Daily Devotionals for December 13, 2025

For Reading and Meditation:     1 Peter 3:13-22

As Christians we ought never to forget that the message of the Bible is addressed primarily to the understanding; it enables us to understand life. Because of the Bible, we are able to give a reason for the hope that is within us. The psalmist found the truth of this. In the sanctuary he discovered an explanation for...

Be] strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power. § As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. § They may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. § Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being...

Thou, therefore, endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Tim. 2:3).

What if there were conscientious objectors in the Lord's army? Actually, our Lord does not have any noncombatant soldiers whatsoever in His service, since the battle line extends from the front all the way to the rear; to say...

"It shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." Zechariah 14:7

It is a surprise that it should be so; for all things threaten that at evening time it shall be dark. God is wont to work in a way so much above our fears and beyond our hopes that we are greatly amazed and are led to praise His sovereign grace. No, it shall not be with us as our hearts are prophesying: the dark will not deepen into midnight, but it...

He whom we viewed last evening as opening Scripture, we here perceive opening the understanding. In the first work he has many fellow-labourers, but in the second he stands alone; many can bring the Scriptures to the mind, but the Lord alone can prepare the mind to receive the Scriptures. Our Lord Jesus differs from all other teachers; they reach the ear, but he instructs the heart; they deal with the outward letter, but he imparts an inward taste for the truth, by which we perceive its...

There are many compelling lessons to be drawn from the Scriptures and one of the clearest is that sinful and rebellious people can never be forced into repentance. The same act that may cause one person to repent and believe will cause others to hate and despise God! The same Bible sermon that brings the person to tearful submission at an altar of prayer will send others out with pride and a resolve to have their own human way. Students of the Scriptures are aware that the Old Testament...

Matthew 7:13-29

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

There are two gates - one narrow and one wide - and two ways corresponding thereto. The easy way is not the

There is a beautiful conception of the character of God involved in the use of the word "rich" in this connection. For he is said to be rich not in respect of what he has, but of what he bestows. Used of men the word indicates one to whom much has accrued; but it is used here of God to designate one from whom infinite wealth of blessing accrues to the sons of men. It is for us he is rich, his wealth is ours; we have a marvellous and inexhaustible treasury in him. God, in fact, proposes to...

Tell me where you lost the company of a Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there you must seek and find him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true...

The children of the world are sometimes wiser than the children of light. . . . We have been offered the face of God and the glory of Christ. We have been offered holiness and righteousness and indwelling by the Spirit. We can have our prayers answered and have hell fear us because we have a hold on God who invites us to draw on His omnipotence. We are offered all this, and yet we sit and play second violin without ambition. Israel was once in that condition, and an old prophet with shining...

All Christians have faith, but some of us have but little faith. He who gave us what we have can increase it; and He will if we apply to Him, plead with Him, and wait upon Him.

We need more faith, to enable us to escape the many dangers that are in our path; to do and suffer the Lord's will with patience; to hold fast the faithful word which we have been taught; to grow in grace and holiness; to exercise forgiving love towards those who have grieved, offended, or injured us; and to...

It is possible to be so busy that our souls become barren. Too much activity causes us to be occupied too much with our work and too little with our God. Preachers who do not spend much time alone in meditation and communion with the Lord soon give out second-hand messages that have little or no spiritual power. We should all pray, "Lord, deliver me from the barrenness of a busy life." Many believers are afraid to be alone. They must be with others, talking, working or traveling. No time is...

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ … If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. § We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.When you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand...