Great Blessings through Living by Faith
Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: "For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him." But w ...read
Devotional
Growing in Grace through Living by Faith
Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith . . . For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall ...read
Devotional
Humility and the Fear of the Lord
By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches and honor and life . . . with the humble is wisdom . . . The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 22:4; 11:2; and 9:10)
Many of our previous meditations have clearly demonstrated that walking in humility is the pathway for living by the grace of God. "God . . . gives grace to the h ...read
Devotional
Isaiah Encouraging All to Wait on the Lord
Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength . . . And I will wait on the LORD, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope in Him . . . And it will be said in that day: "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvat ...read
Devotional
Isaiah Proclaiming God's Power for the Weak
He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:29-31)
Is ...read
Devotional
Isaiah Warning Against Worldly Counsel
"Woe to the rebellious children," says the LORD, "Who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin. Who walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked My advice." (Isaiah 30:1-2)
Those who want to live by grace (living by God working in and through their lives) characteristically depend up ...read
Devotional
Jeremiah Contrasting the Two Options on Trust
Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose ...read
Devotional
Jesus Promising Spiritual Rest
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
Two of the Lord's "exceedingly great and precious promises" (2 Peter 1:4) are found in our ...read
Devotional
Jesus, the Ultimate Example of Faith
And now the LORD says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant . . . (for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and My God shall be My strength) . . . Thus says the LORD: "In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You." (Isaiah 49:5 and 8)
Numerous times throughout these h ...read
Devotional
Jesus, the Ultimate Example of Faith's Results
The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary . . . The Lord God has opened My ear . . . I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help Me; therefore I will ...read
Devotional
Jesus, the Ultimate Example of Godly Exaltation
He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jes ...read
Devotional
Joshua and Caleb Entering the Promised Land
Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, except Caleb . . . and Joshua . . . for they have wholly followed the LORD. (Numbers 32:11-12)
Those who live by humble faith enter into the fullness of God's p ...read
Devotional
Joshua Leading the People in God's Victory
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho . . . a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "W ...read
Devotional
Josiah Humbling Himself before the Lord
Then Hilkiah answered and said . . . "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD" . . . Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes . . . [and said] ". . . great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD." (2 Chronicles 34:15, ...read
Devotional
Living According to God's Word
You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word. (Psalm 119:65)
David was a man who basically lived by grace (that is, by depending on the Lord to work in his life). Consequently, he trusted in the word of God ("the word of His grace" - Acts 20:32). David lived according to God's word. Psalm 119 bears substantial testimony ...read
Devotional
Living by Faith Contrasted with Living by Law
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "The just shall live by faith." Yet the law is not of faith, but "The man w ...read
Devotional
Living by God's Grace in the Old Testament
And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes . . . "If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us . . . Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land . . . the LORD is with us." (Numbers 14:6, 8-9)
Throughou ...read
Devotional
Manasseh Humbling Himself before the Lord
Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. (2 Chronicles 33:12-13)
Manasseh's prideful rebellion against ...read
Devotional
Manasseh Pridefully Rebelling against the Lord
Manasseh . . . did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel . . . And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. Therefore the LORD brought upon them . . . the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him wi ...read
Devotional
More on Contrasting Results for Self-Exaltation and Humility
And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" . . . everyone who exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:13-14)
Our present meditation continues Jesus' parable that warns against self-righteousnes ...read
Bob Hoekstra