The Privileges of Mercy  –  There is therefore now no condemnation.

Romans 8:1

Come, my soul, think about this. Believing in Jesus, you are actually and effectually cleared from guilt; you are led out of prison. You are no longer in chains as a slave; you are delivered now from the bondage of the law; you are freed from sin and can walk around as a free man–the Savior’s blood has procured your full acquittal. You now have a right to approach your Father’s throne. No flames of vengeance are there to scare you now–no fiery sword; justice cannot strike the innocent. Your disabilities are removed.

Once you were unable to see your Father’s face; now you can. You could not speak with Him; but now you can approach Him with boldness. Once there was a fear of hell upon you; but now you have no fear of it, for how can there be punishment for the guiltless? He who believes is not condemned and cannot be punished.

And more than all, the privileges you might have enjoyed, if you had never sinned, are yours now that you are justified. All the blessings that you would have had if you had kept the law are yours, because Christ has kept it for you. All the love and acceptance that perfect obedience could have obtained belong to you, because Christ was perfectly obedient on your behalf and has imputed all His merits to your account, that you might be exceedingly rich through Him who for your sake became exceedingly poor. How great the debt of love and gratitude you owe to your Savior!

A debtor to mercy alone,

Of covenant mercy I sing;

Nor fear with Your righteousness on,

My person and offerings to bring:

The terrors of law and of God,

With me can have nothing to do;

My Savior’s obedience and blood

Hide all my transgressions from view.

The family reading plan for February 13, 2012

Job 12 | Romans 16

Divine Discipline: An Act of Love
Hebrews 12:5-6 

Scripture tells us that when the Lord disciplines us, He is acting out of love. Yet some people struggle to understand this. They think, If God’s love is truly unconditional, then why is He allowing me to suffer for my sin?

First, it’s important to understand what discipline actually is. It is neither punishment nor a way to “pay” for your wrong actions. Rather, discipline is a method of correction. When our heavenly Father uses it in our lives, the purpose is to bring us back into the center of His will—and to prevent us from suffering future hurt or causing harm to others. In this way, God’s correction is an act of deep love.

You aren’t demonstrating love if you fail to apply discipline (Prov. 13:24); in fact, you are setting kids up to reap disastrous, painful results from their uncorrected behavior and destructive choices (19:18). A good parent disciplines disobedient sons and daughters to 1) protect them from further rebellion that could hurt themselves and others, and 2) restore them to health and wholeness.

Some parents, however, discipline out of anger, not love. They may think it wise to make children fearful of punishment, but that’s not God’s motive (1 John 4:18). Because He is a loving Father, His desire is to give us what we need to live fully.

God’s unconditional love and His discipline are not contradictory; they go hand in hand. No matter how we fail to measure up, our Father is always working to lead us back onto a life-giving path. When we respond to His correction, He ultimately works out painful circumstances for our good

Return to Your First Love   –   You have abandoned the love you had at first.

Revelation 2:4

We will always remember that best and brightest of hours when we first saw the Lord, lost our burden, received the gift of grace, rejoiced in full salvation, and went on our way in peace. It was springtime in the soul; the winter was past; the mutterings of Sinai’s thunders were hushed; the flashings of its lightnings were no more perceived; God was beheld as reconciled; the law threatened no vengeance, and justice demanded no punishment.

Then the flowers appeared in our heart. Hope, love, peace, and patience sprang from the ground; the hyacinth of repentance, the snowdrop of pure holiness, the crocus of golden faith, the daffodil of early love–all decked the garden of the soul.

The time of the singing of birds had arrived, and we rejoiced with thanksgiving; we magnified the holy name of our forgiving God, and our resolve was, “Lord, I am Yours, Yours alone. All I am, and all I have, I devote to You. You have bought me with Your blood–let me spend myself and be spent in Your service. In life and in death let me be consecrated to You.”

How well have we kept this resolve? Our first love burned with a holy flame of devotion to Jesus–is it the same now? Is it possible that Jesus may say to us, “I have something against you, because you have left your first love”? Sadly we have done little for our Master’s glory. Our winter has lasted all too long. We are as cold as ice when we should feel a summer’s glow and bloom with sacred flowers. We give God pennies when He deserves much more, deserves our heart’s blood to be coined in the service of His church and of His truth. But shall we continue in this way? O Lord, after You have blessed us so richly, shall we be ungrateful and become indifferent to Your good cause and work? Quicken us that we may return to our first love and do our first works! Send us a joyful spring, O Sun of Righteousness.

The family reading plan for February 11, 2012

Job 10 | Romans 14

A Powerful Love
Luke 15:11-32 

Very often, when we read about the prodigal son, our focus is on God’s amazing love, which is demonstrated by the father in the parable. We delight in knowing that the Lord responds to us the same way when we stray from Him. But today, I want to look at our responsibility to love others. No matter how difficult the situation may be, God has given believers in Christ the capacity to respond with this same kind of love.

Let go: Although he had every right to refuse his second son’s foolish request, this father understood that the young man had already left home in his heart. There may be times in our lives when the most loving thing we can do is also the most difficult—to step back and let a loved one go his own way. When you hang on and try to control the situation, you may actually get in God’s way.

Wait: Once we have let go, we must then wait patiently for the Lord to do His work in that person’s life. Did you notice that the father didn’t go to search for his son? Even though he knew that pain and trouble would follow such a foolish decision, he chose to trust God instead of trying to fix the situation and protect his son from the consequences of his unwise choice.

The only way you can respond like this is to have confidence in the Lord’s good plans for the one you’re concerned about. He loves that person more than you can comprehend and understands the best way to reach a resistant heart. Your job is to watch and pray until God brings the prodigal to his senses

I Have Redeemed You   –  I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

Isaiah 44:22

Pay attention to THE INSTRUCTIVE PICTURE: Our sins are like a cloud. As clouds appear in many shapes and shades, so do our transgressions. As clouds obscure the light of the sun and darken the landscape below, so do our sins hide from us the light of Jehovah’s face and cause us to sit in the shadow of death. They are earthborn things and arise from the miry places of our lives; and when they collect and their measure is full, they threaten us with storm and tempest. Sadly, unlike clouds, our sins yield us no genial showers but rather threaten to deluge us with a fiery flood of destruction. How can it be fair weather when the dark clouds of sin remain within our souls?

Let our happy gaze ponder THE NOTABLE ACT of divine mercy–“blotted out.” God Himself appears upon the scene and in divine generosity, instead of manifesting His anger, reveals His grace. He at once and forever effectually removes the mischief, not by blowing away the cloud, but by blotting it out from existence once and for all. Against the justified man no sin remains; the great transaction of the cross has eternally removed his transgressions from him. On Calvary’s summit the great deed, by which the sin of all the chosen was forever put away, was completely and effectually performed.

Practically let us obey THE GRACIOUS COMMAND: “Return to me.” Why should pardoned sinners live at a distance from their God? If all of our sins have been forgiven, let no legal fear hold us back from the boldest access to our Lord. Let backslidings be bemoaned, but let us not persevere in them. Let us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, work strenuously to return to intimate communion with the Lord. O Lord, restore us now, tonight!

The family reading plan for February 10, 2012

Job 9 | Romans 13

Lord, I Love You, But . . .
Hebrews 6:10-12 

Most of us are quick to declare our love for God, but at times our reluctance to serve Him tells a different story. Honestly consider whether you have ever found yourself saying or thinking, I love you, Lord, but don’t call me to do that! Or perhaps you served Him, but with a flawed attitude: If no one else will do it, then I guess I will. What causes us to be reluctant servants?

Busyness: Sometimes our schedules are so full that there’s no space to follow the Lord when we hear Him calling us to minister in a certain area. We all need “margins” in our lives if we want to abide in God’s will.

