Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-June 6, 2021-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-Rooted And Grounded In The Love Of Christ-

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.”

(Ephesians 3:17-19).

Paul wrote this wonderful epistle to the Ephesians, which is such a blessing to all believers in Christ. Today’s verses are part of his second prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21. The first prayer is found in Ephesians 1:15-22. He prayed for their spiritual understanding and growth.

Our faith is rooted and grounded in His love and enables us to be filled with all the fullness of God. This speaks of our connection to our Savior and His love. No matter what happens to us in this life, nothing can change His love for us. Even if we fail or fall short in some way, He loves us and provides for us.

Hebrews 13:8 tells us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He never changes and neither does His love. He gives us stability in an unstable world. We are rooted in Christ the vine, which gives us life and nourishment; and grounded in Christ the rock, which gives us strength and encouragement.

Paul wrote in Colossians 2:6. “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”

Paul also prays that we would be able to comprehend the width, length, depth, and height of the love of Christ which passes knowledge. How can we know something that passes knowledge? God’s love is unfathomable, incomprehensible, and unlimited. Even so, we strive to know more of it and experience it to its fulness. We don’t have to fully understand the sun, but just take in its rays; we don’t have to fully understand oxygen, but just breathe it into our lungs; and we don’t have to fully understand how our eyes and ears work, just see and hear.

Our Lord Jesus demonstrated His love for us on the cross. He died for us, bore our sins, endured the wrath and judgment of God that was our due, and finished our salvation. We can’t measure His love for us: its length is as far as heaven is to earth, its width is as far as the east is from the west; its depth is deeper than the deepest sea; and its height is higher than the highest mountains. Still it is even more than these, but our human minds can’t comprehend it.

Let us thank God for His love for us and that He has rooted and grounded us in so great a love that nothing can move us or sway us. The hymn writer Edward Mote wrote, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

Have a blessed day rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-June 5, 2021-

-Fearing The Lord With Faithfulness And Loyalty-

“And he commanded them saying, ‘Thus you shall act in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and with a loyal heart.”

(2 Chronicles 19:9).

Israel was split into two kingdoms during the reign of King Rehoboam: Israel and Judah. Israel was composed of ten tribes and Judah of two, which was comprised of Judah and Benjamin. In Israel, called the Northern kingdom, the people forsook the Lord, worshiped idols, and all their kings were evil. In the Southern kingdom, there were some godly kings and they did seek the Lord for various periods of time, but then they too turned to idols. The Lord brought both kingdoms into captivity because of their sin.

Jehoshaphat was one of the good kings. He lead reforms in Judah and directed the people to seek the Lord and trust in Him. The Levites in Israel left the Northern kingdom under King Jeroboam to go to Judah because of all the evil things going on, as did other godly people in Israel.

When there is spiritual decline, we must leave and go to where the Lord is honored, and where the Word of God is followed and obeyed. We should sit idly by while our church is not preaching the gospel and teaching the Word. We must leave and find a Bible believing church.

King Jehoshaphat of Judah not only suggested or encouraged those in his kingdom to follow the Lord, he commanded them. He told them, “Thus you shall act in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and with a loyal heart.” He not lead merely with words but by example. In 2 Chronicles 20:18 it says, “And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.” He and the people took a stand for the Lord by bowing before the Lord and obeying and honoring Him.

In our days, there are so few men of God who are standing for Christ and the truth. There is so much compromise, and so many churches have watered down the message of Scripture. As in the days of old, there is a small remnant of churches and believers fully committed to Christ. God sees the hearts of all people and He wants us to follow Him with true commitment and steadfastness.

Fearing the Lord is reverencing Him, putting Him first, seeking and doing His will, walking with Him, and serving Him. Faithfulness and loyalty are rarely seen in today’s world. The Lord desires that we follow Him consistently day after day, no matter what the circumstances. Jesus must be Lord of all or He is not Lord at all. We may be in the minority, but we will be on God’s side.

May the Lord help us to stand for Him, on His Word, and live godly lives. We cannot compromise our beliefs. Let us fear the Lord and have faithful and loyal hearts.

Have a blessed day following Christ and being examples to those around us. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-June 4, 2021-

Good morning, happy Friday,

-All Praise To Our Great God-

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and majesty; for all that is in heaven and on earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord.”

(1 Chronicles 29:11).

How do we describe the greatness and glory of God? David tried his best, but of course, he fell short. We mortals do not have the words to adequately declare His greatness and glory. David tells of God’s greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty. God is a great king and His kingdom is over all.

David loved the Lord so much that He desired to build a temple for the Lord. God knew his heart, but because he had been a man of war and blood shed, God chose his son Solomon to build the temple. I am sure he was disappointed, but he did not let it stop him from preparing the materials as mentioned in this chapter: gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, onyx, and marble. It was a huge undertaking and David accepted his part in the preparation. The house of the Lord had to be great because God is great. Anything we do for the Lord must be reflective of the Lord.

We need to praise the Lord and give Him all the glory. Paul wrote in Romans 11:33, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.” Paul came to the clear realization that the more we know God and His ways, the more we understand how much we do not know. God is the Creator, Savior, Redeemer, Lord, and King. There is no end to His kingdom or His glory. He reigns in heaven and He reigns in our hearts.

All of God’s attributes, taken together, describe who He is. Even though He is so great, He loves us and delights to spend time with us in prayer and in His Word. The doxology that we sing says, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below; praise Him above all heavenly host, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” We close our breaking of bread services with this song each week, which is very appropriate indeed.

Let us praise Him, worship Him, and adore Him today and every day. He is so worthy. One day we will see our Lord face to face in all of His glory. Earthly rulers come and go, their kingdoms rise and fall, but our unchanging God reigns forever above all!

Have a blessed day praising God for who He is as well as what He does. Stay safe and healthy.

-June 3, 2021-

Good morning, happy Thursday,

-Our Words Have An Effect On Others-

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

(Proverbs 15:1).

The words we use and the tone we speak them in, have a powerful influence on others. Words are much like the internet, they can be used for great good or great evil, depending how one uses it. Words are also like fire; the same fire that keeps one warm and cooks a meal, can also destroy a home or take your life.

Solomon, the wisest man ever, shows the contrast between soft words and harsh words. The former diffuse a difficult, heated situation, while the latter only intensifies it, making a bad situation much worse. In the analogy of a fire, water puts it out, gasoline causes it to explode.

Solomon writes, “A soft answer turns away wrath.” Keeping our cool, speaking quietly, and choosing positive and encouraging words, keeps conversations and relationships under control. If someone uses nasty words to us, we must not respond in kind, but rather respond with kindness and love. When we do, the other person is put to shame, and often apologizes at the time or shortly thereafter.

The voice of calm and reason will prevail over the voice of anger and meanness. The believer in Christ must choose kind words and speak them kindly. Proverbs 15:23 says, “A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good it is!”

Harsh words only stir up more anger and make things worse. The NBA playoffs are going on right now. We have all seen what happens when two players start saying bad things to each other, it can lead to technical fouls, fights, ejections, and fines. If one player keeps his cool and walks away, things will deescalate pretty quickly. Usually the veteran players, knowing the situation, take this approach.

Proverbs 14:29 says, “He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly.” It reminds me of the story of the two rams. Each one wanted to pass the narrow mountain trail but only one could do so. They could battle out but one or both of them would surely fall off the cliff. They were at an impasse. Suddenly, one of the rams laid down his body over the trail and let the other walk across his body safely, then he walked by unimpeded. This is the attitude we need in situations where each person thinks he is right. To duck under and agree to disagree is the best approach we can take.

May the Lord help us to stay calm, and speak soft words. We must remember what we say is important, but how we say it is often even more important. You wouldn’t wrap your baby in burlap but in cotton, so too, we shouldn’t wrap our words in harshness and anger.

Have a blessed day considering our words and tone so that we can be a blessing. Winning a argument may lead to losing a friend. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean

-June 2, 2021-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

-Our Future In Heaven Will Be Glorious-

“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’”

(Revelation 21:3-4).

It is always good to have something good to look forward to, something better than we have now. For the believer in Jesus Christ, our future on earth may be good but our life heaven will be greater than anything this world has to offer. Life here in this world is at best uncertain. One thing we know for sure it will have its share of pain, sorrow, tears, and death. It is inevitable and inescapable. The older we get, the more aches and pains we feel.

Heaven will be great for many reasons, the greatest of which is we will see and be with Jesus forever. The angel announces, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.” One of Jesus’ names is Immanuel, meaning, “God with us.” When He was born on earth, He came to dwell among us. John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Matthew 1:23 also tells us, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall His name Immanuel, which is translated, ‘God with us.’”

In His first advent, He came to suffer and die on the cross to save us from our sins. He was the Man of Sorrows. He was despised and rejected. The cross always precedes the crown. He died, rose again, and ascended back to heaven with the promise, “In My Father’s house are many mansions, if if were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

We have quite a few details about heaven in NT, especially in the Book of Revelation, such as: streets of gold, a pure river, pearly gates, precious stones, and the tree of life. But even better than this will be the quality of life. All things will become new. There will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain. Imagine how great that will be! We will need no more doctors, medicines, or hospitals because there will be no pain or disease; there will be no funerals because there will be no death; there will be no tears because there nothing to make us sad. This passage in Revelation is called, “The No Mores.”

The Father’s house will be so fabulous and far, far greater than any mansion on earth. It will be our home for all eternity. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “But it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’” It will beyond our wildest dreams and imaginations.

Let us rejoice in what God has in store for us in heaven forevermore. May we thank Him for everything He has done for us and has given us now as well. Our future in heaven will be glorious. As my cousin Jessica says, “I am livin for heaven.”

Have a blessed day thanking God and thinking ahead to heaven. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean