Max Lucado Daily: God in a Real World ·
God calls us in a real world. He doesn’t communicate by performing tricks. He’s not a genie, a magician, a good luck charm, or the man upstairs. He is the Creator of the universe who is right here in the thick of our day-to-day world.
And God speaks in our world. We just have to learn to hear him. Listen for him amidst the ordinary. Do you need affirmation of his care? Let the daily sunrise proclaim his loyalty. Could you use an example of his power? Spend an evening reading how your body works. Are you wondering if his Word is reliable? Make a list of the fulfilled prophecies in the Bible and promises in your life.
Don’t they say only two things in life are certain: death and taxes? Knowing God, he may speak through something as common as the second to give you the answer for the first!
From And the Angels Were Silent
Luke 11:29-54
The Sign of Jonah
As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, “This evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah. 30 What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man[a] will be a sign to these people that he was sent by God.
31 “The queen of Sheba[b] will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen. 32 The people of Nineveh will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.
Receiving the Light
33 “No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket.[c] Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house.
34 “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is bad, your body is filled with darkness. 35 Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. 36 If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”
Jesus Criticizes the Religious Leaders
37 As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table.[d] 38 His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. 39 Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! 40 Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? 41 So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.
42 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens,[e] but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.
43 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. 44 Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”
45 “Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”
46 “Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. 47 What sorrow awaits you! For you build monuments for the prophets your own ancestors killed long ago. 48 But in fact, you stand as witnesses who agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you join in their crime by building the monuments! 49 This is what God in his wisdom said about you:[f] ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others.’
50 “As a result, this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world— 51 from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will certainly be charged against this generation.
52 “What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”
53 As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions. 54 They wanted to trap him into saying something they could use against him.
Footnotes:
11:30 “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
11:31 Greek The queen of the south.
11:33 Some manuscripts do not include or puts it under a basket.
11:37 Or and reclined.
11:42 Greek tithe the mint, the rue, and every herb.
11:49 Greek Therefore, the wisdom of God said.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Read: Psalm 32:1-5
A psalm[a] of David.
Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
2 Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,[b]
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
3 When I refused to confess my sin,
my body wasted away,
and I groaned all day long.
4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.
My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude
5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”
And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Interlude
Footnotes:
32:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
32:2 Greek version reads of sin. Compare Rom 4:8.
INSIGHT: Psalm 32 is one of seven penitential psalms (Pss. 6,32,38,51,102, 130,143)—psalms that speak of confessing sins and turning to the Lord for His mercy and forgiveness. After repenting from his sins of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, David penned Psalms 32 and 51.
In Psalm 32, David speaks of the blessedness of confession and repentance. He celebrates the forgiveness that he has received (vv.1-2), and encourages sinners to seek the Lord and repent lest they too receive discipline from the Lord (vv.3-6). Those who repent will have their guilt replaced by joy and their groaning replaced by rejoicing. The Lord's unfailing love surrounds the repentant sinner (vv.10-11).
Catching Up With Us
By Dave Branon
When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning. —Psalm 32:3
A pastor told this story on himself in his local newspaper. He was chatting with an older man to whom he had just been introduced. “So, you used to work for a utility company,” the pastor said, naming the organization. “Sure did,” the man responded. The pastor remarked that when he was a kid the cables from that company ran across his parents’ property. “Where did you live?” the man asked. When the pastor told him, the man said, “I remember that property. I had a tough time keeping the cable warning signs up. Kids were always shooting them down.” When the pastor’s face flushed with embarrassment, the man said, “You were one of the shooters, weren’t you?” And indeed he was.
The pastor labeled his confessional story: “Be sure your signs will find you out,” a clever play on Moses’ words in Numbers 32:23: “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
Old wrongs have a way of catching up with us. And old sins that have not been dealt with can lead to serious consequences. As David laments in Psalm 32: “When I kept silent, my bones grew old.” But confessing our wrong restores our fellowship with the Lord: “I acknowledged my sin to You . . . and You forgave the iniquity of my sin” (v.5). Through confession, we can enjoy God’s forgiveness.
Dear Lord, it’s time to come clean with You.
I’ve held on to _____________ for too long.
Thank You that this sin is under the blood of
Christ. Restore me to fellowship with You.
Christians can erase from their memory what God has erased from the record.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, February 28, 2015
“Do You Now Believe?”
"By this we believe…." Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?" —John 16:30-31
“Now we believe….” But Jesus asks, “Do you…? Indeed the hour is coming…that you…will leave Me alone” (John 16:31-32). Many Christian workers have left Jesus Christ alone and yet tried to serve Him out of a sense of duty, or because they sense a need as a result of their own discernment. The reason for this is actually the absence of the resurrection life of Jesus. Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact with God by leaning on our own religious understanding (see Proverbs 3:5-6). This is not deliberate sin and there is no punishment attached to it. But once a person realizes how he has hindered his understanding of Jesus Christ, and caused uncertainties, sorrows, and difficulties for himself, it is with shame and remorse that he has to return.
We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus on a much deeper level than we do now. We should get in the habit of continually seeking His counsel on everything, instead of making our own commonsense decisions and then asking Him to bless them. He cannot bless them; it is not in His realm to do so, and those decisions are severed from reality. If we do something simply out of a sense of duty, we are trying to live up to a standard that competes with Jesus Christ. We become a prideful, arrogant person, thinking we know what to do in every situation. We have put our sense of duty on the throne of our life, instead of enthroning the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to “walk in the light” of our conscience or in the light of a sense of duty, but to “walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasons for our actions to others. But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation— just obedience. That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
Joshua 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: On-and-Off Salvation
On-and-off salvation never appears in the Bible. Scripture contains no example of a person who was saved, then lost, then re-saved, then lost again. Where there is no assurance of salvation, there is no peace; no joy. Is this the life God creates? God's grace creates a confident soul who declares, I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
1 John 5:13 says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." Trust God's hold on you! His faithfulness does not depend on yours. His performance is not predicated on yours. His love is not contingent on your own. Your candle may flicker-but it will not expire!
From GRACE
Joshua 21
The Towns Given to the Levites
Then the leaders of the tribe of Levi came to consult with Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the other tribes of Israel. 2 They came to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us towns to live in and pasturelands for our livestock.” 3 So by the command of the Lord the people of Israel gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own grants of land.
4 The descendants of Aaron, who were members of the Kohathite clan within the tribe of Levi, were allotted thirteen towns that were originally assigned to the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. 5 The other families of the Kohathite clan were allotted ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
6 The clan of Gershon was allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
7 The clan of Merari was allotted twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.
8 So the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s command to Moses and assigned these towns and pasturelands to the Levites by casting sacred lots.
9 The Israelites gave the following towns from the tribes of Judah and Simeon 10 to the descendants of Aaron, who were members of the Kohathite clan within the tribe of Levi, since the sacred lot fell to them first: 11 Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, along with its surrounding pasturelands. (Arba was an ancestor of Anak.) 12 But the open fields beyond the town and the surrounding villages were given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.
13 The following towns with their pasturelands were given to the descendants of Aaron the priest: Hebron (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Libnah, 14 Jattir, Eshtemoa, 15 Holon, Debir, 16 Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine towns from these two tribes.
17 From the tribe of Benjamin the priests were given the following towns with their pasturelands: Gibeon, Geba, 18 Anathoth, and Almon—four towns. 19 So in all, thirteen towns with their pasturelands were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
20 The rest of the Kohathite clan from the tribe of Levi was allotted the following towns and pasturelands from the tribe of Ephraim: 21 Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Gezer, 22 Kibzaim, and Beth-horon—four towns.
23 The following towns and pasturelands were allotted to the priests from the tribe of Dan: Eltekeh, Gibbethon, 24 Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon—four towns.
25 The half-tribe of Manasseh allotted the following towns with their pasturelands to the priests: Taanach and Gath-rimmon—two towns. 26 So in all, ten towns with their pasturelands were given to the rest of the Kohathite clan.
27 The descendants of Gershon, another clan within the tribe of Levi, received the following towns with their pasturelands from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone) and Be-eshterah—two towns.
28 From the tribe of Issachar they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Kishion, Daberath, 29 Jarmuth, and En-gannim—four towns.
30 From the tribe of Asher they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Mishal, Abdon, 31 Helkath, and Rehob—four towns.
32 From the tribe of Naphtali they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three towns. 33 So in all, thirteen towns with their pasturelands were allotted to the clan of Gershon.
34 The rest of the Levites—the Merari clan—were given the following towns with their pasturelands from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam, Kartah, 35 Dimnah, and Nahalal—four towns.
36 From the tribe of Reuben they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Bezer, Jahaz,[g] 37 Kedemoth, and Mephaath—four towns.
38 From the tribe of Gad they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Ramoth in Gilead (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Mahanaim, 39 Heshbon, and Jazer—four towns. 40 So in all, twelve towns were allotted to the clan of Merari.
41 The total number of towns and pasturelands within Israelite territory given to the Levites came to forty-eight. 42 Every one of these towns had pasturelands surrounding it.
43 So the Lord gave to Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the Lord helped them conquer all their enemies. 45 Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true.
21:36 Hebrew Jahzah, a variant spelling of Jahaz.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, February 27, 2015
Read: Daniel 6:1-10
Daniel in the Lions’ Den
[a]Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. 2 The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. 3 Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire.
4 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. 5 So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”
6 So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! 7 We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. 8 And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” 9 So King Darius signed the law.
10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.
Footnotes:
6:1 Verses 6:1-28 are numbered 6:2-29 in Aramaic text.
INSIGHT: Daniel's three friends were thrown into the fiery furnace (Dan. 3), and Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den (ch. 6). These stories teach us that God is in control, even when it doesn’t look like it, and we can trust Him.
A Consistent Life
By David C. McCasland
A Consistent Life
He knelt down on his knees . . . and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. —Daniel 6:10
While studying the book of Daniel, I was struck by how easily he could have avoided being thrown into the den of lions. Daniel’s jealous rivals in the government of Babylon laid a trap based on his consistent practice of daily prayer to God (Dan. 6:1-9). Daniel was fully aware of their plot and could have decided to pray privately for a month until things settled down. But that was not the kind of person he was.
“When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days” (v.10). Daniel did not panic, nor bargain with God. Instead, he continued “just as he had done before” (v.10 niv). He was not intimidated by the pressure of persecution.
The lesson for me was the power of Daniel’s life of consistent devotion to the Lord. His strength came from God, whom Daniel wanted to please every day. When a crisis came, Daniel didn’t need to change his daily practice to meet it. He simply stayed committed to his God.
Father, I want to stand for You when persecution
comes as Daniel did. Give me that same bold
commitment to pray and not to be ashamed of
knowing You. Help me to live my faith publicly.
God empowers us to stand for Him as we bow to pray.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, February 27, 2015
The Impoverished Ministry of Jesus
Where then do You get that living water? —John 4:11
“The well is deep” — and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! (John 4:11). Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth of the “wells” in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the ministry of Jesus to the point that He is unable to work in your life? Suppose that you have a deep “well” of hurt and trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says to you, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:1). Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, “But, Lord, the well is too deep, and even You can’t draw up quietness and comfort out of it.” Actually, that is correct. Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from the wells of human nature— He brings them down from above. We limit the Holy One of Israel by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and also by saying, “Of course, I cannot expect God to do this particular thing.” The thing that approaches the very limits of His power is the very thing we as disciples of Jesus ought to believe He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in us the moment we forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but we refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.
The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, February 27, 2015
Making Sure You'll be in Heaven - #7340
Well, all of us airline passengers have just squeezed down that narrow aisle to our seats, and everyone is just getting settled in. The ground agent came on board and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a destination check. This is Flight 305 to Atlanta." The next part is what I love. It's so diplomatic it's almost ridiculous. "If Atlanta is not in your travel plans for today, this would be a good time for you to exit the aircraft." In other words, "Hey, Pal, make sure this flight is going where you want to end up!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Making Sure You'll be in Heaven."
It doesn't matter how nice the plane is, how nice the people are, how sure you are that this is the right one, if it isn't going where you want to go, you can't afford to be on it. That's obvious when it comes to our travel destination. It should be obvious when it comes to our eternal destination.
There was a survey that found that a majority of Americans thought their destination when they die will be heaven. Since this is the one thing you can't afford to be wrong about, there's an important question that those folks need to consider. All of us do. "I think I'm going to heaven." Really? Based on what? On what can you base your eternal expectations? How nice you are? How nice your religion is? How much you think this ought to be the way to get to God? It's not true for airplane flights, and it's not true for getting to God and to His heaven.
Only God can tell us how to get to Him. What He said and only what He said is the final word. Everybody else is guessing. Here it is in the words of Jesus Christ himself. Our word for today from the Word of God in John 3:3, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." Now, those two words have been overused, they've been misused, they've been abused, "born again."
But the words "born again" weren't invented by some cult or even by some religion. It was the Son of God himself who told us that that's the way to give ourselves a destination check; to see if in fact I'm going to heaven when my heart has beaten for the last time. You've got to ask, "Are you born again?"
The Bible explains just two chapters earlier how you can be born again. Speaking of Jesus it says, "To all who received Him, to those who believed in Him, He gave them the right to become children of God." You have to be born into His family to be His child just like you were born into your earth family. And you are born again at the moment you "receive Jesus." What does that mean? That means opening up to Him, welcoming Him into your life.
And then it says, "when you believe in Him." That's totally putting your trust in Him as your only ticket to God's heaven. No trust in my religion. No trust in my goodness. No trust in all the things that I have done in my life. No, I am placing all my hopes on the man who died for my sin. I have no hope placed in anything else. It's like a drowning person grabbing a lifeguard, "You are my only hope."
Why is that? Well, it's because your sin will keep you out of heaven. That's what will keep you out. Sin carries a death penalty according to the Bible. The Bible calls it hell. And only Jesus could, and only Jesus did die to pay that death penalty so you don't have to. That's how much He loves you. So only He can remove your sin from God's records. And only people with their sin forgiven can enter God's sinless heaven.
Jesus left no room for any questions. He said in John 3:5, "You must be born again." You have no more important thing in your life to do than to make sure you have boarded the flight that's going to heaven, to be sure you have told Jesus, "I'm putting all my faith in You alone to forgive my sin and get me to heaven." Only He died to make it possible. Only He walked out of his grave to prove He can give eternal life.
Have you ever begun that relationship with Him? Have you ever grabbed Him in total trust and said, "Jesus, I'm yours." If not, let this be your day. I'd love to help you get that settled if you'd just visit our website today and let me walk you through how to begin that relationship. It's ANewStory.com.
If you're trusting anyone or anything other than Jesus to get you where you want to go, don't stay on that flight to disaster. That's the deadliest mistake you can make. Today there's still time to change and get on the only flight where God says the destination is His heaven.
On-and-off salvation never appears in the Bible. Scripture contains no example of a person who was saved, then lost, then re-saved, then lost again. Where there is no assurance of salvation, there is no peace; no joy. Is this the life God creates? God's grace creates a confident soul who declares, I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
1 John 5:13 says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." Trust God's hold on you! His faithfulness does not depend on yours. His performance is not predicated on yours. His love is not contingent on your own. Your candle may flicker-but it will not expire!
From GRACE
Joshua 21
The Towns Given to the Levites
Then the leaders of the tribe of Levi came to consult with Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the other tribes of Israel. 2 They came to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us towns to live in and pasturelands for our livestock.” 3 So by the command of the Lord the people of Israel gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own grants of land.
4 The descendants of Aaron, who were members of the Kohathite clan within the tribe of Levi, were allotted thirteen towns that were originally assigned to the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. 5 The other families of the Kohathite clan were allotted ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
6 The clan of Gershon was allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
7 The clan of Merari was allotted twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.
8 So the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s command to Moses and assigned these towns and pasturelands to the Levites by casting sacred lots.
9 The Israelites gave the following towns from the tribes of Judah and Simeon 10 to the descendants of Aaron, who were members of the Kohathite clan within the tribe of Levi, since the sacred lot fell to them first: 11 Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, along with its surrounding pasturelands. (Arba was an ancestor of Anak.) 12 But the open fields beyond the town and the surrounding villages were given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.
13 The following towns with their pasturelands were given to the descendants of Aaron the priest: Hebron (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Libnah, 14 Jattir, Eshtemoa, 15 Holon, Debir, 16 Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine towns from these two tribes.
17 From the tribe of Benjamin the priests were given the following towns with their pasturelands: Gibeon, Geba, 18 Anathoth, and Almon—four towns. 19 So in all, thirteen towns with their pasturelands were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
20 The rest of the Kohathite clan from the tribe of Levi was allotted the following towns and pasturelands from the tribe of Ephraim: 21 Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Gezer, 22 Kibzaim, and Beth-horon—four towns.
23 The following towns and pasturelands were allotted to the priests from the tribe of Dan: Eltekeh, Gibbethon, 24 Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon—four towns.
25 The half-tribe of Manasseh allotted the following towns with their pasturelands to the priests: Taanach and Gath-rimmon—two towns. 26 So in all, ten towns with their pasturelands were given to the rest of the Kohathite clan.
27 The descendants of Gershon, another clan within the tribe of Levi, received the following towns with their pasturelands from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone) and Be-eshterah—two towns.
28 From the tribe of Issachar they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Kishion, Daberath, 29 Jarmuth, and En-gannim—four towns.
30 From the tribe of Asher they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Mishal, Abdon, 31 Helkath, and Rehob—four towns.
32 From the tribe of Naphtali they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three towns. 33 So in all, thirteen towns with their pasturelands were allotted to the clan of Gershon.
34 The rest of the Levites—the Merari clan—were given the following towns with their pasturelands from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam, Kartah, 35 Dimnah, and Nahalal—four towns.
36 From the tribe of Reuben they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Bezer, Jahaz,[g] 37 Kedemoth, and Mephaath—four towns.
38 From the tribe of Gad they received the following towns with their pasturelands: Ramoth in Gilead (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Mahanaim, 39 Heshbon, and Jazer—four towns. 40 So in all, twelve towns were allotted to the clan of Merari.
41 The total number of towns and pasturelands within Israelite territory given to the Levites came to forty-eight. 42 Every one of these towns had pasturelands surrounding it.
43 So the Lord gave to Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the Lord helped them conquer all their enemies. 45 Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true.
21:36 Hebrew Jahzah, a variant spelling of Jahaz.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, February 27, 2015
Read: Daniel 6:1-10
Daniel in the Lions’ Den
[a]Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. 2 The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. 3 Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire.
4 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. 5 So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”
6 So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! 7 We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. 8 And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” 9 So King Darius signed the law.
10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.
Footnotes:
6:1 Verses 6:1-28 are numbered 6:2-29 in Aramaic text.
INSIGHT: Daniel's three friends were thrown into the fiery furnace (Dan. 3), and Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den (ch. 6). These stories teach us that God is in control, even when it doesn’t look like it, and we can trust Him.
A Consistent Life
By David C. McCasland
A Consistent Life
He knelt down on his knees . . . and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. —Daniel 6:10
While studying the book of Daniel, I was struck by how easily he could have avoided being thrown into the den of lions. Daniel’s jealous rivals in the government of Babylon laid a trap based on his consistent practice of daily prayer to God (Dan. 6:1-9). Daniel was fully aware of their plot and could have decided to pray privately for a month until things settled down. But that was not the kind of person he was.
“When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days” (v.10). Daniel did not panic, nor bargain with God. Instead, he continued “just as he had done before” (v.10 niv). He was not intimidated by the pressure of persecution.
The lesson for me was the power of Daniel’s life of consistent devotion to the Lord. His strength came from God, whom Daniel wanted to please every day. When a crisis came, Daniel didn’t need to change his daily practice to meet it. He simply stayed committed to his God.
Father, I want to stand for You when persecution
comes as Daniel did. Give me that same bold
commitment to pray and not to be ashamed of
knowing You. Help me to live my faith publicly.
God empowers us to stand for Him as we bow to pray.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, February 27, 2015
The Impoverished Ministry of Jesus
Where then do You get that living water? —John 4:11
“The well is deep” — and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! (John 4:11). Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth of the “wells” in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the ministry of Jesus to the point that He is unable to work in your life? Suppose that you have a deep “well” of hurt and trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says to you, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:1). Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, “But, Lord, the well is too deep, and even You can’t draw up quietness and comfort out of it.” Actually, that is correct. Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from the wells of human nature— He brings them down from above. We limit the Holy One of Israel by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and also by saying, “Of course, I cannot expect God to do this particular thing.” The thing that approaches the very limits of His power is the very thing we as disciples of Jesus ought to believe He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in us the moment we forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but we refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.
The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, February 27, 2015
Making Sure You'll be in Heaven - #7340
Well, all of us airline passengers have just squeezed down that narrow aisle to our seats, and everyone is just getting settled in. The ground agent came on board and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a destination check. This is Flight 305 to Atlanta." The next part is what I love. It's so diplomatic it's almost ridiculous. "If Atlanta is not in your travel plans for today, this would be a good time for you to exit the aircraft." In other words, "Hey, Pal, make sure this flight is going where you want to end up!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Making Sure You'll be in Heaven."
It doesn't matter how nice the plane is, how nice the people are, how sure you are that this is the right one, if it isn't going where you want to go, you can't afford to be on it. That's obvious when it comes to our travel destination. It should be obvious when it comes to our eternal destination.
There was a survey that found that a majority of Americans thought their destination when they die will be heaven. Since this is the one thing you can't afford to be wrong about, there's an important question that those folks need to consider. All of us do. "I think I'm going to heaven." Really? Based on what? On what can you base your eternal expectations? How nice you are? How nice your religion is? How much you think this ought to be the way to get to God? It's not true for airplane flights, and it's not true for getting to God and to His heaven.
Only God can tell us how to get to Him. What He said and only what He said is the final word. Everybody else is guessing. Here it is in the words of Jesus Christ himself. Our word for today from the Word of God in John 3:3, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." Now, those two words have been overused, they've been misused, they've been abused, "born again."
But the words "born again" weren't invented by some cult or even by some religion. It was the Son of God himself who told us that that's the way to give ourselves a destination check; to see if in fact I'm going to heaven when my heart has beaten for the last time. You've got to ask, "Are you born again?"
The Bible explains just two chapters earlier how you can be born again. Speaking of Jesus it says, "To all who received Him, to those who believed in Him, He gave them the right to become children of God." You have to be born into His family to be His child just like you were born into your earth family. And you are born again at the moment you "receive Jesus." What does that mean? That means opening up to Him, welcoming Him into your life.
And then it says, "when you believe in Him." That's totally putting your trust in Him as your only ticket to God's heaven. No trust in my religion. No trust in my goodness. No trust in all the things that I have done in my life. No, I am placing all my hopes on the man who died for my sin. I have no hope placed in anything else. It's like a drowning person grabbing a lifeguard, "You are my only hope."
Why is that? Well, it's because your sin will keep you out of heaven. That's what will keep you out. Sin carries a death penalty according to the Bible. The Bible calls it hell. And only Jesus could, and only Jesus did die to pay that death penalty so you don't have to. That's how much He loves you. So only He can remove your sin from God's records. And only people with their sin forgiven can enter God's sinless heaven.
Jesus left no room for any questions. He said in John 3:5, "You must be born again." You have no more important thing in your life to do than to make sure you have boarded the flight that's going to heaven, to be sure you have told Jesus, "I'm putting all my faith in You alone to forgive my sin and get me to heaven." Only He died to make it possible. Only He walked out of his grave to prove He can give eternal life.
Have you ever begun that relationship with Him? Have you ever grabbed Him in total trust and said, "Jesus, I'm yours." If not, let this be your day. I'd love to help you get that settled if you'd just visit our website today and let me walk you through how to begin that relationship. It's ANewStory.com.
If you're trusting anyone or anything other than Jesus to get you where you want to go, don't stay on that flight to disaster. That's the deadliest mistake you can make. Today there's still time to change and get on the only flight where God says the destination is His heaven.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Joshua 20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Grace-A Never Ending Supply
Grace is simply another word for God's tumbling, rumbling reservoir of strength and protection. Grace comes to us not occasionally or miserly but constantly and aggressively, wave upon wave. We've barely regained our balance from one breaker, and then, bam, here comes another. John 1:16 calls it "Grace upon grace."
We dare to stake our hope on the gladdest news of all! If God permits the challenge, he will provide the grace to meet it. We never exhaust his supply. He never says, "Stop asking so much! My grace reservoir is running dry." Heaven knows no such words. God has enough grace to solve every dilemma you face, wipe every tear you cry, and answer every question you ask. Would we expect anything less from God? Having given the supreme and costliest gift, Romans 8:32 says, "How can He fail to lavish upon us all He has to give?"
From GRACE
Joshua 20
The Cities of Refuge
The Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Now tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed Moses. 3 Anyone who kills another person accidentally and unintentionally can run to one of these cities; they will be places of refuge from relatives seeking revenge for the person who was killed.
4 “Upon reaching one of these cities, the one who caused the death will appear before the elders at the city gate and present his case. They must allow him to enter the city and give him a place to live among them. 5 If the relatives of the victim come to avenge the killing, the leaders must not release the slayer to them, for he killed the other person unintentionally and without previous hostility. 6 But the slayer must stay in that city and be tried by the local assembly, which will render a judgment. And he must continue to live in that city until the death of the high priest who was in office at the time of the accident. After that, he is free to return to his own home in the town from which he fled.”
7 The following cities were designated as cities of refuge: Kedesh of Galilee, in the hill country of Naphtali; Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim; and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), in the hill country of Judah. 8 On the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho, the following cities were designated: Bezer, in the wilderness plain of the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead, in the territory of the tribe of Gad; and Golan in Bashan, in the land of the tribe of Manasseh. 9 These cities were set apart for all the Israelites as well as the foreigners living among them. Anyone who accidentally killed another person could take refuge in one of these cities. In this way, they could escape being killed in revenge prior to standing trial before the local assembly.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Read: Acts 17:16-23
Paul Preaches in Athens
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. 17 He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.
18 He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.”
19 Then they took him to the high council of the city.[a] “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. 20 “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” 21 (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)
22 So Paul, standing before the council,[b] addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.
Footnotes:
17:19 Or the most learned society of philosophers in the city. Greek reads the Areopagus.
17:22 Traditionally rendered standing in the middle of Mars Hill; Greek reads standing in the middle of the Areopagus.
INSIGHT: The Areopagus (vv.19,22) was like an ancient philosophical think tank. There the wisest thinkers and philosophers of the day would assemble to wrestle with important ideas and teachings. This made it the ideal place for Paul to present the good news and teachings of Jesus.
Changed Perspective
By Randy Kilgore
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. —Acts 17:16
As an early riser, my wife enjoys the quiet moments before the house wakes up and uses it to read the Bible and pray. Recently she settled into her favorite chair, only to be confronted by a rather messy couch left there by “someone” watching a football game the night before. The mess distracted her at first, and her frustration with me interrupted the warmth of the moment.
Then a thought hit her, and she moved to the couch. From there, she could look out our front windows to the sun rising over the Atlantic Ocean. The beauty of the scene God painted that morning changed her perspective.
As she told me the story, we both recognized the lesson of the morning. While we can’t always control the things of life that impact our day, we do have a choice. We can continue to brood over the “mess,” or we can change our perspective. When Paul was in Athens, “he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols” (Acts 17:16 niv). But when he changed his perspective, he used their interest in religion as an opportunity to proclaim the true God, Jesus Christ (vv.22-23).
As my wife left for work, it was time for someone else to change his perspective—for me to let the Lord help me to see my messes through her eyes and His.
Dear Lord, grant us the wisdom to change
our perspective rather than linger over messes.
Help us to see—and fix—the “messes”
we make for others.
Wisdom is seeing things from God’s perspective.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Our Misgivings About Jesus
The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep." —John 4:11
Have you ever said to yourself, “I am impressed with the wonderful truths of God’s Word, but He can’t really expect me to live up to that and work all those details into my life!” When it comes to confronting Jesus Christ on the basis of His qualities and abilities, our attitudes reflect religious superiority. We think His ideals are lofty and they impress us, but we believe He is not in touch with reality— that what He says cannot actually be done. Each of us thinks this about Jesus in one area of our life or another. These doubts or misgivings about Jesus begin as we consider questions that divert our focus away from God. While we talk of our dealings with Him, others ask us, “Where are you going to get enough money to live? How will you live and who will take care of you?” Or our misgivings begin within ourselves when we tell Jesus that our circumstances are just a little too difficult for Him. We say, “It’s easy to say, ‘Trust in the Lord,’ but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water— no means to be able to give us these things.” And beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, “Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself.” If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. And our pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can’t.
My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly— “Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, February 26, 2015
The Price of Not Waiting - #7339
I had the opportunity some years ago to speak for some pilots organizations, and I've never piloted a plane. I'm always a passenger. But they wanted me to talk about peace and stress. And it was something I wrote a book about, so it worked out pretty well. In the process I met some guys who deal with FFA safety seminars. They told me some interesting things about what happens with some of the crashes that we might see in the news. They said that when a private pilot crashes, there's usually a study of that, and they start to compile case studies to help other pilots fly more safely.
I was told that one of the problems that causes a crash is something, well, their word was "get there-itis." It means you simply got to get to your destination no matter what. "Got to get there!" So, you push beyond the limits of safety. Maybe you think you can beat that storm, or put off the maintenance until we get back from your trip. Well, sadly, some never do.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Price of Not Waiting."
Our word for today from the Word of God begins in Psalm 37:5. "Commit your way to the Lord." "Your way" well, to me what does that mean? It's where I go, what I do, how I do it, and when I do it. "I'm giving all that to you today Lord." And then it says, "Trust in Him and He will do this. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." And then in verse 34, later it says, "Wait for the Lord and keep His way."
Now, if you've truly committed your way to the Lord; if you're really trusting Him to do what needs to be done, you'll be willing to wait. Did you get that word? Do you like that word? I don't. Wait. Someone said, "The hardest room in God's house to be in is the waiting room." I heard about a pastor who was pacing back and forth in his office. His secretary walked in. She said, "What's wrong?" He said, "I'm in a hurry and God isn't."
I think we all know that feeling. We know what we want. We know when we ought to have it, and we have a hard time waiting for God to do it in His time and in His way. So we end up with a delivery that's premature; not nearly as healthy as a full-term answer would be. The truth is, a lot of us are make-it-happen people, and we are afflicted with spiritual "get there-itis" and we're going to make it happen; goals that we have like a career goal, a financial goal, a marital goal, a goal for our children, a ministry goal. Sure we pray about it and we ask God for it. But when it seems like it's taking too long or it isn't going to happen we decide to give God a little help.
Well, there's our destination, so we take off after it before we should. It's called running ahead of God, usually because we think He's taking too long. We can't wait. That kind of impatience has probably been the cause of more God's will errors, more crashes in our lives, than anything else - impatience.
Maybe your loving Lord knows you're there right now. He sent this message today to be a bold, flashing sign that has four letters on it and they spell WAIT. Maybe you're tempted to run ahead of the Lord financially and get yourself in debt, a big debt. Maybe you're tempted to push your health farther than God intends or your agenda for getting a husband or a wife, your dreams for your career, even your vision for your ministry. Don't rush it! You'll ruin it.
Remember the words of the Bible, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." Look at all the crash sites of those who couldn't wait for God's timing. For the Scripture tells us "He makes everything beautiful in it's time." Get there-itis has already ruined too many people. No destination is worth risking a crash that could have been prevented by waiting.
Grace is simply another word for God's tumbling, rumbling reservoir of strength and protection. Grace comes to us not occasionally or miserly but constantly and aggressively, wave upon wave. We've barely regained our balance from one breaker, and then, bam, here comes another. John 1:16 calls it "Grace upon grace."
We dare to stake our hope on the gladdest news of all! If God permits the challenge, he will provide the grace to meet it. We never exhaust his supply. He never says, "Stop asking so much! My grace reservoir is running dry." Heaven knows no such words. God has enough grace to solve every dilemma you face, wipe every tear you cry, and answer every question you ask. Would we expect anything less from God? Having given the supreme and costliest gift, Romans 8:32 says, "How can He fail to lavish upon us all He has to give?"
From GRACE
Joshua 20
The Cities of Refuge
The Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Now tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed Moses. 3 Anyone who kills another person accidentally and unintentionally can run to one of these cities; they will be places of refuge from relatives seeking revenge for the person who was killed.
4 “Upon reaching one of these cities, the one who caused the death will appear before the elders at the city gate and present his case. They must allow him to enter the city and give him a place to live among them. 5 If the relatives of the victim come to avenge the killing, the leaders must not release the slayer to them, for he killed the other person unintentionally and without previous hostility. 6 But the slayer must stay in that city and be tried by the local assembly, which will render a judgment. And he must continue to live in that city until the death of the high priest who was in office at the time of the accident. After that, he is free to return to his own home in the town from which he fled.”
7 The following cities were designated as cities of refuge: Kedesh of Galilee, in the hill country of Naphtali; Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim; and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), in the hill country of Judah. 8 On the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho, the following cities were designated: Bezer, in the wilderness plain of the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead, in the territory of the tribe of Gad; and Golan in Bashan, in the land of the tribe of Manasseh. 9 These cities were set apart for all the Israelites as well as the foreigners living among them. Anyone who accidentally killed another person could take refuge in one of these cities. In this way, they could escape being killed in revenge prior to standing trial before the local assembly.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Read: Acts 17:16-23
Paul Preaches in Athens
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. 17 He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.
18 He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.”
19 Then they took him to the high council of the city.[a] “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. 20 “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” 21 (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)
22 So Paul, standing before the council,[b] addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.
Footnotes:
17:19 Or the most learned society of philosophers in the city. Greek reads the Areopagus.
17:22 Traditionally rendered standing in the middle of Mars Hill; Greek reads standing in the middle of the Areopagus.
INSIGHT: The Areopagus (vv.19,22) was like an ancient philosophical think tank. There the wisest thinkers and philosophers of the day would assemble to wrestle with important ideas and teachings. This made it the ideal place for Paul to present the good news and teachings of Jesus.
Changed Perspective
By Randy Kilgore
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. —Acts 17:16
As an early riser, my wife enjoys the quiet moments before the house wakes up and uses it to read the Bible and pray. Recently she settled into her favorite chair, only to be confronted by a rather messy couch left there by “someone” watching a football game the night before. The mess distracted her at first, and her frustration with me interrupted the warmth of the moment.
Then a thought hit her, and she moved to the couch. From there, she could look out our front windows to the sun rising over the Atlantic Ocean. The beauty of the scene God painted that morning changed her perspective.
As she told me the story, we both recognized the lesson of the morning. While we can’t always control the things of life that impact our day, we do have a choice. We can continue to brood over the “mess,” or we can change our perspective. When Paul was in Athens, “he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols” (Acts 17:16 niv). But when he changed his perspective, he used their interest in religion as an opportunity to proclaim the true God, Jesus Christ (vv.22-23).
As my wife left for work, it was time for someone else to change his perspective—for me to let the Lord help me to see my messes through her eyes and His.
Dear Lord, grant us the wisdom to change
our perspective rather than linger over messes.
Help us to see—and fix—the “messes”
we make for others.
Wisdom is seeing things from God’s perspective.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Our Misgivings About Jesus
The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep." —John 4:11
Have you ever said to yourself, “I am impressed with the wonderful truths of God’s Word, but He can’t really expect me to live up to that and work all those details into my life!” When it comes to confronting Jesus Christ on the basis of His qualities and abilities, our attitudes reflect religious superiority. We think His ideals are lofty and they impress us, but we believe He is not in touch with reality— that what He says cannot actually be done. Each of us thinks this about Jesus in one area of our life or another. These doubts or misgivings about Jesus begin as we consider questions that divert our focus away from God. While we talk of our dealings with Him, others ask us, “Where are you going to get enough money to live? How will you live and who will take care of you?” Or our misgivings begin within ourselves when we tell Jesus that our circumstances are just a little too difficult for Him. We say, “It’s easy to say, ‘Trust in the Lord,’ but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water— no means to be able to give us these things.” And beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, “Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself.” If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. And our pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can’t.
My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly— “Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, February 26, 2015
The Price of Not Waiting - #7339
I had the opportunity some years ago to speak for some pilots organizations, and I've never piloted a plane. I'm always a passenger. But they wanted me to talk about peace and stress. And it was something I wrote a book about, so it worked out pretty well. In the process I met some guys who deal with FFA safety seminars. They told me some interesting things about what happens with some of the crashes that we might see in the news. They said that when a private pilot crashes, there's usually a study of that, and they start to compile case studies to help other pilots fly more safely.
I was told that one of the problems that causes a crash is something, well, their word was "get there-itis." It means you simply got to get to your destination no matter what. "Got to get there!" So, you push beyond the limits of safety. Maybe you think you can beat that storm, or put off the maintenance until we get back from your trip. Well, sadly, some never do.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Price of Not Waiting."
Our word for today from the Word of God begins in Psalm 37:5. "Commit your way to the Lord." "Your way" well, to me what does that mean? It's where I go, what I do, how I do it, and when I do it. "I'm giving all that to you today Lord." And then it says, "Trust in Him and He will do this. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." And then in verse 34, later it says, "Wait for the Lord and keep His way."
Now, if you've truly committed your way to the Lord; if you're really trusting Him to do what needs to be done, you'll be willing to wait. Did you get that word? Do you like that word? I don't. Wait. Someone said, "The hardest room in God's house to be in is the waiting room." I heard about a pastor who was pacing back and forth in his office. His secretary walked in. She said, "What's wrong?" He said, "I'm in a hurry and God isn't."
I think we all know that feeling. We know what we want. We know when we ought to have it, and we have a hard time waiting for God to do it in His time and in His way. So we end up with a delivery that's premature; not nearly as healthy as a full-term answer would be. The truth is, a lot of us are make-it-happen people, and we are afflicted with spiritual "get there-itis" and we're going to make it happen; goals that we have like a career goal, a financial goal, a marital goal, a goal for our children, a ministry goal. Sure we pray about it and we ask God for it. But when it seems like it's taking too long or it isn't going to happen we decide to give God a little help.
Well, there's our destination, so we take off after it before we should. It's called running ahead of God, usually because we think He's taking too long. We can't wait. That kind of impatience has probably been the cause of more God's will errors, more crashes in our lives, than anything else - impatience.
Maybe your loving Lord knows you're there right now. He sent this message today to be a bold, flashing sign that has four letters on it and they spell WAIT. Maybe you're tempted to run ahead of the Lord financially and get yourself in debt, a big debt. Maybe you're tempted to push your health farther than God intends or your agenda for getting a husband or a wife, your dreams for your career, even your vision for your ministry. Don't rush it! You'll ruin it.
Remember the words of the Bible, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." Look at all the crash sites of those who couldn't wait for God's timing. For the Scripture tells us "He makes everything beautiful in it's time." Get there-itis has already ruined too many people. No destination is worth risking a crash that could have been prevented by waiting.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Joshua 19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Stop the Frenzy
Attempts at self-salvation guarantee nothing but exhaustion! We scamper and scurry, trying to please God, collecting merit badges and brownie points, and scowling at anyone who questions our accomplishments. Call us the church of hound-dog faces and slumped shoulders.
Stop it! Once and for all, enough of this frenzy. Hebrews 13:9 says, "Your hearts should be strengthened by God's grace, not by obeying rules."
Jesus doesn't say, "Come to me, all you who are perfect and sinless." Just the opposite. He says, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
There is no fine print. God's promise has no hidden language. Let grace happen, for heaven's sake. No more performing for God. Of all the things you must earn in life, God's unending affection isn't one of them. You have it! You can rest now.
From GRACE
Joshua 19
The Land Given to Simeon
The second allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Simeon. Their homeland was surrounded by Judah’s territory.
