Daily Devotion: Wings As Eagles by J. R. Miller

Bible Reading: Isaiah 40:25-31 KJV

Key Verse:  "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
- Isaiah 40:31 KJV

The source of strength in any life—must be God. It is only when we are co-workers with him—that we are unconquerable. If we would be strong, therefore, able to resist sin, able to do valiant battle for the truth, able to touch other lives with healing, uplifting influences—we must abide in Christ. Then his strength shall be in our heart and in our arm.

Daily Devotion: Sovereignty by John MacDuff

Bible Reading: Isaiah 45:7 KJV 

Key Verse:  "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things."
- Isaiah 45:7 KJV

What a sad world this would be — were it governed by Fate! Were its blended lights and shadows, its joys and sorrows — the result of capricious accident — or blind and wayward chance! How blessed to think that each separate occurrence which befalls me — is "a thought of God" — the fulfillment of His own immutable purpose!

Daily Devotion: Disappointments by James Meikle

Bible Reading: Psalms 34:13-22 KJV

Key Verse:  "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."
- Psalms 34:18 KJV

How uncertain are our best-founded expectations from created things! Nothing seemingly more sure; the time when, the place where, and the manner how—designs were to be put in execution, being set by the agreement and concurrence of everyone concerned! And yet, in the event, nothing more unsure! O irresistible Providence! How do you laugh at the folly of man, whose blind eye sees nothing to change the face of things, until by an unexpected resolution, and severe discipline, he is made to know his fallibility and blindness! O foolish heart of man, to be fond of this or that to excess! You see the beginning of a matter, but not the end; you behold the outer wheel of providence, but consider not that there is an inner wheel, even a wheel in the middle of a wheel, which produces scenes unobserved before, scenes which finite wisdom never could invent.

Daily Devotion: Abundant Life by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: 1 Timothy 1:11-20 KJV

Key Verse:  "And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
- 1 Timothy 1:14 KJV

Abundant Life!

Abundant life as Jesus described it is the life of God Himself.

God places the new spiritual life within the individual the moment he responds to God’s grace and believes on Christ as his personal Savior.

Daily Devotion: Consider Jesus As Without Deceit by Octavius Winslow

Bible Reading: 1 Peter 2:21-25 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:"
- 1 Peter 2:22 KJV

Purer than the purest crystal, more transparent than the brightest sun, was the character of Jesus. It needed but the visual organ purged from the blinding and distorting effects of sin to have looked into the deepest recesses of His heart, to have seen every pulse, to have read every thought, and to have fathomed every purpose of His soul--so open, transparent, and childlike was He. His foes sought with deception to ensnare Him, but He was too innocent to be ensnared. The moral atmosphere of His being was too pure and translucid for their wicked purposes to find a single fault. They could fix no thought, excite no passion, rouse no imagination within His breast that would have left a taint or a cloud upon that pure, bright spirit of His. What He declared of Satan could with equal truth have been affirmed of ungodly men--"The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me." They found no evil in Him upon which their own sinfulness could work. Wickedness could not for a moment exist in an atmosphere so holy.

Daily Devotion: Casting All Your Care Upon Him by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading: 1 Peter 5:7 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."
- 1 Peter 5:7 KJV

It is a happy way of soothing sorrow, when we can feel, "HE cares for me." Christian! do not dishonor religion by always wearing a brow of worry—come, cast your burden upon your Lord. You are staggering beneath a weight—which your Father would not feel. What seems to you a crushing burden—would be to Him but as the small dust of the scale. Nothing is so sweet as to

"Lie passive in God's hands,
 And know no will but His."

Daily Devotion: The Song of Mary by Favell Lee Mortimer

Bible Reading: Luke 1:46-56 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,"
- Luke 1:46 KJV

This beautiful song shows us what was Mary's state of mind at this time. We must remember that there was much to try her in her present circumstances, for many people would not believe her account of the angel's visit, and would treat her with scorn. Yet she was filled with joy, because she enjoyed the favor of the Lord. She said, "My soul magnifies the Lord—and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." How great was Mary's faith! Faith enables us to rejoice in the midst of trials. Paul had this faith when he said, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed."

Daily Devotion: Capacity For Growth by J. R. Miller

Bible Reading: Luke 19:12-22 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds."
- Luke 19:18 KJV

Christ gives into no man's hand at the beginning of his life—a finely trained, fully developed mind. The great poets and writers of the world, began with only one pound. There was capacity for growth—but that was all. Christ gives to no one at the start a noble, full-statured, rich, transfigured Christian character, with spiritual graces all blossoming out. The most saintly Christians began with very little saintliness, very little spiritual power. The most useful men in the church, began with a very small and imperfect sort of usefulness.

