Devotional Hours Within the Bible

Matthew 9:35 to Matthew 10:15 Matthew 10:40-42

Jesus never rested. He went about doing good. His work is summed up here in three words: teaching, preaching, and healing. He was in this world to seek and save the lost, and He went everywhere on His holy mission of love. He did not stay in one...

Matthew 9:18-34

"A ruler came and knelt before him and said: My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live."

Only comparatively few of our Lord's healings are recorded. He seems never to have refused to heal any who came to Him or were brought to Him. Besides, He healed some for whom no one interceded. Here was a ruler - an exceptional case, for the rulers were not His...

Matthew 8:2-17

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said: "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean!"

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy!

After the Sermon on the Mount, we have narratives of many healings. The first was that of a leper....

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

Matthew 7:1-12

When someone asked Raphael how he made his wonderful pictures, he replied, "I dream dreams and I see visions - and then I paint my dreams and visions." The teachings of Christ, if reverently received, fill our mind with dreams and visions of spiritual beauty. But there is something we must do if we would receive from these teachings the good they are intended to...

Matthew 6:19-34

The Christian life is very simple - if only we understand it. It has only one principle - single-hearted devotion to Christ. Paul stated this principle when he said, "To me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21) Jesus states it here also when He says, "Seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness."

In our present passage, we have a whole scheme of life.

To begin...

Matthew 6:1-15

It was characteristic of the Pharisees in our Lord's time, that they sought publicity and display for their religious acts. They made their prayers in as conspicuous a way as possible, so that the people would observe them, mark their 'devoutness' and be impressed with their fervor and their earnestness. This was one thing in which the disciples of Jesus were told...

Matthew 5:17-26 Matthew 5:38-48

We are not to think of Christianity as a new religion, distinct from that of the Old Testament. Rather, the one is a development from the other. Jesus was careful to say, "I came not to destroy - but to fulfill ." Then He added, "Truly I say unto you, until heaven and earth...

Matthew 5:1-16

Emerson's advice to Lincoln about hitching his wagon to a star - is the lesson Jesus sets for us in the Beatitudes. These blesseds shine like stars far above us, in their brightness and heavenliness. We may say that we never can reach them and that therefore there is no use in our trying to reach them. But the Master would have us strive after the highest...

Matthew 4:12-25

In Matthew's gospel, the story of the first months of our Lord's public ministry is omitted. Several chapters of John's gospel come in between verses 11 and 12 of Matthew's fourth chapter. The mission of John the Baptist was to go before Christ and prepare His way. When he had done this, introducing Him to the people - John's work was really ended. But he continued to preach for some months, until he was arrested by Herod...

Matthew 3:13 to Matthew 4:11

The beginning of Christ's ministry was marked by two important events - His baptism and His temptation. These were thirty silent years, without any manifestation of Divine power, except the beautiful, sinless life which Jesus lived. We must think of those years, however, as part of the...

Matthew 3:1-12

The time of John's coming was not accidental. It was "In those days," - that is, when Jesus was still living in Nazareth. Jesus was now about to begin His public ministry and John was ready to go before Him to prepare the way for Him. Every man is made for his own time and work. John would not have fit in at any other date in the world's history.

John is not a very attractive person to our...

The Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy. Then comes the story of the birth and infancy. Jesus was born at Bethlehem. This was the most wonderful event of human history - the coming of the Son of God in human flesh into this world. Love was born that night. True, there was love in the world before. Mothers loved their children. Friend love friend. Natural affection was common. But the love which we know as...

Luke 24:36-53

It was in the upper room on the evening of the day on which Jesus arose. The disciples had gathered there, drawn together by their common sorrow and also by the strange things which had occurred that day. The doors were closed and fastened. Suddenly, with no opening of the doors, Jesus Himself appeared among the disciples. They were terrified - but He spoke to them these quieting words: "Peace be unto you." Still further to...