Daily devotionals for Christian living in these times of trouble

Spirit of Renewal Church Online

We take our inspiration today from 
Genesis chapter 21, verse 2 
"Sarah bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him" 
 
As it says in Psalms chapter 33, 
"The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations". But we must be prepared to wait God's time. God has His set times. It is not for us to know them; indeed, we cannot know them; we must wait for them. 
 
If God had told Abraham in Haran that he must wait for thirty years until he pressed the promised child to his bosom, his heart would have failed him. So, in gracious love, the length of the weary years was hidden, and only as they were nearly spent, and there were only a few more months to wait, God told him, in Genesis chapter 18, "according to the time of life, Sarah shall have a son." The set time came at last; and then the laughter that filled the patriarch's home made the aged pair forget the long and weary vigil. 
 
Take heart, waiting one, thou waitest for One who cannot disappoint thee; and who will not be five minutes behind the appointed moment: ere long "your sorrow shall be turned into joy." 
 
Ah, happy soul, when God makes thee laugh! Then sorrow and crying shall flee away forever, as darkness before the dawn. 
 
It is not for us who are passengers, to meddle with the chart and with the compass. Let the all-skilled Pilot alone with His own work. 
 
"Some things cannot be done in a day. God does not make a sunset glory in a moment, but for days may be massing the mist out of which He builds His palaces beautiful in the west."

We take our inspiration today from
Genesis chapter 21, verse 2
"Sarah bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him"

As it says in Psalms chapter 33, 
"The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations". But we must be prepared to wait God's time. God has His set times. It is not for us to know them; indeed, we cannot know them; we must wait for them.

If God had told Abraham in Haran that he must wait for thirty years until he pressed the promised child to his bosom, his heart would have failed him. So, in gracious love, the length of the weary years was hidden, and only as they were nearly spent, and there were only a few more months to wait, God told him, in Genesis chapter 18, "according to the time of life, Sarah shall have a son." The set time came at last; and then the laughter that filled the patriarch's home made the aged pair forget the long and weary vigil.

Take heart, waiting one, thou waitest for On

"Sarah bare Abraham a son" Genesis 21:2 - Christian Daily Devotional

Our word today is taken from 
Psalms chapter 106 verse 12-15 
"They soon forgot His works; they waited not for his counsel; but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And He gave them their request; but sent disease upon them" 
 
We read of Moses, that "he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." Exactly the opposite was true of the children of Israel in this record. They endured only when the circumstances were favorable; they were largely governed by the things that appealed to their senses, in place of resting in the invisible and eternal God. 
 
In the present day there are those who live intermittent Christian lives because they have become occupied with the outward, and center in circumstances, in place of centering in God. God wants us more and more to see Him in everything, and to call nothing small if it bears us His message. 
 
Here we read of the children of Israel. They did not believe till after they saw--when they saw Him work, then they believed. They really doubted God when they came to the Red Sea; but when God opened the way and led them across and they saw Pharaoh and his host drowned--"then they believed." They led an up and down life because of this kind of faith; it was a faith that depended upon circumstances. This is not the kind of faith God wants us to have. 
 
The world says "seeing is believing," but God wants us to believe in order to see. The Psalmist said, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." 
 
Do you believe God only when the circumstances are favorable, or do you believe no matter what the circumstances may be? 
 
Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.

Our word today is taken from
Psalms chapter 106 verse 12-15
"They soon forgot His works; they waited not for his counsel; but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And He gave them their request; but sent disease upon them"

We read of Moses, that "he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." Exactly the opposite was true of the children of Israel in this record. They endured only when the circumstances were favorable; they were largely governed by the things that appealed to their senses, in place of resting in the invisible and eternal God.

In the present day there are those who live intermittent Christian lives because they have become occupied with the outward, and center in circumstances, in place of centering in God. God wants us more and more to see Him in everything, and to call nothing small if it bears us His message.

Here we read of the children of Israel. They did not believe till after they saw--when they saw Him work, then they believed. T

"They soon forgot His works" Psalms 106:12 - Christian Daily Devotional

Today's inspiration is drawn from 
Job chapter 37, verse 21 
"But now, the sun cannot be looked at – it is bright in the skies – after a wind passed and swept the clouds away" 
 
The world owes much of its beauty to clouds. The unchanging blue of the Italian sky hardly compensates for the changefulness and glory of the clouds. There are clouds in human life, shadowing, refreshing, and sometimes draping it in blackness of night; but there is never a cloud without bright light. “I do set my bow in the cloud!” 
 
If we could see the clouds from the other side where they lie in billowy glory, bathed in the light they intercept, like heaped ranges of Alps, we should be amazed at their splendid magnificence. 
 
We look at their under side; but who shall describe the bright light that bathes their summits and searches their valleys and is reflected from every pinnacle of their expanse? Is not every drop drinking in health-giving qualities, which it will carry to the earth? 
 
O child of God! If you could see your sorrows and troubles from the other side; if instead of looking up at them from earth, you would look down on them from the heavenly places where you sit with Christ; if you knew how they are reflecting in prismatic beauty before the gaze of Heaven, the bright light of Christ’s face, you would be content that they should cast their deep shadows over the mountain slopes of existence. Only remember that clouds are always moving and passing before God’s cleansing wind. 
 
“I cannot know why suddenly the storm 
Should rage so fiercely round me in its wrath; 
But this I know—God watches all my path, 
And I can trust. 
 
“I may not draw aside the mystic veil 
That hides the unknown future from my sight, 
Nor know if for me waits the dark or light; 
But I can trust. 
 
“I have no power to look across the tide, 
To see while here the land beyond the river; 
But this I know - - I shall be God's forever; 
So I can trust.”

Today's inspiration is drawn from
Job chapter 37, verse 21
"But now, the sun cannot be looked at – it is bright in the skies – after a wind passed and swept the clouds away"

The world owes much of its beauty to clouds. The unchanging blue of the Italian sky hardly compensates for the changefulness and glory of the clouds. There are clouds in human life, shadowing, refreshing, and sometimes draping it in blackness of night; but there is never a cloud without bright light. “I do set my bow in the cloud!”

If we could see the clouds from the other side where they lie in billowy glory, bathed in the light they intercept, like heaped ranges of Alps, we should be amazed at their splendid magnificence.

We look at their under side; but who shall describe the bright light that bathes their summits and searches their valleys and is reflected from every pinnacle of their expanse? Is not every drop drinking in health-giving qualities, which it will carry to the earth?

O child of God! If you cou

"A wind passed and swept the clouds away" Job 37:21 - Christian Daily Devotional

Our word today is taken from 
Judges chapter 6 verse 39 
"Let me make one more request, allow me one more test with the fleece" 
 
There are degrees to faith. At one stage of Christian experience we cannot believe unless we have some sign or some great manifestation of feeling. We feel our fleece, like Gideon, and if it is wet we are willing to trust God. This may be true faith, but it is imperfect. It always looks for feeling or some token besides the Word of God. It marks quite an advance in faith when we trust God without feelings. It is blessed to believe without having any emotion. 
 
There is a third stage of faith which even transcends that of Gideon and his fleece. The first phase of faith believes when there are favorable emotions, the second believes when there is the absence of feeling, but this third form of faith believes God and His Word when circumstances, emotions, appearances, people, and human reason all urge to the contrary. Paul exercised this faith in the book of Acts, "And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away." Notwithstanding all this Paul said, "Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." 
 
May God give us faith to fully trust His Word though everything else witness the other way.

Our word today is taken from
Judges chapter 6 verse 39
"Let me make one more request, allow me one more test with the fleece"

There are degrees to faith. At one stage of Christian experience we cannot believe unless we have some sign or some great manifestation of feeling. We feel our fleece, like Gideon, and if it is wet we are willing to trust God. This may be true faith, but it is imperfect. It always looks for feeling or some token besides the Word of God. It marks quite an advance in faith when we trust God without feelings. It is blessed to believe without having any emotion.

There is a third stage of faith which even transcends that of Gideon and his fleece. The first phase of faith believes when there are favorable emotions, the second believes when there is the absence of feeling, but this third form of faith believes God and His Word when circumstances, emotions, appearances, people, and human reason all urge to the contrary. Paul exercised this faith in the book of Acts, "

"Allow me one more test" Judges 6:39 - Christian Daily Devotional

Today's word is taken from 
Isaiah chapter 18 verse 4 
"I will be still, and I will watch from my dwelling place" 
 
Assyria was marching against Ethiopia, the people of which are described as tall and smooth. And as the armies advance, God makes no effort to slow them; it seems they will be allowed to work their will. He is still watching them from His dwelling place, the sun still shines on them; but before the harvest, the whole of the proud army of Assyria is smitten as easily as plucked flowers. 
 
Is not this a marvelous conception of God--being still and watching? His stillness is not acquiescence. His silence is not consent. He is only biding His time, and will arise, in the most opportune moment. As we look out on the evil of the world; as we think of the apparent success of wrong-doers; as we wince beneath the oppression of those that hate us, let us remember these marvelous words about God being still and beholding. 
 
Jesus beheld His disciples toiling at the oars through the stormy night. But He was only waiting the moment when He could interpose most effectually. 
 
Is He still to thee? He is not unobservant; He is beholding all things; He has His finger on thy pulse, keenly sensitive to all its fluctuations. He will come to save thee when the precise moment has arrived.

Today's word is taken from
Isaiah chapter 18 verse 4
"I will be still, and I will watch from my dwelling place"

Assyria was marching against Ethiopia, the people of which are described as tall and smooth. And as the armies advance, God makes no effort to slow them; it seems they will be allowed to work their will. He is still watching them from His dwelling place, the sun still shines on them; but before the harvest, the whole of the proud army of Assyria is smitten as easily as plucked flowers.

Is not this a marvelous conception of God--being still and watching? His stillness is not acquiescence. His silence is not consent. He is only biding His time, and will arise, in the most opportune moment. As we look out on the evil of the world; as we think of the apparent success of wrong-doers; as we wince beneath the oppression of those that hate us, let us remember these marvelous words about God being still and beholding.

Jesus beheld His disciples toiling at the oars through the storm

"I will be still" Isaiah 18:4 - Christian Daily Devotional

We take our inspiration today from 
Psalms chapter 118 verse 27 
"Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar" 
 
Is not this altar inviting thee? Shall we not ask to be bound to it, that we may never be able to turn from our life of dedication to Him? There are times when life is full of rosy light, and we choose the Cross; at other times, when the sky is grey, we shrink from it. It is well to be bound. 
 
Wilt Thou bind us, most blessed Spirit, and enamor us with the Cross, and let us never leave it? Bind us with the scarlet cord of redemption, and the golden cord of love, and the silver cord of Advent-hope, so we will not go back from it, or wish for another lot than to be the humble partners with our Lord in His pain and sorrow! 
 
The horns of the altar invite thee. Wilt thou come? Wilt thou dwell ever in a spirit of resigned humility, and give thyself wholly to the Lord? 
 
The story is told of a brother who, at a camp meeting, tried to give himself to God. Every night at the altar he consecrated himself; but every night before he left the meeting, the devil would come to him and convince him that he did not feel any different and therefore he was not consecrated. 
 
Again and again he was beaten back by the adversary. Finally, one evening he came to the meeting with an axe and a big stake. After consecrating himself, he drove the stake into the ground just where he had knelt. As he was leaving the building, the devil came to him as usual and tried to make him believe that it was all a farce. At once he went back to the stake and, pointing to it, said, "Look here, Mr. Devil, do you see that stake? Well, that's my witness that God has forever accepted me." 
 
Immediately the devil left him, and he had no further doubts on the subject. 
 
Beloved, if you are tempted to doubt the finality of your consecration, drive a stake down somewhere and let it be your witness before God, and even the devil, that you have settled the question forever.

We take our inspiration today from 
Psalms chapter 118 verse 27 
"Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar"

Is not this altar inviting thee? Shall we not ask to be bound to it, that we may never be able to turn from our life of dedication to Him? There are times when life is full of rosy light, and we choose the Cross; at other times, when the sky is grey, we shrink from it. It is well to be bound.

Wilt Thou bind us, most blessed Spirit, and enamor us with the Cross, and let us never leave it? Bind us with the scarlet cord of redemption, and the golden cord of love, and the silver cord of Advent-hope, so we will not go back from it, or wish for another lot than to be the humble partners with our Lord in His pain and sorrow!

The horns of the altar invite thee. Wilt thou come? Wilt thou dwell ever in a spirit of resigned humility, and give thyself wholly to the Lord?

The story is told of a brother who, at a camp meeting, tried to give himself to God. Every nigh

Psalms 118:27 "Bind the sacrifice with cords" - Christian Daily Devotional

We take our inspiration today from 
Isaiah chapter 49, verse 2 
"He hath made me into a polished arrow" 
 
There is a famous "Pebble Beach" at Pescadero, on the California coast. The long line of white surf comes up with its everlasting roar, and rattles and thunders among the stones on the shore. They are caught in the arms of the pitiless waves, and tossed and rolled, and rubbed together, and ground against the sharp-grained cliffs. Day and night forever the ceaseless attrition goes on--never any rest. And the result? 
 
Tourists from all the world flock thither to gather the round and beautiful stones. They are laid up in cabinets; they ornament the parlor mantels. But go yonder, around the point of the cliff that breaks off the force of the sea; and up in that quiet cove, sheltered from the storms, and lying ever in the sun, you shall find abundance of pebbles that have never been chosen by the traveler. 
 
Why are these left all the years, unsought? For the simple reason that they have escaped all the turmoil and attrition of the waves, and the quiet and peace have left them as they found them, rough and angular and devoid of beauty. 
 
Polish comes through trouble. 
 
Since God knows what niche we are to fill, let us trust Him to shape us to it. Since He knows what work we are to do, let us trust Him to drill us to the proper preparation. 
 
O blows that smite! O hurts that pierce 
This shrinking heart of mine! 
What are ye but the Master's tools 
Forming a work Divine?

We take our inspiration today from
Isaiah chapter 49, verse 2
"He hath made me into a polished arrow"

There is a famous "Pebble Beach" at Pescadero, on the California coast. The long line of white surf comes up with its everlasting roar, and rattles and thunders among the stones on the shore. They are caught in the arms of the pitiless waves, and tossed and rolled, and rubbed together, and ground against the sharp-grained cliffs. Day and night forever the ceaseless attrition goes on--never any rest. And the result?

Tourists from all the world flock thither to gather the round and beautiful stones. They are laid up in cabinets; they ornament the parlor mantels. But go yonder, around the point of the cliff that breaks off the force of the sea; and up in that quiet cove, sheltered from the storms, and lying ever in the sun, you shall find abundance of pebbles that have never been chosen by the traveler.

Why are these left all the years, unsought? For the simple reason that they have es

Christian Daily Devotional - Isaiah 49:2 "He hath made me into a polished arrow"

We take our inspiration today from 
Isaiah chapter 28, verse 24 
"Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?" 
 
One day in early summer, I walked past a beautiful meadow. The grass was as soft and thick and fine as an immense green Oriental rug. In one corner stood a fine old tree, a sanctuary for numberless wild birds; the crisp, sweet air was full of their happy songs. Two cows lay in the shade, the very picture of content. Down by the roadside the saucy dandelion mingled his gold with the royal purple of the wild violet. I leaned against the fence for a long time, feasting my hungry eyes, and thinking in my soul that God never made a fairer spot than my lovely meadow. 
 
The next day I passed that way again, and lo! the hand of the despoiler had been there. A plowman and his great plow, now standing idle in the furrow, had in a day wrought a terrible havoc. Instead of the green grass there was turned up to view the ugly, bare, brown earth; instead of the singing birds there were only a few hens industriously scratching for worms. Gone were the dandelion and the pretty violet. I said in my grief, "How could any one spoil a thing so fair?" 
 
Then my eyes were opened by some unseen hand, and I saw a vision, a vision of a field of ripe corn ready for the harvest. I could see the giant, heavily laden stalks in the autumn sun; I could almost hear the music of the wind as it would sweep across the golden tassels. And before I was aware, the brown earth took on a splendor it did not have the day before. 
 
Oh, that we might always catch the vision of an abundant harvest, when the great Master Plowman comes, as He often does, and furrows through our very souls, uprooting and turning under that which we thought most fair, and leaving for our tortured gaze only the bare and the unbeautiful.

We take our inspiration today from
Isaiah chapter 28, verse 24
"Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?"

One day in early summer, I walked past a beautiful meadow. The grass was as soft and thick and fine as an immense green Oriental rug. In one corner stood a fine old tree, a sanctuary for numberless wild birds; the crisp, sweet air was full of their happy songs. Two cows lay in the shade, the very picture of content. Down by the roadside the saucy dandelion mingled his gold with the royal purple of the wild violet. I leaned against the fence for a long time, feasting my hungry eyes, and thinking in my soul that God never made a fairer spot than my lovely meadow.

The next day I passed that way again, and lo! the hand of the despoiler had been there. A plowman and his great plow, now standing idle in the furrow, had in a day wrought a terrible havoc. Instead of the green grass there was turned up to view the ugly, bare, brown earth; instead of the singing birds there were only a few he

Christian Daily Devotional - Isaiah 28:24 - Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?

Today we take our inspiration from 
Job chapter 4 verse 16 
"There was silence, and I heard a still voice" 
 
 
Years ago, a friend placed in my hand a book called True Peace. It was an old mediaeval message, and it had but one thought--that God was waiting in the depths of my being to talk to me if I would only get still enough to hear His voice. 
 
 
I thought this would be a very easy matter, and so began to get still. But I had no sooner commenced than a perfect pandemonium of voices reached my ears, a thousand clamoring notes from without and within, until I could hear nothing but their noise and din. Some were my own voices, my own questions, some my very prayers. Others were suggestions of the tempter and the voices from the world's turmoil. 
 
 
In every direction I was pulled and pushed and greeted with noisy acclamations and unspeakable unrest. It seemed necessary for me to listen to some of them and to answer some of them; but God said, "Be still, and know that I am God." Then came the conflict of thoughts for tomorrow, and its duties and cares; but God said, "Be still." 
 
 
And as I listened, and slowly learned to obey, and shut my ears to every sound, I found after a while that when the other voices ceased, or I ceased to hear them, there was a still small voice in the depths of my being that began to speak with an inexpressible tenderness, power and comfort. 
 
 
As I listened, it became to me the voice of prayer, the voice of wisdom, the voice of duty, and I did not need to think so hard, or pray so hard, or trust so hard; but that "still small voice" of the Holy Spirit in my heart was God's prayer in my secret soul, was God's answer to all my questions, was God's life and strength for soul and body, and became the substance of all knowledge, and all prayer and all blessing: for it was the living GOD Himself as my life, my all. 
 
 
It is thus that our spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord, and we go forth to life's conflicts and duties like a flower that has drunk in, through the shades of night, the cool and crystal drops of dew. But as dew never falls on a stormy night, so the dews of His grace never come to the restless soul.

Today we take our inspiration from
Job chapter 4 verse 16
"There was silence, and I heard a still voice"


Years ago, a friend placed in my hand a book called True Peace. It was an old mediaeval message, and it had but one thought--that God was waiting in the depths of my being to talk to me if I would only get still enough to hear His voice.


I thought this would be a very easy matter, and so began to get still. But I had no sooner commenced than a perfect pandemonium of voices reached my ears, a thousand clamoring notes from without and within, until I could hear nothing but their noise and din. Some were my own voices, my own questions, some my very prayers. Others were suggestions of the tempter and the voices from the world's turmoil.


In every direction I was pulled and pushed and greeted with noisy acclamations and unspeakable unrest. It seemed necessary for me to listen to some of them and to answer some of them; but God said, "Be still, and know that I am God." Then came the

Christian Daily Devotional - Job 4:16 - I heard a still voice

Today we take our inspiration from 
Psalms chapter 68 verse 28 
"The Lord hath sent strength for thee" 
 
The Lord imparts unto us that primary strength of character which makes everything in life work with intensity and decision. We are "strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." And the strength is continuous; reserves of power come to us which we cannot exhaust. 
 
"As thy days, so shall thy strength be"—strength of will, strength of affection, strength of judgment, strength of ideals and achievement. 
 
"The Lord is my strength" to go on. He gives us power to walk the long lane that seems never to have a turning, to go through those long reaches of life which afford no pleasant surprise, and which depress the spirits in the sameness of a terrible drudgery. 
 
"The Lord is my strength" to go up. He is to me the power by which I can climb the Hill of Difficulty and not be afraid. 
 
"The Lord is my strength" to go down. It is when we leave the bracing heights, where the wind and the sun have been about us, and when we begin to come down the hill into closer and more sultry spheres, that the heart is apt to grow faint. I heard a man say the other day concerning his growing physical frailty, "It is the coming down that tires me!" 
 
"The Lord is my strength" to sit still. And how difficult is the attainment! Do we not often say to one another, in seasons when we are compelled to be quiet, "If only I could do something!" 
 
When the child is ill, and the mother stands by in comparative impotence, how severe is the test! But to do nothing, just to sit still and wait, requires tremendous strength. 
 
"The Lord is my strength!" "Our sufficiency is of God"

Today we take our inspiration from
Psalms chapter 68 verse 28
"The Lord hath sent strength for thee"

The Lord imparts unto us that primary strength of character which makes everything in life work with intensity and decision. We are "strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." And the strength is continuous; reserves of power come to us which we cannot exhaust.

"As thy days, so shall thy strength be"—strength of will, strength of affection, strength of judgment, strength of ideals and achievement.

"The Lord is my strength" to go on. He gives us power to walk the long lane that seems never to have a turning, to go through those long reaches of life which afford no pleasant surprise, and which depress the spirits in the sameness of a terrible drudgery.

"The Lord is my strength" to go up. He is to me the power by which I can climb the Hill of Difficulty and not be afraid.

"The Lord is my strength" to go down. It is when we leave the bracing heights, where the wind and th

Christian Daily Devotional - Psalms 68:28 - The Lord hath sent strength for thee

Today's reading is inspired by 
the Book of Job, chapter 35, verse 10 
"But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator, who gives songs in the night'"

Today's reading is inspired by
the Book of Job, chapter 35, verse 10
"But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator, who gives songs in the night'"

Christian Daily Devotional - Job 35:10 - Where is God, my Creator

We take our inspiration today from 
Job chapter 5, verse 26 
"You will come to your grave in a full vigor, As stacks of grain are harvested in their season."

We take our inspiration today from
Job chapter 5, verse 26
"You will come to your grave in a full vigor, As stacks of grain are harvested in their season."

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