For Reading and Meditation:      Job 13:13-19We ended yesterday with the thought that the moments after we have been saved from slipping and sliding, but are left with our main problem still unresolved, are exceedingly critical. Why critical? Because, as we said, the desire to relieve the pain that is going on inside us can sometimes lead us to settle for answers that are less than the best. We feel better when we can make sense of the ways of God - even a little sense. When we are confronted by a spiritual problem that appears to have no immediate resolution and causes strong emotions to rage within us, there are, as far as I can see, just two options: either to live with the troublesome emotions, as Job did, and wait patiently for God to give a clear answer, in His time; or to replace the confusion with some form of understanding. The first option is often difficult, for it demands something which, especially when we are confused, we find hard to do - trust. The second is a lot easier, but potentially more dangerous, for unless we are careful, it can lead us into accepting solutions that are not solutions. The pressure to move confidently in the midst of ambiguity and uncertainty and come up with "clear" answers is a strong one. But we must be careful that we don't settle for an answer that, although it helps to reduce the level of confusion, is not a real solution. Better to stay with the pain of confusion and uncertainty than to grasp at answers that are not answers because they evade the real problem.O Father, help me as I think through this issue. I sense there is something here that I need to learn, but I need Your love and wisdom and insight to support me as I learn it. Come close to me - particularly over these next few days. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<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>Proverbs 3:1-6</li><li>Psalm 37:5</li><li>Psalm 118:8</li><li>Isaiah 26:4</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What are we to do?</li><li>What are we not to do?</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

"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him " (v. 15, NKJ) 

For Reading and Meditation:      Philippians 3:7-21Today we ask: What happens to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness? The answer is clear: they will be filled. Make righteousness your goal and you will be eternally satisfied. If, once again, I might venture upon a paraphrase of my own, I would put it like this: "Congratulations to those who ardently crave to become more and more like Me and to know My righteousness, for they shall find a satisfaction that will never vanish or be destroyed." May I be permitted to ask you this personal question: What are you most hungering and thirsting for? Is it health? Is it relief from pain? Is it freedom from anxiety? Is it financial security? All of these are legitimate cravings, but if your primary hunger and thirst is not to become more and more like Christ, then you will experience an inner emptiness that nothing you chase after can fill. Let me point out one more thing - something that might astonish you: to the extent that your deepest hunger and thirst is not for God, to that extent you will experience spiritual and psychological problems. If you are not hungering and thirsting after Him, you will hunger and thirst after something else. When we make it our goal to glorify God, then we will enjoy Him. We must not make it our goal to enjoy Him in order to glorify Him. Remember the goal of happiness is elusive, regardless of how well- thought-out is our strategy. But the by-product of happiness is freely available to those whose goal is to know God and be found in Him.Father, You are teaching me Your ways - written in Your Word and also in me. Help me to surrender to Your purposes so that I might be the vehicle of victory. Amen.<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>Psalm 38:9</li><li>Psalm 73:25</li><li>Isaiah 26:1-9</li><li>1 Peter 2:2-3</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What was the psalmist's confession?</li><li>What did Isaiah's desire cause him to do?</li></ul></div></div>

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection '" (v. 10) 

Seeing that we have such a God to trust to, let us rest upon him with all our weight; let us resolutely drive out all unbelief, and endeavour to get rid of doubts and fears, which so much mar our comfort; since there is no excuse for fear where God is the foundation of our trust. A loving parent would be sorely grieved if his child could not trust him; and how ungenerous, how unkind is our conduct when we put so little confidence in our heavenly Father who has never failed us, and who never will. It were well if doubting were banished from the household of God; but it is to be feared that old Unbelief is as nimble nowadays as when the psalmist asked, "Is his mercy clean gone for ever? Will he be favourable no more?" David had not made any very lengthy trial of the mighty sword of the giant Goliath, and yet he said, "There is none like it." He had tried it once in the hour of his youthful victory, and it had proved itself to be of the right metal, and therefore he praised it ever afterwards; even so should we speak well of our God, there is none like unto him in the heaven above or the earth beneath; "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One." There is no rock like unto the rock of Jacob, our enemies themselves being judges. So far from suffering doubts to live in our hearts, we will take the whole detestable crew, as Elijah did the prophets of Baal, and slay them over the brook; and for a stream to kill them at, we will select the sacred torrent which wells forth from our Saviour's wounded side. We have been in many trials, but we have never yet been cast where we could not find in our God all that we needed. Let us then be encouraged to trust in the Lord for ever, assured that his ever lasting strength will be, as it has been, our succour and stay.

