Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-March 12, 2023-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

“And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant” (Acts 13:5).

“Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).

John Mark was a very young man in the days of Jesus and after His resurrection. He got off to a very inauspicious start. Many scholars believe that he wrote of himself in his fleeing naked for fear of his life. Mark 14:51-52 says, “Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.” Before we come down on him heavily, we must recognize our own frailty, weakness, sins, and mistakes. The previous verse 50 said of the disciples, “They all forsook Him and fled.

The next time we read of John Mark, he and mother Mary hosted the gathering of believers for a prayer meeting as the saints prayed for Peter’s release from prison and deliverance from impending death. By this time he served the Lord with Barnabas and Paul who took him as their assistant on their missionary journey. Things were going well for him until he suddenly left Barnabas and Paul and the ministry of the gospel to go back home to Jerusalem. Some have speculated he was home sick, others that circumstances got too dangerous for him.

His departure greatly affected Barnabas and Paul. When Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them again, Paul refused. This led to the split up of one of the greatest evangelical teams in the history of the early church. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas and went on to be a great team themselves. I’m sure John Mark felt really bad, but God used his failure as a future springboard to success and blessing.

His story has a happy ending. Paul in his later years calls for him to come and help in the work of the Lord. In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul says to Timothy, “Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.” What a comeback story! What a blessing!

John Mark’s story is our story: dotted with failure and success, ups and downs, mistakes, sins, and restorations. God is the God of second chances. It was true of Peter also who denied the Lord Jesus three times. Jesus dealt with him, forgave him, and mightily used Him for preaching the gospel and shepherding the saints. He and Mark both wrote books in the NT, in fact, Peter calibrated on the Gospel of Mark. Peter wrote 1 Peter and 2 Peter.

Let us take courage and know that God can use us even after we have failed. It makes us more humble and empathetic toward others. All the glory goes to the Lord not to us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels (or jars of clay), that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

Have a blessed Lord’s Day living for Jesus and serving Him. Stay safe and healthy.

Failure is never final if we don’t give up,

Dean

-March 11, 2023-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

“Be hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled.”

(Titus 1:8).

Self-control is one the most important virtues in the Bible. In fact, it is one the fruit of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22-23. Though there are unsaved people that show self-control to one degree or another, it can’t compare to the empowerment that we as believers have, which is supernatural. There are many passages in Scripture that teach self-control, but the word itself is only found in the NT, some eight times.

Proverbs 16:32 says, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” A self-controlled person is stronger than any body builder, weight lifter, football player, or any athlete or soldier in this world. It is the inner control of our thoughts, words, temper, emotions, and actions. Most words beginning with self are normally very bad. In the case of self-control it is different, especially when it is produced by the Holy Spirit when are yielded to the Lord.

My mentor and Bible teacher, William MacDonald wrote meaning books, including Believer’s Bible Commentary, True Discipleship, and One Day At A Time, a daily devotional. He was very knowledgeable in the Word and his books and messages extremely practical. He went home to be with the Lord about ten years ago.

In One Day At A Time for March 10th, he wrote, “The disciplined Christian avoids overeating, if coffee, tea, or Coke have a grip on him, he kicks the habit. He refuses to be mastered by tobacco in any form. He carefully avoids the use of tranquilizers, sleeping pills or other pharmaceuticals, except where medically prescribed. He controls the time given to sleeping. If he is plagued by the problem of lust, he learns to expel impure thoughts, concentrate on a clean thought life, and keeps busy with constructive activity. To him every addiction or besetting sin is a Goliath to be conquered.”

As you can see self-control covers every area of life. You may think one must be a Superman to do all things that our dear brother Bill described. In fact, it is humanly impossible apart from the Holy Spirit’s enabling. Oh, that we will demonstrate self-control, especially when times are difficult, painful, or unpleasant. May the Lord help us to be self-controlled every day and in every way.

Have blessed day focusing on self-control instead of justifying or excusing ourself for our thoughts, words, or actions. Stay safe and healthy.

Walking in the Spirit with self-control,

Dean

-March 10, 2023-

Good morning, happy Friday,

“And whenever you stand praying, if have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

(Mark 11:25-26).

