DECEMBER 31
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:20).
Our standard of moral conduct must exceed that of the morally upright man or woman who lives apart from the grace of God. Our Lord does not lower the standard of moral conduct for His people; instead, He pushes it higher. We not only have to do right, but our motives must be right. The springs of our thinking must be right.
That is the standard of moral conduct we shall be able to meet if we are born again of the Spirit of God and if we obey the Spirit.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me, Lord, to surrender myself fully to You so that I may be all that You expect me to be.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 6:24–34
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matt. 6:24).
Christ’s true victories are not made in moments of revival, but when my will is in the ascendancy.
It is an easy business to make decisions for Christ in a camp meeting. Everything is in my favor. The revival tide is high; it is easy to float over on the Lord’s side. But His mighty, tremendous triumphs are made after the revival—when I am in the ascendancy, when Christ stands on one side of an issue and my will on the other. Then I have to choose whom I have to serve. Then is the time when true decision is made.
During a revival, the Holy Spirit can sway the whole church with His presence. The atmosphere is marvelous. People are rejoicing. But only one-tenth of them ever victoriously serve Christ.
PRAYER THOUGHT: I resolve to follow Christ, regardless of the price or sacrifice.
SUGGESTED READING: JEREMIAH 21
And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death (Jer. 21:8).
During the revival in South Wales, God swayed and wooed the people, trying to convince them to make a decision for Him. But as long as they were blessed, they would not decide. When God withdrew the revival, down they went, spiritually—farther than before He came in revival. Only those who transacted serious decisions with God came through the aftermath and stood true.
Have you been going to an altar of decision over and over again? Have you been praying, fuming, perspiring, and struggling? You must decide once and for all whether you will serve the Lord.
People will spend nights in prayer rather than resolve to obey God. They will do anything rather than decide. They will ask God to bring fire from heaven or show them other miraculous signs … anything to get them out of this horrible position of decision! Oh, God grant that we may get to the point of decision!
PRAYER THOUGHT: O God, deliver me from just riding the tide of religious enthusiasm.
SUGGESTED READING: 1 KINGS 18:1–21
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word (1 Kings 18:21).
Many times, God leads us along with no clear point of surrender; and then suddenly, like a flash, He draws the line straight. He strikes straight through the joints and marrow with His words. He forces us to decide.
When Jesus Christ comes on the scene, the truth of God stands out clear. All the praying and all the struggling are to no avail. You must act. You must surrender. God cannot help you do it; human friends cannot help you do it. You must decide of your own volition whether you will surrender to Jesus Christ.
As soon as you surrender, He saves. As soon as you present your body as a living sacrifice, He entirely sanctifies.
Oh, may God stop our asking Him to save us! Christ has already died to save us. Oh, may God stop our pleading with Him to sanctify us! He already sent Jesus Christ to sanctify us. We must decide whether we will let Him do His work.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Praise the Lord! Victory is mine. I claim it.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 13:53–58
And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power (Luke 4:32).
As Christians, we must testify of the grace of God to our family and friends. Jesus preached His first sermon in His hometown, Nazareth. He told His disciples that they were to begin their ministry at Jerusalem, their capital. What was the reason? Did Jesus expect great success in Nazareth and Jerusalem? He had exactly the opposite expectation. But He insisted that His disciples begin their ministry where they are.
Our Nazareth or Jerusalem is unquestionably among our own relations. It is easier to testify to strangers than to our own flesh and blood. But we cannot wait for others to bring our relatives to salvation. They are our personal responsibility.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Enable me, heavenly Father, to share the good news of Christ at home first.
SUGGESTED READING: JOSHUA 24:1–16
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Josh. 24:15).
Christ is paralyzed when you will not surrender to Him. He prayed for you. He died for you. He sent the Holy Spirit to woo you. When are you going to let Him have His way?
Never mistake blessings for His mighty regenerating work. Never mistake the external blessings of God for entire sanctification. If you want to be saved, you must repent of your sins and ask for God’s forgiveness. If you want to be entirely sanctified, you must bind the “sacrifice with cords” to the altar.
When God gives you such a clear choice, why not decide now?
PRAYER THOUGHT: Forgive me, Lord, when I hesitate in obeying You.
SUGGESTED READING: JOSHUA 24:17–31
And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man … (Gen. 6:3a).
You may talk about your Christian experience all you like; but unless you have been invaded by the Holy Spirit, and every determination of your nature has been fixed on the Lord, your experience amounts to nothing. Consecration is not enough. Obedience is not enough. Only your decision to let the Lord have His way can give you the victory.
