From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening ...
2 Timothy 2:12
If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.
We must not imagine that we are suffering for Christ, and with Christ, if we
are not in Christ. Beloved friend, are you trusting to Jesus only? If not,
whatever you may have to mourn over on earth, you are not "suffering with
Christ," land have no hope of reigning with Him in heaven. Neither are we to
conclude that all a Christian's sufferings are sufferings with Christ, for it
is essential that he be called by God to suffer. If we are rash and imprudent,
and run into positions for which neither providence nor grace has fitted us, we
ought to question whether we are not rather sinning than communing with Jesus.
If we let passion take the place of judgment, and self-will reign instead of
Scriptural authority, we shall fight the Lord's battles with the devil's
weapons, and if we cut our own fingers we must not be surprised. Again, in
troubles which come upon us as the result of sin, we must not dream that we are
suffering with Christ. When Miriam spoke evil of Moses, and the leprosy
polluted her, she was not suffering for God. Moreover, suffering which God
accepts must have God's glory as its end. If I suffer that I may earn a name,
or win applause, I shall get no other reward than that of the Pharisee. It is
requisite also that love to Jesus, and love to His elect, be ever the
mainspring of all our patience. We must manifest the Spirit of Christ in
meekness, gentleness, and forgiveness. Let us search and see if we truly suffer
with Jesus. And if we do thus suffer, what is our "light affliction" compared
with reigning with Him? Oh it is so blessed to be in the furnace with Christ,
and such an honour to stand in the pillory with Him, that if there were no
future reward, we might count ourselves happy in present honour; but when the
recompense is so eternal, so infinitely more than we had any right to expect,
shall we not take up the cross with alacrity, and go on our way rejoicing?
Morning ...
John 17:17
Sanctify them through Thy truth.
Sanctification begins in regeneration. The Spirit of God infuses into man
that new living principle by which he becomes "a new creature" in Christ Jesus.
This work, which begins in the new birth, is carried on in two
ways-mortification, whereby the lusts of the flesh are subdued and kept under;
and vivification, by which the life which God has put within us is made to be a
well of water springing up unto everlasting life. This is carried on every day
in what is called "perseverance," by which the Christian is preserved and
continued in a gracious state, and is made to abound in good works unto the
praise and glory of God; and it culminates or comes to perfection, in "glory,"
when the soul, being thoroughly purged, is caught up to dwell with holy beings
at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But while the Spirit of God is thus
the author of sanctification, yet there is a visible agency employed which must
not be forgotten. "Sanctify them," said Jesus, "through thy truth: thy word is
truth." The passages of Scripture which prove that the instrument of our
sanctification is the Word of God are very many. The Spirit of God brings to
our minds the precepts and doctrines of truth, and applies them with power.
These are heard in the ear, and being received in the heart, they work in us to
will and to do of God's good pleasure. The truth is the sanctifier, and if we
do not hear or read the truth, we shall not grow in sanctification. We only
progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding. "Thy word is a
lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Do not say of any error, "It is a
mere matter of opinion." No man indulges an error of judgment, without sooner
or later tolerating an error in practice. Hold fast the truth, for by so
holding the truth shall you be sanctified by the Spirit of God.
(16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are
the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk
in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (17) Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you. (18) And will be a Father unto you, and
ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
2 Corinthians 7:1
(1) Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in
the fear of God.
This principle clearly covers the care of our bodies. In an overall
sense, our stewardship is not merely to labor not to destroy the established
relationship but to improve it. Good health is extremely valuable. Even though
one can overcome poor health in one's vanity, of greater importance is that
good health promotes the strengthening of the relationship. This is so because
it is bound within the sanctification process. It is tied directly to growing,
overcoming, purifying one's life, avoiding the pitfalls of life, living the
abundant life, as well as to our witness before the world in glorifying God.
We can undertake a great deal of serious effort in keeping ourselves
from committing sins like idolatry, fornication, adultery, lying, or stealing,
while virtually ignoring the physical care of the body itself. Oftentimes, we
do this by being ignorant of the responsibility or foolishly thinking that
maintaining or improving our health is of little concern. The younger among us
may find it helpful to ask someone older—one whose health is deteriorating or
who has had to deal with poor health much of his life—how important having good
health throughout life is. In no way should this reduce our efforts to overcome
spiritual weaknesses, but it should encourage us to add another area of
overcoming that will glorify God.
Genesis 2:15 says, "Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the
garden of Eden to tend [dress, KJV] and keep it." Dressing and keeping is an
overall responsibility for everyone in what we are to do with life. It applies
to life's spiritual and physical aspects. We are to begin where we are and
cultivate, embellish, and encourage growth, while at the same time preserving,
guarding, and protecting through maintenance from decay and deterioration.
A direct line connects this concept and Jesus' instruction in the
Parable of the Unjust Steward. The spiritual level is more important, but God
wants faithfulness in the physical level also because both are inextricably
bound in yielding to Him in the building of character. Both require study,
meditation, and setting goals, as well as consistent, faithful application. We
do both to glorify Him.
Unfortunately, some will not do what is necessary for success, perhaps
because of ignorance of their responsibility. Others know but lack the
character or the sense of responsibility. Some spend their time rationalizing
and justifying the way they are or proclaim to themselves and others that they
are victims of the system and have no way out. Nevertheless, God is in heaven,
and He is the way out.
Eating is a major part of life, as substantiated by the Bible's 700
references to it. The abundant life that Jesus proclaims He wants all to lead
hinges upon what we eat spiritually and physically. We must make a major effort
to feed our minds and bodies with the best nutrition available, if we desire
good spiritual and physical health.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Eating: How Good It Is! (Part 1)
.
===================================================
daily devotional
Evening ...
Psalm 28:1
Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if Thou be
silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
A cry is the natural expression of sorrow, and a suitable utterance when all
other modes of appeal fail us; but the cry must be alone directed to the Lord,
for to cry to man is to waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider the
readiness of the Lord to hear, and His ability to aid, we shall see good reason
for directing all our appeals at once to the God of our salvation. It will be
in vain to call to the rocks in the day of judgment, but our Rock attends to
our cries. "Be not silent to me." Mere formalists may be content without
answers to their prayers, but genuine suppliants cannot; they are not satisfied
with the results of prayer itself in calming the mind and subduing the
will-they must go further, and obtain actual replies from heaven, or they
cannot rest; and those replies they long to receive at once, they dread even a
little of God's silence. God's voice is often so terrible that it shakes the
wilderness; but His silence is equally full of awe to an eager suppliant. When
God seems to close His ear, we must not therefore close our mouths, but rather
cry with more earnestness; for when our note grows shrill with eagerness and
grief, He will not long deny us a hearing. What a dreadful case should we be in
if the Lord should become for ever silent to our prayers? "Lest, if Thou be
silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." Deprived of the
God who answers prayer, we should be in a more pitiable plight than the dead in
the grave, and should soon sink to the same level as the lost in hell. We must
have answers to prayer: ours is an urgent case of dire necessity; surely the
Lord will speak peace to our agitated minds, for He never can find it in His
heart to permit His own elect to perish.
Morning ...
Genesis 41:4
The illfavoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven wellfavoured and fat
kine.
Pharaoh's dream has too often been my waking experience. My days of sloth
have ruinously destroyed all that I had achieved in times of zealous industry;
my seasons of coldness have frozen all the genial glow of my periods of
fervency and enthusiasm; and my fits of worldliness have thrown me back from my
advances in the divine life. I had need to beware of lean prayers, lean
praises, lean duties, and lean experiences, for these will eat up the fat of my
comfort and peace. If I neglect prayer for never so short a time, I lose all
the spirituality to which I had attained; if I draw no fresh supplies from
heaven, the old corn in my granary is soon consumed by the famine which rages
in my soul. When the caterpillars of indifference, the cankerworms of
worldliness, and the palmerworms of self-indulgence, lay my heart completely
desolate, and make my soul to languish, all my former fruitfulness and growth
in grace avails me nothing whatever. How anxious should I b e to have no
lean-fleshed days, no ill-favoured hours! If every day I journeyed towards the
goal of my desires I should soon reach it, but backsliding leaves me still far
off from the prize of my high calling, and robs me of the advances which I had
so laboriously made. The only way in which all my days can be as the "fat
kine," is to feed them in the right meadow, to spend them with the Lord, in His
service, in His company, in His fear, and in His way. Why should not every year
be richer than the past, in love, and usefulness, and joy?-I am nearer the
celestial hills, I have had more experience of my Lord, and should be more like
Him. O Lord, keep far from me the curse of leanness of soul; let me not have to
cry, "My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!" but may I be well-fed and
nourished in Thy house, that I may praise Thy name.
Matthew 11:2-3
(2) Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two
of his disciples, (3) And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we
look for another?
Because the prophet Isaiah foretold the Messiah's exercise of miraculous
power (Isaiah 35:4-6; 42:7), John the Baptizer asked for such a sign of Christ.
Jesus replied: "The blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are
cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel
preached to them" (verse 5). His miracles provided proof of who He was.
Christ came into the world, not only as God's personal representative on
earth, but as God manifest in flesh. He was Himself a miracle in human form,
and His miraculous works are bound up inseparably with His life. When we accept
the miracles of His prophesied birth, sinless life, and glorious resurrection,
then any other miracle is possible. Born holy, undefiled, and separate from
sinners (Hebrews 7:26), He was conscious of His God-given responsibility to
bless and relieve mankind in miraculous ways.
In describing Jesus' healing miracles, Luke, a doctor, emphasized the
power of God by saying, "The power of the Lord was present to heal them" (Luke
5:17), and "the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from
Him and healed them all" (Luke 6:19). Similarly in Acts, Peter describes "how
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went
about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was
with Him" (Acts 10:38).
One could say Christ's miracles were parables in deeds, just as His
parables were miracles in words. God designed His miracles to symbolize His
power to meet spiritual needs, as well as physical and material ones. Jesus'
recorded miracles are real-life experiences of what it means to be under the
wonderful rule of the powerful but merciful King of God's Kingdom.
Martin G. Collins
From The Miracles of Jesus Christ (Part One)
.
nc3=5286666
Description: Binary data
