Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-May 2, 2021-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-Confidence In Prayer-

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”

(1 John 5:14-15).

Prayer is a divine exercise of the soul, a delightful fellowship with God, and a productive time well spent. We all wish we spent more time in prayer. Today’s text demonstrates the confidence we can have when we pray according to His will.

God knows what is best for us, for the church, and for the world. Our task is pray, and God will hear and answer. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It is the first request mentioned in the prayer. That is how important God’s will is in what we ask.

Prayer is having a reverential and sanctified conversation with God in Jesus’s name. There are several requirements we must meet if we want God to answer our prayers: pray accordingly to His will (1 John 5:14-15); pray in obedience to God’s commandments, being pleasing to Him (1 John 4:22); pray in faith (Matthew 21:22); pray persistently not losing heart (Luke 18:1); pray with no unconfessed sin (Psalm 66:18); pray in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18); pray earnestly and vigilantly with thanksgiving (Colossians 4:1); pray boldly before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:12); and pray expectantly and confidently (1 John 5:14-15).

When we pray according to these conditions, God will answer our prayers with a yes, no, or wait. It is always so encouraging, exciting, and energizing when God answers our prayers. Let us pray more often and more effectively. James 5:16-18 says, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

There is tremendous power in prayer. God wants us to pray and ask big things from Him. Let us pray and pray specifically.

Have a blessed day in prayer. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-May 1, 2021-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

-We Need Faith In Order To Please 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 11:6).

Hebrews chapter 11 is the “Hall of Faith.” All the men and women mentioned there share the same faith in the Lord, but they all manifest it in their own personal and practical way. The phrase used, “By faith,” is used 16 times. Those who are so honored for their faith are: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel.

The very first verse defines faith as, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith believes God and acts upon that belief in willing obedience. Faith believes when it cannot see, it cannot hear, and cannot understand. The key to faith is not its own strength or understanding, but its object which is God Himself.

Belief must always precede sight, otherwise it is not faith. When Jesus stayed away purposely two more days before going back to Bethany where Lazarus was sick. He knew that He would perform a greater miracle of raising him from the dead, rather than merely healing him of his sickness. Both sisters, Mary and Martha told Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (See John 11:21 and John 11:32).

Jesus made a wonderful statement on faith in John 11:40, “…Did I not say to you that if you believe you would see the glory of God?” Thus, we believe, then we will see. The world has it backwards: seeing is believing. When God says it, we must believe it as though it already happened. There is such great confidence and assurance in faith. Faith sees what is unseen, hears what is unheard, and understands what is not known. James wrote, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). We do not believe something unless we act on it. Mary and Martha had to have the stone rolled away from their brother’s tomb in order for him to be raised from the dead though he had been dead four days.

May God give us the faith to believe and the obedience to receive. We must claim God’s promises by faith and apply them to our lives. Our faith grows by what God does for us. He never changes nor does He ever fail.

Have a blessed day walking by faith not by sight. Believe first, then you will see. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-April 30, 2021-

Good morning, happy Friday,

-Speaking The Truth In Love-

“But speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

“Therefore, putting away lying, ‘Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,’ for we are members of one another” (Ephesians 4:25).

In the early days of Christianity, the new converts were adults saved directly from the world. All they knew was what they learned in this world and they lived very worldly, sinful lives. Then they got saved and began to learn the ways of the Lord and the Word of God. They had a lot to learn. They did not have the Bible as we have it today.

Paul won many to Christ and taught them how to live for Christ in the world. We have such wonderful teaching in all the NT. Today’s verses teach us the principle of speaking the truth in love. Christ, who is the head of the church, is Himself the truth. Jesus said in John 14:6, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” We as believers in Christ must be men and women of truth. Our word is our bond, and our standards are His standards.

When Jesus stood before Pilate, he asked Him, ‘Are you a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’ And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said, ‘I find no fault in Him at all’” (John 18:37-38).

We must follow Christ our head, He is our example to speak the truth in love. When someone is about to testify in court, he must swear “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.” Every word we speak must be the truth. We live in lying world, a dishonest world. We must not only speak the truth, but we must speak it in love. This refers to speaking to other believers, who are members of the body of Christ, and also to all people saved and unsaved.

We teach our kids from their youngest days to tell the truth. If they do, their punishment should always be less. The best way to teach them to tell the truth always is for us to always tell the truth. The problem today is that families as well as society as a whole have drifted away from the Lord and the Bible.

Let us remember, the truth is always the truth, and never changes; lies are always lies and always change. May we always speak the truth in love, and leave the consequences to the Lord.

