Lord, hear our prayer:
Father, our Lord and God, we have come to thank you that he lived in our world; that he died in our place; that he rose again and that he is always with us. Father, help us when we find it hard to trust you; guide us when we lose our way; strengthen us when we are ready to give up or give in; forgive us when we let you down. We ask our prayer in the name of Jesus, our friend who sets us free.
Amen.
AS modern-day churches set budgets and allocate financial resources, it is worth noting that in the Old Testament, the Israelites were commanded to give tithes (“a tenth part”) of their produce or income for three reasons: to celebrate the abundance of the Lord’s provision (Deuteronomy 14:22-26), to support the Levites (Deuteronomy 14:27; Numbers 18:20-24), and to provide for the poor (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).
In Malachi’s day, the postexilic Israelites were withholding their tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:8-10). Apparently they preferred to keep more for themselves rather than give what God asked. In doing so, they were not only robbing from God, they were in effect robbing from the Levites and the poor.
Could the same be true among believers today? Malachi tried to reawaken a sense of corporate responsibility for the poor and for public worship. He knew that obedience to God was more than just private religion; there are social implications to one’s relationship with God. One of those implications involves giving away a portion of one’s income to those who need it.
Saturday August 10, 2024
Acts 20:35
Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said,
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
This verse gives us an almost-forgotten beatitude. It was spoken by Jesus but not recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. The apostle Paul knew of it, however, and recalled it in Acts 20, thus preserving it for us in Scripture.
This verse gives us a super-beatitude. There are many beatitudes in the Bible that begin with the words Blessed is . . . or Blessed are. . . . But only once in the Bible does the phrase “more blessed” occur. This verse tells us how to go beyond blessing to greater blessing.
This verse gives us a double blessing. First, there is the blessing of receiving, which is a very me-like thing. God created us as recipients. He is the Source, the Supply, the Endless Provider who gives universal blessings, daily blessings, and spiritual blessings.
But there is one blessing greater than receiving. It’s the blessing of giving. Why is it more blessed to give than to receive? When we receive, we’re acting like ourselves; but when we give, we’re acting like God. Receiving is me-like. Giving is Christlike.
Have you experienced God’s almost-forgotten, super, double blessing today?
Dr. Mclean tells how he was rebuked and humbled on a certain occasion when he repeated a grave matter he had heard to a friend. His friend opened his Bible to Deuteronomy 13:14 and read: “[If you hear] . . . then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you. . . .”
Then his friend turned quietly to him and asked: “Have you, dear brother, enquired? Have you “made search?”
“Did you “ask diligently?”
“Did you try and find out if the story is true?
“And is the thing “certain?”
“Is it certain that ‘such abomination is wrought among you?’ ”
Dr. Mclean says he could only acknowledge regretfully that he had not fulfilled any one condition and was repeating the tale from hearsay without making the slightest attempt to act thereon in a Scriptural way.
~ Watchman – Examiner
IF we read on and discover the content of the covenant, we have further evidence of the grace of God. We read:
“To your offspring I give this land” (Genesis 15:18).
This is the first time that God says, “To your offspring I [now] give the land.” Up until now it had been a promise; now it becomes an established fact. God speaks as though it were already done. And so too the Christian today, who seeks for assurance, can but go to Calvary where God seems to say, “There is the evidence of my love. If you can stand before Calvary and still doubt that I love you, still doubt that My Word is true, there is nothing else that I can possibly do for you.”
It must be impressed upon our minds that to ask for anything more than the simple word of the living God and Calvary is an insult to the Almighty and an example of our own doubt. When Abram asked God for further assurance, God gave him a picture of Calvary and confirmed His covenant. Today there is a great tendency for men not to be satisfied with the Word of God, but to look for other evidences, emotional experiences and disturbances, mental experiences and fleshly manifestations. Men want to have feelings and see signs and wonders and miracles, and have all sorts of strange dreams and visions and manifestations; but God says in effect, “All these things are dishonoring to Me.” He wants nothing more than for us to believe the record of His Word. Again we refer you to that passage in John’s first letter:
“If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son” (1 John 5:9-10).
Let us be satisfied only with His Word and with the record of what He has done through Jesus Christ. Can we, my friends, stand before Calvary and see the agony of the Son of God as He hangs there upon the Cross, bleeding and dying in our stead until out of the depth of the distress of His soul He cries out, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), and realize that it was for us that God gave His Son, that He should die and then still doubt? Certainly we must see the awful sin of asking for anything more than that which He has so clearly demonstrated on the Cross of Calvary. And so in answer to Abram’s question, “How am I to know?” (Genesis 15:8), God in essence said, “Go to Calvary.” May the Lord bring us to Calvary day by day so that we shall ask for nothing more than His Word.
Lord, hear our prayer:
Lord, we thank you and praise you that you have made us so special that we can know you and your love. We praise you for the love that comes to us in Jesus. We praise you that he loved us so much. We thank you for those who have told us about Jesus, and for those whose lives have made him real to us. Forgive us for not following the way of Jesus each day, and for living as if he is no longer with us. Forgive us for those times when we cheat, when we hurt you, when we hurt each other, when we hurt ourselves. And help us to forgive others as you have forgiven us. In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Thinking, praying, reading, studying the Bible – when we do these things, we are reflecting on the Word of God. To reflect is to contemplate and/or consider, and God wants us to deeply reflect on His Word so that we can better understand Him.
In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him. – Colossians 2:9-10.
Give me ten thousand pounds, and one reverse of fortune may scatter it all away; but let me have a spiritual hold of this divine assurance, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” then I am all right. I am set up for life. I cannot break with such stock as this in hand. I never can be a bankrupt, for I hold this security, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Do not give me ready money now; give me a check book and let me draw what I like. This is what God does with the believer. He does not immediately transfer his inheritance to him, but lets him draw what he needs out of the riches of His fullness in Christ Jesus.
~ C. H. SPURGEON
Friday August 9, 2024
John 8:34, 36
“Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin . . . therefore if the Son makes you free,
you shall be free indeed.”
Jesus speaks here of bondservants and of those who are free.
A bondservant is a person who is owned and used by another and therefore has no rights or prerogatives of his own.
True, slavery has been abolished.
To buy and sell human beings is now punishable by very severe penalties.
Still slavery flourishes throughout the world. Most human beings spend their lives in slavery. There are people who sell themselves every day. Worst of all, they sell themselves as slaves, not to other human beings, but to humanity’s most bitter enemy, Satan. To him who exploits and oppresses his slaves, not only during their brief earthly span of years, but in an everlasting hell.
Young boys and girls sell themselves with a smile on their faces.
To them sin is fascinating amusement. “It is not as dangerous to sin as the old folk think,” they blaspheme.
But they have found that sin is something else besides fun. Lust soon becomes the lord of their lives. They resist, it is true, but the desire becomes too strong. It whips them into sinning more and more against the clear convictions of their consciences.
As a result they go through life bound by the chains of sin. Some by the heavy manacles of vice. Most of them by the glittering but strong fetters of worldly-mindedness.
What makes this slavery so terrible is the quiet voice within the bosom of the slave which says that she was never ordained to be a slave.
She was created to have dominion over herself and over her enemies. She was created to be free.
My friend, chained to sin, would you be free?
If you’re driven, you’ve probably worked very hard to get to where you are. Being driven is a good thing, but being driven at a cost to others or by elevating yourself by your own accord is detrimental. Proverbs 25 offers this warning from the perspective of King Solomon:
“Do not promote yourself before the king, and in the place of the great ones do not stand. For it is better that he say to you, ‘Ascend here,’ than he humble you before a noble” (Proverbs 25:6-7).
People tend to get nasty when power or money is involved. It’s uncomfortable to wait for that promotion, but God asks us to remain patient. At the end of the day, attaining leadership because you’re worthy is a much greater honor than obtaining it because you were louder than someone else or placed yourself in front of them. We should always take initiative and strive to succeed, but we need to remember that it’s not our place to decide our fates. We must place that in God’s hands, and we must wait to be asked to take the reins rather than snatch them ourselves.
Many people would put themselves before others when given the opportunity; they would promote themselves at the cost of someone else. As Christians, we have to ward off such temptations. We must maintain our integrity. Proverbs speaks about this as well:
“What your eyes have seen [in a king’s court], do not hastily bring out to court, for what will you do at its end, when your neighbor puts you to shame? Argue your argument with your neighbor himself, the secret of another do not disclose, lest he who hears shame you and your ill repute will not end” (Proverbs 25:8-10).
Abuse of power is one of the most common leadership problems. People seeking and obtaining power when they’re not ready can be equally disastrous. As we seek to advance ourselves, we must be cautious with how we earn power—and with how we handle power when we’ve earned it.
Lord, hear our prayer:
Father, we thank you that we can call you Father. We thank you for the good things with which you have filled our lives; for the things that make us excited; for all the different things we can see and hear and taste and touch. We thank you for the new people we meet, and those who add so many good things to our lives. We thank you for those who help us when we are in need, and those who find us when we feel lost. We thank you for those whose kindness, care and friendship make life worthwhile. We thank you for those who love us even when we are not very lovely ourselves. We bring our thanks in the name of Christ, who taught us what love really means.
Amen.
Thinking, praying, reading, studying the Bible – when we do these things, we are reflecting on the Word of God. To reflect is to contemplate and/or consider, and God wants us to deeply reflect on His Word so that we can better understand Him.
