God has the final word on your life. And his word is grace! According to the Bible, Jesus said, “The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10).
If you are in Christ, your sin is gone. Jesus did his part. Now do yours. Give God your guilt. Tell Jesus what you did. Hold nothing back. Go into as much detail as you can. Healing happens when the wound is exposed to the atmosphere of grace. Confession is not a punishment for sin; it is an isolation of sin so it can be exposed and extracted.
Be firm in your prayer! Satan traffics in guilt. So tell his guilt where to get off. And for heaven’s sake, stop tormenting yourself. Jesus is strong enough to carry your sin. Did he not say he would do so? Believe him. He has the final word.
From God is With You Every Day
1 Chronicles 18
David’s Victories
In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Gath and its surrounding villages from the control of the Philistines.
2 David also defeated the Moabites, and they became subject to him and brought him tribute.
3 Moreover, David defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah, in the vicinity of Hamath, when he went to set up his monument at[b] the Euphrates River. 4 David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses.
5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them. 6 He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought him tribute. The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.
7 David took the gold shields carried by the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 From Tebah[c] and Kun, towns that belonged to Hadadezer, David took a great quantity of bronze, which Solomon used to make the bronze Sea, the pillars and various bronze articles.
9 When Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, 10 he sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory in battle over Hadadezer, who had been at war with Tou. Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold, of silver and of bronze.
11 King David dedicated these articles to the Lord, as he had done with the silver and gold he had taken from all these nations: Edom and Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistines, and Amalek.
12 Abishai son of Zeruiah struck down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. 13 He put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David. The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.
David’s Officials
14 David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people. 15 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 16 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelek[d] son of Abiathar were priests; Shavsha was secretary; 17 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief officials at the king’s side.
Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 18:3 Or to restore his control over
1 Chronicles 18:8 Hebrew Tibhath, a variant of Tebah
1 Chronicles 18:16 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac (see also 2 Samuel 8:17); most Hebrew manuscripts Abimelek
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Read: Judges 2:7–19
And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him—those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. 9 They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah[a] in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
Israel Disobeys the Lord
10 After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.
11 The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. 12 They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. 13 They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth. 14 This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions. He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them. 15 Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned. And the people were in great distress.
The Lord Rescues His People
16 Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers. 17 Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands.
18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime. For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
Footnotes:
2:9 As in parallel text at Josh 24:30; Hebrew reads Timnath-heres, a variant spelling of Timnath-serah.
INSIGHT:
After Joshua died, Israel began worshiping the Canaanite fertility deities Baal and Ashtoreth. In Judges 2 this sin of idolatry is likely presented in terms of harlotry or prostitution (v. 17) to reinforce the unfaithfulness of idolatry and the sexual nature of Baal and Ashtoreth worship.
Some Assembly Required
By Randy Kilgore
Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies. Judges 2:18
Around our home, the words “some assembly required” have been the cause of great frustration (mine) and great humor (my family). When my wife and I first married, I attempted to make simple home repairs—with disastrous results. A repaired shower handle worked perfectly—if the plan was for the water to run between the walls. My fiascoes continued after we had children, when I assured my wife, Cheryl, I “don’t need instructions” to put these “simple” toys together. Wrong!
Gradually, I learned my lesson and began to pay strict attention to the instructions and things went together as they should. Unfortunately, the longer things went well, the more confident I became, and soon I was again ignoring instructions with predictably disastrous results.
God has reasons for all of the instructions He’s given us.
The ancient Israelites struggled with a similar tendency: they would forget God, ignoring His instructions to avoid following after Baal and the other gods of the region (Judg. 2:12). This produced disastrous results, until God, in His mercy, raised up judges to rescue them and bring them back to Himself (v. 18).
God has reasons for all of the instructions He’s given us to keep our affections on Him. Only by a daily awareness of His loving presence can we resist the temptation to “construct” our lives our own way. What great gifts He has given us in His Word and His presence!
