1 Thessalonians 5 bible reading and devotionals.

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Maxlucado.com: Enough of This Frenzy

Attempts at “self-salvation” guarantee nothing but exhaustion.  We scamper and scurry, trying to please God, collecting merit badges and brownie points, and scowling at anyone who questions our accomplishments.  The result?  The weariest people on earth.  We so fear failure that we create the image of perfection.  Call us the church of hound-dog faces and slumped shoulders.

Stop it!  Once and for all, enough of this frenzy!

Hebrews 13:9 tells us, “Your hearts should be strengthened by God’s grace, not by obeying rules.”  Just the opposite.

In Matthew 11:28 Jesus promises: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

There’s no fine print.  A second shoe isn’t going to drop.  God’s promise has no hidden language.

Let Grace happen.  You have His unending affection.  Stretch yourself out in the hammock of Grace.  You can rest now!

From GRACE

1 Thessalonians 5
New International Version (NIV)
The Day of the Lord

5 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Final Instructions

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26 Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Ephesians 3:8-13

8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

Words In Space

September 20, 2012 — by Julie Ackerman Link

In [Christ] we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. —Ephesians 3:12

True confession: When I found out that astronaut Rex Walheim would be taking a copy of Our Daily Bread with him into space for the last mission of the shuttle Atlantis, I looked ahead to find out which devotionals I had written that he would be reading. The idea of having my words read in outer space seemed, well, pretty amazing for this small-town kid.

No sooner had I satisfied my curiosity, however, than I had another thought. Why do I consider this such a big deal? My words are heard in heavenly places whenever I pray. What has happened to me that I take for granted the concept that the God who created the universe listens to my words? In Christ, I can approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3:12). Why be more awestruck at having a human read what I have written than having Almighty God hear what I pray?

If that idea isn’t enough to rouse me from complacency, there’s this: The Lord is using the church to make known His wisdom to the “principalities and powers in the heavenly places” (v.10). Imagine. God not only hears our prayers, but He uses us earthlings to teach heavenly beings the plan of redemption He has accomplished through Christ. Now that’s a big deal!

God is waiting in the silence—
Oh, to know that He is near!
Earth recedes and heaven opens,
God is waiting, God is here. —O. Smith
God is always available to hear the prayer of His child.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 20, 2012

The Divine Commandment of Life

. . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect —Matthew 5:48

Our Lord’s exhortation to us in Matthew 5:38-48 is to be generous in our behavior toward everyone. Beware of living according to your natural affections in your spiritual life. Everyone has natural affections— some people we like and others we don’t like. Yet we must never let those likes and dislikes rule our Christian life. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7), even those toward whom we have no affection.

The example our Lord gave us here is not that of a good person, or even of a good Christian, but of God Himself. “. . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In other words, simply show to the other person what God has shown to you. And God will give you plenty of real life opportunities to prove whether or not you are “perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not just good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian’s life is that the supernatural becomes natural in him as a result of the grace of God, and the experience of this becomes evident in the practical, everyday details of life, not in times of intimate fellowship with God. And when we come in contact with things that create confusion and a flurry of activity, we find to our own amazement that we have the power to stay wonderfully poised even in the center of it all.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

The Knife That Gives Life - #6704

Thursday, September 20, 2012

There was this plant in my office that had seen some good days and some bad days. It had really seen some pretty bad days for a while, and it looked like it was about to be a memory and there was going to be a little empty spot in the corner of my office. But one of our staff very lovingly took a knife to that plant. That doesn't sound very nice, but the plant was on its last legs and so she went and pruned out some of the dead or dying branches.

I've got good news! If you're a plant lover, and I hope you're not one of those who talks to plants. Do you? I've never really understood that, but I understand there are people who do. Anyway, here was this plant that almost didn't make it and now it was coming back to life, looking good! I call it the Lazarus plant; it sort of returned from the dead, except it didn't smell quite as bad as he did. The plant was back, and you know, it was that knife that did it. Oh, it looked like the knife was destroying the plant, but it was making it more alive.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Knife That Gives Life."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is from John 15:1-2. "Jesus said, 'I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch..." (Whoa! Sounds like my office and that plant.) "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.'" Notice here that God throws away dead branches. But do you also notice what He does with the branches that He likes; the ones that are bearing fruit? He starts cutting on them. God prunes what He believes in.

Now, if He believes in you, He might be showing it right now by cutting you back. Yes, it is love. Yes, it will focus all of the resources on a few branches. I think that's what happened to my plant. Instead of the life going out to many branches, by pruning some, the life and resource was focused so the plant could flourish. And right now God loves you enough to bring out your very best, so He's removing some branches so you can be more alive than ever.

But if you're a plant and you're being pruned, you would probably say, "He's killing me!" And he might be saying to you, "No, no, I'm helping you! I'm giving you life. Oh, I know it feels like you're dying, but you're growing." Maybe you can feel the hand of God cutting on you and trimming you, challenging you, stretching you. You say, "What's wrong?" Maybe nothing's wrong. Maybe He's just pruning what He believes in so you can be more fruitful than ever.

He may be asking you to deal with an overload that's developed in your life. You've taken on too much, or maybe you've got an attitude that needs work, or there's some personal stronghold that's dragging you down. Hebrews 12:1 says, "As we run our race we should lay aside every weight that we carry." Maybe He's trying to get you to lose some spiritual weight. But don't fear the pruning of God. Oh, it may feel as if you're losing. It might even feel like you're dying, but this is divine surgery that will soon lead to new life.

He's cutting you back so you'll be more alive than ever. You are experiencing the knife that gives life.