Daily Devotional 10-28-21
Rom 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. The attitude of mind that a believer has died to sin must be translated into action in his experience. Paul commanded, Therefore do not let sin reign as it did before salvation. The present imperative negative can also be translated, “Stop letting sin reign.” When sin reigns in people’s lives and bodies, they obey its evil desires. Sin enslaves, making a person subject to his own desires. Here, in the case of sin, the desires are evil. In your mortal body means that sin manifests itself through one’s physical actions in this body. The Greek here stresses that the body is mortal or dying. Perhaps this suggests the foolishness of giving in to the desires of a body that is transitory and decaying. To give in to a dying master is…
Daily Devotional 10-27-2021
Pro 17:3 A crucible for silver, and a smelter for gold, and the LORD is the tester of hearts. As silver and gold are purified under intense heat, so a believer’s heart is purified by the heat of trials which the Lord brings.
Daily Devotional 10-26-2021
Mar 10:29-30 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, (30) who will not receive a hundred times more, now at this time—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and eternal life in the age to come. In another solemn affirmation, Jesus acknowledged that their allegiance to Him and the gospel entailed a break with old ties – home, loved ones, or property (fields), as the case may be. But to everyone who makes the break Jesus promised that all these things will be replaced a hundredfold by new ties with fellow rewarddisciples in this present Age, the time period between Jesus’ First and Second Advents. Then in the Age to come, the future Age following Jesus’ return, each…
Daily Devotional 10-25-2021
Rom 12:3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. A believer’s consecration to God and his transformed lifestyle is demonstrated in his exercising his spiritual gifts in the body of Christ. As an apostle of Christ, Paul warned his readers individually – “Do not think of ourself more highly than we ought”. An inflated view of oneself is out of place in the Christian life. Then Paul encouraged us to rather think with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. God has given each believer some faith by which to serve Him. All natural abilities and spiritual gifts are from God. As a result, every Christian should have a proper sense of humility and…
Daily Devotional 10-24-2021
Mat 6:22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. (23) But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness! Jesus realized that it would be difficult for His followers to see how His unconventional teaching on security for the future could possibly work. So He used an analogy of the human eye to teach a lesson on spiritual sight. He said that the eye is the lamp of the body. It is through the eye that the body receives illumination and can see. If the eye is good, the whole body is flooded with light. But if the eye is bad, then vision is impaired. Instead of light, there is darkness. The application is this: The good eye…
Daily Devotional 10-23-2021
2Co 4:10 We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. The life of the servant of God is one of constant dying. Just as the Lord Jesus Himself, in His lifetime, was constantly exposed to violence and persecution, so those who follow in His steps will meet the same treatment. But it does not mean defeat. This is the way of victory. Blessing comes to others as we thus die daily. It is only in this way that the life of Jesus can be apparent in our bodies. The life of Jesus does not here mean primarily His life as a Man on earth, but His present life as the exalted Son of God in heaven. How can the world see the life of Christ when He is not personally or physically present in the…
Daily Devotional 10-20-2021
Mat 6:9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Matt 6:9-13 we have what is generally called ”The Lord’s Prayer.” In using this title, however, we should remember that Jesus never prayed it Himself. It was given to His disciples as a model after which they could pattern their prayers. It was not given as the exact words they were to use, because many words repeated by rote memory can become empty phrases. Our Father in heaven. Prayer should be addressed to God the Father in acknowledgment of His sovereignty over the universe. Hallowed be Your name. We should begin our prayers with worship, ascribing praise and honor to Him who is so worthy of it.
Daily Devotional 10-19-2021
Exo 31:3 I have filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every craft God appointed gifted artisans, Bezalel and Aholiab, to construct the tabernacle and all its furniture. They supervised other workers in this holy task. The repetition of “I” in this paragraph shows that with the divine command there is divine enablement. The Lord appoints His workers, endows them with ability and talent, and gives them a work to do for His glory. The work is all the Lord’s, but He accomplishes it through human instrumentality, then rewards His agents.
Daily Devotional 10-18-2021
1Co 1:30 It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, This verse emphasizes even further that all we are and have comes from Him—not from philosophy, and that there is therefore no room for human glory. First of all, Christ became for us wisdom. He is the wisdom of God, the One whom God’s wisdom chose as the way of salvation. When we have Him we have a positional wisdom that guarantees our full salvation. Secondly, He is our righteousness. Through faith in Him we are reckoned righteous by a holy God. Thirdly, He is our sanctification. In ourselves we have nothing in the way of personal holiness, but in Him we are positionally sanctified, and by His power we are transformed from one degree of sanctification to another. Finally, He is our redemption, and this doubtless…
Daily Devotional 10-15-2021
Rom 15:2-4 Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. (3) For even Christ did not please himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. (4) For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. Here the principle is this: don’t live to please self. Live to please your neighbor, to do him good, to build him up. This is the Christian approach. This is the example the Lord Jesus Christ left. Even He did not please Himself. He came “to do the will” of the Father who sent Him and to please Him. To support this statement Paul quoted a part of a verse from a messianic psalm. Christ was insulted by…