God spoke. Joshua listened and Israel’s Glory Days began. The Jordan River opened up and Jericho’s walls fell down. Evil was booted, and hope was rebooted. Joshua 21:43 says, “So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it. The Lord gave them rest all around…not a man of all their enemies stood against them!”
Perhaps you need a new season. You don’t need to cross the Jordan River, but you need to get through the week. You aren’t facing Jericho, but you are facing rejection or heartache. The story of Joshua dares us to believe God has a Promised Land for us to take! It’s not real estate, but a real state of the heart and mind! A Promised Land…a promised land life!
From Glory Days
Psalm 62
For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of David.
1 I wait quietly before God,
for my victory comes from him.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will never be shaken.
3 So many enemies against one man—
all of them trying to kill me.
To them I’m just a broken-down wall
or a tottering fence.
4 They plan to topple me from my high position.
They delight in telling lies about me.
They praise me to my face
but curse me in their hearts. Interlude
5 Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
for my hope is in him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will not be shaken.
7 My victory and honor come from God alone.
He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
8 O my people, trust in him at all times.
Pour out your heart to him,
for God is our refuge. Interlude
9 Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind,
and the powerful are not what they appear to be.
If you weigh them on the scales,
together they are lighter than a breath of air.
10 Don’t make your living by extortion
or put your hope in stealing.
And if your wealth increases,
don’t make it the center of your life.
11 God has spoken plainly,
and I have heard it many times:
Power, O God, belongs to you;
12 unfailing love, O Lord, is yours.
Surely you repay all people
according to what they have done.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, September 02, 2015
Read: Genesis 11:1-9
The Tower of Babel
11 At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. 2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia[a] and settled there.
3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”
5 But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6 “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
8 In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why the city was called Babel,[b] because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.
Footnotes:
11:2 Hebrew Shinar.
11:9 Or Babylon. Babel sounds like a Hebrew term that means “confusion.”
INSIGHT:
Genesis 11 holds a pivotal place in the early Old Testament story, as it forms something of a bridge from the days of the early patriarchs (Adam, Seth, Noah) to the days of Abraham. In Genesis 1–10 we find not only the creation narrative but also the record of humanity’s early failures, which are proof we need the Rescuer that God promised in Genesis 3:15. This promise will find its ultimate fulfillment through the line of Abraham—in Jesus the Messiah—through whom all the people of the world will be blessed (22:18). Bill Crowder
The Babel Project
By Mart DeHaan
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Psalm 127:1
Two workmen were asked what they were building together. One said he was building a garage. The other replied that he was building a cathedral. A day later there was only one man laying bricks. When asked where the second was, the first replied, “Oh, he got fired. He insisted on building a cathedral instead of a garage.”
Something similar happened on the ancient worksite of Babel. A group of people decided they would build a city and a tower that would reach to the heavens and unite their world (Gen. 11:4). But God didn’t want them working on a grand, self-centered plan based on the idea that they could rise to the heights of God and solve all of their own problems. So He came down, stopped the project, scattered the people “over all the earth,” and gave them different languages (vv. 8-9).
God wants us to see Him as the solution to our problems.
God wanted people to see Him as the solution to their problems, and He revealed His plan for them to Abraham (12:1-3). Through the faith of Abraham and his descendants, He would show the world how to look for a city “whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:8-10).
Our faith does not rise out of our own dreams and solutions. The foundation of faith is in God alone and what He can do in and through us.
Dear heavenly Father, forgive me for focusing on my own schemes and dreams. Help me to look to You for guidance in all that I do.
God wants to do what only He can do in and for us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 02, 2015
A Life of Pure and Holy Sacrifice
He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow… —John 7:38
Jesus did not say, “He who believes in Me will realize all the blessings of the fullness of God,” but, in essence, “He who believes in Me will have everything he receives escape out of him.” Our Lord’s teaching was always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a person— His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us— and we cannot measure that at all.
