Devotional Thoughts

Corinthians 3:1-4     “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal,   even   as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able   to bear it,   neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas   there is   among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I   am   of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” Paul was not addressing his comments to those who had no spiritual life, but he was admonishing them that they lacked spiritual maturity. He recognizes that those he speaks to are babes in Christ and therefore carnal in their thinking about the church. At no time was Paul guilty of trying to make unregenerate sinners into children of God. How often have we been found in a condition where we were not ready to have spiritual meat? We are often prone to...

Psalm 89:1-4  Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite  "I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.  (2)  For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.  (3)  I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,  (4)  Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah." Yesterday's Psalm was a little bleak, wasn't it? But truth be known, we feel discouraged and downhearted from time to time. It is at those times that we need to "keep reading." We can't stop at Psalm 88; rather, we need to press on. As the saying back in the 80's - "keep on a keepin' on." Good times are coming. Better days are ahead. How can I say that? Because of verse 3 in today's passage: "I have made a covenant with my chosen." God made a covenant, a promise. And if God ma...

1  Corinthians 2:14-16     “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know   them,   because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” It was important to Paul that we understand the natural man’s inability to grasp spiritual things. The natural man does not consider the things of the Spirit of God and then reject them: he does not receive the things of the Spirit to begin with. The word translated as “not” here is defined as the “absolutely negative adverb (see Strong’s).” Not even one little particle of spiritual understanding belongs to the natural man. Most of us have had the experience of someone asking why we did not reply to an email or invitation and realize that we did not reply because we did not...

Psalm 88:1-4  A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. "O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:  (2)  Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;  (3)  For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.  (4)  I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength" I've said this before and I will say it again (and probably more times before we get to the end of the Psalms) - I love the Psalms because I can surely identify with them. Most Psalms start in a low place and as the writer expresses his thoughts, the Lord begins to lift him up out of that dry place.  Though this entire Psalm is a fervent cry unto the Lord, the Psalmist tells us specifically in three verses that he cried daily unto the Lord. Just a few Psalms ago, we were reminded that God always hears our prayers. ...

1  Corinthians 2:12-13    “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” There is often immediacy in the scriptures that we seem to overlook. Paul is not teaching about something that is out in some distant future. There is something we  have   not  received  now  and something we  have  received  now  concerning revelation from God (see 1Co 2:9-10). In considering these things, we have not received the spirit of the world. We were born with the spirit of the world; shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin (Psa 51:5). Until we are born of the Spirit of God, the wisdom of the world and spirit of the world is all we know. The fruit of the spirit of this world is “adultery, f...