Your Daily Journey with God

[Believe]

April 12

GOD CAN’T BE BOUGHT


[Balaam said,] “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the LORD.”
NUMBERS 24:13

In a wealthy culture it’s easy for the rich to believe money is the ultimate resource. Not only can money buy things, but it can also be used to buy people —their favor, their loyalty, or their protection. Some people even believe money can be used to purchase the blessings of God.
A pagan king named Balak (Numbers 22–24) tried to purchase the prophetic ability of a pagan “prophet” (diviner) named Balaam. Balak wanted Balaam to speak a curse upon Israel as they approached the Promised Land. The curse was never spoken, but not for want of a misguided king’s efforts. Much later in Israel’s history, the prophet Micah reminded the people of the Balak-Balaam incident in order that they might be reminded of “the righteousness of the LORD” (Micah 6:5). In other words, God’s favor cannot be purchased, nor His wrath avoided, with money. In the New Testament, Ananias and his wife, Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), and Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:9-25) learned this truth the hard way.
Do you need something from God today? Follow the advice of James: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).


Mature faith does not live by answers to prayer, but by prayer.
R. E. O. WHITE


Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

April 14

STRENGTHEN YOUR GRIP

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
PHILIPPIANS 4:13

How many times have we read an account in the news like this: “When I was sure I wouldn’t survive, I thought of my wife and children. The idea of never seeing them again gave me the strength to hang on. I literally thought I was going to die. Once I survived the ordeal and was reunited with my family, I realized that the pain and anguish were worth it.”

The book of Revelation pictures a future that is going to be painful for those on the earth. Not the least of coming travails are those represented by the four horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelation 6:1-8. The white horse represents a leader bent on conquering the world; the red horse, worldwide war; the black one, worldwide famine; and the pale horse, death for a quarter of humanity by violent and tragic means. Anyone who becomes a Christian after the rapture of the church —that is, during the Tribulation —will have to ask, “How can I survive?” And the answer will be the same as for Christians who experience suffering now: “through Christ who strengthens me.”

If you are losing your grip on life today, let the promise of seeing Christ face-to-face give you new strength (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Our greatest problem in suffering is unbelief.
GEOFF THOMAS

Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

April 16

SQUANDERED FORTUNE

I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
REVELATION 5:1

Huntington Hartford could have had it all as the heir to the A&P fortune. His grandfather had helped found the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company in 1869. It grew to be the world’s largest retail empire, making the Hartford family one of the wealthiest on earth. But Huntington frittered his millions away on frivolous projects and misguided ventures. He died with little left.

That’s not the case for heirs of God. According to Romans 8, if we’re children of God, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. According to Titus, the “elect” are heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 1:1-2). James says we are heirs of the Kingdom that He promises to those who love Him (James 2:5).

Revelation 11:15 proclaims, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.” The joy of being a coheir with Christ is beyond the limitations of our finite minds, but it should bring joy to our hearts today.

Joint heirs with Christ Jesus! I defy you to exhaust that topic, though you should think about it all the days of the next week, nay, though you should muse upon it till eternity commences with your soul.
C. H. SPURGEON


Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

April 30

THE GREAT MULTITUDE

Behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
REVELATION 7:9

Certain Scriptures —Psalm 23, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and John 11:1-44 —comfort us in times of loss as if the Lord Himself were speaking to us. We seldom include Revelation 7:9-17 among those familiar passages, yet it, too, is full of encouragement for the grief stricken.

Revelation 7:9-17 describes those who will be redeemed and then martyred during the Great Tribulation, but much of what it says about them is true for all Christians in eternity. These heavenly saints are clothed in white, representing the righteousness of Christ. They celebrate before the throne with palm branches, representing joy. They sing with all their hearts, serving God day and night, free from hunger, thirst, heat, and care. God has been a shepherd leading them to living fountains and wiping away their tears.

It’s a scene of pure eternal victory, and if our dear ones could speak to us, they’d say, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen!” (Revelation 7:12).


Surely if there is rest and peace in following Him by faith on earth, there will be far more rest and peace when you see Him face to face.
J. C. RYLE


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

May 5

LOVE LIKE GOD LOVES

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
ROMANS 5:8

Some people say the world’s best illustration of unconditional love is found in a dog’s response to its owner. They say, “Dogs don’t care if you’re a good person or a bad person —they love you all the same.” Without taking anything away from man’s best friend, there is actually a better example. In fact, the world’s only permanent example of totally unconditional love is the love God has for sinners, for “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Paul Gossman, pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Covington, Washington, explains his church’s mission this way: “To establish people firmly in [God’s] unconditional love for them through Christ” and then spread “His love to our local communities and beyond.”[1] Once we have experienced God’s unconditional love, our mission is to manifest that same love to others: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

If you have experienced God’s unconditional love, look for the people in your world with whom that love needs to be shared.

There is nothing the Christian can do to make God love him more, or love him less. God’s love for his people is infinite and unconditional.
JOHN BLANCHARD


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

May 18

SUNRISE/SUNSET

I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
REVELATION 19:11


In Exodus 14, the same pillar of fire that provided light for the Israelites produced thick darkness to the Egyptians (verse 20). In the same way, when the sun rises above the mountains of one continent, it’s sinking into the horizon of another. A victory for one army means defeat for another. Even on the playground, we learn that as one child rises on the seesaw, another child descends. Life teaches us that an event may be both positive and negative at the same time, depending on the recipients.

That’s how it will be when Christ returns. The Second Coming will reward those who know the Lord Jesus while, at the same time, taking vengeance on those who don’t. Revelation 19, describing the Lord’s return, opens with the delight of the angels and concludes with the doom of the Beast and the false prophet.

Just as the sun setting on the horizon indicates the closing hours of another day, it should also serve as a reminder that we are one day closer to the return of Jesus Christ. It is as certain as the sun rising on the morrow —He will return!



Does your heart leap up with rapture as you know He’s near? Or do thoughts of His appearing fill your heart with fear?
ADA R. HABERSHON


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

May 27

SHALL I PRAY TO CHANCE?

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
EPHESIANS 6:18, NIV

A certain woman was crossing the Atlantic toward England and asked a sailor one morning how long it should take them to arrive. “If it is God’s will, we will arrive in Liverpool in fourteen days,” said the sailor. “If it is God’s will!” said the woman. “What a senseless expression! Don’t you know that all comes by chance?” In a few days a terrible storm arose, and the woman stood clinging to her cabin door in agony. “How long do you think it will last?” she asked the sailor. “It seems likely to last some time, madam.” “Oh!” she cried, “Pray that we may not be lost!” His reply was, “Madam, shall I pray to chance?”

Oftentimes, it takes pain to get us to really pray. This is the very reason God allows us to experience difficult times, to bring us to the place where we are reminded of our great need for Him. So when God allows pain in our lives, let us not delay in falling to our knees, confessing our dependence upon Him, and establishing a consistent prayer life.

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?
CORRIE TEN BOOM


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

June 28

BROCHURE OF HEAVEN

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago —whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows —such a one was caught up to the third heaven . . . into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-4

The apostle Paul was caught up into heaven where he saw glorious things, but he wasn’t allowed to describe them. Perhaps that was because he was the apostle of salvation, a man with one message —we are saved by grace through faith. Later, however, John was also caught up into heaven and he, too, saw God’s paradise, the new Jerusalem. To John was given the privilege of closing God’s Book with a two-chapter travel brochure of the Holy City.

He described the descent of this capital city from a distance, then up close. He gave us its measurements in human terms. He described the walls, gates, foundations, and streets. He went inside and saw the throne in the city’s center, from which flowed a river, a golden boulevard, and the verdant Tree of Life Park (Revelation 21–22).

Do you have your place reserved in God’s city? Our reservations are held under the name of Jesus, and He alone is our ticket there. Make sure your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.


The best moment of a Christian’s life is his last one, because it is the one that is nearest heaven.
C. H. SPURGEON

David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

August 7

WISDOM FROM ABOVE


The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
JAMES 3:17

A ten-year-old boy in St. Cloud, Minnesota, barely missed being hit by a UFO (in this case, an “unusual flying object”). A local television station reported that a laptop computer fell out of a medical helicopter and tumbled through the air, hitting the ground with a crash that sounded like a gunshot. It landed inches from the boy. The little fellow ran to his aunt, crying, “Something just fell out of the sky and almost hit me!”

That’s not what the Bible has in mind when it talks about the “wisdom from above” (James 3:17). No matter how much data is on a laptop, it can’t crash into your brain. Only God’s wisdom can descend from the sky and change your thinking.

The Bible speaks of two kinds of wisdom —wisdom from below and wisdom from above. God’s wisdom has little to do with age, and spiritual maturity isn’t determined by experience. It is a matter of having an open heart toward the Lord and an open Bible on your desk. The books of Proverbs and James are great resources for those wanting to understand the wisdom from above. Why not scan one of those books and find a verse to memorize today?


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

November 1
GRATITUDE FOR SALVATION

We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation.
2 THESSALONIANS 2:13

As James Chasteen was distributing Gideon Bibles in a nursing home in New York City, he spotted an old man in a wheelchair. The two struck up a conversation, and Chasteen asked the man if he was certain of heaven. “I would like to think that I would go to heaven,” the man replied with tears, “but I don’t think I would. I don’t know how, and no one has ever told me how.” That day James had the joy of leading this man to Christ, and afterward, he asked him how old he was. The astonishing answer: 100! He would be 101 in another month.