You may have spiritual ecstasies. You may see angels. You may spend nights in prayer. But the thing that really counts is not what you experience, but what you allow God to do for you.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank You, Lord, for spiritual experiences. But I bless Your holy Name for flooding my soul with Your Spirit.
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day (Ps. 25:5).
God cannot make us commit ourselves to Him. We must do that. So many of us will do anything under heaven before we truly surrender. We pray and cry, but cannot let go of ourselves. Pride is the reason.
We must stop our reminiscences about the joys and blessings we have had; all the blessings God brings to our lives will never take the place of our surrender to Christ. We must let Him have His own way. God may bless us beyond all measure, but that is not a sign we are sanctified. He longs to give us more.
When Jesus was on this earth, He cried, “I am come that they might have life” (John 10:10).
PRAYER THOUGHT: Lead me, O Lord, and teach me the way of holiness.
SUGGESTED READING: PSALM 18:1–6
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower (Ps. 18:2).
Do not insult Him by asking Him for the witness of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Decide; that is the thing for you to do.
When you come to the altar, the Holy Spirit will tell you why you cannot let go. And if you are willing to be sanctified, you will decide without a moment’s delay. God grant that if you are in the valley of decision, you may decide quickly.
God gives us unsearchable riches in Jesus Christ. All things are ours because we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. We have a spirit of heaven to go to heaven in. Christ offers us a superabundant life here and now—for body, soul, and spirit—to the end that Jesus Christ Himself may be glorified. Yet we cannot begin to live it unless we decide to let Him have His way.
Would to God that everyone would draw Him to the heart, to have the joys of His fullness!
PRAYER THOUGHT: O God, I present my whole being to You as a living sacrifice. Consume me with Your Holy Spirit.
SUGGESTED READING: LUKE 6:37–45
Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matt. 7:1).
Our Lord says to abstain from critical judgment of others. This sounds very strange, because one characteristic of the Holy Spirit in a believer is His way of revealing things that are wrong and sinful. But the discerning power of the Holy Spirit is not for purposes of criticism; it is for the purpose of conversion.
Criticism is not a healthy habit for a wholesome spiritual life. When criticism becomes a habit, it destroys moral energy, kills faith, and paralyzes spiritual force. Criticism becomes deadly as it decomposes. If you are criticized much, it has the effect of decomposing you. That is never the work of the Holy Spirit, nor the work of a saint; it is the work of the Devil.
Abstain from criticizing others. Beware of any attitude that puts you in the place of superiority.
PRAYER THOUGHT: We human beings are given to being judgmental. Forgive us, Lord. You are the only true Judge.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you (Matt. 5:11–12).
Our Lord says that His disciples are to rejoice when they are reviled, persecuted, or slandered for His sake. So many times we are told that if we suffer for “conviction’s sake” or “conscience’s sake,” we have suffered painfully. Not so. We are supposed to suffer for Jesus’ sake. Our whole motive in suffering is to be well-pleasing to God.
The true blessedness of the saint rests in determining to make and keep God first. The disadvantage of a saint in our present world is that he must make confession of Jesus, not in secret, but glaringly in public. The tendency to be holy and say nothing about it is right from every standpoint but God’s.
Do not hesitate to speak out for God and His Word. It is the greatest need of this world. Be faithful to share the good news of Christ, even if sharing it brings ridicule.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Give me grace to rejoice when people persecute me for Your sake, O Lord.
For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth (Ps. 71:5).
How long have you been crying for help, and your god hasn’t answered? Step over your god of earnestness. Throw away your god of obedience. Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
Nothing will avail but your decision to let the Lord have His way. You may say you have done this and that; but have you done the thing He has told you to do? Let go and let Him change your life.
I do not care how earnest you have been, how great your restitution has been, or how many “tracks” you have cleaned up. Until you decide to cast it all on Christ, there is no hope.
PRAYER THOUGHT: I know that Christ is the answer to all my seeking. In Him I place my hope, trust, and faith.
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God (Ps. 42:1).
Now we come to the great and grand idea of the universal and spiritual aspect of the work of a Christian. There is no respect of persons with God. There is no respect of nations with God. Anywhere and everywhere—here, there, and wherever—God likes to fling us out to disciple all nations. The entire world belongs to Him.
Behind every face besotted with sin is the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behind every downtrodden mass of human corruption is Calvary. Deep within each person is the potential for a life incandescent with God’s Holy Spirit.
