Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-July 29, 2021-

Good morning, happy Thursday,

-Cast Your Burden In the Lord-

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”

(Psalm 55:22).

Today’s verse is so encouraging: it is a command with two promises attached. If we do our part, God will do His part. David wrote this psalm when he experienced the disloyalty of friends. He is speaking of his close personal friend and advisor Athithophel. When David’s son Absalom usurped his kingdom and sought to kill him, Athithophel turned against David and sided with Absalom.

It hurts to be betrayed, especially by those we love and trust. David sent another friend and loyal servant Hushai back to Jerusalem to thwart the counsel of Athithophel, which he did. It led to David’s overwhelming victory over Absalom and those who fought with him. Absalom was killed by Joab, and Athithophel killed himself after his counsel was rejected.

It is a great verse to memorize; we had it as one of our Scripture memory verses at church. David realized that only the Lord could bear his burden, sustain him and keep him from being moved.

David says, “Cast your burden on the Lord.” In times of distress, difficulty, and despair, the Lord is with us. The Lord is our Burden Bearer. He bore our sins on the cross, and He daily bears our burdens. He wants us to cast our burdens in Him. His shoulders are broad and His arms are strong, and He is with us to help us all the day long.

Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” There is no burden that our Lord cannot bear. Our Savior Himself was betrayed by Judas. He suffered rejection and was crucified for us. He had no one to bear His burdens; Jesus knows first hand how our burdens burden us. He desires to bear our burdens when we bring them before Him at the Throne of Grace.

The Lord promises to sustain us and keep us from being moved. The definition of the word is sustain is, “strengthen or support physically or mentally.” This is exactly what the Lord does for us. As believers we can certainly add spiritually and emotionally to that. Recently two star athletes, Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles have been overwhelmed by mental fatigue and pressure that has taken them out of competition. Other athletes have suffered from depression and it is a big issue in our society today. We are so blessed to be sustained by God’s strength. He showers us with mercy and Grace daily.

The Lord also promises us that we shall not be moved. He is our rock, our fortress, and our deliverer. Nothing moves Him and He won’t let anything move us. Mavis Staples wrote the song entitled, “We Shall Not Be Moved.” One line says, “Well I’m on my way to heaven, we shall not be moved; On my way to heaven, we shall not be moved. Just like a tree standing by the water’s side, we shall not be moved.”

May we cast all our burdens, one by one on the Lord and leave them there. The Lord shall sustain us and we shall not be moved. We can face anything from anyone at anytime with the Lord. Paul wrote, “If God be for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31)?

Have a blessed day casting your burdens and cares on Jesus. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-July 28, 2021-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

-Press On Toward The Goal-

“I press on toward the goal toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ.”

(Philippians 3:14).

Paul was a tremendous example of pressing on for Christ. Persecution, opposition, chains, and imprisonment could not stop him from his goal of living for Christ and serving Him all his days. In Philippians 3:12-14, he twice uses the phrase, “I press on.” He not only preached it, he practiced it.

Every believer must do the same thing. We have to press on despite our circumstances, difficulties, trials, sorrows, troubles, and hardships. We press on in Jesus’ name, in His strength, and for His glory. In Romans 8:35, Paul asks the questions, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” These are formidable things, no question, but the Lord is with us to give us the victory.

Paul answers his own questions in Romans 8:37-39, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Summer Olympics are well into its first week and there have been ups and downs, great victories and devastating losses. Katie Ledeky’s determination to persevere and press in has been inspirational and motivational. She is a great swimmer but she finished second in one race and fifth in another. She had to swim her longest race, the 1500 meter freestyle just over an hour after her previous race. This race is new to the Olympics for the women. The distance is almost one mile! She blasted off into the lead. With every stroke she pressed on. As I watched I was imagining how tired she was, but on she swam maintaining a sizable lead and winning the gold metal. I got tired just watching her!

I am reminded of the song entitled, “We Press On” by Selah. It says, “When the valley is deep, when the mountains are steep, when the body is weary, when we stumble and fall. When the choices are hard, when we’re battered and scarred, when we’ve spent our resources, when we’ve given our all. In Jesus’ name, we press on, in Jesus’ name, we press on, Dear Lord with the prize, clear before our eyes, we find the strength to press on.”

Let us press on and keep pressing on to the end. Jesus is leading us and giving us the strength to press on. His grace is sufficient for us. One day we will see our Savior and be with Him in heaven forever. Oh, what day that will be! We don’t talk about the labor pains, we celebrated the birth of the baby.

Have a blessed day pressing on for Jesus toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-July 27, 2021-

Good morning, happy Tuesday,

-Running With Endurance The Race Set Before Us-

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

(Hebrews 12:1).

The 2020 Summer Olympics are well underway in Tokyo, Japan. It was postponed last year due to COVID-19, and arguably should have been pushed out another year due to the new Delta variant. The Summer Games has always been one of my favorite sporting events. I so enjoy watching athletes from all over the world gathering and competing. They have prepared all their lives for this moment. They have trained, practiced, and sacrificed to be ready to compete. Many will win gold, silver, and bronze metals and prize money that goes with them. So many others will not bring home any medals, only the joy of participation.

The marathon is one of the most grueling and challenging of all the events at the Games and comes at the very end before the closing ceremonies. It is race of 26.2 miles that ends with a lap around the stadium to the finish line. Only one can win the race and just three can take home medals. There are no preliminary rounds, just one race for the men and one for the women.

