August 25 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know… what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places…" (Eph. 1:16–20).

Devotional

You need God's power, no less than his love, at every step of your yet untried and unknown path.

You will have needs that nothing can meet except the power that multiplied the five loaves to feed the five thousand. You will have difficulties that nothing can overcome except the power that asks, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Gen. 18:14). You will have enemies with whom nothing can cope except the power that resisted Satan, vanquished death, and broke from the grave. All this power is on your side if your trust is in the Lord. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," exclaims Jesus (Matt. 28:18).

This power which the Lord exerts on your behalf, and in which he invites you to trust, is made perfect in weakness. Hence, you learn the same lesson that teaches you the utter lack of strength in yourself. And when the Lord has reduced your confidence, and weakened your strength (as in the case of Gideon, whose army he reduced from thirty-two thousand men to three hundred), he then puts forth his power, perfects it in your weakness, gives you the victory, and secures to himself all the praise.

Go forward, relying upon the power of Jesus to do all in you, and accomplish all for you—power to subdue your sins; power to keep your heart; power to uphold your steps; power gently to lead you over rough places, firmly to keep you in smooth places, skillfully to guide you through crooked paths, and safely to conduct you through all perils, fully to vindicate you from all assaults, and completely to cover your head in the day of battle. The soul thus clad in the panoply of Christ's power is invincible.

The power which belongs to him as God, and the power which he possesses as Mediator, is all exerted in the behalf of those who put their trust in him. "You have given him power over all flesh," are his own words, "to give eternal life to all whom you have given him" (John 17:2).

Child of God! gird yourself for duties, toils, and trials, "strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 2:1). And when the stone of difficulty confronts you—lying, perhaps, heavily upon some buried mercy—hear him ask you, before he rolls it quite away; "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" (Matt. 9:28). Oh, that your trusting heart may instantly respond, "Yes, Lord, I believe, I trust; for with you all things are possible."

I am weak, but thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I'll be satisfied as long
as I walk, let me walk close to thee.

(unknown author)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2011.