Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

TEMPORARY RESIDENTS

There are two major obstacles to prayer. The first obstacle arises when the devil prompts you to think, “I am not yet prepared to pray. I should wait for another half hour or another day until I have become more prepared or until I have finished taking care of this or that.”

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children. Deuteronomy 11:18–19

“God has commanded me to direct my love to my neighbor. My heavenly Father wants me to be favorable to everyone, whether friends or enemies, just as he is. He lets the sun rise and shine on both good and evil people.”

Luke 18:13

Mark 8:34, Christ commands us to deny ourselves. Philippians 2:3–4 clearly says, “In humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

When describing love in 1 Corinthians 13:5, Paul teaches that love is not self-seeking. It completely rejects self-love.

For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17

Our nature struggles fiercely against being saved without our works and tries to deceive us with a grand illusion of our own righteousness. So we may find ourselves attracted to a life that merely appears to be righteous. Or because we know we aren’t righteous, we may be frightened by death or sin. Therefore, we must learn that we should have nothi