In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. – Colossians 2:3.
The science of Jesus Christ is the most excellent of sciences. Let no one turn away from the Bible because it is not a book of learning and wisdom. It is. Would ye know astronomy?—it is here: it tells you of the Sun of Righteousness and the Star of Bethlehem, Would you know botany?—it is here: it tells you of the plant of renown,—the Lily of the Valley and the Rose of Sharon. Would you know geology and mineralogy?—you shall learn it here: for you may read of the Rock of Ages, and the White Stone with the name engraved thereon, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. Would ye study history?—here is the most ancient of all the records of the history of the human race. Whatever your science is, come and bend over this book: your science is here. Come and drink out of this fair fount of knowledge and wisdom, and ye shall find yourselves made wise unto salvation.
~ C. H. SPURGEON
Thursday August 8, 2024
Luke 1:35
That Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
If the Son of God is born into my mortal flesh, is His holy innocence and simplicity and oneness with the Father getting a chance to manifest itself in me? What was true of the Virgin Mary in the historic introduction of God’s Son into this earth is true in every saint. The Son of God is born into me by the direct act of God; then I as a child of God have to exercise the right of a child, the right of being always face to face with my Father. Am I continually saying with amazement to my commonsense life—‘Why do you want to turn me off here? Don’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business?’ Whatever the circumstances may be, that Holy, Innocent, Eternal Child must be in contact with His Father.
Am I simple enough to identify myself with my Lord in this way? Is He getting His wonderful way in me? Is God realizing that His Son is formed in me, or have I carefully put Him on one side? Oh the clamor of these days! Everyone is clamoring—for what? For the Son of God to be put to death. There is no room here for the Son of God just now, no room for quiet holy communion with the Father.
Is the Son of God praying in me or am I dictating to Him? Is He ministering in me as He did in the days of His flesh? Is the Son of God in me going through His passion for His own purposes? The more one knows of the inner life of God’s ripest saints, the more one sees what God’s purpose is—“filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.” There is always something to be done in the sense of “filling up.”
Zeal can be treacherous if it’s misplaced. It may lead us to set and strictly follow standards that have nothing to do with God’s work—standards that make us feel like good people but that can devastate our lives and the lives of others.
Paul addresses the misplaced zeal of many Jewish people in his letter to the Roman church:
“Brothers, the desire of my heart and my prayer to God on behalf of them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For ignoring the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:1-4).
Many Jewish people who had rejected the Messiah were attempting to make themselves right with God by keeping the Old Testament law. In doing so, they missed God by seeking their own righteousness. Paul tells the Romans that these Jewish people ignored the “righteousness of God”—God’s work of salvation in Jesus Christ. It’s only by submitting to God that they could be “right with God” through Jesus Christ.
This lesson isn’t applicable only to the Jewish people and their relationship to the law. Jesus restored relationship with God when we couldn’t. We only have to believe in Him. Yet a dangerous zeal can still trip us up. If we rest in anything except Christ’s work and try to reach God by being good people, we are sure to miss Him. And in the process, we can become stumbling blocks in the lives of others.
Are you trying to attain righteousness through your own effort? How does your life reflect humility because of Christ’s work in you? How can you lovingly point others toward the righteousness of God, found only through His son, Jesus Christ?
Lord, hear our prayer:
Father your word is a light and inspiration to us. We thank you for the stories of all you did for your people, and we praise you that we can still trust you today. We thank you for stories of Jesus, and we praise you that he is our Saviour and Lord. Lord, forgive us for closing our ears to your word, our eyes to the needs of others and our lips that should speak of your love. Touch us and change us and make us new. In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Thinking, praying, reading, studying the Bible – when we do these things, we are reflecting on the Word of God. To reflect is to contemplate and/or consider, and God wants us to deeply reflect on His Word so that we can better understand Him.
I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. – Colossians 1:29.
The more earnestly you are at work for Jesus, the more you need times when what you are doing for Him passes totally out of your mind, and the only thing worth thinking of seems to be what He is doing for you. That is the real meaning of the days of discouragement and self-contempt which come to all of us.
~ PHILLIPS BROOKS
Wednesday August 7, 2024
Romans 6:6
Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him.
It is purely a matter of faith, and faith and sight always differ, so that to your senses it does not seem to be so, but your faith must still reckon it so. This is a very difficult attitude to hold, and only as we thoroughly believe God can we thus reckon upon His Word and His working, but as we do so, faith will convert it into fact, and it will be even so.
These two words, “yield” and “reckon,” are passwords into the resurrection life. They are like the two edges of the “Sword of the Spirit” through which we enter into crucifixion with Christ.
