The Reading Plan Daily Devotions

God is perfectly and continually generous. And, if we are to let Him lead us, we will be increasingly the same.   The Macedonia Christians understood this. They were a model of gracious generosity. Paul describes them in 2 Corinthians 8 , and in so doing, gives us a picture for all time of what real generosity looks like.   IT IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE GRACE OF GOD   Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia (vs. 1)   IT IS NOT DEPENDENT AT ALL ON WHAT YOU HAVE OR THE GOODNESS OF YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES, BUT IS FUELED BY THE JOY OF GENEROSITY   that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. (vs. 2)   IT TAKES YOU BEYOND YOUR ABILITY INTO THE RESOURCES OF GOD For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord (vs. 3)   IT IS SEEN AS A GREAT PRIVILEGE, NOT A DUTY begging us with much urging for

We are faced in this life with suffering. Our physical bodies are the laboratory for this suffering because they are gradually dying. Each cell in our bodies is coded with a certain number of times that cell will divide and then it stops dividing and dies. God has literally numbered our days on this earth.   But this should not alarm us but excite us if we know God through faith in Jesus Christ. This DNA timeline is a ticket to leave this world to something far better. Paul describes this in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 5.   1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mort

Remember the story of the twin boys? One was an incurable pessimist, the other an optimist. The parents, seeking to balance the two, gave the pessimist a new bike for Christmas and the optimist a bag of horse manure.   Christmas morning came. The parents asked the pessimist, "Do you like your new bike?" He replied, "It's okay, but it will probably rust, and I'll have a wreck and cut myself and probably have to have a tetanus shot."   Then they said, "Where's your brother?" To which he replied, "Oh, he got all excited and went outside saying something about trying to find his new horse!"   Everybody looks at life from the up or downside. Part of this is personality, but part is faith. Paul was a man of incredible spiritual perspective. As he describes his ministry in 2 Corinthians 4:8-18, he could have taken just one side of the equation, which some people do to their great detriment. He said he was …   1. Afflicted in every way 2. Per

"...who comforts us in all our affliction SO THAT we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2 Cor 1:4   "...we had the sentence of death within ourselves SO THAT we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope." 2 Cor: 1:9-10   "So that" indicates cause and effect and purpose. Something happened that created a result in order that something else could happen.   Paul in two words puts all of our problems, pressure, and afflictions in perspective. Here is the progression.   CRUSHING PRESSURE This is what the word means and is what we experience. We all have pressure and it weighs us down. The things you lay in bed and think about at night are your crushing pressures. The things that put a weight on your soul. That tempt you to worry and fear. That you can't

All of us are dramatically shaped by how we view ourselves. Some have too low a perspective; some too high. To be imbalanced here is harmful in either direction.   The Apostle Paul summed up his self-awareness in one important sentence as he wrote to the Corinthians.   “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)   THE WORK OF GRACE A proud man believes that he has made himself. He loudly boasts of his accomplishments so all may know what he has done. Paul, one of the most significant men in history (he wrote two-thirds of the New Testament), did not view his life that way. He realized everything that had been accomplished in his life happened by God’s grace.   Grace is unmerited favor. It is God giving you what you do not deserve. And, it is God's enabling power. When faced with tough difficulties Paul said that God's grace (enabli

We spend our lives trying to gain certain things and are full of joy when we get them. Our first car, our first job, our first home. Reputation and prestige and influence. The list is long. But, is it possible to have all those things and not have the most important thing?  Here’s what the Apostle Paul said: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)   Without the love of God flowing through your life, you have missed the most important thing. All you are is nothing, all you have is nothing, and all you have from all you do amounts to nothing. Pretty sobering.   WHAT IS REAL LOVE?   The word us

If you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, God has given you a spiritual gift(s) at the moment of your salvation. A spiritual gift is a "God-given, supernatural ability for service." It is different from natural talent, but talents can be the vehicle through which some gifts operate at times. Spiritual gifts are designed by God to shape and empower our role in the Kingdom of God.   It may be teaching, service, leadership, or administration. It could be the wonderful gift of exhortation or faith ... there are many gifts and the lists given in Scripture are often representative, not conclusive it seems. In 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12, Paul devotes a whole chapter (in fact, the next three chapters) to clear up some confusion about the gifts. He opens with a foundational statement.    4  Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.  5  And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.  6  There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in al

