Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for October 26th​

The Value of Prophecy​

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.

1 Corinthians 14:1-3

That ties this back to the love chapter. Love is to be the basic, biblical reason for exercising a spiritual gift. Love is the hunger to reach out for someone else's benefit. That is to be the controlling theme throughout this whole chapter in the discussion of tongues and prophesying. Love is building up someone else. To that end, desire spiritual gifts, so that they may be a means of helping others and fulfilling love.

Clearly the one spiritual gift that is most effective in that direction is prophesying. The gift of prophesying is not predicting the future. That may be an element occasionally in it, but it is the explanation of the present in the light of the revelation of God. The closest term we would call it by today is biblical preaching that unfolds the mind of God and applies it to the daily struggles of life. That is prophesying. That is the gift for a congregation to desire above all others.

Beginning with Verse 2 and on through Verse 5, Paul compares the gifts of prophesy and tongues. Anyone who speaks in tongues is not understood in a congregation because he speaks mysteries in the Spirit. The reason for that was he was speaking in a language that they did not understand. At Corinth people would stand up and speak in these languages, perhaps recognizable as being languages used somewhere nearby (as on the Day of Pentecost), but the people there did not understand the language, and so they could not know what the speaker was saying.

In contrast, Paul now describes the gift of prophesying, which Paul says has a threefold effect. First, it builds people up. The word is oikodomen in the Greek, oiko means house, and domen means to build. To build a house on a solid foundation is the idea; and the work of prophesying gives people a foundation. One of the major problems among Christians today is the struggle they have with the sense of their true identity. Many people are emotionally torn apart because they do not understand that they are new creatures in Christ; they are no longer what they once were. Because they still get feelings of being what they once were, they believe those feelings, and they react accordingly. There is an up-and-down experience that they can never get away from. Prophesying corrects that. It teaches us who we are in Christ.

The second thing prophesying does is strengthen people. This is the word from which we get the word paraclete, one of the titles of the Holy Spirit. He is the strengthener of God's people. It means to support and encourage; it is one called alongside, that is the literal meaning of the term, to support you and steady you and strengthen you.

The third ministry of prophesying is that of comforting. Still a third Greek word is used here, paramuthian, which means to empathize, to put yourself in the place of others, to understand the pressures they are under. It means to be able to feel with them and be able to encourage them with the fact that you know how they feel. That is what the word of prophesying is inclined to do. We have all had the experience of listening to a text of Scripture expounded, and it seemed to speak right to our basic problem. That is what prophesying does. You can see how useful and how important it is to have this exercised in a church.

Thank you, Father, for the ministry of the Word of God in life. I pray for those who expound it that they might be your mouthpiece to a needy people.

Life Application​

What is the primary aim in the exercise of spiritual gifts? In what ways does the gift of prophesying, as in exposition of the Word of God, fulfill this basic purpose?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for October 27th​

Of First Importance​

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures...

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

There are three elements of the gospel. First, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Isn't it amazing that he does not mention a word about the whole life of Jesus? That is rather startling, but that is where the gospel begins. He does not even say, Christ died. Ask people today what the gospel is and this is often what they will say, Well, Jesus lived and died. No, that is not the gospel. Everyone believes that Jesus died. Go to any of the modern presentations of the life of Jesus and you will find they all end at the death of Jesus. But there is no good news in that. The good news is Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures . The scriptures tell us that his death accomplished something for us. It changed us, it delivered us, it set us free. That death had great significance in the mind and heart and eyes of God, and that is the good news. As Peter puts it in his words, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, (1 Peter 2:24 RSV). Or, to use the words of Isaiah, He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed, (Isaiah 53:5 KJV).

The second element of the gospel is that Jesus not only died for our sins according to the scriptures but he was also buried. Why does Paul include the burial of Jesus? Is it not enough that Jesus died and rose again? The reason for it is that when his disciples came and took the body of Jesus down from the cross, it marked their acceptance of the fact of his death. Did you ever realize how hard it was for them to accept the fact that he died? They did not want to believe it when he himself told them that was what he was going to do. When it happened they went away stunned and unbelieving. But somewhere along the line some realist among them faced up to it and said, We have got to go get his body, and bury him. Joseph of Arimathea came forward and offered a tomb, and with loving hands they took his body down from the tree. They wrapped it in grave clothes, bound it tightly. They embalmed him with spices, and then they placed him in a tomb where he lay for three days and three nights. There is no question that the disciples believed that he was dead. They could never have entertained any idea that he had merely fainted on the cross, or entered into a coma, for they themselves had performed the burial service. That is why Paul adds that here. It marked the acceptance of the disciples that Jesus was truly dead.

But the third element is, he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. Again, he fulfilled the predictions. It was anticipated that he would die; it was equally anticipated that he would rise again from the dead. On the third day, to the amazement of the disciples, he fulfilled all predictions. He was not merely resuscitated (that is, coming back to the life he had before), he was resurrected. That means he came back to a life he had never lived before, a real life, a glorified life, a different life, and yet in the amazing mystery of the resurrection, the same Jesus with the wounds in his body that they could touch and feel and see for themselves.

That is the story of the gospel — three basic facts. These are not doctrines; these are not philosophies; these are not ideas that men have had about what God should be like. These are simple, hard-nosed facts that occurred in history that cannot be eliminated or evaded. There they are. These facts have changed the history of the world. Our faith does not rest upon mere philosophy but upon facts that have occurred and cannot be taken away from us.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the marvel, the wonder of the gospel. Help me to understand that this is to be the center of my life, the most basic thing about me is my faith in this good news.

Life Application​

Have we grasped the importance of the three elements of the gospel which are essential to our faith? Do we see them as actual historic facts which give total authenticity to our life and our witness?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for October 28th​

What If...?​

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:14-19

Paul considers the question, What if ...? What would the world be like if Jesus had not been raised? There are six history-changing facts that would have followed if Jesus had not risen. First, without the resurrection all preaching would have been a waste of time. All the messages you have ever heard or read, all the Christian books you have read, all radio and television broadcasts of the gospel you have listened to would have been a total waste of time had Jesus not risen from the dead.

Second, without the resurrection, all Christian faith would be useless. What would be the point of coming to church every Sunday morning, or going to a Bible study, or reading the Scriptures even, or trying to believe that God is there to help you? All that would be worthless, useless. It would be only a kind of religious game. Life would be reduced to grim, stark realities, with no hope now or later.

