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 28, 2025, 6:56 AM
Passage Read: 1 John 3-4
Meditation Verses: 4:15-16
Thought
John gives us two evidences that God lives in us and we in Him: Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is God's Son and whoever lives in love. It's not an either/or but a both/and. If we acknowledge that Jesus is God's Son, then we recognize God's love for us in becoming one of us in order to pay the penalty for our sin and gift us eternal life.
Nov 27, 2025, 6:58 AM
Passage Read: 1 John 1-2
Meditation Verse: 2:21
Thought
This makes perfect sense, but at first pass seems an odd thing to say. I'd normally think it's not those who know the truth who need to be taught, but those who don't know the truth. But in reality, if someone doesn't know or believe the truth, then they won't be helped by the things John is writing.
Nov 26, 2025, 6:37 AM
Passage Read: 2 Peter 2-3
Meditation Verse: 2:10
Thought
The core components of these false teachers and false prophets is their devotion to the sinful nature and their rejection of authority. They are so arrogant as to slander celestial beings. They used to be believers or think they were believers, but because of their enslavement to their fleshly lusts, they do not get victory and cannot get victory over sin, so they must attack the authority of God's Word and His faithful messengers.
Nov 25, 2025, 8:58 AM
Passage Read: 1 Peter 5 - 2 Peter 1
Meditation Verses: 2 Peter 1:10-11
Thought
Salvation is by faith alone, but that faith carries certain hallmarks of genuineness. We have received everything we need for life and godliness through Christ and in the Holy Spirit, but that doesn't mean we have nothing to do. Rather, Peter calls us to apply all diligence to grow in every aspect of Christ.
Nov 24, 2025, 6:48 AM
Passage Read: 1 Peter 3-4
Meditation Verse: 4:11
Thought
This is God's expectation on anyone who presumes to preach or teach the Word of God. He must speak as if speaking the very words of God. He cannot come up with his own thoughts and ideas, but must be very clear what God's will and purpose is from any passage, and teach that. He can't use God's Word to teach his own ideas, he can't ignore God's Word and preach his own or others' ideas.
Nov 23, 2025, 8:49 AM
Passage Read: 1 Peter 1-2
Meditation Verse: 2:11
Thought
Peter keeps saying the same thing in different ways: We need to live holy lives and put away sinful ways. God will judge us impartially. We have been redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus. And here, our sinful desires war against our soul. They are not bad things that we should try to stop, they are evil things that are trying to destroy us.
Nov 22, 2025, 9:03 AM
Passage Read: James 4-5
Meditation Verses: 4:13-16
Thought
It seems like James is making a big deal out of a little thing. Don't we make plans and trust the Lord to lead in whatever way He desires? "Man makes his plans, but the Lord determines his steps," and things like that? But James says that "anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins," and this on the tail of this instruction.
Nov 21, 2025, 4:33 PM
Passage Read: James 2-3
Meditation Verses: 2:12-13
Thought
James is speaking here about the Law of Moses, and specifically those commands that relate to "loving your neighbor as yourself." While the Law no longer has authority over us, to judge us, it remains God's standard of righteous human behavior. It is a description of His own character and nature. While we will not be judged by the Law to determine our salvation, I can see how Jesus might use it to judge us to determine our reward.
Nov 20, 2025, 6:55 AM
Passage Read: Hebrews 13 - James 1
Meditation Verse: Hebrews 13:4
Thought
It's interesting that this instruction is addressed to everyone, which would include the married and the unmarried. Marriage is to be honored by all, and if it isn't, that means there is some kind of adultery or sexual immorality practiced or permitted by those who fail to honor it. For the married to dishonor marriage means they're willing to commit or have committed adultery.
Nov 19, 2025, 6:53 AM
Passage Read: Hebrews 11-12
Meditation Verse: 12:15
Thought
The writer here gives many things to watch out for, to "be sure that no one...." Two of them are missing the grace of God and allowing a root of bitterness to spring up. Missing the grace of God is behind all of these warnings, because it is the grace of God that allows us to endure and accept difficulties and trials, and it is the grace of God that enables and empowers us to do all things righteously.