Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for February 28th​

A Love Story​

Read the Scripture: Isaiah 53:10-12

...because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:12

When I first came to Peninsula Bible Church as a pastor, we had an unusual opportunity to have in our home a Japanese man who had become a Christian evangelist. His name was Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, the commander of the squadron that bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He told us in his broken English of that event and how he felt at the time he gave the command to drop the bombs. After the war he became a hero in Japan, yet he felt his life was empty. Then he heard the amazing story of one of the American fliers, Jacob DeShazer, one of Doolittle's bombers, who had been captured and put in prison in Japan. At first he was a very intractable prisoner, but someone gave him a New Testament and, reading it, his whole life was changed.

Fuchida heard about that change in the life of DeShazer, and Fuchida himself began to read the New Testament. When he came to the story of the crucifixion, he told us that he was so moved by the prayer that broke from the lips of Jesus as he hung upon the cross with his torturers and tormentors gathered about him, Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing (Luke 23:34), that his own heart broke. He could not understand how anyone could pray for his enemies and ask for them to be forgiven. In that moment he opened his heart to Christ, and ultimately became a Christian evangelist. For some years he traveled throughout this country, speaking especially to young people about the grace that could come into a life through One who was numbered with the transgressors . . . and made intercession for them.

This is a love story. What kind of love is this that awakens within us a response of deep and abiding gratitude, a willingness to admit that we need help? Our only adequate response is found in the words of a hymn,

Oh, love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee. I give thee back the life I owe, That in thine ocean depths its flow May richer fuller be.

I am overwhelmed by your great love, O Lord, that will never let me go and is changing me into your likeness.

Life Application​

The realization that the perfect and sinless Jesus became sin for us should break our hearts and radically change our lives. Does His sacrificial love redefine love as both noun and verb, both essence and expression? Are we learning to love for Jesus' sake and by the power of His Presence?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for March 1st​

In Christ​

Read the Scripture: Philippians 1:1-2

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi...

Phil 1:1a

The ancient practice of correspondence had one very distinct advantage over our modern method. They signed their name at the beginning of the letter. Have you ever received a letter, perhaps two or three pages long, and had to flip through the pages to see the name at the end before you knew who the letter was from? The ancients were much more efficient, putting their name at the beginning.

The address of the letter is very distinctive: to the saints in Christ at Philippi. In Christ was the source of their lives. In Philippi was the sphere in which they lived it. Both are very important in this letter. For what these people would be as citizens in Philippi would be determined by who they were as Christians — in Christ.

As you read through this letter you will see that there are four major propositions that govern the Christian life. There is first of all those who are without Christ. There was a time when we all were without Christ, strangers, far-off, without any inheritance of our own. As Paul has written to the Ephesians, we were under the control of the god of this age, driven about by forces of which we were unaware, and we entered into the same concepts and lies that brainwash people everywhere. We were without Christ.

Then there came a time as with these Christians, when we were in Christ, that is, we entered into His Life and His Life entered into us by faith in His work and in His person. We became personally related to the living God. We didn't merely exercise faith in what He did or said. We knew Him. We became part of Him, a vital part of His life. We were in Christ. If anyone be in Christ he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things become new.

Then as we go along in life we see the relationship connect in us of speaking and working and reaching out for Christ. That is, our lives are increasingly lived on His behalf. He becomes the focus of every activity. Then, finally, there will be that moment when, as it says in the old hymn, Face to face I shall behold Him. We shall be with Christ, forevermore.

These four propositions govern the Christian life. That life begins with our being in Christ, whether at Philippi or wherever God may lead us.

Thank you, Father, for placing me in Christ. Teach me to realize and lay hold of all that you have for me in Him.

