| Devotional | Seeing God in Your Circumstances
Philippians 1: 12-21
The life of the indwelling Christ enabled Paul to be free from worry and self-care during his imprisonment, which could have led to death. Paul was bold and unashamed and was concerned only that Christ would be magnified in his body regardless of what awaited him--life or death. There was no wavering on his part.
We tend ...read |
| Devotional | Seeking God's Will
1 Samuel 30:1-8, 18-26
When David and his men found Ziklag burned with fire and their wives and their children gone, they wept. This was a bitter blow to all of them. David in particular, however, tasted the bitterness of being without God's protection. He had been miraculously taken care of on many other occasions, but now that protection had ...read |
| Devotional | Sickness and Sin
James 5:13-16
The reason for calling the elders was apparently because the sickness referred to by James was a sickness that resulted from sin. The elders were the spiritual leaders of the assembly of believers, and because of the type of problem involved, they--not a physician--were to be called. It was the responsibility of the spiritual lead ...read |
| Devotional | Sowing and Reaping
2 Samuel 12:1-10
David's harshness and lack of pity were due to his being out of touch with God. No wonder he failed to remember the judgment prescribed by the Law. At this point the Holy Spirit gave Nathan boldness to say to David, "Thou art the man" (2 Sam. 12:7).
Through Nathan, the Lord reminded David of His sovereign choice of David ...read |
| Devotional | Spiritual Unity Is Not Automatic
Ephesians 4:3-7
The unity referred to in Scripture is a spiritual unity of everyone within the Body of Christ; that is, all who have received Him as personal Saviour. This means that our unity must always be based on the truth of the Scriptures, which tell who Christ is and what we are in Him. Any unity that compromises the teaching of the Scrip ...read |
| Devotional | Submitted but Faithful
Romans 13:1-10
It is possible for a believer to be in a situation where he cannot obey the government, but he is to submit to it. Submission refers to our attitude--how we respond inwardly to those who are in authority; obedience refers to our visible actions--how we respond outwardly to those in authority. For instance, Peter and John were forb ...read |
| Devotional | Sufficient for Each Day
1 Kings 17:8-16
Because Elijah was a man like us, he undoubtedly wondered what God had in store for him when he saw the brook beginning to dry up.
Since he was trusting in God, however, he believed and help arrived. God did not send a sudden squall of rain for that immediate neighborhood, nor did he provide some supernatural source of water i ...read |
| Devotional | The Birth That Brings Death
James 1:12-15
When temptations to do evil come into our lives, let us never think that they have come from God; instead, God is doing what He can to prevent us from falling into sin. However, our flesh is so weak that we disregard Him occasionally and follow evil.
James said, "Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and ...read |
| Devotional | The Dilemma of the Disobedient
1 Samuel 28:1-19
David and his men became bodyguards to Achish, king of Gath, and this soon put David in a dilemma. The Philistines decided to go against the Israelites, and David apparently could see no way out of going along and fighting against his own people. He had a weakness for telling lies when doubts came into his heart. This was one o ...read |
| Devotional | The Fire Falls
1 Kings 18:30-39
By having water poured over the sacrifice as often as he did, Elijah prevented any human counterfeiting or trickery. Then he began to pray.
This short prayer has only 63 English words (even fewer in Hebrew), and it takes about 20 seconds to speak them. But the prophets of Baal had prayed to their idol for several hours and ha ...read |
| Devotional | The Key to the Treasury
Ephesians 1:2,3; John 15:1-10
The believer's resources--all spiritual blessings--are "in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). Christ is the life of the believer and thus provides for him all that he needs. Before salvation the individual was in Adam, but after salvation he is in Christ. In Adam the individual possessed only a sinful nature, but in Christ he p ...read |
| Devotional | The King Gives Victory
2 Samuel 5:1-10
So impregnable did the Jebusites think their fortress to be that they jeered at David and his men, saying that the blind and the lame could hold it against David's army. "Nevertheless," we are told, "David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David" (2 Sam. 5:7). David then moved into the city and made it t ...read |
| Devotional | The Life That Is New
Colossians 3:5-11
In Colossians 3:10,11 Paul revealed three truths about those who have put on the new man. First, they have a divine nature. Each person who trusts Christ as Saviour has "put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (v. 10). It is not just that a person wants a new nature-he has a ...read |
| Devotional | The Majority Can Be Wrong
1 Kings 18:25-29
As the majority group, the worshipers of Baal had been given first chance. Because there were so many of them it took them only a very short time to prepare the sacrifice. As is often the case in matters that pertain to God, however, the majority was on the wrong side.
When Elijah admonished these idolatrous priests not to pu ...read |
| Devotional | The Marks of a Christian
Galatians 2:1-10
Four marks of a Christian are set forth in the Book of Galatians. First, a Christian is one who has the living Christ living in him. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himse ...read |
| Devotional | The Power to Love
1 John 4:7-21
The apostle did not say, "Try to create and produce love." He said, "Let us love." In other words, we are to release that love.
Some may protest and say they cannot love certain people. That is true from the natural standpoint, but we are not dealing with natural love. It is divine love, the love with which God loved us whe ...read |
| Devotional | The Religion God Wants
James 1:26,27
When Jesus Christ is really indwelling a person, it will result in true religion. The word "religion" as used in James 1:26,27 is not synonymous with the word "salvation." James used it in the sense of an outward expression of that which is inward. The inner faith in Jesus Christ as one's personal Saviour results in salvation ...read |
| Devotional | The Renewed Mind
Philippians 4:8,9; 2 Peter 1: 1-9
A good exercise is to analyze the kind of thoughts you have been thinking. Some will be spiritual thoughts that make a positive contribution to life, others will be thoughts about things that are not necessarily good or bad, and there will be thoughts that are definitely bad--and you realize this without anyone\ ...read |
| Devotional | The Secret of a Controlled Tongue
James 3:7-12
Is it not strange that the tongue can be praising God one moment and be slandering some person the next moment often right in the church where the tongue had been used to praise God? We may even hear the preacher talk about not slandering others, but before we leave we will say things concerning others that amount to slander. Such ...read |
| Devotional | The Spirit Also Loves You!
Romans 15:30-33
The Holy Spirit is a Person because He has emotions. He has the ability to love. Romans 15:30 says, "Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." This teaches us that the Holy Spirit has the capacity to love. He n ...read |
Theodore Epp