Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

June 16, 2020

Good morning, happy Tuesday,

-Our Heavenly Father’s Compassion Toward Us-

“As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers we are but dust.”

(Psalm 103:13-14).

This Sunday we celebrate Father’s Day. We can never thank them enough for loving us, caring for us, helping us, and being there for us no matter what. Some of our fathers have passed on and we remember them as well.

God is the best Father. Like our human father, He pities us. We do not use the word pity very often in today’s language but it refers to compassion. Our loving heavenly Father has compassion on us daily. The word pity is found 32 times in the Scriptures.

Isaiah 63:9 says, “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel His Presence saved them; In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; And He bore them and carried them all the days of old.” The same God who carried the Israelites through the wilderness and provided for them, bringing them into the Promised Land, is with us today.

The Lord knows our frame; He remembers we are but dust. Though He knows us so well with all our sins, weaknesses, frailties, fears, and worries, still He loves us and shows amazing compassion to us.

Hebrews 4:15 tells us, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” When we suffer, are afflicted, and are in pain, He is right there with us seeing us through it. He never leaves us nor forsakes us.

We are His special treasure, the apple of His eye. The hymn writer said, “I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.” God not only sees us and has pity, but He pities those we love also. Our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and friends are His concern as well.

When we are in the deepest valley, His love and care are deeper. When we are on the highest mountain, He is there to highly bless us and share in our victories and successes. We are greatly blessed in both scenarios.

Let us thank Him for His pity, His compassion, and His care. We do not know what the day will bring us or what will happen tomorrow, but we walk with Jesus and trust Him for what lies ahead. May God help us to fear Him, please Him, and obey Him.

Have a blessed day walking in the sunshine of His grace. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-June 15, 2020-

Good morning, happy Monday,

-The Lord Is Our Refuge And We Put Our Trust In Him-

“The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

(Psalm 9:9-10).

The Lord is our refuge at all times but especially in times of trouble. Right now we as a nation are going through great trouble, turmoil, and trial. The cases of Coronavirus are increasing in many places, there are more instances of racism and police excessive use of force, and the economy is under intense pressure and uncertainty.

What should we do? We must flee to the Lord our refuge and pray for His intervention. A refuge is a place of safety and protection. These are unprecedented times where we face physical, financial, emotional, and mental stress as never before. We have huge issues with few solutions. So many people are oppressed and depressed. There is fear and uncertainty everywhere.

David’s concluded, “that those who know Your name will put their trust in You.” The Lord is with us, He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He is still on His throne and in control. There is nothing that He cannot handle.

Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” We thank the Lord that He is a very present help in times of trouble. He knows what we are going through and will see us through. When we experience multiplied trials, God gives us multiplied grace, mercy, and peace.

The hymn writer said Annie Johnson Flint wrote, “He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase; To added afflictions He addeth His mercy, to multiplied trials, He multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed ere the day is half done, when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father’s full giving is only half done. His love has no limit, His grace has no measure, His power has no boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again.”

Our Lord is our sufficiently in our deficiency! We need to remember we can count on Him. Someone once said, “Our confidence in the Lord is unshakable, unbreakable, unmistakable, and unchangeable.” He alone can do the impossible.

Let us then run to the Lord our refuge in our times of need and trouble. May we trust in Him no matter the circumstances may be around us. He is with us as our very present help in trouble. We continue to pray earnestly and fervently for brother Jim as he faces this Coronavirus and all complications from it. Is is a matter of life or death.

Have a blessed day turning to Jesus our refuge for help and trusting Him. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-June 14, 2020-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

-God Blessed The Latter Days Of Job More Than His Beginning-

“Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters.”

“After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his children and his grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days.”

(Job 42:12-13; Job 42:16-17).

Job started off so well. He was blameless, upright, he feared God, and shunned evil. He was blessed with a wife, ten children, many servants, and much success in business. God allowed Satan to take away his children, most every servant, and even to cover his whole body with painful boils. He got very discouraged and even wished he had never been born. He had never experienced trials prior to this, especially so many and so severe all at the same time.

Job had three friends who came to comfort and console him, only to accuse him of sin and and make him feel worse not better. God intervened and restored Job and called upon him to pray for his friends so that they would be forgiven. If the story ended there, it would have been a good story with good results and good lessons. Job was vindicated; but to complete the story Job needed to be victorious and God had to be glorified.

