Daily Devotional

August 24, 2018

Divine Grace, Our Greatest Need

Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. 1 Cor. 9:16.

Genuine conversion brings us daily into communion with God. There will be temptations to meet, and a strong undercurrent drawing us from God to our former state of indifference and sinful forgetfulness of God. No human heart can remain strong without divine grace. No man can remain converted unless he takes care of himself and the Master has a care for him. Unless the heart holds fast to God, and God holds fast to him, he will become self-confident and exalted and will surely stumble and fall. The power of God through faith was Paul’s dependence. “I live; yet not I,” he exclaims in his humility, “but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9:26, 27).

Paul was in such constant dread, lest his evil propensities should get the better of him, that he was constantly battling, with firm resistance, unruly appetites and passions. If the great apostle felt like trembling in view of his weakness, who has a right to feel self-confident and boastful? The moment we begin to feel self-sufficient and confident then we are in danger of a disgraceful failure.

Our only sure defense against besetting sins is prayer, daily and hourly prayer. Not one day zealous and the next careless, but through watchfulness and earnestness becoming vitalized by intercourse with God. Prayer is necessary, and we should not wait for feeling, but pray, earnestly pray, whether we feel like it or not. Heaven is open to our prayers. Prayer is the channel that conducts our gratitude and yearnings of soul for the divine blessing to the throne of God, to be returned to us in refreshing showers of divine grace. With very many, this channel is allowed to freeze up, and then the connection with heaven is interrupted. . . . Oh, that we would spend more time upon our knees and less time in planning for ourselves and in thinking we may do some great thing.

From Devotional: Our Father Cares, p. 244.

Daily Devotional

August 23, 2018

In The World, But Not Of It

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. James 4:4.

The great day of the Lord is near at hand. When Christ appears in the clouds of heaven, those who have not sought Him with all the heart, those who have allowed themselves to be deceived, will surely perish. Our only safety is to be found through repentance and conversion, and the blotting out of sins. Those who will now seek the Lord earnestly, humbling their hearts before Him, and forsaking their sins, will, through the sanctification of the truth, be fitted to unite with the members of the royal family, and will see the King in His beauty. . . .

Whatever his educational attainments, only he who realizes his accountability to God, and who is led by the Holy Spirit, can be an effectual teacher, or be successful in winning to God those who are brought under his influence. Shall those who do not heed the divine counsel be acknowledged as leaders in the Lord’s institutions?—God forbid. How can we regard as safe guides those who manifest a spirit of unbelief, and who, in words and character, fail of revealing true godliness?

“Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children [in learning the way of the Lord], ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).

Self needs to be brought into submission to the yoke of Christ. The great Teacher invites all to learn of Him. . . . “The Son of man is come to save that which was lost” (verse 11). But those who desire to be saved must be willing to be saved in the Lord’s appointed way, and not in a way of their own choosing. The free grace of God is man’s only hope. God is in earnest with every one of us. . . .

We are called to be the Lord’s special people in a much higher sense than many have realized. The world lies in wickedness, and God’s people are to come out of the world, and be separate. They are to be free from worldly customs and worldly habits. They are not to accord with worldly sentiments, but are to stand out distinct, as the Lord’s peculiar people, earnest in all their service. They are to have no fellowship with the works of darkness

From Devotional: Our Father Cares, p. 243.

Daily Devotional

August 22, 2018

Take Hold Of Divine Strength

Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. Ps. 89:19.

The Lord loves you. The Lord is of tender compassion. His promise is, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8). When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up for you a standard against him. Bear in mind that Jesus Christ is your hope. In the sad, discouraging things that shall come to you at any time, Christ says to you, “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me” (Isa. 27:5).

Your work is to take hold of the strength that is as firm as is the eternal throne. Believe in God. Trust in Him. Be cheerful under all circumstances. Although you may have trials, know that Christ suffered these afflicting things in behalf of His heritage. Nothing is as dear to the Lord as His church. The Lord looks at the heart. He knows who are His. The Lord will test and prove every soul that lives. “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Dan. 12:10). . . .

Let those who love God and are doers of His word sing praise and thanksgiving rather than speak words of accusing and faultfinding and murmuring. The Lord will bless those who make for peace. . . .

Trust in the Lord. Let not the feelings, the speeches, or the attitude of any human agent depress you. Be careful that in words or act you do not give others any opportunity to obtain the advantage in hurting you. Keep looking unto Jesus. He is your strength. By beholding Jesus you will become changed into His likeness. He will be the health of your countenance and your God. . . .

The church needs you, and you need to soften and subdue your own feelings for Christ’s sake. He wants you to have His Holy Spirit to work you. Then you may impart life and comfort to the church. Let your words be well chosen that you may be a real blessing to the church. Do not afflict your souls over the inconsistencies of others. Take yourselves in hand, and be consistent in all things.

From Devotional: Our Father Cares, p. 242.

Daily Devotional

August 21, 2018

Cultivate Tenderness In The Home

And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8.

The young man who came to Jesus asked what he should do that he might inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments, and enumerated several of the precepts of the law. The young man said, “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?” (Matt. 19:20). The first four commandments enjoin upon man the duty of loving God supremely and the last six present the requirement of loving our neighbors as ourselves. How many are truly, sincerely, and wholeheartedly doing this?

The Lord is coming in a little while, and are we performing the duties that result from righteousness? Love is the basis of godliness. No man has love to God, no matter what his profession may be, unless he has unselfish love for his brother. As we love God because He first loved us, we shall love all for whom Christ died. We shall not feel like letting the soul who is in the greatest peril, and in the greatest need, go unwarned, unlabored for, and uncared for. We shall not feel like holding the erring off, and being critical and exacting, or letting them alone to plunge into further unhappiness and discouragement, and to fall on Satan’s battleground, for God will deal with us as He deals with our brethren or the younger members of the Lord’s family.

Cultivate tenderness of heart; surround yourselves in your home life with the atmosphere of love. But the spirit that has largely pervaded the church is an offense to God. Everyone who has been free to condemn, to dishearten, and to discourage, who has failed to give tender kindness, sympathy, and compassion to the tempted and the tried, will in his own experience be brought over the ground which others have passed over, and suffered with their hardheartedness, and will feel what others have suffered because of his want of sympathy, until he shall abhor his hardness of heart and open the door for Jesus to come in.

The converting power of God must come to every soul who has any connection with the work and cause of God that each one may be filled with the love and compassion of Christ or many will never see the kingdom of heaven.

From Devotional: Our Father Cares, p. 241.

Daily Devotional

August 20, 2018

The Divine Substitute

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Cor. 5:21.

“He saved others; himself he cannot save” (Mark 15:31). It is because Christ would not save Himself that the sinner has any hope of pardon or favor with God. If, in His undertaking to save the sinner, Christ had failed or become discouraged, the last hope of every son and daughter of Adam would have been at an end. The entire life of Christ was one of self-denial and self-sacrifice; and the reason that there are so few stalwart Christians is because of their self-indulgence and self-pleasing in the place of self-denial and self-sacrifice.

Oh, what soul hunger and longing had Christ to save that which was lost! The body crucified upon the cross did not detract from His divinity, His power of God to save through the human sacrifice, all who would accept His righteousness. In dying upon the cross, He transferred the guilt from the person of the transgressor to that of the divine Substitute through faith in Him as his personal Redeemer. The sins of a guilty world, which in figure are represented as “red as crimson,” were imputed to the divine Surety. . .

Divinity was doing its work while humanity was suffering from the hatred and revenge of a God-hating people, because Christ had acknowledged Himself the Son of God. He alone could respond to the poor suffering thief. He alone was free to undertake the suretyship of the guilty criminal. The dying Redeemer saw him to be far less guilty than the ones who had condemned Him to death, far less guilty than the priests, the scribes, and rulers who had taken an active part in demanding the death of the Son of God.

What a faith had that dying thief upon the cross! He accepted Christ when apparently it was an utter impossibility that He should be the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world. In the prayer of the poor thief, there was a note different from that which was sounding on every side; it was a note of faith, and it reached to Christ. The faith of the dying man in Him was as sweetest music in the ears of Christ. The glad note of redemption and salvation was heard amid His dying agonies. God was glorified in and through His Son.

From Devotional: Our Father Cares, pp. 240, 241.