Life Application​

If we have truly entered into Christ's Life, and He into ours, are we moving toward the goal of serving others in His name and by the power of His indwelling Presence?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for March 2nd​

Where is Your Confidence?​

Read the Scripture: Philippians 1:3-6

...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Phil 1:6

Perhaps Paul's joy in these people at Philippi was that he was seeing them by faith. Not as they were, but as they would be when God's work was done. He was looking at them with the eye of faith. He was sure that He who began a good work in them was going to finish it, so Paul could say that, even though you rub me the wrong way once in a while, I know what you are going to be. This is the key to getting along with other Christians. Sometimes it's difficult, but when we realize what they will be we can do it. I heard of an artist who called a friend in and asked him to comment on a picture he was painting. He said, this is my masterpiece. It is beautiful. The man said I guess I don't see what you see. It just looks like dabs of different colors to me, without form or anything. The artist said, Oh I forgot. I'm seeing it as it will be when finished. You are seeing it as it is now.

This is what Paul was doing. He was seeing these Christians as they would be and he thanks God it's going to happen. What a comforting verse. Many times, when I am discouraged with myself, I utterly despair of being what I ought to be. I am so aware of the deceitfulness and subtlety of the flesh. Even when I want to be what I ought to be, I end up deceiving myself. I see the utter futility of depending on me to get this job done. In those times, I try to remember this verse, being confident of this very thing that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

This means that life is not perfect yet. It has an adequate goal, and it is a goal which will be reached, and the final responsibility is not in my hands but in God's. I love that! Paul's confidence is placed in a Person, not on himself. We are all, if we know Christ, in the hands of the One who can change us. Sometimes we don't want to be what God wants us to be, but it's being done in us despite us. God knows how to bring us into the circumstances that will make us willing to be made willing, if He needs to. It's a great consolation to recognize in whose hands we are. The impression is often given by we Christians today that our main task is to keep Christianity going. Christianity didn't start that way. These early Christians gave the very clear impression that it was their faith in Christ that kept them going. There are those who tell us that we can lose our Christian life, but if this is something we can lose, then it must be based on some human factor — that it depends on us. But if it depends on us, then we can't depend on it. I am so grateful that this rests upon a Person who is capable of doing the work, and who has promised to complete it. Thanks be to God who is able to keep us from falling.

Lord, keep me from the folly of thinking that it is the crusade I launch or the activity that I fulfill or my busyness that accomplishes your will today, rather than what I am in Jesus Christ, and all that marvelous love of Your being flooding through my soul, into my experience and actions.

Life Application​

Joy is 'the serious business of heaven'. It is a consequence of being preoccupied with the living and indwelling Christ, confident that He will complete His redeeming work in us and through us. Are we there yet? No, but God isn't finished either, so let's pay attention.

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for March 3rd​

Love With Knowledge​

Read the Scripture: Philippians 1:7-11

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight...

Phil 1:9

Now if you and I were writing a letter to new Christians, wanting to stir them up to activity, what would we say? Would we not probably urge them to witness, because somehow in our day there has come the idea that all Christian life exists for but one purpose — that the believer may be a verbal witness. And if we are fulfilling that job in talking with someone about God, we are fulfilling all that is expected of us in our Christian lives.

But Paul doesn't say a word about this. Because, of course, love in action is the greatest witness. He says, that your love may abound more and more. That the love of Christ which is in you, and which you can't help but find there if you are at all a believer, may now find expression in affection. What does that mean? That means there is some resulting activity — love in action! Not promise but performance. I think they needed this in Philippi, and I think we need it wherever we live as well, that our love may abound in activity. Otherwise, it's as James says, faith without works is dead. If love doesn't show itself in some action, then it's not real love.

There are two things added: with knowledge and depth of insight. Love by itself, left to flow unchecked and unregulated, can sometimes be disastrous. Love acts like hate when it refuses to think. All of us have had experience with people who mean well, but they never bother to get the facts and to see if they can help intelligently, and sometimes they are a great nuisance. Paul says that isn't enough. Love with knowledge. Learn the situation. See how you can really help. Don't just plan to help without any investigation as to whether it will do the job.

