April 26 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

2 Timothy 2:1-13:

¹Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
²And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
³Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
⁴No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
⁵And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
⁶The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
⁷Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
⁸Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
⁹Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
¹⁰Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
¹¹It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
¹²If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
¹³If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

Devotional

Believing and confessing go together. True faith must find expression. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." What does it mean to confess? It means, To say the same thing, that is, to agree. To confess Christ means to be in agreement with him, and to say that you are in agreement. This must be done before men. We must never be ashamed of him. If we have the courage and the faith to confess Christ, He will acknowledge us as his own. He will do this before his Father. Then his Father will receive us as his own. On the contrary, if we are ashamed of him, if we deny him, if we say no to him, if we contradict him, He will deny us before his Father. He will not regard us as belonging to him. To the foolish virgins the Lord answered, "Verily, I say unto you, I know you not."

How often we are ashamed of Christ, and do not dare to speak for him. How often we seek our own life instead of God's honor and glory.

In the hour of trial Jesus plead for me,
Lest by base denial I depart from Thee.

Prayer

O God, we pray Thee, give us faith, give us boldness, give us courage to confess Jesus Christ our Saviour. May we never be ashamed of him; may we never deny him. Help us always to bear witness to the truth, the whole truth, as it is in Christ Jesus; and help us to show forth his praises, so that we may not belong to those of whom Jesus is ashamed, when He comes in his glory. For Christ's sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Rom. 10:10; Matt. 25:12.

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