Psalm 127 bible reading and devotionals.

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MaxLucado.com: In a Storm

Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming!  One second perched peacefully.  The next—whoosh—sucked into the vacuum cleaner hose!  The bird owner turned off the vacuum, opened the bag. There was Chippie—still alive, but stunned!   Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore.  Blown over, sucked in, it’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.

Can you relate?   Most of us can. One minute you’re seated in familiar territory, a song on your lips, then. . .the rejection letter arrives.  The doctor calls.  The divorce papers are delivered.   You’re sucked into a black cavern of doubts.  Left with a long night of fear and a long list of questions.  Jesus knows we’re in a storm.  Why doesn’t he come?

The same voice that stilled the rage on the Sea of Galilee can still the storm in your world.   Be assured—He is closer than you’ve ever dreamed!

Psalm 145:18 says “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

From In the Eye of the Storm

Psalm 127

A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
    the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the guards stand watch in vain.
2 In vain you rise early
    and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
    for he grants sleep to[a] those he loves.
3 Children are a heritage from the Lord,
    offspring a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
    are children born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
    whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
    when they contend with their opponents in court.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Philippians 4:6-9

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Quaking Aspens

October 1, 2012 — by Bill Crowder

Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. —2 Thessalonians 3:16

While I was visiting Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, two trees caught my attention. Though the leaves on the surrounding trees were not moving, the leaves of these trees were fluttering with just the slightest hint of a breeze. I pointed them out to my wife, and she told me they were called quaking aspens. I was struck by the visual effect of those shaking leaves. While all the other trees appeared calm and steady, the quaking aspen leaves shook, even with only the faintest breeze.

Sometimes I feel like a quaking aspen. People around me seem to be moving through life without issues or concerns, apparently steady and secure, while even the slightest issue can unsettle my heart. I see others and marvel at their calm and wonder why my own life can so easily be filled with turbulence. Thankfully, the Scriptures remind me that genuine, steadying calm can be found in the presence of God. Paul wrote, “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all” (2 Thess. 3:16). Not only does God offer peace, He Himself is the Lord of peace.

When we enter the disturbing, unsettling seasons of life, it is good to know that real peace is available in the God of all peace.

Prince of Peace, teach me to find in You the
calming power of Your presence. Strengthen
me today with Your peace, and grant me the
stability I need in this turmoil-filled world. Amen.
Peace is more than the absence of conflict; peace is the presence of God.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 1, 2012

The Place of Exaltation

. . . Jesus took . . . them up on a high mountain apart by themselves . . . —Mark 9:2

We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.

We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, “What’s the use of this experience?” We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.



A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Which Way in the Wildfire? - #6711

Monday, October 1, 2012

It seems like every spring, every summer we hear about those raging wildfires! It's almost in the news every day. When I hear about it, my ears perk up. I mean, we've had friends who lost their home in one of those wildfires. And we know Native American friends who are sometimes on the front lines fighting those fires. I hate it when we hear about a firefighter who has been lost. There was a young woman in Idaho lost just this year, for example.

Now, when there were some major fires raging in Washington State earlier this year, my mind flashed back to another Washington fire that they called the Thirty-Mile Fire. It was one of those that just exploded suddenly. It forced the firefighters to stop fighting the fire and start fighting for their lives. Most of them deployed those survival tents that can save lives in a sudden emergency like this.

But then there were the four rookie firefighters. Partly because of what were later proven to be supervisory errors, they ended up on a road that they thought would lead them to safety. It was a dead-end road. And four young firefighters, each one outstanding in their own way, lost their lives there that day.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Which Way in the Wildfire?"

I can't recall that tragedy without it bringing to mind an even greater tragedy that costs so many lives...forever. The Bible starkly describes people who will think they're on a road that leads to life - eternal life - only to find out too late that it's a dead-end road.

Our word today from the Word of God puts it this way in Proverbs 16:25: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." That's a disturbing verse. There are a lot of things you can be wrong about without paying a horrific price, but eternity is not one of them.

And Jesus said a lot of people are wrong about where they're headed after they die. He said, "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).

It's popular today to believe that the road to heaven is so wide that any number of beliefs - believed sincerely enough - will get you there. But sincerity doesn't mean you'll escape the fire, or the fact that it looks like or feels like the right road. Not if it's a dead-end.

Jesus came because, in a sense, every religion is a dead-end road, because it can't erase your sin. And "nothing impure will ever enter" heaven the Bible says (Revelation 21:27). Truth is, we're all "impure." We've all, in the Bible's words, "left God's path to follow our own" (Isaiah 53:6 - NLT). And our sin (again from the Bible) "has separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:1). God says our hijacking of our own life carries an eternal death penalty that can only be paid one way. Somebody's got to die for my sin to get paid for and to get forgiven. Clearly, I'm the one who deserves to pay that penalty.

But in the greatest act of love in human history, God's Son "personally carried," the Bible says, "our sins in His own body on the cross" (1 Peter 2:24). So I did the sinning, but Jesus did the dying. I still can't get over that.

Only the One who died for our sins can forgive our sins and erase what will keep us out of heaven. It's not about the superiority of the Christian religion. It's not about a religion at all; no religion can die for you. It's about a Rescuer, the only One who can save us from the fire of sin's judgment, because He took that fire for us. To trust in anything else is to learn too late that you've made the greatest mistake a human can make. You chose a dead-end road.

More than anything, Jesus wants you in heaven with Him one day. That's why He paid that awful price on the cross. Maybe you've never put your total trust in Him to rescue you from your sin and you're ready to do that. Would you tell Him that right now, "Jesus, I'm Yours. You are my only hope, because You died for me."

I hope you'll go to our website today as well and find out there how you can be sure you belong to Jesus. Just go to yoursforlife.net. Is there any better day to get this settled than today?