Max Lucado Daily:ABOUNDING GRACE
Scripture says in Romans 5:20 that “the more we see our sinfulness, the more we see God’s abounding grace.” To abound is to have a surplus, an abundance, an extravagant portion.
Should the fish in the Pacific worry that it will run out of ocean? No. Why? The ocean abounds with water. Need the lark be anxious about finding room in the sky to fly? No. The sky abounds with space.
Should the Christian worry that the cup of mercy will run empty? He may, for he may not be aware of God’s abounding grace. How about you? Are you aware that the cup God gives you overflows with mercy? Or are you afraid your cup will run dry? Or your mistakes are too great for God’s grace? God is not a miser with his grace. Your cup may be low on cash or clout, but it is overflowing with mercy!
From More to Your Story
1 Corinthians 10:1-18
Lessons from Israel’s Idolatry
10 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters,[a] about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, 7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”[b] 8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.
9 Nor should we put Christ[c] to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. 10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. 11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.
12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
14 So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols. 15 You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if what I am saying is true. 16 When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? 17 And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. 18 Think about the people of Israel. Weren’t they united by eating the sacrifices at the altar?
Footnotes:
10:1 Greek brothers.
10:7 Exod 32:6.
10:9 Some manuscripts read the Lord.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Read: Mark 10:17-27
The Rich Man
17 As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’[a]”
20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” 24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard[b] to enter the Kingdom of God. 25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
26 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
Footnotes:
10:19 Exod 20:12-16; Deut 5:16-20.
10:24 Some manuscripts read very hard for those who trust in riches.
INSIGHT:
The rich young ruler (Matt. 19:20; Luke 18:18) believed he had earned his place in heaven (Mark 10:19–20). But Jesus revealed that the young man had put his trust in material things (vv. 21–22) and that salvation is obtained when we love God first and trust in Jesus only (v. 21).
Knowing and Doing
By Poh Fang Chia
With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God. Mark 10:27
Chinese philosopher Han Feizi made this observation about life: “Knowing the facts is easy. Knowing how to act based on the facts is difficult.”
A rich man with that problem once came to Jesus. He knew the law of Moses and believed he had kept the commandments since his youth (Mark 10:20). But he seems to be wondering what additional facts he might hear from Jesus. “ ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ” (v. 17).
All things are possible with God. (Mark 10:27)
Jesus’ answer disappointed the rich man. He told him to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor, and follow Him (v. 21). With these few words Jesus exposed a fact the man didn’t want to hear. He loved and relied on his wealth more than he trusted Jesus. Abandoning the security of his money to follow Jesus was too great a risk, and he went away sad (v. 22).
What was the Teacher thinking? His own disciples were alarmed and asked, “Who then can be saved?” He replied, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (v. 27). It takes courage and faith. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9).
God, thank You for the good news of Jesus. Give us the courage to act on what we know to be true, and to accept the salvation offered through Jesus. Thank You that You will give us the strength to act on the facts.
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. Acts 16:31
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Put God First
Jesus did not commit Himself to them…for He knew what was in man. —John 2:24-25
Put Trust in God First. Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God.
Put God’s Will First. “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9).
A person’s obedience is to what he sees to be a need— our Lord’s obedience was to the will of His Father. The rallying cry today is, “We must get to work! The heathen are dying without God. We must go and tell them about Him.” But we must first make sure that God’s “needs” and His will in us personally are being met. Jesus said, “…tarry…until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The purpose of our Christian training is to get us into the right relationship to the “needs” of God and His will. Once God’s “needs” in us have been met, He will open the way for us to accomplish His will, meeting His “needs” elsewhere.
Put God’s Son First. “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:5).
God came as a baby, giving and entrusting Himself to me. He expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transformed by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Ready Or Not, Here He Comes - #7667
The love of Mary Ann's life, Tom, was coming for a visit. He lived in another state, so those visits were really special. He was due to arrive Friday night or Saturday sometime, and Mary Ann's room had been declared a federal disaster area. Finally, on Thursday afternoon, she decided she'd better get busy trying to recover her room. It was really in an embarrassing condition. You know sometimes you have to make things messier, of course, in the process of getting them put away or thrown away.
Mary Ann's room was at that point on Friday morning when the phone rang. It was Tom. He was calling to say he loved her and that he was looking forward to seeing her soon. That was all the incentive she needed to finish the job. Unfortunately, she did not get that opportunity. Tom had called from downstairs. He had arrived earlier than Mary Ann expected. So in he walked and there she stood, dressed in her "grubbies", hair matted on her forehead, surrounded by an indescribable mess!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Ready Or Not, Here He Comes."
Poor girl! I mean, he came at a time when she did not expect him, and she was not ready. Not being ready might be okay when it's a boyfriend who's arriving unexpectedly. It's not okay when it's God who's arriving unexpectedly, which seems to be His modus operandi.
That's why Jesus provided this inside information for us in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 24, beginning with verse 39, where He tells us what His coming will be like. "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come...Be ready because the Son of God will come at an hour when you do not expect Him."
Jesus was speaking specifically here of that day when He will return to this earth to write the final chapter of human history – the Second Coming of Christ. And while He made clear that no one will be able to predict the exact time He will come, He did give us signs that would be evident in the world when heaven's two-minute warning has been sounded.
And many Bible scholars believe that the world has never looked more like the kind of world Jesus said He would return to than it does today. People seem to be able to sense that. Look at how they made years ago the "Left Behind" series that became huge bestsellers because it was about a scenario for what the Bible calls the "last days." One major network aired a major mini-series entitled "Revelations" – again imagining that world that Jesus will return to. You hear on the news more and more of the words like "apocalyptic" and biblical proportions.
But whether or not Jesus comes back physically in our generation, He is most certainly going to come for you in this generation. And when He does, will you be ready? The Bible describes us as being in a mess – the mess of a life where we've sinned against God, we've ignored God, we've marginalized God, we've rejected God's rule of our life.
But that same Bible says, "God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). You and I did the sinning; Jesus did the dying so He could forgive those sins that otherwise would condemn you forever. You're not ready to meet Him though until your sins have been erased from God's book. And that can only happen when you make the Savior your Savior, by turning over the life that He gave you to the One who gave His life for you. This could be your day to "get ready" if you'll tell Jesus, "I'm Yours."
In fact, right now where you are, why would you hesitate when there's so much at stake? And when today is the only guaranteed day you have? Tell Him this, "Jesus, I have run my own life. I am sorry. That's over. I believe You died for the very sins that I have committed in my life. No one loves me like You do. Jesus, I'm yours."
There's all the information you need to anchor a relationship with Jesus Christ at our website. That's what it's there for. I would ask you to come and meet me there so we can help you make sure you are ready for your appointment with Him. That website's ANewStory.com.
He'll be coming for you, one way or another, and then it's too late to get ready. The time to do that is now. Putting it off means risking your eternity. Opening your heart to Jesus means you are ready for eternity, whenever it comes.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Monday, May 30, 2016
Psalm 44, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: IT’S NOT OVER TILL IT’S OVER
In Jeremiah 32:27 God says, “I am the Lord, the God of every person on the earth, nothing is impossible for me.” We need to hear that God is still in control. We need to hear that it’s not over until he says so. We need to hear that life’s mishaps and tragedies are not a reason to bail out.
Corrie ten Boom used to say, “When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through.” The way to deal with discouragement? The cure for disappointment? Go back and read the story of God. Read it again and again. Be reminded that you aren’t the first person to weep. And you aren’t the first person to be helped. Read the story and remember the story is yours!
From More to Your Story
Psalm 44
For the choir director: A psalm[a] of the descendants of Korah.
O God, we have heard it with our own ears—
our ancestors have told us
of all you did in their day,
in days long ago:
2 You drove out the pagan nations by your power
and gave all the land to our ancestors.
You crushed their enemies
and set our ancestors free.
3 They did not conquer the land with their swords;
it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory.
It was your right hand and strong arm
and the blinding light from your face that helped them,
for you loved them.
4 You are my King and my God.
You command victories for Israel.[b]
5 Only by your power can we push back our enemies;
only in your name can we trample our foes.
6 I do not trust in my bow;
I do not count on my sword to save me.
7 You are the one who gives us victory over our enemies;
you disgrace those who hate us.
8 O God, we give glory to you all day long
and constantly praise your name. Interlude
9 But now you have tossed us aside in dishonor.
You no longer lead our armies to battle.
10 You make us retreat from our enemies
and allow those who hate us to plunder our land.
11 You have butchered us like sheep
and scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your precious people for a pittance,
making nothing on the sale.
13 You let our neighbors mock us.
We are an object of scorn and derision to those around us.
14 You have made us the butt of their jokes;
they shake their heads at us in scorn.
15 We can’t escape the constant humiliation;
shame is written across our faces.
16 All we hear are the taunts of our mockers.
All we see are our vengeful enemies.
17 All this has happened though we have not forgotten you.
We have not violated your covenant.
18 Our hearts have not deserted you.
We have not strayed from your path.
19 Yet you have crushed us in the jackal’s desert home.
You have covered us with darkness and death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread our hands in prayer to foreign gods,
21 God would surely have known it,
for he knows the secrets of every heart.
22 But for your sake we are killed every day;
we are being slaughtered like sheep.
23 Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep?
Get up! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you look the other way?
Why do you ignore our suffering and oppression?
25 We collapse in the dust,
lying face down in the dirt.
26 Rise up! Help us!
Ransom us because of your unfailing love.
Footnotes:
44:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
44:4 Hebrew for Jacob. The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, May 30, 2016
Read: Psalm 51:7-17
Purify me from my sins,[a] and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit[b] from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
and they will return to you.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;
then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord,
that my mouth may praise you.
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
Footnotes:
51:7 Hebrew Purify me with the hyssop branch.
51:11 Or your spirit of holiness.
INSIGHT:
In today’s reading, the psalmist cries, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean” (Ps. 51:7). Hyssop was a wild shrub used in several significant purification rites. On the night of the Passover, the Lord commanded the Israelites to use a hyssop branch to spread the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and lintel of their homes (Ex. 12:22). If a leper had been healed of leprosy, the priests were to use hyssop to sprinkle a mixture of blood and water onto the person as a sign of healing (Lev. 14:1–9). And on the day of the ultimate purification, a hyssop branch hoisted the sponge filled with sour wine to the lips of Jesus (John 19:28–30).
Praise from Pure Hearts
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
A broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51:17
During my friend Myrna’s travels to another country, she visited a church for worship. She noticed that as people entered the sanctuary they immediately knelt and prayed, facing away from the front of the church. My friend learned that people in that church confessed their sin to God before they began the worship service.
This act of humility is a picture to me of what David said in Psalm 51: “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise” (v. 17). David was describing his own remorse and repentance for his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. Real sorrow for sin involves adopting God’s view of what we’ve done—seeing it as clearly wrong, disliking it, and not wanting it to continue.
Praise is our heart’s response to His forgiveness.
When we are truly broken over our sin, God lovingly puts us back together. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). This forgiveness produces a fresh sense of openness with Him and is the ideal starting point for praise. After David repented, confessed, and was forgiven by God, he responded by saying, “Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise” (Ps. 51:15).
Humility is the right response to God’s holiness. And praise is our heart’s response to His forgiveness.
Dear God, help me never to excuse or minimize my sin. Please meet me in my brokenness, and let nothing hold me back from praising Your name.
Praise is the song of a soul set free.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 30, 2016
“Yes—But…!”
Lord, I will follow You, but… —Luke 9:61
Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about…?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”
Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.
By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest. Disciples Indeed, 395 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 30, 2016
Unforgettable You - #7666
I'm so glad we have lots of things around our house that bloom when Spring pushes out Old Man Winter. Now, if you have allergies, you probably don't look forward to Spring, but I hope you can at least enjoy some of its extravagant beauty. And it isn't just things to see.
Every year, as I'm rushing around the yard doing my chores, I catch this beautiful scent every time I pass by this one flowering bush. It's actually not far from our trash cans; not the most fragrant item in our yard. But I love to catch the aroma of those flowers. I love it when the iris and the peonies start to bloom (I would have no idea what they were if my wife didn't tell me). They give off this inviting fragrance, like this fantastic yard perfume!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Unforgettable You."
A dear friend of ours wore this distinctive perfume for all the years we knew her-it was her trademark scent really. You could close your eyes and you knew it was her. At her funeral, our pastor talked about that perfume and the fragrant trail she always left wherever she went with the life she lived. She touched ours and so many others with the fragrance of her life.
That's how it's supposed to be for anyone who belongs to Jesus Christ; leaving a trail of fragrant blessing wherever you go, with whomever you meet. How are you doing on that? Like those flowers in our yard, there should be this compelling beauty about your life that brings beauty into theirs. Even if there's a lot of trash in their life right now. The fact is we all give off some kind of fragrance with the way we treat people, the way we handle stress, whether we make people feel more or less important, whether we bring sunshine or clouds into a situation. This would be a good day for you to evaluate: what kind of trail, what kind of life-fragrance do I leave?
One man who shows us the kind of trail we're supposed to leave is written about in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Acts 4:36-37. At a time when the just-birthed Christian community had many needs it says, "Joseph...whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet." This man had left such a trail of encouragement the apostles actually changed his name to fit the impact he made. They called him "Mr. Encouragement." If people were to change your name to something that describes the effect you have on them, what would they call you?
That name should reflect at least one of the qualities of what the Bible calls the "fruit of the Spirit"; that is, the kind of person the Holy Spirit makes you. According to Galatians 5:22-23, you should be giving off a fragrance of "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." So how are you doing with that?
Do people feel that you care about their need? Do you stop to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice? Are you calm in the midst of the frenzy or are you just another stress-carrier? Do people feel important when they're with you because you listen to them and focus on them? Do they feel lifted up or put down by being around you? People are so starved for praise and appreciation. If you give it, you will be a magnet.
And all this is so they will want to know why you're so different from everybody else in their busy, self-centered, self-promoting universe. A life with a beautiful fragrance gives you the opportunity to point them to the One who makes you that way because of how He has treated you, and that of course is Jesus. In the words of Matthew 5:16, they will "See your good works" and ultimately they will "praise your Father in heaven." Your fragrant life can help lead them to eternal life.
When people pass your way, would you let them catch a whiff of Jesus so they, too, can experience His love.
In Jeremiah 32:27 God says, “I am the Lord, the God of every person on the earth, nothing is impossible for me.” We need to hear that God is still in control. We need to hear that it’s not over until he says so. We need to hear that life’s mishaps and tragedies are not a reason to bail out.
Corrie ten Boom used to say, “When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through.” The way to deal with discouragement? The cure for disappointment? Go back and read the story of God. Read it again and again. Be reminded that you aren’t the first person to weep. And you aren’t the first person to be helped. Read the story and remember the story is yours!
From More to Your Story
Psalm 44
For the choir director: A psalm[a] of the descendants of Korah.
O God, we have heard it with our own ears—
our ancestors have told us
of all you did in their day,
in days long ago:
2 You drove out the pagan nations by your power
and gave all the land to our ancestors.
You crushed their enemies
and set our ancestors free.
3 They did not conquer the land with their swords;
it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory.
It was your right hand and strong arm
and the blinding light from your face that helped them,
for you loved them.
4 You are my King and my God.
You command victories for Israel.[b]
5 Only by your power can we push back our enemies;
only in your name can we trample our foes.
6 I do not trust in my bow;
I do not count on my sword to save me.
7 You are the one who gives us victory over our enemies;
you disgrace those who hate us.
8 O God, we give glory to you all day long
and constantly praise your name. Interlude
9 But now you have tossed us aside in dishonor.
You no longer lead our armies to battle.
10 You make us retreat from our enemies
and allow those who hate us to plunder our land.
11 You have butchered us like sheep
and scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your precious people for a pittance,
making nothing on the sale.
13 You let our neighbors mock us.
We are an object of scorn and derision to those around us.
14 You have made us the butt of their jokes;
they shake their heads at us in scorn.
15 We can’t escape the constant humiliation;
shame is written across our faces.
16 All we hear are the taunts of our mockers.
All we see are our vengeful enemies.
17 All this has happened though we have not forgotten you.
We have not violated your covenant.
18 Our hearts have not deserted you.
We have not strayed from your path.
19 Yet you have crushed us in the jackal’s desert home.
You have covered us with darkness and death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread our hands in prayer to foreign gods,
21 God would surely have known it,
for he knows the secrets of every heart.
22 But for your sake we are killed every day;
we are being slaughtered like sheep.
23 Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep?
Get up! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you look the other way?
Why do you ignore our suffering and oppression?
25 We collapse in the dust,
lying face down in the dirt.
26 Rise up! Help us!
Ransom us because of your unfailing love.
Footnotes:
44:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
44:4 Hebrew for Jacob. The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, May 30, 2016
Read: Psalm 51:7-17
Purify me from my sins,[a] and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit[b] from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
and they will return to you.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;
then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord,
that my mouth may praise you.
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
Footnotes:
51:7 Hebrew Purify me with the hyssop branch.
51:11 Or your spirit of holiness.
INSIGHT:
In today’s reading, the psalmist cries, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean” (Ps. 51:7). Hyssop was a wild shrub used in several significant purification rites. On the night of the Passover, the Lord commanded the Israelites to use a hyssop branch to spread the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and lintel of their homes (Ex. 12:22). If a leper had been healed of leprosy, the priests were to use hyssop to sprinkle a mixture of blood and water onto the person as a sign of healing (Lev. 14:1–9). And on the day of the ultimate purification, a hyssop branch hoisted the sponge filled with sour wine to the lips of Jesus (John 19:28–30).
Praise from Pure Hearts
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
A broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51:17
During my friend Myrna’s travels to another country, she visited a church for worship. She noticed that as people entered the sanctuary they immediately knelt and prayed, facing away from the front of the church. My friend learned that people in that church confessed their sin to God before they began the worship service.
This act of humility is a picture to me of what David said in Psalm 51: “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise” (v. 17). David was describing his own remorse and repentance for his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. Real sorrow for sin involves adopting God’s view of what we’ve done—seeing it as clearly wrong, disliking it, and not wanting it to continue.
Praise is our heart’s response to His forgiveness.
When we are truly broken over our sin, God lovingly puts us back together. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). This forgiveness produces a fresh sense of openness with Him and is the ideal starting point for praise. After David repented, confessed, and was forgiven by God, he responded by saying, “Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise” (Ps. 51:15).
Humility is the right response to God’s holiness. And praise is our heart’s response to His forgiveness.
Dear God, help me never to excuse or minimize my sin. Please meet me in my brokenness, and let nothing hold me back from praising Your name.
Praise is the song of a soul set free.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 30, 2016
“Yes—But…!”
Lord, I will follow You, but… —Luke 9:61
Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about…?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”
Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.
By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest. Disciples Indeed, 395 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 30, 2016
Unforgettable You - #7666
I'm so glad we have lots of things around our house that bloom when Spring pushes out Old Man Winter. Now, if you have allergies, you probably don't look forward to Spring, but I hope you can at least enjoy some of its extravagant beauty. And it isn't just things to see.
Every year, as I'm rushing around the yard doing my chores, I catch this beautiful scent every time I pass by this one flowering bush. It's actually not far from our trash cans; not the most fragrant item in our yard. But I love to catch the aroma of those flowers. I love it when the iris and the peonies start to bloom (I would have no idea what they were if my wife didn't tell me). They give off this inviting fragrance, like this fantastic yard perfume!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Unforgettable You."
A dear friend of ours wore this distinctive perfume for all the years we knew her-it was her trademark scent really. You could close your eyes and you knew it was her. At her funeral, our pastor talked about that perfume and the fragrant trail she always left wherever she went with the life she lived. She touched ours and so many others with the fragrance of her life.
That's how it's supposed to be for anyone who belongs to Jesus Christ; leaving a trail of fragrant blessing wherever you go, with whomever you meet. How are you doing on that? Like those flowers in our yard, there should be this compelling beauty about your life that brings beauty into theirs. Even if there's a lot of trash in their life right now. The fact is we all give off some kind of fragrance with the way we treat people, the way we handle stress, whether we make people feel more or less important, whether we bring sunshine or clouds into a situation. This would be a good day for you to evaluate: what kind of trail, what kind of life-fragrance do I leave?
One man who shows us the kind of trail we're supposed to leave is written about in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Acts 4:36-37. At a time when the just-birthed Christian community had many needs it says, "Joseph...whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet." This man had left such a trail of encouragement the apostles actually changed his name to fit the impact he made. They called him "Mr. Encouragement." If people were to change your name to something that describes the effect you have on them, what would they call you?
That name should reflect at least one of the qualities of what the Bible calls the "fruit of the Spirit"; that is, the kind of person the Holy Spirit makes you. According to Galatians 5:22-23, you should be giving off a fragrance of "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." So how are you doing with that?
Do people feel that you care about their need? Do you stop to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice? Are you calm in the midst of the frenzy or are you just another stress-carrier? Do people feel important when they're with you because you listen to them and focus on them? Do they feel lifted up or put down by being around you? People are so starved for praise and appreciation. If you give it, you will be a magnet.
And all this is so they will want to know why you're so different from everybody else in their busy, self-centered, self-promoting universe. A life with a beautiful fragrance gives you the opportunity to point them to the One who makes you that way because of how He has treated you, and that of course is Jesus. In the words of Matthew 5:16, they will "See your good works" and ultimately they will "praise your Father in heaven." Your fragrant life can help lead them to eternal life.
When people pass your way, would you let them catch a whiff of Jesus so they, too, can experience His love.
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Psalm 42 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Goodness and Mercy
Our moods may shift, but God’s doesn’t. Our minds may change, but God’s doesn’t. Our devotion may falter, but God’s never does. Even if we are faithless, he is faithful, for he cannot betray himself. He is a sure God. And because he is, we can confidently say with Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
What a huge statement. Look at the size of it! Goodness and mercy follow the child of God each and every day. Think of the days ahead. He will walk you through. He will take your hand. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me—not some, not most, but all the days of my life. Release your doubts. You are no candidate for insecurity. You can trust God. . .all the days of your life!
From Traveling Light
Book two (Psalms 42–72)
Psalm 42
For the choir director: A psalm[a] of the descendants of Korah.
As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God.
2 I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I go and stand before him?
3 Day and night I have only tears for food,
while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,
“Where is this God of yours?”
4 My heart is breaking
as I remember how it used to be:
I walked among the crowds of worshipers,
leading a great procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks
amid the sound of a great celebration!
5 Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and 6 my God!
Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
from the land of Mount Mizar.
7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas
as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
8 But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
and through each night I sing his songs,
praying to God who gives me life.
9 “O God my rock,” I cry,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I wander around in grief,
oppressed by my enemies?”
10 Their taunts break my bones.
They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
11 Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!
Footnotes:
42:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Read: Matthew 10:26–32
“But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. 27 What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear!
28 “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[a] 29 What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin[b]? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
32 “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
Footnotes:
10:28 Greek Gehenna.
10:29 Greek one assarion [i.e., one “as,” a Roman coin equal to 1/16 of a denarius].
INSIGHT:
The passage we are reading today explores the likelihood of persecution for those who profess faith in Christ. We are encouraged by the certain future judgment of God when everything done on Earth will be disclosed (vv. 26–27). Meanwhile, Christ admonishes us not to fear the harm man can do to us but rather to fear God (v. 28). Then our Lord points to God’s care for even the smallest of creatures and tells us we are much more valuable than they are (vv. 29–31). If God cares for the sparrow, how much more will He care for us. Persecution will one day end, and we will receive God’s eternal reward.
Can’t Die But Once
By Tim Gustafson
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Matthew 10:28
Born into slavery and badly treated as a young girl, Harriet Tubman (c. 1822–1913) found a shining ray of hope in the Bible stories her mother told. The account of Israel’s escape from slavery under Pharaoh showed her a God who desired freedom for His people.
Harriet found freedom when she slipped over the Maryland state line and out of slavery. She couldn’t remain content, however, knowing so many were still trapped in captivity. So she led more than a dozen rescue missions to free those still in slavery, dismissing the personal danger. “I can’t die but once,” she said.
May we find our peace and purpose in You, Lord.
Harriet knew the truth of the statement: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matt. 10:28). Jesus spoke those words as He sent His disciples on their first mission. He knew they would face danger, and not everyone would receive them warmly. So why expose the disciples to the risk? The answer is found in the previous chapter. “When he saw the crowds, [Jesus] had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (9:36).
When Harriet Tubman couldn’t forget those still trapped in slavery, she showed us a picture of Christ, who did not forget us when we were trapped in our sins. Her courageous example inspires us to remember those who remain without hope in the world.
May we find our peace and purpose in You, Lord, and share You with others.
True freedom is found in knowing and serving Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Untroubled Relationship
In that day you will ask in My name…for the Father Himself loves you… —John 16:26-27
“In that day you will ask in My name…,” that is, in My nature. Not “You will use My name as some magic word,” but— “You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me.” “That day” is not a day in the next life, but a day meant for here and now. “…for the Father Himself loves you…”— the Father’s love is evidence that our union with Jesus is complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that our lives will be free from external difficulties and uncertainties, but that just as He knew the Father’s heart and mind, we too can be lifted by Him into heavenly places through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that He can reveal the teachings of God to us.
“…whatever you ask the Father in My name…” (John 16:23). “That day” is a day of peace and an untroubled relationship between God and His saint. Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22).
“…He will give you” (John 16:23). Jesus said that because of His name God will recognize and respond to our prayers. What a great challenge and invitation— to pray in His name! Through the resurrection and ascension power of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit He has sent, we can be lifted into such a relationship. Once in that wonderful position, having been placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in Jesus’ name— in His nature. This is a gift granted to us through the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said, “…whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested and proved by His own statements.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L
Our moods may shift, but God’s doesn’t. Our minds may change, but God’s doesn’t. Our devotion may falter, but God’s never does. Even if we are faithless, he is faithful, for he cannot betray himself. He is a sure God. And because he is, we can confidently say with Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
What a huge statement. Look at the size of it! Goodness and mercy follow the child of God each and every day. Think of the days ahead. He will walk you through. He will take your hand. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me—not some, not most, but all the days of my life. Release your doubts. You are no candidate for insecurity. You can trust God. . .all the days of your life!
From Traveling Light
Book two (Psalms 42–72)
Psalm 42
For the choir director: A psalm[a] of the descendants of Korah.
As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God.
2 I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I go and stand before him?
3 Day and night I have only tears for food,
while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,
“Where is this God of yours?”
4 My heart is breaking
as I remember how it used to be:
I walked among the crowds of worshipers,
leading a great procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks
amid the sound of a great celebration!
5 Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and 6 my God!
Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
from the land of Mount Mizar.
7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas
as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
8 But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
and through each night I sing his songs,
praying to God who gives me life.
9 “O God my rock,” I cry,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I wander around in grief,
oppressed by my enemies?”
10 Their taunts break my bones.
They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
11 Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!
Footnotes:
42:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Read: Matthew 10:26–32
“But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. 27 What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear!
28 “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[a] 29 What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin[b]? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
32 “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
Footnotes:
10:28 Greek Gehenna.
10:29 Greek one assarion [i.e., one “as,” a Roman coin equal to 1/16 of a denarius].
INSIGHT:
The passage we are reading today explores the likelihood of persecution for those who profess faith in Christ. We are encouraged by the certain future judgment of God when everything done on Earth will be disclosed (vv. 26–27). Meanwhile, Christ admonishes us not to fear the harm man can do to us but rather to fear God (v. 28). Then our Lord points to God’s care for even the smallest of creatures and tells us we are much more valuable than they are (vv. 29–31). If God cares for the sparrow, how much more will He care for us. Persecution will one day end, and we will receive God’s eternal reward.
Can’t Die But Once
By Tim Gustafson
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Matthew 10:28
Born into slavery and badly treated as a young girl, Harriet Tubman (c. 1822–1913) found a shining ray of hope in the Bible stories her mother told. The account of Israel’s escape from slavery under Pharaoh showed her a God who desired freedom for His people.
 |
| Harriet Tubman |
May we find our peace and purpose in You, Lord.
Harriet knew the truth of the statement: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matt. 10:28). Jesus spoke those words as He sent His disciples on their first mission. He knew they would face danger, and not everyone would receive them warmly. So why expose the disciples to the risk? The answer is found in the previous chapter. “When he saw the crowds, [Jesus] had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (9:36).
When Harriet Tubman couldn’t forget those still trapped in slavery, she showed us a picture of Christ, who did not forget us when we were trapped in our sins. Her courageous example inspires us to remember those who remain without hope in the world.
May we find our peace and purpose in You, Lord, and share You with others.
True freedom is found in knowing and serving Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Untroubled Relationship
In that day you will ask in My name…for the Father Himself loves you… —John 16:26-27
“In that day you will ask in My name…,” that is, in My nature. Not “You will use My name as some magic word,” but— “You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me.” “That day” is not a day in the next life, but a day meant for here and now. “…for the Father Himself loves you…”— the Father’s love is evidence that our union with Jesus is complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that our lives will be free from external difficulties and uncertainties, but that just as He knew the Father’s heart and mind, we too can be lifted by Him into heavenly places through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that He can reveal the teachings of God to us.
“…whatever you ask the Father in My name…” (John 16:23). “That day” is a day of peace and an untroubled relationship between God and His saint. Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22).
“…He will give you” (John 16:23). Jesus said that because of His name God will recognize and respond to our prayers. What a great challenge and invitation— to pray in His name! Through the resurrection and ascension power of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit He has sent, we can be lifted into such a relationship. Once in that wonderful position, having been placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in Jesus’ name— in His nature. This is a gift granted to us through the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said, “…whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested and proved by His own statements.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L
Saturday, May 28, 2016
1 Chronicles 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God Gives Hope
God gives hope! So what if someone was born thinner or stronger, lighter or darker than you? Why count diplomas or compare resumes? What does it matter if they have a place at the head table? You have a place at God's table! And he's filling your cup to overflowing. Hasn't our Father given us a strong wall of grace to protect us? A sure exit to deliver us? Of whom can we be envious? Who has more than we do?
Rather than want what others have, shouldn't we wonder if they have what we do? Instead of being jealous of them, how about zealous for them? Hold out the cup! There's enough to go around. One thing is certain. When the final storm comes and you are safe in your Father's house, you won't regret what he didn't give. You will be stunned at what he did.
From Traveling Light
1 Chronicles 16
Ministering Before the Ark
They brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God. 2 After David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. 3 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each Israelite man and woman.
4 He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to extol,[a] thank, and praise the Lord, the God of Israel: 5 Asaph was the chief, and next to him in rank were Zechariah, then Jaaziel,[b] Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel. They were to play the lyres and harps, Asaph was to sound the cymbals, 6 and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.
7 That day David first appointed Asaph and his associates to give praise to the Lord in this manner:
8 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
9 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
11 Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
12 Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
13 you his servants, the descendants of Israel,
his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
14 He is the Lord our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.
15 He remembers[c] his covenant forever,
the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
16 the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
17 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
18 “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion you will inherit.”
19 When they were but few in number,
few indeed, and strangers in it,
20 they[d] wandered from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
21 He allowed no one to oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:
22 “Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”
23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
24 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
25 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
27 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy are in his dwelling place.
28 Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come before him.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[e] holiness.
30 Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
31 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
32 Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!
33 Let the trees of the forest sing,
let them sing for joy before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
34 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
35 Cry out, “Save us, God our Savior;
gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
and glory in your praise.”
36 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the Lord.”
37 David left Asaph and his associates before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister there regularly, according to each day’s requirements. 38 He also left Obed-Edom and his sixty-eight associates to minister with them. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun, and also Hosah, were gatekeepers.
39 David left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of the Lord at the high place in Gibeon 40 to present burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering regularly, morning and evening, in accordance with everything written in the Law of the Lord, which he had given Israel. 41 With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the Lord, “for his love endures forever.” 42 Heman and Jeduthun were responsible for the sounding of the trumpets and cymbals and for the playing of the other instruments for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were stationed at the gate.
43 Then all the people left, each for their own home, and David returned home to bless his family.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 16:4 Or petition; or invoke
1 Chronicles 16:5 See 15:18,20; Hebrew Jeiel, possibly another name for Jaaziel.
1 Chronicles 16:15 Some Septuagint manuscripts (see also Psalm 105:8); Hebrew Remember
1 Chronicles 16:20 One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint and Vulgate (see also Psalm 105:12); most Hebrew manuscripts inherit, / 19 though you are but few in number, / few indeed, and strangers in it.” / 20 They
1 Chronicles 16:29 Or Lord with the splendor of
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Read: Hebrews 2:10-18
God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.
11 So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.[a] 12 For he said to God,
“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters.
I will praise you among your assembled people.”[b]
13 He also said,
“I will put my trust in him,”
that is, “I and the children God has given me.”[c]
14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had[d] the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
16 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters,[e] so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. 18 Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.
Footnotes:
2:11 Greek brothers; also in 2:12.
2:12 Ps 22:22.
2:13 Isa 8:17-18.
2:14 Or has.
2:17 Greek like the brothers.
INSIGHT:
Having affirmed the superiority of Christ because of His deity (Heb. 1), the writer of Hebrews now focuses on His humanity (2:5–18). It was necessary for Christ to become “flesh and blood” (v. 14) so that He could “make atonement for the sins of the people” (v. 17). That Jesus—who was “fully human in every way”—had to suffer in order to save us is a constant emphasis in Hebrews (vv. 9–10, 17–18; 5:8–10). Jesus told His disciples many times that He must suffer (Matt. 16:21; 17:12; Luke 22:15; 24:26), and Isaiah prophesied it 700 years earlier (Isa. 53).
He Walked in Our Shoes
By David McCasland
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:18
To help his staff of young architects understand the needs of those for whom they design housing, David Dillard sends them on “sleepovers.” They put on pajamas and spend 24 hours in a senior living center in the same conditions as people in their 80s and 90s. They wear earplugs to simulate hearing loss, tape their fingers together to limit manual dexterity, and exchange eyeglasses to replicate vision problems. Dillard says, “The biggest benefit is [that] when I send 27-year-olds out, they come back with a heart 10 times as big. They meet people and understand their plights” (Rodney Brooks, USA Today).
Jesus lived on this earth for 33 years and shared in our humanity. He was made like us, “fully human in every way” (Heb. 2:17), so He knows what it’s like to live in a human body on this earth. He understands the struggles we face and comes alongside with understanding and encouragement.
Jesus walks beside us to give us courage, strength, and hope.
“Because [Jesus] himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (v. 18). The Lord could have avoided the cross. Instead, He obeyed His Father. Through His death, He broke the power of Satan and freed us from our fear of death (vv. 14-15).
In every temptation, Jesus walks beside us to give us courage, strength, and hope along the way.
Lord Jesus, thank You for “walking in our shoes” on this earth and for being with us. May we experience Your presence today.
Jesus understands.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Unquestioned Revelation
In that day you will ask Me nothing. —John 16:23
When is “that day”? It is when the ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. “In that day” you will be one with the Father just as Jesus is, and He said, “In that day you will ask Me nothing.” Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things. Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone— you don’t seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why aren’t you?
“In that day” there may be any number of things still hidden to your understanding, but they will not come between your heart and God. “In that day you will ask Me nothing”— you will not need to ask, because you will be certain that God will reveal things in accordance with His will. The faith and peace of John 14:1 has become the real attitude of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature— that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. “In that day you will ask Me nothing.”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from. The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R
God gives hope! So what if someone was born thinner or stronger, lighter or darker than you? Why count diplomas or compare resumes? What does it matter if they have a place at the head table? You have a place at God's table! And he's filling your cup to overflowing. Hasn't our Father given us a strong wall of grace to protect us? A sure exit to deliver us? Of whom can we be envious? Who has more than we do?
Rather than want what others have, shouldn't we wonder if they have what we do? Instead of being jealous of them, how about zealous for them? Hold out the cup! There's enough to go around. One thing is certain. When the final storm comes and you are safe in your Father's house, you won't regret what he didn't give. You will be stunned at what he did.
From Traveling Light
1 Chronicles 16
Ministering Before the Ark
They brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God. 2 After David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. 3 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each Israelite man and woman.
4 He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to extol,[a] thank, and praise the Lord, the God of Israel: 5 Asaph was the chief, and next to him in rank were Zechariah, then Jaaziel,[b] Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel. They were to play the lyres and harps, Asaph was to sound the cymbals, 6 and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.
7 That day David first appointed Asaph and his associates to give praise to the Lord in this manner:
8 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
9 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
11 Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
12 Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
13 you his servants, the descendants of Israel,
his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
14 He is the Lord our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.
15 He remembers[c] his covenant forever,
the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
16 the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
17 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
18 “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion you will inherit.”
19 When they were but few in number,
few indeed, and strangers in it,
20 they[d] wandered from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
21 He allowed no one to oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:
22 “Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”
23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
24 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
25 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
27 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy are in his dwelling place.
28 Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come before him.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[e] holiness.
30 Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
31 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
32 Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!
33 Let the trees of the forest sing,
let them sing for joy before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
34 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
35 Cry out, “Save us, God our Savior;
gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
and glory in your praise.”
36 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the Lord.”
37 David left Asaph and his associates before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister there regularly, according to each day’s requirements. 38 He also left Obed-Edom and his sixty-eight associates to minister with them. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun, and also Hosah, were gatekeepers.
39 David left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of the Lord at the high place in Gibeon 40 to present burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering regularly, morning and evening, in accordance with everything written in the Law of the Lord, which he had given Israel. 41 With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the Lord, “for his love endures forever.” 42 Heman and Jeduthun were responsible for the sounding of the trumpets and cymbals and for the playing of the other instruments for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were stationed at the gate.
43 Then all the people left, each for their own home, and David returned home to bless his family.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 16:4 Or petition; or invoke
1 Chronicles 16:5 See 15:18,20; Hebrew Jeiel, possibly another name for Jaaziel.
1 Chronicles 16:15 Some Septuagint manuscripts (see also Psalm 105:8); Hebrew Remember
1 Chronicles 16:20 One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint and Vulgate (see also Psalm 105:12); most Hebrew manuscripts inherit, / 19 though you are but few in number, / few indeed, and strangers in it.” / 20 They
1 Chronicles 16:29 Or Lord with the splendor of
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Read: Hebrews 2:10-18
God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.
11 So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.[a] 12 For he said to God,
“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters.
I will praise you among your assembled people.”[b]
13 He also said,
“I will put my trust in him,”
that is, “I and the children God has given me.”[c]
14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had[d] the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
16 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters,[e] so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. 18 Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.
Footnotes:
2:11 Greek brothers; also in 2:12.
2:12 Ps 22:22.
2:13 Isa 8:17-18.
2:14 Or has.
2:17 Greek like the brothers.
INSIGHT:
Having affirmed the superiority of Christ because of His deity (Heb. 1), the writer of Hebrews now focuses on His humanity (2:5–18). It was necessary for Christ to become “flesh and blood” (v. 14) so that He could “make atonement for the sins of the people” (v. 17). That Jesus—who was “fully human in every way”—had to suffer in order to save us is a constant emphasis in Hebrews (vv. 9–10, 17–18; 5:8–10). Jesus told His disciples many times that He must suffer (Matt. 16:21; 17:12; Luke 22:15; 24:26), and Isaiah prophesied it 700 years earlier (Isa. 53).
He Walked in Our Shoes
By David McCasland
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:18
To help his staff of young architects understand the needs of those for whom they design housing, David Dillard sends them on “sleepovers.” They put on pajamas and spend 24 hours in a senior living center in the same conditions as people in their 80s and 90s. They wear earplugs to simulate hearing loss, tape their fingers together to limit manual dexterity, and exchange eyeglasses to replicate vision problems. Dillard says, “The biggest benefit is [that] when I send 27-year-olds out, they come back with a heart 10 times as big. They meet people and understand their plights” (Rodney Brooks, USA Today).
Jesus lived on this earth for 33 years and shared in our humanity. He was made like us, “fully human in every way” (Heb. 2:17), so He knows what it’s like to live in a human body on this earth. He understands the struggles we face and comes alongside with understanding and encouragement.
Jesus walks beside us to give us courage, strength, and hope.
“Because [Jesus] himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (v. 18). The Lord could have avoided the cross. Instead, He obeyed His Father. Through His death, He broke the power of Satan and freed us from our fear of death (vv. 14-15).
In every temptation, Jesus walks beside us to give us courage, strength, and hope along the way.
Lord Jesus, thank You for “walking in our shoes” on this earth and for being with us. May we experience Your presence today.
Jesus understands.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Unquestioned Revelation
In that day you will ask Me nothing. —John 16:23
When is “that day”? It is when the ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. “In that day” you will be one with the Father just as Jesus is, and He said, “In that day you will ask Me nothing.” Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things. Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone— you don’t seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why aren’t you?
“In that day” there may be any number of things still hidden to your understanding, but they will not come between your heart and God. “In that day you will ask Me nothing”— you will not need to ask, because you will be certain that God will reveal things in accordance with His will. The faith and peace of John 14:1 has become the real attitude of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature— that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. “In that day you will ask Me nothing.”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from. The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R
Friday, May 27, 2016
1 Chronicles 15 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD HONORS YOU
Jesus’ love does not depend upon what we do for him. Not at all. In the eyes of the King, you have value simply because you are. You don’t have to look nice or perform well. Your value is inborn. Period. Think about that for just a minute. You are valuable just because you exist. Not because of what you’ve done, but simply because you are.
Remember that the next time you are left bobbing in the wake of someone’s steamboat ambition….or some trickster tries to hang a bargain basement price tag on your self-worth. Remember that the next time someone tries to pass you off as a cheap buy. Just think about the way Jesus honors you—and smile. I do! I know I don’t deserve love like that. None of us do.
From More to Your Story
1 Chronicles 15
The Ark Brought to Jerusalem
After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. 2 Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister before him forever.”
3 David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to the place he had prepared for it. 4 He called together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:
5 From the descendants of Kohath,
Uriel the leader and 120 relatives;
6 from the descendants of Merari,
Asaiah the leader and 220 relatives;
7 from the descendants of Gershon,[f]
Joel the leader and 130 relatives;
8 from the descendants of Elizaphan,
Shemaiah the leader and 200 relatives;
9 from the descendants of Hebron,
Eliel the leader and 80 relatives;
10 from the descendants of Uzziel,
Amminadab the leader and 112 relatives.
11 Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. 12 He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. 13 It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.” 14 So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord.
16 David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their fellow Levites as musicians to make a joyful sound with musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals.
17 So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his relatives, Asaph son of Berekiah; and from their relatives the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah; 18 and with them their relatives next in rank: Zechariah,[g] Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel,[h] the gatekeepers.
19 The musicians Heman, Asaph and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals; 20 Zechariah, Jaaziel,[i] Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah were to play the lyres according to alamoth,[j] 21 and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel and Azaziah were to play the harps, directing according to sheminith.[k] 22 Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it.
23 Berekiah and Elkanah were to be doorkeepers for the ark. 24 Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer the priests were to blow trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also to be doorkeepers for the ark.
25 So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing. 26 Because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed. 27 Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the musicians, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. 28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps.
29 As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 15:7 Hebrew Gershom, a variant of Gershon
1 Chronicles 15:18 Three Hebrew manuscripts and most Septuagint manuscripts (see also verse 20 and 16:5); most Hebrew manuscripts Zechariah son and or Zechariah, Ben and
1 Chronicles 15:18 Hebrew; Septuagint (see also verse 21) Jeiel and Azaziah
1 Chronicles 15:20 See verse 18; Hebrew Aziel, a variant of Jaaziel.
1 Chronicles 15:20 Probably a musical term
1 Chronicles 15:21 Probably a musical term
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, May 27, 2016
Read: John 14:16-27
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[a] who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.[b] 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?”
23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. 24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. 25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Footnotes:
14:16 Or Comforter, or Encourager, or Counselor. Greek reads Paraclete; also in 14:26.
14:17 Some manuscripts read and is in you.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage highlights one of the differences between those who know Jesus and those who do not: The Holy Spirit dwells within believers in Christ. Jesus says that His followers know Him and that the world does not know or accept Him (v. 17). It is the Spirit who identifies us as Jesus’ followers.
Flowing Peace
By Amy Boucher Pye
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. John 14:27
“I’m not surprised you lead retreats,” said an acquaintance in my exercise class. “You have a good aura.” I was jolted but pleased by her comment, because I realized that what she saw as an “aura” in me, I understood to be the peace of Christ. As we follow Jesus, He gives us the peace that transcends understanding (Phil. 4:7) and radiates from within—though we may not even be aware of it.
Jesus promised His followers this peace when, after their last supper together, He prepared them for His death and resurrection. He told them that though they would have trouble in the world, the Father would send them the Spirit of truth to live with them and be in them (John 14:16-17). The Spirit would teach them, bringing to mind His truths; the Spirit would comfort them, bestowing on them His peace. Though soon they would face trials—including fierce opposition from the religious leaders and seeing Jesus executed—He told them not to be afraid. The Holy Spirit’s presence would never leave them.
God’s peace can be His witness to everyone we meet.
Although as God’s children we experience hardship, we too have His Spirit living within and flowing out of us. God’s peace can be His witness to everyone we meet—whether at a local market, at school or work, or in the gym.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thank You for welcoming me into Your circle of love. May I share Your peace with someone in my community today.
When we keep our mind on God, His Spirit keeps our mind at peace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 27, 2016
The Life To Know Him
…tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. —Luke 24:49
The disciples had to tarry, staying in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). The statement in John 7:39— “…for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified”— does not pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given; the Lord is glorified— our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness.
The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Once our Lord was glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth that He is here. The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord.
It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ— it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not make you think of time or eternity— it is one amazing glorious now. “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). Begin to know Him now, and never finish.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, May 27, 2016
Thirty Seconds After You're Gone - #7665
She must have been scared to death. She wasn't a public speaker, but that day she agreed to speak to 70,000 people in a football stadium in the Northwest. It was the last day of Billy Graham's Crusade in her city. And he had asked her to read a letter she'd received from her son. It was the end of the first Gulf War, and the troops were coming home; except for a relatively few American soldiers who weren't coming home and her son was one of them.
He had died in a helicopter crash on the last day of the war. He had written a letter to his mother and given it to a good friend with instructions to mail it only if he was killed. Now she shared that letter with the masses in that stadium, knowing that her son still had something to say by way of what he had written. His letter said, "Mom, if you're reading this letter, it means I didn't make it. But that's OK, Mom. Because now, for the first time, I'm smarter than you are! Because Mom, I've seen heaven. I've seen Jesus!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Thirty Seconds After You're Gone."
What a way to live! What a way to die - knowing that all death is going to do is send you to heaven...to see the One whose death and resurrection opened the door for you to be there. God wants for you to be able to say and to know beyond any shadow of a doubt that 30 seconds after you're gone, you're going to be saying, "I've seen heaven! I've seen Jesus!"
Is it possible to really know that you're going to heaven when you die? Not if you have to earn heaven by living a good life. You'll never know if you're good enough. Keanu Reeves starred in a movie that had some supernatural subject matter. In an interview he was asked, "What are your notions of heaven and hell, and eternal damnation vs. eternal bliss?" He said, "Well, I hope I get the bliss. And I know I'm going to have to work for it."
A lot of folks think that way. God doesn't. He actually says in His book, and these are God's words. "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy" (Titus 3:5). You can't possibly do enough good to satisfy a perfect God or to pay the death penalty for the sinning you've done. It took Jesus to do that.
God tells us that when those who belong to Him are "away from the body," they are "at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). How can you be sure that will be you? As Jesus was dying on the cross, there was a criminal on one side of Him who had started out mocking Him like everybody else. Then, in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 23:42-43, he suddenly says, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." What changed him? Moments before, He had heard Jesus say these words from the cross: "Father, forgive them." And that criminal must have thought, "If Jesus would forgive the people who nailed Him there, then He'd forgive me for my sin." Here was Jesus' amazing answer, "Today you will be with me in paradise."
That's what He wants to say to you when you've breathed your last breath, "Today you'll be with Me in heaven - and forever." But that can only happen if you put all your trust in the One who said from the cross where He died for you, "Father, forgive them." He was forgiving you that day. But it's like a gift He's offering you. You have to take what He paid for at such a high price.
When should you do that? The Bible says, "Now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:3). Why would you wait one more day to turn from your sin, to put your trust in Jesus to forgive your sin, and have every sin erased from God's book forever? Why would you wait one more day to trade hell for heaven when you don't know how many more days you'll have?
Let this be your Jesus day. Tell Him now, "Jesus, I believe when You died on that cross it was for sinning I have done. And, Jesus, I am yours from this day on." Our website is there to just help you make sure that you belong to Him. I wish you'd go there as soon as you can today. I invite you to ANewStory.com.
There is no greater peace than going to sleep at night knowing beyond any shadow of a doubt what will happen when you have taken your last breath. You're going to be seeing heaven and you'll be seeing Jesus.