Daily Devotion: Help For The Feeble by John MacDuff

Bible Reading: Isaiah 41:14 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."
- Isaiah 41:14 KJV

"Worm Jacob!" What weakness, insignificance, unworthiness! Yet it is this helpless, groveling "worm," which occupies 'the thoughts of God' — receives His sympathy, and has the assurance of His almighty aid.

Daily Devotion: True Greatness by James Meikle

Bible Reading: Hebrews 7:1-10 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils."
- Hebrews 7:4 KJV

Many are reckoned great by the world, and are often envied by their inferiors, who are yet ignorant of what renders man truly great. A courtier, as Ahithophel, a prince, as Haman, and a king, as Belshazzar, may be vile and sordid people; for often in the highest stations the basest of men are set up. Coaches and chariots; horses and hounds; many servants, and a numerous retinue; a sumptuous table, and fine apparel; high titles, and honorary posts; great friends, and noble blood; rich connections, and immense wealth—do not constitute true greatness. It is not nobility, or popularity, or beauty, or talent—that will render one great. It is not strength of body, natural courage, liberal education, bright parts, or sparkling genius—that can make a truly great man. Hence this seeming contradiction, yet sterling truth, Great men are not always great.

Daily Devotion: You Must Pray And Watch by J.C. Philpot

Bible Reading: Mark 13:30-37 KJV

Key Verse:  "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is."
- Mark 13:33 KJV

There is no keeping up FAITH except by prayer and watchfulness. As prayer declines in the bosom, so does the strength of faith. You may go on neglecting prayer and supplication until every grain of faith seems lost from your bosom, and may come at last to do you think never knew anything of a work of God upon your heart, and have been deceived in believing there was any grace there.

Daily Devotion: Absolute Truth by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: John 14:1-11 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
- John 14:6 KJV

Josh McDowell said recently that most evangelical Christian youth in the United States no longer believe in “absolute truth.” “In 1991, 52 percent of our born again church kids said there is no absolute truth.  In 1994, 62 percent said there is no absolute truth.  In 1999, 78 percent of born again church kids said there is no absolute truth. In 2002, 91 percent of our born again church kids said there is no absolute truth.”

Daily Devotion: The Object Of Popular Hate by Octavius Winslow

Bible Reading: Isaiah 53:1-10 KJV

Key Verse:  "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
- Isaiah 53:3 KJV

Our Lord's was a chequered history. Lights and shadows thickly blended in the marvelous picture of His life. The lights were but few; the shadows predominated. He did not come into the world to be joyful and happy, but to make others so. Hence the portrait--"He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief." We have just looked upon one of the earthly lights thrown upon the picture; we are now to contemplate one of its dark shadows. From viewing Him as for the moment favored with the adulations of the multitude, we turn to behold Him the object of their bitter scorn and rejection.

Daily Devotion: God Divided The Light From The Darkness by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading: Genesis 1:1-5 KJV

Key Verse:  "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."
- Genesis 1:4 KJV

This morning we noticed the goodness of the light, and the Lord's dividing it from the darkness; we now note the special eye which the Lord had for the light. "God saw the light" He looked at it with delight, gazed upon it with pleasure; He saw that it "was good." If the Lord has given you light, dear reader, He looks on that light with peculiar interest; for not only is it dear to Him as His own handiwork—but because it is like Himself, for "He is light."

Daily Devotion: We Have An Advocate With The Father, Jesus Christ by J.C. Philpot

Bible Reading: 1 John 2:1-10 KJV 

Key Verse:  "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:"
- 1 John 2:1 KJV

This advocacy is here called, as elsewhere, "pleading the cause" of the believer, and is connected with deliverance, for such an advocate can never fail--"O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life." (Lam. 3:58 KJV). The figure is taken from a lawyer pleading the cause of a criminal, and using his best endeavors to bring him off uninjured. But such advocacy may fail for two reasons–

Daily Devotion: Mary's visit to Elizabeth by Favell Lee Mortimer

Bible Reading: Luke 1:34-45 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:"
- Luke 1:41 KJV

The angel had told Mary of the great power and glory of the Son she should have. He next told her of the holiness of his nature. His body was to be miraculously formed by the power of the Holy Spirit; though born of a human mother. Jesus had flesh and blood like ourselves, (Hebrews 2:14;) and he was subject to all our bodily weaknesses; he needed food and sleep; he suffered pain; he shed tears and sweat drops of blood; but he was without sin; (Heb. 4:15:) he was "holy, harmless, undefiled." (Heb. 7:26.) Such was the child of whom Mary was to be the mother! Were such wonderful tidings ever delivered to any human creature, as were then spoken to Mary? Yet she believed. Her faith was greater than that of Zacharias; and she received no rebuke from the angel.

Daily Devotion: Ten-Pound Servants by J. R. Miller

Bible Reading: Luke 19:12-24 KJV

Key Verse:  "Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds."
- Luke 19:16 KJV

We always find these ten-pound servants among the followers of Christ. They are those Christians who, from the very beginning, strive to reach the best things attainable in life—through divine grace. They are not content with being merely saved from sin's guilt, with being mere members of the church. They make their consecration to Christ complete, keeping nothing back. They set their ideal of obedience to their Lord at the mark of perfectness, and are not slack in their striving, until they reach the mark in heaven. They seek to follow Christ wholly, fully, with their whole heart. They accept every duty—without regard to its cost. They seek to be like Christ, imitating him in all the elements of his character. They give their whole energy to the work and service of Christ. They lie, like John, on the Master's bosom, and their souls are struck through, as it were, with the Master's loving spirit.

Daily Devotion: Almighty Guidance by John MacDuff

Bible Reading: Psalm 32:8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye."
- Psalm 32:8 KJV

No more precious assurance can I have, than this — that I am under the constant, loving guidance of my heavenly Father — that He appoints the bounds of my habitation, and overrules all events for my good — that my whole life is a plan arranged by Him. Every apparent little contingency, as well as every momentous turn and crisis-hour — forms part of that plan! "God examines every path a man takes." "A man's heart devises his way — but the Lord directs his steps."

Daily Devotion: Providence by James Meikle

Bible Reading: Psalm 40:11 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me."
- Psalm 40:11 KJV

How manifold are the mercies of God, and how surprising the scene of adorable Providence! Here wheels revolve within a wheel, and all the glorious spokes are full of flaming eyes, signifying omniscience and wisdom. Seeming contradictions just conduce to bring about the longed-for blessing. Providence aloud proclaims a God; and to the observing eye, the providential government of the world in general, and of men and their affairs of life in particular—is not less beautiful, is not less surprising, than the creation of the world. What mighty mountains are removed, what stupendous difficulties are dissolved by providence—that a plain and easy passage may be prepared for the approaching good!

Daily Devotion: Abide in the Holy Spirit by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: John 15:1-7 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."
- John 15:4 KJV

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come the disciples realized why Jesus ascended up into heaven. He left them in order that He might be with each one of them in a more intimate relationship.

Daily Devotion: The Object of Popular Favor by Octavius Winslow

Bible Reading: Matthew 21:1-10 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?"
- Matthew 21:10 KJV

Jesus was now enthroned upon the highest wave of popular favor. It was, perhaps, the only moment in His earthly history in which it might be said that His popularity was in the ascendant. The sun of human glory now shone upon Him in all its splendor. He was for a moment the idol and the delight of the people. They thronged His path, carpeted it with their garments, strewed it with foliage, and rent the air with their loud and joyous hosannas. All this was strange to Jesus. It was a new page in His history, a new lesson in His life, which would fit Him in all future time to sympathize with and support those who should be subjected to a like perilous ordeal in their Christian career.

Daily Devotion: Let There Be Light by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading: Genesis 1:4 KJV

Key Verse:  "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."
- Genesis 1:4 KJV

Light might well be good, since it sprang from that fiat of goodness, "Let there be light." We who enjoy it, should be more grateful for it than we are—and see more of God in it and by it. Physical light is said by Solomon to be sweet—but gospel light is infinitely more precious, for it reveals eternal things, and ministers to our immortal natures.

Daily Devotion: The Truth Shall Make You Free by J.C. Philpot

Bible Reading: John 8:31-32 KJV

Key Verses:  "[31] Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; [32] And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
- John 8:31-32 KJV

This advocacy is here called, as elsewhere, "pleading the cause" of the believer, and is connected with deliverance, for such an advocate can never fail--"O Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul; you have redeemed my life" (Lam. 3:58). The figure is taken from a lawyer pleading the cause of a criminal, and using his best endeavors to bring him off uninjured. But such advocacy may fail for two reasons:

Daily Devotion: The Angel's visit to Mary by Favell Lee Mortimer

Bible Reading: Luke 1:26-33 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women."
- Luke 1:28 KJV

God appointed that his Son should be born six months after John. So six months after the angel had spoken to Zacharias, he came to Mary. She was a poor woman, of a low, poor city, called Nazareth. She was indeed descended from King David, who had lived more than a thousand years before, and she was engaged to be married to a man called Joseph, also descended from King David. It had been prophesied that the Son of God would be born among David's family. Isaiah calls the Savior "A branch out of the stem of Jesse," (Isaiah 11:1,) for Jesse was the father of David. Jesse was like a tree, of which Jesus was a branch.

Daily Devotion: The Chapter After The Last by A.W. Tozer

Bible Reading: Matthew 27:56-66 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,"
- Matthew 27:59 KJV

Matthew says, "And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb." Mark says, "And he [Joseph] bought fine linen, and took him [Jesus] down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock." Luke writes, "And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid." John says, ". . . There was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, . . . There laid they Jesus." They all agree: Jesus was dead.

Daily Devotion: Be Not Slothful by George Bowen

Bible Reading: Hebrews 6:10-20 KJV 

Key Verse:  "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises."
- Hebrews 6:12 KJV

Does not this word " slothful" accurately characterize the habit of mind of most professors of religion? While we behold them diligently in the pursuit of worldly good, laboring untiringly on in the acquisition of wealth; while we see them exercising circumspection, vigilance, forethought, sagacity in their temporal vocation, and giving to it the best energies of their nature, we see them indolent and sluggish in all that relates to their heavenly calling. They read the newspapers with a closeness of observation that nothing can escape; but the Bible with a carelessness that leaves them just as ignorant afterwards as they were before. When topics of the day are discussed, their minds are easily kept on the stretch; but in religious meetings they are obliged to exert themselves not a little to keep awake. Any excuse is sufficient to make them dismiss or postpone a religious duty; while in the other engagements of life, they are sufficiently punctual. They are minutely attentive to the state of their body, and take good note of every ailment however insignificant; but they are not at all vigilant in the examination of their hearts and in the avoidance of whatever is likely to be prejudicial to their spiritual interests. On the whole they think it enough to give to religion the mere fragments of their time and attention and thought and energy.

Daily Devotion: A Gracious Pardon by John MacDuff

Bible Reading: Isaiah 43:21-28 KJV 

Key Verse:  "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."
- Isaiah 43:25 KJV

"I — yes, I alone" — the Great, the Pure, the Holy, the Righteous God! Surely if there is one way more than another, in which God's thoughts are not as man's thoughts, it is this — pardoning the rebel, welcoming the undeserving, forgiving and forgetting! How we remember the sins and the failings of others! How we harbor the recollection of ingratitude or unkindness. We say, "I forgive — but I cannot forget." God does both. Forgiveness is with Him no effort; it is a delight, "The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake."

Daily Devotion: Worldly Losses and Misfortunes Universal by James Meikle

Bible Reading: Job 5:1-10 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward."
- Job 5:7 KJV

Convene, you mournful throng, and vent your dreary moans; muster all your complaints, and recite the causes of your sorrow. Then hear royalty itself break silence first in the melancholy list, and tell in tears. Distress even attacks the throne, and sorrow and gloom penetrate within the palace walls. Sorrow has a lodging place in every brow, from the king to the beggar; and at one time or other, we may expect to see the lodging possessed by all the gloomy train. Hence see one sad, under the loss of his honor and reputation; another meeting with disappointment instead of advancement; another seldom out of mourning, so fast his relations die around him. Some have neither son nor grandson in the neighborhood; daughter nor grand-daughter in the house.

Daily Devotion: Abiding in Christ by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: John 15:1-15 KJV

Key Verse:  "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."
- John 15:4 KJV

Jesus Christ offers every believer His life. It is like the life of a vine whereby the branches draw their life from the trailing plant. The believer shares in the life of the Vine.

The soul of the believer is in Christ and through our vital union with Him we receive spiritual nourishment. The Christian life is like the entwined vine with every fiber “like the ivy in an ancient wall.”

Daily Devotion: Consider Jesus in Obedience to Human Law by Octavius Winslow

Bible Reading: Matthew 22:16-22 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's."
- Matthew 22:21 KJV

The obedience of Jesus, whether natural or moral--whether yielded to a divine or a human law--was, like all that He did, worthy of Himself. In no instance did He exhibit anything approaching resistance to constituted authority. Rebellion against Satan and sin was the only insubordination that marked our Lord's life on earth. On no occasion did either His doctrine or His practice come into direct and hostile antagonism with the State. The example before us is striking and conclusive of this. We read that the "Pharisees took counsel how they might entangle Him in His talk." They came to Him and inquired, "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?" But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why are you tempting me, you hypocrites?" Had He pronounced it unlawful, caught in their snare, they would instantly have denounced Him to Herod as teaching treason against Caesar, and thus have evoked the rage of the people and the hostility of the government. But mark the wisdom and equity with which He defeated the design and exposed the craft and wickedness of His enemies, and in so doing, enunciated and enforced the moral precept which we are now to consider--"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." The consideration of the duty we owe, as Christians and citizens, to human law, may not be out of place, since there exists a strong and growing tendency to override all human law, and to ignore all civil authority, than which there is not a more direct violation of God's word or a more palpable violation of the spirit of Christianity.