Morning, August 26
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The Eternal Promise: Delighting in God's Covenant
How does it feel to acknowledge a promise that remains intact despite the passage of time and the fluctuations of life? Have you ever thought about the constancy of God's love? Do you delight in the ancient and everlasting promise given to us?


The Eternal Promise: Delighting in God's Covenant
How does it feel to acknowledge a promise that remains intact despite the passage of time and the fluctuations of life? Have you ever thought about the constancy of God's love? Do you delight in the ancient and everlasting promise given to us?

He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; holy and awesome is His name. — Psalm 111:9

God's Covenant has always been a comforting constant for His people. This Covenant, like an abundant feast in the banquet hall of the Holy Spirit, is a source of deep satisfaction. We revel in its antiquity, the promise sealed before the celestial bodies began their cosmic dance, ensuring our interests in Christ Jesus.

We take pleasure in the Covenant's unshakeable reliability, contemplating "the sure mercies of David." We celebrate this Covenant as "signed, sealed, ratified, and perfectly ordered." Its immutability fills our hearts with joy. It stands as a Covenant that neither time nor eternity, neither life nor death, can ever violate—a Covenant as old as eternity and as everlasting as the Rock of Ages.

Moreover, the Covenant provides us with everything. God is our portion, Christ our companion, the Spirit our Comforter. Earth is our temporary abode, and heaven is our eternal home. The Covenant ensures an inheritance for every soul that has a stake in this ancient and eternal deed of gift.

We also revel in the Covenant's abundant grace. We understand that the law was nullified because it was a Covenant of works that depended upon merit. However, this Covenant endures because it is rooted in grace. This grace forms the basis, condition, bulwark, foundation, and pinnacle of the Covenant. This Covenant represents a treasury of wealth, a granary of sustenance, a fountain of life, a storehouse of salvation, a charter of peace, and a haven of joy.

May we always find joy in Your unchanging Covenant.
Grant us the wisdom to understand Your eternal promise.
May we live each day secure in Your everlasting love.
Guide us in Your grace and lead us in the path of righteousness.


Questions for Reflection

1. How do you experience the constant love of God in your daily life?
2. In what ways can the awareness of God's ancient and unchanging promise influence your decisions and actions?
3. How can we better rejoice in the abundance that God's Covenant provides?
4. How does knowing that God's Covenant provides for all needs shape your attitude towards life's challenges?
5. What role does Christ, as our companion, play in your understanding of the Covenant?
6. What does the phrase "the sure mercies of David" mean to you, and how does it relate to your faith journey?
7. How can the Covenant's grace influence your interactions with others?
8. How can we make God our portion, in a practical sense, in our daily lives?
9. How does the assurance of a heavenly home affect your perspective on earthly struggles?
10. How can we better perceive the enduring nature of the Covenant, rooted in grace and not in merit?
11. How does understanding the Covenant as a "treasury of wealth" and "storehouse of salvation" impact your spiritual life?

Supporting Scriptures

Hebrews 1:3: The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Revelation 5:9: And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Isaiah 55:3: Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
Ephesians 1:7: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
Colossians 1:14: in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Psalm 130:7: O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is loving devotion, and with Him is redemption in abundance.
Luke 1:68: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people.

Dawn and Dusk: Scriptures, Devotions, and Prayers. Inspired by Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. You are free to copy as needed for noncommercial personal and ministry use.

Bible League: Living His Word
Fight the good fight of faith.

Faith is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." However, even though faith is a gift from God, there is also a human component. Since faith has been given to Christians, it is something that we have, it is something that we do, and it is something we are responsible for as a result. Christians must put the faith we have been given by God into action. Indeed, as our verse for today says, faith is something that we must fight for.

The reason why faith must be fought for is that there are enemies of faith. Satan and his minions are always trying to challenge and undermine our gift of faith. They are always trying to create circumstances in our lives that will challenge our faith and they are always trying to send messages our way that will contradict and undermine our faith. Faith cannot be taken for granted. We must fire up the faith we have within us.

The primary way that we can fire up our faith is by reading the word of God. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The word of God is a revelation of God's will and ways. Since it comes to us in the form of human words, it takes faith to believe that it actually is the word of God. By reading the word we give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to give us the gift of faith and the opportunity to fire up our faith if we already have the gift. Reading the word gives the Holy Spirit something to work with.

If we never or seldom read the word of God, then we are not doing anything for our faith. Faith needs the revelation of God's word in order to come into existence and in order to burn brightly. If our faith is not on fire, it is probably because we have neglected to read the word of God. Faith is always faith in something. For the Christian, that something includes the word of God.

Today, make the determination to fire up your faith. Make the determination to read the word of God on a regular basis.

Fight the good fight of faith by reading the word.

Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Psalm 128-131


Psalm 128 -- Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways.

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Psalm 129 -- Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up.

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Psalm 130 -- Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord.

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Psalm 131 -- O Lord, my heart isn't haughty, nor my eyes lofty

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


New Testament Reading
1 Corinthians 7:25-40


1 Corinthians 7 -- Paul's Instructions on Marriage

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Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
Insight
When things are going well, we feel elated. When hardships come, we sink into depression. But true joy transcends the rolling waves of circumstance. Joy comes from a consistent relationship with Jesus Christ.
Challenge
When our lives are intertwined with his, he will help us walk through adversity without sinking into debilitating lows and manage prosperity without moving into deceptive highs. The joy of living with Jesus Christ daily will keep us levelheaded, no matter how high or low our circumstances.
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
Psalm 111:9  He hath commanded his covenant forever.

The Lord's people delight in the covenant itself. It is an unfailing source of consolation to them so often as the Holy Spirit leads them into its banqueting house and waves its banner of love. They delight to contemplate the antiquity of that covenant, remembering that before the day-star knew its place, or planets ran their round, the interests of the saints were made secure in Christ Jesus. It is peculiarly pleasing to them to remember the sureness of the covenant, while meditating upon "the sure mercies of David." They delight to celebrate it as "signed, and sealed, and ratified, in all things ordered well." It often makes their hearts dilate with joy to think of its immutability, as a covenant which neither time nor eternity, life nor death, shall ever be able to violate--a covenant as old as eternity and as everlasting as the Rock of ages. They rejoice also to feast upon the fulness of this covenant, for they see in it all things provided for them. God is their portion, Christ their companion, the Spirit their Comforter, earth their lodge, and heaven their home. They see in it an inheritance reserved and entailed to every soul possessing an interest in its ancient and eternal deed of gift. Their eyes sparkled when they saw it as a treasure-trove in the Bible; but oh! how their souls were gladdened when they saw in the last will and testament of their divine kinsman, that it was bequeathed to them! More especially it is the pleasure of God's people to contemplate the graciousness of this covenant. They see that the law was made void because it was a covenant of works and depended upon merit, but this they perceive to be enduring because grace is the basis, grace the condition, grace the strain, grace the bulwark, grace the foundation, grace the top-stone. The covenant is a treasury of wealth, a granary of food, a fountain of life, a storehouse of salvation, a charter of peace, and a haven of joy.

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Exodus 28:36  "You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a seal, 'Holy to the LORD.'

Hebrews 12:14  Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

John 4:24  "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Isaiah 64:6  For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Leviticus 10:3  Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

Ezekiel 43:12  "This is the law of the house: its entire area on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

Psalm 93:5  Your testimonies are fully confirmed; Holiness befits Your house, O LORD, forevermore.

John 17:19  "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

Hebrews 4:14,16  Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. • Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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.

Evening August 25
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