The Reading Plan Daily Devotions

We often do not understand this of God, for we understand far less than we could. But if you study the ways of God, you will discover that God is always previous. He is perfect in His timing and preparation. In the final verses of the Old Testament, God tells His people that Christ is coming. But before He arrives, God says, He will send someone to do preparatory work to get ready for the Messiah. “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6) We know from our perspective that this prophet was John the Baptist. This God-called man was used to show people their sins and their need for a Savior. He constantly pointed them to the coming Christ so that when Christ came, their hearts were ready. HIS PREPARATORY WORK NOW God is the same, and His wa

“Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:7b) It’s our consistent problem. We are continually distracted. Those of us who know Christ and have a personal relationship with Him struggle with being drawn away. And when we walk away from Christ, we lose the most essential thing in our lives. THE GREAT PROBLEM Distractions are everywhere. To be distracted means to be “drawn away.” Think of what pulls you away from what Paul called “the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus Christ.” We can be distracted by ... the enticements of sin busyness—even of good things, even religious activity work the pursuit of power, authority, fame, recognition boredom entertainment sports the world’s philosophies and ideas things that simply don’t matter the weakness of our flesh politics social media the love of ease and comfort money and possessions people and relationships You can add to that list, but the results are always the same. We lose intimacy with Christ. We

One of the great miracles is that God uses simple men and women to advance His Kingdom. Leaders who humble themselves before Him and have the precious gift of His indwelling can be a mighty force for His Kingdom. A SPIRITUAL LEADER’S TASK Malachi speaks of the priest’s responsibilities in his day. We could compare them, in some ways, to modern-day pastors.  “For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 2:7)  It is the highest privilege to be a spokesman for God Himself. Paul speaks of this role in Ephesians. He says ... He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulln

The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi. (Malachi 1:1) There is much that poses for spiritual ministry that is a shadow of what God intends. Tragically, we regularly hear of ministry leaders being exposed who have operated with selfish agendas, ulterior motives, and even horribly sinful habits. Satan loves to manipulate those who are not operating with God’s ways to try to discredit those who are.  HUMBLE MEN AND WOMEN But there are millions of humble men and women who are wonderfully used by God to advance His kingdom. We may not hear their names until heaven, but before God and others one day they will be greatly rewarded, and we will see the marvelous fruits of their faithful lives. The book of Malachi records, in three simple chapters, the work of such a man. And the key to his spiritual success is found in the  prepositions  of the first line of this profound book. “THE WORD  OF  THE LORD” Malachi was not bringing to the people (or to us) his thoughts or opini

God has designed you to live in constant communion with Him. Your life won’t work properly any other way. C.S. Lewis spoke of this. “God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity) THE MEANS OF PRAYER The tool that God has given us to maintain intimacy with Him is prayer. Prayer is nothing less than the continual communication between two who love each other. If we know our need for Him (which is humility) and long for His direction and guidance, we will talk to Him about everything throughout the day.

Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on top of the wall, and I appointed two great choirs ( Neh 12:31 ) I have noticed something fascinating and helpful in the life of David and his final act as King in  1 Chronicles 28-29 .  At this moment, David called all the people together. He cast vision for the building of the temple (which his son, Solomon was to build), and then he, then the leaders, then the people gave a great offering. It was a huge, corporate vision-casting and course-directing moment. Nehemiah does the same, recorded in Nehemiah 8-12. As they finish rebuilding the temple and restoring the wall, Nehemiah appoints choirs who stand on top of the wall on either side, and there is a great celebration.  ... on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy...so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar. ( Neh 12:43 ).  In addition to this, Nehemiah led the people to begin tithing again (bringing the first fruits, 10% of all they