We need to know that God is near. We are never alone. In our darkest hour, in our deepest questions, the Lord never leaves us!
When my daughters were small, they would occasionally cry out in the middle of the night. They would hear a noise on the street. They would shout, "Daddy!" I would do what all daddies do-tell their mother. (Just kidding). I would get up, walk down the hall, and step into their room. When I did the atmosphere changed. Strange noises didn't matter. Daddy was here.
You need to know this- your Father is here. Do you face a diagnosis, difficulty or defeat that keeps you from entering your Promised Land? Paul says in Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" All authority has been given to him. He is in charge of it all. He has the final word on everything!
From Glory Days
Proverbs 12
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
but whoever hates correction is stupid.
2 Good people obtain favor from the Lord,
but he condemns those who devise wicked schemes.
3 No one can be established through wickedness,
but the righteous cannot be uprooted.
4 A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown,
but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.
5 The plans of the righteous are just,
but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.
6 The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood,
but the speech of the upright rescues them.
7 The wicked are overthrown and are no more,
but the house of the righteous stands firm.
8 A person is praised according to their prudence,
and one with a warped mind is despised.
9 Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant
than pretend to be somebody and have no food.
10 The righteous care for the needs of their animals,
but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.
11 Those who work their land will have abundant food,
but those who chase fantasies have no sense.
12 The wicked desire the stronghold of evildoers,
but the root of the righteous endures.
13 Evildoers are trapped by their sinful talk,
and so the innocent escape trouble.
14 From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things,
and the work of their hands brings them reward.
15 The way of fools seems right to them,
but the wise listen to advice.
16 Fools show their annoyance at once,
but the prudent overlook an insult.
17 An honest witness tells the truth,
but a false witness tells lies.
18 The words of the reckless pierce like swords,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
19 Truthful lips endure forever,
but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
20 Deceit is in the hearts of those who plot evil,
but those who promote peace have joy.
21 No harm overtakes the righteous,
but the wicked have their fill of trouble.
22 The Lord detests lying lips,
but he delights in people who are trustworthy.
23 The prudent keep their knowledge to themselves,
but a fool’s heart blurts out folly.
24 Diligent hands will rule,
but laziness ends in forced labor.
25 Anxiety weighs down the heart,
but a kind word cheers it up.
26 The righteous choose their friends carefully,
but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
27 The lazy do not roast[d] any game,
but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.
28 In the way of righteousness there is life;
along that path is immortality.
Footnotes:
Proverbs 12:27 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Read: Proverbs 3:1–8
Trusting in the Lord
My child,[a] never forget the things I have taught you.
Store my commands in your heart.
2 If you do this, you will live many years,
and your life will be satisfying.
3 Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!
Tie them around your neck as a reminder.
Write them deep within your heart.
4 Then you will find favor with both God and people,
and you will earn a good reputation.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.
Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 Then you will have healing for your body
and strength for your bones.
Footnotes:
3:1 Hebrew My son; also in 3:11, 21.
INSIGHT:
The book of Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings, advice, instructions, and warnings. It is structured as a life manual from a father to his son—an encouragement to live wisely and in a way that obeys and honors God. Solomon, who spoke about 3,000 proverbs (1 Kings 4:32), is the main author (see Prov. 1:1-6; 10:1; 25:1). Other authors include unnamed Jewish wise men (22:17–24:34), Agur (ch. 30), and Lemuel (ch. 31). In today’s reading Solomon admonishes us not to neglect God’s Word but to obey it (3:1). A wise person is faithful (v. 3), trusts and depends on God (vv. 5-6), is not proud and avoids evil (v. 7), puts God first in everything (v. 9), and learns from God’s discipline (v. 11). Sim Kay Tee
God’s Direction
By David McCasland
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. —nkjv Proverbs 3:6
A century ago, 41-year-old Oswald Chambers arrived in Egypt to serve as a YMCA chaplain to British Commonwealth troops during World War I. He was assigned to a camp at Zeitoun, six miles north of Cairo. On his first night there, October 27, 1915, Chambers wrote in his diary, “This [area] is absolutely desert in the very heart of the troops and a glorious opportunity for men. It is all immensely unlike anything I have been used to, and I am watching with interest the new things God will do and engineer.”
| Kathleen, Biddy and Oswald, summer 1913. |
Wherever God puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him.
This is both a comfort and a challenge. There is security in knowing that the Lord will lead us each day, but we must not become so attached to our plans that we resist God’s redirection or His timing.
“We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for,” said Chambers. “God engineers everything. Wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work.”
Lord, may I love and serve You with all my heart where You have placed me today.
Read more of Oswald Chambers’ work at utmost.org
As we trust in God, He directs our steps.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 15, 2015
The Key to the Missionary’s Message
He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. —1 John 2:2
The key to the missionary’s message is the propitiation of Christ Jesus— His sacrifice for us that completely satisfied the wrath of God. Look at any other aspect of Christ’s work, whether it is healing, saving, or sanctifying, and you will see that there is nothing limitless about those. But— “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”— that is limitless (John 1:29). The missionary’s message is the limitless importance of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins, and a missionary is someone who is immersed in the truth of that revelation.
The real key to the missionary’s message is the “remissionary” aspect of Christ’s life, not His kindness, His goodness, or even His revealing of the fatherhood of God to us. “…repentance and remission of sins should be preached…to all nations…” (Luke 24:47). The greatest message of limitless importance is that “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins….” The missionary’s message is not nationalistic, favoring nations or individuals; it is “for the whole world.” When the Holy Spirit comes into me, He does not consider my partialities or preferences; He simply brings me into oneness with the Lord Jesus.
A missionary is someone who is bound by marriage to the stated mission and purpose of his Lord and Master. He is not to proclaim his own point of view, but is only to proclaim “the Lamb of God.” It is easier to belong to a faction that simply tells what Jesus Christ has done for me, and easier to become a devotee of divine healing, or of a special type of sanctification, or of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But Paul did not say, “Woe is me if I do not preach what Christ has done for me,” but, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). And this is the gospel— “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 15, 2015
How Accidents Happen - #7504
We were in a radio studio getting ready to tape a live youth broadcast. One of the things that made this program exciting is that we had a live studio audience of young people. This particular night a youth group was coming to be that audience.
Well, we waited, and we waited, and they never came. Consequently we never got to do the program. No one had even called us! Either they were pretty irresponsible, or they found out what we pay – which is nothing – or something had happened. Actually, something had happened. The man driving had looked down for just a second and they plowed into the rear of a construction truck. Thankfully no one was seriously injured, and they even came back another time to do a program. I think someone else was driving.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Accidents Happen."
It really didn't take much to cause that crash – just one look away! Actually, that's been the cause of many accidents, many spiritual accidents. Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Samuel 11:1. I find this one of the saddest chapters in the Bible. "In the Spring, at a time when Kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. But David remained in Jerusalem."
David's job was to be out there fighting God's battles right then. Instead he decided he would take a day off in more ways than one. Verse 2: "One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, 'She is Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah,'" who, by the way, was one of his trusted men. "She came to him and he slept with her." There was a moral crash that night that David could never have foreseen and all the damages that would follow.
Chapter 12, the prophet says to David, "You despised the Word of the Lord." In other words he got tempted and he stopped caring what God would think. Have you ever been there? Then the prophet says, "The sword will never depart from your house." Oh, David's sin is forgiven but the consequences will haunt him for the rest of his life. Then the prophet says, "The Lord has taken away your sin, but by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt"(Ch.12 vs.14).
God's reputation has been smeared because of what one of His children did. How many times have we seen that happen? What caused this very costly moral accident? The same thing that caused the crash of that van – one look away. I believe someone is listening right now, and God wants to say to you, "You're about to crash because you've looked away." He doesn't want you to crash. He doesn't want you to pay for the damages. So He's sending you this loving warning today.
You've looked away from His book. You've put your Bible on a shelf and seldom are you showing up for your time with the Lord anymore. You've looked away from His calling on your life and you're on a spiritual vacation. You've looked away from Jesus and you've let something or someone else take over your heart. You're headed for a terrible accident.
David took a spiritual day off and he paid for that day with the rest of his life. It could be you've been taking some spiritual days off and Satan is using your complacency, he's using your carelessness to make you drift off the road that God once had you on. Listen, it's time to look up, it's time to wake up, and it's time to quit flirting with that temptation. God said flee from it, not flirt with it!
It's time to drop that person or the people who are pulling you away from your Savior. No more compromise, no more drifting, it will cost you too much. Look up again at Jesus who suffered and died for the very sin you've been playing with. Come back to His love. Come back to His Lordship. It's so much better there.
If you look away much longer the crash is going to be inevitable and it's going to be costly.