Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 31
Needed: One Great Savior
All have sinned and are not good enough for God's glory, and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift.
Romans 3:23-24 (NCV)
The supreme force in salvation is God's grace. Not our works. Not our talents. Not our feelings. Not our strength.
Salvation is God's sudden, calming presence during the stormy seas of our lives. We hear his voice; we take the step.
We, like Paul, are aware of two things: We are great sinners and we need a great savior.
We, like Peter, are aware of two facts: We are going down and God is standing up. So we... leave behind the Titanic of self-righteousness and stand on the solid path of God's grace.
And, surprisingly, we are able to walk on water. Death is disarmed. Failures are forgivable. Life has real purpose. And God is not only within sight, he is within reach
1 Samuel 8
Israel Asks for a King
1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead [c] us, such as all the other nations have."
6 But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."
10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle [d] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles."
21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king."
Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Everyone go back to his town."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Ecclesiastes 3
A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
December 31, 2008
Times And Seasons
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. —Ecclesiastes 3:1
The Rev. Gardner Taylor has been called “the dean of American preaching.” Born in Louisiana in 1918, the grandson of slaves, he overcame the segregation of his youth to become the pastor of a large New York congregation and a leader in the struggle for racial equality. For 6 decades he traveled the world as a much sought-after preacher.
But at age 89, Rev. Taylor’s health gave way and he could no longer accept speaking engagements. He told Rachel Zoll of the Associated Press: “I at first felt rather crestfallen.” But then he spoke of his belief that “there are seasons and eras, and we have to see what they are as best as we can, and to find what is positive in them.”
In an effort to face the challenges of life, we often turn to Solomon’s words: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1). But we readily admit that we would rather laugh than weep, dance than mourn, and gain than lose (vv.4,6).
Yet we know that as we embrace the lessons and opportunities of every season that comes to us, we find that “God is our refuge and strength” (Ps. 46:1).
Whatever season we’re in, it’s always the season to trust in Him. — David C. McCasland
Just as the winter turns to spring,
Our lives have changing seasons too;
So when a gloomy forecast comes,
Remember—God has plans for you. —Sper
Whatever the season of life, attitude makes all the difference.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 31, 2008
Yesterday
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
You shall not go out with haste, . . . for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard —Isaiah 52:12
Security from Yesterday. ". . . God requires an account of what is past" ( Ecclesiastes 3:15 ). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow. ". . . the Lord will go before you . . . ." This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our "rear guard." And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today. "You shall not go out with haste . . . ." As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Big Platform For a Big Performance - #5733 - December 31, 2008
Category: Your Personal Power
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
It was the largest cooperative effort ever among the churches of this county where we were about to do our next community-wide outreaches. What we do is a full-scale mobilization of God's people in an area to reach lost people with what we call "non-religious" evangelism. One of the outreaches, the youth event, was especially targeted to reach lost young people. One main attraction was going to be a concert by one of America's best-known contemporary Christian bands. And the committee for that youth event was a little overwhelmed when they saw the size of the stage this group was going to need. But they went to work like beavers, and they busily rose to the challenge of constructing a very big stage for a very big event. When you walked into the gym the afternoon of the outreach, you might well ask, "What's all this for?" Answer: a big platform for a big event, which turned out to be the biggest youth event anyone could ever remember in that county! An event where, praise God, hundreds of young people met Jesus Christ!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Big Platform For a Big Performance."
God may be building a big platform in your life right now. Oh, it doesn't look like a platform. It looks like a big problem, a big threat, or a big pain! But actually it's a big platform on which God is about to give a big performance!
There's a great example of how that works in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Kings 18:36-37. Elijah is up against something huge; he is confronting 450 prophets of the god Baal who much of his culture worships. It's a showdown with the odds 450 to 1. A sacrifice has been laid on the altar on Mt. Carmel and Elijah lays down a challenge to see whose God, Jehovah or Baal, will consume that sacrifice with fire from heaven. Then Elijah builds a bigger platform for God by drenching the sacrifice, the altar, and the whole area with water.
Then the Bible says, "At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: 'O Lord, let it be known today that you are God in Israel. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You are turning their hearts back again.' Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and it also licked up the water in the trench."
Man! Here was something so big only God could do it, and this huge challenge provided a huge platform for God to show up with a huge performance of His power. That huge challenge you're facing right now - God didn't bring it or allow it to hurt you. It's there to provide a stage on which He can show up for you in a way that you and those who know you will never forget.
Elijah here shows us a powerful way to pray: that God will answer in whatever way will let everyone know that He is God. If you're facing a need so great that only God could meet it - a problem so impossible only God could solve it; something so big only God could do it - well, get ready for God to show up big-time! And pray as Elijah did - not just for the situation, but for God to do this in the way that will give Him the greatest glory and you and the people around you the biggest view of His greatness and His love.
The bigger the challenge becomes, the bigger the platform for your God to do His amazing thing - maybe something bigger than you have ever seen Him do before!
From my daily reading of the bible, Our Daily Bread Devotionals, My Utmost for His Highest and Ron Hutchcraft "A Word with You" and occasionally others.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
1 Samuel 7, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 30
Loved by God
The LORD loves you.
Deuteronomy 7:8 (NLT)
God loves you simply because he has chosen to do so.
He loves you when you don’t feel lovely.
He loves you when no one else loves you.
Others may abandon you, divorce you, and ignore you, but God will love you. Always. No matter what.
This is his sentiment: “I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved” (Rom. 9:25 MSG).
This is his promise. “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself” (Jer. 31:3 NLT).
Do you know what else that means? You have a deep aquifer of love from which to draw. When you find it hard to love, then you need a drink! Drink deeply! Drink daily!
1 Samuel 7
1 So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD. They took it to Abinadab's house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the LORD.
Samuel Subdues the Philistines at Mizpah
2 It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the LORD. 3 And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.
5 Then Samuel said, "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the LORD for you." 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel was leader [a] of Israel at Mizpah.
7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, "Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines." 9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on Israel's behalf, and the LORD answered him.
10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car.
12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, [b] saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us." 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.
Throughout Samuel's lifetime, the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines. 14 The towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to her, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the power of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
15 Samuel continued as judge over Israel all the days of his life. 16 From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. 17 But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also judged Israel. And he built an altar there to the LORD.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Mark 6:45-52 (New International Version)
Jesus Walks on the Water
45Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
47When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." 51Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
December 30, 2008
No Fear In The New Year
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Mark 6:45-52
Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. —Isaiah 43:1
Hours before 2007 began, some friends of ours in the UK were aboard their boat, anticipating the arrival of the new year, when a violent storm struck. But they were able to send us this reassuring note: “John and Linda are sitting on board the good ship Norna, and happy to say that we are secure. . . . The wind is storm force ten [48-55 knots]. Hope that all of you have a happy and prosperous new year.”
Jesus’ disciples also encountered a stormy experience. They were on the Sea of Galilee when a windstorm whipped up (Mark 6:48). The storm was so violent that despite being experienced fishermen who knew the lake well, they feared for their lives. But Jesus walked out to them and saved them.
No one can predict with certainty how stormy the new year will be. We do know, though, that everyone will face storms. But we who have Jesus have our future securely moored to Him. Jesus, who did not fail us in the past, will not fail us in the future.
Lewis Edgar Jones aptly described our situation in his old hymn:
I’ve anchored in Jesus, the storms of life I’ll brave;
I’ve anchored in Jesus, I’ll fear no wind or wave.
I’ve anchored in Jesus, for He hath power to save;
I’ve anchored to the Rock of Ages!
How will you fare in the storms of the new year? If you’re anchored in Jesus, you have nothing to fear. — C. P. Hia
Faith in Christ will keep us steady in the stormy sea of change.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 30, 2008
"And Every Virtue We Possess"
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . All my springs are in you —Psalm 87:7
Our Lord never "patches up" our natural virtues, that is, our natural traits, qualities, or characteristics. He completely remakes a person on the inside— ". . . put on the new man . . ." ( Ephesians 4:24 ). In other words, see that your natural human life is putting on all that is in keeping with the new life. The life God places within us develops its own new virtues, not the virtues of the seed of Adam, but of Jesus Christ. Once God has begun the process of sanctification in your life, watch and see how God causes your confidence in your own natural virtues and power to wither away. He will continue until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through this drying-up experience!
The sign that God is at work in us is that He is destroying our confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but only a wasted reminder of what God created man to be. We want to cling to our natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us in contact with the life of Jesus Christ— a life that can never be described in terms of natural virtues. It is the saddest thing to see people who are trying to serve God depending on that which the grace of God never gave them. They are depending solely on what they have by virtue of heredity. God does not take our natural virtues and transform them, because our natural virtues could never even come close to what Jesus Christ wants. No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands. But as we bring every part of our natural bodily life into harmony with the new life God has placed within us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that were characteristic of the Lord Jesus.
And every virtue we possess
Is His alone.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Word That Terrorizes Hell - #5732 - December 30, 2008
Category: Your Personal Power
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
If you've flown commercially, you know you have to go through a security checkpoint before you can get to your gate. And for those security personnel who man those metal detectors and X-ray machines, there is this four-letter word that they won't tolerate. Of course it's the word "bomb." I remember hearing some people behind me in the metal detector line once talking about bombs, and I gently suggested they not say that word around airport people. You can see signs everywhere warning you not to even joke about bombs. And the slightest hint of the possibility of a bomb has been known to literally shut down an airport for hours - I've been there. That's fine with me if they want to check that out. Nobody in an airport wants to hear the word "bomb" because of what that word represents. That's something that could destroy everything.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Word That Terrorizes Hell."
There's a word like that in hell; a word that the devil and his forces hate because it can destroy everything they have planned. Like the signs at the airport warning people not to bring up the word bomb, the devil is doing everything he can to stop you and me from bringing up the word that is like a deadly bomb in hell. He's been trying to edit that word out for a long time - including in our word for today from the Word of God in Acts 4:17-18.
Peter and John have been proclaiming Christ in Jerusalem, and the Sanhedrin - the same people who engineered the crucifixion of Christ - want to silence his followers. The Bible says they reached this conclusion: "'To stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.' Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus." There it is: the word the devil doesn't want to hear, Jesus, because of the power of that name to destroy all his plans.
So the devil tries to make that name the issue, 2,000 years ago or today. In first century Jerusalem, the authorities didn't care if the believers talked about God or the Scriptures as long as they didn't mention the name of Jesus. Not much has changed has it? It's OK to talk about God, the Bible, family values, spirituality, or church, but you'd better not mention that name. Satan hates that name and he does everything he can to edit out the name of Jesus.
