Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-October 20, 2020-

Good morning, happy Tuesday,

-From Repentance To Restoration-

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.”

(Psalm 51:12)

The title of Psalm 51 is appropriately, “A Prayer of Repentance.” David wrote this psalm after Nathan the prophet came to him from the Lord. David had committed the double sin of adultery and murder. He had suffered so much from losing the child, to losing his sweet, joyful fellowship with the Lord.

The saddest thing in the world is a believer in sin, not confessing it, not repenting of, and not being restored. David’s sin affected him spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. God’s hand was heavy upon him to bring him back to Himself. God uses circumstances and people to restore His children. He loves us too much to let us go. God longs to restore the wonderful and fellowship with us as soon as possible.

Besides Psalm 51, the other Psalm that deals with David’s sin and his restoration in Psalm 32, entitled, “The Joy of Forgiveness.” Before there can be the joy of forgiveness there must be the reality of confession, repentance, and the forsaking of sin. Proverbs 28:13 says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Bill MacDonald wrote a short book years ago, entitled, “There is a way back to God.” It is a painful process but it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. The process of restoration begins with our acknowledgment that we have sinned against God, confession that we have wronged God and or others, repenting of our sin, and forsaking it. When we do this, the Lord will forgive us and restore the joy of our salvation. When a Christian sins, he doesn’t lose his salvation but he does lose the joy of his salvation. Being out of fellowship with God is the most painful of it all.

David described the depth of his experience in Psalm 32:3-4, when he wrote, “When I kept silent, my bones grew old, through my groaning all the day long. For night and day Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer.”

There is nothing better than being forgiven and restored. The joy is back, the closeness to God is restored, and the mercy and grace of God is like the refreshing rain on a parched land. I suggest you read both Psalms 32 and 51 together to understand David’s journey back to God.

Staying close to God, reading His Word and praying will serve as a prevention against a spiritual blowout like David had. But even so, we do sin and we should be quick to deal with it in the presence of God before it festers into a huge problem.

Have a blessed day day staying close to the Lord and when you sin, confess it, forsake it, and ask God to forgive you. He will forgive and restore. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-October 19, 2020-

Good morning, happy Monday,

-Delighting Ourselves In The Lord-

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

(Psalm 37:4).

This verse is often taken to mean that God will give anything we want, anytime we want it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Before we can claim the second part of the verse, we must obey the first part of the verse. This verse is a command with a promise. We must always read a verse in the context it is given and what the Bible says about it on other places.

• Delight yourself also in the Lord – What does it mean to delight yourself also in the Lord? It seems to want to please Him, to honor Him, put Him first in your life, and do His will. It involves our desires being His desires, our will being His will. It is J-O-Y: Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. It is all about the Lord not about us.

• He shall give you the desires of your heart – When we delight ourselves in the Lord as the first part of this verse says, then God will give us the desires of our hearts. For when our desires become His desires, and our will is His will, He will grant us peace and accomplish His will. When we are fully surrendered and yielded to the Lord and His will, we will be happy with God’s answers to our prayers, whether the answer is yes, no, or wait.

So we see, God is not like a genie who gives us whatever we want, whenever we want it. He wants what is best for us. He knows everything about us, past, present, and future. We must delight ourselves in the Lord and then He shall give us the desires our hearts. How many believers have said over the years, “When I finally fully surrendered it to the Lord, He came through, He provided it for me.”

Let us then make sure we delight ourselves in the Lord (our part) so that He shall give us the desire of our hearts (His part). We don’t want anything that is not God’s will for us. Our heavenly Father knows what is best for us.

Have a blessed day delighting in the Lord, in seeking to please Him and putting Him first. Stay safe and healthy.

-October 18, 2020-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-Wait On The Lord And Be Of Good Courage-

“Wait on the Lord; and be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!”

(Psalm 27:14).

One of best and most blessed things we as believers can do is wait on the Lord. It is far from easy but it yields results in our lives on earth and for all eternity. Twice in today’s verse David wrote, “Wait on the Lord.” The title of Psalm 27 is: An Exuberant Declaration of Faith. There is an absolute correlation between faith, patience, and waiting on the Lord. It takes faith to wait on the Lord, and as we wait on the Lord our faith grows and is strengthened, and we become more patient.

When something is mentioned twice in Scripture, it is very important. For example, Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always, And again I will say, rejoice.” Waiting on the Lord is also connected to God’s will. When we pray God either answers yes, no, or wait. We often have to wait for God’s perfect timing. It seems we are always in a hurry but God is not. God waited over four hundred years to give Israel the Promised Land. God told Abraham back in Genesis 15:16, “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

Waiting on the Lord takes courage and when we wait, God strengthens our hearts. God is our Father and we are His children. So often there is a greater joy in waiting before getting what we want than if God were give it to us right away.

Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Training for the olympics takes a great deal of preparation, hard work, and effort. The Olympic Ideal is always faster, stronger, higher. The Christian Ideal is always faith, patience, and waiting.

Let us then wait on the Lord for His perfect will and timing. God will strengthen our hearts. Each time we wait on the Lord we get stronger and the Lord teaches us more about Himself and more about ourselves through it all. We may wait for a mate, for a child, for a job, for a home, for a car, or for any number of other things. God always has purpose for the wait, and He will never be late!

Have a blessed day waiting on the Lord. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-October 17, 2020-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

-The Secret Of The Lord Is With Those Who Fear Him — Our Eyes Look Toward Him For Help-

“The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.”

(Psalm 25:14-15).

There are special blessings and privileges for the children of God. We are saved by grace through faith and enter into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. God is our Father and we are the sons of God. There are things that we are privy to that others who are not saved are not.

David wrote, “The secret of the Lord belongs to those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.” What is the secret of the Lord? It is all the promises, principles, and prophecies of the Word of God and all the depth of their meaning. We understand who God is, and the depth of His love, care, and mercy.

Jesus replied to His disciples’ question on why He spoke to the people in parables in Matthew 13:11, “He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.’ He also said in Matthew 13:13, 16-17, “Therefore I speak in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. But blessed be your eyes for they see, and your ears for hear, for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

How privileged we are to be living in the age of grace. We know things that even the prophets and righteous men of the OT did not know nor understand. We are in the know, as it were, and know the secrets and mysteries of the truth. We remember the words our Savior spoke in Matthew 11:11, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” We are blessed to know and experience the new covenant and the whole counsel of God as revealed in Genesis to Revelation.

Thus knowing what we know we are more responsible and accountable to God as result. We are to be more obedient, more faithful, and to serve the Lord more. How blessed we are! Our eyes, which are blessed, should be ever toward the Lord for His help and deliverance. This is especially true during this Coronavirus pandemic. He has protected His children in a special way. He plucks our feet of the net.

Let us thank God for the privileges and blessings we have that we do not deserve. May we thank the Lord always and not take them lightly or for granted.

Have a blessed day in close fellowship with the Lord, thanking Him and looking to Him for help. Stay safe and healthy.

-October 16, 2020-

Good morning, happy Friday,

-Letting Our Words And Meditations Be Acceptable To God-

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer.”

(Psalm 19:14).

David wanted the words of his mouth and the meditation of His heart to be acceptable to the Lord. Another word for acceptable is pleasing. It is a great desire for all believers in Jesus Christ to be pleasing to Him. We should begin each day by asking the Lord that our thoughts, words, and actions be pleasing to Him today.

The way to please the Lord is to do His will in our lives. By filling our minds with the Word and meditating on it, we will then be able to say and do the right things; and our lives will be pleasing to the Lord.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:9-10, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Though we will never be judged for our sins, we will be evaluated by our service for the Lord. Our words and actions show what is in our heart.

The Lord Jesus Christ wants all of us to succeed and be pleasing to Him. He desires that all His students get straight A’s. If it happened in an earthly classroom that every student got A’s, administrators and even other teachers would say the class was too easy. But shouldn’t success always be the goal? The best teachers make learning fun and easy, even covering difficult subjects. The Christian life is far from easy but the Lord is with us to give us the victory.

If the Lord wants us to please Him and receive rewards for faithful service, then there is no reason we shouldn’t achieve great success. Our Savior has given us all the tools, training, and time to succeed and be victorious. Often in our case it is a matter of inspiration, motivation, and activation. In life, great people are those who want to do great things and greater things.

May it be our desire to please the Lord in all we think, say, and do today. He makes it possible, we must make it reality.

Have a blessed day pleasing the Lord and doing His will. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean