Daily Devotion: Eternal Purpose of God by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: Romans 8:26-33 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
- Romans 8:28 KJV

Where is God at work in your life? Are you going through some deep hurt, pain or suffering? Could God perhaps be doing a special work through your present circumstances? One of the greatest promises in the Bible is found in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” 

Daily Devotion: Peace Of God by J.E. Smith

Bible Reading: Philippians 4:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:7 KJV

In a world filled with noise, uncertainty, and constant pressure, peace often feels fragile, here one moment and gone the next. Yet the peace God offers is not like the peace the world gives. It is deeper, steadier, and supernatural.

Daily Devotion: Glorify Christ by Octavius Winslow

Bible Reading: John 16:12-19 KJV 

Key Verse:  "He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you."
- John 16:14 KJV

One essential and important office of the Spirit is to glorify Christ. And how does He most glorify Christ, but by exalting His atoning work, giving to it the preeminence, the importance, and the glory it demands; leading the sinner, whom He has first convinced of sin, to accept of Jesus as a willing, an all-sufficient Savior; to cast away all trust in self, all reliance upon a covenant of works, which is but a covenant of death, and thus going entirely outside of himself, to take up his rest in the blood and righteousness of Immanuel, the God-man Mediator. Oh, what sweet, holy delight must it be to the Spirit of God when a poor sinner, in all his conscious nothingness, is led to build upon Jesus, the "tried stone, the precious corner-stone, the sure foundation!"

Daily Devotion: Salvation Is Of The Lord by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading: Jonah 2 KJV

Key Verse:  "But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord."
- Jonah 2:9 KJV

Salvation is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the soul which is "dead in trespasses and sins," and it is He also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both "Alpha and Omega." "Salvation is of the Lord." If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God's gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with His hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God Himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone.

Daily Devotion: Endure hardship by J.C. Philpot

Bible Reading: 2 Timothy 2:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
- 2 Timothy 2:3 KJV

We often get into states and frames of mind, where we need something else besides consolation. A child would not grow, if it were always fed upon sweets. It must have exercise, and be exposed to the weather, and have the cold winds blow upon its face, and be hardened, so as to enable it to bear the chill winter and the nipping frosts.

Daily Devotion: Christ Delivers The Demoniac Tomb Dweller Lee Mortimer

Bible Reading: Mark 5:1-20 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea."- Mark 5:13 KJV

The history of the poor demoniac affords a striking instance of the malice of devils, of the power of Christ, and of the wickedness of man. How great was the malice of the devils that assaulted this poor man! They led him to dwell in solitary places among the tombs; for in those days tombs were generally made in lonely spots, among barren hills and rocks. Cut off from the company of his fellows, he spent his miserable days in crying, and cutting his own flesh; and when his friends mercifully bound his hands in chains, and his feet in fetters, he burst through these restraints and again escaped to his desolate abode. Thus he became a terror to the neighborhood, and a torment to himself.

Daily Devotion: Feed My Sheep by J. R. Miller

Bible Reading: John 21:15-22 KJV 

Key Verse:  "He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep."
- John 21:16 KJV

We are striving to follow Christ—but we are weak. We intend to be loving—but we mar our days with unhappy tempers and selfish strivings. We intend to be strong in faith—but many times our trust fails us. We bow our heads to take the Master's blessing, "Peace be unto you;" but again and again—the peace is broken. We intend to show the world a pattern of Christlikeness, but the temptations about us are so sore, that every day we are conscious of having failed to be true. We set out in the morning brave and confident; but alas! how often does the evening find us defeated!

Daily Devotion: Divine Sympathy by John MacDuff

Bible Reading: Exodus 3:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;" - Exodus 3:7 KJV

Man cannot say so. There are many sensitive fibers in the soul, which the best and most tender human sympathy cannot touch. But the Prince of Sufferers, He who led the way in the path of sorrow, "knows our frame." When crushing bereavement lies like ice on the heart, when the dearest earthly friend cannot enter into the peculiarities of our grief — Jesus can, Jesus does! He who once bore my sins — also carried my sorrows. That eye, now on the throne, was once dim with weeping! I can think in all my afflictions — "He was afflicted;" in all my tears — "Jesus wept."

Daily Devotion: Jesus, The Living Bread by J.E. Smith

Bible Reading: John 6:31-38 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."
- John 6:35 KJV

Jesus calling himself the “bread of life” in John 6 means that he is the one who truly sustains and satisfies the deepest hunger of the human heart. In the context of Israel’s history, God once provided manna in the wilderness to keep his people alive day by day. Jesus contrasts this with himself as the true bread from heaven, given for the life of the world, whose life does not perish and who offers eternal life to those who come to him in faith, to trust, believe, and remain in him. Whoever comes to Jesus, the bread of life, “shall not hunger” and “shall never thirst” in a spiritual sense. 

Daily Devotion: What We Should Expect And Wait For by James Meikle

Bible Reading: Romans 15:13-20 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."
- Romans 15:13 KJV

How are our joys heightened by hope. But sadly—sometimes our hopes may be false! And how vainly are our expectations pointed at some future worldly enjoyment, which, when it comes, shall perhaps disappoint us—even in the enjoyment of it! Yet, for such things we long, though, in a manner—we are actually hankering after our own misery.

Daily Devotion: The Gift Of Eternal Life by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: 1 John 5:7-14 KJV

Key Verse:  "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."
- 1 John 5:11 KJV

Eternal Life is God’s kind of life. It is eternal because He is eternal. Nothing will ever separate the believer in Christ from the One who loves us. He gave us His free gift of eternal life the very moment we were born spiritually, and it can never be lost (John 3:15-16, 36; 6:47; 10:28). It is a life without end, and no one can ever take it from you. There are no final boundaries to eternal life.

Daily Devotion: The Constant Exercise Of Prayer by Octavius Winslow

Bible Reading: Proverbs 3:1-8 KJV

Key Verse:  "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
- Proverbs 3:6 KJV

The constant exercise of prayer makes every burden light, and smooths every rugged step of a child of God: it is this only that keeps down his trials; not that he is ever exempt from them- no, it is "through much tribulation that he is to enter the kingdom;"- he is a disciple of the cross, his religion is that of the cross, he is a follower of Him who died upon the cross, and entire exemption from the cross he never expects until he passes to the possession of the crown.

Daily Devotion: Jonah Fled by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading: Jonah 1:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."
- Jonah 1:3 KJV

Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade him, Jonah disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape from it. There are occasions when God's servants shrink from duty. But what is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his conduct?

Daily Devotion: Grand Object Of Faith by J.C. Philpot

Bible Reading: Hebrews 13:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."
- Hebrews 13:8 KJV

The eye of our faith must be ever fixed on Jesus, for the Person of Christ is the grand object of faith, and to lose sight of him is to lose sight of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Is he not the same Jesus now that he was on earth? He is exalted, it is true, to an inconceivable height of glory, so that when John saw him, even as if in some measure veiled, he fell at his feet as dead. But he is the same Jesus now as when he was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as he wears the same human body, so he has the same tender, compassionate heart.

Daily Devotion: Christ Sleeps In The Storm Then Stills It by Favell Lee Mortimer

Bible Reading: Mark 4:33-41 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it."
- Mark 4:33 KJV

It was in this manner that the Lord Jesus ended a day of great labor. His friends in the midst of it had desired him to desist, but seeing multitudes assembled to hear the word, he continued to teach. In order to be seen and heard more conveniently, he removed into a ship. The parable of the sower, and many others, were spoken by Jesus while he sat in a ship on the lake of Gennesaret. (See Mark 4:1.) Afterwards, he had a private conversation in the house with his disciples, when he explained his parables. In the evening he crossed the lake in a ship.

Daily Devotion: The Coming Kingdom by J.E. Smith

Bible Reading: Matthew 4:17-24 KJV 

Key Verse:  "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
- Matthew 4:17 KJV

When Jesus stepped onto the scene, His first public message wasn’t about politics, morality, or self-improvement. It was about God's Kingdom. “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) 

Daily Devotion: Transformation Of John by J. R. Miller

Bible Reading: John 21:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea."
- John 21:7 KJV

One compares the character of John, in its mellow ripeness, to an ancient, extinct volcano. Where once the crater yawned—there is now a verdurous, cup-like hollow on the mountain summit. Where once the fierce fires burned—lies a still, clear pool of water, looking up like an eye to the beautiful heavens above, its banks covered with sweet flowers. "It is an apt parable," he says, "of the apostle John. 

Daily Devotion: Immutability by John MacDuff

Bible Reading: Malachi 3:1-8 KJV

Key Verse:  "For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."
- Malachi 3:6 KJV

The UNCHANGEABLENESS of God. What an anchor for a storm tossed sea! Change is our portion here on earth! Scenes are altering. Joys are fading. Some friends are removed by distance; others have gone to their 'long home.' Who, amid these checkered experiences, does not sigh for something permanent, stable, enduring? The vessel has again and again slipped its earthly moorings. We long for some secure and sheltered harbor.

Daily Devotion: The Approaching Happiness Of The Saints by James Meikle

Bible Reading: James 5:7-14 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." - James 5:11 KJV

To escape my present sorrow, and triumph in the midst of my present grief, let me suppose eternity is at hand, which may very soon, but must before long—be the case. May I not, then, with the eye of all-triumphant faith, think I see myself walking in white with my well-beloved, along the fields of glory, and my whole soul going out to him in a manner it never could here below! While floods of glory from his reconciled face overflow me, and the smile of his lovely countenance entrances my soul forever! While I join the hosannas of the higher house, the eternal hallelujahs, and begin the song which none can learn but the chosen number—the sealed ones! With what transport do I mingle with the heavenly multitudes, and, to my extreme comfort, realize that there is not one sinner in the heavenly company, or anything expressed against the majesty of the Most High! Where all the heavenly multitudes, transforming in his beams, kindling in his flames, and drinking at his ecstatic rivers—are happy beyond conception!

Daily Devotion: Eternal Consequences Of Critical Choices by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: Romans 6:16-23 KJV 

Key Verse:  "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
- Romans 6:23 KJV

“The wages of sin is death.”  Those are startling words. The only wages sin pays results in death spiritually and eternally. The wages of sin is death spiritually. That means spiritual eyes that cannot see God, spiritual ears that cannot hear His voice. It means a spiritual heart that is hardened to God and cannot respond to the atoning sacrifice of His Son.

Daily Devotion: An Everlasting Covenant by Octavius Winslow

Bible Reading: Isaiah 55:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."
- Isaiah 55:3 KJV

God had promised David that he would sit upon the throne of his fathers that the kingdom of Israel, rent from Saul, should be transferred to his government. But the crown and the scepter thus promised loomed in the distance, almost enshrouded from view by dark intervening clouds. The promise seemed as a dead letter. The providence of God appeared to clash with and to contradict the promise of God. But, in the history of His Church, the providences of the divine government are not the exponents of the promises of the Divine Governor. 

Daily Devotion: The Wrath To Come by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading: Matthew 3:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"
- Matthew 3:7 KJV

It is pleasant to pass over a country after a storm has spent itself; to smell the freshness of the herbs after the rain has passed away, and to note the drops while they glisten like purest diamonds in the sunlight. That is the position of a Christian. He is going through a land where the storm has spent itself upon His Savior's head, and if there are a few drops of sorrow falling, they distill from clouds of mercy, and Jesus cheers him by the assurance that they are not for his destruction.

Daily Devotion: Jesus' Two Great Commandments by J.E. Smith

Bible Reading: Matthew 22:32-40 KJV 

Key Verse:  "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
- Matthew 22:40 KJV

When asked which commandment was the greatest, Jesus did not hesitate. He did not choose a ceremonial law or a complex rule. He chose love. These two commandments are not suggestions. They are the foundation. Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets hang on them. Every command, every teaching, every moral instruction flows from loving God and loving others.

Daily Devotion: I Will Go In To The King by J.C. Philpot

Bible Reading: Esther 4:10-17 KJV

Key Verse:  "Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish."
- Esther 4:16 KJV

When we are in darkness, under distress of conscience, or when guilt lies hard and heavy upon the soul, these things do, and must until removed, keep us back from the Lord. But are we ever to give heed to these enemies of our soul's peace? Are we never to press through the crowd? How was it with the man who was paralyzed for so many years? He might forever have lain helpless upon his bed, had he not been brought into the presence of Jesus. How with the woman with the issue of blood? She might forever have tarried on the skirts of the crowd, a poor, polluted, self-condemned wretch. But she pressed through the crowd, and got to touch the hem of Jesus' garment.

Daily Devotion: The Parable Of The Fishing-Net by Favell Lee Mortimer

Bible Reading: Matthew 13:47-54 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:"
- Matthew 13:47 KJV

The parable of the net cast into the sea was calculated particularly to interest the disciples, many of whom were fishermen. They were accustomed, after the toils of the day, to sort the fish they had taken. This employment affords a lively image of the distinctions that will be made at the last day. The net represents the word of the Gospel, which is preached to many, and which many profess to believe. The disciples were shortly to begin the work of preaching it. Great success would accompany their endeavors; but yet that success would be attended by much disappointment. Many to whom they preached would prove hypocrites. Some of these would be detected in their lifetime, but others not until the judgment-day.

Daily Devotion: Your Labor Is Not In Vain by J. R. Miller

Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:58 KJV 

Key Verse:  "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."
- 1 Corinthians 15:58 KJV

Jesus walks no more among men, doing his deeds of love—but he sends his followers forth to do the works in his name. We ought to abound in all loving ministry just as he did. It is not enough to be good, gentle, sweet, amiable, kindly, patient. It is beautiful to live such a life; and its influence is far-reaching, like the fragrance of Mary's ointment. But we must also be full of good works. We must be winners of souls. We must live to do good to men, to comfort sorrow, to feed hunger, to relieve distress, to cheer the disheartened, to break chains and liberate sin's captives, to stand up for the truth, to do battle for the right. We are to be like Christ, and we begin to be like Christ—only when we begin to be useful.

Daily Devotion: The Reason For Chastisement by John MacDuff

Bible Reading: Hebrews 12:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." - Hebrews 12:6 KJV

What! God loves me — when He is discharging His quiver upon me — when He is emptying me from vessel to vessel — when He is causing the sun of my earthly joys to set in clouds? Yes! O afflicted, tempest-tossed one, He chastens you — because He loves you! This trial comes from His own tender, loving hand — from His own tender, unchanging heart!

Daily Devotion: The Madness Of The World In Their Choice by James Meikle

Bible Reading: Mark 12:10-17 KJV 

Key Verse:  "And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:"
- Mark 12:10 KJV

Why does the world reject the Savior of the world? Why do they abhor him who is altogether lovely—and hate him who is the best Friend of mankind? Had I the tongue of a cherub, which has heard the language of glory, and mingled in the discourse of the multitudes before the throne for these five thousand years; or could I talk in every tongue, extend my voice to every nation, and speak so loud and long, that the assembled universe should hear—what should be my theme, my darling, favorite theme? Surely the Son of God, the Savior of the world. How would I dwell on his divine nature, and enlarge on his enrapturing relationship to his people—until all the needy nations fell prostrate adorers before the throne of their kinsman-Redeemer, and their God!

Daily Devotion: Either We Die Or He Dies by Wil Pounds

Bible Reading: Romans 5:1-8 KJV 

Key Verse:  "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
- Romans 5:8 KJV

The Scriptures are very clear that the wrath of God is visited upon sinners or else that the Son of God dies for them. Either sinners are punished for their sins or else there takes place a substitution. Either the sinner dies or the substitute dies.

Daily Devotion: Rejoicing In The Lord by J.E. Smith

Bible Reading: Psalm 118:21-29 KJV

Key Verse:  "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." - Psalm 118:24 KJV

Every morning we awaken to a gift, a day God Himself has made. It may unfold with joy or challenge, sunlight or storm, but no matter what it holds, one thing remains true: the day belongs to the Lord. Because of that truth, we can choose to rejoice.

Daily Devotion: Doubting by Octavius Winslow

Bible Reading: Matthew 14:31 KJV

Key Verse:  "And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"
- Matthew 14:31 KJV

Doubting faith is not doubtful faith. If the believer has not the faith of assurance, he may have the faith of reliance, and that will take him to heaven. All the doubts and fears that ever harassed a child of God cannot erase his name from the Lamb's book of life, nor take him out of the heart of God, nor shut him out of glory. "Unbelief," says Rutherford, "may perhaps tear the copies of the covenant which Christ has given you; but He still keeps the original in heaven with Himself. Your doubts and fears are no parts of the covenant; neither can they change Christ."