And all too often we fall right into his trap. We don't want to be offensive or turn anyone off, and a voice says, "Just talk about God. That won't bother anybody." So we talk about God in our lives but we avoid the name. Christian musicians write songs that talk vaguely about "Him" but too often they avoid the name of Jesus so their music can cross over to the unbelieving world. Even Christian leaders try to avoid conflict by watering down the name.
But I love the way the first Christians responded to the pressure to edit out Jesus, "There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" they said (Acts 4:12). The power is in that name of Jesus. Philippians 2:10 says, "...at the name of Jesus every knee will bow!" Satan knows it and Satan hates it, so he's trying to get you and me to choke on the name.
For 20 centuries Satan has been trying to censor the name of Jesus. Don't go along with his godless crusade; don't be ashamed of the One who died publicly on a cross for you! Don't be afraid to talk Jesus. The devil is afraid you will, because that name is a spiritual bomb that can destroy everything he's planning to do.
You'll probably hear the name of Jesus several times today spoken irreverently from the lips of people who have no love or respect for Him. How can you be silent about His name?
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 30
Loved by God
The LORD loves you.
Deuteronomy 7:8 (NLT)
God loves you simply because he has chosen to do so.
He loves you when you don’t feel lovely.
He loves you when no one else loves you.
Others may abandon you, divorce you, and ignore you, but God will love you. Always. No matter what.
This is his sentiment: “I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved” (Rom. 9:25 MSG).
This is his promise. “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself” (Jer. 31:3 NLT).
Do you know what else that means? You have a deep aquifer of love from which to draw. When you find it hard to love, then you need a drink! Drink deeply! Drink daily!
1 Samuel 7
1 So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD. They took it to Abinadab's house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the LORD.
Samuel Subdues the Philistines at Mizpah
2 It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the LORD. 3 And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.
5 Then Samuel said, "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the LORD for you." 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel was leader [a] of Israel at Mizpah.
7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, "Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines." 9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on Israel's behalf, and the LORD answered him.
10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car.
12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, [b] saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us." 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.
Throughout Samuel's lifetime, the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines. 14 The towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to her, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the power of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
15 Samuel continued as judge over Israel all the days of his life. 16 From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. 17 But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also judged Israel. And he built an altar there to the LORD.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Mark 6:45-52 (New International Version)
Jesus Walks on the Water
45Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
47When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." 51Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
December 30, 2008
No Fear In The New Year
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Mark 6:45-52
Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. —Isaiah 43:1
Hours before 2007 began, some friends of ours in the UK were aboard their boat, anticipating the arrival of the new year, when a violent storm struck. But they were able to send us this reassuring note: “John and Linda are sitting on board the good ship Norna, and happy to say that we are secure. . . . The wind is storm force ten [48-55 knots]. Hope that all of you have a happy and prosperous new year.”
Jesus’ disciples also encountered a stormy experience. They were on the Sea of Galilee when a windstorm whipped up (Mark 6:48). The storm was so violent that despite being experienced fishermen who knew the lake well, they feared for their lives. But Jesus walked out to them and saved them.
No one can predict with certainty how stormy the new year will be. We do know, though, that everyone will face storms. But we who have Jesus have our future securely moored to Him. Jesus, who did not fail us in the past, will not fail us in the future.
Lewis Edgar Jones aptly described our situation in his old hymn:
I’ve anchored in Jesus, the storms of life I’ll brave;
I’ve anchored in Jesus, I’ll fear no wind or wave.
I’ve anchored in Jesus, for He hath power to save;
I’ve anchored to the Rock of Ages!
How will you fare in the storms of the new year? If you’re anchored in Jesus, you have nothing to fear. — C. P. Hia
Faith in Christ will keep us steady in the stormy sea of change.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 30, 2008
"And Every Virtue We Possess"
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . All my springs are in you —Psalm 87:7
Our Lord never "patches up" our natural virtues, that is, our natural traits, qualities, or characteristics. He completely remakes a person on the inside— ". . . put on the new man . . ." ( Ephesians 4:24 ). In other words, see that your natural human life is putting on all that is in keeping with the new life. The life God places within us develops its own new virtues, not the virtues of the seed of Adam, but of Jesus Christ. Once God has begun the process of sanctification in your life, watch and see how God causes your confidence in your own natural virtues and power to wither away. He will continue until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through this drying-up experience!
The sign that God is at work in us is that He is destroying our confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but only a wasted reminder of what God created man to be. We want to cling to our natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us in contact with the life of Jesus Christ— a life that can never be described in terms of natural virtues. It is the saddest thing to see people who are trying to serve God depending on that which the grace of God never gave them. They are depending solely on what they have by virtue of heredity. God does not take our natural virtues and transform them, because our natural virtues could never even come close to what Jesus Christ wants. No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands. But as we bring every part of our natural bodily life into harmony with the new life God has placed within us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that were characteristic of the Lord Jesus.
And every virtue we possess
Is His alone.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Word That Terrorizes Hell - #5732 - December 30, 2008
Category: Your Personal Power
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
If you've flown commercially, you know you have to go through a security checkpoint before you can get to your gate. And for those security personnel who man those metal detectors and X-ray machines, there is this four-letter word that they won't tolerate. Of course it's the word "bomb." I remember hearing some people behind me in the metal detector line once talking about bombs, and I gently suggested they not say that word around airport people. You can see signs everywhere warning you not to even joke about bombs. And the slightest hint of the possibility of a bomb has been known to literally shut down an airport for hours - I've been there. That's fine with me if they want to check that out. Nobody in an airport wants to hear the word "bomb" because of what that word represents. That's something that could destroy everything.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Word That Terrorizes Hell."
There's a word like that in hell; a word that the devil and his forces hate because it can destroy everything they have planned. Like the signs at the airport warning people not to bring up the word bomb, the devil is doing everything he can to stop you and me from bringing up the word that is like a deadly bomb in hell. He's been trying to edit that word out for a long time - including in our word for today from the Word of God in Acts 4:17-18.
Peter and John have been proclaiming Christ in Jerusalem, and the Sanhedrin - the same people who engineered the crucifixion of Christ - want to silence his followers. The Bible says they reached this conclusion: "'To stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.' Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus." There it is: the word the devil doesn't want to hear, Jesus, because of the power of that name to destroy all his plans.
So the devil tries to make that name the issue, 2,000 years ago or today. In first century Jerusalem, the authorities didn't care if the believers talked about God or the Scriptures as long as they didn't mention the name of Jesus. Not much has changed has it? It's OK to talk about God, the Bible, family values, spirituality, or church, but you'd better not mention that name. Satan hates that name and he does everything he can to edit out the name of Jesus.
And all too often we fall right into his trap. We don't want to be offensive or turn anyone off, and a voice says, "Just talk about God. That won't bother anybody." So we talk about God in our lives but we avoid the name. Christian musicians write songs that talk vaguely about "Him" but too often they avoid the name of Jesus so their music can cross over to the unbelieving world. Even Christian leaders try to avoid conflict by watering down the name.
But I love the way the first Christians responded to the pressure to edit out Jesus, "There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" they said (Acts 4:12). The power is in that name of Jesus. Philippians 2:10 says, "...at the name of Jesus every knee will bow!" Satan knows it and Satan hates it, so he's trying to get you and me to choke on the name.
For 20 centuries Satan has been trying to censor the name of Jesus. Don't go along with his godless crusade; don't be ashamed of the One who died publicly on a cross for you! Don't be afraid to talk Jesus. The devil is afraid you will, because that name is a spiritual bomb that can destroy everything he's planning to do.
You'll probably hear the name of Jesus several times today spoken irreverently from the lips of people who have no love or respect for Him. How can you be silent about His name?
Monday, December 29, 2008
Ruth 4, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 29
Keep Unity
May the Lord lead your hearts into God's love and Christ's patience.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 (NCV)
"All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other" (John 13:35). Stop and think about this verse for a minute. Could it be that unity is the key to reaching the world for Christ?
If unity is the key to evangelism, shouldn't it have precedence in our prayers? Should we, as Paul said, "make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3 NIV)? If unity matters to God, then shouldn't unity matter to us? If unity is a priority in heaven, then shouldn't it be a priority on earth?
Nowhere, by the way, are we told to build unity. We are told simply to keep unity. From God's perspective there is but "one flock and one shepherd" (John 10:16). Unity does not need to be created; it simply needs to be protected.
How do we do that?... Does that mean we compromise our convictions? No. Does that mean we abandon the truths we cherish? No. But it does mean we look long and hard at the attitudes we carry.
Ruth 4
Boaz Marries Ruth
1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down.
2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. 3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you [i] will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line."
"I will redeem it," he said.
5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire [j] the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."
6 At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."
7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)
8 So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.
9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!"
11 Then the elders and all those at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."
The Genealogy of David
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."
16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18 This, then, is the family line of Perez:
Perez was the father of Hezron,
19 Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon, [k]
21 Salmon the father of Boaz,
Boaz the father of Obed,
22 Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 85
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 You showed favor to your land, O LORD;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people
and covered all their sins.
Selah
3 You set aside all your wrath
and turned from your fierce anger.
4 Restore us again, O God our Savior,
and put away your displeasure toward us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD,
and grant us your salvation.
December 29, 2008
Hearts And Banjos
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 85:1-7
Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? —Psalm 85:6
While working my way through graduate school, I taught five-string banjo in a music store. The job provided me with the opportunity to buy a brand-new, professional-quality instrument for nearly half-price.
That was over 30 years ago, and that banjo has accompanied me on ministry efforts around the world. But despite its excellent craftsmanship, eventually it needed to be refurbished. A master repairman pointed out how imperfections had worn into the banjo. He was confident that his repairs would result in the instrument sounding better than new.
I wasn’t disappointed. The action on the strings and the clarity of the sound are astonishingly superior to its original condition when I purchased the instrument.
In a way, our lives are like musical instruments intended for “the praise of the glory of [God’s] grace” (Eph. 1:6). But over time, life wears us down. Our hearts cry out for renewal. The psalmist prayed: “Will You not revive us again?” (Ps. 85:6). The Hebrew word for revive means not only “to restore and refresh” but also “to repair.”
It’s vital that we submit our souls to the Master’s restorative touch. Why not set aside some time for spiritual retreat, and ask the Lord to repair your heart? — Dennis Fisher
Revive us again—
Fill each heart with Thy love;
May each soul be rekindled
With fire from above. —Mackay
Time in Christ’s service requires time out for renewal.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 29, 2008
Deserter or Disciple?
