Before you say amen-comes the power of a simple prayer! A prayer that says, "Father I need your power in my life. I face impossible circumstances and am desperate for a miracle. Would you show me your power in my life today? God, for those who have a small view of you, help them to find comfort in the knowledge of how mighty and enormous you actually are. Thank you for sending your Son. It's in the all-powerful name of Jesus that I pray, amen."
Here's my invitation to you today! Release that prayer wimp self-image you have and discover confidence in your God-given prayer strength. Sign on at BeforeAmen.com-take the brief Prayer Strengths Assessment. It'll not only encourage you-it'll give you a simple building block for your growth in prayer!
Before Amen
The Complaints of Miriam and Aaron
While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite woman. 2 They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?” But the Lord heard them. 3 (Now Moses was very humble—more humble than any other person on earth.)
4 So immediately the Lord called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle,[a] all three of you!” So the three of them went to the Tabernacle. 5 Then the Lord descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle.[b] “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward. 6 And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say:
“If there were prophets among you,
I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions.
I would speak to them in dreams.
7 But not with my servant Moses.
Of all my house, he is the one I trust.
8 I speak to him face to face,
clearly, and not in riddles!
He sees the Lord as he is.
So why were you not afraid
to criticize my servant Moses?”
9 The Lord was very angry with them, and he departed. 10 As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from leprosy.[c] When Aaron saw what had happened to her, 11 he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Don’t let her be like a stillborn baby, already decayed at birth.”
13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!”
14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had done nothing more than spit in her face, wouldn’t she be defiled for seven days? So keep her outside the camp for seven days, and after that she may be accepted back.”
15 So Miriam was kept outside the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back before they traveled again. 16 Then they left Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Read: Isaiah 40:21-31
Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand?
Are you deaf to the words of God—
the words he gave before the world began?
Are you so ignorant?
22 God sits above the circle of the earth.
The people below seem like grasshoppers to him!
He spreads out the heavens like a curtain
and makes his tent from them.
23 He judges the great people of the world
and brings them all to nothing.
24 They hardly get started, barely taking root,
when he blows on them and they wither.
The wind carries them off like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me?
Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up into the heavens.
Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
not a single one is missing.
27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
The Final Picture
By Julie Ackerman Link
Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things. —Isaiah 40:26
What started as an empty 11-acre field in Belfast, Northern Ireland, ended up as the largest land portrait in the British Isles. Wish, by artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, is made from 30,000 wooden pegs, 2,000 tons of soil, 2,000 tons of sand, and miscellaneous items such as grass, stones, and string.
At the beginning, only the artist knew what the final artwork was going to look like. He hired workers and recruited volunteers to haul materials and move them into place. As they worked, they saw little indication that something amazing was about to emerge. But it did. From the ground, it doesn’t look like much. But from above, viewers see a huge portrait—the smiling face of a little girl.
 |
| Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada |
While sometimes I think I can see the big picture,
Lord, my heart knows it sees so little. I’m
thankful that You are working out Your beautiful
will in this world, and I can trust You.
God is using us to help create a masterpiece.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
The Changed Life
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17
What understanding do you have of the salvation of your soul? The work of salvation means that in your real life things are dramatically changed. You no longer look at things in the same way. Your desires are new and the old things have lost their power to attract you. One of the tests for determining if the work of salvation in your life is genuine is— has God changed the things that really matter to you? If you still yearn for the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born from above— you are deceiving yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the change very evident in your real life and thought. And when a crisis comes, you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing change that is the very evidence that you are saved.
What difference has my salvation and sanctification made? For instance, can I stand in the light of 1 Corinthians 13 , or do I squirm and evade the issue? True salvation, worked out in me by the Holy Spirit, frees me completely. And as long as I “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7), God sees nothing to rebuke because His life is working itself into every detailed part of my being, not on the conscious level, but even deeper than my consciousness.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Tampering with the Pole that Holds it Up - #7263
The baby in the family! Now the baby in our family happens to be a boy. Today he is far from that baby, in fact he's a father himself. But we have this one photo that we all associate with his childhood which we love to bring up to him over and over again. It's our favorite; it's his un-favorite. He's about two years old. He's in our back yard, and he's standing next to our camping tent that has collapsed on the ground. In one hand he's holding a tent pole about twice his size. And he's holding his other hand against the side of the tent, looking totally bewildered. He's got this pitiful expression that says, "What have I done?" He was only playing with the pole and the whole thing came crashing down. And I hope he's listening today.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Tampering with the Pole that Holds You Up."
Well our word for today from the Word of God comes from Malachi 2, beginning at verse 13. It says, "You flood the Lord's altar with tears. You weep and wail because He no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. And you ask, ‘Why?'" Okay see, these people are at the altar. They're dedicating their lives. They're re-dedicating their lives. They're wondering why God isn't responding to them.
He says, "It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself and your spirits, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. ‘I hate divorce,' says the Lord God."
Well the Lord is saying here that it's the lifetime commitment between a man and woman that is the pole that holds up the whole tent. You remove that pole and it breaks down the relationship with God. It risks the spiritual welfare of a vulnerable child. See, God takes divorce, obviously, very seriously. Society used to, but of course that changed. The church used to but that's pretty much changing. And within the church at large, it seems the acceptable reasons for divorce have gotten broader and broader. And the more acceptable it becomes, the more likely it becomes that more people will choose that option.
The problem is that when you're left with the pole of lifetime marriage, the whole tent comes down. Keeping those vows is what supports the raising of children who love Jesus. They want to know that the love they came from is still going strong. I remember when that same little child, the baby I described to you, would get between my wife and me, come between us suddenly when we were hugging each other, and he'd look up at us and go, "mommy, daddy, can I be in the middle of your love?" that's where our kids are supposed to grow up, in the middle of our love. When they don't see the love they came from still going strong they get lost sometimes. See those marriage vows also support the church, they support our culture.
Married or not, let's take divorce as seriously as God does and not find ourselves encouraging a decision that goes against what God has said. If you are married, make it your choice there is no back door on this marriage. Divorce is not one of our choices. You will not allow an ounce of your energy to go into a possible exit scenario. Not an option.
Maybe you need a new start. But in this marriage, not in another marriage. If you are divorced, yeah, know that God hates divorce but He doesn't hate divorced people. And God is the God of new beginnings. He said "if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation...A new life has begun." Use your experience to help people heal their marriages and not to end them.
A bewildered two-year-old boy in our back yard didn't know what he was tampering with when he removed that tent pole. Well, don't ever get into a position where you're standing there with a collapsed marriage at your feet saying, "What have I done?"
God has made it clear that lifetime marriage holds up a lot of things that matter. So your marriage vows and your marriage...they're really worth fighting for.
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