Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-July 1, 2020-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

-Thinking Rightly Of Ourselves In Humility And Soberness-

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”

(Romans 12:3).

Our attitude is essential in our walk with the Lord. The Lord Jesus taught us to be humble servants. Here in today’s text, Paul encourages us to have the right attitude of humility and soberness. People are drawn to us and will listen to us when we display the mind of Christ.

Pride is a sin and comes from the devil. The opposite is humility, which comes from the Lord. Man sees pride as strength and humility as weakness, but God views it exactly the opposite. James 4:6 says, “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” James also wrote, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:10).

Our attitude of humility leads to a life of humility. When we realize we are sinners saved by grace, deserving nothing, it follows that Jesus is everything and without Him we can do nothing. It also helps us to esteem others better than ourselves.

Paul tells us to think soberly. Normally when we think of sober ness we think of not being under the influence of alcohol, which is part of it, but it is much more. A sober spirit is a serious, reverential spirit. Though we need laughter and fun, we need to be serious in sharing our faith and encouraging one another in Christ. Time is short, we are living in the last days. There is no time to waste.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:16, “Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.” Peter also wrote, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

May the Lord help us to be humble and sober both in our attitudes and in our actions. Let us have the mind of Christ and walk as He walked. There is great power in humility and soberness.

Have a blessed day in humility and soberness. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-June 30, 2020-

Good morning, happy Tuesday,

-God Does Not Withhold Any Good Thing From Those Who Walk Uprightly-

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

(Psalm 84:11).

This verse is a conditional promise dependent on our walk with the Lord. The Lord is more concerned with our walk than our talk. People want to see us practice a sincere Christian life not just talk about it. Otherwise the world will rightly call us hypocrites.

Job 1:1 describes Job, “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.” God blesses the obedient. Job was upright, that is he did what was right in God’s sight, day and night. God bragged about Job to Satan and then allowed him to be severely tested by Satan.

The Lord is a sun and a shield to us as we walk in this sinful, evil, wicked, and corrupt world. In fact, God put a hedge around Job and his family. Satan told the Lord, “…Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of His hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he shall surely curse You to your face” (Job 1:9-11).

The devil cannot get to us without getting God’s permission. The devil was thwarted in all his attempts to discredit, decapitate, and destroy Job. Job continued to be upright in his walk. He got very discouraged but he never gave up or cursed God.

God promises to not to withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly. God blesses us with so many good things. But for the believer, what is a good thing? A good thing is meeting a need, giving us health, strength, and wisdom. Trials themselves are a good things too because they test our faith and cause us to grow in our walk. We must learn dependence on the Lord.

So many believers want the good things that God gives without the suffering and pain. In the devil’s temptation of Jesus, he offered Christ all the kingdoms of the world without having to die on the cross, but a He would have bow down and worship Satan. Our Lord quoted the Word of God, and defeated the devil.

Are we willing to walk uprightly no matter what we are going through? The good things are available to us when we walk uprightly. God wants to test and prove us in both times of prosperity and times of adversity. He did this in Job’s life, and His end was better than his beginning. No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Have a blessed day walking uprightly. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-June 29, 2020-

Good morning, happy Monday,

-God Perfects That Which Concerns Us-

“The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.”

(Psalm 138:8).

The writer of Psalm 138 is David, who wrote the vast majority of the Psalms. He had a very close relationship with the Lord. For this reason he was the greatest king of Israel. Everything he did was with the perspective of pleasing the Lord and doing His will.

It is no wonder that he says, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” The world perfect means to complete. Only God knows exactly what to bring into our lives and when. He uses trials as well as blessings to perfect us and make more like Jesus. Eventually when we get to heaven we will be conformed to His image.

Thus God is not finished with us yet; we are are a work in progress. Our Lord is working on a masterpiece, which is each believer. Paul wrote, “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:28). Often this process is painful, but needed, and yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness in our lives.

From the moment we get saved until the moment we depart to be with Christ, God is working on us and in us. Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” He never gives up on us so we should never give up on ourselves or on one another.

Like David, we should see God’s hand in aspect and circumstance of our lives, that everything comes from Him, and is in keeping with His plan for our lives. The great promise of Romans 8:28 is such a blessing, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” In order to claim this promise we need to love God and be called according to His purpose, that is be in His will.

As David says, “Your mercy endures forever; Do not forsake the work of your hands.” We need God’s mercy every day, we just can live without it. It gives us such peace knowing God is in control in our lives just as He is in all the universe.

May the Lord encourage us today to remember that He will perfect that which concerns us whether at home, at school, at work, in retirement, or in whatever we are doing. He is the potter and we are the clay. The clay cannot say to the potter, “Why have you made me this way?” He will perfect what concerns us today.

Have a blessed day walking with the Lord. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-June 28, 2020-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-God Desires Everyone To Be Saved-

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

(2 Peter 3:9).

The gospel is the good news and God has sent out His servants to share it with others who do not know the Lord. God loves each person and desires that they repent and receive His Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

God’s promise is that Jesus is coming back to take His people home to heaven. There is literally a deadline for salvation: the Rapture or the death of a person, whichever comes first. No one knows the time of either one of these events. This is why salvation is for today, this moment, while a person is still alive.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” God is so patient with people and gives them so many chances to get saved. Each individual has a free will and must make their own decision to receive Christ or not.

In Acts 3:19, Peter said, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Repentance is turning to the Lord from a life of sin to God for forgiveness of sins. It is a 180 degree turn of the heart.

Before anyone can get saved he or she must see their need of salvation. The Holy Spirit convicts the sinner of their sin, shows them that they need to be saved, forgiven, and have eternal life. The Holy Spirit’s work is shown in John 16:8-11, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

The salvation of a soul is God’s work. Our part is to share the message, the Lord does the rest. The results are fully up to the person to make their decision for Christ. God does His part to convict and bring the person to Christ.

We praise God for the day we received Christ and were born again. The Lord transformed our lives from darkness to light, death to life, and unsaved to saved. God does not go by percentages, He wants everyone to be saved. Let us share the gospel so that people will come to Christ before it is too late. One must believe that Jesus died for their sins on the cross and rose again.

Have a blessed day sowing the seed. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-June 27, 2020-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

-The Cost True Discipleship-

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’”

(Matthew 16:25).

Jesus always told it straight, He did not mince words or beat around the bush. He promised that His followers would be hated, persecuted, and even martyred for their faith. The road of a true disciple of Jesus would be straight and narrow but would lead to eternal life. He insisted on full dedication, commitment, surrender, devotion, and obedience.

There were those who desired to come after Jesus. It was a good desire, but one that should not be entered into lightly or without careful consideration of the cost. There are three things one must do, not once but daily:

1. Deny yourself – This is very difficult to do. We all want our own will, self interests, and desires in life. We are born and wired that way. To deny ourselves is very hard to do. To deny our will, plans, desires, and dreams is what Jesus is calling for. He gives new plans, desires, and dreams which are far greater.

2. Take up your cross – Jesus died on the cross for our sins. The cross for the disciple is a life of hardship, trial, pain, and sorrow in this world. It is associating with Christ, which goes against the very grain of this world. It involves no compromises, no excuses, and no turning back.

3. Follow Me – To follow Jesus is to walk with Him, in His steps. It means to speak and act as He did. It is to follow Him wherever He goes. When Jesus called each of His disciples who became apostles, He said, “Follow Me.” We do not follow a creed, a dogma, or a religion but a Person, Jesus Christ. He is our Lord, King, and Master. He is the Boss.

To do these three things involves a great sacrifice but leads to a life of great fulfillment, satisfaction, and joy. Jesus said that if we desire to save our lives, that is from the consequences of a life of discipleship, we will lose them. He is not speaking of death but of meaning and purpose. We will lose the opportunity to fully serve our Lord.

But if we lose our lives for His sake, we will find them and save them. It is a paradox: gaining is losing, but losing is gaining. We have to be all in. Not every believer is willing to be a true disciple. Are you willing to count the cost and pay the price?

May the Lord help us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. We will never regret it. The song writer said, “I have to decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”

Have a blessed day following Jesus. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean