Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 13TH​

Greater Works​

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
John 14:12

This is one of the most startling promises in the Scriptures. Notice the reason Jesus gives for these greater works. It is because He goes to the Father. And when He goes to the Father, He will send the Spirit. He says later, Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you (John I6:7b). He is referring here to the coming of the Spirit. As the Spirit of God comes into human hearts and dwells in them, these things will happen. The Spirit is releasing to us the life of Jesus, so that it is still Jesus who is doing these things.

Some people read this passage and think that we ordinary humans are somehow so capable that we can actually do greater things than the Son of God Himself did when He was here in the flesh. But what He is really saying here is that as the risen Lord, who dwells in us by means of the Spirit, He will do greater things through us than He did when He was here in the days of His flesh.

Jesus goes on immediately to say: And greater works than these will you do. What are they? Obviously they can't be greater miracles. Can you think of anything greater than opening the eyes of those born blind or speaking a word and enabling a lame man to walk or raising the dead? Of course not. Then what are these greater works? The only answer that makes any sense at all is that they are greater in their significance and importance. They are spiritual accomplishments rather than physical. Anything done to the spirit of a person is far more significant than something done to the body.

As you read the account of Jesus' ministry, notice that the crowds followed Him when He did those amazing wonders, and entire cities would turn out to hear His message, yet when you come to the end of His life, where are all the crowds? Where are the hundreds He healed? They are gone. Only a handful stands at the foot of the cross. His miracles did not change people; they merely touched the surface of their lives.

But later on Jesus says to His disciples: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last (John l5:16a). Isn't it interesting that the ones whom Jesus healed would not stand with Him through the test of the cross, but that when these disciples went out and preached in the power of the Spirit, they won converts by the thousands? And when the testing came, these men and women were willing to face lions, to be pulled apart on the rack, and to be burned as living torches rather than deny Jesus?

Those are greater miracles. Anything done to the spirit of a person is permanent; that which is done to the flesh is merely temporary. All those whom Jesus healed or raised from the dead died again. So what is done to the spirit of a person is far greater, and this is what Jesus means by greater works.

Thank You Lord for the miracles You are doing in me and through me. Only You can change my heart, O Lord! Only You can make me like Jesus.

Life Application​

How are we an influence in the spiritual realm here on earth? Is our faith the center of this life and the basis of our desires?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 14TH​

In His Name​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 14:13-14

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
John 14:13-14

These verses are an amazing Promise! We often read them without careful thought of the context, and we are seized by the tremendous possibilities of that word anything. And shallow Christians leap up and say, What a promise! I can have that new car I've always wanted. But James reminds us: When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures(James 4:3).

There is an important limitation to this promise: in my name? Somehow again, in a superficial approach to these ideas of Scripture, some think they have fulfilled this when they tack on at the end of a prayer, This we ask in Jesus' name, as a kind of magic formula, like rubbing Aladdin's lamp so that the genie of God will suddenly appear and do all that we ask!

I have no objection to people adding these words to their prayers. But there are many prayers with those words tacked onto the end that are not prayed in Jesus' name at all. What, then, does in Jesus' name mean? I had thought that praying in Jesus' name meant praying for the things He wants accomplished. And it does mean that. But I thought you could pray to prevent certain things and to attain others and that we had an ability somehow to control the process by which these things come to pass. I have learned that this is not the case. In Jesus' name means to pray in His place. To pray in Jesus' name means to stand in Jesus' place. And where was Jesus standing when He said these words? Facing the cross. Facing the end, the apparent collapse and failure of all of His work and His entire program.

But He knew that beyond the cross lay the resurrection and that there could never be that new beginning if there were not first an end of all that the others saw and hoped for. If these disciples were praying for anything, they were praying that somehow He would not have to go to the cross. But Jesus knew that it had to be. And to pray in Jesus' name means that you accept the process of God, the process by which He brings matters (often) to utter collapse. But that is not the end of the story! Beyond it is a resurrection and a new beginning of such different quality that the mind moves into an ecstasy of joy in contemplating it. That is what it means to pray in Jesus' name.

That is why it often seems as though God waits until the very last moment to answer our prayer. That is why He doesn't stop the process long before the heartache and pain come but allows it to go on into death--and out of the death comes resurrection. And to pray in Jesus' name means that you consent to that process and that you are aware that prayer is not merely a shield to prevent things from happening. Prayer is also a commitment to undergo the end and the collapse and the failure. But that is never the end of the story. It is only out of death that life comes.

Father, thank You that You teach me, again and again through life, that You are never going to deviate from Your process. May I gladly consent to that process in order that I may see how You bring life out of death.

Life Application​

What does praying in Jesus' name mean? How can we both wait for and presently live a joyful life everyday?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 16TH​

What Does It Take To Obey?​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 14:21-26

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.
John 14:21

To read this, Obey Me, and you will love Me, produces a mechanical, dry Christianity with no warmth or joy or glory. But what Jesus says is, If you love Me, you will obey Me. It is easy to do, not difficult. Notice that it is not, If you love Me, you will have to keep My commandments. No, it is cause and effect: If you love Me, the result is that you will keep My commandments. That is the secret of all proper behavior in the Christian experience. The proof of our love is obedience.

If it takes love to obey, what produces love? That is the issue. If you see a Christian disobeying Christ or you are tempted to disobey, what is it that will turn you around and make you obey? It is love. How do you produce love? What will make you love Him? This is what ties together verses 20 and 21. It is that basic secret of our identity that creates love--the Spirit in us, releasing to us the love of Jesus, awakens love from us in return.
Remember how John puts it in his first letter: We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). Remembering this awakens love. Or, as Paul puts it in Romans 5, God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (Romans 5:5). Therefore, the way to produce love is to remember who you are, to whom you belong, and who He is--His death, His resurrection, and His unity with you, His present indwelling life. You cannot remind yourself of that without experiencing a renewed sense of His love and feeling gratitude to Him for who He is and what He has done in your life. When that love begins to flow, then you are being motivated to obey.

Much of the mythology of the ancient world was based upon biblical truth; some of our modern fables reflect that truth as well. For example, no one ever expected anything out of the ordinary from Clark Kent, that mild-mannered newspaper reporter. But whenever there was a sudden demand for action far beyond the ability of mere humans, he always stepped into the nearest phone booth, stripped off his conservative business suit, and emerged, complete with bulging muscles and spectacular costume, as Superman--able to do what otherwise he could not do.
That is exactly what the Word of God is teaching us. We are to retire to the phone booth of our identity with Christ, to remind ourselves of who we are, to whom we belong, and who is within us, and immediately we find love and motivation and power available to us. We are able to do what otherwise we could not do. This is what our Lord is teaching His disciples at this moment: If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Lord, teach me to retreat to that place where I can renew my mind with the realities of my identity in Christ--that I am loved with an everlasting love, filled with Your Spirit, and able to obey by the power at work in me.

Life Application​

If it takes love to obey, what produces love? Why is our identity in Christ so interwoven with finding love and the exercise of its power?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 17TH​

The Inheritance Of Peace​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 14:27-31

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you; I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27

I wonder how many Christians have really come to understand the great fact that peace is our inheritance. Peace is what Jesus has left us. It is fundamental and cannot be taken away from us by any circumstance. That is what He means by, I do not give to you as the world gives.
How does the world give peace? If you were troubled and you went to a doctor who was not a Christian and asked him, What can I do to gain peace? what would he tell you?

Take a trip. Go to Hawaii. Get away from it all. In other words, Change your circumstances. Go to a place where nothing bothers you, where everything is peaceful around you. Then you can be at peace.

But Jesus says, I give peace right in the midst of trouble, right in the midst of distress and turmoil and heartache and pressure. I can impart peace to your heart right there, and not as the world gives. Why? Because we can return to that basic relationship we have--You in Me, and I in you. Out of that comes the guarantee that He is working out His purposes. He will bring us to the end of the trouble. He will still the storm and quiet the waves. We rest in the boat, content, knowing, No water can swallow the ship, where lies the Master of ocean and earth and sky.

That is peace.
Peace I leave with you. [Therefore], the Lord adds, do not let your hearts be troubled. That is addressed to you! It means you do not have to be upset and anxious, weary and worried. Do not let your hearts be troubled. How? By returning to that place of rest. Return to the phone booth and rest there in the confidence that Superman is within and will work the situation out for you and will accomplish His purpose through you.

You have made me rich, Father, with the inheritance of peace. Thank You that whatever I am going through, regardless of how difficult it is, I can have peace, because You are in me, and I am in You.

Life Application​

How does the world give you peace? Can there really be a cure for a troubled heart?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 18TH​

God's Vineyard​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 15:1-3

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
John 15:2

Chapters 15 through 17 occurred as the Lord and His disciples were walking on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. On the way they passed through the vineyards that surrounded the city. Perhaps Jesus stopped in the midst of a vineyard, took a vine, and used it as a means of illustrating to His disciples the great secret He had been seeking to impart to them in His whole discourse there in the upper room, the most fundamental and basic secret of Christian life--I am in the Father, and ... the Father is in me (John 14:10).

His beautiful analogy has helped many Christians understand the relationship God wants them to know. When He said, I am the true vine, He did not mean true in contrast with something false, but rather real, genuine, as opposed to the mere copy or symbol. As He held this vine and its branches in His hand, He indicated that this was the copy. He was the true vine from which true life is received.

The purpose of this vine is to bring forth fruit. A vineyard is planted not for ornamentation, but to produce grapes, to bear fruit. This is the point our Lord makes in the story. All through this account His emphasis is upon the fruit. So the question arises, What does this fruit stand for in our life?
Some people who read this and understand the fruit to be others won to Christ. How that can be deduced from this parable is difficult to understand, because there is nothing in it that suggests that at all. Fruit is that which is produced by the vine and is the natural outflow of the life of the vine. Though it is wonderful when a Christian has the privilege of leading others to Christ, it is no indication of fruitlessness if you never have had this experience.

