Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for December 29th​

Coming to Mount Zion​

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm... But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Hebrews 12:18,22-24

The writer is here speaking of that which motivates us in the Christian life. We are not to be driven by fear. Not by the Law with its demands upon us, Do this, or else. Not by self-effort, not by the gritted teeth and the clenched fist and a determination that we are going to serve God. If we serve because we are afraid, as the Law frightened Israel in the terrible scene on Mt. Sinai, we will lose something from God. It is not fear that is our motive; it is fullness, it is what God has given us.

You have come not to this Mount Sinai, but to Mount Zion, the place of grace; and to the new Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come under a new government. And to angels. Angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who are to be the heirs of salvation, i.e., Christians. And to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. This is those who are born in Christ, sharing his life with our names written in heaven. And to God, the judge of all, whether they are Christians or not. And to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. These are the Old Testament saints, men and women of God who lived in the days when the promise was given before the cross, who looked forward by faith and who are waiting now for us. And to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. A mediator is not someone up in heaven somewhere, in some distant reach of space; he is an indwelling Christ. He is available to us. He is right here to be our strength, our righteousness, our wisdom, whatever we need. When Abel's blood was shed it cried out for vengeance, as the book of Genesis tells us, but Jesus' blood did not speak of vengeance — it speaks of access, of vindication, of the fact there is no problem between us and God that is not settled by his blood. There is no longer any question of guilt. We can come completely accepted in the Beloved.

Thus, with all this on our side there is no need to fail, is there? That is the point he is making. Certainly it gets rough, certainly it gets discouraging, surely there are times when the pressures are intense, but have you reckoned on your resources? Have you forgotten them?

Gracious Father, I am so grateful that by grace you have led me to Mount Zion. Now help me to stand strong, and to be yours in every circumstance of life.

Life Application​

Have we entered Mt. Zion, where joy and freedom from fear is our spiritual heritage? Is our worship and our works motivated by God's grace, and His love which casts out fear ?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for December 30th​

Nonconformity​

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

Hebrews 13:4-5

Nonconformity to the world must certainly involve these areas. The loose sexual standards of our generation and the intense materialistic spirit of this age constitute a constant peril to our hearts, and we must beware of them. We must realize that God has undertaken to sustain the sacredness of marriage and that he unceasingly, unrelentingly judges violations of it. Therefore, we dare not heed the fine sounding declarations being made today about a new morality, as though we had passed beyond the ancient standards and they no longer had significance.

As this writer reminds us, God judges the immoral and adulterous. He does not mean that God looses lightning bolts from heaven against them, or that he causes terrible diseases to come upon them; these are not the forms of judgment. But we can see the judgment of God in the anguish and pain which sweep like a plague across this land. They are due to the breakdown of moral standards. The certain deterioration of life is the judgment of God. It is the brutalization of humanity, so men become like animals and live on the level of animals. This is so apparent in our day.

Then there is the danger of materialism. We must swim against the strong currents of a luxury loving age. We must not give in to the pressures to keep up with the Joneses, the mad rush to have all that the world around us has. The weakness of the Church is due in large part to the failure of Christians to be content with what God gives them.

This does not mean that all Christians should take a vow of poverty. There is nothing like that in the New Testament. God allows levels of prosperity that are different one from another. The point the writer makes is not that there is anything wrong in riches, but that we must learn to be content with what God has given. Contentment is not having what you want; it is wanting only what you have.

It is difficult to know where to draw the line between a proper increase in the standard of living, and needless luxury which is really waste, but the secret is given in the latter part of the verse: For he has said, I will never fail you nor forsake you. That is the promise of God. He is our great and unending resource and will never fail us. Here is the strongest negative in the New Testament. The original carries the thought, I will never, never, under any circumstances, ever leave you or forsake you. It is a mighty declaration and on the basis of it the writer says we should declare, The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid (of loss or poverty or anything else). What can man do to me? If I have God, what can man do to me? The point is that we must be content to take only what God gives us.

