DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 5.18.24

 TheLight Brigade “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saintsin light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” (Colossians1:12-13) By His grace, we have been snatched from Satan’s darkness and been placed in the kingdom of light. However, we still live in a dark world hostile to the light. We are therefore soldiers of light, but as with any army, we are not to act independently but instead “as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2Timothy 2:3), we must follow the orders of our commander and act in accordance with established guidelines. The supreme commander in this battle of light versus darkness is none other than God the Father, for “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1John 1:5). “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm27:1). Perhaps, in this analogy, the field commander can be considered to be none other than Jesus Christ, carrying out the will of the supreme commander. He said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the lightof life” (John8:12). “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John6:38). We, of course, are the infantry, the light brigade, as it were. “Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew5:14). “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (1Thessalonians 5:5-6). Our marching orders, our objective, and our methods are all found in the war manual, the Bible. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm119:105). “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light” (Proverbs6:23). What more could we ask? JDM -------------------- Murmurersand Complainers “These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swellingwords, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” (Jude1:16) Jude’s book cites several incidents in the early history of Israel right after they were wonderfully delivered from slavery in Egypt. Within a very short time, they had come through the Red Sea, had bitter water made sweet, seen water come out of a rock, andbeen fed with “angels’ food” from heaven. Yet when the 12 spies came back from the land of Canaan that had been promised to them, there was a widespread revolt against God and against Moses’ leadership. The 10 spies who “murmured” against God “died by the plague before the LORD” (Numbers14:37). Some who had previously sided with the defeatist words of the spies tried to take matters into their own hands and “presumed to go up” to fight against the Canaanites and were killed or scattered (Numbers14:44-45). Much of the history of Israel is marked by various ways of turning away from God. Psalm 81 provides a good summary of how God sees this behavior: “I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. Butmy people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels” (Psalm81:10-12). Jude uses a rather unusual word picture to describe those who use others for their personal advantage. They speak “great swelling words” to gain the association. The Greek word is huperogkos, which conveys something like “beyond weight” or “too heavy.” The words are coming from hearts that are lustful and attempting to manipulate others for their own benefit. It appears that those who “murmur” and “complain” will use “heavy” words to achieve their ends. HMM III ----------------------- SheShall Be Praised “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.” (Proverbs31:30) Proverbs 31 is identified as “the words of King Lemuel” (v. 1). Since it is divided into two distinct parts, some have proposed that it has two different authors. The first part (vv. 1-9) consists of “the prophecy that his mother taught him” (v. 1), while thesecond part (vv. 10-31) describes “a virtuous woman” (v. 10). Perhaps it is better to understand the woman as Lemuel’s mother, for “her children rise up and call her blessed” (v. 28). “Many daughters have done virtuously” (v. 29, same word as in v. 10). Recognizing that the only other woman described as “virtuous” in the Bible was Ruth (Ruth3:11) gives us more complete insight into such a woman’s character. The woman described in Proverbs 31 is one who has achieved in all its fullness the glories of her womanhood, both in the home as wife and mother and in her community. Not only do her childrenbless her, but her husband has absolute confidence in her (v. 11), appreciates the bounty that she brings (v. 12), has the freedom to be an effective leader in the community (v. 23), and praises her virtue to others (v. 28). Without question, the key to her accomplishments is found in our text. Her fear of the Lord blossoms into such inner beauty and diligence that, by wisdom and devotion, she so trains her children and so lovingly provides for her husband’s needs that when theyleave the home she has fashioned and have occasion to speak of her, their words will be blessing and praise. On this day when so many of us remember and are thankful for our godly wives and/or mothers, let us rekindle our own fear of the Lord and by so doing develop similar qualities and habits. JDM ----------------------- Howto Take a Stand for God “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat,nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel1:8) There inevitably come those times in the life of a Christian when he, for conscience sake in the light of the Word of God, must take a stand against some worldly practice. Daniel has given us a striking example of how to do this, not only courageously, butgraciously and effectively. As one of “the princes” of Israel, “of the king’s seed” (Daniel1:3), he realized that he had the responsibility of maintaining a godly standard as a testimony for the true God when he was asked “to stand in the king’s palace” (Daniel1:4) after he and his friends had been carried into captivity. Daniel knew that the king’s wine would surely be harmful