• 
• 
• 
• 

Today's Devotional

The forgiveness of our sins, the separation from the circumstances of our sins, the removal from our temptations, everything that the Lord can do for us, are but leading on to this, that he shall fill us with himself, that we shall make our lives the very utterance of his life and of the life of the Father, that comes to us from him. —Phillips Brooks

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me—John 14:1 (NIV).

Let us all labor to get an interest in God, by faith in Jesus Christ, that so we may be able to look upon God as our God; and then we may claim an interest in all that God is, and in all that God has, and so shall we have no cause for heart trouble in any condition. For if God be ours, all his attributes are ours, his gracious covenant is ours, his word and promises are ours, all are ours; therefore should we labor in this above all things, spending all our thoughts, affections, and spirits upon this. O, let us lay hold on God and his covenant; let us choose him for our portion, and resign up our whole selves unfeignedly to him, centering and terminating all our desires, hope, love, and delight in him alone; placing all our happiness in him, and then committing all to him. “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.” (Psalm 73:25). —John Bunyan. 

About the author and the source

The themes of the Brooks and Bunyan devotionals dovetailed and were both short, so we combined them. It is as the author of the Christmas carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem” that Phillips Brooks (1835–1893) is usually now remembered. However, he was also an eloquent champion of the abolition of slavery in the United States, and a well-known and passionate moral reformer. Isabel Charlotte Garbett compiled a devotional of excerpts from Christian writers. One whom she included was John Bunyan (1628–1688) author of Pilgrim’s Progress as well as several other allegorical works and an autobiography.