Daily Devotional 10-2-2021
2Co 10:8 For if I boast a little too much about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be put to shame. As an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul had been given authority in connection with the churches he established. The aim of this authority was to build up the saints in their most holy faith. The false teachers, on the other hand, were exercising an authority among the Corinthians which they had never received from the Lord. Not only so, but they were exercising this authority in a manner to tear down the saints rather than build them up. So Paul says that even if he boasted more abundantly in the authority, which the Lord gave him, he would not be put to shame for it. His claims would eventually prove to be true.
Daily Devotional 10-1-2021
2Co 9:8 And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. 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 9-30-2021
Joh 16:22 So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you. Jesus illustrated the truth of pain replaced by joy by the pain of childbirth followed by the joy of new life when a child is born. The disciples were entering the process of pain (your time of grief), but the light of joy was just ahead. When they saw Him after His resurrection, their joy erupted – joy that will never end since He died to sin once but now lives forever.
Daily Devotional 09-29-21
Pro 16:1 The reflections of the heart belong to mankind, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. A person may make plans (placing things in order, like arranging soldiers in battle lines) in his heart but God guides what comes out of the heart in man’s words (the reply of the tongue). God in His sovereignty prevails over man. One’s heart and his speech are closely related.
Daily Devotional 9-28-2021
Joh 6:29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.” Jesus saw through their hypocrisy. They pretended that they wanted to work for God, and yet they did not want to have anything to do with the Son of God. Jesus told them that the first thing they must do is accept the One whom God had sent. So it is today. Many are seeking to earn their way to heaven by good works. But before they can do good works for God, they must first believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Good works do not precede salvation; they follow it. The only good work a sinner can do is to confess his sins and receive Christ as Lord and Savior.
Daily Devotional 9-27-2021
1Jn 4:19 We love because he first loved us. The only reason we love at all is because He first loved us. The Ten Commandments require that a man should love his God and neighbor, but the law could not produce this love. How then could God obtain this love which His righteousness required? He solved the problem by sending His Son to die for us. Such wonderful love draws out our hearts to Him in return. We say, “You have bled and died for me; from now on I will live for You.”
Daily Devotional 9-26-2021
1Co 15:45 So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Some have suggested that Paul reserved this chapter on the Resurrection till last because he thought that a firm belief in it would help solve many of the Corinthians’ problems. Certainly if the message of Christ crucified were foolishness to the Greek mind, the corollary doctrine of the Resurrection was no less so. The implicit denial of the Resurrection on the part of some may be seen in the Corinthian conviction that the present era represented the consummation of God’s material blessings and sexual immorality was a matter of no lasting consequence.
Daily Devotional 9-25-2021
Joh 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. The emphasis in these verses is positive: remain with Jesus and bear much fruit. Effective prayer is based on faith in Christ and on His words remaining in believers. Christ’s words condition and control such a believer’s mind so that his prayers conform to the Father’s will. Since his prayer is in accord with God’s will, the results are certain – it will be given you. Fulfilled prayers bring glory to the Father because, like Jesus, His disciples are doing the heavenly Father’s will.
Daily deovtional 9-24-2021
2Ti 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment. In 1 Timothy the reference to Timothy’s ordination is associated with problems stemming from his youthfulness. Perhaps he had become somewhat intimidated by the opposition to both Paul and the gospel, even in some ways threatened, defensive, and ashamed at having to defend a prisoner and the “foolishness” which they both preached about a despised and crucified Jesus. But such timidity ( “cowardice,”) has no place in God’s service. Instead God gives a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. These three virtues, each supplied by the Holy Spirit, should characterize Timothy.
Daily Devotional 9-23-2021
1Jn 2:6 The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked. Whoever says he abides in Him should walk just as the Lord Jesus walked. His life, as set forth in the Gospels, is our pattern and guide. It is not a life which we can live in our own strength or energy, but is only possible in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility is to turn our lives over to Him unreservedly, and allow Him to live His life in and through us.