Devotional Resources
“We need to get people alone with this book, reading it for themselves, understanding it for themselves. Because when this is all over it’s going to be about God’s Word, and his authority is the only authority.”
–Francis Chan
With Chan’s pertinent words in mind, we want to make you aware of devotional resources which may serve your Bible reading in this new year. Today’s post is the first in a four-part series to give you a sample of some of our favorite devotional resources.
The following is an excerpt from the January 13th entry of Walking with God Day by Day: 365 Devotional Selections by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, edited by Robert Backhouse:
The great purpose of Pentecost is to give the final proof of the fact that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. This is declared. The second thing is the great inauguration of the Church as His Body; and third, it is a proof of the fact that the various people who are added to the Church are members of the Body. Also, in the Old Testament we are told that the Holy Spirit was with men or that He came upon them. He worked upon them from without, as it were, and what David even said, you remember, was, "Take not thy holy spirit from me" (Psalm 51:11), as if the Holy Spirit was with him–that is the Old Testament terminology. The New Testament terminology is in, within; He works from within, and He abides. In the Old Testament He came upon men and left them. He comes, in the New Testament, because we are members of the Body of Christ and because the Spirit comes from Christ through the whole Body. Because we are members of the Body, the Spirit abides in us–perfectly; and that, it seems to me, is the essence of the teaching with regard to this matter.
Walking with God Day by Day
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Robert Backhouse
Daily readings from Scripture paired with insightful excerpts from the writings of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones help Christians read and be transformed by God’s Word each and every day.
On the Day of Pentecost the rushing mighty wind and the cloven tongues as of fire especially emphasized, not the filling with the Spirit, but the baptizing into the unity of the Body, the inauguration of the Church. That is why you have the special phenomena. The cloven tongues of fire were never repeated. The walls were shaken on another occasion, but this particular sound, this noise, the gathering together of the special phenomena places a uniqueness upon the event of the Day of Pentecost that has never been repeated. The filling with the Spirit is something that can be, and often is, repeated, but that is not the vital thing that happened at Pentecost. What is emphasized at Pentecost is that the Church became Christ's Body, and the Spirit was given to fill the Body.
Learn more about Walking with God Day by Day: 365 Devotional Selections
