Verse of the day — Acts 17:28
for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'
Acts 17:28(NASB)
Open Windows by T. Austin-Sparks
Christ - All, and In All
In Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. (Colossians 2:9,10 NLT)
Oh, those subtle suggestions that are ever being whispered in our ears, that if we give up this and that we are going to lose, and life is going to be poorer, and we are going to be narrowed down until we have nothing left. It is a lie! That is the thing that is countering God's great thought for us. God's thought for us is that One, no less than His Son Jesus Christ, in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form, should be our fullness. All the fullness of God in Christ for us! You never attain to that by rejecting Him. Life must be much less than it need be if you are not going all the way with the Lord; and what obtains in the matter of our consecration to the Lord, our entire and complete abandonment to Him in our life and our complete cut with all that is not of the Lord, obtains in the realm of service. This flesh loves to sport itself in Christian work, and tells us that if we are going to be dependent upon the Lord we are going to have an anxious time. But a life of dependence upon God can be a life of continual romance. It is there that we make discoveries which are a constant wonder.
You may be nearly dead one minute and in the next the Lord gives you something to do and you are very much alive, dependent upon Him for every breath you breathe. But thus you come to know the Lord. Then after that experience you are just as helpless and dead again for a while, but you remember that the Lord did something. Then He does it again; and so life becomes a romance; yet no one would ever guess you were depending on the Lord for your very breath. It is a very blessed thing to know the Lord is doing it, when you could not do it at all; it is, humanly, naturally, impossible, but the Lord is doing it!
Morning Daily Light by Samuel Bagster
The house to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent.
You … as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house. § Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. § Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. § What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” § [You] having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
1 Chron. 22:5; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Cor. 3:16,17; 1 Cor. 6:19,20; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:19,20; Eph. 2:21,22
Evening Daily Light by Samuel Bagster
He is before all things.
The Amen … the Beginning of the creation of God. § The beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth … When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep … when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command … I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. § Indeed before the day was, I am He.
The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. § The author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Col. 1:17; Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:18; Prov. 8:22,23; Prov. 8:27; Prov. 8:29,30; Isa. 43:13; Rev. 13:8; Heb. 12:2
None but the Hungry Heart by Miles Stanford
Self-imposed Burden
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1).
Few see and stand upon the fact that our history in Adam ended on the Cross. Our past will plague us until we acknowledge that we are now clear of Adam and safely hidden in the risen Lord Jesus - newly-born creations in Him. One of the penalties of self-occupation is self-pity and corroding remorse.
"Regret for a sinful past will remain until we truly believe that for us in the Lord Jesus that sinful past no longer exists. The man in Christ has only His past and that is perfect and acceptable to the Father. In the Lord Jesus he died, and in Him he rose, and he is now seated in Him within the circle of the Father's favored ones. He is no longer angry with himself because he is no longer self-regarding, but Christ-regarding: hence there is no place for regret."
"The knowledge of our union with the Lord Jesus is what will deliver the believer from all that is low and feeble, and will lift him to a life of joy and peace. To gaze upon our risen Lord in the Father's presence, to whom all things are subject, will transform us into heavenly Christians, dwelling all the day in the Father's presence." -A.M.
"The believer shares the Lord Jesus' Cross knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him' Rom. 6:6); His death:- ye died and your life is hid with Christ in God' Col. 3:3); His burial:- we were buried with him by baptism into death' Rom. 6:4); His resurrection:- as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we' Rom. 6:4); His ascension:- made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' Eph. 2:6)." -F.J.H.
"There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).
Devotional Studies by Elizabeth Haworth
The Man After God’s Own Heart
The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart
1 Samuel 13:14
People of Faith
Throughout Scripture God is looking for men or women with a heart for God. He is simply looking for people of faith – people who will trust Him and believe His word – and throughout Scripture we see one here and we discover one there. He is looking for men of faith like Abraham and He is searching for leaders like Moses. He is seeking humble men.. trusting men.. men who delight in the glory of God, and He is looking for men like Joshua who chose to serve the Lord – with all his house.
Heart for God
God is looking for men after His own heart like David, who will shepherd His people, and He is searching for prayerful men of integrity, like the prophet Daniel. He is looking for willing men like Isaiah who volunteered to do the Lord’s bidding – trusting men like Habakkuk, who lived a life of trusting faith. He is looking for men who loved their God like Joseph and John, Peter and Paul. Jeremiah and James. And He is also looking for willing women, whose value is far above rubies. Daughters like Sarah and Esther, Deborah and Hannah, Ruth and Rahab – Mary and Elizabeth.
Right Relationship
All these people were in right relationship with the Lord and each of these characters displayed a characteristic that pleased the Lord – a godly disposition that was precious in His eyes – a quality that is dear to the heart of our God. God laid His hand on each of His people in a unique way and God took time in each life to develop in each one a peculiar and distinctive quality that was a dim reflection of His own perfect grace – one that would be seen in the face of Jesus Himself.
Godly Characters
The name of each distinctive character is of little import for we are drawn to the godly quality their lives displayed. Hallmarks of men, that love and trust their
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Knowing Jesus Devotional by Elizabeth Haworth
Hidden Truth
Jesus said…. lo I am with you always – even to the consummation of the age.
Matthew 28:20
Difficult Saying
What a truth to hide in your heart. What a promise to rest your weary soul upon. This assurance was given to the confused disciples at the ascension of their Lord. The understanding of this difficult saying was later given to the apostle Paul: lo I am with you always.. even to the consummation of the age.
Vital Reality
This puzzling point is the central feature found in Colossians: 'the mystery, hid from the ages..' Colossians 1:26. This was the vital truth of 'Christ in you, the hope of glory.' Colossians 1:27 What an important thing to know. What a vital reality to understand, that Christ never intended to be out of the world again during the coming 'age'. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? – the Spirit of Christ dwells in you. 1 Corinthians 6:19
Christ’s Heritage
Jesus came to His own heritage but His own people received Him not….' John 1:11 Jesus came to redeem His rightful inheritance, bequeathed to Him by the Father. He came to reclaim His judicial right – His right to the sovereignty of the world. He came to initiate, to continue, and to complete the restoration of His own domain. He came 2000 years ago to do it. He came to His own heritage but His own people received Him not, 'but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name' John 1:12
Ever Present Promise
And He did redeem this mortal coil with His blood, shed on a wooden cross.. and He proclaimed He never intended to be away from the world during this age. 'Lo I am with you always – even into the consummation of the age.'
Christ in You
How – how could Jesus make such astonishing claims, and then go away into heaven? How – how could He say
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