Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 20th​

Singing the Truth​

Read the Scripture: Colossians 3:15-17

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Colossians 3:16

The Word is to be well known among us. It is to be the central thing in teaching us how to live. This amazing Book, this insight into true life, is unrivaled anywhere in the world. There is nothing else that even remotely approaches it in its view of reality.

Notice how the whole body is to be involved in this. We are to teach and admonish one another, everybody — in homes, in church, in classes, in Bible study groups, in breakfast groups — should gather about the Word. We ought to thoroughly know and understand this Book. Here are described marvelous mysteries which challenge the greatest minds among us. Here are simple statements that burst like rockets in our brain and illuminate the whole landscape of life. This is not dead, lifeless truth! It is alive, vital, refreshing and illuminating! It dispels doubts, fears and difficulties. We are to center our lives around the Word of God.

With this Paul links also the ministry of music. I have always enjoyed Hawaiian songs and music ever since I lived in Hawaii many years ago. Once when I commented on the beauty of their music, one of the old Hawaiians said to me, You know, the Hawaiians never had any music until the missionaries came. All the pagans do is chant. They do not know how or what to sing. The first songs the Hawaiians ever sang were hymns taught them by missionaries. It is Christian truth that inspires the greatest music. Music belongs to the believer.

Here the apostle recognizes its powerful ministry in our lives. We are to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Psalms, of course, are the inspired utterances of the Book of Psalms and found also in various other books of the Bible. How marvelous is this teaching from God, put in rhythm and beauty of expression! Hymns are literally praise songs, responses that humans have composed to reflect with thanksgiving on what God has done. With this is linked songs from the Spirit, testimony songs which reflect how God has led us. If you look through any songbook, you will find these three types of songs included.

As we sing, we are encouraging one another. You may arrive at church depressed and discouraged, but as the congregation lifts up one of these great songs, you will be lifted by it as well. You will began to rejoice again in spirit because the music and the words remind you of the greatness of God. So we are to sing the truth as well as study it, with gratitude in our hearts for all that God has done.

Father, in all my gatherings with fellow believers, teach us to let the Word of Christ dwell richly among us. Amen.

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Life Application​

Take some time today and sing God's Word. Lift up your heart and worship God with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs!

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 21st​

Repent and Believe​

Read the Scripture: Acts 20:17-38

You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
Acts 20:20-21

In Paul's great charge to the Ephesian elders, he is describing his own ministry. It is a beautiful passage from which we get the most intimate glimpse anywhere in the Scriptures of the heart of this great apostle, of the character of his labors, and of his concern for those with whom he ministers.

Paul shares what he did whenever he came into a city: First, he always sought to set forth the whole counsel of God. He tried to teach them the whole truth. He did not want them to be shortchanged in any way. Sometimes he stayed up long hours in order to cover all that God has said to man. This, of course, was because he knew and understood that it is the knowledge of the Word that sets you free.

I wish I could make that clear to people who are struggling with problems and internal tensions and pressures, and with boredom, frustration, and a sense of restlessness — all the negative qualities of life. God has never intended for you to live like that. That is why he has given you the Word. It is the Word of Truth that sets you free. When you learn it and understand it and operate on it, it will always set you free. One of the exciting things in life is to see people who have simply been transformed by the truth they have learned, and have been set free from habits and attitudes that have ruined them for years. That is why Paul emphasized this ministry so strongly. He was faithful in its delivery not only in public but also from house to house.

Also, see how practical it was. It always could be reduced to two concepts: Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. There is the Christian message. These are the two basic steps, and you must take them over and over again. The way you begin the Christian life is to repent and believe. And that also constitutes your walk through the Christian life. A walk is more than a single step. When faced with a situation, you should take the first step and repent, think through the old way of life and say to yourself, I've been going at this the wrong way. But that is not yet a walk. You must take the next step and believe, trust in God's Word and his work in you. Then, on the next occasion that comes, you go through the same procedure over again: You repent, and then believe; repent and believe; repent and believe — and you are walking! That is what the Christian life is all about. In every circumstance, every situation, this is the two-fold way by which the Christian lives in the power of a living God: repent and believe.

