Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-August 30, 2021-

Good morning, happy Monday,

-Learning From The Lessons Of The Scriptures-

“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

“Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).

The OT explains the NT, and the NT explains the OT. There are so many lessons we can learn, especially from the OT. There are a positive examples to emulate and negative ones to avoid. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1-11 how with most the the Israelites God was not pleased because of their unbelief and idolatry. All the men who came out of Egypt perished in the wilderness, except for Joshua and Caleb. God brought all their children into the Promised Land.

It is so important that we learn from the past, from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. George Santayana, a Spanish Philosopher said, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” For us as believers in Jesus Christ, we have no excuses for not learning the lessons of Scripture. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:6, “Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.”

God gave us His Word from Genesis to Revelation to learn from. The Scriptures come alive when we put ourselves into the sandals of the men and women of the Bible and apply God’s Word to our lives today. The Scriptures were given for our learning and admonition so that we may have patience, comfort, and hope.

The word admonition means, “an act or action of admonishing; authoritative counsel or warning.” By heeding the lessons of Scripture we can avoid many of the pitfalls of the past and make the right choices for today. Moses, Samuel, Jeremiah, Paul, Peter, John, and James were great admonishers. Their words were authoritative and powerful. They spoke words that convicted, exhorted, warned, and encouraged.

God could have included only the good examples of Scripture but that would have made us think we could never live up to them. He included the mistakes, failures, and sins of His children so that we can relate to them. In James 5:17-18, it says of the mighty prophet Elijah, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

No one in the Scriptures was perfect. They had their strengths and weaknesses. So many of them overcame their failures to be victorious for God. It gives us hope that we too can be overcomers by the blood of Christ , the Word of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit. If and when we fail or fall, let’s get up, confess our sins, and move on. That is what Jacob, Moses, Jonah, and Peter did. God used them to do great things.

There are many lessons for us to learn from, let’s learn them. We should learn from the mistakes and failures of others as well as from our own mistakes and failures. God is patient with us and is a God of second chances. The song writer Randy Thomas wrote, “We must wait, wait, wait on the Lord, we must wait, wait, wait on the Lord. And learn our lessons well, in His timing He will tell us, what to do, where to go, and what to say.”

Have a blessed day learning our lessons from the past to gain the victory in the present and future. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-August 29, 2021-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-Oneness And Equality In Christ-

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

(Galatians 3:26-28).

In the days of Christ and the apostles there were many social, cultural, and religious differences between people. Jesus came to die for all people and breakdown all the barriers. Only the gospel can save people and show us how to love one another and live in unity as one body of believers.

Here in our text, Paul cites several divergent and diametrically opposed group that are now one in Christ. Jews and Gentiles never got a long, slaves were subjugated to free, and men and women were so opposite. The cross of Jesus Christ breaks down all the natural barriers.

Ephesians 2:13-14 says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.” All distinctions are gone. We are all one in Christ. All races, colors, and backgrounds can join together as one. This is true equality in the midst of diversity.

We look around the world and in our country and we see some much prejudice, conflict, and opposition between people outside of Christ. Jesus brings people together, the devil drives them apart. Wherever the gospel is preached the status of everyone is elevated. We are all one and equal in Christ. We are brothers and sisters in Christ.

In the world there are many classes but in Christ there is but one: believers in Jesus Christ. We may not speak the same language but we all speak the language of the love of Christ. We share the same Lord, the same salvation, and have been washed in the same blood of Christ.

Ephesians 4:4-6 says, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” These are “the seven ones.” The number seven in the Scriptures is the number of completion and perfection. Our bond in Christ is eternally strong as is our bond with with one another.

May we stand together as one in Christ, love one another, and serve one another. Praise God we are equal and one in Christ. We will spend eternity together in heaven.

Have a blessed day as children and heirs of God living in love and unity. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-August 28, 2021-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

-The Most High God Regards The Lowly-

“Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.”

(Psalm 138:6).

Psalm 138 is a Psalm of David. It is entitled, “The Lord’s Goodness to the Faithful.” In David’s day, as today, there is a very small group of believers who are walking with God and serving Him. In Scripture, they called the righteous, the saints, the saved, the humble, the children of God. God looks down from His throne in heaven and beholds both the saved who are His people, the apple of His eye, and the unsaved that He also loves and desires to be saved.

David calls these two groups the lowly and the proud. James wrote of this contrast, “But He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). We never want to be proud and have God resist us. We need His grace.

He also said in James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lifted you up.” We see here in our text that God regards the lowly; but knows the proud afar off. There is a sharp contrast between the two and how God deals with each group.

• Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly – Our God sits on His throne in heaven, ruling over the universe. He is called the most High God. When Jesus ascended back to heaven after His death, burial, and resurrection, He sat down at the right hand of the Father, the place of majesty, glory, and honor. When Isaiah had his vision of God in Isaiah 6, he wrote, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for I have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” No one who has seen the glory of the Lord by faith or by sight is ever the same again. We see God for who He is, and our own sinfulness and vileness.

God regards the lowly. Another word for lowly is humble. In Psalm 136:23 in speaking of the Lord it says, “Who remembered us in our lowly state, for His mercy endures forever.” Solomon recognized this in Proverbs 16:19 when he wrote, “Better to be of a humble spirit with lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Mary, the mother of Jesus said, “For he has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call be blessed” (Luke 1:48). She also said in Luke 1:52, “He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.”

• But the proud He knows from afar – God knows and loves those who are lost, unsaved; He continues to reach out to them until their last breath. He loves the sinner but hates their sin. That is why God sent His Son to die for our sins. Knowing the proud from afar does not mean He has given up on them. Everyone who comes to Christ must humble themselves before the Lord, confess their sins, believe that Jesus died for them, and receive Him as Lord and Savior.

Only the Lord can break the hardest heart. He turns the heart of stone into and a heart of flesh as it tells us in Ezekiel. Only God can changes lives. The proudest man can become the most humble man through the cross of Jesus Christ.

May we live humble, lowly lives with contrite hearts. David wrote in Psalm 51, his penitential psalm, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.”

Have a blessed day living in a humble lowly way before God. He will regard you, He will exalt you. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-August 27, 2021-

Good morning, happy Friday,

-The Lord Has Done Great Things For Us-

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad.”

(Psalm 126:3).

Psalm 126 was written by an unknown author. The title of this Psalm is “A Joyful Return to Zion.” After Israel had left Egypt God brought them into the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. They lived in the land until they were taken into captivity because of their disobedience, rebellion, and idolatry. The Babylonian captivity lasted 70 years and then God’s promise of their return to their land was fulfilled. The people of Israel had great joy upon their return to their land.

Psalm 126:1-2 describes their tremendous joy, “When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter; and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’” Not all the Jews returned from captivity but there were quite a few who did. Their joy was expressed in singing and holy laughter. They thanked the Lord for what He had done for them.

We as believers in Christ today are filled with joy for what the Lord has done for us. We can say with the psalmist, “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad.” We should thank and praise God for all the great things He has done for us. Like the Jews of old, we do not deserve any of God’s blessings. They all come to us by the grace of God.

There are three things we should remember about the great things God has done for us: everything we have is from God, everything we accomplish is because of God, and everything we do is for God. We need to thank Him daily for the abundance He has given us.

Fanny Crosby, the great hymn writer of years gone by, wrote about 8,000 hymns. Her blindness did not stop her, in fact, it inspired her more. Four times in her wonderful hymn, “To God Be the Glory, she uses the phrase, “great things.” It is like she was reading our verse when she wrote it.

Her words are so encouraging: “To God be the glory — great things He hath done! So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, who yielded His life an atonement for sin, and opened the life gate that all may go in. Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son; but purer and higher and greater will be our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.”

When God does great things for us we are glad. We cannot contain our joy! God, the Greatest Giver gives us the greatest gifts and blessings. James wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). He saved us from our sins and gave us all spiritual blessings in Christ. He has also given us physical, mental, emotional, social, material, and financial blessings. We are so incredibly blessed!

Let us then rejoice in the Lord and thank Him for all the great things He has done for us. We can never thank Him enough! May we lift up our praise all of our days!

Have a blessed day praising and thanking God for the great things He has done for us. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-August 26, 2021-

Good morning, happy Thursday,

-Serving Together As Members Of the Body Of Christ-

“For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.”

(Romans 12:4-5).

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the body, the church, and each believer is a member of His body. God’s desire is that each of us serve together as one body in unity and diversity. All members are important to the proper functioning of the body. We all have a role to play in the growth and edification of the body.

We find the teaching on the body of Christ and the utilization of one’s spiritual gifts in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4. It makes it easy to remember that way. Spiritual gifts, which are many can be categorized as speaking gifts and serving gifts; the analogy of the body of Christ is likened to a human body, where Christ is the head and we are each members of His body. Just as a human body needs each member to function properly, so too, we need each other in the service of the Lord.

We do not all have the same function, and because of that there are many members in one body. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:15-17, “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body?’ And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body?’ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?”

It is God who has placed us in the body by His sovereign will to serve Him together. 1 Corinthians 12:18 says, “But now God has set the members, each one of them in the body just as He pleased.” Each one of us is just as important as the others; and just as needed. The whole key to the proper functioning of the body is love.

Paul also told us, “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26). The goal is for the leaders to lead m, train and equip the saints for the work of the Lord not just do the work by themselves (See Ephesians 4:11-12).

How are we functioning in the body of Christ? Are we using our spiritual gifts to serve and encourage each other? Are we avoiding an attitude of superiority or inferiority toward each other? We are to serve Christ together as one in harmony and love. I need you, and you need me, all together as a symphony. Christ is the conductor and we play our parts, as long as we serve Him with willing hearts!

Have a blessed day serving the Lord together in love. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean