Isaiah 63 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

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Max Lucado Daily: Tell the Truth


Our dislike for the truth began at age three when mom walked in our rooms and asked, “Did you hit your little brother?” We knew then and there that honesty had its consequences.  “Did I hit baby brother?  Well, that all depends on how you interpret the word hit.”

We want our bosses to like us, so we flatter. God calls it a lie. We want people to admire us, so we exaggerate.  God calls it a lie.  We want people to respect us, so we live in houses we can’t afford and charge bills we can’t pay.  God calls it living a lie.

The cure for deceit is simply this: face the music. The ripple of today’s lie is tomorrow’s wave and next year’s flood.

Be just like Jesus.  Tell the truth!

from Just Like Jesus

Isaiah 63

God’s Day of Vengeance and Redemption

63 Who is this coming from Edom,
    from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson?
Who is this, robed in splendor,
    striding forward in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, proclaiming victory,
    mighty to save.”
2 Why are your garments red,
    like those of one treading the winepress?
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone;
    from the nations no one was with me.
I trampled them in my anger
    and trod them down in my wrath;
their blood spattered my garments,
    and I stained all my clothing.
4 It was for me the day of vengeance;
    the year for me to redeem had come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help,
    I was appalled that no one gave support;
so my own arm achieved salvation for me,
    and my own wrath sustained me.
6 I trampled the nations in my anger;
    in my wrath I made them drunk
    and poured their blood on the ground.”
Praise and Prayer

7 I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord,
    the deeds for which he is to be praised,
    according to all the Lord has done for us—
yes, the many good things
    he has done for Israel,
    according to his compassion and many kindnesses.
8 He said, “Surely they are my people,
    children who will be true to me”;
    and so he became their Savior.
9 In all their distress he too was distressed,
    and the angel of his presence saved them.[c]
In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
    he lifted them up and carried them
    all the days of old.
10 Yet they rebelled
    and grieved his Holy Spirit.
So he turned and became their enemy
    and he himself fought against them.
11 Then his people recalled[d] the days of old,
    the days of Moses and his people—
where is he who brought them through the sea,
    with the shepherd of his flock?
Where is he who set
    his Holy Spirit among them,
12 who sent his glorious arm of power
    to be at Moses’ right hand,
who divided the waters before them,
    to gain for himself everlasting renown,
13 who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in open country,
    they did not stumble;
14 like cattle that go down to the plain,
    they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord.
This is how you guided your people
    to make for yourself a glorious name.
15 Look down from heaven and see,
    from your lofty throne, holy and glorious.
Where are your zeal and your might?
    Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us.
16 But you are our Father,
    though Abraham does not know us
    or Israel acknowledge us;
you, Lord, are our Father,
    our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17 Why, Lord, do you make us wander from your ways
    and harden our hearts so we do not revere you?
Return for the sake of your servants,
    the tribes that are your inheritance.
18 For a little while your people possessed your holy place,
    but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary.
19 We are yours from of old;
    but you have not ruled over them,
    they have not been called[e] by your name.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Ephesians 4:17-32

Instructions for Christian Living

17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Momma’s Rules

May 3, 2013 — by Bill Crowder

Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt. —Ephesians 4:22

I met a delightful woman named “Momma Charlie,” who has raised a dozen or so foster kids. These youngsters were assigned to her by the courts, and she gave them a home with stability, guidance, and love. She told me that every time a new child arrived, the first order of business was to explain “Momma’s Rules.” These included behavioral standards, plus chores that would provide much-needed help in the busy household while teaching accountability to kids with little previous training.

Some of the children may have balked at “Momma’s Rules,” thinking they were robbing them of fun or pleasure—yet nothing would be further from the truth. Those standards allowed for an orderly household where both Momma and the children could find life enjoyable and peaceful.

Similarly, some look at the standards God set forth in the Bible as obstacles that prevent us from enjoying life. However, the boundaries God places actually protect us from our worst inclinations and foster healthy responses to Him.

In Ephesians 4, for example, Paul provides some guidance for how we are to live. As we live by these and other loving instructions from God, we find protection and the opportunity for true, lasting joy.

Father, thank You for the boundaries of life that
protect us from sin and from ourselves. Give us
the wisdom and grace to respond gratefully to
Your Word in areas of danger and temptation.
God’s Word is the compass that keeps us on course.


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

Vital Intercession

. . . praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit . . . —Ephesians 6:18

As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought. The danger in this is that we begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting up to a totally different level in direct answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from our close identification with God’s interest and concern for others and step into having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone. We have then put our sympathy and concern for them in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.

It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God. And the greatest destroyer of that confident relationship to God, so necessary for intercession, is our own personal sympathy and preconceived bias. Identification with God is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is because of our sympathy with others, not because of sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with God, but sympathy will. It is sympathy with ourselves or with others that makes us say, “I will not allow that thing to happen.” And instantly we are out of that vital connection with God.

Vital intercession leaves you with neither the time nor the inclination to pray for your own “sad and pitiful self.” You do not have to struggle to keep thoughts of yourself out, because they are not even there to be kept out of your thinking. You are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests and concerns in other lives. God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

I Want To Take a Friend - #6865

Friday, May 3, 2013

In the good old days, that's when our children were little, my wife and I could just decide we were going to go away for the weekend and we'd announce to them where we were going, bundle them into the car and take off. Well, when they got to be teenagers that got to be a little more complicated. Their vote would count a lot more as far as the decision-making process went.

Okay, I would describe this wonderful trip that I had planned, and then they would bring up that very familiar teenage issue no matter how good the trip sounded, "How about my friend? I can't be away from my friends!" And then we would hear this strong appeal from them, "I want to take a friend." Well, depending on where you're going, that just might be a tremendous idea.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "I Want To Take a Friend."

Our word for today from the Word of God; it's in John chapter 1. I'm going to begin reading at verse 40, "Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who had heard what John had said about Jesus and had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother, Simon, and tell him, 'We have found the Messiah, that is the Christ!' (And then I love these words.) And he brought him to Jesus."

Andrew's first response was to think of a specific person he wanted to bring to Jesus. Let me ask you, "Do you have somebody like that?" Andrew had a specific burden for a specific person. It was a burden with a name. It happened to be his brother, Simon. He knew who he wanted to reach.

The problem with our concern for lost people is that often it's kind of general, unfocused, and it's mostly talk and not very much action. Oh, we have a burden for the lost that says, "Lord, reach the unsaved. Help the lost wherever they may be and whoever they may be." A burden for the lost, though, usually goes nowhere until it has a name. Andrew knew that. He knew who he wanted to bring to Jesus. So should you! So should I!

I often ask young people to make a list of four names; four people in their world that they think are not right now headed for heaven, but people they'd really like to see in heaven when they get there. Then slowly through a step-by-step process I ask them to get it down to one person; the one person that they're most going to look for when they get to heaven. "Oh, man, I hope Kim is here. I hope Bill is here." Who is that person you want to see in heaven?

What happens if you say, "Jesus, is Kim here? Is Bill here?" And He says, "Oh, did you bring him? Did you bring her?" Would you commit yourself to do whatever it takes to share Christ with that friend? Picture yourself holding Jesus in one hand and that friend in the other, and being the one bringing them together. We can't just sit in our little Christian cocoon and allow our love for the lost to just be sterile, and general, and theological.

Focus your life, focus your influence, focus your love on one person that God lays on your heart. Pray by name for that person every day. Look for open doors; pray for open doors to share with them. When my teenagers knew that they were going to a special place, they usually wanted to take a friend. Well, you are going to the most special place of all. Who is the friend you want to take with you?

Your life takes on a whole new urgency, a whole new importance, a whole new excitement when you think about heaven and you say to Jesus, "I want to take a friend."