Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-October 19, 2022-

Good morning happy Wednesday,

“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait I say on the Lord.”

(Psalm 27:14).

Waiting on the Lord isn’t easy and requires a lot of patience, perseverance, and faith. But oh what great dividends it pays! God strengthens our hearts through the waiting, and when the answer or solution comes, there is great joy. The phrase wait on the Lord can be rendered, “Wait in faith on the Lord.” Sometimes God seems to work too slowly, and we want things to happen right away. But if God always worked right away our faith wouldn’t grow as it should nor would we appreciate His plan as fully.

God sees and knows all things that we can’t see or understand. Israel had to wait four hundred years to take possession of the land of Canaan. In Genesis 15:16, God told Abraham in giving him the promise of Canaan, “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” God gave the people of Canaan so much time to repent, but they never did. Interestingly, there was a period of four hundred silent years between the OT and the NT where there was no revelation from God. Israel had to wander in the wilderness for forty years, and the Babylonian captivity lasted seventy years.

When we wait in faith, as difficult as it is, God strengthens our hearts to wait longer and with more faith. Our faith bank is increased so that the next time we must wait on the Lord we can wait even better and linger. Twice in our text we are told to wait on the Lord. As we have said before when God repeats something twice, it is very important. Godly waiting is never wasted time, in fact the waiting produces greater fruit in our lives than when God’s answer actually comes. Are you waiting on the Lord in faith for something today? Count yourself blessed for God has a reason and a plan unknown to woman or man.

Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Eagles soar high above the earth illustrating how we must dwell above our circumstances; runners and walkers get a second wind to keep going to the finish line. God knows when to provide for us for the maximum benefit to our souls.

Let us renew our faith in waiting, knowing our heavenly Father knows best. May we wait in faith, patience, perseverance, and joy, knowing the answer from God is on the way. When the baby is born, the meal is cooked, or the home is ready to move into, we will appreciate and it so much more.

Have a blessed day waiting on on the Lord. Stay safe and healthy.

Waiting for God’s hand to fulfill His plan,

Dean

-October 18, 2022-

“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.”

(Isaiah 43:1-2).

Israel is God’s earthly people and God loves them and considers them precious as His special treasure. We as believers in Christ are so blessed and these same promises and blessings are our’s also. God not only created us but through Christ’s death on the cross, He redeemed us. We are His heavenly people and we belong to Him.

We are very previous to Him. Isaiah 43:4 says, “Since you are precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life.” The Lord Jesus gave His life to save us and shed His blood to wash away our sins. He calls each of by our names, knows all about us, and is with us through every circumstance in life. Jesus said in Matthew 10:30, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” He is with us and sympathizes and emphasizes with us.

He doesn’t spare us from trials and difficulties, but is with us through them. In our text the Lord says we pass through waters, rivers, and fires. Ezekiel passed through waters up to his ankles, then his knees, then to his waist, and finally was fully swimming through the water as a lesson to Israel. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego went through the fire and were not burned nor did they even smell of smoke. The Lord is with us in all we go through as well. It may be spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, or financial. He doesn’t leave us nor forsake us.

There is a wonderful hymn written by George A. Young that is based on our text that says, “God leads His dear children along. Some through the waters, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the blood; some through great sorrow, but God gives a song, in the night season and all the day long.”

-October 17, 2022-

Good morning, happy Monday,

“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”

(Colossians 3:23,24).

Paul had a passion for the Lord and His service from the moment he got saved on the road to Damascus. Prior to that, he had a passion for Judaism, the law, and the traditions of the OT. This led him to persecute the Christians, putting them into prison and killing them. He thought he was doing God’s will.

In writing to the saints in Colosse, he told them to do everything “heartily as to the Lord and not to men.” The Greek word for heartily is ek psuches, meaning, “out of the soul.” It comes from the depths of our hearts. Today, we call this passion. The definition of passion is, “a strong and barely controllable emotion.” There can be good passions as in loving and serving the Lord Jesus; or bad passions such as in the world for lust and sin.

In the case of Jesus, passion refers to His suffering on the cross for our sins. There was a movie that came out in 2004 called, “The Passion of the Christ.” It portrayed His intense desire to do the Father’s will and the depths of suffering He went through on the cross. He set an example for all His followers that we should follow. Do you have a passion for Christ and His service?

It seems most people in the world have a passion for something. It may be for art, music, sports, politics, recreation, exercise, cars, clothes, shoes, shopping, money, or material things. When one has a passion it shows in a deep love for it and that won’t let anything stop them from it. I know two young ladies and one older one in our church who have a passion for playing the piano. They feel the music very deeply and play with joy and feeling. It comes from depths of their souls.

We should have this same passion for the Lord Jesus. We love Him because He first loved us. We serve Him out of our deep appreciation for what has done for us. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge this: if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”

Let us then live our lives with great passion for our Savior and His service. He is worthy! Jesus is Lord and He is Lord if all. The unknown hymn writer wrote, “He is Lord, He is Lord! He is risen from the dead and He is Lord! Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” This song is so short yet so powerful, passionate, and precious.

Have a blessed and passionate day in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ and glorify His name. Stay safe and healthy.

Serving the greatest Master,

Dean

-October 17, 2022-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

“‘Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself.’ This He said, signifying by what death He would die.”

(John 12:31-33).

As the cross drew closer and closer, Jesus felt it in His spirit. He told His disciples in John 12:27, “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour.” Jesus knew everything that would happen to Him before the cross with mocking, scourging, beating, and rejection. He also was aware that dying on the cross He would suffer tremendous pain and especially bearing the sins of the whole world. He was conscious and confident of His victory over sin, Satan, this world, and death.

• The judgment of this world and the ruler of this world will be cast out – Jesus’ death conquered the world and the devil. Way back in the Garden of Eden, God said to the devil, “And I will put enmity between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you will bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). Jesus fulfilled this scripture when He died and rose again. Not only that, but God cast out the devil and all those angels who joined him. They became demons. Before he had access to heaven and came before God as the accuser of the brethren.

• And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself – Jesus is speaking of the manner of death He would experience in being crucified. When one was nailed to a cross, he was hoisted up high off the ground. It was a very public, painful, and shameful death. It was a long and agonizing death. Jesus was applying the scripture from the OT, when God sent a plague on the Israelites in the wilderness and people were bitten by serpents and were dying because of their sin. Moses put a serpent on a pole and held it up. Whoever looked at it was healed and spared from death. Everyone who gets saved must look to Jesus for salvation from sin.

Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Praise be to God for our Savior and for the gift of eternal life!

Have a blessed day thanking, praising, worshipping the Lord Jesus! Stay safe and healthy.

Thanking the Lord for the results of the cross,

Dean

-October 15, 2022-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

“Therefore You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.”

(2 Samuel 7:22).

One of God’s attributes is His greatness. We use the word great so often, yet God’s greatness is supreme over all things, people, angels, and the universe. Nothing can compare to Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the incomparable One. One of His titles is the Son of David. Our Savior once asked the questions of the Pharisees, “What do you think about the Christ? Who Son is He? They responded the Son of David. He then asked them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him, ‘Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool?’ If David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He His Son?” See Matthew 22:41-45.

There have been many great prophets and kings in the Bible and throughout the world but none can compare to Jesus. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. There is none like Him. There is a Christian song by Lenny LeBlanc that says, “There is none like You, No one else can touch my heart like You do, I can search for all eternity Lord and find, there is none like You. Your mercy flows like a river so wide, and healing comes from Your hand. Suffering children are safe in Your arms, there is none like You.” We sing this song in our Worship Team at our church.

David was humbled by the greatness of God and his own insignificance. 2 Samuel 7:18 says, “Then King David went in and sat before the Lord; and he said, ‘Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far?”

Let us praise and worship the Lord for all His greatness. There is no one like Him. Have a blessed day. Stay safe and healthy.

Greatly praising His greatness,

Dean