January 18
“As for God, his way is perfect” (Psa. 18:30).
God always looks at the end from the beginning. This is something that we human beings
cannot easily understand, but if we wait patiently, God Himself will teach us.
From the time God called David He had for him a very high and heavenly purpose, though
David did not realise this for many years. We also, when we first come to the Lord in
repentance, do not know what is in the mind of God for us in saving us, at that time we are
only concerned about being forgiven, washed, cleansed, and made righteous before God, and
when He does begin to teach us His own way we begin to question Him or even resist Him.
But we see from the Word of God that, through difficulties of different kinds, God seeks to
reveal His mind clearly and progressively to us. Everything experienced in life begins to have
a deeper and a more heavenly and eternal meaning. We find that God is leading us in His own
way, according to His own mind, thought and plan, we shall find that we have to wait very
patiently to learn the mind of God.
daily devotional
“Gad” means? | January 17
“For who hath despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10).
“Gad” means “a troop or an army cometh” (Gen. 30:11). Gad was the first son of mother Zilpah, but Leah
believed that a troop was following after him. She saw something great in that which was seemingly small.
We also should learn to look far beyond the small beginning and see the great things that will take place
later. For example in John 4:3 we read that the Lord Jesus Christ left Judea for Galilee. There were two
roads to Galilee. One via Samaria and other via mount Carmel. The Jews would never go via Samaria (John
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4:9) but the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to go through Samaria. The Lord said to His disciples, “I have decided
to go through Samaria”, but they replied, “Why go that way? Who will give us food to eat and water to
drink?” The Scripture says, “he must needs go through Samaria”. What was the reason? For the sake of
one woman He went there and the whole of Samaria was shaken. Through one soul, He won the whole
country (John 4:39; Acts 8:5-8).
We think that the Lord works more through big crowds. That is not God’s way. Through small things, He
does great things. One day a man came in tears to see us. He said, “Please pray for my wife, she is very
ill.” He was a Hindu. We went to see her, gave a short message then prayed and left. The Lord healed that
woman and through her husband many people came to the Lord in that area. On another occasion, a lady
came to see me in Madras. She said to me, “Please pray for my husband, he is very, very sick in the
hospital. The doctors are not able to cure him.” We spent only a few minutes with them in prayer, gave
a short message and came away. Afterwards, the whole family which was from Hyderabad came for
fellowship. In the year 1950 they wrote to me, requesting me to go to Hyderabad and that is how the Lord
began to work in that city through a small thing, not through great things. That is what we learn from Gad.
Recent Devotions
What is controlling you?
Jan 17
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
—John 8:32
Ours is an age of philosophical uncertainty, and we no longer know what we believe. We stand uncommitted. Everywhere I go, I ask students, “What is controlling you?” When I was a student, I had to face Christ. Who was He? He had made the astounding claim, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” I wrestled with the inescapable fact that either Jesus Christ was who He claimed to be, or He was the biggest liar, fraud, and charlatan in history. Which was it? Buddha said toward the end of his life, “I am still searching for the truth.” But here was Jesus who appeared and said, “I am the embodiment of all truth. All truth is centered in me.”
Recent Devotions
what is heavenly pattern
January 17
“Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong,
and do it. Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses
thereof ……. All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon
me, even all the works, of this pattern” (1 Chro.28: 10,19).
The very spot where David was punished became the site of God’s House. (2 Chron. 3:1).
From that day David’s true joy began. He had happy days, wonderful days, but nothing
compared to the joy he found there at the altar, on the site for the temple of God.
God was now able to give to David the pattern for His temple, and the assurance that his son
had been chosen of God to build it. The joy that David now experienced was an entirely
different kind of joy. It was the joy that comes with the revelation of the heavenly plan for
the house of God. The king rejoiced and the people rejoiced also. Yet David could not have
rejoiced as he did now without going through all those other experiences. Every stage was
necessary.
The joy of the Lord is your strength, but the joy of the revelation of the heavenly pattern, and
of knowing that God has called us to share in it, supersedes all other joys that you may have
experienced on other occasions. In this joy you enter into the plan and purpose of God
regarding His people, both now and in ages to come. Pray then that the Lord will lead you on
from joy to joy, till you come to the fullness of the joy of the Lord which is your strength.
Recent Devotions
David’s history
January 16
“So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built
there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was
entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel” (2 Samuel 24:24b, 25).
There was still another happy day in David’s history, when God brought him to the threshing
floor of Araunah the Jebusite. He had been tempted to number the people, as though his
strength depended on them and on the size of his army. So God had to punish him, and he
repented at the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
It had been a very grievous sin, but God had forgiven him, and that is why it was such a
happy day in David’s life. Is it not a very happy day in your life, when God forgives you some
grievous sin done in blind disobedience to His will?