitions Paul gave the Philippians an example to follow. His example was, of course, in stark contrast to the Judaizers whose example they were not to follow. Paul also longed to share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and in so doing to become like Him in His death. These sufferings were not Christ’s substitutionary sufferings on the cross. Paul…
Daily Devotional 8-22-2021
Jas 4:6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. God opposes the proud. To the humble, however, God gives grace. Whether a believer is called to resist his human spirit which tends toward envy or to rejoice in the Holy Spirit who jealously yearns for each believer’s edification, the call is to shun pride and to submit humbly to God’s authority. The cure for conflict is a humble spirit which is rewarded by God’s unmerited favor.