Daily Devotions

The topic of devotions came up somewhere, talking about what they are and how they are managed. I thought I would add to-days devotional comments from the Carpenter's Chapel in All Other Religions.

Daily devotionals are also at All Other Discussions.


Thursday, April 29, 2004

“Small inconsistencies are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters. Little moths
destroy fine garments, and little frivolities and minor faults rob religion of a
thousand joys. O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not what
you lose by your conformity to the world. The choice aroma of fellowship with God
is dissipated by worldly conversation. Wherefore, come ye out from among them.”
C.H. Spurgeon.

“And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came
in unto him.....teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ....” Acts
28:30

I have come to the end of the beginning of the spread of Christianity as it is
presented in Acts. It has been a wonderful journey, going beyond the historical facts
and finding the inner thoughts that not only convert the soul, but lead us in that
supreme path of joy that culminates in a deeper knowledge of our precious Lord
Jesus.

I have decided not to do a devotional this morning, but to talk about the devotional
itself. When I was young in Christianity, I knew nothing of entering the inner
chamber and adoring God. I was quite studious and memorized the scripture at
great length. I read the book voraciously and without fail. I wanted more. It was at
this point I came upon the life of C.T. Studd. He was a scholar and an outstanding
cricketer; the equivalent of a Babe Ruth in baseball. Studd’s father was influenced
under the ministry of D.L. Moody, came to a knowledge of Jesus and wanted the
same for his three sons. This family did not lack for money, and the lads were
schooled at Eton College and later Cambridge University. All three lads came to
Christ on the same day when a visiting evangelist was staying at their home and
challenged C.T. Studd as he was on his way to an important cricket match. The
evangelist persisted in his duty to tell of the Christ, and C.T. made a decision before
he left. This was to be the beginning of a new life. Whilst He took this new
experience seriously, he nevertheless fell off and piece by piece lost touch with who
Jesus was.

He did not experience some great calamity in his life, but a sudden realization that
he needed a closer walk with Jesus. The world had nothing to offer compared to
this Jesus who had overtaken his life. C.T. Studd began “The Quiet Time”, and he
began to shake the world of missionary endeavor. He also coined the phrase, “The
Quiet Time”. He became a missionary to China and Africa, but more than this, he
developed the inner closet of prayer and fellowship with God.

It was at this point my life also turned around as I found the time and place to also
enter into the inner sanctum of soul searching and just letting God be God in my
personal life. I always rise about 5AM and lose myself in God. A place away from
family and the world. A place where I did not study scripture or even read great
lengths, but chose out a small portion and looked for a thought that came from that
passage. This habit continued throughout my life and is most precious to me.

This is what led me to introducing these chapel threads. It was not to preach my
views of theology or even scripture, but to introduce God in a fresh light, that we all
may experience Christ in our personal lives, so that we are never the same again,
even as C.T. Studd.

It was early in ministry I discovered Daily Devotions by Scripture Union. It was an
organized way to read through scripture devotionally. Short readings heavy on one’s
personal life in Christ. Over the years I have promoted Scripture Union Notes as a
guide in one’s personal devotional life. This is not a time to develop sermons, or to
engage in marathon readings of scripture, but a quiet time to think only of God, and
to allow God to experience us.

If only one person reading these devotionals, as the various men so chosen, write
each day, has a new experience in God, then my wishes are fulfilled, and these
devotionals are not in vain in the missionary sense. Last time I wrote about
“Believing God”. It was a hermeneutical stretch of the text, but there is so much
depth in the idea of “believing God”. My friends, to my mind, this is what
devotional means, and this is what I intended to share day by day.

I thank God for the men who have taken up the task to write each day. Each man
walks in his own cenceptual path, but there is such unity of thought expressed, one
cannot think apart from divine inspiration.

May God lead us each day, equipping us in each thought. Lord, teach us to
pray.....”Our Father who art in heaven”......and “believe God”.

Cheers, and God bless,

Jim