were he to partake of it. Also, the king’s meat would certainly include pork and would be cooked with blood, which would be unlawfulfor him, as a good Jew, to eat (Leviticus11:7-8; 17:10-14). He determined in his heart to take a stand against it. Note, however, his stand was not belligerent or self-righteous but courteous and reasonable. He requested, “Prove thy servants, I beseech thee” (Daniel1:8-12). The Babylonians thought they were doing him and his friends a great favor, and Daniel appreciated this. He suggested a scientific test: let them try a vegetarian diet and water for just 10 days to see if this wouldn’t produce better results thanthe gourmet fare of the palace. God honored Daniel’s graciousness as well as his courageous faithfulness and so will He do for us. Both are essential ingredients of a fruitful Christian testimony in a non-Christian world. We must “be ready always to give an answer,” but this should be done,not in arrogance, but “with meekness” (1Peter 3:15). HMM -------------------------- There�sNo Such Thing As Secret Sin - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Jesus also used this illustration: �The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour,it permeated every part of the dough.� �Matthew 13:33 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/theres-no-such-thing-as-secret-sin/- Listen Have you ever seen a baby rattlesnake? They look like adult rattlesnakes in miniature. And while they may appear rather harmless, they�re mean from birth. Worse yet, a babyrattler�s venom is more potent than that of an adult rattler. We often will look at sin in the same way. Though it may not look like a big thing, it will bite us. And once compromise has worked its way into our lives, it permeates everyarea. Jesus warned about this very problem in the parable of the yeast. He said, �The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put onlya little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough� (Matthew 13:33 NLT). In Scripture, yeast (or leaven) always has negative connotations. When the Israelites were preparing to leave Egypt, Moses instructed them to get rid of all the yeast in theirhomes in preparation for the first Passover (see Exodus 12:15). Picking up on this picture, the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth, �Your boasting about this is terrible. Don�t you realize that this sin is like a little yeastthat spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old �yeast� by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificedfor us� (1 Corinthians 5:6�7 NLT). The Living Bible puts verse 6 this way: �What a terrible thing it is that you are boasting about your purity and yet you let this sort of thing go on. Don�t you realize thatif even one person is allowed to go on sinning, soon all will be affected?� Some of the Corinthian believers had been proud of the fact that they had welcomed a person who was living immorally into the church. Paul was saying, �This is not what youshould be doing. This is not the way you should be living.� Yeast represents corruption, infiltration, and compromise in our lives. In Scripture, it�s always negative. Jesus warned the disciples, �Beware of the yeast of the Phariseesand Sadducees� (Matthew 16:6 NLT). Little things can turn into big things. The psalmist wrote, �If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened� (Psalm 66:18 NLT). In other words,if we hang on to sin in our lives, God will not hear our prayers. Is there sin in your life that you haven�t dealt with? Do you think it�s a secret? Do you believe that you�ve covered your steps? Secret sin on Earth is open scandal in Heaven.There are no secrets with God. He�s aware of it. You may have rationalized it and somehow managed to find a way to live with it. That could be the compromise in your life, the very thing that could bring you down. Get ridof it before it undermines you spiritually. ------------------------------ The Power of a Clear Conscience - by GregLaurie � www.harvest.org Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. �1 Timothy 1:19 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-power-of-a-clear-conscience/- Listen The story is told of Mark Twain, who decided to play a practical joke on twelve of his friends. He sent each of them a telegram that read, �Flee at once�all is discovered.� Twain said they all left town immediately. Now, that is what you call having a guilty conscience. The conscience is a bit like an alarm. We have car alarms that no one seems to listen to anymore, except when they need to find their car in a parking structure. We also havealarms in our homes. This includes the smoke detectors with batteries that always go bad in the middle of the night. At that point, the only way to stop a detector from chirping is to replace the battery. The temptation, however, is to disable the alarm because we don�t want to listen toit chirp. The same is true with a conscience. We sometimes will try to ignore it or disable it. However, if your conscience is working and it reminds you that something you have said or done is wrong, then that is a good thing. It is what we all want. We want a consciencethat is tender, a conscience that works properly. We don�t want to try to disable it. And we certainly don�t want to dull it. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and warned him about people who would fall away in the last days: �These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead� (1 Timothy 4:2 NLT). God has given everyone a conscience, both believers and nonbelievers. We were born that way. Romans 2:14 points out, �Even Gentiles, who do not have God�s written law, showthat they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it� (NLT). However, our consciences are not infallible. In other words, there are times when our consciences might condemn us for something that actually isn�t wrong. The Bible tellsus in 1 John 3:20 that �even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything� (NLT). Therefore, what we need to do is teach our consciences how to function properly. We want to effectively educate our consciences so they will do what they�re supposed to doas designed by God. We all have our moments when we need to make tough decisions, when we experience a crisis of conscience. Some politicians haven�t made a single decision based on principlefor years. Instead, they�ve stood only for whatever will keep them in office. We need fewer politicians and more statesmen today. It has been said that a statesman sees the next generation while a politician sees the next election. We see the same thing happen in the business world. People process every decision through the grid of whether it will help them be more powerful and wealthy rather than whetherthey�re delivering something of quality for the right price. It�s a crisis of conscience. Listen to your conscience. Don�t let your heart get hard. ------------------------------ How to Kill a Conscience - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ�s blood to make us clean, and ourbodies have been washed with pure water. �Hebrews 10:22 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/how-to-kill-a-conscience/- Listen King Herod had a decision to make, and it was troubling him. Although he saw John as a threat, he admired him at the same time. Mark�s Gospel says, �Herod respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John, but evenso, he liked to listen to him� (6:20 NLT). This is amazing, considering the fact that John had called out Herod on his sin. John was fearless. He didn�t care who people were or what their positions were. And Herodput up with this because he admired the great prophet. What was the sin that Herod was involved in? The Bible simply says that he was married to Herodias, his brother�s wife. And history tells us that, indeed, Herod married hisbrother Philip�s wife. But it gets even worse because Herodias was the daughter of Philips�s half brother, which also made her Herod�s niece. What�s more, Herodias had a daughter named Salome, whom Herod looked at lustfully. So, he not only married his brother�s wife, who happened to be his niece, but he also hada lustful eye for the daughter of Herodias. But unlike her husband, Herodias wasn�t impressed by John. In fact, she hated him. The Bible tells us that �Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. Butwithout Herod�s approval she was powerless� (Mark 6:19 NLT). As a result, Herodias found another way to deal with John. She had Salome perform a little dance for Herod at his birthday party. And when Herod got worked up and offeredto give Salome anything she wanted, Herodias instructed her to ask for the head of John the Baptist. So she did. Matthew tells us, �Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders� (14:9 NLT). Herod was concerned about impressing people. He made the offer, and he felt that he had to honor it to save face. The king should have said, �What was I thinking? I retract that statement. I�m not going to follow through.� But he didn�t care about principles or doing what was right. Instead,he did what he thought others expected him to do. This decision tormented Herod, and it troubled what was left of his conscience. And unbeknownst to the king, his conscience was dying. How do you kill a conscience? You do it a little at a time. You know something is wrong, your conscience troubles you about it, and you try to ignore it. Then as time passes,your conscience becomes harder and harder to hear. The best way to deal with a troubled conscience is to get rid of what produced it, and that is sin. Only Jesus Christ can forgive sin and resensitize the conscience. He diedon Calvary�s cross and shed His blood for us. We must call our sin what it is and stop making excuses for it. -------------------------- The Promise �And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continueas they were from the beginning of the creation.� (2 Peter 3:4) Has Christ forgotten His promise? After His resurrection, He returned to heaven to wait �until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began� (Acts3:21). Ever since the primeval promise in Eden (Genesis 3:15), God�s inspired prophets have kept assuring His people that He would come as Savior ofthe world and again as everlasting King, removing the curse of sin and death and bringing in everlasting life and righteousness. But the centuries have come and gone, age after age, and the world continues to decay, growing worse and worse. With global pollution, disease pandemics, ever-increasing crime, and countless other intractable problems, there may be nothing left if He doesn�tcome soon! Has He forgotten His promise? No! says Peter, in this very same chapter. �The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance� (2 Peter 3:9). He has not yet returned because there are not yet enough who have �come to repentance��that is, whose minds and hearts have turned away from the world system and have been renewed through faith in Christ as Creator, Savior, and Lord of all. We need not despairbut simply �account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation� (2 Peter 3:15), seeking to lead people to Him until He comes. His promise is sure, and one day He will return indeed! Therefore, Peter concludes, �we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness� (2Peter 3:13). HMM ----------------------- TheLord Our Maker �O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.� (Psalm95:6) Psalms 95�100 seem to form a unit with several common themes running through them, all involving praise to the Lord. One of these major themes is the recognition of the Lord as Maker of heaven and Earth. For example, consider Psalm 95:5: �The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.