#devotional reading

★★★★★ Francine Rivers delivers a profoundly moving and thought-provoking story in The Atonement Child. Dynah Carey’s seemingly perfect life—as a devoted Christian college student engaged to a wonderful man—is shattered by a devastating assault and the unexpected pregnancy that follows. As she grapples with unimaginable pressure from family, friends, and her own faith, the novel sensitively…

by Adrian Rogers

“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” - Jude 1:3

When I was a little boy, I liked to go to the movies on Saturday afternoons, and we would see Tarzan. Tarzan was the hero of every little boy when I was growing up. But there was one time that I was always concerned for Tarzan. Tarzan would be swimming in the river, but over on the shore would be a crocodile. The crocodile would blink his eyes a couple of times and then slide into the water. Tarzan would be swimming along and not know that crocodile was there, and I would be so frightened because I can’t think of anything worse than to be swimming with a crocodile. Somehow Tarzan would always out-swim the crocodile, but what happened in that movie is an illustration of what Jude wrote to warn the Church about. Jude gave a warning that there are certain people who have crept into the Church. (See verse 4.) He described somebody who could slip into the water without even making a ripple. This is very dangerous and sinister. So, Jude wrote this book to sound an alarm.

What other warnings do you know in the Bible about people who are dangerous to the Church?

– Julian of Norwich, The Shewings of Julian of Norwich.

“Julian asserts, then, that although the soul must see its own wretchedness, it must not remain in that beholding, nor busy itself greatly about accusing itself, nor “be to wrechydfulle” on itself”

by Andrew Murray

I come now to my last thought, that question: What is the way to restoration?

Beloved friend, the answer is simple and easy. If that train has been shunted off, there is nothing for it to do but to come back to the point at which it was led away. The Galatians had no other way in returning but to come back to where they had gone wrong. They had to come back from all religious effort in their own strength, and from seeking anything by their own work, and to yield themselves humbly to the Holy Spirit. There is no other way for us as individuals.

Is there any brother or sister whose heart is conscious: "My life knows little of the power of the Holy Spirit"? I come to you with God's message that you can have no conception of what your life would be in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is too high, too blessed, and too wonderful. But I bring you the message that just as truly as the everlasting Son of God came to this world and did His wonderful works, that just as truly as on Calvary He died and brought about your redemption by His precious blood, so can the Holy Spirit come into your heart. With His divine power, He may sanctify you and enable you to do God's blessed will, and fill your heart with joy and strength. But, we have forgotten; we have grieved; we have dishonored the Holy Spirit; and, He has not been able to do His work. But I bring you the message: The Father in heaven loves to fill His children with His Holy Spirit. God longs to give each one individually, separately, the power of the Holy Spirit for daily life. The command comes to us individually, unitedly. God wants us as His children to arise and place our sins before Him, and to call on Him for mercy. Oh, are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you perfecting in the flesh that which was begun in the Spirit? Let us bow in shame, and confess before God how our fleshly religion, our self-effort and self-confidence, have been the cause of every failure.

I have often been asked by young Christians: "Why is it that I fail so? I did so solemnly vow with my whole heart, and did desire to serve God. Why have I failed?" To such I always give this answer: "My dear friend, you are trying to do in your own strength what Christ alone can do in you." And when they tell me: "I am sure I knew Christ alone could do it; I was not trusting in myself," my answer is: "You were trusting in yourself, or you could not have failed. If you had trusted Christ, He could not fail." Oh, this perfecting in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit runs far deeper through us than we know. Let us ask God to show us that it is only when we are brought to utter shame and emptiness that we will be prepared to receive the blessing that comes from on high.

And so I come with these two questions. Are you living, beloved brother-minister-I ask it of every minister of the Gospel-under the power of the Holy Spirit? Are you living as an anointed, Spirit-filled man in your ministry and your life before God? Oh friends, our place is an awful one. We have to show people what God will do for us, not in our words and teaching, but in our life. God help us to do it! I ask it of every member of Christ's Church and of every believer: Are you living a life under the power of the Holy Spirit day by day? Or are you attempting to live without that? Remember, you cannot. Are you consecrated, given up to the Spirit to work in you and to live in you? Oh, come and confess every failure of temper, every failure of tongue however small. Confess every failure owing to the absence of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the power of self. Are you consecrated, are you given up to the Holy Spirit?

If your answer is no, then I come with a second question-Are you willing to be consecrated? Are you willing to give yourself up to the power of the Holy Spirit? You well know that the human side of consecration will not help you. I may consecrate myself a hundred times with all the intensity of my being, and that will not help me. What will help me is this-that God from heaven accepts and seals the consecration.

by Job Orton

"Then they said to one another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not speak to you, saying, Do not sin against the boy; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us. . . . Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man's money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. . . . Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly each man's bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said to them . . . All these things are against me." - Genesis 42:21-36

The fear of God, wherever it prevails, will promote a sense of humanity. Joseph dared do no wrong, no, nor deal unkindly with those who had injured him, because he feared God -- the almighty, all-knowing, and merciful God. Though Joseph was a great man, he was sensible there was one infinitely greater than he to whom he was accountable, and whom he ought to reverence. This is the best principle by which social duties are to be discharged. Reverence for God will make us deal honestly and tenderly. It will guard us against all rigor and severity. It was a strange and absurd speech of a great man that he was "the friend of God but the enemy of mankind." The best way to incline us to do justly and love mercy is to walk humbly with God, and be in his fear all the day long.

See the force of conscience. It brought to the mind of Joseph's brethren those crimes that were committed twenty years before. Their conscience immediately struck upon this; they remembered their faults that day. Conscience brings old sins to a new reckoning. Though it seems to be asleep, it records faithfully, and will be a fearful accuser another day. Let us guard against sin, for it may be very bitter many months, yea many years, after it is committed and forgotten. Reuben had this satisfaction, that he did not consent to this wicked act. It will be comfortable amid the calamities we may suffer with others to think we had no hand in the guilt. Herein, then, let us exercise ourselves to maintain a conscience void of offense toward God and man.

See the usefulness of affliction in bringing our sins to remembrance. These men perhaps never thought much of Joseph before, nor were much concerned about what became of him. But now they think of his case with deep sorrow and repentance. God will write bitter things against us to bring our sin to remembrance, and humble us for it. Afflictions, in this view, are great mercies, and it is God's common method of dealing with men. Let us therefore patiently bear God's rebukes and consider why he contends with us, and resolve that wherein we have done iniquity, we will do so no more.

How ready are we to draw rash conclusions, as Jacob did, who said, "All these things are against me," when all were for him and working together for his good. We are ready to conclude, when we lose our wealth or fame, our health or friends, all this is against us. But God intends it for our good. To judge by passion or affection is the way to judge wrongly. Jacob's grief darkened his mind and overwhelmed his faith. We are in great danger of forming a wrong judgment of the divine dispensations, especially of those which are a source of grief and sorrow. Jacob was happily disappointed.

by Oswald Chambers

by Thomas Gisborne

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day?' They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.' So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.' And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius." - Matthew 20:1-10

When the laborers assembled to receive their wages, the owner of the vineyard bountifully directed that a sum of money--the same with that which he had contracted to give to the persons who had been hired early in the morning--should also be paid to the others who had been hired at later periods of the day, even up to an hour before sunset. This determination raised considerable discontent among the laborers hired earlier and who now imagined that they should receive an additional sum to the terms for which they had bargained. Disappointed, they murmured against the landowner, saying, "These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and heat of the day." The landowner answered, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?"

We may easily suppose the landowner, kind no less than just, had various motives and principles inducing him to act as he had done. Perhaps it was not from unwillingness to work that several groups of his workmen had lost part of the day, but merely because no man had hired them. Perhaps he observed them working with greater diligence than their companions who had been hired sooner. Perhaps he reflected that those hired at the eleventh hour would have to pay as much for necessities during the past day as the others. At any rate, he was under no obligation to account for his liberality. Those who murmured did not complain that he was withholding from them any portion of the sum which he had promised. They did not intimate that the sum which they received from him was not an equitable recompense for their labor. Their eye was evil because he was good. Because he was kind, they were grudging.

Let us learn a lesson from this parable. Discontent involves folly, ingratitude, and presumption. It charges the wisdom of God with folly. It implies that He has not distributed His gifts to the greatest advantage, that we could have chosen better for ourselves than He has chosen for us.

Discontent is base ingratitude to our Heavenly benefactor. Because He withholds some one particular gift on which we have fixed our desires, we refuse to render the tribute of cheerful thanks for the benefits which He has bestowed. He has crowned us with numberless blessings. He sustains and protects us by night and by day. He has mercy upon us, notwithstanding our continual transgressions. He has given his own Son to die for our iniquities. He sets before us a kingdom of everlasting glory. Yet because there is one object which He withholds or refuses--and withholds or refuses because He loves us--we are dissatisfied with His dealings and slight His immeasurable goodness.

Discontent is presumption against the Lord of the whole earth. It forgets that we are His servants. It assumes God's prerogative, and aspires to regulate after its own will the course of His providence, to dispense according to its own pleasure the works of His hand and the offices of His household. Shall an earthly master choose his own servants for the different posts in his house, and do you deny the same power to God? Shall an earthly master judge what is the situation in which this man may serve him best, and would you interfere with God in a similar exercise of His rights? Shall an earthly proprietor dispense his bounty according to his discretion, and do you call to account the Proprietor of all things for the manner in which He distributes His blessings?

Let me now suggest some considerations which may be instrumental, under the grace of God, in strengthening you against discontent. First, when you have procured those objects which you were so anxious to obtain, recall that they many times did not fulfill the expectations you had cherished. Second, when something you had set your heart on has proved unattainable, have you not learned by experience that its possession was of less importance to your welfare than you had supposed, and you have lived in reasonable comfort without it? Third, how often has the coveted object repaid you with more uneasiness when once acquired than before you possessed it?

by Oswald Chambers

"He will glorify Me…" - John 16:14

The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.

The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration - no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!