One huge hindrance to prayer is a lack of forgiveness when others wrong us. In terms of our standing before God, all our sins are forgiven, past, present, and future. They are all under the blood, never to be held against us again. The forgiveness referred to here in this passage is between believers. When we fail to forgive each other and hold grudges, it affects our relationship and fellowship with God and with others. The first type of forgiveness is what we call judicial, God as Judge forgives us of our sins and declares us righteous through the Lord Jesus Christ. The second type of forgiveness is what we call parental, where God as our Father forgives the believer when he sins and restores him to fellowship with Himself. When we as children of God sin we must confess it to be restored. If we don’t there are consequences. We won’t lose our salvation, which is secure, but will be cut of from the sweet fellowship with the Lord.

Jesus had just been teaching His disciples how powerful prayer is. All they had to do is have faith without doubting and they move mountains. He says, in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you will have them.” This is a wonderful promise. There are however hindrances to prayer like an iceberg to a ship. The S.S. Titanic hit a massive iceberg and sunk on her maiden voyage. Just as there are two types of forgiveness, there are two types of relationships: vertical, that is with God, and horizontal, that is with our fellow men.

In our text today, the short conditional word “if” is used twice. Jesus said, “If you have anything against anyone, forgive him.” Then He also added, “But If you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive you your trespasses.” When we forgive others, God forgives us. It is vital to maintaining a good relationship with God and others. Just reflect on how times you have forgiven others and others have forgiven you. Jesus taught us that we are responsible to initiate the conversation with the person who has hurt us and when we come aware someone has something against us in order to settle the matter.

May the Lord help us to forgive to be forgiven. Then there will be restoration and nothing to hinder our prayers. Have a blessed day balancing the books in our lives, dealing with each other in love, and being right with God and men. Stay safe and healthy.

In love and mercy forgive,

Dean

-March 9, 2023-

Good morning, happy Thursday,

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

(Matthew 10:16).

We have considered the dove that Noah sent out, the doves that were used in sacrifices, and the dove form that the Holy Spirit came in to descend on Jesus. Today, we will look at the way we as Christians should be harmless or innocent as doves.

Jesus gave His disciples instructions on what to do and how to live and serve in Matthew 10:5-26. In verse 25, He said, “It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master…” Our Savior not only preached it and taught it, He lived it. There are two essential things we need to follow: “be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.”

Wisdom and innocence are both vital to a successful Christian life and ministry. We must pursue and demonstrate both traits. We should not be gullible and believe everything we read in the newspapers or on the internet. In addition there always two sides to every story. Proverbs 18:17 says, “The first one to plead his case seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines us.” Wisdom is the application of knowledge and understanding; insight is seeing things they really are; and discernment is how we make sense of it all.

Being harmless or innocent as a dove is showing kindness, compassion, and sincerity. Sheep and doves are both gentle creatures. As children of God would be innocent in the ways men and wise in the ways of men. Jesus taught us to not resist an evil person, not to retaliate against wrongdoers, and when struck on the right cheek turn the other cheek. Our Savior warned us not to fight others, but let Him fight for us.

Jesus taught us, “…Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). Let love rule the day in every day. May we all be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. This way more people will get saved and be encouraged to follow Jesus.

Have a blessed day following the example of Jesus. Stay safe and healthy.

Being wise and harmless in this evil world,

Dean

-March 8, 2023-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

“When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’”

(Luke 3:21-22).

The account of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist appears in all four gospels. Jesus initiated it, though John said, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him” (Matthew 3:14-15). His baptism was unique. He had no sins to confess or repent of like all the other people. Four things happened as Jesus came up from the water: the heavens were opened to Him, He saw the Spirit descend upon Him like a dove and alighted on Him, and the Father’s voice was heard, ‘This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” All this was needed to fulfill all righteousness.

The key words are: “like a dove. The Holy Spirit was like a dove. He came in dove form to anoint our Savior with power from above. Doves are very gentle and land in soft and beautiful way. All three persons of the Godhead are represented at the inauguration of Jesus’ earthly ministry: the Father who said, “This My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit who descended in dove form.

This reminds us that as believers that we are indwelt by and filled with the Holy Spirit. The lesson for us is to be yielded to the Spirit, and led by the Spirit. Right after His baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. There is nothing effective that we can do for the Lord except by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is a wonderful hymn written by Brian Jeffery Leach, entitled, “Spirit, Now Live in Me.” The first verse says, “O holy Dove of God descending, You are the love that knows no ending, all our shattered dreams You’re mending: Spirit, now live in me.” May we never quench or grieve the Spirit, but walk in the Spirit. He produces the fruit of the Spirit in us and empowers in everything we do for Christ.

Have a blessed day walking in the Spirit. Stay safe and healthy.

Empowered from above by the Spirit of love,

Dean