Daily Devotion
September 8, 2024
Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching”.
In these days before the coming of Christ, when the world around us is beginning to shake, we have to band together, support each other, and live as the family of God. When we are told “to provoke unto love and to good works”, it means to keep each other excited and stirred up in our spirits to love each other and do what is right. Doing what is right before God in a world that’s doing so much wrong in His eyes is testimony that we represent Him. No infighting among ourselves and no finger-pointing and squabbling over trivial doctrines but allowing God’s love and peace to rule. When Covid came, it caused great disruption to churches. Our normal practice of assembling to worship the Lord was greatly affected and many people stopped going to church. But part of the way we support each other in the faith is by coming together, worshipping together, hearing God’s Word taught together, and taking the Lord’s Supper together as the body of Christ. The words, “exhorting one another” means we encourage each other in our walk of faith. We are encouragers, not discouragers. We have words to comfort others, words to bless, and words to show compassion and love. We have jobs to do that add our talents and abilities to the cause of Christ and we’re not afraid to volunteer our time and resources in the name of the Lord. It’s encouraging to assemble to worship and see others around us looking to the Lord and honoring Him. It’s encouraging to shake hands and have someone say, “It’s good to see you today.” It’s encouraging to pray together and reverence the Lord as a member of His church and sense His peace and presence as He moves among His people. It’s encouraging to see the children, full of energy and life running around the church grounds and we know that they are being taught the Bible stories that we all grew up hearing, that formed the foundation of our faith. There can be no mistake; The day of Christ is coming and we can be at our best when we always look for ways to love and encourage each other.
____________________________________________
September 7, 2024
1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing”
Do you believe God hears and answers prayers? He does, and that’s one of the reasons it’s such a battle to maintain a consistent prayer life. The enemy knows that God’s ears are open to His people and he knows the Lord delights to answer our prayers. So, he wears us down, keeps us procrastinating, and substitutes religious activities attempting to keep us from praying. He knows what the Lord has promised and he understands the power of James 5:16, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” A startling verse is found in 1 Samuel 12:23, “Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you” and shows us we are responsible before the Lord to pray for people in our care. Examples are pastors who do not pray for the people they pastor and dads and moms who do not pray for their children are negligent before God. The Lord is not binding us with a commandment here to restrict our liberties but showing that prayer is so important that its practice should be who we are. When Saul was converted and, on his way, to meet with Ananias, the Lord described him to Ananias in Acts 9:11, “behold, he prayeth.” So, the three little words in today’s verse, “Pray without ceasing”, are an encouragement to us to keep praying. People who believe in the power of prayer are known to pray about everything. They take literally the words of Philippians 4:6, “Be careful (worried, anxious) for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” This verse doesn’t mean we are to spend every waking hour on our knees, but that our thoughts and words are to always be directed to the Lord. When we get up, “Thank you Lord for another day”. When we’re driving to work, “Thank you God for my safety and that I have a job and the strength to do it.” Throughout the day, “Thank You Lord for your shield of favor that surrounds me. Show me open doors to be a blessing to someone.” This may not seem easy at first because our minds are conditioned by this world to save God for our Sunday mornings and spend the day operating in a mindset of worrying, complaining, and immersing ourselves in the things of the world. But as we follow the pattern, it becomes a natural way to live, always looking to the Lord and always praying and thanking God. These three words can be life-changing if you believe God hears and answers prayers.
___________________________________________
September 6, 2024
1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Rejoice evermore”
Here is one sentence with two words that are so important because they describe a pattern for believers that leads us to victory. In a dark, cynical, and discouraging world, they tell us to keep rejoicing. Having joy at all times might seem impossible but we have the mind of Christ and we know the truth about our situation and that of the world. It’s easy to get bogged down in the moment and lose sight of the fact that God has everything under control. The medical report looks bad, someone you trusted abandoned you, you didn’t get the job you applied for, and the children are going through hard times. And then, there’s the constant news of the world around us. Violence, threats of a world war, cultural upheavals, and the rising cost of living. But none of these things change who God is and nothing can change His plans for us. We have His promise that He will never leave us or fail us. In times like these, we turn our gaze away from the things of this world with its bad news and problems and look to the founder and perfecter of our faith. When we see Him high and lifted up, Lord of all, we can rejoice because He will never fail. Even when it seems hopeless and that there are no answers to our dilemmas, God always has an answer and He will always provide a way of escape. That’s why we can always rejoice because He has the final word. We walk by faith, trusting His promises even when we can’t see a way out. And, when we are tempted to complain about our problems, we know the Lord is working all things for our good and we praise the Lord anyway. Instead of a pattern where we always talk about our problems, how big they are, how groceries are too high, and how we never get any good breaks, let’s shift the pattern to talking about how great God is and how He will never let us down. Yes, the reality of the moment may seem overwhelming but we have eyes of faith that can see past the moment of trouble to the time when the Lord will deliver us. As the song says, we raise a Hallelujah in the presence of the enemy. When it seems all is lost, and when we can’t see an exit but we know there is one, we always rejoice.