In the days of the NT, athletes competed in Greece and the long distance race was one of the most important. The writer of Hebrews, familiar with it, uses the race as an analogy of Christian life. It says in our text to, “run with endurance the race that is set before us.” But before he says that he tells us of the needed preparation. We only see the runners at the starting line, during the race, and at the finish line. We don’t see all the training and effort they have put in to build up their endurance.

Here in our text we see what must do in our Christian lives in order to run with endurance: lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily entangles us. Runners must be as light as possible in their clothing and shoes; any extra weight will slow them down. For us, the weight of our worries, cares, fears, and doubts can interfere with our performance. Sin of course, in any form is the ultimate hindrance and detriment to us.

We have two great rooting sections cheering us on: a cloud of witnesses, who are all those saints that are found in Hebrews chapter 11 and Jesus Christ our Lord, our great coach. We are nearing the finish line, and like the runners in the Olympics, we need encouragement to finish the race strong. This year due to the pandemic and spread of the virus in Japan, there are no spectators to see it live.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate (or is self-controlled) in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.” In Paul days the athletes didn’t win precious medals, thousands of dollars, or sign lucrative endorsement contracts, they were given a wreath which was very perishable.

May the Lord help us to run with endurance the race that is set before us. It is long and challenging, but we can make it with the Lord’s help. Let us cast off any hindrance and reject every sin. The finish line is just ahead at the Lord’s coming. May we keep running all the way to the victory!

Have a blessed day running the race set before us with endurance, effort, and energy. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-July 26, 2021-

Good morning, happy Monday,

-Understanding Faith And Practicing It-

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

(Hebrews 11:1).

Hebrews chapter 11 is the “Hall of Faith.” It is to faith what 1 Corinthians 13 is to love. It is fitting that the very first verse defines faith. The rest of the chapter mentions various men and women of faith and the actions they took that resulted from their faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, “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.”

It is a beautiful definition of faith found in today’s verse, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith always looks forward to what God will do by believing Him and believing in Him; faith trusts God and trusts in Him; and faith obeys God no matter the possible outcomes are.

• Faith is the substance of things hoped for – Faith hopes in God for who He is and what He has already done for us in Jesus Christ. He has a perfect track record in our lives. Saving faith is based on Christ’s finished work on the cross; keeping faith is believing in His daily presence and help in whatever we face; and fulfilling faith is what God will do for us as He promised.

• The evidence of things not seen – This statement seems to go against all that we know in this world of proof and evidence to support a conclusion. In court, evidence must be provided, presented, and proven in order to be accepted; in medicine, drugs and other forms of medication must be based on facts proven in a laboratory. People often say, “Show me the proof, then I will accept it” or “I will believe it when I see it.”

Faith operates on a higher plane, in the spiritual realm. It is not however based on blind faith, but rather is based on the Almighty and what He says in His Word and does for us. Martin Luther said, “Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible. Then, it accepts the impossible, does without the indispensable, and bears the intolerable.”

This is why Paul wrote, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). To believe and trust God leads us to depend on Him no matter what we see and hear. Jesus told Martha in John 11:40 at the tomb of her dead brother Lazarus, “Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you believe you will see the glory of God.’” And sure enough she did believe and saw Jesus raise her brother from the dead.

May the Lord build and strengthen our faith to believe, trust, and act on that faith. In the case of each man or woman of faith in Hebrews 11, it says their name and the words, “by faith.” All of them put their faith in God into action. They took the substance and the evidence of who God is and what He can do, and looked to God for the results.

May the Lord help us to walk by faith not by sight, to believe and trust, and act on what God has said. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-July 25, 2021-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-Hasten To Obey God’s Word-

“I made haste, and did not delay to keep Your commandments.”

(Psalm 119:60).

The psalmist hastened to obey the Word without delay. The word haste is defined as, “Excessive speed or urgency of movement or action; hurry.” The word hasten means, “Be quick to do something.” When something is very important to you, you do it immediately. There is no time to waste, no room for procrastination. On the other hand, when you don’t want to do something, you put it off as long as possible.

Spending time with Lord in prayer and in the Word is not only important but vital to our spiritual growth. It should be the first priority of our day. When Jesus was here in earth, he rose very early in the morning, while it was still dark to commune with the Father. Our days are hectic and it so essential that we seek the Lord and His guidance for our day. He speaks to us through His Word as we read it and meditate on it.

When God tells us to do something, we need to do it right way without delay. When God told Abraham to take Isaac, his beloved son, and offer him to the Lord, it was the hardest thing he had to do. Even so, he arose early in the morning and set out to obey God’s command. God tested his faith as well as his obedience. God stopped him from slaying his son and provided a ram in his place for Abraham to sacrifice as a burnt offering.

When we do God’s will and obey Him right away, we are pleasing Him. In the military when your commander gives you an order, you do it immediately; in the workplace, when the boss says to do something, you do it now; when your teacher gives you an assignment, you get it done forthwith. How much more should obey the Lord who loves us so much!

The hymn writer James H. Sammis wrote, “Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet, or we’ll walk by His side in the way; what He says we will do, where He sends we will go, never fear only trust and obey.” The priest Eli told Samuel what to say when God called out to him, “Speak, for Your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:10).

Let us then hasten to obey God’s Word. Mary told the servants at the wedding at Cana of Galilee, “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5). They filled the water pots with water, Jesus turned the water into win. God always blesses immediate and willing obedience.

Have a blessed day obeying the Lord right away in every way. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean