Memorial Day Weekend
SUNDAY – MAY 28, 2023
“Where there is no vision (prophetic revelation), the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law.”
Proverbs 29:18
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Proverbs 14:34
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” Psalm 33:12
The impact on the founding of these United Sates of America by the truth of God’s Word, the Bible, is written in the annals of this nation. From its founding through its history, great statesmen have recognized and expressed this fact. One of those early leaders was Patrick Henry, a man known as a revolutionary and leader of anti-British political action. Although most of us recognize him for saying, “Give me liberty, or give me death,” he also wrote the following:
“Whether this will prove a blessing or curse will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings, which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable.
“Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this, and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others.”
He also wrote: “It is when a people forget God, that tyrants forge their chains.”
Others have also realized why this nation has prospered in so many wonderful ways. Charles Malik (1906-1967) was the ambassador to the United Nations from Lebanon, and he served as the president of the 13th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1959. This man wrote:
“The good in the United States would never have come into being without the blessing and power of Jesus Christ… Whoever tries to conceive the American word without taking full account of the suffering and love and salvation of Christ is only dreaming. I know how embarrassing this matter is to politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, and cynics; but whatever these honored men think, the irrefutable truth is that the soul of America is, at its best and highest, Christian.”
SUNDAY – MAY 21, 2023
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44, 45
The demands of following Jesus are extremely challenging and actually humanly impossible. To live like Jesus requires that we experience the victory that Jesus offers us through the spiritual new birth. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17) Only as the “old man” is sublimated to the higher “mind of Christ” can one actually live and love like Jesus. It is good for all of us to be reminded that we indeed are called to this “higher life” in Christ.
“Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.” C. H. Spurgeon wrote the following about Matthew 5:7 for the May 16th devotional in Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith.
“It is not meant that the man who will not forgive should be forgiven, nor shall he who will not give to the poor have his own wants relieved. God will measure to us with our own bushels, and those who have been hard masters and hard creditors will find that the Lord will deal as hard with them. ‘He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy.’
“This day let us try to give and to forgive. Let us mind the two bears – bear and forbear. Let us be kind, and gentle, and tender. Let us not put harsh constructions upon men’s conduct, nor drive hard bargains, nor pick foolish quarrels, nor be difficult to please. Surely, we wish to be blessed, and we also want to obtain mercy; let us be merciful, that we may have mercy. Let us fulfill the condition, that we earn the beatitude. Is it not a pleasant duty to be kind? Is there not much more sweetness in it than in being angry and ungenerous? Why, there is a blessedness in the thing itself! Moreover, the obtaining of mercy is a rich reward. What but sovereign grace could suggest such a promise as this? We are merciful to our fellow mortal in pennies, and the Lord forgives us ‘all that debt.’”
Mother’s Day
SUNDAY – MAY 14, 2023
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed,
but shall speak with their enemies in the gate.” (Psalm 127:3-5)
The very first institution that God established was marriage and the home. His instruction was given at the very beginning to “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) As Scripture reveals God’s purpose for the home, He makes clear that parents are to “teach” their children and “train them in the fear and admonition of the Lord.” Parents are given the responsibility of their children’s “upbringing,” growth, knowledge, and wisdom. The following illustration gives a very keen insight into the enemy’s attempts to thwart the plans of God and the great answer to those attempts.
“A little girl was being troubled by a parish priest to attend classes for religious instruction. She refused, saying it was against her father’s wishes. The priest told her she should obey him rather than her father. ‘Oh, sir,’ she replied, ‘we are taught in the Bible to honor our father and mother.’ ‘You have no business reading the Bible,’ declared the priest. ‘But, sir,’ the child replied, ‘our Lord said to search the Scriptures.’ ‘That was said only to the Jews, not to children who cannot understand it,’ he said. ‘But, sir,’ the girl said eagerly, ‘Paul said to Timothy, “From a child thou hast known the Scriptures.”’ The priest had an answer for that too. ‘Timothy was taught by the authorities of the church,’ he explained, ‘and trained to be a bishop.’ The little girl knew her Bible so was able to have the last word. ‘Oh, sir,’ she answered, ‘he was taught by his mother and grandmother.’” (II Timothy 1:5; 3:15)
SUNDAY – MAY 7, 2023
“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out,
‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs –
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…” Romans 8:15-17a
An incredible and wonderful declaration is made in God’s Word that born-again Christians are children of God! We are members of God’s family with the identical status as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wow! “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (I John 3:1a) Every believer is given a new identity in Jesus Christ. Our earthly family background is no longer the most prominent identifying feature of our life! I love what E. Stanley Jones wrote in Victorious Living for Wednesday of Week 18.
“Jesus overcame two handicaps: He had no formal education, and He did not belong to a leading family. He suffered in the eyes of the educated and cultured because He had no learning which would correspond to our college degree: ‘He’s never been taught! How has He mastered the Law?’ (John 7:15 CEB). But He overcame that, and made what He has so real and worthwhile that the people who followed Him saw that He knew life and could give it. You and I can enter into that victory!
“Then, again, there was victory over a commonplace family tradition. He came from a peasant family, from a despised place. And when you look at His family history as seen in the genealogy you see streams of rather evil blood poured into that family tradition. Many of us have to gain victory at this point, for we come, not from ‘the best families,’ but from very common stock. But that very handicap can make us start a new tradition. We are told by Harry Emerson Fosdick that Shakespeare was the son of a bankrupt butcher and a woman who could not write her name; Beethoven was the son of a consumptive mother and a father who was a drunkard; Schubert was the son of a peasant father and a mother in domestic service; Michael Faraday was born in a stable, his father an invalid blacksmith, his mother a common drudge. (That is the noun form referring to the person who works and lives in drudgery.)
“When people in the 1600s objected to a noble lady marrying a nonconformist minister Matthew Henry because of his lowly birth, she replied, ‘I don’t care where he came from; I’m only interested in where he is going to, and I want to go with him.’
“We too can enter into the victory that Jesus gained and make people forget where we have come from as they watch us going on with Him!”
SUNDAY – APRIL 30, 2023
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” (Psalm 127:3) “When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord… Yes, may you see your children’s children.” (Psalm 128:2-4, 6)
The very first “institution” that God created was the family, the home. God has established and revealed in the Bible guidelines and laws to protect the family and maintain the family as the basic unit of all life on this earth. Even as Jesus spoke and taught about our relationship with God, He used the imagery of the family and home. He called the Creator God “our Father” and our home in heaven “the Father’s house”. As believers in the Bible and followers of Jesus Christ, we must be committed to the protection and preservation of the family as defined in the Bible as a union of a man and woman which can be blessed with children. The following was written by Charles H. Spurgeon for the April 25th reading in Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith. It is based on Proverbs 20:7: “The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.”
“Anxiety about our family is natural, but we shall be wise if we turn it into care about our own character. If we walk before the Lord in integrity, we shall do more to bless our descendants than if we bequeathed them large estates. A father’s holy life is a rich legacy for his sons.
“The upright man leaves his heirs his example, and this in itself will be a mine of true wealth. How many men may trace their success in life to the example of their parents!
“He leaves them also his repute. Men think all the better of us as the sons of a man who could be trusted, the successors of a tradesman of excellent repute. Oh, that all young men were anxious to keep up the family name!
“Above all, he leaves his children his prayers and the blessing of a prayer-hearing God, and these make our offspring to be favoured among the sons of men. God will save them even after we are dead. Oh, that they might be saved at once!
“Our integrity may be God’s means of saving our sons and daughters. If they see the truth of our religion proved by our lives, it may be that they will believe in Jesus for themselves. Lord, fulfil this word to my household!”
SUNDAY – APRIL 23, 2023
“And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10:38-39
One of the repeated challenges throughout the New Testament is the call to self-renunciation. It is found in words about denying self, putting off self, or even crucifying self. This call to total commitment to the cause of Christ must be given attention if we are going to progress in our spiritual life. E. Stanley Jones entitled a devotional about this “Letting That Last Thing Go,” found at Friday of the 15th week in Victorious Living.
‘The last thing we want to let go of is just ourselves. It is the one and only thing we really own. And now Christ with imperious demand asks for that last one thing. It is at this place that the real battle is joined. All else have been skirmishes.
“Jesus said with awful decisiveness, ‘Whoever comes to Me and doesn’t hate father and mother, spouse and children, and brothers and sisters – yes, and one’s own life – cannot be My disciple’ (Luke 14:26 CEB). Our families and ourselves must be placed on the altar. This does not mean that we should necessarily leave the family. Here, to ‘hate’ means to ‘love less,’ according to the parallel passage in Matthew 10:37.
