A Daily Devotional

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Marital Problems


“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (Colossians 3:17).

Marriage has always had a high place—a high calling. In the beginning, God’s stated purpose in marriage was to propagate children (Genesis 1:28) and to eliminate solitude (2:18). Such a state was deemed “very good” (1:31). But sin entered through Adam’s rebellion, and the universal curse resulted. Out of this came a new marital relationship, one full of potential problems, for “He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (3:16). It is safe to say that the many excesses on both sides of a marriage that we see today are the legacy of sin.

Not only is marriage affected by the curse, Satan himself delights in destroying marriage. Immediately after the curse, we see that he introduced numerous practices which are detrimental to a proper marriage. The ungodly lineage of Cain began to practice polygamy (4:19). Later, Noah’s son, Ham, indulged in sexual thoughts and innuendoes (9:22). Even godly Abram participated in an extra-marital affair which, even though not specifically condemned, was harmful to his marriage (16:1–3).

Soon after this, we read about homosexuality in Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19); fornication, rape, and marriage to unbelievers (Genesis 34:1,2); the practice of incest (35:22; 38:13–18), prostitution (38:24), and seduction (39:7–12).

What is the solution for this age-long attack on the family? We must heed the guidelines given in Scripture for a godly marriage. Passages such as those surrounding our text are well worth our study.

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The City Of God

“But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:16).

When word came to Augustine, the bishop of Hyppo, in the year 410, that Rome had been sacked by barbarians, he grieved. Though he had written and preached vigorously against the decadence that had eaten away at the core of Roman civilization, he grieved that what was good was being swept away also. Her law and order were crumbling, and the world would become subject to the lusts of barbarians. And he grieved because he had friends and relatives living in Rome.

Anxiety and fear swept through his congregation, but he comforted them with Scriptures such as the above, that spoke of our real home. Rome was built by human hands, he said, and so could be torn down by human hands; but there is a city that has not been built by man and can never be destroyed by man. There is “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God,” where we have “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven” (Hebrews 11:10; I Peter 1:4). Rome was not then, and is not now, “the eternal city.” Likewise, our own country, the United States of America, while we believe it was established by God for our welfare and are grateful for it, will not last forever. It too will pass away. But we as Christians sense that we don’t really belong here anyway, for we are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13), longing for our real home.

In the year 430, Augustine and many of his congregation died when the Vandal army besieged Hyppo. The barbarians saw it as a victory; but for the Christians, it was no defeat to be released from their earthly city into their heavenly home.

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Zechariah And Christ's Advent


“. . . for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee” (Zechariah 2:10,11).

This old prophecy of the coming Messiah helps us better understand “the world” of John 3:16. The Father so loved “many nations,” that He gave His only begotten Son. The vision also reveals the purpose for Christ’s coming. The high priest, Joshua (3:1), whose name in Hebrew is equivalent to “Jesus” in the Greek, represented the people before God. The problem was that he was dressed in filthy garments. More than five hundred years later, on Calvary’s cross, Jesus, the only effective high priest and worthy representative before the Father, was dressed in the filth of our sins.

In the same verse, the “angel of the LORD” is mentioned. He prefigures the divine aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ. This “messenger” (the basic meaning of “angel”) promised prophetically to remove “iniquity” and “clothe . . . with change of raiment” (3:4). This happened when Jesus, the God-Man, obediently offered the once-for-all sacrifice of Himself on the cross. He now removes sin and clothes redeemed people in His own perfect righteousness. The Father sees the elect in the light of His Son’s perfection.

Finally, God promised to “bring forth (His) servant the BRANCH” (3: and to “remove the iniquity of that land in one day” (3:9). This happened “one day” when Jesus was “pierced” (12:10) by Roman soldiers.

No one Biblical image adequately portrays the wonder and majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ and His work of salvation. The mosaic of Biblical prophecy, however, finds unity in Jesus, available now to save all who humble themselves before Him in prayer and trust Him for salvation.

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Mercy And Truth


“Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 85:10).

The words “mercy” (Hebrew checed, also often translated by “kindness,” or “lovingkindness”) and “truth” (Hebrew emeth) occur more often in the psalms than in any other book. In fact, “mercy” occurs more in the psalms than in all the rest of the Old Testament put together. Though at first these two concepts seem opposed to each other (for how can God’s truth, which abhors sin, be compatible with His mercy, which forgives sin?), nevertheless they are “met together,” for “His salvation,” according to the previous verse, “is nigh them that fear Him” (Psalm 85:9).

“Mercy and truth” (or “lovingkindness and truth”) are brought together at least sixteen times in the Old Testament, including ten times in the psalms. And when God’s eternal truth can be united with His loving mercy, both mediated through His Holy Word, there is great blessing indeed! “All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies” (Psalm 25:10). “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalm 138:2). The first time the phrase is found in the Bible is in the prayer of Abraham’s servant, thanking God for “His mercy and His truth” (Genesis 24:27).

God’s mercy and truth, of course, are really met together only in Jesus Christ, through whom God can both “be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). He is “our peace” (Ephesians 2:14) and is “made unto us . . . righteousness” (I Corinthians 1:30). He is both “the truth” (John 14:6) and will show in the ages to come, “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7).

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Our "why?" Questions

“Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20).

Every believer goes through difficult experiences from time to time—loss of a job, a painful injury, failure of some plan, death of a needed loved one, even facing a terminal illness of his own—and the natural tendency is to cry out: “Why, O God?”

God surely understands our longing for an answer, because He made us—“He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). But He would have us merely to trust Him. Job, who surely suffered more than any of us, could say: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15).

Job did indeed plead for an understanding of His undeserved sufferings, but God answered merely by reminding him of His great creation and His providential care for all living things (Job 38–41). As our great Potter, He has the right to make His vessels for both honor and dishonor (v.21). We who have been redeemed by His mercy should be grateful that He chose us even before the world began (Ephesians 1:3,4; II Timothy 1:9), confident that He—by whatever means He chooses—is preparing His “vessels of mercy” to receive the full manifestation of His glory in the ages to come (v.23; Ephesians 2:7). The fact that our finite minds cannot fully comprehend right now what He is doing in our lives merely gives us an opportunity to trust Him more.

“We know that all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28) in those who are His. Therefore He would say: “Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (I Peter 4:19).

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AMEN PR, satan has been attacking the sacredness of marriage, as Christians we ought to do all we can to make sure that marriage remains sacred as God intended it to be, marriage should be between one man and one woman. Marriage is something that should be considered very carefully. It should be forever, and it is something that needs to be worked on by both husband and wife. Both should be in the Lord and the husband should love his wife as Christ loves His church, the wife should have godly submission towards her husband.

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Stand Up For Jesus

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong” (I Corinthians 16:13).

Many times Scripture compares this life to a battle, with the Christian a soldier warring against the foe. The well-loved hymn of the last century, “Stand Up for Jesus,” reflects this theme. It was inspired by the dying words of a young pastor, fatally injured in a tragic accident. Dudley Tyng urgently instructed his two young boys to “Stand Up for Jesus” in the years ahead. The verses of the hymn will serve sequentially as references for our next four studies.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross, Lift high His royal banner, It must not suffer loss; From victory unto victory, His army shall He lead, Till every foe is vanquished And Christ is Lord indeed.

“My son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. . . . Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (II Timothy 2:1,3), Paul commanded his younger disciple. Among other things, a good soldier of Christ is to represent his leader well, seeing that no dishonor comes to Him or His banner. With Christ as Commander in Chief, the victory is assured, and one day God will “make thy foes thy footstool” (Acts 2:35). “God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11).

As David the great warrior-king lay dying, he exclaimed, “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in heaven and earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all” (I Chronicles 29:11). How foolish not to “Stand Up for Jesus.”

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Ye That Are Men Now Serve Him

“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. . . . Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” (Judges 6:12,14).

Just a few days before his fatal accident, Dr. Tyng had spoken to over 5,000 men at a noon-time YMCA meeting at which over 1,000 responded to the gospel. His text for the sermon was Exodus 10:11, “Go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD,” a theme repeated in the second verse of “Stand Up for Jesus,” written in his memory.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, The trumpet call obey; Forth to the mighty conflict, in this His glorious day. “Ye that are men, now serve Him,” Against unnumbered foes; Let courage rise with danger, And strength to strength oppose.