Third, if the resurrection is untrue, the apostles are the world's greatest liars. They deserve to be treated as arch deceivers rather than as honored men of integrity and truth. They are hypocrites, and worse than that they are deceivers who have led us into gross darkness and gross error. Now, after twenty centuries of the preaching of these things, they have undoubtedly won the title of the world's greatest liars. That is what Paul says. You cannot avoid that, if there is no resurrection, because the apostles staked their reputation on the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Then a fourth point, and even worse: If Christ is not raised, then all our sins of the past are still with us; we are still in our sins. This means that even granting that there is a God, then we must stand at last before him and give an account of all we have done. And there is no way of escaping the justice with which God would deal with sin. There is no hiding place, no hope for mercy, no loving Christ to say, I've paid the penalty for you; I've taken your place; I've loved you and given myself for you.

The fifth thing, Paul says, is, those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. All those loved ones who have gone on to be with the Lord, we thought, whom we hoped to meet again, we will never see again. Our children, our parents, our friends, those who have been taken suddenly, those to whom we bid a weeping farewell with the hope that one day we would meet them again in glory, we will never see again. A terrible silence has fallen; they are gone forever.

Finally, the sixth fact: If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. Even the present is changed. We have to give up our beautiful dream and go back to coldness, selfishness, drabness, grimness, and darkness. It is all made worse by the fact that we once thought we had escaped; we once thought we had a hold of something so marvelous that it gave us great joy and peace and glory and blessing. But if there is no resurrection all this crumbles and is taken away from us; our darkness is all the darker for that.

Thank you, Lord, for the hope and purpose that the resurrection of Jesus gives me.

Life Application​

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is totally crucial to the Christian faith, which in turn has changed the course of world history. Consider at least six major life-altering effects which would result if Christ had not risen from the dead, and be awed by this vast, historic reality!

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for October 29th​

Then Comes The End​

Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

1 Corinthians 15:24-26

Notice that the reign of Christ does not begin after he subdues his enemies, although we often think of it that way. The Biblical truth is he does reign, and he shall continue to reign until his enemies are made his footstool. I do not know anything that has more power to steady us in times of pressure, and undergird us in times of discouragement, defeat, and oppression than the realization that Jesus now reigns. He is in control now. When we run up against oppressive governments and severe limitations to our freedom and outright, violent persecution of Christian faith, we are to remember that all this takes place under the overall authority of Jesus Christ who said, when he rose from the dead, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, (Matthew 28:18 KJV). He permits this kind of thing to happen to accomplish his purposes, just as, in the Old Testament, God raised up the Babylonians and the Assyrians and brought them against Israel. He allowed Jerusalem to be taken; he allowed the Israelites to be taken into captivity, not because that was the way he wanted things to happen on earth, but because that was necessary to teach his people the lessons they needed to know. God brings these things to pass for our sake, and it is part of the authority of Christ that allows them to happen.

Now the apostle says, The last enemy to be destroyed is death. This can be seen to be true in both an individual and a universal sense. Universally, death is never going to disappear from this earth until we come to that moment, described in the book of Revelation, when a new heaven and a new earth come into existence.

But there is a sense in which this is individually true of us right now. What is going on in your life and mine now? Well, we are experiencing a continual reciprocation of death, out of which comes life. We are all fighting battles, struggles in which at times we fail, falter, and are overcome. We give way to worry, we give way to impatience, anger, malice, and lust. Sometimes we struggle against these things with great effort; other times we give in quickly. But we are all engaged in a great battle in which we are assaulted continually with temptations to yield and to fall into death. Yet, even out of those times of failure, by the grace of God's forgiveness we are restored. Life is handed back to us, in a sense, and we go on to walk for a longer time without failure, until gradually we gain victory over evil habits and evil attitudes. Life, therefore, is a continual experience of life coming out of death, of pain leading to joy, and that will never end as long as we are in this present life.

But there is coming a time when this body will die, and death then is destroyed for us. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Once we pass through the experience of death into resurrection, like our Lord himself, we shall never die again. Christ having once died, Paul says in Romans, never dies again, and we share his existence. He is the first fruits of the great harvest of which we are a part.

Thank you, Lord, that the day will come when there will be no more death, no more mourning and no more pain.

Life Application​

Are we daily claiming the privilege of the Lord Jesus' sovereign reign, both personal and worldwide? Are we living in the power and wisdom of Christ's indwelling Presence, trusting Him to resolve the tension between death and life in daily experience?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for October 30th​

The First day of the Week​

Now about the collection for the Lord's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.

1 Corinthians 16:2-4

Paul is talking about the collection that was being made in many churches to send to the troubled church in Jerusalem. Paul is anxious that these Gentile churches should have a part in helping the afflicted saints in Jerusalem. This is a beautiful picture of the way the church is one all over the earth. What happens to our brothers and sisters in other corners of the earth ought to be of immediate concern to us as well. So Paul exhorts these churches here in Corinth and other places to meet that need. In the process of doing this, he gives us some wonderful principles to govern our giving.

First, giving is a universal practice. This was not just something that the Corinthians had to do. Everywhere Paul went, wherever he founded a church, he taught them to give, because giving is an essential part of Christianity. It is not an option; it is something every Christian must do.

The second principle is that it is to be done every week: This is one of the first indications we have that the Christians had begun to gather regularly to worship and pray and give on the first day of the week, Sunday. The Jewish day of worship, of course, is Saturday. Even now these Christians have forsaken that and have begun to worship on the first day of the week.

Third, giving is a personal act. He says, ...each one of you... He does not leave anybody out. Even children ought to be taught to give. It may be only a few pennies, a nickel or a dime, but on every Sunday there ought to be a gift from every Christian. It is not the amount that is important at all, it is the regularity of it, the fact that there is a continual reminder that you have freely received, therefore, freely give. So each one is to do this. It is, in that sense, not an option.

Fourth, they are to save it up. He is referring to the fact that, in that culture, people got paid every day. They were to go home and put aside each day a certain amount of money so that on Sunday they would have a larger amount to bring to the services, and contribute to the needs of others.

Then a fifth principle is, ...in keeping with your income. That means you give according to the way God has given to you. Has he poured out abundantly? Then give abundantly. Are you having a hard time and barely making it? Well, then your gift can be reduced proportionately. It ought to be something, but it can be very little because God is really not interested in the total amount at all. He is only interested in the motive of the heart in giving.

