Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-September 9, 2022-

Good morning, happy Friday,

“But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy. Hear me in the truth of Your salvation.”

(Psalm 69:13).

I have been so blessed and encouraged reading in the Psalms. Every emotion and experience is found within its sacred pages. Psalm 69, written by David, is a Messianic Psalm and thus speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful psalm. As you read it you will notice how many references there are to the cross.

David says, “My prayer is to You in the acceptable time.” The question is, is there ever an unacceptable time to pray? Of course there isn’t, but certain times are more urgent, more needful, and more opportunistic for us. When our hearts are right with God, and we get alone in the presence of God, we pray in the acceptable time. Unconfessed sin cuts off our fellowship with the Lord, and the Lord will not hear us. So in that sense, our prayers would be unacceptable to God.

The phrase “acceptable time,” is used just three times in the Bible. Once in our text, once in Isaiah 49:8 and once in 2 Corinthians 6:2. The latter two references speak of getting saved now in the day of salvation. May everyone who reads this devotional be saved even at this very moment. Please don’t delay, because you may not get another opportunity in this life, the age of grace.

The more earnest and fervent we are in prayer the better. God knows what we need before we ask for it, but He wants us to ask. Jesus got up very early in the morning to pray to the Father. The Father guided Him to do His will. Our Savior knew how busy His day would be with preaching, teaching, and healing. It is a lesson for us to begin our day in prayer and the Word. Let us commune with the Lord before facing others and the day before us.

May the the Lord help us to pray in the acceptable time and in the acceptable way. Have a blessed day in the Lord’s presence. Stay safe and healthy.

In prayer in the acceptable time,

Dean

-September 8, 2022-

Good morning, happy Thursday,

“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation.”

(Psalm 68:19).

Our God is a good, gracious, and generous God. He not only gives us benefits, but He loads us with them. The definition of loaded is, “having a large amount of something.” When God gives us a load of benefits, they are a wonderful weight to carry, a delight to the soul. Often, it seems that our trials weigh more that our benefits. God sends both, and we need both.

If we had all benefits and no trials we would’ve grow very much at all. Our faith wouldn’t be tested and we wouldn’t learn to depend on the Lord. Conversely, if we had all trials and no benefits or blessings, we would be swallowed up by discouragement. God gives us just the right combination in our lives.

Our blessings and benefits are all around us; We need to thank God for all of them. David wrote in Psalm 103:1-2, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” Our benefits are spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, social, material, and financial.” We need to count our blessings daily.

The hymn writer Johnson Oatman, Jr. wrote, “Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings every doubt will fly, and you will be singing as the days go by. Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your many blessings see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your many blessings, see what God hath done.”

Let us then count our blessings. We are so loaded with benefits, let’s remember and count them today. Stay safe and healthy.

In gratitude to God,

Dean

-September 7, 2022-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

“Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

(Colossians 1:28).

Paul had a very ambitious goal for every believer in Christ: to present everyone perfect in Christ. Three times he uses the phrase, “every man.” The word perfect means complete, mature, and like Christ. It does not mean sinless perfection. That will not take place until we get to heaven.

In order for Paul and his co-laborers to achieve this goal they had to warn and teach each believer in Christ. Warnings tell us what to avoid doing and teaching tells what we should do. The Bible is full of both the negative and the positive. Preaching the Word should always include both.

• Warning every man – Warnings are imperatives and can save your life. There are warning labels on products, warning signs on roadways, and a host of others in various places. We can choose to ignore them, but at our own peril. Spiritual warnings are even more important than earthly ones. Nine times the word warning or warnings is used in the Scriptures.

Before God took drastic action to take Israel and Judah into captivity, He sent many warnings to His people through the prophets, but they would not heed them. 2 Chronicles 36:15 says, “And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.” If one takes heed to warnings, he is blessed and safe; if however one rejects or neglect them, it is his or her own fault. In Scripture, we have such warnings against sin, temptation, evil, the attacks of the devil, wickedness, pride, laziness, complacency, and a host of others. The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel speak of warnings.

• Teaching every man – Teaching helps us know what God’s Word means and how to apply it to our lives. The teacher is responsible for giving the Word, we are responsible for taking heed to it. James 3:1 says, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” Ezra was an excellent example of a teacher, it says of him in Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

Jesus told us in the Great Commission, “teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20a). We learn and as we learn we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As a result of warnings and teachings, we become perfect or as we said complete in Christ. One day we shall see Him face to face and be like Him. The hymn writer J. N. Darby wrote, “And is it so—I shall be like Thy Son? Is this the grace which He for me has won? Father of glory, (thought beyond all thought!) —In glory, to His own blessed likeness brought! Nor I alone; Thy loved ones all, complete in glory, round Thee there with joy shall meet,—All like Thee, for Thy glory like Thee, Lord, object supreme of all, by all adored.”

Have a blessed day in Jesus, becoming more like Him. Stay safe and healthy.

In His Word and His will,

Dean

-September 6, 2022-

Good morning, happy Tuesday,

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

(Psalm 46:1).

This psalm was written by the sons of Korah, who were Levites that served the Lord in the tabernacle and then in the temple. Their work was never finished. When they finished their work for one day, they started all over again the next morning. They were gatekeepers, servants, and singers.

The psalmist reminds us that God is our refuge and strength, a present help in trouble. He is always with us, protecting us, guiding us, and helping us in all that we do each day. He has promised us, “…He will be with you, Moses promised, “He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

• Our Refuge – God is our place of safety to whom we can run to in our times of trouble. He is available for us 24-7. In the OT they had cities of refuge where a person who killed another accidentally without premeditation or evil intent could flee to for safety. They had six cities, three on the east of the Jordan and three on the west. They kept the roads free and clear at all times. God is Himself our refuge and nothing gets through Him.

• A present help in trouble – This phrase can be translated, “An abundantly available help.” To help someone, you must be present with them. God is always present with us, always ready to help us. Psalm 50:15 says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

None of us know what may befall us today. There will be troubles and the Lord will give us grace to get through them. Have a blessed day trusting the Lord our refuge and strength. Stay safe and healthy.

There is joy and confidence in the Lord. As we go back to work, school, or in our retirement, the Lord is with us. When I was working, I used to call the Tuesday after a Monday holiday, “Tuesday in Monday’s clothes.” We had four days to do five days of work. Though it was Tuesday, it felt just like a Monday.

In God’s care,

Dean

-September 5, 2022-

Good morning, happy Monday, happy Labor Day,

“Then He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”

(Matthew 9:37-38).

Today is Labor Day, a federal holiday in the United States. Many have the day off, but others must work. Everyone should be off to rest and be honored for their labor throughout the year. Labor Day also represents the traditional end of summer, though officially summer doesn’t end until September twenty-second.

I thank God for all our workers that keep America and our economy humming all throughout the year. The American work ethic is still alive and well. I put in my time working and I have been retired from secular employment since January 2020. I will never retire from the Lord’s however. It is my joy, privilege, and mission to serve the Lord.

Jesus told His disciples in His day that, “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.” It is certainly still true today. There are plenty of churchgoers, but few committed servants. Even in our society there are many jobs that are unfilled for various reasons, which is a concern for our economy. It it even more troubling that so few Christians are active in the Lord’s work. Souls need to be saved, believers need to be taught, trained, and encouraged, and so many ministries need to be done. Usually the work falls on those who are already the busiest for the Lord. Let us pray that the Lord will raise up more laborers for His harvest.

Every pastor would love to hear the members in their congregation say, “What can I do to help?” It would definitely make the pastor’s day! Instead of being “pew sitters,” they would become “go getters.” Think how the church would thrive with more laborers! There is no better work than the Lord’s work!

Have a blessed Labor Day. Enjoy the holiday and remember how great it is to serve the Lord! Stay safe and healthy.

In laboring for the Master,

Dean