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

 Morning, November 1: Go To Evening Reading

“The church in thy house.”

—Philemon 2

Is there a Church in this house? Are parents, children, friends, servants, all members of it? Or are some still unconverted? Let us pause here and let the question go around—Am I a member of the Church in this house? How would father’s heart leap for joy and mother’s eyes fill with holy tears if all were saved from the eldest to the youngest! Let us pray for this great mercy until the Lord shall grant it to us. It was probably the dearest object of Philemon’s desire to have all his household saved, but it was not at first given to him in its fullness. He had a wicked servant, Onesimus, who, having wronged him, ran away from his service. His master’s prayers followed him, and at last, as God would have it, Onesimus was led to hear Paul preach; his heart was touched, and he returned to Philemon, not only to be a faithful servant but a beloved brother, adding another member to the Church in Philemon’s house. Is there an unconverted servant or child absent this morning? Make special supplication that such may gladden all hearts on their return home with the good news of what grace has done! Is there one present? Let him partake in the same earnest entreaty.

If there be such a Church in our house, let us order it well and let all act as in the sight of God. Let us move in the everyday affairs of life with studied holiness, diligence, kindness, and integrity. More is expected of a Church than of an ordinary household; family worship must, in such a case, be more devout and hearty; internal love must be more warm and unbroken, and external conduct must be more sanctified and Christlike. We need not fear that the smallness of our number will put us out of the list of Churches, for the Holy Spirit has here enrolled a family church in the inspired book of remembrance. As a Church, let us now draw nigh to the great head of the one Church universal, and let us beseech him to give us grace to shine before men to the glory of his name.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, November 1

“And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

—Matthew 24:39

Universal was the doom, neither rich nor poor escaped: the learned and the illiterate, the admired and the abhorred, the religious and the profane, the old and the young, all sank in one common ruin. Some had doubtless ridiculed the patriarch—where now their merry jests? Others had threatened him for his zeal, which they counted as madness. Where were their boastings and hard speeches? The critic who judged the old man’s work is drowned in the same sea that covers his sneering companions. Those who spoke patronizingly of the good man’s fidelity to his convictions but shared not in them have sunk to rise no more, and the workers who, for pay, helped to build the wondrous ark are all lost also. The flood swept them all away and made no single exception. Even so, out of Christ, final destruction is sure to every man or woman born; no rank, possession, or character shall suffice to save a single soul who has not believed in the Lord Jesus. My soul, behold this wide-spread judgment and tremble at it.

How marvelous the general apathy! They were all eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till the awful morning dawned. There was not one wise man upon earth out of the ark. Folly duped the whole race, folly as to self-preservation—the most foolish of all follies. Folly in doubting the most true God—the most malignant of fooleries. Strange, my soul, is it not? All men are negligent of their souls till grace gives them reason, and then they leave their madness and act like rational beings, but not till then.

Blessed be God, all were safe in the ark; no ruin entered there. From the giant elephant down to the tiny mouse, everything was safe. The timid hare was equally secure with the courageous lion, the helpless cony as safe as the laborious ox. All are safe in Jesus. My soul, art thou in him?

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

November 1: The Danger of Unwarranted Favor

1 Kings 1:1–53; Mark 1:1–34; Proverbs 1:1–7

No sooner had David assumed the throne of Israel than he began to lose sight of God’s way. As a young “warrior in the wilderness,” he had provided a beacon of hope and an ethical example for God’s people. But King David allowed emotion, rather than spiritual or rational principles, to drive him. And David’s children made the situation even worse. Although we often emulate David as an example, we can also learn from his mistakes, including the disaster recorded in 1 Kg 1:5–53.

As king, David protected God’s people against all outside enemies. What David didn’t see coming—or so it appears from the text—was the threat from within his own family. When David’s sons began to compete for power, David should have put his love for God’s people, and the calling God gave him above his love for his sons. The moment that Adonijah showed signs of laying claim to the throne (1 Kg 1:5–10), David should have rebuked him—or perhaps even imprisoned or executed him, according to the law of the time. Instead, David let it go.

Appointing Solomon as king was a wise political rebuttal, but David still failed to deal with the core problem—Adonijah. David may have been old and sick by this point, but he could have made better provisions for his kingdom, especially with so many loyal military leaders on his side. David’s position as king worsened his leniency: He should have treated Adonijah like any other traitor.

Why did David ignore Adonijah’s rebellion? Maybe he loved his son. Perhaps he was too tired or frail to take on big problems at the end of his reign. We may never know the reason, but we do know the results. David’s weakness nearly ruined all he had built for God; his mistakes almost tore the kingdom apart.

Parents often love their children so deeply that they overlook their failings. Righteousness should maintain its authority over wishful thinking and ungoverned emotions—in both kingdoms and households.

Who are you unreasonably favoring?

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).

November 1

You are not your own

Know not that … ye are not your own? 1 Cor. 6:19.

There is no private life—a world within the world—for a man or woman who is brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ’s sufferings. God breaks up the private life of His saints and makes it a thoroughfare for the world on the one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves, we are called into the fellowship of the Gospel, and things happen which have nothing to do with us, God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have his way; if you do not, instead of being of the slightest use to God in His Redemptive work, you will be a hindrance and a clog.

The first thing God does with us is to get us based on rugged Reality until we do not care what becomes of us individually as long as He gets His way for His Redemption. Why shouldn’t we go through heartbreaks? Through these doorways, God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us fall and collapse at the first grip of pain; we sit down on the threshold of God’s purpose and die away of self-pity, and all so-called Christian sympathy will aid us to our death-bed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son and says—‘Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine.’ If through a broken heart, God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart.

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

November 1

Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst

John 8:9

Alone with Jesus! What a sweet and holy spot! What a blessed refuge to which the soul may betake itself from the charges of Satan, the accusations of the world, and the sorrows of life! The sweet spot for the heart to unfold itself to tell its hidden tale in the ear of Infinite love, tenderness, and compassion!

Alone with Jesus! How different a front would Christianity present to the world if the Lord’s people were oftener there! What humility, gentleness, and love would characterize all their dealings! What holiness stamped on the very brow that all might read! What few judgments are passed on others, and how many more on ourselves! What calmness and resignation and joyful submission to all the Lord’s dealings!

Be much “alone with Jesus!” Then will the passage to glory be one of sunshine, whether through the portals of the grave or through the clouds of Heaven.

F. Whitfield

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