Daily Devotion for November 3, 2025
Prayers
Scripture
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
The extraordinary positive energy of Alex Boyé pours into a contemporary, Africanized mashup of Brand New Day, Amazing Grace, and a Swahili hymn, Baba Mungu. Performed here with The Five Strings.
Refrain:
Let’s grow together, heal together,
Find true strength from one another,
Smiles be many tears are few
May all your dreams come back to you.
It’s a brand new day, a brand new way.
Sing like a bird brother, fly away.
Above the mountains, up through the skies,
My dreams live forever.
Baba Mungu, baba Mungu wa maisha,
(Father God, Father God of life)
Bwana, Bwana wa dunia,
(The Lord, the Lord of the Earth)
Baba Mungu, Baba Mungu wa mwanga,
(Father God, Father God of the light)
Bwana, Bwana wa wote.
(The Lord, the Lord of all.)
Through many dangers, toils and snares
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far
and Grace will lead us home.
T'was Grace that taught
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
the hour I first believed.
When we've been there one thousand years
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
then when we've first begun.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
Lyrics to Amazing Grace by John Newton (1773)
For Salvation
O Lord God of Israel, who has come to all the nations through your Son, Christ Jesus, there is no god like you in heaven or earth, for you are loving and kind and you keep your promises to your people if they only have faith and seek to follow your commandments. You have fulfilled your promise to our fathers Abraham and David, who were your servants, through the mightiest and humblest of all men ever to live: the Word made flesh.
And now, O Lord our God, fulfill your promise to all who confess the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, that we may live in faith of Him, loving you and following your ways as He did, that we might be sanctified as your children and heirs.
Prayer for Fruits of the Spirit
O Lord Jesus Christ, give me a measure of your spirit, that I may be able to obey your teachings, to pacify anger, to pity the sinful, to moderate desire, to increase love, to put away sorrow, to cast aside pride in my accomplishments, not to be vindictive, not to fear death, always entrusting my spirit to Almighty God the Father, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, with no end.
Meditation
“Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain.”
Benediction
Oh Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your apostles, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you”; I pray that I and your whole church, the body of all faithful people, will know your peace, and live in harmony and unity, one with another, in accordance with your wishes. This I pray to you, who lives and reigns forever.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
Psalm 12:6-7 (NKJV)
The words of the Lord are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
You shall keep them, O Lord,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
Galatians 1:6-9 (DP Bible)
One Gospel (Galatians #3)
am astonished to hear that you have deserted the true Gospel of Christ and have begun to follow perverted “gospels” taught to you by fakes and con men. I call these “gospels”, but it is a misnomer. There is one and only one Gospel: the one I have taught you.
If I myself should come and preach something different to you – if an angel should descend from the heavens and tell you something different – turn your back and walk away. These teachings, and those who promote them, are accursed!
I have said it before and I will say it again, in writing: those who teach their own thoughts and call them the Word of God are accursed.
DP Parallel Bible (3-Column) - Galatians 1
Notes on the Scripture
There are four basic tenets of the Doctrine of Scripture (which can be remembered by the mnemonic aid “S.C.A.N.”): Sufficiency, Clarity, Authority, and Necessity. In Galatians 1, we find a powerful statement concerning the Authority of Scripture. Basically stated, the Bible is the Word of God and contrary statements, interpretations, additions, and subtractions are not.
When we reach the last word of Revelation, we have reached the end of God's revelation to humanity. There is nothing before it in the Bible that we have authority to change, and there is nothing more that we have the authority to add.
People have constantly tried to do both, throughout history. Most preachers and Sunday school teachers do it unintentionally! (I try not to do it, but I’m sure I do on occasion.) More importantly, it is also done intentionally even at the highest levels of authority.
In 1522 Erasmus published his brilliant New Testament, which became the New Testament of the Textus Receptus and thus, eventually, the King James Bible. The Catholic Church convinced him to include an inauthentic passage to 1 John 5:8 (called the Johannine Comma) to bolster the Trinitarian doctrine espoused by Church theologians. (Today, most Bibles have dropped this language. The website Catholic Answers states that “No scholar any longer accepts its authenticity.”)
The same thing happens today, and not only out of the mouths and writings of individuals “interpreting” the Bible — mixing something in the Bible together with something that comes from their own mind — but also, in the mistranslation of the Bible itself. One modern example: The 1984 NIV alters James 5:20 to conform to evangelical theology. The correct text reads:
My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back . . . [he] will save his soul from death. (James 5:19-20, NASB)
The passage implies that a “saved” church member can stray and states clearly that bringing him back into faith will save his soul from death. But this runs contrary to the notion, held by many Reformed and evangelical Christians, that once a person is saved he cannot thereafter lose his salvation. But to reconcile this apparent contradiction between the Bible and their theology, the 1984 NIV changed the Bible! They simply omitted the word “soul” and taught that the death the person would suffer was physical. Thus, a generation of Reformed and evangelical Bible teachers, who used the 1984 NIV, did not have to answer embarrassing questions about the apparent disagreement of James with their theology.
And let me add: In general, the New Testament portion of the 1984 NIV may be the most inaccurate popular translation of the Bible ever written. Later NIV translations range from “terrible” to “pretty good.” But why would anyone want to read the NIV, much less use it for Bible study, when there are excellent modern translations (such as the Berean Std, ESV, New King James, and NASB) available?
Paul roars in condemnation. His assertion of the finality of the Gospel is so absolute that he applies it to himself! Because he has taught the Gospel as a direct revelation of Christ, it cannot be subject to revision, for Christ is speaking as God, incapable of error. God is not going to change His mind about this. Therefore, it is inviolable. Neither Paul himself nor an angel who drops down out of the sky can preach anything different; if they do, they are wrong.
And “wrong” or “erroneous” is too soft in tone. Such a teaching (and the person who teaches it) is “anathema” — accursed. Meaning, it will create disfavor in the eye of God. Lest one take this lightly, Paul drives home the severity of this sin by repeating it, for emphasis.
What are we to think of those who misstate Scripture? It is actually rather scary. One sees, time and again, people spouting off about the Bible or theology without the care or understanding that this passage might imply. But even worse, what might one say about those who rewrite or misinterpret the Bible intentionally?
