DAILY DEVOTIONAL: 7.27.24

 WhomShall I Fear? “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whomshall I be afraid?” (Psalm27:1) David had more than his share of opposition. His father and older brothers thought little of him. King Saul relentlessly pursued him. His generals oftentimes conspired against him. His own son tried to usurp his throne. If anyone had opportunity to trust Godfor deliverance, David did. In this psalm—an anthem of trust—David reveals his special relationship with his God that buoyed him in times of trouble. As we read in our text, his Lord was his light, salvation, and strength, and so He is to us. The Lord is my light. When we walk in His light, we do not stumble. Enemies are not able to hide in the dark and catch us by surprise. He vanquishes the darkness. “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness,the LORD shall be a light unto me” (Micah7:8; see also 1 John 1:5-7). The Lord is my salvation. God delivers His children from physical and spiritual danger, including deliverance from the penalty of sin. “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’ssake” (Psalm79:9). The Lord is the strength of my life. God is our defense, a place of refuge. “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower” (Psalm18:2). Even in the face of seemingly overwhelming opposition, we have no need to fear. Our focus should be on the source of deliverance rather than on the problem. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalm27:14). JDM ----------------- SupremeJoy in Sacrificial Service “Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.” (Philippians2:17-18) Paul’s entire letter is full of sincere expressions of great joy. In fact, joy is repeated seven times in Philippians, which is more than in any of his other epistles (1:4, 25; 2:2, 17, 18, 29; 4:1). In this context, the word rejoice (synchairo) meansto “experience joy in conjunction with someone or something else” (Luke15:6, 9; 1 Corinthians 13:6). Paul calls the Philippians and believers today to live out this joy. How many of us really experience true joy as we live for Christ? Paul did. As a chained prisoner (Philippians1:7, 12, 13; 2 Timothy 2:9), he was grateful to sacrificially serve his Lord and continued to tirelessly love all believers throughout the known world (Colossians1:3, 9; 1 Thessalonians 3:10). Sadly, the reason so many of us know so little about this kind of joy is because we are loathe to sacrificially serve God in little ways, much less in the ways Paul and his companions did (Philippians1:1; 2:15, 19; 4:18). Let’s not forget the perfect example of joy and sacrifice modeled by the Creator and Savior of the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians2:5-8). Believer, what are you sacrificing in your loving service to Christ? What have you said “no” to in order to say “yes” to accomplishing God’s perfect will? Loving and serving God sacrificially will bring you true joy (Romans12:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Hebrews 10:36). Such joy can only come through our Savior, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1Peter 1:8). CCM -------------------------- IntroducingGod “And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the seaand the dry land.” (Jonah1:9) How should believers introduce God to unbelievers? Scripture gives good examples, like the way Jonah defined his God to pagan idolaters onboard a storm-tossed ship. Jonah’s God, in magnificent and holy distinction from their gods, made the universe and allit contains. They soon observed that He is sovereign over all His creation, including the weather. Stopping the terrible storm required no effort from the Creator. They then “feared the LORD exceedingly” (Jonah1:16). In that moment, the crew acknowledged what many idol-worshiping Israelites did not. Thus, Jeremiah had to reintroduce them to “the true God” by saying, “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from underthese heavens” (Jeremiah10:10-11). In contrast, the living God “hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion” (v. 12). King David also encouraged God’s people to introduce God by crediting Him with creation. “Declare his glory among the heathen; his wonders among all people. For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. For all thegods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens” (Psalm96:3-5). And Paul famously introduced God as the Creator to pagan Gentiles in Acts 14:15 and 17:23-25. God introduces Himself to all who open to the first page of His Word as He who created the heavens and the earth. Do you know someone to whom you can introduce Jesus as Creator? BDT --------------------------- ABetter Kind of Happiness - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. �Matthew 5:6 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/a-better-kind-of-happiness/- Listen The Bible gives a completely different view of happiness than this world gives. According to Scripture, happiness is never something that we should seek directly. Rather, it is always somethingthat results in seeking something else. If we seek holiness, we will find happiness. Jesus