Daily Devotionals for August 15, 2024

"And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." John 14:13

It is not every believer who has yet learned to pray in Christ's name. To ask not only for His sake, but in His name, as authorized by Him, is a high order of prayer. We would not dare to ask for some things in that blessed name, for it would be a wretched profanation of it; but when the petition is so clearly right...

How happy are tried Christians, afterwards. No calm more deep than that which succeeds a storm. Who has not rejoiced in clear shinings after rain? Victorious banquets are for well-exercised soldiers. After killing the lion we eat the honey; after climbing the Hill Difficulty, we sit down in the arbour to rest; after traversing the Valley of Humiliation, after fighting with Apollyon, the shining one appears, with the healing branch from the tree of life. Our sorrows, like the passing keels...

Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. § Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.Jesus … , that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside...

All the attributes of Christ, as God and man, are at our disposal. All the fulness of the Godhead, whatever that marvellous term may comprehend, is ours to make us complete. He cannot endow us with the attributes of Deity; but he has done all that can be done, for he has made even his divine power and Godhead subservient to our salvation. His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and infallibility, are all combined for our defence. Arise, believer, and behold the Lord Jesus...

What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter" (John 13:7)

When our Lord takes us down into an area of processing and trial it seems as though He deliberately takes away our understanding, and we often react as though we had never gone through anything before. One of His reasons for this is that we may receive the full effect and...

. . . the Lord may soon return. I realize there is a lot that we do not know about prophecy, but most Christians are looking for the second coming of the Lord. They expect Him to come. They do not know when He will come, and the ones who claim they do, do not. Nevertheless, He may come in your lifetime. He said that He would come back in an hour when we think not. It could be that this present decline in expectation may have an ominous significance. It can easily be said that this would be...

Covetousness is the excessive desire for wealth or possessions. It is a mania that grips people, causing them to grasp for more and more. It is a fever that drives them to crave things they don't actually need.

We see covetousness in the business man who is never satisfied. He says he will stop when he has accumulated a certain amount, but when that time comes, he is greedy for more.

We see it in the housewife whose life is one unending shopping spree. She squirrels away tons of...

You are exempt from the necessity of bringing lambs and heifers to the altar; but the aim of the gospel is to lead you to do what the law could not induce men to do, consecrate your own body to the Lord, bringing it daily to the altar, and devoting it to the execution as well as the enduring of his will. You are ever ready to yield it unto death as Abraham was his son; but the angel of the Lord ever interposes and says, God has some work for this body to do; see to the doing of that and come...

THE promises of God raise the expectation of His people, and His providence tries it; what the promise has engaged to give, providence seems loath to bestow. But God is faithful. We may expect the Lord to appear for us in every trouble, if our faith is fixed on His word, and prayer is daily sent up to His throne. We may expect to be supported under all our trials, and to be supplied with all necessary good, if we are making God our portion, and seeking to glorify Him. We may expect to be...

Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. § Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in...

Matthew 26:57-68

We speak of the trial of Jesus - but really it was not a trial. There was no intention of giving Him a fair and just hearing. The Sanhedrin had firmly made up its mind to condemn Jesus, and they went through the form of a trial, not to discover the truth about Him - but to endeavor to get some

In order to express myself more freely on a matter that lies very near to my heart, I shall waive the rather stilted editorial we and speak in the first person.

The matter I have in mind is the place of the hymnbook in the devotional life of the Christian. For purposes of inward devotion, there is only one book to be placed before the hymnal, and that of course is the Bible. I say without qualification, after the Sacred Scriptures, the next best companion for the soul is a good...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 11:3-4

The verses before us today bring home to us our powerlessness to change certain things. Like the weather, for instance. When clouds are full of rain they drench the earth, says Solomon. There is simply no point in focusing on the things that are unchangeable. Far better to get on with living and work at changing...