The sixth principle is very important. Paul says do this, ...so that when I come no contributions need to be made. Paul knew that he, when he was personally present, had a tremendous effect on people. He did not want their giving to come because they were moved by his preaching, or in any other way be pressured into giving.

The seventh principle is seen in Verses 3-4, ...when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me. Giving should be carried out responsibly. Paul is careful that he does not have this responsibility himself. What a contrast this is with people today who exhort you to give, and then take the money themselves, and never give an accounting for it.

Thank you, Father, for the practicality of this section. I pray that I might apply these principles and may be generous with all that you have given me.

Life Application​

What are seven basic, practical principles for the practice of giving? Are we learning that as Jesus said 'It is more blessed to give than to receive?' Joy results from spontaneous compassion and simple obedience.

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for October 31st​

The Care and Feeding of Fellow-Workers​

Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.

1 Corinthians 16:12

That is a most remarkable verse, especially in view of the attitude many today have that the apostles were, in a sense, generals in the army of the Lord, sending out people, ordering them here or there, and commanding these younger Christians to go at their beck and call. But you do not find that here. This verse indicates that Paul does not command Apollos at all; he has no authority over him. He urges him, rather. In several places in the New Testament we are reminded by the apostle that he was not lord over anybody else.

Lording it over the brethren is one of the great curses of the church today. Some men assume, for instance, that the office of pastor gives them an authority over other people. But notice that Paul respects the personal freedom of Apollos to be directed of the Lord, even as he himself is. He does not tell Apollos what he has to do, but he says it was not his will to come, and Paul accepts that. Apollos, too, was operating under the direct control of God. This is not only true of leaders, such as Paul and Apollos, it is true of all Christians. Perhaps the clearest word on this was spoken by the Lord himself when he said, For you have one teacher and you are all brothers, (Matthew 23:8). The church must return to that restoration of the sense of being brothers with one another, not in position over one another, but working together. I find Christians everywhere under the authority of men who seem to be dictators — much like Diotrephes, whom John mentions in one of his letters, who loved to have the pre-eminence among them (3 John 1:9). Believers must understand that no pastor has the right to tell them what they can do with their spiritual gifts and no pastor has the right to tell them that you cannot have a meeting in their home and teach the Word of God to whoever will come and listen.

Now they should listen to him as a wise brother who understands the nature of truth, perhaps, and can give them helpful suggestions. But no pastor ever, anywhere, has the right to tell another that they cannot follow the leading of the Lord as to the ministry that they have. Paul makes that clear in this passage.

Observe how he supports Apollos in this. Apollos will come, he says, when he has opportunity. Paul and Apollos and Peter were three men around whom factions were gathering in this church. Perhaps Paul wanted Apollos to go because he thought it might improve that situation. But that may be the very reason Apollos did not want to go. As he might have seen it, and evaluated it, and understood it, his visiting Corinth might even have aggravated the tendency of the Corinthians to cluster around an individual. So he did not choose to go, and the apostle supports him. This is a very helpful glance into New Testament life.

Lord, thank you for your Word. Teach me to listen to you and pray for those around me who are called to shepherd the flock of God.

Life Application​

Does command-control leadership have biblical authorization? Are we honoring the Holy Spirit's prerogative in our fellow believers with prayerful support?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — November 1st​

Jacob I have Loved​

Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

Romans 9:13

Many have struggled over those words. But all the apostle is saying is that it is clear from this story that: First, ancestry does not make any difference (these boys had the same father), and second, what they will do in their lives — including the choices they will make — ultimately will not make any difference. Before they were able to make choices — either good or bad — God had said to their mother, The elder shall serve the younger. By that he implied, not only that there would be a difference in the nations that followed (the descendants of these two men) and that one would be in the place of honor and the other wouldn't, but, also, that the personal destinies of these two men were involved as well. That is clear from the record of history. Jacob forevermore stands for all the things in men that God honors and wants them to have. Jacob was a scheming, rather weak character — not very lovable. Esau, on the other hand, was a rugged individualist — much more admirable when he was growing up than was his brother Jacob. But through the course of their lives, Jacob was the one who was brought to faith, and Esau was not. God uses this as a symbol of how he works.

I remember hearing of a man who said to a noted Bible teacher, I'm having trouble with this verse, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. How could God ever say, Esau have I hated? The Bible teacher said, I have trouble with that verse, too, but my problem is not quite the same. I have no trouble in understanding the words Esau have I hated. What bothers me is how God could ever say, Jacob have I loved! Read the life of Jacob and you will see why.

I admit that we must not read this word hated as though God actually disliked Esau and would have nothing to do with him and treated him with contempt. That is what we often mean when we say we hate someone. Jesus used this same word when he said, Except a man hate his father and mother and brother and sister and wife and children and houses and land, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple, (Luke 14:26). Clearly he is not saying that we have to treat our mothers and fathers and wives and children and our own lives with contempt and disrespect. He clearly means that he is to have pre-eminence. Hatred, in that sense, means to love less. We are to love these less than we love him.

God didn't hate Esau, in the sense we usually employ that word. In fact, he blessed him. He made of him a great nation. He gave him promises which he fulfilled to the letter. What these verses imply is that God set his heart on Jacob, to bring him to redemption, and all Jacob's followers would reflect the possibilities of that. As Paul has argued already, those followers were not all necessarily saved by that, by any means, but Jacob would forever stand for what God wants men to be, and Esau would forever stand as a symbol of what he does not like.

What Paul is teaching us here is that God has a sovereign, elective principle that he carries out, on his terms. Here are those terms: Salvation is never based on natural advantages. What you are by nature does not enter into the picture of whether you are going to be redeemed or not. Second, salvation is always based on a promise that God gives. This is why we are exhorted in the Scriptures to believe the promises of God. It includes, in some mysterious way, our necessity to be confronted with those promises, and to give a willing and voluntary submission to them. The third principle is that salvation never takes any notice of whether we are good or bad. Never! That is what was established here. These children were neither good nor bad, yet God chose Jacob and passed over Esau.

Father, again I must admit I don't understand very much. I am a finite creature, and I cannot fully understand how you act. But I believe you are faithful. Help me to be open and teachable in spirit, that I might recognize the marvelous grace that has reached out and found me.