Then, love with depth of insight. Paul means there is a time to help, and people to be helped, but there are times not to help and people who ought not to be helped. One of the weaknesses of present church life is that we give money freely to activities that ought not to have it. We don't exercise discernment. There are some people that because of their attitude and situation, can't be helped at the moment. I think of that story of the prodigal son, when that boy was down there in the far country. I think the father in some way knew where that boy was and what he was doing, but he never offered to help him. He couldn't. He let him go into the far country because for that moment there was nothing else he could do. He couldn't help the boy until he came back, and when he did the help was available to him.

Father, you are the One of whom it is said, God is love. More and more, may your love come to define me and all my actions.

​

Life Application​

Are our lives as Christ's disciples motivated and informed by His quality of love? Do we seek wisdom and insight from the Holy Spirit in study of the Word and in prayer?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for March 4th​

Adversity Means Advance​

Read the Scripture: Philippians 1:12-15

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.

Phil 1:12

Paul is in jail in Rome, writing to his friends far across the sea in Philippi. He manifests a reaction that inevitably makes the world sit up and take notice. He understood that adversity means advance. The manifestation of this kind of attitude is a test of Christian maturity. The Christian who has become well enough acquainted with the God of the impossible whom he serves, knows that even through apparent defeat, God still is able to work. Such a Christian has begun to grow up in the Lord. He recognizes that in God obstacles are really opportunities, and nothing can really imperil the gospel. That is an amazing declaration when you think about it. Nothing that is intended to defeat ever brings defeat, that God works His way despite the obstacles, and all obstacles only serve ultimately to spread Christian faith.

I ran across the story of a Swiss French pastor who was imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II. He said this: I was not able to stand firm except by remembering every day that the Gestapo was the hand of God — the left hand. The worst of tyrants will only end by accomplishing Christ's will.

That is the glorious mark of Christianity that has made it an invincible force through all the centuries. Here is Paul, under arrest, chained day and night to a Roman soldier, unable to leave the house or the city of Rome. Imagine what this must have meant to the restless, surging spirit of this man. God had sent him out under His commission that was to take him to the very ends of the earth.

It must have been easy for Paul to be discouraged. There is no doubt he was tempted many times to feel sorry for himself and to wonder why God would ever let this kind of thing happen to him when all he was trying to do was fulfill God's will. Do you ever feel that way? It must have been easy for him to chafe under these circumstances as month by month goes grinding on and there seems to be no change. But as we read the letters that come from him out of those days there is not one word of complaint. Instead there is a marvelously triumphant spirit, and an expression of confidence. Why? When he was tempted he undoubtedly fell back on what he knew about his God. In other words, in the face of temptation to fret and chafe, he believed God.

Earlier he had written to these very Roman Christians with whom he was now meeting. All things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose. He believed that! Even though the immediate hour didn't bring relief, he believed Him, and out of that confidence he could see that even those things that seem to be against him are working out the purposes of God.

Father, I pray that I recognize that confidence doesn't come by some effort to convince myself, some struggle to think positively, but from a quiet resting upon an unchangeable fact — that Jesus Christ lives His life within me, and that He is quite competent to meet every situation. May I look to Him, and learn to rejoice in His victory.

Life Application​

Paul's friends anxiously awaited news of him, but the focus of the Apostle's letter was not on his imprisonment but on the undefeated purpose of God who works to accomplish His will in every circumstance. Are we learning to trust God's ways and means so that others are encouraged by our confidence in Him?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for March 5th​

Rejoicing in Our Rivals​

Read the Scripture: Philippians 1:15-18

But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Phil 1:18

It's evident in this passage that certain Christians were jealous of Paul. These are not Judaizers. These are not false teachers. They are preaching a true gospel. They were genuine Christians, but they were jealous of Paul. Evidently they felt they were there first and they felt he had perhaps usurped some of their positions. There is always readiness for envy. But many false doctrines had fallen before the Spirit of power and the cool logic and authority of the Apostle as he ministered to them. Now they see a chance to regain their popularity. They begin to plan extensive campaigns in Rome and surrounding cities, hoping thereby to eclipse the apostle in their activity and zeal for the gospel. They are hopeful that when the word gets back to Paul of how much they are doing he too might feel some of the jealous pain they feel. But the prisoner couldn't care less. The magnanimous spirit he has in Christ only make him rejoice in the fact that Christ is being preached. He says it doesn't matter whether they are doing it to make me feel bad or not — Christ is being preached, and in that I rejoice.

Can you take the success of others? That's one of the hardest tests of Christian maturity, isn't it? I don't think there is a clearer mark of Christian maturity than to be able to genuinely rejoice — not just say pious words — but genuinely rejoice in the success of another. Most of us react like the Christian I heard of in the mountains of West Virginia who, when asked how things had been going that year, said, Oh things have been terrible. We've had an awful year. Things have never been worse. Instead of having any progress in the church we've had setbacks, we've lost people. But then he smiled and said, But thank God, the Methodists haven't done any better. That spirit is the counterpart of what Paul reveals here. Rivalry caused him to rejoice.

I confess, Lord, that I often have not rejoiced in the success of others, and have seen it as a threat to my own sense of worth. Teach me, like Paul, to rejoice even in the success of my rivals.

Life Application​

Christian envy is an oxymoron! Are we among those who dishonor Christ by competitive envy? Or do we share the Apostle Paul's joy when the Good News is spread by whatever means?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for March 6th​

To Live or Die?​

Read the Scripture: Philippians 1:19-26

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!

Phil 1:21-22

The Christian view of death is given in just four words in this passage: with Christ, far better. That sums it up. But before we look closer at that, it's important that we see what this man's view of life is, because these are not the words of a man who is sighing after heaven but resigned to living on earth. This is not the utterance of someone who is fed up with living and couldn't take life any longer so now the only hope is that heaven is close at hand. For Paul, to live is Christ, and that is exciting! Living, he says, means fruitful labor, in which I can take the greatest delight. The prospect of continuing to live is not an unwelcome prospect here, in fact he says I hardly know which to choose, both prospects are so enticing and inviting. The Christian is not so neurotically desirous of death that he no longer wants to live. We sometimes give the wrong impression. We sing these wonderful songs about the glory up there but sometimes, unfortunately, Christians leave the impression that this is really all they're living for is what comes at the end.

The Christian does not live with some unutterable longing to escape, to evade life, to run from it. No! Paul is not at all saying that! He says, to live is Christ — I love it! And evidently the Spirit of God tips the scale here in favor of life, so he goes on to say, convinced of this I know that I shall remain, and continue with you all — because you need me and I will have the joy of coming to you again. But facing the possibility of death does not mean he is tired of life, but that death can only mean a more wonderful and deeper companionship with Christ. That is what makes life worth living. He says, to die is gain, and you can only say that if you are prepared to say, to live is Christ!

What do you think is really living? What kind of circumstance do you have to have before you can say Oh, now I'm really living? What do you substitute for Christ in these words of Paul? To me to live is money? Then to die is to lose it all, isn't it? To me to live is fame? To die is a name in the obituary in the paper and never have it there again. To me to live is pleasure? To die is to go out into an unknown. To me to live is health? To die is to lose my health. You see the only thing that makes sense in life is to say with the Apostle, for me to live is Christ, because then you can say to die is gain. The truth about the Christian faith is that heaven begins down here.

Father, thank you that you have given me a purpose for living. Teach me to be able to genuinely say, For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

Life Application​

Do we live out our Christian expectations as escapists? Are we rather choosing to be the planted seed that dies in order to experience abundant life? Are we experiencing the Joy of union with the Living Christ, whether we live with Him on earth or in heaven?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.