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more —John 6:66
When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must "walk in the light" of that vision ( 1 John 1:7 ). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t "walk in the light" of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the "heavenly vision" ( Acts 26:19 ) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, "Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?" You have to "walk in the light" of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the "heavenly vision," do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— ". . . for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" ( Luke 12:15 ). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.
Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Stain Is Gone - #5731 - December 29, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Monday, December 29, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
My wife, like many women, is like "wonder woman" when it comes to rescuing clothes that seem to be ruined by a big stain. Like our sons' high school football uniforms. Hey, our colors were blue and white. Did I say white? The idea was to have those white pants as dirty as possible at the end of the game to prove that you played hard. But the idea also was to have those pants really white at the beginning of the game. So, home they came with these pants that seemed terminally stained with dirt and mud and grass stains. Now the only way my very intelligent wife would let them play football was if they agreed to wash their own uniforms - smart lady. But she showed them how to get those stains out with her magic combination of regular detergent and dishwasher detergent. Now, no matter how dirty those things had been, they came out clean. And yes, the stains were all gone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Stain Is Gone."
You know, God is in the stain-removing business. And someone listening today needs to take advantage of this restoring miracle that only God can do.
Here's the word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:1. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." That is awesome good news. Imagine, no matter what you've done, no matter how far you've fallen, no matter how dirty you've gotten, if you belong to Jesus, you are clean - the stain is gone! No matter what your feelings tell you. No matter what people say about you. No matter what the devil tries to tell you. "No condemnation" is no condemnation! The stain is gone.
If you have been to the cross of Jesus to get your sins forgiven, are you living like there's "no condemnation" on you? Not if you're taking your cue from the people who know what you were; who remember all that junk in your past. You won't believe you're "un-condemned" if you believe the feelings you have sometimes - feelings of shame and unworthiness because of the stuff you've done in the past. One of the devil's favorite strategies for bringing us down is the cycle of shame to make you feel ashamed for where you've failed so you'll give up and do more things you'll feel ashamed for.
You may even be tripped up on this by judgmental Christians who seem to specialize in making other believers feel like failures, or by flashbacks of the old you. You'll pick up that old backpack full of your past, the one you left at the cross of Jesus, and you'll start carrying it again all bent over like you used to be.
If you define who you are by your past, you'll always be "The Sinner." If you define who you are by the pain you've been through, you'll always be "The Victim." But if you decide to define who you are by your relationship with Jesus Christ, you will be "The Forgiven" and you will keep pursuing the new you instead of reverting to the old you. What a holy God has forgiven, no one has a right to hold against you including you. He says you're clean, so you're clean. Now start living like it!
And if you've never given yourself to Jesus to be your personal Savior from your personal sin, you could do that this very day. And you could experience the spiritual shower that only the man who died for you can give you. You may have awakened again this day guilty and dirty, but you can go to sleep tonight clean!
If you want to begin your relationship with Jesus; you want to experience His forgiving for yourself, would you tell Him that right now, "Jesus, I believe you died for my sins. I am yours." And then I hope you'll visit our website. It's YoursForLife.net because you'll see there an easy description of the path to beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ to be sure you've been forgiven by Him. That's YoursForLife.net. Or I'll be glad to send you my booklet called Yours For Life. It's free. Just call our number. It's a toll free number 877-741-1200.
It doesn't matter how dirty you've gotten. It doesn't matter how deep the stain is. When Jesus makes you clean, you are really clean, and the stain is gone.
Today's HomeWord for 12/29/08 - The Influence of One Life
The Influence of One Life
This devotional was written by Jim Burns
God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
— Philippians 2:9-11
Today millions and millions of people worship Jesus Christ. Their language may be different from yours, and even their approach to worship will vary in every culture and denomination. But when all is said and done, the influence of our Lord Jesus Christ has affected life on this earth more than that of all other men or religions combined. Today in every part of the world people kneel before Him; like you and I, they stand amazed at His influence in our world. These beautiful words help us understand the powerful influence of this one life.
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His feet inside a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying, and that was His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone, and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the names that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that one solitary life. - Unknown author
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 29
Keep Unity
May the Lord lead your hearts into God's love and Christ's patience.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 (NCV)
"All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other" (John 13:35). Stop and think about this verse for a minute. Could it be that unity is the key to reaching the world for Christ?
If unity is the key to evangelism, shouldn't it have precedence in our prayers? Should we, as Paul said, "make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3 NIV)? If unity matters to God, then shouldn't unity matter to us? If unity is a priority in heaven, then shouldn't it be a priority on earth?
Nowhere, by the way, are we told to build unity. We are told simply to keep unity. From God's perspective there is but "one flock and one shepherd" (John 10:16). Unity does not need to be created; it simply needs to be protected.
How do we do that?... Does that mean we compromise our convictions? No. Does that mean we abandon the truths we cherish? No. But it does mean we look long and hard at the attitudes we carry.
Ruth 4
Boaz Marries Ruth
1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down.
2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. 3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you [i] will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line."
"I will redeem it," he said.
5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire [j] the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."
6 At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."
7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)
8 So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.
9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!"
11 Then the elders and all those at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."
The Genealogy of David
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."
16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18 This, then, is the family line of Perez:
Perez was the father of Hezron,
19 Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon, [k]
21 Salmon the father of Boaz,
Boaz the father of Obed,
22 Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 85
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 You showed favor to your land, O LORD;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people
and covered all their sins.
Selah
3 You set aside all your wrath
and turned from your fierce anger.
4 Restore us again, O God our Savior,
and put away your displeasure toward us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD,
and grant us your salvation.
December 29, 2008
Hearts And Banjos
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 85:1-7
Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? —Psalm 85:6
While working my way through graduate school, I taught five-string banjo in a music store. The job provided me with the opportunity to buy a brand-new, professional-quality instrument for nearly half-price.
That was over 30 years ago, and that banjo has accompanied me on ministry efforts around the world. But despite its excellent craftsmanship, eventually it needed to be refurbished. A master repairman pointed out how imperfections had worn into the banjo. He was confident that his repairs would result in the instrument sounding better than new.
I wasn’t disappointed. The action on the strings and the clarity of the sound are astonishingly superior to its original condition when I purchased the instrument.
In a way, our lives are like musical instruments intended for “the praise of the glory of [God’s] grace” (Eph. 1:6). But over time, life wears us down. Our hearts cry out for renewal. The psalmist prayed: “Will You not revive us again?” (Ps. 85:6). The Hebrew word for revive means not only “to restore and refresh” but also “to repair.”
It’s vital that we submit our souls to the Master’s restorative touch. Why not set aside some time for spiritual retreat, and ask the Lord to repair your heart? — Dennis Fisher
Revive us again—
Fill each heart with Thy love;
May each soul be rekindled
With fire from above. —Mackay
Time in Christ’s service requires time out for renewal.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 29, 2008
Deserter or Disciple?
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more —John 6:66
When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must "walk in the light" of that vision ( 1 John 1:7 ). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t "walk in the light" of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the "heavenly vision" ( Acts 26:19 ) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, "Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?" You have to "walk in the light" of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the "heavenly vision," do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— ". . . for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" ( Luke 12:15 ). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.
Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Stain Is Gone - #5731 - December 29, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Monday, December 29, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
My wife, like many women, is like "wonder woman" when it comes to rescuing clothes that seem to be ruined by a big stain. Like our sons' high school football uniforms. Hey, our colors were blue and white. Did I say white? The idea was to have those white pants as dirty as possible at the end of the game to prove that you played hard. But the idea also was to have those pants really white at the beginning of the game. So, home they came with these pants that seemed terminally stained with dirt and mud and grass stains. Now the only way my very intelligent wife would let them play football was if they agreed to wash their own uniforms - smart lady. But she showed them how to get those stains out with her magic combination of regular detergent and dishwasher detergent. Now, no matter how dirty those things had been, they came out clean. And yes, the stains were all gone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Stain Is Gone."
You know, God is in the stain-removing business. And someone listening today needs to take advantage of this restoring miracle that only God can do.
Here's the word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:1. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." That is awesome good news. Imagine, no matter what you've done, no matter how far you've fallen, no matter how dirty you've gotten, if you belong to Jesus, you are clean - the stain is gone! No matter what your feelings tell you. No matter what people say about you. No matter what the devil tries to tell you. "No condemnation" is no condemnation! The stain is gone.
If you have been to the cross of Jesus to get your sins forgiven, are you living like there's "no condemnation" on you? Not if you're taking your cue from the people who know what you were; who remember all that junk in your past. You won't believe you're "un-condemned" if you believe the feelings you have sometimes - feelings of shame and unworthiness because of the stuff you've done in the past. One of the devil's favorite strategies for bringing us down is the cycle of shame to make you feel ashamed for where you've failed so you'll give up and do more things you'll feel ashamed for.
You may even be tripped up on this by judgmental Christians who seem to specialize in making other believers feel like failures, or by flashbacks of the old you. You'll pick up that old backpack full of your past, the one you left at the cross of Jesus, and you'll start carrying it again all bent over like you used to be.
If you define who you are by your past, you'll always be "The Sinner." If you define who you are by the pain you've been through, you'll always be "The Victim." But if you decide to define who you are by your relationship with Jesus Christ, you will be "The Forgiven" and you will keep pursuing the new you instead of reverting to the old you. What a holy God has forgiven, no one has a right to hold against you including you. He says you're clean, so you're clean. Now start living like it!
And if you've never given yourself to Jesus to be your personal Savior from your personal sin, you could do that this very day. And you could experience the spiritual shower that only the man who died for you can give you. You may have awakened again this day guilty and dirty, but you can go to sleep tonight clean!
If you want to begin your relationship with Jesus; you want to experience His forgiving for yourself, would you tell Him that right now, "Jesus, I believe you died for my sins. I am yours." And then I hope you'll visit our website. It's YoursForLife.net because you'll see there an easy description of the path to beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ to be sure you've been forgiven by Him. That's YoursForLife.net. Or I'll be glad to send you my booklet called Yours For Life. It's free. Just call our number. It's a toll free number 877-741-1200.
It doesn't matter how dirty you've gotten. It doesn't matter how deep the stain is. When Jesus makes you clean, you are really clean, and the stain is gone.
