God has a promised land for you to take!
I sat across the table from a man in midlife misery. He described his life with words like stuck, rut, and stalled. He’s a Christian. But he can’t tell you the last time he defeated a temptation or experienced an answered prayer. Twenty years into his faith he fights the same battles he was fighting the day he came to Christ. It’s as if the door to spiritual growth has a lock and everyone has the key but him.
Joshua 21:43 says, “So the Lord gave Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give. . .and they took possession of it and dwelt in it.”
The promised land! God’s vision for your life. Yours for the taking. Expect to be challenged. The enemy won’t go down without a fight. But your glory days await you!
From Glory Days
Psalm 61
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by stringed instruments.
1 O God, listen to my cry!
Hear my prayer!
2 From the ends of the earth,
I cry to you for help
when my heart is overwhelmed.
Lead me to the towering rock of safety,
3 for you are my safe refuge,
a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.
4 Let me live forever in your sanctuary,
safe beneath the shelter of your wings! Interlude
5 For you have heard my vows, O God.
You have given me an inheritance reserved for those who fear your name.
6 Add many years to the life of the king!
May his years span the generations!
7 May he reign under God’s protection forever.
May your unfailing love and faithfulness watch over him.
8 Then I will sing praises to your name forever
as I fulfill my vows each day.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 01, 2015
Read: 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
One Body with Many Parts
12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles,[a] some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.[b]
14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. 23 And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, 24 while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
Footnotes:
12:13a Greek some are Greeks.
12:13b Greek we were all given one Spirit to drink.
Age Is Not a Factor
By Julie Ackerman Link
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. 1 Corinthians 12:26
After owning and working at his dental lab for 50 years, Dave Bowman planned to retire and take it easy. Diabetes and heart surgery confirmed his decision. But when he heard about a group of young refugees from Sudan who needed help, he made a life-changing decision. He agreed to sponsor five of them.
As Dave learned more about these young Sudanese men, he discovered that they had never been to a doctor or a dentist. Then one day in church someone mentioned the verse, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). He couldn’t get the verse out of his mind. Sudanese Christians were suffering because they needed medical care, and Dave sensed that God was telling him to do something about it. But what?
Despite his age and bad health, Dave began exploring the possibility of building a medical center in Sudan. Little by little, God brought together the people and the resources, and in 2008 Memorial Christian Hospital opened its doors to patients. Since then, hundreds of sick and injured people have been treated there.
Memorial Christian Hospital stands as a reminder that God cares when people suffer. And often He works through people like us to share His care—even when we think our work is done.
Do you see a need that God may be calling you to meet? Pray and ask Him to help you step out in faith.
Share your response to this question on facebook.com/ourdailybread or odb.org
God cares when people suffer.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 01, 2015
Destined To Be Holy
…it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." —1 Peter 1:16
We must continually remind ourselves of the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness. Today we have far too many desires and interests, and our lives are being consumed and wasted by them. Many of them may be right, noble, and good, and may later be fulfilled, but in the meantime God must cause their importance to us to decrease. The only thing that truly matters is whether a person will accept the God who will make him holy. At all costs, a person must have the right relationship with God.
Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe that God can come into me and make me holy? If through your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I then resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it is designed to reveal my unholiness, but it also awakens an intense yearning and desire within me. God has only one intended destiny for mankind— holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing-machine for people to use, and He did not come to save us out of pity— He came to save us because He created us to be holy. Atonement through the Cross of Christ means that God can put me back into perfect oneness with Himself through the death of Jesus Christ, without a trace of anything coming between us any longer.
Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind— placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God Himself. Holiness is not simply what God gives me, but what God has given me that is being exhibited in my life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
An intellectual conception of God may be found in a bad vicious character. The knowledge and vision of God is dependent entirely on a pure heart. Character determines the revelation of God to the individual. The pure in heart see God. Biblical Ethics, 125 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 01, 2015
Fighting the Right Battles - #7472
When our children were young, my wife and I toured the Civil War Battlefield at Gettysburg. And then, years later, we visited it again and Chad, one of our team members, was with us. My wife and Chad are both from "the South", so my wife enjoyed this trip to Gettysburg more than the previous one, because you've got two Confederates versus one Yank there. I was outnumbered. We had a pretty memorable time retracing the battle across those hills and those fields where a lot of our nation's future was decided.
Now, we didn't reenact any of the battles, I'm glad to say. But we did stand there thoughtfully on some pretty unexceptional pieces of ground that contained the battles on those three violent days in 1863: Little Round Top, Culp's Hill, Devil's Den, the Wheatfield. It was amazing to realize that so much was riding on the combat choices made by the commanding officers. Some of their judgments have brought them praise over the years, and others have brought criticism. Of course we've got perfect hindsight now on the battles. But it's obvious that some of the choices that decided the battles were about which ground to fight for. Some thought the ground that didn't matter much was worth fighting for. Others fought for ground that turned out to be very worth the fight.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fighting the Right Battles."
It's a military fact that choosing the right battleground and avoiding the ground that doesn't matter can determine the outcome of the battle. And that's not just military battles. Choosing which battles to fight may determine how well you fare on the battlefield you're on right now.
Listen to our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Samuel 5:18. David is facing the Philistines. And now it says this: "Now the Philistines had come and spread out, and David inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I go out and attack the Philistines? Will You hand them over to me?' The Lord answered him, 'Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you.'"
They came another time. Verse 22, "Once more the Philistines came and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, 'Do not go straight up.'" Now, what we're looking at here is a major secret of David's success. He checked with the Lord to see if this was a battle God wanted him to fight. That's a good idea for you and me too.
Parenting, for example. Parents are people who really need this kind of discernment. Because of our concern for our kids, we have a tendency to fight every battle. We try to get everything right in their life. The problem is we lose our ability to decide which ground is worth the battle and which ground isn't. An effective parent doesn't start fighting over every issue that comes along. You've got to let some of them go, and you save your ammunition for the battles that really count.
As a mom or dad, it's smart to follow David's victory plan; check with the Lord to see if He wants you to fight that particular battle. Parents who are constantly trying to fix their kids make their kids immune to that. When you make every issue a major battle, their ears, their hearts turn hard; they're closed when you're trying to address a real issue. So choose your battleground. Not all the ground is strategic ground worth fighting for.
This battlefield discernment can make the difference with a husband or wife, too. You know, deal with the issues that really matter. Those are the ones you can confront. Don't start shooting over every issue. Sometimes just bite your tongue or your mate won't be listening when it really, really matters.
Friends with friends, leaders with those that are leading, we all need to do this daily and ask, "Lord, is this a battle I should get into or not?" And even when it comes to our work for the Lord, we need to look at every opportunity in light of this leading. "Lord, I know this is a great opportunity, but is this a battle you want me in? I can't fight them all. Is this one for me or not?
If you don't prayerfully choose your battleground, your forces are strung out over so many battles; your ammunition is firing at so many targets you're not going to win. Save yourself to fight for the strategic ground. Hold your fire for the battles that Jesus wants you to fight.