said, �God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied� (Matthew 5:6 NLT). As we align our wills with God�s will, the rest of our lives will find theproper balance. The Bible uses the words happy and blessed interchangeably. This kind of happiness is based not on circumstances but on a deep, supernatural experience of contentedness that comes from ourlives being right with God. Now, this is the opposite of popular wisdom, which essentially says that to be happy, we must do this or have that. But in Psalm 1, we find God�s description of a happy person: �Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But theydelight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do� (verses 1�3 NLT). Notice this psalm begins with negative thinking, not positive thinking. God tells us what we must not do before He tells us what we must do. He warns us of certain things that can be perilousto us spiritually, certain things that we must avoid. If we want to be truly happy, if we want to flourish, God is telling us what will be poisonous, destructive, and counterproductive. Thus, we must guard ourselves against the things that willharm us. We�re living in a time when it seems as though everyone is watching their weight. And, of course, as the years go by, some of us have more weight to watch. We become aware of things in ourfood like calories, fat, and carbohydrates. We are concerned about things like that because we don�t want to get heavier. In the same way, we want to avoid the things that would hinder our growth as followers of Christ. There are things that we may engage in, things that we may do, that could be detrimental forus spiritually. They might hold us back from the life that God wants us to live. Here is a simple litmus test to apply. Ask yourself, �This thing that I�m about to do, does it build me up spiritually? Does it promote growth in Christian character? Is it spiritually constructive?� There may be things in our lives that tear us down spiritually because they tear us away from the people of God. Or, they dull our hunger for the Word of God. And anything that would keepus from Christian fellowship, dull our desire for prayer, take away our appetite for Bible study, or make this world seem more attractive is something we don�t have time for. ------------------------- Movedwith Fear �By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the savingof his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.� (Hebrews 11:7) Noah was indeed a man of mighty faith, believing God�s word even about �things not seen as yet,� preparing for a worldwide flood in a day when God had never yet even �caused it to rain upon the earth� (Genesis2:5). Noah was �a preacher of righteousness� (2 Peter 2:5) to an unbelieving world for at least 120 years (Genesis6:3), �while the ark was a preparing� (1 Peter 3:20), without gaining any converts except his own family. But why would he have been �moved with fear�? Noah was surely not afraid to die! He had �walked with God� (Genesis 6:9) for 600 years (Genesis5:32; 7:11) before the Flood, and he was certainly not afraid to die and go to meet the Lord. Evidently it was for �the saving of his house� that he was afraid, realizing that his own children would soon be engulfed by the awful spirit of unbelief and wickedness that pervaded the antediluvian world if they could not somehow be delivered from it. Sohe �prepared an ark,� and his house was saved. �Come thou and all thy house into the ark,� said the Lord, �for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation� (Genesis7:1). Although they could easily have refused, they all chose to follow Noah. In a like manner today, God speaks to the head of each house: �Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house� (Acts 16:31). Aconsistent example of obedient faith set by a godly father and/or mother often results in the children also trusting in the Lord for salvation. Every caring parent should resolve that �as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD� (Joshua24:15). HMM ----------------------- A Good Offense - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word �Psalm 119:16 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/a-good-offense/- Listen When a young Billy Sunday became a Christian, another believer gave him some advice that he never forgot: �Let God talk to you fifteen minutes a day through His Word. Talk to God fifteen minutesa day in prayer. Talk for God fifteen minutes a day.� The other believer went on to say that if Billy practiced these things in his life as a Christian, no one would ever write the word backslider after his name. Billy Sunday followed this adviceand became one of the most powerful evangelists in the history of the church. He recognized the value of moving forward. The same is true of the happy people of Psalm 1. Yes, they don�t do certain things. But here is what they do instead: �They delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night� (verse 2 NLT). They recognize that the best defense is a good offense. Now, when this psalm was written, the Bible as we know it today had not yet been entirely written or compiled�there were only the first five books of Moses, known as the Pentateuch, to read.Certainly, today, with sixty-six books in the Bible to glean from, we should be even more eager to meditate on the Word of God. Notice also that �they delight in the law of the Lord.