Today's HomeWord for 12/29/08 - The Influence of One Life
The Influence of One Life
This devotional was written by Jim Burns
God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
— Philippians 2:9-11
Today millions and millions of people worship Jesus Christ. Their language may be different from yours, and even their approach to worship will vary in every culture and denomination. But when all is said and done, the influence of our Lord Jesus Christ has affected life on this earth more than that of all other men or religions combined. Today in every part of the world people kneel before Him; like you and I, they stand amazed at His influence in our world. These beautiful words help us understand the powerful influence of this one life.
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His feet inside a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying, and that was His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone, and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the names that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that one solitary life. - Unknown author
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Ruth 3, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 28
With your very own hands you formed me; now breathe your wisdom over me.
Psalm 119:73 (THE MESSAGE)
Listen closely. Jesus' love does not depend upon what we do for him. Not at all. In the eyes of the King, you have value simply because
you are. You don't have to look nice or perform well. Your value is inborn.
You are valuable...not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are.
Remember that.
Ruth 3
Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor
1 One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home [g] for you, where you will be well provided for? 2 Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do."
5 "I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet.
9 "Who are you?" he asked.
"I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer."
10 "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning."
14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor."
15 He also said, "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out." When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her. Then he [h] went back to town.
16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my daughter?"
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.' "
18 Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 19:7-14 (New International Version)
7 The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure
and altogether righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.
11 By them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
December 28, 2008
Soul Food
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 19:7-14
Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. —Jeremiah 15:16
Grocery shopping with my wife, Martie, is like taking a seminar in nutrition. I’ll often pick up a box of something that looks good, and she’ll say: “Look at the label. Are there trans-fats? What’s the calorie count? How about the cholesterol rating?” I have to confess that if she weren’t the nutrition cop in my life, I’d look like Shamu the whale!
More important than making good choices in the grocery store is thinking carefully about the food we digest for our souls. I love the verse that says: “Your words were found, and I ate them” (Jer. 15:16).
When we read God’s Word, we have to be doing more than checking it off our to-do list. We have to read it to digest it. Slow, thoughtful absorption of the Word of God with quiet reflection on its implications is high in nutrition. His Word provides all the ingredients we need to thrive spiritually:
a direct connection to the sustainer of our soul
brain food that makes us wise and discerning
a daily check-up revealing the condition of our hearts
preventive medicine keeping us from sin
a spiritual shower of peace, hope, and comfort
Eat God’s Word. It’s a spiritual feast! — Joe Stowell
God’s Word provides the nourishment
That Christians need if we’re to grow;
But if we do not feast on it,
A vibrant faith we’ll never know. —Sper
The Bible contains all the nutrients for a healthy soul.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 28, 2008
Continuous Conversion
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven —Matthew 18:3
These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must "put on the new man . . ." (Ephesians 4:24 ). God holds us accountable every time we refuse to convert ourselves, and He sees our refusal as willful disobedience. Our natural life must not rule— God must rule in us.
To refuse to be continuously converted puts a stumbling block in the growth of our spiritual life. There are areas of self-will in our lives where our pride pours contempt on the throne of God and says, "I won’t submit." We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name. What God sees as stubborn weakness, we call strength. There are whole areas of our lives that have not yet been brought into submission, and this can only be done by this continuous conversion. Slowly but surely we can claim the whole territory for the Spirit of God.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 28
With your very own hands you formed me; now breathe your wisdom over me.
Psalm 119:73 (THE MESSAGE)
Listen closely. Jesus' love does not depend upon what we do for him. Not at all. In the eyes of the King, you have value simply because
you are. You don't have to look nice or perform well. Your value is inborn.
You are valuable...not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are.
Remember that.
Ruth 3
Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor
1 One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home [g] for you, where you will be well provided for? 2 Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do."
5 "I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet.
9 "Who are you?" he asked.
"I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer."
10 "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning."
14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor."
15 He also said, "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out." When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her. Then he [h] went back to town.
16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my daughter?"
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.' "
18 Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 19:7-14 (New International Version)
7 The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure
and altogether righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.
11 By them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
December 28, 2008
Soul Food
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 19:7-14
Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. —Jeremiah 15:16
Grocery shopping with my wife, Martie, is like taking a seminar in nutrition. I’ll often pick up a box of something that looks good, and she’ll say: “Look at the label. Are there trans-fats? What’s the calorie count? How about the cholesterol rating?” I have to confess that if she weren’t the nutrition cop in my life, I’d look like Shamu the whale!
More important than making good choices in the grocery store is thinking carefully about the food we digest for our souls. I love the verse that says: “Your words were found, and I ate them” (Jer. 15:16).
When we read God’s Word, we have to be doing more than checking it off our to-do list. We have to read it to digest it. Slow, thoughtful absorption of the Word of God with quiet reflection on its implications is high in nutrition. His Word provides all the ingredients we need to thrive spiritually:
a direct connection to the sustainer of our soul
brain food that makes us wise and discerning
a daily check-up revealing the condition of our hearts
preventive medicine keeping us from sin
a spiritual shower of peace, hope, and comfort
Eat God’s Word. It’s a spiritual feast! — Joe Stowell
God’s Word provides the nourishment
That Christians need if we’re to grow;
But if we do not feast on it,
A vibrant faith we’ll never know. —Sper
The Bible contains all the nutrients for a healthy soul.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 28, 2008
Continuous Conversion
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven —Matthew 18:3
These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must "put on the new man . . ." (Ephesians 4:24 ). God holds us accountable every time we refuse to convert ourselves, and He sees our refusal as willful disobedience. Our natural life must not rule— God must rule in us.
To refuse to be continuously converted puts a stumbling block in the growth of our spiritual life. There are areas of self-will in our lives where our pride pours contempt on the throne of God and says, "I won’t submit." We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name. What God sees as stubborn weakness, we call strength. There are whole areas of our lives that have not yet been brought into submission, and this can only be done by this continuous conversion. Slowly but surely we can claim the whole territory for the Spirit of God.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Ruth 2, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 27
She brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger.
Luke 2:7 (NKJV)
The virgin birth is more, much more, than a Christmas story; it is a picture of how close Christ will come to you. The first stop on his itinerary was a womb. Where will God go to touch the world? Look deep within Mary
for an answer.
Better still, look deep within yourself. What he did with Mary, he offers to us! He issues a Mary-level invitation to all his children. "If you'll let me, I'll move in!"
Ruth 2
Ruth Meets Boaz
1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor."
Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter." 3 So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!"
"The LORD bless you!" they called back.
5 Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Whose young woman is that?"
6 The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter."
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled."
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?"
11 Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
13 "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls."
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar."
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her. 16 Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her."
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. [f] 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!"
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. "The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz," she said.
20 "The LORD bless him!" Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. "He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead." She added, "That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers."
21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, 'Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.' "
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else's field you might be harmed."
23 So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 62
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
1 My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
3 How long will you assault a man?
Would all of you throw him down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
4 They fully intend to topple him
from his lofty place;
they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
but in their hearts they curse.
Selah
5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God [a] ;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
Selah
9 Lowborn men are but a breath,
the highborn are but a lie;
if weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
together they are only a breath.
10 Do not trust in extortion
or take pride in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them.
11 One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard:
that you, O God, are strong,
12 and that you, O Lord, are loving.
Surely you will reward each person
according to what he has done.
December 27, 2008
Feelings-Deficient
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 62
I sought the Lord, and He heard me. —Psalm 34:4
Mallory doesn’t feel loved by God. She received Jesus as her Savior several years ago and is confident that she is forgiven and will spend eternity with Him. She believes what God says in His Word, but she would also like to feel loved.
Her friends give her what she thinks is a pat answer: “It’s not about feelings! Just believe and the feelings will come later.” She says, “Okay, but when is later?” She believes she’s “feelings-deficient.”
God created us in His image to have emotions, so the longing to feel loved is legitimate and good. One way that many of us sense we’re loved is when someone talks with us and listens to us.
God provides those needs in our relationship with Him too. He speaks through His Word to our heart (Heb. 4:12), and He wants us to pour out our heart to Him about everything (Ps. 62:8)—even our longing to feel His love. Besides a relationship with Him, He daily gives us our breath, clothing, food, and shelter. Like the psalmist, we can find Him to be our “rock” and “refuge” as we trust Him (vv.2,7).
God loves us. Now, we walk by faith. One day, when we’re in His very presence, we’ll never again be feelings-deficient. — Anne Cetas
Thinking It Through
Read these passages about God’s love for you:
Jeremiah 31:3; John 15:9-11; 1 John 4:9-10.
What can you thank God for today?
Knowing that God loves us comes by faith; feeling His love for us comes by relationship.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 27, 2008
Where the Battle is Won or Lost
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
’If you will return, O Israel,’ says the Lord . . . —Jeremiah 4:1
Our battles are first won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the world. The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get alone with God and fight the battle before Him. Until I do this, I will lose every time. The battle may take one minute or one year, but that will depend on me, not God. However long it takes, I must wrestle with it alone before God, and I must resolve to go through the hell of renunciation or rejection before Him. Nothing has any power over someone who has fought the battle before God and won there.
I should never say, "I will wait until I get into difficult circumstances and then I’ll put God to the test." Trying to do that will not work. I must first get the issue settled between God and myself in the secret places of my soul, where no one else can interfere. Then I can go ahead, knowing with certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity, disaster, and defeat before the world are as sure as the laws of God. The reason the battle is lost is that I fight it first in the external world. Get alone with God, do battle before Him, and settle the matter once and for all.
In dealing with other people, our stance should always be to drive them toward making a decision of their will. That is how surrendering to God begins. Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point— a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go toward a more and more slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 27
She brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger.
Luke 2:7 (NKJV)
The virgin birth is more, much more, than a Christmas story; it is a picture of how close Christ will come to you. The first stop on his itinerary was a womb. Where will God go to touch the world? Look deep within Mary
for an answer.
Better still, look deep within yourself. What he did with Mary, he offers to us! He issues a Mary-level invitation to all his children. "If you'll let me, I'll move in!"
Ruth 2
Ruth Meets Boaz
1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor."
Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter." 3 So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!"
"The LORD bless you!" they called back.
5 Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Whose young woman is that?"
6 The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter."
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled."
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?"
11 Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
13 "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls."
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar."
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her. 16 Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her."
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. [f] 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!"
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. "The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz," she said.
20 "The LORD bless him!" Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. "He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead." She added, "That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers."
21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, 'Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.' "
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else's field you might be harmed."
23 So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 62
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
1 My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
3 How long will you assault a man?
Would all of you throw him down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
4 They fully intend to topple him
from his lofty place;
they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
but in their hearts they curse.
Selah
5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God [a] ;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
Selah
9 Lowborn men are but a breath,
the highborn are but a lie;
if weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
together they are only a breath.
