Post-o-Matic 3.16

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Posted on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?passage=Matthew+5%3A3

Morning Through love serve one another. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.—My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.—Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.—Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.—Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.—Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Gal. 5:13; Gal. 6:1, 2; Jas. 5:19, 20; 1 Pet. 1:22; Rom. 13:8; Rom. 12:10; 1 Pet. 5:5; Rom. 15:1 (Read full verses...) Evening The dust returns to the earth as it was. What is sown is perishable. . . . It is sown in dishonor. . . . It is sown in weakness. . . . It is sown a natural body.—The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”—One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure. . . . Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them. My flesh . . . dwells secure.—“And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”—The Lord Jesus Christ . . . will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!”—So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Eccl. 12:7; 1 Cor. 15:42-44; 1 Cor. 15:47; Gen. 3:19; Job 21:23, 25, 26; Ps. 16:9; Job 19:26; Phil. 3:20, 21; Ps. 39:4; Ps. 90:12 (Read full verses...) << Dec 7 | Dec 8 | Dec 9 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. Posted on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?passage=John+14%3A16-17

Morning For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.—He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.—As by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.—There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. “The LORD is our righteousness.” 2 Cor. 5:21; Isa. 53:6; 1 Pet. 2:24; Rom. 5:19; Titus 3:4-7; Rom. 8:1; Jer. 23:6 (Read full verses...) Evening I will be like the dew to Israel. The meekness and gentleness of Christ.—A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” . . . And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.—He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Hos. 14:5; 2 Cor. 10:1; Isa. 42:3; Luke 4:18, 19, 21, 22; Luke 22:61, 62; Isa. 40:11 (Read full verses...) << Dec 6 | Dec 7 | Dec 8 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Morning It is God who works in you. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.—“A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”—“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”—“I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever.” Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. O LORD, you will ordain peace for us; you have done for us all our works. Phil. 2:13; 2 Cor. 3:5; John 3:27; John 6:44; Jer. 32:39; Jas. 1:16-18; Eph. 2:10; Isa. 26:12 (Read full verses...) Evening “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. . . . For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.—For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.—Our sufficiency is from God.—“My grace is sufficient for you.” Matt. 26:41; Isa. 26:8, 9; Rom. 7:18, 22, 23; Gal. 5:17; Phil. 4:13; 2 Cor. 3:5; 2 Cor. 12:9 (Read full verses...) << Dec 5 | Dec 6 | Dec 7 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Morning It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.—We suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.” “And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. . . . Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. Ps. 119:71; Heb. 5:8; Rom. 8:17, 18; Job 23:10, 11; Deut. 8:2, 5, 6 (Read full verses...) Evening “Not by might shall a man prevail.” Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” . . . And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it. . . . So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone. The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. . . . Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love.—Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 1 Sam. 2:9; 1 Sam. 17:45, 49, 50; Ps. 33:16, 18; 1 Chron. 29:12; 2 Cor. 12:9, 10 (Read full verses...) << Dec 4 | Dec 5 | Dec 6 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Morning “Where shall wisdom be found?” If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting.—Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.—The only [wise, KJV] God.—Be not wise in your own eyes. “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.” “Whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”—“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Job 28:12; Jas. 1:5, 6; Prov. 3:5, 6; 1 Tim. 1:17; Prov. 3:7; Jer. 1:6-8; John 16:23, 24; Matt. 21:22 (Read full verses...) Evening “I would not live forever.” And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. . . . I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.” In this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. . . . For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.—My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Job 7:16; Ps. 55:6, 8; 2 Cor. 5:2, 4; Phil. 1:23; Heb. 12:1-3; John 14:27 (Read full verses...) << Dec 3 | Dec 4 | Dec 5 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Morning “I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause.” “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”—Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.—Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.—Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD. “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.”—The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. Job 5:8; Gen. 18:14; Ps. 37:5; Phil. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:7; Isa. 37:14, 15; Isa. 65:24; Jas. 5:16; Ps. 116:1, 2 (Read full verses...) Evening Our bodies washed with pure water. “You shall . . . make a basin of bronze. . . . You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting, . . . they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die.”—Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you.—If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. “In my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”—But nothing unclean will ever enter it.—You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong.—I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Heb. 10:22; Ex. 30:18-21; 1 Cor. 6:19; 1 Cor. 3:17; Job 19:26, 27; Rev. 21:27; Hab. 1:13; Rom. 12:1 (Read full verses...) << Dec 2 | Dec 3 | Dec 4 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Posted on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?passage=Philippians+2%3A3

Morning But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.—For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.—And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. You anoint my head with oil.—But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything—and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you—abide in him. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 1 John 2:20; Acts 10:38; Col. 1:19; John 1:16; Ps. 23:5; 1 John 2:27; John 14:26; Rom. 8:26 (Read full verses...) Evening With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.—The sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people. . . . And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Heb. 10:22; Heb. 9:13, 14; Heb. 12:24; Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:19, 21, 22 (Read full verses...) << Dec 1 | Dec 2 | Dec 3 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Posted on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?passage=Hebrews+13%3A8

Morning Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things.—“The man who stands next to me,” declares the LORD of hosts.—“I and the Father are one.” He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.—There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.—The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. From the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.—You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble.—You have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall. Isa. 32:3; Heb. 2:14; Zech. 13:7; John 10:30; Ps. 91:1; Isa. 4:6; Ps. 121:5, 6; Ps. 61:2; Ps. 32:7; Isa. 25:4 (Read full verses...) Evening “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.” “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, . . . so shall your offspring and your name remain.” But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Isa. 65:17; Isa. 66:22; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-5 (Read full verses...) << Nov 30 | Dec 1 | Dec 2 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Morning Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. Peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.—The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”—“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. . . . Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” “The Helper . . . the Spirit of truth.”—The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.—The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us?” 2 Thess. 3:16; Rev. 1:4; Phil. 4:7; Luke 24:36; John 14:27; John 15:26; Gal. 5:22; Rom. 8:16; Ex. 33:14-16 (Read full verses...) Evening We rejoice in our sufferings. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.—As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.—They left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Rom. 5:3; 1 Cor. 15:19; 1 Pet. 4:12, 13; 2 Cor. 6:10; Phil. 4:4; Acts 5:41; Rom. 15:13; Hab. 3:17, 18 (Read full verses...) << Nov 29 | Nov 30 | Dec 1 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Morning We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house. One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”—“He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.” He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.—“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Ps. 65:4; Ps. 27:4; Matt. 5:6; Luke 1:53; Ps. 107:9; John 6:35; Ps. 36:7-9 (Read full verses...) Evening “Do you now believe?” What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? . . . Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son. . . . He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead.—Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? . . . You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. The one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. “You will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”—“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” John 16:31; Jas. 2:14, 17; Heb. 11:17-19; Jas. 2:21, 24; Jas. 1:25; Matt. 7:20, 21; John 13:17 (Read full verses...) << Nov 28 | Nov 29 | Nov 30 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. Posted on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?passage=2+Timothy+2%3A15

Morning As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”—Holiness without which no one will see the Lord.—Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.—By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Jas. 2:26; Matt. 7:21; Heb. 12:14; 2 Pet. 1:5-10; Eph. 2:8, 9 (Read full verses...) Evening Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.—So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. We know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. . . . So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. . . . We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” Heb. 2:14, 15; 1 Cor. 15:55, 57; 2 Cor. 4:16; 2 Cor. 5:1, 6-8; John 14:1, 2 (Read full verses...) << Nov 27 | Nov 28 | Nov 29 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." Posted on Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?passage=Isaiah+1%3A18

Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever. For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. Posted on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?passage=Psalm+37%3A27-29

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. Posted on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?passage=Proverbs+25%3A28

The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. Posted on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?passage=Proverbs+15%3A33

Morning “Whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.—He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.—His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. Your life is hidden with Christ in God.—He who touches you touches the apple of his eye.—“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD. . . . The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”—God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear. Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”—“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”—I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. Prov. 1:33; Ps. 90:1; Ps. 91:1; Ps. 91:4; Col. 3:3; Zech. 2:8; Ex. 14:13, 14; Ps. 46:1, 2; Matt. 14:27; Luke 24:38, 39; 2 Tim. 1:12 (Read full verses...) Evening “My kingdom is not of this world.” But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.—“From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”—He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.—He raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.—which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. John 18:36; Heb. 10:12, 13; Matt. 26:64; 1 Cor. 15:25; 1 Cor. 15:57; Eph. 1:20-23; 1 Tim. 6:15 (Read full verses...) << Nov 22 | Nov 23 | Nov 24 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Morning Pray in the Holy Spirit. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”—We . . . have access in one Spirit to the Father. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.—This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.—“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication. Jude 20; John 4:24; Eph. 2:18; Matt. 26:39; Rom. 8:26, 27; 1 John 5:14; John 16:13; Eph. 6:18 (Read full verses...) Evening “There is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.” A bruised reed he will not break.—He restores my soul. Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.—For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.—“After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this.” Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. . . . He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. Job 14:7; Isa. 42:3; Ps. 23:3; 2 Cor. 7:10; Heb. 12:11; Ps. 119:67; Ezra 9:13; Mic. 7:8, 9 (Read full verses...) << Nov 21 | Nov 22 | Nov 23 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

Morning “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” “If he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”—“I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God.”—“I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant.” “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”—“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”—“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. John 6:37; Ex. 22:27; Lev. 26:44; Ezek. 16:60; Isa. 1:18; Isa. 55:7; Luke 23:42, 43; Isa. 42:3 (Read full verses...) Evening His beloved Son. Behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”—Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.—The only God, who is at the Father's side. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. . . . So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love. “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”—See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. Col. 1:13; Matt. 3:17; Isa. 42:1; John 1:18; 1 John 4:9, 10, 16; John 17:22, 23; 1 John 3:1 (Read full verses...) << Nov 20 | Nov 21 | Nov 22 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Posted on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?passage=Philippians+2%3A13

Morning When I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”—I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.—When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?—The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Mic. 7:8; Isa. 43:2, 3; Isa. 42:16; Ps. 23:4; Ps. 56:3, 4; Ps. 27:1 (Read full verses...) Evening One God, and . . . one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”—An intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. We and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, . . . they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love. . . . Therefore he said he would destroy them—had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them. Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. The covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. . . . “I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” 1 Tim. 2:5; Deut. 6:4; Gal. 3:20; Ps. 106:6, 7, 23; Heb. 3:1, 2; Heb. 8:6, 12 (Read full verses...) << Nov 19 | Nov 20 | Nov 21 >> Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Posted on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800 at http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/