John 16:1-33 The words Jesus spoke to His disciples seemed hard words to them. He was telling them He was going to go away and that they would forsake Him for a season. These were troubling words, yet Jesus ended His conversation with them by saying, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (v. 33).
Psalm 118:19-29 As I looked through my mother’s things after her death, I found a beautiful writing she clipped from a church paper. I do not know who wrote it, but I made copies of it and passed it out at Mother’s memorial service. The title of it is “The Gift of a Day.” I have included it at the end of today’s devotional. It expresses what this psalm says: “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it” (v. 24). The following poem is included in the reading:
1 Samuel 29:1-31:13 It looked as if David had lost everything, His city had been burned, His wives were missing, and all those who followed him turned against him and were ready to stone him. He was in great distress, but he made a choice. He made the choice to encourage himself in the Lord instead of giving up. I’ve often wondered how he encouraged himself in the Lord. When I meditated on this, I received a mental picture of exactly what David did that day when all seemed to be lost.
Psalm 113:1-114:8 It was Monday morning, May 17, 1999, when I received a call from the nursing home where mother resided for four years after her severe stroke. I was told she had passed away early that morning. It was my joy to visit mother at least four times a week and spend time with her.
John 8:21-30 Jesus said to the Jews, “I do always those things that please Him.” Jesus had just shared that He only spoke those things that the Father taught Him. Jesus’ life on earth was spent pleasing the Father. He was not sent to earth to please Himself or even others. He came to speak the Word the Father spoke to Him and to do the works He saw the Father do. Jesus’ life on earth reveals how we are to walk daily.
Proverbs 15:5-7 Is your house filled with treasures? I remember visiting a home in New Jersey and our host showing us all the treasures he had collected from his travels all over the world. There were paintings, statues and every kind of bric-a-brac, each representing a country he visited. I thought to myself, This man’s life is wrapped up in his treasures and travels.
Psalm 107:1-43 A grateful heart is one of the keys to a joyful life. If we look carefully at the moments of our day, we will always see things worthy of our praise. This psalm lists many reasons to praise the Lord. If we do not see His hand in the moments of our lives, then we can praise Him for His very character and His works. Praise comes before worship, and one of the roots of this word is “worth.” God’s character and works are always worthy of praise. Praise is the first step we have to take when we enter His presence. Let’s look the steps the priests had to take to enter the holy of holies in the tabernacle.
1 Samuel 1:1-2:21 It was not until this morning that I realized I have been singing often in my private worship time Hannah’s song. When Hannah brought Samuel to the temple to lend him to the Lord as her thanks to God for the conception and delivery of this precious son, she prayed a powerful prayer that acknowledged the sovereignty and power of God: “There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God” (1 Sam. 2:2, KJV).
John 4:5-42 Immediately after Jesus told the woman of Samaria that she had five husbands and that the man she now had was not her husband, she changed the subject. She saw that this Man knew well her history, but she was not willing to go into it with Him. She proceeded to ask Him a theological question. How like human nature. When someone is getting too close to the truth in our own lives—our own sin and shortcomings—we want to change the subject. The woman asked Jesus where He believed was the correct place of worship. The answer Jesus gave is revealing. “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (vv. 21-23).
Proverbs 14:22-24 In a previous devotional we talked about the saying “Loose lips sink ships,” which was a by-word in World War II. Those who were working in the war effort were cautioned to be extremely careful about what they shared with others. They didn’t want any information to leak out to the enemy. We also have an enemy, and he uses our very own words as ammunition against us. We forget that the devil cannot read our minds, but he can give us thoughts and can hear what we say. A lot of the time we do his dirty work for him just by being careless in our words.
Psalm 104:1-24 This psalm is so beautiful in its description of the majesty of God. This would be a great psalm to read when you are at a low point in your life. As I read about the creative power and manifold works of our God, confidence welled up within me, and I knew without a doubt that God could handle my every problem.
Psalm 100:1-5 Every morning I try to have an hour with the Lord. Many people call this time their devotional time or their prayer time, and some call it their quiet time. My quiet time is not very quiet.
Psalm 97:1-98:9 Our own righteousness is as filthy rags, but the Lord’s righteousness is filled with blessing upon blessing. We can only tap into the Lord’s righteousness when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. From that moment on we are considered righteous, not because of our own righteous deeds, but because of the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. Because of His blood that provided our forgiveness, cleansing, justification, sanctification, glorification and righteousness (right standing with God), we are now dressed in His robe of righteousness. We begin a life journey of blessing if we continue to abide in His Word and His love and obey His commandments. Of course, we will experience trials and temptations (and probably many of them) before we go to heaven, but Jesus the Righteous One will fight our battles, and the ultimate victory will be ours.
Luke 21:1-28 In this passage of Luke Jesus warns His disciples about all the troubles they are going to experience in the future. He tells them that they will be persecuted, but it shall turn for them for a testimony. Whenever we go through trials and testings we add to our testimony.
Luke 17:11-37 Thanks seems to be a word that is used less and less in this culture. People seem to expect to be served, and it doesn’t cross their minds to thank the person serving them. This passage in Luke tells the story of ten lepers who were cleansed by Jesus. Only one returned to thank Jesus for healing him. Jesus asked where the other nine were, and then He told the leper who thanked Him that his faith had made him whole. Did something else occur when this leper gave thanks to Jesus? Wasn’t he already made whole when Jesus healed the ten lepers?