The figure of the vine is used many times in the Scriptures. These disciples would immediately think of several places where it was used. One is in Isaiah 5: The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:7a). Israel was that vine. As Isaiah tells us, God cleared out the rocks in His vineyard and hedged it about. He built a tower; He protected the vineyard and cared for it. He did everything possible to cause it to produce grapes. But when He came into His vineyard and looked for grapes, He found instead sour, tasteless grapes. Isaiah tells us what that represents in verse 7: The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress (Isaiah 5:7).

God came looking for justice and righteousness; instead, He found oppression, cruelty, exploitation, and indifference to the needs of others. It is evident from this parable that the fruit that God expects of the vine is moral character or, as described in Galatians, the fruit of the Spirit. The life that is in the vine produces fruit that Paul describes in Galatians 5 as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. The fruit, in other words, is Christlikeness. And our Lord is indicating that the very purpose of the vine is to produce such fruit.

Lord, teach me to abide in You so that I can bear the fruit of Christlikeness.

Life Application​

What beautiful analogy has helped many people understand the relationship God wants us to know?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 20TH​

The Greatest Love​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 15:12-17

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:12-13

This section begins and ends with the command of Jesus: I command you to love one another. The fact that this is put in the imperative mode means it is not an option in our life. It is not something we do if we feel like it. It is to be a deliberate response to another person whom we know to be in the family of God, regardless of how we feel toward that person.

Many people struggle at this point. They say, How can you command love? Love is a feeling, and if you don't love somebody, you can't help it. Love is our master; we do not master it. Those who say these things reveal that they have a very serious misconception of love. Unfortunately, we are victims of Hollywood in this respect. We think of love as a feeling we have of affection toward another.

But love, as Jesus speaks of it here, is far different. We can be sure of one thing: He would never command us to do what is impossible for us to do. The secret, of course, is that we are to love, He says, as I have loved you. This kind of love is to arise out of the same kind of relationship that He has with the Father that made it possible for Him to love us. In this same manner, and from the same source, we are to love one another with the same quality of love. He loved us because God is love, and He was indwelt by the Father. He was in the Father, and the Father in Him. As He yielded to that relationship, love flowed out. It could not help it--God is love. Since God is love, as we yield to that relationship to the Son, love flows from us. And it will have the qualities that His love has. He goes on to define for us the aspects of love that mark the quality of His love for us, which we also are to show to one another.

The first is given in the words, Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Love lays down its life for another. We all know how fully Jesus Himself exemplified this. His is the greatest love that anyone can demonstrate toward friends. Obviously this means more than simply dying physically for them. If it meant only that, there would be very few of us who could or would ever fulfill this, largely because we would lack the opportunity to do so. And, of course, one could do so only once! But our Lord is commanding us to do this repeatedly. So He means by this that we are to give ourselves up for one another. When you go out of your way to meet a friend's need, when you are willing to spend time with someone who is a Christian just because that one is a Christian--not necessarily because you are drawn to that person--and you are willing to go out of your way and to give yourself up for him or her, you are laying down your life, a part of it at least, for that person. This is what Jesus had in mind.

Lord, You have loved me with this kind of love. Now I pray that this same love would flow through me to others in the body of Christ.

Life Application​

What does it mean to love one another? How can we love someone we are not drawn to? What role do feelings play in loving others?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 21ST​

The Witness​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 15:18-16:3

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first ... When the Counselor comes ... he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
John 15:18, 26-27

It is remarkable that our Lord moves quickly from His words about love for one another to this word about the world's hatred for the Christian. The world refers to secular society. It is not humankind. Humankind does not hate the church; it is the world that hates the church and the Lord of the church. The world is organized society without God, but with its own morals and standards and value systems. It is what we ordinarily call the system, and it is what hates believers and wants nothing to do with them.

What is to be the attitude of the Christian to this kind of world in which we still live? Our Lord's answer is found in verses 26-27. He says, When the Spirit of God has come, you will bear witness to this world. The world is not to be left in its hopeless rejection of Christ--even though it has resisted and rejected truth when it knew it to be truth.

Every one of us has done this. Still, God does not abandon us. Even when He would be fully justified in turning His back and walking away and leaving us all to our own consequences, He does not do so. He continues to bear a witness before the world.

So the Christian is not to retaliate, not to resent the hatred and persecution of the world, not to be vindictive and to return evil for evil. Rather, we are exhorted to return good for evil. Nor are we to retire from the world, to withdraw from it and build a Christian ghetto in which to hide ourselves and then throw tracts across the chasm! Rather, we are to move into the world, live in its midst just as Jesus did, and bear witness to the truth, even though it is often rejected. We are to do this for the sake of those who will receive, believe, and accept the Word.

This witness is twofold. Primarily it is the witness of the Holy Spirit. He does what no person can do. The Spirit of God opens hearts, removes blindness, and opens minds to understand. He bears witness that a word is true, gives it a ring of authenticity, so that power in witnessing rests with the Spirit, not with us. As Jesus indicates here, we are to bear witness too as the apostles did--as to what they saw and heard, what they themselves experienced. That is where every Christian stands. Just before His ascension Jesus said, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses . . . (Acts l:8a). We are all to be witnesses of what Jesus has been to us, what we have experienced, what has happened in our lives, what He has done for us.

And the Holy Spirit will witness with that, using those words, simple as they may be, to open minds and to break through hard hearts, to pierce and break down barriers, and to open people up to the Word. Thus, the business of the church is to witness before a hating world.

Lord, You have placed me in this world. Now let me be Your witness today in all that I say and do.

Life Application​

What is to be our response when we see or experience hate in the world? What is the way we can be an effective witness?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 22ND​

The Spirit, The World, And You​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 16:4-11

When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
John 16:8-11

Most of us read this as though the Holy Spirit is going to come into the world and work directly upon the hearts of unbelievers and convict them of sin, righteousness, and judgment. But if you read it in that way, you have not read this verse correctly. Read it again, together with the preceding verse, and emphasize a keyword. And I want to take that same word and insert it in a place in verse 8 where it does not occur but where the context makes clear it belongs.

Jesus says, It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes [to you], he will convict the world... of sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:7-8).
The Holy Spirit is coming to you, to the church, to the Christian. And when He comes to the Christian, this will convince the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. Therefore He does not come to the world; He comes to us. But when He comes to us and operates in us as He intends, He will have this effect upon the world.

There are three things the world ought to see when it looks at the church. The first thing is that the issue of life is Jesus. It ought to be convicted of sin, because it doesn't believe on Him. If the church had not spoken of Jesus, the world would soon have forgotten Him, for the world desperately wants to forget that Jesus came and lived among us. The church is to bring Jesus consistently before the world.

The second thing the world is to see in the church is righteousness, Jesus says, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer. When the world looks at the church, it ought to see a different standard of behavior. What it once saw in Jesus it is now to see in the church. And this is what convinces the world there are absolutes in life. Secular writers and philosophers will tell you that there are no absolutes. And the world will believe that until it sees in the church a standard of behavior that makes it realize that there is clear-cut righteousness and there is absolute evil.

The third thing the world is to see is judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. As they look at the church, the world ought to see that a head-on clash is coming between its philosophy and the philosophy of Jesus Christ, and that the one who is going to win is Jesus. A judgment is coming. And the sign of it to the world is that the power of Satan is already broken in the lives they are observing. This is what the world is to see when it looks at the church.

Lord, let me live my life in the power of the Holy Spirit so that the world may see the reality of Jesus.

Life Application​

How does God convince the world of (the one) sin, righteousness and judgment? How do people realize that there is clear-cut righteousness and absolute evil?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 23RD​

All That Is Mine Is Yours​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 16:12-15

He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
John 16:14

Sometimes when you listen to Bible teachers today, you get the idea that there is to be a kind of Jesus-oriented Bible teaching with which we begin the Christian life but that as we mature we are to move on to Spirit-oriented truth, to recognize that the sign of maturity is to be concerned no longer with Jesus but with the Spirit. Nothing could be further from the truth! The work of the Spirit is to glorify Jesus. The Spirit-filled life is the life in which Jesus is central. And the one who matures is the one who grows deeper in an understanding of Jesus.

How encompassing is this range of teaching? All, Jesus tells us. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you (John 16:15).

A young man asked me the other day, Is it right for a Christian to study secular subjects that have nothing to do with the Bible?
My answer was, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3, All things are yours, and you are of Christ; and Christ is of God (1 Corinthians 3:21-23). And Paul, speaking of Jesus Christ, tells us in Colossians 2, In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossian 2:3). As you investigate any realm of science or knowledge, if you do so in reliance upon the indwelling life of Jesus and the teaching of the Spirit of God, He will open that branch of truth to you.

George Washington Carver was born a slave, but he managed to get an education as a scientist. He said that the hunger of his heart was to discover the secrets of the universe. But, he said, God said to me, George, that's too big for you. I've got something more your size. You take a peanut and work on that. And so he began to investigate what God has hidden in a peanut. He found over 330 different products that could be made from the peanut, revolutionizing the technology of his day. But he always remained a simple, Bible-believing servant of God who relied upon Him to open his mind to truth. That is what Jesus means. All that belongs to the Father is mine, and it will be made available to you through the Spirit.

Lord, thank You that You would share with me all that the Father has. Teach me to listen to what Your Spirit is saying to me through Your Word.

