Weekly Devotional 31_5_2023
Rom 8:38-39 CSB For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul ransacks the universe for something that might conceivably separate us from God’s love, then dismisses the possibilities one by one— The outcome of Paul’s search is that he can find nothing that can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Daily Devotional 7-19-2022
Psa 33:22 CSB May your faithful love rest on us, LORD, for we put our hope in you. God’s people demonstrate their faith in three ways. First, they wait in hope for deliverance from the Lord as their Help and Shield. Second, they rejoice in Him whom they trust. Third, they pray for His unfailing love to rest on them. So they are confident (hope) He will consummate His program of salvation.
Daily Devotional 12-9-2021
2Pe 3:9 CSB The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. The Lord’s return seems to be so long in coming is that God wants as many people to be saved as possible. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise. Again Peter gave a divine-human comparison. God’s so-called “tardiness” as viewed by some people (as some understand slowness) is only a delay with respect to their time schedules, not His. In fact God’s time schedule is modified by patience, a major attribute of the heavenly Father. The words not wanting anyone to perish do not express a decree, as if God has willed everyone to be saved. Universal salvation is not taught in the Bible. Instead those words describe God’s wishes or desires; He longs that all would be…
Daily Devotional 12-6-2021
Pro 20:6 CSB Many a person proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy person? Loyalty (unfailing love) and faithfulness are desirable qualities, but not everyone who claims to have them actually does. In fact, faithfulness is usually missing. Keeping one’s word and being loyal to one’s commitments are important.
Daily Devotional 11-29-2021
1Co 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. After kicking out the props of false security, Paul pointed toward the One on whom the Corinthians could rely. The temptations that seized the Corinthians were like those people had always faced. They could be met and endured by depending on God, who is faithful. Part of the Corinthian problem, of course, was that some in the face of temptation were not looking for a way out by endurance, but a way in for indulgence.
Daiy Devotional 11-13-2021
Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill? The oracle consists of an introductory statement in which Balak was told directly that the immutable God of Israel had promised to bless His people Israel and would not change His mind. Balaam, moreover, had just been given a command to bless and in the face of God’s unbreakable commitment to Israel, Balaam had no power to do otherwise.
Daily Devotional 11-10-2021
1Co 4:9-13 For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people. (10) We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! (11) Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless; (12) we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; (13) when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the scum of the earth, like everyone’s garbage. Paul was no fool. He did not like suffering. He wished they were right. But they weren’t. The apostles followed the path of Christ’s humiliation. As He marched a parade…
Daily Devotional 10-29-2021
Php 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. As the apostle thinks of the good start the believers have made in the Christian life, he is confident that God will finish the good work He has begun. Good work may refer to their salvation, or it may mean their active financial participation in the furtherance of the gospel. The day of Jesus Christ refers to the time of His coming again to take His people home to heaven and probably also includes the Judgment Seat of Christ, when service for Him will be reviewed and rewarded.
Daily Devotional 9-13-2021
Deu 7:6 For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth. The basis for the command to destroy the Canaanites lay in God’s election of Israel. The word translated chosen means “to be chosen for a task or a vocation.” God had selected Israel as His means of sanctifying the earth. Thus, they were holy (set apart for God’s special use) and were His treasured possession. Since the Canaanites were polluting the earth, and since they might endanger Israel’s complete subordination to the will of the Lord, they either had to repent or be eliminated. And as stated, for 400 years they had refused to repent.
Daily Devotional 9-6-2021
Rom 5:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. A believer’s hope, since it is centered in God and His promises, does not disappoint him. “Disappoint” means “put to shame because of disappointment” in unfulfilled promises. The reason this hope (resulting finally from affliction) does not disappoint is that God has poured out His love into our hearts. God’s love, so abundant in believer’s hearts, encourages them on in their hope. And this love is poured out by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. The Holy Spirit is the divine Agent who expresses to a believer the love of God, that is, God’s love for him. The reality of God’s love in a believer’s heart gives the assurance, even the guarantee, that the believer’s hope in God and His…