Have a blessed day telling the truth and living the truth. Honesty is the best policy and always glorifies Christ. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-April 29, 2021-

Good morning, happy Thursday,

-Remembering Our Lessons-

“Remember Lot’s wife.”

(Luke 17:32).

Today’s verse is one the shortest in the Bible. It is also one of the the most important. If we do not learn our lessons from the past and remember them, we are likely to repeat our mistakes. Lot, his wife, and two daughters moved into Sodom and took up residence there. It was a wicked city and God was about to bring judgment down on Sodom and Gomorrah, the twin cities, and the area of the plain around them.

God brought a warning to Lot and his family prior to the destruction of their city. There was a war between four powerful kings and five other kings, one of which was Bera king of Sodom. The five kings were defeated and as a result, they took the people of Sodom, including Lot and his family captive. Abraham heard of it and along with 318 trained servants of his household came to the rescue and fought against the captors and delivered all of them, including Lot and his family. Instead of leaving the wicked city of Sodom, they went right back there again. They did not learn the lesson God was teaching them.

Fast forward, things in Sodom only got worse. God revealed His plan to destroy the city to Abraham and we see Abraham interceding for them for Lot’s sake. He begun by asking God to spare the city if there were 50 righteous people in it. He kept lowering the number down to 45, 40, 30, 20, and finally 10. Sadly, there were not even 10 righteous there.

God sent two angels to deliver Lot and his family from Sodom before He would rain brimstone and fire from heaven upon them. There is a principle of Scripture that God will never pour out His wrath on His people, He removes them first. That is why the Rapture takes place before the Tribulation. In Lot’s case, the angels had to take Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand to get them out. As they were going, Lot’s wife could not bear to leave, she then looked back and became a pillar of salt. The lesson for us today is, “Remember Lot’s wife.” As believers we should learn the lessons God has taught us as well as what we have learned from the experiences of others. God wants us to learn and listen. We ignore God’s warnings at our own peril.

God sends warnings to us and we need to heed them. Lot’s wife came so close to salvation, but close is not enough. Her heart was bound to that city of destruction. There are many around us who just cannot give up their sin. Remember Lot’s wife. She serves as a reminder and warning of God’s judgment. When a person gets saved, they flee from the wrath to come. They confess and repent of their sins, believe that Jesus died for them on cross, and receive Him into their hearts. There is no looking back, no turning back. Remember Lot’s wife. If we do not listen, God will have to take more severe measures in our lives.

Have a blessed day, taking heed to God’s warnings and lessons. Don’t look back, press on. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-April 28, 2021-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

-Giving All To Jesus-

“And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, ‘Truly I say to you that this poor widow, has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all her livelihood that she had.”

(Luke 21:1-4).

Today’s text is one of the most remarkable in the Bible. It sharply contrasts giving from the heart verses giving to impress others. Jesus always used daily life events to teach lessons to His disciples. The lesson for us is giving all, not just our money, which is so important, but everything we have belongs to Him and we should give all to Jesus.

As God, Jesus knew what each person was putting into the temple treasury and what was in their hearts. He knew that this particular woman was a widow, how much she had and how much she gave. He also knew how much the others had and what they gave. Rich people often give a lot but they still have more than enough left for themselves and this is the case here. This poor widow gave just two mites, two small Roman copper coins. Jesus said that she gave more than all the others because she gave all her livelihood, thus all she had to live on. She had nothing left. More importantly she gave with a whole heart and trusted God to supply her need. What a great faith she had!

Ideally, there should be no poor widows in Israel. Over and over the OT, God told His people to give to support orphans and widows. God has a special love for them. Obviously from what we read in the gospels, the Pharisees, the chief priests, and scribes cared more for themselves than for God’s work and His people. Jesus sees not only what we give, but what we have left; He sees our motives for giving.

When Paul discussed giving in 2 Corinthians chapters 8-9, he begins by commending the churches in Macedonia as the greatest example of giving among God’s people. They also gave out of their poverty and not only that, but gave themselves first to the Lord and also to Paul and the needy saints. 1 Corinthians 8:1-5 mentions how they gave: in a great trial of affliction, in the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty, according to their ability and beyond their ability, willingly, urgently, and first of themselves to the Lord and to Paul. What an example they were! They excelled at giving to Jesus because they excelled at living for Jesus!

The Lord wants us to be cheerful givers of all we have. From our tithing to our living for the Lord and our serving Him. If one does not give when he has little, he will not give when he has much; if one does not serve the Lord when he is busy working and raising a family, he will not serve when he is retired. God knows our hearts. He knows how we use our time and resources in His service. He sees the priorities of our hearts. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 7:21).

Have a blessed day giving your time, talents, and treasures to the Lord fully and faithfully. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean