From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daiy devotional
Evening ...
John 1:7 If we walk in the light, as He is in the light.
As He is in the light! Can we ever attain to this? Shall we ever be able to
walk as clearly in the light as He is whom we call "Our Father," of whom it is
written, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all"? Certainly, this is
the model which it set before us, for the Saviour Himself said, "Be ye perfect,
even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect"; and although we may feel that
we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after it, and
never to be satisfied until we attain to it. The youthful artist, as he grasps
his early pencil, can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michael Angelo, but
still, if he did not have a noble beau ideal before his mind, he would only
attain to something very mean and ordinary. But what is meant by the expression
that the Christian is to walk in light as God is in the light? We conceive it
to import likeness, but not degree. We are as truly in the light, we are as
heartily in the light, we are as sincere ly in the light, as honestly in the
light, though we cannot be there in the same measure. I cannot dwell in the
sun, it is too bright a place for my residence, but I can walk in the light of
the sun; and so, though I cannot attain to that perfection of purity and truth
which belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the infinitely good, yet I can
set the Lord always before me, and strive, by the help of the indwelling
Spirit, after conformity to His image. That famous old commentator, John Trapp,
says, "We may be in the light as God is in the light for quality, but not for
equality." We are to have the same light, and are as truly to have it and walk
in it as God does, though, as for equality with God in His holiness and purity,
that must be left until we cross the Jordan and enter into the perfection of
the Most High. Mark that the blessings of sacred fellowship and perfect
cleansing are bound up with walking in the light.
Morning ...
Psalm 73:24
Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
The Psalmist felt his need of divine guidance. He had just been discovering
the foolishness of his own heart, and lest he should be constantly led astray
by it, he resolved that God's counsel should henceforth guide him. A sense of
our own folly is a great step towards being wise, when it leads us to rely on
the wisdom of the Lord. The blind man leans on his friend's arm and reaches
home in safety, and so would we give ourselves up implicitly to divine
guidance, nothing doubting; assured that though we cannot see, it is always
safe to trust the All-seeing God. "Thou shalt," is a blessed expression of
confidence. He was sure that the Lord would not decline the condescending task.
There is a word for thee, O believer; rest thou in it. Be assured that thy God
will be thy counsellor and friend; He shall guide thee; He will direct all thy
ways. In His written Word thou hast this assurance in part fulfilled, for holy
Scripture is His counsel to thee. Happy are we to have God's Word always to
guide us! What were the mariner without his compass? And what were the
Christian without the Bible? This is the unerring chart, the map in which every
shoal is described, and all the channels from the quicksands of destruction to
the haven of salvation mapped and marked by one who knows all the way. Blessed
be Thou, O God, that we may trust Thee to guide us now, and guide us even to
the end! After this guidance through life, the Psalmist anticipates a divine
reception at last-"and afterward receive me to glory." What a thought for thee,
believer! God Himself will receive thee to glory-thee! Wandering, erring,
straying, yet He will bring thee safe at last to glory! This is thy portion;
live on it this day, and if perplexities should surround thee, go in the
strength of this text straight to the throne.
Galatians 5:22
(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Joy that is a fruit of God's Spirit has its roots in the
realization of God's purpose and its outworking that transforms us into His
image. Biblical joy begins when God calls, and we hear the gospel, understand,
and believe it.
Biblical joy is bound up in our relationship with Him and our
understanding of what is happening to our minds. We walk to the beat of a
different drummer than this world because we understand God's overall purpose.
We know we have been forgiven and have a place in His purpose because we now
have His Spirit. No more life-changing experience can ever happen to a human
than when God calls and understanding dawns. It forever alters our perspective
on life itself and on the things we formerly trusted to give us satisfaction.
Henceforth our joys must arise from yielding to fulfill God's
great creative purpose and seeing it accomplished. This is why we were born!
Because of this, we can look forward to hearing Him say:
Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a
few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your
lord. (Matthew 25:21)
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Fruit of the Spirit: Joy
.
===============================================
daily devotional
Evening ...
Jeremiah 17:14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.
"I have seen His ways, and will heal him."-Isaiah 57:18 It is the sole
prerogative of God to remove spiritual disease. Natural disease may be
instrumentally healed by men, but even then the honour is to be given to God
who giveth virtue unto medicine, and bestoweth power unto the human frame to
cast off disease. As for spiritual sicknesses, these remain with the great
Physician alone; He claims it as His prerogative, "I kill and I make alive, I
wound and I heal"; and one of the Lord's choice titles is Jehovah-Rophi, the
Lord that healeth thee. "I will heal thee of thy wounds," is a promise which
could not come from the lip of man, but only from the mouth of the eternal God.
On this account the psalmist cried unto the Lord, "O Lord, heal me, for my
bones are sore vexed," and again, "Heal my soul, for I have sinned against
thee." For this, also, the godly praise the name of the Lord, saying, "He
healeth all our diseases." He who made man can restore man; He w ho was at
first the creator of our nature can new create it. What a transcendent comfort
it is that in the person of Jesus "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily!" My soul, whatever thy disease may be, this great Physician can heal
thee. If He be God, there can be no limit to His power. Come then with the
blind eye of darkened understanding, come with the limping foot of wasted
energy, come with the maimed hand of weak faith, the fever of an angry temper,
or the ague of shivering despondency, come just as thou art, for He who is God
can certainly restore thee of thy plague. None shall restrain the healing
virtue which proceeds from Jesus our Lord. Legions of devils have been made to
own the power of the beloved Physician, and never once has He been baffled. All
His patients have been cured in the past and shall be in the future, and thou
shalt be one among them, my friend, if thou wilt but rest thyself in Him this
night.
Morning ...
Isaiah 51:5 On mine arm shall they trust.
In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can
trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his
vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply
and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that
wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul
to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the
multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless
that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father's arms, and is
blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so
peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for
them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh,
tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father!
Now that thou hast only thy God to tr ust to, see that thou puttest thy full
confidence in Him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and
fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God
is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy
poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou
art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the
time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous,
and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as He built the heavens and the
earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of
thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky
were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory
if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit
give you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.
Matthew 26:39-44
(39) And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and
prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:
nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (40) And he cometh unto the
disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not
watch with me one hour? (41) Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (42) He went away again
the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away
from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. (43) And he came and found them
asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. (44) And he left them, and went away
again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
What was this "cup" that Jesus asked might pass from Him if it
were His Father's will? Was He, in a moment of weakness, asking His Father to
prevent Him from going through the coming hours of physical torture? This is
doubtful considering that Jesus, with the fullest knowledge and foresight of
all the horrible details, had spent His entire human lifetime, and millennia
prior to it, in preparation for this day.
A brief word study on these verses may prove helpful here. The
word "cup" is translated from the Greek noun poterion, which can mean the
vessel's liquid contents as well as the vessel itself. It is obvious, of
course, that Jesus drank the contents, not the vessel. Poterion derives from
pino, "to drink."
The word "pass" is translated from the Greek verb parerchomai,
which can refer to the passage of time. From this, we can deduce that Jesus may
have been asking His Father to make the time it would take to complete this
awful "drink" pass as quickly as possible, but even then, only if it fit in
with His Father's perfect will.
Most of us have at some time had to drink some horrible-tasting
medicine, and although we knew that it was beneficial for us to drink it, the
procedure still seemed to take an eternity! By prior agreement with His Father,
Jesus was at this time voluntarily draining an enormous cup of spiritual
"drink," which was ultimately a healing medicine for mankind but at the same
time was to Him a deadly poison.
This spiritual drink was a mixture of two ingredients that could
not have been more repulsive to Them both. The first ingredient was the sin of
the whole world. The second was Their separation from each other. Jesus'
spiritual poison did not just taste horrible. It racked His body and His mind
with stinging agony (I Corinthians 15:56; Luke 22:44). Perhaps, in agreeing to
drink of this cup, He even accepted a taste of the fiery fate of those who
would never repent, as foretold through the prophet Jeremiah that the poison
was like fire that had been injected into His bones (Lam entations 1:13).
John Plunkett
From Jesus' Final Human Thoughts (Part Two)
.
nc3=5191954
Description: Binary data
