Daily Devotions For The Deaf

Our Bible verses today are words of advice from Paul to Timothy. This is good advice for Christians today, too. Paul told Timothy that he should follow the Scriptures because they would make him wise. What are the Scriptures? The Bible! The Bible leads us to “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (verse 15b). Paul continues to show how important the Bible is. The Bible teaches us and shows us what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us and tells us how we should live. And the Bible helps prepare us to serve God. Like Timothy, I have been taught from the Bible since I was young. I am thankful that people taught me about Jesus and His salvation. But I still have problems in my life. I need to keep reading and studying the Bible so I will stay faithful to God. Read God’s Word today. Learn from it and share its message with other people.

I read these words of the praise song, “Here I Am to Worship” — “I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.” These words talk about how much God loves us and how much Jesus suffered so that we could have our sins forgiven. Our Bible verses today are a prophecy about God’s servant. This servant was humble and was treated very badly. He was “crushed because of our guilt” and “took the punishment we deserved” (verse 5). Who is this servant? Jesus! Jesus never sinned. But He accepted our sins and died on the cross. He was punished instead of us. Through Jesus’ death we are made right with God. This is amazing! We can never measure Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Praise and thank God today for His Son and His willingness to die for us!

A man was in a rowboat on a river. Another man on a cliff above the river saw the rowboat headed toward a waterfall. He shouted to the man in the rowboat, “You are headed toward a waterfall. Here is a life preserver. Grab hold of the life preserver so you can be safe.” But the man in the rowboat ignored the man on the cliff. He did not grab hold of the life preserver. Soon his boat was pushed into rough waters, but it was too late to avoid the waterfall. The man died when his boat went over the waterfall. Our Bible verses today talk about people who “don’t pay attention to the salvation we have that is so great” (verse 3b). These people who do not accept God’s salvation will be punished. Don’t ignore God’s words. The only way to be safe is to accept God’s gift of salvation through Jesus. Allow Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today!

In our Bible Reading today, Paul said that he had a painful problem. Why did Paul say he had this problem? So that he would not think that he was better than anyone else (verse 7b). Paul asked God to remove this painful problem. “But the Lord said, ‘My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power’” (verse 9a). God did not remove Paul’s problem because He wanted Paul to depend on Him completely. All of us have weaknesses in our lives. These weaknesses may be physical problems or areas of temptation. We can’t be strong by ourselves. We need God’s grace to help us get through difficult situations. Paul said that he was glad to have weaknesses because then he could praise God for helping him be strong. Paul is a good example for us. We should thank God for His grace and depend on Him every day!

If you ask people what success means, you will get many answers. If you do a search on the Internet or read books, you will see that there are many opinions about what success means. The problem with most of these opinions is that they are not based on God’s Word. Many people think that the writer of Ecclesiastes was King Solomon. He certainly was a man who was successful. The verses from our Bible Reading today tell us that he had great wealth and many treasures. But King Solomon concluded that “it was all a waste of time! It was like trying to catch the wind. There is nothing to gain from anything we do in this life” (verse 11b). If we want to have success on earth, we need to use wisdom from God’s Word and make sure that our success will not keep us from serving God. And we need to follow Solomon’s advice in Ecclesiastes 12:13b: “The most important thing a person can do is to respect God and obey his commands.”

Sometimes people say that “history repeats itself.” That means something has happened in the past and then the same thing happens again. The Old Testament tells us that many times the Israelites stopped worshiping God. They turned from God and started worshiping false gods. That same thing has happened over and over again through the years. History has repeated itself. And today people continue to turn from God and focus on things in the world. Our Bible verses remind us that we should never forget that we need to obey God every day. He offers us salvation and eternal life through His Son, Jesus. “If we continue sinning, then all that is left for us is a fearful time of waiting for the judgment and the angry fire that will destroy those who live against God” (verse 27). As Christians we should obey God and share His Word with everyone. Then future generations will not turn away from God.

I have a cat and a dog. Both of them like to hide behind our porch furniture. If the cat gets there first, he claims that as his special place and will not let the dog behind the furniture. And if the dog gets there first, he will keep the cat from coming near him. Sometimes while one of my pets is behind the furniture, I will take the other pet for a walk or give them a special treat. Then the pet who is guarding his territory behind the furniture misses out on my blessings. We can be like my dog and cat. We can be so focused on our problems in life that we miss the blessings that God is giving us. Verses 1 and 2 of our Bible Reading remind us that we should “live for what is in heaven...Think only about what is up there, not what is here on earth.” When we focus our thoughts on God and His promises, we notice His blessings. Ask God to help you keep your life centered on Him and the many ways He blesses you.

Many people in the world depend on their wealth, popularity, power and beauty to make them feel secure. But those things do not give permanent security. When these people lose their wealth or good looks or become sick, they are devastated. But God gives us security that is guaranteed. What happens if we lose our health? Psalm 73:26 says, “Maybe my mind and body will become weak, but God is my source of strength.” What happens if we lose our wealth? Verse 17b of our Bible Reading tells us, “Money cannot be trusted, but God takes care of us richly. He gives us everything to enjoy.” What happens if we lose our good looks or grow old? 1 Samuel 16:7b assures us, “People judge by what is on the outside, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Our security comes from God, not from temporary things in this world. Depend on Him and His Word today!

