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

October 21

Morning

We of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

THIS is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.--See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God

His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things.--If children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

I and the Father are one.--The Father is in me, and I in the Father --My Father and your Father, and My God and your God --I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity,

The church which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.

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

Jn 1.16. Mt. 17.5.--1John 3.1.
Heb. 1.2.--Ro. 8.17. Jn 10.30, 38.--
Jn 20.17.--Jn 17.23. Eph 1.22, 23.
2 Co. 7.1.

Evening

A slave is not greater than his master; neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them

THERE arose a dispute among them, as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest And He said to them, The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called Benefactors. But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.--Even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Jesus… rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

Jn 13.16, 17. Lk. 22.24-27.--
Mt. 20.28. Jn 13.3-5.

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening

October 21

Morning

“The love of Christ constraineth us.”

2 Corinthians 5:14

How much owest thou unto my Lord? Has he ever done anything for thee? Has he forgiven thy sins? Has he covered thee with a robe of righteousness? Has he set thy feet upon a rock? Has he established thy goings? Has he prepared heaven for thee? Has he prepared thee for heaven? Has he written thy name in his book of life? Has he given thee countless blessings? Has he laid up for thee a store of mercies, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard? Then do something for Jesus worthy of his love. Give not a mere wordy offering to a dying Redeemer. How will you feel when your Master comes, if you have to confess that you did nothing for him, but kept your love shut up, like a stagnant pool, neither flowing forth to his poor or to his work. Out on such love as that! What do men think of a love which never shows itself in action? Why, they say, “Open rebuke is better than secret love.” Who will accept a love so weak that it does not actuate you to a single deed of self-denial, of generosity, of heroism, or zeal! Think how he has loved you, and given himself for you! Do you know the power of that love? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness, and clear away the mists of sin. “For Christ’s sake” be this the tongue of fire that shall sit upon you: “for Christ’s sake” be this the divine rapture, the heavenly afflatus to bear you aloft from earth, the divine spirit that shall make you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord’s service. Love should give wings to the feet of service, and strength to the arms of labour. Fixed on God with a constancy that is not to be shaken, resolute to honour him with a determination that is not to be turned aside, and pressing on with an ardour never to be wearied, let us manifest the constraints of love to Jesus. May the divine loadstone draw us heavenward towards itself.

Evening

“Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?”

Luke 24:38

“Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” The Lord cares for all things, and the meanest creatures share in his universal providence, but his particular providence is over his saints. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.” “Precious shall their blood be in his sight.” “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose.” Let the fact that, while he is the Saviour of all men, he is specially the Saviour of them that believe, cheer and comfort you. You are his peculiar care; his regal treasure which he guards as the apple of his eye; his vineyard over which he watches day and night. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Let the thought of his special love to you be a spiritual pain-killer, a dear quietus to your woe: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” God says that as much to you as to any saint of old. “Fear not, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” We lose much consolation by the habit of reading his promises for the whole church, instead of taking them directly home to ourselves. Believer, grasp the divine word with a personal, appropriating faith. Think that you hear Jesus say, “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.” Think you see him walking on the waters of thy trouble, for he is there, and he is saying, “Fear not, it is I; be not afraid.” Oh, those sweet words of Christ! May the Holy Ghost make you feel them as spoken to you; forget others for awhile—accept the voice of Jesus as addressed to you, and say, “Jesus whispers consolation; I cannot refuse it; I will sit under his shadow with great delight.”

Faith's Checkbook by C. H. Spurgeon

October 21

God's Multiplication Table

A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time. (Isaiah 60:22)

Works for the Lord often begin on a small scale, and they are none the worse for this. Feebleness educates faith, brings God near, and wins glory for His name. Prize promises of increase! Mustard seed is the smallest among seeds, and yet it becomes a treelike plant, with branches which lodge the birds of heaven. We may begin with one, and that "a little one," and yet it will "become a thousand." The Lord is great at the multiplication table. How often did He say to His lone servant, "I will multiply thee!" Trust in the Lord, ye ones and twos; for He will be in the midst of you if you are gathered in His name.

