Dawn 2 Dusk A Blessing You Can Live InsidePaul closes with a benediction that isn’t just for church doors and closing hymns—it’s a daily home for your soul: grace from Jesus, love from the Father, and the Spirit’s shared life with you. Today, let that threefold gift shape how you think, repent, rest, and step forward. Grace That Lifts Your Chin Grace means you don’t have to pretend with God. Jesus doesn’t offer you a self-improvement plan; He offers you Himself. When shame tries to define you, answer it with what God has already said: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). You’re not invited because you’re strong—you’re invited because He is gracious. And grace isn’t sentimental; it trains you to stand up and walk straight again. Salvation begins and continues the same way: “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). So bring the real you—your failures, your fears, your unfinished obedience—and receive strength that actually changes you. Love That Steadies Your Heart The Father’s love is not a mood; it’s a covenant. When you wonder whether God is tired of you, look to the cross, where love was proven in history: “But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). His love doesn’t start when you clean up—it starts where you actually are. That love also reshapes how you love others. You don’t have to squeeze people for what only God can give you, because you’re already held. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Let His love steady your reactions today—especially when you’re misunderstood, overlooked, or tempted to keep score. Fellowship That Changes Your Walk The Holy Spirit’s fellowship is more than comfort; it’s communion—God present with you, guiding you from the inside out. You were never meant to follow Jesus on sheer willpower. The Spirit makes your relationship with the Father personal and confident: “You received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15). And that fellowship produces a new kind of daily movement—real obedience, real power, real transformation. “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Today, practice staying responsive: promptings to pray, courage to say no, strength to forgive, humility to apologize—this is what it looks like to live inside God’s blessing. Father, thank You for Your love, the grace of the Lord Jesus, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Help me receive Your blessing with faith and walk it out today—speaking life, obeying quickly, and sharing Your grace with someone who needs it. Amen. Evening with A.W. Tozer Adoring WorshipNeither the word adoration nor any of its forms is found in our familiar King James Bible, but the idea is there in full bloom. The great Bible saints were, above all, enraptured lovers of God. The psalms celebrate the love which David (and a few others) felt for the person of God. As suggested above, Paul admitted that the love of God was in his breast a kind of madness: "For whether we be beside ourselves, it is of God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us" (2 Corinthians 5:13-14). In Weymouth's translation the passage reads, "For the love of Christ overmasters us." The idea appears to be that Paul's love for Christ carried him beyond himself and made him do extravagant things which to a mind untouched with the delights of such love might seem quite irrational. Perhaps the most serious charge that can be brought against modern Christians is that we are not sufficiently in love with Christ. The Christ of Fundamentalism is strong but hardly beautiful. It is rarely that we find anyone aglow with personal love for Christ. I trust it is not uncharitable to say that in my opinion a great deal of praise in conservative circles is perfunctory and forced, where it is not downright insincere. Music For the Soul The Need of a Divine RevelationYe search the Scriptures because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of Me. - John 5:39 We want another than our own voice to lay down the law of conduct, and to accuse and condemn the breaches of it. Conscience is not a wholly reliable guide, nor either an impartial nor an all-knowing judge. Unconsciousness of evil is not innocence. It is not the purest of women that "wipes her mouth and says, I have done no harm." My conscience says to me, "It is wrong to do wrong"; but when I say to my conscience, "Yes, and pray what is wrong?" there is a large variety of answers possible. A man may sophisticate his conscience, and bribe his conscience, and throttle his conscience, and sear his conscience. And so the man that is worst, who, therefore, ought to be most chastised by his conscience, has most immunity from it; and where, if it is to be of use, it ought to be most powerful, there it is weakest. What then? Why this, then - a standard that varies is not a standard; men are left with a leaden rule. My conscience, your conscience, is like the standard measures which we at present possess, which by their very names - foot, hand-breath, nail, and the like - tell us that they were originally but the length of one man’s limb. And so your measure of right and wrong, and another man’s measure, though they may substantially correspond, yet have differences due to your differences of education, character, and a thousand other things. So that the individual man’s standard needs to be rectified. You have to send all the weights and measures up to the Tower now and then, to get them stamped and certified. And, as I believe, this fluctuation of our moral judgments shows the need for a fixed pattern and firm, unchangeable standard, external to our mutable selves. A light on deck which pitches with the pitching ship is no guide. It must flash from a white pillar founded on a rock and immovable amid the restless waves. Our need of such a standard raises a strong presumption that a good God will give us what we need, if He can. Such a standard He has given, as I believe, in the revelation of Himself which lies in this book of God, and culminates in the life and character of Jesus Christ our Lord. There, and by that, we can set our watches. There we can read the law of morality, and by our deflections from it we can measure the amount of our guilt. Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Acts 14:22 Continue in the faith. Perseverance is the badge of true saints. The Christian life is not a beginning only in the ways of God, but also a continuance in the same as long as life lasts. It is with a Christian as it was with the great Napoleon: he said, "Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me." So, under God, dear brother in the Lord, conquest has made you what you are, and conquest must sustain you. Your motto must be, "Excelsior." He only is a true conqueror, and shall be crowned at the last, who continueth till war's trumpet is blown no more. Perseverance is, therefore, the target of all our spiritual enemies. The world does not object to your being a Christian for a time, if she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage, and settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair. The flesh will seek to ensnare you, and to prevent your pressing on to glory. "It is weary work being a pilgrim; come, give it up. Am I always to be mortified? Am I never to be indulged? Give me at least a furlough from this constant warfare." Satan will make many a fierce attack on your perseverance; it will be the mark for all his arrows. He will strive to hinder you in service: he will insinuate that you are doing no good; and that you want rest. He will endeavour to make you weary of suffering, he will whisper, "Curse God, and die." Or he will attack your steadfastness: "What is the good of being so zealous? Be quiet like the rest; sleep as do others, and let your lamp go out as the other virgins do." Or he will assail your doctrinal sentiments: "Why do you hold to these denominational creeds? Sensible men are getting more liberal; they are removing the old landmarks: fall in with the times." Wear your shield, Christian, therefore, close upon your armour, and cry mightily unto God, that by his Spirit you may endure to the end. Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook Commonest Things BlessedWhat a promise is this! To serve God is in itself a high delight. But what an added privilege to have the blessing of the LORD resting upon us in all things! Our commonest things become blessed when we ourselves are consecrated to the LORD. Our LORD Jesus took bread and blessed it; behold, we also eat of blessed bread. Jesus blessed water and made it wine: the water which we drink is far better to us than any of the wine with which men make merry; every drop has a benediction in it. The divine blessing is on the man of God in everything, and it shall abide with him at every time. What if we have only bread and water! Yet it is blessed bread and water. Bread and water we shall have. That is implied, for it must be there for God to bless it. "Thy bread shall be given thee, and thy waters shall be sure." With God at our table, we not only ask a blessing, but we have one. It is not only at the altar but at the table that He blesses us. He serves those well who serve Him well. This table blessing is not of debt but of grace. Indeed, there is a trebled grace; He grants us grace to serve Him, by His grace feeds us with bread, and then in His grace blesses it. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer Let a Man Examine HimselfTHIS is necessary, that we may know upon what we are resting; and whether we are growing or declining. Let us examine this morning upon what foundation we are building for eternal life, and from what does our hope arise? What is the source of our satisfaction, pleasure, and peace? What do we possess to prove the reality of our religion? Have we been quickened by the Holy Spirit? Is Christ our life, and is He living in us? Are we enlightened to see sin, in its nature, character, and actings? Have we living faith which receives Christ, believes His word, and lives to Him? Have we a good hope through grace? Is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost? Do we love God because He first loved us, and walk with Him in peace and holiness? Have we the earnest and witness of the Spirit in our hearts? Are we conflicting with sin, and praying to be delivered from it, as from a tyrant, a plague, the most fearful evil? Let us examine carefully, deliberately, prayerfully; taking God’s word for our rule and guide. Let us prove our own work, so shall we have rejoicing in ourselves alone, and not in others. Searcher of hearts! oh, search me still; The secrets of my soul reveal; My fears remove: let me appear To God and my own conscience clear: Each evidence of grace impart, And deeply sanctify my heart! Bible League: Living His Word Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. — 2 Corinthians 13:5 NKJV Imagine being in a remote village surrounded by natural beauty and no access to TVs, radios, or the internet. Shut yourself out from all the preaching, teaching, and evangelism you get from the television, crusades, conferences, and seminars. If you started with reading this book, The Bible, and then compared what you read with what you see in Christianity today, would it thrill you or disturb you? Do you see similarity in the faith of the early Christians and today's Christians? Are we more like Christ today or were the disciples in the Bible more like Christ than us? I hope you see a committed people who got so excited when they knew that their sins were forgiven, that they were now reconciled to God and made citizens of heaven. They were so excited to experience a brand-new life that was totally free from the power of sin, and they eagerly wanted to get this Good News out into all the world. This world's idea of success, position, possessions, and pleasures didn't matter so much anymore. They encouraged one another, teaching people to have faith in Christ; they shared all things with each other so that nobody lacked anything, and nobody had an excess of anything and called such a gathering "a church." There was a noticeable difference between the people who professed to be Christians and the people of the world. This is the ideal. Unfortunately, today, people prefer "listening" and "watching" rather than reading the Word of God and meditating on it for themselves. Today, it's easy to be swayed by popular preachers and their interpretations, but Paul reminds us not to idolize them. Instead, we should rely on the same source they do: the Word of God. When Christ returns, titles and positions won't matter; we'll all stand as equals before Him. In a church, when believers get together, the one thing that should really stand out is love for one another. Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). The early believers were marked by their humility and commitment to one another, sharing everything and spreading the Gospel fervently. They lived lives distinct from the world, attracting attention for their radical love and unity. But today, there's often little difference between the church and the world. If we, proclaiming to be Christ-followers, blend into the darkness, how can we expect to dispel it? Yet, amidst this, there are still genuine believers—the true Church—who shine brightly in the darkness. Believing in Christ is not only an "intellectual" understanding of Jesus as the son of God who came and died on the cross for our sins, and who rose again. On the contrary, it is fully understanding the purpose of His death and resurrection, and wholly relying on His finished work for our peace, provision, spiritual health, abundant life here, and eternal life ahead. It is about walking in the newness of life. "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4). So, let us examine ourselves. Are we truly walking in faith? Are our beliefs and actions aligned with the Word of God? Let's prioritize personal time with God, diving into His Word daily and communing with Him in prayer. This intimate relationship with Christ is paramount—far more needful than attending church events or programs. I encourage you to strive for holiness and run as if to win the race, so that we may approach His throne of grace with boldness and confidence. By Santosh Chandran, Bible League International staff, New Zealand Daily Light on the Daily Path Revelation 21:23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.Acts 26:13,15 at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. • "And I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Matthew 17:1,2 Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. • And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. Isaiah 60:19,20 "No longer will you have the sun for light by day, Nor for brightness will the moon give you light; But you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, And your God for your glory. • "Your sun will no longer set, Nor will your moon wane; For you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, And the days of your mourning will be over. 1 Peter 5:10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish 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 This vision is for a future time.It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. Insight Evil and injustice seem to have the upper hand in the world. Like Habakkuk, Christians often feel angry and discouraged as they see what goes on. Habakkuk complained vigorously to God about the situation. God's answer to Habakkuk is the same answer he would give us: “Be patient! I will work out my plans in my perfect timing.” Challenge It isn't easy to be patient, but it helps to remember that God hates sin even more than we do. Punishment of sin will certainly come. As God told Habakkuk, “Wait patiently.” To trust God fully means to trust him even when we don't understand why events occur as they do. Devotional Hours Within the Bible The Birth of JesusNot much is told in secular history, about the period in which the event of the birth of Jesus belongs. It is said, however, that there are distinct traces that such a census as Luke describes took place. The great emperor commanded that an enrollment of all the world should be made. The emperor did not know when he issued this decree, that long before he was born, there had gone forth another decree from a more glorious King, which unwittingly he was now helping to execute. It had been written by the prophet under divine inspiration, that the Messiah should be born in Bethlehem. But Joseph and Mary were living at Nazareth, a long distance from Bethlehem. How would they be brought to Bethlehem, so as to fulfill the prophecy? They had no business there. Now comes the emperor’s decree which requires them to appear in the town of David to be enrolled. The birth of this King did not have about it the glamour which usually marks the birth of earthly royalty. He was born in a stable, wrapped in swaddling clothes, after the fashion of the children of poverty, and slept His first sleep in a feeding trough. It is pleasant for us to think that our Savior knows all the phases of human life by experience. He looks upon the baby in the mother’s arms with a peculiar interest, for He Himself was once a baby. Many children are born in poverty, and sometimes they think their lot is hard that they have not a fair chance in this world. But here is Jesus, the Son of God, beginning His life in poverty, and therefore He can sympathize with them. The shepherds out in the fields were especially favored that night. While they were keeping watch over their flock, an angel stood by them, and a divine splendor shone about them. Their occupation was lowly but they were faithful in it, and thus honor came to them. If we would have angels visit us, we must stay at our post of duty, no matter how lowly it is. Angels never come to people who are ashamed of their calling or too indolent to be diligent at their proper tasks. The shepherds did not seem to have an easy way of living. They were poor, and had to stay out of doors all night, guarding their sheep. The people in the fine houses, no doubt, if they thought at all of these poor men, thought they had a hard time of it, and pitied them because of their poverty and hardship. The shepherds themselves, it may be, envied the people who lived in the big houses and did not have to work and stay out nights. At least some people in these days whose lot is in the lowly places are envious of those who are rich. But we may be sure that the Bethlehem shepherds were never sorry afterwards, that they had to be out in the field that night. Think what they would have missed if, because of discontent or of self-indulgence, any of them had stayed away from their post. They would not have seen the angels, nor would they have heard the good tidings that came, nor have looked upon the wonderful Child. We need to watch, lest sometimes we miss blessings, by being absent from our place of duty. Then sometimes the place of blessing may not be in a prayer meeting but in a field or in a shop or at home, doing some lowly task-work. We do not know where the place of honor and privilege in this world may be. We may be sure, however, that it will always be in the place of duty . The message the angel brought was a glad one. “I bring you good news of great joy.” Never before had such tidings come to this world. Wherever the gospel now goes it bears the good news. To the soul struggling with temptation, it whispers the assurance of victory. To those crushed in defeat it speaks of hope, saying, “You may rise again, and yet attain a beautiful and noble life!” To those who are sitting in sorrow it brings comfort, telling of the compassion of God. The good tidings were indeed wonderful. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!” This was the announcement of the most marvelous fact in all the world’s history. It was not an unusual thing for a baby to be born thousands of infants were born that same night throughout the world. It was not a strange thing that the baby was born in a stable in the East such an occurrence was not unusual. The wonderful thing was that this child was the Son of God. He was the anointed Messiah He was divine. That the glorious God should thus enter human life as a little child was the marvelous thing. The angel told the shepherds how they would know the Child when they found Him. “You shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a feeding trough.” They would not find the Baby robed in purple garments, like the child of a prince but wrapped in swaddling clothes, a child of poverty. They would not find Him sleeping in a palace but in a stable. Thus the very authentications of the divine character and mission of this Child, were the tokens of poverty and humiliation. We see what empty things are the world’s marks of greatness. When Christ came, He disregarded all the emblems of rank by which men indicate greatness, and wore the insignia of poverty and humiliation. Yet, was He less great because He did not bear the world’s stamp of greatness? Greatness is in the character, never in the dress or the circumstances. Do not worry about wearing a crown make sure that you are worthy of a crown. This mark of the infant Messiah shows us also how Christ touched the lowliest places of life, began among the poorest and plainest of the people. He went down and started at the foot of the ladder, that He might understand our life and know how to help us in the best way. Earth paid small heed to the advent of the glorious King but heaven failed not to honor Him even in His humiliation. His birth made no stir in the world’s high places but heaven’s angels came and sang their songs of praise. These holy messengers were intensely interested in the great work of redemption on which the Messiah was then entering. We are told that the angels “desire to look into” (see 1 Peter 1:12) the strange mystery of redeeming love. We know that there is joy in the presence of the angels, when one sinner is saved. We are told further that the angels are as “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). The glimpses we have in the Bible of angels at their everyday work, show them always busy in services on behalf of God’s children. This ministry has not ceased. Angels’ visits are not “rare,” as we sometimes say. The coming of Christ brought peace: “On earth, peace.” Peace is one of the great words in the Bible. The coming of Christ to this world to live and suffer and die for our redemption, was one of God’s thoughts of peace toward us, the most wonderful of them all. It shows how much God loves us, and what He is willing to do and to sacrifice in order to make peace for us. Christ made peace for us first by bearing our sins, putting them away, that we might come to God and find forgiveness. Then from the cross went forth the proclamation, offering peace to all who would accept it. Paul says, “Being therefore justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). If we study the conduct of the shepherds, we shall find an illustration of very simple faith. They said one to another, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing!” They did not propose to go to see if what the angel had told them was true but to see the thing which the angel told them they should see. They were so sure that they would find the Babe in the manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes, that they at once went into the town to begin their search. It would be well for us if we had faith as simple, expecting always to find just what God tells us we shall find. We might suppose, after seeing all that the shepherds saw that night the vision of the angels and the infant Messiah they would be too full of ecstasy to think of returning to their own lowly task work at once, at least. We would have been disposed to excuse them if they had not returned to their sheep. Even Peter was once so enraptured with the splendor of the Transfiguration that he begged to be allowed to stay there, beholding the wondrous vision of the mountain. At that very moment, however, human sorrow was waiting at the mountain’s foot for the Master’s coming, and the rapture of communion with God, must be exchanged for the commonplace of duty. The highest, holiest place for us is always the place of duty. Where their task waited for them these shepherds must go. The joy of communion with God must never detain us from life’s common task work. We cannot keep the rapture of devotion if we neglect the routine of lowly service. Worship was meant to fit us for better work, not to make us less ready for our lowly tasks. Bible in a Year Old Testament Reading1 Chronicles 17, 18, 19 1 Chronicles 17 -- God's Promise and David's Prayer in Response NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 1 Chronicles 18 -- David Strengthens His Kingdom NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 1 Chronicles 19 -- The Battle against Ammon and Aram NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading John 10:1-21 John 10 -- Parable of the Good Shepherd; Belief and Unbelief of the Jews NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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