PRAYER THOUGHT: I am truly thankful for the blessings You have given me, Lord. Help me introduce others to these blessings.
SUGGESTED READING: EPHESIANS 2:1–7
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has the “any man” aspect; “whosoever will” may come to Him and find salvation. So many times we hear people say, “Those experiences are not for me. My past life has been so mean, so sordid, that surely God doesn’t mean me.” But God does mean you; He means by His marvelous grace and power to create Jesus Christ in you.
God makes no distinction between Jew or Gentile. Anyone may, at the Cross of Jesus, find forgiveness of sins and entire sanctification. God stoops to the very lowest, the very weakest—yes, to the “sons of disobedience”—and raises them up, if they will let Him.
PRAYER THOUGHT: O God, I know that Your marvelous grace is the secret to spiritual victory. Hallelujah!
SUGGESTED READING: EPHESIANS 2:8–13
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8).
God lifted me out of sin, infidelity, inability, weakness, disobedience, and wrath, to the heavenly places where Christ lives in the fullness of His power. Oh, the wonder of being lifted into that inviolable place! God raises me up to that place even now.
“Sitting in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” is manifested in our lives as we look to the Creator and see in that marvelous Being our divine Head. Thank God, when He raises us up, He manifests in us the very mind that was in Christ Jesus—unhurried, calm, steady, and strong.
PRAYER THOUGHT: The peace of Christ strengthens, empowers, and gives assurance to me.
SUGGESTED READING: EPHESIANS 2:14–22
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Ps. 91:1).
Study the life of Jesus Christ. Read the story over again. Study the thirty years of quiet subjection at Nazareth. Stand amazed before the three years of service. Think of the slander, the spitting, the backbiting, the hate—think of everything that Jesus endured that was unfathomably worse than you will go through. Yet His peace was undisturbed. It could not be violated. It is that peace that God exhibits in us when we sit in “heavenly places”—not a peace like it, but that very peace.
The circumstances of our lives will not hinder our peace. The rush and turmoil of the world will pass us by practically unnoticed. Why? Because we are sitting in “heavenly places” in Christ Jesus. Oh, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty,” where he is secure and safe.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Jesus is all the world to me. The security of His love and peace is sufficient.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 14:22–31
The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace (Ps. 29:11).
Watch the saint. In tumults oft, tribulation, turmoil, trouble, affliction—but the peace of Christ will manifest itself in the saint’s life. The peace of Christ will hold that person’s soul in a poise above outward circumstances and battlings. The old way of looking at things, the old way of doing things, the old fuss and fume are all gone. The saint has become a new creation, and that creation has the very nature that was manifested in Christ.
When you have His nature, then you will have His peace. The sovereign, overflowing power of God—as it was exhibited in and through our Lord Jesus Christ—is exhibited in and through us when He has raised us up from sin to sit in the heavenly places.
How blind we get sometimes! There is a danger, even to those who are the children of God, of getting too familiar with sublime things. We talk about the wonderful realities of God, and yet seem to forget that they are to be exhibited through our lives. Have you asked God to help you realize His peace? Have you allowed God to exhibit His peace through you?
PRAYER THOUGHT: O God, may Your peace be seen in me.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 15:14–27
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).
What does “pure in heart” mean? Nothing less than what the Son of God is. God imparts to us the identical purity that characterized Jesus Christ. The sanctified life is the undisturbed range of His peace, the unshakable power of His strength, and the unfathomable depth of His purity.
Jesus never had secular moods. The heart of the Lord Jesus Christ wanted God’s glory most. Entire sanctification means the impartation of this to you and me.
The wonder of a pure heart is this: Its motives are as pure as Jesus Christ’s. Our Lord had a wonderful sensitiveness to the things of God.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Purity of heart and life is my need. Cleanse me, O God, and make me pure in Your sight.
SUGGESTED READING: ISAIAH 26:5–11
Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee (Isa. 26:8).
God softly breathes stern messages to His children. And what is the result? Are His children stricken with fear? Never.
You will find, as you walk with your mind stayed on God, that nothing will take you by surprise. You will not be panic stricken. God will not permit it; He will keep you in perfect peace. But there is a condition: If you keep your mind stayed on Him.
Why are so many of us panic stricken when some trouble or trial suddenly faces us? Because we get our eyes off of Him. Keep your eyes on Jesus and you will be kept steadfast and immovable.
Our joy is unspeakable and full of glory. Let the Lord sanctify you wholly. Then you will know the “peace that passeth understanding.”
