Psalms 1 bible reading and devotionals.

Click here to listen:

MaxLucado.com: We’re Made Whole

Sin sees the world with no God in it! Where we might think of sin as slip-ups or missteps, God views sin as a godless attitude that leads to godless actions.

Isaiah 53:6 says, “All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.”  Sin proclaims, “It’s your life, right?  Pump your body with drugs, your mind with greed, your nights with pleasure.”  The godless life is a a me-dominated, childish life, a life of doing what we feel like doing, whenever we feel like doing it.

God says to love.  I choose to hate. God instructs, forgive.  I opt to get even.  God calls for self-control.  I promote self-indulgence.  This is sin.

Jesus took the punishment for that sin, and made us whole. God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong on him.

Trust his work for you, then trust His work in you.

From Come Thirsty

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Isaiah 39:5–40:5

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: 6 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 7 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ”

8 “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good, ” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime. ”

Comfort for God’s People

40 Comfort, comfort my people,
    says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
    that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord[a];
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.[b]
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Comfort In Captivity

August 9, 2012 — by Dennis Fisher

Comfort, yes, comfort My people! —Isaiah 40:1

On February 10, 1675, 50 colonial families in Lancaster, Massachusetts, feared possible Native American raids. Joseph Rowlandson, the Puritan minister of the village, was in Boston pleading with the government for protection, while Mary, his wife, stayed behind with their children. At sunrise, the settlers were attacked. After some of the settlers were killed, Mary and other survivors were taken captive.

Mary experienced both kindness and cruelty from her captors. The Native Americans, aware of the religious nature of the settlers, gave her a Bible they had confiscated. Later she would write in her memoirs about God’s “goodness in bringing to my hand so many comfortable and suitable Scriptures in my distress.” God’s Word was her great comfort until she was ransomed by the colonists on May 2.

As the nation of Judah waited to be taken into captivity by a foreign power (Isa. 39:5-7), the despair of its people must have been great. But even in that dreadful anticipation, God’s words brought comfort: “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!” (v.8).

Have you been taken captive by circumstances beyond your control? If so, read and meditate on the Word. And experience God’s comfort.

Upon Thy Word I rest, so strong, so sure;
So full of comfort blest, so sweet, so pure,
Thy Word that changest not, that faileth never!
My King, I rest upon Thy Word forever. —Havergal
God’s Word is the true source of comfort.



My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 9, 2012

Prayer in the Father’s Hearing

Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ’Father, I thank You that You have heard Me’ —John 11:41

When the Son of God prays, He is mindful and consciously aware of only His Father. God always hears the prayers of His Son, and if the Son of God has been formed in me (see Galatians 4:19) the Father will always hear my prayers. But I must see to it that the Son of God is exhibited in my human flesh. “. . . your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . . ” (1 Corinthians 6:19), that is, your body is the Bethlehem of God’s Son. Is the Son of God being given His opportunity to work in me? Is the direct simplicity of His life being worked out in me exactly as it was worked out in His life while here on earth? When I come into contact with the everyday occurrences of life as an ordinary human being, is the prayer of God’s eternal Son to His Father being prayed in me? Jesus says, “In that day you will ask in My name . . .” (John 16:26). What day does He mean? He is referring to the day when the Holy Spirit has come to me and made me one with my Lord.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ being abundantly satisfied by your life, or are you exhibiting a walk of spiritual pride before Him? Never let your common sense become so prominent and forceful that it pushes the Son of God to one side. Common sense is a gift that God gave to our human nature— but common sense is not the gift of His Son. Supernatural sense is the gift of His Son, and we should never put our common sense on the throne. The Son always recognizes and identifies with the Father, but common sense has never yet done so and never will. Our ordinary abilities will never worship God unless they are transformed by the indwelling Son of God. We must make sure that our human flesh is kept in perfect submission to Him, allowing Him to work through it moment by moment. Are we living at such a level of human dependence upon Jesus Christ that His life is being exhibited moment by moment in us?


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Not So Secret Service - #6674

Thursday, August 9, 2012

They're the guys who wear dark glasses, talk to their wrist, and wear that trademark stone face. Yep! They're the almost legendary Secret Service agents who guard the life of the President of the United States.

But even the President himself was joking about them at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. He said, "I had a lot more material prepared, but I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew." I'm not sure they were laughing.

He was, of course, referring to the new rules that were issued since a scandal in Colombia over a few agents' outrageous compromises. Their alleged sexual and drinking escapades suddenly put the Secret Service in the unwelcome glare of a media searchlight.

Now, some of the reports said that some of the agents might argue that they were "off duty." But the answers coming back aren't buying it. They're saying, "When you work for the President and represent the nation, are you ever really off duty?"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Not So Secret Service."

Well, that's when the news story became personal for me. No, I don't work for the President, but I represent the King. Of all kings. So does every one of us who belongs to Jesus. We are, as our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5:20 tells us, "Christ's ambassadors...we speak for Christ..." We serve, not the highest authority in the country, but the highest authority in the universe! And He has tied His reputation to ours. What an awesome honor! What a scary responsibility.

So when we blow our top, well, we give the people watching us a reason to think less of our Jesus; or when we backstab, or gripe all the time, or talk trash, or check out a girl, or tell a lie, or look grumpy or in the dumps most of the time.

Most people who come to Jesus do it because of a Christian they know. And most people who dismiss Jesus do it for the same reason, because of a Christian they know. We are either a reason for people to respect Jesus or reject Jesus. Now, in light of the eternal stakes, Paul said, "We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ" (1 Corinthians 9:12).

So my little "fling" - in my attitude or my actions - can be a very expensive act of selfishness on my part if it costs someone watching me their respect for Jesus. And ultimately, maybe their soul.

I remember being on the island of Nantucket and seeing a lightship by the same name. It's just an historic relic now, but once lives depended on that ship. It was, in essence, a lighthouse on a ship, stationed in the sometimes deadly Ambrose Channel - a very busy but very treacherous nautical "highway." Now, as long as it was anchored in the channel, shining its light, no ship would hit the rocks. But should it ever drift off course, it would draw toward the rocks all the ships that looked to that light.

Hey, that's us. "The light of the world," Jesus called us (Matthew 5:14). If we selfishly, carelessly drift from Him, we pull others with us, risking their destruction. Forever.

Off duty? As the face of Jesus to people whose eternity depends on believing in Him? God, help me to always - always - leave the light on for them.