Prospering On God's Promises: 365 Days of Faith-Building Devotions

By David Wesley Reid

Enough is enough! Contemporary culture has become so antagonistic to Christian beliefs and values that it has put many Christians on the defensive. This isn't good, it isn't necessary, and it isn't right. Christianity is good news, enduring in its truths and applicable to all persons in all places at all times. We Christians never need to feel defensive about what we believe. Christ is God's unique revelation in history, and the Christian message is life-giving. God has given us so many great promises in his word that reinforce the timeless vitality and applicability of the Christian message, promises that prosper the soul. This book is all about these great promises, offered in daily devotional form and complete with a brief prayer.

Christians survive and thrive on God's promises. They're the spiritual air we breathe. Believing and trusting in God's promises will make us spiritually healthy, of if you will, prosperous

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685700379

Book preview

January 1

Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…

—Romans 5:1

Martin Luther was a man of religious passion, driven to achieve a level of personal righteousness that he hoped would close the gap between him and God. He became a monk and devoted himself to long hours of prayer, fasting, and confession. Yet despite all his effort, he felt no closer to God than when he began. Despair gripped him until he read Romans 1:17: The righteous shall live by faith. At last! With this verse, he found the inner peace he’d long sought. Getting right with God or overcoming the gap (i.e., being justified) comes from faith in Christ, not our effort. Righteousness is a gift from God, not something we can earn.

Regrettably, most persons live in the shallows, thinking of God as they would a loving grandfather in whose eyes they can do no wrong. As a result, they’re convinced that he’ll escort them swiftly into heaven when their time comes. But the Bible cautions, Not so fast. God is holy, and we’re unholy. As a result, were it not for the righteousness of Christ being given to us by the Lord through our faith, the gap between us would never be closed. We’d be eternally lost, dying not just a physical death but also a spiritual one. It’s only faith in Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice on the cross that promises a gap-overcoming reconciliation with the heavenly Father.

Early in the New Year, what better thing could we do than focus on Jesus and the gift of righteousness that God has given us through him? It’s a gift of unmatched value and should produce a depth of gratitude in us that makes us long to live with him forever.

Prayer

Dear God, I rededicate my life to your Son and my Savior, Jesus. Please help me worship him and live for him in everything I say and do. Amen.

January 2

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

—Galatians 3:29

As Christians, we’re in Abraham’s family. He, by faith, greeted Christ from afar. We, by faith, also greet Christ from afar. He looked forward in history. We look backward. Either way, we share the same spiritual roots. As such, we join with all believers before us and all who will come after in becoming heirs of God’s promised redemption in Jesus. In Romans 8, the apostle Paul expressed it this way: we’re heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). This is truly good news.

What will the promised inheritance be like? One thing we know for sure is that all suffering will be over. Disease will be gone. Divorce will never occur. Failure will be a thing of the past. Disappointment will evaporate. Accidents will cease. Conflict will end. Wars will never take place. All that cause us pain and sorrow will be eradicated, and we’ll live in harmony with Jesus and one another while garbed in our glorified, sin-free body (1 Corinthians 15). How can our minds grasp the glory of this? It can’t. Even in our imagination, we can’t construct the grandeur of it all. But if the Bible is to be believed and if Jesus is to be trusted, all this and more will fulfill God’s promise to us and the believers who came before us, like Abraham. Listen to the testimony of John the apostle:

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:3–4)

Prayer

Dear Lord, I can’t imagine the blessing of what lies ahead. And what a thrill to know that I’ll share it with all the believers in history, including Abraham. What a promise! Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.

January 3

I have given you a new heart and put my own Spirit within you.

—Ezekiel 36:26–27

As the psychiatrist M. Scott Peck wrote in The Road Less Traveled, Life is difficult. Yes, it is. Sometimes the difficulties just happen, with no input from us. But all too often, they’re self-inflicted—a job lost because we couldn’t curb our tongue, a marriage broken because of our unfaithfulness, a friendship ruined because we violated a confidence, a chronic illness because we couldn’t restrain a bad habit, or a suffocating indebtedness because we refused to curtail spending. The list of potential self-inflicted difficulties is virtually endless, even for Christians.

