Isaiah 41 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

(Has God spoken to you lately if not click to listen to God's teaching?)

Max Lucado Daily: Only You and God

When I lived in Brazil I took my mom and her friend to see Iguacu Falls, the largest water falls in the world. I’d become an expert by reading an article in National Geographic magazine. Surely, I thought, my guests would appreciate their good fortune in having me as their guide.

To reach the lookout point, you must walk a winding trail that leads through a forest.  I used the time to give a nature report to my mom and her friend. I caught myself speaking louder and louder.  Finally I was shouting above the roar.  Even my mother would rather see the splendor than hear my description.  So, I shut my mouth.

There are times when to speak is to violate the moment.  When silence represents the highest respect. The word for such times is reverence.  The prayer for such times is “Hallowed be Thy name!” (Matthew 6:9).

from The Great House of God

Isaiah 41

The Helper of Israel

41 “Be silent before me, you islands!
    Let the nations renew their strength!
Let them come forward and speak;
    let us meet together at the place of judgment.
2 “Who has stirred up one from the east,
    calling him in righteousness to his service[a]?
He hands nations over to him
    and subdues kings before him.
He turns them to dust with his sword,
    to windblown chaff with his bow.
3 He pursues them and moves on unscathed,
    by a path his feet have not traveled before.
4 Who has done this and carried it through,
    calling forth the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord—with the first of them
    and with the last—I am he.”
5 The islands have seen it and fear;
    the ends of the earth tremble.
They approach and come forward;
6     they help each other
    and say to their companions, “Be strong!”
7 The metalworker encourages the goldsmith,
    and the one who smooths with the hammer
    spurs on the one who strikes the anvil.
One says of the welding, “It is good.”
    The other nails down the idol so it will not topple.
8 “But you, Israel, my servant,
    Jacob, whom I have chosen,
    you descendants of Abraham my friend,
9 I took you from the ends of the earth,
    from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
    I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
11 “All who rage against you
    will surely be ashamed and disgraced;
those who oppose you
    will be as nothing and perish.
12 Though you search for your enemies,
    you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
    will be as nothing at all.
13 For I am the Lord your God
    who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
    I will help you.
14 Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob,
    little Israel, do not fear,
for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord,
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge,
    new and sharp, with many teeth.
You will thresh the mountains and crush them,
    and reduce the hills to chaff.
16 You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up,
    and a gale will blow them away.
But you will rejoice in the Lord
    and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “The poor and needy search for water,
    but there is none;
    their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the Lord will answer them;
    I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
    and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
    and the parched ground into springs.
19 I will put in the desert
    the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
    the fir and the cypress together,
20 so that people may see and know,
    may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
    that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 “Present your case,” says the Lord.
    “Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.
22 “Tell us, you idols,
    what is going to happen.
Tell us what the former things were,
    so that we may consider them
    and know their final outcome.
Or declare to us the things to come,
23     tell us what the future holds,
    so we may know that you are gods.
Do something, whether good or bad,
    so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.
24 But you are less than nothing
    and your works are utterly worthless;
    whoever chooses you is detestable.
25 “I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes—
    one from the rising sun who calls on my name.
He treads on rulers as if they were mortar,
    as if he were a potter treading the clay.
26 Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know,
    or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’?
No one told of this,
    no one foretold it,
    no one heard any words from you.
27 I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’
    I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news.
28 I look but there is no one—
    no one among the gods to give counsel,
    no one to give answer when I ask them.
29 See, they are all false!
    Their deeds amount to nothing;
    their images are but wind and confusion.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 1 John 4:7-21

God’s Love and Ours

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

April 3, 2013 — by Joe Stowell

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. —1 John 4:11

Love is the centerpiece of thriving relationships. Scripture makes it clear that we need to be people who love—love God with all our hearts, love our neighbor as ourselves, and love our enemies. But it’s hard to love when we don’t feel loved. Neglected children, spouses who feel ignored by their mates, and parents who are alienated from their children all know the heartache of a life that lacks love.

So, for everyone who longs to be loved, welcome to the pleasure of knowing that you are richly loved by God. Think of the profound impact of His love that was poured out for you at the cross. Meditate on the fact that if you’ve trusted in Him, His love covers your faults and failures and that you are clothed with His spotless righteousness (Rom. 3:22-24). Revel in the fact that nothing can separate you from His love (8:39). Embrace His loving provision of a future secured for you where you will be eternally loved (John 3:16).

