From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening ...
Isaiah 26:4
Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.
Seeing that we have such a God to trust to, let us rest upon Him with all our
weight; let us resolutely drive out all unbelief, and endeavour to get rid of
doubts and fears, which so much mar our comfort; since there is no excuse for
fear where God is the foundation of our trust. A loving parent would be sorely
grieved if his child could not trust him; and how ungenerous, how unkind is our
conduct when we put so little confidence in our heavenly Father who has never
failed us, and who never will. It were well if doubting were banished from the
household of God; but it is to be feared that old Unbelief is as nimble
nowadays as when the psalmist asked, "Is His mercy clean gone for ever? Will He
be favourable no more?" David had not made any very lengthy trial of the mighty
sword of the giant Goliath, and yet he said, "There is none like it." He had
tried it once in the hour of his youthful victory, and it had proved itself to
be of the right metal, and therefore he praised it ever afterwards; even so
should we speak well of our God, there is none like unto Him in the heaven
above or the earth beneath; "To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be
equal? saith the Holy One." There is no rock like unto the rock of Jacob, our
enemies themselves being judges. So far from suffering doubts to live in our
hearts, we will take the whole detestable crew, as Elijah did the prophets of
Baal, and slay them over the brook; and for a stream to kill them at, we will
select the sacred torrent which wells forth from our Saviour's wounded side. We
have been in many trials, but we have never yet been cast where we could not
find in our God all that we needed. Let us then be encouraged to trust in the
Lord for ever, assured that His ever lasting strength will be, as it has been,
our succour and stay.
Morning ...
Proverbs 1:33
Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of
evil.
Divine love is rendered conspicuous when it I shines in the midst of
judgments. Fair is that lone star which smiles through the rifts of the thunder
clouds; bright is the oasis which blooms in the wilderness of sand; so fair and
so bright is love in the midst of wrath. When the Israelites provoked the Most
High by their continued idolatry, He punished them by withholding both dew and
rain, so that their land was visited by a sore famine; but while He did this,
He took care that His own chosen ones should be secure. If all other brooks are
dry, yet shall there be one reserved for Elijah; and when that fails, God shall
still preserve for him a place of sustenance; nay, not only so, the Lord had
not simply one "Elijah," but He had a remnant according to the election of
grace, who were hidden by fifties in a cave, and though the whole land was
subject to famine, yet these fifties in the cave were fed, and fed from Ahab's
table too by His faithful, God-fearing steward, Obadiah. Let us from this draw
the inference, that come what may, God's people are safe. Let convulsions shake
the solid earth, let the skies themselves be rent in twain, yet amid the wreck
of worlds the believer shall be as secure as in the calmest hour of rest. If
God cannot save His people under heaven, He will save them in heaven. If the
world becomes too hot to hold them, then heaven shall be the place of their
reception and their safety. Be ye then confident, when ye hear of wars, and
rumours of wars. Let no agitation distress you, but be quiet from fear of evil.
Whatsoever cometh upon the earth, you, beneath the broad wings of Jehovah,
shall be secure. Stay yourself upon His promise; rest in His faithfulness, and
bid defiance to the blackest future, for there is nothing in it direful for
you. Your sole concern should be to show forth to the world the blessedness of
hearkening to the voice of wisdom.
a..
b..
Genesis 17:6-8
(6) And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make
nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. (7) And I will establish my
covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for
an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. (8)
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou
art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I
will be their God.
In chapter 17, God more formally makes an agreement—a
covenant—with Abraham, presenting its terms in a general way.
Abraham was to be perfect. Other Bibles translate this term
as "upright," "blameless," or "sincere." Do not be misled by the word
"sincere," because its meaning has changed over the years. To us, it simply
means that we have good intentions, but that is not really what the word means.
It actually means "without flaw," that is, no imperfections.
Under the covenant, Abraham had to meet some conditions. He
had to live a life of obedience. He had to submit to God. God raised the
standard so high for him, that one would almost think that he had to be without
sin.
Perhaps this begins to bring something else to mind, say,
Jesus' command in the Sermon on the Mount to be "perfect, even as your Father
in heaven is perfect." "Perfect" can also be translated "mature" or "complete."
It is very similar to what God said to Abraham. What is Jesus doing? He is
beginning to introduce concepts that are part of both the Abrahamic Covenant
and the New Covenant.
Abraham is very plainly called "the father of the
faithful," as if he were the head of the family of all who have ever lived,
with the exception of Jesus Christ, who is the model after which we are to mold
ourselves. Jesus was not human in quite the same way as Abraham was and the
rest of us are. He was "God in the flesh" while we are just "flesh" who have
the gift of God's Spirit. He had the Spirit without measure, but we have to
grow in it. He had to grow too, but there is a qualitative difference.
Nevertheless, according to Galatians 3, if we are Christ's, we are Abraham's
seed and heirs according to the promise.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 27
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daily devotional
Evening ...
Mark 16:9
He appeared first to Mary Magdalene.