“A lighted candle casts a shadow when it is put before an electric light. Thus the lesser loves, while really light, cast a shadow when this all-consuming Love makes its demand upon the human spirit. These loves are not to be abandoned; they are to be surrendered. You still live with yourself even after you surrender yourself, so you may still live with your family after you surrender them.
“Now, the interesting thing to note is that the ‘life,’ or the self, was the last thing mentioned: ‘yes, and one’s own life.’ Why is that last? Because it is the last thing we ever give up. The missionary gives up home and loved ones to go to another land – everything except self. The missionary finds the inner self touchy over position, place, and power. The minister sacrifices a great deal to go into the ministry – everything except the minister. A minister preaches the gospel with a great deal of vanity and personal ambition mixed up in it. Laypeople give up much to follow Christ, but find themselves easily offended in the very following of Christ. In each case the self is still there! It must be surrendered!”
SUNDAY – APRIL 16, 2023
“Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life,
because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.” I John 3:13-14
Jesus told His “inner circle,” those first 12 men whom we call His disciples, that the evidence of their discipleship, the “marker” that would tell them and the world that they were indeed disciples, was a genuine presence of love in their lives. Jesus said, “By this all the world will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (See John 13:34-35) I doubt that there is a greater need or heart-cry in the world than for real, genuine love. God’s love filling our hearts to overflowing will bring “new life” to the church and her outreach to the hurting people all over the world. E. Stanley Jones wrote that a victorious Christian is one filled with God’s love. That love will help us to be more “creative” in our efforts of outreach to this lost and dying world.
“The last thing we shall mention as being a sign of the victorious life is the fact that life now becomes spiritually creative. The victorious life is organized around love. But as love is creative, life now becomes creative.
“With love there is always a plus, a margin for somebody else. We have enough to spare. A woman, who became one of the great missionaries of the world, was being taken in a sedan chair through the dirty, narrow, crowded streets of a Chinese city just after her first arrival. Everything in her revolted against the strangeness and the dirt. ‘O God,’ she cried, ‘how can I live among these people without love in my heart?’ An immediate answer came in the flooding of her heart with what was nothing less than divine love. From that moment on she forgot dirt and narrow streets and strangeness; she saw only people for whom Christ died. Instead of being driven back upon herself, love drew her out of herself into an amazingly creative service for her beloved people. There was a plus.
“The victorious life means the heightening of all the powers of the personality. The mind becomes keener and more creative; the emotions become broader and more sensitive, and the will more active and decisive. The whole of life is outreaching. Lives begin to be changed; movements begin to be launched; a creative impact is made upon life. ‘I used to pick and choose my friends,’ said a recently changed society lady, ‘but now since the great change has taken place, I take everybody into my heart.’ Love has begun to be creative.” (Jones, E. Stanley, Victorious Living, p. 98)
RESURRECTION SUNDAY — APRIL 9, 2023
“The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 15:56, 57
The Gospel of John reveals much information about “life.” In the very first chapter, John recorded that in the Word, that is, in Jesus is “life,” and that life is the light of all mankind. Later John recorded that Jesus said He came that we might have “life, and may have it more abundantly.” (See John 10:10) On the night Jesus was betrayed, He spent time with His disciples and said to them, “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.” (See John 14:19) From these statements about “life,” it should become obvious that Jesus wants us to have “life” that is a God-sort-of life. It is a dimension beyond mere physical life, and it is found only in God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 3:36 states: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” We should know that “life” which comes from God is everlasting, eternal. We should also recognize that not possessing this eternal life from God doesn’t mean that the unbelieving person will not cease to exist. The unbeliever will not have the “life” of God, which is from God, but they will exist. In verse 36, the opposite of “life” mentioned here is “the wrath of God.” So a believing person will have “everlasting life,” while the unbelieving person will have “the wrath of God” that will “abide” on him. In other words, the wrath of God will continue to be his experience throughout eternity. It will not be cessation of existence.
The Bible describes this “wrath of God” as “the lake of fire,” “the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (See Revelation 20:6, 14 and 21:8) “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abdominal, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (21:8) The “life” that Jesus died and then rose from the grave to provide is a blissful eternal existence in the very presence of God. We normally think of it as “going to heaven!” But those who are not saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, will experience the wrath of God forever in the “lake of fire!” We normally think of this as “going to hell!”
PALM SUNDAY — APRIL 2, 2023
“Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, and He has given us light; … You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”
Psalm 118:25-29
Psalm 118 was a prophetic scripture that was quoted as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey. The Bible indicates that the whole city was moved by the events of that day which began the final week of the “natural” life of Jesus. The consequences of what happened that week continue until this very day. God wills that your life should be impacted in a very positive eternal way by what Jesus did from Palm Sunday until the following Resurrection Sunday. Jesus wants us to live abundant lives of freedom as a result of His redemptive actions of that very first Holy Week. It is necessary for us to fully surrender to the reign of King Jesus.
“Spiritual freedom is not a characteristic of present-day Christianity. We are stiff, stilted, inwardly tied-up Christians. Unified spontaneity is not the thing we think about when we think of ourselves. ‘People in this place will insist on talking about God outside of church,’ said a horrified English lady. God should be spoken about in churches, but the door should be closed in on God when we leave. God as the thought of our thought, the joy of our joy, the will of our will, and the life of our life – well, that isn’t our experience. Yes, but that is normal Christianity.
“’I came to India as a medical missionary, so I would not have to speak about God,’ said a lady describing her inwardly tied-up condition. She was free in her hands, but not in her heart. She could minister to the body, but deeper than that she was out of her depth. Later, when she was inwardly released, she joyously said, ‘I do believe I am getting vocal about God.’
“The Japanese have a way of stunting forest trees so that they never grow higher than a couple of feet. They become potted plants, instead of forest giants. This is done by tying up the taproot, so that the tree lives off the surface roots. It remains a stunted thing. (This is called bonsai.)
“Many of our lives are like that. We live off the surface roots, not from the depths. The surface roots go out into the cultural, educational, economic, social, political, and perhaps also the religious lives that surround us. The roots draw sustenance from these, but our lives are stunted, for the taproot has not gone deep into God. Only as the taproot goes into the depths of the Divine and draws, every moment, its sustenance from those depths do we fully and truly live.
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
SUNDAY – MARCH 26, 2023
“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 14:11
The “first principle” of the Kingdom is humility. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount characteristics of Kingdom living which was begun with the Beatitudes. The first one is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” None of us can enter the Kingdom except by humbling ourselves and “kneeling” before the Great King and Savior of our souls. The following comes from Charles H. Spurgeon’s Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith, the March 22nd entry.
“Humble hearts seek grace, and therefore they get it. Humble hearts yield to the sweet influences of grace, and so it is bestowed on them more and more largely. Humble hearts lie in the valleys where streams of grace are flowing, and hence they drink of them. Humble hearts are grateful for grace and give the Lord the glory of it, and hence it is consistent with His honour to give it to them.
“Come, dear reader, take a lowly place. Be little in thine own esteem, that the Lord may make much of thee. Perhaps the sigh breaks out, ‘I fear I am not humble.’ It may be that this is the language of true humility. Some are proud of being humble, and this is one of the very worst sorts of pride. We are needy, helpless, undeserving, hell-deserving creatures, and if we are not humble we ought to be. Let us humble ourselves because of our sins against humility, and then the Lord will give us a taste of His favour. It is grace which makes us humble, and grace which finds us in this humility and opportunity for pouring in more grace. Let us go down that we may rise. Let us be poor in spirit that God may make us rich. Let us be humble that we may not need to be humbled, but may be exalted by the grace of God.”
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
SUNDAY – MARCH 19, 2023
“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25
“’Don’t you think I should belong to some church?’ asked a lady who had just entered the new life. Was her instinct for corporate fellowship right? It was.
“The spiritual life cannot be lived in isolation. Life is intensely personal; it is also intensely corporate, and you cannot separate them. If you should wipe out the church today, you would have to put something like it in its place tomorrow. For there must be a corporate expression of the spiritual life as well as an individual. Even to separate the social and the personal life in this way is wrong. For the social life is the personal in its larger relationships.
“The idea that it is your duty to support the church seems to me to be all wrong. The church is not founded upon a duty imposed on you from without. It is founded on the facts of life. Your very inner nature demands it. American evangelist D. L. Moody, in answer to a man who said he did not need the church, quietly pulled a coal from the hearth and separated it, and together they watched it die. It was a legitimate answer.
“I am quite sure that I should not have survived as a young Christian had I not had the corporate life of the church to hold me up. When I rejoiced, they rejoiced with me. When I was weak, they strengthened me, and once when I fell – a rather bad fall – they gathered around me by prayer and love and without blame or censure they lovingly lifted me back to my feet again.
“I know the stupidities and the inanities and the irrelevancies and the formalities of the church. Yes, I know them all. But nevertheless, the church is the mother of my spirit, and we love our mothers in spite of weakness and wrinkles. My word, then, to you is that, as you begin this new life you begin it as a member of the church family.”
The Third Sunday in Lent
SUNDAY – MARCH 12, 2023
“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 15:57
“Yesterday we said that the chief characteristic of modern Christianity is not victorious living. This would not be so serious if we expected something else; if we were pushing upon the gates of abundant life to have them open. But many have settled down to a spirit of non-expectancy. They do not expect anything beyond spiritually muddling through. This is serious!
“I have watched what the awful power of fatalism can do when it falls upon a civilization. Have I not seen these lovely people of the East paralyzed at the center by a strange fatalism that makes them turn over their hands in helpless resignation? Across the world that danger is at our doors. It has slowly crept into many a heart, and we are resigned to moral and spiritual defeat- we take it for granted, in fact. Doctor Elwood Worcester of Boston, who has labored for years in clinics for people troubled in body and soul, can say these astonishing words: ‘Most Christians do not expect their religion to do them any great or immediate good.’ When one tells them that this condition of moral and spiritual defeat need not last for a single hour, that we can find victory and adequacy and buoyancy in living, they look at you as one who announces strange doctrine. For they have become naturalized in defeat.
“Mathias Alexander tells the story of a little girl who was permanently lopsided and who was brought to him for treatment. After working with her for some time, he managed to get her to stand quite straight. Then he asked her to walk across to her mother. She walked perfectly straight for the first time in her life and then, bursting into tears, threw herself into her mother’s arms, crying, ‘Oh, Mummy, I’m all crooked.’ We too think of being spiritually straight and upstanding and adequate as something strange and unnatural.”
The Second Sunday in Lent
SUNDAY – MARCH 5, 2023
“And we have known the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God,
and God in him.” I John 4:16
I really appreciate the expression about Sundays in This Love Changes Everything Prayer Journal. The author identifies each Sunday as “Sunday Oasis.” The fellowship of believers who gather to worship the Lord will find refreshing there. We should especially get a “fresh dose” of God’s love as He pours it out on His people. During this season of Lent we are being reminded about God’s love for us and how it affects our daily lives. The Bible teaches that genuine love is a characteristic of believers. E. Stanly Jones has written about “assurances” that are given to us who have been born again. The following comes from Thursday of Week 8 in Victorious Living.
“There is another source of assurance that the New Life is within us. We will be conscious of the impulse to share something, yes, to share Christ.
“Life manifests not merely in a desire for more life for itself but also for more life for others. The two sides of religion are love to God and love to humanity, and the moment we touch God, we will have an impulse to touch people. If, therefore, we are not sure of our love to God, we may be assured of it, if we find our love to people increase.
“The moment I arose from my knees after surrendering myself to Christ, I wanted to put my arms around the world and share this with everybody. There was an almost irresistible impulse to give this precious fact. I felt that everyone should know it and experience it; I feel that way still.
“It may be that you have no such overwhelming impulse; it may be very feeble; it may be just the timid peeping of buds through the yet partly frozen ground of your reserves, and yet it is there. Act on it today.
“You may be rebuffed as I was rebuffed, when the next day I spoke to my companion in the law library of what had happened: ‘What? I’ll knock that out of you in two weeks.’ He didn’t; he only knocked it deeper. It is the very life of God within you when you have an impulse to share! Take its assurance!”
The First Sunday in Lent
SUNDAY – FEBRUARY 26, 2023
“And we have known the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God,
and God in him.” I John 4:16
Most of us can quote John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” So often when we talk about how much God loves us, we point back to something He has done in the past. We tend to use the “past tense” of love when we speak about it. I want to move your thoughts from the past into the present. It is certainly true that there are historical events that are behind us in which God has demonstrated His love, but He loves us NOW as much as He loved us then. Past actions are intended to prove to us that He loves us presently, in this very moment. I want you not only to believe and know that God loves you, I want you to also experience His love for you RIGHT NOW!
This is a reason I want to encourage you to use the Lent Prayer Journal. I urge you to read the Bible verses for each day and think about what God is saying to you through His Word. Actually “reflect” on God’s Truth and then write down some of your own thoughts in your own words. This exercise in your “devotional life” will draw you closer to the reality of God in your life. My prayer is that you and I will have a deeper, greater sense of God’s love.
Each week has a theme that is at the top of each page. Here they are!
This Love Is Real (Week 1)
This Love Changes Everything! (Week 2)
This Love Changes Our Love for Others (Week 3)
This Love Changes Our Priorities (Week 4)
This Love Changes Each Today (Week 5)
This Love Changes Every Tomorrow (Week 6)
Christ’s Life-Giving, Life-Changing Love (Holy Week)
SUNDAY – FEBRUARY 19, 2023
“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you;
but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49
Before Jesus ascended into heaven after the resurrection, He met with His disciples to give them a final instruction concerning the ministry that lay ahead of them. Luke wrote in Acts 1, “He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father.” (v. 4) Jesus then explained, “You have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (v. 5) The Promise was that God would send the Holy Spirit in a “new” way so that every believer would be “filled with the Spirit.” It is recorded in the Second Chapter of Acts that God did send the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost “…and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:4) If that great work of God that is recorded in Acts was contingent on the believers being filled with the Holy Spirit then, it remains the same today! We must be filled with the Holy Spirit!
Corrie Ten Boom wrote a little book, Marching Orders for the End Battle, in which she wrote the following. “In the Acts of the Apostles we see that the kingdom of God, the Church of Jesus Christ, was built through the work of the Holy Spirit, His fruit and His gifts. The Word of God shows us that there is no substitute for the gifts of the Spirit. They were not only for that time, but also for today. The Good Shepherd will give to His own a life which reveals His Spirit and power. For this equipment is necessary for the life of the Church, in her battle against the powers of darkness now, as in those days.” She writes on the same page 35, “The first Christian church, which was brought to life in an unusual way through the creating power of the Holy Spirit, needed gifts of the Spirit to be built up. How much more do we need the gifts of the Spirit in this time in our churches and groups, where life is so often absent! One appeals to tradition and habits and refuses to acknowledge the truth which the Bible teaches us: ‘The Spirit of God alone can give life to the soul’ (2 Cor. 3:6) But this Spirit does not reveal Himself apart from the gifts of grace. The ‘letter’, as the apostle writes, that is to say, pious human effort to understand and grasp the Word of God, cannot be a substitute for these. Only the Spirit can give light. Only He can touch the heart. Only He can lead us to repentance, humility and reconciliation. The Spirit alone makes us understand the signs of the times, and He shows us that we have to stand in the gap for a world that is doomed to destruction.”
SUNDAY – FEBRUARY 12, 2023
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14, 15
It is obvious from observation and reports in the media that our country is filled with much hatred and bitterness. There are large numbers of people behaving in unkind and harsh ways toward their fellow man. A line from a pop song of the 60’s was “what the world needs now is love, sweet love.” The song included phrases like “it’s just what there’s too little of,” and “no, not just for some, but for everyone.” I believe that true love is found only in God. He is the “source” and “example” of what true love is. If the world is ever going to experience God’s true love, then certainly it must be found in the church of Jesus Christ! It begins with us, dear brothers and sisters in Christ! We must be the instrument of God through which His true love is manifested to the world.
The following was written by E. Stanley Jones in the 1930’s in Victorious Living. (This was taken from the Sunday reading of Week 6.)
“Take resentment. Whether you have wronged your brother as shown in Matthew 5:23-24 (in coming to the altar you remember that someone has something against you) or in Matthew 18:15 (someone has sinned against you); in either case you are to go and be reconciled. Whether sinned against or sinning, the Christian is under obligations to take the initiative in settling the dispute.
“But you say, ‘I can’t forgive.’ Then may I say it very quietly, but very solemnly: You can never, never be forgiven. ‘But if you don’t forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your sins’ (Matt. 6:15). Do you not remember that in the Lord’s Prayer we pray, ‘Forgive us of our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us’? So if you do not forgive, you ask not to be forgiven. In refusing forgiveness to others you have broken down the bridge over which you yourself must pass, namely, forgiveness.”
