Our best days-our Glory Days-are ahead of us. God has a Promised Land for us to take. A Promised Land life in which Paul said in Romans 8:37, "we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us." In 2 Corinthians 4:16, he says we have a life in which we do not lose heart. It's a life defined by grace, refined by challenge, and aligned with a heavenly call. In God's land, we serve out of our giftedness and delight in our assignments. We may stumble, but we do not collapse. We boast only in Christ, trust only in God, and lean wholly on his power.
You and your Promised Land life-is yours for the taking! Your Glory Days await you. Are you ready to march? I invite you to join me at GloryDaysToday.com-to memorize God's Word as a powerful and useful weapon against any stronghold!
Facing God
Today's MP3
The Hebrews did what God commanded-and God protected them. Joshua 5:1 says, "So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites. . .and all the kings of the Canaanites. . . heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan. . .their heart melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the children of Israel."
Devotion prompted divine protection. Don't face Satan by facing Satan. Face Satan by facing God. Don't give Old Scratch the time of day. Colossians 2:15 says, "God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.
Satan is a fallen angel whose time is short. Don't let him mess with your glory days. Neutralize him. Join me at GloryDaysToday.com to remember what God has done!
God's Faithfulness
Life has many unanswered questions, but be settled about God's faithfulness to you! Romans 8:32 declares, If God "did not spare his own Son but gave him for us all," will he not also give you all you need for a Promised Land life? God's Word is sure!
And 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is the reminder that Scripture is powerful and a useful weapon against any stronghold. "All Scripture is God-breathed…useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
I invite you to join me in a Scripture Memory Challenge. Let's memorize together the verses in 2 Timothy 3:16-17! I'll show you how easy it is at GloryDaysToday.com.
Psalm 145
A psalm of praise of David.
1 I will exalt you, my God and King,
and praise your name forever and ever.
2 I will praise you every day;
yes, I will praise you forever.
3 Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!
No one can measure his greatness.
4 Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts;
let them proclaim your power.
5 I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor
and your wonderful miracles.
6 Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue;
I will proclaim your greatness.
7 Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness;
they will sing with joy about your righteousness.
8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 The Lord is good to everyone.
He showers compassion on all his creation.
10 All of your works will thank you, Lord,
and your faithful followers will praise you.
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom;
they will give examples of your power.
12 They will tell about your mighty deeds
and about the majesty and glory of your reign.
13 For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
You rule throughout all generations.
The Lord always keeps his promises;
he is gracious in all he does.[c]
14 The Lord helps the fallen
and lifts those bent beneath their loads.
15 The eyes of all look to you in hope;
you give them their food as they need it.
16 When you open your hand,
you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in everything he does;
he is filled with kindness.
18 The Lord is close to all who call on him,
yes, to all who call on him in truth.
19 He grants the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cries for help and rescues them.
20 The Lord protects all those who love him,
but he destroys the wicked.
21 I will praise the Lord,
and may everyone on earth bless his holy name
forever and ever.
Footnotes:
145 This psalm is a Hebrew acrostic poem; each verse (including 13b) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
145:13 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek and Syriac versions; the Masoretic Text lacks the final two lines of this verse.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
September 23, 2015
Read: Song of Solomon 1:1-4
This is Solomon’s song of songs, more wonderful than any other.
Young Woman[a]
2 Kiss me and kiss me again,
for your love is sweeter than wine.
3 How fragrant your cologne;
your name is like its spreading fragrance.
No wonder all the young women love you!
4 Take me with you; come, let’s run!
The king has brought me into his bedroom.
Young Women of Jerusalem
How happy we are for you, O king.
We praise your love even more than wine.
Young Woman
How right they are to adore you.
Footnotes:
1:1 The headings identifying the speakers are not in the original text, though the Hebrew usually gives clues by means of the gender of the person speaking.
INSIGHT:
Although the writer of this book is not identified, the authorship of Song of Solomon—also referred to as Song of Songs—is traditionally attributed to Solomon (he is briefly mentioned in 1:5; 3:9-11; 8:11-12). Solomon wrote 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32), and many scholars view “Solomon’s Song of Songs” (Song 1:1) as meaning “the best of songs.” For centuries, beginning around the Middle Ages, many interpreted the Song of Solomon as an allegory of Christ’s love for the church. However, most scholars today see it as an anthology of about 20 poems that describe two lovers celebrating their intimate love for each other. Song of Solomon and the book of Esther are the only two biblical books that never mention God. Sim Kay Tee
No Wonder!
By Keila Ochoa
We love Him because He first loved us. —nkjv 1 John 4:19
“He’s perfect for you,” my friend told me. She was talking about a guy she had just met. She described his kind eyes, his kind smile, and his kind heart. When I met him I had to agree. Today he’s my husband, and no wonder I love him!
In the Song of Solomon the bride describes her lover. His love is better than wine and more fragrant than ointments. His name is sweeter than anything in this world. So she concludes that it’s no wonder he is loved.
Jesus' #love satisfies our every need.
But there is Someone far greater than any earthly loved one, Someone whose love is also better than wine. His love satisfies our every need. His “fragrance” is better than any perfume because when He gave Himself for us, His sacrifice became a sweet-smelling aroma to God (Eph. 5:2). Finally, His name is above every name (Phil. 2:9). No wonder we love Him!
It is a privilege to love Jesus. It is the best experience in life! Do we take the time to tell Him so? Do we express with words the beauty of our Savior? If we show His beauty with our lives, others will say, “No wonder you love Him!”
Lord, You are beautiful! No wonder we love You! Deepen our love for You today, we pray. Help us see Your beauty in new ways.
Share this prayer from our Facebook page with your friends: facebook.com/ourdailybread
God’s Word tells us of His love; our words tell Him of our love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 23, 2015
The Missionary’s Goal
He…said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem…" —Luke 18:31
In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him— “…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.
In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go “up to Jerusalem.”
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our “Jerusalem.” There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going “up to [our] Jerusalem.”
“…there they crucified Him…” (Luke 23:33). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, “I too go ‘up to Jerusalem.’ ”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
September 23, 2015
The Two-Minute Warning - #7488
Maybe you're someone who watches a lot of sports, or maybe you're someone who watches someone who watches sports a lot. But if you're too busy to turn on a football game and sit there watching the whole thing, you can do what I do sometimes. Just turn on the end of the game. Some of the most amazing things happen when the game is almost over, especially after they sound that two-minute warning. Suddenly, everybody knows it's time to throw caution to the wind and go for broke, "Let's get some points on the board!" It's time for those bold, accelerated series of plays that are designed for those urgent moments when you realize time is running out.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Two-Minute Warning."
Could it be that you and I are living at a time when our world is hearing God's two-minute warning? Many of the devoted believers of the world's three great religions; Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are expecting the coming of the Messiah soon. There is a sense all over the world that we could be living in the countdown to God's wrap-up of human history. For those studying the only book in history that has a perfect record on fulfilled prophecies, the Bible, that wrap-up is the personal return of Jesus Christ.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and following, "The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." No one can predict the time the Lord will come. But because of signs the Bible says will precede His coming, those alive at the time should be able to feel its approach. Verse 4, "But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled."
I'm not a prophecy specialist and I know dedicated believers disagree on some of the details leading up to Jesus' return. But I have to tell you, as I understand Scripture, the world has never looked so much like the world Jesus has said He is going to return to as it does now. Since Jesus was here, there has never been an Israel until now. There's never been the prophesied return of the Jews to their land from all over the world until now. There's never been the technology for an antichrist to identify and regulate the commerce of every person on earth with the mark of the beast until now. There's never been in modern times the possibility of the prophesied temple to be rebuilt, until now.
Whatever your prophetic slant, it's hard not to feel that Jesus could come soon and time might be short. The game clock may very well be ticking down from God's two-minute warning. I think Satan has got his eye on the clock. Revelations 12:10 says, "Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short." Maybe you need to check the game clock and change your game plan. Maybe it's a time for the urgent living of a two-minute drill.
Here are some questions that might apply to you in light of what time it's getting to be.
1. Why are you spending so much of your life building a bigger and bigger stack of earth-stuff?
2. Why aren't you spending a lot more time with Jesus, so you'll know Him better when you see Him?
3. Why aren't you doing more to get the people you care about ready to meet Jesus?
4. And most important, are you sure you belong to Jesus? How much longer are you going to wait to open your heart to Him? It's pretty late in the game.
Someday will be your last opportunity to open your heart to the man who died for every sin you've ever committed. We don't know when Jesus is coming back to earth or when our last heart beat is going to come. That's why the Bible says, "Today is the time. Today is the day of salvation."
Maybe that's talking to you. Maybe the two-minute warning is ticking down on your life and my life and we don't even know it. So, while you still have opportunity, be ready to live and ready to die, and ready for eternity. The only way you can is by making Jesus your Savior from your sin.
Are you ready for that? Would you go to our website ANewStory.com? Or would you text us at 442-244-WORD?
When you realize time is short, your priorities change. In sports, you go for broke. Well, take a look at God's game clock today. Why don't you play the rest of your game in light of what time it is!
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