Dean Allen's Daily Devotional

-April 18, 2025-

Good morning beloved, happy Good Friday,

“Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.”’

(John 19:16).

How can we call Good Friday good when Jesus suffered such agony, pain, and anguish on the cross? The depths of His spiritual and physical pain was unbearable. Christ took our place as our Substitute, bearing our sin, becoming sin for us. The worst part of His suffering was being forsaken by God and enduring the wrath and judgement of God that was our due.

Our Savior stood before the chief priests, Pilate, Herod, and Pilate the second time who condemned Him to be crucified. He was nailed to the cross and agonized from the third hour (9:00 am) to the ninth hour (3:00 pm). Darkness fell over the land from sixth hour to the ninth hour when all the waves and billows crashed against His soul.

Back to my question, how can Good Friday can be called good? It was good that Jesus accomplished the Father’s will and brought about our salvation by grace through faith. We are now the beneficiaries of such a great salvation.

Have a blessed Good Friday reflecting on what our Savior did for us at the cross. Stay safe and healthy.

As someone said, “He paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay.”

Dean

-April 17, 2025-

Good morning beloved, happy Thursday,

“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.’”

(Luke 22:19-20).

Today is Holy Thursday, also called Maundy Thursday. So much happened on the day before the crucifixion of Christ. The entire week portrays the Passion of Christ.

Jesus and His disciples celebrated the last Passover and the first Lord’s Supper. Also, Jesus predicted Peter’s denials, and was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, and all the disciples fled. It was a blessed but difficult day.

We remember Christ every Sunday in the Lord’s Supper. Twice in our text we have the beautiful phrase “for you.” His body was given for us and His blood was shed for us. Jesus desired that His people remember His death and resurrection. Our Savior gave His life a ransom for many.

The events leading up to the crucifixion were very full. Tomorrow we will meditate on Good Friday. Have a blessed day and week. Stay safe and healthy.

Jesus sacrificed all for us; we should sacrifice all for Him.

Dean

-April 16, 2025-

Good morning beloved, happy Wednesday,

“Then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, ‘This Man receives sinners and eats with them.’”

(Luke 15:1-2).

Jesus loves sinners though He hates their sin. While on earth, our Savior came to dwell among us and to save us from our sin. Paul declared to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:15, “This a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

Paul was formerly a self-righteous Pharisee who came as a lost sinner to Christ and was gloriously saved. He no longer looked down his nose at others as being sinners, but recognized his sinfulness and inability to save himself apart from Christ. He felt that he was the last, the least, and the lowest in the eyes of a holy God.

The Pharisees complained that Jesus ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day condemned tax collectors and sinners as the worst of the worst, while exalting themselves in the sight of men.

Anyone who comes to Christ must come as a lost sinner, deserving hell and damnation. One must see their need of Jesus. We are all sinners, unrighteous, unholy, and defiled in His sight. Jesus said in Matthew 9:13, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Praise God that tax collectors and sinners flocked to Jesus, the lover of their souls. They knew their lost and sinful condition and came to the only One who could save them. Jesus saved and called two prominent tax collectors like Matthew and Zacchaeus; two immoral women like the woman at the well and woman caught in adultery; and everyone in between.

Let us take a moment to thank the Lord for our salvation. We didn’t deserve it nor will we ever deserve it. We are sinners saved by grace through faith in Christ. The hymn writer Charlotte Elliot wrote, “Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou biddst me come to Thee—O Lamb of God I come, I come!”

Have a blessed day, never forgetting what Jesus did for us. Stay safe and healthy.

Jesus only saves sinners; praise God that includes everyone, even me.

Dean

-April 15, 2025-

“Good morning beloved, happy Tuesday,

“And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, ‘Let no fruit grow on you ever again.’ Immediately the fig tree withered away.”

(Matthew 21:19).

This week is called “Holy Week.” It began with Palm Sunday and continued with Holy Monday, the day Jesus cursed the fig tree, cleansed the temple, and reasoned with those who questioned His authority. Today, Tuesday, is called Holy Tuesday or Great and Holy Tuesday.

It was on this day Jesus taught the disciples lessons on the fig tree. The fig tree symbolizes Israel—He found no fruit from Israel. One day, He will restore Israel and reign over them in the Millennium and forever.

We can learn so many lessons from the barren fig tree. God wants us to be fruitful and bear more fruit, and much fruit. He desires that we as believers grow in Him and produce fruit for the Kingdom of God.

God can use us to bring souls to Christ, which is bearing spiritual fruit. In the Parable of the Soils, Jesus spoke of three types of soil where the seed fell: by the wayside, on rocky ground, among thorns, and on the good ground, which is the only one that results in salvation. The good ground produces fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some one hundredfold.

May the Lord not find us barren but fruitful both today and every day until His coming. Have a blessed and fruitful day. Stay safe and healthy.

Fruitful Christians are useful Christians; fruitful and useful Christians are happy Christians.

Dean

-April 14, 2025-

Good morning beloved, happy Monday,

“Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, ‘Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.”

(1 Samuel 14:6).

How could two men take on a garrison of at least twenty enemy soldiers all by themselves? The answer is clearly it was the Lord who was with them giving them the victory.

In nearly every occasion in Scripture, God gave the victory to His people were out manned and outgunned. In today’s story Jonathan, the son of King Saul, who was David’s best friend, had the faith to fight against the powerful Philistines. God is not restrained to save by many or by few. In fact, He needs nothing to do everything.

The Lord wants to teach us two vital lessons: don’t rely on yourself at all and rely fully on Him for all. The more a circumstance is impossible to us, the more glory goes to the Lord when He works for us. The Lord often uses our little resources to do great things.

Jonathan and his armor bearer climbed up on their hands and knees and into the enemy’s camp and killed about twenty men in a space of about one acre of land. It was a great victory! It was also accompanied by an earthquake and great trembling in the camp of the Philistines.

Isaiah 59:2 says, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.” God can do all things for us. His hand reaches down to us where we are and His ear bends low to hear our cries.

Kittie Louise Suffield wrote the beautiful hymn, “Little Is Much, When God Is in It.” She wrote in the second verse, “Does the place you’re called to labor seem so small and little known? It is great if God is in it, and He’ll not forget His own.” The chorus says, “Little is much when God is in it, labor not for wealth or fame; There’s a crown and you can win it, if you go in Jesus’ name.”’

If God is leading, we must step out in faith, and trusting Him for the victory. God is not restrained to deliver us by many or by few. Have a blessed day in His strength and wisdom. Stay safe and healthy.

Without Christ I can do nothing; with Christ I can do all things through His strength.

Dean