Daily Devotion: All Things in Christ by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: Philippians 4:6-13 KJV 

Key Verse:  "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
- Philippians 4:13 KJV

Do you want your life to count to the greatest degree imaginable for the glory of God? Years ago I decided that I wanted to live to the hilt of every situation that I believe to be the will of God. I want to experience the full measure of the blessings of Christ in my life and ministry.

Every spiritual blessing we enjoy comes in and through Jesus Christ. Every believer is “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17 KJV).

Daily Devotion: Consider Jesus as Not Alone

Bible Reading: John 16:26-33 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me."
- John 16:32 KJV

There is a sweetness in every cup, a light in every cloud, a presence in every solitude of the Christian's experience. It was so with Jesus, who will mold all His followers like unto Himself. We have just considered Him in loneliness--forsaken by man, deserted by God. But now comes the alleviation--the sweetening of the bitter, the gilding of the cloud, the soothing of the solitude. He was never less alone than at the moment that He mournfully said to His retiring disciples, "You shall leave me alone;" for, as if immediately recovering Himself from the painful sense of MAN'S DESERTION, He added, "And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." No; Jesus never was really alone. Shunning human society, and plunging into solitude the most profound, as He often did, His Father's presence was there to sweeten and soothe it, to replenish and strengthen Him for the work He had given Him to do, and to make those long midnight hours of holy watching and wrestling prayer, melodious with the music, and radiant with the sunshine of heaven. Oh yes, Jesus was not all alone!

Daily Devotion: Serve The Lord With Gladness by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading: Psalm 100 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing."
- Psalm 100:2 KJV

Delight in divine service is a sign of acceptance with God. Those who serve God with a sad countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are not serving Him at all; they bring the form of homage—but the life is absent. Our God requires no slaves to grace His throne; He is the Lord of the empire of love, and would have His servants dressed in the livery of joy. The angels of God serve Him with songs, not with groans; a murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their ranks.

Daily Devotion: Salvation Test 4 of 10: Holy Spirit Lives In You by J.E. Smith

Bible Reading: 1 John 4:13-20 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Hereby we know that we dwell in Him and He in us, because He hath given us of His spirit"
- 1 John 4:13 KJV

From 1 John 4:13 we know, "Hereby we know that we dwell in Him and He in us, because He hath given us of His spirit". The proof of the Holy Spirit in you is not the gifts of the spirit but rather the "fruit of the spirit" found in Galatians 5:22-23. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

Daily Devotion: The Words of Simeon to Mary by Favell Lee Mortimer

Bible Reading: Luke 2:30-37 KJV 

Key Verse:  "(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
- Luke 2:35 KJV

Both Joseph and Mary marveled at the things spoken of Christ by Simeon. The things that made them marvel were that he should be "a light to enlighten the Gentiles," as well as the glory of Israel; for God's goodness to the Gentiles was a mystery long hidden from the Jewish nation. But we happy Gentiles have experienced it, and some among us have found Christ to be a light to enlighten our darkness.

Daily Devotion: He Knows Us by J. R. Miller

Bible Reading: Psalm 103:14-22 KJV 

Key Verse:  "For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust."
- Psalm 103:14 KJV

God does not treat us as if we were strong, holy, and unfallen angels! He does not forget that we are weak, that it is hard for us to live right, that we are easily tempted and overcome. He is very patient and gentle with us when we have sinned—binding up our wounds, restoring our soul. He does not lay upon us loads too great for us—for He knows how weak we are! He gives us help, too, with our burdens—that we need not faint under them.

Daily Devotion: Tender Dealing by John MacDuff

Bible Reading: Hosea 2:8-15 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her."
- Hosea 2:14 KJV

"Therefore" has a strangely beautiful connection in this verse. God's people had been grievously backsliding. He had been loading them with mercies — and they had been guiltily disowning His hand! They had taken the gifts — and spurned the Giver! "She did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold!" No, more, she had shamelessly gone after her lovers — she had deliberately preferred the ways of sin — to the ways of God!

Daily Devotion: Slander by James Meikle

Bible Reading: Proverbs 10:17-25 KJV

Key Verse:  "He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool."
- Proverbs 10:18 KJV

What a wicked world do we live in! If happy and successful—we are envied; if miserable—we are despised; and in every condition—slandered. With the psalmist of old, I may say, "the mouth of the slanderer is opened against me." With him I may add, "They have spoken against me without a cause." O that, with him, I could also say, "But I gave myself to prayer!"

Daily Devotion: All that Jesus Continues to Do by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: Acts 1:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,"
- Acts 1:1 KJV

"All that Jesus began both to do and teach” He continues to do and teach today.

In Acts 1:1 the words “all that Jesus began to do and teach” are in the linear action. It is action still going on. The verb “began” is present infinitive, linear action. It is as if to say that Jesus is still carrying on from heaven the work and teachings which He started while on earth before His ascension.

Daily Devotion: Consider Jesus in Loneliness by Octavius Winslow

Bible Reading: John 16:25-33 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me."
- John 16:32 KJV

Jesus, for the most part, lived a lonely and solitary life. It was of necessity so. There was much in His mission, more in His character, still more in His person, that would baffle the comprehension, and estrange from Him the interest and the sympathy of the world; compelling Him to retire within the profound solitude of His own wondrous Being.

Daily Devotion: Salvation Test 3 of 10: Obey God's Word by J.E. Smith

Bible Reading: 1 John 2:1-8 KJV

Key Verse:  "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments."
- 1 John 2:3 KJV

Do you keep God's commandments? 1 John 2:3 tells us, "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." The Greek word translated "keep" in verse 3 speaks of watchful, careful, thoughtful obedience. It involves not only the act of obedience, but also the spirit of obedience--a willing, habitual safeguarding of the Word, not just in letter but in spirit.

Daily Devotion: I Will Cleanse You by J.C. Philpot

Bible Reading: Ezekiel 36:24-32 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you."
- Ezekiel 36:25 KJV

When there are no crosses, temptations, or exercises, a man is sure to go out after and cleave to idols. It matters not what experience he has had, whether of trouble or consolation, distress or enjoyment; if once he ceases to be plagued and exercised, he will be setting up his household gods in the secret chambers of imagery. Profit or pleasure, self-indulgence or self-gratification will surely, in one form or another, engross his thoughts, and steal away his heart.

Daily Devotion: The Song of Simeon by Favell Lee Mortimer

Bible Reading: Luke 2:21-32 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb."
- Luke 2:21 KJV

We read that when the Savior was eight days old, he was circumcised, and named Jesus. It was not necessary that he should be brought to Jerusalem for that purpose; but at the end of forty days, when he was nearly six weeks old, he was brought to Jerusalem, for two purposes.

Daily Devotion: He Shall Sustain You

Bible Reading: Psalm 55:16-23 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."
- Psalm 55:22 KJV

There are some mistaken notions current concerning the ways in which God would help us. People think that whenever they have a little trouble, a bit of hard path to go over, a load to carry, a sorrow to endure—all they have to do is to call upon God, and He will at once take away their sorrow, or free them from the trouble. But this is not the way God helps us! His purpose of love concerning us is—not to make all things easy for us—but to make something of us!

Daily Devotion: A Gracious Alternative by John MacDuff

Bible Reading: Isaiah 27:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me."
- Isaiah 27:5 KJV

God had just spoken of the certain destruction that would overtake obstinate and incorrigible sinners. These He describes under the similitude of "briers and thorns set against Me in battle." "I will go through them," says He, "I will burn them up together!" He guards us, by a preliminary statement, against entertaining the supposition that He has any delight in the exercise of such stern retribution, "Fury is not in Me." There is with Him, whose nature and whose name is Love — no vindictive passion, no capricious wrath, no wayward impulses of anger — analogous to those in man. His thoughts, in this respect too, are not our thoughts.

Daily Devotion: Love in its Fourfold Extension by James Meikle

Bible Reading: Ephesians 3:13-21 KJV 

Key Verse:  "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,"
- Ephesians 3:17 KJV

Some things may have—height as the heavens, depth as the sea, and breadth and length as the earth. But divine love has a height which cannot be seen, a depth which cannot be sounded, a length which cannot be limited, and a breadth which cannot be measured! O Lord! may I know your love in its depth, in bringing me out of the lowest hell; in its height, in setting me on the Redeemer's throne; in its breadth, in making me an heir of God; and in its length, in eternalizing my bliss in the regions of glory! This love, in its depth, recovers and restores fallen man to endless felicity; in its height, crowns and confirms the church of the first-born; the inhabitants of the better country walk at liberty in its breadth, and rejoice in its length, its eternal duration.

Daily Devotion: All Sufficient Sacrifice of Jesus Christ by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: John 1:29-34 KJV 

Key Verse:  "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
- John 1:29 KJV

The very same all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ that enabled God to save us is sufficient to keep us saved for all eternity.

Does sin have the power to set at naught the saving power of God? Is it possible for the power of sin to be more powerful than the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God?

Daily Devotion: Salvation Test 2 of 10: Your Attitude Toward Sin by J.E. Smith

Bible Reading: 1 John 3:7-14 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
- 1 John 3:9 KJV

The profound change in your life after salvation comes from the Holy Spirit working within you to change your attitude toward sin. 1 John 3:9 tells us, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." This verse means a Christian will not live in sin nor practice sin. It does not mean a Christian will never sin. We all sin but it is our attitude toward sin that tells who we really are.

Daily Devotion: I Will Be Their God by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-40 KJV

Key Verse:  "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."
- Jeremiah 31:33 KJV

Christian! here is all you can require. To make you happy—you need something that shall satisfy you—and is not this enough? If you can pour this promise into your cup—you will say, with David, "My cup runs over! I have more than heart can wish!" When this is fulfilled, "I am your God," —are you not possessor of all things? Desire is insatiable as death—but He who fills all in all, can fill it. The capacity of our desires—who can measure? but the immeasurable wealth of God can more than overflow it. I ask you—if you are not complete—when God is yours? Do you need anything but God? Is not His all-sufficiency enough to satisfy you—if all else should fail?

Daily Devotion: God Is Love by J.C. Philpot

Bible Reading: 1 John 4:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."
- 1 John 4:8 KJV

If ever you have loved Jesus with a pure affection; if ever you have felt him near, dear, and precious to your soul, that love can never be lost out of your heart. It may lie dormant; it does lie dormant. It may not be sweetly felt in exercise; but there it is. "If any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema" (1 Cor. 16:22). You would be under this curse if the love of the Lord Jesus Christ were to die out of your heart. But this love is often sleeping. When the mother sometimes watches over the cradle and looks upon her sleeping babe with unutterable affection, the infant knows not that the mother is watching its slumbers; but when it awakes, it is able to feel and return its mother's caresses.

Daily Devotion: The Shepherds' Visit to Bethlehem by Favell Lee Mortimer

Bible Reading: Luke 2:15-20 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us."
- Luke 2:15 KJV

We find that the shepherds believed the news they had heard. They did not say, "Let us go and see whether this thing is come to pass;" but they said, "Let us now go and see this thing which has come to pass." They believed before they had seen. "Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed." They spoke also as if they felt grateful for having heard the tidings; for they added, "which the Lord has made known to us." Truly they had reason to be grateful—for God had shown them very great favor. Let us not forget that we also are among those to whom the Lord has made known the birth of his Son. There are millions on this earth who have never heard of the love of God, in sending a Savior; but we have heard of it from our infant days. Do we, like these shepherds, long to see our blessed Redeemer?

Daily Devotion: Divine Blessings by J. R. Miller

Bible Reading: Psalm 103:2-5 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:"
- Psalm 103:2 KJV

What an enumeration of divine blessings this is! Any one of them is worth more than all earth's treasures combined!

If we are not forgiven—we must rest forever under the burden of sin, a weight greater than all the Alps! But God forgives—and forgives all our sins—and forgives freely, fully and forever!

Daily Devotion: Unbounded Patience by John MacDuff

Bible Reading: Hosea 11:1-10 KJV 

Key Verse:  "I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city."
- Hosea 11:9 KJV

What a tender unfolding of the heart of God is here! It is the yearning thought of the fondest of Fathers over a nation of wayward prodigals! How grievous had been their ingratitude. He speaks in the beginning of the chapter, of His loving thoughts to Israel "when a child," and of His specially gentle upbringing of them, "I Myself taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand. But he doesn't know or even care that it was I who took care of him. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love!" Yet what is the requital for all this endearing tenderness? "My people are bent to backsliding from Me!"

Daily Devotion: The Disposal of Providence Always Best by James Meikle

Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:1-7 KJV

Key Verse:  "(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)"
- 2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV

Why would I still take the government of myself out of your hand, and choose according to my fond desires? Can my ignorance penetrate through the thick darkness of futurity? Who would choose a blind mad-man to guide him through some lonely ways and intricate meanders, with which neither the traveler nor the guide are acquainted in the least: since he might lead him where he desires, and stab him as he strays?

Daily Devotion: Salvation Test 1 of 10: Profound Change In Your Life by J.E. Smith

Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 KJV

Key Verse:  "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

As the Holy Spirit works in our life, our desires, attitude and actions will change. As an ambassador, representing the most high kingdom of God, we will no longer feel comfortable using off-color language, tolerating sexual innuendos and generally living the life we did before. If there were no changes in our life, then there was no salvation - you are not part of the saved few.

Daily Devotion: Consider Jesus as Forsaken by God by Octavius Winslow

Bible Reading: Matt. 27:45-50 KJV

Key Verse:  "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
- Matthew 27:46 KJV

My soul! was it not enough that your Lord should be forsaken of man in His sorrow? Was it essential to the accomplishment of your salvation, and to your support and comfort in seasons of soul desertion and darkness, that He should likewise be forsaken of God? Yes! it must be so. The history of the universe never presented such an abandonment--a being so holy, and yet so entirely and so severely forsaken of God and man--as that which Jesus was now experiencing upon the accursed tree. With what a depth of emphasis that word must have sounded from His pale lips, quivering with agony--"'My God, my God, why have YOU FORSAKEN me?' You, my Father--You whose glory I am vindicating, whose government I am honoring, whose Name I am glorifying, whose Church I am redeeming--why, my God, my God, have YOU forsaken me? I can endure to be abandoned by man, but to be forsaken by YOU, my Father, in the hour of my deepest sorrow, at the moment of my keenest suffering, is the bitterest ingredient in my cup of bitter, the darkest hue in my cloud of darkness." Let us devoutly consider Jesus as passing through this eclipse of His soul, and receive the holy instruction and comfort the spectacle was designed to convey.

Daily Devotion: Thy Love Is Better Than Wine by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading: Song of Solomon 1:1-7 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine."
- Song of Solomon 1:2 KJV

Nothing gives the believer so much joy—as fellowship with Christ. He has enjoyment as others have, in the common mercies of life; he can be glad both in God's gifts and God's works. But in all these separately, yes, and in all of them added together—he does not find such substantial delight—as in the matchless person of his Lord Jesus! He has wine which no vineyard on earth ever yielded; he has bread which all the richest grain-fields could never bring forth.

Daily Devotion: Built Upon The Foundation by J.C. Philpot

Bible Reading: Ephesians 2:15-22 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;"
- Ephesians 2:20 KJV

Christ is the Head of every member individually, as he is the Head of the whole body collectively. Growth of the body, from babyhood to manhood, is the growth of individual members in the body. If, then, I am a member of the mystical body of Christ Jesus, I shall grow. My growth may be so slow and gradual as to be scarcely perceptible; but it will be growth still. If I have union with Christ, I shall be supplied, at least in some measure, out of his fullness. He is my life, and he has promised, because he lives, I shall live also; and if I live by him, I shall live upon and unto him. Paul could say, "The life which I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God;" and also, "And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again" (2 Cor. 5:15).

Daily Devotion: The Angels' appearance to the Shepherds by Favell Lee Mortimer

Bible Reading: Luke 2:8-14 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid."
- Luke 2:9 KJV

In the circumstances of our Savior's birth, there was a great mixture of lowliness and glory. Jesus was laid in a feeding trough; yet angels announced his appearance. But to whom did angels announce it? not to princes, but to shepherds; thus showing that God had chosen the poor of this world. Through all our Savior's life, there was the same mixture of lowliness and glory—he lived with fishermen, yet was sometimes visited by angels; he had a sorrowful countenance, yet once it shone brighter than the sun; he was poorly clothed, yet, on one occasion, his clothing was whiter than any launderer on earth could whiten it; he was so weak that he could not bear his cross, yet so strong that he could raise the dead from their graves.

Daily Devotion: Be Thou Perfect by J. R. Miller

Bible Reading: Genesis 17:1-9 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."
- Genesis 17:1 KJV

"Perfection is impossible!" we are in the habit of saying; and therefore we do not try to reach perfection. It is better for us always to keep our aim high, although we cannot hope to reach it. If we have low ideals and aims—our attainments will be low. We cannot look with approval upon anything lower than the perfect beauty of God Himself, and not have the beauty of our own life dimmed thereby. We should always keep perfection before us—as our aim. We should keep our eyes ever fixed upon the perfect model, Jesus Christ!