Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-November 18, 2021-

Good morning, happy Thursday,

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a Father the son in whom he delights.”

(Proverbs 3:11-12).

Our Heavenly Father loves us so much, and wants the best for us in every way. He will not allow us to go astray without bringing His hand of chastening into our lives. Another word for chastening is discipline. God often progresses from soft words to stronger words, to painful experiences to get our attention. In extreme cases, He may take us home to heaven prematurely.

When God disciplines us, we should accept it, repent, and turn back to Him. No Christian can be happy outside God’s will, in fact, he or she will be miserable. God knows that when He brings hard times in our lives it is to spare us from something worse that we may fall into. God doesn’t discipline the unsaved. He uses losses and other difficulties to bring them to salvation. God has different purposes for His children.

God shows His love and delight to His children. He knows exactly what to use to wake us up. There is a difference between trials and discipline. The former comes into our lives for our growth and dependence on the Lord. The latter is designed to convict us of some sin. Both are painful, both are spiritually profitable for us. When some affliction comes into our lives, the first thing we should ask the Lord is, “Have I sinned Lord? “Have I done or said something I shouldn’t have?” If the answer is no, then it is a trial not a discipline.

Just as earthly parents disciplined us for our God, so too, God disciplines us that we may share His holiness. Hebrews 12:9-10 says, “Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.”

Discipline is painful, but the results are profitable for us. Hebrews 12:11 says, “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” God knows when to turn up the heat, and how high to turn it to. David experienced God’s chastening when he didn’t repent of his sins of adultery and murder. Psalm 32:2-3 show what he went through, “When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For night and day Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality turned into the drought of summer.”

May we sensitive to the Holy Spirit and when God disciplines us, repent quickly and turn to the Lord. God shows His love as our Father and uses people and circumstances to get our attention. Even when we stray, God never stops loving us.

Have a blessed day listening to the Lord and responding. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean



-November 17, 2021-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

“They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world is not worthy.”

(Hebrews 11:37-38).

Throughout the Bible there has always been a remnant of true believers, faithful to God and His Word. In OT, there were the courageous prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. They had the faith to stand for the truth, even when those who heard them rejected them and the Lord. Jesus said in John 15:18-19, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of this world, the world would loves its own. Yet because you are not of this world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

When we live and speak for Jesus, we will never be popular, but we will be pleasing to God. The Apostles preached the gospel from shore to shore. Acts 17:6 says, “But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, ‘These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too.’” They didn’t mean it as a compliment, but it was a great testimony. They were filled with the Spirit and had great boldness and courage.

What made these men so effective is found in Acts 4:13, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” The world is not worthy of these men and women of faith. Christians are good people, who respect authority, obey the laws, and live for the Lord; yet the world rejects Christ and the message of the gospel.

This world is not our home, heaven is. We are just passing through on our way to glory. We are uncomfortable living in this sinful world. We speak differently, act differently, and live differently from those in the world. People get convicted by our words and our lives. There are 16 men and women mentioned in Hebrews 11, but there have been so many others. Are you among them? Is the world not worthy of you? The key is this: are we worthy of the Lord in the way we live?

Have a blessed day walking worthy of the Lord and influencing the world for Jesus. We can once again turn the world upside down. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-November 16, 2021-

Good morning, happy Tuesday,

“By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken away he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

(Hebrews 11:5-6).

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is the faith chapter. It describes the faith of those in God’s Hall of Faith. Each man or woman described is exemplary for their outstanding faith. Before each one’s name it says, “By faith.” Faith is belief, trust, and confidence in God. Faith results in action.

Enoch is the second character mentioned in this chapter after Abel. He was a man of God and a prophet. He walked in sweet fellowship with God for 300 years. Then God took him straight to heaven without dying. There was only one other man, Elijah, who was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Before he had been taken up, he had the testimony that he pleased God. Genesis 5:24 says, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” He walked with God and God was pleased with his faith.

Enoch was also the father of Methuselah, the man who lived to be 969 years old. How do we know that he was prophet? It is found in Jude 1:14 which says of him, “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an an ungodly way, and of the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Enoch’s faith pleased God and gives us an example to follow. Without faith it is impossible to please God. When we believe, we receive; when we trust, we find His provision; and when we place our confidence in God, He comes through for us. Someone once said, “Little faith wii bring your soul to heaven, great faith will bring heaven to your soul.”

When we lack faith, doubt God, and rely on ourselves and the things of this world, we cannot please God. God has never failed us and He never will. We can’t let the dark clouds of bad circumstances keep us from seeing the sunshine of His grace. Paul wrote, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Have a blessed day walking by faith, pleasing our Lord. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-November 15, 2021-

Good morning, happy Monday,

“And yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and not tarry.”

(Hebrews 10:37).

The writer of Hebrews is reminding the saints that the Lord has promised to come, and that He will come. He will come in His timing. The term “little while,” is in comparison to eternity. Peter wrote, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-9).

The term “little while,” was used by the Lord Jesus in upper room before He went to the cross. Jesus said, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father. Then some of the disciples said among themselves, ‘What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me,’; and ‘because I go to the Father’? They said therefore, ‘What is this He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying” (John 16:16-18).

Jesus responded to them in John 16:20, “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.” His coming will cause great rejoicing for all believers. Either way whether we die or the Rapture comes first, we will go to be with the Lord. It is our blessed hope. We shall see Jesus face to face in all of His glory!

It may seem like a lot longer than just a little while, but in God’s reckoning, it is very short time. The day will come when the last soul will be saved, then the Lord will come. We may ask, how much longer must I suffer, Lord? How much longer before You come? His answer will be “in just a little while.” We are waiting and watching, knowing that He gives us the grace to carry on each day. We can make it one day a time. All our trials will one day be past, and soon we will see and be with Jesus at last.

Have a blessed day waiting and watching for His return in a little while. We shall behold Him. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-November 14, 2021-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).

“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).

“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

In the OT, under the law, animals were sacrificed for the sins of the people. The priest had to offer first for his own sins, then for the sins of the people of Israel. These sacrifices had to be repeated over and over because they could not bring eternal forgiveness. They pointed forward to Jesus Christ the perfect, spotless, sinless Lamb of God whose one sacrifice for our sins on the cross was sufficient to sanctify us forever.

Hebrews 10:1 says, “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.” If the law could save us, Christ would not have had to die on the cross. His one sacrifice of bearing our sins in His own body sanctified us forever. He died for us, and God showing His perfect satisfaction with that transaction raised Him from the dead.

While on the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30). After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended back to heaven, “He sat down at the right hand of God.” The hymn writer Elvina M. Hall wrote, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain — He washed it white as snow.” Our sins are forgiven, our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, we have become children of God, and we are on our way to our home in heaven. All because of Jesus’ one sacrifice and offering for us on the cross. He took our place, bore our sins, He endured the wrath and judgment of God that was our due.

As we meet at church today, let us remember the high price He paid to save us. When the Father sees us, He sees in Jesus, clothed in His righteousness, perfect, and justified. Let us praise, worship, and thank Him for all that He did for us. Oh, what a love He has for us!

Have a blessed day remembering who He is and what He has done for us. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean