Saturday, September 29, 2012

Psalm 125 bible reading and devotions.


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Max Lucado Daily: Nothing in Between

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6, NKJV

Jesus leaves us with two options. Accept him as God or reject him as a megalomaniac. There is no third alternative . . .

Call him crazy or crown him as king. Dismiss him as a fraud or declare him to be God. Walk away from him or bow before him, but don’t play games with him. Don’t call him a great man. Don’t list him among decent folk . . . He is either God or godless. Heaven sent or hell born. All hope or all hype. But nothing in between.

Psalm 125

A song of ascents.

1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
    which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
    so the Lord surrounds his people
    both now and forevermore.
3 The scepter of the wicked will not remain
    over the land allotted to the righteous,
for then the righteous might use
    their hands to do evil.
4 Lord, do good to those who are good,
    to those who are upright in heart.
5 But those who turn to crooked ways
    the Lord will banish with the evildoers.
Peace be on Israel.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: John 14:1-11

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

Truth In A Taxi

September 29, 2012 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt

I am the way, the truth, and the life. —John 14:6

One day when I was in downtown Chicago, I hailed a taxi. Once inside, I noticed several advertisements for a New Age guru posted on the seat in front of me. The driver claimed that this mystic was the “divine one” for our day. He believed that God appointed various leaders throughout the ages, and that Jesus had merely been the appointee for His time.

Of course, I had to disagree. As we talked, I mentioned Jesus’ words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Contrary to the cabbie’s belief, Jesus was not just one in a series of enlightened religious leaders—He is the only way to know God, and only through Him can we get to heaven.

As the “Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), Jesus didn’t simply declare Himself to be the ultimate spiritual authority. He proved it with His death and resurrection. Christ “offered one sacrifice for sins forever” (Heb. 10:12).

Jesus said of Himself: “I am in the Father and the Father in Me” (John 14:11). Therefore we don’t need to investigate any “new” path of salvation. It’s better to learn all we can about Christ; He is the only One who can provide spiritual certainty.

My heart is stirred whene’er I think of Jesus,
That blessed Name that sets the captive free;
The only Name through which I find salvation,
No name on earth has meant so much to me. —Eliason
Spiritual phonies will only take us for a ride, but Jesus will take us all the way to heaven.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 29, 2012

The Awareness of the Call

. . . for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16

We are inclined to forget the deeply spiritual and supernatural touch of God. If you are able to tell exactly where you were when you received the call of God and can explain all about it, I question whether you have truly been called. The call of God does not come like that; it is much more supernatural. The realization of the call in a person’s life may come like a clap of thunder or it may dawn gradually. But however quickly or slowly this awareness comes, it is always accompanied with an undercurrent of the supernatural—something that is inexpressible and produces a “glow.” At any moment the sudden awareness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life may break through—”I chose you . . .” (John 15:16). The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. You are not called to preach the gospel because you are sanctified; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a compulsion that was placed upon him.

If you have ignored, and thereby removed, the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances. See where you have put your own ideas of service or your particular abilities ahead of the call of God. Paul said, “. . . woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to “preach the gospel” was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength.

If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn’t matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God’s purpose, He will bring not only your conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony.