Daily Devotions For The Deaf

Our Bible Reading today teaches us about the Holy Spirit. God has promised to give the Holy Spirit to every person who believes and obeys Him. Acts 2:38-39 says, “Peter said to them, ‘Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Then God will forgive your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you. It is also for your children and for the people who are far away. It is for everyone the Lord our God calls to himself.’” That promise is for all Christians. Verse 10 of our Bible Reading tells us that the Holy Spirit gives us life. Why? Because we have been made right with God. We were made right through Jesus’ death on the cross. Verse 11 reminds us that if the Holy Spirit lives in us, we have the promise of eternal life with God. The Holy Spirit is a wonderful gift from God! I hope that the Holy Spirit lives in you. Thank God today for His great gift!

Sometimes I like to show children how God blesses them. I pour vinegar into a glass. Then I tell them that the vinegar represents a person. When that person becomes a Christian, God blesses them. Then I put some baking soda into the vinegar. Do you know what happens then? The soda and vinegar mix, bubble up and overflow the glass. Our Bible Reading today has another promise from God. God promises that if we give to other people, He will bless us. If you give to others, God will bless you so much that “it will spill into your lap” (verse 38b). God may bless you with extra money, good health, more possessions or more opportunities to serve Him. But don’t forget the rest of verse 38, “The way you give to others is the way God will give to you.” This is part of God’s promise, too. If you give a lot to other people, God will give a lot to you. But if you are not willing to give to other people, God will not give His blessings to you. Thank God today for loving you and for keeping His promises.

In verse 14 of our Bible Reading God said, “…if my people who are called by my name become humble and pray, and look for me, and turn away from their evil ways, then I will hear them from heaven. And I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.” God was talking about the nation of Israel who had turned away and worshiped false gods. But God promised that if the people would follow Him again, He would forgive them and make them a great nation. These verses remind me of the United States. For a long time, most of the people in America were Christians; but today many people in America do not believe in God. And now the United States faces many terrible problems — murders, drugs, pornography, stealing, lying and other sinful things. I believe that God’s promise in verse 14 is for us, too. If the people in any country in the world will follow God, He will bless their nation and take care of them. Pray today that people will turn back to God and follow Him.

Today and for the next few days, we will look at some of God’s promises. Every day people make promises. But they do not always keep those promises. God is different. God always keeps His promises. If God says that He will do something, then you can know for sure that it will happen! In our Bible Reading today, God is talking to Noah. Noah and his family came out of the ark where they lived for more than a year. God saved Noah, his family and some animals from the flood. But everything else on earth was destroyed. God promised that a flood would “never again destroy all life on the earth” (verse 11). God did not promise that there will never be any more floods. God promised that He would not destroy all life on earth by a flood. God made a rainbow in the sky. This was proof of His promise to the earth. Every time we see a rainbow, we can remember that God always keeps His promises.

In our Bible verses today, Jesus told His followers some things that would happen in the future. Jesus warned them that there would be false messiahs and false prophets (verse 24a). Jesus told His followers that they should not believe these false teachers. Instead, He said they should continue to be faithful to God and the truth of His Word. Today we can read and study God’s Word. Then we can know when people are teaching things that are false. How can we be faithful to God? In verse 42 Jesus said, “So always be ready. You don’t know the day your Lord will come.” We should be ready for Jesus to come and take us to live with Him forever. We can be ready if we read the Bible and do what God wants us to do. Be careful today. Make sure that you only pay attention to people who are truly following God and His Word.

The last few days, I have talked about writing books. I also love to write poems. Sometimes my poems are funny, and sometimes they are sad. But my favorite poems praise God for everything He has done for me. Our Bible verses today talk about praising God. He is the only one who deserves our praise. We can respect people, but only God should have our highest praise. God created everything in the world, and He loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us. God is amazing! Verse 1 says, “Rejoice in the Lord, good people! It is only right for good people to praise Him.” Praising God is something we should do all the time. I love to praise God through my poems. But there are many ways you can praise God. You can pray to God and thank Him for the ways He blesses you. You can tell other people about God and encourage them to praise God, too. How will you praise God today?

Sometimes writing a book is harder than I thought it would be. Maybe the story doesn’t develop well or I don’t have enough time to write. When this happens, I am tempted to give up and not finish my book. When things become hard in my life, I am sometimes tempted to give up, too. When I am sad or angry, it is easy to complain and think that God will not help me anymore. I become tired of doing good things. Is that the right attitude? No! Verse 9 of our Bible Reading tells us, “We must not get tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time. We must not give up.” Are you facing problems in your Christian life? Do you sometimes feel like giving up? Don’t give up! Continue to trust God. Depend on Him to help you through your problems. Keep on doing good things for Him and His kingdom!

