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

 Morning, January 1 Go To Evening Reading

“They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”

—Joshua 5:12

Israel’s weary wanderings were over, and the promised rest was attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and howling wildernesses: they came to the land which flowed with milk and honey and ate the old corn of the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader, this may be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect; if faith is in active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight. To be with Jesus in the rest that remains for the people of God is a cheering hope, and to expect this glory so soon is double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan, which still rolls between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us. Let us banish every fearful thought and rejoice with great joy, hoping that this year we shall begin to be “forever with the Lord.”

A part of the host will tarry on earth this year to serve their Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is no reason why the New Year’s text should not still be valid. “We who have believed do enter into rest.” The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance; he gives us “glory begun below.” In heaven, they are secure, and so are we preserved in Christ Jesus; there, they triumph over their enemies, and we have victories too. Celestial spirits enjoy communion with their Lord, which is not denied to us; they rest in his love, and we have perfect peace in him: they hymn his praise, and it is our privilege to bless him, too. This year, we will gather celestial fruits on earthly ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like the garden of the Lord. Man did eat angels’ food of old, and why not now? O for grace to feed on Jesus, and so to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan this year!

Go To Morning Reading Evening, January 1

“We will be glad and rejoice in thee.”

—Song of Solomon 1:4

We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will not open the gates of the year to the dolorous notes of the sackbut but to the sweet strains of the harp of joy and the high-sounding cymbals of gladness. “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation.” We, the called and faithful and chosen, will drive away our grief and set up our banners of confidence in the name of God. Let others lament their troubles; we who have the sweetening tree to cast into Marah’s bitter pool with joy will magnify the Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, the temples in which thou dwellest, will never cease to adore and bless the name of Jesus. We will; we are resolved about it; Jesus must have the crown of our heart’s delight; we will not dishonor our Bridegroom by mourning in his presence. We are ordained to be the minstrels of the skies; let us rehearse our everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the New Jerusalem. We will be glad and rejoice: two words with one sense, double joy, blessedness upon blessedness. Need there be any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now? Do not men of grace find their Lord to be camphire and spikenard, calamus and cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance have them in heaven itself? We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. That last word is the meat in the dish, the nut kernel, the soul of the text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus! What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, aye, and every drop of their fulness in him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, thou art the present portion of thy people, favor us this year with such a sense of thy preciousness that from its first to its last day, we may be glad and rejoice in thee. Let January open with joy in the Lord and December close with gladness in Jesus.

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

December 6: The Easy Way

Jeremiah 10:1–11:23; Philemon 1:1–7; Proverbs 14:1–14

There is a certain amount of freedom in being foolish. Foolish people don’t stop to reflect on their actions. Characteristically unimaginative, foolish people don’t stop considering how their words and actions affect others. The scary effect of foolishness is contagious: “Leave the presence of a foolish man, for you will not come to know words of knowledge. The wisdom of the clever understands his ways, but the folly of fools is deceit” (Prov 14:7).

There is an ease in self-deception because it’s our natural state. “There is a way that seems upright to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov 14:12). But the right way is not simply a more reflective, thoughtful life. We need a new way of life that can only be brought about in Christ—the one who reversed the power of death. Following the right way doesn’t mean relying on our ability to be righteous through thoughtful actions. Instead, it means understanding our need for His righteousness. It’s God’s work in us, recreating us. It’s His Spirit directing our ways and making us new in Him.

The fool has influence, but a life transformed has far-reaching influence because it’s not our work—God’s. This is the calling of which Paul reminds Philemon. Paul tells Philemon that he has “great joy and encouragement” because of Philemon’s love. Because of his love, “the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you brother” (Phlm 7). For this reason, Paul also holds Philemon to a high standard. Because of his significant influence, he must be intentional about how he treats Onesimus, the redeemed slave who had wronged him.

Pray for a transformed life and the work of the Spirit in your life, dividing the light from the darkness and the foolish, deceitful parts from the wise. If you ask Him, He will help you understand His ways. He will make the darkness evident and show you the way of wisdom—a life that reflects Christ.

How are you praying for the Spirit’s ongoing work, dividing the foolish ways from the wise?

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).

January 6th

Worship

He pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west, built an altar Aid there, and r on the east. Genesis 12:8.

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in deliberate worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself; it has to be returned to Him so He may make it a blessing to others.

Bethel is the symbol of communion with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abraham pitched his tent between the two. The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is our private, profound communion with Him. Rush is wrong every time; there is always plenty of time to worship God. Quiet days with God may be a snare. We must pitch our tents to always have quiet times with God. However noisy our times with the world may be. There are no three stages in the spiritual life—worship, waiting, and work. Some of us go in jumps like spiritual frogs; we jump from worship to waiting and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together. They were always together in the life of Our Lord. He was unhasting and unresting. It is a discipline; we cannot get into it all at once.

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

January 6

Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord

Exod. 14:13

Often, God seems to place His children in positions of profound difficulty—leading them into a wedge from which there is no escape, contriving a situation which no human judgment would have permitted had it been previously consulted. The very cloud conducts them thither. You may be thus involved at this very hour. It does seem perplexing and very serious to the last degree, but it is perfectly correct. The issue will more than justify Him who has brought you hither. It is a platform for the display of His almighty grace and power. He will not only deliver you, but in doing so, He will give you a lesson that you will never forget, and to which, in many a psalm and song in after days, you will revert. You will never be able to thank God enough for doing just as He has.

F. B. Meyer

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