The question is this: How do we climb out of the holes we’ve dug for ourselves? Generally, we can’t do it just by trying harder. So are we trapped? Absolutely not. Not if we repent of our wrong and ask for help. God’s grace and forgiveness are boundless, and his power is unlimited. Plus, he’s a God who’s all in favor of new beginnings for his faithful children.

Ezekiel the prophet was eager to convey this message to the Jews who were living in captivity to the Babylonians. Even though they brought trouble on themselves, God offered them a fresh start, a new beginning. The key was to gain a new heart and a new spirit. And with God’s help, they did. Therefore, God rescued them from their plight and gave them another chance to get it right. He restored them to their homeland.

Are you in a hole of your own doing? If so, repent of your wrong and petition God to give to you what he gave to the Jews long ago, a new heart and a new spirit. His promise of restoration is available.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I’m often amazed at how badly I can mess up my life. I come to you now repenting of my wrongdoing, asking if you will give me a new heart, a new spirit, and a new beginning. Amen.

January 4

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

—John 3:16

There are many high-water mark verses in the Bible, but none is higher than John 3:16. While it’s true that all Scripture is inspired by God, John 3:16 seems to have an extra infusion of the divine in it, since no other verse in the Bible has helped more persons accept the truth about Jesus than this one. And maybe this is also the reason it’s the most memorized verse in the Bible. Often, even nominal Christians can quote it from memory.

God so loved the world, John says. But make no mistake. This is no ordinary love (i.e., it’s a love that’s utterly selfless and therefore beyond what even the noblest human being can generate). The New Testament Greek uses the distinctive word agape to capture it, a love so selfless and sacrificial that it moved God to give his only Son to die on a cross as an atonement for our sin, a gift like no other in history! Without this gift, we’d all be separated from our holy God forever; but with it, John says, We die physically, but never die spiritually. What a promise. Later in the gospel, Jesus himself echoes this truth by declaring, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live (John 11:25).

But ask yourself, What does John mean by the word believe? Surely, believing is more than an act of the mind. Indeed, it is. Believing involves the totality of our being. It means accepting the whole truth about Jesus by faith and then demonstrating this acceptance through willful obedience to his commands.

Prayer

Dear Jesus, I want my faith to be more than words. I want it to be actions as well. Please show me each day how to care for others with your love. It’s in your name that I pray. Amen.

January 5

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son.

—Colossians 1:13

When saved by faith, we’re delivered from Satan’s dark domain; but as long as we’re in this body, we must wait to realize the fulfillment of this transfer. The final deliverance won’t be brought to fruition until we reach heaven, where the light of Jesus’s love will shine continuously, filling our souls with a joy that’s more than we could ever experience in the here and now. In another of his letters, the apostle Paul reminds us that in this life, we continue to struggle against the rulers of the darkness of this world (Ephesians 6:12). Some years earlier, Jesus told it like it is when he declared that we’ll have tribulation as long as we’re living on earth (John 16:33) but that we should always remember that he has overcome the world. The really good news is that here in Colossians, Paul promises that at the time of our conversion, our citizenship is permanently transferred from the domain of darkness to what we know from the Bible as God’s kingdom of light.

Think for a moment. Almost daily, we’re confronted with hardships, sometimes intensely so, and they’re often accompanied by a level of hurt that can become hard to bear. How then do we cope? One word—hope. A sure hope, an unshakable hope, an unbreakable hope, a godly hope, a hope that keeps us going when things get tough. A hope that grows out of the Lord’s promise that one day, in his kingdom, God will take away all pain and replace it with perfect health and wholeness.

Does the promise of being transferred to the kingdom of the beloved Son sound exciting and hopeful? It certainly should.

Prayer

Dear God, you know well how hard life can be and how much I need hope to cope. The mere promise that one day, you will take away all my pain absolutely floods me with the hope I need. Thank you, Lord. Amen.

January 6

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

—Ephesians 1:4–5

For some, this might be a challenging promise because it surfaces the controversial theological issue of predestination. Reformed Christians say this verse declares that God chose certain individuals before time and predestined them for salvation. Other theologians say, Not so. God is speaking collectively about Christians here, not individually. And the choosing is for service, not salvation. The us is referred to be a corporate us. God predestined us collectively to serve him.

Deeply committed biblical Christians have come down on both sides of this debate. No doubt, you have your own conviction on the subject. But for today, perhaps the wiser course is not to focus on the how of salvation, but on the who and the what.

This verse promises that all Christians enjoy special standing as sons and daughters of Jesus the King. This is who we are. When we commit to Christ, we’re adopted into God’s family, becoming joint heirs with the Lord of all the blessings of heaven (Romans 8:17).

And what are we saved for? Most assuredly, we’re saved for heaven but also to reveal the love and character of Jesus to the world through the way we relate. Reformed theologians say that our service is to awaken others by the power of the Holy Spirit to their chosen status. Non-reformed theologians say, No, our service is to enable them to see Jesus, hear his message, hopefully to prepare them to come to Christ of their own volition, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Either way, the facts are these. As Christ followers, we enjoy special standing as members of God’s family. This is the grand promise. And because we do, we’re called to be faithful servants.

Prayer

Father, I know Christians differ on predestination. But in heaven, we’ll unite around Jesus, along with all believers who loved and served you. Thank you for bringing us together. Amen.

January 7

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

—Genesis 1:27–28

Only men and women are created in the imago dei (image of God). And only men and women are privileged, as God’s image bearers, to have dominion over creation. In the garden of Eden, God invited us to exercise this dominion, to responsibly manage all that he created. And what did the Lord promise us if we do? That we’ll be blessed with fruitfulness (i.e., we’ll multiply in number and enjoy the authority he’s entrusted to us).

As is all too evident, however, we human beings haven’t done a stellar job. We’ve sullied everything by assuming ownership responsibility, not management responsibility. The result? A fractured creation—no longer at peace with ourselves, others around us, our environment, or our Lord (see Genesis 3).

As Christians, one dimension of our calling is to exercise responsible dominion again, with the full understanding that we’re not the owners but the managers of God’s world. As we do, however, we must recognize and accept that the die is cast on this creation. It’s broken beyond repair. God must do something new. A new Eden is needed, and only his omnipotent hand will be able to recreate what once was. Note that in John’s vision, the new heaven and earth come from heaven. Revelation 21:1–2 says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…coming down out of heaven from God…

Prayer

Dear Lord, please help me to be a responsible manager of the portion of this earth over which you’ve given me dominion. As I do, I eagerly await your new heaven and earth. Amen.

January 8

The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

—Psalm 33:11

Name one thing that stays the same forever. The answer is, The counsel of the Lord. This is the promise of Psalm 33. God’s counsel will remain the same for all eternity. Everything in life changes, but God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (see Hebrews 13:8). Who he was yesterday is who he is today and who he will be in the future. What comfort there is in knowing that God and his guidance are what the theologians call immutable. Just as he counseled his people in the past, he counsels us today. His nature, his direction, and his plans will never be altered or replaced.

In a world full of shifting sand, we can relax in the immutable nature of Almighty God. What he prescribes is forever binding. Appreciate what this means. We’re eternally secure in our knowledge that having staked our lives on the Lord, we’re always on solid footing. Changing the metaphor, we never have to worry that God will pull the rug out from underneath us. Nothing can happen, on a small or grand scale, that will make God any different from who he’s always been. The God of Abraham, Isaac, David, Isaiah, and Paul, just to name a few biblical giants, is our God too.