"A small one." What can be more despicable in the eyes of those who count heads and weigh forces! Yet this is the nucleus of a great nation. Only one star shines out at first in the evening, but soon the sky is crowded with countless lights.

Nor need we think the prospect of increase to be remote, for the promise is, "I Jehovah will hasten it in his time." There will be no premature haste, like that which we see at excited meetings; it will be all in due time, but yet there will be no delay. When the Lord hastens, His speed is glorious.

J.H. Jowett's Daily Meditation

October 21

THE CONTRITE HEART

Isaiah 57:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21.

LET us look at this description of the dwelling-place of the Eternal God. “I dwell with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.”

And who are the contrite? In the original word there is the significance of pieces of rock or lumps of soil having been crumbled into the finest powder. Have I not sometimes heard the phrase—“He’s just a lump of pride”? Well, that pride has to be broken down into the finest powder, until not a bit of stubborn self-conceit remains. And then the contrite become the humble! Our gracious Lord has sometimes to use heavy hammers in the destruction of this hard and stony pride: the shock of calamity, the battering of disappointment and defeat! Our pride must be ground to powder. Then He will come in and dwell with us!

And what then? He will “revive the spirit of the humble, and revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Our broken pride shall be as broken soil in which our Lord will grow the flowers and fruits of the Spirit. The death of pride shall be followed by a revival of all things sweet and beautiful. When pride is laid low, it is a “day of resurrection.” The wilderness shall “blossom as the rose.”

J.R. Miller's Year Book

October 21

"Let another praise you—and not your own mouth; someone else—and not your own lips." Proverbs 27:2

We would better not talk about ourselves. People do not want to hear about you—from your own lips. Even though your good deeds, your greatness, or your fine attainments do not become known—what does it matter? God knows about them—and that is enough!

One says wisely, "Think as little as possible about any good in yourself; turn your eyes resolutely from any view of your acquirements, your influence, your plans, your success; above all, speak as little as possible about yourself. The inordinateness of our self-love makes speech about ourselves, very foolish. Nothing but duty should open our lips upon this dangerous theme, except it be in humble confession of our sinfulness before God."

Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer

October 21

A NEW CREATION

"Wherefore if any man is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new."-- 2Co 5:17 (R.V. marg.).

TRUE CHRISTIANITY is very different from much that we see around us, and which is known as such, and is summed up in orthodoxy of creed, in religious service, in gifts and deeds which cost little or nothing. If Christianity is anything, it is self-giving, even to death. If Christianity means anything we must renounce self as the centre of our life and be willing to sacrifice ourselves for others. Nothing will save the world, which is cursed with the spirit of selfishness, but the repetition and filling-up as far as possible of Christ's sacrifice by those who profess to be His servants and followers. Selfishness is destructive, but the love that gives itself even to blood and tears is constructive.

But we must be sure that the supreme thought of every word and act must be Christ who died and rose again (2Co 5:14-15). Let us not live only for humanity, but for the Son of Man, and as we live for Him the bitter will be sweet and the rough smooth, and we shall find ourselves living for the whole race of men for whom He died.

When this becomes the law of life, we are necessarily a new creation; we live under a new heaven, and walk over a new earth. There is a new aspect upon the most familiar objects of our environment. It is not that they have altered, but that we are changed from self to the spiritual; from the old life of sin to the new life of which the centre is the glorified Saviour. In his book "Grace Abounding," Bunyan gives expression to this thought of the wonderful change that passes over the face of creation, and the aspect of human life, so soon as the heart is full of the love of God.

Let us notice the emphasis of 2Co 5:18. God was in Christ when He bore the burden of the world's sin upon the Cross and that we have been brought to know and love Him as of His grace. It is God also who has given us the right to carry the message of mercy and forgiveness to all within our reach. "He hath given to us," that is, to you and me, "the ministry of reconciliation." It is for us to go forth into the world, our hearts filled with Christ's love, telling men and women that this is a redeemed world, and that God is waiting for them to accept His love and mercy. This is the message of Christianity.

PRAYER

O Lord, forgive what I have been; sanctify what I am; and order what I shall be. AMEN.