DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 3.23.24

 TrueDiscipleship “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciplesindeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John8:31-32) One may come to a mental acceptance of certain facts about God and deceive himself into thinking he believes on Christ, but the genuineness of that faith needs to be tested before it is judged as real. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well:the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James2:19-20). Works, of course, do not save one’s soul, but the faith that does save is a faith that produces good works. An earlier group of listeners had also “believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them [literally, ‘did not believe on them’], because he knew all men” (John2:23-24). It is essential that we believe on Him but even more essential that He believe on us! The test is simple! If we continue in His Word, then we are real disciples. Our dedication to Christ is measured by our obedience to His Word. If we question His Word, or resent His Word, or try to avoid obeying His Word by “interpreting” some preferredmeaning of our own into His Word, then we urgently need to examine the genuineness of our belief in Christ. If we are His disciples and do continue in His Word, then He makes us a wonderful promise: “Ye shall know the truth.” Literally, this is “come to know the truth.” As true disciples (that is, “learners”), we have His assurance that our continuingstudies in His Word will yield an ever-increasing comprehension of God’s created and revealed “truth” with ever-growing freedom to understand and obey the perfect will of God. HMM --------------------- TheSaints “Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. All the saints salute you,chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household.” (Philippians4:21-22) The apostle Paul typically began and ended most of his church epistles with greetings to and from “the saints.” The context in each case shows that this term was applied to all those who were “in Christ Jesus”—that is, all true Christians. The Greek word hagios meant essentially those people or things that are set aside or consecrated to the Lord. It is frequently translated “holy” and can be applied to objects dedicated to the Lord, as in Hebrews 9:24 (“holy places made with hands”). The term is applied also to Old Testament believers. At the time of Christ’s resurrection, we are told that “many bodies of the saints which slept arose” (Matthew27:52). Although “saints” should be altogether godly and righteous as well as set aside to the Lord, that is not necessarily always how they act. Thus, special men have been called by God (e.g., pastors, teachers, etc.) “for the perfecting of the saints” (Ephesians4:12). Some of these latter have been given the supposedly exclusive right to be called saints by the Catholic church. Other than “St. Mary” and “St. Peter,” the best known of these may be “St. Patrick,” the so-called “patron saint” of Ireland. Patrick was certainlya very zealous missionary, largely responsible for the conversion of the Irish from paganism back in the early fifth century, and all we know about him would confirm that he was indeed a “saint” in the true biblical sense. Since the sole biblical criterion to be classed as “His saints” is “them that believe,” that includes us! That being the case, should we not be zealous to see that our lives are such as “becometh saints” (Ephesians5:3)? HMM --------------------- Prayingfor Faith “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” (1Thessalonians 5:24) Many centuries ago, a desperate father brought his son to the Lord Jesus with an appeal for healing. The boy was demon-possessed from childhood and tormented physically and spiritually. The agony was awful. His father had brought him to Jesus’ disciples, andthey were unable to do anything. Nothing worked (Mark9:17-21). Jesus told the father, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth” (v. 23). The urgent and tearful cry of that hurting father was, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (v. 24). No doubt we often need to plea for such help. Joinme in this prayer that the Lord will grant us greater faith in Him. Oh Lord, God, we cannot know the end of a thing. We do not have certainty about the plans of our days. Forgive us when we try without consulting You. Forgive our blundering efforts to make something happen. We love You, and we want to please You, but our livesare so caught up in the things of this world. Help us, Lord. Help us to know how much we need You. Help us to see the real values of eternal things. Give us a greater awareness of Your Holy Spirit. Give us a holy awe of Your Word. Drive us to our knees moreoften, Lord. Keep us close. Oh, our Father, purge us from the ungodly. Separate us from the sins that hinder and blind us. Meet us in the halls of our heart and sanctify us there. And then, Lord Jesus, embolden us for the work ahead. Provide our daily bread. Cleanse us of our sins andenrich our fellowship with the saints. Clothe us in the armor of God and place us where we must stand. Enable us to resist the enemy in the faith, that we may see his strongholds crumble and his minions flee. Grant us a fruitful harvest and an effective ministry,in Jesus’ name. Amen. HMM III ------------------------ Good,Very Good, and Not Good “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Genesis1:31) Six times during the creation week, God saw His handiwork and pronounced it “good” (Genesis1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). Finally, when it was all finished, He surveyed all He had just completed and judged it all to be very good! That is the way with God. And if He can make a flawless universe, we can be confident He knows what He is doing with us. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians2:10). What God does must be, by definition, good! We can affirm, therefore, with confidence (even though it must often be by faith rather than sight) that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called accordingto his purpose” (Romans8:28). There is, of course, an important scientific principle also established by this verse: whenever we see anything in the world that is not good (e.g., sin, suffering, death), we can know that such things constitute an intrusion into God’s perfect creation. They were not “created” as a part of the primeval creation, nor will God allow them to continue their intrusion forever. Theyall eventually must be eliminated when God makes His new earth. In the meantime, this principle tells us that the great sedimentary rocks of the earth’s crust, containing as they do the fossilized remains of billions of dead animals, plants, and people, musthave all been formed sometime after the end of creation week. At least most of them must therefore have been formed at the time of the great Flood (Genesis6–9) when “the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (2Peter 3:6). Because of sin, the present world is groaning in pain (Romans8:22), but the first world was all “very good.” HMM --------------------------- Godon Their Terms - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, �Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD!� �Mark 11:9 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/god-on-their-terms/- Listen During His earthly ministry, Jesus seemed to do a lot of things under the radar, so to speak. On some occasions, when certain things were expected of Him by others, He said, �My time has not yet come� (John 2:4; 7:8 NLT). And what was the �time� that Jesus referred to? It was His betrayal, His death, and His resurrection. But in Luke 19, we find Jesus doing something that definitely caught people�s attention. He decided to enter Jerusalem on what would be His last arrival in a way that woulddraw attention to Himself. That is because His time had come. Jesus was playing His hand. He was doing something that would force the authorities to react. And He was arriving in a way that would be understood by both the Jews and theRomans. We pick up the story in verse 35: �So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on. As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him� (verses 35�36 NLT). Mark 11 adds this detail: �Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields� (verse 8 NLT). At that time, when a conquering hero returned from a battle, he entered the city on the back of a donkey. To the Romans, Jesus was clearly declaring that He was a hero, aking. To the Jews, Jesus was plainly saying that He was the Messiah. He was fulfilling prophecy. Zechariah 9:9 says, �Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey�riding on a donkey�s colt� (NLT). Add to this the fact that Jesus was a wanted man at this point. The Bible tells us that the chief priests and Pharisees gave the order that if anyone knew where Jesus was,they should report it so they could seize Him. Therefore, Jesus was saying, in effect, �You want Me? Here I am. I am ready. My time has come.� This shows us that Jesus wasn�t a hapless victim; He was a victorious Kingwith an objective to accomplish. The people, seeing Him arrive, shouted and sang, �Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!� (Luke 19:38 NLT). The disciples� hearts probably were leaping for joy as they took in the scene. But Jesus experienced great sadness on this day because the crowds largely were ignorant ofHis true role. The people wanted a military Messiah who would accomplish their agenda. Meanwhile, Jesus was coming as a suffering Savior to accomplish God�s agenda. In the same way, people today celebrate Christmas and Easter, but they neglect Him the rest of the year. They want Jesus in their lives�as long as He does what they want Himto do. Effectively, they want God on their own terms. ---------------------------------- Prayfor the Lost �But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, andidolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.