Precept Austin

Daily Devotionals

REDEEM THE TIME in 2021 - Recording of Zoom Talk given by myself (Bruce Hurt) to men's ministry on Jan 13, 2021

You might skip over the first few minutes of announcements, etc.
Below is the link to the recording which lasts about 1 hour
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/ShdYySwjdfQcvOCacvj7CZZw3HToUB2tk554kwhvdpyxK3GKd8HcH2sagfv1Dl95.OuYP4VinAMcDhtRG 
Passcode: Ug3gD0=a  
Here is a link to the "slides" that go along with the zoom talk -- not sure they show up on zoom.https://www.preceptaustin.org/zoom1  
In depth article on Redeem the Time

Here are links to several other daily devotionals to aid your Quiet Time with the Lord:

Why Should You Consider Interceding for the Hidden People Group Below? 

  1. "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." (Mt 9:37) - Will you be a laborer for the Lord of the harvest (Mt 9:38)?
  2. You are in effect entering the mission field with your intercessory prayers. "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints (including those of the hidden people groups who will become saints - see Rev 5:9 below) (Eph 6:18+) 
  3. You are storing up "for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Mt 6:20-21+)
  4. You will rejoice with Paul for those precious souls in this hidden people group who accept Christ as their Savior for they will be your "hope or joy or crown of exultation...in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming." (1 Th 2:19+,
  5. You will shine like the stars for "those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." (Da 12:3+)
  6. You can be confident God will answer your prayer for Rev 5:9+ says Jesus was "slain, and purchased for God with (His) blood men from EVERY tribe and tongue and people and nation."
  7. If these Biblical truths are not sufficient motivation to redeem the precious time then take a moment and Read the longer answer. 

CLICK THE PICTURE BELOW FOR MORE DETAIL (INCLUDING MAP) REGARDING THIS HIDDEN PEOPLE GROUP.

These devotionals are provided to encourage your daily devotional time reading the "pure milk  of the Word" (1 Peter 2:2+ = a vital verse because intake of the pure word is an absolute essential for spiritual growth or progressive sanctification) and are not meant to replace your personal time reading God's "Word of Life" (Philippians 2:16+) and "Word of Truth, the Gospel." (Colossians 1:5+) Our prayer is that you might daily...

Let the word of Christ richly dwell+ (present imperative calling for dependence on the Holy Spirit to obey) within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16+)

Remember that letting the Word of Christ richly dwell within you produces the same effect (See chart comparing effects) as being continually filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18+ - where be filled is not a suggestion but a present imperative command calling for reliance on the Holy Spirit to give you the desire and the power - Php 2:13NLT+).

For the devotionals below the default is today's date, but you can change the date if you like:

 

 

Daily Light on the Daily Path

August 15

Morning

Now the God of peace, equip you in every good thing to do His will

BE made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not as a result of works, that no one should boast --Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.-- Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

-- Having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God

He 13.20, 21. 2Co 13.11. Ep 2.8, 9.-- Jas 1.17. Php 2.12, 13.--Ro 12.2.-- Php 1.11. 2Co 3.5.

Evening

I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness & speak kindly to her

COME out from THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE says the Lord. AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me Says the Lord Almighty.

-- Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Jesus... that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

Jesus said Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while. --The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Ho 2.14. 2Co 6.17, 18-2Co 7.1. He 13.12, 13. Mk 6.31.--Ps. 23.1, 2, 3.

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening

August 15

Morning

“Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide.”

Genesis 24:63

Very admirable was his occupation. If those who spend so many hours in idle company, light reading, and useless pastimes, could learn wisdom, they would find more profitable society and more interesting engagements in meditation than in the vanities which now have such charms for them. We should all know more, live nearer to God, and grow in grace, if we were more alone. Meditation chews the cud and extracts the real nutriment from the mental food gathered elsewhere. When Jesus is the theme, meditation is sweet indeed. Isaac found Rebecca while engaged in private musings; many others have found their best beloved there.

Very admirable was the choice of place. In the field we have a study hung round with texts for thought. From the cedar to the hyssop, from the soaring eagle down to the chirping grasshopper, from the blue expanse of heaven to a drop of dew, all things are full of teaching, and when the eye is divinely opened, that teaching flashes upon the mind far more vividly than from written books. Our little rooms are neither so healthy, so suggestive, so agreeable, or so inspiring as the fields. Let us count nothing common or unclean, but feel that all created things point to their Maker, and the field will at once be hallowed.

Very admirable was the season. The season of sunset as it draws a veil over the day, befits that repose of the soul when earthborn cares yield to the joys of heavenly communion. The glory of the setting sun excites our wonder, and the solemnity of approaching night awakens our awe. If the business of this day will permit it, it will be well, dear reader, if you can spare an hour to walk in the field at eventide, but if not, the Lord is in the town too, and will meet with thee in thy chamber or in the crowded street. Let thy heart go forth to meet him.

Evening

“And I will give you an heart of flesh.”

Ezekiel 36:26

A heart of flesh is known by its tenderness concerning sin. To have indulged a foul imagination, or to have allowed a wild desire to tarry even for a moment, is quite enough to make a heart of flesh grieve before the Lord. The heart of stone calls a great iniquity nothing, but not so the heart of flesh.

“If to the right or left I stray, That moment, Lord, reprove; And let me weep my life away, For having grieved thy love”

The heart of flesh is tender of God’s will. My Lord Will-be-will is a great blusterer, and it is hard to subject him to God’s will; but when the heart of flesh is given, the will quivers like an aspen leaf in every breath of heaven, and bows like an osier in every breeze of God’s Spirit. The natural will is cold, hard iron, which is not to be hammered into form, but the renewed will, like molten metal, is soon moulded by the hand of grace. In the fleshy heart there is a tenderness of the affections. The hard heart does not love the Redeemer, but the renewed heart burns with affection towards him. The hard heart is selfish and coldly demands, “Why should I weep for sin? Why should I love the Lord?” But the heart of flesh says; “Lord, thou knowest that I love thee; help me to love thee more!” Many are the privileges of this renewed heart; “'Tis here the Spirit dwells, 'tis here that Jesus rests.” It is fitted to receive every spiritual blessing, and every blessing comes to it. It is prepared to yield every heavenly fruit to the honour and praise of God, and therefore the Lord delights in it. A tender heart is the best defence against sin, and the best preparation for heaven. A renewed heart stands on its watchtower looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus. Have you this heart of flesh?

Faith's Checkbook by C. H. Spurgeon

August 15

A Name Guarantee

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son, (John 14:13)

It is not every believer who has yet learned to pray in Christ's name. To ask not only for His sake, but in His name, as authorized by Him, is a high order of prayer. We would not dare to ask for some things in that blessed name, for it would be a wretched profanation of it; but when the petition is so clearly right that we dare set the name of Jesus to it, then it must be granted.

Prayer is all the more sure to succeed because it is for the Father's glory through the Son. It glorifies His truth, His faithfulness, His power, His grace, The granting of prayer, when offered in the name of Jesus, reveals the Father's love to Him, and the honor which He has put upon Him. The glory of Jesus and of the Father are so wrapped up together that the grace which magnifies the one magnifies the other. The channel is made famous through the fullness of the fountain, and the fountain is honored through the channel by which it flows. If the answering of our prayers would dishonor our Lord, we would not pray; but since in this thing He is glorified, we will pray without ceasing in that dear name in which God and His people have a fellowship of delight.

J.H. Jowett's Daily Meditation

August 15

WITHERED LIMBS

Mark 3:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

THERE are withered limbs of the spirit as well as of the body. There are faculties and powers which are wasting away, sacred endowments which have lost their vital circulation. In some lives the will is a withered limb. In others it is the conscience. In others, again, it is the affections. These splendid moral and spiritual powers are being dried up, and they hang comparatively limp and useless in the life. They have been withered by sin and sinful negligence.

And the Lord is the healer of withered limbs. He can deal with imprisoned affections as the warm spring deals with the river which has been locked in ice. He can minister to a stricken will, and make it as a benumbed hand when the circulation has been restored. He can give it grip and tenacity. And so with all our powers. He, who is the Life, can vitalize all!

But here again the remnant of our withered endowment must be used in the healing. We must surrender to the Healer. We must obey. If the Lord says: “Stretch forth thy hand,” we must attempt the impossible! In this region the impossible becomes possible in sanctified endeavour.

J.R. Miller's Year Book

August 15

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry." Psalm 40:1

Has God taught you some great truth, or revealed to you, in deep personal experience, some new, sweet thought of his love? What is the next thing? Is it not that you shall whisper the blessed secret to some other soul? After Peter's strange vision, he sat pondering what it could mean; and while he thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, "Behold, three men seek you." The picture is very suggestive. When we have gotten anything from God—there is always someone waiting to get from us what God has just given to us. Heavenly visions are not shown to us, only to be absorbed in our own soul—but to be translated into some form that will bless the world. That is what the artist does with his visions. That is what we should do with ours.

Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer

August 15

WHAT IS RELIGION?

"And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?" -- Mat 15:16.

IN THIS chapter our Lord teaches that true Religion is certainly not a matter of eating and drinking or outward ceremonial. It is the intention of the soul, the continual drawing from Christ the life-power needed for our work and ministry to others. It may be illustrated by the experience of the diver, who explores the ocean-bed, but draws upon the breeze that sweeps the ocean-surface.

Our Lord did not under-estimate the outward observance of the forms of religion; He set us a definite example by His attendance at the Synagogue and the Temple services, by nights spent in prayer, by constant reference to Holy Scripture--but these were only the outward and natural expression of His unbroken fellowship with His Father. Human love does not consist merely in outward expression, but in the hidden purpose of the heart, and yet, if there be no outward expression the spring will dry up!

Perhaps the two greatest definitions of pure religion are these--the first from the Old Testament: "Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God." And the second from the New Testament: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." But to fulfil each of these we need the aid of the Holy Spirit.

To be truly religious is within the reach and scope of us all; but we must avail ourselves of what Jesus Christ has done to bring us to God. In Him there is absolute forgiveness for all the past, and infinite help and grace for the future. He is willing to be our Surety, Friend, and Helper. Through Him we may become partakers of the Divine Nature, and escape the corruption which is in the world through lust.

PRAYER

Give unto me, gracious Lord, the pilgrim spirit that I may be in the world and not of it. Give me Thy grace to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. May I ever walk worthy of the heavenly calling. AMEN.