Morning Devotional December 31, 2014

John 12:43

 

“For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”

 

As we leave the old year and enter the new, pay attention to where the praise of the world is focused. We see those of the world focus on praising this one and that one for their accomplishments in the past year. No thought to the God of Heaven. But we expect that from them. Don't we? After all they are not God's children.

But also notice many of those who wear the name of Christ. There are those who we believe to be the children of God. Yet they follow after the example of the world and not after the example of their Savior. They will celebrate with the darkness of the world and not with the light of Christ.

So at this time of remembering the past year remember Who it was that gave you that year. Remember the One who brought you through that year. And remember to give thanks to our Heavenly Father for it all.

As for the year to come, waste not your time and energy on silly resolutions but instead strive to live your life according to the Word of God.

 

John 12:46

“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”

 

If you are a child of God flee the darkness and concentrate on the Light.

If you have not been saved and the Holy Spirit is calling you “believe on the name of Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

 

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!

Morning Devotional October 12, 2014

I Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

As I read of our brothers and sisters in Canada are celebrating their nation's Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, I am reminded of the verses above.

The Lord tells us in His Word several times we are to give thanks to God for everything in our lives. But I believe the most important thing we have to give thanks for is the grace and mercy our Lord showed upon us when He offered Himself as the sacrifice for our dead and lost souls. What a joyous moment that is when our Lord sends His Holy Spirit to prick our hearts and show us what evil lost sinners we are. And that moment when our Lord opens our understanding and gives us the faith to believe His Son, Jesus Christ, is our only hope for salvation.

What a glorious revelation to see what has been hidden from us. What a blessing to know that the Holy Father has chosen us from before the foundation of the earth to be His child. What a miracle the Great Physician performs to change us from death unto life. Praise the Lord for our salvation!!! Praise the Lord for giving us eternal life and saving us from our sins!!!

And even after all this we still fail Him. What wicked sinners we are. Even after all He has done for us and has given us we still struggle with the sins of this life. We still forget to turn to Him in our greatest times of need.

Even though He has given us the Great Comforter to dwell within us we still forget who are and who's we are. We must remember we are children of the King of all creation! We are joint heirs with the Son of God! Without Him we are nothing and we have nothing.

We must remember to “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

So as our brothers and sisters in Canada celebrate their Thanksgiving Day tomorrow I pray that they remember to give thanks to the only one who deserves our thanks. Give thanks to our Heavenly Father.

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!

 

Morning Devotional October 5, 2014

I Chronicles 29:11-14

 

“Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reighest over all; and in thy hand is power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.”

O what a glorious God we serve!!!

King David, in this prayer praises the Lord for all the blessings He has bestowed upon the nation of Israel. At the end of David's reign as king, as he is about to pass the keys of the kingdom over to his son Solomon, prays a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God who has blessed the people and their king. My favorite part of this prayer is the last verse where David so humbly says: “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?” Who are we? What gives us the right to come before the Almighty God and proclaim His name and to sing His praises? Where does this willingness come from? The willingness to want to worship God. The one and only true God. The one who sent His only begotten Son to die a horrible death so that our sins would be forgiven and washed cleaned. The one who gave us eternal life. A life in eternity with Him.

David answers these questions in the same verse: “For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.” Praise God!!! Our worship and admiration for Him is not dependent upon us. For with out His Holy Spirit living within us we would have no desire to worship Him or to praise His name. David knew that all things come from God. The very will to worship God. The very will to want a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. Is not our own will but His will bestowed upon us.

 

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!    

Morning Devotional September 28, 2014

I Chronicles 16:7-36

7 Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.

8 Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.

9 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.

10 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

11 Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.

12 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;

13 O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

14 He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

15 Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations;

16 Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac;

17 And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,

18 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance;

19 When ye were but few, even a few, and strangers in it.

20 And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people;

21 He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes,

22 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

23 Sing unto the Lord, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation.

24 Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations.

25 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods.

26 For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.

27 Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place.

28 Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.

29 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

30 Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.

31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigneth.

32 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein.

33 Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the Lord, because he cometh to judge the earth.

34 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

35 And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise.

36 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the people said, Amen, and praised the Lord.

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!

 

Morning Devotional September 27, 2014

Psalm 16:11

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

 

What a glorious picture of our savior we see in this verse.