PRAYER THOUGHT: This world is full of problems and perplexity, Lord. But You are my peace!
And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do (Acts 9:6).
An eminent minister of the gospel once wrote, “Sanctification is a supreme desire not to want to have your own way.” This quote is rather quaintly expressed but gloriously true, and has about it the fragrance of Gethsemane. It carries one back to the time when the Man of Sorrows went “a stone’s cast” further into the garden and cried, “Not as I will but as thou wilt.”
Some have written about the “tragedy of Calvary,” but I am inclined to believe it was one of the great triumphs in God’s plan. When Saul of Tarsus met Jesus on the way to Damascus, he cried, “What wilt thou have me to do?” In that surrender of all, Saul’s own plans came into such obedience to the divine will that God, in the darkness of three days, revealed to him his work. It was a prelude to the days in which Saul would see what he must suffer for Jesus’ sake.
When one gets a vision of God, the supreme desire of the soul is “Thy will, not mine.”
PRAYER THOUGHT: Your will, not mine, be done, O Lord.
SUGGESTED READING: LUKE 23:34–45
And saying, If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself (Luke 23:37).
The shame of the gospel is its unwillingness to answer its critics. The Christian is at loss to think that, when Jesus hung upon the cross, men said, “He saved others, Himself He cannot save.” But Jesus had no answer. Jesus was concerned, not about what mankind thought of Him, but to do what God had sent Him to do.
The shame of the gospel is increasing in this church age. The church becomes discouraged when it stands up for Jesus, and finds Jesus turning to heal the breach it made with the world. Yet Jesus is more concerned with redeeming the world than with preserving a good reputation. That draws criticism, yet Christ remains silent in the face of His critics.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Impressing others is not my goal, Lord. I am willing to pay the price of shame in order to serve You.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 13:18–23
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty (Matt. 13:23).
We must always remember that God is our Father. He loves us. We can never think of any need that He will forget.
Thus, we must not worry. It is not only wrong to worry, it is real infidelity to God; because worry means that we are saying, “God cannot look after my practical details.”
Did you ever notice what Jesus said would choke out the spiritual life He puts in us? Was it the Devil? No—the cares of this world (Matt. 13:22). The little worries of life hinder us. A businessman who is filled with the Spirit of God can do his work ten-thousandfold better than a man without the Spirit, because the responsibilities of his daily affairs are off his shoulders and on God’s.
The secret of Christian health and prosperity is concentration on the compassionate care of God.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Heavenly Father, You know that I worry sometimes. Increase my faith in You. Strengthen my trust in You. Forgive me when I do worry.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 19:23–30
And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life (Matt. 19:29).
Jesus must be absolutely first in our love. He will curse anything we love most—that is the burden of today’s Scripture text.
If I love this present age more than Him, the Lord will rebuke me. If I love myself more, the Lord will convict me. But if I love Him most, He will not be offended by me, nor I by Him. “Blessed are ye that shall not be offended in Me.”
PRAYER THOUGHT: Dear Lord, I love You—above and beyond all others and everything else!
SUGGESTED READING: EZEKIEL 36:21–38
And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes (Ezek. 36:23).
There is an attitude today that I call “Pharisaic holiness.” People with this attitude have forgotten the horrible pit and miry clay from whence they have been digged by the mighty atonement of Jesus Christ. These people thank God, with an arrogant offensiveness, that they are not as “other men are.”
The Holy Spirit continually takes back the saint of God, in memory, to what he once was. For as God told the children of Israel in Ezekiel, He sanctified them “not for their sakes but for His own.” We need to remember that
Every virtue we possess
And every victory won,
And every thought of holiness
Are His alone.
PRAYER THOUGHT: To God be all glory and honor for the victory I have in Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
SUGGESTED READING: PHILIPPIANS 2:1–8
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man (Phil. 2:7).
We are not to stand up for our own honor, only for the honor of others. Jesus’ critics called Him a glutton, a wine-bibber, demon-possessed, and a madman. Yet He never opened His mouth against their criticism. But when His accusers said a word against His heavenly Father, He not only opened His mouth; He said some very stern things.
Jesus made Himself of no reputation, and we are to follow His example. When people slander us, we should not worry about it. But when they dishonor our Lord, we must be disturbed.
The best illustration of what I am trying to explain to you is that of mud on your clothes. If you touch it while wet, you will rub it into the texture of the fabric. But if you leave the mud till it is dry, you can flick it off, and it is gone without a trace. Leave criticism alone; do not touch it.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Give me the discipline of refusing to answer my accusers, Lord. You are my example in this.
SUGGESTED READING: HEBREWS 7:14–28
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb. 7:25).
God wants praying people who will vicariously take on the difficulties of the various churches and denominations and communities in which they live. He wants us to present these difficulties before God, being identified with them.
The New Testament teaches that we are raised up “together” to sit “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”—not raised in isolation, but together. God grant that we may learn the tremendous meaning of intercessory prayer!
Intercession includes vicarious repentance—feeling all the distress and all the pain of the sins of the people to whom we belong, as if they were really our own. Are you willing to make this your ministry?
PRAYER THOUGHT: Like You, Lord, I want to be an intercessor for others. I will pray for the needs of my friends, relatives, and fellow Christians.
SUGGESTED READING: PHILIPPIANS 3:7–21
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before (Phil. 3:13).
Paul sounds a note of challenge in Philippians 3:13–14: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
This seals forever the most subtle of all heresies, the idea of stagnation in our spiritual life. It cannot be too often repeated that we can do absolutely nothing for our soul’s salvation or entire sanctification; these are the gifts of God through the atonement. But we must do everything afterwards with sublime courage. We have to remember Whose we are and Whom we serve.
Christ calls us to carry the sublime dignity of the children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse world. To that end, we may always strive for greater maturity and godliness.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Growth in grace is my aim and aspiration. By Your grace, Lord Jesus, help me to mature.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 4:1–11
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve (Matt. 4:10).
The central citadel for the Devil’s attack on Jesus was the same as for his attack upon us—“my right to myself.” He tempted Jesus to do God’s work in His own way. Likewise, even when a soul is sanctified, the Devil attempts to get the saint to do God’s work in his own selfish way. He will do anything to dethrone the Lord as Lord!
The keynote of Jesus’ reply, throughout the temptation, was His steady insistence that “I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” Is this your testimony, too?
PRAYER THOUGHT: Forgive me, O Lord, when I insist on my own way. Help me to realize that Satan works through selfishness on my part.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 24:1–31
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet (Matt. 24:6).
Saints are as the prophets of God: They portray in their individual lives what God’s purpose is for their community. The events of our day point toward an unparalleled catastrophe which marks the sudden coming of the Lord and the birth of a new epoch, known as the kingdom of God, visibly established on earth. God’s people are to be harbingers of that new age.
By contrast, the sin of this age has peculiar and definite characteristics. It is true that we still have the sins of all the other ages. But the dominant characteristic of the sin of our age is imitating the Holy Spirit; first, by attempting to impose an organized interpretation upon the gospel; second, by insisting that each individual’s responsibility is based upon that interpretation; and third, by boasting about the infallible certainty of having the mind of God.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Deliver me, Lord, from ever attempting to usurp the ministry of Your Holy Spirit!
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 24:32–44
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (Matt. 24:35).
The first few centuries of the church were among the greatest, the purest, and the most blessed that the world has ever seen. Those early Christians had an unquestioning love for God. All of the subsequent reformations and revivals have been spurts of spiritual energy to get back to those primitive Christian days.
Yet the present church age continues to manifest three prime characteristics of the apostolic church. The main features of this church age are: (1) individual responsibility for letting God cleanse the heart from sin, readjust our nature, and infill it with His divinity, on the sole ground of the substitution of Jesus Christ for the sin of the world; (2) personal realization of a personal God, by making the response of perfect love and devotion; and (3) consciousness of each individual’s accountability to God alone.
These fundamentals are what Satan is trying to undermine. Yet all of our work as Christians must spring from these elements. The worldly never fight God, but religious people do so by letting Satan work through them.
PRAYER THOUGHT: O God, let me realize when I am playing into the hands of Satan as he attempts to undermine Your work.
SUGGESTED READING: 2 TIMOTHY 3:1–15
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away (2 Tim. 3:5).
Materialism will cease to be a power in our world. Spiritualism will be the characteristic force at the end of this age. All of mankind’s endeavors will revolve around the “unseen.” The dominant feature of this movement will be a certain form of godliness, which will bear many beneficial works.
In fact, so much so will this be the case that even the very elect may be deceived.
As the end of the age approaches, we shall see a higher type of morality than there has ever been. Better forms of government, higher forces of civilization, greater intellectual understanding, better physical development will be seen at the end of this age.
Suddenly, though, everything will be shattered to pieces by the second coming of Jesus!
PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord, help me not to be deceived by the spirit of our age. I want to be ready for Your return to this earth.