Isaiah 62 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

(Click here to listen to God's love letter to you)

Max Lucado Daily: Deception is Never an Option

For the Christian, deception is never an option. It wasn’t an option for Jesus.

Isaiah 53:9 says, “He had done nothing wrong, and he had never lied.”  His every sentence true.  No cheating on tests. No altering the accounts.  Not once did Jesus stretch the truth.  He simply told the truth. No deceit was found in His mouth.  And if God has His way with us, none will be found in ours. He longs for us to be just like Jesus.

Proverbs 12:22 says, “The Lord hates those who tell lies but is pleased with those who keep their promises.”  Why the hard line?  Why the tough stance?  One reason is that dishonesty is absolutely contrary to the character of God.  God always speaks truth.  When He makes a covenant, He keeps it. When He proclaims the truth, we can believe it!  Because He cannot be false to Himself.

from Just Like Jesus

Isaiah 62

Zion’s New Name

62 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
    for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,
till her vindication shines out like the dawn,
    her salvation like a blazing torch.
2 The nations will see your vindication,
    and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
    that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.
3 You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand,
    a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 No longer will they call you Deserted,
    or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah,[a]
    and your land Beulah[b];
for the Lord will take delight in you,
    and your land will be married.
5 As a young man marries a young woman,
    so will your Builder marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
    so will your God rejoice over you.
6 I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem;
    they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the Lord,
    give yourselves no rest,
7 and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
    and makes her the praise of the earth.
8 The Lord has sworn by his right hand
    and by his mighty arm:
“Never again will I give your grain
    as food for your enemies,
and never again will foreigners drink the new wine
    for which you have toiled;
9 but those who harvest it will eat it
    and praise the Lord,
and those who gather the grapes will drink it
    in the courts of my sanctuary.”
10 Pass through, pass through the gates!
    Prepare the way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway!
    Remove the stones.
Raise a banner for the nations.
11 The Lord has made proclamation
    to the ends of the earth:
“Say to Daughter Zion,
    ‘See, your Savior comes!
See, his reward is with him,
    and his recompense accompanies him.’”
12 They will be called the Holy People,
    the Redeemed of the Lord;
and you will be called Sought After,
    the City No Longer Deserted.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Request for Prayer

3 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.



A Plea For Prayer

May 2, 2013 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Brethren, pray for us. —2 Thessalonians 3:1

A missionary recently visited the Bible study I was attending. She described what it had been like to pack up her household, part with friends, and relocate to a distant country. When she and her family arrived, they were greeted with a flourishing drug-trade and hazardous roadways. The language barrier brought on bouts of loneliness. They contracted four different stomach viruses. And her oldest daughter narrowly escaped death after falling through a railing on an unsafe stairwell. They needed prayer.

The apostle Paul experienced danger and hardship as a missionary. He was imprisoned, shipwrecked, and beaten. It’s no surprise that his letters contained pleas for prayer. He asked the believers in Thessalonica to pray for success in spreading the gospel—that God’s Word would “run swiftly and be glorified” (2 Thess. 3:1) and that God would deliver him from “unreasonable and wicked men” (v.2). Paul knew he would need to “open [his] mouth boldly” and declare the gospel (Eph. 6:19), which was yet another prayer request.

Do you know people who need supernatural help as they spread the good news of Christ? Remember Paul’s appeal, “Brethren, pray for us” (2 Thess. 3:1), and intercede for them before the throne of our powerful God.

Commit to pray and intercede—
The battle’s strong and great’s the need;
And this one truth can’t be ignored:
Our only help comes from the Lord. —Sper
Intercede for others in prayer; God’s throne is always accessible.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 2, 2013

The Patience To Wait for the Vision

Though it tarries, wait for it . . . —Habakkuk 2:3

Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults. Having the vision of God is the source of patience because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration. Moses endured, not because of his devotion to his principles of what was right, nor because of his sense of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God. “. . . he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue— he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it. Things come to you with greatness and add vitality to your life because everything is energized by God. He may give you a time spiritually, with no word from Himself at all, just as His Son experienced during His time of temptation in the wilderness. When God does that, simply endure, and the power to endure will be there because you see God.

“Though it tarries, wait for it . . . .” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have already grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. The psalmist said, “What shall I render to the Lord . . . ? I will take up the cup of salvation . . .” (Psalm 116:12-13). We are apt to look for satisfaction within ourselves and say, “Now I’ve got it! Now I am completely sanctified. Now I can endure.” Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. Paul said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on . . .” (Philippians 3:12). If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Heroes Without Haloes - #6864

Thursday, May 2, 2013

I've been to South Africa several times. I love those accents, but not when they're talking about an inspirational sports icon killing his girlfriend. There's been a lot of fog around exactly what happened, but what we do know is that South Africa's Olympic hero admittedly shot his girlfriend four times. Now, he says accidentally and the police say on purpose.

Well, it's all the more disturbing because he's been such an over-comer; a double-amputee, running on carbon-fiber blades, competing last year as an Olympic runner. He made history. And he inspired people around the world. And then suddenly he's facing first degree murder charges. It's the most recent - and most extreme - in a growing list of fallen sports heroes we've heard about. One observer said, "It seems like it's almost one a month these days."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Heroes Without Haloes."

Let's see, the world's greatest biker says he did it with dope, the world's greatest golfer admits he cheated on his wife, Hall of Fame-bound baseball stars are derailed by the discovery that those biceps were really built with steroids. It feels like our pedestals are anchored in quicksand, because our heroes keep falling off their pedestal and into the mud.

It's not just athletes. Sometimes it's an influential politician, of maybe a respected business leader, even a gifted preacher or musician. You start to wonder, "Who's next?" What makes us put someone on that pedestal is that they do something really well - performance. But see, there's also character, "what you are when no one's around," or "what you are in the dark." That's the real gold medal stuff.

Personally, I've decided that pedestals are a bad idea anyway; either putting someone on one or wanting one myself. None of us should be too enamored with compliments, or awards, or the "wins" we get. From God's viewpoint - and what should be our viewpoint - it's your character, not your performance that makes you truly great. You can get some awesome headlines and have an awful heart. Or be a hero in the spotlight and a zero at home.

The Bible says that "man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). And in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Chronicles 16:9, the Bible says, "The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." Those who will "medal" in heaven are those Jesus is going to greet with, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" (Matthew 25:21). Not "good and successful" - "good and faithful." The true hero is the person who's a hero outside and inside. The closer you get to them, the better they look.

What matters most is not what the folks who know the "platform me" think. It's the people who know me best - who see me unplugged, unguarded, when there's no one to impress. Do they say, "Yup, he's the same guy all the time?" Or, when I'm "doing what I do," are they asking, "Where did that great guy suddenly come from?" Or, "if they only knew..."

An EKG reveals that someone who's the picture of health on the outside may have a deadly heart condition on the inside. Which, according to the Bible, we all do. The Bible says, "The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9 ). That's why I need a Savior. That's why you need a Savior. Not just a religion about a Savior. All that can do is make me look healthy on the outside. I need the Master Heart Surgeon. The Bible says that "He alone can cleanse you from all your impurities." And it says He can "give you a new heart" (Ezekiel 36:26). In fact, the sin-cancer is so horrific it took blood to cure it - Jesus' blood, shed on the cross.

He makes unheralded people into authentic heroes because they have a heart like His. You're blessed if you know one. You're more blessed if you are one. You'll leave a Jesus-trail wherever you go. If you're ready for that heart transplant that only Jesus can do; a new beginning, forgiving all of the failures and the hypocrisy of the past, and giving you the ability to be a Jesus-person in your family, in your work and in all your relationships, would you open your heart to the man who died for you; who walked out of His grave to rescue you? Would you open your heart to Him today?

We'd love to show you how to do that. Our website's all about it. Would you go there? YoursForLife.net. And let this be your new beginning.