December 27 Daily Devotional

Bible Readings:

Isaiah 40:25-31, King James Version:
²⁵To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
²⁶Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
²⁷Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
²⁸Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
²⁹He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
³⁰Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
³¹But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

John 17:1-3, KJV:
¹These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
²As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
³And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Acts 1:8, KJV:
⁸But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Romans 1:16-21, KJV:
¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
¹⁷For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
¹⁹Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
²⁰For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
²¹Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

1 Corinthians 1:18-24, KJV:
¹⁸For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
¹⁹For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
²⁰Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
²¹For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
²²For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
²³But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
²⁴But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Devotional:

Paul, the apostle, unashamedly confessed the gospel which he preached to be the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believed. He was willing to suffer the loss of all things to know the power of Christ's resurrection. To him there was nothing static about the Christian faith. It did not consist merely of a system of thought or a set of rules for living. There was a dynamic in the gospel mysterious in its working yet most real in its effects. The church grew as that power was applied supernatnrally. That force, invisible and quite intangible, was the Church's legacy from the ascended Lord. No other explanation for the growth of the Church does justice to all the facts set forth in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit was working at Pentecost, in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and on the road to Damascus.

Perhaps one of the reasons why the Church today seems to be so impotent is that she has forgotten her mysticsl relation to the God of power. Whole sections of great cities are without light and heat when the source of electric power is cut off by a storm, and whole sections of the professing Church have darkness and lifelessness because they have cut themselves off from the living God. As you cannot run a gasoline motor without gasoline, so the Church cannot operate as the Church of Jesus Christ without Divine energy.

It is related that a visitor to a museum was once shown the sword of Wallace, the great Scottish hero and patriot. "I do not see how it could win such victories," said the visitor. "Ah, sir," replied the guide, "you do not see the arm that wielded it." Unbelief does not sec the arm that created the universe. The evidence that power belongs unto God is about us everywhere, but the mind that is untouched by God's saving power is blind to it. But can the renewed believer fail to recognize the source of life and vigor for Christian service? It is our duty then to claim what has been graciously given to us. The psalmist wrote, "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God." Old Testament saints had opportunity to see God's miracle working power in the physical universe, and that observation made meaningful the name, Almighty God. To us who live under the new covenant that attribute of God should be no less appreciated. It is the same God with whom we have to do, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of the cloud and fire. That divine energy exercised in creation now works in re-creation.

Much may be learned about the receiving of power from the example of early Christians. The words of' the Saviour ringing in their ears, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you," the apostles waited, in prayer and in communion with one another, until the power of God came upon them. The special gifts and effects of Pentecost may not be ours but that motivating force of the Holy Spirit can be evidenced in our lives. It takes simply the word of Christ, the Bible, and earnest prayer to claim the power of God. Reliance on the grace of God is dependence on the power of the Spirit. Warily resisting any false mysticism which separates the experience of the Christian from God's Word, we may cultivate the knowledge of our vital relationship with Almighty God. Archbishop French wrote, "Lord, what a change within us one short hour spent in thy presence will prevail to makel.... We kneel, how weak! We rise; how full of power." Were our witnessing bathed in prayer as was the determined stand of Daniel against the blasphemous decree of the king, or as was the bold defense of Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, great gain would result. The heavenly race demands our zeal which can only be fruitful as it is supplied with heavenly power.

We are very happy to make available to you this month these devotionals by the late Rev. LeRoy B. Oliver. They originally appeared in The Presbyerian Guardian during the late 1940's.

The description of his "Your Family Altar" page in The Presbyterian Guardian also fits this Web page: "The page is designed for both private and family use, whichever is most convenient in your case. If you do not have family worship in your home, we hope you will begin, and suggest using these readings. They should not, however, take the place of reading books of the Bible, or the Bible itself, through in regular course." It is those who abide (continue) in the Word who are truly Christ's disciples, who know the truth, and who experience freedom in Him (John 8:31-32). May these devotionals be used for the building up of God's people and to the glory of God.