Nate's Daily Devotionals (old)

Day 22 Prayer Thank you Lord for your creation and this world that you have given me to live in. Lord I thank you that I get to go to events like open doors tonight to learn and be encouraged by your workers in overseas lands where they may not have the same religious freedoms that I so often take for granted. Lord would you continue to build up in my heart a passion to serve your church no matter the cost to my life. Would I continue to grow in my love for you so that I might see that there is no cost too great that you are not worth. Lord I also pray for my relationships with other brothers at Church. In particular I pray that I would be able to develop a deeper and more meaningful relationship with  my brother Kev. Lord I thank you so much for saving him and bringing him to Christ and how that has changed his life. Would you allow us to have not just surface level friendship, but a deep and meaningful bond as brothers who love the same awesome God.

Day 21 Read: What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions [ a ]  are  at war within you? [ b ] 3  You ask and do not receive, because you ask  wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4  You adulterous people! [ c ]  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 7  Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  8  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and  purify your hearts,  you double-minded. 10  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 11  Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. [ d ]  The one who speaks against a brother or  judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.  12  There is only  one lawgiver and  judge, he who is able to

Day 20 Read: 13  Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it  by their good life, by deeds  done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14  But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition  in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15  Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven  but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16  For where you have envy and selfish ambition,  there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17  But the wisdom that comes from heaven  is first of all pure; then peace-loving,  considerate, submissive, full of mercy  and good fruit, impartial and sincere 18  Peacemakers  who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. Reflection James continues on this explanation that your faith will be demonstrated in how you live . Here, he is saying to us that we should show  our understanding and wisdom in our deeds These deeds are to be done in humility  - not boasting in our own strength but in Christ's If we bitter, e

Day 19 19  And my God will meet all your needs  according to the riches of his glory  in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:19 Lord thank you for supplying my every need. Not everything that I want or think I need, but Lord you give me everything I truly need to fulfill your plans. Thank you for my salvation and I pray that you would continue to remind me to lean on you and not on my own ability. As I struggle with work expectation, would you enable me to rest on you and to not waver in my faith amidst heavy work loads and commitments. Lord please help me to trust that you have a plan for me, and know that it may not be the same plan I have in my mind, but would I trust that yours is always better and more fulfilling than my own. Thank you for allowing me to share in the riches of your glory through Christ, and would I be reminded of this daily

Day 18 Read: Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (v1)   Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.  5  So also the tongue is a small member, yet  it boasts of great things. (v4-5) How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!  6  And  the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. (v5b) but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil,  full of deadly poison (v8) Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?  12  Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. (v11-12) Reflect If we teach others, we should not be false teachers as "we will be judged with greater strictness" We should take responsibility and be mindful when we are teaching oth

Day 17 Prayer: Lord help me to fear you above any fears that I may have on this earth. Help me to see that your ways are always better and you are far wiser than I could ever dream to be. Lord would you continue to guide my path. I repent for straying from the narrow road, and I thank you for sending your son that I might be redeemed. That my salvation rests not on my own performance and ability, but on the work of Christ. Would your Holy Spirit continue to transform my heart to align my will with yours. Thank you for blessing me with brothers whom I can be encouraged by and to develop deeper relationships with. Please help me to continue loving them as you have loved me. Give me a heart that yearns to serve them for your glory. Amen

Day 16 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord , who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Psalms 121:1‭-‬3 prayer: Lord help me to trust in your power and to lean not on my own understanding but in your plan. Thank you for being a God who loves me despite my sin. Thank you for being such an all powerful God yet you still care for each and everyone one of us. I pray that you would strengthen me to be rooted in your Word so they I might stand firm in my faith. As things get difficult at work and uni, would I look to you for strength and comfort. Would I be reminded that I have everything in you already.

Day 15 How do we walk by the spirit? We must be persuaded and completely convinced that we cannot live the godly life apart from the Holy Spirit.  We must surrender. Knowing the truth and doing the truth are two separate things. Once we're convinced we need the Holy Spirit, we must bring our whole life to him in genuine sacrifice We must trust the Lord. We won't ever fully surrender our lives unless we know for sure that He will keep his Word If there is doubt in God's love, acceptance and power, then our fleshly nature will seek to hold onto our old sinful ways Prayer points Help me soften my heart and to humble me to be reminded of your saving grace Help me to respond to this grace by surrendering my life Help me to continue to trust in the Lord and to trust his promises through the Word

Day 14 Reflection: I often misunderstand what it means to be controlled by 'the flesh'. Galatians gives me a deeper meaning into it in a painful but honest way - including immorality, impurity, idolatry, anger, and other destructive consequences. However I'm reminded that a life with the Holy Spirit produces rich spiritual fruit. When we speak of the flesh we are not referring to the physical body, but rather the term to something inside that is a carried over from the old life of Sin. However, in Christ, this old life has been replaced by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, 'the flesh' is the residual desires that lead to ungodly actions. The flesh cannot be disciplined, changed or improved - it must be completely replaced by the continual intercession of Christ as continue to be transformed each day .

Day 13 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. James 2:14‭, ‬17‭-‬18‭, ‬22‭, ‬26 Reflect Faith without works is not a saving faith However, this is not a moralistic way of saying that works will grant you into heaven James is saying that works is a sign that you have faith (v17) James reminds us that a life or "a body" that is without the spirit is dead and parallels this with a faith that is apart from works Our faith should produce a response that results in faith Prayer: Create in me a heart that respond

Day 12 Observations Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbour. This also is  vanity [ a ]  and a striving after wind. (v4) The fool  folds his hands and  eats his own flesh.   Better is a handful of   quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. (v5-6) 7  Again, I saw vanity under the sun:  8  one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his  eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks,  “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy  business. (v7-8) Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.  10  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! (9-10) Meaning Working out of spite and envy for our neighbour is like striving after the wind However, the fools are also the ones who do nothing

Day 11 Observations Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.  For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:5‭, ‬9‭-‬10‭, ‬13 ESV Meaning God shows no partiality when it comes to faith and his kingdom - just because you are rich in this world doesn't mean God will treat you better and give you more faith. In fact, it is the poor who he gives faith to When we show partiality we are in fact sinning - and thus are convicted of sinning. We have failed the whole law because this is part of the law We should show mercy because if we don't show mercy we won't be shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement Application I o

Day 10 Observations Because of technology today, it is easier than ever to to use our words to hurt others We are also much more likely to do so because of the anonymity that social media and the internet grants us However, every word - even the careless ones is an indicator of what is at heart More often than not, even when I say that "I don't really means something", I actually do. Application  What I say matters, especially face to face. I need to always be mindful of what I'm saying to others Reflect on my the things I say to other people - what does it say about my own heart? Prayer That God might save me from my own desires to sin and to show the flaws of my character My words might be honest, few, wise and encouraging to others

Day 9 Observations Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person  be quick to hear,  slow to speak,  slow to anger (v19) for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (v20) Therefore  put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness (v21a) receive with  meekness the implanted word,  which is able to save your souls. (v21b) But be  doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (v22) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  24  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. (v23-24) But the one who looks into the perfect law,  the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts,  he will be blessed in his doing. (v26) Meaning Being: quick to hear - eager to listen to others slow to speak - you don't just impulsively say what's on your mind slow to anger - you aren't angered and s