Are you worried or afraid today? Are you scared to share your problems with another person? You don’t need to be scared to tell God about your worries and fears. God already knows your fears, your worries and every sin that you have hidden in your heart. God isn’t overwhelmed or embarrassed by your sins. He always loves you the same, even though you are a sinner. You can be like the writer of our Bible verses today. He said to God, “Lord, I am in deep trouble, so I am calling to you for help. My Lord, listen to me. Listen to my cry for help” (verses 1-2). You don’t need to use any special words or signs to talk to God. Just tell God what is in your heart. He will always understand. Talk to God today. Tell Him your worries and your fears. Then trust Him to comfort you and take care of you.

Stephen was another person who faced a bad situation. Acts 6:5b describes Stephen as “a man with great faith and full of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 6:8 tells us that “Stephen received a great blessing. God gave him power to do great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.” When Stephen preached about Jesus some Jews became very angry. These men brought Stephen to a meeting of the Jewish council. In Acts 7:1-53 we can read what Stephen said to the council. In our Bible verses today, we learn that these men were so angry with Stephen that they stoned him to death. God brought about some very good things because of Stephen’s death. Many of the Christians in Jerusalem were afraid. So they moved to other cities. When these Christians moved to new places, they told more people about Jesus. Then those people believed in Jesus and followed Him. Thank God today for the way He works in your life and brings good from bad.

Joseph had many bad experiences in his life. Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, his master’s wife lied about him and he was put in prison. Then while he was in prison, someone promised to help him but forgot about him for two years! Through all these bad experiences, Joseph remained faithful to God. With God’s help, Joseph was able to interpret dreams. Because of that, Joseph was put in a high position in Egypt. Joseph stored up food for a future time of famine. Later Joseph was able to save his own family from starvation and bring them to live with him in Egypt. In our Bible verses today Joseph talked to his brothers. In verse 20a he said, “It is true that you planned to do something bad to me. But really, God was planning good things.” Even after all these bad things happened to Joseph, he was able to see that God had blessed him and taken care of him. You may be going through some bad times right now. Remember to always depend on God to take care of you.

You may remember that you received the May through August 2015 devotion book late. We had some unexpected delays in printing and mailing the books. But through this problem, God blessed us with some very good things. More than 250 people contacted us, asking why they had not received their books. Most of those people told us how much they love reading the devotion book. It was good for us to know that the devotion book teaches and encourages so many people. We were also able to thank many of these people for their prayers and financial support. A famous preacher once said that God is an expert at bringing good out of bad. Many times we read in the Bible about bad things that happened to people who were faithful to God. But God brought good things out of these bad situations. For the next few days we will look at some of these Bible stories. No matter what happens today, remember that God is with you. Keep praising Him for the good things that happen in your life.

Today we will talk about one last characteristic of children. Most children do not worry. They depend on their parents to take care of any problems that happen in their lives. The boy in our Bible Reading came to listen to Jesus. More than 5,000 people came to learn from Jesus. When it was time to eat, Jesus’ followers did not know how they could feed so many people. A disciple, Andrew, saw that this boy had a lunch of five barley loaves and two little fish. The boy was willing to share his lunch with other people. He did not seem to be worried about what he would eat. Jesus tells us several times in the New Testament that we should not worry about clothes or food. In Matthew, chapter 6, Jesus said that we should be like birds and flowers. They don’t worry. God makes flowers beautiful, and He provides food for the birds. Don’t worry today. God will take care of you.

David was the youngest boy in his family. His older brothers were in Israel’s army, fighting the Philistines. One Philistine soldier, Goliath, was over nine feet tall. He challenged the Israelites to send someone to fight him. David went to the soldiers’ camp. He heard Goliath say bad things about God. David decided he would fight Goliath. David knew that the only way he could defeat Goliath was with God’s help. David went to meet Goliath. David said (verse 45b), “You come to me using sword, spear and javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the armies of Israel!” David also told Goliath, “Today the Lord will let me defeat you! I will kill you” (verse 46a). After David killed Goliath, he could have boasted about what he had done. Instead, David was humble. He wanted people to know that God had helped him. We should be humble, too. We should remember that God helps us do things. Be humble today and depend on God’ strength to help you.

I love to be with children. Why? Because children like all people, no matter what color their skin is. Our Bible Reading today is about a man named Naaman. He was an officer in the army of Aram. Aram’s army came into Israel and took some people to be their slaves. The army took a little Israelite girl, and she became a servant to Naaman. Naaman was sick with leprosy, a terrible skin disease. The little girl told Naaman about the prophet Elisha. She thought that Elisha could heal Naaman’s leprosy. That servant girl was a slave, and she was from a different country. But she did not hate Naaman. The little girl wanted Naaman to be healed. We should be like that little girl. We should not be prejudiced against people who are from a different country or whose skin is a different color. Christians need to remember that God loves all the people in the world. Share Jesus with everyone you meet today!