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!