10 Do not trust in extortion
or take pride in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them.
11 One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard:
that you, O God, are strong,
12 and that you, O Lord, are loving.
Surely you will reward each person
according to what he has done.
December 27, 2008
Feelings-Deficient
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 62
I sought the Lord, and He heard me. —Psalm 34:4
Mallory doesn’t feel loved by God. She received Jesus as her Savior several years ago and is confident that she is forgiven and will spend eternity with Him. She believes what God says in His Word, but she would also like to feel loved.
Her friends give her what she thinks is a pat answer: “It’s not about feelings! Just believe and the feelings will come later.” She says, “Okay, but when is later?” She believes she’s “feelings-deficient.”
God created us in His image to have emotions, so the longing to feel loved is legitimate and good. One way that many of us sense we’re loved is when someone talks with us and listens to us.
God provides those needs in our relationship with Him too. He speaks through His Word to our heart (Heb. 4:12), and He wants us to pour out our heart to Him about everything (Ps. 62:8)—even our longing to feel His love. Besides a relationship with Him, He daily gives us our breath, clothing, food, and shelter. Like the psalmist, we can find Him to be our “rock” and “refuge” as we trust Him (vv.2,7).
God loves us. Now, we walk by faith. One day, when we’re in His very presence, we’ll never again be feelings-deficient. — Anne Cetas
Thinking It Through
Read these passages about God’s love for you:
Jeremiah 31:3; John 15:9-11; 1 John 4:9-10.
What can you thank God for today?
Knowing that God loves us comes by faith; feeling His love for us comes by relationship.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 27, 2008
Where the Battle is Won or Lost
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
’If you will return, O Israel,’ says the Lord . . . —Jeremiah 4:1
Our battles are first won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the world. The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get alone with God and fight the battle before Him. Until I do this, I will lose every time. The battle may take one minute or one year, but that will depend on me, not God. However long it takes, I must wrestle with it alone before God, and I must resolve to go through the hell of renunciation or rejection before Him. Nothing has any power over someone who has fought the battle before God and won there.
I should never say, "I will wait until I get into difficult circumstances and then I’ll put God to the test." Trying to do that will not work. I must first get the issue settled between God and myself in the secret places of my soul, where no one else can interfere. Then I can go ahead, knowing with certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity, disaster, and defeat before the world are as sure as the laws of God. The reason the battle is lost is that I fight it first in the external world. Get alone with God, do battle before Him, and settle the matter once and for all.
In dealing with other people, our stance should always be to drive them toward making a decision of their will. That is how surrendering to God begins. Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point— a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go toward a more and more slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Ruth 1, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 26
Room for Miracles
“I will not believe it until I see the nail marks in is hands and…put my hand into his side.”
John 20:25 (NCV)
In our world of budgets, long-range planning and computers, don’t we find it hard to trust in the unbelievable? Don’t most of us tend to scrutinize life behind furrowed brows and walk with cautious steps? It’s hard for us to imagine that God can surprise us. To make a little room for miracles today, well, it’s not sound thinking.
We make the same mistake that Thomas made: we forget that “impossible” is one of God’s favorite words.
How about you? How is your imagination these days? When was the last time you let some of your dreams elbow out your logic? When was the last time you imagined the unimaginable?…Has it been awhile since you claimed God’s promise to do “more than we can ask or imagine?” (Eph. 3:20)
Ruth 1
Naomi and Ruth
1 In the days when the judges ruled, [a] there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
3 Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
6 When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband."
Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people."
11 But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons- 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!"
14 At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.
15 "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."
16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?"
20 "Don't call me Naomi, [b] " she told them. "Call me Mara, [c] because the Almighty [d] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted [e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 Kings 19
Elijah Flees to Horeb
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."
3 Elijah was afraid [a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
The LORD Appears to Elijah
And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
December 26, 2008
He Can Lead You Out Of It
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: 1 Kings 19:1-12
After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. —1 Kings 19:12
Almost everyone will at some time in their life be affected by depression, either their own or someone else’s. Some common signs and symptoms of depression include feelings of hopelessness, pessimism, worthlessness, and helplessness. Although we cannot say for certain that characters in the Bible experienced depression, we can say that some did exhibit a deep sense of despondency, discouragement, and sadness that is linked to personal powerlessness and loss of meaning and enthusiasm for life.
Elijah is one biblical character who fits this description. After defeating the prophets of Baal, he received a death threat from Jezebel. His hope was shattered, and despondency set in. He wanted to die! God helped Elijah deal with his despondency in several ways. The Lord did not rebuke him for his feelings but sent an angel to provide for his physical needs. Then, the Lord revealed Himself and reminded Elijah that He was quietly working among His people. Next, He renewed Elijah’s mission by giving him new orders. Finally, God reminded Elijah that he wasn’t alone.
In our times of discouragement, let us remember that God loves us and desires to lead us to a place of a renewed vision of Himself! — Marvin Williams
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain. —von Schlegel
The weak, the helpless, and the discouraged are in the Shepherd’s special care.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 26, 2008
'Walk in the Light'
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
If we walk in the light as He is in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin —1 John 1:7
To mistake freedom from sin only on the conscious level of our lives for complete deliverance from sin by the atonement through the Cross of Christ is a great error. No one fully knows what sin is until he is born again. Sin is what Jesus Christ faced at Calvary. The evidence that I have been delivered from sin is that I know the real nature of sin in me. For a person to really know what sin is requires the full work and deep touch of the atonement of Jesus Christ, that is, the imparting of His absolute perfection.
The Holy Spirit applies or administers the work of the atonement to us in the deep unconscious realm as well as in the conscious realm. And it is not until we truly perceive the unrivaled power of the Spirit in us that we understand the meaning of 1 John 1:7 , which says, ". . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." This verse does not refer only to conscious sin, but also to the tremendously profound understanding of sin which only the Holy Spirit in me can accomplish.
I must "walk in the light as He is in the light . . ."— not in the light of my own conscience, but in God’s light. If I will walk there, with nothing held back or hidden, then this amazing truth is revealed to me: ". . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses [me] from all sin" so that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke in me. On the conscious level it produces a keen, sorrowful knowledge of what sin really is. The love of God working in me causes me to hate, with the Holy Spirit’s hatred for sin, anything that is not in keeping with God’s holiness. To "walk in the light" means that everything that is of the darkness actually drives me closer to the center of the light.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Seeing What Isn't Working - #5730 - December 26, 2008
Category: Your Relationships
Friday, December 26, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
One Christmas our youngest grandson was visiting at our son's house, and he was fascinated with the extensive Christmas lights that his uncle had strung around the outside of his house. I should tell you that one of our grandson's first words was "light," and lights are the first thing he will point out in any room. He's almost obsessed with them! As night fell and our son's Christmas lights came on, our grandson surprisingly wasn't very happy. We thought he would be amazed by all those lights, but instead he just kept pointing out this one short stretch of lights that wasn't working and repeating, "Lights off. Lights off." Forget the hundreds of lights that were on!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seeing What Isn't Working."
Our grandson basically ignored the lights that were working. All he could see were the ones that weren't working. Sadly, there are grownup people who live most of their lives that way. They look right past the things that are working and they choose to focus on the things that aren't working. So they're often frustrated, discontent, unhappy, critical, and negative. When we're like that, I guess we become what I would call "negatologists" - people who major on the negative, which robs us of what the Bible identifies as a major source of strength for everyday living.
Nehemiah actually announced it in Nehemiah 8:10, our word for today from the Word of God. He simply said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." That joy is a stubborn positiveness about life, and it's rooted in the Lord you belong to rather than the circumstances you're experiencing.
Earlier in the Book of Nehemiah, we see a somewhat inverted example of how he must have lived this out in his everyday life. Nehemiah is a Jewish captive who works as a trusted servant of the King of Persia. For some time now, Nehemiah has been grieving over the reports of the condition of his people and of his city back in Israel. One morning he comes in to serve the king, and the king asks, "Why is your face so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." Nehemiah uses this as an opportunity to share the burden of his heart. And God uses this as an opportunity to enlist the king in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, His Holy City.
Notice, it was a big deal that Nehemiah looked sad at work. For some of us, it would be a big deal if we looked happy at work! "Why are you so happy?" For this "joy of the Lord" man, being down seemed to be a major exception to the way he was most of the time. Nehemiah must have been a man with heaven's perspective, who could see what lights were on any given day, rather than the lights that weren't working.
How about you? Could it be that you've allowed yourself to start dwelling most of the time on what's wrong: what's wrong with your situation, what's wrong with your church, what's wrong with the people around you, what's wrong with your family members? Without realizing it, you've actually allowed yourself to become what the world already has more than enough of - a negatologist - a role really that is just totally unfitting for a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you belong to Him, there are always so many more lights on than off. But it all has to do with what you choose to dwell on. You can't choose your circumstances, but you can choose what you dwell on. Don't let the things that aren't working make you miss the beauty of the lights that are on all around you.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 26
Room for Miracles
“I will not believe it until I see the nail marks in is hands and…put my hand into his side.”
John 20:25 (NCV)
In our world of budgets, long-range planning and computers, don’t we find it hard to trust in the unbelievable? Don’t most of us tend to scrutinize life behind furrowed brows and walk with cautious steps? It’s hard for us to imagine that God can surprise us. To make a little room for miracles today, well, it’s not sound thinking.
We make the same mistake that Thomas made: we forget that “impossible” is one of God’s favorite words.
How about you? How is your imagination these days? When was the last time you let some of your dreams elbow out your logic? When was the last time you imagined the unimaginable?…Has it been awhile since you claimed God’s promise to do “more than we can ask or imagine?” (Eph. 3:20)
Ruth 1
Naomi and Ruth
1 In the days when the judges ruled, [a] there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
3 Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
6 When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband."
Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people."
11 But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons- 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!"
14 At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.
15 "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."
16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?"
20 "Don't call me Naomi, [b] " she told them. "Call me Mara, [c] because the Almighty [d] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted [e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 Kings 19
Elijah Flees to Horeb
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."
3 Elijah was afraid [a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
The LORD Appears to Elijah
And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
December 26, 2008
He Can Lead You Out Of It
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: 1 Kings 19:1-12
After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. —1 Kings 19:12
Almost everyone will at some time in their life be affected by depression, either their own or someone else’s. Some common signs and symptoms of depression include feelings of hopelessness, pessimism, worthlessness, and helplessness. Although we cannot say for certain that characters in the Bible experienced depression, we can say that some did exhibit a deep sense of despondency, discouragement, and sadness that is linked to personal powerlessness and loss of meaning and enthusiasm for life.
Elijah is one biblical character who fits this description. After defeating the prophets of Baal, he received a death threat from Jezebel. His hope was shattered, and despondency set in. He wanted to die! God helped Elijah deal with his despondency in several ways. The Lord did not rebuke him for his feelings but sent an angel to provide for his physical needs. Then, the Lord revealed Himself and reminded Elijah that He was quietly working among His people. Next, He renewed Elijah’s mission by giving him new orders. Finally, God reminded Elijah that he wasn’t alone.
In our times of discouragement, let us remember that God loves us and desires to lead us to a place of a renewed vision of Himself! — Marvin Williams
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain. —von Schlegel
The weak, the helpless, and the discouraged are in the Shepherd’s special care.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 26, 2008
'Walk in the Light'
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
If we walk in the light as He is in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin —1 John 1:7
To mistake freedom from sin only on the conscious level of our lives for complete deliverance from sin by the atonement through the Cross of Christ is a great error. No one fully knows what sin is until he is born again. Sin is what Jesus Christ faced at Calvary. The evidence that I have been delivered from sin is that I know the real nature of sin in me. For a person to really know what sin is requires the full work and deep touch of the atonement of Jesus Christ, that is, the imparting of His absolute perfection.
The Holy Spirit applies or administers the work of the atonement to us in the deep unconscious realm as well as in the conscious realm. And it is not until we truly perceive the unrivaled power of the Spirit in us that we understand the meaning of 1 John 1:7 , which says, ". . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." This verse does not refer only to conscious sin, but also to the tremendously profound understanding of sin which only the Holy Spirit in me can accomplish.
I must "walk in the light as He is in the light . . ."— not in the light of my own conscience, but in God’s light. If I will walk there, with nothing held back or hidden, then this amazing truth is revealed to me: ". . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses [me] from all sin" so that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke in me. On the conscious level it produces a keen, sorrowful knowledge of what sin really is. The love of God working in me causes me to hate, with the Holy Spirit’s hatred for sin, anything that is not in keeping with God’s holiness. To "walk in the light" means that everything that is of the darkness actually drives me closer to the center of the light.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Seeing What Isn't Working - #5730 - December 26, 2008
Category: Your Relationships
Friday, December 26, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
One Christmas our youngest grandson was visiting at our son's house, and he was fascinated with the extensive Christmas lights that his uncle had strung around the outside of his house. I should tell you that one of our grandson's first words was "light," and lights are the first thing he will point out in any room. He's almost obsessed with them! As night fell and our son's Christmas lights came on, our grandson surprisingly wasn't very happy. We thought he would be amazed by all those lights, but instead he just kept pointing out this one short stretch of lights that wasn't working and repeating, "Lights off. Lights off." Forget the hundreds of lights that were on!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seeing What Isn't Working."
Our grandson basically ignored the lights that were working. All he could see were the ones that weren't working. Sadly, there are grownup people who live most of their lives that way. They look right past the things that are working and they choose to focus on the things that aren't working. So they're often frustrated, discontent, unhappy, critical, and negative. When we're like that, I guess we become what I would call "negatologists" - people who major on the negative, which robs us of what the Bible identifies as a major source of strength for everyday living.
Nehemiah actually announced it in Nehemiah 8:10, our word for today from the Word of God. He simply said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." That joy is a stubborn positiveness about life, and it's rooted in the Lord you belong to rather than the circumstances you're experiencing.
Earlier in the Book of Nehemiah, we see a somewhat inverted example of how he must have lived this out in his everyday life. Nehemiah is a Jewish captive who works as a trusted servant of the King of Persia. For some time now, Nehemiah has been grieving over the reports of the condition of his people and of his city back in Israel. One morning he comes in to serve the king, and the king asks, "Why is your face so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." Nehemiah uses this as an opportunity to share the burden of his heart. And God uses this as an opportunity to enlist the king in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, His Holy City.
Notice, it was a big deal that Nehemiah looked sad at work. For some of us, it would be a big deal if we looked happy at work! "Why are you so happy?" For this "joy of the Lord" man, being down seemed to be a major exception to the way he was most of the time. Nehemiah must have been a man with heaven's perspective, who could see what lights were on any given day, rather than the lights that weren't working.
How about you? Could it be that you've allowed yourself to start dwelling most of the time on what's wrong: what's wrong with your situation, what's wrong with your church, what's wrong with the people around you, what's wrong with your family members? Without realizing it, you've actually allowed yourself to become what the world already has more than enough of - a negatologist - a role really that is just totally unfitting for a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you belong to Him, there are always so many more lights on than off. But it all has to do with what you choose to dwell on. You can't choose your circumstances, but you can choose what you dwell on. Don't let the things that aren't working make you miss the beauty of the lights that are on all around you.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Judges 16, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 25
God Became a Man
He gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born to be a man and became like a servant.
Philippians 2:7 (NCV)
It all happened in a most remarkable moment... a moment like no other....
God became a man. Divinity arrived. Heaven opened herself and placed her most precious one in a human womb.
The omnipotent, in one instant, became flesh and blood. The one who was larger than the universe became a microscopic embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl.
God had come near.
Judges 16
Samson and Delilah
1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, "Samson is here!" So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, "At dawn we'll kill him."
3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels [g] of silver."
6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."
7 Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs [h] that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man."
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied."
11 He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man."
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied."
He replied, "If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as any other man." So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and [i] tightened it with the pin.
Again she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.
17 So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. [j] And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"
He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
The Death of Samson
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, "Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands."
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
"Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain."
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them." 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
31 Then his brothers and his father's whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led [k] Israel twenty years.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Micah 5:2-6 (New International Version)
2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans [a] of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins [b] are from of old,
from ancient times. [c] "
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And he will be their peace.
Deliverance and Destruction
When the Assyrian invades our land
and marches through our fortresses,
we will raise against him seven shepherds,
even eight leaders of men.
6 They will rule [d] the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod with drawn sword. [e]
He will deliver us from the Assyrian
when he invades our land
and marches into our borders.
December 25, 2008
A Gift Most Lavish
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Micah 5:2-6
Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. —2 Corinthians 8:9
I have a piece of old plaster on my desk that comes from the ancient site of the Herodium in the land of Israel. It reminds me of the humility of our Lord Jesus.
Herodium was a lavish residence that served as King Herod’s summer palace, a sumptuous villa with opulent apartments furnished for the royal family and their guests. It boasted a Roman bath with hot and cold pools, surrounded by colonnaded gardens.
It’s said that Herod built his palace to commemorate a victory in battle, but knowing Herod’s selfish ambition it’s possible he had another purpose in mind. Some have conjectured that Herod, despite inquiring of the scribes (Matt. 2:4-6), knew about Micah’s prediction that Israel’s Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. He may have wanted Israel’s King to be born in his palace.
The Father’s plan, however, was for our Lord to be born not in a castle but in a cave. It was in a lowly manger that the little Lord Jesus was born.
This is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). This is the gift of lavish salvation—of all gifts, the greatest gift that you and I will ever receive. — David H. Roper
He did not use a silvery box
Or paper green and red;
God laid His Christmas gift to me
Within a manger bed. —Prentice
The goodness and love of God became incarnate at Bethlehem.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 25, 2008
His Birth and Our New Birth
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ’God with us’ —Matthew 1:23
His Birth in History. ". . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God ( Luke 1:35 ). Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being the human race can boast of— He is a Being for whom the human race can take no credit at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate— God coming into human flesh from outside it. His life is the highest and the holiest entering through the most humble of doors. Our Lord’s birth was an advent— the appearance of God in human form.
His Birth in Me. "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you . . ." (Galatians 4:19 ). Just as our Lord came into human history from outside it, He must also come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a "Bethlehem" for the Son of God? I cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. "You must be born again" ( John 3:7 ). This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that "Christ is formed" in me. And once "Christ is formed" in me, His nature immediately begins to work through me.
God Evident in the Flesh. This is what is made so profoundly possible for you and for me through the redemption of man by Jesus Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Name on the Gift - #5729 - December 25, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Who needs Santa Claus? Our family sure doesn't. Not with our little grandson around. With the family all gathered in our living room for opening our gifts, we've got the best gift-deliverer around. Our grandson gets so excited about each gift, no matter who it's for. He identifies what name is on the tag on each present and then he runs to deliver it to them. Of course, there are certain gifts he's more excited about than others - the ones that have his name on them.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and on this Christmas Day, I want to have A Word With You about "The Name on the Gift."
I can't think of anything more exciting for you this Christmas than to look at the gift and realize that it's got your name on it. The gift God sent Jesus to give you, that is. It could be that He's been standing there in front of you, offering you this greatest gift of all for a long time. But you've never really realized that it had your name on it. You've never reached out and received it. It's time.
In Luke 2:11, our word for today from the Word of God, the Lord presents His gift and who it's for. The angel who announced Jesus' birth said, "Today a Savior has been born to you." I want to ask you to take that "you" very, very personally. Jesus was born for you, to die for you, for every wrong thing you have ever done. That's why He can rescue you from the eternal death penalty you deserve - that we all deserve - for hijacking our life from God. Behind His Christmas cradle stands the shadow of that Good Friday cross where He loved you enough to die for you. For you!
One of the writers of the New Testament realized how intensely personal that cross really is when he said, "I live my life by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). A friend of mine met a man on an airplane who was talking about his lifelong search for spiritual answers and spiritual peace, and he hadn't found it. Then one day he said he paid a visit to the church that he had grown up in years ago. And standing there alone, he saw the cross up front. He said, "I had seen that cross many times. I'd known about that cross my whole life. But I suddenly realized what I had missed all these years. I was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that was for me." And that day his search ended.
That's the day yours will too. When, in your heart, you walk up to the cross where Jesus gave His life, and you say those two words that change everything, "For me Jesus. What You did there was for me." If you've never done that, wouldn't this be a great day - a memorable day - to give Him the life that He paid for on that cross? To finally start to belong to the One who loves you the most. The gift God gave that first Christmas wasn't a religion or some rituals or some beliefs. He gave His one and only Son. And His Son is waiting to give you the gift of His forgiveness, His peace, and His heaven. If you want to begin your personal relationship with Jesus Christ this Christmas Day, just tell Him, "Jesus, I'm done running my life. You died for me, and I am yours from this day on!"
