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
Nov 6, 2023, 7:55 AM
Passage Read: Revelation 1-2
Meditation Verse: 2:5
Thought
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 have right doctrine, but to preach the gospel and make disciples. There are churches who are called to simply "hang on," but they are churches in the midst of great suffering and hostility.
Nov 5, 2023, 7:59 AM
Passage Read: 3 John 1 - Jude 1
Meditation Verse: Jude 1:4
Thought
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 but do their grumbling and fault-finding in small groups, where the leadership is not as alert. How important it is to have mature and wise believers in every small group. Indeed, for one or more of the elders and pastors to join in every meeting of believers.
Nov 3, 2023, 8:01 AM
Passage Read: 1 John 5 - 2 John 1
Meditation Verses: 1 John 5:16-18
Thought
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 sin, and the one who belongs to God does not continue to sin. So if someone sins and I pray for them, and even attempt to correct them, but they don't change, then they probably don't belong to God. In that case, I need to pray for their repentance and belief in Christ!
Nov 2, 2023, 8:02 AM
Passage Read: 1 John 3-4
Meditation Verses: 3:4-10
Thought
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 sin: Jesus Christ came to take away our sins, which we usually understand to mean forgiveness of past sins, which is of course correct. But he goes on to say that anyone who keeps on sinning is not of Jesus but of the devil.
Nov 1, 2023, 8:10 AM
Passage Read: 1 John 1-2
Meditation Verses: 2:18-19
Thought
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 and partners with him. But here he talks about men who have become antichrists: They went out from John, but we're not partners with him. They deserted John, as Paul would put it. They abandoned John and his teachings.