Dawn 2 Dusk When Salvation Moves Into the NeighborhoodPsalm 85:9 holds out a hope that doesn’t stay distant: God’s saving help comes near to those who fear Him, and His goal is not merely to rescue individuals but to settle His glory among His people. It’s an invitation to stop living like God is far away and start expecting His presence to reshape everyday life. Salvation Isn’t Far Off We often talk about salvation as if it were mainly a past event or a far-future promise. But the psalmist insists it is near—close enough to be sought, received, and enjoyed. That nearness doesn’t come because we cleaned ourselves up; it comes because God draws close in mercy. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8) And when you feel like the distance is your fault, remember what Jesus came to do: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10) He doesn’t wait for the lost to find the path home; He comes looking. So today, nearness might look like a simple, honest turning—confession instead of hiding, prayer instead of striving, trust instead of excuses. The Fear That Opens the Door The verse ties nearness to those who fear the Lord, and that’s good news: biblical fear isn’t paralyzing dread; it’s awakened reverence. It’s the moment you realize God is holy, real, and weighty—and you stop treating Him casually. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10) This kind of fear doesn’t push you away; it pulls you into humility. God says, “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 66:2) To fear Him is to let His Word have the final say—to stop negotiating with obedience and start saying, “Lord, You’re right.” Let His Glory Settle Here God’s aim is bigger than private comfort: He wants His glory to dwell among us. That glory has a face and a name—Jesus. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) When Christ is welcomed, God’s presence is no longer a concept; it becomes a lived reality. And His glory doesn’t just visit—it changes the people who behold Him. “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory…” (2 Corinthians 3:18) That transformation spills outward: “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) If His glory is to dwell in our land, it will start with His reign in our hearts, our homes, our church, and our choices. Father, thank You that Your salvation is near and Your glory is good. Teach me to fear You with joyful reverence and to draw near with faith today. Use my words and actions to make room for Your presence where I live. Evening with A.W. Tozer Man: The Dwelling Place of God - PrefaceTHE SUPREME INTEREST in the life of A. W. Tozer was God: He who spoke and brought the world into being, Who justly rules over men and nations, yet deigns to make man His dwelling place. He believed that all that really matters is for man to be in right relationship with God, that his first duty-and privilege-is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. For this reason he delighted to speak to men of God's majesty and wonder and grace and he ever sought to instruct and exhort Christians to let this be the purpose of their lives. He grieved that they should be content with less.
Nothing he preached or wrote was merely academic or theoretical. What he said about God came out of many hours spent in His presence and with His Word. What he wrote about men was what he knew of his own heart and observed in others. With the Spirit's anointing came discernment; perception and clarity issued out of a disciplined mind. A broad knowledge averted dullness, and a lively wit brought freshness.
The chapters in this book deal with many aspects of one subject: the relationship of God and man. They are above all practical and all who read them will profit.
Anita M. Bailey A.W. Tozer
Managing Editor (1897 -1963)
The Alliance Witness Music For the Soul The Future: The Perfecting of the PresentWho also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts,-- 2 Corinthians 1:22 The "earnest" points onwards to an inheritance the same in kind, but immensely greater in degree. The " redemption of the possession " is a somewhat singular expression; for we are accustomed to regard the great act of redemption as already passed in the sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross. But the expression is employed here, as in several other places, to express not so much the act of purchase, the paying of the price of our salvation, which is done once for all and long ago, as the historical working out of the results of that price paid in the entire deliverance of the whole nature of man from every form of captivity to anything that would prevent his full possession by God. "We shall know even as we are known." "Through a glass darkly; but then face to face," says Paul, suggesting great changes in the degree of our knowledge of, and friendly communion with, God, but also seeming to imply some unknown changes in the manner of our beholding, which may be connected with the new powers of that " body of glory" like our Lord’s which will then be ours. It is quite conceivable that the physical universe may have qualities as real as light and heat, and scent and sound, which we could appreciate if we had other senses appropriate, as we have sight and touch, and smell and hearing". And so it is quite conceivable that when clothed upon with our "house which is from heaven," which will have a great many more windows in it than the earthly house of this tabernacle, which is built for stormy weather, there will be sides and aspects of the Divine nature that we do not know anything about to-day which shall be communicable and communicated to us. But be that as it may, a deeper knowledge, a fixed love, an unbroken communion, with all distractions and interruptions swept clean away for ever, so that we shall dwell for evermore in the House of the Lord, - these are the plain elements which make the very Heaven of heavens, and which ought to make the joy of our hope. In the measure in which we know and love Him, in that measure shall we be known and loved by Him. He and we shall be so interwoven as that we shall be inseparable. We shall cleave to God and God shall cleave to us. Oh, how small and insignificant all other notions of a future life are as compared with that! The accidents of locality and circumstance should ever be kept subordinate in the pictures which imagination may draw of what is beheld through the gates ajar by little pilgrims in the unseen. The representations which seem to aim at making another world as like this one as may be, dwarf its greatness, and tend to obscure the conditions of entering into its rest. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be" is as much a revelation as " when He shall appear we shall be like Him." As a great painter concentrates finish and light on the face of his sitter, and purposely keeps the rest of the picture slight, there is one face that should fill the dim, dark curtain of the future - the face of Christ - and all else may be thrown in in mere sketchy outline. We know that future chiefly by negations and by symbols, and the one positive fact is that we shall have Him and He will possess us. Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Hosea 5:7 They have dealt treacherously against the Lord. Believer, here is a sorrowful truth! Thou art the beloved of the Lord, redeemed by blood, called by grace, preserved in Christ Jesus, accepted in the Beloved, on thy way to heaven, and yet, "thou hast dealt treacherously" with God, thy best friend; treacherously with Jesus, whose thou art; treacherously with the Holy Spirit, by whom thou hast been quickened unto life eternal! How treacherous you have been in the matter of vows and promises. Do you remember the love of your espousals, that happy time--the springtime of your spiritual life? Oh, how closely did you cling to your Master then! saying, "He shall never charge me with indifference; my feet shall never grow slow in the way of his service; I will not suffer my heart to wander after other loves; in him is every store of sweetness ineffable. I give all up for my Lord Jesus' sake." Has it been so? Alas! if conscience speak, it will say, "He who promised so well has performed most ill. Prayer has oftentimes been slurred--it has been short, but not sweet; brief, but not fervent. Communion with Christ has been forgotten. Instead of a heavenly mind, there have been carnal cares, worldly vanities and thoughts of evil. Instead of service, there has been disobedience; instead of fervency, lukewarmness; instead of patience, petulance; instead of faith, confidence in an arm of flesh; and as a soldier of the cross there has been cowardice, disobedience, and desertion, to a very shameful degree." "Thou hast dealt treacherously." Treachery to Jesus! what words shall be used in denouncing it? Words little avail: let our penitent thoughts execrate the sin which is so surely in us. Treacherous to thy wounds, O Jesus! Forgive us, and let us not sin again! How shameful to be treacherous to him who never forgets us, but who this day stands with our names engraven on his breastplate before the eternal throne. Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook A Quiet HeartIt is always weakness to be fretting and worrying, questioning and mis-trusting. What can we do if we wear ourselves to skin and bone? Can we gain anything by fearing and fuming? Do we not unfit ourselves for action and unhinge our minds for wise decision? We are sinking by our struggles when we might float by faith. Oh, for grace to be quiet! Why run from house to house to repeat the weary story which makes us more and more heart-sick as we tell it? Why even stay at home to cry out in agony because of wretched forebodings which may never be fulfilled? It would be well to keep a quiet tongue, but it would be far better if we had a quiet heart. Oh, to be still and know that Jehovah is God! Oh, for grace to be confident in God! The holy One of Israel must defend and deliver His own. He cannot run back from His solemn declarations. We may make sure that every word of His will stand though the mountains should depart. He deserves to be confided in; and if we would display confidence and consequent quietness, we might be as happy as the spirits before the throne. Come, my soul, return unto thy rest, and lean thy head upon the bosom of the LORD Jesus. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer Ask What I Shall Give TheeWe are not straitened in our God; He has boundless resources, and is constantly calling upon us to ask and receive. What do we want this morning? Is it not more holiness? We want our understandings enlightened, our wills brought into perfect conformity to the will of God, and our affections fixed on holy and heavenly things. Let us agree to ask these things of our God. He will give freely, cheerfully, and plentifully. Let us ask as Solomon did, WISDOM; even that wisdom which cometh from above, which is pure, peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits. This wisdom will guide our hearts and direct our ways; it will lead us safely to a city of habitations; it will lead us to do God’s will with pleasure, promptness, and delight. It will make us wise to escape from Satan’s snares, to avoid temptation, and to do good unto all men. How important is this wisdom! How necessary for us! Well, Jesus stands before us this morning, saying, "ASK WHAT I SHALL GIVE THEE :" in Him dwelleth all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and every one that asketh receiveth. O sovereign Love, to Thee I cry; Give me Thyself, or else I die: Save me from death, from hell set free, - Death, hell, are but the want of Thee! My life, my crown, my heaven Thou art! Oh, may I find Thee in my heart! Bible League: Living His Word "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see."