Day 3 - Tuesday - Today's Devotions - Logos

 Morning, March 8 Go To Evening Reading

“We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

—Acts 14:22

God’s people have their trials. God never designed it when he chose his people, that they should be untried people. They were selected in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised to them. Still, when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, he included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they predestinated us in Christ’s last legacy. So indeed, as the stars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by him, so indeed are our trials allotted to us: he has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; they will be disappointed if they do, for none of their predecessors have been without them. Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the “Father of the faithful.” Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King’s vessels of honor are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the path of God’s children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before them; they have his presence and sympathy to cheer them, his grace to support them, and his example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach “the kingdom,” it will more than make amends for the “much tribulation” through which they passed to enter it.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, March 8

“She called his name Benoni (son of sorrow), but his father called him Benjamin (son of my right hand).”

—Genesis 35:18

To every matter, there is a bright and a dark side. Rachel was overwhelmed with the sorrow of her own travail and death; Jacob, though weeping the mother’s loss, could see the mercy of the child’s birth. It is well for us if our faith triumphs in divine faithfulness while the flesh mourns over trials. Samson’s lion yielded honey, and so will our adversities if rightly considered. The stormy sea feeds multitudes with its fishes; the wild wood blooms with beauteous florets; the bad wind sweeps away the pestilence, and the biting frost loosens the soil. Dark clouds distill bright drops, and black earth grows gay flowers. A vein of good is to be found in every mine of evil. Sad hearts have peculiar skill in discovering the most disadvantageous point of view from which to gaze upon a trial; if there were only one slough in the world, they would soon be up to their necks in it, and if there were only one lion in the desert they would hear it roar. About us all, there is a tinge of this wretched folly, and we are apt, at times, like Jacob, to cry, “All these things are against me.” Faith’s way of walking is to cast all care upon the Lord and anticipate good results from the worst calamities. Like Gideon’s men, she does not fret over the broken pitcher but rejoices that the lamp blazes forth the more. Out of the rough oyster-shell of difficulty, she extracts the rare pearl of honor, and from the deep ocean-caves of distress, she uplifts the priceless coral of experience. When her flood of prosperity ebbs, she finds treasures hidden in the sands, and when her sun of delight goes down, she turns her telescope of hope to the starry promises of heaven. When death itself appears, faith points to the light of resurrection beyond the grave, thus making our dying Benoni be our living Benjamin.

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

March 8: The Vine and the Branches

Numbers 7:48–89; John 15:1–16:4; Psalm 9:1–7

Jesus isn’t simply a high priority or even the highest priority of our lives. He is the source of energy. In the Gospel of John, Jesus teaches the disciples that they need to depend on Him for their very lives—both in the present and for eternal life.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me, you cannot do anything. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:5–6).

We rarely think in these terms today. However, the disciples faced persecution and even death on account of their faith in Jesus. Our lives, like theirs, will be held to the same measure. They are being held to the same standard.

Today, when you look at your life and the lives of those closest to you, do you see fruit and abundance? Or do you see another picture? Are you like a dried-up branch, devoid of any good works that speak of a divine source? Do your relationships suffer because you are at the center, not Jesus?

Throughout the trials you face—whether big or small—cling to Jesus as the source and giver of life. May you remain in His love. And may His love fill you with abundance and cause you to bear fruit for His kingdom.

How does your life bear fruit?

Rebecca Van Noord

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

March 8

The relinquished life

I am crucified with Christ. Gal. 2:20.

No one is ever united with Jesus Christ until he is willing to relinquish not sin only but his whole way of looking at things. To be born from above of the Spirit of God means that we must let go before we lay hold, and in the first stages, it is the relinquishing of all pretense. What Our Lord wants us to present to Him is not goodness, nor honesty, nor endeavor, but real solid sin; that is all He can take from us. And what does He give in exchange for our sin? Real solid righteousness. But we must relinquish all pretense of being anything, all claim of being worthy of God’s consideration.

There will have to be relinquishing my claim to my right to myself in every phase. Then the Spirit of God will show us what further there is to lose. Am I willing to relinquish my hold on all I possess, my grip on my affections, and on everything, and to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?

There is always a sharp painful disillusionment to go through before relinquishing. When a man really sees himself as the Lord sees him, it is not the abominable sins of the flesh that shock him, but the awful nature of the pride of his own heart against Jesus Christ. When he sees himself in the light of the Lord, the shame and the horror and the desperate conviction come home.

If you are up against the question of relinquishing, go through the crisis, lose all, and God will make you fit for all that He requires of you.

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

March 8

Quench not the Spirit

1 Thess. 5:19

So that you may not quench the Spirit, you must make it a constant study to know the mind of the Spirit. You must discriminate with the utmost care between His suggestions and the suggestions of your own deceitful heart. You will keep in constant recollection the offices of the Spirit as described by Christ in the Gospel of John. You will be on your guard against sudden movements, selfish acts, rash words. You will abide in prayer. Search the Word. Confess Christ on all possible occasions. Seek the society of His people. Shrink from conformity to the world, its vain fashions, insignificant etiquette. Be scrupulous in your reading. “What I say unto you, I say unto all, watch!” “Have oil in your lamps.” “Quench not the Spirit.”

Bowen

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