Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-February 8, 2021-

Good morning, happy Monday,

-Love Your Enemies-

“You have heard it said, ‘You shall love your neighbor hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise in the evil and good, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust.”

(Matthew 5:43-45).

Jesus taught us to love one another and took it to a new level in loving even our enemies, and not only loving them, but doing good to them. Only God can help us to love this way. With so much divisiveness, hated, and strive in our country, especially between the major political parties, it is very important that we as believers show God’s love to all.

Verse 44 is the blueprint of how we should treat our enemies: love them, bless them, do good to them, and pray for them. The following verse reminds that God sends sunshine and rain on all people good and bad, just unjust.

• Love your enemies – If it sounds hard, it really is. We love those love love us, and that is easy, but to love an enemy who doesn’t like us or our Savior or our faith is impossible without the help of the Lord. God’s love is supernatural. God loves every person and so should we.

• Bless those who curse you – It gets even harder, when someone is cursing you, insulting you, putting you down, or blaming you. Our natural tendency is lash out and fight back verbally, even physically at times. When we respond with kindness, love, and soft words it diffuses the situation. Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

• Do good to those who hate you – Not only are we to not return evil for evil, but we are to return good for evil. Paul wrote, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. Therefore ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head’” (Romans 12:17; Romans 12:20). It is one thing not to return evil for evil, but to go further and do them good, why that is remarkable and miraculous!

• Pray for them who spitefully use and persecute you – The word spiteful is a nasty word and so his persecution in any form. It is hard to lash out against others when you are praying for them. Jesus said on the cross in Luke 23:34, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Stephen, the first martyr, said as he was being stoned to death, “…Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60b).

May the Lord help us to love our enemies as well as our brethren, our family, and our friends. Let us bless our foes, do them good, and pray for them. Jesus, the apostles, the saints that have gone before us have set the best example for us to follow.

Have a blessed day loving your enemies. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-February 7, 2021-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-Love The Lord, Hate Evil-

“You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.”

(Psalm 97:10).

We live in a sinful, evil, and wicked world. We as believers are called to be light and salt in this world. People should know we are Christians by our love. Jesus said, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. As believers we are to be wise, have insight, looking to to the Lord for help; we are also to be as innocent sheep and harmless as doves.

We who love the Lord must hate evil. It is hard to look around us and see all the terrible things happening in the world today. There is fine distinction that we must be mindful of: love the sinner but hate their sin. It should bother us when we hear of crime, especially against children and the elderly, injustice in any form, and oppression and corruption by those in authority.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:9, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” He also said, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men” (Romans 12:17). We are in this world but we are not of it. Our home and citizenship is in heaven.

2 Peter 2:7-8 tells us of Lot, “And delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds).” Lot was a believer, albeit a carnal and weak one, Peter nonetheless calls him righteous Lot, and describes him as a righteous man with a righteous soul. It was not easy living in Sodom and Gomorrah, and it is not easy for us to live in our world today. It is oppressive and uncomfortable. We are like fish out of water.

This should keep us on our knees and praying for our government leaders and for more souls to be saved in these last days. Time is short and the task of evangelism is great. Our words of testimony and witness are so needed. We also must make sure our lives back up what we say. Let us remember to love the Lord and hate evil. He will preserve and deliver us from the hand of the wicked just as delivered and preserved the Jews from wicked Haman in the book of Esther.

Have a blessed day loving God and hating evil. Let your life be like light and salt. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-February 6, 2021-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

-Doing God’s Work According To God’s Will-

“According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. Then Moses looked over all the work, and indeed they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, just so they had done it. And Moses blessed them.”

(Exodus 39:42-43).

God gave the details to Moses on how to build the Tabernacle, with all the furnishings, all the materials, and all the artistic workmanship. The people of Israel brought gold, silver, bronze, as well as gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread; and all manner of gems. It was quite an undertaking. It was the place where they offered their sacrifices to the Lord. The Tabernacle continued until King Solomon built the Temple.

The people of Israel had a willing, obedient spirit. They did all the work just as God instructed them through Moses. Moses, the leader of the nation was satisfied with what they had done. Leaders of God’s people are responsible to the Lord for themselves and for those serving in the church. In the NT church, elders and deacons were appointed over the local church. Each church was autonomous and God raised up gifted men to serve in the local church utilizing the spiritual gifts God had given them.

It was never God’s will for one man to do everything in the church. In fact, the leaders are to be trainers so that the saints would do the service of the Lord. Oversight by the elders is extremely important in the church. Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “And He Himself gave some as apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

To be in the Lord’s service, one must do God’s work according to God’s will. Those serving must be holy vessels for the Lord. This was true in all the Scriptures. We notice Moses blessed the people for what they had done. There is always a blessing in obedience. It starts in one’s personal and family life, and then extends to the church. There is both responsibility and accountability for all we do.

What has called and equipped you to do for Him? We must all do our best in the Lord’s work. Christ is the Head of the church and we serve at His direction. We are not responsible to a board or convention somewhere in the country or in the world. We are locally responsible to the Lord and the leaders God has put over us.

Have a blessed day in doing God’s work according to God’s will. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-February 5, 2021-

Good morning, happy Friday,

-God Loves Righteousness And Justice-

“For the Word of the Lord is right, and His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”

(Psalm 33:4-5).

Everything about the Lord is perfect: His Word is right, His work is done in truth, He loves righteousness and justice, and His goodness is fills the earth. Three of His attributes are found in today’s text: truth, righteousness, justice, and goodness.

When the Bible says that God loves something, it is very important to Him, and it should be to us as His people as well. Psalm 33 is an anonymous psalm. The title of the psalm is: The Sovereignty of the Lord in Creation and History. It is a rich and beautiful psalm. We should love and practice righteousness and justice daily.

• The Lord loves righteousness – Righteousness means that whatever God does is right. He does the right thing at the right time, and in the right way. He loves righteousness. Psalm 11:7 says, “For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.” Conversely, He hates sin, lawlessness, evil, and wickedness in every form.

Through the cross, God has made us righteous through the death of His Son Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Positionally, He views us as righteous in and through Christ. Now we must practice righteousness in a practical way through the power of the Holy Spirit. May God help us to do what is right in His sight and in the sight of men. We should be men and women of honesty, integrity, truth, and sincerity.

• God loves justice – Justice means to be fair, to treat everyone equally, to use the highest standards in everything. Abraham in his intercessory prayer on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah where his nephew Lot and his family lived, he pleaded with the Lord to spare the cities. He began by asking if there were fifty righteous there, and ended up if there were ten there. In his communication with the Lord, he said, “Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right” (Genesis 18:25). We know the angel took Lot, his wife, and their two daughters by the hand to get them out before God’s judgment came down on the cities. Sadly, Lot’s wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt. Her heart was there.

We should love justice as well. They say that justice is blind so as to treat each person fairly and equally. God’s justice is way greater and His eyes are wide open. He is the only one who can say this. Much is being said about social justice today. We should treat all people well under the laws of God and man. There is no room for prejudice, inequality, or injustice in any way shape or form.

May God who loves righteousness and justice help us to do the same. Our standards are high because God’s standards are high. We as Christians need to live to please God and treat others with love, respect, and courtesy.

Have a blessed day in righteousness and justice. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-February 4, 2021-

Good morning, happy Thursday,

-From The Bitter To The Sweet-

“Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.”

(Exodus 15:23-25).

Life is bitter, people are bitter. This was the case of Israelites in the wilderness. They had just witnessed one of the greatest miracles in the Scriptures, and now they are crying out for water. They looked for water to drink at a place they called Marah, meaning bitter. The water there was bitter, and they could not drink it. Those who look for sweetness in this bitter world find only bitterness.

Even Naomi, found bitterness in leaving the place God called her to in Bethlehem, and moving to Moab with her husband Elimelech and her two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Her husband and her two sons died there. She then went back to the Bethlehem. When she and Ruth her daughter-in -law arrived, she told them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” (Ruth 1:20). Naomi means pleasant. Her choices and their consequences left her bitter but as we know the story, God richly blessed her, and her life was once again pleasant. She became a grandmother of Obed, and a great grandmother of Jesse, and great-great grandmother of David.

When Moses brought this need of water to the Lord, He showed him a tree. Moses then cast it into the waters, the waters were then made sweet. This tree is a type of the cross of Calvary. It was at the cross we were saved, cleansed, and forgiven of our sins. Only Jesus can take away the bitterness and makes things sweet. Jesus is sweet, our lives are sweet in our lives. The unknown hymn writer wrote, “Jesus the very thought of Thee, with sweetness fills my breast; But sweeter far Thy face to see, and in Thy presence rest.”

May the Lord turn our bitterness into sweetness, our trials into triumphs, and our tears into cheers.

Have a blessed day dwelling in the sweetness of Jesus. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean