Our Holiest Example (and other devotionals)

Our Holiest Example 

"I have set the LORD always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved"   (Psalm 16:8).

This is the way to live. With God always before us, we shall have the noblest companionship, the holiest example, the sweetest consolation, and the mightiest influence. This must be a resolute act of the mind. "I have set," and it must be maintained as a set and settled thing. Always to have an eye to the LORD's eye and an ear for the LORD's voice--this is the right state for the godly man. His God is near him, filling the horizon of his vision, leading the way of his life, and furnishing the theme of his meditation. What vanities we should avoid, what sins we should overcome, what virtues we should exhibit, what joys we should experience if we did indeed set the LORD always before us! Why not? This is the way to be safe. The LORD being ever in our minds, we come to feel safety and certainty because of His being so near. He is at our right hand to guide and aid us; and hence we are not moved by fear, nor force, nor fraud, nor fickleness. When God stands at a man's right hand, that man is himself sure to stand. Come on, then, ye foemen of the truth! Rush against me like a furious tempest, if ye will. God upholds me. God abides with me. Whom shall I fear?

~Charles Spurgeon~
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I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven - Luke 10:18

This was Christ's vision of the effect of His work in man's nature, and on man's behalf. For ages Satan had vaunted his power over man; but now and henceforward the demon-nature was to be vanquished by the name and nature of Jesus Christ. "The demons are subject to us in Thy name." Whenever you are tempted by the demon of alcohol, of passion, of jealousy, or any other, claim instantly the protection of the Name which is above every name: make the Name and Nature of Jesus your strong tower into which you shall run and be safe: realize all that He stands for: and you will find that the demons will be subject to you. In your life also, Satan will fall from heaven, and be trodden under your feet.

And what is true in your own life is true also of your influence over others. If you dare to live in the risen Christ, you share His empire and all the fruits of His victory over Satan. He gives you authority over serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. The Christ nature within you becomes the dominant, triumphant power to which all power must ultimately yield. Dare to use it. In conflict with the demon spirits that haunt so many lives; in antagonizing the giant forces that are so strongly entrenched in our natural life, the ravages of vice-be sure to rely, not on numbers or organization, but on the name of Jesus, used not as a charm, but as representing His living and ascended might.

And let it be carefully noted that as the success of these disciples over a few demons in the villages and towns of Israel reacted on the balance of power in the heavenlies, so there is no victory won anywhere by any lonely disciple, or handful of disciples, that does not react on the entire battlefield.

~F. B. Meyer~

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BIBLE MEDITATION:
“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger…” Luke 2:7. “And great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh” 1 Timothy 3:16.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
I love 1 Timothy 3:16, “…God was manifest in the flesh.” You may not understand that. The apostle Paul said, “I don’t understand it.” Great is the mystery. God stepped out of Heaven and came to this earth through the portals of a virgin’s womb.

Jesus did not have His beginning at Bethlehem. When the Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word,” it’s not talking about a start but a state. There never was a time when Jesus was not. There never will be a time when Jesus is not. A billion years from now, He will still be God. He is God from everlasting to everlasting.

When Jesus was born, He was older than His mother and as old His Father because He was the Son from Heaven. Jesus did not begin in a manger. He came to earth and was manifest in a manger.

This little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes was the great, eternal, uncreated, self-existing Word made flesh. The little baby in Luke 2 is the mighty God of Genesis 1. He is the One who made it all. Before Him “there was nothing that is made.” That little baby lying in the straw with dimpled feet is the One who swung planets into space. The little baby boy playing with shavings in Joseph’s carpenter shop is God of very God. God manifested in the flesh.

ACTION POINT:
Ponder this truth today: What good is it to know history and the events of history and not know Jesus? For it is in Him we live and move and have our being. He is fully God, forever God.

~Adrian Rogers~

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He went up into a mountain apart (Matt. 14:23).

One of the blessings of the old-time Sabbath was its calm, its restfulness, its holy peace. There is a strange strength conceived in solitude. Crows go in flocks and wolves in packs, but the lion and the eagle are solitaires.

Strength is not in bluster and noise. Strength is in quietness. The lake must be calm if the heavens are to be reflected on its surface. Our Lord loved the people, but how often we read of His going away from them for a brief season. He tried every little while to withdraw from the crowd. He was always stealing away at evening to the hills. Most of His ministry was carried on in the towns and cities by the seashore, but He loved the hills the best, and oftentimes when night fell He would plunge into their peaceful depths.

The one thing needed above all others today is that we shall go apart with our Lord, and sit at His feet in the sacred privacy of His blessed presence. Oh, for the lost art of meditation! Oh, for the culture of the secret place! Oh, for the tonic of waiting upon God!

It is well to live in the valley sweet,
Where the work of the world is done,
Where the reapers sing in the fields of wheat,|
As they toil till the set of sun.
But beyond the meadows, the hills I see
Where the noises of traffic cease,
And I follow a Voice that calleth to me
From the hilltop regions of peace.
Aye, to live is sweet in the valley fair,
And to toil till the set of sun;
But my spirit yearns for the hilltop's air
When the day and its work are done.
For a Presence breathes o'er the silent hills,
And its sweetness is living yet;
The same deep calm all the hillside fills,
As breathed over Olivet.

"Every life that would be strong must have its Holy of Holies into which only God enters."

~L. B. Cowman~
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Everybody Gets a Gift

Joshua said: “Tribe of Judah, take the high country. Manasseh, occupy the valleys. People of God, inhabit the land east of the Jordan.”

Jesus says:  Joe, take your place in the domain of medicine. Mary, your territory is accounting. Susan, I give you the gift of compassion. Now occupy your territory.
Everybody gets a gift and these gifts come in different doses and combinations.  1 Corinthians 12:7 says, “Each person is given something to do that shows who God is.” Our inheritance is grace-based and equal. But our assignments are tailor made. No two snowflakes the same and no two fingerprints the same. Why would two skill sets be the same? No wonder Paul said in Ephesians 5:17 to make sure you understand what the Master wants!  Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that.

~Max Lucado~