Daily Light for January 1
Morning
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind, . . . I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
“Father, I desire that they . . . whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me.”—I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.—He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.—Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus.
Phil. 3:13, 14; John 17:24; 2 Tim. 1:12; Phil. 1:6; 1 Cor. 9:24, 25; Heb. 12:1, 2
Evening
“It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.”
And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.”—I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand.
Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.—For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Deut. 31:8; Ex. 33:15; Jer. 10:23; Ps. 37:23, 24; Ps. 73:23, 24; Rom. 8:38, 39
Excerpted from Daily Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.