<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="ge+1:1-12">Genesis 1:1-12</span></span></p><p>We focus on what without doubt is the most noble and loftiest of themes - the nature and character of God. I have noticed that Christians, generally speaking, seem to be preoccupied with knowing more about themselves rather than knowing more about God. Ask any Christian bookshop manager: "What are the best-selling books?" Not those that unfold for us the nature of God, but those that direct us toward such things as how to get a better self-image, how to manage money, how to find inner healing, how to get more excitement out of life, and so on. Not that these subjects are unimportant, but they are explored in a self-absorbed way that gives the idea that the most important thing in life is knowing ourselves better. It isn't. The most important thing in life is knowing God better. John Lancaster, a minister in Cardiff, South Wales, in an article entitled "Where on earth is God?" asks the question: "Given a choice between attending a seminar, say, on the 'Glory of God in Isaiah' and one on 'The Christian and Sex,' to which would you go?" He makes the point also that though the Church often answers the questions that people are asking, the real problem may be that people are not asking the right questions. In today's Church we are far too man-centered, and not God-centered. It is not by accident, I believe, that the Bible opens with the thunderous acclaim: "In the beginning God " I tell you with all the conviction of which I am capable - if God is not our primary focus, then everything else will soon get out of focus.</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O Father, from this day help me determine to make You my primary focus. And give me the grace and strength to maintain it, through all the vicissitudes and uncertainties of the days ahead. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+1:1-5">John 1:1-5</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="col+1:15-20">Colossians 1:15-20</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+12:2">Hebrews 12:2</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="re+1:8">Revelation 1:8</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did the Lord declare to John the revelator?</li><li>What did the apostle John declare?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"In the beginning God " (v. 1)

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="col+1:15-27">Colossians 1:15-27</span></span></p><p>We spend one more day meditating on the text: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Today we ask ourselves: What did Jesus mean by the phrase, "for they will inherit the earth"? It means, so I believe, that when we develop the attitude of meekness, the whole universe is behind us. If, for example, we decide to manifest the attitude of anger and hostility rather than cultivating a meek and quiet spirit, then the anger and hostility becomes, as someone put it, "sand in the machinery of life". The universe has been made in a Christlike fashion. Our text for today shows that when God made the world, He made it to work in the way of Christ: "All things were created by him [Christ] and for him." Edison, the scientist, tried eleven hundred experiments, all of which turned out to be failures. Someone said to him: "You must feel that you have wasted your time." "Oh no," answered Edison, "I simply found out eleven hundred ways how not to do things." This is what is happening in the world right now - humanity is finding out how to live. People are discovering that there are some things which the universe will not approve and some things it will approve. The meek are those who have come to terms with reality and know that they cannot twist it to their own ends or make it approve of what cannot be approved. Whoever has the first word in this universe must always remember that the universe has the last word. The Christian who adopts the attitudes of his Master finds the universe backing him in everything he does. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Father, thank You for reminding me that life works in one way only - Your way. When I live life as You designed it, then the whole universe works with me. I inherit all things - all that is Yours is mine. Blessed be Your Name for ever. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="php+2:1-11">Philippians 2:1-11</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+1:3">John 1:3</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1co+8:6">1 Corinthians 8:6</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+1:1-2">Hebrews 1:1-2</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>How did Jesus demonstrate meekness?</li><li>How does this apply to you?</li></ul></div></div>

"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth ' all things were created by him and for him." (v. 16)

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+2:12-25">John 2:12-25</span></span></p><p>Yesterday we touched on the statement of a psychiatrist, Dr James Fisher, who said that when searching for the positive attitudes which made for good mental health, he came across the Beatitudes and realised that he need search no longer. After nearly fifty years' experience of helping people with mental, emotional and physical problems he concluded: "If you were to take the total sum of all authoritative articles ever written by the most qualified of psychologists and psychiatrists on the subject of mental hygiene - if you were to combine them and refine them and cleave out the excess verbiage - if you were to take the whole of the meat and none of the parsley, and if you were to have these unadulterated bits of pure scientific knowledge concisely expressed by the most capable of living poets, you would have an awkward and incomplete summation of our Lord's Beatitudes - and it would suffer immeasurably through comparison." Dr Raymond Cramer, a minister and a Christian psychologist, says something similar when he describes the Beatitudes as "the psychology of Jesus". Some may find that expression unacceptable when applied to the Beatitudes, but remember, this is a scientist who is speaking. In studying the laws of human behaviour and seeking to discover what brings a person to his highest point of integration, he came to see that the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes are the clearest and most succinct expression of the principles by which a person can know contentment and inner happiness. In an age which is fascinated with the study of human behaviour, there is only one true psychology - the psychology of Jesus. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Father, I see that psychology, as well as all other "-ologies", are only valid as they are brought to Your feet. Show me, dear Lord, not just how to live, but how to live abundantly. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="col+1:1-20">Colossians 1:1-20</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="col+2:9-10">Colossians 2:9-10</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+1:16">John 1:16</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+1:22-23">Ephesians 1:22-23</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Where is fulness found?</li><li>What does this mean for us?</li></ul></div></div>

