Devotions (Page 10)

Letting God Do It All When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect. Genesis 17:1 God did not say this to the strong Abram, he who in Ishmael could produce a son. He waited until his servant was quite incapable, even had he wanted to, of repeating the action. Then, and then only, God came to him with this new…

The Jerusalem Within Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,In the city of our God, His holy mountain. Fair and beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the earth,Is Mount Zion [the City of David] in the far north,The city of the great King. God, in her palaces,Has made Himself known as a stronghold. For, lo, the kings assembled themselves,They [came and] passed by together. They saw it, then they were amazed;They were stricken with terror, they fled…

Jesus Homecoming Celebration O clap your hands, all you people;Shout to God with the voice of triumph and songs of joy. For the Lord Most High is to be feared [and worshiped with awe-inspired reverence and obedience];He is a great King over all the earth. He subdues peoples under usAnd nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us,The glory and excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah. God has ascended amid shouting,The Lord with the sound of a…

Grace And Truth Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1:17 This statement is the key to all that follows in John’s Gospel. Right through it you find the same double emphasis, upon truth on one hand and upon grace on the other. Truth will always make demands, and grace will always be there to meet them. In the incident recorded in chapter 8 of the woman taken in adultery, truth shines forth. The Lord did not say to…

A Mighty Fortress God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable],A very present and well-proved help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should changeAnd though the mountains be shaken and slip into the heart of the seas, Though its waters roar and foam,Though the mountains tremble at its roaring. Selah. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,The holy dwelling places of the Most High. God is in the midst of…

The Price God Paid Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come….through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:11 If I would appreciate the value of the Blood of Christ, I must accept God’s valuation of it, for the blood is not primarily for me, but for God. Nothing illustrates this fact so clearly as the account of the Day of Atonement. In Leviticus 16…

Waiting…and Waiting I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord;And He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of a horrible pit [of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay,And He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;Many will see and fear [with great reverence]And will trust confidently in the Lord. Blessed…

Inward Peace When therefore he said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. John18:6 On that last night before Calvary, everything seemed to be going wrong. Betrayal and denial were in the air; people were hiding, or running away naked in their eagerness to escape. But to those who had come to take him Jesus said so peacefully and quietly, “I an he.” It was they who were nervous and who fell backward. This…

I said, “I will guard my waysThat I may not sin with my tongue;I will muzzle my mouthWhile the wicked are in my presence.” I was mute and silent [before my enemies],I refrained even from good,And my distress grew worse. My heart was hot within me.While I was musing the fire burned;Then I spoke with my tongue: “Lord, let me know my [life’s] endAnd [to appreciate] the extent of my days;Let me know how frail I am [how transient is…

Hidden Roots Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. Genesis 20:17 It is striking evidence of the spiritual life of this man of God that he could pray for children to be granted to others while his prayers for his own wife were still unanswered. He interceded for Abimelech, and God answered. It is difficult to understand Abraham’s reversion to that half-lie about Sarah being his sister, especially in…