Day 6 - Friday | Daily Devotions | Morning and Evening: Daily Reading | Connect the Testaments | My Utmost for His Highest | Thoughts for the Quiet Hour |

 Morning, October 25 Go To Evening Reading

"For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever."

—2 John 2

Once the truth of God obtains an entrance into the human heart and subdues the whole man unto itself, no power, human or infernal, can dislodge it. We entertain it not as a guest but as the master of the house—this is a Christian necessity; he is no Christian who doth not thus believe. Those who feel the gospel's vital power and know the Holy Ghost's might as he opens, applies, and seals the Lord's Word would sooner be torn to pieces than be rent away from the gospel of their salvation. What a thousand mercies are wrapped up in the assurance that the truth will be with us for ever; will be our living support, our dying comfort, our rising song, our eternal glory; this is Christian privilege, without it our faith were little worth. Some truths we outgrow and leave behind, for they are but rudiments and lessons for beginners, but we cannot thus deal with Divine truth, for though it is sweet food for babes, it is in the highest sense strong meat for men. We are sinners, and it is painful for us to be humble and watchful; the more blessed truth is that whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus shall be saved and abide with us as our hope and joy. Experience, so far from loosening our hold of the doctrines of grace, has knit us to them more and more firmly; our grounds and motives for believing are now more muscular, more numerous than ever, and we have reason to expect that it will be so till in death we clasp the Saviour in our arms.

Wherever this abiding love of truth can be discovered, we are bound to exercise our passion. No narrow circle can contain our gracious sympathies, broad as the election of grace must be our communion of heart. Much of error may be mingled with truth received; let us war with the error but still love the brother for the measure of truth we see in him; above all, let us love and spread the truth ourselves.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, October 25

"She gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on the part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech."

—Ruth 2:3

Her hap was. Yes, it seemed like an accident, but how divinely was it overruled! Ruth had gone forth with her mother's blessing, under the care of her mother's God, to humble but honorable toil, and the providence of God was guiding her every step. Little did she know that amid the sheaves she would find a husband, that he should make her the joint owner of all those broad acres, and that she a poor foreigner should become one of the progenitors of the great Messiah. God is very good to those who trust him and often surprises them with unlooked-for blessings. Little do we know what may happen to us tomorrow, but this sweet fact may cheer us that no good thing shall be withheld. Chance is banished from the faith of Christians, for they see the hand of God in everything. The trivial events of today or tomorrow may involve consequences of the highest importance. O Lord, deal as graciously with thy servants as thou didst with Ruth.

How blessed would it be if, in wandering in the field of meditation tonight, our hap should be to light upon the place where our next Kinsman will reveal himself to us! O Spirit of God, guide us to him. We would sooner glean in his field than bear away the whole harvest from any other. O for the footsteps of his flock, which may conduct us to the green pastures where he dwells! This is a weary world when Jesus is away—we could better do without the sun and moon than without him—but how divinely fair all things become in the glory of his presence! Our souls know the virtue which dwells in Jesus and can never be content without him. We will pray this night until our hap shall light on the part of the field belonging to Jesus wherein he will manifest himself to us.

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

October 25: Good Opportunities and Difficult Decisions

Daniel 1:1–2:16; 1 Thessalonians 2:1–3:5; Job 40:3–12

When Daniel is invited to dine at the King's table—a gKing'sonor reserved for the favored (Dan 1:1–4)—he turns down the offer. Instead of eating food and wine fit for a king, Daniel and the other Israelites settle on a diet of vegetables and water (Dan 1:12).

Daniel's decision contradicts human nature. When a good situation comes along (like being invited to eat at the royal table), we often jump at the chance. Yet, in doing so, we may fail to consider the ramifications. Daniel knows that eating at the King's tKing'seans the King's pKing'sng Yahweh's commands against eating certain foods. So, when offered a great opportunity, he is bold enough to say no and offer an alternative (Dan 1:10–14). Daniel knows that God will provide for those who love Him. He also knows that being in God's will is more important than anything else, even if it means facing opposition.

Paul's statement in 1 Thess 2:2 demonstrates that he also understood this: "But after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi … we had the courage in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition." Opposition did not deter Paul from doing what was right in God's eyes, just as it didn't prevent Daniel from keeping God's commands.

How do we react when faced with the promises of this world? Do we boldly pursue money, fame, or power? Or do we deny these things to follow God's will? The purpose to which we've been called is too essential to be set aside for things that will fade over time. We must be willing to face opposition boldly instead of pursuing what the world has to offer. Even when we must depend on a miracle—as Daniel depended on God to keep him healthy when others ate better food—we must prioritize God's will. No matter how difficult it becomes, we must seek God's will. When we consider our relationship with God eternal, what matters is not the opinion of one King but the opinion of the King of Kings unifying.

What opportunities do you have that are not God's will?

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 25

The external crush of things

I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 1 Cor. 9:22.

A Christian worker has to learn how to be God's nobleman or woman amid a crowd of ignoble things. Never make this plea—' If only I were somewhere else!' All God's men are ordinary men made extraordinary by the matter He has given them. Unless we have the proper matter in our minds intellectually and in our hearts affectionately, we will be hustled out of usefulness to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no matter in them of God's almighty grace, no matter of His mighty word. Paul's whole heart, mind, and soul were taken up with the great matter of what Jesus Christ came to do; he never lost sight of that one thing. We must face ourselves with the one central fact—Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

"I have chosen you." Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have God, but He has got you. In this College, God is at work, bending, breaking, molding, and doing just as He chooses. Why He is doing it, we do not know; He is doing it for one purpose only—that He may be able to say, 'This is My man, My woman.' We have to be in God's hand so that He can plant men on the Rock as He has planted us.

Never choose to be a worker, but when God has called you, it will be to you if you turn to the right hand or to the left. He will do with you what He never did with you before the call came; He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.

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

October 25

The eleven disciples went … to a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.… Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying,… Go ye and teach all nations.

Matt. 28:16, 18, 19

The considerable actions in the world usually have tiny beginnings. Of a few letters, how many thousand words are made! Of ten figures, how many thousand numbers! A point is the beginning of all geometry. A little stone flung into a pond creates a little circle, then a more excellent one, till it enlarges itself to both sides. So from small beginnings, God doth cause an efflux throughout the world.

Charnock

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