Jesus’ love does not depend upon what we do for him. Not at all. In the eyes of the King, you have value simply because you are. You don’t have to look nice or perform well. Your value is inborn. Period. Think about that for just a minute. You are valuable just because you exist. Not because of what you’ve done, but simply because you are.
Remember that the next time you are left bobbing in the wake of someone’s steamboat ambition….or some trickster tries to hang a bargain basement price tag on your self-worth. Remember that the next time someone tries to pass you off as a cheap buy. Just think about the way Jesus honors you—and smile. I do! I know I don’t deserve love like that. None of us do.
From More to Your Story
1 Chronicles 15
The Ark Brought to Jerusalem
After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. 2 Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister before him forever.”
3 David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to the place he had prepared for it. 4 He called together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:
5 From the descendants of Kohath,
Uriel the leader and 120 relatives;
6 from the descendants of Merari,
Asaiah the leader and 220 relatives;
7 from the descendants of Gershon,[f]
Joel the leader and 130 relatives;
8 from the descendants of Elizaphan,
Shemaiah the leader and 200 relatives;
9 from the descendants of Hebron,
Eliel the leader and 80 relatives;
10 from the descendants of Uzziel,
Amminadab the leader and 112 relatives.
11 Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. 12 He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. 13 It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.” 14 So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord.
16 David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their fellow Levites as musicians to make a joyful sound with musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals.
17 So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his relatives, Asaph son of Berekiah; and from their relatives the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah; 18 and with them their relatives next in rank: Zechariah,[g] Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel,[h] the gatekeepers.
19 The musicians Heman, Asaph and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals; 20 Zechariah, Jaaziel,[i] Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah were to play the lyres according to alamoth,[j] 21 and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel and Azaziah were to play the harps, directing according to sheminith.[k] 22 Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it.
23 Berekiah and Elkanah were to be doorkeepers for the ark. 24 Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer the priests were to blow trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also to be doorkeepers for the ark.
25 So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing. 26 Because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed. 27 Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the musicians, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. 28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps.
29 As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 15:7 Hebrew Gershom, a variant of Gershon
1 Chronicles 15:18 Three Hebrew manuscripts and most Septuagint manuscripts (see also verse 20 and 16:5); most Hebrew manuscripts Zechariah son and or Zechariah, Ben and
1 Chronicles 15:18 Hebrew; Septuagint (see also verse 21) Jeiel and Azaziah
1 Chronicles 15:20 See verse 18; Hebrew Aziel, a variant of Jaaziel.
1 Chronicles 15:20 Probably a musical term
1 Chronicles 15:21 Probably a musical term
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, May 27, 2016
Read: John 14:16-27
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[a] who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.[b] 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?”
23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. 24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. 25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Footnotes:
14:16 Or Comforter, or Encourager, or Counselor. Greek reads Paraclete; also in 14:26.
14:17 Some manuscripts read and is in you.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage highlights one of the differences between those who know Jesus and those who do not: The Holy Spirit dwells within believers in Christ. Jesus says that His followers know Him and that the world does not know or accept Him (v. 17). It is the Spirit who identifies us as Jesus’ followers.
Flowing Peace
By Amy Boucher Pye
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. John 14:27
“I’m not surprised you lead retreats,” said an acquaintance in my exercise class. “You have a good aura.” I was jolted but pleased by her comment, because I realized that what she saw as an “aura” in me, I understood to be the peace of Christ. As we follow Jesus, He gives us the peace that transcends understanding (Phil. 4:7) and radiates from within—though we may not even be aware of it.
Jesus promised His followers this peace when, after their last supper together, He prepared them for His death and resurrection. He told them that though they would have trouble in the world, the Father would send them the Spirit of truth to live with them and be in them (John 14:16-17). The Spirit would teach them, bringing to mind His truths; the Spirit would comfort them, bestowing on them His peace. Though soon they would face trials—including fierce opposition from the religious leaders and seeing Jesus executed—He told them not to be afraid. The Holy Spirit’s presence would never leave them.
God’s peace can be His witness to everyone we meet.
Although as God’s children we experience hardship, we too have His Spirit living within and flowing out of us. God’s peace can be His witness to everyone we meet—whether at a local market, at school or work, or in the gym.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thank You for welcoming me into Your circle of love. May I share Your peace with someone in my community today.
When we keep our mind on God, His Spirit keeps our mind at peace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 27, 2016
The Life To Know Him
…tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. —Luke 24:49
The disciples had to tarry, staying in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). The statement in John 7:39— “…for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified”— does not pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given; the Lord is glorified— our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness.
The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Once our Lord was glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth that He is here. The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord.
It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ— it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not make you think of time or eternity— it is one amazing glorious now. “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). Begin to know Him now, and never finish.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, May 27, 2016
Thirty Seconds After You're Gone - #7665
She must have been scared to death. She wasn't a public speaker, but that day she agreed to speak to 70,000 people in a football stadium in the Northwest. It was the last day of Billy Graham's Crusade in her city. And he had asked her to read a letter she'd received from her son. It was the end of the first Gulf War, and the troops were coming home; except for a relatively few American soldiers who weren't coming home and her son was one of them.
He had died in a helicopter crash on the last day of the war. He had written a letter to his mother and given it to a good friend with instructions to mail it only if he was killed. Now she shared that letter with the masses in that stadium, knowing that her son still had something to say by way of what he had written. His letter said, "Mom, if you're reading this letter, it means I didn't make it. But that's OK, Mom. Because now, for the first time, I'm smarter than you are! Because Mom, I've seen heaven. I've seen Jesus!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Thirty Seconds After You're Gone."
What a way to live! What a way to die - knowing that all death is going to do is send you to heaven...to see the One whose death and resurrection opened the door for you to be there. God wants for you to be able to say and to know beyond any shadow of a doubt that 30 seconds after you're gone, you're going to be saying, "I've seen heaven! I've seen Jesus!"
Is it possible to really know that you're going to heaven when you die? Not if you have to earn heaven by living a good life. You'll never know if you're good enough. Keanu Reeves starred in a movie that had some supernatural subject matter. In an interview he was asked, "What are your notions of heaven and hell, and eternal damnation vs. eternal bliss?" He said, "Well, I hope I get the bliss. And I know I'm going to have to work for it."
A lot of folks think that way. God doesn't. He actually says in His book, and these are God's words. "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy" (Titus 3:5). You can't possibly do enough good to satisfy a perfect God or to pay the death penalty for the sinning you've done. It took Jesus to do that.
God tells us that when those who belong to Him are "away from the body," they are "at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). How can you be sure that will be you? As Jesus was dying on the cross, there was a criminal on one side of Him who had started out mocking Him like everybody else. Then, in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 23:42-43, he suddenly says, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." What changed him? Moments before, He had heard Jesus say these words from the cross: "Father, forgive them." And that criminal must have thought, "If Jesus would forgive the people who nailed Him there, then He'd forgive me for my sin." Here was Jesus' amazing answer, "Today you will be with me in paradise."
That's what He wants to say to you when you've breathed your last breath, "Today you'll be with Me in heaven - and forever." But that can only happen if you put all your trust in the One who said from the cross where He died for you, "Father, forgive them." He was forgiving you that day. But it's like a gift He's offering you. You have to take what He paid for at such a high price.
When should you do that? The Bible says, "Now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:3). Why would you wait one more day to turn from your sin, to put your trust in Jesus to forgive your sin, and have every sin erased from God's book forever? Why would you wait one more day to trade hell for heaven when you don't know how many more days you'll have?
Let this be your Jesus day. Tell Him now, "Jesus, I believe when You died on that cross it was for sinning I have done. And, Jesus, I am yours from this day on." Our website is there to just help you make sure that you belong to Him. I wish you'd go there as soon as you can today. I invite you to ANewStory.com.
There is no greater peace than going to sleep at night knowing beyond any shadow of a doubt what will happen when you have taken your last breath. You're going to be seeing heaven and you'll be seeing Jesus.
Thursday, May 26, 2016
1 Chronicles 14 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: UNDERSTANDING GOD’S STORY
Do you remember a time when, as a child, you got lost? You felt the paralyzing fear of looking around and failing to see the north star of your parents’ strong presence. You were lost!
These moments of lostness can leave a pit in your stomach and bring fear to your soul. What is even worse is coming to a point in life when we realize that we’ve lost our way as a human being. We’re not sure why we are on this planet. We have no sense of our purpose. It is in these moments we look to God, the Master Storyteller, and discover that the best way to understand our story is to listen to his. As we understand God’s story and where we fit within it, the haze begins to clear and our story begins to make sense. There’s more to your story, my friend!
From More to Your Story
1 Chronicles 14
David’s House and Family
Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, stonemasons and carpenters to build a palace for him. 2 And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that his kingdom had been highly exalted for the sake of his people Israel.
3 In Jerusalem David took more wives and became the father of more sons and daughters. 4 These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 5 Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, 6 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 7 Elishama, Beeliada[d] and Eliphelet.
David Defeats the Philistines
8 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went out to meet them. 9 Now the Philistines had come and raided the Valley of Rephaim; 10 so David inquired of God: “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?”
The Lord answered him, “Go, I will deliver them into your hands.”
11 So David and his men went up to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, “As waters break out, God has broken out against my enemies by my hand.” So that place was called Baal Perazim.[e] 12 The Philistines had abandoned their gods there, and David gave orders to burn them in the fire.
13 Once more the Philistines raided the valley; 14 so David inquired of God again, and God answered him, “Do not go directly after them, but circle around them and attack them in front of the poplar trees. 15 As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move out to battle, because that will mean God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.” 16 So David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army, all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
17 So David’s fame spread throughout every land, and the Lord made all the nations fear him.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 14:7 A variant of Eliada
1 Chronicles 14:11 Baal Perazim means the lord who breaks out.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Read: Isaiah 53:1-6
Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows[a] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
Footnotes:
53:4 Or Yet it was our sicknesses he carried; / it was our diseases.
INSIGHT:
Isaiah 53 is part of a “servant song” that includes Isaiah 52:13–53:12 and focuses primarily on the Servant’s suffering, which would be fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus. The Old Testament provides several foreshadowings of that suffering, and each brings its own perspective. In the Passover (Ex. 12), we see the cross from the Father’s perspective as Christ becomes our Passover Lamb. In Psalm 22, we see the cross from the perspective of Jesus Himself as David describes Christ’s suffering experience. Isaiah 53, however, describes the cross from the perspective of humanity. It tells us what they saw, what they failed to see, and what they desperately needed to see—the depth and passion of God’s rescuing love.
Like Sheep
By Lawrence Darmani
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. Isaiah 53:6
One of my daily chores when I lived with my grandfather in northern Ghana was taking care of sheep. Each morning I took them out to pasture and returned by evening. That was when I first noticed how stubborn sheep can be. Whenever they saw a farm, for instance, their instinct drove them right into it, getting me in trouble with the farmers on a number of occasions.
Sometimes when I was tired from the heat and resting under a tree, I observed the sheep dispersing into the bushes and heading for the hills, causing me to chase after them and scratching my skinny legs in the shrubs. I had a hard time directing the animals away from danger and trouble, especially when robbers sometimes raided the field and stole stray sheep.
As our shepherd, He calls us back to safe pasture.
So I quite understand when Isaiah says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way" (53:6). We stray in many ways: desiring and doing what displeases our Lord, hurting other people by our conduct, and being distracted from spending time with God and His Word because we are too busy or lack interest. We behave like sheep in the field.
Fortunately for us, we have the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for us (John 10:11) and who carries our sorrows and our sins (Isa. 53:4-6). And as our shepherd, He calls us back to safe pasture that we might follow Him more closely.
Shepherd of my soul, I do wander at times. I’m grateful that You’re always seeking me to bring me back to Your side.
If you want God to lead you, be willing to follow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught
Pray without ceasing… —1 Thessalonians 5:17
Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing…”— maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.
Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, “…everyone who asks receives…” (Matthew 7:8). Yet we say, “But…, but….” God answers prayer in the best way— not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?
The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Why You're Spiritually Dry - #7664
It was a fogged in morning at the country house we were using for our vacation. The valley below us and the mountains beyond us were nowhere to be seen. In fact, you couldn't see much beyond the front porch. But by about 10:00 A. M., the sun started doing its thing. I was sitting there literally watching the mist being sucked upward and up and away by the heat of the sun.
I called my wife's attention to the vanishing moisture, and she made an interesting observation. Recalling my own experience with vanishing moisture, she said, "That's what happened to you when you got dehydrated." Now, watching the moisture being sucked away and thinking about when I got dehydrated - it made me want to have a bottle of water with me at all times! I've got one right next to me right now.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why You're Spiritually Dry."