Jesus "appeared first to Mary Magdalene," probably not only on account of her
great love and persevering seeking, but because, as the context intimates, she
had been a special trophy of Christ's delivering power. Learn from this, that
the greatness of our sin before conversion should not make us imagine that we
may not be specially favoured with the very highest grade of fellowship. She
was one who had left all to become a constant attendant on the Saviour. He was
her first, her chief object. Many who were on Christ's side did not take up
Christ's cross; she did. She spent her substance in relieving His wants. If we
would see much of Christ, let us serve Him. Tell me who they are that sit
oftenest under the banner of His love, and drink deepest draughts from the cup
of communion, and I am sure they will be those who give most, who serve best,
and who abide closest to the bleeding heart of their dear Lord. But notice how
Christ revealed Himself to this sorro wing one-by a word, "Mary." It needed but
one word in His voice, and at once she knew Him, and her heart owned allegiance
by another word, her heart was too full to say more. That one word would
naturally be the most fitting for the occasion. It implies obedience. She said,
"Master." There is no state of mind in which this confession of allegiance will
be too cold. No, when your spirit glows most with the heavenly fire, then you
will say, "I am Thy servant, Thou hast loosed my bonds." If you can say,
"Master," if you feel that His will is your will, then you stand in a happy,
holy place. He must have said, "Mary," or else you could not have said,
"Rabboni." See, then, from all this, how Christ honours those who honour Him,
how love draws our Beloved, how it needs but one word of His to turn our
weeping to rejoicing, how His presence makes the heart's sunshine.
Morning ...
Exodus 16:21
They gathered manna every morning.
Labour to maintain a sense of thine entire dependence upon the Lord's good
will and pleasure for the continuance of thy richest enjoyments. Never try to
live on the old manna, nor seek to find help in Egypt. All must come from
Jesus, or thou art undone for ever. Old anointings will not suffice to impart
unction to thy spirit; thine head must have fresh oil poured upon it from the
golden horn of the sanctuary, or it will cease from its glory. To-day thou
mayest be upon the summit of the mount of God, but He who has put thee there
must keep thee there, or thou wilt sink far more speedily than thou dreamest.
Thy mountain only stands firm when He settles it in its place; if He hide His
face, thou wilt soon be troubled. If the Saviour should see fit, there is not a
window through which thou seest the light of heaven which He could not darken
in an instant. Joshua bade the sun stand still, but Jesus can shroud it in
total darkness. He can withdraw the joy of thin e heart, the light of thine
eyes, and the strength of thy life; in His hand thy comforts lie, and at His
will they can depart from thee. This hourly dependence our Lord is determined
that we shall feel and recognize, for He only permits us to pray for "daily
bread," and only promises that "as our days our strength shall be." Is it not
best for us that it should be so, that we may often repair to His throne, and
constantly be reminded of His love? Oh! how rich the grace which supplies us so
continually, and doth not refrain itself because of our ingratitude! The golden
shower never ceases, the cloud of blessing tarries evermore above our
habitation. O Lord Jesus, we would bow at Thy feet, conscious of our utter
inability to do anything without Thee, and in every favour which we are
privileged to receive, we would adore Thy blessed name and acknowledge Thine
unexhausted love.
John 13:35
(35) By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
one to another.
Even as God is revealed by what He does, so will His children. Our love
for God has not made this possible, but His love for us has, as I John 4:19
says, "We love Him because He first loved us." Thus, our love for Him is a
response to His love for us. Since God shows His love for us by drawing us to
Him, it behooves us to do acts of love toward others to draw them.
God's act of love in giving His Son defines the ultimate requirement of
true love, the giving of our most beloved possession in sacrifice for another's
gain. We can understand, then, that godly love will almost always have
sacrifice involved in its giving. Sacrifice is the essence, the essential or
vital part, of love.
God's love originates in Himself, was manifested in His Son, and is
perfected in His people. God's love is perfected in us when we reproduce it in
or among ourselves, primarily in our fellowship. We either use love and perfect
it or lose it. This partly explains the apostle John's intense concern about
fellowship. What concerned him is not just an optional blessing to believers,
but a fundamental outlet for the manifestation and perfection of God's love
among and in the saints.
It should be obvious that we neither have God's love by nature, nor is it
self-generated. Romans 5:5 verifies this understanding: "Now hope does not
disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit which was given to us." We receive godly love from its Source, God,
by means of His Spirit.
Only by knowing God can we have this love, and only by loving can we know
Him! This may sound like a vicious cycle, but the two go together. Only by
learning to love God can we learn His nature, that is, what He is like. We
cannot have that love until we first come to know Him. By fellowshipping with
Him, we come to know Him and receive His love, and in using His love, we become
like Him and really know Him. We can only really come to know God by
experiencing the use of His love ourselves.
All this is possible because God, in His love, initiates a relationship
with us, grants us repentance, gives us His Spirit, and then, because of His
love, takes the lead in sustaining the relationship. This is why Paul says in
Romans 5:10 that "we shall be saved by His life." He primarily shoulders the
burden of our salvation. How comforting!
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Fruit of the Spirit: Love
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