When Mary of Bethany “broke the flask…of very costly oil…and poured it on [Jesus’] head,” it was an act for which no one else saw any special occasion; in fact, “…there were some who…said, ‘Why was this fragrant oil wasted?’ ” (Mark 14:3-4). But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said, “…wherever this gospel is preached…what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (Mark 14:9). Our Lord is filled with overflowing joy whenever He sees any of us doing what Mary did— not being bound by a particular set of rules, but being totally surrendered to Him. God poured out the life of His Son “that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). Are we prepared to pour out our lives for Him?
“He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”— and hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. Now is the time for us to break “the flask” of our lives, to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. Disciples Indeed, 386 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 02, 2015
When Your World Is Too Small - #7473
If you've been to Disneyland or Disney World, you've probably experienced an attraction called Small World. You get in this little boat and you're propelled along this winding canal where you're surrounded by animated dolls from every conceivable area of the world. They're all children: French children, Eskimo children, Arab children, Indian children, American children, children from Mexico. You get the idea. And these animated children are singing to you It's a Small World After All. Don't you want to sing it with me? I'm not going to. You say, "Ron, those lyrics are monotonous." You're right! You hear it about fifty times! It's really cute when they first start singing. And those songs are okay for a little while. But by the time you hear it over and over, you're sick and tired of a small, small world.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Your World Is Too Small."
You may have never been on the Small World ride, but you still might be sick of a small, small world. You might be living in one and not even realize it. We do realize it's a world of frustration, negative thinking, sameness, and monotony. That's the small world. It's called the world of "me". It's a world of self-focused living.
God addresses this inwardly focused kind of living in our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 5:15. In a selfie world, it's a great scripture to read. "Christ's love compels us. He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves." That's supposed to be the radical affect of Christ coming into your life. Radical because it reverses the way we've been thinking since we were babies. At that time, we expected the whole world to revolve around our needs. "Time for me to eat. Time for me to burp. Time for me to wake up." No thought for how it's affecting everybody around you. We were just totally focused on ourselves.
We're older now, but the baby still wants attention to be on me; wanting my needs to be taken care of, wanting my agenda to be carried out, wanting my issues to be dealt with, wanting my way. In fact, most researchers agree that a lot of us in several generations are really into ourselves.
There are two factors that can make you a pretty self-focused person. One is busyness. "I'm just too busy to think about the needs beyond my backyard. The other factor is pain. "I've been a victim and I'm hurting too much to be aware of what's happening to other people." Look at Jesus' example. No one had more to do in a lifetime than He did. You talk about busy! But He was constantly stopping for others, constantly forgetting himself to meet the needs of others.
No one has ever carried more pain than Jesus did. All the grief of all the sins of all the world, of you and of me, yet even during the agony of His crucifixion Jesus is caring about the needs of His Mother, of his friend, John. He's caring for the eternity of the thief next to Him. He's even caring about the people who crucified Him.
When you invite Jesus into your life, it's this Jesus you get. And He wants you to be like Him. Not self-focused. A world that's only as big as you are is a world that's too small to live in. Jesus invites you to break out, to start finding the needs around you and doing something about them, to focus on others instead of yourself, to find your life, as He said, by giving it away. Not to lose your life by hanging onto it.
This selfless Jesus, who poured out His life for you, the Bible says that when you make Him the center of your life, you open the door for Him to come in and change you, you become a new creation in Christ. And that old selfish "me" starts to die. You start to become part of the answer. You start to become someone who is making other people feel important instead of being about how important you are. It begins at His cross; a transformation you could never effect in yourself.
I invite you to consider beginning that relationship with Jesus today if you never have. He loved you enough to die for you. He's powerful enough to change you. If you want to begin that relationship, go to our website ANewStory.com. Or you can text us at 442-244-WORD.
Jesus died so we no longer live for ourselves. You been in a small, small world long enough? Then follow Jesus into the big life you were made for.