Compiled by Barbour Staff - 30 Days to Knowing God Better: Life-Changing Insights from Classic Christian Writers

2013 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.

ISBN 978-1-62029-733-9

eBook Editions:
Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-62416-026-4
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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the H OLY B IBLE , N EW I NTERNATIONAL V ERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683 www.barbourbooks.com

Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

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God is not only knowable,He wants to be knownand thats the idea behind this book, a brand-new compilation of classic Christian devotionals. Give this book and your Bible thirty minutes a day for thirty days, and you may find your life changedforever.

30 Days to Knowing God Better provides insightful writing from some of the best minds of Christian historyCharles Spurgeon, John Wesley, D. L. Moody, Hannah Whitall Smith, Brother Lawrence, R. A. Torrey, and others. Lightly updated for ease of reading, these devotionals explain both the whys and hows of connecting with God. Though He is far beyond us, He has also revealed much about Himself in His Wordand through the pens of His faithful servants, many of whom youll meet in the following pages.

Each devotional includes scripture references for additional reading, questions for further thought, and writing space for recording your own observations. We hope youll learn more about God during this thirty-day journey, finding both challenge and encouragement for your Christian life.

T HE E DITORS

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

2 T IMOTHY 3:16 NIV

Mens ideas differ about the extent that human skill can go; but the reason we believe the Bible is the basis of our assurance and hope is because it is inspired. The reason we believe the Bible is inspired is so simple that the humblest child of God can comprehend it. If the proof of its divine origin lay in its wisdom alone, a simple and uneducated man might not be able to believe it. We believe it is inspired because there is nothing in it that could not have come from God. God is wise, and God is good. There is nothing in the Bible that is not wise, and there is nothing that is not good.

If the Bible had anything in it that is opposed to reason or to our sense of right, then perhaps we might think that it was like all the books in the world that are written by mere men. Books that are just human books, like human lives, have in them a great deal that is foolish and wrong.

Like the other wonderful things of God, this book bears the sure stamp of its author. It is like Him. Though man plants the seeds, God makes the flowers, and they are perfect and beautiful like He is. Men wrote whats in the Bible, but the work is Gods.

D. L. M OODY

The law of theL ORDis perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of theL ORDis sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of theL ORDare right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of theL ORDis pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of theL ORDis clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of theL ORDare true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

P SALM 19:711

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2 P ETER 1:21

On a scale of one to ten, based on your own reading of the Bible, how familiar are you with Gods Word?

How interested are you in improving that score?

What practical, measurable steps can you take to improve your familiarity with scripture?

We should read the Bible as those who listen to the very speech of God.

F. B. M EYER
The Way into the Holiest

Let all our employment be to know God: the more one knows Him, the more one desires to know Him.

B ROTHER L AWRENCE
The Practice of the Presence of God

There was a certain rich man, which had a steward.

L UKE 16:1

The relation which man bears to God, as creature to the Creator, is exhibited to us in the Word of God under various representations. But no character more exactly agrees with the present state of man than that of steward. Our blessed Lord frequently represents him as such, and there is a peculiar propriety in the representation. This exactly expresses our situation in the present world, specifying what kind of servant we are to God, and what kind of service our Divine Master expects from us.

We are indebted to God for all we have. Although a debtor is obliged to return what he has received, yet, until the time of payment comes, he is at liberty to use it as he pleases. But it is not so with a steward; he is not at liberty to use what is lodged in his hands as he pleases, But as his master pleases. For he is not the proprietor of these things, but barely entrusted with them to dispose of as his master orders.

Now this is exactly the case of everyone with relation to God. We are not at liberty to use what He has lodged in our hands as we please, but as He pleases who alone is the possessor of heaven and earth, and the Lord of every creature. He entrusts us with them on the express condition that we use them only as our Masters goods, and according to the particular directions He has given us in His Word.