BIBLE MEDITATION:
“He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” John 14:21
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
A little boy fell out of bed and was crying. His mother came, picked him up, and said, “Honey, what’s wrong? How did you fall out of bed?” He said, “Well, I guess I went to sleep too close to where I got in.”
I think there are a lot of people who have done exactly that. They get into Christ and somehow they just seem to go to sleep right there. They say, “I’m saved and that’s it.” But friend, that’s not it. It’s just the beginning of a relationship that will last through all eternity.
ACTION POINT:
God wants to move you further into a knowledge of Himself. I don’t know about you, but I’m not satisfied with the status quo of my life. I want to go deep into the heart of Jesus. I desire the same for you.
~Adrian Rogers~
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And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest (Jer. 45:5).
A promise given for hard places, and a promise of safety and life in the midst of tremendous pressure, a life "for a prey." It may well adjust itself to our own times, which are growing harder as we near the end of the age, and the Tribulation times.
What is the meaning of "a life for a prey"? It means a life snatched out of the jaws of the destroyer, as David snatched the lamb from the lion. It means not removal from the noise of the battle and the presence of our foes; but it means a table in the midst of our enemies, a shelter from the storm, a fortress amid the foe, a life preserved in the face of continual pressure: Paul's healing when pressed out of measure so that he despaired of life; Paul's Divine help when the thorn remained, but the power of Christ rested upon him and the grace of Christ was sufficient.
Lord, give me my life for a prey, and in the hardest places help me today to be victorious.
--Days of Heaven upon Earth
We often pray to be delivered from calamities; we even trust that we shall be; but we do not pray to be made what we should be, in the very presence of the calamities; to live amid them, as long as they last, in the consciousness that we are, held and sheltered by the Lord, and can therefore remain in the midst of them, so long as they continue, without any hurt.
For forty days and nights, the Saviour was kept in the presence of Satan in the wilderness, and that, under circumstances of special trial, His human nature being weakened by want of food and rest. The furnace was heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, but the three Hebrew children were kept a season amid its flames as calm and composed in the presence of the tyrant's last appliances of torture, as they were in the presence of himself before their time of deliverance came. And the livelong night did Daniel sit among the lions, and when he was taken up out of the den, "no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God."
They dwelt in the presence of the enemy, because they dwelt in the presence of God.
~L. B. Cowman~
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Spirit, Speech and Service
I want to follow up on yesterday's devotional by pointing you to 1 Peter 2:18-23,
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.
The Goodspeed translation says, "He committed His cause to Him who judges righteously." Now these verses are pretty clear: God is a righteous judge. And even if you are being mistreated for doing right, if you will commit things to God, He has a marvelous way of turning the tables in your favor.
You have to maintain three things if God is, indeed, going to use you in such a situation.
1. You have to maintain a right spirit. You have to keep a good attitude. You cannot get bitter. You have to stay kind.
2. You have to keep right speech. Do not dish out the same kind of abuse. Do not start saying things that are going to create division.
3. You have to maintain right service. Even if you are being mistreated, continue working hard for the Lord. Do not sabotage things.
If you will do these three things, just watch what God does through your difficulties!
~Bayless Conley~
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He stretched forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean - Luke 5:13
This leper, as the physician-evangelist remarks, was full of leprosy. It was a very aggravated case. He lay in the dust before Jesus. What a contrast! Loathsomeness and Divine beauty; disease and health; humanity at its worst and best; sinner and Saviour; one of Satan's most miserable victims, and the Almighty Deliverer. So, my reader, if thou art conscious of a heart and life which are full of sin, I would have thee meet thy Saviour now. There is no if about His power - even the leper recognized that. The only doubt was about the Saviour's will: there is, however, no doubt on this score now, since He has healed myriads, and promises healing to all who come. Throw thyself, then, at His feet, and ask for cleansing.
"He stretched forth His hand, and touched him." No one else would have dared to do as much. To touch that flesh, according to the Levitical code, would induce uncleanness. But Jesus shrank not. On the one hand, He knew that the ceremonial restrictions were abolished in Himself: on the other, He desired to teach that sin cannot defile the Divine holiness of the Saviour. Whatever be the stories of sin that are breathed into His ear; whatever the open bruises and putrefying sores which are opened to His touch; whatever the sights and scenes with which He has to cope - none of these can leave a taint of evil in His sinless heart. It would be as impossible for sin to soil Christ as for a plague to contaminate flame. And He will heal thee. Dare to claim it.
"Break up the heavens, O Lord, and. far
Through all yon starlight keen
Draw me, thy bride - a glittering star,
In raiment white and clean."
~F. B. Meyer~
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