� God�s Word isn�t drudgery or a duty. Rather, it�s a delight. How do you feel about Bible study? Is it a delight? Or is it a drudgery? Many of us read the Bible with a hunt-and-peck approach. We read a little here and a little there with no real concernfor context or what a book is saying. And then we don�t understand why we don�t benefit from what the Scriptures say. The joyful people of Psalm 1 meditate on God�s Word �day and night� (verse 2). The Bible obviously isn�t speaking of so-called transcendental meditation that disengages the mind to receiveimpressions from elsewhere. Rather, the meditation the Bible advocates deliberately engages the conscious mind with the truths of God�s Word. It is studying the Bible using our minds and contemplating what we�re reading. Here are four great questions to ask ourselves when we�re reading the Bible: (1) Is there any sin here for me to avoid? (2) Is there any promise for me to claim? (3) Is there any victory togain? (4) Is there any blessing to enjoy? That is reading with a sense of anticipation. It�s recognizing that these are the words of God Himself, and we are to value His words more than gold. There are great rewards for those whostudy Scripture. Far too often, we fail to discover the treasures in God�s Word because we never open it. Yet there is direction for our lives to help us know how to have a good marriage, how to have a goodlife, and how to function properly in this world. The Bible tells us everything we need to know about God and life. That is why, if we want to be happy people, we must meditate on the Word of God day and night. ----------------------------- Overnight Fruit? - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. �John 15:4 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/overnight-fruit/- Listen Many people today are looking for a shortcut to spirituality. They�re looking for the quick fix, for the emotional experience that will transform their lives. But there are no shortcuts to spirituality. There is no such thing as a quick fix. There is no emotional experience that will change everything for you. If you want to grow and indeed flourishas a Christian, it will come down to a day-to-day commitment that you make. You won�t see fruit grow overnight any more than you could plant a tree on Monday and eat peaches from it on Tuesday. It takes time. But in time, you will see the results as you�re faithfuland consistent in the things that you need to do. In John 15, Jesus compares Himself to a grapevine, God the Father to a gardener, and His followers to fruit. Psalm 1 reinforces the idea: �They are like trees planted along the riverbank,bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do� (verse 3 NLT). God has planted us, and as we sink our roots deeply into Him, He gives us permanence. Maybe that is why the psalmist David prayed, �Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfastspirit within me� (Psalm 51:10 NKJV). The word David used for steadfast could be translated as �stable,� �fixed,� or �constant.� God also gives us productivity. If you are a believer who is walking with God, spiritual fruit will come out of your life. And what is this fruit? Galatians 5:22�23 tells us, �But the HolySpirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control� (NLT). Producing spiritual fruit is not an overnight process. It takes time to grow. But in time it comes. The Bible tells us that �God has made everything beautiful for its own time� (Ecclesiastes3:11 NLT). So be patient. It may not happen as quickly as you would like. Lastly, God gives us prosperity. Psalm 1:3 tells us, �Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do� (NLT). Our entire lives�family life, church life, personal life, businesslife�find balance because we are properly aligned with God. On the other hand, when we don�t have this balance, we will be unhappy people. When the droughts of life devastate others because they have no resources to draw from, followers of Christ havean unfailing source. Sometimes as Christians we grow frustrated because we see nonbelievers prospering, or so it appears. Things are going wonderfully for them, or so it seems. We see people who are dishonestand violate the standards of God, yet things seem to go along wonderfully for them. But just remember, it all evens out in the end. Be consistent. Make a commitment to sink your roots deeply into Him, and you will see spiritual fruit in your life. You also will find happinessin the truest sense of the word. ------------------------------------------ Disciplesand Servants �The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.� (Matthew10:24) Note the twofold relation of the believer to the Lord Jesus Christ expressed in this verse. We are His disciples and servants; He is our Master and Lord. Each of the two relationships is vital. The word for �disciple� means �pupil.� The word �master� is the same as �teacher.� The Lord Jesus, therefore, is our teacher, and He teaches us through His Word�the Holy Scriptures. It is our function to learn His teachings and, of course, to believe them. No Christian (one under the authority of Christ) has the right to reject or even to question one of the teachings of His Word (Matthew5:18-19). The lord-servant relationship goes even further. The word for �servant� is actually �bond slave.� The �lord� of a slave was his owner; the word itself means �supreme ruler� and is the title commonly assigned to God Himself in the New Testament.Thus, if a disciple is to believe the word of his master without question, the servant is to obey the word of his lord without hesitation. But the world scoffs at the teachings of God�s Word and will try to persecute those who seek to follow them. The unbelieving world�even the religious world�responded to the teachings of the Master by ridiculing Him, then torturing Him, and finally hanging Himon a tree to die. Yet we are to go to the same world with the same teachings. �As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you� (John 20:21). �As thou hast sent me into theworld,� He prayed, �even so have I also sent them into the world� (John 17:18). He does warn us: �Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also� (John15:20). HMM ------------------------- Allthe People �And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate;and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD commanded to Israel.� (Nehemiah 8:1) That was an amazing congregation there in the street of Jerusalem that came together that day just to hear Ezra read the Bible and explain its teachings. Nehemiah�s previous chapter had just enumerated over 42,000 people who had returned from Babylon to rebuildthe city. Even if �all the people� is not meant to be understood literally but representatively, this was still a very large assemblage. It even included all but the smallest children (Nehemiah8:2), and they all stood up (!) throughout the reading and exposition (Nehemiah 8:5-7), from morning to noon (Nehemiah8:3). Presumably all they had was the Pentateuch (tradition says that Ezra, who was doing the reading, eventually compiled the rest of the books with it into the Old Testament canon), but this was enough, and �all the people wept, when they heard the words of thelaw� (Nehemiah 8:9). Ezra not only read the actual words but also �gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading� (Nehemiah8:8). He further explained that, although they had been guilty in breaking God�s laws, they had been redeemed, and God was fulfilling all His gracious promises in restoring them to their land. Thus, they had joy as well as grief over their sins. So should it be today. That is, when God�s Word is simply read and explained, that should be enough to generate both sadness and repentance over sin and also true joy in salvation. Then, as it was to the returning Jewish exiles long ago, �the joy of the LORD� becomes our �strength� for true worship and obedience (Nehemiah 8:10). HMM ------------------------ When We�ve Blown It - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org O LORD, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. �Psalm 5:1 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/when-weve-blown-it/- Listen Have you ever been betrayed by someone you loved? Have you ever faced seemingly insurmountable odds? Has it ever seemed as though there was no way out of your dilemma? If so, then you have a good idea of how David felt when he penned the words of Psalm 5. David had made some mistakes in his life. He committed a number of sins that haunted him in his lateryears. Because of his multiple marriages, he had children who were half brothers and half sisters, and there was a lot of conflict in the family. Two of his children, Absalom and Tamar, were full brother and sister. But one day, Tamar�s half brother Amnon took advantage of her. Absalom was outraged. And he was angry that his fatherhadn�t taken stronger measures to deal with him. So, Absalom arranged to have Amnon killed. And the result was that Absalom was banished from the kingdom. After a period of time, David allowed Absalom to return. But in the process, Absalom turned the hearts of the people away from his father, the king. David was reaping the results of the sin that he had committed many years earlier. After David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband, Uriah, murdered, God spoke to David throughthe prophet Nathan. He said, �From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah�s wife to be your own� (2 Samuel 12:10 NLT). Out of his own household, David was reaping the results of his sin. It�s sad when we see the bad aspects of our character reflected in our children. We want to say to them, �Listen, do as I say, not do as I do.� But our kids will watch us, and they will emulateour behavior. In reality, David was simply seeing his own behavior reflected in his children. Amnon treated his half sister Tamar like David treated Bathsheba. And Absalom, in turn, treated Amnon like Davidtreated Uriah. Like father, like son. As the adage says, �Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.� After David readmitted his wayward son Absalom into his kingdom, Absalom devised a plan to overthrow his father. He stole the hearts of the people away from the king and was preparing to takeover. This prompted a very aged David to flee for his life into the wilderness. And it was during this time that David wrote Psalm 5, which begins, �O Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, forI pray to no one but you� (verses 1�2 NLT). When we have really blown it, when we have sinned, that is the time when we should call on the Lord. That is the time when we need to get help from God and His people. ------------------------------------ NoVision �Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.� (Proverbs29:18) The �vision� mentioned in this familiar verse is more than just a noble goal; it means a literal revelation from God to His people. It was first used in the sad testimony of 1 Samuel 3:1: �And the word of the LORD was precious [that is, �rare and costly�] inthose days; there was no open vision.� This was just before the capture of the Ark by the Philistines and the death of the inept prophet Eli. The word used for �perish� here means �exposed and helpless,� and the glory soon departed from Israel once they had forsaken God�s leadership (1 Samuel 4:21).Our own nation was also founded on God�s written Word (the modern equivalent of the divine �vision�), but the Word has now been almost forgotten, at least in our schools and other public institutions as well as in the daily lives of most of our people. Consequently, �the people� are indeed largely exposed and helpless before the attacks of the wicked one. The terrible warning of Psalm 9:17 hangs over our nation: �The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.� There is an encouraging exhortation to the believer, however, even if he lives in an apostate nation: �He that keepeth the law, happy is he.� To keep the law means not merely to obey God�s commands, but more precisely, to guard His Word! Even if all around us are neglecting or even ridiculing and seeking to destroy the Scriptures, we must defend and obey and proclaim their eternal truth and authority. Even if this should entail opposition and persecution, God assuresus that here is the way of blessing and true happiness. �Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book� (Revelation22:7). The people who lose God�s Word will perish, but �happy is that people, whose God is the LORD� (Psalm 144:15). HMM ------------------- Holy Hatred - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the LORD God of Heaven�s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people. �Amos 5:15 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/holy-hatred/- Listen It wasn�t the first time David had traversed this rugged terrain. As a young man, he had been an outlaw in the wilderness, hunted by the paranoid King Saul. The prophet Samuelhad anointed David and said he would be the next king of Israel. And after David killed the giant Goliath in the Valley of Elah, the praises of David were on the lips of the people. Saul was paranoid and angry that someone would try to take his position. This drove David into exile, and he was running for his life. But by this time, David was an older man. He was moving more slowly. And it wasn�t Saul who was hunting him but his own son Absalom, who wanted to put him to death. David really needed to know that God was with him because the last time he was out in that wilderness, he didn�t have the stain of adultery and murder on his conscience. Maybe you�re thinking, �Now, wait a second. I thought the Bible teaches that when God forgives, He forgets.� That is true. God Himself said, �And I will forgive their wickedness,and I will never again remember their sins� (Jeremiah 31:34 NLT). The problem is that we don�t forget so easily. And there is someone else who doesn�t forget: the devil. The Bible refers to him as �the accuser of our brothers and sisters� (Revelation 12:10 NLT). So yes, God forgives you, but the devil won�t let you forget as easily. He will go into the video player of your mind, so to speak, bring back that sin and remind you of it.He will continuously hit play, rewind, play, rewind. It�s at times like these that we must go back to the cross and say, �Lord Jesus, You died for this sin. You shed your blood for it. And I know You have forgiven me. I standon Your promise of forgiveness.� We find that promise in 1 John 1:9: �But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness� (NLT). You may be standing on that promise now. And so you should. We like to cite promises like this one to bring comfort to our hearts. However, the promise is contingent on ourmeeting certain conditions. Yes, God says that He will forgive us. But this verse also says that we must confess our sins to Him. Confessing our sin is more than mere acknowledgment. It is seeing our sin as God sees it. And how does God see sin? He hates it. In fact, the Bible tells us to �hate eviland love what is good� (Amos 5:15 NLT). The question is this: When we acknowledge our sin, are we truly seeing it as God sees it, with a holy hatred? If we have not confessed our sin, then we cannot stand on the promise of 1 John 1:9. So, let�s be sure that we have done it God�s way.