When our Native American Outreach Team spent a month on reservations in the Southwest, you can be sure that bottles of water were standard issue for every team member every day. That desert heat can dehydrate you fast. And take it from me, when you get the moisture sucked out of you, which I've had done, you really fall apart. Dehydration is serious business physically and spiritually.
Spiritual dehydration is the shutdown that occurs in your walk with God when you let your source of spiritual strength start to dry up. And it can happen pretty quickly when you live in the kind of spiritual desert most of us live in - like where you work, where you live, or where you go to school. We absorb what our culture pumps into our mind and it drains the spiritual life out of you. The way to battle dehydration of any kind, of course, is frequent replenishing of the source of your strength.
Which is why David said what he said in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 42:1-2. Remember, this is the man God called "the man after His own heart." "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" That ought to be the driving passion of every one of us who belongs to Jesus Christ, "When's the next time I can meet with my God?" Without those regular meetings, we'll dry up spiritually. We'll dry up fast because we live in an environment that is so spiritually dry.
And in the rush and the stress of your overheated life, it could very well be that your personal time with your Lord has gotten abbreviated, postponed, or cancelled. Each day you're getting hit with so much that isn't God's perspective, isn't God's way - and you know you're going to get the stuff that depletes you spiritually.
You've got to commit yourself to drink at God's spring each new day, early in that day, or you'll find yourself beat up, compromised, discouraged, detoured, and overwhelmed. Not because the sun is so hot, but because you didn't replenish yourself with the living water that God alone can give you.
In times like these, you've got to make your time with Jesus in His Word the non-negotiable of your personal schedule; the sun around which all the planets of your life have to revolve. Not if I get time, or whenever I can get around to it, or when I feel like it. But it becomes now the "must" of my day, the beginning of my day; hearing the voice of God before you hear any other voice.
However early you have to get up, whatever you have to change, make sure your Jesus time happens. It's your water bottle in the desert, and you just simply cannot afford to ever leave home without it.
Do you remember a time when, as a child, you got lost? You felt the paralyzing fear of looking around and failing to see the north star of your parents’ strong presence. You were lost!
These moments of lostness can leave a pit in your stomach and bring fear to your soul. What is even worse is coming to a point in life when we realize that we’ve lost our way as a human being. We’re not sure why we are on this planet. We have no sense of our purpose. It is in these moments we look to God, the Master Storyteller, and discover that the best way to understand our story is to listen to his. As we understand God’s story and where we fit within it, the haze begins to clear and our story begins to make sense. There’s more to your story, my friend!
From More to Your Story
1 Chronicles 14
David’s House and Family
Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, stonemasons and carpenters to build a palace for him. 2 And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that his kingdom had been highly exalted for the sake of his people Israel.
3 In Jerusalem David took more wives and became the father of more sons and daughters. 4 These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 5 Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, 6 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 7 Elishama, Beeliada[d] and Eliphelet.
David Defeats the Philistines
8 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went out to meet them. 9 Now the Philistines had come and raided the Valley of Rephaim; 10 so David inquired of God: “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?”
The Lord answered him, “Go, I will deliver them into your hands.”
11 So David and his men went up to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, “As waters break out, God has broken out against my enemies by my hand.” So that place was called Baal Perazim.[e] 12 The Philistines had abandoned their gods there, and David gave orders to burn them in the fire.
13 Once more the Philistines raided the valley; 14 so David inquired of God again, and God answered him, “Do not go directly after them, but circle around them and attack them in front of the poplar trees. 15 As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move out to battle, because that will mean God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.” 16 So David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army, all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
17 So David’s fame spread throughout every land, and the Lord made all the nations fear him.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 14:7 A variant of Eliada
1 Chronicles 14:11 Baal Perazim means the lord who breaks out.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Read: Isaiah 53:1-6
Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows[a] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
Footnotes:
53:4 Or Yet it was our sicknesses he carried; / it was our diseases.
INSIGHT:
Isaiah 53 is part of a “servant song” that includes Isaiah 52:13–53:12 and focuses primarily on the Servant’s suffering, which would be fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus. The Old Testament provides several foreshadowings of that suffering, and each brings its own perspective. In the Passover (Ex. 12), we see the cross from the Father’s perspective as Christ becomes our Passover Lamb. In Psalm 22, we see the cross from the perspective of Jesus Himself as David describes Christ’s suffering experience. Isaiah 53, however, describes the cross from the perspective of humanity. It tells us what they saw, what they failed to see, and what they desperately needed to see—the depth and passion of God’s rescuing love.
Like Sheep
By Lawrence Darmani
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. Isaiah 53:6
One of my daily chores when I lived with my grandfather in northern Ghana was taking care of sheep. Each morning I took them out to pasture and returned by evening. That was when I first noticed how stubborn sheep can be. Whenever they saw a farm, for instance, their instinct drove them right into it, getting me in trouble with the farmers on a number of occasions.
Sometimes when I was tired from the heat and resting under a tree, I observed the sheep dispersing into the bushes and heading for the hills, causing me to chase after them and scratching my skinny legs in the shrubs. I had a hard time directing the animals away from danger and trouble, especially when robbers sometimes raided the field and stole stray sheep.
As our shepherd, He calls us back to safe pasture.
So I quite understand when Isaiah says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way" (53:6). We stray in many ways: desiring and doing what displeases our Lord, hurting other people by our conduct, and being distracted from spending time with God and His Word because we are too busy or lack interest. We behave like sheep in the field.
Fortunately for us, we have the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for us (John 10:11) and who carries our sorrows and our sins (Isa. 53:4-6). And as our shepherd, He calls us back to safe pasture that we might follow Him more closely.
Shepherd of my soul, I do wander at times. I’m grateful that You’re always seeking me to bring me back to Your side.
If you want God to lead you, be willing to follow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught
Pray without ceasing… —1 Thessalonians 5:17
Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing…”— maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.
Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, “…everyone who asks receives…” (Matthew 7:8). Yet we say, “But…, but….” God answers prayer in the best way— not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?
The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Why You're Spiritually Dry - #7664
It was a fogged in morning at the country house we were using for our vacation. The valley below us and the mountains beyond us were nowhere to be seen. In fact, you couldn't see much beyond the front porch. But by about 10:00 A. M., the sun started doing its thing. I was sitting there literally watching the mist being sucked upward and up and away by the heat of the sun.
I called my wife's attention to the vanishing moisture, and she made an interesting observation. Recalling my own experience with vanishing moisture, she said, "That's what happened to you when you got dehydrated." Now, watching the moisture being sucked away and thinking about when I got dehydrated - it made me want to have a bottle of water with me at all times! I've got one right next to me right now.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why You're Spiritually Dry."
When our Native American Outreach Team spent a month on reservations in the Southwest, you can be sure that bottles of water were standard issue for every team member every day. That desert heat can dehydrate you fast. And take it from me, when you get the moisture sucked out of you, which I've had done, you really fall apart. Dehydration is serious business physically and spiritually.
Spiritual dehydration is the shutdown that occurs in your walk with God when you let your source of spiritual strength start to dry up. And it can happen pretty quickly when you live in the kind of spiritual desert most of us live in - like where you work, where you live, or where you go to school. We absorb what our culture pumps into our mind and it drains the spiritual life out of you. The way to battle dehydration of any kind, of course, is frequent replenishing of the source of your strength.
Which is why David said what he said in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 42:1-2. Remember, this is the man God called "the man after His own heart." "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" That ought to be the driving passion of every one of us who belongs to Jesus Christ, "When's the next time I can meet with my God?" Without those regular meetings, we'll dry up spiritually. We'll dry up fast because we live in an environment that is so spiritually dry.
And in the rush and the stress of your overheated life, it could very well be that your personal time with your Lord has gotten abbreviated, postponed, or cancelled. Each day you're getting hit with so much that isn't God's perspective, isn't God's way - and you know you're going to get the stuff that depletes you spiritually.
You've got to commit yourself to drink at God's spring each new day, early in that day, or you'll find yourself beat up, compromised, discouraged, detoured, and overwhelmed. Not because the sun is so hot, but because you didn't replenish yourself with the living water that God alone can give you.
In times like these, you've got to make your time with Jesus in His Word the non-negotiable of your personal schedule; the sun around which all the planets of your life have to revolve. Not if I get time, or whenever I can get around to it, or when I feel like it. But it becomes now the "must" of my day, the beginning of my day; hearing the voice of God before you hear any other voice.
However early you have to get up, whatever you have to change, make sure your Jesus time happens. It's your water bottle in the desert, and you just simply cannot afford to ever leave home without it.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
1 Chronicles 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM
As you discover your place in God’s plan, you make this wonderful discovery: you will graduate from this life into heaven. Jesus’ plan is to “gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).
All things includes your body. God will reunite your body with your soul and create something unlike anything you have ever seen– an eternal body. You will finally be healthy. You never have been. Even on the days you felt fine, you weren’t. You were a sitting duck for disease, infections, airborne bacteria, and microbes. And what about your worst days? Don’t you hate disease. So does Christ.
When Christ appears, scripture tells us, “we shall be like him.” You’ll have a spiritual body—with all members cooperating toward one end. So we’re not giving up. As God’s story becomes our story, the best is yet to be.
From More to Your Story
1 Chronicles 13
Bringing Back the Ark
David conferred with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 He then said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you and if it is the will of the Lord our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our people throughout the territories of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their towns and pasturelands, to come and join us. 3 Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of[a] it[b] during the reign of Saul.” 4 The whole assembly agreed to do this, because it seemed right to all the people.
5 So David assembled all Israel, from the Shihor River in Egypt to Lebo Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim. 6 David and all Israel went to Baalah of Judah (Kiriath Jearim) to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord, who is enthroned between the cherubim—the ark that is called by the Name.
7 They moved the ark of God from Abinadab’s house on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding it. 8 David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals and trumpets.
9 When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. 10 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God.
11 Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.[c]
12 David was afraid of God that day and asked, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?” 13 He did not take the ark to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 14 The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed his household and everything he had.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 13:3 Or we neglected
1 Chronicles 13:3 Or him
1 Chronicles 13:11 Perez Uzzah means outbreak against Uzzah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Read: John 11:14-27
So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”
16 Thomas, nicknamed the Twin,[a] said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”
17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles[b] down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[c] Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”
Footnotes:
11:16 Greek Thomas, who was called Didymus.
11:18 Greek was about 15 stadia [about 2.8 kilometers].
11:25 Some manuscripts do not include and the life.
INSIGHT:
John 11:1–27 is the third time the Gospels record Jesus raising someone from the dead. In Mark 5:22–43 Jesus goes to the house of a Jewish leader named Jairus and raises his 12-year-old daughter. In Luke 7:11–17 Jesus interrupted a funeral procession in the town of Nain and brought a widow’s dead son back to life. John 11 is unique since it is the only time a name is given for the resurrected person. In this case Lazarus, an abbreviation of Eleazar, was brought back from the dead. His name means “one whom God helps.”
When the Woods Wake Up
By Julie Ackerman Link
I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die. John 11:25
Through cold, snowy winters, the hope of spring sustains those of us who live in Michigan. May is the month when that hope is rewarded. The transformation is remarkable. Limbs that look lifeless on May 1 turn into branches that wave green leafy greetings by month’s end. Although the change each day is imperceptible, by the end of the month the woods in my yard have changed from gray to green.
God has built into creation a cycle of rest and renewal. What looks like death to us is rest to God. And just as rest is preparation for renewal, death is preparation for resurrection.
I love watching the woods awaken every spring, for it reminds me that death is a temporary condition and that its purpose is to prepare for new life, a new beginning, for something even better. “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).
While pollen is a springtime nuisance when it coats my furniture and makes people sneeze, it reminds me that God is in the business of keeping things alive. And after the pain of death, He promises a glorious resurrection for those who believe in His Son.
Read these encouraging verses that remind us of the hope of resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.
Share what you've learned from these verses in the comments or on our Facebook page.
Every new leaf of springtime is a reminder of our promised resurrection.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
The Good or The Best?
If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left. —Genesis 13:9
As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you. These things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God make your choice for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider, if you were not living the life of faith. But if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and allow God to make your choice for you. This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice.
Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.
Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, “…walk before Me…” (Genesis 17:1).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. Biblical Ethics, 99 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
On Assignment from Heaven - #7663
It was enough to make a girl stop talking for years to come-when it comes to talking about her relationship with Jesus, that is. One day in high school, God laid it on my wife's heart, (of course she wasn't my wife yet), to share Christ with one of her fellow band members. Ricky was a drummer. In my experience, drummers are usually cut from a little different piece of cloth than everybody else, and Ricky was no exception. He was a wild and crazy guy with a mouth to match. But one day my wife got up the courage to rise above her shyness and tell him about her Savior. Ricky didn't exactly fall to his knees in the band room and repent. In fact, he said, "Well, if you're going to heaven, I want to go to the other place!" Ouch!
Years later, my wife and I were visiting a church where the pastor introduced us during the service. Afterwards, the man who had been sitting behind us said to my honey, "I've been hoping for years I'd get to see you and tell you what happened." It was Ricky and his wife. He said, "I know I blew you off that day you tried to tell me about Jesus, but you were the first person who ever did that. Later a couple of others did the same thing. I just wanted you to know I finally gave my heart to Christ." Needless to say, it was one of those spiritual what they used to call "Kodak moments." Ricky went on to tell about working on a Christian radio station and how he had even pastored a church. Ricky-the one who nuked a girl who tried to tell him about Jesus-ended up actually working on our team, helping us tell the world about Jesus.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "On Assignment From Heaven."
Ricky's story is the story of so many who have changed their eternal address from hell to heaven. They didn't find Christ through one exposure to Him, but through a string of faithful witnesses who sowed the seed of the Gospel in their heart. One day, the harvest came because of those who sowed the Gospel, those who watered the Gospel, and then someone who recognized that it was time to harvest the Gospel.
God has placed you as His designated ambassador in the lives of the people in your personal world. Here's how the great rescue plan of God works, as revealed in 1 Corinthians 3, beginning with verse 5, our word for today from the Word of God. "What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe-as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow...The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers..."
Do you realize how important you are in the life-saving plan of God? He's invited you to work side by side with Him in His harvesting of lives for heaven! In one life, you may be the one who sows the first thoughts a person has about Jesus-as my wife did in Ricky's life. For another person, you might be the one who unknowingly builds on seed someone else sowed to bring them a step closer to Jesus. For someone else, you'll be the one God puts there when the other seed sown in their life is ready to be harvested and they're ready for Jesus.
As you ask the Holy Spirit to show you what part He wants you to play and where that person is in the process of coming to Him, He'll give you the opening, the courage, the approach, and the words if you ask Him to. You can never judge the final result of your witness by the immediate response. It is God who provides the seed, it's God who miraculously grows that seed into a heart that's ready for Jesus. But He's counting on you to sow His seed, water His seed, or harvest His seed.
There's only one way you can fail in sharing Christ and that's if you don't do it! Your mission is to leave each lost person God leads you to closer to Jesus than they were before; knowing more about Jesus and what He did for them than they knew before.
God has an amazing plan for the spiritual rescue of every lost person you know and He's asking you to join Him in it. Don't miss the most important thing you will ever do in your life!
As you discover your place in God’s plan, you make this wonderful discovery: you will graduate from this life into heaven. Jesus’ plan is to “gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).
All things includes your body. God will reunite your body with your soul and create something unlike anything you have ever seen– an eternal body. You will finally be healthy. You never have been. Even on the days you felt fine, you weren’t. You were a sitting duck for disease, infections, airborne bacteria, and microbes. And what about your worst days? Don’t you hate disease. So does Christ.
When Christ appears, scripture tells us, “we shall be like him.” You’ll have a spiritual body—with all members cooperating toward one end. So we’re not giving up. As God’s story becomes our story, the best is yet to be.
From More to Your Story
1 Chronicles 13
Bringing Back the Ark
David conferred with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 He then said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you and if it is the will of the Lord our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our people throughout the territories of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their towns and pasturelands, to come and join us. 3 Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of[a] it[b] during the reign of Saul.” 4 The whole assembly agreed to do this, because it seemed right to all the people.
5 So David assembled all Israel, from the Shihor River in Egypt to Lebo Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim. 6 David and all Israel went to Baalah of Judah (Kiriath Jearim) to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord, who is enthroned between the cherubim—the ark that is called by the Name.
7 They moved the ark of God from Abinadab’s house on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding it. 8 David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals and trumpets.
9 When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. 10 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God.
11 Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.[c]
12 David was afraid of God that day and asked, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?” 13 He did not take the ark to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 14 The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed his household and everything he had.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 13:3 Or we neglected
1 Chronicles 13:3 Or him
1 Chronicles 13:11 Perez Uzzah means outbreak against Uzzah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Read: John 11:14-27
So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”
16 Thomas, nicknamed the Twin,[a] said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”
17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles[b] down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[c] Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”
Footnotes:
11:16 Greek Thomas, who was called Didymus.
11:18 Greek was about 15 stadia [about 2.8 kilometers].
11:25 Some manuscripts do not include and the life.
INSIGHT:
John 11:1–27 is the third time the Gospels record Jesus raising someone from the dead. In Mark 5:22–43 Jesus goes to the house of a Jewish leader named Jairus and raises his 12-year-old daughter. In Luke 7:11–17 Jesus interrupted a funeral procession in the town of Nain and brought a widow’s dead son back to life. John 11 is unique since it is the only time a name is given for the resurrected person. In this case Lazarus, an abbreviation of Eleazar, was brought back from the dead. His name means “one whom God helps.”
When the Woods Wake Up
By Julie Ackerman Link
I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die. John 11:25
Through cold, snowy winters, the hope of spring sustains those of us who live in Michigan. May is the month when that hope is rewarded. The transformation is remarkable. Limbs that look lifeless on May 1 turn into branches that wave green leafy greetings by month’s end. Although the change each day is imperceptible, by the end of the month the woods in my yard have changed from gray to green.
God has built into creation a cycle of rest and renewal. What looks like death to us is rest to God. And just as rest is preparation for renewal, death is preparation for resurrection.
I love watching the woods awaken every spring, for it reminds me that death is a temporary condition and that its purpose is to prepare for new life, a new beginning, for something even better. “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).
While pollen is a springtime nuisance when it coats my furniture and makes people sneeze, it reminds me that God is in the business of keeping things alive. And after the pain of death, He promises a glorious resurrection for those who believe in His Son.
Read these encouraging verses that remind us of the hope of resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.
Share what you've learned from these verses in the comments or on our Facebook page.
Every new leaf of springtime is a reminder of our promised resurrection.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
The Good or The Best?
If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left. —Genesis 13:9
As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you. These things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God make your choice for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider, if you were not living the life of faith. But if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and allow God to make your choice for you. This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice.
Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.
Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, “…walk before Me…” (Genesis 17:1).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. Biblical Ethics, 99 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
On Assignment from Heaven - #7663
It was enough to make a girl stop talking for years to come-when it comes to talking about her relationship with Jesus, that is. One day in high school, God laid it on my wife's heart, (of course she wasn't my wife yet), to share Christ with one of her fellow band members. Ricky was a drummer. In my experience, drummers are usually cut from a little different piece of cloth than everybody else, and Ricky was no exception. He was a wild and crazy guy with a mouth to match. But one day my wife got up the courage to rise above her shyness and tell him about her Savior. Ricky didn't exactly fall to his knees in the band room and repent. In fact, he said, "Well, if you're going to heaven, I want to go to the other place!" Ouch!
Years later, my wife and I were visiting a church where the pastor introduced us during the service. Afterwards, the man who had been sitting behind us said to my honey, "I've been hoping for years I'd get to see you and tell you what happened." It was Ricky and his wife. He said, "I know I blew you off that day you tried to tell me about Jesus, but you were the first person who ever did that. Later a couple of others did the same thing. I just wanted you to know I finally gave my heart to Christ." Needless to say, it was one of those spiritual what they used to call "Kodak moments." Ricky went on to tell about working on a Christian radio station and how he had even pastored a church. Ricky-the one who nuked a girl who tried to tell him about Jesus-ended up actually working on our team, helping us tell the world about Jesus.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "On Assignment From Heaven."
Ricky's story is the story of so many who have changed their eternal address from hell to heaven. They didn't find Christ through one exposure to Him, but through a string of faithful witnesses who sowed the seed of the Gospel in their heart. One day, the harvest came because of those who sowed the Gospel, those who watered the Gospel, and then someone who recognized that it was time to harvest the Gospel.
God has placed you as His designated ambassador in the lives of the people in your personal world. Here's how the great rescue plan of God works, as revealed in 1 Corinthians 3, beginning with verse 5, our word for today from the Word of God. "What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe-as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow...The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers..."
Do you realize how important you are in the life-saving plan of God? He's invited you to work side by side with Him in His harvesting of lives for heaven! In one life, you may be the one who sows the first thoughts a person has about Jesus-as my wife did in Ricky's life. For another person, you might be the one who unknowingly builds on seed someone else sowed to bring them a step closer to Jesus. For someone else, you'll be the one God puts there when the other seed sown in their life is ready to be harvested and they're ready for Jesus.
As you ask the Holy Spirit to show you what part He wants you to play and where that person is in the process of coming to Him, He'll give you the opening, the courage, the approach, and the words if you ask Him to. You can never judge the final result of your witness by the immediate response. It is God who provides the seed, it's God who miraculously grows that seed into a heart that's ready for Jesus. But He's counting on you to sow His seed, water His seed, or harvest His seed.
There's only one way you can fail in sharing Christ and that's if you don't do it! Your mission is to leave each lost person God leads you to closer to Jesus than they were before; knowing more about Jesus and what He did for them than they knew before.
God has an amazing plan for the spiritual rescue of every lost person you know and He's asking you to join Him in it. Don't miss the most important thing you will ever do in your life!
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
1 Corinthians 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WHAT WE KNOW
There are so many things we don’t know. We don’t know if the economy will dip or if our team will win. We don’t know what our spouse is thinking or how our kids will turn out. And scripture reminds us we don’t even know “what we ought to pray for” (Romans 8:26). But according to Paul’s words in Romans 8:38, we can be absolutely certain about four things. We know…
God works. He is ceaseless and tireless.
God works for our ultimate good.
God works for the good of those who love him.
God works in all things. Not a few things… in all things!
Puppet in the hands of fortune or fate? Not you. You are in the hands of a living, loving God. Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God who’s working for your supreme good!
From More to Your Story
1 Corinthians 9
Paul Gives Up His Rights
Am I not as free as anyone else? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus our Lord with my own eyes? Isn’t it because of my work that you belong to the Lord? 2 Even if others think I am not an apostle, I certainly am to you. You yourselves are proof that I am the Lord’s apostle.
3 This is my answer to those who question my authority.[a] 4 Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals? 5 Don’t we have the right to bring a believing wife[b] with us as the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter[c] does? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to work to support ourselves?
7 What soldier has to pay his own expenses? What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? 8 Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing? 9 For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.”[d] Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? 10 Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.
11 Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? 12 If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ.
13 Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. 14 In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it. 15 Yet I have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that I want to start now. In fact, I would rather die than lose my right to boast about preaching without charge. 16 Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!
17 If I were doing this on my own initiative, I would deserve payment. But I have no choice, for God has given me this sacred trust. 18 What then is my pay? It is the opportunity to preach the Good News without charging anyone. That’s why I never demand my rights when I preach the Good News.
19 Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. 20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law,[e] I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.
22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.
24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
Footnotes:
9:3 Greek those who examine me.
9:5a Greek a sister a wife.
9:5b Greek Cephas.
9:9 Deut 25:4.
9:21 Greek those without the law.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Read: Mark 4:35–5:1
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man
5 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.[a]
Footnotes:
5:1 Other manuscripts read Gadarenes; still others read Gergesenes. See Matt 8:28; Luke 8:26.
INSIGHT:
Jesus’ calming of the storm is a remarkable witness to the power of our Creator over nature, for He spoke directly to the storm threatening the ship He and His disciples were in. He rebuked the wind and waves and said, “Quiet! Be still!” (4:39). The Greek word used here for "still" denotes the muzzling of a hostile animal. When we are overcome with worries and concerns, we can trust that our powerful Creator will still our fears.
No Worries
By C. P. Hia
Let us go over to the other side. Mark 4:35
A comfortable plane ride was about to get bumpy. The voice of the captain interrupted in-flight beverage service and asked passengers to make sure their seatbelts were fastened. Soon the plane began to roll and pitch like a ship on a wind-whipped ocean. While the rest of the passengers were doing their best to deal with the turbulence, a little girl sat through it all reading her book. After the plane landed, she was asked why she had been able to be so calm. She responded, “My daddy is the pilot and he’s taking me home.”
