Day 2 - Monday | Daily Devotions | Morning annd Evening: Daily Reading | Connect the Testaments | My Utmost for His Highest | Thoughts for the Quiet Hour |

 Morning, October 27 Go To Evening Reading

“It is a faithful saying.”

—2 Timothy 2:11

Paul has four of these “faithful sayings.” The first occurrence is in 1 Timothy 1:15: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” The next is in 1 Timothy 4:8–9, “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.” The third is in 2 Timothy 2:11–12, “It is a faithful saying—If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him”; and the fourth is in Titus 3:8, “This is a faithful saying, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.” We may trace a connection between these faithful sayings. The first one lays the foundation of our eternal salvation in the free grace of God, as shown to us in the mission of the great Redeemer. The next affirms the double blessedness which we obtain through this salvation—the blessings of the upper and nether springs—of time and of eternity. The third shows one of the duties to which the chosen people are called; we are ordained to suffer for Christ with the promise that “if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.” The last sets forth the active form of Christian service, bidding us diligently to maintain good works. Thus, we have the root of salvation in free grace; next, the privileges of that salvation in the life which now is, and in that which is to come; and we have also the two great branches of suffering with Christ and serving with Christ, loaded with the fruits of the Spirit. Treasure up these faithful sayings. Let them be the guides of our life, our comfort, and our instruction. The apostle of the Gentiles proved them to be faithful; they are faithful still. Not one word shall fall to the ground; they are worthy of all acceptation. Let us accept them now and prove their faithfulness. Let these four faithful sayings be written on the four corners of my house.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, October 27

“We are all as an unclean thing.”

—Isaiah 64:6

The believer is a new creature; he belongs to a holy generation and a peculiar people—the Spirit of God is in him, and in all respects, he is far removed from the natural man; but for all that, the Christian is a sinner still. He is so from the imperfection of his nature, and will continue so to the end of his earthly life. The black fingers of sin leave smuts upon our fairest robes. Sin mars our repentance, ere the great Potter has finished it, upon the wheel. Selfishness defiles our tears, and unbelief tampers with our faith. The best thing we ever did apart from the merit of Jesus only swelled the number of our sins; for when we have been most pure in our own sight, yet, like the heavens, we are not pure in God’s sight; and as he charged his angels with folly, much more must he charge us with it, even in our most angelic frames of mind. The song that thrills to heaven and seeks to emulate seraphic strains contains human discords.

The prayer which moves the arm of God is still bruised and battered, and only moves that arm because the sinless One, the great Mediator, has stepped in to take away the sin of our supplication. The most golden faith or the purest degree of sanctification to which a Christian ever attained on earth has still so much alloy in it as to be only worthy of the flames, in itself considered. Every night we look in the glass, we see a sinner, and have need confess, “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Oh, how precious the blood of Christ to such hearts as ours! How priceless a gift is his perfect righteousness! And how bright the hope of perfect holiness hereafter! Even now, though sin dwells in us, its power is broken. It has no dominion; it is a broken-backed snake; we are in bitter conflict with it, but it is with a vanquished foe that we have to deal. Yet a little while and we shall enter victoriously into the city where nothing defileth.

 C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).

October 27: Dreams of Redemption

Daniel 4:1–37; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11; Job 41:1–9

I’ve known people who seemed beyond saving—who seemed to have gone too far down the wrong path to ever turn to the right one. But in the Bible, we see that this is not the case. God is capable of turning anyone’s heart. One of the most shocking examples is Nebuchadnezzar.

In a decree to all the nations he rules (and perhaps other countries as well), Nebuchadnezzar remarks: “It is pleasing to me to recount the signs and wonders that the Most High God worked for me. How great are his signs and wonders, how strong is his kingdom, an everlasting kingdom; and his sovereignty is from generation to generation” (Dan 4:2–3). He then goes on to recount a dream that Yahweh planted in his mind.

Before Nebuchadnezzar experiences redemption, he tastes humiliation and endures great trials (Dan 4:28–33). But Yahweh does not intend to merely humble the king—He wants to make him a righteous man who can be used for His good purposes. We don’t know whether Nebuchadnezzar ever fully accepts Yahweh as his God and turns from his evil practices. Still, it does seem that he experiences repentance: “But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and then my reason returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and the one who lives forever I praised and I honored” (Dan 4:34). In return, God restores him.

We can never predict how God will use people, and at times, we may be shocked by whom He uses. Some people we think are lost may end up being found after all. Let’s dream of redemption for those who need it most.

What people in your life need redemption? For whom are you praying? Have you lost hope about anyone God may still redeem?

John D. Barry

 John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

October 27th

The method of missions

Go ye therefore and teach (disciple) all nations. Matthew 28:19.

Jesus Christ did not say—‘Go and save souls’ (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but—“Go and teach,” i.e., disciple, “all nations,” and you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples came back from their first mission, they were filled with joy because the devils were subject to them, and Jesus said—‘Don’t rejoice in successful service; the great secret of joy is that you are rightly related to Me.’ The essence of the missionary is that he remains faithful to the call of God and realizes that his sole purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. There is a passion for souls that does not spring from God, but from the desire to make converts to our point of view.

The challenge to the missionary does not lie in the fact that people are difficult to save, that backsliders are hard to reclaim, or that there is a ‘wadge’ of callous indifference, but rather in his own personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “Believe ye that I can do this?” Our Lord puts that question steadily; it faces us in every individual case we meet. The one great challenge is—Do I know my risen Lord? Do I see the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, and foolish enough according to the world, to bank on what Jesus Christ has said, or am I abandoning the great supernatural position, which is the only call for a missionary, viz., boundless confidence in Christ Jesus? If I take up any other method, I depart altogether from the procedure laid down by Our Lord—“All power is given unto Me …, therefore go ye.”

 Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).

October 27

Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth

Heb. 12:6

Earthly prosperity is no sign of the special love of Heaven, nor are sorrow and care any mark of God’s disfavor, but the reverse. God’s love is robust, and true, and eager—not for our comfort, but for our lasting blessedness; it is bent on achieving this, and it is strong enough to bear misrepresentation and rebuke in its attempts to attune our spirits to higher music. It therefore comes instructing us. Let us enter ourselves as pupils in the school of God’s love. Let us lay aside our own notions of the course of study; let us submit ourselves to be led and taught; let us be prepared for any lessons that may be given from the blackboard of sorrow; let us be so assured of the inexhaustible tenacity of His love as to dare to trust Him, though He slay us. And let us look forward to that august moment when He will give us a reason for all life’s discipline, with a smile that shall thrill our souls with ecstasy, and constrain sorrow and sighing to flee away forever.

F. B. Meyer

 Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).