This verse reminds us of the task facing Gideon following his commission into God’s army, as given in our text. Israel was defenseless and outnumbered, but “the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man” (v.16).

The chosen warrior-to-be obeyed, and “the spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet” (v.34), thus gathering a fighting force soon to be pared down to only three hundred choice men (7:7). With these courageous men God wrought a mighty victory, overcoming a well-armed fighting force numbering over 120,000. Truly it was “His glorious day.”

In summary, we might remember the Lord’s promise to Joshua, Israel’s first general: “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: . . . I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. . . . Only be thou strong and very courageous” (Joshua 1:5,7). Let us follow his lead and “Stand Up for Jesus.”

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And Having Done All, Stand

“Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel: . . . That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into His oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with you this day” (Deuteronomy 29:10,12).

The Old Testament soldier of national Israel needed physical armor and weapons, but more than that, he needed the covenant protection of the Lord. Today, the New Testament saint seldom must fight in the physical sense, but a much more intense fight is raging: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). We are safe and victorious as long as we “put on the whole armor of God” (v.11). The third verse of “Stand Up for Jesus” refers to this cosmic battle:

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Stand in His strength alone; The arm of flesh will fail you—Ye dare not trust your own; Put on the gospel armor, Each piece put on with prayer; Where duty calls or danger, Be never wanting there.

Years ago the Assyrians came against God’s people. King Hezekiah reminded them: “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed: . . . With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles” (II Chronicles 32:7,8).

The source of our salvation and victory is the same. Our “gospel armor” includes “truth . . . righteousness . . . peace . . . faith . . . salvation . . . and the word of God” (Ephesians 6:14–17). When we don it “with prayer” (v.18), we will “be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (v.13). Share the victory! “Stand Up for Jesus.”

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The Victor's Song

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will show to you to day. . . . The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:13,14).

The song which we have been using to focus our thinking these past few days has encouraged each Christian to join in the battle and “Stand Up for Jesus.” He has already assured us of ultimate victory, and in the meantime, leads us into each skirmish. He gives us the privilege of participating with Him in His victories. And, at times, as we see in our text, He tells us to simply “stand still” and watch Him work. The final verse of this hymn relates the long war’s end.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, The strife will not be long; This day the noise of battle, The next the victor’s song; To him that overcometh, A crown of life shall be; He with the King of glory shall reign eternally.

The strife will indeed be over soon, especially if we measure time on the scale of eternity. Until then, “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (II Corinthians 4:17,18).

And what are some of these eternal rewards? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. . . . He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death” (Revelation 2:10,11). And, speaking of our home in the eternal New Jerusalem, “the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: And they shall see His face. . . . And they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:3,5).

What blessings await those who “Stand Up for Jesus.”

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A New Heart

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

There are two kinds of heart trouble—one physical; the other spiritual. We all know of the physical kind, but are we aware that everyone is born with spiritual heart trouble? It can lead to such things as adultery, idolatry, witchcraft, heresies, murders, and drunkenness (Galatians 5:19–21), to physical death, and eventually to eternal, spiritual death.

The word “heart,” mentioned 800 times in Scripture, relates, usually, to the spiritual, or psychological aspect of a person and is the source of evil in everyone. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Even in the first period of human history, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

Time did not improve man’s performance. Paul writes, during the time of the Roman empire, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). In the end, sin collects its wages: death—both physical and spiritual, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). How can our heart’s disease be cured? God, the Father, sent His only begotten Son, Christ, to the cross, laying the penalty of the world’s sin on Him, thus dying as our substitute: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness” (I Peter 2:24). Christ is the Savior from sin, and eternally releases all who accept Him as their Savior. He is the divine Physician who heals hearts. When spiritual heart trouble is cured, we find peace and forgiveness in this life and can enjoy eternal life—life forever in His presence.

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The Indwelling Holy Spirit

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:9).

Note that in this one verse the Holy Spirit is called both “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Christ.” Thus the two terms are synonymous, which means that Christ is God, and so is the Holy Spirit. Note also that we “have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). In fact, our text assures each of us that we are actually living “in the Spirit,” because He has come to “dwell in you.” All of this has come about “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, . . . by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5). This glorious new birth, with sins forgiven and eternal life, is accomplished by the Holy Spirit in response to our faith in Christ as Savior and Lord.

But also note that “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” It is absolutely vital that we have the Holy Spirit, “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). The question is, just how do we know that we have the Holy Spirit?

The answer is, because His word says so! “He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me,” said Jesus, “hath everlasting life” (John 5:24). Furthermore, we have the testimony of internal peace and assurance. “The Spirit (Himself) beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16).

Finally, the indwelling Spirit will increasingly be growing His eternal fruit in our lives—the nine-fold fruit of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22,23), and this will testify to others also that we do indeed have the Holy Spirit.

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Immediate Results

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22).

Sometimes we don’t get to see the results of our work or choices soon enough to suit us. But on one occasion, a man’s choice and resulting action were given immediate attention, and the effects of that attention even now rule the universe.

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Genesis 3:6).

The result of Adam’s deliberate sin—“Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (I Timothy 2:14)—was immediate and total punishment upon Adam and Eve, and through them, on all humanity (Genesis 3:14–19). “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). “For the creature [or creation] was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20).

This “bondage of corruption” (v.21) placed upon the entire creation, now known to science as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, is known to all of us as the basic tendency of life. Everything is in the process of death and decay. This law will one day be removed, but until then, we, like the groaning, travailing creation of our text, “groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (v.23).

Although we recognize now that “the wages of sin is death,” we can be very thankful that “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

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The Virtue Of Having Enemies

“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26).

It is no compliment to say about a Christian that he has no enemies, for that is the same as saying he has accomplished nothing. The apostle Paul had many bitter enemies, and they finally got him executed. In fact, almost all of the great heroes of the faith, through all the centuries since Satan gained his victory over Adam and Eve, have had to overcome bitter opposition from that wicked one.

So, instead of resenting our enemies, we should thank God for them, for they enable us to become more like Christ! Only through such experiences can we learn what it means to say, with Paul: “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). Only if we have enemies can we learn to obey Christ’s difficult command to “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

The Lord Jesus easily could have called on twelve legions of angels to rout His enemies (Matthew 26:53). Instead, He submitted to their vicious insults and cruel tortures, even praying in His agony on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The enemies of Christ killed Him, but had they not done so, He would not have died for our sins, and we would be lost eternally. This is a mystery to ponder, and difficult to comprehend, yet, as the Bible promises, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee” (Psalm 76:10).

The enmity of men can thus be a channel of divine grace to the believer, for “tribulation worketh patience” (Romans 5:3), and “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (II Corinthians 4:17).

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Jesus Christ Or Christ Jesus

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

The doctrine of verbal inspiration implies that not only are the words of Scripture inspired, but the very order in which they appear is also inspired. Study by commentators and translators have rightly noted that a change in the order of the words would at times change the meaning or emphasis of a passage. This phenomenon is often seen in the order in which the various names of Christ appear. By noting this order, one may sometimes gain new insight into a passage.

While the name Jesus, alone, normally appears in the gospels and the book of Acts, the compound name, Jesus Christ, appears on occasion. Interestingly, the same compound name is used exclusively by the disciples, John and Peter, in their letters, and by James and Jude, the brothers of our Lord. Of course these men knew Him first by His human name, Jesus, and only fully comprehended the fact that He was the Christ, [meaning “the Anointed,” or “the Messiah”] after His resurrection and ascension.

Paul, on the other hand, first encountered Christ in all His glory on the road to Damascus. Perhaps, as a consequence, he frequently reversed the order, speaking of Christ Jesus, although he used both orders many times.

The reason for this choice of order perhaps can best be illustrated in Philippians 2:5–11. In verse 5, Paul described the “anointed One,” who first emptied Himself of certain aspects of His deity to take on human form. Therefore Paul used the name Christ Jesus. In verse 11, however, the order is reversed. In this case, as in our text, the movement is from humanity to glory. In one, the glory of the risen Savior is emphasized; in the other, the glory that we shall share with Him. This glory is assured us through His victory.