December 29th: Despite the Soot
"D. L. Moody believed that if people could only understand that God is love, they would be irresistibly drawn to Him. Yet he sensed that most people saw God as an angry judge or too distant to care about them...Despite all our sins and failures, God still loves us. Like the father in Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son, God waits with open arms, whether we've been scrubbed clean or come fresh from the pigsty."
Jeremiah 31:3 says, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving kindness I have drawn thee."
Ephesians 3:18-19 says, "May you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the LOVE of Christ."
December 30th: The Devil's Termites
"Calvin Miller says, 'Never forget that, just as God is the Creator who wants to make your life and testimony beautiful, Satan is the destroyer. He is out to smash every beautiful thing God created you to be and achieve.' How does he subtly attempt to ruin us 'He is not a wrecker-ball destroyer,' writes Miller. 'He is the Lord of the termites.' He then gives us a graphic picture of the devil's termites producing unseen decay that 'makes Pharisees seem alive when they are only hollow dead.' The devil won't come around with a contract for our souls the way he does in literature or the movies. He'll keep day by day lying about God and why we don't need to obey Him. He'll lure us with promises about where the real action and satisfaction is. James 4:7 has it right in saying, 'Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.'"
December 31st: The Shroud Flung Away
Isaiah foresees a magnificent event still to come. What he foresees will be far more than merely a feast that surpases a Sunday brunch. Isaiah says that God will do what we all long for: remove the shroud of death that hangs over the earth. 'He will swallow up death forever!' Isaiah declares. 'The sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears.' Isaiah 26:19 reads, 'Those who die in the LORD will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!'
January 1st: The Way to Freedom
"'Obey the call of Jesus,' Oswald Chambers urges. 'Keep yourself before God for this one thing only- my utmost for His highest.' Chambers's determination resonates throughout his devotional, so it's no wonder countless Christians have read and reread his challenges and have been drawn into deeper commitment. 'We have to decide. Surrender your will to Him absolutely and irrevocably.' That was his challenge, and today we're faced with that opportunity. As you begin the New Year, are YOU determined to hear the whispers and guidance of the Holy Spirit, who can equip you to experience God's highest? Here is Chambers's counsel: 'Keep your life so constant in its contact with God that His surprising power may break out on the right hand and on the left. Live in a constant state of expectancy.'"
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