� (Revelation21:8) Intercessory prayer in church must not be for other believers only, but also for unbelievers. Many attendees mistakenly consider themselves true Christians, and others are merely curious. Both are doomed for a Christless and hopeless eternity. �And as it isappointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment� (Hebrews9:27). There is still an opportunity to reach them, as the hymn �Brethren, We Have Met to Worship� reminds us. Brethren, see poor sinners round you Slumb�ring on the brink of woe; Death is coming, hell is moving, Can you bear to let them go? See our fathers and our mothers And our children sinking down; Brethren, pray, and holy manna Will be showered all around. Our hearts should especially be broken for loved ones who face eternity without Christ as Savior. What can be done? Pray. God answers the prayer of His children. We are assured that �the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much� (James5:16). What would this serving of manna be worth to you to see a wayward family member or neighbor repent of their sin and come back to fellowship with God? To see your fractured church healed of the disunity caused by wolves disguised as sheep? Surely this mannawould be sweet indeed. Surely it is worth an hour of intercessory prayer. JDM ----------------------- What Makes God Cry - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. �Luke 19:41 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/what-makes-god-cry/- Listen The crowd rejoiced, but Jesus wept. His ministry was almost over. Time was short. He had healed their sick and raised their dead. He had fed their hungry and forgiven theirsins. Yet, by and large, He remained mostly alone and rejected. Jesus knew that in a short time, one of His own handpicked disciples would betray Him for thirty pieces of silver. And He knew that Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod would conspireagainst Him to bring about His death. But not only that, Jesus knew that the same fickle crowds that were shouting His praises on that day soon would be shouting, �Crucify him!� (Matthew 27:22�23 NLT). He knewthose crowds would reap the full impact of their sin because they missed the day of their visitation. This is the second time that we read of Jesus weeping openly. He also wept at the tomb of Lazarus (see John 11:35). And even though He knew He would raise Lazarus from thedead, He still wept over the pain and anguish that death brings. Jesus, being God, was omniscient. He knew the future. He saw the destruction that would come upon Jerusalem in just forty years. Four decades later, in AD 70, the Romans laidsiege to Jerusalem. And after 143 days, they had killed 600,000 Jewish people and took thousands of others captive. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that during this siege, rivers of blood flowed through the gates of the city, and the beloved temple burned to the ground, fulfillingJesus� prophecy. He had said of the temple, �Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!� (Matthew 24:2 NLT). This broke Jesus� heart because unbelief and rejection break God�s heart. He knows the consequences. God created the world. He placed the planets in orbit. He made the light to shine out of darkness. But when someone closes their heart to Him, He won�t forcibly enter. Hewill knock, but He will not make people believe. Of course, when people believe, God is happy. And when they reject Him, He is sad because He knows they will reap the repercussions�not only of future judgment but also therepercussions in their lifetime. Sometimes, people come to me and say they�re doing thus and so. I tell them they really shouldn�t be doing that, and I explain what the Bible says about it. Usually, theysay something along the lines of �Hey, don�t judge me!� And then a few years later, they�ve made a wreck of their lives or the lives of their family members because of the decisions they made. That is what sin does to people. Andit makes me sad to see the devastation, ruin, and misery that it brings into a life. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on what we now celebrate as Palm Sunday, He demonstrated sadness when He saw what was about to happen to those people. And He wept. ------------------------------------ TellThem About the Savior �Then said his sister to Pharaoh�s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, thatshe may nurse the child for thee?� (Exodus2:7) In Exodus, Pharaoh ordered the execution of all newborn male Israelites. Moses was spared since his sister intervened, and she later became his helper as he led their people to freedom. Throughout the Bible, godly women played important roles. In �Brethren,We Have Met to Worship,� such women are enjoined to pray for sinners and testify of His power to save. Sisters will you join and help us? Moses� sister aided him; Will you help the trembling mourners Who are struggling hard with sin? Tell them all about the Savior, Tell them that He will be found; Sisters, pray, and holy manna Will be showered all around. In the beginning, �God created man in his own image...male and female created he them� (Genesis1:27). As God�s image bearers, godly women are equipped to minister to others, often being especially effective in attending to individual needs. In our hauntingly beautiful study hymn, such women are called to help trembling sinners convicted of and strugglingwith sin. Women can be powerful in prayer. Lasting fruit is borne in ladies� Bible studies and in children�s Bible lessons taught by godly women. Many rescue missions, mission fields, and counseling rooms are primarily staffed by ladies unashamed of the gospel. Thankfully,God has chosen to shower �manna all around� through the ministry of godly Christian women. JDM -------------------------- The Day Jesus Got Mad - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org And he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. �Mark 11:16 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-day-jesus-got-mad/- Listen If you�ve ever watched a Western, then you know that if you want to make a point, you turn over a table. After Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, He entered the temple, looked around, and assessed the situation. Then, He returned the next day, and He began tocleanse the temple by driving out the merchants and turning over their tables. Mark gives us these details in his Gospel: �When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals forsacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves� (Mark 11:15 NLT). Maybe you�re thinking, �Now, wait a second. I thought Jesus was meek and mild. Isn�t that how a Christian should be?