Devotions from November 2023

Passage Read: 1 John 1-2 Meditation Verses: 2:18-19 There are those who are sent out and there are those who go out. In John's third letter, he mentions those who have been sent out. They still represent John and so remain a part of him…

Passage Read: 1 John 3-4 Meditation Verses: 3:4-10 John really is writing this letter so that those who receive it can know whether they are saved or not. He gives so many signs of a true and false believer. This sign has to do with…

Passage Read: 1 John 5 - 2 John 1 Meditation Verses: 1 John 5:16-18 I need to pray for those who commit sin, that God would grant them life, which seems to include repentance and giving up their sin in this context. All wrongdoing is…

Passage Read: 3 John 1 - Jude 1 Meditation Verse: Jude 1:4 How do such men secretly slip in among the believers when their deeds and words are so clearly evil? They must be careful not to say much in the main gathering of believers…

Passage Read: Revelation 1-2 Meditation Verse: 2:5 For all their purity of doctrine and alertness to false teachers, the Ephesian church was not perfect. They had lost their first love and the fervent deeds that came with it. Jesus didn't establish His church merely to…

Passage Read: Revelation 3-4 Meditation Verses: 4:8-11 In my flesh, I think, "How boring it would be to spend eternity repeating the same thing over and over again, and bowing down and getting up just to do it all over again in a few minutes."…

Passage Read: Revelation 5-6 Meditation Verse: 5:5 Jesus triumphed and so is worthy to open the scroll. How did He triumph? According to the songs that follow, He triumphed by giving His life to purchase men for God from every tribe and language and people…

Passage Read: Revelation 7-8 Meditation Verse: 7:14 These came through the great tribulation in faithfulness to Jesus. They survived, they washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from…

Passage Read: Revelation 9-10 Meditation Verse: 10:4 Not everything has been revealed, and I need to be OK with that. The Lord knows exactly what He's doing and plans to do, and I need to trust Him and obey what He has revealed. He is…

Passage Read: Revelation 11-12 Meditation Verse: 12:11 The only way to overcome the devil and his hatred of believers is by the blood of Christ, by our testimony and by not loving our life so much as to shrink from death for Christ's sake. The…

Passage Read: Revelation 13-14 Meditation Verse: 13:5 The Antichrist receives authority over all mankind only for forty-two months! During that time, he blasphemes God, he makes successful war on the saints, rules over all the nations, because all people who aren't recorded in the Book…

Passage Read: Revelation 15-16 Meditation Verses: 16:9-11 Three times in this chapter of the seven last plagues of God's wrath men curse God and refuse to repent. They refuse to admit they were wrong, even as God pours out His wrath on them, proving they…

Passage Read: Revelation 17-18 Meditation Verse: 18:20 A day is coming when the saints and apostles and prophets will rejoice over the destruction of those who hated them. All heaven will rejoice over the destruction of Babylon, and the saints, apostles and prophets will do…

Passage Read: Revelation 19-20 Meditation Verses: 20:1-3 Satan is so easily captured and bound: One angel and a chain. He could be removed so easily, if God desired. But he has a part to play, deceiving the nations. When he is imprisoned, he will not…

Passage Read: Revelation 21-22 Meditation Verses: 22:11-12 God lets everyone choose their path, but He decides the result. He is coming with His reward. For those who are vile, for those who do wrong, there will be suffering and torment for eternity. If that's the…

Passage Read: Genesis 1-4 Meditation Verse: 4:9 Adam and Eve hid from the Lord, but when confronted, they confessed what had happened. People like to say they shifted blame, but they told the truth about what happened, which is useful if someone wants to identify…

Passage Read: Genesis 5-8 Meditation Verse: 8:21 Though God destroyed all men except Noah and his family, He didn't eradicate the wickedness in men's hearts. He acknowledges here that the intent of man's heart remains evil from his youth. So the flood didn't fix man,…

Passage Read: Genesis 9-12 Meditation Verses: 12:14-16 By Joseph's day, the language of the Israelites and Egyptians was different enough to require a translator. The languages were changed at Babel, before Abram was born, and Abram was from another family, whose language likely was different…

Passage Read: Genesis 13-16 Meditation Verses: 13:8-10 Lot was far better off remaining with Abram, though he didn't know that yet. But when he separated from Abram, he chose the river valley because it looked so good for supporting his flocks. He didn't seem concerned…

Passage Read: Genesis 17-20 Meditation Verses: 18:32-33 Sodom and Gomorrah are exceedingly wicked; complaints about them have reached heaven. People want justice and God is sending messengers to confirm the complaints. They stop at Abraham's place and God explains what He's about to do. Abraham,…

Passage Read: Genesis 21-24 Meditation Verses: 21:12-14 Abraham doesn't want to give up Ishmael, but Ishmael is not the son of the promise, so God tells Abraham to send him away. God promises to take care of Ishmael and multiply him, but he must go.

Passage Read: Genesis 25-28 Meditation Verses: 27:1-2 Isaac had to be at least eighty, and he would live at least another twenty years, the time it took for Jacob to pay his debts to Laban and return. He had gone blind and felt his age,…

Passage Read: Genesis 29-32 Meditation Verses: 31:11-13 If it ever occurs to Jacob to leave, he didn't do it, not until the Lord tells him to. Though he is oppressed by his uncle, he keeps his word to serve, even though there was no time…

Passage Read: Genesis 33-36 Meditation Verses: 34:2-4 This appears to be the culture in Canaan and beyond: Take the girl you want, then negotiate with the father (or brother). It happened to Abraham twice, Isaac was warned about the same thing possibly happening, and now…

Passage Read: Genesis 37-40 Meditation Verses: 39:10-14 Surely the other men of the household, the other slaves, knew what was going on. They surely had seen and heard what Potiphar's wife was doing to Joseph. But what could they do? As slaves they couldn't argue…