1. Devotional: Be Patient

Be Patient

Author: David Jeremiah

I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress—

that it is good for a man to remain as he is. (1 Corinthians 7:26)

    We’ve all heard the advice: "Count to ten before doing/saying anything you might regret later." In other words, impulsive, emotionally-based decisions or actions are fraught with the possibility of disappointment. If that is true for everyday decisions, how much more might it be true when making marriage plans? Patience is the watchword when it comes to such life-changing decisions.

    The apostle Paul gave such advice to the Corinthian church when he wrote to them about marriage. He said, given the "present distress," don’t make life-altering decisions. If you are single, remain single; if you are married, remain married. What was the "present distress" of which he wrote? It could have been some sort of crisis in Corinth resulting in hardship, or it might have been simply the challenges of following Christ in an ungodly, antagonistic culture. In other words, sometimes life presents enough "troubles" of its own without making drastic changes impulsively. Marriage is good; singleness is good. Just be patient and seek the Lord’s will and timing.

    This advice about marriage applies to all the Christian life: Be patient, seek the Lord, move deliberately and prayerfully.

1. Devotional: Let’s Talk about Families

Let’s Talk about Families

Author: Robert A. Cook (1912-1991)

For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him. (1 Sam. 1:27)

    How do you plot a course for your family? Note three crucial elements evident in today’s text: first, prayer; second, commitment; and third, responsibility.

    Hannah prayed earnestly. In agony of soul, she cried out to God. And God answered her prayer beautifully, in the arrival of a baby boy, Samuel. Prayer makes the difference between a family full of God and a family full of self. This has to be more, by the way, than a prayer now and again in formal fashion. It takes that personal intercession where mothers and dads, sons and daughters, are each seeking God.

    Second, commitment. Hannah vowed that Samuel would be lent to the Lord as long as he lived (1:28). Would you be willing to give your child to God—perhaps even for overseas missions service? Would you be willing to give up your home, your financial security, your prestige? My dear friend, the willingness to give your most precious possession to God, and yourself with the gift, makes all the difference.

    The third factor, of course is responsibility. Eli knew that "his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not" (3:13). Eli was a chief priest, and, as such, it was his responsibility to say who would serve with him in the tabernacle. He could have, and he should have, said, "Boys, if you’re not going to walk with God, you’re not going to work here either."

Small thought here:

    My father said to me on many occasions, "Boy, as long as you have your feet under my table I’m responsible to God for you." And parents, it’s true!

4. A Quote from A. W. Tozer (3)

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3. A Quote from Oswald Chambers (3)

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2. Hymn: Be Thou My Vision

Hymn: Be Thou My Vision 

Translator: Mary E. Byrne (1880-1931)

(Vocal)

(Music)

(Sheet Music)

1. Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
    Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art—
    Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
    Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

2. Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
    I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord;
    Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
    Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

3. Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
    Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
    Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
    High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

4. High King of heaven, my victory won,
    May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!
    Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
    Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

1. Devotional: Family Decisions

Family Decisions 

by Robert A. Cook (1912-1991)

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, 

and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice. (Gen. 18:19)

    A young woman became concerned about the spiritual condition of her parents and her brother. They were all good, church-going people, but seemed to have no spiritual vitality. She began to pray about the matter and became convinced that, for her at least, having a daily quiet time would be the key to spiritual growth. 

    The young lady asked to use the family alarm clock. In return for the privilege, she promised to waken the rest of the family on time each morning. Then she arose half an hour before the others to meet quietly with her Lord. Before long, the rest of the family began to show interest in spiritual things. They began to pray and have their own devotions. The family became more and more spiritually minded and both children are now active in Christian service.

    You may be your own family’s only source of spiritual teaching. This is true not only in the case of one believer in the midst of an unsaved family; it is also true in families where all profess faith in Christ. By this I mean that you may be the one person who can show by your example that a certain scriptural truth is both real and important.

    Make family decisions, then, realizing that you are God’s instrument in your home. Family members will define what you really are by observing what you do.

Small thought here:

    Your family is something uniquely yours. These are the people with whom God has placed you and to whom you belong. And it is a responsibility which cannot be evaded. Your family may be your number one mission field. Your conduct and choices may affect their relationship to Christ.

1. Devotional: Home Evangelism

Home Evangelism

by W. A. Criswell (1909-2002)

    Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him (Luke 8:39).

    In the last chapter of the Book of Romans, the sixteenth chapter, Paul will write, "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus; and likewise greet the church that is in their house" (Romans 16:3, 5). Look again as he closes the First Corinthian letter, 1 Corinthians 16, with this word: "The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, and the church that is in their house" (1 Corinthians 16:19).

    I turn again to the fourth chapter, the last chapter of Colossians, and he writes there, "Salute the churches which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house" (Colossians 4:15). And I turn again, to the beginning of Philemon, who lived in Colossae. He starts off his sweet letter of love and appeal, "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow laborer. Greetings to the beloved Apphia," who apparently was his wife, "and to Archippus," who apparently was their son, "our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house" (Philemon 1-2).

    The greatest success, triumph, of the Christian faith, the greatest it has ever known was in the first three Christian centuries. It literally subverted the civilized world. It swung the Roman Empire on new hinges. It created a new civilization. There has never been anything like it in the history of mankind. And they did it without a church house. They didn’t build churches until about three hundred years after Christ.

    You could ask these ancient first-century Christians the same question that I once asked the choir leader from the Baptist church in Moscow: "Oppressed, how do you carry on your work?" The man from Moscow said, "We do it in the home, from house to house." If you were to ask the earliest Christians, "How did you do it in the time of the greatest power of the Christian church?" they would answer, "We did it in the home, in the house. We gathered friends, and we gathered neighbors, and there we taught the Word of God, and we sang the songs of Zion, and we prayed together."

6. Hymn: Sun of My Soul, Thou Savior Dear

Hymn: Sun of My Soul, Thou Savior Dear

Author: John Keble (1792-1866)

(Vocal)

(Music)

(Sheet Music)

1. Sun of my soul, thou Saviour dear,

    It is not night if thou be near;

    O may no earth-born cloud arise

    To hide thee from thy servant‵s eyes.

2. When the soft dews of kindly sleep

    My weary eyelids gently steep,

    Be my last thought, how sweet to rest

    For ever on my Saviour‵s breast.

3. Abide with me from morn till eve,

    For without thee I cannot live;

    Abide with me when night is nigh,

    For without thee I dare not die.

4. If some poor wandering child of thine

    Have spurned today the voice Divine,

    Now, Lord, the gracious work begin;

    Let him no more lie down in sin.

5. Watch by the sick; enrich the poor

    With blessings from thy boundless store;

    Be every mourner‵s sleep tonight,

    Like infant‵s slumbers, pure and light.

6. Come near and bless us when we wake,

    Ere through the world our way we take,

    Till in the ocean of thy love

    We lose ourselves in heaven above.

5. Hymn: My Father Watches Over Me

Hymn: My Father Watches Over Me

Author: William C. Martin (1864-1914)

(Vocal)

(Music)

(Sheet Music)

1. I trust in God wherever I may be,

    Upon the land or on the rolling sea;

    For come what may, from day to day,

    My heav‵nly Father watches over me.

Refrain:

I trust in God, I know he cares for me,

On mountain bleak or on the stormy sea;

Though billows roll, he keeps my soul,

My heav‵nly Father watches over me.

2. He makes the rose an object of his care,

    He guides the eagle through the pathless air;

    And surely he remembers me,

    My heav‵nly Father watches over me.

3. I trust in God, for, in the lion‵s den,

    On battlefield, or in the prison pen;

    Through praise or blame, through flood or flame,

    My heav‵nly Father watches over me.

4. The valley may be dark, the shadows deep,

    But oh, the shepherd guards his lonely sheep;

    And through the gloom, he‵ll lead me home,

    My heav‵nly Father watches over me.

4. Hymn: Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

Hymn: Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

Author: St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1151)

(Vocal)

(Music)

(Sheet Music)

1. Jesus, the very thought of Thee

    With sweetness fills my breast;

    But sweeter far Thy face to see

    And in Thy presence rest.

2. No voice can sing, no heart can frame,

    Nor can the memory find

    A sweeter sound than Thy blest name,

    O Savior of mankind.

3. O hope of every contrite heart,

    O joy of all the meek,

    To those who fall, how kind Thou art!

    How good to those who seek!

4. But what to those who find? Ah, this

    Nor tongue nor pen can show;

    The love of Jesus, what it is

    None but His loved ones know.

5. Jesus, our only joy be Thou,

    As Thou our prize wilt be;

    Jesus, be Thou our glory now

    And through eternity.