When I finish writing a book, I carefully read it to see if there are any mistakes. I usually find some mistakes, and sometimes I don’t find a mistake until after the book is published! Then I wish I could have found the mistake sooner so I could fix it before the book was printed. But if I find one small mistake in my book, that doesn’t mean that the entire book is bad. I won’t throw away the books because I found one mistake. God created us perfect. But we make mistakes, and then we are not perfect anymore. Our sins separate us from God. Does God want to throw us away and forget about us? No, He loves us and wants to help us. Our Bible verses today tell us that all people have sinned (verse 23) and that we can be “made right with God by being made free from our sin through Jesus Christ” (verse 24). God wants to have a close relationship with you. That’s why He sent Jesus to die for your sins. Accept His free gift of salvation and follow Jesus every day.

When I write a new book, I usually create several main characters. To do that, I first need to know who the characters are. I need to think about their pasts, their personalities, their families and many other details. This helps me to write about them in my book. Just like I know the characters in my books, God knows each of us, too! He knew our personalities and futures even before we were born. God knows what we like or don’t like. He knows our favorite colors and how many hairs we have on our heads. Paul says in our Bible Reading, “God has made us what we are” (verse 10a). We were not made by accident. God created us on purpose. He loves us and made us to serve and obey Him. It is exciting to know that God cares about you. He is an awesome God! Always remember that He loves you and wants you to be His child.

I love writing books. When I write, often I change my mind about the story or the characters. But thankfully, I can change the story any time I want! If I type on the computer, it’s easy to delete things or make corrections. Sometimes I make mistakes. I hurt someone I care about. I say something I shouldn’t say. Later I regret these things. I wish I could delete these mistakes like I can in my books. I wish I could erase what happened and start over. But that is impossible. I am so glad that Jesus loves me and forgives me! Verse 4 of our Bible Reading today says, “...just as Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father, so we can now live a new life.” That means with Jesus, you can have a new life. You can start over. And, as You continue to follow Jesus and obey Him every day, He forgives your sins. Praise God today for sending Jesus to die for your sins!

Some days I face many problems. I try to solve one problem, and then another problem happens. During those times, God brings other people into my life. These people show me love, kindness and encouragement. They help me face my problems. The people who are kind to me are sharing God’s love with me. They are encouraging me with the encouragement that they have received from other Christians. I want to encourage people who are discouraged. I want to show them love and kindness — just like other Christians have shown to me. But if I want to do this, I need to pay attention to verse 3 of our Bible Reading. “In whatever you do, don’t let selfishness or pride be your guide. Be humble, and honor others more than yourselves.” Do you know people who need encouragement, kindness or love? Ask God to help you encourage them today.

Most people who move to a new home are excited about living in a new place. Maybe their new home will have more room or be closer to their job. But often their excitement does not last long. Soon they find things that are wrong with their new home and become dissatisfied. Paul tells us in our Bible verses about his life. He says that sometimes he is hungry and other times he has enough to eat. He also says that he has been poor and he has had plenty. But through all the bad times, Paul was satisfied to just be serving God. How did Paul do this? In verse 13 he gives us the answer. “Christ is the one who gives me the strength I need to do whatever I must do.” What about your life? Are you dissatisfied with your home, your job or even your spouse? You need to depend on Jesus to help you be content and help you work through your problems.

Every time I move, I sort through my clothes and possessions. I throw some things away, give some to my friends and sell the rest at a yard sale. When I am finished, I realize that I do not need so many possessions. In our Bible verses today, Jesus talks about our possessions. He reminds us that we should not worry about having new clothes or the latest technology. “So I tell you, don’t worry about the things you need to live” (verse 25a). Jesus says that God gives the flowers beautiful “clothes” to wear, so He will take care of us, too. In verse 33a Jesus tells us what we should really want in life. “What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do.” If we focus our lives on doing what God wants, He will take care of us. Maybe you need to look at your life today. Share your possessions with others who really need them. Focus your life on serving God!

Every day many people move to a different home. People carefully pack their possessions so nothing will break. They hire a moving company or call their friends to help them move to the new home. They also make sure that everyone knows their new address. In our Bible Reading today we read that God told Abram to take his family and possessions to a new place. Where was this new place? God did not tell Abram where it was. But God told Abram that his new home would be a good place and that He would bless him. Sometimes God tells us to move, too. Maybe he tells us to move to a foreign country and serve as a missionary. Or maybe he tells us that we should move to a different home so we can use our money more wisely. God may tell us to move so that we are close to people who need to know about Him. Abram obeyed God and moved his family — not even knowing where he was going. Follow God’s leading in your life today.

The Old Testament tells us about God’s special people, the Jews. God took care of the Jews like a loving father takes care of his children. In Deuteronomy 14:2b Moses said, “You belong to the Lord your God. From all the people in the world, the Lord chose you to be his own special people.” Then a wonderful thing happened! God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for the sins of all people. Soon after Jesus died and arose, God offered His plan of salvation to all people in the world — both Jews and non-Jews. This means that you and I can be God’s special people, too. In our Bible Reading today, Peter said (verse 9b), “You are a holy nation, people who belong to God. He chose you to tell about the wonderful things he has done. He brought you out of the darkness of sin into his wonderful light.” God offers us His love, mercy and forgiveness. Take time today to thank Him for choosing you to be one of His special people.