� Thus, God made the earth, including both land and sea. But He also made the heavens! �For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens� (Psalm96:5). Higher and far more complex than any planet of the solar system or any star in the heavens are the living organisms found only on planet Earth�especially human beings�and He made these, too. �Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, andnot we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture� (Psalm100:3). It is significant that these verses all emphasize the activities of God as Maker rather than as Creator. In the first chapter of Genesis, both types of activity are stressed, the account finally concluding with the summary: �All his work which God created andmade� (Genesis2:3). The two types of work are almost synonymous when referring to the divine activity, but not quite (otherwise �created and made� would be redundant). Specifically, the three acts of true creation in Genesis are the creation of the physical elements of the cosmos,the entity of biological life, and the spiritual image of God in man (Genesis1:1, 21, 27). These entities God simply called into being ex nihilo by His omnipotent Word. Everything else He made, or formed or let be, out of the three basic entities that were specially created. He is both Creator and Maker of all things, and we should worship Him as such. HMM -------------------------- MissedOpportunity - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. �Luke 23:8 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/missed-opportunity/- Listen The moment had finally come. Herod was about to meet the famous Jesus. And the Bible says that he was �delighted at the opportunity� (Luke 23:8 NLT). Herod wanted to be dazzled.He wanted to see a miracle. But it�s doubtful that it was because Herod wanted to know God. What he essentially wanted was a magic trick. And not only did Jesus refuse to perform a miracle for Herod,but He also refused to speak a single word. When we read the Gospels, we discover that Jesus had a lot to say to a lot of people. We see in John 3 that he had an extensive conversation with Nicodemus. And in John 4,we find another conversation that He had with a woman at Jacob�s well in Samaria. The Lord jousted verbally with the scribes and Pharisees. He even exchanged words with Pontius Pilate. But He wouldn�t speak a single word to Herod. Why? Jesus, being God, could see Herod�s heart. And He knew that Herod had gone beyond the point of no return. Therefore, Jesus could see that it was futile to talk to Herod. Therereally was no reason to do so. Matthew 7:6 tells us, �Don�t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don�t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you� (NLT). Some people love to argue. Sometimes, people walk up to me and say, �Greg, I want to talk with you.� Often, it�s because they want to argue with me. It becomes apparent theyhave a list of talking points or a hypothetical situation they want to present. So, I simply say, �Well, you go ahead and believe that if you want to. I�m not going to try to talk you out of it. I don�t want to stand here and argue with you.� Now, if someone asks a legitimate question and is willing to listen to my answer, then I�m happy to talk. But if it�s just going to be an argument, then I have other thingsto do. That�s because someone else with a genuine spiritual need might be waiting to speak with me. And they might be overlooked because someone simply wants to argue. That is basically what Jesus was doing with Herod. He was saying, �There is no point.� And effectively, the party was over for King Herod. Talk about opportunity. First, he had access to the greatest New Testament prophet ever, John the Baptist. But he had him beheaded. And then God Incarnate stood before him.But Herod only wanted to see Him do a trick. He could have poured out his heart to Jesus, confessed his sins, found forgiveness, and resensitized his seared conscience. But he did not. Instead, Herod rejected Christ,and Christ rejected Herod. Don�t mess with your conscience, lest you end up like Herod and come to a point where Jesus says, �The conversation is over. I�ve said everything there is to say.� Don�t letthat happen to you. --------------------------- Runningto Christ �The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.� (Proverbs18:10) When one realizes that he is lost and that only Christ can save him, he should not delay a moment but come immediately to Christ. There are, in fact, several men in the New Testament who actually ran to Him. There was the man possessed with a whole legion of demons. �But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him� (Mark5:6), and Jesus set him free. Then there was a young man who wanted to learn of Christ. When he found that Jesus was going away, he came �running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?� (Mark10:17). Unfortunately, his sincerity failed when he realized the cost. Zeal without sacrifice is dead, as is faith without works. There was another wealthy man who was willing to pay the price. �And [Zacchaeus] ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way� (Luke19:4). The conversion of Zacchaeus was genuine, and he demonstrated it by a changed and sacrificial life. In Christ�s suffering on the cross, He spoke of His awful thirst, and an unknown observer �ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink� (Mark15:36). Christ will not forget this expression of concern and sympathy. After His burial, Mary Magdalene came back to tell Peter and John that the tomb was open. �So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre....and he saw, and believed� (John20:4-8). All who hasten wholeheartedly to Christ, sincerely seeking to know and serve Him, will find salvation in His name, for �the name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.� HMM