Daily Devotions For The Deaf

Jesus chose twelve men to follow Him. Jesus worked with these men for several years. Three of these men — Peter, James and John — were especially close to Jesus. In our Bible verses today, we learn more about John. We do not know which of Jesus’ disciples were there when He died on the cross. But verse 26 mentions “the follower he loved very much.” That follower was John. John was there with Jesus when He died. When Jesus saw John, He told John to take care of Mary, His mother. John may have been the youngest of the twelve disciples, but Jesus respected and loved him. John became a leader in the early church. Later John served Jesus by writing the New Testament books of John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John and Revelation. Jesus loved John. And Jesus loves you, too! Be like John and serve Jesus today.

Our Bible Reading today talks about helping other people. In these verses, Jesus told a story about a king and two groups of people. One group of people gave food, water and clothing to people and visited them in prison. The other group did not do those things. In verse 40, Jesus said, “Then the king will answer, ‘The truth is, anything you did for any of my people here, you also did for me.’” Jesus was saying that when we do nice things for other people, we are really doing those things for Him. When we help other people, we receive two rewards. First, we feel good after we help someone. That is a temporary reward. Second, we receive an eternal reward. Verse 34b tells us, “Come, my Father has great blessings for you. The kingdom he promised is now yours. It has been prepared for you since the world was made.” Look for ways to help other people today. When you help them, you will be helping Jesus.

Once I visited the Statue of Liberty. While I was there, I took a picture of the buildings in New York City. Two weeks later, terrorists hit the World Trade Center. When I took the picture, the twin towers were standing strong. But by the time I developed the picture, the towers were gone. The people who were working in the World Trade Center that day were doing their work as usual. Maybe that morning they said good-bye to their family. They never dreamed that would be the last time they would see each other on earth. In our Bible verses, Jesus is talking about the time He will come and take His followers to live with Him forever. He said, “So always be ready. You don’t know the day your Lord will come” (verse 42a). Make sure that you are ready for Jesus to return. Read the Bible, pray and obey His commands. Then you will be ready for Jesus.

In our Bible Reading today, Jesus tells us what Christians need to do. Verse 23b says, “Any of you who want to be my follower must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you every day for following me.” So what did Jesus say we need to do? We need to give up the wrong things we are doing. We need to stop being proud. We need to be willing to face the bad things that happen to us because we follow Him. Verse 24 says, “But you who give up your life for me will save it.” Jesus is saying that if we follow Him, we might have to face death. But that’s okay, because following Him is the most important thing in the world. Don’t be ashamed of Jesus. Be willing to stand strong even when people are doing bad things to you. Follow Jesus today and every day.

An athlete wins a race after many hours of exercise and running. A violinist plays a concert after many years of practice. A person taking a test chooses the correct answers after much studying. Any victory requires a lot of preparation! Our Bible Reading today is about two sisters, Mary and Martha. Verse 3 tells us that their brother, Lazarus, was dying. So “Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus, ‘Lord, your dear friend Lazarus is sick.’” The Bible does not tell us that Mary and Martha complained about Lazarus being sick or felt sorry for themselves. Instead, they asked Jesus to help them. Why? Because they knew that Jesus had the power to help Lazarus. We need to be like Mary and Martha. We can be prepared to face problems by reading the Bible, praying, and fellowshiping with other Christians. Then when times of crisis happen, we will be ready to trust God to help us have victory over our problems.

When I am driving a car, I have blind spots. These are areas of the road that I cannot see while looking forward or into the mirrors. In our Bible Reading today, Jesus was talking to some Jewish religious leaders. He called these men “hypocrites” and said that they had blind spots. Jesus said that these men kept themselves clean on the outside, but inside they were dirty. The Pharisees refused to see the wrong things they were doing. They were blind to their own sins. We must be careful. We must not have blind spots in our Christian lives. We need to study the Bible and know what God wants us to do. We need to find sins in our lives, ask God to forgive us and then try not to do those sins again. Ask God to help you find the sins in your life today. Then trust Him to forgive you and make you clean.

Verse 1 of our Bible Reading says, “God created the sky and the earth.” Today we will talk about the Hebrew word that is translated “created.” The word translated “created” means “made out of nothing.” Genesis, chapter 1, tells us all of the wonderful things God created from nothing! Sometimes I go outside at night and look at the stars. I remember that the earth is only a very small part of the universe. I like to think about how wonderful creation really is. But it is hard for me to imagine that God made everything from nothing! I am excited to experience God’s creation by feeling, seeing, tasting and touching things. I also need faith to believe that God made all these wonderful things. Even though we may not understand how God created the world, we can praise and thank Him for all the wonderful things He has made for us.

Today we will talk about another Judas. This man is usually called Judas Iscariot. He was known as a thief and a traitor. Judas was the one apostle who did not stay faithful to Jesus. In our Bible Reading today, Jesus was talking with His apostles right before He was arrested and crucified. In verse 21b Jesus said, “Believe me when I say that one of you will hand me over to my enemies.” Jesus was talking about Judas. Then Jesus took some bread and dipped it and gave it to Judas. Verse 27 tells us that when

Judas, son of James, is called Thaddaeus in Matthew 10:3. The only other information about him is found in our Bible Reading for today. Jesus was with the twelve apostles. He was telling them that He must die. The apostles did not understand. They were still expecting Jesus to set up an earthly kingdom. Jesus explained to them that He must die and then be raised from the dead. Judas asked a question in verse 22, “Lord, how will you make yourself known to us, but not to the world?” Jesus told Judas that only those people who follow Him will live forever with Him. Jesus told the apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to help them. We have the promise of the Holy Spirit, too. When we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us and guide us (Acts 2:38). I am so thankful that I have the Holy Spirit. I am thankful that Jesus has prepared a place for me to live with Him forever.

We have already talked about Simon Peter. Today we will talk about another apostle named Simon. Simon is often called “the Zealot.” A Zealot was a person who was part of a Jewish political party. Zealots wanted to overthrow the government and be free from them. The Bible does not tell us anything else about Simon. But our Bible verses today show us that Simon continued to meet with the other apostles after Jesus went back to heaven. Verse 14b tells us that Simon was one of the people who was “constantly praying with the same purpose.” This is a wonderful example of how we should live. We should be praying, like Simon and the other apostles. We should pray for other people. And we should pray that God will give us opportunities to share the Good News about Jesus. Will you use your time today to pray to God?

The New Testament does not tell us much about James, son of Alphaeus. Some Bible translations call him “James, the less.” This may mean that he was younger than the other apostle named James. Many people believe James’ mother was Mary, a faithful follower of Jesus. Mary was one of the women standing at the cross when Jesus died. She also saw the empty tomb after Jesus’ resurrection. In Acts 1:13-14 James is listed as one of the apostles meeting in the upstairs room. Even though James is not mentioned much in the Bible, we do know that he was a faithful follower of Jesus. James was one of the twelve men who were chosen to start God’s church. Maybe you feel that you are not important in the church. Maybe you think you have no special talents. But don’t forget that God knows you and sees everything you do. He will reward you for your faithfulness.

Thomas was not in the room when Jesus appeared to the apostles after His resurrection. When the other apostles told Thomas that they had seen Jesus, Thomas did not believe it. He wanted to see proof. Thomas said he wouldn’t believe until he could see and touch the nail holes in Jesus’ hands. Because of this, Thomas is often called “doubting Thomas.” A week later, Thomas saw Jesus. Jesus was not angry with Thomas. He showed Thomas His hands. When Thomas looked at Jesus’ hands, he said (verse 28), “My Lord and my God!” Thomas’ doubt was changed into belief. Thomas wanted to know the truth. When he saw Jesus, he believed. Today we cannot see Jesus in person. We cannot touch the nail holes in His hands. But we can read and study the Bible. If we have doubts, we can find answers in God’s Word.

The next apostle we will look at is Matthew. He was also called Levi. Matthew was a tax collector. Tax collectors were usually very greedy. Most of them collected money from the people and kept some for themselves. Tax collectors worked for the Roman government, so most Jews did not like tax collectors. Our Bible Reading tells us that one day Matthew was collecting taxes. Jesus came to Matthew and asked him to be His follower. So Matthew “left everything, and followed Jesus” (verse 28b). Matthew was excited to follow Jesus. He had a great dinner to celebrate. Many tax collectors and sinners were at the dinner. Jesus knew that all people needed to love and follow Him. Your friends need to know about Jesus, too. Take time today to share the Good News about salvation with some of your friends.

When we first started talking about Jesus’ apostles, we read Luke 6:12-16. One apostle in that list was Bartholomew. Most people believe that he is the same person that John calls Nathaniel in today’s Bible reading. Nathaniel was sitting under a fig tree when Philip told him about Jesus. Maybe that was where Nathaniel sat to study the Old Testament Scriptures. Nathaniel went with Philip to see Jesus. When Jesus saw Nathaniel, He said, “This man coming is a true Israelite, one you can trust” (verse 47). Nathaniel must have been a man who truly followed God. Then Jesus told Nathaniel, “I saw you when you were under the fig tree, before Philip told you about me” (verse 48). This convinced Nathaniel that Jesus was really God’s Son. Nathaniel was a good man who followed God. We should be like Nathaniel. We should study God’s Word, the Bible, and then obey it.

We can learn a lot about Philip by reading the book of John. Our Bible Reading is about the first time Philip met Jesus. Jesus said to Philip (verse 43), “Follow me.” Immediately Philip followed Jesus. Later Philip brought his friend, Nathaniel, to Jesus. John 6:5-11 tells us about another time Philip was with Jesus. Jesus was teaching a large group of people, and it was time to eat. In verse 5, Jesus asked Philip, “Where can we buy enough bread for all these people to eat?” Philip did not know how they could feed so many people. Jesus did a miracle and fed more than 5000 people. Philip learned a great lesson about Jesus that day. Sometimes we are like Philip. We worry about food or clothes or where we will live. Instead of worrying, we need to depend on God. He will take care of us. Don’t worry today! Depend on God to help you with your needs and your problems. He loves you and wants to take care of you.