Life Application​

If we learn to think like Jesus, will it enhance our comprehension and enjoyment of truth in any area of life?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 24TH​

From Sorrow To Joy​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 16:16-24

I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
John 16:20

The concern of the disciples is how long Jesus' absence is going to last. Jesus had said, In a little while you will see me no more, and his disciples had immediately picked up on that phrase a little while. Their hearts clutched with fear, they said to themselves, How long does He mean? Their attention is on that as well as on His words, because I am going to the Father. They said, Why does this have to happen? What does He mean, 'because I am going to the Father'? You can see that the focus of their concern is on when and why.

If you and I had been there, that is exactly what we would have asked! We are always concerned about how long a trial is going to last and wondering why we have to go through it. Are these not the questions we inevitably ask whenever we have trouble--Why? and How long? But when Jesus answers the troubled disciples, He ignores the whole matter of time. His answer stresses the process and the result that is certain to follow. Jesus isn't concerned with the Why? and How long? but with the How? and the What? He makes clear to them that a period of sorrow is inevitable. He cannot spare them from it. There will be a time when they will weep and lament and be in sorrow and when the world around will be rejoicing. But, He says, your sorrow will be turned into joy. How long it takes is not significant; the inevitable result is the important thing.
That is a very important lesson to learn. I've been saying to the Lord, How long do I have to go through this?

And the Lord's emphasis is strictly upon what is coming at the end, the joy that is certain. To illustrate this, our Lord used the beautiful figure of childbirth. When a baby is being dedicated, the face of the mother is a picture of joy. What causes the joy? The baby. Yet a few weeks earlier that same mother was in anguish and pain. And what was causing the pain? The baby. In other words, the same thing that caused the sorrow would later be the cause of the joy.

That is different from what we usually think. Most of us assume that our sorrow is going to be replaced by joy. But the promise of Jesus is that the very thing that caused sorrow is also going to be the cause of joy. That is a revelation of one of the great principles that marks authentic Christianity, one of the ways by which our Lord works in our life. He takes the very thing that causes us heartache and sorrow and turns it into a cause of joy.

You work in such wonderful ways, Lord. I trust that You will take that which brings sorrow in my life and make it a source of joy.

Life Application​

In times of difficulty, do we focus on how long our trial will last? How can our very sorrow produce joy?


Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 25TH​

A Different Kind Of Peace​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 16:25-33

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
John 16:33

The security of these disciples rested on the ability they thought they had to understand what Jesus was saying to them. They wanted to know, and then they thought they would feel at peace. Now we know, they said. Now we understand. Jesus had been speaking to them in figures--the foot washing, the vine and the branches, and the woman in childbirth. But now you're speaking to us plainly. Now we know and understand that you are indeed from God. They felt a sense of security because they understood that.

This is so like us! We think that God has to explain what we're going through and that then we'll feel secure. Our peace wants to rest upon a certain knowledge of what is happening. But our Lord is very careful to point out that this kind of peace is very insecure indeed. Within an hour you will be running like a bunch of frightened sheep. You say you know who I am. You say you understand that I came from God and that I know all things. Do you know that within an hour's time you will be so confused and so uncertain of what is happening you will run away and leave Me alone? Rather than trusting Me to work things out, you'll forsake Me and not want to be identified with Me. And yet I'll not be alone. My security won't be threatened in that hour, for the Father is with Me. And I say this to you in order that you might know the kind of peace I have.

It is not based on what happens, or even on my understanding of what happens, but upon a trust in the One who controls what happens. I say this to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you're going to have nothing but trouble--trouble at work, trouble at school, trouble in your home, trouble in your family. You'll have nothing but trouble, because that is the way this world is. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

Isn't that an encouraging word? I have gone through times of great personal stress and deep sorrow, times of uncertainty and lack of understanding, not knowing what God was working out, perceiving Him to be working in ways that I have thought were utterly wrong, thinking He had no business doing things like this to me. And I've had to rest back upon these tremendous revelations of His Word. You can have my peace, Jesus says, My sense of security, which rests not in the circumstances, not in the understanding of the circumstances that we so crave, but in a confidence that the One who is guiding the circumstances knows what He is doing. That is where peace comes from.

Lord, grant that I learn to make You my source of peace rather than seeking peace from my circumstances or even my understanding of what You are doing.

Life Application​

When we have trouble at work, home or elsewhere, how does it affect our attitude? Why is real peace a result of trust in the person of Jesus?


Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 26TH​

A Prayer For Glory​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 17:1-3

Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
John 17:1b-2

We have reached the climax of the Upper Room Discourse as we look at the prayer with which our Lord concludes. It is one of the most profound passages in the New Testament. It has been called the holy of holies of Scripture, and volumes have been written about this one chapter alone. Our Lord and His disciples had left the upper room and were making their way into the shadows of Gethsemane's garden. It was here that our Lord began His prayer. He prayed aloud in order that the disciples might hear what He had to say to the Father.

Jesus' first request is that He might be glorified. If we prayed that we would be exalted or magnified or glorified in order that the world might see how important we were, it would be a selfish request. But our Lord immediately adds, that your Son may glorify you. So the ultimate end of His request for glory is that the Father may be glorified.

This is always the ultimate purpose for all existence: that it might glorify God. Glorifying means to manifest or display a person's hidden virtue or wisdom or power or beauty, to bring out that which is hidden away in him or her. And here our Lord is asking that He be glorified, that things hidden in Him might now be made manifest in order that He in turn might manifest the beauty and the glory and the wisdom of the Father.

Our Lord now tells us why He needs this additional glory. The Father had already glorified Him and would glorify Him again in His death. But the Lord is looking on beyond the cross. And He needs additional glory for the reason he gives in verse 2: For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. He needs it in order to fulfill the additional work that was given to Him--that of giving eternal life to all whom God had called.

Our Lord is pointing out that in His resurrection and ascension, He will have power over all flesh. As He Himself said just before He ascended to the Father, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me (Matthew 28:18b). The writer of Hebrews says that the Son upholds the universe by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). So here it is evident that Jesus is aware He is Lord over the entire universe.
Jesus is Lord, whether people know it or not. He controls all the events of history and all the ordinary events of our circumstances. This is what our Lord means when He says here that He has power over all flesh, over all the nations. All the events of history and those reported in our newspapers have been allowed by the Lord as He regulates and runs the affairs of earth, in order to give eternal life to all those whom God has given Him.

I bow before you, Lord Jesus, as the One who has been given all authority in heaven and earth.

Life Application​

Can our finite knowledge bring lasting peace? Do we seek to know the One in whom we may have this peace?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 27TH​

Praying What Is Promised​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 17:4-8

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
John 17:5

Jesus is praying that He might resume now the full manifestations of deity. He had laid them aside when He came into the world, taking upon Himself the limitations of humanity. When our Lord was here He did not go around showing people how God behaved; He showed them how humanity behaved--humanity indwelt by God, as God intended humanity to be. And all that you see in Jesus during the days of His flesh is a perfect humanity.

His deity was hidden. He didn't give it up--you can't give up what you are--but He laid aside the exercise of it. Now He is asking that the Father will restore to Him that expression of deity that was His before the world was made. By this He is praying for the resurrection and the ascension to follow--that the Father would raise Him from the dead in glory and then later cause Him to ascend to heaven to be with Him as He was before the world was made. He needs this in order to perform the work of giving eternal life to all those whom the Father would bring to Him out of every succeeding generation. It is as God that He gives us eternal life.

There is a tremendous lesson here about prayer. Was it not already God's program that if the Son were crucified He would be raised from the dead and ascend into the heavens? Yet when the hour comes, Jesus asks the Father to do this. He prays for this glory that was already promised to Him. This helps us a great deal in understanding prayer.

Many people say to me, Why should I pray? God has already programmed my life. He knows what I'm going to do and what's going to happen to me, so why should I ask Him to do anything? It's all going to happen anyway. That position totally ignores the revelation of the Scriptures that prayer is a part of the process by which God brings to pass what He has already proposed to do. James tells us, You do not have, because you do not ask God (James 4:2b). If you do not ask, it will not happen, because it breaks the link by which God proposes to bring it about. Therefore prayer is vital, and our Lord gives us this example. He prays for that which was already promised him. Prayer is always based upon the promises of God.

Thank You, Father, that by inviting us to pray, You allow us to take part in the fulfillment of Your eternal purposes.

Life Application​

Why should we pray if God knows what is going to happen? Have we learned to pray based on the promises of God?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 28TH​

Jesus Prays For His Own​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 17:9-10

I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
John 17:9-10

Here you see the reason for our Lord's prayer for these eleven men, a reason that grows out of His great, heartfelt love and concern for them. He prayed for them for the same reason that we pray for each other — because of a love and concern for one another. He tells us three reasons He loved them and was concerned for them.

First, because they are those you have given me. That is, they were the gift of the Father to the Son. All of us have something we have been given by someone whom we love. We treasure that gift — not only because of its intrinsic value but because it comes from someone who means much to us. Jesus loved these men and was concerned for them because they represented the Father's choice for Him.

Here is a revelation of how God works in human lives. We have already seen something of it previously in this prayer. Jesus is the only one who gives us the right to know God, this mighty Being who flung the worlds into existence and designed us in all our human complexity. To know Him is to gain the greatest blessing in life. And the only one who has the right to give us that knowledge is Jesus. But Jesus says that the Father has a part in this, too. He draws certain ones to Him. God is at work throughout our lives, drawing us to Himself by various means. If you have a hunger for goodness or a passion for truth, that is the drawing of the Father. If you love the words of Jesus and are attracted by who He is and what He says, that is the drawing of the Father, moving in you to bring you to Christ, that you might commit yourself to Him.

Second, He says that they are dear because, All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. Because the Father had given them to Him, they belonged to Him. And so His concern reaches out to them because they are His property, under His ownership. Written across the front of our church auditorium are words that capture one of the greatest truths in Christian faith: You are not your own; you are bought with a price. You do not belong to yourself if you are a Christian; you belong to God. You are bought with a price. These men were bought with that price and belonged to Him, and so they are dear to Him.

The third reason is, Glory has come to me through them. They were choice men, because in them Jesus saw the means by which all the glory that is His due would be manifested. They would be the messengers by whom the world would know Him, So they were infinitely precious and dear to Him, and thus He prays for them.

What an amazing thought, Lord that You treasure me as a gift given to You by Your Father!

Life Application​

Of the many blessings one can have in life, what would be the greatest blessing? How do we experience drawing close to God?
Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 29TH​

In The World​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 17:11-19

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
John 17:15

In this section our Lord indicated the great realm of controversy between Himself and Satan, the realm in which Satan finds his activity manifested--the world. Throughout this whole discourse you find two communities in view: the world, which is secular society organized in its antipathy against God; and the church, the body of Christ, God's family.

The Lord knew that there would be this conflict. He called a group out of the world--not to be separate from it--but to be a different group. God always sees humanity divided into two categories. Sometimes they are called two kingdoms--the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. Sometimes they are regarded symbolically as two cities--Jerusalem and Babylon. But there are always these two.

Jesus, knowing the danger of the world, prays for these disciples. And He points out the reason the world hates them. I say these things while I am still in the world, He says, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. Here are men who have learned a source of joy that the world does not know how to produce. The world hates Christians because they have a source of life the world cannot explain. Satan tries to destroy this life. The devil is a murderer, and his aim is to destroy in any way he can through the deceitfulness of the allurements of the world.
Jesus, knowing this, prayed for two very important things for these men: He said, My prayer is not that you take them out of the world. Why, then, do we say to new believers, Look, you are a Christian, so get out of the world. Avoid any contact with it, and don't ever get mixed up in it as long as you live. It may be necessary at times for a young Christian to get away from the world for a while, but not to be removed from it! It is a violation of our Lord's prayer when we take ourselves out of the world and build a wholly Christian life with Christian friends and contacts and never go any place non-Christians go but simply isolate ourselves. The result is that the world is left without light--to fall into decay and darkness, with no help at all.

But, on the other hand, our Lord was aware that these men needed to be kept from the evil one. So he prayed that they should be kept from the evil one, from contamination by the world and all its deadly delusions. It is so easy to conform to the world, to seek its values and measure your life by its standards.
What a deadly thing that is! Our Lord is calling here for men and women who, like Himself, can live in the midst of the world and yet not become contaminated by its life, but be, instead, a source of release to those around.

Lord, You have placed me in the world even though I am not of it. But far too often I think and act like one who belongs to the world when, in fact, I belong to You.

Life Application​

As we enter each day, do we acknowledge our vulnerability to the many guises of evil? Do our lives evidence the ownership of Jesus?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

​

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 30TH​

True Unity​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 17:20-23

I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:23

Three times Jesus prays for the unity of the church. What is this unity? There is an effort that has been going on for some time to bring about a union of believers, to unite them in one great worldwide church or some organization. We are told that this will at last be the answer to this prayer of Jesus. But I find it impossible to accept that explanation. I do not believe that the church has to wait twenty-one centuries before the prayer of Jesus is answered or that an organization will accomplish what the Holy Spirit (seemingly) has been unable to do. I believe that the Holy Spirit has been answering this prayer from the very beginning, and when we understand the nature of the unity for which Jesus prayed, we will see that the prayer is indeed being answered and has been all along.

What is the nature of that unity? Several things in this passage give us a clue. The first is in verse 21--that all of them may be one. What does this all mean? If you look back in verse 20 you will see that Jesus prays, not for them alone. Who are them? The apostles, the eleven for whom he has been praying in the previous section. He continues, but also for those who are to believe in him through the apostolic witness--the great body of Christians around the world and through the centuries. These two groups, He now says, are all to be joined together, that all of them may be one. In other words, the unity of the church is a unity with the apostles. And since the primary task of the apostles was to give us the truth about Jesus, this unity is that of shared truth--one faith delivered unto the saints, one set of beliefs about Jesus given by the apostles. Thus, the basis of unity in the body of Christ is the unity of shared truth.

Another aspect of unity is found in the words, I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity. That is the glory of a shared life. Jesus in us, the Father in Him, and thus, in the remarkable words of Peter, we may participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Do you ever think of yourself as linked with the life of God--so much so that you cannot be known or understood apart from that life? The understanding of that is what produces unity among believers. Here is what Jesus is praying--that we may understand the sharing of truth, the sharing of power, and the sharing of life, and that we may be one.