Praise God for a man who found Christ at age 100!

Thank goodness most of us don’t wait that long. What a joy to know Christ as our Savior today, to be walking with Him, and to be looking forward to life in His Celestial City. We are bound to give thanks to Him who, from the beginning, chose us for salvation.

O Father, we would thank Thee for all Thy love has given, our present joy of sonship, our future joy in Heaven.

ADA R. GREENAWAY

 

[Believe]

November 8

THE GREATEST PARADOX

Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.
JAMES 1:2

Many things about the Kingdom of God seem odd to those who are not its citizens. Kingdom citizens gain by giving, live by dying, and become great by becoming least. But perhaps the greatest oddity in the Kingdom of God is when Christians find joy in pain and suffering. There is something unnatural about rejoicing in the midst of trials.

We need to remember that the Bible is transrational, not irrational; it represents thinking at a higher level, not a lower level. In the experience of trials and trouble, joy can still be found because we know that every experience has a purpose and place in God’s plan for our lives. Who would not find joy in having his or her faith proved to be genuine? Peter writes that trials and suffering come for that very reason: to prove that the faith we cling to is the real thing (1 Peter 1:6-7). In such revelation and confirmation is found true joy.

If you are experiencing a painful moment in your life right now, you don’t have to fake having joy “for” the pain. Your joy is to be in the knowledge that God is in control and your faith in Him is unshakable.

It is the very joy of this earthly life to think that it will come to an end.
C. H. SPURGEON


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

December 2

GOD’S MESSENGERS

Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.
PSALM 103:20

When someone in authority gives a directive, that command finds its way to the appropriate person, who makes it happen. Commands don’t execute themselves —it takes a person to carry out the authority’s desires.

Isaiah 55:10-11 pictures God as an authority who sends forth His Word. And it is always carried out: “It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (verse 11).

But how does that happen? Who carries out God’s words and translates them into action? Angels do —like the angel found in Daniel 10.

This angel was dispatched from heaven to deliver to Daniel the answer to his prayers. The angel was delayed for three weeks by an evil angel, the power behind “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” (verse 13), and only the angel Michael, “one of the chief princes” (verse 13), was able to defeat the evil angel and see the messenger on his way to Daniel.

When you pray, realize that angels are at work to execute God’s answers. And they may be opposed by “principalities and powers in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10).


Angels mean messengers and ministers. Their function is to execute the plan of divine providence even in earthly things.
THOMAS AQUINAS


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

December 7

PEACE ON EARTH

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!

One of the most startling revelations of NASA’s first ventures to the moon came in the form of photographs of the Earth. The most famous showed the Earth like a fragile, blue ball hanging in the black night of space. It was simultaneously a reminder of how isolated our outpost is in the vastness of the universe, yet how special it is: blue oceans contrasted with white clouds show life like no other heavenly body.

The uniqueness of the Earth is confirmed many ways in Scripture, but nowhere more clearly than in the Christmas story. God so valued His creation that He sent His only Son to redeem it. This blue orb hanging in the silence of space was invaded by hosts of angels who proclaimed, “Peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14) on the night of Jesus’ birth. Every resident of this globe —past, present, and future —was the recipient of that blessing. Even if global peace is yet to cover our world, it can fill the hearts of Earth’s inhabitants.

As you hang beautiful round ornaments on your Christmas tree this year, think of the Earth hanging in space —and those who dwell on it, whom Jesus came to save.


Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.
PHILLIPS BROOKS


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

December 8

THE URGENCY OF THE NIGHT

[The shepherds] came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.
LUKE 2:16

For many years in small communities all across America, there was one word that caused every resident to drop what he or she was doing and come running: “Fire!” Many communities still have volunteer fire departments, manned by local residents who are willing to serve their neighbors at a moment’s notice.

On the night when the angels from heaven announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds of Bethlehem, the shepherds responded with the same urgency. The news they heard would allow for no other response than to go immediately to see what had come to pass. This Christmas, we should be like those shepherds. We should let nothing stand in the way of focusing on the entrance of Jesus Christ into this world.

Be willing to set aside anything that obstructs your view of Jesus this Christmas season. To miss seeing Him is to miss the whole of Christmas.


To you in David’s town this day is born, of David’s line,
The Savior, who is Christ the Lord, and this shall be the sign.
NAHUM TATE


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

December 9

BEWARE OF MASQUERADES


Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
2 CORINTHIANS 11:14

Masquerade balls gained prominence in Europe as early as the fourteenth century and have been popular ever since, spreading to America and South America via celebrations such as Mardi Gras and Carnival. But ancient Greek actors also wore masks to create a facial impression consistent with their characters.

Masquerades are fine when it comes to fun but can be dangerous in the spiritual world. Paul warns the Corinthian church against Satan masquerading as an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14) —pretending to be one of God’s good angels. In the same way, he could empower “false apostles” to transform themselves into “apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13). Indeed, Paul suggests that his “thorn in the flesh” was a “messenger of Satan.” The word messenger in Greek is angelos, or “angel” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Was his thorn a false apostle who was empowered by Satan, acting as an “angel of light”? It takes discernment to see an impostor.

There are good angels and evil angels in the world. It pays to be on guard against the evil (1 Peter 5:8), while giving thanks for the ministry of the good (Hebrews 1:14).

Satan does far more harm as an angel of light than as a roaring lion.
VANCE HAVNER


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

December 10

NAOMI


Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
RUTH 1:20

Naomi was a widow whose sons had died. She was alone in the world, living on a shoestring budget, returning home after years of living in a foreign nation, and missing her husband and sons.

Maybe you can identify with her if you’re single, widowed, divorced, living overseas, or grieving the loss of a child. You feel like crying out, “Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.”

But finish reading Naomi’s story in the book of Ruth. She had a God who knew how to meet her needs, and in His good timing, He gave her a good friendship with her daughter-in-law Ruth, a caregiver named Boaz, a village full of friends, and —best of all —a grandson named Obed. By the end of the story, her friends were praising the Lord for restoring Naomi’s life.

If the Lord is your Shepherd, you shall not lack anything you need —including friends. Our God supplies our needs out of the riches of His grace. Reject self-pity, and trust Him to restore your spirits and to nourish you through all the seasons of life.



Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.
HELEN KELLER


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

December 11

THE CLARITY OF THE NIGHT


There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
LUKE 2:11

Many residents of metropolitan areas rarely see the glory of the stars against a clear midnight sky. “Light pollution” from streetlights, neon signs, and commercial districts washes out the brightness of the stars against their backdrop.

But there was no light pollution outside ancient Bethlehem. The shepherds would have been awash in the glory of the heavens when an even greater glory appeared to them: an angel accompanied by an angelic choir. As clear as the night sky was the angel’s message: “Born to you this day in the city of David [is] a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

There is much cultural “pollution” at Christmas that can wash away the clarity of the Christmas message if we allow it. Our voice must remain as clear as the angel’s: the One born at Christmas is the Savior —Christ the Lord.

Be clear this Christmas about the reason for the season. Don’t allow the bright lights to wash out your vision of the Savior.

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold.
EDMUND H. SEARS


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

December 12

GOD WITH US


[Nebuchadnezzar said,] “Blessed be the God . . . who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him.”
DANIEL 3:28

How would you have felt if you had been Peter in the New Testament? King Herod began a persecution of the church in Jerusalem, highlighting it with the murder of the apostle James, the brother of John. When he saw that this pleased the Jewish leaders, he seized Peter also and put him in jail. If you had been Peter, wouldn’t you have thought that Herod planned to murder you as well?

The church prayed diligently that night for Peter, who was chained to two Roman soldiers and under the guard of men stationed at the doors of the jail. He was bound in chains through the night, with the prospect of meeting a sword in the morning.

But suddenly the church’s prayers were answered as an angel appeared to Peter and set him free. When Peter realized that God had sent help, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord . . . has delivered me” (Acts 12:11). You may not find yourself chained and condemned to die for Jesus. But whatever your predicament, if you will wait, God will make His presence known.
It is not a question of whether God will show up when you are in trouble, but how.


When Jesus is present, all is well, and nothing seems difficult.
THOMAS À KEMPIS


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions

 

[Believe]

December 13

AGE AND ATTITUDE

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
PSALM 90:12

In his book Coming Home, James Dobson notes that Immanuel Kant wrote one of his most famous philosophical works at age seventy-four and Verdi was still composing when he was eighty-five. When Michelangelo completed The Pietà, his greatest work of art, he was eighty-seven, and Ronald Reagan was the most powerful man in the world as president of the United States at age seventy-five. Instead of sixty-five being the presumed age for retirement, it ought to be seen as the age when a lifetime of learning is focused on new achievement.

Consider the following: Moses and Aaron were over the age of eighty when they led the children of Israel out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and to the Promised Land. The fact is, the older we get, the more accumulated wisdom and perspective we should have to bring to bear on new goals. Regardless of your age, consider replacing retirement with transition in your vocabulary. See life as a continual process of moving from one accomplishment to the next with God as your guide.
Yes, age is no small part of growing old, but attitude is the largest.


Instead of counting the days, make the days count.
ANONYMOUS


David Jeremiah, Your Daily Journey with God: 365 Daily Devotions