Father, how grateful I am for your Word! How much it speaks to my heart, and how powerful is its ministry to me. And, in the hands of the Spirit, how graciously it teaches me to report and believe. I thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.

Life Application​

Take these two words and apply them to your walk today: repent and believe.

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 22nd​

The Weapons of our Warfare​

Read the Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:1-5

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4

Truth is the chief weapon of the Christian. The glory of Christianity is that it introduces truth into any situation. It reveals reality. Jesus Christ came to tell it as it is, and he did so. Invariably, always, he told it as it is. He let people know the facts about life and about man. He unveiled reality, he tore away the illusions and delusions under which men labor. He ripped off veils. You can watch him exposing the faulty thinking of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and all the other groups with which he came in contact, including his own disciples. Here in the Word of God, in the truth as it is in Jesus, we have a powerful weapon, the greatest one there is in many respects, telling things the way they are.

Truth is the stock in trade of a Christian; that is, if he accepts the Word of God as the truth about life, and if he proclaims it, and demonstrates it in his own life, he himself is a mighty weapon for setting men free and for solving the ills of society. Not only truth proclaimed, but truth demonstrated: The weakness of the church is that it has often been too content to simply proclaim a portion of the truth and never give itself to the demonstration of it. But a Christian, above all others, ought to be characterized by openness and honesty.

This modern world of ours is generously supplied with pitchmen and con artists and those who have axes to grind. These people are enthusiastically and persistently using the big lie on us. Hence, it is an arresting and refreshing experience to meet a person or a group that is authentic and transparently open.

That is what every Christian ought to be, and every Christian group. No Christian has the right to a private life. Our lives are to be lived openly before all men, transparent, a spectacle unto all the world. Christians are to be demonstrations of the truth. The church where Jesus is openly confessed is a potent commodity, particularly needed in our disillusioned, jaded civilization. Many weary people want to find a place where God's Word is revered, taught, and translated into daily life. Not a church posing this week as a circus, next week as a sociological supermarket, next month as a pietistic political polarization within the ecclesiastical community; but a church which purports in its proclamation to be what it is — the body of Christ — a fellowship where God's people come together for renewal, for the teaching of God's word, and for spreading the gospel.

Father, grant that I may see the challenge of the hour in which I live, and realize that I have been uniquely called to proclaim the truth. Help me to give myself to it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Life Application​

Make a list of a few strongholds in our world today — entrenched ways of thinking that are contrary to the truth. How does the Word of God apply to these?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 23rd​

The Path to Freedom​

Read the Scripture: John 8:31-58

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:31-32

This is a declaration that discipleship is the only true path to freedom. If you want freedom, then Jesus says the way is to become his disciple. It begins with belief. He said these things to the Jews who had believed in him. They had been intellectually grasped by his arguments and his words, but they had not yet committed themselves to him.

Then, hold to my teaching. Listen to Jesus. Compare what he says with your own experience. Does what he says agree with what you have found to be true in living life? That is the test. The test of any religion is not whether you enjoy it. The test is: Is it true? Does it accord with life? Does it explain what is going on? That is the test, and that you can only establish as you continue in his word, as you think long and deeply, read fully and frequently. This is a process.

When you do that, something will happen to you: If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. If you read his word and you continue in it, somewhere along the line you will find that his words have grabbed you, and you will commit yourself to him, and then you are really a disciple.
Then you will know the truth. What an objective! Everybody wants to know the truth, to be able to recognize the lies that you hear from the media. What is the truth? Truth is the nature of things as they really are. Truth is seeing through all the illusions, the dreams, the wishful thinking, and getting down to the core, the reality, that which really is. That is the truth.

Jesus promises that when you follow him, hear his word, and continue in it, a wonderful thing will happen — the truth will set you free. The truth will deliver you, permit you to be all that you were meant to be. It frees us from all the things that keep us from being all that we were meant to be. Fear is the biggest one; being afraid, worried, anxious, insecure and timid. Then there is anger. Have you ever felt angry and mad at life in general? You felt a quiet rage in your heart and you didn't know why. Then there is guilt. Millions of people suffer inwardly from a sense of failure, of shame about things in their past. Pride is another problem; a proud, aggressive, arrogant spirit.

Jesus' wonderful promise is that there is a way out. Bring these things to me, he tells us. Listen to my words. Look at life as I see it and a wonderful thing will happen: there will be a change in you. You will be given a life that you never had before, and you will be set free.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the promise of freedom, and for providing a clear pathway to experiencing this freedom in following you.

​

Life Application​

Where are you on this pathway to freedom? Take some time today and thank him for specific things he has freed you from.

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 25th​

Not Ashamed​

Read the Scripture: Romans 1:1-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
Romans 1:16-17

Here is the message itself, the gospel which the apostle will preach to the Christians and thus reach all the nations. Paul says that he is not ashamed of it, and this is a way of saying that he is proud of it. He can't wait to get to Rome.

Paul especially is not ashamed of the gospel in Rome because the Romans appreciated power, just as Americans do. The Romans prided themselves on their power. They had military power that could conquer all the nations that stood in their path; they had a tremendous program of road-building; they had some of the greatest lawmakers of history; they had the power to write literature and create art. But Paul knew that the Romans also were powerless when it came to changing hearts. They were powerless to eliminate slavery; half of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves. They were powerless to eliminate violence; the Roman Empire was full of violence and corruption and the suicide rate was extremely high. The Romans could do nothing about these things. And Paul says that is why he is so proud of the gospel — because it is the power of God to do those very things that people cannot do. We never need to apologize for the gospel. It is absolutely without rival.

Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because it reveals a righteousness from God. Righteousness is an old word that we don't understand very much. I would like to substitute for it the word worth, a worth before God. A sense of acceptance before God is given to you. You can't earn it, you don't deserve it, but it is given. God really accepts you because of the good news of the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Therefore, it is something that anyone can have, and it is complete.

This righteousness is received by faith. It is not something we can ever earn; it is something we can take anytime we need it, and that is good news. Our worth before God is not something we receive once, by faith, at the beginning of our Christian lives. It is something we remind ourselves of every time we feel depressed, despairing, discouraged, defeated, etc. God has loved us, restored us, and we have perfect standing in his sight. He already accepts us and loves us as much as he possibly can; nothing more can be added to it. This is the righteousness that is revealed in the gospel, by faith, to all who believe, no matter what their background or training may be.

Father, how hopeless my condition would be were it not for the gospel! Help me to know that nothing could have saved me from the evil one but the intervention of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Amen.

​

Life Application​

Ashamed of the gospel? Ponder three things: lives that are changed, our promised righteousness before God, and the faith required to receive
these benefits.

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 26th​

The Cure​

Read the Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:1-17

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:12-15

Notice how Paul moves from the theme of deterioration of faith and moral collapse to the one remedy and cure for the believer, an adherence to the written Word of God. As Paul outlines it here, the defense of a Christian in a day of moral decline is a thorough acquaintanceship with the written Scriptures, while any defection from faith which may occur is made possible only by an abandonment of these writings, in attitude, at least, if not in act.

The Word of God has been under attack for many centuries. Like an ancient castle, it has withstood many assaults. Up to and through the 17th century, these attacks were primarily outward. That is, they were an assault from without by men who tried to destroy the Scriptures by rather direct methods. History is full of accounts of book burnings and even the murder of translators of the Word of God. But these outward attacks against the Bible utterly failed. In the 18th century, a new approach was made by the enemies of Scripture. Instead of sending soldiers to attack the castle, the enemies of the Bible sent workmen — carpenters, bricklayers and masons — who came offering to remodel the whole structure.

They said, in effect, This is a good, strong building. It simply needs a bit of renovation here and there. They began to rearrange the structure of the castle of God's Word. They drained the moat, tore down the wall, removed the doors, and when they were through, everything was quite different from before. There was no longer any castle there and no longer any defense for those who would seek a refuge.

As to any permanent or lasting effect on the church as a whole, this attack from those who stand in pulpits and those who sit in theological chairs in seminaries will fail and has utterly failed. For Jesus said, I will build my church, and the gates of hades will not overcome it (Matthew 16:18b). No force will really overthrow the Word of God; we never need to fear that. But as far as individuals are concerned, it is possible for these attacks against the Scripture to upset their faith, and it is this that Paul warns about as he writes to his son in the faith from his prison in Rome.

Father, help me to stand firm in my faith that your Word is the one remedy and cure for my life.

​

Life Application​

How strong is your faith in the Word of God? Has your conviction in the truth of God's Word eroded as a result of the many attacks it has encountered?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 27th​

The Eternal Word​

Read the Scripture: John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5

This was not written about some mystic, divine being up in heaven. This was written to describe the identity of a Man who once walked this earth, who lived and breathed like we do. John knew this Man intimately. He ate with him and slept with him out in the open; touched him and handled him, heard him and followed him. These are the remarkable conclusions to which John has come as he has thought about the life, the death and the resurrection of that remarkable Man.

John wants us to understand that Jesus was the Word of God. What is a word, anyway? A word is an audible or a visual expression of a thought. Thoughts are incommunicable until they are put into words. Several times the Scripture asks, Who has known the mind of the Lord? The answer is, No one. Nobody knows what God thinks until he tells us. That is what John means here. When Jesus was among us as a man, he expressed what was going on in the mind of God. He told us the thoughts of God. He was God's utterance on earth. In the book of Hebrews we read, In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son (Hebrews 1:1-2a RSV).

Furthermore, that Word is from the beginning: In the beginning was the Word. The beginning of what? The beginning of everything. This Word of God is eternal; it always has existed. We do not have any history before we come to earth, but Jesus did. He could remember times when he was with the Father before the universe began. We cannot do that. But Jesus had a history before he came to earth, and John tells us it was that of the Word, the eternal Son.

But more than that, John says this Word was with God. The Word is distinct from the Father; two separate Persons, yet so close that the Word was intimately involved with the Father so that their thoughts and their purposes were one. Jesus said, I and my Father are one (John 10:30). He does not mean one and the same; they are two separate persons. When you think of persons in this sense, do not think of bodies. Bodies are not essential to persons. John declares here that the eternal Son, Jesus, was a person, and the Father was a person, and they were one in purpose and action.

Finally, John makes the blunt statement, And that Word was God. No doubt about it! Many religions deny this great truth that Jesus was God. But there is no other translation of this statement possible without violating the laws of Greek grammar and the statements of other Scriptures.

Father, thank you for speaking to us in the person of your Son, who was with you from the beginning and is the perfect representation of your mind and thoughts. Help me to listen to him. Amen.

Life Application​

The mystery of the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son is beyond our finite minds. Ask God to give you a growing understanding of this mystery.

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 28th​

The Law of the Lord​

Read the Scripture: Psalm 19

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
Psalms 19:7-8a

This is the resource of God designed for our inner life. Nature ministers to and feeds and strengthens and supports our outer life. But here is that which touches the inner life, makes for the conquest of that inner space which is so all-important to human life. The Psalmist takes its characteristics one by one and shows us what they can do.

First, The law of the Lord is perfect. It is complete, there is nothing left out. It does everything that we need it to do. There is no part of your life, no problem that you will ever face, no question with which you will ever be troubled, that the Word of God does not speak to and illuminate and meet. So it is perfect, refreshing the soul. Jesus spoke of rivers of living water which would be available to buoy up the human spirit and to meet its need. This is what the Word of God is designed to do for us.

Second, the statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. To be trustworthy means to be dependable and reliable. You can count on this word to be true. Therefore, you do not need to know a lot about everything else. The Word of God is not against knowledge; it is only against knowledge which does not begin at the right place. But even if you do not have a lot of knowledge, even if you are simple in terms of education, you can still be wise by trusting Scripture because it is reliable.

Third, the precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. Do you not rejoice in your heart to know that you are right about something? When you get into a controversy with somebody but you have the solid assurance that you are right — what a feeling! That is the way it is with the Word of God. The glorious thing about this Book is that when everything is said and done, it will all end up just as it is written here. This Book is right, it is the way things really are.

