December 30 Daily Devotional

Bible Readings

Deuteronomy 32:1-4, King James Version:
¹Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
²My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
³Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
⁴He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Psalm 80:1-3, 7, 19, King James Version:
¹Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
²Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.
³Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved....
⁷Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved....
¹⁹Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Luke 22:31-32, KJV:
³¹And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
³²But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Acts 3:12-13, 17-19, KJV:
¹²And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
¹³The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus....
¹⁷And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
¹⁸But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
¹⁹Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord....

Devotional:

"Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved," cries the Psalmist, Praying thus, the church recognizes her need of God's grace when the chill of worldliness, carelessness and indifference enters her life. It is often thought that conversion is a term restricted in meaning to that initial experience of turning from sin and trusting Christ. Conversion is certainly that. When new life is implanted in the sinner's heart, he consciously responds by loathing his former life and by reaching out in faith to the Saviour. That experience was Paul's on the Damascus road, the Ethiopian eunuch's on the road to Gaza. It is the experience of many in their homes and churches. It need not appear in each life as a definite crisis, but its elements of turning from idols—no matter what form those idols may take—and a turning to Christ for forgiveness must be present in the life of every true believer.

But it must he remembered that the Bible also says that Christians need to be converted. Even to the child of God the worship of Baal seems more attractive at times and the service of mammon less arduous and more rewarding than the service of Christ. The reading of modern books and magazines makes fewer demands for thought than the study of God's Word. Conversation with friends and discussion of current events with the family often crowds out prayer to our Father in heaven. Business deals, the earning of daily bread and planning ways to get that extra dollar may make impossible the spending of much time in Christian witnessing and work in the kingdom. Sunday morning offers a good time to catch up on sleep and Sunday evening a chance to relax with friends around the "popular radio programs"; so attendance upon the means of grace is forgotten. When such thoughts and activities and the ignoring of God's truth are present in the life of one who professes to he a Christian, then that person needs to be converted.

Then there is need for the prayer, "Kindle a flame of sacred love in cold hearts of ours." And this kindlinq is done by God, the author of that initial conversion, and His means are also the same, the confronting of the Christian with His commandments, promises, and exhortations. So we may convert a fellow Christian by bringing to his attention the Word of God and its application to his life. As the sending forth of the evangel is the instrument of God to convert the lost, so is the constant penetration of the Scriptures into the hearts of believers the means of their conversion.

The prophet Moses desired that the Word might change the people of Israel who had stiffened their necks in rebellion against the Lord. He sang, "My doctrine'shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." Let the Word of God revive your soul and bring forth fruit unto everlasting life. Let the constant reminder of His grace turn your feet into the narrow way that leads unto life. Let his warnings deter you from submitting yourself to the deadening influences of the world.

Let it also he remembered that often Christians need to be converted in one or two or more particular points, Many who arc most zealous for the conversion of the lost have need of conversion themselves in the matter of keeping God's day holy. Others would preach the gospel to the lost in Africa and China but regard lightly the matter of the preaching of modernism here at home. Conversion is more than a first step in the Christian life; it is a lifetime matter, which goes throughout the man, throughout the mind, throughout the memory and throughout the life. He who said to Peter, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" speaks the same thing to us today.

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.