"He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man." (v. 25)

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="col+1:1-20">Colossians 1:1-20</span></span></p><p>Does salvation come up from mankind through striving, helped by the Divine, or does it come down to us from above, through the act of God and our receptivity of that act? Is it an attainment or an obtainment? The answers separate Christianity from all other religions. Non-Christian religions teach that salvation is the work of mankind; the Christian faith teaches that salvation is the gift of God - Christianity alone falls into the category of obtainment. Some people try to blunt the sharpness of the question "Does mankind strive to reach up to God or does God come down to redeem mankind through the incarnate Jesus?" by saying the answer is both. But by the very nature of things it cannot be both. The starting points are different. One begins with mankind; the other begins with God. Since the beginnings are different, the endings will be different. The whole of the New Testament revolves around the Person and work of Jesus. In some form or another He is on every page. A letter I received protested against a statement I made which went something like this: "There is only one Person around whom the universe can unite, and that Person is Jesus." "There have been good persons in history," said my correspondent, "why not unite around all of them rather than just one?" Because Christ is the meeting point of the human and the divine. No one else can hold that position. An Indian Hindu said recently: "There is no one else bidding for the heart of humanity except Jesus. There is no one else on the field." There isn't! </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O Father, we want to thank You that when we couldn't come to You, You came down the ladder to us through the Incarnation. We are eternally grateful. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+1:1-23">Ephesians 1:1-23</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+3:31">John 3:31</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1co+8:6">1 Corinthians 8:6</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>List some of the things that we have obtained in Christ.</li><li>What did John declare about Jesus?</li></ul></div></div>

"... he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead ..." (v. 18) 

<p>The Amen … the Beginning of the creation of God. § The beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.<br><br>The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth … When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep … when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command … I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. § Indeed before the day was, I am He.<br><br>The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. § The author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.</p>

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Evening Daily Light

 He is before all things. 

<p>Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!<br><br>I and My Father are one … The Father is in Me, and I in Him. § If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. § Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” § Here am I and the children whom God has given Me. § He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. § “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” § Before Abraham was, I AM. § God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”<br><br>To the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” § He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. § In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.</p>

 Everlasting Father. 

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Now the God of peace . . . make you perfect [complete, mature] in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632880241264498" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Hebrews/13/20">Heb. 13:20</a>; <a id="verse_1632880241553294317" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Hebrews/13/21">21</a>).<strong>  </strong></p>
</blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>
</strong>My life is not only in His hands, but He is my very life. "For by Him were all things created . . . and by Him all things consist" (<a id="verse_1632880241960224" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/1/16">Col. 1:16</a>; <a id="verse_1632880241385414253" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/1/17">17</a>). He controls and maintains the universe, and we can surely depend upon Him to care for us who share His life.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"We are all of us prone to forget the weighty fact that God trieth the righteous. He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous' (<a id="verse_1632880241249086" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Psalm/11/5">Ps. 11:5</a>; <a id="verse_1632880241789563" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Job/36/7">Job 36:7</a>). We are in His hands, and under His eye continually. We are the objects of His deep, tender, and unchanging love; but we are also the subjects of His wise moral government. His dealings with us are varied. They are sometimes preventive; sometimes corrective; always instructive.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"We may be bent on some course of our own, the end of which would be moral ruin. He intervenes and withdraws us from our purpose. He dashes to fragments our air-castles, dissipates our golden dreams, and interrupts many a darling scheme on which our hearts were bent, and which would have proved to be certain destruction. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living' (<a id="verse_1632880241118654" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Job/33/29">Job 33:29</a>; <a id="verse_1632880241234381094" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Job/33/30">30</a>)." -C.H.M.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632880241372651" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/2/14">2 Cor. 2:14</a>).</p>

A 365 day devotional that will help you in your Christian growth and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This devotional is a collection of quotes from some of the best authors in the realm of Christian growth that has been organized by Miles J Stanford.  This devotional study is divided into 12 sections each containing 31 daily portions.

None but the Hungry Heart

 Loving Kindness 

<p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">17 </sup>He is before all things,   and in him all things hold together. </span></p>

He is before all things,<cr>1</cr>  and in him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:17

 17 He is before all things,   and in him all things hold together.

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

<p><span class="bible-text ">He is before all things,   and in him all things hold together. </span></p>

 He is before all things,   and in him all things hold together.

Bible Verse of the Day

July 23, 1889

Colossians 1:17 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

More on the web

Group of Brands