� Let�s understand what that means. Jesus did say, �I am humble and gentle at heart� (Matthew 11:29 NLT). The problem is that we sometimes equate meekness with weakness. Wethink that to be a Christian, we need to be soft-spoken. That�s what we think meekness is. But that isn�t meekness; that is just quietness. The image of Jesus knocking over tables and chairs of the money changers isn�t what we�re used to. As a matter of fact, in the way artists portray Jesus in traditional religiousart, He doesn�t look like He could turn over a chair, much less a table. But the Jesus of the New Testament, the real Jesus, was a man�s man. He was strong. The merchants� tables weren�t little temporary folding tables. Rather, they were massivetables made of heavy wood, maybe even marble. And Jesus turned them over. It was complete chaos as doves flew out of their cages, and money flew everywhere. Meekness is not weakness. It is power under constraint. Meekness is being able to do something and choosing not to. Weakness, on the other hand, is not being able to do anything.That is the difference. Jesus was applying meekness. He was indignant and angry because they were hurting God�s people. He told them, �The Scriptures declare, �My Temple will be called a house ofprayer for all nations,� but you have turned it into a den of thieves� (Mark 11:17 NLT). They were preventing people from worshipping the Lord. Instead of praying for the people, these religious leaders were preying on the people. If worshippers wanted to paythe temple tax, they had to exchange their money for special half shekels in the sanctuary, which were the only form of currency the temple accepted. But it came at a hiked-up price. The same was true for sacrificial animals. If people brought in their own animals to sacrifice, the animals would be rejected, which forced them to buy the merchants� moreexpensive animals. The bottom line is the merchants were keeping people away from God. And that made God angry. Very angry. In the same way, we need to ask ourselves this question: Am I a bridgeor a barrier to people coming to Christ? -------------------------------- Pray,Oh Pray �Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas...andsaid, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?� (Acts16:29-30) The well-known account of the Philippian jailer is mentioned in the hymn �Brethren, We Have Met to Worship.� Paul and Silas were wrongly imprisoned for the gospel�s sake, yet they �prayed, and sang praises unto God� (Acts16:25). God answered their prayer, and the jailer turned to them for rescue. This was the start of ministry on the European continent. Is there here a trembling jailer, Seeking grace, and filled with tears? Is there here a weeping Mary, Pouring forth a flood of tears? Brethren, join your cries to help them; Sisters, let your prayers abound; Pray, Oh pray that holy manna May be scattered all around. The �weeping Mary� is either the mourning sister of Lazarus (John11) or Mary Magdalene, who met her risen Lord outside the tomb (John20:11-15). All the tears were very real. Heartache and tears should drive us to prayer, to the One who can answer, fill, and heal. We are told that if we pray �according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him� (1John 5:15). But even if we don�t know His will in a particular situation, we can still pray, for �the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered� (Romans8:26). So, brothers and sisters, pray. JDM -------------------------- The Second Time Around - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. �Psalm 51:2 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-second-time-around/- Listen I am a messy person, but the problem is that I don�t like messy environments. So, periodically, I will turbo clean and straighten everything out again. Everything looks tidyand wonderful for a while, and then I start messing it up again. My wife, Cathe, on the other hand, cleans constantly and doesn�t allow messes to pile up. Instead of throwing junk into a drawer, she organizes the drawer that we throw thingsinto. Instead of sweeping dirt under a rug, she washes the entire floor. While I take the path of least resistance, Cathe does what it takes. And Cathe�s way is the right way to clean things. We can take that same approach to life. We can takemy approach to cleaning, where we do nominal things and make a few exterior changes without any real change on the inside. We might say, �I don�t want to deal with that now. I don�t want to hassle with that issue.