Many people think history is a random sequence of events anarchy played out on the earthly stage. Were this true, life would be terrifying. But praise God, it isn’t true. For a while, the fog of living in a broken world might obscure our vision of the Lord, but he never leaves or forsakes us. The fog always lifts, and God reappears, reassuring us that life is good and that his counsel and plans are unchanged.

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, having staked my life on you and your counsel for living, I never need to worry that you’re going to change who you are or how you want me to live. Thank you. Amen.

January 9

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

—Psalm 103:8

Who among us hasn’t said or done things that offend God? Everyone has. As the apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 3:23, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the truth is this: if someone were to offend us as often as we offend God, we’d soon bid them adieu and move on. Fortunately, God isn’t like us. For example, consider how long-suffering he was with the Jews, his chosen people, throughout their exodus from Egypt. Rebellions, complaints, and general corrupt behavior were the norm, but God never wrote them off. It was quite the opposite. At the burning bush, the Lord met Moses; and consistent with his long-suffering nature, he promised that he would always protect and provide for them. Then he sealed this promise with a covenant, the fourth covenant in the Old Testament, the so-called Mosaic covenant. So impressed, even overwhelmed, was the psalmist with God’s long-suffering nature that he wrote this psalm of praise, commanding his soul no less than three times to bless the Lord.

God is still the same today. As he dealt with the Jews, he’ll deal with us, never approving of our disobedience, in fact, often chastising us for it, but always offering a chance for repentance and renewal. What a remarkable God we worship and serve!

As Christians, we’re expected to emulate the God we love and worship. Therefore, take stock of your relationships. Think about those who have offended you, even those who’ve done so many times over. By the power of the Holy Spirit, extend to them the same long-suffering that God extends to you. Be merciful and gracious. Be slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Prayer

O God, I’ve offended you so often. I’m so sorry. I repent and humbly ask for a new start so I can show others the same long-suffering you show me. Amen.

January 10

For I the Lord do not change…

—Malachi 3:6

A woman called her pastor to ask if she could counsel with him. He agreed. So the next day, she came to his office, in tears. Her husband wanted a divorce. When the pastor asked why, she told him that she recently had an affair. Overwhelmed with remorse, she then confessed her sin to her husband, and now he wanted out of the marriage. The guilt she felt over hurting him pained her greatly, but even worse was the guilt she felt before the Lord. She was sure that her affair was a sin that God could never forgive.

With this story in mind, consider the promise of Malachi in today’s verse. Although written specifically for Israel, it’s a promise of God that’s applicable to all generations. Why? Because God never changes. He’s immutable. For example, his forgiving spirit is forever. The pastor reminded his guilt-stricken parishioner of this and told her that with sincere repentance, she would be forgiven, citing several biblical passages to establish his point. After all, no sin is beyond God’s compassionate reach. No sin is beyond the limits of the Lord’s love.

After a lengthy conversation, this young wife then prayerfully confessed her sin to the Lord, repented, and left the pastor’s office feeling like a new woman. She wasn’t sure of her husband’s forgiveness, but she was certain of the Lord’s. And that alone was a huge weight off her shoulders.

Just as Malachi’s promise offered the hope of forgiveness to the Jews, so this promise offers hope to us.

Are you burdened by guilt? Is it weighing you down? Would you like to be freed? Confess your sin, repent, and know that God’s forgiving spirit is as available now as it’s always been.

Prayer

Gracious God, I’m so relieved to know that you’re a forgiving God. I need your forgiveness now, Lord, as I confess my sin to you. Amen.

January 11

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

—Jeremiah 29:13

No one likes being in a bad place, especially one that’s self-inflicted. Think about the husband who sits alone in his apartment because his wife got tired of his excessive drinking or the old man gasping for breath because he couldn’t give up smoking or the woman facing massive debt because she couldn’t rein in her spending or the parent whose son is rebelling because he was never disciplined. The list of self-inflicted bad places is endless.

