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

 Morning, December 20 Go To Evening Reading

“Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”

—Jeremiah 31:3

Sometimes, the Lord Jesus tells his Church his love thoughts. “He does not think it enough behind her back to tell it, but in her presence, he says, ‘Thou art all fair, my love.’ It is true, this is not his ordinary method; he is a wise lover and knows when to keep back the intimation of love and when to let it out, but there are times when he will make no secret of it, times when he will put it beyond all dispute in the souls of his people” (R. Erskine’s Sermons). The Holy Spirit is often pleased, in a most gracious manner, to witness the love of Jesus with our spirits. He takes of the things of Christ and reveals them unto us. No voice is heard from the clouds, and no vision is seen at night, but we have a more sure testimony than either. I would fly from heaven and inform the saint personally of the Saviour’s love for him, but the evidence would not be more satisfactory than that which the Holy Ghost bears in the heart. A k those of the Lord’s people who have lived the nearest to the gates of heaven, and they will tell you that they have had seasons when the love of Christ towards them has been a fact so clear and sure that they could no more doubt it than they could question their own existence. Y s, beloved believer, you and I have had times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and then our faith has mounted to the topmost heights of assurance. We have had the confidence to lean our heads upon the bosom of our Lord, and we have no more questioned our Master’s affection to us than John did when in that blessed posture; nay, nor so much: for the dark question, “Lord, is it I that shall betray thee?” has been put far from us. H  has kissed us with the kisses of his mouth and killed our doubts with the closeness of his embrace. H s love has been sweeter than wine to our souls.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, December 20

“Call thy laborers and give them their hire.”

—Matthew 20:8

God is a good paymaster; he pays his servants while at work and when they have done it; one of his payments is an easy conscience. I  you haIf spoken faithfully of Jesus to one person, when you go to bed at night, you feel happy thinking, “I have discharged my conscience of that man’s blood this day.” There is great comfort in doing something for Jesus. O, what a happiness to place jewels in his crown and give him the chance to see the travail of his soul! Here, there is also a great reward in watching the first buddings of conviction in a soul! T says of the girl in the class, “She is tender of heart; I do hope that there is the Lord’s work within.” Go home and pray over that boy who said something in the afternoon that made you think he must know more of the divine truth than you had feared! O, the joy of hope! B t as for the joy of success! It is unspeakable. T is joy, overwhelming as it is, is a hungry thing—you pine for more. To be a soul-winner is the happiest thing in the world. Y u get a new heaven upon earth with every soul you bring to Christ. B t who can conceive the bliss which awaits us above! O, how sweet is that sentence, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!” Do you know what the joy of Christ is over a saved sinner? They are the joy that we possess in heaven. Y s, when he mounts the throne, you shall mount with him. W en the heavens ring with “Well done, well done,” you shall partake in the reward; you have toiled with him, you have suffered with him, you shall now reign with him; you have sown with him, you shall reap with him; your face was covered with sweat like his, and your soul was grieved for the sins of men as his soul was, now shall your face be bright with heaven’s splendor as is his countenance, and now shall your soul be filled with beatific joys even as his soul is.

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

December 20: Looking to God and Others

Jeremiah 37:1–38:28; Romans 9:1–12; Proverbs 23:19–35

We have a natural tendency to be concerned with our own condition. As redeemed people, God is transforming us from self-centered people who are concerned with our own ambitions to other-centered people who want to see God’s work done in and around us. Sometimes, spiritual concerns point us inward. B t God’sk in us shouldn’t be just about us.

Paul sets a startling example in his concern for those who hadn’t come to know Christ: “I am telling the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears witness to me in the Holy Spirit—that my grief is great and there is constant distress in my heart. F r I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my fellow countrymen according to the flesh” (Rom 9:1–3).

Although he was called mainly to be an apostle to the Gentiles, Paul was deeply concerned about the spiritual state of the Jewish people—his own people. The promise of the Messiah was given to them, yet many refused to believe the fulfillment of this promise, the redeeming work of Christ. They weren’t aware of the fulfillment of that promise given especially to them. P ul was so grieved by their rejection of their salvation that he was willing to be accursed for their sake.

God is at work in us—transforming us for His purpose. We should be keenly aware of His work. B t our gaze shouldn’t be fixed inward. We should ok to God, amazed by His grace and concern for people like us. As we are changed into His likeness, we should be caught up in caring for the things that deeply concern Him. We should care about the people He wants to be transformed into His likeness. H  is molding and shaping us into His likeness so that we can be His instruments, His agents on earth. The people we meet and the situations we encounter are all opportunities to reflect Christ—not because we want to be holy examples, but because we have a task.

How is God’s work transforming you to be deeply concerned about the spiritual state of others? Who can you pray for? Who can you reach out to?

Rebecca Van Noord

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

December 20

The correct lines of work

If I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me. John 12:32.

Very few of us understand why Jesus Christ died. If Allings needs sympathy, then the Sos of Christ is a farce; there is no need for it. The world is not ‘a lia t leait of love’ but a surgical operation.

When you are face to face with a soul in spiritual difficulty, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the Cross. If we can get to God on any of her lines, then the Cross of Jesus Christ is unnecessary. If you can help others by your sympathy or understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must keep your soul right, relate to God, and pour out for others on His line, not pour out on the human line and ignore God. The excellent note today is our religiosity.

We must always exhibit Jesus Christ crucified and lift Him up. Any doctrine embedded in the Cross of Jesus will lead astray. If the worker believes in Jesus Christ and is banking on the Reality of Redemption, the people he talks to must be concerned. What remains and deepens is the worker’s simple relationship with Jesus Christ; his usefulness to God depends on that alone.

The calling of a New Testament worker is to uncover sin and reveal Jesus Christ as Saviour. Con quenConquentlyot be poetic al; he must be sternly surgical. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful discourses. We have to be as profoundly as Go has probed us, keen to sense the Scriptures that bring the truth straight home and apply them fearlessly.

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

December 20

Ye know not what shall be on the morrow

James 4:14

“Tomorrow” is the devil’s great ally—the Goliath whom he trusts for victory. “No, is the stripling sent for him against him.… The world will freely agree to be Christians tomorrow if Christ will permit them to be worldly ttoday

William Arnot

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