When John tells us that we “ought to love one another,” he calls us the “beloved” (1 John 4:11; see also 3:1-2). Once you embrace how wonderfully loved you are by God, it will be much easier to be the loving person God calls you to be—even toward those who don’t show you love.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small:
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all. —Watts
Embracing God’s love for us is the key to loving others.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 3, 2013

“If You Had Known!”

If you had known . . . in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes —Luke 19:42

Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly and the city was stirred to its very foundations, but a strange god was there-the pride of the Pharisees. It was a god that seemed religious and upright, but Jesus compared it to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).

What is it that blinds you to the peace of God “in this your day”? Do you have a strange god-not a disgusting monster but perhaps an unholy nature that controls your life? More than once God has brought me face to face with a strange god in my life, and I knew that I should have given it up, but I didn’t do it. I got through the crisis “by the skin of my teeth,” only to find myself still under the control of that strange god. I am blind to the very things that make for my own peace. It is a shocking thing that we can be in the exact place where the Spirit of God should be having His completely unhindered way with us, and yet we only make matters worse, increasing our blame in God’s eyes.

“If you had known . . . .” God’s words here cut directly to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind them. These words imply responsibility for our own faults. God holds us accountable for what we refuse to see or are unable to see because of our sin. And “now they are hidden from your eyes” because you have never completely yielded your nature to Him. Oh, the deep, unending sadness for what might have been! God never again opens the doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut-doors which had no need to be shut. Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Cruise Control - #6843

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

I won't be going on a cruise anytime soon. Not that I ever wanted to. But the reports of those passengers on that powerless, drifting cruise ship a while back, oh that clinched it. Fire at sea, everything shut down - from lights to air conditioning to toilets, no communication, little bags as your personal "bathroom," accounts of sewage running in the halls and down the walls, a repulsive stench, sleeping wherever. I ain't goin'!

Well, when they got back and disembarked, the cameras were there. Now, I know that I'd like nothing better than to appear on national TV, not having showered for five days. How about you? Well, some passengers told their stinky war stories - including more detail than I really cared to hear. But some actually inspired me with their stories of rising above this deplorable environment.

One young woman won her cruise in a contest at an NBA game. She kissed the ground when she stepped off the gangplank. And then, in her cruise ship white terrycloth robe, she bubbled, "There's a great God, and He is in control!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Cruise Control."

The young woman was one of a number of passengers who knew a way to find safe passage when your ship's adrift and your situation's miserable. She said, "We went outside and had Bible studies." And then she actually choked up as she quoted the Bible verse that had been what she called her "life preserver." Joshua 1:9, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" even when you don't know where you are, even when you don't know where you're going, even when the situation stinks. A couple from San Antonio talked about the decisive difference a shipboard Bible study had made for them. They said, "It was awesome. It lifted up our souls and gave us hope."

Suddenly I saw in that dream cruise turned nightmare a picture of so many lives. How many people's dreams for their marriage or their kids have become a nightmare? And so many have seen a sudden "fire" (shall we say) change everything - the bad news from the doctor, the accident, the discovery of betrayal, the attacks of those you trusted. We're drifting, at the mercy of things we can't control. Our natural response: discouragement, self-pity, anger, withdrawal, depression unless we know where to go to find the anchor when our ship is adrift. We run to God's unchanging Word and let what He says decide our response.

Psalm 119:105 says in these familiar words, our word for today from the Word of God, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." The problem is that so many times we don't let the Word of God determine our response. We fixate on our problems, we fume over the people who caused them, we frustrate over our impotence to fix them, and we get all grumpy, gripey, negative and overwhelmed. Not only does the situation stink, so does our attitude.

There's another choice. We can plant both our feet, not in the swirling stuff in front of us, but on the solid footing of God's Word. And something happens. We are, as those Texas passengers said, "lifted up." We can suddenly see this "impossible" and "unbearable" situation from God's perspective from above the mess instead of in the middle of it.

What God says is the truth should illuminate my life when the lights have gone out. That reminds me that God's got something bigger going on than what I can see. This situation isn't going to decide what happens to me. My Savior is. The Bible says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and they are safe" (Proverbs 18:10).

Shame on me for succumbing to the stench and the stress. Jesus is my Captain. I am never truly adrift.