What is the purpose of this unity? Twice our Lord tells us--once in verse 21: so that the world may believe that you have sent me, and again in verse 23: to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. When the church begins to demonstrate the unity of faith, the unity of shared truth, shared power, and shared life, the world is hit by an inescapable impression that Jesus is Lord, that He indeed holds the key to history and to reality, that He is indeed the revelation of the invisible God.

Lord, You have made me one with believers in all places in all times. May that unity be reflected in all that I do.

Life Application​

What unity do we demonstrate so the world can see how Jesus holds the key to reality and is indeed the revelation of the invisible God?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JULY 31ST​

Our Great Hope​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: JOHN 17:24-26

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
John 17:24

Jesus closes His prayer with a great, heartfelt expression of His desire that we may be with Him in glory, that all who believe in His name, from the beginning of Pentecost until the end of time, may be with Him in His glory. What a magnificent basis for our hope of heaven! And yet heaven is heaven only because we will be with Christ. This is the hope of every believer, that one day we will be with Him. As Paul said, We ... would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8-9). And in many places Scripture brings that hope before us. The joy of the Christian is that in heaven we behold the glory of Jesus, the face of Jesus, the manifestation of all the glory that is in Him.

It is a great hope! In the Scriptures we are not told a lot about heaven just enough to make us want to be there. But the hope set forth for us is that we will be with Jesus to behold His glory in answer to this prayer. But we don't have to wait for heaven. There is a sense in which this prayer is being answered right now. I think our Lord intended it this way, for in the Spirit we are able, right now, to behold the glory of Jesus. And it is the vision of that glory, of who Jesus is, that changes us. Paul tells us that we are now seated with Christ in the heavenly places. In 2 Corinthians he says, And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

So the more we see and behold the glory of Jesus, the more we are being made like Him even though we may not be aware the change is taking place. What is this glory? Our Lord defines it for us in verse 26: I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. The glory of Jesus is the glory of love--the love of God for people. That is what grips our hearts and changes our lives and makes us different people, forgives our sins, lifts us up again, and encourages our hearts. It is the realization that God indeed loves us as He loves Jesus.

Thank You, Lord, that You have gripped me with this great love and given me the hope of glory!

Life Application​

Must we wait for heaven? Do our lives reflect the glory of Jesus today as well as our hope to behold His glory in the future?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[civic]

Got to love Ray and especially with that passage he is speaking my language.

 

[Obadiah]

Got to love Ray and especially with that passage he is speaking my language.

He is the best! It's so awesome that his son has kept his memory alive and has such an outstanding website in honor of him. On his website it has the sermons for each one of these devotions came from.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR AUGUST 1ST​

Broken Walls, Broken Lives​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: NEHEMIAH 1:1-3

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.
Nehemiah 1:3b

Notice the description of Jerusalem. The people were in trouble and were feeling a great sense of disgrace and reproach. The walls of the city were broken down. The gates had been burned with fire and were no longer usable.

If we take Jerusalem as a symbol of our own lives, there are many of us who fit this description. You look back on your life, and you see there are places where the walls have been broken down. There is no longer any ability left to resist destructive attacks. You have fallen victim to sinful habits that you now find difficult to break. That is the kind of ruin that is described here.

Perhaps you have gone along with the ways of the world. You have fallen into practices that the Bible says are wrong, and you know they are wrong. But you have difficulty stopping them. Perhaps your drift began innocently. You did not realize you were forming a habit, but now you no longer can stop it. Your defenses are gone. The walls of your city are broken down, and perhaps your gates are also burned. Gates are ways in and out. They are the way by which other people get to know you as you really are. Perhaps your gates have been destroyed by wrong habits.

Perhaps you were abused as a child. This phenomenon seems to be surfacing frequently in our day. The shame and the scarring of it have kept you a recluse. Your gates are burned, and nobody has access to you. Perhaps you were a victim of divorce or rape or of some bitter experience, and you feel betrayed or sabotaged.
You want to run and hide. No one can reach you. You have been so badly burned, you are now touchy and inaccessible. There are parts of your life you cannot talk about. You do not want anyone to know. You have a sense of great personal distress and are feeling reproach and disgrace. You have been scarred emotionally. No one may know about it. To others you appear to be a success. They think you are doing fine, but inwardly you know you are not. As you examine the walls and the gates of your life, you find much of it in ruins. How do you handle that?

That is the great question many face. But that is why the Scriptures are given to us. The men and women of the past have been through these same difficulties, and they have told us how to handle them. This great book of Nehemiah is one of the most helpful pictures we have of how to recover from broken lives. The steps that Nehemiah took covers seven chapters of this book. They are specific steps, orderly--and very effective! Taken in order they will lead to a full recovery of usefulness.

Thank You, Father, that You reveal my own brokenness, not in order to condemn me, but to rebuild my life. I give to You all that is in ruins and ask that You rebuild me into the person You want me to be.

Life Application​

Are we ready and willing to allow God to expose our brokenness and lead us in paths of healing and usefulness?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.