________________________________________________
September 5, 2024
Jonah 3:1-2 “And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee”
When the Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them, Jonah tried every way he could to run from God’s call. We all know the story of how he ended up being swallowed by a whale. You’d think that after such a blatant act of disobedience, God would have said, “Alright big boy, since you won’t obey me, I’ll just call me another prophet that will.” But God’s grace to us isn’t cancelled out by our failures and His love for us is greater than all our sins. If God demanded strict obedience in all things and when we don’t obey, He casts us out, none of us would have a chance. Jonah may have thought, while he was in the whale’s belly, that he’d blown it and God was finished with him. The enemy may have whispered the same thing to him he does to us when we fall short of God’s will. “It’s over”, he says, “this time you’ve proven you’re not fit to serve God. You might as well quit and walk away.” Has that ever happened to you? Maybe you’ve made a blunder that you think is so big that the Lord will not open any more doors for you or give you any more opportunities. God knew you would fall short before He ever called you and He is ready to give you another chance. We don’t know what was going through the prodigal son’s mind as he made his way back home, but I’m not sure he was expecting the level of love, mercy, and grace he found when he arrived. Grace is not an excuse to sin and surely none of us who proclaim the message of God’s amazing grace implies that it is. But just as it was with Jonah, the Lord is a God of second chance. And not just second chances, but third, fourth, fifth, and so on. Jonah teaches us a lesson that when God calls us, the Bible says in Romans 11:29, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” What a wonderful verse, “And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time.” The second time, fresh from the whale’s belly, Jonah obeyed.
___________________________________________
September 4, 2024
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed”
The life of a believer is not just easy livin good times and anyone who pictures it that way is wrong. We are indeed more than conquerors but that phrase in itself implies there is an enemy and a battle. When the Lord tells us in Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil”, we are pictured as a warrior armed for war. And yet, despite what we are up against, today’s verses tell us that even when we are facing the onslaught of this world, by the power and grace of God we rise above it and emerge in victory. We are troubled on every side. Everywhere we look, the enemy has a foothold in our culture but we are not distressed, a word that means hemmed in. The Son of God has set us free and given us power over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). We are perplexed. That means not knowing which way to turn. But we are not in despair meaning we never give up even when it looks like there’s no way out. We are persecuted because the enemy is always trying to shut us and the message of Jesus down. That’s what the scripture is describing when it speaks of “the wiles of the devil”. But God never forsakes us. He goes in front of us, clearing the landmines the devil sets and He swings the sword of His Word. We are cast down meaning sometimes we get knocked to our knees. Sickness, heartaches, afflictions, and a host of other problems we call the storms of life come our way. But because we’re built on the solid rock foundation of Jesus Christ, we will never be defeated. Because we belong to the Lord, when we fight in Jesus’ name we can never be destroyed. We have to see ourselves as overcomers and victors. We are not victims, weak and helpless. We have the strength of Almighty God in front of us, over us, under us, and all around us. We have His promises of unfailing protection and the Bible declares in Ephesians 3:20, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
_________________________________________
September 3, 2024
Acts 23:6 “But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question”
Paul was arrested for preaching the gospel and brought before the Sanhedrin, a religious court composed of leaders from both religious groups at that time, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed in life after death and that there would be a resurrection. The Sadducees were the extreme liberals of that day and denied an afterlife and resurrection. Paul introduced the subject of a resurrection at the beginning of his defense and divided his accusers against each other. The reality of a bodily resurrection is still at the heart of what people today believe about the future. Many believe in an afterlife but most of them believe only our spirits will live on after death. But just as Jesus rose from the dead in His body, we too will also rise from the dead in our bodies. Although, our bodies will be changed from what they are now into a glorified body like the Lord’s. Our blessed hope is that we will live eternally in a body that can see, feel, move, has substance, and in many ways, will be similar to the body we have now. When Jesus rose from the dead, He could be touched and felt, speak, hear, carry on a conversation, cook food, eat, wear clothes, and all this is given from the scriptures that describe Him after His resurrection. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:52, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Paul wrote in Acts 24:15, “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” When Jesus rose from the dead the Bible tells us in Matthew 27:52-53, “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Our blessed hope is not only that we have eternal life, but that we also will have amazing, real bodies just like our Lord’s. Bodies in which we can enjoy the afterlife but bodies that have no pain and never grow old or wear out.