First:

David says “Thou wilt shew me the path of life”. Who is the path of life for us? None other than Jesus Christ; the Son of God. In John 14:6 Jesus tells Thomas “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” So according to Jesus, if we desire to see the Father we must follow Him. He is the only way to the Father and eternal life.

 

Second:

David says “in thy presence is fulness of joy”. Where does our true joy come from? None other than Jesus Christ; the Son of God. Jesus said in John 15:11 “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Oh the joy we have when we are living and loving our Savior. Oh the joy of knowing we are His and He is ours!!! Not just for now but for all eternity!!!

 

Third:

David says “at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Remember, David is speaking to God the Father here. So who sits at the right hand of God the Father? None other than Jesus Christ; the Son of God. Mark 14:62 “And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Jesus said He would be sitting on the right hand of God. Also Peter tells us in I Peter 3:22 “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”

 

So from this one short verse we see Jesus is our Path of Life. Which leads to eternal life with our heavenly Father. We see that if we are in His presence we will be full of joy (remember, He said He would never leave us nor forsake us. If we don't feel His joy it is not Jesus who left us it is us who is ignoring His presence.). And lastly, because Jesus is at the right hand of God we have an advocate. Someone who stood in our place and took on our sins and was sacrificed for our sins so that His people could have “pleasures for evermore.”

 

Praise ye the Lord!!! 

Morning Devotional July 6, 2014

Colossians 2:8
 

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

As a continuation from yesterday; we see here where Paul gives his warning to the church at Colosse about false teachers.

We see so many in the religious world who claim the name “Christian” who teach contrary to the Word of God. We hear them teaching doctrines that are far from the truth. Yet so many will follow after these false teachers and false doctrines as though they are truth. Even with all the warnings the Lord gave us in His Word we still find false teachers and false doctrine the main stay in religious circles today. It's as though no one is paying heed to the very Word of God.

Man will take a plain simple truth from the Holy scriptures and stretch it and twist it until he gets what he wants out of it. Then he will teach it to as many as who will lesson. If it sounds good, if it sounds pretty, and sweet then the people will fall for it every time.

As sinful men there are times when we grow weary of hearing our sins preach on. It is in those times of weakness that the ole devil puts those thoughts in our head that our sin is no worse than anyone else. It is in those times that we are most venerable to kind, soft, pretty words from the false teacher. It is those times that the traditions of men seem to sound good, even when we know better. We follow after the crowd and fall right off the cliff into the doctrines of devils.

And this is why I constantly stress that all God's children turn to His Word when in these times of weakness. If you are hearing preached things that are contrary to what the Word of God says or you are hearing things taught that are not what you have heard in the past. Do as the Bereans, study DAILY the things that you hear preached and taught. Make sure the preacher you are setting under is preaching the whole of God's Word and not half truths and false doctrines.

Beware of those who preach a health, wealth, and feel good gospel rather than the true Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Beware of those who preach the philosophies of the man with the intent to deceive the people. Beware of those who teach the traditions of man as though they are truth. Follow Christ and Christ alone!!!

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!  

Morning Devotional July 5, 2014

Ecclesiastes 12:9 & 10

 

“And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable word: and that which was written was upright, even the words of truth.”

 

Oh that the preachers today would use the wisdom given them by God to teach the people knowledge. How many preachers do we know out there who are giving into the wants of the people and not to the truths of God's Word? How many people are seeking a preacher who will teach the milk of the Word but shy away from the meat of the Word? How many have persuaded the preacher to not preach on sin but to preach only love, joy, and peace?

We see in the religious world today a people who demand to wear the name “Christian” who have no right to that name. We see a people who have a strong desire to go to church and hear about what Jesus can do for them but will swell up and burst if they are asked to do something for Jesus. We see a people who are gluttonous, greedy, and selfish. Demanding others forgive them of their sins but refusing to forgive others of theirs.

 But, the preacher stands by with the wisdom God has given him and plays right along with the worldliness of the people. Shame on the preacher who has traded the teaching of the proverbs and the commandments of our Lord for fun and games and joke telling. Shame on the preacher who has substituted the truth of God's Word for fairy tales and play acting. Shame on the preacher who has traded Bible study time for a feast of food and drink.

So many have fallen into the trap of modern religion. So many are experimenting even now with different plans and schemes to draw in the people of the world into what used to be a church of God.

But let us not forget to examine ourselves. Where do we stand? Are preaching the Word of truth or the words the people want to hear?

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!