If that's what you want, then I would love to be an encouragement to you. And actually, our website will help you be sure that you've begun your personal relationship with Him. It's helped a lot of folks at a time like this. Let me invite you to go there as soon as you can today. The website is YoursForLife.net. Or I could send you the booklet Yours For Life that I wrote. There's no obligation. Just call for it toll free at 877-741-1200 because your name is on the greatest gift that God ever gave. This Christmas, take His gift for yourself. It cost Him everything.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 25
God Became a Man
He gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born to be a man and became like a servant.
Philippians 2:7 (NCV)
It all happened in a most remarkable moment... a moment like no other....
God became a man. Divinity arrived. Heaven opened herself and placed her most precious one in a human womb.
The omnipotent, in one instant, became flesh and blood. The one who was larger than the universe became a microscopic embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl.
God had come near.
Judges 16
Samson and Delilah
1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, "Samson is here!" So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, "At dawn we'll kill him."
3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels [g] of silver."
6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."
7 Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs [h] that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man."
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied."
11 He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man."
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied."
He replied, "If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as any other man." So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and [i] tightened it with the pin.
Again she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.
17 So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. [j] And his strength left him.
20 Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"
He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
The Death of Samson
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, "Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands."
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
"Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain."
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them." 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
31 Then his brothers and his father's whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led [k] Israel twenty years.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Micah 5:2-6 (New International Version)
2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans [a] of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins [b] are from of old,
from ancient times. [c] "
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And he will be their peace.
Deliverance and Destruction
When the Assyrian invades our land
and marches through our fortresses,
we will raise against him seven shepherds,
even eight leaders of men.
6 They will rule [d] the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod with drawn sword. [e]
He will deliver us from the Assyrian
when he invades our land
and marches into our borders.
December 25, 2008
A Gift Most Lavish
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Micah 5:2-6
Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. —2 Corinthians 8:9
I have a piece of old plaster on my desk that comes from the ancient site of the Herodium in the land of Israel. It reminds me of the humility of our Lord Jesus.
Herodium was a lavish residence that served as King Herod’s summer palace, a sumptuous villa with opulent apartments furnished for the royal family and their guests. It boasted a Roman bath with hot and cold pools, surrounded by colonnaded gardens.
It’s said that Herod built his palace to commemorate a victory in battle, but knowing Herod’s selfish ambition it’s possible he had another purpose in mind. Some have conjectured that Herod, despite inquiring of the scribes (Matt. 2:4-6), knew about Micah’s prediction that Israel’s Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. He may have wanted Israel’s King to be born in his palace.
The Father’s plan, however, was for our Lord to be born not in a castle but in a cave. It was in a lowly manger that the little Lord Jesus was born.
This is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). This is the gift of lavish salvation—of all gifts, the greatest gift that you and I will ever receive. — David H. Roper
He did not use a silvery box
Or paper green and red;
God laid His Christmas gift to me
Within a manger bed. —Prentice
The goodness and love of God became incarnate at Bethlehem.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 25, 2008
His Birth and Our New Birth
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ’God with us’ —Matthew 1:23
His Birth in History. ". . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God ( Luke 1:35 ). Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being the human race can boast of— He is a Being for whom the human race can take no credit at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate— God coming into human flesh from outside it. His life is the highest and the holiest entering through the most humble of doors. Our Lord’s birth was an advent— the appearance of God in human form.
His Birth in Me. "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you . . ." (Galatians 4:19 ). Just as our Lord came into human history from outside it, He must also come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a "Bethlehem" for the Son of God? I cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. "You must be born again" ( John 3:7 ). This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that "Christ is formed" in me. And once "Christ is formed" in me, His nature immediately begins to work through me.
God Evident in the Flesh. This is what is made so profoundly possible for you and for me through the redemption of man by Jesus Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Name on the Gift - #5729 - December 25, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Who needs Santa Claus? Our family sure doesn't. Not with our little grandson around. With the family all gathered in our living room for opening our gifts, we've got the best gift-deliverer around. Our grandson gets so excited about each gift, no matter who it's for. He identifies what name is on the tag on each present and then he runs to deliver it to them. Of course, there are certain gifts he's more excited about than others - the ones that have his name on them.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and on this Christmas Day, I want to have A Word With You about "The Name on the Gift."
I can't think of anything more exciting for you this Christmas than to look at the gift and realize that it's got your name on it. The gift God sent Jesus to give you, that is. It could be that He's been standing there in front of you, offering you this greatest gift of all for a long time. But you've never really realized that it had your name on it. You've never reached out and received it. It's time.
In Luke 2:11, our word for today from the Word of God, the Lord presents His gift and who it's for. The angel who announced Jesus' birth said, "Today a Savior has been born to you." I want to ask you to take that "you" very, very personally. Jesus was born for you, to die for you, for every wrong thing you have ever done. That's why He can rescue you from the eternal death penalty you deserve - that we all deserve - for hijacking our life from God. Behind His Christmas cradle stands the shadow of that Good Friday cross where He loved you enough to die for you. For you!
One of the writers of the New Testament realized how intensely personal that cross really is when he said, "I live my life by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). A friend of mine met a man on an airplane who was talking about his lifelong search for spiritual answers and spiritual peace, and he hadn't found it. Then one day he said he paid a visit to the church that he had grown up in years ago. And standing there alone, he saw the cross up front. He said, "I had seen that cross many times. I'd known about that cross my whole life. But I suddenly realized what I had missed all these years. I was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that was for me." And that day his search ended.
That's the day yours will too. When, in your heart, you walk up to the cross where Jesus gave His life, and you say those two words that change everything, "For me Jesus. What You did there was for me." If you've never done that, wouldn't this be a great day - a memorable day - to give Him the life that He paid for on that cross? To finally start to belong to the One who loves you the most. The gift God gave that first Christmas wasn't a religion or some rituals or some beliefs. He gave His one and only Son. And His Son is waiting to give you the gift of His forgiveness, His peace, and His heaven. If you want to begin your personal relationship with Jesus Christ this Christmas Day, just tell Him, "Jesus, I'm done running my life. You died for me, and I am yours from this day on!"
If that's what you want, then I would love to be an encouragement to you. And actually, our website will help you be sure that you've begun your personal relationship with Him. It's helped a lot of folks at a time like this. Let me invite you to go there as soon as you can today. The website is YoursForLife.net. Or I could send you the booklet Yours For Life that I wrote. There's no obligation. Just call for it toll free at 877-741-1200 because your name is on the greatest gift that God ever gave. This Christmas, take His gift for yourself. It cost Him everything.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Judges 15, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 24
God’s Great Gifts
Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful for words.
2 Corinthians 9:15 (NCV)
Why did he do it? A shack would have sufficed, but he gave us a mansion. Did he have to give the birds a song and the mountains a peak? Was he required to put stripes on the zebra and the hump on the camel?... Why wrap creation in such splendor? Why go to such trouble to give such gifts?
Why do you? You do the same. I've seen you searching for a gift. I've seen you stalking the malls and walking the aisles. I'm not talking about the obligatory gifts. . . . I'm talking about that extra-special person and that extra-special gift. . . . Why do you do it?... You do it so the heart will stop. You do it so the jaw will drop. You do it to hear those words of disbelief, "You did this for me?"
That's why you do it. And that is why God did it. Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leaves you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing and listen as heaven whispers, "Do you like it? I did it just for you."
Judges 15
Samson's Vengeance on the Philistines
1 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I'm going to my wife's room." But her father would not let him go in.
2 "I was so sure you thoroughly hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your friend. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead."
3 Samson said to them, "This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them." 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
6 When the Philistines asked, "Who did this?" they were told, "Samson, the Timnite's son-in-law, because his wife was given to his friend."
So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 Samson said to them, "Since you've acted like this, I won't stop until I get my revenge on you." 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
9 The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10 The men of Judah asked, "Why have you come to fight us?"
"We have come to take Samson prisoner," they answered, "to do to him as he did to us."
11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?"
He answered, "I merely did to them what they did to me."
12 They said to him, "We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines."
Samson said, "Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves."
13 "Agreed," they answered. "We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
16 Then Samson said,
"With a donkey's jawbone
I have made donkeys of them. [c]
With a donkey's jawbone
I have killed a thousand men."
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi. [d]
18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, "You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, [e] and it is still there in Lehi.
20 Samson led [f] Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Acts 17:22-34 (New International Version)
22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
29"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
32When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." 33At that, Paul left the Council. 34A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
December 24, 2008
Christmas In Tokyo
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Acts 17:22-34
The One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you. —Acts 17:23
On Christmas Eve 2003, noted painter Makoto Fujimura gathered with other artists for a party at Sato Museum in Tokyo. Many had donated their works for a benefit exhibit to raise money for children in Afghanistan. After the meal, Mr. Fujimura, an ardent Christian who lives in New York, shared some words about the true meaning of Christmas and their opportunity as artists to create works that help bring hope into the world.
Reflecting on that event, Fujimura wrote: “I was convinced, that evening in Tokyo, that Jesus invited Himself to be among artists who may not even know His name. Some of these artists, I suspect, have already sensed His presence in their studios as they labored to create peace via their paintings. All gifts of creativity, like the Magi’s [star], point straight to a stable in Bethlehem.”
Paul said that God is at work among people of all nations “so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:27-28).
We should be alert for the Lord’s presence where we least expect to see Him. Jesus may invite Himself to any Christmas party. After all, it’s His birthday. — David C. McCasland
The star shines forth in its glory bright
To lighten the gloom of earth’s darkest night;
And Calvary’s Christ will still impart
His comfort and love to the needy heart. —Richey
This Christmas, be alert for the work and presence of Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 24, 2008
The Hidden Life
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . your life is hidden with Christ in God —Colossians 3:3
The Spirit of God testifies to and confirms the simple, but almighty, security of the life that "is hidden with Christ in God." Paul continually brought this out in his New Testament letters. We talk as if living a sanctified life were the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet it is the most secure thing possible, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live without God. For one who is born again, it is easier to live in a right-standing relationship with God than it is to go wrong, provided we heed God’s warnings and "walk in the light" ( 1 John 1:7 ).
When we think of being delivered from sin, being "filled with the Spirit" ( Ephesians 5:18 ), and "walk[ing] in the light," we picture the peak of a great mountain. We see it as very high and wonderful, but we say, "Oh, I could never live up there!" However, when we do get there through God’s grace, we find it is not a mountain peak at all, but a plateau with plenty of room to live and to grow. "You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip" ( Psalm 18:36 ).