� Thus, we�re always putting things off. That is how little things turn into bigthings. On the other hand, we can take Cathe�s approach to cleaning, which is thorough. For example, when Jesus cleansed the temple after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, it was the second time He did so. The first time, He drove the merchants out with awhip. John�s Gospel tells us, �In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesusmade a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers� coins over the floor, and turned over their tables� (2:14�15 NLT). The Bible teaches that our �body is the temple of the Holy Spirit� (1 Corinthians 6:19). When we first put our faith in Jesus Christ, He cleanses our temple. Filthy habitsare banished. A new purpose and a new focus in life grip us. But, sometimes, as time passes, a few of the old things find their way back in again. And our lives become cluttered with things that don�t belong. That little sin that had been gone has returned and is starting to grow. And Jesus is ready to clean house again. Even though you�ve been converted and the Lord has cleansedyou, you need to say, �Lord, I think it�s time for a little spring cleaning here. There is a little clutter. There are a few things that maybe don�t belong.� Are there some sins, vices, or bad habits that have found their way back into your life again? Are there things that maybe you stopped doing after you became a Christian,but now you�re doing again? Or, perhaps there are things that you�ve never done before, but you have started to do them, even as a Christian. Maybe it�s time for Jesus to clean house. Maybe you needa little bit of spring cleaning�not just once, but as often as necessary. -------------------------- Mannaat the Banquet Table �Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, andwith all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.� (Mark 12:30-31) The hymn �Brethren, We Have Met to Worship� is summarized in the moving lines of its final verse. Let us love our God supremely, Let us love each other, too; Let us love and pray for sinners, Till our God makes all things new. Then He�ll call us home to heaven, At His table we�ll sit down; Christ will gird Himself, and serve us With sweet manna all around. The Christian�s blessings include daily �manna� (provision and blessing) from God and the promise of life with Christ throughout eternity. Our union with Him is compared to a marriage, commencing with a sumptuous wedding feast: �Let us be glad and rejoice,and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints� (Revelation19:7-8). �Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing� (2Timothy 4:8). When He comes and claims His bride�the ones for whom He sacrificed His precious blood�He will usher us all into His banquet room. Then �he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them� (Luke12:37). JDM ----------------------------- When the World Closes In - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org After saying these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and entered a grove of olive trees. �John 18:1 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/when-the-world-closes-in/- Listen Jesus knew the crucifixion was coming. In fact, He began to aggressively address it at a place called Caesarea Philippi. Matthew�s Gospel tells us, �From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terriblethings at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day, he would be raised from the dead� (16:21 NLT). Jesus knew exactly what was about to happen. He had to come and taste death for everyone. As commentator Alfred Edersheim wrote, �He disarmed Death by burying his shaft inHis own Heart.� John 18 gives us a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the personal struggle of Jesus as He contemplated the cup that He had to drink. The Bible tells us that Christ was �a manof sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief� (Isaiah 53:3 NLT). But the sorrow He experienced in Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion seemed to be the culmination of all the sorrow He�d ever known, which would accelerate to a climax the following day. I don�t think we can begin to grasp the anguish that Jesus experienced at that moment. Being God, He knew everything. And He was fully aware of what lay ahead. Someone haspointed out that ignorance is bliss, and in some ways, that is true. But there was no ignorance with Jesus. He was omniscient. And He knew that in just a few hours, Roman soldiers would whip Him and nail Him to a cross. He knew that His disciple Judas Iscariot would betray Him and that another disciple,Simon Peter, would deny Him. And He knew that He would bear all the sins of the world. Next to the cross, His time in Gethsemane was the loneliest moment of His life. In our moments of loneliness, when it seems as though our friends or family have let us down�orwhen it even seems as though God has let us down�we must remember one thing: Jesus has been there. And He has been there for you. Hebrews 4:15 says of Jesus, �This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin� (NLT). We are all going to face our Gethsemanes in life, those times when things just aren�t making sense, when our problems seem too much to bear. Jesus gives us an example of what we ought to do when we face our personal Gethsemanes, those moments of ultimate stress in which the cup that we are to drink seems to betoo much to bear, when we seemingly can�t go on another day. He prayed. During those dark nights of the soul when our friends have abandoned us and our family has let us down, when we are lonely, when it seems as though the whole world is closingin on us�that is the time to pray.