SUNDAY – FEBRUARY 5, 2023
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8
One very important idea that Jesus taught about God the Father is that He is interested in our individual, personal lives. Jesus wants us to know that we can trust our Heavenly Father. He wants us to learn to petition our Father through prayer and to believe that He will answer us! Jesus taught that even imperfect earthly fathers give the proper and necessary items to their children. Examples were given, among which was the following: “…what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will he give him a stone?” He concluded this section of the Sermon on the Mount by saying, “…how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (See Matthew 7:9-11) Repeatedly throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus encouraged people to pray in faith expecting an answer from God the Father.
While it is true that we must have faith, our confidence in answered prayer is not in ourselves. We don’t receive answers because we are “super spiritual” and superior to others offering prayers also. We don’t receive answers because we “deserve” them through our extraordinary “good works” that we have accomplished. Our confidence cannot rest in our oratorical abilities that cause us to think we “pray better” than others. There are no special rituals we need to learn in order to receive answers from our Heavenly Father. Answers to pray come to people because of the character and nature of God Himself! Our confidence and faith for prayer must be fixed on Him and never on ourselves!
Mr. Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote about “prayer-confidence” for the final day of January in Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith. He began, “Friends may be unfaithful, but the Lord will not turn away from the gracious soul; on the contrary, He will hear all its desires.” The next paragraph he began, “Our wisdom is to look unto the Lord, and not to quarrel with men or women.” People may forget us or deliberately reject us in our times of need, but God never will. He loves and cares for us! Read the final paragraph of that day’s devotion.
SUNDAY – JANUARY 29, 2023
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” I Timothy 2:3-5
I have met a few people over the years who indicated to me that “it didn’t take with me like it did with you.” Most of these were people who grew up in the same setting as I did, and some even went to the same church as I did. They expressed the belief that for one reason or another, they just couldn’t get saved. I want to be very explicit with you to tell you that you can get saved. God wants you to be saved, and it is certain that everything God wants He makes a possibility!
“But here Jesus flings back the curtains and lets us see the God of the shepherd-heart who seeks and seeks the lost sheep until it is found. And then the woman who sweeps the house for the lost coin. So, says Jesus, God will sweep the universe with the broom of redeeming grace, until each lost soul is found. For as the king’s image is stamped upon the coin so is the Divine image stamped upon the human soul, lost though it may be amid the dust of degradation.”
The final paragraph Jones explains that the son who “went into the far country” was so loved by the Father, that “…this lad got hold of his father’s outreaching love, and it led him back to the father’s bosom. The Hound of Heaven relentlessly pursuing us down the years!” (Jones, Victorious Living, Week 4, Tuesday.)
The next day, E. Stanley Jones addresses the issue of the possibility that “some souls are incapable of finding God by their very mental and spiritual makeup.” He declares: “Everyone has a capacity to love God. Everyone who is willing to pay the price of finding can find God. Remember this: No one is constitutionally incapable of finding God. If we do not find God, the cause is not in our constitution, but in our consent!”
SUNDAY – JANUARY 22, 2023
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear… The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge… The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Psalm 46:1-2a, 7, 11
Throughout history people who have trusted in the power of God to help them have discovered that He is indeed real. God will not forsake us to the enemy and his schemes to harm us, but He will demonstrate His real interest and intervention in our lives. You actually can trust Him! The question to answer: Do you trust Him?
Charles Spurgeon wrote about Joel 2:32, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.” His writing is entered for January 16 in his Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith.
“Why do I not call on His name? Why do I run to this neighbor and that, when God is so near and will hear my faintest call? Why do I sit down, and devise schemes, and invent plans? Why not at once roll myself and my burden upon the Lord? Straightforward is the best runner – why do I not run at once to the living God? In vain shall I look for deliverance anywhere else; but with God I shall find it; for here I have His royal shall to make it sure.
“I need not ask whether I may call on Him or not, for that word ‘Whosoever’ is a very wide and comprehensive one. Whosoever means me, for it means anybody and everybody who calls upon God. I will therefore follow the leading of the text, and at once call upon the glorious Lord who has made so large a promise.
