Bible League: Living His Word Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said that His disciples should keep watch and should pray (Matthew 26:40-41). He knew that Satan was about to come and His suffering was about to begin. He knew that His disciples would be tested by everything that was about to happen. They needed to be ready. They needed to keep watch and to pray so that they would be able to stand in the time of trial. Like the disciples of old, Christians need to keep watch and we need to pray. We need to stay sober-minded so that we will be ready to handle whatever comes our way. We need to keep watch so that we will not be caught by surprise. We can't just waltz through life in blissful ignorance of its true state of affairs. This does not mean that we should walk through life in abject fear of the future, but it does mean that we must be ready for anything. We need to be ready because Satan is still prowling around like a roaring lion and he is still looking for someone to devour. He creates the trials, troubles, and tribulations of life as a means to snatch us from the flock of Jesus Christ and swallow us whole. He knows that the troubles of life will test us to the limit and cause us to question everything we believe. Like a lion on the prowl, he will stalk us by trying to sneak up on us. We must be ready when he pounces. We must not fall into the trap of thinking that it's just us that must be ready. We must not fall into the trap of self-pity. It's not just us. Every Christian must stay awake, stand watch, and pray. Every Christian throughout the world, more or less, is attacked by Satan with trials and troubles. If we keep watch, if we are ready, then we will be in a better position to resist Satan when he makes his move against us. We will be in a better position to use our faith and thwart him when he springs into action. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingPsalm 119:105-176 Psalm 119 -- Blessed are those whose ways are blameless NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 1 Corinthians 5 1 Corinthians 5 -- Expel the Wicked Man NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.Insight Jesus knew he would be betrayed by one of his disciples, disowned by another, and deserted by all of them for a time. Still, he “loved them to the very end.” God knows us completely, as Jesus knew his disciples. Challenge He knows the sins we have committed and the ones we will yet commit. Still, he loves us. How do you respond to that kind of love? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.Beyond measure it is desirable that we, as believers, should have the person of Jesus constantly before us, to inflame our love towards him, and to increase our knowledge of him. I would to God that my readers were all entered as diligent scholars in Jesus' college, students of Corpus Christi, or the body of Christ, resolved to attain unto a good degree in the learning of the cross. But to have Jesus ever near, the heart must be full of him, welling up with his love, even to overrunning; hence the apostle prays "that Christ may dwell in your hearts." See how near he would have Jesus to be! You cannot get a subject closer to you than to have it in the heart itself. "That he may dwell;" not that he may call upon you sometimes, as a casual visitor enters into a house and tarries for a night, but that he may dwell; that Jesus may become the Lord and Tenant of your inmost being, never more to go out. Observe the words--that he may dwell in your heart, that best room of the house of manhood; not in your thoughts alone, but in your affections; not merely in the mind's meditations, but in the heart's emotions. We should pant after love to Christ of a most abiding character, not a love that flames up and then dies out into the darkness of a few embers, but a constant flame, fed by sacred fuel, like the fire upon the altar which never went out. This cannot be accomplished except by faith. Faith must be strong, or love will not be fervent; the root of the flower must be healthy, or we cannot expect the bloom to be sweet. Faith is the lily's root, and love is the lily's bloom. Now, reader, Jesus cannot be in your heart's love except you have a firm hold of him by your heart's faith; and, therefore, pray that you may always trust Christ in order that you may always love him. If love be cold, be sure that faith is drooping. Daily Light on the Daily Path Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.Isaiah 43:1,2 But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! • "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you. Deuteronomy 32:11,12 "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. • "The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him. Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Romans 8:38,39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, • nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Isaiah 49:15 "Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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