Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-January 17, 2021-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-How To Live As Lights In This World-

“Do all things without complaining or disputing, that you become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”

(Philippians 2:14-16).

Being a Christian in a non-Christian world is not easy. Paul described the conditions in his day as crooked and perverse. The world today is this way also. It is so wicked, evil, and sinful. We as believers almost feel like fish out of water. Our home and citizenship is in heaven. We live in the world but we are not of this world.

Paul tells how we should speak and live as children of God. He shares what not to do: complaining and disputing; and what to do: Be harmless children of God, without fault, shining as lights in this dark world.

• Do all things without complaining or disputing – It seems nearly everyone today complains and disputes. These two words can be translated as “grumbling and arguing.” We need to be different than the world. It is easy to complain or grumble, but instead we should give thanks; it is also easy to dispute or argue, but we must be cooperative and treat others with respect.

• That you become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault…shining as lights in the world – Being blameless and harmless does not mean being perfect. Job was not perfect, but it says of him, “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1).

Christians are not perfect but forgiven. God wants us to be a good testimony before both the saved and unsaved, and always point people to Jesus, giving Him all the glory for saving us and changing our lives. By living as lights in the world, we will stand out in the darkness. It is said that the darker the night, the brighter the stars shine.

Where there is crookedness – we should be straight; where there is perverseness, we should blameless, harmless, and without fault. In terms of our conversation, character, and conduct, we must be like Jesus. We will have times when we stumble and sin. Then we must confess our sins and be forgiven and restored.

May the Lord help us to live heavenly lives on earth. Let us challenge one another and hold each other accountable. Our Savior is with us and we can do it with His help.

Have a blessed day living as lights, being blameless and harmless children of God, and shining brightly for Jesus. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-January 16, 2021-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

-Walk In The Spirit-

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

(Galatians 5:16).

Before Jesus went to the cross and died for us, He told His disciples in the upper room that He would send the Holy Spirit, the Helper, the Spirit of truth, to be with them. Every believer in Christ is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. To be victorious in our walk, we must walk in the Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by the Spirit.

Paul tells us that when we walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. There is a constant battle between the new nature as controlled by the Holy Spirit and the old nature as controlled by the flesh. To experience the victory, we must obey the Word of God, pray, put on the whole armor of God, and be led by the Spirit.

Our three enemies in the world are the world, the flesh, and the devil. Paul wrote in Romans 13:14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Walking in the Spirit is living the life of Christ. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such there is no law.” We cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit; the Holy Spirit produces it in us. It is the fruit, not fruits, of the Spirit, meaning all these traits are as one fruit. You cannot have just one or two or a few, they are one.

We cannot fight the flesh in the flesh, it will not work. We must walk in the Spirit and yield to His leading. The Spirit teaches us, leads us, empowers us, encourages us, and intercedes for us. He also convicts the unsaved to bring them to salvation and convicts us as believers when we sin. May we walk in Spirit and not fulfill the lusts or desires of the flesh.

Have a blessed and victorious day walking in the Spirit. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-January 15, 2020-

Good morning, happy Friday,

-The Truth Shall Make You Free-

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’”

(John 8:31-32).

There were some Jews who believed in Jesus. Most of them, however were against Christ and excommunicated those who believed in Jesus and openly followed Him. Case in point, the blind man in John chapter 9 who testified of Him. John 9:25 says, “He answered and said, ‘Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know that though I was blind, now I see.’” In John 9:34, it shows their response, “They answered and said to him, ‘You are completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?’ And they cast him out.”

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; and His word is truth. Twice in our text today Jesus uses the word “truth.” Our Savior challenged the Jews who believed Him to know the truth which makes them free. Jesus also told them in John 8:36, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Only Jesus can set us free from our sins, from the power of death and the control of the devil.

When Jesus makes us free we are free forever. Jesus is our Lord and Savior, and we are His servants. We are set free to live as slaves of Christ and righteousness. Romans 6:18 says, “And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.”

Oh how thankful we should always be for being made free to live for Christ and serve Him. We have liberty in Christ, not liberty to sin, but liberty to righteousness. Praise God we are free indeed. To be a disciple is to be a follower of Christ. So much in today’s world, especially on the internet is purported to be truth but is not. Sometimes we don’t know who to believe or what to believe; but we can always trust Jesus who is the truth and His word. Both never change. The Bible is the truth we live by.

Have a blessed day and weekend walking in the truth of Christ and His word, we can never go wrong. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-January 14, 2021-

Good morning, happy Thursday,

-Love God And Others-

“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

(1 John 4:20-21).

Love for God and love for others go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. John goes so far as calling one who loves God but not his brother a liar. It is a sham, real hypocrisy. We must love God and our brothers and sisters and everyone else also.

Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love on another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Love is powerful and has a great impact on people; Love warms the soul.

Often when we think of love, we think of emotion, sentiment, attraction, and affection. While it does include all of those, it is much greater; it involves commitment, sacrifice, and sharing. When we love God it also means obedience to Him. Our Savior said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

May the Lord help us love the Lord and love each other. There is so little of God’s love being shown. We need to show the way.

Have a blessed day walking in love. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-January 13, 2021-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

-Being Reconciled To God Through Christ-

“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”

(2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

One of the greatest blessings we have as believers is being reconciled to God. Nowadays we hear the word connected with bringing two opposing sides together. The word reconciliation is defined as, “the restoration of friendly relations; the action of making one view or belief compatible with another.” Reconciliation, in Christian theology, is an element of salvation that refers to the results of atonement. Reconciliation is the end of the estrangement, caused by original sin, between God and humanity.

To be clear, God did not need to be reconciled to us, we needed to be reconciled to Him. We are sinners by nature through Adam, and by practice by our own sin. 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.” Herein is the great exchange: our sin and unrighteousness for His forgiveness, atonement, and righteousness. Jesus died in our place, bore our sin in His own body, became sin for us, in order to save us and give us eternal life.

God is in the restoration business. He takes a sinner and turns him into a saint; a lost soul into a saved soul; a spiritually dead person and makes Him alive in Christ; one walking in darkness now to dwell in His light.

Because we have been reconciled to God through His Son Jesus Christ, we now have the ministry of reconciliation to help others be reconciled to God. God sends us out as ambassadors for Christ to win souls to Him. Someone once said “it is like one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” It is just as Philip introduced Nathanael to Jesus, who then believed in Him for himself. He simply told him, “Come and see.” The woman at the well did the same thing when she shared with the whole town about what Jesus had said to her and done for her.

It is such a joy to share Jesus with others and how He changed our lives. The gospel, the good news, is what we have to share. God offers salvation as free to all who believe. Not only are we reconciled to God, we are now His children and He is our Father. We have a personal relationship with God through Christ. We are forgiven of every sin and have eternal life. There is nothing better than that!

Have a blessed day living as ambassadors for Christ with the ministry of reconciliation. Stay safe and healthy.