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!