— Revelation 3:18 NKJV The church in Laodicea had a big problem. They were insufficiently zealous. Jesus said of them: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16). The Laodiceans didn't see the problem. They thought, "I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing." They thought, in other words, that they were spiritually wealthy and that their spiritual zeal was sufficient. Jesus, in contrast, thought just the opposite. He thought they didn't even know they were spiritually "wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:17). Jesus loved the Laodiceans. That's why He took the trouble to rebuke them (Revelation 3:19). That's why He gave them the words of our verse for today. He told them what they needed to do in order to correct their miserable state. He told them three things. First, He said they should buy from Him "gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich." This means that the Laodiceans should ask Jesus for pure spiritual fervor. Spiritual fervor that, like gold refined in a fire, has been purified of its dross. Only then will they be spiritually rich. Second, He said they should buy from Him "white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed." They should, that is, ask Jesus for the purity that comes from salvation. Just as clothes cover the body's nakedness, so the purity that comes from salvation covers the soul's sinful lack of zeal. Finally, they should "anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see." They should ask Jesus for the spiritual insight to see their true spiritual state. They were spiritually lukewarm and couldn't see it. Spiritual insight would be the remedy for their blindness. Today, let us consider the intensity of our spiritual fervor. Could it be that there's some Laodicean in us? If so, then we should ask of Jesus what we need. Daily Light on the Daily Path Exodus 14:15 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.1 Chronicles 19:13 "Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight." Nehemiah 4:9 But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night. Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. John 7:17 "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. Hosea 6:3 "So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth." Matthew 26:41 "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Romans 12:11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; Isaiah 35:3,4 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. • Say to those with anxious heart, "Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save 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. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.Insight Teaching was a highly valued and respected profession in Jewish culture, and many Jews who embraced Christianity wanted to become teachers. James warned that although it is good to aspire to teach, the teachers' responsibility is great because their words and example affect others' spiritual lives. Challenge If you are in a teaching or leadership role, how are you affecting those you lead? Devotional Hours Within the Bible Worldliness and TrustThe Christian life is very simple if only we understand it. It has only one principle single-hearted devotion to Christ. Paul stated this principle when he said, “To me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21) Jesus states it here also when He says, “Seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness.” In our present passage, we have a whole scheme of life. To begin with, we must find something real and permanent to live for. It concerns the matter of possessions. Earth’s banks are not absolutely safe ; and even if they were, they are not eternal. We are immortal, and we must find a place of deposit secure for immortal years. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” How can we lay up treasures in heaven? By living for God, by committing our lives to Jesus Christ, by spending our money for the glory of God. There are men who possess little money or property when they leave this world but are rich in treasures laid up in heaven. Paul had only the clothes he wore, an old cloak and a few sacred parchments when his martyrdom came but he was rich beyond measure in glory! There are millionaires here who will be beggars in the next life; and there are poor men here who will have an inheritance of glory in heaven. Single-heartedness is the secret of true godly living. “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Some people seem to think they can keep on safe terns with God and at the same time maintain close relations with the world. The Master’s teaching here shows us that it is impossible to be half God’s and half the world’s. There is room for only one lord in our life, and we must settle who this will be. If we belong to God, the world is our servant. It seems strange indeed that anyone with an immortal soul, should be willing to have mammon money for his god. Money may do much good and be a great blessing, if it is used for God but when a man gets down upon his knees to his money, crawls in the dust for its sake, and sells his manhood to get it it has only curse for him. One who truly serves God cannot give money half his heart. God will not share a human heart with any other master. A great many people are talking now about the secret of happy living. The Master gives it here. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life.” Anxiety is very common. There is a great deal of worrying in the world, even among good people. One does not meet very many whose faces shine always with the light of a perfect peace. The majority of faces show lines of care. Not many people pass undisturbed through all manner of experiences. Is worrying a sin or is it only an infirmity ? There certainly are a great many cautions and warnings in the Bible against worrying. But how can we help it? Paul tells us how to keep worry out of our life. “In nothing be anxious.” But how can we obey this counsel? What shall we do with the things that we would naturally worry about? Here is the answer: “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” That is, instead of worrying about matters that would naturally fret us we are to put them out of our own hands into God’s hands, by prayer. Then we have this assurance: “The peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6, Philippians 4:7). It will help us with our lesson, if we look carefully at the connections of the words as they stand in the Gospel. “You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious.” That is, anxiety comes from serving mammon. We say we are God’s children yet when mammon seems to be failing, and then we begin to worry. That is, we trust mammon more than we trust our Father. We feel safer when mammon’s abundance fills our hands than when mammon threatens to fail and we have only God. If we truly served God only, we should not be afraid, though we have nothing of mammon, not even bread for tomorrow. Jesus illustrates His teaching: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” Elsewhere Jesus says that not even a sparrow is forgotten by our Father. The sparrows are the most useless and the most troublesome of all birds. You can buy two of them for a farthing. Yet God watches over them, and not one of them shall fall to the ground without His permission. If God so cares for quarrelsome sparrows, He will care much more for His own children. We are of more value than many sparrows. Souls are of great worth it took the blood of the Son of God to buy us back from bondage. Birds do not bear the Divine image. They have no spiritual nature. The God who cares for the soulless little birds will surely care much more thoughtfully, more tenderly, for a thinking, immortal being, capable of eternal life. God is our Father He is not the birds’ father; He is their creator and provider but they are not His children. A woman will give more thought to her baby than to her canary. Our heavenly Father will provide more certainly for His children than for His birds. Worrying is also most useless. “Which of you by being anxious, can add one cubit unto the measure of his life?” A short person cannot, by any amount of anxiety, make himself and inch taller. Therefore, why should he waste his energy and fret his life away in wishing he were taller, and in worrying because he is not? Worrying about a coming trouble does not keep the trouble away! Worrying over a loss does not bring back that which is gone. People find obstacles, difficulties and hindrances in their life. There are hard conditions in their lot. But is there any use in worrying over these things? Will it make them any easier? Will anxiety cure the lame foot, remove the ugly mole, reduce the undesired tumor, or put flesh on the thin body? Will fretting make the heavy burden lighter, the hard work easier, the rough way smoother? Will anxiety keep the winter away, put coal in the bin, or bread in the pantry, or get clothes for the children? Even philosophy shows the uselessness of worrying, since it helps nothing, and only wastes one’s strength, unfitting one for doing his best. But religion goes father than philosophy, and tells us that even the hard things, the drawbacks, the obstacles, may be changed into blessings if we meet them in the right spirit. So we learn that we should quietly and with faith accept life as it comes to us, fretting at nothing, changing hard conditions to easier if we can but if not, using them as a means for growth and advancement. The fact that God cares for us ought to keep us from worry. “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” Does God really care for the flowers? Yes, He weaves for them their matchless garments and fills their little cups with fragrance. Yet they live but for a day. If God clothes these frail plants so gloriously for only a few hours’ beauty will He not far more surely clothe His own children? It is told of Mungo Park the great traveler, that once in the desert he was famishing for drink, and could find no water. In his exhaustion he had sunk down in the hot sands of despair, and had given up to die. He saw a tiny shoot of moss growing in the sand, and the thought came to him, “God tends this little plant. He placed it here and He is watering it. Surely, then, He will not forget me but will provide for me, too.” He roused up from his despair and passed on and was saved. Here we come upon the great principle of Christian living. “Seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” That is, we are to put all the energy of our thought and life into one effort to do God’s will. We are not to worry about our clothing or food that is God’s matter, not ours at all. We are to take thought, however, about our duty, our work, the doing of God’s will, and the filling of our place in the world. Too many people worry far more about their food and clothing, lest they shall be left to need, than they do about doing well their whole duty. That is, they are more anxious about God’s part in their life than about their own! They fear that God may not take care of them but they do not have any fear that they may fail in faithfulness to Him. It will be a great point gained, if we learn here once and for all that providing for our needs is God’s matter, not ours; and that our first and only care should be our duty, the doing of our work. This God will never do for us but if we are true to Him we shall never have any occasion to fret ourselves about our care. Suppose we are nearly starving? Well, we must go on, doing our duty in the circumstances, and not worrying; and in due time, perhaps at the last moment but somehow or other, and in some way, the Lord will provide. Or if not, He will take us home. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingHosea 12, 13, 14 Hosea 12 -- Ephraim's Sins Provoke God NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Hosea 13 -- Ephraim's Idolatry; God's Anger and Judgment NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Hosea 14 -- Exhortation to Repentance and Promise of God's Blessing NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Revelation 3 Revelation 3 -- Messages to the Churches in Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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