You might say, I read my Bible and it doesn't do these things for me. Do you know why? Notice that when David talks about various aspects of revelation, he uses the phrase of the Lord: The law of the Lord, the statutes of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord. This means that these aspects in themselves are not what we need; they are channels by which we find the Lord. It is he who does all these wonderful things for us. It is the Lord who forgives, revives, cleanses, enlightens and makes us rejoice. It is God, it is the Lord Jesus. And as we find him in the pages of Scripture, these wonderful things happen to us.

Thank you, Father for the law of the Lord, which refreshes me, makes me wise, and gives me joy. May this law be a channel by which I deepen in my walk with you.

Life Application​

Do you see your knowledge of God's Word as an end in itself or as a means to know and love and serve the One who wrote it?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 29th​

Feed the Flock​

Read the Scripture: Acts 20:17-38

For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
Acts 20:27-28

These words are part of Paul's great charge to the Ephesian elders. The elders were what we would call the pastors of the churches there. In these ancient cities, they did not meet together as we do on a Sunday morning. There was no room suitable for them to do so, so they met in homes. The teachers of these various house churches were the elders, those responsible for guiding and directing and teaching and feeding the flock. These are the men whom Paul has summoned to meet him at Miletus.

The primary responsibility of a pastor is to teach the Scriptures, to feed the flock. If he is not doing that, he is failing in his job, miserably. It is the truth that changes people. If the Word, the Scriptures, are not being taught, then people are not being changed. They are struggling on in their own futile ways and nothing is being accomplished. So the primary job of pastors is to teach the whole counsel of God.

They are to begin with themselves, says the apostle, i.e., they are to obey the truth which they themselves learn. This is where their authority comes from. It is only as they are obedient to the truth which they teach that they have any right to say anything to anyone else. Would you dare say that to your children? If what I am doing is not in line with what I teach, then don't believe me. I have no authority over you; I have no power over you. But if your actions are in accord with your teaching, then power is inherent in that obedience.

So these elders are to begin with themselves, and to teach the Word. Their responsibility is to the Holy Spirit, not to the denomination, nor to the congregation. It is the Spirit who has set them in that office and has equipped them with gifts. He who reads the heart is judging their lives, so it does not make any difference what anybody else thinks. They must follow the Spirit in what he has given them to do.

Notice how he underscores the fact that theirs is a very precious ministry. It is to feed the church of the Lord. Nothing is more precious to God in all the world than the people of Christ, the body of Christ. The most valuable thing on earth, in God's sight, is his church. He gave himself for it, he loves it earnestly, he obtained it with his own blood. Therefore, it has highest priority in thoughts. What concerns the church is the most important thing in the world today. I wish we could catch that picture as the apostle understood it.

Lord, thank you for the shepherds you have appointed to feed your flock. May you grant them strength and courage to teach the whole will of God, and to apply it first to their own lives.

​

Life Application​

What are some ways you can encourage a shepherd that God has placed in your life? Take some time to pray for them and write them a note of encouragement.

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 30th​

Do Not Tamper!​

Read the Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:1-6

Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God.
2 Corinthians 4:2a

I am always amazed at how up to date the Scriptures seem. You would think that Paul had just been listening to some Christian radio broadcasts or television programs when he wrote this. There were people in his day, preaching in churches and evangelizing, who were practicing disgraceful, underhanded ways. They were relying on cunning approaches and even tampering with the Word of God. Paul says, Seeing other people do this, I want nothing to do with it.

Notice particularly what this consists of, because this speaks to our own time. First, he says, I have renounced secret and shameful ways, that is, the practice of deliberate deceit. Every now and then a report appears about some evangelist who hires converts to stand up in his meetings and confess Christ, or to come down front and give a testimony of being healed, in order to make the evangelist look like a success. That is deceitful. You read of Sunday Schools that bait and bribe people to come to church. I have met preachers who have phony degrees, obtained for $100 or so, sent by some diploma mill somewhere. That is deceit. I know of missionaries who send reports home to their supporting churches about things that have no basis whatever in fact in their ministry. They tell of things that never occurred, reporting achievements in the preaching of the gospel that never really happened. I know of Christians who tell someone else's experience as though it happened to them, and thus they lie in the name of Jesus.

