Category Archives: Daily Devotionals

Daily Devotionals

Psalm Three

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                      The Trusting Man

Lord, there are many who rise against me,

Ones who say that  no help  comes from Thee,

But I know You are there, a shield for my head,

You don’t cast down, but lift up instead;

I know that You hear me, and give me Your peace,

I can lie down and sleep, for it never shall cease.

I will NOT be afraid, tho’ ten thousand abound,

My God will save me from those who surround;

Salvation comes free, from our God on the Throne,

His people are so blessed by Him  alone.

We see  the complete trust and peace that those who rest in the Lord can have. This is what our Lord was referring to when He said we have to have the trust that a little child has in its elders…..a trust that never doubts or questions (Matthew 18:2-4). We have to have the faith that says, ”God says it, I believe it and that settles it!”

This is not always easy to do, but we have to learn to put it into practice…the more we do this the easier it becomes. God tells His people many times to “Remember what I have done” (Deuteronomy 7:18) and this is just as important for us now as it was then. Paul also remembered how the Lord stood with him in his times of trials and this gave him the courage to continue  (2 Timothy 4:17-18).

Daily Devotionals

Devotions from the Psalms (1 & 2)

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          Psalm One…  The Godly Man 

Blessed is the man who walks in God’s ways,  Who delights in His laws, all of his days;

As trees by the water bringing forth fruit, Whose leaf doesn’t wither, in God is his root,

The ungodly aren’t so, but are like the dry chaff, Blowing away, in the lightest draught,

The Lord knows the way the righteous take, The ways of sinners, man’s greatest mistake!

What a great picture we have here of those who follow the ways of the Lord and delight in Him! We don’t do these things to EARN our salvation, but we do them because we already HAVE God’s salvation and want to please Him. Delighting in the Lord comes from the heart and the fruit comes naturally.   What a contrast to those who are ungodly, who do not delight in the Lord! There is no life there, and all that they do, no matter how great, counts for nothing in God’s sight.                                              ***   ***   ***

Psalm Two;  The Ungodly Man                                                       

The heathen rage and imagine a vain thing, Against God they rail, and curses they bring,

“We WON’T have His rules, we’ll throw them away,  We’ll go our own way, we will NOT God obey!!”

Yet the Lord in the heavens, has the last word, Against them His anger, He’ll eventually gird;

His Son He’ll exalt to inheritance great, And His wrath against sin will never abate,

They’ll be broken in  pieces, discarded for e’er, Unless they confess their sin to prepare;

Then blessed they’ll be when they turn to the Lord, And trust in Him with one accord.

How much we see this attitude around us in the world today! Sadly, we often see it in believers too. But we know with certainty that God WILL have the last say….those who have never turned to Him will be utterly destroyed in the end. How often we are conscious of the Lord laughing when man makes his great boasts against the creation of God, with his predictions of the weather, wind and tides that are completely in God’s control! Those who are His but have turned away from Him may have to endure some bitter experiences as God deals with them to bring them back to Himself, as He will indeed.

                                         ***         ***        ***

Daily Devotionals

Devotional Thoughts from Psalm Seventy-Seven

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The Weeping  Man

I cried aloud to God on High, He heard my call and every sigh,

I felt that things were most unfair, I was bowed down with all my care,

I felt that God forgot me then, I was the most miserable of men!

But as I thought what God had done, I remembered vict’ries won,

I meditated on His ways, And thought of all His grace always;

He has given salvation free, And pours the rain upon the sea,

As thunder comes from heaven above, He gives all things in His great love.

How often we feel like this! This is what makes the book of Psalms so relevant for us today….those who wrote it had the same feelings of despair and being downcast as we do today. The human heart is still the same. We often forget that when we read of these people of old times what their feelings would have been as they surveyed their surroundings and circumstances. But when we remember what God did back then, we know that He is still the God of miracles and encouragement. Our current attitudes depend entirely on ourselves….are we going to wallow in our misery, or are we going to praise God for our blessings? It all depends on us!

Daily Devotionals

What do you put First?

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fbgrlkck“What church are you going to now Stephen?”

“Aw well, I’m not going anywhere. Got to take the boys to football on Sundays, you know!”

My heart sank. This man had been one of the most promising boys in our Bible Class fifteen years earlier. Now when he had a family of his own that he should have been bringing up in Biblical knowledge and standards, all he could think about was teaching them football!

He was allowing the world’s standards to mould his thinking by putting sport first and church last. What a missed opportunity to teach his family by example, of the things of God!

We need to stop and think of where we put the things of God on our own life….do we allow other things and interests to crowd out meeting with God’s people? Do we only go to church when there is nothing better on? Are we teaching our children that church is only an option?

Let’s make sure we put first things first in our lives remembering the verse in the Bible that says, “Blessed (or happy) is the person who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night”  (Psalm 1:1-2).

Daily Devotionals

How Would We React?

