Devotionals

Arise from the dead… —Ephesians 5:14Not all initiative, the willingness to take the first step, is inspired by God. Someone may say to you, “Get up and get going! Take your reluctance by the throat and throw it overboard— just do what need…

None of us lives to himself… —Romans 14:7Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people? For instance, if I allow any turning away from God in my private life, everyone around me suffers. We “sit tog…

Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. —Matthew 10:27Sometimes God puts us through the experience and discipline of darkness to teach us to hear and obey Him. Song birds are taught to…

Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.” —1 Samuel 3:10Just because I have listened carefully and intently to one thing from God does not mean that I will listen to everything He says. I show God my lack of love and respect for Him by the inse…

They said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” —Exodus 20:19We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attent…

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. —Isaiah 26:3Is your mind stayed on God or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a s…

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things… —Isaiah 40:26The people of God in Isaiah’s time had blinded their minds’ ability to see God by looking on the face of idols. But Isaiah made them look up at the heavens; that is, h…

The everlasting God…neither faints nor is weary. —Isaiah 40:28Exhaustion means that our vital energies are completely worn out and spent. Spiritual exhaustion is never the result of sin, but of service. Whether or not you experience exhaustion w…

I am already being poured out as a drink offering… —2 Timothy 4:6Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequenc…

Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel… —1 Corinthians 1:17Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But remember what Paul means by “the gospel,” namely, the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus…