Daily Devotional 9-17-2021
Joh 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation. The communion and fellowship which disciples have with Jesus in this life will increase in eternity. The goal of a believer’s salvation is future glorification which includes being with Jesus. Jesus’ last testament and will is that His disciples can see His glory. This glory was what Jesus had from the Father and would again have. His testament was sealed by His death and resurrection. Since His will is identical to the Father’s, it will certainly come to pass.
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 09-08-2021
Rom 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The description of God as the God of hope relates to hope in to the promises of God recorded in the Scripture which give hope. Paul desired God to fill his readers with all joy and peace. Joy relates to the delight of anticipation in seeing one’s hopes fulfilled. Peace results from the assurance that God will fulfill those hopes. These are experienced as believers trust in Him. As a result, believers overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The achievement of all God’s purposes for the spiritual welfare of His children comes from the power given by the Spirit of God.
Daily Devotional 8-21-2021
Psa 31:19-24 How great is your goodness that you have stored up for those who fear you and accomplished in the sight of everyone for those who take refuge in you. (20) You hide them in the protection of your presence; you conceal them in a shelter from human schemes, from quarrelsome tongues. (21) Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his faithful love to me in a city under siege. (22) In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the sound of my pleading when I cried to you for help. (23) Love the LORD, all his faithful ones. The LORD protects the loyal, but fully repays the arrogant. (24) Be strong, and let your heart be courageous, all you who put your hope in the LORD. David praised the Lord (How great is Your goodness) for His protection of…
Daily Devotional 7-31-2021
Rom 5:3-5 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, (4) endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. (5) This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Believers can enjoy the peace with God that has been achieved and the glorious future in God’s presence that awaits them. But how should we react to the experiences of life that are often adverse and difficult? They are to rejoice in their sufferings. This is more than mere Stoic endurance of troubles, even though endurance or steadfastness is the first result in a chain-reaction outgrowth from distress. Suffering brings about perseverance/steadfastness – the ability to remain under difficulties without giving in. Only a believer who has faced distress can develop steadfastness. That in…
Daily Devotional 7-24-2021
1Ti 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Fight the good fight is the language of athletic contests. Timothy was to give his best effort to this most worthwhile of struggles, the struggle to further the faith. This would involve the complete appropriation at all times of the fact that he possessed eternal life. No way this suggests that Timothy could gain eternal life by his own efforts. To Paul, Christ’s life is the possession of each Christian, not only throughout eternity, but now. It is this new life in Christ to which every Christian is called and which Christians confess by baptism and by word. Timothy’s good confession in the presence of many witnesses could refer to his ordination but more likely speaks of his…
Daily Devotion 7-9-2021
Isa 66:1-2 This is what the LORD says: Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where could you possibly build a house for me? And where would my resting place be? (2) My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word. We need to remind ourselves that He is the universal Creator and Owner, enthroned in heaven, with the earth as His footstool. The dwelling place He desires is the heart of a person who is humble and contrite, and who trembles at His word.
Daily Devotional 7-8-2021
1Pe 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. True victory in persecution is to see God behind the scenes working out His wonderful purposes. Peter gives us a four-fold encouragement: No matter what our trials, Peter reminds us that He is the God of all grace. His dealings with us are not based on what we deserve, but on His thoughts of love to us. No matter how fierce our testing, we can always be thankful we are not in hell where we ought to be. He has called us to His eternal glory. This enables us to look beyond the sufferings of this life to the time when we shall be with the Savior and be like Him forever. Just think of…
Prayer Reading 7-2-2021
O Father God, Forgive our sins as we approach Your Throne. In you, O LORD, we have taken refuge. Let us never be put to shame. As our Rock and Fortress, deliver us from all troubles. You have taught us, and we declare Your marvelous deeds. Do not forsake us till we declare Your power to all. We have become a sign to many. We declare Your splendor all day long. Our mouth is filled with Your praise. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!
Daily Devotional 7-2-2021
Psa 146:3-6 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. (4) When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. (5) Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God. (6) He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them– he remains faithful forever. The psalmist instructed the congregation to put their trust in the One who is infinitely more powerful than mortal man, who cannot save. A person’s plans die with him. At death the spirit of man departs and the body returns to dust. So anyone who trusts in man will have no reason for praising. Meanwhile, blessed is anyone who trusts and hopes in the Sovereign Lord and King. The One is the Maker of heaven and earth, because…