This timeless classic from Charles Spurgeon will help to both start and end your day with wonderful insight into God's Word.

Charles Spurgeon's Morning & Evening

"Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." - Isaiah 26:4

Evening Devotional

John 14:1-14The fourteenth chapter of John's gospel is the most familiar chapter of the New Testament. Its words are sweet music. As spoken first, it was the little company of the disciples sitting at the Last Supper who heard them. They were in great sorrow. They were about to lose their Master, their best friend. They had hoped that He was the Messiah and were expecting some special manifestation of His power. Now all their hopes seemed to be swept away. Jesus speaks to them as they sit around the table. He seeks to comfort them. He says to them, "Let not your heart be troubled." This seems a strange word to say to them at this particular hour. How was it possible that they should not be troubled when He, their Master - was about to leave them?We may be sure, however, that the words He spoke were not empty or formal. Many things that earthly comforters say to their friends in their times of trouble mean but little. They say, "Weep not. Dry your tears. All will come out right," but they have no real comfort to offer. They can give no reason why their friends should not weep, or why all will come out right. Their optimism is without foundation. But when Christ said, "Let not your heart be troubled," He knew what He was saying, and there were in His mind clear reasons why He spoke in this strong, confident way. The same is true of the comfort Christ speaks now to us. No matter what the sorrow, how great the loss, how deep the darkness, if we are Christians, the same voice always speaks to us in the same words.Christ tells the disciples what they should do, how they might cease to be troubled. "You believe in God." This was the way their trouble could be comforted. There was no need to ask questions, for their questions could not be answered, or at least they could not understand the answers. But they were to keep their faith in God and in Jesus Christ unshaken, undisturbed, in the midst of all the sorrow. They thought everything was gone, that they did not have God anymore that all their hopes about Jesus Christ had failed, were only dreams. He tells them that nothing they had believed about God or about Jesus, was gone. Their faith in God was to abide. What they had hoped about Jesus Christ was true. They had lost nothing.<div class="center-it mtb10">This is the foundation of all true comfort. We cannot understand the mystery of sorrow - but if we believe in God and in Jesus Christ, we need not lose our confidence or our peace, whatever the distress may be. A word of an old prophet (Isaiah 26:4) says, "Trust you in the Lord forever, for in the LORD JEHOVAH is the everlasting strength." If we are hidden in the cleft of the Rock of Ages, we need not fear any seeming disaster. Another word says, "you will keep him in perfect peace - whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You" (Isaiah 26:3). We may always be sure of God's eternal faithfulness and of Christ's unchanging love - and believing these great truths, we may be quiet and confident in the worst calamities.</div>The first thought Jesus gave His disciples, was that all the world is the Father's house. They were greatly distressed by what was transpiring in a little corner of the world. He assures them that the stage of action reached out far beyond the city and the country in which they lived. There are many mansions in the Father's house. They were distressed that He was leaving them - but He was leaving only one of the mansions - and going to another. They would not lose Him by His departure, for He would continue to be their friend, and would still be interested in their welfare. "I go to prepare a place for you."Dr. David Smith thus explains the words of Jesus: 
The disciples were like travelers, and His companionship had hitherto cheered them on their journey. And now He must leave them. But He was not forsaking them. He was only hastening on in advance to make ready for them. And when they arrived He would be waiting for them and would bid them welcome.His going away was not a desertion of His friends. He was going on their account, to prepare a place for them. The thought of mansions prepared for us beforehand, is a very beautiful one. We need not fear that when our time comes to go home there will be no place ready for us. We shall not go to the gate as strangers or aliens - but as those who are expected, those who indeed have been sent for. Jesus assured His disciples not only that He was going on to prepare a lodging place for them - but that when the place was ready - He would come again, to receive them unto Himself, that where He would be, they might be too. The separation was only apparent, not real, and certainly not final. The relation between them would not be broken by His going away. The ministry of His love which had come to mean so much to them, would not be interrupted by His departure. He was going to leave them in their present lodging place - but it would be only to prepare another lodging place for them in another part of His Father's house."I am the WAY." Christ is the way from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth. Through Him God comes to us with love and blessing, and through Him we go to God. He is the Mediator between God and man. He is the one ladder down which angels come on their ministries; and up which they can ascend to the gates of glory. Christ is the way, and the only way. If we reject Him we can never get to God and heaven. But if we believe on Him, and love Him, and abide in Him, there never can be any confusion, any mystery, any need unmet, any yearning unfulfilled.Even now, with all our knowledge of spiritual things, the other life is still full of mystery. When our loved ones leave us, we cannot understand where they have gone; and when we think of going ourselves, we cannot realize anything of the way. So it was with the first disciples. Thomas was perplexed about the way of their going where Jesus was going. "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus sought to relieve the mystery. "I am the way," He said. This is the answer to all our longings. Philip thought he knew Christ well. He had been in His family for more than three years. It is possible for us to be with Christ a long time, in His Church, among His people, familiar with the story in the Gospels - and yet not really know Him. There is a great difference between knowing about Christ and knowing Him.Jesus went on to explain to Philip, the meaning of the blessed, beautiful life He had been living with them. "He who has seen me - has seen the Father." If John had said this about himself we would have called it blasphemy. When Christ said it about Himself - He very clearly claimed to be divine. He was the revealer of God. What men saw in His life - was an interpretation of God's own life. When we see Him taking little children in His arms, laying His hands on their heads and blessing them - we see how God feels toward children. When we see the compassion of Jesus stirred by human suffering and sorrow - we learn how our Father is touched by the sight of earthly suffering. When we see Jesus receiving sinners and eating with them, speaking forgiveness to penitents who crept to His feet, and making stained lives white and clean - we learn the mercy of God. When we follow Christ to His cross and see Him giving His life a willing sacrifice in redemption for lost men - we see how God loves this world. So the holiness of Christ - was the Father's holiness; His meekness, patience, gentleness and compassion - were mirrorings of the same qualities in the Father. If we would see what God is like, we have but to turn to the gospel story. To know Christ - is to know the Father.Now we have another phase of the marvelous teaching. Christ and the Father were one. He who saw the life of Christ, saw God. Still more, Christ and His followers were one. His life was in them. "He who believes on me, the works that I do shall he also do." Christ Himself was going away, and would be missed from the earth. Those He had comforted and helped, would long for His visits when He would come no more.There are some good men and women who leave a great emptiness in the world when they go away. The departure of Christ left a great blank in the homes He had been used to visiting. But it was the plan of Christ, that His disciples should take His place and go on with the ministry which He had begun. His life was to be taken away - but He would live on in His disciples. If we take off slips from a geranium and put them into the ground anywhere, they will grow and have the same beauty and fragrance as the original plant. All true Christians are parts of Christ, branches of Christ, so to speak; and wherever they may be - they will have His likeness and His spirit, His love and gentleness, and will do the same woks that He produced. Are we fulfilling our mission as Christians? If not, why not?There was another link in the chain. Christ was going away - but He would not be out of reach. "Whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do." They could not see Him face to face in human life and get the things they needed - but they could speak to Him and ask Him for blessings and get them. While Jesus was going away and would be out of sight - He would not be beyond call. His people on earth could speak to Him and, although they saw Him not, He would hear them. The way of communication with Christ has never been broken. We are to pray always in the name of Christ - that is we are to ask things for His sake, because He is our Savior.

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

John 14:1-14

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

I am the Lord … they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me. § Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. § You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength. § My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. § I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed. God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus.

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.

Morning Daily Light

 Hope does not disappoint. 

I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil. § “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.” In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace. It pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself … having made peace through the blood of His cross. § Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness … over the sins that were previously committed … that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. § If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.

 Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me. 

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength. Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you. § He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from Him; but when He cried to Him, He heard. § Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. § Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on… Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? § Do not be unbelieving, but believing. § Lo, I am with you always.

Evening Daily Light

 O my God, my soul is cast down within me. 

4 <poetry>Trust in the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> forever, <indent>for the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap>, the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> himself, is the Rock eternal.</indent> </poetry>

Trust<cr>1</cr> in the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> forever,<cr>2</cr> <indent>for the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap>, the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> himself, is the Rock<cr>3</cr> eternal.</indent>

Isaiah 26:4

 4 Trust   in the Lord forever,   for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock   eternal. 

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

 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. 

<poetry>Trust in the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> forever, <indent>for the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap>, the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> himself, is the Rock eternal.</indent> </poetry>

 Trust   in the Lord forever,   for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock   eternal. 

Bible Verse of the Day

September 22, 2016

Isaiah 26:4 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

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