Evening, December 8
<< Evening, December 8 >>
Now may the God of peace--
who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great Shepherd of the sheep,
        and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood--may he equip you with all you need
        for doing his will.
        May he produce in you,
        through the power of Jesus Christ,
every good thing that is pleasing to him.
        All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.
Insight
This verse includes two significant results of Christ's death and resurrection. God works in us to make us the kind of people that would please him, and he equips us to do the kind of work that would please him.
Challenge
Let God change you from within and then use you to help others.
Psalm 68:10  Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.

All God's gifts are prepared gifts laid up in store for wants foreseen. He anticipates our needs; and out of the fulness which he has treasured up in Christ Jesus, he provides of his goodness for the poor. You may trust him for all the necessities that can occur, for he has infallibly foreknown every one of them. He can say of us in all conditions, "I knew that thou wouldst be this and that." A man goes a journey across the desert, and when he has made a day's advance, and pitched his tent, he discovers that he wants many comforts and necessaries which he has not brought in his baggage. "Ah!" says he, "I did not foresee this: if I had this journey to go again, I should bring these things with me, so necessary to my comfort." But God has marked with prescient eye all the requirements of his poor wandering children, and when those needs occur, supplies are ready. It is goodness which he has prepared for the poor in heart, goodness and goodness only. "My grace is sufficient for thee." "As thy days, so shall thy strength be."

Reader, is your heart heavy this evening? God knew it would be; the comfort which your heart wants is treasured in the sweet assurance of the text. You are poor and needy, but he has thought upon you, and has the exact blessing which you require in store for you. Plead the promise, believe it and obtain its fulfilment. Do you feel that you never were so consciously vile as you are now? Behold, the crimson fountain is open still, with all its former efficacy, to wash your sin away. Never shall you come into such a position that Christ cannot aid you. No pinch shall ever arrive in your spiritual affairs in which Jesus Christ shall not be equal to the emergency, for your history has all been foreknown and provided for in Jesus.


Ecclesiastes 12:7  then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; • it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; • it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:47  The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.

Genesis 3:19  By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

Job 21:23,25,26  "One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and satisfied; • While another dies with a bitter soul, Never even tasting anything good. • "Together they lie down in the dust, And worms cover them.

Psalm 16:9  Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely.

Job 19:26  "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God;

Philippians 3:20,21  For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; • who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

Psalm 39:4  "LORD, make me to know my end And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am.

Psalm 90:12  So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

New American Standard Bible Copyright ? 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

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