Life Application​

What are three sovereign elective principles in God's plan of redemption? Does our finite understanding serve us sufficiently to question God's sovereign choices?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 2nd​

Let God Be God​

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Romans 9:14-18

I do not know how you react to that, but it is clear what it says. It does not say that salvation is based on human effort choice — it is God who chooses. The ultimate reason for God's choice of anyone is that he chooses whom he wants. This is the truth about God which people dislike the most. We must face the fact that God is a sovereign being. He is not answerable to anyone. We don't like that, because to us sovereignty is always connected with tyranny. To trust anyone with that kind of power is to put ourselves into the hands of someone who might destroy us. We fight that in our national life, we fight it in our family life and we fight it in our individual relationships. We do not trust anyone with absolute power over us. It is no wonder that when we are confronted by a God with absolute power, we are troubled by this. But if God had to give an answer to anyone, that person to whom God had to account would really be God. The very core of God's nature is that he does what he pleases. What we must do is get rid of the idea that his sovereignty will be destructive to us. As we will see, his sovereignty is our only hope!

God declares his own sovereignty. God says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion (Exodus 33:19). Moses was an example of God's choice to bless someone. Who was Moses that God should choose him? He was nobody; a murderer and a fugitive from justice, who for forty years lived in the desert. But God chose him and made him his messenger and gave him a name that was known throughout history. Why? God chose to do so.

On the other hand, God demonstrated his sovereignty with Pharaoh as well. He took a man who was no better than Moses and put him on a throne and gave him authority and power over all the nation of Egypt. Then, when Moses confronted him, God allowed Pharaoh to continue to resist God's will. God could have stopped him, but he didn't. He allowed him to do what all men do by nature — resist God. So Pharaoh held out against God. And God allowed this so that he might demonstrate his power and attract the attention of men everywhere to his greatness.

That bothers us. We think anybody who boasts about his greatness, who tries to get people to think about how great he is, is conceited. We don't like such people. But in our tendency to think of God as nothing but an enlarged man, we attribute to God our own motives. When a man does this, he is destructive and must necessarily put others down to elevate himself. But what God does is necessary to the welfare and benefit of his creatures. The more we understand the goodness and glory of God, the richer our lives will be. So when God invites us to think about his greatness, it is not because his ego needs to be massaged; it is because we require that for our own welfare. Therefore God finds ways to do it, and he uses people even to resist his will so that there might be an occasion to display his greatness and power.

Sovereign God, thank you for your place on high, above all, for your plans to make yourself known through humankind, and for your right and perfect justice.

Life Application​

The very concept of God must recognize him as the ultimate authority. Can we trust the sovereign authority of God who is Love?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 3rd​

Why People Stumble​

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written: See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.

Romans 9:30-33

God says there is a way you can tell whether you are being drawn by the Spirit unto salvation or whether you are being permitted by God to remain where you already were, lost and condemned: The way you can tell is by what you do with Jesus. God has planted a stone in the midst of society. When you walk down a path and come to a big flat rock in the middle of the path, there are two things you can do. You can stumble over it, or you can stand on it, one or the other. That is what Jesus is — a stone planted by God.

The Jews, who determined to work out their salvation on the basis of their own behavior, their own good works before God, stumbled over the stone. That is why the Jews rejected Jesus, and why they reject him to this day. They don't want to admit that they need a Savior, that they are not able to save themselves. No man is able to do this. But for those who see that they need a Savior, these people have already been drawn by the Spirit of God, and awakened by his grace, and made to understand what is going on in their lives. Therefore, their very desire to be saved, the very expression of their need for a Savior causes them to accept Jesus. They stand upon that stone. Anyone who comes to God on that basis will never be put to shame. God says that is the testing point. The crisis of humanity is Jesus: You can be very religious, you can spend hours and days or an entire lifetime of following religious pursuits and apparently honoring God, but the test will always come: What will you do with Jesus? God put him in the midst of human society to reveal those who he has called, and those who he has not. Jesus taught this very plainly: No man can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him, (John 6:44); and all that my Father has given me shall come to me. Him that comes to me I will never, never cast out, (John 6:37 KJV).

So what is left for us? To respond to Jesus, that is all. And to thank God that, in doing so, we are not only doing what our own hearts and consciences urge us to do, but we are responding in obedience to the drawing of the elective Spirit of God, who, in mercy, has chosen to bring us out of a lost humanity.

Father, how this makes me realize afresh how desperately dependent I am upon your saving grace. I did not save myself — I could not. I did not even initiate the desire to be saved — that comes from you. But I thank you that you have called me and redeemed me and brought me to yourself, at infinite cost to yourself, and thus, Lord, I give myself afresh to you today.

Life Application​

Are we investing our lives in short-term approval from performance? The Person and saving grace of the Lord Jesus is our personal crisis. Have we consented to His reign, the redeeming power of His Presence?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 4th​

The Need to be Saved​

Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.

Romans 10:1

In (Romans 10:1)-4 Paul expresses his intense passion that many within the nation Israel would be saved. I do not think there is any word in the Christian vocabulary that makes people feel more uncomfortable than the word saved. People cringe when they hear it. Perhaps it conjures up visions of hot-eyed, zealous buttonholers — usually with bad breath — who walk up and grab you and say, Brother, are you saved? Or perhaps it raises visions of a tiny band of Christians at a street meeting in front of some saloon singing, Give the winds a mighty voice, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Whatever the reason, I do know that people become bothered at this word.

I will never forget the startled look on the face of a man who came up to me in a movie theater. The seat beside me was vacant, and he said, Is this seat saved? I said, No, but I am. He found a seat across the aisle. Somehow this word threatens all our religious complacency and angers the self-confident and the self-righteous alike.

And yet, when you turn to the Scriptures you find that this is an absolutely unavoidable word. Christians have to talk about men and women being saved because the fact is that men and women are lost. There is no escaping the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that the human race into which we are born is already a lost race. This is why the good news of John 3:16 is that, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish — not perish — but have everlasting life, (John 3:16 KJV).

We can never deal realistically with life until we face up to this fundamental fact: People are not waiting until they die to be lost — they are already lost. It is the grace of God that reaches down and calls us out of that lostness and gives us an opportunity to come to Christ and be saved. Therefore saved is a perfectly legitimate word to use. It makes us uncomfortable only when we refuse to face the fact that men and women are lost. They are born into a perishing race in which their humanity is being put to improper uses and is gradually deteriorating and falling apart, and they are facing an eternity of separation from God. These are the facts as the Scriptures put it.

Lord, thank you for the simple but marvelous miracle of salvation.

Life Application​

Why are many offended by the word 'saved'? Since it is the realistic assessment of everyone who has not entered by faith into God's saving grace in Jesus, is it our heart's desire and prayer that the lost be saved?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 5th​

How To Be Saved​

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.