2 Simeon’s homeland included Beersheba, Sheba, Moladah, 3 Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, 4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, 5 Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, 6 Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen towns with their surrounding villages. 7 It also included Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four towns with their villages, 8 including all the surrounding villages as far south as Baalath-beer (also known as Ramah of the Negev).
This was the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Simeon. 9 Their allocation of land came from part of what had been given to Judah because Judah’s territory was too large for them. So the tribe of Simeon received an allocation within the territory of Judah.
The Land Given to Zebulun
10 The third allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Zebulun.
The boundary of Zebulun’s homeland started at Sarid. 11 From there it went west, going past Maralah, touching Dabbesheth, and proceeding to the brook east of Jokneam. 12 In the other direction, the boundary went east from Sarid to the border of Kisloth-tabor, and from there to Daberath and up to Japhia. 13 Then it continued east to Gath-hepher, Eth-kazin, and Rimmon and turned toward Neah. 14 The northern boundary of Zebulun passed Hannathon and ended at the valley of Iphtah-el. 15 The towns in these areas included Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem—twelve towns with their surrounding villages.
16 The homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Zebulun included these towns and their surrounding villages.
The Land Given to Issachar
17 The fourth allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Issachar.
18 Its boundaries included the following towns: Jezreel, Kesulloth, Shunem, 19 Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, 20 Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, 21 Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez. 22 The boundary also touched Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, ending at the Jordan River—sixteen towns with their surrounding villages.
23 The homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Issachar included these towns and their surrounding villages.
The Land Given to Asher
24 The fifth allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Asher.
25 Its boundaries included these towns: Helkath, Hali, Beten, Acshaph, 26 Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal. The boundary on the west touched Carmel and Shihor-libnath, 27 then it turned east toward Beth-dagon, and ran as far as Zebulun in the valley of Iphtah-el, going north to Beth-emek and Neiel. It then continued north to Cabul, 28 Abdon,[a] Rehob, Hammon, Kanah, and as far as Greater Sidon. 29 Then the boundary turned toward Ramah and the fortress of Tyre, where it turned toward Hosah and came to the Mediterranean Sea.[b] The territory also included Mehebel, Aczib, 30 Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob—twenty-two towns with their surrounding villages.
31 The homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Asher included these towns and their surrounding villages.
The Land Given to Naphtali
32 The sixth allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Naphtali.
33 Its boundary ran from Heleph, from the oak at Zaanannim, and extended across to Adami-nekeb, Jabneel, and as far as Lakkum, ending at the Jordan River. 34 The western boundary ran past Aznoth-tabor, then to Hukkok, and touched the border of Zebulun in the south, the border of Asher on the west, and the Jordan River[c] on the east. 35 The fortified towns included in this territory were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Kinnereth, 36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, 37 Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor, 38 Yiron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh—nineteen towns with their surrounding villages.
39 The homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Naphtali included these towns and their surrounding villages.
The Land Given to Dan
40 The seventh allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Dan.
41 The land allocated as their homeland included the following towns: Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, 42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, 43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 45 Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, 46 Me-jarkon, Rakkon, and the territory across from Joppa.
47 But the tribe of Dan had trouble taking possession of their land,[d] so they attacked the town of Laish.[e] They captured it, slaughtered its people, and settled there. They renamed the town Dan after their ancestor.
48 The homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Dan included these towns and their surrounding villages.
The Land Given to Joshua
49 After all the land was divided among the tribes, the Israelites gave a piece of land to Joshua as his allocation. 50 For the Lord had said he could have any town he wanted. He chose Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. He rebuilt the town and lived there.
51 These are the territories that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the tribal leaders allocated as grants of land to the tribes of Israel by casting sacred lots in the presence of the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle[f] at Shiloh. So the division of the land was completed.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Read: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
Believers Should Stand Firm
As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first[a] to experience salvation—a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. 14 He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, 17 comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.
Footnotes:
2:13 Some manuscripts read chose you from the very beginning.
INSIGHT: In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he assured the believers that they were loved by God and chosen (1:4 niv). In today’s reading, Paul reiterates this by saying, “God from the beginning chose you for salvation” (v.13). That God “chooses” people is taught in Scripture (Deut. 7:6-8; Isa. 44:1-2; Rom. 8:28-33; 9:11; Eph. 1:4-6,11; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1-2). Although a person is “chosen” before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4-5; 2 Tim. 1:9), this becomes evident in life when one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 2:13-14).
His Choice
By Joe Stowell
God from the beginning chose you for salvation. —2 Thessalonians 2:13
When our children were small, I often prayed with them after we tucked them into bed. But before I prayed, I sometimes would sit on the edge of the bed and talk with them. I remember telling our daughter Libby, “If I could line up all the 4-year-old girls in the world, I would walk down the line looking for you. After going through the entire line, I would choose you to be my daughter.” That always put a big smile on Libby’s face because she knew she was special.
If that was a smile-worthy moment for her, think of the grace-filled fact that the Creator-God of the universe “from the beginning chose you for salvation” (2 Thess. 2:13). Before time began, He desired to make you His own. This is why Scripture often uses the picture of adoption to communicate the amazing reality that, through no merit or worthiness of our own, we have been chosen by Him.
This is stunning news! We are “beloved by the Lord” (v.13) and enjoy the benefits of being part of His family. This glorious truth should fill our lives with humility and gratitude. “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us . . . establish you in every good word and work” (vv.16-17).
I will be forever grateful that I am Your child,
Father, and that You love me! Teach me to remember
all the benefits of belonging to You, and may I
serve You faithfully as part of Your family.
It’s God’s choice to love you and to make you part of His family.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The Destitution of Service
…though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. —2 Corinthians 12:15
Natural human love expects something in return. But Paul is saying, “It doesn’t really matter to me whether you love me or not. I am willing to be completely destitute anyway; willing to be poverty-stricken, not just for your sakes, but also that I may be able to get you to God.” “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor…” (2 Corinthians 8:9). And Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s. He did not care how high the cost was to himself— he would gladly pay it. It was a joyful thing to Paul.
The institutional church’s idea of a servant of God is not at all like Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him by being the servants of others. Jesus Christ actually “out-socialized” the socialists. He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all (see Matthew 23:11). The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet— that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God. It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns— “What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.” All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God. But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Four Ways to Beat What Keeps Beating You - #7338
I was with two friends returning from some Native American ministry in the Southwest, and we had a rental car and a four-hour drive to the airport in Phoenix. So we really needed every minute to make our connection, which made the lurch in our car pretty annoying. See, every time the driver would get the speed up to about 60, the car would start shuttering and lurching. Now, there was a 75mph speed limit, and that's frustrating. We weren't sure we'd even make it with that "shake, rattle, and roll" mobile we had.
Well, everyone who knows me knows that I'm not exactly a mechanic. But I did have a scientific idea. I said, "Hey, did you check the emergency brake?" Answer: "No." From that point on we flew to Phoenix! No more lurching, but first we had to release what was holding us back.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Four Ways to Beat What Keeps Beating You."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 12:1. It's not about driving full speed, but the same idea - running full speed. "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."
Okay, let's focus a minute on that "everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles." It makes me think about our lurching drive with the emergency brake on. We had the capability of going a lot faster than we were going, but first we had to release what was holding us back.
Seeing something like that is what will literally unleash your life to be all God needs for it to be; all you want it to be. Every one of us has a fatal flaw. Those fatal flaws are those weaknesses, those sins that just keep recurring. They have become part of us. They're part of who we are most of our lives. It's our way of getting our way, it's our way of meeting needs. Often it's something we grew up on, weaknesses maybe our Dad or our Mom had. We picked it up just because we grew up in that environment.
You might be so used to that sinful attitude or mindset or action it's almost second nature to you. It's just something you've accepted as part of you. This sinful flaw, it's your emergency break holding you back from going full speed. Our spiritual brakes? Well, that could be the way you handle money, or handle acceptance, or relationships, or problems, or stress. Whatever it is, it's sin that entangles.
The spiritual break-out comes when you decide not to accept that hindering sin any more, not to tolerate it any more. You're trying to drive with the brake on. And how do you release the spiritual emergency brake? The Bible says, "throw it off." The final discarding of it.
Then there are several steps; a process. First, you repent of that sin. That means you literally bring it to the cross of Jesus and you leave it there; feeling so bad about that sin that you now set up your life in such a way it's going to be very hard for you to do this any more. Then secondly, you release the sin. You admit to Jesus, "I'm powerless to beat this." You admit you've got a battle. You call it the sin that He calls it. And then each new day you surrender that weakness, that sin, to Jesus for Him to change it and control it those twenty-four hours.
Thirdly, you resist the sin. You run from any opportunity to do it, to feed it. You fight it at the very first moment it shows up. And finally, you restore what sin has damaged. Apologize to the people you've hurt, pay back anyone that you've wronged and make things right.
Those are powerful steps to getting free. Maybe you've never tasted that freedom before. That day in the lurching car, we made so much more progress when we realized what was holding us back and we dealt with it. Aren't you tired of this bumpy slowed-down trip you've been on? This might be your day to reach once and for all for the brake that has been holding you back and finally let it go.
Max Lucado Daily: Stop the Frenzy
Attempts at self-salvation guarantee nothing but exhaustion! We scamper and scurry, trying to please God, collecting merit badges and brownie points, and scowling at anyone who questions our accomplishments. Call us the church of hound-dog faces and slumped shoulders.
Stop it! Once and for all, enough of this frenzy. Hebrews 13:9 says, "Your hearts should be strengthened by God's grace, not by obeying rules."
Jesus doesn't say, "Come to me, all you who are perfect and sinless." Just the opposite. He says, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
There is no fine print. God's promise has no hidden language. Let grace happen, for heaven's sake. No more performing for God. Of all the things you must earn in life, God's unending affection isn't one of them. You have it! You can rest now.
From GRACE
Joshua 19
The Land Given to Simeon
The second allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Simeon. Their homeland was surrounded by Judah’s territory.
2 Simeon’s homeland included Beersheba, Sheba, Moladah, 3 Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, 4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, 5 Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, 6 Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen towns with their surrounding villages. 7 It also included Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four towns with their villages, 8 including all the surrounding villages as far south as Baalath-beer (also known as Ramah of the Negev).
This was the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Simeon. 9 Their allocation of land came from part of what had been given to Judah because Judah’s territory was too large for them. So the tribe of Simeon received an allocation within the territory of Judah.
The Land Given to Zebulun
10 The third allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Zebulun.
The boundary of Zebulun’s homeland started at Sarid. 11 From there it went west, going past Maralah, touching Dabbesheth, and proceeding to the brook east of Jokneam. 12 In the other direction, the boundary went east from Sarid to the border of Kisloth-tabor, and from there to Daberath and up to Japhia. 13 Then it continued east to Gath-hepher, Eth-kazin, and Rimmon and turned toward Neah. 14 The northern boundary of Zebulun passed Hannathon and ended at the valley of Iphtah-el. 15 The towns in these areas included Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem—twelve towns with their surrounding villages.
16 The homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Zebulun included these towns and their surrounding villages.
The Land Given to Issachar
17 The fourth allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Issachar.
18 Its boundaries included the following towns: Jezreel, Kesulloth, Shunem, 19 Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, 20 Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, 21 Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez. 22 The boundary also touched Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, ending at the Jordan River—sixteen towns with their surrounding villages.
23 The homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Issachar included these towns and their surrounding villages.
The Land Given to Asher
24 The fifth allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Asher.
25 Its boundaries included these towns: Helkath, Hali, Beten, Acshaph, 26 Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal. The boundary on the west touched Carmel and Shihor-libnath, 27 then it turned east toward Beth-dagon, and ran as far as Zebulun in the valley of Iphtah-el, going north to Beth-emek and Neiel. It then continued north to Cabul, 28 Abdon,[a] Rehob, Hammon, Kanah, and as far as Greater Sidon. 29 Then the boundary turned toward Ramah and the fortress of Tyre, where it turned toward Hosah and came to the Mediterranean Sea.[b] The territory also included Mehebel, Aczib, 30 Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob—twenty-two towns with their surrounding villages.
31 The homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Asher included these towns and their surrounding villages.
The Land Given to Naphtali
32 The sixth allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Naphtali.
33 Its boundary ran from Heleph, from the oak at Zaanannim, and extended across to Adami-nekeb, Jabneel, and as far as Lakkum, ending at the Jordan River. 34 The western boundary ran past Aznoth-tabor, then to Hukkok, and touched the border of Zebulun in the south, the border of Asher on the west, and the Jordan River[c] on the east. 35 The fortified towns included in this territory were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Kinnereth, 36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, 37 Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor, 38 Yiron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh—nineteen towns with their surrounding villages.
39 The homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Naphtali included these towns and their surrounding villages.
The Land Given to Dan
40 The seventh allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Dan.
41 The land allocated as their homeland included the following towns: Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, 42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, 43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 45 Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, 46 Me-jarkon, Rakkon, and the territory across from Joppa.
47 But the tribe of Dan had trouble taking possession of their land,[d] so they attacked the town of Laish.[e] They captured it, slaughtered its people, and settled there. They renamed the town Dan after their ancestor.
48 The homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Dan included these towns and their surrounding villages.
The Land Given to Joshua
49 After all the land was divided among the tribes, the Israelites gave a piece of land to Joshua as his allocation. 50 For the Lord had said he could have any town he wanted. He chose Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. He rebuilt the town and lived there.
51 These are the territories that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the tribal leaders allocated as grants of land to the tribes of Israel by casting sacred lots in the presence of the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle[f] at Shiloh. So the division of the land was completed.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Read: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
Believers Should Stand Firm
As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first[a] to experience salvation—a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. 14 He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, 17 comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.