Lord, keep me close to You this day. Remind me of Your presence through Your Word and prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Our greatest privilege is to enjoy God’s presence.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 16, 2016
“Will You Lay Down Your Life?”
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends….I have called you friends… —John 15:13, 15
Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said to the Lord, “I will lay down my life for Your sake,” and he meant it (John 13:37). He had a magnificent sense of the heroic. For us to be incapable of making this same statement Peter made would be a bad thing— our sense of duty is only fully realized through our sense of heroism. Has the Lord ever asked you, “Will you lay down your life for My sake?” (John 13:38). It is much easier to die than to lay down your life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling of God. We are not made for the bright-shining moments of life, but we have to walk in the light of them in our everyday ways. There was only one bright-shining moment in the life of Jesus, and that was on the Mount of Transfiguration. It was there that He emptied Himself of His glory for the second time, and then came down into the demon-possessed valley (seeMark 9:1-29). For thirty-three years Jesus laid down His life to do the will of His Father. “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). Yet it is contrary to our human nature to do so.
If I am a friend of Jesus, I must deliberately and carefully lay down my life for Him. It is a difficult thing to do, and thank God that it is. Salvation is easy for us, because it cost God so much. But the exhibiting of salvation in my life is difficult. God saves a person, fills him with the Holy Spirit, and then says, in effect, “Now you work it out in your life, and be faithful to Me, even though the nature of everything around you is to cause you to be unfaithful.” And Jesus says to us, “…I have called you friends….” Remain faithful to your Friend, and remember that His honor is at stake in your bodily life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 16, 2016
The Trail You're Leaving - #7679
My daughter and I hugged a lot when she was little. Even when she got to be a grownup college student, we would still declare "hug alert!" Sometimes, when I hug my daughter, she'll say, "You smell like Daddy." Now, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Now she hugs other men, of course – her husband, most of all...her brothers. She tells me they smell like themselves, too. I guess it's good that I smell like Daddy – I'd hate to smell like someone else. The fact is that people actually do have a distinctive aroma, whether it's pleasant or unpleasant. And we remember the smell they leave behind, don't we?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Trail You're Leaving."
Our word for today from the Word of God actually talks about the fragrance you should be remembered for. It's in 2 Corinthians 2:14. "Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him."
You probably know someone who is preceded by the aroma of their cologne or their perfume or after shave – and whose aroma lingers even after they move on. Well the impact of your life is described in this verse as a fragrance. What is that fragrance? It's the knowledge of Christ. In other words, people should be thinking of Jesus after you've been with them. They should have had a taste of Jesus by being around you. Do they?
Modern Christianity tends to measure our influence by our actions – the words you speak, the groups you lead, the good deeds you do, the people you help, the activities you support. But your greatest impact on lives doesn't come through the actions you do – it comes through the atmosphere you create. And everywhere you are you are creating some kind of atmosphere, some kind of aroma. The question is – what kind?
When you walk into your home, what aroma do you bring? Stress or peace? Gentleness or harshness? Do you bring affection or coldness? A servant spirit or self-centeredness? What kind of atmosphere accompanies you at work or at school - that you're all about yourself or that you're all about other people? Patient or impatient? A positive attitude or a negative attitude? Thankfulness or complaining?
After all is said and done, people may not remember much of what you said or most of what you did. But they will remember the atmosphere you left behind – how they feel when you're around. It could even be that your positive actions are actually cancelled out by the stinky atmosphere you bring – the stress, the insensitivity, and the criticism you create while you're doing all those good things. You can be doing great stuff and have a lousy attitude and drag people down. What people are supposed to experience by being around you is "the fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus." Do you remember what impressed even the enemies of Christ? It's told about in Acts 4:13 "They took note that these men had been with Jesus." Even though they were against those men, they noticed that they had been around Jesus and they reminded them of Jesus.
Your aroma is there longer than you are. And the aroma you should be leaving is the finest fragrance of all...the Essence of Jesus.