GRACE FOR TODAY

Daily Devotional Readings

Today’s Reading

Donald S. Fortner, Pastor

Grace Baptist Church of Danville

2734 Old Stanford Road

Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Grace Baptist Church

By Gracious Permission From

Evangelical Press

16/18 High Street, Welwyn, Herts, AL6 9EQ, England

© Evangelical Press 1986

First published 1986

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Fortner, Donald S.

Grace For Today.

1. Devotional calendars.

1. Title

242′.2 BS390

ISBN 0-85234-233-0

‘Teach me thy way, O Lord’

Read Psalm 1:1–6

There is no better way for us to begin this day and this year than by earnestly seeking the will of God in it. It is certain that God sovereignly accomplishes his will, his eternal purpose, in all things (Isa. 46:9–11). Nothing comes to pass in time except that which God purposed in eternity. Yet nothing is more important, and nothing more difficult, to a believer than seeking the will of God in making responsible choices and decisions about his actions in life. We know by painful experience that it is possible to make the wrong choices. We rejoice to know that God graciously overrules our errors in judgment for out spiritual, eternal good and for the glory of his own great name (Rom. 8:28). And we praise him for that! But when a believer walks contrary to the will of his Lord, he brings grief and trouble to himself. Be Wise, therefore, and seek grace both to know and do the will of God in all things.

‘Teach me thy way, O Lord.’ Do you desire, my friend, to know the will of God in all things? Then ask God himself to reveal his will to you, by his Spirit and by his Word. He alone can teach you his way and he will if you are willing to walk in it. ‘I will walk in thy truth.’ In essence, David is saying, ‘Lord, if you teach me your way, by your grace I will gladly walk in it. If you will mark out my path in providence, I will stick to it. ‘This is the attitude of submission and faith before the Lord. And where there is true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and submission to his will, there will always be an acknowledgement of weakness and sin and the need for divine grace. ‘Unite my heart to fear thy name.’ We can walk in God’s will only as he gives us grace to do so. When we do make errors concerning the will of God, it is either because we have not earnestly sought his will, or else because we are rebellious to it. Of this one thing we can be sure: God always reveals his will to the person who is willing to (Prov. 3:5–6).

‘He appeared to put away sin’

Read Isaiah 53:1–8

In his life of obedience to the law of God Christ established righteousness for us. But that righteousness is not sufficient, in and of itself, to make us acceptable to God. Sin must be punished. Justice must be satisfied. Every guilty sinner must be put to death. The only way God could both punish us for sin and save us from sin was by the infinitely meritorious, voluntary and efficacious death, burial and ...