April  2001 Daily Devotionals

April 1

Matthew 9:2 Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.


April 2

Matthew 9:4 Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?

April 3

Matthew 9:12,13  

³It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means:  ŒI desire mercy, not sacrifice.¹ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.²

April 4

Matthew 9:15- 17

³How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.  Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.²

April 5

Matthew 9:22

³Take heart, daughter,² ³your faith has healed you.²

April 6

Matthew 9:24-29

³The girl is not dead but asleep². ³Do you believe that I am able to do this?² ³According to your faith will it be done to you²

April 7

Matthew 9:37,38

³The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.²


April 8

Matthew 10:5-14

³Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message:  ŒThe kingdom of heaven is near.¹
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep. ³Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.²


April 9

Matthew 10:16,17

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.  Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues.


April 10

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in
you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were
bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body¹
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20)


There is something sacred about human beings. A deeply held conviction, that acknowledges this truth, will do more to prevent moral lapse than a thousand warnings about the penalties for transgression. Years ago, civic authorities would hang criminals in public because it was thought that the spectacle would dissuade other would-be offenders. Sadly, the opposite proved true. After these public executions, violent crimes increased.

A community wrestles with the problem of drugs and its attendant woes. Angry voices call for swifter and harsher penalties. But none of these have worked very well in the past. Other, more reflective citizens, counsel a difference approach; one that seeks to build into the youthful consciousness a reverence for the sacredness of the self. All successful teachers and all good parents know that the time will come, when the external restraints they have built around their charges will drop away and there will be nothing left to keep them from ruining themselves, apart from an interior certainty that they are too hallowed to profane.

All religions hold something to be sacred. In the case of Christianity, it is personality that is reverenced. This has enabled men and women to think highly of themselves. ŒDear friends, now we are children of God¹ (1 John 3:2). In Egypt, Joseph cannot let himself take advantage of the wife of Potiphar. Why? Because he is man in relationship to God. He will be something less than that if he gives in. The Titanic strikes an ice-burg and begins to sink. Self regard runs riot. But not for everyone. Some men refuse to board a life boat; preferring to let women and children go before. Why? Because these men have learnt from somewhere that there is something sacred about women and children, and if they fail to honour that, they will desecrate themselves.

Spinoza the philosopher lived in Holland. He ground and polished lenses, while he thought deep thoughts of God and of the world. Louis XIV offered him a pension and other favours if he would dedicate one of his books to the king. But Spinoza didn¹t think much of Louis XIV. He valued himself too highly to be bought so cheap. So he had to be content to go on polishing lenses.

Every person who has had a wonderful mother, has been subjected to one of life¹s most salutary influences. A devoted mother covers her offspring with love. So attentive is she in her love that she will forgo pleasure, joys and even necessities, just so her child¹s needs are all met. She will stand between her child and any threat; any harm. She will let the blow fall on her own shoulder. She will do whatever it takes, no matter at what cost to herself, to care for her child. She sacrifices herself.

To know yourself to have been sacrificed for, is to believe that your life is worth far too much to be vandalised. This is the special spiritual power that Christ gives his people. He loves them with such an infinitely sacrificial love that they cannot choose to live loosely or meanly without feeling that they are committing sacrilege. This is self-esteem that is enobling.

There is a self regard that is destructive. It is more like conceit than esteem. Paradoxically, he who begins by thinking more of himself than he ought to, will finish up being ashamed of himself. From Christ, a man can learn to think high thoughts about his own worth,that will help to keep him from violating what God has declared holy.

May God enable you to appreciate your great worth.

(Used with kind permission of Good News Unlimited)

April 11

Matthew 10:18 –20

On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

April 12

Matthew 10:21-23

"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

April 13

Matthew 10:24-25

"A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!

April 14

Matthew 10:26,27

"So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.

April 15

Matthew 10:28

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

April 16

Matthew 10:29-31

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

April 17

Matthew 10:32

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

April 18

Matthew 10:34-36

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn"‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

April 19

Matthew 10:37

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

April 20

Matthew 10:39

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

April 21

Matthew 10:40

"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.

April 22

Matthew 10:41

Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.

April 23

Matthew 10:42

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

Tuesday, April 24

Matthew 11:4-6

"Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

Wednesday, April 25

Matthew 11:7-15

"What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: "‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear.

Thursday, April 26

Matthew 11:16-19

"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: "‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions."

Friday, April 27

Matthew 11:21-24

"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

Saturday, April 28

Matthew 11:25-27

"I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Sunday, April 29

Matthew 11:28-30

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Monday, April 30

Matthew 12:3-8

"Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread — which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."