Romans 10:10-11

That is the clearest statement in the Word of God on how to be saved. Paul makes it very simple. He says that it begins with the confession of the mouth: Jesus is Lord. Don't twist those words to mean that you have to stand up in public somewhere and announce that you believe Jesus is Lord before you are saved. Paul does not mean it that way, although it does not exclude that. He means that the mouth is the symbol of the conscious acknowledgment to ourselves of what we believe. It means that we have come to the place where we recognize that Jesus has the right to lordship in our lives. Prior to this point we have been lord of our lives, and we have run our own affairs. We have decided we have the right to make our own decisions according to what we want. But there comes a time, as God's Spirit works in us, that we see the reality of life as God has made it to be, and we realize Jesus is Lord.

He is Lord of our past, to forgive us of our sins; He is Lord of our present, to dwell within us, and to guide and direct and control every area of our life; He is Lord of our future, to lead us into glory at last; He is Lord of life, Lord of death, he is Lord over all things. He is in control of history. He is running all human events. He stands at the end of every path on which men go, and he is the ultimate one we all must reckon with. That is why Peter says in Acts 4:12: Salvation is found in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

You cannot read the book of Acts without recognizing that the basic creed of the early Christians was: Jesus is Lord. These are days when you hear a lot about mantras, words that you are supposed to repeat when you meditate. I suggest you adopt this as a mantra: Jesus is Lord. Say it repeatedly, wherever you are, to remind yourself of this great truth. When Peter stood up to speak on the day of Pentecost, this was his theme, Jesus is Lord.

Paul tells us here that Jesus is Lord, and when God has led you to the place where you are ready to say to yourself, Jesus is my Lord, He then acts conclusively. Through that confession God does something. No man can do it, but God can. He immediately brings about all that is wrapped up in this word, saved. Your sins are forgiven. God imparts to you a standing of righteous worth in his sight. He gives you the Holy Spirit to live within you. He makes you a child in his family. He gives you an inheritance for eternity. You are joined to the body of Christ as members of the family of God. You are given Jesus himself to live within you, and you will live a life entirely different than you lived before. That is what happens when you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

Father, I am grateful for these clear words from Paul. Today I reaffirm by confession that, Jesus is Lord.

Life Application​

Is our verbal confession congruent with our acceptance of Jesus as Lord? Do we need to review the radical implications of our inheritance as Christ's disciples? Is Jesus in reality Lord of our body, soul and spirit?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 6th​

Kindness and Sternness​

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

Romans 11:22

Paul speaks of the kindness and the sternness of God. If you come to God needy and repentant and acknowledging that you need help, you will always find him to be loving, gracious, open-armed, ready to help you, ready to forgive you, ready to give you all that you need. But if you come to God complaining, excusing yourself, justifying what you've been doing and trying to make it look good in his sight, you will always find that God is as hard as iron, and as merciless as fire, as stern as a judge. God will always turn that face toward those who come in self-pride and justification in their own strength.

This is the secret of the mystery of Israel and its blindness today. As long as the Jews come to God in that manner, they will always find a hard, iron-willed, stern God. But when they come in repentance, and, as Zechariah the prophet describes, when Jesus appears and they look at him whom they had pierced and they ask him Where did you get these wounds in your hands? he will say, These are those which I received in the house of my friends, (Zechariah 13:6). Then they will mourn for him as one mourns for any only child, and the mourning of Israel that day will be like the mourning for King Joash in the battle of Jezreal. The whole nation will mourn. Then God will take that nation, and they will replenish the earth. This is what Paul looks forward to.

This is a reminder to our own hearts of the faithfulness of God. His promises will not fail. God's purposes will never be shortchanged. God is going to accomplish all that he says he will do. Though it may be a long way around, and though it may lead through many trials and temptations and hurts and heartaches, what God has said he will do, he will carry through. On that basis we can enter each day with a deep awareness of the faithfulness of our God.

Thank you, Holy Father, for your faithfulness. Thank you that you are the God of glory and the God of mercy. I do stand amazed at both the kindness and the sternness of God. Lord, teach me that you are not someone I can manipulate. Help me to bow before you in humble adoration at the grace that reaches out to me when I am ready to admit my need and come before you trembling and contrite.

Life Application​

Kindness and sternness are both integral qualities of God's character, each necessary to the full expression of His love. What are the appropriate responses to His kindness, and to His needed sternness?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 7th​

The Mystery of the Jewish People​

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.

Romans 11:25-26

Perhaps the striking thing about this passage is that Paul calls the Jews' present resistance to the gospel a mystery. He doesn't mean that it is obscure and difficult to understand. When Paul calls this a mystery he means that it is a supernatural phenomenon that has to be revealed to us. You can't explain it by the normal reasons for resistance to the gospel. I do not know if you have had any occasion to try to witness to a Jewish person. If you have, perhaps you have run up against what seemed to be a rock wall of indifference and resistance to what you were trying to say. If so, you may well have been experiencing what Paul is talking about here, a strange hardening toward the gospel by Jewish people. It is not because the Jews are inferior in intelligence — they are among the most intelligent of people. It is not because they don't want God; they are among the most religious of all people. Ordinarily you would think they would be open to hearing the good news of how God, in grace, is ready to reach men and change them and indwell them and enrich their lives. And yet those who go among the Jews often find this strange resistance, this anger that is awakened because of the preaching of the gospel.

Paul says three things about this hardness: First, it is a hardening in part. That is, not all Jews are afflicted this way. We are not told here what portion of Israel is going to be hardened — whether 10% or 90%. All we are told is that there are going to be some Jews who simply will not hear, who will not receive the gospel. I have been to Israel five times, and I am always amazed at how resistant the Jews there seem to be to the claims of the Lord Jesus. And Paul tells us that this hardening is not only in part, but it is also limited in time. It is not going to go on forever. A hardening of the heart has happened until the full number of the Gentiles come in. So this is not something that they are bound to experience forever. What does the full number of the Gentiles mean?

When Paul uses this phrase the fullness of the Gentiles, he is talking about a Gentile church which is going to become so rich and full in its spiritual riches that it will awaken again the envy of Israel. God turns to the Gentiles so that he may arouse the Jews to envy. Anyone who reads church history knows that there hasn't been a great deal in Gentile churches that would awaken the Jews to envy! Often, the Jews have been oppressed and persecuted and terribly treated — all in the name of Jesus Christ — by those who profess to be Christians. But this is still a very hopeful thing for us. It means that a day is coming when the Gentile churches are going to be enriched with such spiritual blessing that the Jewish people will say, We want that! And they will be open, as never before, to the gospel of the grace of God.

