Daily devotion for August 25th
How To Celebrate
At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres.

Nehemiah 12:27
It is proper to dedicate. And it is proper also to celebrate when God has brought us to a place of achievement. The Holy Spirit has been careful to include in this account the three aspects that make up true celebration. One of the primary elements of true celebration is the expression of joy. It is amazing to me how many Christians never appear to be joyful. They are always gloomy and grim. I am reminded of what a little girl said upon seeing a mule for the first time: I don't know what you are, but you must be a Christian because you look just like Grandpa! There are a lot of long-faced Christians around. There are times of sorrow and sadness, of course, but Christians ought frequently to exude a sense of joy because they have something to be joyful about. Joy is not the same as happiness. Happiness is liking the present moment because it pleases us. But joy is much deeper and more long-range. Joy appreciates the past, the present, and the future, not because the circumstances are pleasing, but because the heart is right with God. These people were happy because the wall was finished. But they were joyful because God had helped them to finish it. Aware of God's love and acceptance, they therefore were joyful.

There is another clue hidden in this paragraph that tells us what celebration should be based on. Verse 30 tells us that purification is necessary to celebrate. You cannot do it with a hypocritical heart. It becomes a festival of empty words. Many people seem to be afraid of this word purity. They think it describes a self-righteous kind of person. But purification in the Christian life stems from the same philosophy that motivates us when we wash dishes. You do not set your table with dirty dishes, do you? God does not do His work with dirty vessels! We need a periodic cleansing of our lives and hearts. In the New Testament, it is a simple process. It is not by ritual but by confessing our faults and believing that God has forgiven them. Confess your sins. Then believe that God cleanses you, that He forgives you, that He has restored you to His favor. This is what fills the heart with joy.

There is still a third element in this that is found in verse 31. Thankfulness is always part of true celebration. These people were thankful. Are we properly thankful? Do we give thanks every day to God for the blessings we are enjoying at the moment? We are so trained by the media to grumble and complain, to insist on something we do not have, to focus on that instead of on all we do have. One of the first signs of a growing, maturing spirit in young Christians is that they begin to give thanks to God for what He has poured into their life; for the opportunities that are before them; and for the present blessings and liberties that they do enjoy. So there are the elements that make up celebration: joyfulness, purity, and thanksgiving.

Lord, forgive me for so often forgetting all that I have to celebrate. Teach me to celebrate all You have done for me with joy, purity, and thanksgiving.

Daily devotion for August 24th
Real Heroes And Real Life
These were the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua

Nehemiah 12:1a
This takes us back to the heroes of the past. Zerubbabel led the first return from Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem in 538 BC, almost one hundred years earlier than Nehemiah's day. Nehemiah is looking back at these men who led that procession. Zerubbabel was a priest, and Jeshua was a Levite. They led a company of Israelites back to the city of Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Verse 7 says that they were the leaders of the priests and their associates in the days of Jeshua.

Verses 22-26 give the chronological time when the records that we have just looked at were recorded. The passage does not sound very interesting, but we are told that for the first group, the family heads of the Levites... were recorded in the reign of Darius the Persian. That meant that there was a time when their names were kept as temple records, but they were not actually recorded permanently until the days of Darius the Second. This would put that record somewhere between 423 and 404 BC, somewhat later than Nehemiah. Evidently some later hand added this so that we might know when it was written.

Then there is another mention in verse 23 of the book of the annals, meaning the annals of the kings of Judah. One of them is especially mentioned in the reference to David, the man of God. What a remarkable influence David had! F. B. Meyer says, How long the influence of David has lingered over the world, like the afterglow of a sunset. Yet David had a terrible record of evil in his life. He fell into adultery with Bathsheba and was involved in the murder of her husband. Because his heart was set on God, however, and he took advantage of God's provision for forgiveness, David is known to history as the man after God's own heart.

The passage teaches us that we must not forget past heroes, the men and women of fame and glory whom God has used in former days. I have been reading again the writings of some of my early spiritual heroes. I would urge you, on the basis of a passage like this, to read biography! It will bless you. It will challenge you and strengthen you to see how God has used men and women of the past to stand against the temptations and pressures of the world and accomplish much for His glory.

This passage also teaches us that the deeds of God are part of the record of history. That is one of the great advantages of Christianity over all the other religions of the world. Most of them are religious philosophies or simply the musings of men meditating upon various aspects of life. Many of them are a record of visions and dreams of dubious origin. But when you come to the record of the Bible, it is based upon facts. It is not legend, myth, or fiction. It is not a record of philosophies or the inventions of humans. It is made up of historic facts. God grounds these great events in the history of the world itself.

Lord thank You for the lessons I can learn from those who have served You in the past and for the very real facts of history, which teach me so much about You.

Daily devotion for August 23rd
Any Volunteers?
Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 11:1-2
The great principle to remember in reading the Old Testament is that what happens to Israel on a physical level pictures what is happening to us on the spiritual level. God too is a builder. The New Testament tells us that He is building a city with inhabitants called the New Jerusalem. It is not like the old one, made of bricks and mortar, but a new city built of spiritual stones--living stones, according to the New Testament (1 Peter 2:5). It is intended to be inhabited by redeemed people. If you draw that parallel, you will begin to see some of the teaching of this passage in Nehemiah.

Chapter 11 is the account of Nehemiah's efforts to repopulate Jerusalem. Although the city wall had been rebuilt at this point, Nehemiah discovered that he had a problem. He had a fine, well-defended city--but without people! His solution was to draft families to move there, for a capital must be inhabited since it is the heart of the nation. As the governor, he simply issued an edict: One out of every ten people living in the suburbs must move to Jerusalem. He went through the towns and numbered the people, counting them off by tens, and then they threw a die with ten numbers on it. The man who had the same number that came up on the die was expected to move his family into Jerusalem.

If you read this carefully, it is apparent that when a man was chosen to move into Jerusalem, he was permitted to decline if he wanted to. That is because God wanted volunteers for this. So a man could be chosen but could decide against moving. Then the lot would be cast again and another name chosen. Sooner or later someone would be found who consented freely to go. According to the account, those who chose to go were commended by the people. They honored them because they volunteered to do what God called them to do.

