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 30, 2024, 9:15 PM
Passage Read: Revelation 19-20
Meditation Verse: 19:15
Thought
"He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty." Not just wrath but fierce wrath. We think God is so calm and merciful and gracious, but He's also filled with fierce wrath because men scorn His graciousness and kindness. Because He is so willing to forgive and to blot out sin on the basis of the sacrifice of His Son, men think He approves of their sinful behavior and beliefs because of His silence.
Nov 29, 2024, 9:17 PM
Passage Read: Revelation 17-18
Meditation Verses: 18:19-20
Thought
While the entire earth mourns the destruction of Babylon, there are two groups of people who rejoice: the Antichrist and his people, and the saints of God. In this one act, the devil and God are united; indeed, the Lord uses the devil for His own purposes, this is a great illustration of that fact. Satan is the killer and destroyer and thief.
Nov 28, 2024, 9:18 PM
Passage Read: Revelation 15-16
Meditation Verses: 16:5-6
Thought
God repays all men according to their deeds. The righteous, those who believe in the Lord will be blessed by Him with a share in His kingdom. The wicked, all the men of this last generation, the men who persecuted His believers not just in one corner of the world, but across the globe, all men will be given blood to drink because all men participated in the persecution, all men hated believers and Jesus, even if they didn't personally lay hands on a believer. God judges justly; everyone deserves to drink blood.
Nov 27, 2024, 7:01 AM
Passage Read: Revelation 13-14
Meditation Verses: 13:7-10
Thought
The beast is given authority over all the nations, which means Christians will be safe no where. Every nation will be required to pledge allegiance to the beast, to take his mark to buy and sell. He will make war on Christians and he will be able to reach every corner of the globe. There will be few safe places. All who dwell on the earth will worship the beast; they will gladly do his will.
Nov 26, 2024, 7:02 AM
Passage Read: Revelation 11-12
Meditation Verses: 11:11-14
Thought
The second woe, the sixth trumpet, has to do with these two prophets who torment the earth by their warnings and call all to repentance. They are perhaps explaining everything that is happening as the work of God, His judgment on mankind for their rebellion. They are perhaps warning them who follow the beast that eventually kills them that they will be destroyed by God.
Nov 25, 2024, 7:03 AM
Passage Read: Revelation 9-10
Meditation Verses: 9:20-21
Thought
Mankind was tormented for five months, at which time they looked for death but could not find it. They wanted to die, but God withheld death from them. Then at the next trumpet, God sent an angelic army against them to kill a third of mankind, to grant the desire of a third. Yet in spite of all this, they would not repent of their immortality or worship of demons or anything else.
Nov 24, 2024, 7:06 AM
Passage Read: Revelation 7-8
Meditation Verse: 7:3
Thought
God is very gracious to His people. Those who have trusted in Christ will be taken out of the world before He pours out His wrath on unbelieving mankind. Since the nations will be punished, He brings out those among the many nations who have believed in His Son. But Israel will remain, and 144,000 Jews will be sealed and protected.
Nov 23, 2024, 7:08 AM
Passage Read: Revelation 5-6
Meditation Verse: 6:2
Thought
I keep thinking this has to represent a person, but it's a spirit like the rest, perhaps an angel. He is a spirit of conquering and apparently incites rulers to go out and conquer. The next spirit has power to take peace from the earth so that men kill one another. The third brings famine and the fourth kills a quarter of the world's population, with what sounds like the help of the first three. Instead of looking for one ruler to go out and try to conquer the earth, like Hitler or the Japanese emperor, it could be many rulers making war on their neighbors to claim their lands.
Nov 22, 2024, 7:09 AM
Passage Read: Revelation 3-4
Meditation Verses: 3:1-4
Thought
The church at Sardis appears to be alive, but Jesus says they are dead. They're not yet lost, because He calls them to wake up and strengthen the things that are about to die. There is still something in them that has life, but it is fading. He says their deeds are lacking in His sight, and He says they have soiled they're garments. He calls them to remember what they have heard and received, to keep it and repent, otherwise, Jesus will come and they will not expect Him, perhaps like the foolish virgins who were left out when the bridegroom arrived.
Nov 21, 2024, 7:11 AM
Passage Read: Revelation 1-2
Meditation Verses: 2:19-20
Thought
The church at Thyatira is growing in dedication, love and obedience, but they have among them a woman who considers herself a prophetess, who teaches immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols. Some in the church follow her, but some do not. Those who do not need only to hold fast what they have, but those who follow her need to repent, as she also does.