Bible League: Living His Word Also pray for me--that when I speak, God will give me words so that I can tell the secret truth about the Good News without fear. I have the work of speaking for that Good News, and that is what I am doing now, here in prison. Pray that when I tell people the Good News, I will speak without fear as I should.Paul had some work to do. His work was speaking for the Good News. His work was to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ to Jews and Gentiles. It didn't matter that he was in prison at the time for doing the work. The work was something he still had to do. It was also something that he was still able to do, however limited and difficult, even in prison. Like Paul, we have some work to do. Our work is also speaking for the Good News. Our work is also to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ. We may not be an apostle and evangelist like Paul, we may not have the same level of authority and responsibility, but we have our own individual roles to play. Even if we are in prison like Paul, we must still do the work. Like Paul, therefore, there is something that we need. There is something that we need if we are to fulfill our roles effectively. We need prayer. We need our own prayers and the prayers of our fellow representatives. It is not always easy to represent the gospel. Even in the best of circumstances it is not always easy. We need, therefore, plenty of prayer. We need prayer that words may be given to us. We don't need any old words. Those are readily available. We need special words. We need the words that will be powerful and effective in the hearts of those who hear them. We need words born of the Holy Spirit. Those kinds of words don't just happen. They come as a result of prayer, our own prayers and the prayers of our fellow representatives. We also need prayer that we will speak the words without fear. We need the faith born of the Holy Spirit necessary to overcome fear. We need the faith necessary to not care what people say to us or do to us – even if it is putting us in prison. Today, then, pray for words without fear for yourself and your fellow representatives, especially those in difficult circumstances. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingHaggai Haggai 1 -- The Word of the Lord by Haggai; Haggai Inspires Temple Building NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Haggai 2 -- The Builders Encouraged to the Work by Promise of Greater Glory; God's promise to Zerubbabel NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Revelation 16 Revelation 16 -- The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath; Armageddon NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.Insight Peter wanted to rouse the complacent believers who had listened to the false teachers and believed that because salvation is not based on good deeds, they could live any way they wanted. Challenge If you truly belong to the Lord, Peter wrote, your hard work will prove it. If you're not working to develop the qualities listed in 2 Peter 1:5-7, maybe you don't belong to him. If you are the Lord's—and your hard work backs up your claim to be chosen by God (“called and chosen'')—you will never be led astray by the lure of false teaching or glamorous sin. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Job 1:5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.What the patriarch did early in the morning, after the family festivities, it will be well for the believer to do for himself ere he rests tonight. Amid the cheerfulness of household gatherings it is easy to slide into sinful levities, and to forget our avowed character as Christians. It ought not to be so, but so it is, that our days of feasting are very seldom days of sanctified enjoyment, but too frequently degenerate into unhallowed mirth. There is a way of joy as pure and sanctifying as though one bathed in the rivers of Eden: holy gratitude should be quite as purifying an element as grief. Alas! for our poor hearts, that facts prove that the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting. Come, believer, in what have you sinned today? Have you been forgetful of your high calling? Have you been even as others in idle words and loose speeches? Then confess the sin, and fly to the sacrifice. The sacrifice sanctifies. The precious blood of the Lamb slain removes the guilt, and purges away the defilement of our sins of ignorance and carelessness. This is the best ending of a Christmas-day--to wash anew in the cleansing fountain. Believer, come to this sacrifice continually; if it be so good tonight, it is good every night. To live at the altar is the privilege of the royal priesthood; to them sin, great as it is, is nevertheless no cause for despair, since they draw near yet again to the sin-atoning victim, and their conscience is purged from dead works. Gladly I close this festive day, Grasping the altar's hallow'd horn; My slips and faults are washed away, The Lamb has all my trespass borne. Daily Light on the Daily Path 2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!Psalm 100:1,2,4 A Psalm for Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. • Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. • Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. Isaiah 9:6,7 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. • There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Mark 12:6 "He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' Psalm 107:21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! Psalm 103:1 A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Luke 1:46,47 And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord, • And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 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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