When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. If you see Him when He says, "Let not your heart be troubled . . ." (John 14:27 ), I defy you to worry. It is virtually impossible to doubt when He is there. Every time you are in personal contact with Jesus, His words are real to you. "My peace I give to you . . ." (John 14:27 )— a peace which brings an unconstrained confidence and covers you completely, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. ". . . your life is hidden with Christ in God," and the peace of Jesus Christ that cannot be disturbed has been imparted to you.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Battlefield Peace - #5728 - December 24, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
It was World War I, and it was Christmas Eve. The German and British soldiers were dug in just hundreds of yards apart. But it turned out to be much more than just another tense and violent night on the battlefield. It began when one German soldier began singing "Silent Night" from his trench. Pretty soon he was joined in German by many more of his fellow soldiers. Amazingly, the voices of hundreds of British soldiers began to join in the carol from their trenches. Now that has to have been a moment those soldiers never forgot - opposing armies singing "Sleep in heavenly peace" in the middle of a battlefield.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and on this day before Christmas, I want to have A Word With You about "Battlefield Peace."
It's good to remember this season that we celebrate Jesus' birth. No one has the power to bring peace in the midst of a battle like Jesus does. And that hope seems more important than ever in our world right now; a world that is feeling more and more like a battlefield.
Not to mention the unsettling battles in our own lives, battles which sometimes are actually amplified by the joy of the Christmas season, that strained relationship, the broken relationship, the loneliness, the uncertainties about the future, or just the emptiness on the inside that makes us feel like an attractively wrapped present with not much inside. For some of us, not even Christmas can tame the battlefield in our own heart.
Of course, peace is part of the promise of Christmas. The angels who announced Jesus' birth said He would make possible "peace on earth to men on whom His favor rests" (Luke 2:14). It wasn't so much political peace they were talking about, it was personal peace, inner peace - the kind that has eluded some of us for a long time. It's a peace that you may be ready for. And wouldn't it be incredible if you could finally begin to experience that peace here on the eve of Christmas!
The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:13-14, our word for today from the Word of God, that peace is actually a Person. God says we were "without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ, for He himself is our peace."
That peace is actually the bringing together of you and me with the God we are away from. All of our running of our own life, all the wrong things we've done have left us far from the God whose love we were made for. So there's never really any inner peace until we let Jesus bring us home to Him. It took Jesus dying on the cross to pay for all of your sin, but because He did, He made it possible for your war with God to end; for you to finally experience that awesome feeling of knowing that you are at peace with your God.
If you've never actually placed your life in the hands of Jesus, here on the eve of Christmas would be a wonderful time to open the door of your heart to Him. Tell Him right now, "I want to belong to you, Jesus. I resign running my own life. I turn from the wrong, and sinful, and self-centered choices I've been making. I believe you died for those sins. I believe you walked of your grave under your own power and that you're alive today so you can save me today. Now as we celebrate your coming to this world, I celebrate your coming into my life this very day.
We would love to help you be sure you have begun your relationship with Him - to understand it more; to know how to do it. Our website is for that. I hope you'll come and visit us today. If you'll spend just a very short time there, I think you'll be encouraged on your walk into the arms of Jesus Christ. It's YoursForLife.net. Or call us toll free if you want to, to get the booklet Yours For Life. It's 877-741-1200.
From this day on, you can have that "heavenly peace" on that battlefield in your heart. Have a very special Christmas.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 24
God’s Great Gifts
Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful for words.
2 Corinthians 9:15 (NCV)
Why did he do it? A shack would have sufficed, but he gave us a mansion. Did he have to give the birds a song and the mountains a peak? Was he required to put stripes on the zebra and the hump on the camel?... Why wrap creation in such splendor? Why go to such trouble to give such gifts?
Why do you? You do the same. I've seen you searching for a gift. I've seen you stalking the malls and walking the aisles. I'm not talking about the obligatory gifts. . . . I'm talking about that extra-special person and that extra-special gift. . . . Why do you do it?... You do it so the heart will stop. You do it so the jaw will drop. You do it to hear those words of disbelief, "You did this for me?"
That's why you do it. And that is why God did it. Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leaves you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing and listen as heaven whispers, "Do you like it? I did it just for you."
Judges 15
Samson's Vengeance on the Philistines
1 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I'm going to my wife's room." But her father would not let him go in.
2 "I was so sure you thoroughly hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your friend. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead."
3 Samson said to them, "This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them." 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.
6 When the Philistines asked, "Who did this?" they were told, "Samson, the Timnite's son-in-law, because his wife was given to his friend."
So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 Samson said to them, "Since you've acted like this, I won't stop until I get my revenge on you." 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
9 The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10 The men of Judah asked, "Why have you come to fight us?"
"We have come to take Samson prisoner," they answered, "to do to him as he did to us."
11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?"
He answered, "I merely did to them what they did to me."
12 They said to him, "We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines."
Samson said, "Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves."
13 "Agreed," they answered. "We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
16 Then Samson said,
"With a donkey's jawbone
I have made donkeys of them. [c]
With a donkey's jawbone
I have killed a thousand men."
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi. [d]
18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, "You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, [e] and it is still there in Lehi.
20 Samson led [f] Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Acts 17:22-34 (New International Version)
22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
29"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
32When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." 33At that, Paul left the Council. 34A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
December 24, 2008
Christmas In Tokyo
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Acts 17:22-34
The One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you. —Acts 17:23
On Christmas Eve 2003, noted painter Makoto Fujimura gathered with other artists for a party at Sato Museum in Tokyo. Many had donated their works for a benefit exhibit to raise money for children in Afghanistan. After the meal, Mr. Fujimura, an ardent Christian who lives in New York, shared some words about the true meaning of Christmas and their opportunity as artists to create works that help bring hope into the world.
Reflecting on that event, Fujimura wrote: “I was convinced, that evening in Tokyo, that Jesus invited Himself to be among artists who may not even know His name. Some of these artists, I suspect, have already sensed His presence in their studios as they labored to create peace via their paintings. All gifts of creativity, like the Magi’s [star], point straight to a stable in Bethlehem.”
Paul said that God is at work among people of all nations “so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:27-28).
We should be alert for the Lord’s presence where we least expect to see Him. Jesus may invite Himself to any Christmas party. After all, it’s His birthday. — David C. McCasland
The star shines forth in its glory bright
To lighten the gloom of earth’s darkest night;
And Calvary’s Christ will still impart
His comfort and love to the needy heart. —Richey
This Christmas, be alert for the work and presence of Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 24, 2008
The Hidden Life
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . your life is hidden with Christ in God —Colossians 3:3
The Spirit of God testifies to and confirms the simple, but almighty, security of the life that "is hidden with Christ in God." Paul continually brought this out in his New Testament letters. We talk as if living a sanctified life were the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet it is the most secure thing possible, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live without God. For one who is born again, it is easier to live in a right-standing relationship with God than it is to go wrong, provided we heed God’s warnings and "walk in the light" ( 1 John 1:7 ).
When we think of being delivered from sin, being "filled with the Spirit" ( Ephesians 5:18 ), and "walk[ing] in the light," we picture the peak of a great mountain. We see it as very high and wonderful, but we say, "Oh, I could never live up there!" However, when we do get there through God’s grace, we find it is not a mountain peak at all, but a plateau with plenty of room to live and to grow. "You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip" ( Psalm 18:36 ).
When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. If you see Him when He says, "Let not your heart be troubled . . ." (John 14:27 ), I defy you to worry. It is virtually impossible to doubt when He is there. Every time you are in personal contact with Jesus, His words are real to you. "My peace I give to you . . ." (John 14:27 )— a peace which brings an unconstrained confidence and covers you completely, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. ". . . your life is hidden with Christ in God," and the peace of Jesus Christ that cannot be disturbed has been imparted to you.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Battlefield Peace - #5728 - December 24, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
It was World War I, and it was Christmas Eve. The German and British soldiers were dug in just hundreds of yards apart. But it turned out to be much more than just another tense and violent night on the battlefield. It began when one German soldier began singing "Silent Night" from his trench. Pretty soon he was joined in German by many more of his fellow soldiers. Amazingly, the voices of hundreds of British soldiers began to join in the carol from their trenches. Now that has to have been a moment those soldiers never forgot - opposing armies singing "Sleep in heavenly peace" in the middle of a battlefield.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and on this day before Christmas, I want to have A Word With You about "Battlefield Peace."
It's good to remember this season that we celebrate Jesus' birth. No one has the power to bring peace in the midst of a battle like Jesus does. And that hope seems more important than ever in our world right now; a world that is feeling more and more like a battlefield.
Not to mention the unsettling battles in our own lives, battles which sometimes are actually amplified by the joy of the Christmas season, that strained relationship, the broken relationship, the loneliness, the uncertainties about the future, or just the emptiness on the inside that makes us feel like an attractively wrapped present with not much inside. For some of us, not even Christmas can tame the battlefield in our own heart.
Of course, peace is part of the promise of Christmas. The angels who announced Jesus' birth said He would make possible "peace on earth to men on whom His favor rests" (Luke 2:14). It wasn't so much political peace they were talking about, it was personal peace, inner peace - the kind that has eluded some of us for a long time. It's a peace that you may be ready for. And wouldn't it be incredible if you could finally begin to experience that peace here on the eve of Christmas!
The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:13-14, our word for today from the Word of God, that peace is actually a Person. God says we were "without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ, for He himself is our peace."
That peace is actually the bringing together of you and me with the God we are away from. All of our running of our own life, all the wrong things we've done have left us far from the God whose love we were made for. So there's never really any inner peace until we let Jesus bring us home to Him. It took Jesus dying on the cross to pay for all of your sin, but because He did, He made it possible for your war with God to end; for you to finally experience that awesome feeling of knowing that you are at peace with your God.
If you've never actually placed your life in the hands of Jesus, here on the eve of Christmas would be a wonderful time to open the door of your heart to Him. Tell Him right now, "I want to belong to you, Jesus. I resign running my own life. I turn from the wrong, and sinful, and self-centered choices I've been making. I believe you died for those sins. I believe you walked of your grave under your own power and that you're alive today so you can save me today. Now as we celebrate your coming to this world, I celebrate your coming into my life this very day.
We would love to help you be sure you have begun your relationship with Him - to understand it more; to know how to do it. Our website is for that. I hope you'll come and visit us today. If you'll spend just a very short time there, I think you'll be encouraged on your walk into the arms of Jesus Christ. It's YoursForLife.net. Or call us toll free if you want to, to get the booklet Yours For Life. It's 877-741-1200.
From this day on, you can have that "heavenly peace" on that battlefield in your heart. Have a very special Christmas.