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. (1 Corinthians 9:22-23)   When any word in communication is emphasized repeatedly, it is there to alert us to its importance. When God repeats words or phrases in the Bible it is done for vital emphasis.   In the passage above, Paul uses the word "all" four times in two sentences. He is describing his whole life in a paragraph—why he lives and why we should live—and modeling for us how to move with incredible gospel effectiveness.   ALL THINGS “I have become all things”   Paul is willing to adapt his life in any way possible to reach people who do not know Jesus Christ. He does not care where or how he lives. He is content in a prison cell if he can proclaim the good news about Christ there. Physical constraints are immaterial to him for he is driven by a g

Everybody worships something. But here's the question: Where is our worship directed, and is that worthy of our adoration? For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us, there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. (1 Corinthians 8:5-6) MANY SO-CALLED GODS   Pleasure, power, comfort, reputation, sex, money ... we could go on and on. Humans are capable of making a god of almost anything that captures their attention. But these gods do nothing for us except ruin our lives and present false hopes of life and satisfaction. They are powerless to give us what we need.   We can bend and scrape and serve them (and we do in more ways than one), but in the end, what they provide is a worthless substitute for reality. They don't deliver, and they cannot. It's impossible for them to give what onl

We are faced in this life with suffering. Our physical bodies are the laboratory for this suffering because they are designed to leave this world. Each cell in our bodies is coded with a certain number of times that cell will divide and then it stops dividing and dies. God has literally numbered our days on this earth.   But this should not alarm us but encourage us if we know God through faith in Jesus Christ. For this DNA timeline is a ticket to leave the suffering of this world to something far better. Paul describes this in his second letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 5.   1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but t

Remember the story of the twin boys? One was an incurable pessimist, the other an optimist. The parents, seeking to balance the two, gave the pessimist a new bike for Christmas and the optimist a bag of horse manure.   Christmas morning came. The parents asked the pessimist, "Do you like your new bike?" He replied, "It's okay, but it will probably rust, and I'll have a wreck and cut myself and probably have to have a tetanus shot...."   Then they said, "Where's your brother?" To which he replied, "Oh, he got all excited and went outside saying something about trying to find his new horse!"   Everybody looks at life from the up or downside. Part of this is personality, but part is FAITH (one of the reasons we need each other.) Paul was a man of incredible faith. As he describes his ministry in 2 Corinthians 4 :8-18, he could have taken just one side of the equation, which is what some people do to their great detriment.   I am... 1. Af

Paul is contrasting in 1 Corinthians 1-2 , the wisdom of God from the supposed wisdom of men. Notice the elevation of the wisdom of God. And notice that God has graciously given this wisdom to us!   IT SEEMS LIKE FOOLISHNESS TO SOME   For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ( 1 Cor. 1:18 )   But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (2:14)   IT IS SPOKEN AMONG THE MATURE   "Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature ( 1 Cor. 2:6a )   IT IS NOT FOUND IN THOSE AROUND US   "...a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away." ( 1 Cor. 6:6b )   IT IS HIDDEN, A MYSTERY   "But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom... (2:7a)   IT IS PREDESTINED FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE   "...the hidden wisdom which

People are people and have been doing the same things the same way since the beginning of time. Although the culture changes, the heart of men is consistent. That’s one of the reasons that the Bible is so relevant to every area of life.   In Acts 19 , God is moving greatly, and “the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.” (vs. 20). It only took one greedy man. His name was Demetrius and his business was making silver images of the goddess Diana (Artemis) who was worshiped there in Ephesus. Demetrius started a riot, almost singlehandedly.   It began with greed: “Our prosperity depends upon this business ... Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people … there is a danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute.” (vs. 25-27) It was fueled by confusion: “The city was filled with confusion” (vs. 29) False accusations were made against Paul and then they dragged “Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions” into the riot, accusing them (vs.

"For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work..."  2 Thessalonians 2:7   An end is coming to this world as we know it. We often forget this. In this passage, Paul is clearing up some confusion that the Thessalonians had about the end of time. He reminds them that the end has not come and then lays out a few things that must happen before the end.   THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS   One of those is the coming of the ultimate Antichrist, the "man of lawlessness." There are many antichrists (John would later say), but this is the ultimate—the one who stands above all others and is the supreme opposer of God's work in human form. He is not Satan but is filled with Satan's spirit and carries out his will.   But then, Paul makes a clear statement referring to the fact that the "mystery of lawlessness" i.e., this strange, perverse law is already at work among us. The word "lawlessness" can be used interchangeably with the word "sin," but i