But Paul says we do not rely on those kinds of things anymore. Nor do we tamper with God's word. Can you imagine anybody in the name of Jesus tampering with God's word? Yet it happens all the time. Peter speaks of those who twist the Scriptures. It is not difficult to do that. You can take a great biblical word and give it another meaning, and using the same language, talk about something else entirely: The word resurrection is disemboweled of its biblical content and made to mean something that it does not mean in the Bible. The word Christ is made to stand for a person or a being who does not exist in Scripture at all. Yet people who hear you use that kind of language are fooled. That is twisting the Word of God; and it happens all the time in our day. You find people who infer that the Bible is inferior to the discoveries of modern knowledge — present day scientific discoveries have proved it wrong; therefore, it is not to be trusted. This is tampering with the Word of God, because nothing in the Bible has ever been proved wrong by scientific discovery.

Lord, grant me discernment to recognize the ways your Word is tampered with today. Help me to renounce such things. Amen.

​

ife Application​

Can you identify examples of the kind of tampering with God's Word Paul is talking about? Pray for discernment.

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — October 31st​

Sanctified By the Truth​

Read the Scripture: John 17:13-19

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
John 17:17-19

I don't know what you think sanctification is. All too often we think of it as kind of a religious deworming process — you go through it once and you're sanctified, and nothing can ever touch you again. But that is false on the face of it. Scripture doesn't teach that, and neither does experience. Sanctification is a simple word which means to be set apart unto a certain purpose, to be put to an intended use.

When I select a necktie from a number of other ties, I sanctify it. When you select a seat to sit on, you sanctify that seat; you put it to its intended use. When you tear off a piece of paper to write a note, you sanctify that piece of paper to the use for which you intend. That is all it means. And when God called us be Christians, he set us apart for the use for which we were intended — not to be our own, but to be his instruments, and to walk in conformity with his ways.

What is it which accomplishes this? Jesus tells us: It is the Word, the truth, the truth about life. The world lives in a shimmering illusion, a dream world. The world lives by things which are not true at all, but which it thinks are true, by values and standards which are worthless and meaningless but which they exalt very highly. Jesus said, That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. That is how the world lives. And how can we live in that kind of a world, touch it, and hear it, have it pouring into our ears and exposed to our eyes day and night, and not be conformed to its image and squeezed into its mold?

The answer is, we must know the truth. We must know it so clearly and strongly that even while we're listening to these alluring lies, we can brand them as lies and know that they are wrong; even while we feel the flesh within us rise up and urge us to get involved with it and participate in it and not be different, we can say by the Spirit of God, No, I've given my life to Jesus. Jesus is my authority. And he is my strength. By his grace and power I'll stand in the midst of this world. But if your Bible is closed, if you are not growing in the knowledge of the Word of God, it is only a question of time before the world will move in and take you over. You will lose all the joy and vitality of your Christian experience.

Jesus lived this way himself. In his prayer, he said to his Father, For them I have sanctified myself. Why did he sanctify himself? So that we might have an example of what it means to be sanctified, to live by the truth of God in the midst of a sick and dying world.

Father, I pray as Jesus prayed, that you will keep me from the evil one. Keep me by your truth so that I may glorify you. Amen.

​

Life Application​

In what ways are you cultivating a knowledge of God's Word to sanctify you and protect you from the evil one?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — November 1st​

Hope in the Heavens​

Read the Scripture: Colossians 1:1-6

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God's people—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you.
Colossians 1:3-6a

Did you pick out the three words that are crucial there: faith, hope, and love? We could say these are favorite words of the apostle. He uses this triad in several of his letters. In 1 Thessalonians he writes about your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope. We also remember that wonderful triad at the end of 1 Corinthians 13, And now abide faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love.

Yes, love is what is needed in our world. But, according to Paul's statement, love comes from faith. It is important to recognize that these wonderfully warm words, faith, love and hope, are related. These words mark what we could well call qualities of authentic Christians. The mark of a true Christian will be: you have faith and love which spring from hope, and that hope is found in the gospel. It's important to notice that hope produces faith, and faith in turn grows into love. Hope is the root, faith is the plant, and love is the fruit. Thus, hope is foundational.

