Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-November 24, 2020-

Good morning, happy Tuesday,

-Abounding In The Christian Life With Thanksgiving-

“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 with thanksgiving.”

(Colossians 2:6-7).

Paul in his epistles always emphasized our position and our practice in Christ. In addition he stressed how thanksgiving is such an essential part of the Christian life. Our faith in Christ is the foundation of what we have been taught and it produces thanksgiving, which abounds every day.

When Jesus is Lord of our lives, everything else falls into place. Paul writes, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. Other words for Lord are King, Master, or Boss. Any way you describe it, Jesus is in charge of our lives. I love the acronym JOY: Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. It is not about us but about Him; not what we have gained but what He has given.

We have been rooted, built up, and established in our faith by what we have taught and thus are abounding in thanksgiving. Consistency in our Christian lives is such a blessing. As we mature in our lives, we develop good habits that please the Lord.

As we thank the Lord on Thursday, let us be cognizant of how much we have, how little we deserve it, and faithful and good the Lord is. The hymn writer wrote, “O Thou, whose bounty fills my cup, with every blessing meet! I give Thee thanks for ev’ry drop — The bitter and the sweet.” Someone once said, “Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.”

Have a blessed day abounding in thanksgiving for all your boundless blessings. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-November 23, 2020-

Good morning, happy Monday,

-Enter Into God’s Presence With Thanksgiving And Praise-

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; For His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”

(Psalm 100:4-5).

Psalm 100 is a rich and beautiful psalm. It is titled, “A Psalm of Thanksgiving.” Its author is unknown; One day we will find out when we get to heaven who wrote it. Today’s text is so challenging and encouraging.

I know that I don’t thank the Lord as much as He deserves. As human beings, we tend to have offer more petitions than praises and thanksgivings. It isn’t wrong to pray for others and for ourselves, in fact it is very good, but we shouldn’t forget to thank the Lord, praise Him, and worship Him. The Lord’s Prayer begins with, “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed by Your name” (Matthew 6:9).

There is a legend about two angels who were sent to earth to gather up the prayers of men. One was to fill his basket with the petitions of mankind. The other was to gather their prayers of thanksgiving. Sometime later they went back to the Father’s house. One had a basket heaped high, and running over, with the innumerable petitions of men. The other returned with a sad and heavy heart, for his basket was almost empty. The thanks of men were heard but rarely on earth, even though the angel had searched diligently.” Which basket are you filling up today? Both baskets should be filled to overflowing.

The Psalmist says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” When Jesus healed and cleansed the ten lepers and sent them to show themselves the priests, only one, a Samaritan returned to give Him thanks. Luke 17:15 says, “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down at his feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked the question in Luke 17:17-18, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

We were strangers, foreigners, Gentiles, sinners, separated from God, without God and without hope in this world. He saved us and made us His children, forgiving our sins and giving us eternal life. Should we not thank and praise Him every day, falling down before Him in worship? We have so much to be thankful for. We don’t want to show up in His courts with no thanksgivings and praises!

Have a blessed day of thanksgiving, praise, and worship. May our baskets be full, for He is worthy. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-November 22, 2020-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-Let Peace Rule In Our Hearts And Be Thankful-

“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

(Colossians 3:15).

This portion of Scripture in Colossians 3:12-17 has the heading “The Character of the New Man.” Every believer has two natures, the old and the new. The former is our nature from Adam and the latter is our new nature from the last Adam, who is Christ. They are opposites in every way. The new nature is the life of Christ.

In today’s verse there are two qualities mentioned: the peace of God and being thankful. These two qualities go together in a beautiful way. The peace of God is ours when we pray and surrender everything to the Lord and to His will. Thankfulness comes from our relationship with Christ and from our appreciation for everything He has done for us and given to us. To know that the Lord is in control brings peace and to know what He has done in our lives brings thankfulness.

As we approach Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, we should reflect on all that the the Lord has given to us and done for us. Thanksgiving should be a way of life for us not just one day a year. Each day of our lives should be filled with peace and thanks.

This Thanksgiving Day will test our peace and thankfulness. We cannot get together as we usually do because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The main thing is to follow the health guidelines for the good of others and ourselves. We can still express our thanks to the Lord. We are waiting for the vaccine to be widely distributed so we can once again safely gather together. We must remain vigilant and patient. The pandemic has changed the way we live our daily lives but not who we live for: Jesus Christ. The Bible is our standard.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day and may the peace of God rule your heart and be thankful. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-November 21, 2020-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

-Giving Thanks To God For People-

“I thank God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge.”

(1 Corinthians 1:4-5).

In this week leading up to Thanksgiving Day we are reminded how much we have to be thankful for. Our most precious possession is our salvation. Next we thank God for all our spiritual blessings we have in Christ. In today’s verses we see how thankful we should be for the people in our lives that we love so much.

Paul in his epistles to the churches and to individuals, always began by thanking God for them. The only exception is his epistle to the Galatians, of whom he wrote, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel” Galatians 1:6). He had many issues to straighten out the believers in Corinth on but he did find something to thank God for. He thanked God for His grace to them and their utterance and knowledge they had been enriched with.

Paul loved all the saints in all the churches and he prayed for them incessantly. God has placed many people in our lives: spouses, children, grandchildren, fellow church members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, missionaries, other relatives, and other people. We have relationships with each one and they are a blessing to us. We love them and pray for them. For the unsaved ones, we pray for their salvation; for those who know the Lord, we thank the Lord for them and pray for their spiritual growth in Christ and service for our Savior.

Thus each of us have a sphere of influence that God has given us. Our heart’s desire is to influence and impact others for Christ. To be effective in this role we must be godly examples to them. We can’t expect others to follow Christ if we don’t follow Him. All those around us see what we do and hear what we say. Someone once said, “I would rather see a sermon any day rather than hear one.” In other words we must practice what we preach. Do others see Jesus in you?

So as we reflect on all the things we have to be thankful for, let us remember all the people God has given to us. Paul showed us way to impact those around us and we must do it. We all like to be encouraged and we need to be encouragers as well.

Have a blessed day impacting and encouraging them for Jesus. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-November 20, 2020-

Good morning, happy Friday,

-Let Us Join Together To Praise And Thank The Lord-

“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.”

(Psalm 95:1-2).

Thanksgiving Day is less than one week away. With the Coronavirus spiking all over the world, our country, our state, our county, and our town, Thanksgiving Day will not be the same this year. We won’t be able to get together to share it with family and friends outside of our immediate households. Millions of singles will be alone; couples will miss their children and grandchildren and vice versa. Friends will miss friends, loved ones will miss loved ones, and brothers and sisters in Christ will miss each other.

Just because we can’t be together for the health and well being of all, we can still join together in spirit, over Face Time, Zoom, or Skype. The main thing is that we praise and thank the Lord joyfully. The author of this beautiful psalm is unknown. He uses the word joyfully twice. Nothing, not even the Coronavirus can silence our praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.

We also notice how the writer uses the expression, “let us,” four times in these two verses. He doesn’t want to praise and thank the Lord by himself but wants every believer in Jesus Christ to join him. The Lord is so worthy. One day when the disciples were praising our Savior with loud voices as He entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey at the Triumphal Entry, the Pharisees complained and told Jesus to stop them. His answer was appropriate and perfect, “…I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

1. Let us sing to the Lord – I love to sing hymns and spiritual songs to the Lord. I grew up on the hymns and I know so many of them. Paul wrote, “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). We can sing wherever we go, alone or together with others.

2. Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation – The hymn writer Augustus Toplady wrote, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee; Let the water and the blood, from Thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure.” May we all make a joyful shout to the Lord!

3. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving – We should thank the Lord daily for what He has done for us, not just on Thanksgiving Day. The hymn writer said, “Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings see what God has done. Even in the midst of a pandemic we have so many things to be thankful for! It is always a good idea to write them down and praise them up!

4. Let us shout joyfully with psalms – There are 150 psalms, written by mostly by David but also by Moses, Solomon, Asaph, the sons of Korah, and others we do not know. The Book of Psalms is the biggest hymn book in the world. The joy in the Psalms is amazing and wonderful.

May we remember to sing and shout our praises and thanksgivings to the Lord. When we do so joyfully all creation will hear and join in. The joyful Christian is the grateful Christian, and the grateful Christian is the joyful Christian.

Have a blessed day and weekend praising and thanking the Lord. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean