zzz January 1
Morning
But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind . . . I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
F
ather, I desire that they . . . whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me. • I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. • He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. • Lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. Phil. 3:13–14; John 17:24; 2 Tim. 1:12; Phil. 1:6; 1 Cor. 9:24–25; Heb. 12:1–2
Evening
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The Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you.
f Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. • O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand. I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. • For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Deut. 31:8; Ex. 33:15; Jer. 10:23; Ps. 37:23–24; 73:23–24; Rom. 8:38–39
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zz January 2
Morning
Sing to the Lord a new song.
S
ing aloud to God our strength; make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob. Raise a song and strike the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the lute. • He has put a new song in my mouth—praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord. Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. • The joy of the Lord is your strength. • Paul . . . thanked God and took courage. Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. Isa. 42:10; Ps. 81:1–2; 40:3; Josh. 1:9; Neh. 8:10; Acts 28:15; Rom. 13:11–14
Evening
Y
Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
ou shall make an altar to burn incense on. . . . And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you. Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. Therefore [ Jesus] is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. • The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Pray without ceasing. Ps. 141:2; Ex. 30:1, 6–8; Heb. 7:25; Rev. 8:4; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Thess. 5:17 3
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zzz January 3
Morning
He led them forth by the right way.
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n the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled [Jacob], He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led him. • Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. • For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death. • Who teaches like Him? Ps. 107:7; Deut. 32:10–12; Isa. 46:4; Ps. 23:3–4; Isa. 58:11; Ps. 48:14; Job 36:22
Evening
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“What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.”
pen my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. • But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. • Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory . . . give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power. Luke 18:41; Ps. 119:18; Luke 24:45; John 14:26; James 1:17; Eph. 1:17–19 4
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zz January 4
T
Morning
For as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.
his is not your rest. • There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. • Behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. • With Christ, which is far better. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. • There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. • Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Deut. 12:9; Mic. 2:10; Heb. 4:9; 6:19–20; John 14:2–3; Phil. 1:23; Rev. 21:4; Job 3:17; Matt. 6:20–21; Col. 3:2
Evening
T
O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?
he sting of death is sin. • Now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. 1 Cor. 15:55; 15:56; Heb. 9:26–28; 2:14–15; 2 Tim. 4:6–8 5
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zzz January 5
Morning
We who have believed do enter that rest.
T
hey weary themselves to commit iniquity. • I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. • Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. He who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works. • Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. • “This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest,” and, “this is the refreshing.” Heb. 4:3; Jer. 9:5; Rom. 7:23–24; Matt. 11:28; Rom. 5:1–2; Heb. 4:10; Phil. 3:9; Isa. 28:12
Evening
I
Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.
f You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? • They rebelled against His Spirit, so that he spoke rashly with his lips. Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. A whisperer separates the best of friends. • There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health. The truthful lip shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. • No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. • Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language. . . . Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds. • For this is the will of God, your sanctification. • In their mouth was found no deceit. Ps. 141:3; 130:3; 106:33; Matt. 15:11; Prov. 16:28; 12:18; 12:19; James 3:8; 3:10; Col. 3:8–9; 1 Thess. 4:3; Rev. 14:5
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zz January 6
Y
Morning
Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us.
our beauty . . . was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God. • We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. • The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. • Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. • Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Ps. 90:17; Ezek. 16:14; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Peter 4:14; Ps. 128:1–2; Prov. 16:3; Phil. 2:12–13; 2 Thess. 2:16–17
Evening
T
The apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all . . . they had done.
here is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. • The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. • You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. • The prayer of the upright is His delight. Mark 6:30; Prov. 18:24; Ex. 33:11; John 15:14–15; Luke 17:10; Rom. 8:15; Phil. 4:6; Prov. 15:8
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zzz January 7
Morning
Remember me, my God, for good.
T
hus says the Lord: “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness.” • I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. • I will visit you and perform My good word toward you. . . . For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. • I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause—who does great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number. • Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Neh. 5:19; Jer. 2:2; Ezek. 16:60; Jer. 29:10–11; Isa. 55:9; Job 5:8–9; Ps. 40:5
Evening
N
I will not leave you nor forsake you.
ot a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. • God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments. • He will ever be mindful of His covenant. Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands. The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Josh. 1:5; 21:45; Num. 23:19; Deut. 7:9; Ps. 111:5; Isa. 49:15–16; Zeph. 3:17 8
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zz January 8
T
Morning
Those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
he name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. • I will trust and not be afraid; ‘for Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.’ I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. • For the Lord loves justice, and does not forsake His saints; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. • The Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people. • Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us. Be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Ps. 9:10; Prov. 18:10; Isa. 12:2; Ps. 37:25; 37:28; 1 Sam. 12:22; 2 Cor. 1:10; Heb. 13:5–6
Evening
T
They are without fault before the throne of God.
he iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve. • Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. He made us accepted in the Beloved. • To present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Rev. 14:5; Jer. 50:20; Mic. 7:18–19; Eph. 1:6; Col. 1:22; Jude vv. 24–25 9
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