The same principle applies in the church today. According to the New Testament, we are all called into the ministry--all of us! The ministry belongs to the saints! The minute you become a Christian, you are moved into God's new Jerusalem. You are asked to take up labor there, to do work according to the spiritual gift God has given you. But you must also volunteer to do it. God does not force His people to do what they are asked to do. He gave us all spiritual gifts, but He does not force us to use them. Yet if you want to be respected or honored and commended at last by the Lord Himself and by all His people, then the wise thing is to volunteer to perform the realm of ministry He has opened up for you.

Lord I want to be a part of what You are building. Thank You for the gifts and talents You have given me. Show me how best to put them to use.

Daily devotion for August 22nd
The House Of God
We will not neglect the house of our God.

Nehemiah 10:39b
Throughout the history of Israel, the temple, or the tabernacle before that, was called the house of God. God signified His presence there by the shekinah glory that was located in the Holy of Holies. Today, under the New Testament, no building is ever to be called the house of God. This has been ignored by churches throughout the centuries, and temples, cathedrals, tabernacles, and church buildings have all been called the house of God. If you look at the teaching of the New Testament, however, you will find that it is not a building but the people who are the house of God. At one point, we even changed the sign in front of our building to reflect this truth. Where it says Peninsula Bible Church, we added the words Meets Here. Thus, it is not the building that is the church--it is the people who gather here. They are the house of God.

Notice the commitment of these people to attend faithfully the worship services of the temple. We all need the ministry of the saints. Paul prayed that the Ephesians may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:18-19). You cannot do that without the ministry of other people. Hebrews has a specific admonition to that end: Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25). The writer is referring to the return of Jesus. As we see it nearing, we need all the more to gather together because we need each other's support.

Two men of widely different temperaments work together. Normally they would not get along very well, and they might not even like each other. But they work together, and both agree that having to work with someone with whom they do not particularly have an affinity has been a blessing to them. They have learned how to appreciate someone different from themselves. They have learned how to be tolerant and patient with one another. Though it has been a struggle and they have had their moments, they both agree that God has used this to teach them how to grow. So even those in the house of God who irritate us can be of benefit to us.

Father, thank You for the house of God--for those men and women You have placed around me, who in one way or another I desperately need. May I learn to appreciate and love them.

Daily devotion for August 21st
The Need For A Sacrifice
We assume the responsibility. For the holy offerings; for sin offerings to make atonement for Israel; and for all the duties of the house of our God.

Nehemiah 10:32-33
The people recognized the need for offerings and sacrifices. The history of Israel clearly reveals that this nation emphasized shedding the blood of animals and offering up their crops and grain to God. By so doing they were never allowed to forget the cost of redemption. Blood shed means a death has occurred. God is teaching His people that their problem with sin within is of such a serious nature it cannot be solved by merely instructing the mind. Only death can cure it.

These bloody offerings prepared the way for the death of Jesus and even our remembrance of that death at the Lord's table. We ought to meditate on this every day. We should never allow ourselves to forget the cost of our redemption. It took all that God had to open a door that we might return to Him. As Peter put it, For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Very closely related to the blood offerings was the promise of these people to bring the firstfruits of their crops, herds, flocks, and even their sons to God. What they were doing was recognizing the ownership and rights of God in their lives. A corresponding truth for us today is, You are not your own; you were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a). God owns us. We do not own ourselves. The world says, You are your own. If you are pregnant and you do not want the baby, you can kill it, because you have a right to do what you please with your own body. But the Bible says, No, you are not your own. You do not have a right to do anything you like with the body God gave you.

This is true in other aspects of life as well. We are not our own. We have no right to determine what we are going to do with our lives or even whom we are going to marry, apart from God's limitations. We have certain choices granted to us, but not all choices. One of the important aspects of becoming a Christian is to recognize the rights of God and to live our lives within the limits He establishes. This is what this great passage is teaching. It is the way by which Israel recognized frequently and continually that their lives were not their own. They too were bought with a price. They belonged to God. He has the right to direct their affairs and make many choices for them.

Thank You, Lord, for this reminder that I am not my own; I have been bought with a price. I surrender my life to You, knowing that You have redeemed me with the precious blood of Christ

Daily devotion for August 20th
The Oath
In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.

Nehemiah 9:38
This verse includes a list of what might be termed the company of the committed. These people see a need for preserving and perpetuating the changes in their lifestyles so as to keep in step with God; thus, they sign this agreement to bind themselves to that end. This agreement represents a kind of universal urge found among humans to publicly pledge themselves to be loyal to a cause they feel is right.

When the Pilgrims were about to land at Plymouth, they formed what they called the Mayflower Compact. They drew up rules for living in the new land, and they all signed it as an agreement to live by these principles and laws.

But there is one other very important point here. Ultimately these people failed to follow through with their commitment. Subsequent history reveals that all the old habits returned. The nation once again lost the blessing of God upon it. Why? We discover the key in Nehemiah 10:29. They said, All these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses. They were depending on their own efforts to obey. They bound themselves with a curse and an oath. They were saying, We will do this or else. They were relying upon their own will power. They were gritting their teeth and swearing to perform. There is no expression of any need of help from God or of any provision for failure and return.

That is what the New Testament adds. It is right to vow. It is right to write it down for your own benefit and remind yourself frequently of your goal. But we must always add the words that Paul uses of himself, I can do everything through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13). That is what makes the difference.

Lord, I can do nothing apart from You. I commit myself to You and what You desire for me, but I realize that even the desire to do that comes from You.

Daily devotion for August 19th
Time After Time
But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.

Nehemiah 9:28
What a marvelous picture of the patience of God! He lets us taste the results of our evil. He gets our attention sometimes by letting disaster strike. But it is only in order that we might hear what He is saying and be delivered. He warns us in order to keep us free.

One evening the president of the Gay People's Union of a university was invited to come and speak to a church's group of young people on what the Bible says about homosexuality. The group gave him the opportunity to defend the position that the Bible endorses homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle. Although this man was the president of his university's debating club, he struggled as he tried to present his case. He went all through the Bible trying to prove his cause, but he floundered and could not get anything together.

The group leader made an agreement with him that when he finished, one of the church's pastors would speak on the same subject. The pastor graciously opened the Scriptures and pointed out that when God forbids something it is not because He wants to limit us or narrow our lives. It is because He is protecting us from something that we cannot handle, something so devastating it will ruin us. He demonstrated from the Word how homosexuality destroys human beings and turns them into something God never intended them to be. Eventually those embracing a homosexual lifestyle would be locked into pain, hurt, misery, loneliness, and death.

Out of that episode came opportunity for members of this church to reach out to those who were struggling with homosexual tendencies. A great number of these people were delivered by the mercy and grace of God. That is what this passage describes--the tough love of God, who will not let ruin overtake us without adequate warning.

The closing paragraph, beginning with verse 32, connects the history of earlier generations with the present generation. Here we find a change of pronouns from they and them to we and our as the Israelites begin to look at their own generation.

This is where we find ourselves today. Our cities are torn with violence and strife of such intensity that people hardly dare to go outside their homes. The only recovery is to do as these people did--confess our wrongdoing to God and praise Him for His compassionate mercy.

Notice how specific the Israelites are. You have acted faithfully, but we did wrong. There is no if in true confession. You say, Lord, I did it. I walked in my own willful way. Then God hears, forgives, and restores.

Lord, thank You for Your promise that as I confess my sin, You are faithful and righteous to forgive and restore

Daily devotion for August 18th
Where To Begin
Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.

Nehemiah 9:5b
This prayer in the book of Nehemiah is a great model that will teach us much for our own prayer life. It begins with a great section of praise. First, God is praised as the Creator and Maker of everything. Beginning with the life He gave you is a great place to start when you are praising God. It seems strange to me that people who are dependent every moment on God to give them life allow themselves so easily to forget that fact. God sustains us moment by moment. We ought to be grateful for that. Let us never forget that our very breath comes from Him.

The next section praises God as the caller and chooser of people. He is the one who gives undeserved blessings to those He chooses. God is the keeper of promises. Not one of us would be here today if it were not for that merciful, sovereign call of God. Jesus said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (John 6:44). We are here today because the Spirit of God in wondrous grace has drawn us to Himself.

Then the people praise God as the deliverer from sin and its enslavement. They retell the history of this nation, beginning with the call of Abraham and their deliverance from Egypt. Some of us have forgotten the lessons God has taught us and have returned to the same sins, plunging ourselves once more into rebellion and slavery. Let us never forget that we have been wonderfully, even miraculously, delivered by the great hand of God.

Praise for God as the great provider of wisdom and the necessities of life follows. Here is God's providential care of His own. He taught this people how to live in the midst of great wickedness. He knew he was sending them into a land inhabited by tribes who were morally degraded to a degree that is appalling to us today. They offered their children to the god Molech by throwing them alive into a furnace of fire. It was among these people that the Israelites had to live. Yet God taught them how to avoid defilement from those things. He taught them how to be friends with these people but not be destroyed by their immorality. It is exactly the situation we are called to live in today. God has given us this wonderful book that teaches us the rules of life, health, salvation, and deliverance and the inner strength that can resist the temptations that abound all around us. To neglect it is folly.

God also supplied their needs. He gave them bread to eat when there was none. He gave them water from the rock in the middle of the desert. That is not only an account of meeting physical needs, but it describes the meeting of spiritual needs as well. The New Testament tells us these are pictures of Christ: He is the bread of life; He is the water of life. As the Israelites learned the meaning of these symbols, they began to understand that there was One coming who would fully meet the need of the human heart.

Father, I praise and worship You as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, as the One who has chosen me and drawn me to Yourself and the One who provides all that I need

Daily devotion for August 17th
The Way Of Health
They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month.

Nehemiah 8:14
The way of health is dramatically demonstrated for us in the closing verses of this chapter. God had anticipated the needs of these people. Centuries before, He had provided a most remarkable visual aid to remind them of the truth that would keep them from further destruction. This is the Feast of Tabernacles, a reminder that they were called as a people out of Egypt. Their departure was sudden and precipitous. They were not even to sit down when they ate the Passover meal. They had to eat it standing, with their staffs in their hands, dressed in traveling clothes, ready to leave. They went out at a word of command and left Egypt in one night. When they got into the desert, one day's journey out, and night fell, where were they to find shelter? Moses had been told by God that they were to collect boughs and tree limbs and build booths for shelter. Then God ordained that they were to do this once every year. Even though later they had homes to dwell in, they were to build these booths and live in them for seven days. This was to teach them that they were always pilgrims and strangers on the earth. This world was not their home. All the great blessings of life would not necessarily be found in this present time but were waiting for them in glory. Therefore, they did not need to be distressed if they did not have everything that those around them were trying to get in this life.

That is the truth that will deliver us from the pressures of the times. We must hold things lightly. We must not think that houses, cars, money, and material gain are all that important. Even if we lack these things, the great treasures of our life remain untouched. To strive constantly to gain what everyone else has is a mistake. God teaches us to hold these things lightly. We must never forget that we are in the world but not of it. We are never to settle down here for good. I love the way C. S. Lewis has put it: Our kind heavenly Father has provided many wonderful inns for us along our journey, but he takes special care to see that we never mistake any of them for home. We are pilgrims and strangers, passing through this world. We are involved in it, deeply sometimes, but we are never to see ourselves as a part of it.

What will enable us to remember that? Verse 18 gives us the answer. Every day they read the Scripture. Every day they saturated themselves in the thinking of God. That is what makes for realism: When you think like God thinks, you are thinking realistically. You are beginning to see yourself the way you really are. You are seeing your children, your home, and your nation the way they really are. For the first time you are able to divest yourself of the illusions and delusions of a mistaken, confused world. You are beginning to work toward wholeness, healing, and strengthening of the things that abide.

What a wonderful picture this is, Lord, of the fact that I am a stranger on this earth. Far too often I have lived as if this were my home. Renew my mind with Your truth that there is so much more to live for than what this world offers.

Daily devotion for August 16th
The Joy Of The Lord
Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:10
Though weeping is necessary, it is not the final message God has for us. To show this, Nehemiah and Ezra speak up and correct the people. What a powerful statement of the effect of the Word of God! When people understand it, it brings joy. The joy of the LORD is your strength. What a great word for grieving people who see the evil in their lives and the lives of those around them and mourn over what it has produced! The word that brings joy is that of forgiveness. God can forgive! He does, and He will restore. That is what Jesus meant when He said, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). I don't think you will ever be comforted until you learn to mourn. When you see the hurt, pain, and despair that sin can produce and you grieve over it, then you are ready for the comfort of forgiveness.

What does the joy of the LORD mean? It is the fact that God has found a solution to these problems of sin. He has provided a way back to sensible, sober, wise, helpful, wholesome living. How? By learning to think like He thinks. Begin to see the world from His point of view. Listen no longer to the clamoring voices of the media. Do not take your philosophy of life from what people are saying or the advice others are giving. Listen to the Word of God.

That is the answer. It will heal your life. He sent forth his word and healed them, writes the psalmist (Psalm 107:20). The ministry of the Word of God is to heal us and create in us a desire to share that healing with others. Nehemiah urges the people to send portions of food to those who had nothing prepared. This is invariably the result in those who find their lives beginning to be healed by the Word of God. They start thinking of others who are hurting and want to share with them what they have learned.

Thank You, Lord, for the joy of forgiveness and restoration. Thank You for paying for that gift with the precious blood of Your Son.

daily devotion for August 15th
Hunger For The Word
They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.

Nehemiah 8:1b
It is not surprising that chapter 8 opens with a manifestation of a great hunger for the Word among these people in Jerusalem. Notice that this seems to be a spontaneous gathering. No invitations were sent out. No public notice was given. People were hungry for answers to their problems and for guidelines from the Word of God, and with one accord they gathered in this great square before the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the priest to bring the Law of the Lord and to read it to them. This would undoubtedly be the entire Pentateuch--the first five books of the Bible. This indicates the tremendous desire of these people for truth. They listened, while standing, from daybreak until noon! Certainly this long attention indicates how deeply they were aware of their ignorance about life and how much they needed answers from God. They were simply crying out for the Word.

Ezra, the priest, the author of the book of Ezra, appears for the first time in the book of Nehemiah. Thirteen years earlier he had led a return from Persia to rebuild the temple and to teach the Law of God. Apparently he had been occupied in that task all through the time of the rebuilding of the wall. But when the people had finished their work, they were desperate to hear from the Word of God, so they sent for Ezra to lead them.

It seems to me that we have come to such a time as this again. The prophet Amos predicted that there would come a famine in the world for the Word of God. People would actually be starving for answers to the problems of life. I find everywhere a deep hunger among non-churched people to hear the Word of God. Wherever it is taught with any degree of understanding, they are immediately attracted to it.

When the Word is opened up, people begin to understand themselves. When you know God you begin to understand yourself, because you are made in the image of God. These people in Jerusalem were soon growing in self-knowledge as they began to hunger for the Word of God. The great tragedy of our day is how few churches seem to understand this power of Scripture.

Lord, create in me a hunger for Your Word. Forgive me for so often taking it for granted.

Daily devotion for August 14th
The Need To Belong
So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families.

Nehemiah 7:5a
It was necessary to ensure that only true Israelites lived within Jerusalem. There follows a list of names of all the families of those who came back from Persia to Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra, some thirty years before the time of Nehemiah. These were among the ones who helped him build the wall. He is not only giving credit to them but is also recognizing that they will be responsible to carry on what he has begun. So having appointed leaders who would succeed him--men of integrity, courage, and faithfulness--he now sees to it that their followers are also true Israelites.

The spiritual application is that we need to know that we really belong to God. You will never be a successful servant of Christ nor ever faithfully work for Him and serve Him until you are assured that you know Him and belong to Him. This is not only necessary for leaders but for the common people as well. We all need to know our spiritual pedigree; otherwise, our service will be weak and largely ineffective.

Verse 61 lists some who could not prove their ancestry and were therefore not permitted to live in the city of Jerusalem. Certain ones among the priests were denied the right to minister because they could not prove their ancestry. Many try to minister in the church of God today who are uncertain that they belong to God. Sometimes pastors, seminary professors, and leaders in the Christian community do not themselves know that they are true Christians. These always wreak havoc in the churches they seek to serve.

The reference to the Urim and Thummim is interesting (Nehemiah 7:65). These were two stones (their names mean lights and perfections) that the high priest wore on his garment by which he could discern the mind of God. No one really knows how they worked. Nehemiah says these suspect priests were not allowed to minister until a high priest arrives who has the Urim and Thummim. I think this is a hidden reference to our Lord Jesus. In the book of Hebrews, Jesus is said to be a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:20), meaning one who lives forever and who fully knows the mind of God. He can restore suspect priests to a place of assurance in their ministry and give them back their office. He can bring them the assurance that they belong.

Father, thank You that I can rely on the promise of Your Word that I do belong. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12).

Daily devotion for August 13th
The Power And Peril Of A Witness
So the wall was completed... When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

Nehemiah 6:15-16
Even their enemies had to admit that God was at work in His people's lives. He was what accounted for their amazing success. This entire project was finished in just fifty-two days! Nehemiah had left Persia in April, and it took him several months to journey to Jerusalem. Yet on October 2 in the year 445 BC, the wall was completed. They finished the work in fifty-two days because they put their minds and shoulders to the task and looked to God for wisdom and power to achieve. When our enemies heard about this, they lost their self-confidence and they realized that they were battling against God himself, says Nehemiah. What a beautiful picture of the power of Christian witness in a community! Even their enemies must agree that God is at work among them.

But the enemies are still not through. Notice how they continue their tactics of opposition. Tobiah had intermarried with the Israelites. Taking advantage of that relationship, he was seeking to undermine Nehemiah's influence by nothing more than mere gossip.

The devil never quits. He is never going to give up while we are still alive. Even those Christians who have lived over seventy years will tell you the battle is just as intense, sometimes more so, than it ever was. Christians cannot expect the battle to end until the Lord calls them to glory, because that is the nature of life.

God has wonderful blessings and much encouragement and joy for us along the way, but we must never cease battling against the world, the flesh, and the devil until we get home. Do not expect your retirement days to be without difficulty or struggle. That is what the world seeks, and that is a confused and distorted view of life. But it is not ours. The enemies will never quit. If they cannot undermine us with fear and flattery, they will try gossip and false rumors. This is what Nehemiah demonstrates for us.

Teach me, Father to be grateful for victories won, but never to become complacent as if the battle were over.

Daily devotion for August 12th
When Not To Run Away
Should a man like me run away? Or should one like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!

Nehemiah 6:11
Once again the enemy switches his tactics, reverting again to subterfuge. A word comes in the form of a prophecy, but this man is a false prophet. He claims to have hidden knowledge that men are coming to kill Nehemiah and advises him to go into the temple to save his life. This false prophet may be involved in the occult, because that is what is suggested here by the explanation that he was shut in at his home (Nehemiah 6:10). Being shut in suggests that for some religious reason he was secluding himself.

What he says sounds logical. Some people are out to get you. They are going to kill you, he charges. Nehemiah certainly knows that! The man suggests, Come on up here, and we will go into the temple and shut the doors. They will not dare attack you there. That sounds good, but immediately Nehemiah detects something wrong. He knows that as a layman, he is not permitted to go into the temple, for only priests could enter the temple. It was simply not right for him to enter the temple.

He realizes that a prophet who was really from the Lord wouldn't say anything that was not in line with the commands of God. There was an altar of asylum in the temple courtyard to which people who were under threat could flee and be safe, but this man is proposing they actually go into the temple and shut the doors.

Nehemiah says it was all part of a plan to discourage the people from following his lead. Fueled by jealousy and ambition, these enemies slandered him and tried to trick him into yielding to their demands. We must be aware of this kind of attack on our lives in these days. Do not take people's advice just because they are friendly to you. It may be completely wrong advice. Nothing substitutes for a knowledge of the Word of God. That is how you can detect error and tell what is wrong. The best response to such an approach is what Nehemiah uses here--a deep sense of his true identity as a believer. Should a man like me run and hide and try to save his life by wrong approaches and unlawful practices? He falls back upon his clear consciousness of who he is. He is a believer in the living God, and thus he need not resort to trickery to save his life.

This is exactly what the New Testament calls us to as well. Writing to the Thessalonians, faced with the normal pressures and problems of life, the apostle Paul's word is, live lives worthy of God (1 Thessalonians 2:12). We are called to walk with God. You are a child of His. You belong to Him. You are therefore living at a different level from those around you. If you remember who you are, you will not go along with the wrong things that people are being pressured into today.

Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden Pond, If I seem not to keep step with others, it is because I am listening to another drumbeat. Christians also listen to another drumbeat. They are following their Lord, not the voices they hear around them. Nothing will free us more from the subtle pressures and temptations of today than to remember who we are.

There are so many voices, Lord. Help me to discern Your voice. Help me to act in accordance with Your Word and my true identity as Your child.

Daily devotion for August 11th
A Great Work
I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?

Nehemiah 6:3b
These erstwhile enemies suddenly become Nehemiah's friends and invite him to a conference down on the plain of Ono. It is located down on the seacoast near the Gaza strip. But Nehemiah senses danger: they were scheming to harm me he says (Nehemiah 6:2). Some commentators suggest that they were trying to trick him into leaving Jerusalem, where he had armed support, to come to a conference where they could set upon him and perhaps kill him. Nehemiah evidently senses this. He firmly declines, saying, I am carrying on a great project, and I cannot go down.

That is a great answer. Note the reasons he gives. On the surface it seems a surly response to their invitation to meet together. It sounds brusque and blunt. But Nehemiah sees through their scheme and refuses to go along, even though they pressure him four different times.

You too may experience continuing pressure to change your mind and go along with something that is wrong. Many have fallen after a proper refusal simply because they gave in to repeated pressure. But Nehemiah persists in his refusal. Here is his reason: I am doing a great work, he says. I have a great calling. God has committed a tremendous project to me, and if I leave, it will be threatened.

One of the most helpful things that we can do to resist temptation is to remember that God has called us to a great task. This is true of every believer in Christ. I do not care how young or how old you are in the Lord, you are called to a tremendous work today. That task is to model a different lifestyle so that those who are being ruined by wrongful practices will see something that offers them hope and deliverance. If they see in you peace in the midst of confusion, an invisible support that keeps you steady and firm under pressure, they will learn that there is another way to live than the destructive way they have chosen. That is the great work that God has called us to. We ought never to give allegiance to anything less.

I read years ago of a missionary in China, a capable young man who did a great job as a linguist and diplomat in his work for the Lord. His abilities were so outstanding that one of the American companies in China tried to hire him. They offered him an attractive job with a salary to match, but he turned them down. He told them that God had sent him to China as a missionary and that was what he was going to do. He thought that would end the matter, but instead they came back with a better offer and an increase in salary. He turned that down too, but again they came back, doubling the salary that had originally been proposed. Finally he said, It's not your salary that is too little. It's the job that's too small!

This is what Nehemiah is saying here. He has a great work, and he is not going to forsake it for anything less. He is confronted with an offer that seems to promise peace and support and yet is filled with danger, which he successfully avoids by refusing to leave his calling.

Father, You have given me a great work to do. Help me to see through the seeming golden opportunities that come my way to divert me from that which You have called me to do.

Daily devotion for August 9th
Prayer And Preparedness
But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

Nehemiah 4:9
The enemy mobilizes its forces, escalating the attack, and begins to plan direct violence. When you begin to move with God to change things in your life for the better, you will find that you are met first with derision, and if you keep persisting, someone is going to get very upset with you and attack you in a vicious, perhaps physical, way.

But see how Nehemiah reacts, He still relies on prayer (Nehemiah 4:9). But he does more than pray. He posts a guard as well. Prayer and preparedness! This blending of the resources of the spiritual life with those of the material world is a marvelous picture of how believers ought to face threats, recognizing that we need action on both levels.

Still the enemy persists, and he launches a propaganda campaign. There was an enormous amount of debris and broken stones that had to be cleared away before they could get to the walls. It must have been very discouraging.

The enemy immediately takes advantage of that weakness and discouragement (Nehemiah 4:11). Have you ever faced something like that? Were you ever threatened at work when you tried to correct an immoral or illegal practice that was being carried on around you? Perhaps someone said to you, Keep that up, and you may lose your job here. You may have been threatened with demotion or with eviction from your apartment. You may even have been invited out in the parking lot to face a physical attack. These kinds of things are possible when we begin to right wrongs.

Nehemiah's response is very deliberate. First, he carefully looks over the situation and evaluates what is needed. This approach is necessary if we are going to improve our own lives. We must observe exactly where we are under attack. What are we addicted to? A wrong habit, a drug, an attitude of mind? Bitterness of spirit? When we have identified the source of attack, we must post a guard at that point.

Then, second, Nehemiah reviews the spiritual resources available to them. They had a power at work in their lives that their enemies knew nothing about. The great and awesome God who was with them would stand with them in their peril. When they remembered this, they became reassured and renewed in courage. The enemy saw that they could achieve nothing with their attacks.

One of my favorite passages of the New Testament is found in Paul's second letter to Timothy. Paul is a prisoner in Rome, and Timothy, a rather timid young man, is all alone and feeling discouraged in the great pagan city of Ephesus. The great apostle writes to him this word of advice: Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead (2 Timothy 2:8). Timothy was not alone. God was with him. Jesus is risen! He is awesome. He is strong. He is powerful. Reckon upon Him, and you will be able to stand against the most subtle temptation and the most dangerous threats that come against you.

Thank You, Father, for how practical and helpful the Scriptures are. Teach me to rely on You both in prayer and preparedness.

Daily devotion for August 8th
How To Handle An Attack
He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, What are those feeble Jews doing?

Nehemiah 4:1b-2a
Most of us have had experience with what is called Murphy's Law, the idea that if anything can go wrong, it will. There are many applications of it. For instance, if you try to fix something, Murphy's Law says it will take longer than you anticipated; it will cost more than you expected; it will break down before it is paid for; and someone will not like it when it is done! We have come to such a circumstance in chapter 4 of the book of Nehemiah. Here Nehemiah faces severe and violent opposition to his work of rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem. The opposition takes off its gloves, and the real battle begins. We, like Nehemiah, have an enemy who opposes us with craftiness and power. Against every effort on our part to get our lives together and recover from damage, hurt, and ruin, we will experience opposition from the enemy. Almost invariably his first attempt to halt such recovery is to discourage us through ridicule, derision, or rejection.

Hear the scorn, derision, and sarcasm in those comments! Many of us, perhaps, have experienced this kind of attack. I know personally of people who are unwilling to do what is right because they fear their friends will laugh at them or mock them. I know a man who is unable to stop drinking because his drinking friends make fun of him. Yet drink is destroying his life. I know of others who are hooked on drugs, but they do not want to stop because they are afraid they will be laughed at. These are the powerful weapons the enemy employs here.

Most of us have had some experience with this weapon of ridicule and mockery that the enemy employs here. Perhaps you have had someone say to you when you are trying to stop something that was wrong, Who do you think you are, anyhow? Do you think you are better than us? Or perhaps someone says, You've made a good start, but you won't hold out. You won't last.

Nehemiah regards this attack as an insult against God Himself. Note that he does not argue back nor does he retaliate. He does not blister these men with angry rebuttal. He simply responds by praying. It reminds us of Peter's words about Jesus: When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats (1 Peter 2:23). This is a helpful picture of how to handle that kind of attack.

Dear Father, strengthen me to do what is right regardless of the ridicule I receive, and help me to respond to that ridicule in prayer and faith.

daily devotion for August 6th
Working Together
The men of Jericho built the adjoining section, and Zaccur son of Imri built next to them.

Nehemiah 3:2
Chapter 3 is one of those chapters that consists largely of unpronounceable names and long-forgotten people! It can be discouraging to come to a chapter like this. But it tells the story of the work of repairing the gates and walls of Jerusalem that Nehemiah had been sent there to do.

They worked together. All through this account you will find the phrase next to him worked so and so, and next to them worked others. The writer takes note not only of the workers but also the shirkers, however. Verse 5 says of the men of Tekoa: their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors. Did you know that God records slackers too? When people will not take up their ministry, God puts their name down in that column as well. But the rest all worked together. They helped one another. Nehemiah had so marvelously organized this that each one had a section of the wall or a gate assigned to him.

Notice also they worked near their home. Look at verse 10: Jedaiah made repairs opposite his house. Verse 23 tells of certain men who made repairs in front of their house. The important truth that emerges is that this is God's design for ministry. God has placed us all strategically where He wants us to be. Your neighborhood, office, or home is where your ministry should be. That is why God put you there. In John 15 Jesus said to His disciples that He had appointed them, and the word means strategically placed them. He had put them in the place where He wanted them to be. This is brought out beautifully here as we watch these people laboring in their own neighborhood.

Finally, each one completed his assigned task. They kept on until they had finished the work. Some had more to do than others, but no one failed--except the nobles of Tekoa who would not dirty their hands. I have learned through the years that responsibility is always the mark of spiritual maturity. The most mature members in a congregation are those who stay with the work that has been assigned to them until it is done.

Lord, help me to discover the place I have in Your great work. Grant that I might be faithful in the assignment You have given me in cooperation with others in the body of Christ.

Daily devotion for August 5th
Standing Up To The Enemy
The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.

Nehemiah 2:20
The men who opposed the rebuilding of the wall stood outside the covenant of promise. None of the three had any claim to the promise of God to inherit the land. That is why Nehemiah took this stand.

The form their opposition took is also prophetic of our struggles. They first mocked and ridiculed. This is usually the first weapon the enemy employs. You may have felt it when you began to recover from your ruin. Your friends laughed at your desires to change. They may have ridiculed your religious convictions and resented with scorn your implied criticisms of their conduct.

Also, Nehemiah's enemies began to threaten and slander him with charges of rebellion and disloyalty. If ridicule does not work, then the opposition stiffens and becomes openly unfriendly and threatening. It is the next level of resistance that those who seek to rebuild will encounter.

These are but pictures for us. They picture the opposition and the resistance that we will experience from Satan himself. What was true of these opposing forces in Nehemiah's case is true also of Satan. He is a usurper who has tricked us and led us astray. Yet he has no right to do so. Jesus came to restore God's property to Him and to loose the hold of the devil upon the human race. That is what He does in our lives. So when we face resistance, we must see it as something God allows to strengthen us, but Satan has no real right to our lives.

We do not need to be bound by habits from the past. No matter how innocently they may have begun, we do not need to be slaves to drugs, sex, alcohol, tobacco, or whatever may be controlling and limiting us. Remember Paul's great cry, I will not be mastered by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12). Why? Because he was under the power of God. This is what Nehemiah declares here. There is no necessity to be a slave to a hot temper or a critical attitude or a complaining spirit. These areas of ruin in our lives can be set aside because we are expecting God to grant us the grace to stand.

That is why, with great determination, Nehemiah clenches his fist and says, Look, the God of heaven is with us. He will give us success. We, his servants, will start rebuilding. Do what you like. It is not going to stop us. You are usurpers and have no right to this land.

What we are tracing here are the steps of recovery from ruin. There are three of them that we have covered so far: First, a deep concern that leads us to prayer and sorrow; then, an opportunity for change to which we must make response; and then, the facing of the facts of our situation honestly and squarely. When we begin these steps, we have well begun the process of change. Let us take them with confidence that God will enable us to rebuild our walls and restore our gates to His praise and glory and our grateful relief.

Thank You, Father, that I can face the enemy with boldness and confidence, knowing that I am free, and he has no right or power over me.

Daily devotion for August 4th
Unexpected Help
The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.

Nehemiah 2:9b
Nehemiah not only came with a full military escort, but also it is apparent from this account that he came with the full authority of the throne of Persia behind him. If you set out to change something in your life for the better, you have the full authority of the throne of God behind you; you may proceed with full confidence that the unseen, but real, power of God is backing you up!

Nehemiah met two very troublesome enemies when he got there: Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. A Horonite was a devotee of the god Horon, a local deity of Palestine. This indicates Sanballat was a pagan. Tobiah was a citizen of Ammon, which was the country that we now call Jordan. Ammon was one of the tribes descended from Lot, the nephew of Abraham, and thus related to Israel, but still an enemy.

This situation sounds very much like normal Christianity. I have always enjoyed the definition of a Christian as one who is completely fearless, continually cheerful, and constantly in trouble! It is God's way to let us face troublesome difficulties. But He also has unknown provisions waiting for us, as we will see in Nehemiah's case.

I shall never forget once sitting at lunch with Cameron Townsend, the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and hearing from his own lips the story of how the Wycliffe organization came into Mexico. This was back in the 1920s at a time when Mexico was very sensitive to anything religious. The Mexican people had just thrown off the shackles of the church, and they were very opposed to public preaching or the building up of churches. Townsend went to a tiny Indian village up in the mountains and began to work there, translating the Scriptures into their language. Although he could do no preaching, he found that he could help the people. Their economy was suffering because they had poor crops, and he taught them how to dam up a stream and divert the water to their fields. He also taught them certain industries they could establish right there in the village. Soon word of the changes there got back to Lazaro Cardenas, who had just been elected president of Mexico. One day the president drove out in his limousine to the Indian village, and, when Townsend saw the presidential limousine, he went up to it to greet the president and introduce himself. The president said, You're the very man I came to see. He invited Townsend to come to the capital, and they became close friends. He opened a wide door to the entire work of Wycliffe Translators, and later presidents continued that support.

In many wonderful ways God demonstrates that He can work in our lives! This is what Nehemiah relied upon. If you are struggling with some habit, some attitude of mind or heart that has possessed you, limited you, and made you difficult to live with, and you want to be free from it, you can expect God to help, often in ways that you cannot anticipate.

Lord, teach me to be open and aware of the different ways You are looking out for me and providing for me. May I never refuse an offer of help that comes from You

Daily devotion for August 3rd
Honest Assessment
If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.

Nehemiah 2:5
Observe how tactful Nehemiah's presentation is. Twice he refers to Jerusalem, not as the capital of Judah or even by its name, for it had a reputation as a troublesome city and had been the source of revolt in the empire before, but he designates it as the city where my fathers are buried. That is an accommodation to the emperor's own concerns. These ancient kings were greatly concerned about their burial. The pyramids in Egypt that the pharaohs have left are ample evidence of that. This king would be immediately sympathetic to Nehemiah's desire to go and restore the city where his fathers were buried. Nehemiah wisely plays upon that interest and presents his case in the best possible light.

Note also the thoroughness with which he had thought out all that he would need. He knew it would require a lengthy period of time, so he asked for the time he needed. He was actually gone for twelve years. I doubt if he asked for that long a time, but it took that long in the working out of his plans. He must have known it would take at least a number of years, and whatever he asked for, he was granted that amount of time.

Not only did Nehemiah need sufficient time for this expedition, but he needed secure travel. So he asked for letters to the governors of the provinces that he would have to pass through to provide safe conduct for him. We learn later in this book that this not only gave him diplomatic immunity, but it also meant that he was appointed as the governor of Judah. This would give him diplomatic status as he traveled. From secular sources we learn that there had been trouble in the province of Syria (just north of Judah) two years earlier. The satrap (governor) of that province had rebelled against Artaxerxes. It is likely that the king welcomed this opportunity to place a trusted man in the governorship of Judah and interpose a buffer between Syria and Egypt, who were often at war. Thus this journey of Nehemiah was something the king found very satisfying.

Finally, Nehemiah knew he would need some special supplies that only the king's authority could provide. He asked for special timbers to be cut for him out of the king's forest. Some believe that was located in the mountains of Lebanon. But others say it was probably a local forest, south of Jerusalem, from which King Solomon had taken wood for the building of his temple. At any rate, Nehemiah got what he asked for. He had done his homework thoroughly.

This suggests to us that if we are truly concerned about rebuilding parts of our life, we need to think seriously about what it will require. We must assess what we will actually need, what steps we should take, and what may be involved in changing our habits so that we can be freed to be what God wants us to be. Nehemiah teaches us that we need to face honestly our situation.

Lord, help me to make an honest assessment of my situation and boldly come before Your throne and depend on You for all that I need.

Daily devotion for August 2nd
The Place To Start
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

Nehemiah 1:4
Nehemiah clearly has a deep sense of personal concern. He is willing to face the facts, to weep over them and tell God about them. That is always the place to begin. There is nothing superficial about this. A famous song says, Don't worry, Be happy. But that is mere salve over a deep cancer. What is needed is to honestly face the ruin, whatever it may be, and, without blaming or attempting to involve somebody else, telling it all to God. God always welcomes a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Follow the pattern of Nehemiah's prayer. First, he recognized the character of God. The ruin you are concerned with may not always be yours personally. You feel like Nehemiah, and you want to weep and mourn and tell God about it. That is always the place to start, for God is a responsive God. He gives attention to the prayers of His people.

The second thing Nehemiah did was to repent of all personal and corporate sins. This was honestly facing his own guilt. Notice the absence of self-righteousness. He did not say, Lord, I am thinking of those terrible sinners back there in Jerusalem. Be gracious to them because they have fallen into wrong actions. No, he put himself into this picture, saying, I confess before you, Lord, the sins of myself and my father's house. There was no attempt to blame others for this. It was a simple acknowledgment of wrong.

Then, third, Nehemiah reminded God of His gracious promises. In the book of Deuteronomy 28-30 Moses prophetically outlines the entire history of Israel. He said they would disobey God; they would be scattered among the nations; they would go into exile. But if they would turn and acknowledge their evil, God would bring them back to the land. Nehemiah reminded God of that gracious promise.

The fourth thing Nehemiah did was request specific help to begin this process. It was not going to be easy, but he knew what he had to do. It was going to take the authority of the top power in the whole empire. That was not easy to arrange. But Nehemiah believed that God would help him. And so he started to pray and asked for grace and strength to carry out the steps that were necessary to begin recovery.

Thank You, Father, for this wonderfully practical book that sets out a safe guideline to recovery and usefulness. Help me to begin where Nehemiah began: to tell the whole story in Your ear and thus begin the process of recovery

daily devotion for July 31st
Our Great Hope
Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

John 17:24
Jesus closes His prayer with a great, heartfelt expression of His desire that we may be with Him in glory, that all who believe in His name, from the beginning of Pentecost until the end of time, may be with Him in His glory. What a magnificent basis for our hope of heaven! And yet heaven is heaven only because we will be with Christ. This is the hope of every believer, that one day we will be with Him. As Paul said, We ... would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8-9). And in many places Scripture brings that hope before us. The joy of the Christian is that in heaven we behold the glory of Jesus, the face of Jesus, the manifestation of all the glory that is in Him.

It is a great hope! In the Scriptures we are not told a lot about heaven just enough to make us want to be there. But the hope set forth for us is that we will be with Jesus to behold His glory in answer to this prayer. But we don't have to wait for heaven. There is a sense in which this prayer is being answered right now. I think our Lord intended it this way, for in the Spirit we are able, right now, to behold the glory of Jesus. And it is the vision of that glory, of who Jesus is, that changes us. Paul tells us that we are now seated with Christ in the heavenly places. In 2 Corinthians he says, And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

So the more we see and behold the glory of Jesus, the more we are being made like Him even though we may not be aware the change is taking place. What is this glory? Our Lord defines it for us in verse 26: I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. The glory of Jesus is the glory of love--the love of God for people. That is what grips our hearts and changes our lives and makes us different people, forgives our sins, lifts us up again, and encourages our hearts. It is the realization that God indeed loves us as He loves Jesus.

Thank You, Lord, that You have gripped me with this great love and given me the hope of glory!

Daily devotion for July 29th
In The World
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

John 17:15
In this section our Lord indicated the great realm of controversy between Himself and Satan, the realm in which Satan finds his activity manifested--the world. Throughout this whole discourse you find two communities in view: the world, which is secular society organized in its antipathy against God; and the church, the body of Christ, God's family.

The Lord knew that there would be this conflict. He called a group out of the world--not to be separate from it--but to be a different group. God always sees humanity divided into two categories. Sometimes they are called two kingdoms--the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. Sometimes they are regarded symbolically as two cities--Jerusalem and Babylon. But there are always these two.

Jesus, knowing the danger of the world, prays for these disciples. And He points out the reason the world hates them. I say these things while I am still in the world, He says, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. Here are men who have learned a source of joy that the world does not know how to produce. The world hates Christians because they have a source of life the world cannot explain. Satan tries to destroy this life. The devil is a murderer, and his aim is to destroy in any way he can through the deceitfulness of the allurements of the world.

Jesus, knowing this, prayed for two very important things for these men: He said, My prayer is not that you take them out of the world. Why, then, do we say to new believers, Look, you are a Christian, so get out of the world. Avoid any contact with it, and don't ever get mixed up in it as long as you live. It may be necessary at times for a young Christian to get away from the world for a while, but not to be removed from it! It is a violation of our Lord's prayer when we take ourselves out of the world and build a wholly Christian life with Christian friends and contacts and never go any place non-Christians go but simply isolate ourselves. The result is that the world is left without light--to fall into decay and darkness, with no help at all.

But, on the other hand, our Lord was aware that these men needed to be kept from the evil one. So he prayed that they should be kept from the evil one, from contamination by the world and all its deadly delusions. It is so easy to conform to the world, to seek its values and measure your life by its standards.

What a deadly thing that is! Our Lord is calling here for men and women who, like Himself, can live in the midst of the world and yet not become contaminated by its life, but be, instead, a source of release to those around.

Lord, You have placed me in the world even though I am not of it. But far too often I think and act like one who belongs to the world when, in fact, I belong to You.

Daily devotion for July 27th
Praying What Is Promised
And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

John 17:5
Jesus is praying that He might resume now the full manifestations of deity. He had laid them aside when He came into the world, taking upon Himself the limitations of humanity. When our Lord was here He did not go around showing people how God behaved; He showed them how humanity behaved--humanity indwelt by God, as God intended humanity to be. And all that you see in Jesus during the days of His flesh is a perfect humanity. His deity was hidden. He didn't give it up--you can't give up what you are--but He laid aside the exercise of it. Now He is asking that the Father will restore to Him that expression of deity that was His before the world was made. By this He is praying for the resurrection and the ascension to follow--that the Father would raise Him from the dead in glory and then later cause Him to ascend to heaven to be with Him as He was before the world was made. He needs this in order to perform the work of giving eternal life to all those whom the Father would bring to Him out of every succeeding generation. It is as God that He gives us eternal life.

There is a tremendous lesson here about prayer. Was it not already God's program that if the Son were crucified He would be raised from the dead and ascend into the heavens? Yet when the hour comes, Jesus asks the Father to do this. He prays for this glory that was already promised to Him. This helps us a great deal in understanding prayer.

Many people say to me, Why should I pray? God has already programmed my life. He knows what I'm going to do and what's going to happen to me, so why should I ask Him to do anything? It's all going to happen anyway. That position totally ignores the revelation of the Scriptures that prayer is a part of the process by which God brings to pass what He has already proposed to do. James tells us, You do not have, because you do not ask God (James 4:2b). If you do not ask, it will not happen, because it breaks the link by which God proposes to bring it about. Therefore prayer is vital, and our Lord gives us this example. He prays for that which was already promised him. Prayer is always based upon the promises of God.

Thank You, Father, that by inviting us to pray, You allow us to take part in the fulfillment of Your eternal purposes.