Dawn 2 Dusk Heaven’s Been Waiting to HearThe psalmist calls every corner of creation to lift up a “new song” to the LORD, inviting us into a kind of worship that is fresh, alive, and personal. This isn’t about learning a trendy tune; it’s about letting God’s present work in your life reshape the way you respond to Him. Today is a new day, and heaven is asking: Will you sing the same old song of fear and complaint, or a new song of trust and praise? A New Song for a Faithful God “New” doesn’t mean God has finally done something worthy of praise—as if He was lacking before. It means your eyes are freshly opened to who He has always been. Scripture says, “Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22–23). A new song is what happens when your heart finally catches up to the mercies that have been there all along. And in Christ, God has done something eternally new for you. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). When you remember the cross that broke your chains and the empty tomb that secured your hope, your praise can’t stay stale. Ask the Lord to show you one specific way He has been faithful in this season—then turn that insight into words of worship that are as real and specific as His mercy to you. Let Your Whole Life Sing Psalm 96:1 says, “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth”. “All the earth” includes your kitchen, your commute, your workplace, your school. God is not just after the sound of your voice on a Sunday; He is after the song of your life, every day of the week. Worship is more than music—it is the way you speak, serve, forgive, and endure when no one is applauding. This is why we are urged, “Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans 12:1). Your new song might be choosing patience instead of irritation, purity instead of compromise, integrity instead of cutting corners. As “the word of Christ richly dwells within you” and you “sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16), your ordinary routines become a daily concert of praise. Joining the Song of the Nations God’s invitation to sing a new song is global. “Sing to the LORD a new song, His praise from the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 42:10). When you lift your voice to Christ, you are joining believers in villages, cities, and hidden places around the world who are worshiping the same Savior today. Your praise may feel small and unnoticed, but it is part of a massive chorus God is gathering from every corner of the earth. And this chorus is heading somewhere. John saw it: “After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9). One day, all who belong to Jesus will stand together and sing with perfected, sin-free hearts. Until that day, every time you choose to praise Christ instead of grumble, to testify instead of stay silent, you are rehearsing for that final song—and helping others hear the music of the gospel. Lord, thank You for Your new mercies and the new life I have in Christ. Today, teach my heart, my words, and my actions to sing a new song to You, and use my life to draw others into Your praise. Morning with A.W. Tozer Memorization PriorityCertain cultures have stressed memorization to a point where education consists largely in learning by rote a few of the classics. . . . About this two things may be said: One, that great skill in memorizing is found almost exclusively among peoples where books are scarce and where a certain limited few important classics are about all the reading matter required for an education as understood by those peoples. In the English-speaking world of today we have available not only everything that has ever been written in our mother tongue, but everything that has ever been written in any language, done for us in English translation. In the face of such a mountain of books, memorizing on any wide scale will be seen to be altogether impossible.
The second thing is that excessive memorization kills the impulse to think independent thoughts and makes us into tape recording machines full of other men's words but without a vital idea of our own. It is my considered opinion that a book that has fed a great thought into my mind and inspired me to explore new ideas on my own has done vastly more for me than the book I have memorized from cover to cover.
My own method is to confine my memorization to the Scriptures and the great hymns. I memorize passages of Scripture so I can use them in my sermons and meditate on them as I travel. And I like to store the great hymns in my mind to sing under my breath anywhere under any circumstances at any time. Further than that I do not give myself too much concern about memorizing.
Music For the Soul The Ever-Active Helper of the SaintsThou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led Thy captivity captive; Thou hast received gifts among men, yea, among the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell with them. - Psalm 68:18 The "right hand of God" is the Omnipotent energy of God; and howsoever certainly the language of Scripture requires for its full interpretation that we should firmly hold that Christ’s glorified body dwells in a place, we are not to omit the other thought, that to sit at the right hand also means to wield the immortal energy of that Divine nature over all the field of the Creation and in every province of His dominion. So that the ascended Christ is the ubiquitous Christ; and He who is "at the right hand of God" is wherever the power of God reaches throughout His whole universe. Remember that it was once given to a man to look through the opened heavens (through which Christ had " passed ") and to " see the Son of man standing (not sitting) at the right hand of God." Why to the dying proto-martyr was there granted that vision thus varied? Wherefore was the attitude changed but to express the swiftness, the certainty of His help, and the eager readiness of the Lord, who starts to His feet, as it were, to succour and to sustain His dying servant? And so we may take that great joyful truth that, both as receiving gifts for man and bestowing gifts upon them, and as working by His providence in the world, and on the wider scale for the well-being of His children and of the Church, the Christ that sits at the right hand of God wields, ever with eager cheerfulness, all the powers of omnipotence for our well-being, if we love and trust Him. We may look quietly upon all perplexities and complications, because the hands that were pierced for us hold the helm and the reins, because the Christ who is our Brother is the King, and sits supreme at the centre of the universe. Joseph’s brethren that came up in their hunger and their rags to the land, and found their brother next the throne, were startled with a great joy of surprise, and fears were calmed and confidence sprang in their hearts. Shall not we be restful and confident when our Brother, the Son of man, sits ruling all things? "We see not yet all things put under" us; "but we see Jesus," and that is enough. Therefore, set your affections on things above. Our hearts travel where our dear ones are. Oh, how strange and sad it is that professing Christians, whose lives, if they are Christians at all, have their roots and are hid with Christ in God, should turn so few, so cold thoughts and loves thither! Surely, "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Surely, if Christ is your treasure, you will feel that with Him is home, and that this is a foreign land! " Set your affections, then, " on things above," while life lasts; and when it is ebbing away, perhaps to our eyes, too. Heaven may be opened, and the vision of the Son of man standing to receive and to welcome us may be granted, and when it has ebbed away. His will be the first voice to welcome us, and He will lift us to share in His glorious rest, according to His own wondrous promise, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Zechariah 3:1 Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. In Joshua the high priest we see a picture of each and every child of God, who has been made nigh by the blood of Christ, and has been taught to minister in holy things, and enter into that which is within the veil. Jesus has made us priests and kings unto God, and even here upon earth we exercise the priesthood of consecrated living and hallowed service. But this high priest is said to be "standing before the angel of the Lord," that is, standing to minister. This should be the perpetual position of every true believer. Every place is now God's temple, and his people can as truly serve him in their daily employments as in his house. They are to be always "ministering," offering the spiritual sacrifice of prayer and praise, and presenting themselves a "living sacrifice." But notice where it is that Joshua stands to minister, it is before the angel of Jehovah. It is only through a mediator that we poor defiled ones can ever become priests unto God. I present what I have before the messenger, the angel of the covenant, the Lord Jesus; and through him my prayers find acceptance wrapped up in his prayers; my praises become sweet as they are bound up with bundles of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia from Christ's own garden. If I can bring him nothing but my tears, he will put them with his own tears in his own bottle for he once wept; if I can bring him nothing but my groans and sighs, he will accept these as an acceptable sacrifice, for he once was broken in heart, and sighed heavily in spirit. I myself, standing in him, am accepted in the Beloved; and all my polluted works, though in themselves only objects of divine abhorrence, are so received, that God smelleth a sweet savour. He is content and I am blessed. See, then, the position of the Christian--"a priest--standing--before the angel of the Lord." Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook Rest in All Thy GoingsPrecious promise! LORD, enable me to appropriate it as all my own. We must go at certain times from our abode, for here we have no continuing city. It often happens that when we feel most at home in a place, we are suddenly called away from it. Here is the antidote for this ill. The LORD Himself will keep us company. His presence, which includes His favor, His fellowship, His care, and His power, shall be ever with us in every one of our marchings. This means far more than it says; for, in fact, it means all things. If we have God present with us, we have possession of heaven and earth. Go with me, LORD, and then command me where Thou wilt! But we hope to find a place of rest. The text promises it. We are to have rest of God’s own giving, making, and preserving. His presence will cause us to rest even when we are on the march, yea, even in the midst of battle. Rest! Thrice blessed word. Can it ever be enjoyed by mortals? Yes, there is the promise, and by faith we plead it. Rest comes from the Comforter, from the Prince of Peace, and from the glorious Father who rested on the seventh day from all His works. To be with God is to rest in the most emphatic sense. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer The Day Shall Declare ItThe day referred to is the day when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, when the dead shall be raised, and the judgment commence. Oh, what a day will that be! Then every covering shall be removed; and every secret exposed. It will be a revealing day, a convincing day, a confirming day, a condemning day, a justifying day. Then our motives will all be discovered, and our intentions laid bare. Hypocrisy will be condemned, and deception punished. O beloved, let us live as having that day before us; let us act as though persuaded that then all will be discovered. Are we sincere?--the day will declare it. Are we aiming at God’s glory, or self-exaltation?--the day will declare it. Are we conducting our business on Christian, or worldly principles?--the day will declare it. Are we honest and humble?--the day will declare it. Is our profession from principle, from faith in, and love to Jesus?--the day will declare it. Oh that that day may declare that we are humble, holy, watchful, diligent disciples of the Lord Jesus! Before we place in dread array The pomp of that tremendous day, When Thou with clouds shall come To judge the nations at Thy bar; And tell me, Lord, shall I be there? To meet the joyful doom? Bible League: Living His Word The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.— Romans 13:12 NLT It's still dark, but it's getting brighter. It's still night, but the morning light is just about ready to make its appearance. You can tell because Jesus Christ, the bright morning star (Revelation 22:16), is already shining with the Father in the bright light of heaven, where He said He would be (John 14:28). Soon, however, He will return to the earth bringing all the blazing light of heaven with Him. When He does, the light will defeat every bit of darkness that is left on earth. When He does, the darkness won't stand a chance. The figures signify that the present era—the time between Jesus Christ's first appearance and His second appearance—is drawing to a close. It's been drawing to a close ever since Paul wrote his letter to the Roman church. Indeed, it's been drawing to a close ever since Jesus left and the Holy Spirit took His place (John 16:7). The enlightenment of the Gospel is what's doing it. It's been dispelling the darkness of sinful ignorance all over the world. So, it's just a question of time. The darkness of sin may try to reassert itself, may try to delay the inevitable arrival of Jesus Christ, but it cannot possibly succeed. You need to be ready. You need to be ready for that glorious day. You don't want to be surprised by Jesus with any dirty clothes of dark deeds. Rather, you'll want to greet Him in your shining armor of right living. After all, you're a child of the light and the day. You don't belong to the darkness and the night anymore (1 Thessalonians 5:5). It's only fitting that you should greet Jesus with the shining armor you've been wearing to battle the darkness. It's only fitting that you should have it on so you're ready to join Him in the final and ultimate battle (Revelation 17:14). Put on, then, your shining armor. Put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:13—17). Put them on because that final battle will soon be here. Daily Light on the Daily Path John 17:22 "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;Isaiah 6:1-3 In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. • Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. • And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." John 12:41 These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. Ezekiel 1:26,28 Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. • As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking. Exodus 33:18,20 Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" • But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 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 You will fold them up like a cloakand discard them like old clothing. But you are always the same; you will live forever. Insight What does it mean that Christ is changeless (“you are always the same”)? It means that Christ's character will never change. He persistently shows his love to us. He is always fair, just, and merciful to us who are so undeserving. Challenge Be thankful that Christ is changeless—he will always help you when you need it and offer forgiveness when you fall. Devotional Hours Within the Bible False Excuses“A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.” This supper is a picture of the blessings of redemption. The redemption of Christ is said to be great he who prepares it, its blessings, and the numbers who enjoy it, its eternal duration, and the sweetness of its joys all are great. At a feast men provide the best provisions they can obtain; in the gospel we have the best that heaven has to give. At a feast there is plenty; in the gospel there is infinite abundance. There is pleasant fellowship at a feast, and the gospel brings us into intimate communion with God and into sweet fellowship with other Christians. There is one marked contrast, however earth’s feasts are soon over, while the gospel feast is unending. Next comes the invitation. “Come, for everything is now ready!” One of the things included, is forgiveness of sins. Deep in every soul, is the consciousness of sin and of separation from God because of sin. There is therefore a craving for the taking away of sin, and peace never can come until this craving is satisfied. Another hunger of the heart is for fellowship with God. The human soul was made for God and never can find rest until it finds it in reconciliation to God and restored communion with Him. Human friendship is very sweet and brings deep joy but we need also the love of God in our hearts to make the satisfaction complete. One who did not know the facts, would say that this invitation would find universal acceptance. We can scarcely think of anybody declining the invitation to such a festival as this. But instead of universal acceptance, “They all alike, began to make excuses!” Most people are eager to accept social honors. But this is a spiritual feast. It is not this world’s dainties which load the table but the things of God’s love. The joy to which men are here invited, is not earth’s festivity but the joy of forgiveness of sin and communion with God. To accept this invitation, men must leave their sins and enter upon a new life of holiness. The natural heart does not take kindly to this. The refusal of those invited, is true to nature. The excuses given, are only excuses they are not real reasons. The truth is, that those invited do not want to come to this feast, and therefore make up pretexts having the appearance of reasons for not accepting the invitation. Men do not like to say bluntly, that they will not come to Christ, nor accept His mercy and love. That would seem discourteous. Hence they resort to insincerity and hypocrisy, revealing under all kinds of flimsy and empty pretexts, their unwillingness to accept Christ as their Savior and Friend. The excuses which are given, are typical . One man said, “I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.” This may be called the property excuse. That was a very costly piece of ground to its new owner, when we consider that it kept him away altogether from Christ and deprived him of eternal possessions. Yet there are many fields which have done this very thing. They have cost men their souls. The parable is not overdrawn. There are a great many people who lose their souls for things worth even less than a ten-acre field. Esau got only a plain meal as the price of his birthright. Judas got about twelve or thirteen dollars for his act of treason to his Master which has blackened his name for all generations, and which sent his soul into eternal darkness. Caring for property is always an insidious danger. It is not meant to be a snare to men; business ought to be a help heavenward. And it is when it is followed as our Master means that it shall be followed. Many men, however, are led to give more thought to planning how to make the most of their farms and their money than to the saving of their souls and making the most of their spiritual lives. The second man offers the business excuse. “I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.” He already had engagements for the day on which the feast came, business engagements which he thought he could not set aside rather, which he would not set aside. He had no thought of postponing the breaking in of his oxen in order that he might attend the great gospel feast. That is, he was not willing to make a little readjustment of his business arrangements, even to honor his God and to get a new blessing for himself. The business of trying the oxen certainly could have waited another day but the man missed the feast altogether, while he spent the day out in the dusty field. Many people are kept away from the church services, from Christian duties, and from Christ Himself by business occupations. They say they have no time to pray or read the Bible, because their work is so pressing. They have no time to go to church, or to take an interest in spiritual affairs, because their worldly duties press them so. One man said the other day, that he always played golf on Sunday. His business during the week required every moment of his days. His mind was under a constant strain. In order to be able to begin again this life of stress on Monday he must have absolute rest on Sunday. He found this relaxation nowhere, he said, as he did in golf. This is the way many men talk about the matter of religion. They have no time for it. They need Sunday for rest. Yet some of these days they will have to take time to be sick; and then, someday, time to die. What comfort will they get in these hours, from all their life of engrossing business cares? The third man gave pleasure as his excuse. “I just got married, and therefore I am unable to come.” He was so much taken up with the joys of wedded life, that he could not turn aside. There is no doubt that home pleasures and delights do often so absorb people as to keep them away from Christian duties, and even from Christ. Sometimes the very blessings of home life interfere with faithful following of Christ. A loving wife may unintentionally hold her husband back from Christian service, by the exactions of her affection. She is unwilling to spare him from her side that he may do the work which the Master would have him do. Peter in his love for his Master would have kept Him from going to His cross. Too often a happy home by its very happiness, so satisfies men’s hearts that they do not feel the necessity for anything more. We all need to watch that we never allow our home or our love for dear ones to keep us in any sense from our full duty to Christ. If we love father or mother, wife or friend, more than Christ we are not worthy of Him. When the master received the “excuses” of his invited guests, he bade his servant go out quickly into the streets and lanes, and bring in the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame. The servant did this and reported, “Yet there is room!” There is always room. The heart of God is never full. The church is never full its doors ever stand open and its welcome is ever extended to everyone who will come. Heaven is never full there are places remaining still unfilled in its many mansions. In the description of heaven in the Book of Revelation we are told that the city has twelve gates, three entering from each point of the compass (Revelation 21:10-13). These gates forever voice heaven’s welcome to all those who will come. They are never shut, by day or by night, and no matter when one may come he will find ready admission and glorious welcome. Heaven must be filled. If those who are first invited will not come, the invitation is extended to others and pressed upon them. “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in,” was the bidding. These words show us the importance of earnestness in those whose duty it is to invite men to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not merely to find Christ ourselves, and then be satisfied. The first impulse of the true Christian is to seek other lost ones. The words of the parable suggest, first, that we are to go into all the world, wherever there is a lost soul, and invite all men to come. We are to invite them earnestly, to constrain them, to press the invitation upon them. The morning papers the other day, told of a policeman rushing into a burning building, climbing the stairways, through flame and smoke to save a mother and her children. We should have similar earnestness in rescuing perishing souls! How will it be with us when we reach the end of our life if we have not rescued anyone from the storms and the dangers? On the other hand, much of the joy of heaven will come from meeting those whom we have been allowed to bring to Christ. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingEzekiel 38, 39 Ezekiel 38 -- The Malice of Gog NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Ezekiel 39 -- God's Judgment upon Gog and Israel's Victory NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 1 Peter 4 1 Peter 4 -- Living for Christ and Partaking in His Sufferings NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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