Personal Devotions
Notes from Mark's personal Bible reading and meditation
With a goal to apply one truth from each day's reading to my life that day
Aug 21, 2022, 12:29 PM
Passage Read: Acts 4-5
Meditation Verses: 5:25-26
Thought
The apostles were arrested after helping a man, yet people still believed and joined the disciples! They were arrested, jailed, and an angel set them free and told them to go preach again about Jesus in the Temple. So they obeyed...and we're again arrested, but this time respectfully. The apostles could have been scared that they would be put to death and the budding church destroyed. They could have gone into hiding or fled, but they didn't.
Aug 20, 2022, 12:32 PM
Passage Read: Acts 2-3
Meditation Verses: 3:12,16
Thought
Miraculous signs weren't to draw attention to the worker, but the Lord. The man was healed by the faith that Peter had (or the man himself had when Peter told him to stand). The miracle would win a hearing for the Gospel, but Peter was quick to point out that it wasn't him who healed the man, but faith in Jesus. That is the purpose of miraculous signs, to bring glory to Jesus.
Aug 19, 2022, 7:14 AM
Passage Read: John 21 - Acts 1
Meditation Verse: John 21:16
Thought
Jesus asks Simon Peter three times if he loved Him, and three times commissioned him to feed His sheep. Once for every time Peter denied Him. It is interesting that Jesus made feeding His sheep the responsibility of one who loved Him. If someone loves Jesus, he should care for those who belong to Jesus; he should shepherd them. And those that love Jesus, those that truly belong to Him will follow the voice of the one sent by Jesus.
Aug 18, 2022, 7:16 AM
Passage Read: John 19-20
Meditation Verse: 20:27
Thought
Jesus had mercy on Thomas, though he doubted Jesus' resurrection. He wasn't insulted or angered that Thomas doubted, but offered up His hands and side for Thomas to touch. It doesn't appear that Thomas touched the wounds, but simply fell to his knees and worshiped the Lord. He didn't need to put his fingers or hand in the wounds once he saw the risen Lord. He could see clearly that Jesus was alive.
Aug 17, 2022, 7:17 AM
Passage Read: John 17-18
Meditation Verses: 18:22-23
Thought
There are many things that people declare to be wrong, that people will accuse me of doing wrong, but not all things they call wrong are indeed wrong. Some do not really understand right from wrong. Some are biased in a particular direction. Some are so timid that most things seem wrong. The standard of right and wrong is God and set by God. God says not to speak evil of the leaders of our people, but He didn't say that we should never call out what we see to be incorrect or in error.
Aug 16, 2022, 7:19 AM
Passage Read: John 15-16
Meditation Verse: 16:19
Thought
We usually ask one another when we do not understand the things God says. That is only helpful to the degree that there are some among us who have walked with God longer and more closely than us. But even better is to go directly to Jesus with our questions. We ask in prayer and read His Word to find His answer. There is no better source of understanding than God himself, who first spoke these things, who knows best what He means.
Aug 15, 2022, 7:20 AM
Passage Read: John 13-14
Meditation Verses: 13:3-4
Thought
The key to true humility is knowing what has been done for me, who I belong to and where I am going. Jesus knew that He was promised everything for His obedience to the Father. He knew that He had come from the Father to do His will, and when He had finished all things, He would be returning to the Father. His confidence in the promises of the Father made it easy to give up all things on earth. He didn't have to be king now.
Aug 14, 2022, 7:21 AM
Passage Read: John 11-12
Meditation Verses: 12:27-28
Thought
Jesus understood what was coming, and it caused Him stress. He knew He had a choice, that He could flee. But He also knew that He had come into the world for this very hour. From the beginning He knew this hour was coming, and now it was at hand. He had dreaded it, but it had remained a long way off. Now it was here, now the full weight of it was on Him. Yet His response remained submission to the plan, though it cost Him dearly.
Aug 13, 2022, 7:22 AM
Passage Read: John 9-10
Meditation Verse: 9:22
Thought
How hard it is to take a chance on God, who is not right beside us at all times. Word of Jesus' words and deeds had spread far and wide. His parents knew about Jesus and could see the miracle, but they feared being cut off from the synagogue. They were more concerned about safety and the declaration of the religious leaders than they were willing to believe what Jesus was saying and doing. And so it is with me.
Aug 12, 2022, 7:23 AM
Passage Read: John 7-8
Meditation Verses: 8:42-44
Thought
Jesus pulls no punches here. He makes it clear that these Jews who argue with Him are not from God, but the devil. When Jesus says they cannot hear what He is saying, He doesn't mean they are physically deaf, but that they are unwilling to receive and believe and obey what He is saying. They reject His Word because they do not love God, but love the devil. They refuse to give God's Word a place in their hearts. They won't listen to it.
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