Daily Devotionals for December 2, 2022

Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit" (Rom. 8:9).

It requires more faith concerning the Spirit than concerning the Son.

"The believer, having received the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,' comes under the influence of the law' of that Spirit (

The proper object of faith is God in Christ, not God as the God of nature. In Christ He is gracious unto us, ever with us, ready to help us, and takes pleasure in us.

He is our covenant God, all sufficient, and ever propitious. We should believe in His word, which is true and faithful; in His presence, for He will never turn away from us; in His power, for nothing is too hard for Him; in His character, which He will never allow to be dishonoured; and in His faithfulness, which is like...

. . . Well, here are some suggestions which anyone can follow and which, I am convinced, will result in a wonderfully improved Christian life. . . .

8. Deliberately narrow your interests. The jack-of-all-trades is the master of none. The Christian life requires that we be specialists. Too many projects use up time and energy without bringing us nearer to God.

If you will narrow your interests, God will enlarge your heart. "Jesus...

When Jesus gave himself for us, he gave us all the rights and privileges which went with himself; so that now, although as eternal God, he has essential rights to which no creature may venture to pretend, yet as Jesus, the Mediator, the federal head of the covenant of grace, he has no heritage apart from us. All the glorious consequences of his obedience unto death are the joint riches of all who are in him, and on whose behalf he accomplished the divine will. See, he enters into glory, but...

If the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? §The blood of sprinkling … speaks better things than that of Abel.We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.When Moses had...

For Reading and Meditation:     Hebrews 1:1-14

The words of our text today point out that though God spoke in times past through prophets and sages (referring to the religion of Judaism), His final Word to this world is in His Son. That is our claim as Christians. Not that the Jewish religion contains nothing of value. God forbid! But it is not God's last Word to...

On the day when these words were spoken, had it been announced in Rome that there was one then speaking whose words would never pass away, some would have said, " It must be the Emperor, his words will outlive all." Others would have fixed upon a certain historian; others upon an orator; others upon a poet. But no one would have conceived that a despised Galilean seated upon a hill opposite Jerusalem, and conversing with his disciples, was speaking 'words that would outlive all others. The...

The members of Christ's Church should be very prayerful, always seeking the unction of the Holy One to rest upon their hearts, that the kingdom of Christ may come, and that his "will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven;" but there are times when God seems especially to favour Zion, such seasons ought to be to them like "the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." We ought then to be doubly prayerful, doubly earnest, wrestling more at the throne than we have been wont to...

"I have set the LORD always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Psalms 16:8

This is the way to live. With God always before us, we shall have the noblest companionship, the holiest example, the sweetest consolation, and the mightiest influence. This must be a resolute act of the mind. "I have set," and it must be maintained as a set and settled thing. Always to have an eye to the LORD's eye and an ear...

The people of this world have always fussed and argued over this world's resource-hope for life, health, financial prosperity, international peace and a set of favorable circumstances. These resources are good in their own way, but they have a fatal defect-they are uncertain and transitory! Today we have them; tomorrow they are gone. It is this way with all earthly things since sin came to upset the beautiful order of nature and made the human race victims of chance and change. We desire for...

Singing here is linked to the filling of the Spirit, as if song is one of the sure results of the filling. Perhaps this is why almost all the great revivals of history have been accompanied by singing. The Welsh revival is a notable example.

No people have as much to sing about as Christians, and no people have such a rich heritage of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Our hymns express in majestic language what we so often feel but cannot express. Some hymns express thoughts that may...

Luke 24:13-35

Sometime in the afternoon of the day on which Jesus rose, two of His disciples, not apostles - but friends, took a long walk into the country. We are not told why they went to Emmaus. Perhaps they had given up hope. Thus it is too often with Christ's friends in these days, when trouble comes upon them. The bright dreams fade, they grow disheartened and turn away - as if the sacred beliefs they...

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. § It pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. § Of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.You anoint my head with oil. § The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.The...