Daily Devotional 3-9-2022
1Pe 5:10 CSB The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while. True victory in persecution is to see God behind the scenes working out His wonderful purposes. No matter what our trials, we should remember first of all that He is the God of all grace. This lovely title of our God reminds us that 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. A second strong consolation is that 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…
Daily Devotional 2-28-2022
1Pe 4:15 CSB Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler. Peter stressed that persecution was no excuse for lawlessness. Christians were not to retaliate. Physical violence was not to be met by murder. Confiscation of property was not to be compensated for by theft. No matter what their trials, Christians were to do nothing that would justify punishing them as criminals. They were not to suffer as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. Even interfering in other people’s affairs is out of place for Christians.
Daily Devotional 2-23-2022
1Pe 4:14 CSB If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. The early Christians rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ. So should every Christian who has the privilege of being reviled for Christ’s sake. Such suffering is a true indication that the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us. This is the Holy Spirit who rests upon persecuted Christians as the glory cloud rested on the tabernacle in the OT, indicating the presence of God. We know that the Spirit indwells every true child of God, but He rests in a special way upon those who are completely committed to the cause of Christ. They know the presence and power of the Spirit of God as others do not. The same Lord Jesus who is…
Daily Devotional 11-17-21
2Co 7:5-6 In fact, when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest. Instead, we were troubled in every way: conflicts on the outside, fears within. (6) But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus, Paul’s frame of mind and body before Titus’ arrival was far from placid. He had no rest. The great apostle did not always ride a spiritual crest, which he was not hesitant to admit. He candidly admitted that his conflicts… fears and depression (downcast) were brought on by apparent opposition or persecution in Macedonia, by anxiety about Titus’ well-being, by his reception by the Corinthians, and by their response to his letter. However, the ample comfort of God more than met his needs through the coming of Titus and the good news he brought. Titus had been well received by the Corinthians. They did love Paul and longed for him…
Daily Devotional 10-30-2021
Php 1:29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, So that being opposed would not come as a surprise, he gave them a reminder. Both believing on Christ and suffering for Him had been granted to them. Suffering for Christ was not to be considered accidental or a divine punishment. Paul referred to a kind of suffering that was really a sign of God’s favor. Believing on Christ and suffering for Him are both associated with God’s grace.
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 10-6-2021
Joh 16:21-22 When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world. (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 8-23-2021
Php 3:10-11 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, (11) assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. To know Christ by experience & to experience the power of His resurrection was also the apostle’s goal. The power which brought Christ forth from the dead now operates in believers’ lives since they have been “raised with Christ”. “Power” means ability to overcome resistance. By setting forth his own goals and ambitions Paul gave the Philippians an example to follow. His example was, of course, in stark contrast to the Judaizers whose example they were not to follow. Paul also longed to share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and in so doing to become like Him in His death. These sufferings were not Christ’s substitutionary sufferings on the cross. Paul…
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…
Daily Devotional June, 19 2021
Psa 16:9-10 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, (10) because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. Christ, the Lord, is preserved by God, given His inheritance, not moved or shaken, secured from death, and ushered into the presence of the Father where there is fullness of joy. This hope then becomes our hope in Him. We too share His Easter victory. In Him we rest in hope. In Him our souls are not abandoned to Sheol. In Him we do not see corruption and in Him we will know the very presence and pleasures of God. The Resurrection of Christ, based on Psalm 16, means for us that what God promises, He delivers. We are held by this hope until we see Jesus face to face and…