From: October 11, 2024
“Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand” (Jeremiah 18:6 ESV).
The Lord told Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house and there He would speak to him. Jeremiah obeyed and as he watched the potter at his wheel, he saw that the vessel he was making was spoiled, so the potter fashioned the clay into another vessel. As he watched, he heard the Lord speak saying, “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”
The Lord is the Potter and we are the clay. Does the clay tell the Potter what to make? Does it complain that some are made special and others for common use? Who are we to complain to the Potter?
I would rather the Potter’s hands be on my life than to be cast aside. Even when He must pound, prod and press to mold me and make after His will, I want His touch on my life. For I trust the Potter’s hands. He is God and I am not.
Perhaps you are going through a pounding, prodding, or pressing time in your life. Do you trust the Potter’s hands? Will you yield to His touch? Will you say, as the lyrics of the old hymn do:
“Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still” (A. Pollard).
PRAYER: Dear Father, we don’t always understand our situation and circumstances, but we trust You. You are the Potter, we are the clay. We yield our lives to You. Make us like Jesus. For it’s in His name we pray, amen.
From: October 11, 2023
“For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died” (1 Thessalonians 4:14 NLT).
Our faith is anchored in the historical fact of Christ’s death and resurrection, giving us a future hope in God’s power to “bring back” our believing brothers and sisters who have died. This is not myth nor make believe, but God’s revelation to us through Christ. As Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25-26).
Christ defeated sin, death and the grave, so that we who believe might share in His victory. And this future life is not a non-corporeal existence that some imagine, but a real physical existence in a resurrection body. Christ is the prototype of this future existence, the firstborn from among the dead, and someday we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2).
Until then, we join creation in “groaning” as we long for the Day when we receive our new glorified bodies as the Lord has promised us (Rom. 8:23).
PRAYER: Dear Father, we long for the Day of Your Son’s return and for our new resurrection bodies built for eternity with You. Until then, strengthen us by Your Spirit to always serve You and to declare the Good News to the nations. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: October 11, 2022
LIVING TO PLEASE GOD
The apostle Paul urged the Thessalonian believers to live in a way that pleased God. He followed his urging with several practical instructions on how they might live a holy life. Yet his instruction was based on the reality of their faith in Christ. For the key to living a life that pleases God is faith.
As we read in Hebrews, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him” (Heb. 11:6). So, it is our faith in Christ that saves us and our faith in His indwelling Spirit that empowers us to live a life that pleases God. As Paul told the Romans, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17).
And what does it look like to live by faith? The chief attribute is love. As Paul told the Thessalonians believers, “We urge you to love [one another] even more.” For love fulfills the whole law of God.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we want to live in a way that pleases You. Help us to live by faith in You today and to let the love of Christ motivate and move us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: October 11, 2016
Self-promotion often leads to being humbled, while humility leaves room for another to praise you. The world urges us to climb the ladder of success, but the Lord Jesus descended to greatness. He climbed down the ladder of love, leaving behind his robes of majesty and taking on the form of man and humbled himself to death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:6-8). Therefore, God exalted Jesus to the highest place (Phil 2:9-11). Follow Jesus. Stop edifying yourself and edify others instead. Humble yourself and let God lift you up.
From: October 11, 2015
The apostle Paul described believers who had died as having “fallen asleep” in Jesus. For them death is like sleep, a transitional state where one closes their eyes in this world and opens them in the next. Having given the Thessalonians this description, Paul encouraged them not to “sorrow as others who have no hope.” Let the tears fall down your face, but not without believing in your heart that the same Jesus who died and rose again will return with those who sleep in Him. This faith gives us hope that overcomes the sorrow of death.
From: October 11, 2014
Our faith is anchored in the historical fact of Christ’s death and resurrection, giving us a future hope in God’s power to “bring back” our believing brothers and sisters who have died. This is not myth nor make believe, but God’s revelation to us through Christ. As Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25-26). Christ defeated sin, death and the grave, so that we who believe might share in His victory. And this future life is not a non-corporeal existence that some imagine, but a real physical existence in a resurrection body. Christ is the prototype of this future existence, the firstborn from among the dead, and someday we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2).