For Reading and Meditation:      Hebrews 12:14-29George MacDonald writes: "Nothing is inexorable but love  For love loves unto purity. Love has ever in view the absolute loveliness of that which it beholds. Where loveliness is incomplete, and love cannot love its fill of loving, it spends itself to make more lovely, that it may love more; it strives for perfection even that itself may be perfected - not in itself but in the object. Therefore all that is not beautiful in the beloved, all that comes between and is not of love's kind, must be destroyed. Our God is a consuming fire." Powerful words. The nature of God is so terribly pure that it destroys everything that is not as pure as fire. God desires us to worship Him in "the beauty of holiness." This means that He wants the purity in us to match the purity in Him. We cannot arrive at this purity by self-effort, of course, but the more we draw nigh to Him the more the fire of His purity will burn out the dross within us. "It is not the fire will burn us up if we do not worship," said George MacDonald, "but the fire will burn us up until we worship." And the fire will go on burning within us after everything that is foreign to it has been consumed, no longer with pain and a sense of something unwanted being consumed, but as the highest consciousness of life. God is a consuming fire. He always was, and always will be - world without end.O God, I long with all my heart that my worship might be all You want it to be. May Your consuming fire burn out all the dross within me until everything that is foreign to Your nature is part of me no more. In Jesus' Name I ask it. 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 97:1-5</li><li>Isaiah 66:15</li><li>1 Corinthians 3:12-14</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What does the psalmist say about fire?</li><li>What will the fire 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

" our 'God is a consuming fire.' " (v. 29)

WE daily need grace to sustain us in troubles; to subdue our corruptions; to sanctify our tempers; to preserve us in temptation; to quicken our languid affections; to enlarge our experience; to render us useful to others; to enable us to endure to the end; and to meet death with confidence and joy. Our God is the God of all grace. Jesus is full of grace, He giveth more grace. He has promised it. "He will give grace." He has invited us to come and receive it. "Come boldly to the throne of grace, that ye may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." His grace is sufficient for us; but without grace we are dull, lifeless, and sure to fall. O let us look to Jesus for grace to strengthen us, sanctify us, and make us useful! Let us never attempt anything in our own strength; but let us receive from the Lord, that we may live to the Lord; and ascribe all that we do that is good, to the grace of God which is with us. Grace is always free. It is free for us, for us this morning, and our God bids us to the throne of grace, and you SHALL obtain mercy, and find grace to help you this day.On me, my King, exert Thy power, Make old things pass away; Transform and draw my soul to Thee, Still nearer every day.

Written by James Smith for his own flock around 1840, but such was the demand that by 1846 over thirty thousand copies where in circulation.

The Believer's Daily Remembrancer

"Let us have grace." Hebrews 12:28

The words chastening, chasteneth, chastisement and chastened occur seven times in the first 11 verses of Hebrews 12:1-29. As a result it is easy for the casual reader to get a wrong impression. He might easily picture God as an angry Father who is forever whipping His children. This misconception arises from thinking of chastening as nothing but punishment.It is a great relief to learn that chastening in the New Testament has a much broader meaning than that. It really means child-training, and includes all parental activity that is involved in raising a child. Kittel defines it as "the upbringing and handling of the child which is growing up to maturity and which needs direction, teaching, instruction and a certain measure of compulsion in the form of discipline or even chastisement."The Christians to whom the book of Hebrews was written were suffering persecution. The writer speaks of this persecution as part of the chastening of the Lord. Does this mean that God had sent the persecution? Certainly not! It was inspired by enemies of the gospel. Was God punishing the Christians because of their sins? No, the persecution was probably brought on because of their faithful witness for Him. In what sense then could persecution be said to be the chastening of the Lord? In the sense that God allowed it to take place, and then used it as part of His educative program in the lives of His people. In other words, He used the persecution to refine, mature and conform His children to the image of His Son.It goes without saying that this type of chastening is not pleasant at the time. The chisel deals roughly with the marble. The furnace subjects the gold to intense heat. But it is all worthwhile when the face of the man appears in the marble and when the gold is purified from dross.It is self-defeating to despise the chastening of the Lord or to faint under it. The only proper attitude is to remember that God is using it as a training device, then to try to get the maximum benefit from it. That is what the writer means when he says that "it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Hebrews 12:11 b).

With reverence, humor and skill, William MacDonald wove a daily devotional tapestry that challenges the reader to think deeply and Biblically, and apply God's Word to their lives.

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

"If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" (Hebrews 12:7)

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,<cr>1</cr> let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,<cr>2</cr>

Hebrews 12:28

for our “God is a consuming fire.”<ft>1</ft><cr>1</cr>

Hebrews 12:29

 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,   let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,   29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”   

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

 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,   let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,   for our “God is a consuming fire.”   

Hebrews 12:28-29

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Bible Verse of the Day

January 7, 2023

Hebrews 12:28-29 NIV

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