The Jews were in a self-inflicted bad place when Jeremiah shared God’s promise of restoration. While they were exiled in Babylon because of their disobedience, God promised that if they seek him with all their hearts, they’ll find him. God never turns his back on his own, even if we’ve brought our trouble on ourselves.

Are you in a bad place now, and is it of your own making? And do you feel spiritually lost or alienated from God as a result? Jeremiah’s promise to the Jews should serve as a promise to you and every Christian. God will help us reboot our lives and our relationship with him if we honestly and earnestly seek him. We’re his family, and it hurts him, as it does us, for us to be cut off from one another, even if we’ve brought it on ourselves. Remember the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Note how the grieving father greeted the return of his wayward son with a great celebration.

If you’re in a bad place of your own doing and feeling cut off from the Lord, seek him with all your heart, and you’ll find that like the father of the prodigal, he’ll run to greet you with open arms.

Prayer

Lord, I’m struggling. I’ve dug a hole for myself, and I feel far from you. I want to come home to you with all my heart. Thank you for keeping that door wide open for me. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.

January 12

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

—Matthew 13:43

What Christian hasn’t wondered what Christ’s return will be like? There’ll be no problem for believers who are residents of God’s kingdom, but for nonbelievers, it’ll be a very different story, a frightening one. The parable of the weeds (Matthew 13) suggests that the weeds (i.e., nonbelievers) will find themselves in considerable trouble. But for Christians, it’ll be the glorious culmination of a lifetime of anticipation. We’ll enjoy the luminous company of Jesus who is, as he proclaimed, the light of the world. Continuing the metaphor, when the Master returns, we Christians will shine like the sun, presumably from the sheer joy of the experience. It’s interesting that Jesus doesn’t explain what shining like the sun means. Probably it’s because words can’t capture the magnitude and grandeur of it all. On this side of the event, we simply have to accept that we can only see eternal things faintly (1 Corinthians 13:12).

For curiosity’s sake, try to imagine the Lord’s return from his perspective, not just ours. After all, the second coming of Jesus is a two-way event. No doubt, Jesus will experience a fullness of joy as he welcomes his family home following a long absence that began in Eden. But how will he feel about those who aren’t in his family, the so-called weeds? Surely his joy will be mixed with grief. After all, he endured Calvary for them too, but because they rejected him, they’ll be lost to eternal darkness.

The fact that we believers will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father means that we’ll be fully, completely, totally, wholly, entirely, and utterly alive and loved to absolute perfection for the first time ever. What a breathtaking promise!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I can’t imagine what it means to shine like the sun, but it sounds exhilarating. I can’t wait for you to come again. Come soon, dear Lord. Come soon! Amen.

January 13

And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

—1 Peter 5:4

How amazing it is to hear some persons casually declare that they’re Christians without really understanding what this implies.

For these persons being Christians simply means believing that Jesus is the greatest of all moral teachers or that being a Christian is being emotionally attached to Jesus as a source of comfort or that being a Christian is adopting the religion of the culture. But contrast these perspectives with what Jesus said about being a follower: Whoever would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Matthew 16:24).

How easy it is to believe in Jesus, even admire Jesus, but how strenuously hard it is to follow Jesus. Yet following Jesus is what being a Christian is all about. Taking up our cross and denying ourselves say that we’re surrendering our personal comfort in order to be in his loving presence in a world hostile to all that he stands for. Though immensely rewarding on a deep level, there’s nothing simple or easy about it. It’s hard work, often painful work, requiring sacrifice and a willingness to go to a figurative cross daily for the sake of caring for the broken as well as standing up against evil. Were this the consensus understanding of what being a Christian means, it’s a safe bet that Christianity would have far fewer adherents.