Footnotes:
2:13 Some manuscripts read chose you from the very beginning.
INSIGHT: In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he assured the believers that they were loved by God and chosen (1:4 niv). In today’s reading, Paul reiterates this by saying, “God from the beginning chose you for salvation” (v.13). That God “chooses” people is taught in Scripture (Deut. 7:6-8; Isa. 44:1-2; Rom. 8:28-33; 9:11; Eph. 1:4-6,11; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1-2). Although a person is “chosen” before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4-5; 2 Tim. 1:9), this becomes evident in life when one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 2:13-14).
His Choice
By Joe Stowell
God from the beginning chose you for salvation. —2 Thessalonians 2:13
When our children were small, I often prayed with them after we tucked them into bed. But before I prayed, I sometimes would sit on the edge of the bed and talk with them. I remember telling our daughter Libby, “If I could line up all the 4-year-old girls in the world, I would walk down the line looking for you. After going through the entire line, I would choose you to be my daughter.” That always put a big smile on Libby’s face because she knew she was special.
If that was a smile-worthy moment for her, think of the grace-filled fact that the Creator-God of the universe “from the beginning chose you for salvation” (2 Thess. 2:13). Before time began, He desired to make you His own. This is why Scripture often uses the picture of adoption to communicate the amazing reality that, through no merit or worthiness of our own, we have been chosen by Him.
This is stunning news! We are “beloved by the Lord” (v.13) and enjoy the benefits of being part of His family. This glorious truth should fill our lives with humility and gratitude. “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us . . . establish you in every good word and work” (vv.16-17).
I will be forever grateful that I am Your child,
Father, and that You love me! Teach me to remember
all the benefits of belonging to You, and may I
serve You faithfully as part of Your family.
It’s God’s choice to love you and to make you part of His family.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The Destitution of Service
…though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. —2 Corinthians 12:15
Natural human love expects something in return. But Paul is saying, “It doesn’t really matter to me whether you love me or not. I am willing to be completely destitute anyway; willing to be poverty-stricken, not just for your sakes, but also that I may be able to get you to God.” “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor…” (2 Corinthians 8:9). And Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s. He did not care how high the cost was to himself— he would gladly pay it. It was a joyful thing to Paul.
The institutional church’s idea of a servant of God is not at all like Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him by being the servants of others. Jesus Christ actually “out-socialized” the socialists. He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all (see Matthew 23:11). The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet— that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God. It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns— “What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.” All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God. But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Four Ways to Beat What Keeps Beating You - #7338
I was with two friends returning from some Native American ministry in the Southwest, and we had a rental car and a four-hour drive to the airport in Phoenix. So we really needed every minute to make our connection, which made the lurch in our car pretty annoying. See, every time the driver would get the speed up to about 60, the car would start shuttering and lurching. Now, there was a 75mph speed limit, and that's frustrating. We weren't sure we'd even make it with that "shake, rattle, and roll" mobile we had.
Well, everyone who knows me knows that I'm not exactly a mechanic. But I did have a scientific idea. I said, "Hey, did you check the emergency brake?" Answer: "No." From that point on we flew to Phoenix! No more lurching, but first we had to release what was holding us back.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Four Ways to Beat What Keeps Beating You."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 12:1. It's not about driving full speed, but the same idea - running full speed. "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."
Okay, let's focus a minute on that "everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles." It makes me think about our lurching drive with the emergency brake on. We had the capability of going a lot faster than we were going, but first we had to release what was holding us back.
Seeing something like that is what will literally unleash your life to be all God needs for it to be; all you want it to be. Every one of us has a fatal flaw. Those fatal flaws are those weaknesses, those sins that just keep recurring. They have become part of us. They're part of who we are most of our lives. It's our way of getting our way, it's our way of meeting needs. Often it's something we grew up on, weaknesses maybe our Dad or our Mom had. We picked it up just because we grew up in that environment.
You might be so used to that sinful attitude or mindset or action it's almost second nature to you. It's just something you've accepted as part of you. This sinful flaw, it's your emergency break holding you back from going full speed. Our spiritual brakes? Well, that could be the way you handle money, or handle acceptance, or relationships, or problems, or stress. Whatever it is, it's sin that entangles.
The spiritual break-out comes when you decide not to accept that hindering sin any more, not to tolerate it any more. You're trying to drive with the brake on. And how do you release the spiritual emergency brake? The Bible says, "throw it off." The final discarding of it.
Then there are several steps; a process. First, you repent of that sin. That means you literally bring it to the cross of Jesus and you leave it there; feeling so bad about that sin that you now set up your life in such a way it's going to be very hard for you to do this any more. Then secondly, you release the sin. You admit to Jesus, "I'm powerless to beat this." You admit you've got a battle. You call it the sin that He calls it. And then each new day you surrender that weakness, that sin, to Jesus for Him to change it and control it those twenty-four hours.
Thirdly, you resist the sin. You run from any opportunity to do it, to feed it. You fight it at the very first moment it shows up. And finally, you restore what sin has damaged. Apologize to the people you've hurt, pay back anyone that you've wronged and make things right.
Those are powerful steps to getting free. Maybe you've never tasted that freedom before. That day in the lurching car, we made so much more progress when we realized what was holding us back and we dealt with it. Aren't you tired of this bumpy slowed-down trip you've been on? This might be your day to reach once and for all for the brake that has been holding you back and finally let it go.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Luke 11:1-28 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Cause of Your Fatigue
Most people embrace the assumption that God saves good people. So be good. Be moral. Be honest. But for all the talk about being good-what level of good is good enough? It's an essential question; at stake is our eternal destination.
Paul said in Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." We contribute nothing. Zilch. Salvation of the soul is unearned…it's a gift. Our merit means nothing. God's work merits everything.
Paul's message in Galatians 3:13 is this, "Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself." Translation- Say no to the rules and lists. Say no to slavery and performance. He asked, "Do you know what this means?" And I ask, "Do you?" If you don't, I know the cause of your fatigue. You need to trust God's grace.
From GRACE
Luke 11:1-28
Teaching about Prayer
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:[a]
“Father, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
3 Give us each day the food we need,[b]
4 and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.[c]”
5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.[d]
9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “You fathers—if your children ask[e] for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
Jesus and the Prince of Demons
14 One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, and when the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed, 15 but some of them said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan,[f] the prince of demons.” 16 Others, trying to test Jesus, demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.
17 He knew their thoughts, so he said, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 18 You say I am empowered by Satan. But if Satan is divided and fighting against himself, how can his kingdom survive? 19 And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. 20 But if I am casting out demons by the power of God,[g] then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 21 For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe— 22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.
23 “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.
24 “When an evil[h] spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ 25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. 26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”
27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”
28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”
Footnotes:
11:2 Some manuscripts add additional phrases from the Lord’s Prayer as it reads in Matt 6:9-13.
11:3 Or Give us each day our food for the day; or Give us each day our food for tomorrow.
11:4 Or And keep us from being tested.
11:8 Or in order to avoid shame, or so his reputation won’t be damaged.
11:11 Some manuscripts add for bread, do you give them a stone? Or [if they ask].
11:15 Greek Beelzeboul; also in 11:18, 19. Other manuscripts read Beezeboul; Latin version reads Beelzebub.
11:20 Greek by the finger of God.
11:24 Greek unclean.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Read: Matthew 1:18-25
The Birth of Jesus the Messiah
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement[a] quietly.
20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,[b] for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,[c]
which means ‘God is with us.’”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
Footnotes:
1:19 Greek to divorce her.
1:21 Jesus means “The Lord saves.”
1:23 Isa 7:14; 8:8, 10 (Greek version).
INSIGHT: When the angel spoke to Joseph about Mary’s baby, he said that the child’s name would be a clue to His identity: “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Jesus would also be called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us” (v.23). Jesus came to rescue us.
Longing For Rescue
By Bill Crowder
She will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. —Matthew 1:21
The movie Man of Steel, released in 2013, is a fresh imagining of the Superman story. Filled with breathtaking special effects and nonstop action, it drew crowds to movie theaters around the world. Some said that the film’s appeal was rooted in its amazing technology. Others pointed to the enduring appeal of the “Superman mythology.”
Amy Adams, the actress who plays Lois Lane in the movie, has a different view of Superman’s appeal. She says it is about a basic human longing: “Who doesn’t want to believe that there’s one person who could come and save us from ourselves?”
That’s a great question. And the answer is that someone has already come to save us from ourselves, and that someone is Jesus. Several announcements were made regarding the birth of Jesus. One of them was from the angel Gabriel to Joseph: “She [Mary] will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
Jesus came—He did so to save us from our sin and from ourselves. His name means “the Lord saves”—and our salvation was His mission. The longing for rescue that fills the human heart ultimately is met by Jesus.
Shout salvation full and free,
Highest hills and deepest caves;
This our song of victory—
Jesus saves! Jesus saves! —Owens
Jesus’ name and mission are the same— He came to save us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
The Delight of Sacrifice
I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls… —2 Corinthians 12:15
Once “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests and purposes in others’ lives (Romans 5:5). And Jesus has an interest in every individual person. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. In fact, this is one of the greatest tests of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus (see John 15:13). I don’t throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His interests in other people. And I do this for no cause or purpose of my own. Paul spent his life for only one purpose— that he might win people to Jesus Christ. Paul always attracted people to his Lord, but never to himself. He said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
When someone thinks that to develop a holy life he must always be alone with God, he is no longer of any use to others. This is like putting himself on a pedestal and isolating himself from the rest of society. Paul was a holy person, but wherever he went Jesus Christ was always allowed to help Himself to his life. Many of us are interested only in our own goals, and Jesus cannot help Himself to our lives. But if we are totally surrendered to Him, we have no goals of our own to serve. Paul said that he knew how to be a “doormat” without resenting it, because the motivation of his life was devotion to Jesus. We tend to be devoted, not to Jesus Christ, but to the things which allow us more spiritual freedom than total surrender to Him would allow. Freedom was not Paul’s motive at all. In fact, he stated, “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren…” (Romans 9:3). Had Paul lost his ability to reason? Not at all! For someone who is in love, this is not an overstatement. And Paul was in love with Jesus Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Attracting People to Your Jesus - #7337
Well, I guess all of us began our training for public speaking back in Kindergarten or maybe First Grade. Remember when the teacher had you do Show and Tell? You had to bring some object to school and tell about it or what it represented. I can still remember the scramble around our house a lot of mornings as one of our three children would remember, of course, with one foot out the door, "Oh boy, I've got Show and Tell today." So we'd race around the house trying to find something they could show. See, the teacher wasn't interested in us just showing up with a story that day. No, you had to have something concrete. Telling was not enough to make it. If you showed up with your show, you had to tell about it too.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Attracting People to Your Jesus."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew chapter 5, verse 15; the words of Jesus. "Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." We're supposed to attract people to Jesus. How do we do that? It says, "With your good deeds." You lead with deeds. In other words, evidence of the life change Jesus Christ makes; the difference He makes in someone who knows Him.
Peter said in 1 Peter 2:12, "Live good lives among the pagans that though they may accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us." He's talking here about a total change of heart toward God. Why? Because of the good deeds they see in you. So in a way, the lost people around us are like those teachers, the Show and Tell people. Don't just come with something to tell. Show me! Prove it to me. Let me see evidence of it. Show me how it works. It's like this is what will stimulate conversation about Jesus.
Peter again says in 1 Peter 3:15, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." In this case, the "show" is a positive, hope-filled, optimistic outlook on life. It will make people say, "Well, how do you get like that?" But see, you have to tell. If you just took some unusual object to Show and Tell, everyone might think it's interesting, but they wouldn't know what it was. Words are necessary. You know, that lost person you know at work, or in your family, or at school, they can watch you for the next twenty years, but they're not going to say, "You know, Joe is such a nice guy, I'll bet Jesus died on the cross for me." No, you're going to have to tell them that. They're not going to figure it out.
But you do have to show it or no one will be interested in what you have to tell. It seems like believers tend to overdo one or the other doesn't it? Some just show Jesus by the way they're living but they never tell about Him. Or others witness real aggressively. They tell all the time, but they're not winning the right to be heard; like specializing on good deeds in the lives around us. Like what? Well, being there at the hospital, the wedding, the funeral home. Remembering special occasions in their life like birthdays and making those things really special. Or just asking the second question. Everybody says, "How are you doing?" Why don't you ask the second one, "Are you really?" It's the second question that shows you really care. Maybe it's just making each person feel really important when they're with you.
Here's an important question, "What difference could I ask Jesus to make in me that these people would notice?" What kind of difference would mean something to your family? Or your coworkers? Your teammates? And here's a second question, "How could I show love to these people in a way that would mean something to them?" Most people won't be interested in all the religious things you do, and the meetings you go to, and all the beliefs you hold. But they can't ignore one changed life and your strong love for them - the living proof that you've got a living Savior.
We learned when we were very young that they've got to go together - Show and Tell. If you never tell them, they will never know what Jesus did on the cross for them. If you never show them, they'll not listen when you tell them. Lead with deeds. They'll open the door. But then you bring Jesus in through that open door.
Most people embrace the assumption that God saves good people. So be good. Be moral. Be honest. But for all the talk about being good-what level of good is good enough? It's an essential question; at stake is our eternal destination.
Paul said in Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." We contribute nothing. Zilch. Salvation of the soul is unearned…it's a gift. Our merit means nothing. God's work merits everything.
Paul's message in Galatians 3:13 is this, "Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself." Translation- Say no to the rules and lists. Say no to slavery and performance. He asked, "Do you know what this means?" And I ask, "Do you?" If you don't, I know the cause of your fatigue. You need to trust God's grace.
From GRACE
Luke 11:1-28
Teaching about Prayer
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:[a]
“Father, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
3 Give us each day the food we need,[b]
4 and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.[c]”
5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.[d]
9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “You fathers—if your children ask[e] for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
Jesus and the Prince of Demons
14 One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, and when the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed, 15 but some of them said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan,[f] the prince of demons.” 16 Others, trying to test Jesus, demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.
17 He knew their thoughts, so he said, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 18 You say I am empowered by Satan. But if Satan is divided and fighting against himself, how can his kingdom survive? 19 And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. 20 But if I am casting out demons by the power of God,[g] then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 21 For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe— 22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.
23 “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.
24 “When an evil[h] spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ 25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. 26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”
27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”
28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”
Footnotes:
11:2 Some manuscripts add additional phrases from the Lord’s Prayer as it reads in Matt 6:9-13.
11:3 Or Give us each day our food for the day; or Give us each day our food for tomorrow.
11:4 Or And keep us from being tested.
11:8 Or in order to avoid shame, or so his reputation won’t be damaged.
11:11 Some manuscripts add for bread, do you give them a stone? Or [if they ask].
11:15 Greek Beelzeboul; also in 11:18, 19. Other manuscripts read Beezeboul; Latin version reads Beelzebub.
11:20 Greek by the finger of God.
11:24 Greek unclean.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Read: Matthew 1:18-25
The Birth of Jesus the Messiah
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement[a] quietly.
20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,[b] for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,[c]
which means ‘God is with us.’”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
Footnotes:
1:19 Greek to divorce her.
1:21 Jesus means “The Lord saves.”
1:23 Isa 7:14; 8:8, 10 (Greek version).
INSIGHT: When the angel spoke to Joseph about Mary’s baby, he said that the child’s name would be a clue to His identity: “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Jesus would also be called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us” (v.23). Jesus came to rescue us.
Longing For Rescue
By Bill Crowder
She will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. —Matthew 1:21
The movie Man of Steel, released in 2013, is a fresh imagining of the Superman story. Filled with breathtaking special effects and nonstop action, it drew crowds to movie theaters around the world. Some said that the film’s appeal was rooted in its amazing technology. Others pointed to the enduring appeal of the “Superman mythology.”
Amy Adams, the actress who plays Lois Lane in the movie, has a different view of Superman’s appeal. She says it is about a basic human longing: “Who doesn’t want to believe that there’s one person who could come and save us from ourselves?”
That’s a great question. And the answer is that someone has already come to save us from ourselves, and that someone is Jesus. Several announcements were made regarding the birth of Jesus. One of them was from the angel Gabriel to Joseph: “She [Mary] will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
Jesus came—He did so to save us from our sin and from ourselves. His name means “the Lord saves”—and our salvation was His mission. The longing for rescue that fills the human heart ultimately is met by Jesus.
Shout salvation full and free,
Highest hills and deepest caves;
This our song of victory—
Jesus saves! Jesus saves! —Owens
Jesus’ name and mission are the same— He came to save us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
The Delight of Sacrifice
I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls… —2 Corinthians 12:15
Once “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests and purposes in others’ lives (Romans 5:5). And Jesus has an interest in every individual person. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. In fact, this is one of the greatest tests of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus (see John 15:13). I don’t throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His interests in other people. And I do this for no cause or purpose of my own. Paul spent his life for only one purpose— that he might win people to Jesus Christ. Paul always attracted people to his Lord, but never to himself. He said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
When someone thinks that to develop a holy life he must always be alone with God, he is no longer of any use to others. This is like putting himself on a pedestal and isolating himself from the rest of society. Paul was a holy person, but wherever he went Jesus Christ was always allowed to help Himself to his life. Many of us are interested only in our own goals, and Jesus cannot help Himself to our lives. But if we are totally surrendered to Him, we have no goals of our own to serve. Paul said that he knew how to be a “doormat” without resenting it, because the motivation of his life was devotion to Jesus. We tend to be devoted, not to Jesus Christ, but to the things which allow us more spiritual freedom than total surrender to Him would allow. Freedom was not Paul’s motive at all. In fact, he stated, “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren…” (Romans 9:3). Had Paul lost his ability to reason? Not at all! For someone who is in love, this is not an overstatement. And Paul was in love with Jesus Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Attracting People to Your Jesus - #7337
Well, I guess all of us began our training for public speaking back in Kindergarten or maybe First Grade. Remember when the teacher had you do Show and Tell? You had to bring some object to school and tell about it or what it represented. I can still remember the scramble around our house a lot of mornings as one of our three children would remember, of course, with one foot out the door, "Oh boy, I've got Show and Tell today." So we'd race around the house trying to find something they could show. See, the teacher wasn't interested in us just showing up with a story that day. No, you had to have something concrete. Telling was not enough to make it. If you showed up with your show, you had to tell about it too.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Attracting People to Your Jesus."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew chapter 5, verse 15; the words of Jesus. "Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." We're supposed to attract people to Jesus. How do we do that? It says, "With your good deeds." You lead with deeds. In other words, evidence of the life change Jesus Christ makes; the difference He makes in someone who knows Him.
Peter said in 1 Peter 2:12, "Live good lives among the pagans that though they may accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us." He's talking here about a total change of heart toward God. Why? Because of the good deeds they see in you. So in a way, the lost people around us are like those teachers, the Show and Tell people. Don't just come with something to tell. Show me! Prove it to me. Let me see evidence of it. Show me how it works. It's like this is what will stimulate conversation about Jesus.
Peter again says in 1 Peter 3:15, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." In this case, the "show" is a positive, hope-filled, optimistic outlook on life. It will make people say, "Well, how do you get like that?" But see, you have to tell. If you just took some unusual object to Show and Tell, everyone might think it's interesting, but they wouldn't know what it was. Words are necessary. You know, that lost person you know at work, or in your family, or at school, they can watch you for the next twenty years, but they're not going to say, "You know, Joe is such a nice guy, I'll bet Jesus died on the cross for me." No, you're going to have to tell them that. They're not going to figure it out.
But you do have to show it or no one will be interested in what you have to tell. It seems like believers tend to overdo one or the other doesn't it? Some just show Jesus by the way they're living but they never tell about Him. Or others witness real aggressively. They tell all the time, but they're not winning the right to be heard; like specializing on good deeds in the lives around us. Like what? Well, being there at the hospital, the wedding, the funeral home. Remembering special occasions in their life like birthdays and making those things really special. Or just asking the second question. Everybody says, "How are you doing?" Why don't you ask the second one, "Are you really?" It's the second question that shows you really care. Maybe it's just making each person feel really important when they're with you.
Here's an important question, "What difference could I ask Jesus to make in me that these people would notice?" What kind of difference would mean something to your family? Or your coworkers? Your teammates? And here's a second question, "How could I show love to these people in a way that would mean something to them?" Most people won't be interested in all the religious things you do, and the meetings you go to, and all the beliefs you hold. But they can't ignore one changed life and your strong love for them - the living proof that you've got a living Savior.
We learned when we were very young that they've got to go together - Show and Tell. If you never tell them, they will never know what Jesus did on the cross for them. If you never show them, they'll not listen when you tell them. Lead with deeds. They'll open the door. But then you bring Jesus in through that open door.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Joshua 18, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: We’ve Been Found Guilty
Romans 3:10 introduces an essential truth. “There is no one righteous, not even one. . .no one who seeks God. All have turned away, there is no one who does good, not even one.”
We must start where God starts. We won’t appreciate what grace does until we understand who we are. We are rebels. We deserve to die. Four prison walls, thickened with hurt, and hate, surround us. Incarcerated by our past, our low-road choices, and our high-minded pride. We have been found guilty.
Our executioner’s footsteps echo against stone walls. We don’t look up as he opens the door and begins to speak. We know what he’s going to say– “Time to pay for your sins.” But we hear something else. “You’re free to go. They took Jesus instead of you.” The light shines, the shackles are gone, and our crimes are pardoned.
What just happened? Grace happened!
From GRACE
Joshua 18
The Allotments of the Remaining Land
Now that the land was under Israelite control, the entire community of Israel gathered at Shiloh and set up the Tabernacle.[f] 2 But there remained seven tribes who had not yet been allotted their grants of land.
3 Then Joshua asked them, “How long are you going to wait before taking possession of the remaining land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given to you? 4 Select three men from each tribe, and I will send them out to explore the land and map it out. They will then return to me with a written report of their proposed divisions of their new homeland. 5 Let them divide the land into seven sections, excluding Judah’s territory in the south and Joseph’s territory in the north. 6 And when you record the seven divisions of the land and bring them to me, I will cast sacred lots in the presence of the Lord our God to assign land to each tribe.
7 “The Levites, however, will not receive any allotment of land. Their role as priests of the Lord is their allotment. And the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh won’t receive any more land, for they have already received their grant of land, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave them on the east side of the Jordan River.”
8 As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua commanded them, “Go and explore the land and write a description of it. Then return to me, and I will assign the land to the tribes by casting sacred lots here in the presence of the Lord at Shiloh.” 9 The men did as they were told and mapped the entire territory into seven sections, listing the towns in each section. They made a written record and then returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. 10 And there at Shiloh, Joshua cast sacred lots in the presence of the Lord to determine which tribe should have each section.
The Land Given to Benjamin
11 The first allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin. It lay between the territory assigned to the tribes of Judah and Joseph.
12 The northern boundary of Benjamin’s land began at the Jordan River, went north of the slope of Jericho, then west through the hill country and the wilderness of Beth-aven. 13 From there the boundary went south to Luz (that is, Bethel) and proceeded down to Ataroth-addar on the hill that lies south of Lower Beth-horon.
14 The boundary then made a turn and swung south along the western edge of the hill facing Beth-horon, ending at the village of Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a town belonging to the tribe of Judah. This was the western boundary.
15 The southern boundary began at the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim. From that western point it ran[g] to the spring at the waters of Nephtoah,[h] 16 and down to the base of the mountain beside the valley of Ben-Hinnom, at the northern end of the valley of Rephaim. From there it went down the valley of Hinnom, crossing south of the slope where the Jebusites lived, and continued down to En-rogel. 17 From En-rogel the boundary proceeded in a northerly direction and came to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth (which is across from the slopes of Adummim). Then it went down to the Stone of Bohan. (Bohan was Reuben’s son.) 18 From there it passed along the north side of the slope overlooking the Jordan Valley.[i] The border then went down into the valley, 19 ran past the north slope of Beth-hoglah, and ended at the north bay of the Dead Sea,[j] which is the southern end of the Jordan River. This was the southern boundary.
20 The eastern boundary was the Jordan River.
These were the boundaries of the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
The Towns Given to Benjamin
21 These were the towns given to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, 22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—twelve towns with their surrounding villages. 25 Also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zela, Haeleph, the Jebusite town (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim[k]—fourteen towns with their surrounding villages.
This was the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
18:1 Hebrew Tent of Meeting.
18:15a Or From there it went to Mozah. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
18:15b Or the spring at Me-nephtoah.
18:18 Hebrew overlooking the Arabah, or overlooking Beth-arabah.
18:19 Hebrew Salt Sea.
18:28 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads Kiriath.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, February 23, 2015
Read: Numbers 22:21-31
Balaam and His Donkey
So the next morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way. As Balaam and two servants were riding along, 23 Balaam’s donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat it and turned it back onto the road. 24 Then the angel of the Lord stood at a place where the road narrowed between two vineyard walls. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it tried to squeeze by and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So Balaam beat the donkey again. 26 Then the angel of the Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place too narrow for the donkey to get by at all. 27 This time when the donkey saw the angel, it lay down under Balaam. In a fit of rage Balaam beat the animal again with his staff.
28 Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” it asked Balaam.
29 “You have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!”
30 “But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,” the donkey answered. “Have I ever done anything like this before?”
“No,” Balaam admitted.
31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him.
The Unseen World
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The Angel of the Lord [was] standing in the way. —Numbers 22:23
Did you know that the microbes on just one of your hands outnumber all of the people on the earth? Or that millions of microbes could fit into the eye of a needle? These one-celled, living organisms are too small for us to see without a microscope, yet they live in the air, soil, water, and even in our bodies. We constantly interact with them, even though their world is completely beyond our senses.
The realities of the spiritual world are also often not visible to us humans, as the prophet Balaam discovered. He was trudging along the road with his two servants when his donkey “saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand” (Num. 22:23). To avoid the angel, the animal walked into a field, crushed Balaam’s foot against a wall, and lay down with Balaam still on her back. Balaam was angry and struck the donkey. He didn’t realize something supernatural was going on—until God opened his eyes (v.31).
The Bible tells us that a spiritual world does exist, and we may sometimes encounter realities from that realm—both good and bad (Heb. 13:2; Eph. 6:12). Because of this, we are encouraged to be watchful, prayerful, and prepared. Just as God rules the world we see, He also rules the unseen world.
Heavenly Father, help us to be strong in You
and in the power of Your might. Open our
eyes so that we may see the spiritual
realities You have for us.
All that is seen and unseen is under God’s sovereign power.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 23, 2015
The Determination to Serve
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve… —Matthew 20:28
Jesus also said, “Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:27). Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s— “…ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry is called to be different and above other people. But according to Jesus Christ, he is called to be a “doormat” for others— called to be their spiritual leader, but never their superior. Paul said, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12). Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last drop for others. And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As long as there was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of service to that person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.
Paul’s understanding of how Christ had dealt with him is the secret behind his determination to serve others. “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man…” (1 Timothy 1:13). In other words, no matter how badly others may have treated Paul, they could never have treated him with the same degree of spite and hatred with which he had treated Jesus Christ. Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 23, 2015
Running On Spiritual Empty - #7336
Honestly, I don't mind waking up in the morning. What I really don't like is waking up in the early morning to a very cold house during the winter. Those first few minutes in the bathroom, no fun at all! Teenagers, you know, kind of tell you to kind of "chill". Well, I got that opportunity one morning not long ago. I chilled! I tried everything to get some heat. I pushed up the thermostat, I hit the emergency button on the furnace, and I hit the furnace. I pulled on some clothes to go outside and check the gauge on the fuel tank, which read one-eighth of a tank.
Well, we called Mr. Furnace Repair and by nighttime when we returned from our office the house was livable again. The problem: well, it was a pretty old furnace and something chilling happens when it gets too low on fuel. The nozzle starts sucking up sediment from the bottom (he said) and then it gets clogged with that sediment. After which the furnace shuts down. After which we live in our vehicle.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Running On Spiritual Empty."
I learned it's not wise to let our furnace run low on fuel or the sediment will shut it down. Actually, that's a dynamic something like what's taking place maybe in your life right now. And it accounts for why it's gotten so cold and why the junk may be resurfacing again.
Let's hear our word today from the Word of God, John 15:3-5; simple instructions from Jesus on how to keep your relationship with Him warm and working. He says, "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you." Now, everything else that follows is based on the premise "you are clean." He says, "Remain in Me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from Me you can do nothing."
Here's the formula for a life in Christ that just keeps running well. You stay clean when you stay in God's Word. Like D. L. Moody said, "Either this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book." And when you stay close to Him through His book, you're drawing your power from being around Him all the time; you remain in Him like He said. Not visiting Him once a day in your devotions or a couple of times a week at church. It's 24/7, doing life with Jesus, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
In fact, when you get very far from Him, you can do nothing. Like our furnace, you shut down spiritually. Your personal time with Jesus, your talking to Him intimately in prayer, and your letting Him talk to you about your life through His book; that regular time is equivalent to that fuel truck pulling up to our house, hooking up the hose and pouring in more fuel.
The fuel for living for Jesus is time with Jesus. So the question is, "Have you been neglecting your daily refueling time?" I can tell you from my experience, when you do, some ugly things start to happen. The sin sediment you have control over starts to resurface again. Your ugly side, your dark side comes out because you haven't been with Jesus. It starts to take over again. It starts to clog your connection to the heart of Jesus; the old you, the ugly you making a comeback. And eventually what once was warm turns cold. What once was powerful turns powerless, which might describe the condition of your life and your heart right now.
Maybe no one else can tell. You're still going through all the same motions, but the warmth is gone. The sediment is rising. The answer for you will be the same as it was for our furnace that cold winter morning; cleaning out the dirt and getting some fuel again.
Most spiritual malfunctions can be traced back to one starting point; the neglect of the daily refueling visit with Jesus Christ. You need to get back to His side today. Get the touch of His presence. Hear from His heart to your heart. It's been cold long enough hasn't it?
Romans 3:10 introduces an essential truth. “There is no one righteous, not even one. . .no one who seeks God. All have turned away, there is no one who does good, not even one.”
We must start where God starts. We won’t appreciate what grace does until we understand who we are. We are rebels. We deserve to die. Four prison walls, thickened with hurt, and hate, surround us. Incarcerated by our past, our low-road choices, and our high-minded pride. We have been found guilty.
Our executioner’s footsteps echo against stone walls. We don’t look up as he opens the door and begins to speak. We know what he’s going to say– “Time to pay for your sins.” But we hear something else. “You’re free to go. They took Jesus instead of you.” The light shines, the shackles are gone, and our crimes are pardoned.
What just happened? Grace happened!
From GRACE
Joshua 18
The Allotments of the Remaining Land
Now that the land was under Israelite control, the entire community of Israel gathered at Shiloh and set up the Tabernacle.[f] 2 But there remained seven tribes who had not yet been allotted their grants of land.
3 Then Joshua asked them, “How long are you going to wait before taking possession of the remaining land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given to you? 4 Select three men from each tribe, and I will send them out to explore the land and map it out. They will then return to me with a written report of their proposed divisions of their new homeland. 5 Let them divide the land into seven sections, excluding Judah’s territory in the south and Joseph’s territory in the north. 6 And when you record the seven divisions of the land and bring them to me, I will cast sacred lots in the presence of the Lord our God to assign land to each tribe.
7 “The Levites, however, will not receive any allotment of land. Their role as priests of the Lord is their allotment. And the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh won’t receive any more land, for they have already received their grant of land, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave them on the east side of the Jordan River.”
8 As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua commanded them, “Go and explore the land and write a description of it. Then return to me, and I will assign the land to the tribes by casting sacred lots here in the presence of the Lord at Shiloh.” 9 The men did as they were told and mapped the entire territory into seven sections, listing the towns in each section. They made a written record and then returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. 10 And there at Shiloh, Joshua cast sacred lots in the presence of the Lord to determine which tribe should have each section.
The Land Given to Benjamin
11 The first allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin. It lay between the territory assigned to the tribes of Judah and Joseph.
12 The northern boundary of Benjamin’s land began at the Jordan River, went north of the slope of Jericho, then west through the hill country and the wilderness of Beth-aven. 13 From there the boundary went south to Luz (that is, Bethel) and proceeded down to Ataroth-addar on the hill that lies south of Lower Beth-horon.
14 The boundary then made a turn and swung south along the western edge of the hill facing Beth-horon, ending at the village of Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a town belonging to the tribe of Judah. This was the western boundary.
15 The southern boundary began at the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim. From that western point it ran[g] to the spring at the waters of Nephtoah,[h] 16 and down to the base of the mountain beside the valley of Ben-Hinnom, at the northern end of the valley of Rephaim. From there it went down the valley of Hinnom, crossing south of the slope where the Jebusites lived, and continued down to En-rogel. 17 From En-rogel the boundary proceeded in a northerly direction and came to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth (which is across from the slopes of Adummim). Then it went down to the Stone of Bohan. (Bohan was Reuben’s son.) 18 From there it passed along the north side of the slope overlooking the Jordan Valley.[i] The border then went down into the valley, 19 ran past the north slope of Beth-hoglah, and ended at the north bay of the Dead Sea,[j] which is the southern end of the Jordan River. This was the southern boundary.
20 The eastern boundary was the Jordan River.
These were the boundaries of the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
The Towns Given to Benjamin
21 These were the towns given to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, 22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—twelve towns with their surrounding villages. 25 Also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zela, Haeleph, the Jebusite town (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim[k]—fourteen towns with their surrounding villages.
This was the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
18:1 Hebrew Tent of Meeting.
18:15a Or From there it went to Mozah. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
18:15b Or the spring at Me-nephtoah.
18:18 Hebrew overlooking the Arabah, or overlooking Beth-arabah.
18:19 Hebrew Salt Sea.
18:28 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads Kiriath.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, February 23, 2015
Read: Numbers 22:21-31
Balaam and His Donkey
So the next morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way. As Balaam and two servants were riding along, 23 Balaam’s donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat it and turned it back onto the road. 24 Then the angel of the Lord stood at a place where the road narrowed between two vineyard walls. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it tried to squeeze by and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So Balaam beat the donkey again. 26 Then the angel of the Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place too narrow for the donkey to get by at all. 27 This time when the donkey saw the angel, it lay down under Balaam. In a fit of rage Balaam beat the animal again with his staff.
28 Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” it asked Balaam.
29 “You have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!”
30 “But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,” the donkey answered. “Have I ever done anything like this before?”
“No,” Balaam admitted.
31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him.
The Unseen World
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The Angel of the Lord [was] standing in the way. —Numbers 22:23
Did you know that the microbes on just one of your hands outnumber all of the people on the earth? Or that millions of microbes could fit into the eye of a needle? These one-celled, living organisms are too small for us to see without a microscope, yet they live in the air, soil, water, and even in our bodies. We constantly interact with them, even though their world is completely beyond our senses.
The realities of the spiritual world are also often not visible to us humans, as the prophet Balaam discovered. He was trudging along the road with his two servants when his donkey “saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand” (Num. 22:23). To avoid the angel, the animal walked into a field, crushed Balaam’s foot against a wall, and lay down with Balaam still on her back. Balaam was angry and struck the donkey. He didn’t realize something supernatural was going on—until God opened his eyes (v.31).
The Bible tells us that a spiritual world does exist, and we may sometimes encounter realities from that realm—both good and bad (Heb. 13:2; Eph. 6:12). Because of this, we are encouraged to be watchful, prayerful, and prepared. Just as God rules the world we see, He also rules the unseen world.
Heavenly Father, help us to be strong in You
and in the power of Your might. Open our
eyes so that we may see the spiritual
realities You have for us.
All that is seen and unseen is under God’s sovereign power.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 23, 2015
The Determination to Serve
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve… —Matthew 20:28
Jesus also said, “Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:27). Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s— “…ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry is called to be different and above other people. But according to Jesus Christ, he is called to be a “doormat” for others— called to be their spiritual leader, but never their superior. Paul said, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12). Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last drop for others. And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As long as there was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of service to that person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.
Paul’s understanding of how Christ had dealt with him is the secret behind his determination to serve others. “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man…” (1 Timothy 1:13). In other words, no matter how badly others may have treated Paul, they could never have treated him with the same degree of spite and hatred with which he had treated Jesus Christ. Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 23, 2015
Running On Spiritual Empty - #7336
Honestly, I don't mind waking up in the morning. What I really don't like is waking up in the early morning to a very cold house during the winter. Those first few minutes in the bathroom, no fun at all! Teenagers, you know, kind of tell you to kind of "chill". Well, I got that opportunity one morning not long ago. I chilled! I tried everything to get some heat. I pushed up the thermostat, I hit the emergency button on the furnace, and I hit the furnace. I pulled on some clothes to go outside and check the gauge on the fuel tank, which read one-eighth of a tank.
Well, we called Mr. Furnace Repair and by nighttime when we returned from our office the house was livable again. The problem: well, it was a pretty old furnace and something chilling happens when it gets too low on fuel. The nozzle starts sucking up sediment from the bottom (he said) and then it gets clogged with that sediment. After which the furnace shuts down. After which we live in our vehicle.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Running On Spiritual Empty."
I learned it's not wise to let our furnace run low on fuel or the sediment will shut it down. Actually, that's a dynamic something like what's taking place maybe in your life right now. And it accounts for why it's gotten so cold and why the junk may be resurfacing again.
Let's hear our word today from the Word of God, John 15:3-5; simple instructions from Jesus on how to keep your relationship with Him warm and working. He says, "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you." Now, everything else that follows is based on the premise "you are clean." He says, "Remain in Me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from Me you can do nothing."
Here's the formula for a life in Christ that just keeps running well. You stay clean when you stay in God's Word. Like D. L. Moody said, "Either this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book." And when you stay close to Him through His book, you're drawing your power from being around Him all the time; you remain in Him like He said. Not visiting Him once a day in your devotions or a couple of times a week at church. It's 24/7, doing life with Jesus, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
In fact, when you get very far from Him, you can do nothing. Like our furnace, you shut down spiritually. Your personal time with Jesus, your talking to Him intimately in prayer, and your letting Him talk to you about your life through His book; that regular time is equivalent to that fuel truck pulling up to our house, hooking up the hose and pouring in more fuel.
The fuel for living for Jesus is time with Jesus. So the question is, "Have you been neglecting your daily refueling time?" I can tell you from my experience, when you do, some ugly things start to happen. The sin sediment you have control over starts to resurface again. Your ugly side, your dark side comes out because you haven't been with Jesus. It starts to take over again. It starts to clog your connection to the heart of Jesus; the old you, the ugly you making a comeback. And eventually what once was warm turns cold. What once was powerful turns powerless, which might describe the condition of your life and your heart right now.
Maybe no one else can tell. You're still going through all the same motions, but the warmth is gone. The sediment is rising. The answer for you will be the same as it was for our furnace that cold winter morning; cleaning out the dirt and getting some fuel again.
Most spiritual malfunctions can be traced back to one starting point; the neglect of the daily refueling visit with Jesus Christ. You need to get back to His side today. Get the touch of His presence. Hear from His heart to your heart. It's been cold long enough hasn't it?
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Joshua 17, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Spend Time with Him
C. S. Lewis wrote: “The moment you wake up each morning your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job of each morning consists in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, letting that other, stronger, larger, quieter life come flowing in.”
Here’s how the psalmist began his day: “Every morning, I tell you what I need, and I wait for your answer” (Psalm 5:3).
Spend time waiting on God. And, at the end of the day, thank God for the good parts. Question him about the hard parts. Seek his mercy. Seek his strength. And as you close your eyes, take this assurance into your sleep: “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). If you fall asleep as you pray, don’t worry. What better place to doze off than in the arms of your Father.
