Daily Devotional 3-26-2022
Hos 4:9-10 CSB The same judgment will happen to both people and priests. I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds. (10) They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply. For they have abandoned their devotion to the LORD. Because the priests were no different from the other people, they also would experience the effects of the covenant curses. Despite their greedy schemes to accumulate food, their appetites would not be satisfied for drought would make food scarce. Their efforts to promote fertility through cult prostitution would not succeed.
Daily Devotional 3-25-2022
Hos 4:8 CSB They feed on the sin of my people; they have an appetite for their iniquity. In their greed the priests fed on the sins of the people by encouraging them to multiply the hypocritical sacrifices which the Lord hated. The priests’ underlying motive in doing this was greed, since they received portions of the offerings which were presented.
Daily Devotional 3-24-2022
Hos 4:6 CSB My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as my priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons. Here the accusation is extended to the religious leaders or the demise of the religious leaders is announced. Stumble refers to their moral shortcomings or their coming downfall. These priests and prophets were attached to the official sanctuaries and royal court. Their allegiance was to their human king, not God, and they were characterized by self-gratification and greed.
Daily Devotional 3-23-2022
2Ki 3:17-18 CSB For the LORD says, ‘You will not see wind or rain, but the wadi will be filled with water, and you will drink—you and your cattle and your animals.’ (18) This is easy in the LORD’s sight. He will also hand Moab over to you. This miracle predicted by Elisha affirmed God’s power and authority and validated Elisha’s ministry. King Jehoshaphat of Judah and King Ahab of Israel gave the prophet Micaiah a similar request. But they ignored God’s advice—with disastrous results.
Daily Devotional 3-22-2022
Rom 5:5 CSB 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. A believer’s hope, since it is centred 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…
Daily Devotional 3-21-2022
1Co 13:13 CSB Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love. Faith is an expression of love, as is hope. Faith and hope, as manifestations of love, will endure eternally. So too everyone who follows the way of love finds “the most excellent way”, because every individual characterized by love carries that mark eternally. The spiritual gifts will one day cease to exist, but love will endure forever.
Daily Devotional 3-20-2022
1Th 1:3 CSB We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Three characteristics of these believers stood out in Paul’s mind. First, they had performed an important work produced by faith in Christ. They had turned to the true God from idols. Faith in Christ had produced true repentance. Second, they performed labour prompted by love for Christ. This consisted in their serving the living and true God in the midst of persecution. Third, they had endurance (hypomonēs, lit., “a bearing up patiently under a heavy load”; inspired by hope in Christ. Specifically they were waiting for God’s Son from heaven. These three cardinal virtues that should mark every Christian – faith, love, and hope – stood out in the Thessalonian believers’ lives. Each of these virtues…
Daily Devotional 3-19-2022
1Co 2:4 CSB My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, Neither Paul’s speech nor his preaching were in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Some suggest that his speech refers to the material he presented and his preaching to the manner of its presentation. Others define his speech as his witness to individuals and his preaching as his messages to groups. According to the standards of this world, the apostle might never have won an oratorical contest. In spite of this, the Spirit of God used the message to produce conviction of sin and conversion to God.
Daily Devotional 3-18-2022
1Co 2:1 CSB When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. The apostle now reminds the saints of his ministry among them and how he sought to glorify God and not himself. He came to them proclaiming the testimony of God, not with excellence of speech or of wisdom. He was not at all interested in showing himself off as an orator or philosopher. This shows that the Apostle Paul recognized the difference between ministry that is soulish and that which is spiritual. By soulish ministry, we mean that which amuses, entertains, or generally appeals to man’s emotions. Spiritual ministry, on the other hand, presents the truth of God’s word in such a way as to glorify Christ and to reach the heart and conscience of the hearers.
Daily Devotional 3-18-2022
Deu 17:17 CSB He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray. He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself. The prohibition against taking many wives was given because many kings married foreign women to form political alliances. If the king followed the Lord he would not need political alliances. Also foreign wives would cause his heart to be led astray to worship their idols. The prohibition against large amounts of silver and gold was intended to keep the king from developing a sense of independence and a lust for material wealth.. All three prohibitions, then, were designed to reduce the king to the status of a servant totally dependent on his Master, the Lord. The tragedy of ignoring these commands is seen in Solomon who broke all three prohibitions.