Apparently, Peter’s readers were paying a heavy price for being a Christian. So Peter reassures them with a promise. When Jesus returns, they’ll receive a crown of glory that will never fade away. We can safely conclude that being a true Christian, in any era, promises a crown of glory when Christ returns, but what faith, commitment, and sacrifice an authentic Christian life requires!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I understand what it means to follow you. It’s very hard, but with your Holy Spirit’s help, I want to try. I know that when you return, I’ll receive my crown of glory. Amen.

January 14

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

—Romans 8:37

There aren’t many things in life that are absolutely certain, but because of Jesus, the standing of a believer before God is one thing that is. In Romans 8:1, the apostle Paul proclaims that there’ll be no condemnation for anyone who is in Christ. In other words, no one who approaches eternity, riding by faith on the spiritual coattails of Jesus, will ever be excluded from heaven. The reason for this is simple: Jesus paid the just price for our sin when he died on the cross. As a result, if we believe in him and entrust our lives to him, we’re freed forever from what is referred to as the great white throne judgment (see Revelation 20). What’s more, we’re spiritually bonded to God forever. At the end of Romans 8:38–39, Paul adds that this bond is unbreakable. Nothing can separate us from our heavenly Father’s love. Someday, when we cross the threshold from this life to the next, this news will take on its full weight of glory.

So certain of this is Paul that he describes Christians in verse 37 as being more than conquerors, the translation of a single Greek word that could also be translated as hyperconquerors. There is no hyperbole here. It’s simply Paul’s way of expressing how excited and certain he is about this truth.

The longer we’re a Christian, the easier it is to take the awe-inspiring promise of Romans 8:37 for granted, human nature being what it is. Wouldn’t it be prudent, therefore, for every one of us to intentionally and frequently meditate on it? Just think. Despite all these things (i.e., our faith trials), when Christ says, Time’s up, we’ll emerge from life’s battles as hyperconquerors or as superchampions.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, how can I ever express the depth of my gratitude for your abiding love and the victory that awaits me in glory? It’s beyond words. Amen.

January 15

The Lord preserves the simple…

—Psalm 116:6

Who are the simple? The simpleminded? No, those who are humble, the lowly in life. Quite likely, the Psalm writer saw himself in this light.

We all know people who act superior to those whom they regard as the lowly. Maybe it’s because of money, education, standing in the community, personal giftedness, or whatever. These persons look in the mirror and muse to themselves, I’m one of the beautiful people. Perhaps, they’re like the Pharisee in Luke 18:11 who prayed, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

What a contrast there is between self-inflated, arrogant persons and God, who is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, and all-wise. If anyone has reason to lord it over others, it’s he. Yet he preserves the lowest of low. Paul expressed it this way when writing about Jesus: Though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6–8).

The truth is, none of us has a reason to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. We’re all on an equal plane at the foot of the cross. This isn’t self-deprecation; it’s simply an honest assessment of who we are—sinners saved by grace.

The promise of today’s verse is that God protects the simple, the humble, the unpretentious, the down-and-out, and the lowly, which includes every one of us. Our self-assessment should always go something like this: a no one without Christ but a special someone in Christ.

Prayer

God, I’m awestruck that you love me as you do. Please forgive me for any arrogance and help me to treat everyone with dignity and respect. Amen.

January 16

The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

—Psalm 146:9

From cover to cover, the Bible is a record of God reaching out to help the helpless, those referred to in this verse as sojourners, widows, and fatherless. With God’s help, evil won’t prevail over broken lives. From the first moment when sin entered the world, creation malfunctioned. All that worked in perfect harmony, including human beings, became and remained dysfunctional. People were never meant to fight with one another or be alienated from one another. Sickness and death were never meant to be a part of the human experience. God designed an idyllic world order. But now, because of sin’s destructive presence, nothing works according to God’s original design, with the result being limitless trouble and untold suffering. Sin is the ultimate global pandemic, affecting all persons at all times and in all ways. No one escapes its impact.

Enter Christ into the human arena. Not content to remain in the glory of heaven while the human race wallowed in helplessness, Jesus lived, died, and was raised again to rescue us from our plight by defeating evil once and for all time. As Luke records, The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).

What we celebrate about Jesus is his power and authority to repair all that was fractured by the fall. It is not only his power but also his desire. His love longs to free us from all the destructive consequences of Satan’s influence. We must remember, however, that the final act promised in our Lord’s rescuing effort, the conclusive event in repairing what’s broken, will reach complete perfection when he comes again. Come, Lord Jesus.

Prayer

Dear Jesus, knowing that you’re a God who loves your creation and wants to rescue it from sin is breathtakingly wonderful. I love you for it, Lord, and praise you beyond what words can express. Amen.

January 17

No good thing does he [God] withhold from those who walk uprightly.

—Psalm 84:11

In the 1970s and 1980s, a new movement arose in American Protestantism, which was called the Prosperity Gospel. One of its basic assumptions is that God’s will is always to bless believers with financial prosperity (as well as physical well-being). The hypothesis is that if our faith is strong and we live a godly life, the Lord will bless us materially. This movement gained a strong foothold in American culture, with some churches that promote the prosperity message attracting thousands of adherents. Prosperity believers might look to a verse like Psalm 84:1, among others, as a proof text that undergirds their conviction.

Needless to say, while the prosperity gospel has gained a large following, many learned Christians feel that it’s a gross distortion of true Christianity…and it is.

The question we should ask is this: What are the good things that God promises not to withhold from those who live a righteous life? Traditional believers would say that the good things are the spiritual gifts of God, such as love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, and the like. In other words, while God in his wisdom may bless some believers with material gain, material gain is not the kind of good things of which verses like this speak. The real good things are things we can’t see, touch, taste, or smell, the good things of the spirit for which every human being yearns. Without which, all the material things of this world mean nothing.

No hearse pulls a trailer. The only things that accompany us into the life after this life are the intangible qualities of our souls fashioned after the spiritual likeness of Jesus who took with him no material possessions when he returned to heaven.

Prayer

Dear Lord, please help me keep the right perspective on the things that you regard as the good things of life, things of the soul. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.

January 18

Love is patient and kind: love does not envy or boast: it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

—1 Corinthians 13:4–7

Love is the greatest need of the human spirit, and it’s the best demonstration of the fact that God is truly at work in us. With God’s love at work in us, our Christianity flourishes. Without it, our witness dies. But God’s love is not something we human beings can inherently produce. Sin has seen to that. God’s love is utterly selfless love. As revealed by Jesus, we see that God’s love embraces us without judgment or recrimination, despite our innumerable faults and frailties. Love of this kind is impossible to define but possible to observe, and it’s a love that God promises to give us when we come to him in faith.

Paul was frustrated with the believers in Corinth because they claimed the name Christian, but their relationships didn’t come close to demonstrating the love that Jesus revealed lies at the heart of God.

What we must never forget is that God’s love is a gift, the outgrowth of his Holy Spirit living in us, and when it’s played out on the human stage, it’s recognizable as something qualitatively different from the love we see in nonbelievers. It’s utterly selfless and sacrificial.

Never lose sight of the fact that, as a Christian, talk is cheap. When we Christians are serious about revealing God’s selfless and sacrificial love, it’s best done not by words but by the way we act and react to the persons around us, even our enemies.

Prayer

Lord, love is who you are, and I want it to be revealed in me. I pray that you will help me love sacrificially and selflessly or, in other words, be a faithful witness for you. Amen.

January 19

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

—1 Corinthians 10:13

Temptation is Satan’s greatest weapon!

Years ago, a pastor had a conversation with one of his female parishioners, a woman in her early forties. This woman found herself attracted to a male coworker with whom she was lunching every day to the extent that she grew concerned about her growing emotional attachment. Sexual fantasies were taking her over, and even though she knew her behavior was wrong, it was thrilling. Becoming increasingly anxious about her predicament, she set up a counseling session with her pastor. As a sincere Christian,