Dawn 2 Dusk Doorways of Divine InvitationThere is a rhythm in Jesus’ words that pulls us closer: He tells us to ask, to seek, and to knock. This is more than a formula for getting what we want—it is an invitation into deeper fellowship with a Father who loves to respond. On this day, you are being called out of passivity and into a living, expectant relationship with God, where your heart is engaged, your desires are laid bare, and your persistence is honored. Ask: Bringing Your Real Desires to a Real Father Jesus does not tell us to come to the Father timidly, apologizing for existing. He simply says, “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). That is staggering. The God who upholds galaxies invites you to bring Him specific requests about your family, your work, your temptations, your future. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). Asking is a child climbing into the Father’s lap, not a beggar trying to twist a stranger’s arm. But asking is not about treating God like a vending machine. James warns, “You do not have because you do not ask. And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” (James 4:2–3). The promise stands, yet it is held within the bigger truth that God is wise and holy. “And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). Today, dare to ask boldly—but also honestly: “Father, here is what I want. Now shape my desires to match Your will, and give what You know is best.” Seek: Pursuing the Giver More Than the Gift “Ask” can feel momentary; “seek” is a lifestyle. God is not hiding in irritation—He is inviting pursuit. “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). To seek is to open your Bible not just for information, but for encounter. It is to rearrange your priorities so that knowing Christ becomes central, not optional. When David says, “My heart said of You, ‘Seek His face.’ Your face, O LORD, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8), he is modeling that relentless, God-centered longing. Seeking also means refusing to be satisfied with shallow Christianity. “And without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Faith pushes past distractions, boredom, and spiritual laziness. It keeps coming back to prayer when you don’t feel anything. It asks hard questions of your heart: What am I truly chasing? Comfort? Approval? Success? Or Christ Himself? The Lord loves to reward those who seek Him, not just His blessings. Make it your quiet resolve today: “Jesus, I want You more than what You can give me.” Knock: Staying at the Door Until It Opens Knocking implies resistance. There is a closed door, and you are not content to walk away. Jesus promises that if we knock, “the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). In Luke 11, He tells of a man knocking at midnight until his friend finally gets up, then adds, “how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). God is not annoyed by your persistent prayers; He is honored by them. Persistence proves that you believe Someone is listening on the other side of that door. Sometimes the door doesn’t open quickly. You pray for a prodigal, for freedom from a sin pattern, for revival in your church, and it feels like silence. But think of this: Jesus Himself is also pictured at a door. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). As you keep knocking in prayer, He is knocking on your heart as well. Will you stay at His door until He answers—and will you open your door fully when He presses in? Lord, thank You for inviting me to ask, seek, and knock. Today, move me to pray boldly, to pursue You earnestly, and to persevere until You answer—help me put this into action one concrete step at a time. Morning with A.W. Tozer Living Christ’s Ethics Requires His PowerThe ethics of Jesus must be imposed upon society, we are told, then all inequalities will vanish; the division of humanity into rich and poor, great and small, privileged and underprivileged will be no more. Under the benign influence of Christs ethics of love, greed and war will disappear from the earth and the dream of universal brotherhood be realized at last. The teachings of Jesus belong to the Church, not to society. In society is sin and sin is hostility to God. Christ did not teach that He would impose His teachings upon the fallen world. He called His disciples to Him and taught them, and everywhere throughout His teachings there is the overt or implied idea that His followers will constitute an unpopular minority group in an actively hostile world. The divine procedure is to go into the world of fallen men, preach to them the necessity to repent and become disciples of Christ and, after making disciples, to teach them the ethics of Jesus, which Christ called all things whatsoever I have commanded you. The ethics of Jesus cannot be obeyed or even understood until the life of God has come to the heart of a man in the miracle of the new birth. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them who walk in the Spirit. Christ lives again in His redeemed follower the life He lived in Judea; for righteousness can never be divorced from its source, which is Jesus Christ Himself. Music For the Soul God’s Promise of GraceHis favour is as dew upon the grass. - Proverbs 19:12 The prose of this sweet old promise, that God will be as the dew unto His people, is, " If I depart I will send Him unto you." If we are Christian people, we have the perpetual dew of that Divine Spirit, which falls on our leaves and penetrates to our roots, and communicates life, freshness, and power, and makes growth possible - more than possible, certain - for us. " I" - Myself through My Son, and in My Spirit - "I will be" - an unconditional assurance - "as the dew unto Israel." Yes! That promise is in its depth and fulness applicable only to the Christian Israel, and it remains true to-day and for ever. Do we see it fulfilled? One looks round upon our congregations, and into one’s own heart, and we behold the parable of Gideon’s fleece acted over again - some places soaked with the refreshing moisture, and some as hard as a rock and as dry as tinder, and ready to catch fire from any spark from the devil’s forge and be consumed in the everlasting burnings some day. It will do us good to ask ourselves why it is that, with a promise like this for every Christian soil to build upon, there are so few Christian souls that have anything like realized its fulness and its depth. Let us be quite sure of this- God has nothing to do with the failure of His promise. And let us take all the blame to ourselves. "I will be as the dew unto Israel." Who was Israel? The man that wrestled all night in prayer with God, and took hold of the Angel, and prevailed, and wept, and made supplication to Him. So Hosea tells us, and, as he says in the passage where he describes the Angel’s wrestling with Jacob at Peniel, "there He spake with us" - when He spake He spake with him who first bore the name. Be you Israel, and God will surely be your dew, and life and growth will be possible. The dew, formed in the silence of the darkness, while men sleep, falling as willingly on a bit of dead wood as anywhere, hanging its pearls on every poor spike of grass, and dressing everything on which it lies with strange beauty, each separate globule tiny and evanescent, but each flashing back the light, and each a perfect sphere, feeble one by one, but united mighty to make the pastures of the wilderness rejoice - so, created in silence by an unseen influence, feeble when taken in detail, but strong in their myriads, glad to occupy the lowliest place, and each "bright with something of celestial light," Christian men and women are to be "in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord." Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Mark 11:22 Have faith in God. Faith is the foot of the soul by which it can march along the road of the commandments. Love can make the feet move more swiftly; but faith is the foot which carries the soul. Faith is the oil enabling the wheels of holy devotion and of earnest piety to move well; and without faith the wheels are taken from the chariot, and we drag heavily. With faith I can do all things; without faith I shall neither have the inclination nor the power to do anything in the service of God. If you would find the men who serve God the best, you must look for the men of the most faith. Little faith will save a man, but little faith cannot do great things for God. Poor Little-faith could not have fought "Apollyon;" it needed "Christian" to do that. Poor Little-faith could not have slain "Giant Despair;" it required "Great-heart's" arm to knock that monster down. Little faith will go to heaven most certainly, but it often has to hide itself in a nut-shell, and it frequently loses all but its jewels. Little-faith says, "It is a rough road, beset with sharp thorns, and full of dangers; I am afraid to go;" but Great-faith remembers the promise, "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; as thy days, so shall thy strength be:" and so she boldly ventures. Little-faith stands desponding, mingling her tears with the flood; but Great-faith sings, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:" and she fords the stream at once. Would you be comfortable and happy? Would you enjoy religion? Would you have the religion of cheerfulness and not that of gloom? Then "have faith in God." If you love darkness, and are satisfied to dwell in gloom and misery, then be content with little faith; but if you love the sunshine, and would sing songs of rejoicing, covet earnestly this best gift, "great faith." Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook From Fetters FreeHe has done it. Remember Joseph, Israel in Egypt, Manasseh, Jeremiah, Peter, and many others. He can do it still. He breaks the bars of brass with a word and snaps the fetters of iron with a look. He is doing it. In a thousand places troubled ones are coming forth to light and enlargement. Jesus still proclaims the opening of the prison to them that are bound. At this moment doors are flying back and fetters are dropping to the ground. He will delight to set you free, dear friend, if at this time you are mourning because of sorrow, doubt, and fear. It will be joy to Jesus to give you liberty. It will give Him as great a pleasure to loose you as it will be a pleasure to you to be loosed. No, you have not to snap the iron hand: the LORD Himself will do it. Only trust Him, and He will be your Emancipator. Believe in Him in spite of the stone walls or the manacles of iron. Satan cannot hold you, sin cannot enchain you, even despair cannot bind you if you will now believe in the LORD Jesus, in the freeness of His grace, and the fullness of His power to save. Defy the enemy, and let the word now before you be your song of deliverance; "Jehovah looseth the prisoners." The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer Ephraim My Dear SonPOOR, fickle, backsliding Ephraim, is thus called by our infinitely gracious God. Adopted by grace into the heavenly family, taught by the Spirit, and united to Jesus, God views us through Him; and having predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, He views things which are but purposed as accomplished, and we are comely through the comeliness He has put upon us. His love to us is wonderful; He says, "He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of His eye." He rejoices to do us good, and gives His angels charge over us. He will not suffer any one really to hurt us; but lest this should be the case, He will keep us night and day. Let us then abide in Jesus; let us cultivate communion with this gracious God; let us follow on to know the Lord; trust in Him at all times; wait upon Him continually; and rejoice in this delightful fact, God calls us "HIS DEAR SONS, HIS PLEASANT CHILDREN." He not only calls us so, but treats us as such; and addresses us as such in His holy word; Let us call Him our Father, and look to Him for all we need; so shall we honour Him, conquer Satan, and enjoy peace. Our Father is God: our God is our Father. If I’ve the honour, Lord, to be One of Thy numerous family, On me the gracious gift bestow, To call Thee, ABBA, FATHER! too. Bible League: Living His Word He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.— Isaiah 40:11 NKJV Have you wandered back out into the wilderness, away from the Lord? Have you experienced the discipline of the Lord? Are you ready to submit to Him once again? If so, He is ready to take you in. The time of your heartache and trouble is over. The time of your constant striving and struggle is over as well. Whatever sins you have committed have been forgiven. The discipline has been enough. It's the time of comfort, not torment. It's the time of restoration, not destruction. The Lord will feed you like a shepherd. He will provide for you just like a shepherd provides for his flock. The days of want and emptiness are over. You wandered from the fold, and you paid the price. Now, however, is the time of abundance, now is the time of fullness. In peace you will feed from the hand of the Lord. You will forget the times of lack. Then He will gather you with His arm and bring you back into the fold. If you've lost your way, He'll show you the way, the only way. It's the way you could never have found on your own. He will carry you in His bosom. He'll lift you up and make it easy on you. Finally, He will gently lead you, even if you need extra help for a time. The Lord is patient, and He's ready to help you where you are. He's ready to supply the things that you need to be successful once again. Look up, then, and not down! The Lord is coming with His blessings. Look up to the Good Shepherd, and receive what He has to give you! Daily Light on the Daily Path Isaiah 54:5 "For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth.Ephesians 5:32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Isaiah 62:4,5 It will no longer be said to you, "Forsaken," Nor to your land will it any longer be said, "Desolate"; But you will be called, "My delight is in her," And your land, "Married"; For the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be married. • For as a young man marries a virgin, So your sons will marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you. Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; • To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, • To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. Isaiah 61:10 I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Hosea 2:19 "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, Romans 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 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 Teach us to realize the brevity of life,so that we may grow in wisdom. Insight Realizing that life is short helps us use the little time we have more wisely and for eternal good. Challenge Take time to number your days by asking, “What do I want to see happen in my life before I die? What small step could I take toward that purpose today?” Devotional Hours Within the Bible God’s Works and Word“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” We have two Bibles. One is written on the pages of nature and the other on the pages of the inspired Word. In this Psalm, we have the summaries of the teaching of both. In the earlier portion, the poet tells us about the teachings of the heavens : “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” And if in David’s days God’s glory was declared in the heavens, how much more now, since the telescope has revealed such marvelous things about the extent of the starry world that were not known then! Only remember that nearly all the stars we see are suns, probably centers of systems of planets; and that those we see, are but the merest fraction of the actual number only those that our telescopes can bring into view. The truth is, that there are millions of suns in the heavens, some of them so far from us that it takes thousands of years for light to come from them to us. Anyone who has given even a little attention to the study of astronomy is prepared to appreciate the thought of this verse. The heavens declare the glory of God. Think what glories of the night there are which the day hides! If our sun never set we would never see the splendors of the heavens. A poet imagines our first parent watching the sun nearing the horizon the evening of his first day. He was in great terror as he thought of the sun sinking away and leaving the world in darkness! But when the orb of day disappeared quietly, lo! a new universe had burst upon his vision. Night revealed far more than it hid! Think of the power that called into being, such a multitude of worlds, and that sustains them age after age. Think of the wisdom that made such a universe of flying suns, planets, and comets, so perfectly adjusting their orbits and their motions that they never clash in their orbits, that they move age after age, so that perfect harmony prevails among the spheres. Science, instead of being an enemy of religion, is its best friend. The more we learn of the marvelous things of God’s world, the more do we see, for which to praise and adore the divine Maker and Sustainer. This is true of all things in nature. There is more beauty in a single little flower than in the finest work of art ever fashioned by human hand! From the minutest insects to the vast stars, every department of the universe declares the wisdom, the power, the goodness, the faithfulness of God. We ought to study nature more; it is one of God’s books . “Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” Evermore, nature speaks of God. DAY has its glories, when in the sunshine we see the beauties of field, garden, mountain, valley, forest, river, flower, and plant. Then NIGHT comes, and instead of making desolation in the darkness, it unveils to us its marvelous splendor of sky and stars. Creation widens then, in man’s view, and to a devout mind everything speaks of God! There are spiritual revealings in all nature’s pages to him who has eyes. Then the Psalm passes from the teachings in nature to the revealings of the divine Word. The works of God declare His glory but not His will. For this we turn to His Word. We never could learn by study the stars, the flowers, or the rocks how we ought to live; what is right and what is wrong, what will please God or displease Him. We never could learn what God Himself is, what His attributes are, how He feels toward us. We may learn from His works that He is great, powerful, wise, unchanging, good; but we could not learn from the stars that He loves us with a tender, personal affection, that He is merciful and gracious. We never could find a gospel of salvation for lost sinners in the works of God. How thankful we should be for His Word, which tells us all these things! “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” Here we have His law, revealed by His own Spirit. It teaches us how to live. It is a perfect law; not only perfect in that it is without flaw but also in that it is complete as a revelation, containing all we need to know to be saved and to reach the full stature of Christian men and women. We may turn to the Word of the Lord with every question of duty and we shall always find the right answer! Then, it is a beautiful statement also, of the ministry of the Word which we have. It revives the soul. Every human soul needs to be revived. It is ruined by sin; its beauty is tarnished, its grandeur is destroyed. The Word of God is able to build it up, to transform it, to revive the lost splendor, to bring back again the defaced image of God. We know the power the Word of God has over human lives. It first shows men that they are condemned and lost as it holds up before them the requirements of the divine law. Next, it shows them the cross with its salvation for the guilty. Then it declares to them the will of God by which they are to learn to fashion their lives. As they begin to obey this holy will, it leads them on higher and higher, until they enter heaven’s gates and wear the likeness of Christ! Thus The Word revives the soul, transforming it into the likeness of God, which sin had defaced. “The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.” Many people think that a godly life is gloomy. They suppose that Christians have no joy. They have to deny themselves many pleasures. They cannot have the ‘good times’ worldly people have. They have to live strictly. They have to follow conscience in all things. It must be very hard. Life must be dreary and joyless to them. So the people talk, who boast of being free from the restraints of God’s Word, and who imagine that they themselves have the happiest times possible. But, as a matter of fact, the happiest people in this world are those who are keeping God’s commandments. Who ever heard of sin giving true joy to the heart? Disobedience never made anyone happy; but obedience always gives peace. There are fresh - water springs in the sea, which always pour out sweet water beneath the brackish tides. So in the obedient heart, under all self-denials, there is a spring of joy ever flowing. The Christian has sorrows but he has comforts which turn his sorrows into joy. He practices self-denials, and lives under the restraints of holiness but he has rewards which far more than compensate for the cost of his service to Christ. “Moreover by them is your servant warned .” The Bible flames with ’ red lights ‘. Every point of danger is marked. Every perilous path has its lamp hung up, warning us not to enter it. We are warned against the Devil and his helpers. We are warned against bad companions, against false teachers, against all wrong courses. “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.” There are different kinds of hidden faults. There are those which we try to hide ourselves, which are done in secret. Then there are those which have not been wrought out in act sins of thought or imagination, which from lack of opportunity, have never been actually committed. But the reference here, is to faults or sins which are hidden from ourselves, of which we are not conscious. We all have faults of which we ourselves are not aware. Perhaps other people see them, although we do not. Certainly God sees them. We may be sure at least that there are faults enough in the best of us. Our aim in Christian life should be so high that we shall desire to be cleansed even from all these hidden faults and sins. No fault is so small as to be a trifle, or not to be a blemish in our character. Small faults grow. We have a beautiful prayer at the close of Psalms 19: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” There could be no higher standard of life, than is set for us in this prayer. The conduct may be blameless while the thoughts are stained with sin. It is easier to keep our acts without fault than our feelings, our desires, and our affections pure. We may do no outward act of cruelty or unkindness; while our hearts may be full of jealousies, envies, and all selfishness. We are to seek that our thoughts be so white and clean that they will be acceptable in God’s sight. The prayer covers our words, our thoughts, and our meditations; each a closer test than the one before. It is a great thing to be faultless in speech. But perfect grammar is not enough. Our words may be beautiful and graceful and yet our thoughts may be full of hypocrisy, of deceit, of all evil! The prayer here is that our thoughts may please God. This is a higher spiritual attainment, than merely faultless words. Then, a still higher test of life is our meditation. Meditations are our deepest thoughts, the quiet ponderings of our hearts. Meditation is almost an obsolete word in these times of hustle and bustle. The word belongs rather to the days when men had much time to think and think deeply. We meditate when we are alone, when we are shut away from others. Our minds then follow the drift of our own desires, dispositions, and imaginations. If our hearts are clean and good our meditations are pure and holy. But if our hearts are evil and unclean our meditations are of the same moral quality. Thus, our meditations are an infallible test of our real self. “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” Proverbs 23:6 This prayer is, therefore, for a life of the highest character one acceptable to God, not only in words and thoughts but also in meditations. Such a life everyone who loves God and would be like God should seek to live! This prayer is, therefore, for a life of the highest character one acceptable to God, not only in words and thoughts but also in meditations. Such a life everyone who loves God and would be like God should seek to live! Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingDeuteronomy 3, 4 Deuteronomy 3 -- Defeat and Division of Og; Moses Forbidden from Crossing the Jordan NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Deuteronomy 4 -- Israel Urged to Obey; Idolatry Forbidden NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Mark 11:20-33 Mark 11 -- The Triumphal Entry; the Money Changers; the Withered Fig Tree; Jesus' Authority NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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