Daily Devotionals for March 30, 2024

This is one of those verses that perplex us most when the going is roughest. As long as the wind blows gently, we have no trouble saying, "Lord, I believe." But when the storms of life arise, we say, "Help Thou my unbelief."

And yet we know the verse is true. God does work all things together for good. We know it because the Bible says it. Faith appropriates it, even when we cannot see or understand.

We know it is true because of the character of God. If He is a God of infinite...

For Reading and Meditation:     Psalm 16:1-11

We continue expanding the theme we touched on yesterday - the danger of allowing our faith to become more man-centered than God-centered. Whenever I have the opportunity to address Christian counselors I try to urge them to put the glory of God before their client's well-being. A good deal of "Christian counseling"...

It is a common-place thought, and yet it tastes like nectar to the weary heart-Jesus was tempted as I am. You have heard that truth many times: have you grasped it? He was tempted to the very same sins into which we fall. Do not dissociate Jesus from our common manhood. It is a dark room which you are going through, but Jesus went through it before. It is a sharp fight which you are waging, but Jesus has stood foot to foot with the same enemy. Let us be of good cheer, Christ has borne the...

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.

Conceive of a crown that guarantees to him who...

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. § But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you.”You will not be forgotten by Me! I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your...

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? § The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them.Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of...

Psalms 121:1-2

"I lift up my eyes to the mountains; where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."

"I will lift up my eyes." We ought to train ourselves to look up. We grow in the direction, in which our eyes turn. We become like that on which we look much and intently. We were made to look up. Man's upright form indicates this. The Greek word for man...

THE CELEBRATED PRAYER of the great German astronomer, Kepler, has been a benediction to many: "O God, I thank Thee that Thou hast permitted me to think Thy thoughts after Thee."

This prayer is theologically sound because it acknowledges the priority of God in the universe. "In the beginning God" is undoubtedly the most important sentence in the Bible. It is in God that all things begin, and all thoughts as well. In the words of Augustine, "But Thou, O Lord, who ever livest, and...

If you have ever given much thought to this present world in which we live, you have some idea of the power of interpretation. The world is a stable fact, quite unchanged by the passing of years, but how different is modern man's view of the world from the view our fathers held. The world is for all of us not only what it is; it is what we believe it to be, and a tremendous load of wealth or woe rides on the soundness of our interpretation! In the earlier days, when Christianity exercised a...

Angels are the unseen attendants of the saints of God; they bear us up in their hands, lest we dash our foot against a stone. Loyalty to their Lord leads them to take a deep interest in the children of his love; they rejoice over the return of the prodigal to his father's house below, and they welcome the advent of the believer to the King's palace above. In olden times the sons of God were favoured with their visible appearance, and at this day, although unseen by us, heaven is still...

"Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

No care but all prayer. No anxiety but much joyful communion with God. Carry your desires to the LORD of your life, the guardian of your soul. Go to Him with two portions of...

Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus." "Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh is at rest from sin" (Phil. 2:5, Wey; 1 Pet. 4:1m).

AND what were the people whom He loved? Poor, oppressed, rebellious, stiff-necked, hard-hearted, unworthy creatures. Just such are His people by nature now. Such are we. Yet He loves us; pities us; and distinguishes us from others around us. He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; and with Him He will freely give us all things. Though He has not yet all His people with Him, yet He has Jesus sitting at His right hand, who is their Representative; the express image and...