Morning

“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”

Our Savior Christ Jesus . . . abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.—“I am the resurrection and the life.”—“Because I live, you also will live.”—We share in Christ.—Those . . . who have shared in the Holy Spirit.—Partakers of the divine nature.—“The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. . . . Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” . . . who lives forever and ever.—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality.—To the King of ages, immortal, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

John 5:26; 2 Tim. 1:10; John 11:25; John 14:19; Heb. 3:14; Heb. 6:4; 2 Pet. 1:4; 1 Cor. 15:45, 51, 52; Rev. 4:8, 9; 1 Tim. 6:15, 16; 1 Tim. 1:17 (Read full verses...)

Evening

Let us not become conceited.

And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. . . . And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.

“And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.”—So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.—Love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.”

Gal. 5:26; Judg. 8:24, 25, 27; Jer. 45:5; 2 Cor. 12:7; Phil. 2:3; 1 Cor. 13:4, 5; Matt. 11:29 (Read full verses...)

<< May 17 | May 18 | May 19 >>

Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Morning

“I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules.”

But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.—Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. . . . If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.—For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.—For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.—Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.—Now may the God of peace . . . equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.

Ezek. 20:19; 1 Pet. 1:15; 1 John 2:6, 29; 1 Cor. 7:19; Jas. 2:10; 2 Cor. 3:5; Ps. 119:33; Phil. 2:12, 13; Heb. 13:20, 21 (Read full verses...)

Evening

“I have exalted one chosen from the people.”

For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect.—Seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance.—“He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”—“See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

[He] made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.—“Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.”

Ps. 89:19; Heb. 2:16, 17; Ezek. 1:26; John 3:13; Luke 24:39; Phil. 2:7-10; Rev. 3:2 (Read full verses...)

<< May 16 | May 17 | May 18 >>

Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Morning

A servant of Christ Jesus.

“You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.”—“If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”—“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.—But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”—So you are no longer a slave, but a son.—Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. . . . For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.

Rom. 1:1; John 13:13; John 12:26; Matt. 11:29, 30; Phil. 3:7; Rom. 6:22; John 15:15; Gal. 4:7; Gal. 5:1, 13 (Read full verses...)

Evening

I bless the LORD who gives me counsel.

His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor.—I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength.—Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.—Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.—And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.—Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.—“But he knows the way that I take.”—A man's steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?—You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.—This is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.

Ps. 16:7; Isa. 9:6; Prov. 8:14; Ps. 119:105; Prov. 3:5, 6; Jer. 10:23; Isa. 30:21; Prov. 16:3; Job. 23:10; Prov. 20:24; Ps. 73:24; Ps. 48:14 (Read full verses...)

<< May 15 | May 16 | May 17 >>

Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Morning

“He will wipe away every tear . . . and death shall be no more, neither . . . mourning . . . , for the former things have passed away.”

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.—Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.—And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.—“No more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.”—And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?—The last enemy to be destroyed is death. . . . Then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

The things that are unseen are eternal.

Rev. 21:4; Isa. 25:8; Isa. 60:20; Isa. 33:24; Isa. 65:19; Isa. 35:10; Hos. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:26, 54; 2 Cor. 4:18 (Read full verses...)

Evening

Raised us up with him . . . in Christ Jesus.

“Fear not, I am . . . the living one.”—“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am.”

We are members of his body.—And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.—You have been filled in him, who is the head.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Eph. 2:6; Rev. 1:17, 18; John 17:24; Eph. 5:30; Col. 1:18; Col. 2:10; Heb. 2:14, 15; 1 Cor. 1:53, 54 (Read full verses...)

<< May 14 | May 15 | May 16 >>

Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Morning

Share his sufferings.

“It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.”

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.—“In the world you will have tribulation.”—“Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

I looked for pity, but there was none.—At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”—For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Phil. 3:10; Matt. 10:25; Isa. 53:3; John 16:33; John 15:19; Ps. 69:20; 2 Tim. 4:16; Matt. 8:20; Heb. 13:14; Heb. 12:1, 2 (Read full verses...)

Evening

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb.”

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died.—It is the blood that makes atonement by the life.—“I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.”—There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

“Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come? These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Rev. 12:11; Rom. 8:33, 34; Lev. 17:11; Ex. 12:12, 13; Rom. 8:1; Rev. 7:13, 14; Rev. 1:5, 6 (Read full verses...)

<< May 13 | May 14 | May 15 >>

Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.