From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening ...
Mark 16:9 He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven
devils.
Mary of Magdala was the victim of a fearful evil. She was possessed by not
one devil only, but seven. These dreadful inmates caused much pain and
pollution to the poor frame in which they had found a lodging. Hers was a
hopeless, horrible case. She could not help herself, neither could any human
succour avail. But Jesus passed that way, and unsought, and probably even
resisted by the poor demoniac, He uttered the word of power, and Mary of
Magdala became a trophy of the healing power of Jesus. All the seven demons
left her, left her never to return, forcibly ejected by the Lord of all. What a
blessed deliverance! What a happy change! From delirium to delight, from
despair to peace, from hell to heaven! Straightway she became a constant
follower of Jesus, catching His every word, following His devious steps,
sharing His toilsome life; and withal she became His generous helper, first
among that band of healed and grateful women who ministered unto Him of their
substance. When Jesus was lifted up in crucifixion, Mary remained the sharer of
His shame: we find her first beholding from afar, and then drawing near to the
foot of the cross. She could not die on the cross with Jesus, but she stood as
near it as she could, and when His blessed body was taken down, she watched to
see how and where it was laid. She was the faithful and watchful believer, last
at the sepulchre where Jesus slept, first at the grave whence He arose. Her
holy fidelity made her a favoured beholder of her beloved Rabboni, who deigned
to call her by her name, and to make her His messenger of good news to the
trembling disciples and Peter. Thus grace found her a maniac and made her a
minister, cast out devils and gave her to behold angels, delivered her from
Satan, and united her for ever to the Lord Jesus. May I also be such a miracle
of grace!
Morning ...
Colossians 3:4 Christ, who is our life.
Paul's marvellously rich expression indicates, that Christ is the source of
our life. "You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." That
same voice which brought Lazarus out of the tomb raised us to newness of life.
He is now the substance of our spiritual life. It is by His life that we live;
He is in us, the hope of glory, the spring of our actions, the central thought
which moves every other thought. Christ is the sustenance of our life. What can
the Christian feed upon but Jesus' flesh and blood? "This is the bread which
cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." O wayworn
pilgrims in this wilderness of sin, you never get a morsel to satisfy the
hunger of your spirits, except ye find it in Him! Christ is the solace of our
life. All our true joys come from Him; and in times of trouble, His presence is
our consolation. There is nothing worth living for but Him; and His
lovingkindness is better than life! Christ is the object of our life. As speeds
the ship towards the port, so hastes the believer towards the haven of his
Saviour's bosom. As flies the arrow to its goal, so flies the Christian towards
the perfecting of his fellowship with Christ Jesus. As the soldier fights for
his captain, and is crowned in his captain's victory, so the believer contends
for Christ, and gets his triumph out of the triumphs of his Master. "For him to
live is Christ." Christ is the exemplar of our life. Where there is the same
life within, there will, there must be, to a great extent, the same
developments without; and if we live in near fellowship with the Lord Jesus we
shall grow like Him. We shall set Him before us as our Divine copy, and we
shall seek to tread in His footsteps, until He shall become the crown of our
life in glory. Oh! how safe, how honoured, how happy is the Christian, since
Christ is our life!
Ephesians 2:1-3
(1) And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses
and sins; (2) Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience: (3) Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others.
From the time we were born, Satan began to inject us with
his mind, thoughts, ways, attitudes, and purposes, so by the time that God gets
to us—but in God's good time He calls us and begins to convert us—we are in
union with Satan. All our lives, he has been broadcasting, and we are in
agreement with him. This is what has to be overcome.
Satan is with us always. But we have to understand that
nobody, not even God, can take away our right of choice of whom we want to be
in union with. When God begins to convert us, He makes us well aware that we
have a choice and that we can resist and determine who we want to be united
with—God or Satan—just as we can determine in our own lives who we want to be
friends with.
We can choose our friends. We can choose, then, the kind of
relationships we have with them. We can walk away from them, if they are
pulling us down—away from union with God.
Unfortunately, that has to be done sometimes so that we be
in union, at one with, the Father. We hope that does not happen very often.
Parents know that at times they have tell our kids, "We don't want you to hang
out with him or her." Why? Because they know that that other kid will pull
their kids down, so they do not want them in union with him. It is a simple
principle.
God has put us into the position where we have the
opportunity to use our time and energy to make the choice of whether we will be
in union with Him. He leaves the choice to us. It is a tremendous thing that He
does this because it produces wonderful effects.
So we are juxtaposed between, on the one hand, God, and on
the other hand, Satan. But we are free from Satan because we have the choice of
whom we want to be in union with.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Image and Likeness of God (Part 4)
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daily devotional
Evening ...
Mark 9:23
All things are possible to him that believeth.
Many professed Christians are always doubting and fearing, and they forlornly
think that this is the necessary state of believers. This is a mistake, for
"all things are possible to him that believeth"; and it is possible for us to
mount into a state in which a doubt or a fear shall be but as a bird of passage
flitting across the soul, but never lingering there. When you read of the high
and sweet communions enjoyed by favoured saints, you sigh and murmur in the
chamber of your heart, "Alas! these are not for me." O climber, if thou hast
but faith, thou shalt yet stand upon the sunny pinnacle of the temple, for "all
things are possible to him that believeth." You hear of exploits which holy men
have done for Jesus; what they have enjoyed of Him; how much they have been
like Him; how they have been able to endure great persecutions for His sake;
and you say, "Ah! as for me, I am but a worm; I can never attain to this." But
there is nothing which one saint was, that you may not be. There is no
elevation of grace, no attainment of spirituality, no clearness of assurance,
no post of duty, which is not open to you if you have but the power to believe.
Lay aside your sackcloth and ashes, and rise to the dignity of your true
position; you are little in Israel because you will be so, not because there is
any necessity for it. It is not meet that thou shouldst grovel in the dust, O
child of a King. Ascend! The golden throne of assurance is waiting for you! The
crown of communion with Jesus is ready to bedeck your brow. Wrap yourself in
scarlet and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day; for if thou believest,
thou mayst eat the fat of kidneys of wheat; thy land shall flow with milk and
honey, and thy soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. Gather
golden sheaves of grace, for they await thee in the fields of faith. "All
things are possible to him that believeth."
Morning ...
Revelation 21:23
The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it.
Yonder in the better world, the inhabitants are independent of all creature
comforts. They have no need of raiment; their white robes never wear out,
neither shall they ever be defiled. They need no medicine to heal diseases,
"for the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick." They need no sleep to recruit
their frames-they rest not day nor night, but unweariedly praise Him in His
temple. They need no social relationship to minister comfort, and whatever
happiness they may derive from association with their fellows is not essential
to their bliss, for their Lord's society is enough for their largest desires.
They need no teachers there; they doubtless commune with one another concerning
the things of God, but they do not require this by way of instruction; they
shall all be taught of the Lord. Ours are the alms at the king's gate, but they
feast at the table itself. Here we lean upon the friendly arm, but there they
lean upon their Beloved and upon Him alone. Here we must have the help of our
companions, but there they find all they want in Christ Jesus. Here we look to
the meat which perisheth, and to the raiment which decays before the moth, but
there they find everything in God. We use the bucket to fetch us water from the
well, but there they drink from the fountain head, and put their lips down to
the living water. Here the angels bring us blessings, but we shall want no
messengers from heaven then. They shall need no Gabriels there to bring their
love-notes from God, for there they shall see Him face to face. Oh! what a
blessed time shall that be when we shall have mounted above every second cause
and shall rest upon the bare arm of God! What a glorious hour when God, and not
His creatures; the Lord, and not His works, shall be our daily joy! Our souls
shall then have attained the perfection of bliss.
Ephesians 4:1-3
(1) I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, (2) With all lowliness and
meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; (3) Endeavouring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Notice carefully what Paul names as the reason for making unity and
peace: the value we place on our calling. If, in our heart of hearts, we
consider it of small value, our conduct, especially toward our brethren, will
reveal it and work to produce contention and disunity. Thus John writes, "If
someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother he is a liar; for he who does
not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not
seen?" (I John 4:20).
Paul next counsels us to choose to conduct ourselves humbly. Humility
is pride's opposite. If pride only produces contention, it follows that
humility will work to soothe, calm, heal, and unify. He advises us to cultivate
meekness or gentleness, the opposite of the self-assertiveness that our
contemporary culture promotes so strongly. Self-assertiveness is competitive
determination to press one's will at all costs. This approach may indeed "win"
battles over other brethren, but it might be helpful to remember God's counsel
in Proverbs 15:1, "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up
anger." James declares that godly wisdom is "gentle, willing to yield, full of
mercy" (James 3:17).
Then Paul counsels that we be patient; likewise, James counsels us to
"let patience have its perfect work" (James 1:4). We often want quick
resolutions to the irritations between us, which is certainly understandable
since we want to get rid of the burden those differences impose. But we must
understand that speedy solutions are not always possible. Interestingly, in
Paul's letter to the Philippians, he does not use his apostolic authority to
drive the two feuding women into a forced solution (Philippians 4:1). Some
problems are deeply buried within both sides of the contention, so finally Paul
admonishes us to forbear with each other in love. Essentially, he says to "put
up with it" or endure it, doing nothing to bring the other party down in the
eyes of others and vainly elevate the self. This is peacemaking through living
by godly character.
Yet another aspect to the Christian duty of peacemaking is our
privilege by prayer to invoke God's mercy upon the world, the church, and
individuals we know are having difficulties or whom we perceive God may be
punishing. This is one of the sacrifices of righteousness mentioned in relation
to Psalm 4:5. The Bible provides many examples of godly people doing this.
Abraham prayed for Sodom, Gomorrah, and probably Lot too, when the division
between them and God was so great that He had to destroy the cities (Genesis
18:16-33). Moses interceded for Israel before God following the Golden Calf
incident (Exodus 33:11-14). Aaron ran through the camp of Israel with a smoking
censer (a symbol of the prayers of the saints) following another of Israel's
rebellions that greatly disturbed the peace between them and God (Numbers
16:44-50). In each case, God relented to some degree. We will probably never
know in this life how much our prayers affect the course of division or how
much others—even the wicked—gained as a result of our intercession, but we
should find comfort knowing that we have done at least this much toward making
peace.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Beatitudes, Part 7: Blessed Are the Peacemakers
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