Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 12:5-8
Ps 12:5-8
5 "Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will protect them from those who malign them." 6 And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times. 7 O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever. 8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.
Jude 17-19
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
Jesus warned his disciples that the people of the world would reject him and then they would also reject, persecute and even kill them. The apostle Paul tells us that all who seek to serve God and live for him will suffer persecution. Satan has never left people alone who are seeking to live for God. Every good thing that God has given us can and will be used by the devil against us if we are not careful.
He has taken the marvelous grace of God and turned it into license to sin. He has perverted the wonderful love of God for all of mankind into a heresy that says everyone will be forgiven and saved – even if they don’t believe in him or seek to live after his will. Salvation by faith has been maligned and obedience to the will of God has been scoffed at and scorned. John says some will even deny that Jesus is Lord or that he actually lived in the flesh. Paul says these are people who deny the power of the Spirit in their lives and seek to follow their own will.
Nothing is more beautiful than unity among the people of God and even this has been used to turn people away from him. The ploy of “divide and conquer” has long been one of the strategies of the devil. The Psalmist declared it so, Jesus warned about it and the apostles fought against it. Our unity is based on each of us being in Jesus Christ. It is he who saves us and adds us to his church. Unity is based on Jesus, his work for us and his revelation to us, not our own thinking.
O Lord God, I am so thankful for all you do for me every day. Thank you for the rest I had this past night and thank you for the new day that lies ahead. Help me use today to draw closer to you and to allow your Spirit to work in me. Keep me from being self-centered and use me and all I have to help others in their needs; physically, mentally, emotionally and most of all, spiritually. Thank you for this country where I live and for the freedoms I enjoy. Please be with those in other countries who do not have these freedoms. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
