Jill Briscoe - The One Year Devotions for Women with Jill Briscoe

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The One Year Devotions for Women with Jill Briscoe

Copyright 2000 by Jill Briscoe. All rights reserved.

Cover illustration of leaf pattern copyright Irtsya/Shutterstock. All rights reserved.

Cover photograph of woman copyright WillSelarep/iStockphoto. All rights reserved.

Edited by S.A. Harrison and Linda K. Taylor

Designed by Dean H. Renninger and Jacqueline Nuez

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. (Some quotations may be from the NLT1, copyright 1996.) Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Material in this book was previously published in TheOne Year Book of Quiet Times with God 1997 by Jill Briscoe and The Daily Study Bible for Women 1999 by Tyndale House Publishers.

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ISBN 978-1-4964-3609-2

ISBN 978-1-4143-4176-7 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-4143-2029-8 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-4143-5700-3 (Apple)

Build: 2021-04-21 22:33:09 EPUB 3.0

When David penned Psalm 23, he pictured a good shepherd leading his flock beside peaceful streams and resting them in green meadows. The Lord is our Shepherd, and we are his sheep. The nourishment he provides for us is found in the green meadows of Scripture. As we follow him and graze the passages of the Bible, we will discover our strength renewed all the days of our life! There will always be a fresh thought, a truth to be relearned, or an insight we have never had before.

Sometimes, however, its hard to know how to follow the Shepherd, or to find the green pastures he longs to lead us to. That is why we have created TheOne Year Devotions for Women. It is designed to help women read the Scriptures regularly and see that what God said years ago to David and all the other biblical writers still speaks to women today.

As you turn to these green pastures for a word of comfort, direction, or instruction, you will find relevant biblical passages and helpful explanations, which will serve to make the truth of the Bible clear, its message understandable, and its points applicable.

May your cup overflow with Gods blessings as you graze on the pages of Gods Word, grasp its meaning, and embrace its truth.

Jill Briscoe

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

GENESIS 1:1

Used 2,500 times in the Old Testament, the name Elohim reveals the mighty strength of God. El is the Hebrew word for strength, while alah or oah means faithfulness. Gods faithfulness begins afresh each day (Lamentations 3:23). God is always fresh, never stale. We can depend on it!

The Bible is not a scientific textbook, but a book about faith. It does not tell us how the heavens go, but how to go to heaven. It also tells us who makes the heavens go and who upholds them by the mighty power of his command (Hebrews 1:3).

Elohim meets us in Genesis. In the beginning of days and nights, flowers and trees, fish and mammals, he tells us by his name that he is the Creator of all. God is strong enough to make myriad universes and faithful enough to keep them all spinning safely at the right speed.

And what does this name mean to me? It gives me confidence. It tells me that if God made the world, he can make my world spin around with a little more order than Ive managed to create in it! It gives me something Someone on whom I can depend. If God is perfect faithfulness, renewing his pledge to me morning by morning, I can go to sleep in peace evening by evening. Elohim can be known; Elohim can be trusted; Elohim is there!

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the L ORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?

GENESIS 3:1

Satan is called the serpent both in Genesis and in Revelation (Revelation 12:9). In one frightening chapter of Genesis, we catch a glimpse of his powers. He is seen to be cunning, articulate, a liar, a deceiver and destroyer, and an enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eves mistake was to take him on! She was no match for the serpent; neither are you and I. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, met Satan and withstood his temptations (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus overcame and destroyed Satan at the Cross. Because of Christs victory, true Christians have the same power to overcome.

We are promised discernment to match Satans cunning, truth to counter his lies, and weapons to fight the unseen battles of the spirit (Ephesians 6:12-18). If we take on the old serpent in our own strength as Eve did, there is no contest. But that is more easily said than done! I like the story of the little boy who told his Sunday school teacher that when Satan knocked on the door of his heart, he sent Jesus to answer it! Very wise! The serpent is stronger than all our best intentions, but God is stronger than all the serpents worst designs!

Do you not believe in Satan? Then you really have been deceived! The Bible plots his diabolical footsteps from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20. Jesus believed in him and showed us how to counter his subtlety with triumphant truth.