From Just Like Jesus
Joshua 17
The Other Half-Tribe of Manasseh (West)
Then allotment was made to the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a warrior. 2 And allotments were made to the rest of the tribe of Manasseh, by their families, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida; these were the male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, by their families.
3 Now Zelophehad son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh had no sons, but only daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 They came before the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun and the leaders, and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our male kin.” So according to the commandment of the Lord he gave them an inheritance among the kinsmen of their father. 5 Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan, 6 because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the Manassites.
7 The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethath, which is east of Shechem; then the boundary goes along southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah. 8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to the Ephraimites. 9 Then the boundary went down to the Wadi Kanah. The towns here, to the south of the wadi, among the towns of Manasseh, belong to Ephraim. Then the boundary of Manasseh goes along the north side of the wadi and ends at the sea. 10 The land to the south is Ephraim’s and that to the north is Manasseh’s, with the sea forming its boundary; on the north Asher is reached, and on the east Issachar. 11 Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, Ibleam and its villages, the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, the inhabitants of Taanach and its villages, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages (the third is Naphath).[a] 12 Yet the Manassites could not take possession of those towns; but the Canaanites continued to live in that land. 13 But when the Israelites grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
The Tribe of Joseph Protests
14 The tribe of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, since we are a numerous people, whom all along the Lord has blessed?” 15 And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest, and clear ground there for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” 16 The tribe of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us; yet all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.” 17 Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are indeed a numerous people, and have great power; you shall not have one lot only, 18 but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Read: 1 Corinthians 2:9-16
But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.[a]
14 Those who are unspiritual[b] do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
Footnotes:
1 Corinthians 2:13 Or interpreting spiritual things in spiritual language, or comparing spiritual things with spiritual
1 Corinthians 2:14 Or natural
INSIGHT: One role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the follower of Christ is that of a guide to help discern spiritual truth. In John 16:13, Jesus said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (niv).
Ask The Author
By Julie Ackerman Link
We have the mind of Christ. —1 Corinthians 2:16
Over the years I’ve been part of various book groups. Typically, several friends read a book and then we get together to discuss the ideas the author has put forward. Inevitably, one person will raise a question that none of us can answer. And then someone will say, “If only we could ask the author.” A popular new trend in New York City is making that possible. Some authors, for a hefty fee, are making themselves available to meet with book clubs.
How different it is for those of us who gather to study the Bible. Jesus meets with us whenever we get together. No fees. No scheduling conflicts. No travel expenses. Furthermore, we have the Holy Spirit to guide our understanding. One of the last promises Jesus made to His disciples was that God would send the Holy Spirit to teach them (John 14:26).
The Author of the Bible is not limited by time or space. He can meet with us at any time and any place. So whenever we have a question, we can ask with the assurance that He will answer—though perhaps not according to our timetable.
God wants us to have the mind of the Author (1 Cor. 2:16) so that through the teaching of the Spirit we will comprehend the greatness of the gift He has freely given us (v.12).
Lord, thank You that You are meeting with me
right now. I want to be taught by You. I don’t
want just to have more knowledge about You; I
want to know You in the depths of my heart.
When you open your Bible, ask the Author to open your mind and heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, February 22, 2015
The Discipline of Spiritual Perseverance
Be still, and know that I am God… —Psalm 46:10
Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen. Perseverance means more than just hanging on, which may be only exposing our fear of letting go and falling. Perseverance is our supreme effort of refusing to believe that our hero is going to be conquered. Our greatest fear is not that we will be damned, but that somehow Jesus Christ will be defeated. Also, our fear is that the very things our Lord stood for— love, justice, forgiveness, and kindness among men— will not win out in the end and will represent an unattainable goal for us. Then there is the call to spiritual perseverance. A call not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated.
If our hopes seem to be experiencing disappointment right now, it simply means that they are being purified. Every hope or dream of the human mind will be fulfilled if it is noble and of God. But one of the greatest stresses in life is the stress of waiting for God. He brings fulfillment, “because you have kept My command to persevere…” (Revelation 3:10).
Continue to persevere spiritually.
C. S. Lewis wrote: “The moment you wake up each morning your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job of each morning consists in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, letting that other, stronger, larger, quieter life come flowing in.”
Here’s how the psalmist began his day: “Every morning, I tell you what I need, and I wait for your answer” (Psalm 5:3).
Spend time waiting on God. And, at the end of the day, thank God for the good parts. Question him about the hard parts. Seek his mercy. Seek his strength. And as you close your eyes, take this assurance into your sleep: “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). If you fall asleep as you pray, don’t worry. What better place to doze off than in the arms of your Father.
From Just Like Jesus
Joshua 17
The Other Half-Tribe of Manasseh (West)
Then allotment was made to the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a warrior. 2 And allotments were made to the rest of the tribe of Manasseh, by their families, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida; these were the male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, by their families.
3 Now Zelophehad son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh had no sons, but only daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 They came before the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun and the leaders, and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our male kin.” So according to the commandment of the Lord he gave them an inheritance among the kinsmen of their father. 5 Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan, 6 because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the Manassites.
7 The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethath, which is east of Shechem; then the boundary goes along southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah. 8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to the Ephraimites. 9 Then the boundary went down to the Wadi Kanah. The towns here, to the south of the wadi, among the towns of Manasseh, belong to Ephraim. Then the boundary of Manasseh goes along the north side of the wadi and ends at the sea. 10 The land to the south is Ephraim’s and that to the north is Manasseh’s, with the sea forming its boundary; on the north Asher is reached, and on the east Issachar. 11 Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, Ibleam and its villages, the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, the inhabitants of Taanach and its villages, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages (the third is Naphath).[a] 12 Yet the Manassites could not take possession of those towns; but the Canaanites continued to live in that land. 13 But when the Israelites grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
The Tribe of Joseph Protests
14 The tribe of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, since we are a numerous people, whom all along the Lord has blessed?” 15 And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest, and clear ground there for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” 16 The tribe of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us; yet all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.” 17 Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are indeed a numerous people, and have great power; you shall not have one lot only, 18 but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Read: 1 Corinthians 2:9-16
But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.[a]
14 Those who are unspiritual[b] do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
Footnotes:
1 Corinthians 2:13 Or interpreting spiritual things in spiritual language, or comparing spiritual things with spiritual
1 Corinthians 2:14 Or natural
INSIGHT: One role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the follower of Christ is that of a guide to help discern spiritual truth. In John 16:13, Jesus said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (niv).
Ask The Author
By Julie Ackerman Link
We have the mind of Christ. —1 Corinthians 2:16
Over the years I’ve been part of various book groups. Typically, several friends read a book and then we get together to discuss the ideas the author has put forward. Inevitably, one person will raise a question that none of us can answer. And then someone will say, “If only we could ask the author.” A popular new trend in New York City is making that possible. Some authors, for a hefty fee, are making themselves available to meet with book clubs.
How different it is for those of us who gather to study the Bible. Jesus meets with us whenever we get together. No fees. No scheduling conflicts. No travel expenses. Furthermore, we have the Holy Spirit to guide our understanding. One of the last promises Jesus made to His disciples was that God would send the Holy Spirit to teach them (John 14:26).
The Author of the Bible is not limited by time or space. He can meet with us at any time and any place. So whenever we have a question, we can ask with the assurance that He will answer—though perhaps not according to our timetable.
God wants us to have the mind of the Author (1 Cor. 2:16) so that through the teaching of the Spirit we will comprehend the greatness of the gift He has freely given us (v.12).
Lord, thank You that You are meeting with me
right now. I want to be taught by You. I don’t
want just to have more knowledge about You; I
want to know You in the depths of my heart.
When you open your Bible, ask the Author to open your mind and heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, February 22, 2015
The Discipline of Spiritual Perseverance
Be still, and know that I am God… —Psalm 46:10
Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen. Perseverance means more than just hanging on, which may be only exposing our fear of letting go and falling. Perseverance is our supreme effort of refusing to believe that our hero is going to be conquered. Our greatest fear is not that we will be damned, but that somehow Jesus Christ will be defeated. Also, our fear is that the very things our Lord stood for— love, justice, forgiveness, and kindness among men— will not win out in the end and will represent an unattainable goal for us. Then there is the call to spiritual perseverance. A call not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated.
If our hopes seem to be experiencing disappointment right now, it simply means that they are being purified. Every hope or dream of the human mind will be fulfilled if it is noble and of God. But one of the greatest stresses in life is the stress of waiting for God. He brings fulfillment, “because you have kept My command to persevere…” (Revelation 3:10).
Continue to persevere spiritually.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Joshua 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Made Right with God
How would you fill in this blank? A person is made right with God through_____. Don't let its brevity fool you. How you complete it is critical; it reflects the nature of your faith.
One might say a person is made right with God through. . . being good. Giving sandwiches to the poor. Some say Christian conduct is the secret. Perhaps suffering is the answer. Sleep on dirt floors. Malaria. Poverty. Bare feet. The greater the pain, the greater the saint. No, no, no, another contends. The way to be made right with God? It's doctrine. Air-tight theology which explains every mystery. Inspiration clarified.
Yet, how are we truly made right with God? All the above are tried. All are demonstrated. But none are from God. Romans 3:28 says, "A person is made right with God through faith." Through faith in God's sacrifice on the cross.
It's not what you do, it's what He did.
From And the Angels Were Silent
Joshua 16
The Land Given to Ephraim and West Manasseh
The allotment for the descendants of Joseph extended from the Jordan River near Jericho, east of the springs of Jericho, through the wilderness and into the hill country of Bethel. 2 From Bethel (that is, Luz)[a] it ran over to Ataroth in the territory of the Arkites. 3 Then it descended westward to the territory of the Japhletites as far as Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer and over to the Mediterranean Sea.[b]
4 This was the homeland allocated to the families of Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
The Land Given to Ephraim
5 The following territory was given to the clans of the tribe of Ephraim.
The boundary of their homeland began at Ataroth-addar in the east. From there it ran to Upper Beth-horon, 6 then on to the Mediterranean Sea. From Micmethath on the north, the boundary curved eastward past Taanath-shiloh to the east of Janoah. 7 From Janoah it turned southward to Ataroth and Naarah, touched Jericho, and ended at the Jordan River. 8 From Tappuah the boundary extended westward, following the Kanah Ravine to the Mediterranean Sea. This is the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Ephraim.
9 In addition, some towns with their surrounding villages in the territory allocated to the half-tribe of Manasseh were set aside for the tribe of Ephraim. 10 They did not drive the Canaanites out of Gezer, however, so the people of Gezer live as slaves among the people of Ephraim to this day.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Read: Isaiah 6:1-8
Isaiah’s Cleansing and Call
It was in the year King Uzziah died[a] that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Footnotes:
6:1 King Uzziah died in 740 B.c.
INSIGHT: This passage recounts the call of Isaiah to a long and difficult prophetic ministry spanning the reigns of four kings (740–681 bc). Isaiah was not the only one in Scripture who viewed himself as too sinful to be in God’s presence (6:5). Peter, when called to be an apostle, cried out, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8). The tax collector in Luke 18:13 demonstrated a similar humility and recognition of personal sin.
Approaching God
By Lawrence Darman
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory! —Isaiah 6:3
It used to bother me that the closer I drew to God in my walk with Him, the more sinful I felt. Then a phenomenon I observed in my room enlightened me. A tiny gap in the curtain covering my window threw a ray of light into the room. As I looked, I saw particles of dirt drifting in the beam. Without the ray of light, the room seemed clean, but the light revealed the dirty particles.
What I observed shed light on my spiritual life. The closer I approach the Lord of light, the clearer I see myself. When the light of Christ shines in the darkness of our lives, it exposes our sin—not to discourage us, but to humble us to trust in Him. We can’t depend on our own righteousness, since we are sinners and fall short of God’s standards (Rom. 3:23). When we are proud, the light reveals our heart and we cry as Isaiah did, “Woe to me! . . . For I am a man of unclean lips, . . . and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isa. 6:5 niv).
God is absolutely perfect in every way. Approaching Him calls for humility and childlike trust, not self-importance and pride. For it is by grace that He draws us to Himself. It is good for us that we feel unworthy as we draw closer to God, for it humbles us to rely on Him alone.
Holy, Holy, Holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eyes of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy—there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love and purity. —Heber
There is no room for pride when we walk with God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Do You Really Love Him?
She has done a good work for Me. —Mark 14:6
If what we call love doesn’t take us beyond ourselves, it is not really love. If we have the idea that love is characterized as cautious, wise, sensible, shrewd, and never taken to extremes, we have missed the true meaning. This may describe affection and it may bring us a warm feeling, but it is not a true and accurate description of love.
Have you ever been driven to do something for God not because you felt that it was useful or your duty to do so, or that there was anything in it for you, but simply because you love Him? Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him? I’m not referring to works which could be regarded as divine and miraculous, but ordinary, simple human things— things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him. Have you ever created what Mary of Bethany created in the heart of the Lord Jesus? “She has done a good work for Me.”
There are times when it seems as if God watches to see if we will give Him even small gifts of surrender, just to show how genuine our love is for Him. To be surrendered to God is of more value than our personal holiness. Concern over our personal holiness causes us to focus our eyes on ourselves, and we become overly concerned about the way we walk and talk and look, out of fear of offending God. “…but perfect love casts out fear…” once we are surrendered to God (1 John 4:18). We should quit asking ourselves, “Am I of any use?” and accept the truth that we really are not of much use to Him. The issue is never of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself. Once we are totally surrendered to God, He will work through us all the time.
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