Month: August 2008

DAILY READINGS: 1 Samuel 17:32 to 18:5; Isaiah 58; Romans 4:1-22 

When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.  Genesis 29:31
God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. Genesis 30:22

The barren womb in Scripture is a hopeless situation. Apart from a direct touch of God’s power there is no human ability or energy to bring forth life. It is an apt picture of the dead sinner who apart from having life imparted by the grace of Christ, can neither be saved nor walk in good works (Eph. 1, 2). So in the work of God, neither he who plants or waters is anything “but God that giveth the increase.” “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”  — R. P. A

Not what these hands have done can save this guilty soul;
Not what this toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole. —H. Bonar

DAILY READINGS: 1 Samuel 17:1-31; Isaiah 56:9 to 57:21; Romans 3 

He began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto Him a great multitude, so that He entered into a ship, and sat in the sea. Mark 4:1a
After the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.  Mark 16:19

The Lord Jesus came down into this world and sat in a boat on the sea. The Sea of Galilee is 700 feet below sea level. Talk about taking the lower seat! Yet He went even lower. He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. In response, the Father exalted Him and has given Him the highest seat in the universe. What place have you given Him? —Rex Trogdon

Hark those bursts of acclamation! Hark, those loud triumphant chords!
Jesus takes the highest station; O what joy the sight affords! —Thomas Kelly

DAILY READINGS: 1 Samuel 16; Isaiah 55 to 56:8; Romans 2 

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:36

First century religious people falsely imagined that they were free. Christ graciously offered them freedom from iniquity, but they haughtily protested that they were not anyone’s slaves. This is ironic, since at that moment they were under the Roman Empire’s rule! The Lord reminded them that they were actually slaves to their sin and only He can release one from its guilt and power. Do you know the liberation that comes from knowing Jesus as your Lord and Saviour? He can make you a new creation through faith in what He has done for you on Calvary. Come today. —Keith Keyser

And though Thy love be faintly seen, what’s seen demands our praise;
Without it, Lord, we still had been, ensnared in Satan’s ways. —T. Kelly

DAILY READINGS: 1 Samuel 15; Isaiah 54; Romans 1:18-32

Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.  Genesis 22:14

Jehovah -jireh means “the Lord will provide.” This story is a beautiful picture whereby God shows to all His people that no one has ever lost anything by giving up something for Him. The Sovereign Lord comes to those who put their trust in Him and provides for all their need according to His riches, with glory, by Christ Jesus. To the Sovereign God and Father in heaven, we shall proclaim throughout the ages, “Great is thy faithfulness". —Les Rainey

Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning, new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. —Thomas Chisholm

DAILY READINGS: 1 Samuel 14; Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12; Romans 1:1-17

Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.  Genesis 42:36

Jacob’s life had been filled with burdens and loss—many of them the result of his own sinfulness. But now he had come to perhaps his lowest point. The cumulative effect of all he had endured finally cracked his resolve. Perhaps you understand his pain. He felt that he could not endure any more. God brought Jacob very low in order that He might reveal His divine superintendence over his life, and to restore him to his beloved Joseph. Are we willing to give up all, for the joy of being drawn closer to our Saviour? —M. Robins
 
One there is above all others, well deserves the name of Friend;
His love is beyond a brother’s, costly, free, and knows no end. —J. Newton

DAILY READINGS: 1 Samuel 13; Isaiah 52:1-12; 2 Cor. 12:14 to 13:14

They did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.      Luke 9:17

Of the thousands that were present that day, not one went away hungry. Christ more than met their need. May we learn this simple lesson, that whatever our need or circumstance, there is One in the glory who can not only meet it but exceed it. To Him be all glory and honour.  —John M. Clegg

While here alas! I know but half His love,
But half discern Him, and but half adore;
But when I meet Him in the realms above,
I hope to love Him more, praise Him more,
And feel and tell amid that host divine,
How fully I am His and He is mine. —J. Quarles

DAILY READINGS: 1 Samuel 11-12; Isaiah 51:9-23; 2 Cor. 12:1-13 

Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.     Numbers 22:18

For all his faults and sinfulness, at the end of his life, Balaam at last recognized the truth of holding to God’s word. His words should be taped to every pulpit in North America, indeed, the world. The peer pressure to curse Israel was mounting, yet he refused to be swayed by men or money from what God had said. Too often our messages from God are encumbered with our extra thoughts, cultural or traditional biases or the world’s current fashion. By adding to the message, we take away from the truth.                        —Craig Funston

I hide Your Word within my heart , to keep me safe from sin;
For where Your truth is in control, no lie can enter in. —Claire Cloninger

DAILY READINGS: 1 Samuel 9:15 to 10:27; Isaiah 50 to 51:8; 2 Cor. 11 

When He had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High.  Hebrews 1:3b

The meaning of the word “purge” is to cleanse of impurities. In an industrial environment, to accommodate maintenance activities, testing is done to determine if there are safe levels of toxins. Not all the impurities are removed, just enough to not be harmful. In the spiritual realm even one sin is harmful enough to put us in Hell. But Christ died to cleanse us from all unrighteousness! (1 John 1:9) Have your sins been purged? If not, they can be today!  —C. Tempest

Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you over evil a victory win?
There's wonderful power in the blood. —Lewis E. Jones

DAILY READINGS: 1 Samuel 8 to 9:14; Isaiah 49; 2 Cor. 10

And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. Acts 26:11

Here is the testimony of the apostle Paul as he stood before Agrippa. How it must have pained the apostle to tell such things. He did not relate them to glorify himself, but rather to glorify the Lord who had delivered such a wretch as he. Centuries later a man who had inflicted untold misery and death upon countless men and women in his slave ship, was gloriously converted, and it was he who wrote the words of the hymn which we so often relate to our own condition, “Amazing Grace.” —W. H. Burnett

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. —John Newton

DAILY READINGS: 1 Samuel 6-7; Isaiah 48; 2 Corinthians 9 

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Psalm 32:1

All have sinned. Sin separates us from God. Separation from God results in eternal destitution and judgment for the sinner. But transgression forgiven assures us of God’s satisfaction and our eternal life. Sins forgiven, or not forgiven; eternal life, or eternal death—those are the clear-cut issues that face you today. Blessed is the person who knows Christ as his Saviour; for that person’s transgression is forgiven and his sin is covered. —Doug Kazen

There is forgiveness, God doth say, thro’ the blood, thro’ the blood,
Both sin and guilt are put away, thro’ the blood, thro’ the blood. —John Burridge