Inadequacy: Perhaps you feel unqualified to serve, and you’re thinking, Surely there’s someone more gifted who could do that job. But that’s just an excuse; the Lord promises to equip those He calls (2 Cor. 3:4-6).

Selfishness: Sacrificial service is never convenient. It may require that we change our plans, give up our comforts, or even make financial sacrifices.

Lack of love: This is the hardest for us to admit—that we just don’t care enough. Our reluctance to serve others reveals a lack of devotion to the Lord. Those who love Christ with all their heart will joyfully serve Him by ministering to those in their families, workplaces, communities, and churches.

Are you quick to follow the Lord’s leading when a need arises, or are you a reluctant servant who’s preoccupied with your own plans and desires? Any service we offer in Jesus’ name will not be in vain. You’ll experience the joy of giving and the assurance that the Lord won’t forget your sacrifice

Arm Yourself Against Temptation   –   Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Luke 11:4

The things we are taught to seek or avoid in prayer, we should equally pursue or avoid in action. We should with sincerity avoid temptation, seeking to walk so guardedly in the path of obedience that we may never tempt the devil to tempt us. We are not to enter the jungle in search of the lion. We might pay dearly for such presumption. This lion may cross our path or leap upon us from the jungle, but we have nothing to do with hunting him. He that meets with him, even though he wins the day, will find it a tough struggle.

Let the Christian pray that he may be spared the encounter. Our Savior, who had experience of what temptation meant, thus earnestly admonished His disciples, “Pray that you do not enter into temptation.” But let us do as we will, we shall be tempted; hence the prayer, “deliver us from evil.” God had one Son without sin; but He has no son without temptation. The natural man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, and just as certain the Christian man is born to temptation. We must be always on our watch against Satan because, like a thief, he gives no intimation of his approach.

Believers who have had experience of the ways of Satan know that there are certain seasons when he will most probably make an attack, just as at certain seasons bleak winds may be expected; thus the Christian is put on a double guard by fear of danger, and the danger is averted by preparing to meet it. Prevention is better than cure: It is better to be so well armed that the devil will not attack you than to endure the perils of the fight even though you come off a conqueror. Pray this evening first that you may not be tempted, and then if temptation be permitted, pray that you may be delivered from the evil one.

Psalm 32:8

The family reading plan for February 9, 2012

Job 8 | Romans 12

The Fruitful Giver
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 

If you’ve ever visited Israel, you have no doubt experienced the contrast between the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The banks of the Jordan are surrounded by trees and greenery, but nothing lives around the Dead Sea. The reason is that there is no outlet. When the water flows into that sea, it stays there. Eventually the salts accumulate and poison the water.

This is a vivid picture of two different financial plans. The Dead Sea compares to the world’s system, which is based on accumulation and preservation of wealth. The goal is to get enough so you can have enough, but this approach results in self-centered stagnation. Christians who follow this plan mistakenly believe it’s the path to security. But what they fail to understand is that hoarding makes their lives spiritually unfruitful and hinders the good works God wants them to do.

The Lord’s financial plan is like a river that moves continuously. As His provisions flow into our lives, we pass them on to others. This results in a fruitful life centered on building God’s kingdom. Perhaps you’ve realized that He promises to supply “bread for food”to those who give, but did you know He’ll also provide “seed for sowing” (v. 10)? He supplies enough to live and enough to give.

Have you hindered your spiritual growth by sowing sparingly? If you become a generous giver, God promises to “increase the harvest of your righteousness” (v. 10). There are needs in the church and the world that He wants to meet through your generosity. Let His blessings flow through you

Is Sin Subdued in You?   –   He will save His people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21

Many people, if they are asked what they understand by salvation, will reply, “Being saved from hell and taken to heaven.” This is one result of salvation, but it is not one tenth of what is contained in that blessing. It is true our Lord Jesus Christ does redeem all His people from the wrath to come; He saves them from the fearful condemnation that their sins had brought upon them; but His triumph is far more complete than this. He saves His people “from their sins”–a complete deliverance from our worst foes.

Where Christ works a saving work, He casts Satan from his throne and will not let him be master any longer. No man is a true Christian if sin reigns in his mortal body. Sin will be in us–it will never be utterly expelled till the spirit enters glory; but it will never have dominion.

There will be a striving for dominion–a lusting against the new law and the new spirit that God has implanted–but sin will never get the upper hand so as to be absolute monarch of our nature. Christ will be Master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. The Lion of the tribe of Judah shall prevail, and the dragon shall be cast out.

Professing Christian, is sin subdued in you? If your life is unholy, your heart is unchanged; and if your heart is unchanged, you are an unsaved person. If the Savior has not sanctified you, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, He has done nothing in you of a saving character. The grace that does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves His people not in their sins but from them “. . . for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”2 “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”3 If not saved from sin, how shall we hope to be counted among His people? Lord, save me now from all evil, and enable me to honor my Savior.

2 Hebrews 12:14

3 2 Timothy 2:19

The family reading plan for February 8, 2012

Job 7 | Romans 11

God’s Master Plan of Finance
Malachi 3:7-12 

Though the world is full of disorder, confusion, and uncertainty, believers in Christ have the wonderful assurance that God is in absolute control of every situation. When He created the heavens and the earth, He had a purpose and a plan, which He carried out with precision and order. Nothing was haphazard, late, or uncertain. The Lord also has a plan for each one of us, and every aspect of our lives is not only under His scrutiny, but also under His care.

One of those areas is our finances. If we’ll follow God’s plan, He promises to manage our money. Now, that’s quite a blessing. After all, who do you think would be better at knowing how to handle money—you or our omniscient, all-powerful God? He promises that if we will give Him the first part of all we receive, He’ll provide for our needs. He has an amazing way of making the remainder stretch farther than the original amount.

So, considering the blessings of this promise and the unfailing faithfulness of the Promise Giver, what is keeping you from obeying this command? The most likely reason is unbelief—fear to test Him on this even though He invites you to do so. But you may be asking yourself, What if He doesn’t come through? What if I give it away and don’t have enough?

The Lord is after your trust, and what better area to test and build it than your finances? Believing Him for our salvation seems easy, yet we often doubt He’ll keep His promise when it comes to money. Take a step of obedience today, and discover how faithful your God really is

“Come Up Here”  Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’

Revelation 11:12

Without considering these words in their prophetic connection, let us regard them as the invitation of our great Forerunner to His sanctified people. In due time there shall be heard “a loud voice from heaven” to every believer, saying, “Come up here.” This should be to the saints the subject of joyful anticipation.

Instead of dreading the time when we will leave this world to go to the Father, we should be longing for the hour of our emancipation. Our song should be–

My heart is with Him on His throne,

And ill can brook delay;

Each moment listening for the voice,

“Rise up and come away.”

We are not called down to the grave but up to the skies. Our heaven-born spirits should long for their native air. Yet the heavenly summons should be the object of patient waiting. Our God knows best when to bid us, “Come up here.” We must not wish to antedate the period of our departure.

I know that strong love will make us cry,

O Lord of Hosts, the waves divide,

And land us all in heaven.

But patience must have her perfect work. God ordains with accurate wisdom the most fitting time for the redeemed to live below. Surely, if there could be regrets in heaven, the saints might mourn that they did not live longer here to do more good. Oh, for more sheaves for my Lord’s harvest, more jewels for His crown! But how unless there be more work? True, there is the other side of it, that, living so briefly, our sins are the fewer; but oh, when we are fully serving God, and He is asking us to scatter precious seed and reap a hundredfold, we would even say it is well for us to stay where we are. Whether our Master shall say, “Go” or “Stay,” let us be equally well pleased as long as He indulges us with His presence.

The family reading plan for February 7, 2012

Job 6 | Romans 10