Daily Devotional 3-13-2022
2Co 9:8 CSB And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; Ultimately Christians can dispense only what they have received, whether material or spiritual. The good work is done through God’s enabling. Regardless of how desperate one’s circumstances, a person who wants to give can do so in dependence on God. Once again Paul sounded the note that man’s inability, by contrast, showcases God’s work. This verse is full of words indicating inclusiveness in God’s enabling: all grace… in all things at all times, having all that you need… in every good work.
Daily Devotional 3-12-2022
2Co 9:6 CSB The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously. In verses 6 through 15 the Apostle Paul lists some of the wonderful rewards and benefits of Christian giving. First, he sets forth the law of the harvest. It is a well-known fact in agriculture that a generous sowing of seed is necessary if there is to be a generous harvest. Perhaps the farmer is ready to put the seed in the ground. Shall he sow liberally or shall he take some of the grain and use it as food during the months ahead? The thought here is that if he sows it liberally, he will also reap out of all proportion to what he sows. We should remember this with regard to agriculture—the farmer does not reap the exact amount of grain he…
Daily Devotional 3-7-2022
2Co 8:2 During a severe trial brought about by affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. These Christians had been going through a great trial of affliction. Ordinarily, people thus tested would seek to save their money to provide for their future. And especially so if they were not very prosperous, as was the case with the Macedonians. They did not have very much money at all. Yet their Christian joy was so overflowing that when the need of the saints in Jerusalem was presented to them, they reversed all ordinary behavior and gave in a most liberal manner. They were able to combine affliction, joy, poverty, and liberality.
Daily Devotional 11-21-2021
Joh 16:33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” Jesus’ instructions about these things (John chapters 14-16) were intended to sustain them, to give them peace in Him. Believers have a dual existence: they are in Christ and in this world. In union with Jesus, His disciples have peace, but the world exerts a hostile pressure. The world system, the enemy of God and His people, opposed Jesus’ message and ministry. But Jesus won the victory over the system; He has overcome the world. As the “strong man” who came and ruined Satan’s kingdom, Jesus is the Victor. Jesus wanted the disciples to remember this fact and to rejoice in His victory. Take heart! means “Be courageous.” Because He won they, in union with Him, can win also.
Daily Devotional 10-16-2021
Eph 3:16 I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, According to the riches of His glory, Paul is going to ask that the saints might be spiritually strengthened. But to what extent? In abundance, consonant to the riches of His glory; not “according to” the narrowness of our hearts. There is a difference between the expressions “out of the riches” and “according to the riches”. A wealthy person might give a trifling amount; it would be out of his riches, but not in proportion to them! Paul asks that God will give strength according to the riches of His perfections. Since the Lord is infinitely rich in glory, let the saints get ready for a deluge! Why should we ask so little of so great a King? When someone asked a…
Daily Devotional 09-04-2021
Zec 2:3-5 And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him, (4) and said to him, “Run, speak to that young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle within it. (5) ‘For I,’ declares the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’” Another angel, possibly coming from the surveyor, gave a message to Zechariah’s interpreting angel to be conveyed to the prophet. That Jerusalem will be a city without walls indicates that the city will overflow its boundaries because of divine blessing. It will need no fortification or protection because of God’s presence. The Lord will be Jerusalem’s protection without and glory within. This promise looks forward to the Lord’s personal presence through the Messiah in the millennial…