Psalm 118 bible reading and devotionals.

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MaxLucado.com: Grace Happened

We are incarcerated by our past, our low-road choices, and our high-minded pride.  We have been found guilty!

Our executioner’s footsteps echo against stone walls. We sit on the floor of the dusty cell, awaiting the final moment. We don’t look up as he opens the door.  We know what he’s going to say. “Time to pay for your sins.”  But we hear something else!  “You’re free to go.  They took Jesus instead of you!”

The door swings open, the guard barks, “Get out.”  And we find ourselves  shackles gone, crimes pardoned, wondering, what just happened?

Grace happened!  Christ took away your sins.

Romans 3 says: “God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. For  God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.”

What happened?  Grace happened!

From GRACE

Psalm 118

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
    “His love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say:
    “His love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say:
    “His love endures forever.”
5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
    he brought me into a spacious place.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
    I look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in humans.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me,
    but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
11 They surrounded me on every side,
    but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
    but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
    in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
    but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my defense[c];
    he has become my salvation.
15 Shouts of joy and victory
    resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
16     The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
    the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
17 I will not die but live,
    and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has chastened me severely,
    but he has not given me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of the righteous;
    I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord
    through which the righteous may enter.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
    you have become my salvation.
22 The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
23 the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 The Lord has done it this very day;
    let us rejoice today and be glad.
25 Lord, save us!
    Lord, grant us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
    From the house of the Lord we bless you.[d]
27 The Lord is God,
    and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
    up[e] to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
    you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 1 Samuel 2:12,27-36

Eli's Worthless Sons

12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.

1 Samuel 2:27-36
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Lord Rejects Eli's Household

27 And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? 28 Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. 29 Why then do you scorn[a] my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ 30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. 31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. 33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his[b] eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants[c] of your house shall die by the sword of men.[d] 34 And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day. 35 And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. 36 And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests' places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”

Correct Them

September 17, 2012 — by Marvin Williams

Why do you . . . honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people? —1 Samuel 2:29

Therapist and mother Lori Gottlieb says that parents who are obsessed with their children’s happiness may actually contribute to their becoming unhappy adults. These parents coddle their children, do not equip them to deal with the real world, look the other way when their children do wrong, and neglect disciplining them.

In 1 Samuel, we read that the high priest Eli sometimes looked the other way. We don’t know what he was like as a father when his boys were young. But he failed to properly deal with their behavior as grown men serving in God’s temple. They were selfish, lustful, and rebellious, putting their own needs ahead of God’s Word and the needs of the people. At first, Eli rebuked them but they would not listen. Instead of removing them from service, he looked the other way and let them continue in their sin. As a result of his sons’ sins and because Eli honored his sons above the Lord (1 Sam. 2:29), the Lord warned Eli that his family would suffer judgment (v.34; 4:17-18).

As Christian parents, we have the awesome responsibility to lovingly discipline our children (Prov. 13:24; 29:17; Heb. 12:9-11). As we impart God’s wisdom to them, we have the blessing of helping them develop into responsible, God-fearing adults.

They are buds of hope and promise,
Possessed by Him whose name is Love;
Lent us here to train and nourish
For a better life above. —Crosby
Failure to discipline our children is a failure to love them.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 17, 2012

Is There Good in Temptation?


No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man . . . —1 Corinthians 10:13

The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.

A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.

Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal— it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.

Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else–what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations–He sustains us in the midst of them (see Hebrews 2:18 and Hebrews 4:15-16).


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

The Battle For the Transmitter - #6701

Monday, September 17, 2012

One summer our daughter had the privilege of participating in a musical team that traveled to the Philippines. One of the highlights for them while they were there was to sing the Gospel on national television. They actually went into one of the big television stations to do it.

Two weeks later she was back home, starting back to college, and she heard on the news there had been a coup attempt against the government. And guess what was the first thing the rebels captured? Uh-huh, the TV station that she'd been singing at only two weeks before. You kind of wipe your brow and go, "Whew! That is too close!" It happens every time there is a rebellion there. They want to capture the TV and radio facilities. Well, it happened in many countries when a government's being toppled. They want the transmitter. That's a military principle to always capture the high ground; that's the first thing you do in a battle. Capture the high ground and move out from there. Today the high ground means the battle is for the transmitter...even in your life.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want A Word With You today about "The Battle For the Transmitter."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is coming from James 1:26. Here's what it says, "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." Wow! Later in chapter 3, verse 2, it says, "If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." Huh! Verse 6: "The tongue is a fire; a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." Man, this is some of the strongest language in the Bible. James 3:8 says, "No man can tame the tongue." Wow!

The tongue is your transmitter. In the military, if they want to capture a whole piece of ground, they go for the transmitter. It's that way in the conquest of your life too. More sinning is done by our mouth, I believe, than any other part of our body.

Right now I think the battle for Christ to truly rule your life and mine may revolve around this question: does Jesus govern your tongue? Oh, you may be busy for the Lord, you may be very orthodox in your beliefs and pretty moral in your relationships, but what's today's talk like?

If we played back a recording of one day's conversation, how much complaining would there be? How much cutting other people down? How much negativity? Would there be a lot of criticizing, backbiting? Would there be some suggestive, double-meaning talk? Would there be some ethnic or religious slurs?

The people you live with probably know best how much Christ is your Lord, because they hear you when you're tired, angry, and when you're under pressure. Maybe it's time to move the front lines of your spiritual battle to the point that really counts; making Jesus Christ so real that He becomes the Master of your mouth.

All day long you're transmitting to the people around you. Does it sound like Jesus? When you have surrendered the transmitter to Christ, then He is really in charge.