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FIG01_F - Copy Devotional Thoughts  from Mark 3:1-6……                          

The Pharisees watched the Lord on Sabbath days like a hawk watching its prey. This man at the synagogue who had the useless hand was quite obvious and they wondered what He would do with him….

Jesus knew this, and He didn’t hide what He was going to do. He told the man to stand up in full view of everyone and then asked if it was lawful to do a good deed on the Sabbath Day or not . They refused to answer His question, and it pained Him immensely to see how hard they were.

This is one of the occasions when we read that our Lord was angry with people and grieved with their refusal of His blessings. But in spite of this He told the man to stretch out his useless hand, and immediately it was healed and became like the other one. How glad this man must have been! What a difference it made to his whole life and livelihood!

The Pharisees were not pleased at all. They immediately began to plot how they could get rid of Him. The challenge for us is…do we rejoice at others’ good fortune or do we remain sour faced and hard?

The man stood there with hand so dead,                                                                     “Stretch it  out” the Saviour said,                                                                              As he obeyed it became whole, Healed and useful, a different soul!

***             ***             ***

Daily Devotionals

Psalm Forty-Nine

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The book of Psalms consists of a series of conversations between God and man. This one is concerned with the fate of those who refuse God’s call…..                      

DOLLR3_FThe Rich  Man.

Hear this you people living here, All people in the world give ear,

I’m telling you with all my heart, To  trust in God and take a part;

For those who trust in only wealth, Will find their soul soon has no health;

They cannot save their brother’s soul, They cannot make him to be whole.

No matter who, we all must die, And meet our Maker up on high,

Our wealth is left with what we’ve gained, And others waste all that remained.

People think to leave their name, On their estates will keep their fame,

Riches cannot take their soul, To the One who makes them whole.

Tis only God who can redeem, Who takes us into heaven’s gleam.

Do not fret o’er those made rich, They cannot take with them  one stitch!

Their glory fades and fame will pale, For in their death all else will fail.

They are no better than a beast, That perishes with all that’s least.

How true this psalm is! Those who never give God a thought during their life time have nothing to look forwards to in the next life. Some say boastfully that they have lived without God and they will die without Him, while the best that others can look forwards to is being reincarnated as a donkey or some other animal! But when they come to the point of no return, they cry out in horror at what they can see ahead of them. There is nothing sadder than the cry of “Too late!”

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Is this Your Shepherd?

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Psalm Twenty-three….

The Shepherding One

The Lord is my Shepherd, I have all I need, I rest in green pastures, by still waters He’ll lead;

My soul He restores, His paths are all right As He leads each day, I walk in His light

In the shadow of death, I’ll not be afraid, For my Lord is with me , my debts He has paid,

His rod and staff, they comfort and keep, My cup runneth over, my joy is so deep;

Goodness and mercy always with me, For I’ll live in His presence eternally.

   This must be one of the best known and loved portion of Scripture there is! The picture of a Shepherd lovingly caring for His sheep is an idyllic one indeed! Yet it is true in the spiritual sense for those who know this wonderful Shepherd of the sheep. Our Lord says it of Himself…..”I am the Good Shepherd, I know My sheep and am known by Mine”  (John 10:14).

We can truly say, “Because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need”. Not only does He provide our physical needs, but more importantly He gives us our daily spiritual needs as well! What a wonderful prospect we have as we look ahead! We need to hang onto this psalm firmly, especially in times when we are feeling down….it is the most uplifting  song we can sing, and will surely lift us out of our swamp of despondency!

Daily Devotionals

Lessons from Fishing

12f  We sometimes go fishing. It’s a wonderfully relaxing pastime unless there are no fish around in which case one can feel rather frustrated. However, if it is a nice day, just being on the water is relaxation in itself.

When the fish are biting well, and one or two come into the boat, all the trouble seems worthwhile. That reminds us that nothing worthwhile in life just happens without some effort. Nothing tried is nothing gained just as in other phases of life.

Sometimes only undersized fish get caught. This is when one has to just throw them back to grow some more We have to be honest in this and not keep them. If one is caught by the inspector, a  heavy fine and sometimes even the confiscation of the boat.

Other times, a big one might get on and be brought right up to the side of the boat, only to have it give a final flick of the head  and get away. At times like this it doesn’t seem fair…..after all that effort to have it get away! That reminds us that life isn’t always fair. At times it is grossly unfair. But this is how we learn to cope with disappointments…..things won’t always go our way!

Another lesson to learn is to kill the fish immediately they are brought into the boat. It is not fair to let creatures suffer unnecessarily, and to die of  slow suffocation is anything but kind.

Learning to cast with the rod doesn’t just come naturally. As with most things, there is a certain knack to learn to get the line far enough out. The same principle applies here as with other things….practice makes perfect! If at first you don’t succeed, try again as the old saying goes.

Last but not least, is that time spent with family or friends is never time wasted. Let’s make sure we take the time to enjoy the things that God has given us to freely enjoy. It would be sad indeed to have to face Him one day and hear Him say, “ I  made all that beauty for you to experience, and you never took the time to enjoy it!”