Verse of the day — Colossians 2:7
having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
Colossians 2:7(NASB)
Open Windows by T. Austin-Sparks
Knowing Him
This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (1 John 5:11 NIV)
It entirely depends upon our apprehension of the Lord as to what our testimony is. If we are turning to teaching, to tradition, to interpretations, to human associations, to Christianity, we are going to miss something, but if we are turning to the living God, in the realization that He is the living God, we are going to come into Life; everything is going to be all living in our experience right from the beginning. It is not unnecessary to say a thing like that. We said at the outset we wake up, and some of us awoke too late. The thing that kept us asleep though we did not know we were asleep, except that there was a restlessness, a sense of dissatisfaction, a turning from side to side, and a sighing and groaning was the fact that we had been associated with Christianity and the things of the people of God from so early in our lives. Our Christianity and our relationship with the Lord was something into which we were brought in infancy, and it had all become a matter of a system of the things of the Lord around us, with which we were quite familiar. We had been taught to say prayers, and go to meetings, and so on. One day we awoke to the fact that this God was a living God. We had been associated with Him in a way for a long time, but He was not personal to us, not a living God.
Forgive me for going back to such an elementary stage, if it is necessary to ask forgiveness, for it is just possible there are some among us whose relationship is of that kind. Maybe you are associated with things related to the Lord, but what about this question of your own personal, inward enjoyment of the living God, of His really being to you a living Person? We must begin back there, and all this is nothing to you unless the Holy Spirit has made it real, or does make it real, in your experience. I do know that it is true to fact in the life of a great many, that the day comes when, though they have been associated with the things of the Lord for a long time, they suddenly wake up to the fact that the Lord is a living Person. That contains so much for us as we come to realize it. It means everything to us from every point of view. We are the Lord's now! We know the Lord!
Morning Daily Light by Samuel Bagster
One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.
A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked. § Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble. § Godliness with contentment is great gain … Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
Give me neither poverty nor riches—feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God. § Give us this day our daily bread. Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? § “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.” § Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Luke 12:15; Ps. 37:16; Prov. 15:16; 1 Tim. 6:6,8; Prov. 30:8,9; Matt. 6:11, Matt. 6:25; Luke 22:35; Heb. 13:5
Evening Daily Light by Samuel Bagster
It is the Spirit who gives life.
The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. § That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. § Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. § Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 6:63; 1 Cor. 15:45; John 3:6; Titus 3:5; Rom. 8:9; Rom. 8:10 Rom. 8:11; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:11
None but the Hungry Heart by Miles Stanford
Hidden Within, Manifested Without
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God" (Ps. 92:13).
Defeat reveals the flesh; testing reveals the Father.
"The inward exercise of Romans Seven and the testing of the wilderness serve the purpose of teaching us what sin in the flesh is, and what is in our hearts; while such special discipline of the Father as Paul's thorn in the flesh is rather to protect us from the unalterable tendencies of the flesh. The latter is always needed, and goes on in one form or other to the end of our course here."
"We belong to another sphere altogether. We have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). We are like a tree that has its roots in heaven, and its branches down here. No doubt our branches are fretted and ripped by the atmosphere here, but nothing can touch the roots up there. Planted inside, they flourish outside." -J.B.S.
"No one can question the right of the Father and the Son to have and to hold the sheep; and if we see what it has cost them to secure us, it cannot fail to give us the most blessed assurance. Much yet may have to be done for us. We shall need support, preservation, discipline. If we are left here a little longer we shall need the grace, mercy, and forbearance of the Father in a thousand ways, but all that will be needed in the future to keep us from ourselves is small compared with the stupendous cost at which divine love forever secured us." -C.A.C.
"There is more in the Lord Jesus, in the Father, in the Spirit, in heaven to give us rest and peace and joy, than in the whole universe to disquiet, trouble, or grieve us." -G.V.W.
"Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17).
Devotional Studies by Elizabeth Haworth
People of God
Jesus said, I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it..
Matthew 16:18
Privileged People
What privileged people we truly are, that we should be called God’s children. He has showered His love over us and bestowed on us every spiritual blessing. What grace, that we should be picked up from the dirt and seated in heavenly places, and together all believers are being built-up into a spiritual Temple. Together we are the people of God; the home of His Spirit – united with Christ.
Body of Christ
All believers are baptised into the body of Christ the moment they believe in Jesus. The day of Pentecost was when Spirit baptism happened to the Jewish believers. One hundred and twenty lovers of Jesus were suddenly placed into Christ and filled with the Spirit of God. On that momentous day, they were baptised in the Spirit and empowered from above.
Baptised In The Spirt
Before His death, Christ had told His disciples the Spirit "will be with you and will be IN you". Just before He ascended on high He promised that "not many days hence," they would all be baptised in the Spirt, placed in Christ, and empowered to proclaim the gospel.
Filled With The Spirit
They were all baptised in the Spirit and then everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them His ability. What a day of gladness that must have been for those that were present on that day. What a time of rejoicing it is for all who are empowered by the same Holy Spirit.
Feast of Pentecost
Jesus Himself declared that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against her – nothing could overpower His Church and nothing conquer it. And from that day on the Church of Christ started to grow in the power of the Spirit. 3000 Jewish believers were put into Christ on that momentous feast of Pentecost – all were baptised into
read more
Knowing Jesus Devotional by Elizabeth Haworth
Saintly Acts
Without Me ye can do nothing.
John 15:5
BUT
I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
Believers in Christ are called by many names and known by a variety of titles. They are the “new man in Christ”; “the body of Christ”; “the new creation – His “children.” They are known as “Christians”; “His little flock”; “sons of God” and “the bride of Christ”.
Fine Linen
The bride of Christ is to make herself ready for the return of her heavenly bridegroom. She is to watch for Him, to be ready for His return and to clothe herself in wedding attire. The bride is to ready herself; to dress herself – to cover dress herself in beautiful linen.. and Scripture tells us what this pure, clean linen’ is… “the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints… Revelation19:8
Day of Preparation
Each day of a believer’s, life is a day of preparation for the bridegroom’s return. The bride is to make ready her fine linen, before the arrival of her beloved bridegroom. Each godly acts she undertakes in spirit and truth, adds to her spotless bridal gown.
Virgin Bride
The church is promised to Christ as a pure virgin bride, without spot or wrinkle. She will be presented to Him.. a chaste virgin clothed in the righteous acts of the saints.. for the Church is the redeemed bride of the Lord Jesus Christ – and the Lord Jesus Christ is the bridegroom of His ransomed church. But what are the righteous acts of the bride? What is the righteousness of the saints?
Imputed Righteousness
We have no goodness of our own for all our righteousness comes from Christ. His imputed righteousness is a gift of grace from God to those that believe. Our righteousness results from our justification in Christ and rests on His perfect merit.. and all our righteous acts are prepared in advance for us to do - prepared by God, for we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ to do good works, which God prepared, in advance, for us to do.
read more