Though Jesus’ disciples were seasoned fishermen, they were terrified the day a storm threatened to swamp their boat. They were following Jesus’ instructions. Why was this happening? (Mark 4:35-38). He was with them but He was asleep at the stern of the craft. They learned that day that it is not true that when we do as our Lord says there will be no storms in our lives. Yet because He was with them, they also learned that storms don’t stop us from getting to where our Lord wants us to go (5:1).
Storms don’t stop us from getting to where our Lord wants us to go.
Whether the storm we encounter today is the result of a tragic accident, a loss of employment, or some other trial, we can be confident that all is not lost. Our Pilot can handle the storm. He will get us home.
What storms are you encountering today? Perhaps you have lost a loved one or are facing a serious illness. Perhaps you are having difficulty finding a job. Ask the Lord to strengthen your faith and take you safely through the storm to the other side.
We don't need to fear the storm with Jesus as our anchor.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
The Delight of Despair
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. —Revelation 1:17
It may be that, like the apostle John, you know Jesus Christ intimately. Yet when He suddenly appears to you with totally unfamiliar characteristics, the only thing you can do is fall “at His feet as dead.” There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awesomeness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair. You experience this joy in hopelessness, realizing that if you are ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God.
“He laid His right hand on me…” (Revelation 1:17). In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, and the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27), full of support, provision, comfort, and strength. And once His touch comes, nothing at all can throw you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory, the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, saying, “Do not be afraid” (Revelation 1:17). His tenderness is inexpressibly sweet. Do I know Him like that?
Take a look at some of the things that cause despair. There is despair which has no delight, no limits whatsoever, and no hope of anything brighter. But the delight of despair comes when “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells…” (Romans 7:18). I delight in knowing that there is something in me which must fall prostrate before God when He reveals Himself to me, and also in knowing that if I am ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I recognize the limits of what is humanly possible, allowing Him to do the impossible.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
The Expensive Embrace - #7662
I don't think I've ever "teared up" during a President's State of the Union Address to Congress - until that unforgettable moment during President George W. Bush's State of the Union early in 2005. For me, it had absolutely nothing to do with politics. It was just an intensely human moment that almost transcended politics.
At one point in his speech, he paid tribute to the Iraqi people for their courage in going to the polls in the face of incredible danger. Then, the President introduced a guest that was sitting in the gallery next to the First Lady - a woman who has been an Iraqi freedom activist for eleven years at that time - since Saddam Hussein had her father executed. She stood with her index finger in the air, still tinted with that identifying purple dye of someone who had voted. She was very moved by the standing ovation from everyone in that chamber.
And then a few moments later, the President paid tribute to the soldiers who had died in Iraq and then to their grieving families. At that point, he introduced a couple seated behind the woman from Iraq - their Marine son had died in the Fallujah campaign. They stood as representatives of all those families who had lost a son or daughter in Iraq. And then that mother leaned over to the front row and embraced the martyr's daughter from Iraq. They remained there just crying together, buried in each other's arms as the elected national leadership of the United States stood to their feet in a long and thunderous ovation. That's when I lost it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Expensive Embrace."
What a picture! The one whose son died embracing one he died for. I think one reason I found that so moving is because I can see myself in that picture - embraced by the God whose Son died, and I'm the one that He died for, and so are you. The question is have you ever acknowledged the sacrifice that was made for you? Have you ever stepped into your Heavenly Father's waiting arms? He's got so much love He's been waiting to give you. He's got the love you may have spent a whole life looking for.
God's welcoming embrace cost Him the most precious thing He had - His one and only Son. Listen to these beautiful words from 1 John 4, beginning with verse 9, our word for today from the Word of God. "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him." Why don't you put your name in that verse? "He sent His one and only Son that (there's your name) might live through Him. He loved (there's your name) and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Like that mother at the State of the Union Address, God's the One whose Son died. But God's Son chose to die, because it was the only way your sins could be paid for other than you paying for them forever in hell.
The cross was for you. To ignore that sacrifice will cost you heaven. To depend on the good things you try to do for God instead of the amazing thing God did for you means you will pay the death penalty for your sin that Jesus already died to pay.
And now the One whose Son died waits to embrace the one He died for. In fact, He's been waiting for you a long time. Let today be the day you finally experience His awesome love for yourself. Tell Him you know you've broken His laws and you've run your life your way, and that you want to change. Tell Him you're pinning all your hopes for eternity on the Savior who died for you. What an unforgettable day this could be for you.
I would love to help walk you through beginning that relationship at our website. That's what it's there for. Would you just check it out as soon as you can today? It's ANewStory.com. I want you to know when you go to bed tonight beyond any shadow of a doubt that you belong to Jesus Christ.
God gave His very best for you. Don't walk away from His waiting arms. Not after the price that He paid to love you.
There are so many things we don’t know. We don’t know if the economy will dip or if our team will win. We don’t know what our spouse is thinking or how our kids will turn out. And scripture reminds us we don’t even know “what we ought to pray for” (Romans 8:26). But according to Paul’s words in Romans 8:38, we can be absolutely certain about four things. We know…
God works. He is ceaseless and tireless.
God works for our ultimate good.
God works for the good of those who love him.
God works in all things. Not a few things… in all things!
Puppet in the hands of fortune or fate? Not you. You are in the hands of a living, loving God. Your life is a crafted narrative written by a good God who’s working for your supreme good!
From More to Your Story
1 Corinthians 9
Paul Gives Up His Rights
Am I not as free as anyone else? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus our Lord with my own eyes? Isn’t it because of my work that you belong to the Lord? 2 Even if others think I am not an apostle, I certainly am to you. You yourselves are proof that I am the Lord’s apostle.
3 This is my answer to those who question my authority.[a] 4 Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals? 5 Don’t we have the right to bring a believing wife[b] with us as the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter[c] does? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to work to support ourselves?
7 What soldier has to pay his own expenses? What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? 8 Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing? 9 For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.”[d] Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? 10 Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.
11 Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? 12 If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ.
13 Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. 14 In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it. 15 Yet I have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that I want to start now. In fact, I would rather die than lose my right to boast about preaching without charge. 16 Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!
17 If I were doing this on my own initiative, I would deserve payment. But I have no choice, for God has given me this sacred trust. 18 What then is my pay? It is the opportunity to preach the Good News without charging anyone. That’s why I never demand my rights when I preach the Good News.
19 Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. 20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law,[e] I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.
22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.
24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
Footnotes:
9:3 Greek those who examine me.
9:5a Greek a sister a wife.
9:5b Greek Cephas.
9:9 Deut 25:4.
9:21 Greek those without the law.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Read: Mark 4:35–5:1
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man
5 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.[a]
Footnotes:
5:1 Other manuscripts read Gadarenes; still others read Gergesenes. See Matt 8:28; Luke 8:26.
INSIGHT:
Jesus’ calming of the storm is a remarkable witness to the power of our Creator over nature, for He spoke directly to the storm threatening the ship He and His disciples were in. He rebuked the wind and waves and said, “Quiet! Be still!” (4:39). The Greek word used here for "still" denotes the muzzling of a hostile animal. When we are overcome with worries and concerns, we can trust that our powerful Creator will still our fears.
No Worries
By C. P. Hia
Let us go over to the other side. Mark 4:35
A comfortable plane ride was about to get bumpy. The voice of the captain interrupted in-flight beverage service and asked passengers to make sure their seatbelts were fastened. Soon the plane began to roll and pitch like a ship on a wind-whipped ocean. While the rest of the passengers were doing their best to deal with the turbulence, a little girl sat through it all reading her book. After the plane landed, she was asked why she had been able to be so calm. She responded, “My daddy is the pilot and he’s taking me home.”
Though Jesus’ disciples were seasoned fishermen, they were terrified the day a storm threatened to swamp their boat. They were following Jesus’ instructions. Why was this happening? (Mark 4:35-38). He was with them but He was asleep at the stern of the craft. They learned that day that it is not true that when we do as our Lord says there will be no storms in our lives. Yet because He was with them, they also learned that storms don’t stop us from getting to where our Lord wants us to go (5:1).
Storms don’t stop us from getting to where our Lord wants us to go.
Whether the storm we encounter today is the result of a tragic accident, a loss of employment, or some other trial, we can be confident that all is not lost. Our Pilot can handle the storm. He will get us home.
What storms are you encountering today? Perhaps you have lost a loved one or are facing a serious illness. Perhaps you are having difficulty finding a job. Ask the Lord to strengthen your faith and take you safely through the storm to the other side.
We don't need to fear the storm with Jesus as our anchor.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
The Delight of Despair
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. —Revelation 1:17
It may be that, like the apostle John, you know Jesus Christ intimately. Yet when He suddenly appears to you with totally unfamiliar characteristics, the only thing you can do is fall “at His feet as dead.” There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awesomeness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair. You experience this joy in hopelessness, realizing that if you are ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God.
“He laid His right hand on me…” (Revelation 1:17). In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, and the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27), full of support, provision, comfort, and strength. And once His touch comes, nothing at all can throw you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory, the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, saying, “Do not be afraid” (Revelation 1:17). His tenderness is inexpressibly sweet. Do I know Him like that?
Take a look at some of the things that cause despair. There is despair which has no delight, no limits whatsoever, and no hope of anything brighter. But the delight of despair comes when “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells…” (Romans 7:18). I delight in knowing that there is something in me which must fall prostrate before God when He reveals Himself to me, and also in knowing that if I am ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I recognize the limits of what is humanly possible, allowing Him to do the impossible.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
The Expensive Embrace - #7662
I don't think I've ever "teared up" during a President's State of the Union Address to Congress - until that unforgettable moment during President George W. Bush's State of the Union early in 2005. For me, it had absolutely nothing to do with politics. It was just an intensely human moment that almost transcended politics.
At one point in his speech, he paid tribute to the Iraqi people for their courage in going to the polls in the face of incredible danger. Then, the President introduced a guest that was sitting in the gallery next to the First Lady - a woman who has been an Iraqi freedom activist for eleven years at that time - since Saddam Hussein had her father executed. She stood with her index finger in the air, still tinted with that identifying purple dye of someone who had voted. She was very moved by the standing ovation from everyone in that chamber.
And then a few moments later, the President paid tribute to the soldiers who had died in Iraq and then to their grieving families. At that point, he introduced a couple seated behind the woman from Iraq - their Marine son had died in the Fallujah campaign. They stood as representatives of all those families who had lost a son or daughter in Iraq. And then that mother leaned over to the front row and embraced the martyr's daughter from Iraq. They remained there just crying together, buried in each other's arms as the elected national leadership of the United States stood to their feet in a long and thunderous ovation. That's when I lost it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Expensive Embrace."
What a picture! The one whose son died embracing one he died for. I think one reason I found that so moving is because I can see myself in that picture - embraced by the God whose Son died, and I'm the one that He died for, and so are you. The question is have you ever acknowledged the sacrifice that was made for you? Have you ever stepped into your Heavenly Father's waiting arms? He's got so much love He's been waiting to give you. He's got the love you may have spent a whole life looking for.
God's welcoming embrace cost Him the most precious thing He had - His one and only Son. Listen to these beautiful words from 1 John 4, beginning with verse 9, our word for today from the Word of God. "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him." Why don't you put your name in that verse? "He sent His one and only Son that (there's your name) might live through Him. He loved (there's your name) and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Like that mother at the State of the Union Address, God's the One whose Son died. But God's Son chose to die, because it was the only way your sins could be paid for other than you paying for them forever in hell.
The cross was for you. To ignore that sacrifice will cost you heaven. To depend on the good things you try to do for God instead of the amazing thing God did for you means you will pay the death penalty for your sin that Jesus already died to pay.
And now the One whose Son died waits to embrace the one He died for. In fact, He's been waiting for you a long time. Let today be the day you finally experience His awesome love for yourself. Tell Him you know you've broken His laws and you've run your life your way, and that you want to change. Tell Him you're pinning all your hopes for eternity on the Savior who died for you. What an unforgettable day this could be for you.
I would love to help walk you through beginning that relationship at our website. That's what it's there for. Would you just check it out as soon as you can today? It's ANewStory.com. I want you to know when you go to bed tonight beyond any shadow of a doubt that you belong to Jesus Christ.
God gave His very best for you. Don't walk away from His waiting arms. Not after the price that He paid to love you.