“My case is urgent, and I do not see how I am to be delivered; but this is no business of mine. He who makes the promise will find out ways and means of keeping it. It is mine to obey His commands; it is not mine to direct His counsels. I am His servant, not His solicitor. I call upon Him, and He will deliver me!”
SUNDAY – JANUARY 15, 2023
“And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” I Corinthians 15:17-20
“Is life a bubble, or is it an egg? I must make my choice. On the one hand, experts tell us that the universe is slowly running down and that one day it will end in ash, carrying with it all things and all life to its final doom. Death shall reign. On the other hand, some tell us that the universe is being renewed by a silent and saving bombardment of life-giving rays, so that the last word is not being spoken by death, but by life. Life shall reign! One says the universe is a bubble; the other says it is an egg.
“On the one hand, they tell us that man is made up of elements that can be purchased for a few cents, so that life is only mucus and misery. On the other hand, some tell us that humanity is made in the image of the Divine, that we have infinite possibilities of growth and development before us. One says humanity is a bundle of futilities; the other says we are a bundle of possibilities.
“Some say prayer is an auto-suggesting of oneself into illusory states of mind, that nothing comes back save the echo of one’s own voice. Others say that in prayer actual communication takes place, that I link myself with the resources of God, so that my powers and faculties are heightened and life is strengthened and purified at its center. One says prayer is futile; the other says it is fertile.”
The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us that life is all about God! Life is negatively impacted by unbelief and rejection of God! But life is fully lived and enjoyed through Jesus Christ and a vital relationship with the God of the universe. God is the source and Savior of Life!
SUNDAY – JANUARY 8, 2023
“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you…was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes.
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” II Corinthians 1:19-20
We have received many “gifts” from different people throughout our lifetimes. Often these gifts have been in the form of a promise. “In the Spring, I’m going to take you to a Pirates home baseball game.” That’s just a simple example of “promise-gifts” that some of us may have received. In my birthday card from my daughter back in August, she wrote, “I have tickets to a For King & Country concert on December 2nd; if you will go, I’ll take you.” That was a “promise-gift” that I gladly accepted and received in fulfillment on December 2nd, 2022. Can you think of any gift that you have received of that nature? This is an exciting and encouraging type of gift. They give us “something to look forward to” and a hope of something good coming into our lives.
God has given many, many promises in His Word, and according to the verses from II Corinthians at the top of this page, Jesus Christ is the guarantor of His promises. “The promises of God are YES in Him!” What wonderful “gifts” God has given to us in His Word! Charles Spurgeon wrote the following in his Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith for January 3rd.
“No promise is of private interpretation: it belongs not to one saint, but to all believers. If, my brother, thou canst in faith lie down upon a promise, and take thy rest thereon, it is thine…. All the promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus; and as He is ours, every promise is ours if we will but lie down upon it in restful faith.”
“Come, weary one, use thy Lord’s words as thy pillows. Lie down in peace. Dream only of Him. Jesus is thy ladder of light. See the angels coming and going upon Him between thy soul and thy God; and be sure that the promise is thine own God-given portion, and that it will not be robbery for thee to take it to thyself, as spoken specially to thee.”
SUNDAY – JANUARY 1, 2023
New Year’s Day
“But what things were gain to me, these I counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ!” Philippians 3:7, 8
There are times when people seem to make certain types of promises to themselves and others about changes they are going to make. The beginning of a new year is one such time when folks “swear” that they are “turning over a new leaf.” We call these decisions New Year’s Resolutions. There are always good intentions behind these “promises” made, and most of them involve “giving up” certain things or behaviors that have questionable benefit. The effectiveness of this practice seems to bear little fruit in the grand scheme of life. Let’s be clear about one principle. The principle of “letting go” of things and practices that we ought not to hold on to. As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we have probably heard that it is necessary “to give up” certain negative, sinful, and worldly “things” in order to follow the Lord Jesus more closely. There are many illustrations in the Bible of this truth. The more one loves Jesus and seeks His Kingdom, the more obvious it becomes that certain activities will be forsaken and “left behind.”
The important motivation is that we “weed out” those detrimental things for the Lord! We get rid of certain things because we want to walk closer to Jesus. Make no mistake about the fact that Jesus sees all that you “have left” for Him. He notices and appreciates that your love for Him has cost you something, and you willingly relinquished even valuable things for His sake. He will bless you for it! I love the following paragraph from Cowman’s Springs in the Valley on December 28.