This act of surrender and this reckoning of faith are recognized in the New Testament as marking a very definite crisis in the spiritual life. It does not mean that we are expected to be going through a continual dying, but that there should be one very definite act of dying and then a constant habit of reckoning ourselves as dead, and meeting everything from this standpoint.
“Reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ.”
It’s important to pause occasionally to reflect on the cost of sin. If we don’t, we can find ourselves living in it without thought of the ramifications. Few passages illustrate the cost of sin more vividly than the fall of Jerusalem recorded in Jeremiah 39. The fall of Jerusalem is brutal, depressing, and sadistic, but we can learn from Jeremiah’s account of the event.
We could view Jeremiah’s depictions as merely historical, or we could recognize the theological lessons they offer: Sin is expensive. Sin will destroy you. Sin will bring a nation to its knees. Sin will leave you begging for mercy. Sin is death. That’s what God’s people learned from this event: Disobeying Yahweh is a costly action. It’s not that God wants His people to endure this pain, but pain is a natural consequence of their decisions. He cannot defend people who refuse to live as beacons of light—of goodness, beauty, and blessing—to the world. If they aren’t willing to live in His image, then He is not willing to be their defender. If Yahweh did not allow for Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem, the people would never learn. And the exile that comes in this moment is also a natural result of their sin.
When we’re faced with the horror of the destruction of Jerusalem, we’re given a choice: Will we listen to the prophets of our age and respond accordingly? Will we hear God when He calls us back to obedience? Or will we continue to live in sin and suffer the consequences?
As a side effect of the grace that God has given us in Jesus, many people assume that sin is somehow okay—that it’s okay to allow it to exist. God’s response is the opposite. The grace is unmerited, and we must respond with the only merited response: complete dedication and obedience to Him. We must see the death of sin and deny it.
Lord, hear our prayer:
Lord, we thank you for loving us, and we praise you for telling us of your love – for showing us your love in Jesus. We thank you for his life of love and compassion, and we praise you that he taught us to love. We thank you for his death on the cross of Calvary, and we praise you for his mighty resurrection. We thank you for your word in the Bible, and we praise you for the things we can learn when we read it. We thank you that it tells us that you made the world, and we praise you for scientists who are discovering how it was made. Glory to you alone through Christ Jesus.
Amen.
Thinking, praying, reading, studying the Bible – when we do these things, we are reflecting on the Word of God. To reflect is to contemplate and/or consider, and God wants us to deeply reflect on His Word so that we can better understand Him.
In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. – Colossians 1:14.
I once saw the sweetest sight—a little, weary child falling asleep upon the grass, with a posy of flowers in its hand. By degrees the little fingers relaxed their hold, the little head drooped gently, the little eyelids closed; and the child, slept. God grant that when I fall into my last sleep my poor fingers may have in them some posy, some sweet flowers! Is there anything in my little garden that I may hold in my hand when I come to die? Righteousness? Ah! that is a poor weed at its best. Genius? What will that do for me in that sublime hour when the babe and the suckling have more knowledge of the things of God than the very wisest of this world. Great riches? Even the man of the world will laugh at you if you propose to hold those in your hand in the hour of death. . . . But there grows sometimes in the deep, shadowed part of a man’s heart the sweetest flower—lowliness toward God; and another flower—humbleness toward man. But even that does not make a handful. When a man is sinking to his last sleep let him turn to the fullness of God. Then gathers he, if he be wise, the flower of forgiveness, the great passion-flower of God’s love, the crown of thorns, the blood-red rose and the amaranth of the Eternal Realm.
~ G. DAWSON
Tuesday August 6, 2024
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Do you not know . . . you are not your own? For you were bought at a price;
therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
If it be true that we are not our own, and I hope it is true of you, then the inference from it is, ‘I have no right to injure myself in any way.’ My body is not my own; I have no right then, as a Christian, to do anything with it that would defile it. The apostle is arguing mainly against sins of the flesh and he says, ‘the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.’ We have no right to commit uncleanness, because our bodies are the members of Christ and not our own. He would say the same of drunkenness, gluttony, idle sleep, and even of such excessive anxiety after wealth as injures health with burdensome care. We have no right to profane or injure the flesh and blood which are consecrated to God; every limb of our frame belongs to God; it is his property; he has bought it ‘with a price’. Any honest man will be more concerned about an injury done to another’s property placed under his care, than if it were his own. When a son of the prophets was hewing wood with Elisha and the axe head flew off into the water, you remember how he said, ‘Alas, master! for it was borrowed.’ It would be bad enough to lose my own axe but it is not my own; therefore I doubly deplore the accident. I know this would not operate upon thievish minds. There are some who would have no further care about it, if it was another man’s and they had borrowed it: ‘Let the lender get it back, if he can.’ But we speak to honest men and with them it is always a strong argument. Your body is another’s; do it no injury.
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