Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for June 23rd​

Praying in the True Temple​

Read the Scripture: 2 Chronicles 6:12-40

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

2 Chron 6:12

2 Chronicles 6:12-40 records the great prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem. This is a unique prayer from the Old Testament. It is, perhaps, the only passage in the Old Testament that is a report of a formal prayer uttered on a great state occasion. The whole nation — or at least a great portion of it — had gathered in the courts of the temple to dedicate the new building that Solomon had erected according to the plans that his father David had drawn.

The nearest thing we would have to this scene in America today would be the Inauguration of a President. Like our Inauguration, on this occasion a special platform had been built for the king in the great courtyard of the temple, in front of the brazen altar, where the sacrifices for sin were offered. On that platform King Solomon began this prayer with a recognition of God's promise to David, his father, that there would never lack a man to sit upon the throne of Israel.

Solomon's prayer consists of eight wide-ranging requests which concern the temple and the place of prayer in the life of the people of Israel. Though these requests had specific applications to the people of Israel, they have specific application in our own lives as well. For instance, the Jews were to face the temple when they prayed, no matter where they were in the land. This has a specific application to us. In the New Testament we are told that our bodies are the temple of God. This is a truth that is often missed today. It is very hurtful when Christians refer to buildings as the house of God. The New Testament never calls any building the house of God. Church buildings are not the houses of God — we are. Everywhere in the New Testament the answer to the temple of the old regime is the human body and our personal lives. We are the habitation of God, by the Spirit. When we gather, the whole place becomes the temple of the living God; God dwelling among his people by the Spirit.

That is what makes our coming together a recognition of the presence of God in our midst. Jesus said that when two or three of us gather, he is in our midst (Matthew 18:20). What makes a church meaningful is the recognition that we gather as the temple of the living God. Considering this, the prayer of Solomon's becomes a marvelous teaching ministry on the place and the power of prayer in our lives.

Father, I pray that I may become a person of prayer, learning to communicate with the God of Glory, and finding in the place of prayer with other believers the answer to the personal needs that afflict us day by day.

Life Application​

When we are in Christ, he is in us -- we are his temple! Are we awakening to the awesome intimacy with Christ available in this relationship? Have we begun to grasp that prayer is therefore ongoing communication with the One in whom we live and breathe and have our being?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for June 24th​

Prayer's Humility​

Read the Scripture: Daniel 9:1-23

...we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

Dan 9:5-6

Daniel's prayer begins with the confession of sin. But the remarkable thing is that this man, according to the record, has no sin charged against him. Never once in Scripture are we told that Daniel did anything wrong. Now, I am sure he did wrong things. Certainly, sin must have appeared in his life, because Scripture tells us that no man is without sin, but the record does not give us any account of it. But in specific ways Daniel confesses his own sin and the sin of his people: He says, We have sinned; we have been wicked; we have turned away; we have not listened.

This is pointing to something that is often missing from our own prayers. How many times do we include in them a heartfelt, honest confession of sin? There is nothing harder for us to do than to admit we were wrong, yet to do so is an honest and realistic thing. God does not ask us to confess our sins because he is trying to humiliate us or punish us. Rather, he asks us to do so because we kid ourselves, we are dishonest about ourselves, we are unrealistic about our own lives, and he is an ultimate realist. God always deals with things exactly the way they really are, and he says there is no way we can be helped unless we begin to do the same thing. He asks us, therefore, to start by acknowledging the areas where we have done wrong.

That is why we have the Scriptures. God's Word is like a mirror. Many of us, however, tend to ignore the Scriptures because we know this is true. If you look into the Word of God, into the mirror of the Word, soon you see exactly what you look like, and it is not always pleasant. Other people too are given to us for that reason. Since we cannot see ourselves the way we are, God graciously puts somebody into our life to help us see ourselves. This is why it is so foolish to resist what others are saying to you. If one person says something unpleasant to you, you may be able to dismiss that as coming from a twisted point of view, and you may be right. But, when a half dozen people tell you the same thing, you had better start listening, because they are telling you something that is true that you cannot see. Until you begin to see yourself realistically, you are living in a fantasy world, messing up everything you touch, because you do not see reality, you do not see what is really there. The most helpful thing we can do in our prayer life, therefore, is to take a moment at the beginning of our prayer to face what the Word of God tells us is wrong in our lives — our lovelessness, our sharpness, our caustic attitudes, our tendency to defend ourselves and put down others. This is where Daniel begins. All this is summed up in one great word found many times in Scripture, the word, repent. When we repent we begin to set things right in our life; we begin to deal honestly with ourselves and with others.

Father, I confess my sin to you. Thank you for the Word of God and the people you have placed in my life to be a mirror. Help me to listen and come to you in genuine repentance and faith.

Life Application​

What is an essential dimension in our prayers we may be avoiding? How do we respond when we are accurately confronted by others and by the Word with un-confessed sin? How does this prideful avoidance affect both our prayers and communication with others?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for June 25th​

Prayer's Relationships​

Read the Scripture: Job 42:5-10

After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.

Job 42:10

In the book of Job, we are given very clear evidence of when Job's physical problems began. They began when, after having destroyed Job's home and his wealth and killed all his children, Satan obtained permission from God to afflict him with a terrible siege of boils from head to foot. An awful series of painful, suppurating boils had turned him into a dreadful, revolting sight. This, of course, was shattering to Job's sense of self-esteem, and he groveled in the ash heap. The whole book is an account of how Job cries out in agony and despair week after week after week because of this. His friends come and torment him with accusations, blaming him for everything, so that he is mentally and physically tormented. But if you ask yourself, When did Job's pain stop? this verse is the only one which gives you the answer. God reversed the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends. Even during Job's great encounter with God, recorded in Chapters 40 and on, there is no mention there that his agony had ceased. He is asked all these searching questions by God, but he is still feeling the awful pain in his body. When he prays for his friends, however, it all ends.

That indicates that, in order for this to happen, Job has to deal with his natural resentment against these men. If we put ourselves in Job's place, we can understand how he must have felt. At best, he would see these men as a trio of self-righteous windbags who were just blowing hot air. At worst, Job would see them as a group of malicious slanderers who were out to destroy his reputation, because they accused him of things he never did, of attitudes he did not possess, of actions he never dreamed of doing. Those were the reasons for all his trouble, they said. They assaulted him, they insulted him, they outraged him. He had every right by natural standards to be angry, and upset, and bitter against these three so-called friends. But you cannot pray for somebody when you think of him in that way. To obey God, Job had to forgive these men. He had to set aside all the bitterness, the resentment and the anger he might have felt and deal with them as sinners, just like himself. That is the beauty of this passage, because the moment Job did that his own healing began.

Anger and bitterness always affect us. Holding a grudge against somebody destroys us. Jesus said this in several parables and stories in the New Testament. He clearly implied that, if we do not forgive others, we subject ourselves to a terrible inner torment that will not stop until we are willing to forgive. Paul says to the Ephesians that we are to be Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians 4:32). In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught us that we are to forgive. Everywhere in the Scriptures there is this recognition that no healing can occur in our life until we forgive those who have offended us, hurt us and damaged us.

Lord, thank you that you are the God of truth. There is nothing hidden from you. Help me to remember that I am just as guilty as the ones I am angry at; that I have offended others and offended you in many ways and you have forgiven me. Because I am forgiven, grant to me the ability to extend a free and full forgiveness to others.

Life Application​

We have been immeasurably blessed with God's grace-gift of forgiveness, which is meant to be the gift that keeps on giving. Are we limiting the scope of God's tender mercies by failing to extend this grace-gift to others?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.