_________________________________________________
September 2, 2024
Jeremiah 6:15 “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush”
This could well have been written about our world today. No matter what they are doing and how wickedly they live, many people have no shame in their sins. It’s the opposite: They laugh, parade it, and celebrate it. The seriousness is that when the sense of shame is gone, so is the foundation for conviction. And when there is no conviction, there is no conversion. When people are not convicted, that is convinced, that they are doing wrong, they no longer see God as The Righteous Judge and they will not confess their sins. The next step is that they will call their sins “Ok” and “good”. They will excuse them away as a society becoming “progressive” and before long, the things that once were terrible wrongs become daily practices. Several years ago, Pastor Ken Klaus wrote: “Drug dealers are not ashamed of the profits they reap from the addiction of little children. The wads of cash they flash justifies their sin. Pornographers, hiding behind freedom of speech, are not ashamed of the smut and sexual sewage they spew forth across the internet. A politician convicted on receiving bribes admits that he may have made some improper choices. A gang member gives a gold-toothed smile to the cameras when he is arrested for having killed an innocent child in a drive-by shooting. He makes it clear that he is not at fault: “That kid is dead because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.” We know the list goes on continually of people doing wrong and feeling no shame. Today’s verse appears twice in the Book of Jeremiah, in 6:15 and again in 8:12. In both places, God said when the people became unashamed for their sins, “therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.” It’s disturbing to live in a world where people call evil good and good evil but these abominations will not continue unchecked. We can call it a day of reckoning, the final accounting, or the day when the score is settled but it means that when we will no longer acknowledge our sins, even when the Holy Spirit strives with us, God will balance our books. It might take a while, but just as He is faithful to forgive sins that are confessed, He is faithful to judge those that aren’t.
______________________________________
September 1, 2024
2 Samuel 7:29 “Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord GOD, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever”
The word house here means family and we would generalize it to mean, our home. David is praying for God to bless his family and not just those who were living at that moment, but for all who would descend from him. Do you ever pray for the Lord to bless your home? There is so much confusion, so much strife in many homes today, and the very place that should be our refuge from the growing darkness of evil has become a battlefield. Almost 200 years ago, there was a popular song, “Home, Sweet Home” and one of the lines said, “There’s no place like home.” But today many parents and children come home to a place of abuse, sorrow, and loneliness. Instead of looking forward to coming home at the end of the work day and school day, many people wish they had somewhere else to go. When we say and pray, “God bless America”, we should start by praying, “God bless our homes”. David’s house was by no means a perfect place. There was strife and drama among his children and at one point when his son Absalom rebelled against David and attempted to take the throne, it seemed the House of David had lost all its blessing. But when we go to God in faith and believe in His goodness, He will restore all the enemy tried to destroy. Maybe you have division and strife right now in your home. Maybe the enemy has sown the seed of discord and it seems like there is no way your family can get back to a place of peace and blessing. Remember that God wants our home to be a place where He is honored and He wants to bless us. We can start by declaring again, Joshua 24:15, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” And then, we can agree together to declare that Jesus is the Lord of our family and encourage each other to seek Him and His ways above all else. We can forgive each other, love each other, and unite. Let’s pray for each other and make an effort to have homes that give us and our children a refuge, a place of happiness and peace in a world of trouble.
___________________________________________________