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
Sep 10, 2022, 8:17 AM
Passage Read: Romans 16 - 1 Corinthians 1
Meditation Verses: Romans 16:17-18
Thought
Anyone who teaches doctrine contrary to what Paul taught needs to be avoided. Such men are not serving the Lord or the church, but their own bellies. They are seeking to gain leadership over a group of believers so that those Believers can support them, and they'll teach whatever they need in order to gain a following. Because their motivation is not Christ and the Truth, they have no intention of knowing the Truth and therefore cannot teach it accurately.
Sep 9, 2022, 8:20 AM
Passage Read: Romans 14-15
Meditation Verses: 14:20-21
Thought
There are those who believe certain foods to be wrong to eat, like the Hindus. If they were to come to Christ, they might have a difficult time accepting those who eat meat, especially cows. In sensitivity to them, until they became convinced in the Lord that eating any meat was acceptable to God, I would need to refrain from eating beef, at least in their presence. It would be challenging for someone like that to suddenly throw off everything they believed from their youth.
Sep 8, 2022, 8:21 AM
Passage Read: Romans 12-13
Meditation Verse: 12:16
Thought
I need to be careful not to pay special attention to some and less attention to others. Not to be arrogant but to be humble, and not to give special treatment to the mighty or the powerful, but give the same treatment to all, rich and poor, influential and insignificant. I need to recognize that God has chosen more of the poor to be saved than the rich and powerful. I need to accept that God knows what He's talking about and trust His judgment.
Sep 7, 2022, 8:22 AM
Passage Read: Romans 10-11
Meditation Verses: 11:19-23
Thought
Salvation by faith is not a once-for-all guarantee of salvation. Faith is only good for as long as it lasts. If someone should abandon faith, they will be lost. That is the point of Paul's letter to the Galatians. The idea that someone prayed a prayer or was baptized and so is eternally secure is false. It is not a one-off that saves, but a living, growing faith in Christ that is saving faith. And faith must be held fast to the end to truly save.
Sep 6, 2022, 8:23 AM
Passage Read: Romans 8-9
Meditation Verses: 8:35-39
Thought
This was such a happy chapter up till this point. God won't withhold anything from us, we should be so happy! He wants to give us everything! He gave His own Son, how will He not freely give us everything else? But then Paul writes this, that in every form of horrible thing, we are not separated from the love of Christ. He doesn't write about wonderful experiences and victories, but about trials and tribulations. He doesn't write about prosperity but trouble.
Sep 5, 2022, 8:24 AM
Passage Read: Romans 6-7
Meditation Verse: 7:8
Thought
"Apart from Law, sin is dead." This cannot mean that there was no sin before the Law, because he's already said sin was in the world before the Law, but it was not imputed without the Law. God says back in Genesis 6 that every inclination of the thoughts of our hearts was only evil from childhood. Cain killed Abel, Lamech killed a young man. Sin was active in the world even without the Law, and so God destroyed the world with a flood long before He gave the Law.
Sep 4, 2022, 8:25 AM
Passage Read: Romans 4-5
Meditation Verses: 5:3-5
Thought
Afflictions produce patience, patience produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. Because we must endure affliction and can't do much to change it, we have to learn endurance and patience. Though we might be in a hurry to find a way out, yet the way out does not always immediately present itself, so we must endure. And as we endure, if we still seek to do what is good and right, we are developing tested and proven character.
Sep 3, 2022, 8:27 AM
Passage Read: Romans 2-3
Meditation Verse: 2:25
Thought
The problem with trusting in signs and marks is that we don't bother to walk in the way we are called to, we think the mark we have received guarantees our acceptance. So it was with the Jews who thought being circumcised guaranteed their inclusion in the blessings of God for the nation. But anyone who was circumcised but did not walk in obedience to the Law, their circumcision was meaningless.
Sep 2, 2022, 8:28 AM
Passage Read: Acts 28 - Romans 1
Meditation Verse: Romans 1:21
Thought
It is a dangerous thing to acknowledge God but not allow Him to be God. Men who know God but do not glorify Him as God by submitting to His every decree are taking upon themselves a responsibility they do not own. And by setting aside the Lord and exalting themselves to the place of law-giver, they have already corrupted the source of their wisdom, so that the fruit of their reasonings will be in error. Submission to God as God, and gratitude for His guidance and authority, are the beginning of wisdom and will lead to right conclusions about man, the world and God.
Sep 1, 2022, 12:10 PM
Passage Read: Acts 26-27
Meditation Verses: 27:21-22
Thought
Without God's grace and intervention, there would have been loss of life along with all of the ship and everything in it. That was the track they were on if they sailed from Fair Havens against God's instruction. But having set sail and being caught in the wind, the Lord was committed to protect Paul, and Paul pleaded for the lives of everyone else on board, which God granted him. So it was not like Paul's prophecy failed, but God intervened on Paul's behalf and gave him the lives of all the rest on board.
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