So God did something greater for him than He did for anyone else: God blessed his latter days more than his beginning. God never fails to complete His work in our lives. He has a plan for us and He will fulfill it. Like Job, we often do not understand what God is doing and why things happen to us as they do. God is sovereign and we should never question Him, doubt Him, or blame Him.

Paul said in Romans 8:28, “For we know that all things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” This is a promise that only the righteous can claim and cling to. God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours.

In Job’s latter days, God exactly doubled what Job had in the beginning. He even gave him seven sons and three daughters, exactly the same as he had before. See Job 1:3 and Job 42:12-13. According to Job 42:16-17, God also blessed him with a long life and he saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. He died old and full of days.

The lesson for us as believers today is to live godly lives, obeying the Lord, trusting in Him, and thanking Him for each day. He has a plan for us and will work out His purposes. As someone said, “We are immortal until our work on earth is done.” Only God knows when our mission is completed. Our hope is in heaven and we will be with the Lord forever and ever. We should not question the Lord, doubt Him, or blame Him. He loves us so much. Wait and see what God will do for you!

Have a blessed day, living for Him and serving Him one day at a time. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-June 13, 2020-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

-Our Heavenly Father Freely Gives Us The Best Gifts-

“If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

(Luke 11:11-13).

Soon, a week from tomorrow, we will celebrate Father’s Day. Jesus shows in this portion just how great the Father’s love is for us His children. He gives us so many good gifts and blessings. He shows that if earthly fathers know to give appropriate and generous gifts to their children, so God our Father does even more for us.

Jesus uses three different scenarios of sons asking their fathers for needed things: bread, a fish, and an egg. No human father would substitute a stone, a serpent, or a scorpion instead. It would be untenable and unconscionable. If human fathers give appropriately, freely, and generously, how much more will God do for us His children.

Jesus had just said in Luke 11:9-10, “So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him to knocks it will be opened to him.” God wants us to pray and He promises to answer us. We continue to cry out to God day and night for our beloved brother Jim who is in the ICU with the Coronavirus.

Our Savior also told us in Matthew 21:22, “And whatever things you ask in prayer believing, you will receive.” Our heavenly Father loves us, knows our needs, cares for us, and provides for us. The hymn writer said, “All you may need He will provide, God will take care of you; Nothing you ask will be denied, God will take of you. God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way; He will take care of you, God will take care of you.”

Notice here how God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. James shows how gracious and generous our heavenly Father is in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

No human father, as great as he may be, can compare to our heavenly Father. Our Father has far more, gives far more, to far more, for far longer. We thank God so much for our human fathers but even more for our heavenly Father.

Have a blessed day considering all that our heavenly Father gives us and thanking Him for everything. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

-June 12, 2020-

Good morning, happy Friday,

The Heavens Declare The Glory Of God-

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.”

(Psalm 19:1-2).

Everywhere you look God’s creation is on display for all to see. God is the Creator of all things. All we have to do is observe all the beauty, intricacy, and diversity around us. God’s DNA and His fingerprints are so clearly shown.

David, who spent many days and nights out among God’s creation, said, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In six days God completed His masterpiece, and rested on the third day.

Genesis 1:14-16 tells us, “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.”

God’s creation is like a symphony and He is the conductor; The music is so beautiful and wonderful. Though sinful man has marred and scarred this wonderful creation in so many ways, still its beauty shows forth and tells of God’s creation. The universe is so vast and earth is such a tiny planet amid the vastness of His handiwork. There are billions of stars and the Bible tells us that God knows them all by name. The earth rotates around the sun, causing days and nights, and seasons.

Psalm 89:5 says, “And the heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints.” One cannot separate the spiritual, physical, and the material. All three point to our great Creator and Savior. The trees, the flowers, the plants, the mountains, the oceans, the lakes, the rivers, and all the creatures God has made are so striking. God gave it all to man, the highest of His creation.

May the Lord help us to look around us today and see all the beautiful and wonderful things in God’s creation. sometimes we get so busy with our daily lives that we miss what is all around us. They say, “Stop and smell the roses.” God has so richly blessed us. In California alone we have just about every type of climate, terrain, vegetable, and fruit. Let’s thank God for everything He has given to us. Look you can see, listen you can hear.

Have a blessed day and night enjoying God’s creation and salvation. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean