Devotionals

Ephesians 1:16-18 (NLT2)

[We] have not stopped thanking God for you. [We] pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. [We} pray that your heart will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called—His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance.


We pray you will be challenged, convicted, encouraged, and blessed by our devotionals to the glory of God.

Our Most Recent Devotional

For Today, Unto You Is Born A Savior, Part 6 of 6

Luke 2:8-11 (NASB)

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 


The Scripture says that in His incarnation the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8) “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and [was] made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). All the adjectives and exclamations in language could never say enough about that reality. Yet, paradoxically, history’s most notable birth happened under the most obscure, nondescript, humble circumstances imaginable—Jesus was born in the place where the animals of those staying in a public shelter were kept. No one in the sleepy little village of Bethlehem realized the significance of what had happened, except, to a certain degree, the Child’s parents. But that was about to change; the silence regarding the Savior’s birth would be broken in a most supernaturally dramatic way.


I pray you will be challenged, convicted, encouraged, and blessed by today's devotional to the glory of God.



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Recent Devotionals


  • THE TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS

    Matthew 22:34-40 (NASB)
    But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' 38  "This is the great and foremost commandment. 39  "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' 40  "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." 


    Someone has said that love may not make the world go around but it makes the trip worthwhile.


    Those words perhaps gather up the sentiment of the world that the sweetest and most exhilarating of all emotions and experiences is love. In whatever age or with whatever group of people, it has been the almost universal belief that love is the greatest thing in life, the summum bonum, the virtue par excellence. Consequently volumes upon volumes of poems, songs, plays, novels, and films have been produced about love.


    God's Word concurs that love is the greatest virtue (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13), but the love which it elevates as supreme is of a much deeper and more substantive kind than that which the world understands and admires. Jesus declared that agapē love is the supreme divine requirement of men, both in regard to Himself and in regard to other men.


    Love for God is the foundation of the Christian life, it is the defining characteristic identifying a true believer. Christians are those who love the one true and living God; the God of the patriarchs; “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; 11:31; Eph. 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3).


    True spiritual and eternal life begins with loving God imperfectly in this life, and culminates in loving Him perfectly in heaven. Love for God is also a universal command, disobedience to which brings divine judgment and everlasting punishment. Hell will be forever populated by those who refused to love God. 


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  • THE LEGACY OF JESUS

    John 14:24-26 (NASB)
    "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. 25  "These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 26  "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 said to you. 


    As people grow older, they naturally spend more and more time thinking about the legacy they will leave behind. They begin to consider how they will be remembered, and what they will hand down to those coming after them. Like never before, they reflect on the heritage they have built over their lifetime.


    On the financial front, many plan for the distribution of the wealth they have accumulated, wanting to make sure it goes to their heirs of choice, and not to the government or an unacceptable third party. Not surprisingly, addressing such concerns has become big business. There are innumerable estate planners, investment counselors, and attorneys offering means to accomplish people's differing objectives. Television commercials tout life insurance and exhort seniors not to burden their families with expensive funeral costs. Local bookstores are fully stocked with self-help books and computer programs dealing with estate planning. Special seminars are frequently offered on how to handle wills and trusts. All of this is predicated on people's desire to preserve their wealth and pass it on to the next generation.


    Such concerns are valid. The Bible speaks of the importance of wise stewardship (cf. Prov. 27:23-27; Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 16:11), and assumes that people will leave an inheritance to those who come after them (Prov. 13:22; 17:2; 19:14; 20:21; Matt. 21:38; Luke 12:13; 15:11-12). But of far greater importance than the corruptible, earthly inheritance they leave others is the incorruptible heavenly inheritance God has for every child of His. That inheritance is "imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for [them]" (1 Peter 1:4; cf. Eph. 1:11). It is far beyond human understanding, prompting Paul to write,


    Ephesians 1:18 (HCSB)

    [I pray] that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, 


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  • BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS

    After giving the invitation to "enter by the narrow gate" (Matt. 7:13), to come to God by the only way He has provided, Jesus warns that not everyone who claims to belong to God and to speak for Him actually does so. When we stand at the crossroads of decision, we should remember that the true way to God is narrow and that the false way is broad; the true way is difficult and demanding, and the false way is easy and permissive; the true way has relatively few following in it, and the false way has many.


    Jesus now says, in effect, "As you strive to enter that narrow gate and walk that narrow way that leads to life, beware of those who would mislead you. Just as there is a misleading gate and a misleading way, there are also misleading preachers and teachers who point to that gate and promote that way." Just like the false gate and way, they will claim to show the way to heaven and life, but they actually show the way to hell and destruction. The false gate has false prophets standing in front of it who seek to lead people into the false way and hinder them from entering the true.


    In the present passage Jesus first gives a warning and then calls us to be watchful. Just as He described the true and false ways (Matt. 7:13-14), He now describes the true and false teachers of those ways.


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  • THANKSGIVING EXPRESSED BY GENEROSITY

    2 Corinthians 9:10-11 (NLT2) 

    For God is the One who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, He will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. 


    While it is possible to give without loving, it is not possible to love without giving. God gives His Son to all believers, but He blesses in a unique way to generous, cheerful givers. In fact, He blesses such believers on such a grand, immense, staggering scale that it beggars language to express it. Trying to convey the magnanimity of God's generosity, Paul resorted to hyperbole, using a form of the word pas ("all") five times in 2 Corinthians 9:8-11. God's gracious giving has no limits; it is off the scale.


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