2025-02-07
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The Holy Spirit directs me to begin today’s devotion with 1 PET 1: 3-5, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” This is the Lord’s greatest promise of all. To receive it, we must be victors over the evil one by being steadfast in our proclamation of Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Additionally, we must come to know the teaching God gives us in the Scriptures and live according to it. God gives us all kinds of examples of people who did exactly this in the NT and, despite Christ’s name not being mentioned, many examples in the OT too.
There are some spectacular people in the OT, like Moses, Samuel, and especially David, who never were told of Christ’s presence with them. However, they had the kind of faith in God and willingness to take lessons from Him that must qualify them for eternal life. I believe they will be honored in heaven. They were ordinary people, just like you and I, capable of imperfection but willing to learn from God’s lessons to be faithful and obedient to Him. In similarity with them are people like John, the Baptist, and the apostles, Christ’s disciples, and Paul in the NT. PS 19: 9-11, “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Remember, those mentioned were ordinary people who demonstrated extraordinary faithfulness, but they didn’t do it without help.
As we age, we are not only considering the question, “Are we being faithful,” but we are also thinking about what kind of legacy will we leave behind us. We would like to be fondly remembered for the good things we have done. PS 112: 6, “Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. People like David and Paul, for example, lived long before our time, and yet, their acts of faith in the face of horrendous challenges will never be forgotten. We mustn’t forget that we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and His gifts to us as outlined in GA 5: 22-23. Christ has told us in JN 15: 5, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” We’ve been told that sin separates us from God. It is the same as cutting away bunches of grapes from the vines and leaving them to rot on the ground (in the above metaphor). They are cut off from the nutrients that keep them thriving which can only be available to them if they are attached to the vine. For quite a while, I’ve been directed to write about the gifts of the Holy Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience (forbearance), goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness (humility), and self-control.
Our time on earth is a time of testing. We are asked to make that huge and eternal decision about if we want to open that door marked “FAITH” and walk in. MT 7: 7-8, “Ask, and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Once inside, we must learn God’s teaching from the Scriptures and follow them in our lives. While not always easy, the promises God makes to us will be kept. REV 3: 20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hears My voice and opens the door, I will come and join him, and will sup with him, and He with Me.” If we are willing to accept our Lord Jesus, He will open the way to God’s wisdom for us through the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER: O Most Holy Lord, You have pursued us with a heart of loving faithfulness, and we love You for it. You not only urged us to proclaim Jesus as Lord, but You have made it possible through the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures to live by Your teaching. 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful in teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We stand in awe of Your grace and generosity in making it possible, through the atoning sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus, on the cross, for us to have the hope of eternal life. We think about the honor You offer us in a blissful, sweet fellowship with You for eternity through our faithful obedience and His sacrifice. That hope is held by us as precious. For this undeserved honor, we offer You our undying praise and thanksgiving, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded to write about why the cost of being a disciple of Christ is worth it. This continues to answer the question: “After surrender, what?” Patience and waiting for God are just two of the Holy Spirit’s gifts. If we are to set a good example like the people from history mentioned above, we not only need to be patient in waiting for God, but we must also be patient with other people. Learning our place in relationships with the latter and with God is very much a part of this—being gentle (humble). While it’s natural for us to want to put ourselves first and be protective, there are times when it is deemed wrongful in God’s sight. We need to have mature discernment to know when to humble ourselves and when to put our agenda on the table [PHIL 1: 9-10; PS 119: 125]. With God’s help, we will learn to have it. In the meanwhile, He makes His help available to us, if we will only seek it. Praise and thanksgiving be to Him.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2025. All Rights Reserved.
<-- Back to Archives