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
Oct 31, 2022, 8:24 AM
Passage Read: 1 John 5 - 2 John 1
Meditation Verses: 2 John 1:7-8
Thought
We need to be on guard against those who deny that Jesus has come in the flesh. They are from the devil, they are of the antichrist. Interestingly, John writes asking them to watch themselves so that "we" may not lose the things "we" worked out, but receive a full reward. He's asking this "lady" and her elect children to resist the influence of the antichrists so that he may not lose his reward, nor the things he labored over.
Oct 30, 2022, 8:25 AM
Passage Read: 1 John 3-4
Meditation Verse: 4:18
Thought
How does this relate to the commands to fear God. Even Peter taught that we should fear God. How can there be fear where perfect love has driven out fear? Even John, when he saw Jesus glorified, fell down in fear at the beginning of the Revelation. As he says here, there should be no fear of punishment if we really know the love of God. His love should produce such security in us, such confidence because we know He will never leave us or forsake us, no matter how we fail Him.
Oct 29, 2022, 8:26 AM
Passage Read: 1 John 1-2
Meditation Verse: 2:29
Thought
We can recognize who has be born again by the Father through their actions. If they do what is righteous, which itself is defined by God through the Scriptures, then we can be confident that they are from God. Indeed, I can be confident that I am born of God if I do what the Bible teaches. Anyone who argues about the Bible's clear teachings rather than obeys and practices them, that person is not born of God, even though they attend church regularly or even teach God's Word.
Oct 28, 2022, 8:28 AM
Passage Read: 2 Peter 2-3
Meditation Verses: 3:3-5
Thought
The last days are defined by man's deliberate concealing of the Truth of creation. They will themselves to forget that the earth was created from nothing and through water by the word of the Lord. They suppress the truth and claim that all things continue as they always have. The promotion and adoption of evolution by society at large matches this prediction perfectly. The last days began more than two hundred years ago and must soon come to a conclusion.
Oct 27, 2022, 8:29 AM
Passage Read: 1 Peter 5 - 2 Peter 1
Meditation Verses: 1 Peter 5:2-3
Thought
Elders are supposed to exercise authority over their flock willingly, not under compulsion. In a sense, that means elders should not really be seeking the responsibility, and neither should they be forced into it. But they should see the need and be willing to step in to lead. Neither should they do it because they think they'll get rich doing it, but because of the need. There's a suggestion here that all the elders should receive some form of compensation, not like our modern idea that only the hired pastor receives a salary, though elsewhere it is written that those who do well should receive double honor.
Oct 26, 2022, 8:30 AM
Passage Read: 1 Peter 3-4
Meditation Verse: 4:15
Thought
"A murderer, a thief, an evildoer or a meddler in the affairs of others." Peter puts meddling in the affairs of others in the same category as murderers and thieves and evildoers! I know full well that I shouldn't kill anyone or steal things or practice evil, but do I recognize that I shouldn't meddle in the affairs of others? If I do, it's not much different in God's eyes from murder or theft. I need to keep my opinions to myself, I need to mind my own business.
Oct 25, 2022, 8:31 AM
Passage Read: 1 Peter 1-2
Meditation Verses: 1:13-18
Thought
Peter wants me to be holy, just as He who called me is holy. To do that, he calls me to set my hope perfectly on the grace to be given me at Christ's return, and to spend my days in fear of Him who judges justly without favoritism. He does not want me walking in old ways, in ways of the flesh and sin, in ways of my forefathers who didn't know God, or didn't obey Him. Peter wants me walking in God's ways of holiness and righteousness, and somehow both hope and fear should motivate me.
Oct 24, 2022, 8:20 AM
Passage Read: James 4-5
Meditation Verses: 4:15-16
Thought
I do not know the details of God's plans for me or anyone else, so to make declarations about events or actions or the future is presumptuous on my part. If the Lord should give me a revelation, then I can speak about the future; otherwise, I must be careful not to say anything definite about anyone or anything. I can speak according to God's Word, but God's Word does not give details about anyone living today.
Oct 23, 2022, 8:21 AM
Passage Read: James 2-3
Meditation Verse: 2:25
Thought
Rahab believed God would overthrow Jericho and so she acted. She didn't just believe and give up, she welcomed the spies and pleaded for her life and the life of her family. Whether her family also believed, Scripture doesn't say. They followed Rahab's instruction, but if they didn't believe, they still died in their sins eventually. So following the rules without faith doesn't save, but neither does having a "faith" that prompts no action.
Oct 22, 2022, 8:22 AM
Passage Read: Hebrews 13 - James 1
Meditation Verse: James 1:27
Thought
This is an interesting statement. James makes it sound like the most important thing we can do to be truly religious is to visit orphans and widows in their distress. And that's where most people stop reading, but he goes on to say that we also need to keep ourselves from being unstained by the world. Of course, visiting orphans and widows is relatively easy, so it's easy to understand why most people would only see that in this verse.