Category: Devotional

Light Brings Life

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“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men”.

~ John 1:4

Light brings life. As each new day dawns, so does the vibrant moving, growing, bustling, and stirring of life everywhere. In many ways, it is the bright warmth of light that grants us the motivation, desire and inspiration to carry on with our day. The same is true of our spiritual life. In Christ is life, because He is the light of the His people which spurs us on towards greater faith and good works. Jesus is the source of all true, noble, righteous and principled deeds born in the Christian life. To the Light goes all the glory (Jn 8:12). Have you placed your faith and hope in the One who brought light into this dark world? Have you come out of darkness into Light? Does your life reflect the light of Jesus? Remember, it is light that brings life.

~ apl

His Precious Word

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“Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible. But I often spent a quarter of an hour to an hour on my knees struggling to pray while my mind wandered. Now I rarely have this problem. As my heart is nourished by the truth of the Word, I am brought into true fellowship with God. I speak to my Father and to my Friend (although I am unworthy) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word.”

~ George Muller

Be A Nobody

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“God can achieve His purpose either through the absence of human power and resources, or abandonment of reliance on them. All through history God has chosen and used nobodies, because their unusual dependence on Him made possible the unique display of His power and grace. He chose and used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources.”

~ Oswald Chambers

Covered in His Garment

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“Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a `kinsmen-redeemer of our family.”

~ Ruth 3:9

Boaz was Ruth’s kinsmen redeemer. Under the Old Covenant, the male next of kin was responsible to provide for, take care of and protect a relative in need. In the Book of Ruth, it is Boaz who comes in and provides for his relative Ruth in the most personal and loving manner – by taking her as his bride. In doing this, Boaz showed himself faithful to his duty as a kinsmen by redeeming Ruth as his wife. As a result, and many years later, Ruth would become the great-grand mother to Israel’s King David.

As Boaz spread his garment over Ruth as symbol of his love and care for her, so the Lord Christ covers his bride in the robes of His righteousness (Is. 61:10). We are no longer exposed to God’s judgment because of our sins and transgressions. Rather, Jesus takes us in, and washes us clean by the Holy Spirit (Tit 3:5) and claims us for Himself (1 Cor. 6:20). Like Ruth, do you confess to be Christ’s servant? Have you asked Him to cover you in His love, mercy and grace? If so, rejoice! For Jesus has become your kinsmen-redeemer!

~ apl

Having Done All, Stand

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“And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers.”

~ Acts 26:6

The Apostle Paul understood what it meant to be judged for his faith. This man who once mocked, ridiculed and persecuted Christians now stood under the same judgment of others he once stood over. Paul had come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and knew it had been promised and prophesied by God to their forefathers in Israel. Yet, the majority of the people were still blinded to this truth and self-righteously judged those who had come to confess and believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt. 16:16)

If you are judged by others for your faith in the Lord Jesus, stand firm (Phil. 4:1). Stand in humility and grace as a living testimony to the loving salvation purchased for you by your Savior. Cling to the hope that even those, like the Apostle Paul, who once judged others for their new-found faith, can be won over by the Gospel of Christ and the mercies of God seen through your faithfulness even in the most difficult of circumstances caused by the judgments, mocking and ridicule of others. And having done all, stand (Eph. 6:13).

~ apl

Keep Thy Crown

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“Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”

~ Revelation 3:11

Hold fast the gift which divine grace hath already bestowed on thee; the loss of it were the loss of thy crown. This exhortation is made necessary by such facts as these: – There is a tendency in the mind to under-estimate the gifts already in possession, and to forget how absolute is the connection between present grace and eventual glory; and there is also a tendency to depreciate the power and subtlety of the adversaries… Hold fast that which thou hast of love, faith, patience, prayerfulness, humility, knowledge, courage, perseverance. It may seem a light thing to give way to an erring momentary impulse; but understand that in that moment a bold, unscrupulous hand was stretched out to snatch away thy crown.

~ Rev. George Bowen (1816-1888)

Many Have Yielded

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“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

~ 1 Peter 5:8

“Many have yielded to go a mile with Satan, that never intended to go two; but when once on the way, they have been allured further and farther, till at last they know not how to leave his company.”

~ William Gurnall (1616-1679)

But The Christian Lives

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“For we walk by faith, not by sight”

~ 2 Corinthians 5:7

The people of this world are influenced by the things that are seen. They live for wealth, honor, splendor, praise, for the objects which this world can furnish, and as if there were nothing which is unseen, or as if they ought not to be influenced by the things which are unseen. The Christian, on the contrary, has a firm conviction of the reality of the glories of heaven; of the fact that the Redeemer is there; of the fact that there is a crown of glory; and he lives, and acts as if that were all real, and as if he saw it all. 

God is unseen – but the Christian lives, and thinks, and acts as if there were a God, and as if he saw him. Christ is unseen now by the bodily eye; but the Christian lives and acts as if he were seen, that is, as if his eye were known to be upon us, and as if he was now exalted to heaven and was the only Saviour. The Holy Spirit is unseen; but he lives, and acts as if there were such a Spirit, and as if his influences were needful to renew, and purify the soul. Heaven is unseen; but the Christian lives, and thinks, and acts as if there were a heaven, and as if he now saw its glories. He has confidence in these, and in kindred truths, and he acts as if they were real. Could man see all these; were they visible to the naked eye as they are to the eye of faith, no one would doubt the propriety of living and acting with reference to them.

~ Albert Barnes, Barnes’ Notes on the Whole Bible

God Is Love

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“God is love” ~ 1 John 4:8

God will always be most holy, most just, all knowing, all powerful, all sovereign, infinite, immutable, and eternal but if God is not love – how do any of those other glorious attributes relate to us? Without God’s love, how would fallen man come to experience any of His other truly majestic attributes? It is the attribute of love that brings God down to His creature. It is His love that moves Him to deal with us through the work of redemption, not only according to His justice, wrath and judgment, but also with forgiveness, mercy and grace.

In 1 John 4:8 we read God is love. Love is not so much an attribute of God as it is His very essence.  It is not so much a moral perfection of His being as it is His being itself. He would not be God were He not love. God has loved His people from everlasting, and therefore nothing about the creature can be the cause of what is found in God from eternity. He loves from Himself:  “according to His own purpose” (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9) and it was His purpose to reconcile sinful people to Himself through the atoning death of His Son.

It is one thing to talk about God’s love in an academic or intellectual manner, but I think it is also vitally important to know God’s love experientially. I know we don’t want to base our faith on our feelings, but at the same time, we don’t want to neglect such a great blessing as actually experiencing God’s love in our life. Remember, Jesus wept. It’s ok to be moved mentally emotionally and spiritually by the thought of God’s precious, sovereign gracious and everlasting love.

~ apl