You may be treated as an enemy, but remember also that the Jewish people are loved by an unchanging God. God loves every Jewish person, without exception. No matter how stubborn or resistant they may be, he has set his love upon them. The nations of the world had better not forget it that God still has chosen the Jews.

Lord, I thank you for the love you have bestowed on all nations across centuries, which is a great reminder of how no matter the difference in beliefs, both Jews and Gentiles, will fully understand and be open to the gospel of the grace of God.

Life Application​

Has God repudiated His investment in Israel? Can we recognize both God's kindness and His severity in their ongoing saga? Can we also see how our redemption is entwined with theirs?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 8th​

Our Great and Glorious God​

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

This reminder of the strange ways God works awakens within Paul a tremendous outburst for God's inscrutable wisdom and his ways with men. You can see certain things that have amazed the apostle: There are the deep riches, as Paul calls them, the deep riches of God's wisdom and of his ways. They are beyond human exploration. There is no way we can finally fathom God.

There are those who struggle to put God in a box where they can get hold of him and analyze him. But if they succeed in that, they have only reduced God to the size of a man. God is greater than man. He is beyond us. Our minds cannot grasp the greatness of God! We can understand what he tells us about himself, but even beyond that, there is much more that we cannot know. There are depths of riches. That is why we are always being surprised by God if we trust him. He is always enriching us in ways that we don't anticipate. Then Paul speaks of God's unsearchable judgments.

For instance, it is clear from Scripture that nothing God ever planned interferes with human responsibility. We are free to make choices. We know it. We feel ourselves free to decide to do this or that, to do good or bad. And yet the amazing thing is that nothing humans ever do can frustrate God's sovereign plan. Isn't that amazing? No matter what we do, whether we choose this or that with the freedom of choice we have, ultimately it all works out to accomplish what God has determined shall be done. That is the kind of God we have.

Paul is not only impressed with God's inscrutable wisdom and ways, but he contrasts it with the impotence of man. He asks three very searching questions. His first one is, Who has known the mind of the Lord? What he is asking is, Who has ever anticipated what God is going to do? Have you? Have you ever been able to figure out how God is going to handle the situations you get into? We all try, but it never turns out quite the way we think it will. There is a little twist to it that we never could have guessed.

Paul’s second question is, Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever suggested something that God has never thought of? Have you ever tried that? I have sometimes looked at a situation, have seen a way to work it out, and have suggested to God how he could do it, thinking I was being helpful. But it turned out that he knew things I didn’t know and was working at things that I never saw and couldn’t have seen. God’s solution was right, and mine would have been wrong.

Paul's last question is, Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? That is, Who has ever given God something that he didn't already have? Paul says, Everything we are and have comes from him. He gives to us; we don't give to him. He concludes with this great outburst: For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. God is the originator of all things; all things come from him. He is the sustainer of all things; they all depend on him. As C. S. Lewis puts it, To argue with God is to argue with the very power that makes it possible to argue at all! He is the end purpose. All things will find their culmination in God. He is why all things exist. Therefore, to him be the glory forever! Amen.

Thank you, Father, for this look at something of the wonder of your Being. How far beyond my stumbling words your greatness is! How mighty and vast you are, Lord, how powerful among the nations of earth.

Life Application​

What significant changes in attitude and action would result if this grand and glorious Doxology were the basic, day-by-day guideline in our lives? Worship? Humility? Trust? Joyful surrender to God's will?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 9th​

Offer Your Body​

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship.

Romans 12:1

That is what we sing in that great hymn, When I Survey The Wondrous Cross: It closes, Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

That is what Paul is urging us to do here. He says God is interested in you bringing your body and making it available to him. When he says to present your bodies, he uses what the Greeks call the aorist tense. That means it is something you do once for all; it is not something you do over and over again. You do it once, and then you set the rest of your life on that basis. So there comes a time when God wants you to bring your bodies to him.

It amazes me that God would ever want our bodies. Why does he want my body? I can hardly stand it myself, at times! But God says, Bring your body. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that Paul has been talking about the body all the way through this section of Romans. He tells us the body is the seat of what he calls the flesh, that antagonistic inclination within us that does not like what God likes and does not want to do what God wants. We all have it, and somehow it is located in or connected with the body. Our body is the source of temptation. It is what grows weak and wobbly. That God would want this is amazing! And yet he does.

Some of us, I know, feel like saying, Lord, surely you don't want this body! Let me tell you something about it! It smells and snores. It has a bad heart, Lord. It has a dirty mind. You don't want this body. I have trouble with this body. It is always tripping me up. My spirit is great, and I worship you with my soul -- but the body, Lord, that's what gets me down! But the Lord says, Bring your body. I know all about it. I know more about it than you do. I know all the things you tell me about it plus some things you haven't learned yet. Let me tell you something. By means of the blood of Jesus, and by the work of the Holy Spirit, I have made it holy and pleasing to God.

That is the beautiful appeal of this verse. It is not telling us we have to get all cleaned up and get our lives straightened out in every way and become perfect before we can offer ourselves to God. Paul's word is, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer yourselves as living sacrifices. Bring your bodies (that is what it says in the Greek word — your bodies, not yourselves) as a living sacrifice unto God. Bring it, with all its problems, with all the difficulty you have with it, with all the temptations and all — bring it just the way it is! I don't know how that affects you, but that encourages me greatly. All the other religions that I know of in the world tell us that somehow we have to straighten out our lives first, and then offer them to God. God never talks that way. He says, You come to me just the way you are. I am the answer to your problems; therefore, you must start with me. You can't handle those problems yourself. Don't start with thinking you have to get them straightened out. Come to me, because I have the answers for your problems.

Thank you, Father, that you invite me to come to you just as I am, with my whole self, including my body.

Life Application​

How essential is the surrender of our bodies to the whole and integrated person? How does the sacrifice of our bodies affect our spiritual worship? How does it fulfill God's good, acceptable and perfect will?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 10th​

Who Am I, Lord?​

For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Romans 12:3

Paul says to think about yourself. Many people get the idea that the Christian life consists of never thinking about yourself. Because we know that ultimately we are to reach out to others, we think that there is never any place for thinking about ourselves. That is wrong. It is true that some Christians have abused this to such a degree that all they think about is themselves. I know Christians like this who are forever going around taking their spiritual temperature, feeling their spiritual pulse, and worrying about their spiritual condition. It is wrong to think continually of nothing but yourself, but it is quite right to take time, occasionally, to evaluate yourself and where you are in your Christian life. In fact, Paul exhorts us with his apostolic authority to do so. For by the grace given to me, i.e., the gift of apostleship, based on that office he exhorts every one of us to take time to think through who we are.

Paul stresses that you have to do this in a way that avoids overrating yourself. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought. He puts this first because this is such a natural tendency with us. But feelings can change and fluctuate a thousand times a minute. They are dependent upon so many factors over which we have no control. The most foolish thing in the world is to judge yourself on the basis of how you feel at any given moment. Feelings aren't wrong; they are just not what you base your evaluation of yourself on. On what basis should you evaluate yourself? The answer, of course, is on how God sees you. That is reality — what God says you are. It is a two-fold evaluation, as the apostle makes clear in this verse.

First, he says, Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment. Think soberly about yourself. What does that mean? Surely that refers to the teaching of the Scriptures that we are all fallen creatures. We all have within us the flesh, which is not to be trusted at all. As long as we are in the flesh, in the body, we are going to have fleshly struggles. There will be something in you that you can't quite trust. There will be thoughts and attitudes and temptations in your life which are distorted and wrong. And they will always be there.

But then, second, think with the measure of faith that God has distributed to each of you. Look back over all God has told you about what has happened since you have come to Christ. The degree to which you trust what God has said about you will give you confidence and courage and ability — through Christ's life within you — to function any day, or at any given task. What has God said about you? Look back over all the tremendous truth given in the first eight chapters of Romans: We are no longer in Adam, in our nature or spirit, but are now united with Christ. He lives within us, his power is available to us. The Holy Spirit has come to enable us to say, No to all the evil forces and temptations that we come up against, so that sin shall not have dominion over us, for we are not under the Law but under grace. That is the way to think about yourself. You are always going to have to be on guard because of the evil of the flesh within you, but you can always win because of the grace of God and the righteousness of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit which you have.

Father, help me to discover who I am before you, and then to fulfill that, that I may bless your own heart, and fulfill my own life.

Life Application​

Who or what is defining our personal identity? Pop psychology? The news media? Our relationships? Are we experiencing the transforming freedom of His rightful ownership?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 11th​

Sincere Love​

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Romans 12:9-13

This describes love among Christians. It consists of six things. First, he says, Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. He is talking about people. Hate what is evil in people, but don't reject the person because of the evil. God loves that person. He or she is made in the image of God. True love learns to hate evil but not to reject the good. Hypocritical love, love that pretends to be Christian, does the opposite.

Second, love remembers that relationship is the ground of concern, and not friendship. That is why Paul says, Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. This doesn't refer to just anyone that is in need; it specifies your brother or sister. The basis of concern for one another is not that we know each other well or enjoy one another, it is that we are related to one another. If we are Christians, we know that we already have a tie that ought to evoke care for one another. They are our brother, our sister and so we treat them warmly and with acceptance.

Third, Paul says that true love regards others as more deserving than yourself: Honor one another above yourselves. I like the J.B Philips translation here. He says, Be willing to let other men have the credit. If you really don't care who gets the credit, then you can just enjoy yourself and do all kinds of good deeds. Just be glad that it is done, and don't worry about who gets the credit. Our flesh doesn't like that. It is very eager to be recognized, but the Word tells us that real love will not act that way.

Fourth, real love retains enthusiasm despite setbacks: Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. One of the most noticeable marks of a Christian walking in the Spirit is that he retains enthusiasm, always rejoicing in hope. He never lets his spiritual zeal flag or sag, but maintains it. The Lord cannot put up with lukewarmness (Revelation 3:16). It is nauseating. He will spew you out of his mouth if you are indifferent, neither hot nor cold.

Fifth, true love rejoices in hope: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. You can rejoice in hope because you are patient in affliction, and you are patient in affliction because you have been faithful in prayer. So, when trials come, the thing to do is to begin with prayer. If you are faithful in prayer, you will be able to be patient in affliction. You will hang in there, waiting until God works it out, not getting impatient and angry and resentful, but quietly waiting for God to accomplish what he had in mind in this whole trial. That will make you rejoice in hope — because you know that God has a thousand and one different ways of working things out.

Then, six, true love responds to needs. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. In these days when we have so much social help available — unemployment insurance, Social Security, welfare, Medicare, etc. — we tend to forget that there are still human needs and that we have a responsibility to meet them. We need to be reminded that people are still hurting and that it is a direct responsibility of Christians to care for one another's needs.

Lord, thank you for how you have loved me, and I ask that you teach me to love my brothers and sisters in Christ in the same way.

Life Application​

Six aspects of our love for one another define it as godly and sincere, as opposed to pretense and hypocrisy. To whom shall we look for our example, motivation and enabling grace for expressing authentic love?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — November 12th​

Who To Bless​

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Romans 12:14

Paul describes the kind of love we should show to a non-Christian world. Paul gives some very practical help on this. Love speaks well of its persecutors. That is getting right down to where the rubber meets the road, isn't it? That means you don't go around badmouthing people who are not nice to you. You don't run them down or speak harshly about them to others, but you speak well of them. You find something that you can approve, and you say so to others. I confess that is not my natural reaction. When somebody persecutes me, I persecute back! At least I want to. But this is what the Word tells us we don't need to do and we should not do. This applies to such practical areas as traffic problems. Have you ever been persecuted in traffic? It happens all the time. Somebody cuts you off, and you want to roll down the window and shout at them. But according to this, you are not supposed to. Now, this doesn't tell you what to call them, but it tells you to bless them, anyway.

In verse 17 Paul says, Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the sight of everybody. Later, in verse 19 he adds, Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, It is mine to avenge, I will repay, says the Lord. Revenge is one of the most natural of human responses to hurt or injury or bad attitudes. We always feel that, if we treat others according to the way they have treated us, we are only giving them justice. We can justify this so easily. I'm only teaching them a lesson. I'm only showing them how I feel. I'm only giving back what they've given me. But any time you argue that way you have forgotten the many times you have injured others without getting caught yourself. But God hasn't forgotten. This always puts us in the place of those Pharisees who, when the woman was taken in adultery, were ready to cast stones and stone her to death. Jesus came by and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone, (John 8:7). That stopped them all dead in their tracks, because there wasn't a one of them who wasn't equally as guilty as she. They needed to be judged too. We must never carry out revenge, because we are not in the position of a judge. We, too, are guilty. We need to be judged. Therefore, Paul's admonition is, Don't try to avenge yourself. You will only make a mess of it. The inevitable result of trying to get even with people is that you escalate the conflict. It is inescapable.

When I was in school in Montana, I used to watch the cows in the corral. They would be standing there peacefully, and then one cow would kick another cow. Of course, that cow had to kick back. Then the first cow kicked harder and missed the second cow and hit a third. That cow kicked back. I watched that happen many times. One single cow, starting to kick another, soon had the whole corral kicking and milling and mooing at one another, mad as could be. This happens in churches, too.

Paul gives two reasons why you should not avenge yourself: One is because God is already doing it. Leave room for God's wrath. God knows you have been insulted or hurt or injured. He knows it and he is already doing something about it. Second, God alone claims the right to vengeance because he alone can work it without injury to all concerned. He will do it in a way that will be redemptive. He won't injure the other person, but will bring him out of it. We don't give God a chance when we take the matter into our own hands. Paul says that is wrong. It is wrong because we don't want that person to be redeemed; we want them to be hurt. We get angry because God hasn't taken vengeance in the way that we would like. Paul reminds us that God is already avenging, so we should leave him room.

Lord, teach me this hard lesson of blessing and loving those who have done me wrong. Thank you for loving me first in that same way.

Life Application​

Do we resist blessing any who mistreat us? Are we willing to leave the matters in God's hands so He may apply vengeance according to His wisdom? Will we thus leave room for His redemptive action?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 13th​

God and Government​

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Romans 13:1

When Paul refers to governing authorities, he uses a phrase that can best be translated the powers that be. He is not just talking about heads of state; he is talking about all levels of authority, all the way down to the local police. He tells us that the thing we must think about these governmental offices is that they are, in some way, brought into being by God himself.

I often hear people ask, Which form of government is the best? Which is the one God wants us to have? We Americans would love to think that democracy obviously is the most God-honored form of government. But I don't think you can establish that from the Scriptures. In fact, the Scriptures reflect various forms of government. So when you ask, Which government is the best kind? Is it a monarchy? An oligarchy? Is it a republic? A democracy? The answer of Scripture is not necessarily any of these. It is whatever God has brought into being. That is best for that particular place and time in history. God has brought it into being, considering the makeup of the people, the degree of truth and light which is disseminated among them, and the moral conditions that are prevailing. For that condition, for that time and place, God has brought into being a particular government.

Now, that government can change. God doesn't ordain any one form of government to be continued forever. If the people grow toward understanding of truth, and morality prevails in a community, the form of government may well take on a democratic pattern. Where truth disappears, government seems to become more autocratic. But, in any case, the point the apostle makes is that whatever form of government you find, God is behind it. Don't ever think of any state or any government as something that in itself is opposed to God, because it isn't.

This truth is not confined to the New Testament. In the book of Daniel, Daniel stood before one of the greatest monarchs the world has ever seen, one of the most autocratic of kings, and said to him, God changes times and seasons, God removes kings, and he sets up kings, (Daniel 2:21a RSV). There it is made clear that God definitely has a hand in whatever is going on on the earth at any particular time. Sometimes we are tempted, or even taught, to think of God as being remote from our political affairs, that he is off in heaven somewhere turning a rather morbid eye on us human beings struggling along with our political problems down here. But God is not on some remote Mount Olympus; he is right among us, involved in the pattern of governments; and he raises up kings and puts down others, raises up rulers and changes the form of government.

When Paul wrote this letter to these Christians, they were living in the capital city of the empire, Rome itself. Rome by this time had already passed through several forms of government. It had been a monarchy, a republic, a principate, and now it was an empire. Nero had just begun his reign as the fifth emperor of Rome when Paul wrote this letter. What Paul is saying to these Christians is that whatever form of government may be in control, they are to remember that God is behind it.

Father, thank you for these practical words. Help me to be a good citizen, trusting that you raise up and bring down leaders to accomplish your own purposes.

Life Application​

A particular form of government cannot be counted on to uphold righteousness. To whom are we ultimately responsible? What is our responsibility toward government which God permits?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 14th​

Tax Day​

Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Romans 13:7

Here the apostle is dealing with our actual response to what these demands of government are. We haven't the right to withhold taxes if the government doesn't use them quite the way we think they should. Governments are made up of fallible men and women just like us, and we can't demand that the government always handle everything perfectly. Therefore what Paul wrote to these Romans, who had the same problems we have about taxes, was, If you owe taxes, pay them.

The point the apostle is making clearly is: Don't resent these powers of government. This is all set within the context of Paul's word in Chapter 12, Be not conformed to this present age, (Romans 12:2a). Don't act like everybody else acts about taxes. The world grumbles and gripes and groans at paying taxes. You have a right, of course, as does everyone, to protest injustice and to correct abuse. There is no question about that. But don't forever be grumbling about the taxes that you have to pay.

I don't hold up any defense for the gross injustices that prevail in our American system. But the very fact that we can meet for worship and don't have to hide behind closed doors, the very fact that we have relative freedom from attack when we walk about is due to the existence of a government that God has brought into being. I want to make every effort I can, as a good citizen, to improve it and to see that it does things better. But we can thank God for the privilege of paying our taxes. This is what the apostle is after. He wants us to have a different attitude than the world around us about these matters. We are not to come on with gimlet-eyed fanaticism, attacking the government and seeking to overthrow it because it doesn't behave quite as we think it ought. But rather, we are to understand that God has brought it into being, and he will change it if the hearts of the people of the land warrant that.

Somebody has well said, Every nation gets the government it deserves. And so as we pay our taxes, let us do so cheerfully. Remember that the apostle says not only that we are to pay our taxes, but if we owe respect, we are to give that; if honor, give that. Never forget that the worst of governments are, nevertheless, better than anarchy, and serve certain functions which God himself has ordained.

Therefore let us respond as Christians, with cheerfulness and gladness for what we can do under God, and let us do so in such an attitude that people will see that there is something different about us. Thus we commend ourselves to God and the people around.

Our Father, help me to be faithful to my responsibility to show honor to those to whom honor is due, and respect to those who deserve it.

Life Application​

The taxation burden tests our willingness to respond out of obedience to the Word. Do we seek to respond to this pressure as dutiful and thankful servants of Christ?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.