Lord, help me not to conform to this world, always grasping for more. Teach me to be content and to believe that you will never leave nor forsake me.

Life Application​

Is either affluence or poverty making us restless and discontent? What effect does our discontent have on our marriage? Whom, or what do we trust to both determine and provide our essential needs?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for December 31st​

The God of Peace​

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 13:20-21

Humanity possesses great nuclear submarines by which the oceans can be traversed without ever coming to the surface. The secret of their tremendous power lies in a nuclear reactor hidden away in the depths of the submarine. That remarkable force does not need any refueling but is constantly giving off energy, so the submarine never needs to go into port for refueling. So it is in the life of a Christian. In these two verses is revealed the nuclear reactor for every Christian.

Look at the elements of this: Now may the God of peace. In this letter we have seen what peace is. The nearest modern equivalent is emotional health. In Christ we are in touch with the God of emotional health, the God who intends life to be lived on a peaceful level. With him is linked the Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep. I came from Montana and know much about sheep. If you are from the city you have probably thought that if you leave them alone they'll come home, wagging their tails behind them. But I can assure you it is all a lie! There are two outstanding characteristics of sheep: They have no wisdom, and they have no weapons. They are forever running off and getting lost and unable to find their way back, and if anything attacks them they are utterly helpless to defend themselves. That is why they need a shepherd. That is why we need a shepherd, and why the Bible likens us to sheep. We have a Great Shepherd of the sheep. He is our resource, our provision — a God who is concerned about us, and a Great Shepherd who is there to watch us — because we have no wisdom and we have no weapons for our defense.

Linked with them is this great process that is spoken of here, who brought again from the dead ... by the blood of the eternal covenant. There you have the cross and the resurrection. The cross means the end of the old life of self-reliance, and the resurrection sets forth the power of the new life. That is the power that is released within the Christian by the indwelling Christ within him. We talk about the conquest of outer space but the greatest conquest ever made was when the Lord Jesus conquered inner space by moving into the heart of man, to plant within us the greatest power by which life can be lived — a power that heals and makes whole.

The result of all this is that God will equip you with everything good that you may do his will. This is the secret of effective service. You do not have to ask God to do this, he is there to equip you with everything to do his will. There is a full supply here and full ability. God is going to work through you, not apart from your will, but right along with it. You choose, you start out, but he is there to carry it through.

Then there is full acceptance, even before it happens. Working in you that which is pleasing in his sight. You know you are going to please God, you know that you cannot help but please him when you walk in this way and live on this basis. You are fighting a battle already won. But if we try to live in the self-effort of the flesh, we are fighting a battle already lost. This whole thing is wrapped around with the most life-changing phrase ever uttered by man, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Through Jesus Christ — that is the secret of life, that is the way God intended man to live. What good news for this present life! God intended it for you, that you might live in your present circumstances, wherever you are.

Father, help me to grasp and understand these truths, but more than that, give me the courage to step out upon them, that I might enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Life Application​

The life-giving, life-changing Presence of our indwelling Christ is transcendent power of which nuclear-powered submarines is but a replica! Are we opting to stray as helpless sheep, or are we 'beholding the glory of the Lord', being transformed into His image?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — January 1st​

The Place To Begin​

And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Mark 1:4

John announced this great word: that repentance is the way people come to God, and the result is the forgiveness of sins. The greatest blessing people can experience is to have their sins forgiven. This is what the people who streamed out of Jerusalem to listen to John were looking for, and this is what they found. They found forgiveness of sins, and it came by way of repentance.

That is why the prophet Isaiah said John's message would be like a great bulldozer, building a highway in the desert for God to reach the isolated stranger in the midst of the wilderness. Without a road you cannot drive out into the desert in order to help somebody. You must have a road, a highway in the desert. John was God's bulldozer to build that highway. You know how roads are built—exactly as Isaiah describes in chapter 40: Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain (Isaiah 40:4). That is what repentance does. It brings down all the high peaks of pride that we stand on and refuse to admit are wrong. It takes the depressed areas of our life, where we beat and torture and punish ourselves, and lifts them up. It takes the crooked places, where we have lied and deceived, and straightens them out. And it makes the rough places plain. Then God is there at that instance of repentance.

John brought people to Christ the only way they can come—through acknowledgment of guilt. When people come this way, God meets them, cleanses them, and forgives them. John demonstrated that by the baptism he performed. But there is a greater baptism—that of the Holy Spirit. And on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God came, Peter stood up and offered people two things: forgiveness of sins and the promise of the Spirit. From that time on, God has made these things available to any man or woman who will begin at the beginning—the place of repentance.

Have you ever repented? Have you ever changed your mind, stopped defending yourself and trying to blame everything on others, and said, No, Lord, no one else is to blame, only I. This is the way I am—and I need help? That is where God will meet you. He always meets humans at that point, washes away guilt, cleanses, forgives. That is where you will find forgiveness of sins. If you have never repented before, I urge you to do so now. God will meet you right there. In the quiet of your own heart, where God alone hears, you can say to Him, Lord, I repent. Lord, send me the Holy Spirit through Jesus. And He will.

Lord, thank You that You promise to meet me in this place of repentance. I come to You now on that basis.

Life Application​

A new year can begin with the liberating gift of forgiveness. Have we understood and embraced the means by which this blessing may be known?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2026 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Devotion for Today — January 2nd​

Like A Dove​

As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

Mark 1:10

There is no greater need that we have as individuals than to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is by the Holy Spirit that we are able to live as we long to live and are able to overcome the power of sin and guilt and fear within us. Therefore, the primary, elementary, most fundamental need of guilty people is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus, when Jesus began to take our place, there was immediately given to Him the gift of the Holy Spirit.

This is not the first time Jesus had the Spirit. It is recorded of John the Baptist that he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. And certainly if that was true of John, it was also true of Jesus. He lived by the Spirit during those quiet years in Nazareth. He submitted Himself to His parents, grew up in a carpenter's shop, and learned the trade. And through those uneventful days, Jesus lived by the power of the Spirit in His life.

Then what is happening now, when the Spirit comes upon Him like a dove? The answer is that He is given a new manifestation of the Spirit, especially in terms of power. To use the language of Scripture, Jesus was anointed by the Spirit at this point. In Old Testament times kings and priests were anointed by pouring oil upon their heads, committing them to the function and office in which they were to serve. This is the picture of what is now occurring in Jesus' life. He is being anointed by God through the Spirit with power—power to meet the demands of the ministry upon which He is about to launch.

Do not think of this as something remote from us. All these things that happened to Jesus can happen and, indeed, must happen to us. That is the whole thrust of this teaching. He was taking our place; therefore, what happened to Him must happen to us. That is why Jesus, standing with His disciples after the resurrection, said to them, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you (Acts 1:8). The Spirit of God must come upon us.

This is not so that we can perform dramatic acts, but, rather, so that we can have a new quality of life that is beautiful and resistless, yet quiet and gentle. Notice the symbol of the kind of power that is given here—it is a dove. Athletic teams sometimes use birds as emblems, signs of their power and ability. We have the Falcons and the Eagles—even the Ducks. But did you ever hear of a team called the Doves? No team would ever use a dove as a symbol of its power. A dove is a gentle, non-threatening bird, one that does not fight back and yet is irresistible.

This is the power that Jesus is describing—the power of love, of course—love that can be beaten and battered down and put to death and yet can rise again, until it wins the day—that amazing love Jesus released. The greatest force in the world today, without a doubt, is love. And yet it is the kind of power that does not threaten or break apart or destroy; it gathers and heals. It is rejected, turned aside, and beaten down; yet it rises again and again. So the dove is an apt symbol of the new life our Lord came to teach.

Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. May the Spirit Manifest through me the power of love.

Life Application​

What power is symbolized by the dove at Jesus' baptism? How does it compare with the power promised the believer by which we can daily demonstrate His love?

Daily Devotion © 2006, 2026 by Ray Stedman Ministries.