This gives rise to the question, what produces hope? We all desperately need hope. Without hope men lose the desire to live. In hopeless moments we feel like saying, What is the use of going on? What, then, produces hope? Paul's answer is that hope is awakened by the gospel. That is the good news. The gospel addresses itself to losers — not to the successful, but to the failures, the weak, the empty, the lost among us, and it gives them hope. When nothing else can give them hope, the gospel will. But how does hearing the story of Jesus: his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection and his coming by the Spirit, give hope that awakens faith and stimulates love for others? The answer is in this one phrase, the hope stored up for you in heaven.

To most, that immediately suggests life after death, when we will go to be with the Lord and all the glory of eternity will be ours. Though it is a wonderful truth, the hope of life after death, this translation obscures what is really being said. The singular word heaven is what misleads us. The Greek text actually says, hope is available to you in the heavens — plural. This term the heavens refers not to heaven after death, but to the invisible spiritual kingdom that surrounds us on all sides right now. Thus, what this is saying is that the gospel reveals there is hope for us immediately, coming from that invisible spiritual kingdom which surrounds us at this very moment. That is the hope awakened by the gospel. It is the good news that right now, whatever you are facing, in your moment of weakness or hopelessness, Jesus is available to you. His strength can be imparted to you, his wisdom granted to you to steady you, strengthen you and make you to stand. That is the hope of the gospel. That is what awakens faith.

Father, thank you for the hope I have in the heavens. May that hope awaken in me both faith and love.

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Life Application​

What is going on in your life right now that pushes you towards the hope that is available to you in the heavens?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — November 2nd​

Spreading Hope​

Read the Scripture: Colossians 1:7-8

You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Colossians 1:7-8

Epaphras had been teaching the Colossians the truth. Epaphras was the man who started it all. We do not know much about him, although he is mentioned in a couple of the other letters of Paul. He evidently was a layman, and had probably been part of the group that Paul himself taught when he was in Ephesus for three years.

There Paul rented a hall (the school of Tyrannus), and for five hours a day, six days a week, for three solid years he taught the Scriptures. I would have given almost anything to have attended that special curriculum, taught by Paul. Many who were present went out through all the provinces spreading the truth, and among them was Epaphras. He came into the insignificant city of Colossae and probably started a home Bible study. He had friends also in Laodicea and started another group there and another one over in Hierapolis.

Epaphras simply told the people who came the truth about Jesus: the meaning of his death, the glory of his resurrection, his accessibility to them by means of the Spirit who came on the day of Pentecost. That began to excite them and awaken them in their hopeless condition. They found hope again, and faith and love came along with it. A healed community of beautiful people came into being and caught the attention of many in those pagan cities. That is God's favorite way of evangelism.

As you hear the Scriptures expounded by a pastor, perhaps you may think that if you only knew the Bible like him, then you could be of use to God. But don't you see that you already are called as an evangelist? You are out there, rubbing shoulders with people who have no hope, hearing their sad stories, meeting them in the streets and in the stores, having coffee with them. You are the ones who can spread the word of hope. That is how the gospel spread throughout the Roman province of Asia, and hundreds of churches came into being. The gospel has power to change, power to awaken, power to give hope, and out of hope springs faith and love.

Where you live is your corner of the world. Perhaps you too can see these very things happening there. What excitement will come into your life when you reach out with the good news, the only source of hope in the world, to the hopeless ones around?

Father, thank you that you are the God of hope. You have sent a word of truth into this broken, despairing world. Send me to the hopeless ones around me, and help me to demonstrate, by the joy and peace of my like, that I have found hope.

Life Application​

Who has God placed in your life that needs to hear the message of hope? Begin praying today for an opportunity to share this hope with them.

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — November 3rd​

Wisdom and Understanding​

Read the Scripture: Colossians 1:9

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives…
Colossians 1:9

The one thing Paul asks for is that the Colossians might come to understand God's will. He knows that if they begin to understand the will of God, everything good that he desires for them will follow. Thus, the chief aim of a believer's life ought to be to know God's will. But here is where many young Christians go astray. They think the will of God is an itinerary they must discover: where God wants them to go, and what God wants them to do. Most of their prayers are addressed with those thoughts in mind. What should I do today? Where should I go? Who should I marry?

There is a profound psychological principle involved in this. God knows us, and he knows that our behavior flows out of who we think we are. The glory of the good news is that he has made us into something different from what we once were. Therefore, the primary course in the curriculum of the Spirit is to learn who you are now, what God has made you to be, and especially, your new relationship to him. The more you understand who you now are, and what God has done to make you that, the more your behavior will change. That is why Paul puts the knowledge of God's will first.

Where do we find that out? Paul says, …through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. There are two things that enable us to discover the will of God. The first is wisdom. This wisdom comes from the Spirit, not from the natural mind of man. In 1 Corinthians the apostle contrasts these two, saying, our ministry is not according to the wisdom of man, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power. He goes on to say, We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages, for our glorification. Paul is speaking of divine insights into human life—how to understand ourselves and how the world functions—which God reveals, but of which natural man knows nothing, no matter how well educated he may be.

The second thing necessary to discover the will of God is understanding. That is the application of the wisdom you are learning to the specific circumstance you are going through. As someone has put it, a clear vision of what needs to be done. You may be struggling with problems and you don't know what to do. The first thing is to understand how God sees your problem and what he says about it in his word. Then there will come, as you pray and seek his face, a clear vision of what needs to be done. What steps to take or not to take. That is how to discover the will of God.

This all comes from the Spirit. These are not natural abilities. They are given by the Spirit, and are therefore possible to all believers.

Father, grant that through your Spirit I might grow in both wisdom and understanding that I might know your will.

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Life Application​

What is an area of your life in which you need "a clear vision of what needs to be done"? Pray for wisdom and understanding from the Spirit.

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — November 4th​

A Life Worthy of the Lord​

Read the Scripture: Colossians 1:10-11

…so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience…
Colossians 1:10-11

Paul has just prayed that the Colossians would be filled with all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that they might understand God's will. Here he tells us what will happen as a result. First, we will live a life worthy of the Lord. When you understand what God has made you to be, you will become concerned about whether your behavior reflects his beauty, and what others will think of your God when they are watching you. We should be concerned about our impact upon others and what our actions make them think about our God.

The second thing that will flow from a knowledge of his will is we will seek to please him in every way. Our chief aim ought to be that we live in a way that delights God. What quality of life is pleasing to God? In the book of Hebrews we are told, Without faith it is impossible to please God! Faith is what pleases him. Every time Jesus approved or commended people, it was because of their faith. You have great faith, he said to the woman who pled with him to heal her flow of blood. Your faith is great, he said to a centurion who asked him to heal his servant. Whenever our Lord commends people for anything, it is because they believe him and act on what he says. That is what pleases God.

Here is the third result: bearing fruit in every good work. The fruit is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, and peace, in our relationships and actions with regard to others; concern, compassion, encouragement, and help in a time of stress, bringing a word of peace into a troubled, hostile atmosphere. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. That is what Paul is talking about: bearing fruit in every good work.

A fourth result is we will grow in the knowledge of God. Seeking to walk worthy of God and to please him with fruitful activity results in knowing God more intimately. Knowing God is the most exciting thing that can ever happen to you! It is the secret of excitement and vitality in a life. People who know God are never bored. If you are bored, it is because you do not adequately know your God. He is an exciting, captivating Being, filled with fresh ideas, concepts and possibilities of which you never could have dreamed.

The final result is that we will be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. The sign of true spiritual power is that we learn how to endure hardship. When you are faced with irritating circumstances or difficult people, it takes power to remain patient. Our natural tendency is to get upset or to become resentful and angry. It takes power to resist these when you feel them rising within you. Every believer has that power, and the sign is that they lead quiet, cheerful lives, that hang in to the end.

Father, I desire to please you in everything I do. Reveal those ways of thinking and living that need to be transformed into that which pleases you.

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Life Application​

In what area of your life is your faith being tested? What will it look like for you have faith in that situation?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.