Devotionals

[Descyple]

Greetings everyone. I will restart the "devotionals" thread I created prior to the site crash. If anyone comes across good devotionals, please feel free to post them here.


"The Kingdom of God - The Kingdom of Heaven"

By: John Wesley (1703-1791)
From: Renew My Heart, January 19th

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." - Matthew 3:2, 4:17

The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are two phrases for the same thing. They mean not merely a future happy state in heaven, but a state to be enjoyed on earth - the proper disposition for the glory of heaven rather than the possession of it. In this text, it properly signifies the gospel dispensation, in which subjects were to be gathered to God by His Son, and a society to be formed (the Church), which was to exist first on earth and afterwards with God in glory for those who "endure to the end."

The Jews understood it as a temporal kingdom, but Christ's and John the Baptist's demand of repentance, as previous to it, showed it was a spiritual kingdom. It is the peculiar business of Christ to establish the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men and women. Yet, it is observable that He begins His preaching in the same words as John the Baptist: "Repent!" He thus shows that no wicked person could possibly be a subject of this kingdom, and that the repentance which John had taught still was, and ever will be, the necessary preparation for that present, inward kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

 

[Descyple]

"Old Things Pass - All Things Become New"

By: A.W. Tozer (1897-1963)
From: Renewed Day By Day, Volume 1, January 25th

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." - 2 Corinthians 4:7

The Christian who has dedicated his life to God and has shouldered his cross need not be surprised at the conflict in which he at once finds himself engaged. Such conflict is logical; it results from the nature of God and of man and of Christianity! He will, for instance, discover that the ways of God and the ways of men are not equal. He will find that the skills he learned in Adam's world are of very little use to him in the spiritual realm. His tried and proven methods for getting things done will fail him when he attempts to apply them to the work of the Spirit. The new Adam will not surrender to the old Adam nor gear His new creation to the methods of the world. God will not share His glory with another!

The true Church of God, the company of the forgiven and regenerated, is a marvel and an astonishment in the eyes of the old creation, a perpetual sign of the supernatural in the midst of natural things. The Church is a sheet let down from heaven, an interposition of something unlike and dissimilar, a wonder and a perplexity which cannot be understood nor explained nor gotten rid of. That about her which yields itself to analysis by the historian or the psychologist is the very thing that does not signify, the earthen vessel in which the precious treasure is contained.

The treasure itself transcends the art of man to comprehend. Those who follow on to know the Lord discover that the old things will pass away and all things will become new!

 

[Descyple]

"Christ Is All"

By: Andrew Murray (1828-1917)
From: God's Best Secrets, January 31st

"Christ is all, and is in all." - Colossians 3:11

In the eternal counsel of God, in the redemption on the cross, as King on the throne in heaven and on earth - Christ is all! In the salvation of sinners, in their justification and sanctification, in the upbuilding of Christ's Body, in the care for individuals, even the most sinful - this word avails, Christ is all. Every day and every hour, it affords comfort and strength to the child of God who accepts it in faith - Christ is all.

Have you perhaps thought in reading these pages that the full salvation here described is not meant for you? You feel too weak, too unworthy, too untrustworthy. Dear reader, believe that if you will only accept the Lord Jesus in childlike faith, you will have a leader and a guide who will supply all your needs. Believe with your whole heart in the word of the Savior, "I am with you always," and you will experience His presence each day. However cold and dull your feelings may be, however sinful you are, meet with the Lord Jesus in secret, and He will reveal Himself to you. Tell Him how wretched you are, and then trust Him to help and sustain you. Wait before Him until by faith you can rejoice in Him. Read this book [Colossians] over again, and read it with the thought: Christ is all. I have failed to remember this, but each day as I go to secret prayer, let this thought be with me: Christ is all. Let me take it as my motto - to teach me to pray, to strengthen my faith, to give me assurance of His love and access to the Father, to make me strong for the work of the day: Christ is all.

Yes, Christ, my Christ, is all I need. It will teach me to abide in His love. It will give me the assurance that He dwells in my heart, and I may know the love that passes knowledge. God be praised to all eternity: Christ, my Christ, is my all in all!

 

[Descyple]

"Instantaneous and Insistent Sanctification"

By: Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
From: My Utmost For His Highest, February 8th

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly." - 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

When we pray to be sanctified, are we prepared to face the standard of these verses? We take the term sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared for what sanctification will cost? It will cost an intense narrowing of all our interests on earth, and an immense broadening of all our interests in God. Sanctification means intense concentration on God's point of view. It means every power of body, soul and spirit chained and kept for God's purpose only. Are we prepared for God to do in us all that He separated us for? And then after His work is done in us, are we prepared to separate ourselves to God even as Jesus did? "For their sakes I sanctify Myself."

The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God's standpoint. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the disposition that ruled Him will rule us. Are we prepared for what that will cost? It will cost everything that is not of God in us. Are we prepared to be caught up into the swing of this prayer of the Apostle Paul's? Are we prepared to say, "Lord, make me as holy as You can make a sinner saved by grace"? Jesus has prayed that we might be one with Him as He is one with the Father. The one and only characteristic of the Holy Spirit in a man is a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, and freedom from everything that is unlike Him.

Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit's ministration in us?

 

[DanuckInUSA]

I am also doing a daily devotional on James currently on my blog

 

[Descyple]

"Bearing Injuries"

By: Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
From: Day by Day with Jonathan Edwards, pg 51

Love to God disposes us to imitate him, and therefore disposes us to such longsuffering as he manifests. Longsuffering is often spoken of as one of the attributes of God. In Exodus 34:6, it is said, "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering...'" And in Romans 2:4, the apostle asks, "Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering?" The longsuffering of God is very wonderfully manifest in his bearing innumerable injuries from men, and injuries that are very great and long-continued. If we consider the wickedness that there is in the world, and then consider how God continues the world in existence, and does not destroy it, but showers upon it innumerable mercies, the bounties of his daily providence and grace, we shall perceive how abundant is his longsuffering towards us.

And if we consider his longsuffering to some of the great and populous cities of the world, and think how constantly the gifts of his goodness are bestowed on and consumed by them, and then consider how great the wickedness of these very cities is, it will show us how amazingly great is his longsuffering. And the same longsuffering has been manifest to very many particular persons, in all ages of the world. He is longsuffering to the sinners that he spares, and to whom he offers his mercy, even while they are rebelling against him. And he is longsuffering toward his own elect people, many of whom long lived in sin, and despised alike his goodness and his wrath: and yet he bore long with them, even to the end, till they were brought to repentance, and made, through his grace, vessels of mercy and glory.

A child's love to his father disposes him to imitate his father, and especially does the love of God's children dispose them to imitate their heavenly Father. And as he is longsuffering, so they should be.

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children."
- Ephesians 5:1

 

[Wonderland]

My husband and I are working through an anger workbook right now. Not necessarily "traditional" but certainly uplifting and beneficial to the kingdom and to each other!

 

[Descyple]

"Create In Me A Clean Heart, O God"

By: A.W. Tozer (1897-1963)
From: Renewed Day by Day, Volume 1, February 21

"Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" - John 3:3

The miracle of the new birth was foreshadowed in the Old Testament record: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." There was at least a hint of miracle within the human breast - not the reasoning of yourself into a position, but something happening that could not be explained! Coming into the New Testament, there is no longer any hinting or suggesting about the miracle of the new birth - it is boldly and openly declared. Our savior said that if we come to Him and are not born again, we cannot enter the kingdom of God - that we must be born from above.

Paul told the Corinthians: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." You couldn't make it any stronger than that! Something happens in a man's nature that no man can explain. Just the moment that a man's experience in Christ can be broken down and explained by the psychologists, we have a church member on our hands - and not a Christian! For that which must happen in the new birth can never be explained by psychology or psychiatry. The professional can only stand off respectfully and say, "Behold the works of the Lord." He can never explain it!

And in that great and terrible day to come, many will be shocked when they find that they depended upon a mental assent to Christianity instead of upon the miracle of the new birth.

 

[Descyple]

"All Is Of God"

By: John Wesley (1703-1791)
From: Renew My Heart, March 6th

"The blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, shall cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." - Hebrews 9:14.

Settle this in your heart, that mere work done profits nothing. There is no power to save but in the Spirit of God, no merit but in the blood of Christ. Consequently, even what God ordains conveys no grace to the soul if you do not trust in Him alone. On the other hand, he that does truly trust in Him cannot fall short of the grace of God, even though he were cut off from every outward ordinance, or shut up in the center of the earth. In using all means, seek God alone. In and through every outward thing, look only to the power of His Spirit, and the merits of His Son. Beware you do not get stuck in the work itself; if you do, it is all lost labor. Nothing short of God can satisfy your soul. Therefore, fix on Him in all, through all, and above all. For all the power, and all the merit is of Him alone.

Remember also to use all means as 'means' - as ordained not for their sake, but for the renewal of your soul in righteousness and true holiness. If, therefore, they actually tend to this, that is well; but if not, they are dung and dross.

 

[Descyple]

"The Secret of the Lord"

By: Andrew Murray(1828-1917)
From: God's Best Kept Secrets, March 16th

"When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
- Matthew 6:6.

Christ longed greatly for His disciples to know God as their Father and for them to have secret fellowship with Him. In His own life He found it not only indispensable but the highest happiness to meet the Father in secret. And He wants us to realize that it is impossible to be true, wholehearted disciples without daily communion with the Father in heaven who waits for us in secret. God is a God who hides Himself from the world and all that is of the world. God would draw us away from the world and from ourselves. He offers us, instead, the blessedness of close, intimate communion with Himself. Oh that God's children would understand this!

Believers in the Old Testament enjoyed this experience. "You are my hiding place." "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." "The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him." How much more Christians of the New Covenant should value this secret communion with God. We read, "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." If we really believe this, we shall have the joyful assurance that our life, hid with Christ in God in such divine keeping, is safe and beyond the reach of every foe. We should confidently seek the renewal of our spiritual life daily in prayer to our Father who is in secret.

Because we are dead with Christ, planted with Him in the likeness of His death and resurrection, we know that as the roots of a tree are hidden under the earth, so the roots of our daily life are hidden deep in God. O soul, take time to realize:

"You shall hide me in the secret place of Your presence" - Psalm 31:20

"He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle" - Psalm 27:5

 

[Descyple]

"Honoring God"

By: Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
From: Day by Day with Jonathan Edwards, pg 116

If we live in any way of sin, we live in a way whereby God is dishonored. But the honor of God ought to be supremely regarded by all. If everyone would make it his great care in all things to obey God, to live justly and holily, to walk in everything according to Christian rules, and maintain a strict, watchful, scrutinous eye over himself, to see if there were no wicked way in him, would give diligence to amend whatsoever is amiss, would avoid every unholy, unchristian, and sinful way, and if the practice of all were universally as becomes Christians, how greatly would this be to the glory of God, and of Jesus Christ! How greatly it would be to the credit and honor of religion! How it would tend to excite a high esteem of religion in spectators, and to recommend a holy life! How it would stop the mouths of objectors and opposers!

How beautiful and amiable would religion then appear, when exemplified in the lives of Christians, not maimed and mutilated, but whole and entire, as it were in its true shape, having all its parts and its proper beauty! Religion would then appear to be an amiable thing indeed.

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him"
- 1 John 4:9

 

[Descyple]

"Crucified With Christ"

By: Andrew Murray (1828-1917)
From: God's Best Kept Secrets, June 6th

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." - Galatians 2:20

The thought of fellowship with Christ in His bearing the cross has often led to the vain attempt in our own power to follow Him and bear His image. But this is impossible to us until we first learn to know something of what it means to say, "I have been crucified with Christ." Let us try to understand this. When Adam died, all his descendants died with him and in him. In his sin in paradise and in the spiritual death into which he fell, I had a share; I died in him. And the power of that sin and death, in which all his descendants share, works in every child of Adam every day.

Christ came as the second Adam. In His death on the cross, all who believe in Him had a share. Each one may say in truth, "I have been crucified with Christ." As the representative of His people, He took them up with Him on the cross, and me too. The life that He gives is the crucified life in which He entered Heaven and was exalted to the throne, standing as a Lamb as it had been slain. The power of His death and life work in me, and as I hold fast the truth that I have been crucified with Him and that I myself live no more but Christ lives in me, I receive power to conquer sin; the life that I have received from Him is a life that has been crucified and made free from the power of sin.

We have here a deep and very precious truth. Most Christians have but little knowledge of it. That knowledge is not gained easily or speedily. It requires a great longing to be dead to all sin. It requires a strong faith, wrought by the Holy Spirit, that the union with Christ crucified, that the fellowship of His cross can day by day become our life. The life that He lives in Heaven has its strength and its glory in the fact that it is a crucified life. And the life that He imparts to the believing disciple is a crucified life with its victory over sin and its power of access into God's presence.

It is true that I no longer live but that Christ lives in me as the crucified One. As faith realizes and holds fast the fact that the crucified Christ lives in me, life in the fellowship of the cross becomes a possibility and a blessed experience.