Not only does God desire that you live the Promised Land life, but he fights for you so you can. This was the main point of Joshua’s victory speech in Joshua chapters 23 and 24. The Jordan River opened and the Jericho walls fell. The sun stood still, and the enemies scattered. Joshua summarized the victory by saying, “For the LORD has driven from before you great and strong nations. . .no one has been able to stand against you to this day. . .for the LORD your God is He who fights for you.”
Don’t you love that image? I picture the same for you. The enemies of your life—fears, dread, hatred, and hurt—come at you like a legion of hoodlums. Yet rather than run away, you turn and face them. You unsheathe the promise of God’s Word. And He fights for you!
From God is With You Every Day
1 Corinthians 14:26-40
A Call to Orderly Worship
26 Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.
27 No more than two or three should speak in tongues. They must speak one at a time, and someone must interpret what they say. 28 But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately.
29 Let two or three people prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said. 30 But if someone is prophesying and another person receives a revelation from the Lord, the one who is speaking must stop. 31 In this way, all who prophesy will have a turn to speak, one after the other, so that everyone will learn and be encouraged. 32 Remember that people who prophesy are in control of their spirit and can take turns. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people.[a]
34 Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. 35 If they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings.[b]
36 Or do you think God’s word originated with you Corinthians? Are you the only ones to whom it was given? 37 If you claim to be a prophet or think you are spiritual, you should recognize that what I am saying is a command from the Lord himself. 38 But if you do not recognize this, you yourself will not be recognized.[c]
39 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But be sure that everything is done properly and in order.
Footnotes:
14:33 The phrase as in all the meetings of God’s holy people could instead be joined to the beginning of 14:34.
14:35 Some manuscripts place verses 34-35 after 14:40.
14:38 Some manuscripts read If you are ignorant of this, stay in your ignorance.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Read: Ephesians 6:5–9
Slaves and Masters
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.
9 Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.
INSIGHT:
The idea of serving others as an act of worship and service to the Lord is a recurring theme in Paul’s writings. He tells the church at Colossae that “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). He also instructs the church in Corinth, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).
Serving Christ
By Keila Ochoa
Obey [your earthly masters] . . . as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Ephesians 6:6
“I’m a secretary,” a friend told me. “When I tell people this, they sometimes look at me with a certain pity. But when they find out who I am secretary for, they open their eyes with admiration!” In other words, society often defines some jobs as less important than others, unless those jobs happen to relate in some way to rich or famous people.
For the child of God, however, any occupation, regardless of the earthly boss, can be held proudly because we serve the Lord Jesus.
Lord Jesus, I want to serve you in everything I do.
In Ephesians 6, Paul talks to servants and masters. He reminds both groups that we serve one Master who is in heaven. So we need to do everything with sincerity of heart, integrity, and respect because we are serving and working for Christ Himself. As the apostle Paul reminds us, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people” (Eph. 6:7).
What a privilege to serve God in everything we do, whether answering a phone or driving a car or doing housework or running a business. Let us work with a smile today, remembering that no matter what we are doing, we are serving God.
Lord Jesus, I want to serve You in everything I do. Help me, as I begin each day, to remember this.
Serving shows our love for God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 23, 2016
“Acquainted With Grief”
He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Calling Daddy to Come - #7684
Our daughter was doing something she did several times a day – picking up our infant grandson. She bent over OK – but suddenly she couldn't straighten up. A sudden pain shot through her back, almost paralyzing her really. She managed to set the baby down and to lie down on the bed. The pain was almost unbearable, and she couldn't move. Daddy was at the office and the only one there to call for help was our 3-year old grandson. He picked up the phone, dialed Daddy's office, got the receptionist and gave her a simple but direct message – "Mommy got boo-boo on her back – tell Daddy to come home now!" When he was put through to Daddy he gave it to him direct - "Daddy, Mommy got boo-boo on her back – come home now!" In a matter of minutes, it was Daddy to the rescue. In a matter of days, it was Mommy back to normal.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Calling Daddy to Come".
Daddy came in answer to the cry of one of his children – who called to him on someone else's behalf. Sound familiar? When our daughter told us about our grandson's call, I thought of the word the Bible uses to describe a process like that – intercession. Our grandson had gone to his father on behalf of another person's need. That's exactly what you and I are supposed to be doing for the people we care about – interceding for them with a Heavenly Father who can do for them what we could never do.
The Old Testament leader Samuel understood what a responsibility we have to intercede for people. God's people had just said to him, "Pray to the Lord your God for your servants..." Then in 1 Samuel 12:23, our word for today from the Word of God, Samuel says, "As for me, be it far from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you."
When you step up to go to God for someone's need, you are, in essence, aiming the laser beam of heaven at that person's life, their need, and their situation. Like our son-in-law that day he got the call, our Heavenly Father takes action to do what only He can do in response to our call to heaven.
This ministry of interceding is all through the Bible – Abraham standing before the Lord, representing the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah...Moses begging God for mercy on His idolatrous people. And what was the last thing Jesus did before He was hauled away to be tried, tortured, and crucified? In John 17, He interceded for His disciples, and even for us. It's what He's doing in heaven today! "He ever lives to make intercession for us," Hebrews says. That's how important intercession is!
Most of us are so busy, so preoccupied with trying to fix things ourselves, or we're just so self-absorbed, that we don't spend much time going to the Father for the people in our world. Obviously, we just don't understand the resources of heaven that are unleashed when we go to God in interceding prayer. How much are you spending time interceding daily for your children? For your spouse? For your church leadership? For our nations leadership? For your coworkers? For your friends? Please don't "sin against the Lord" as Samuel said, by "failing to pray" for them. If we just spend as much time talking to God about their needs as we spend talking to others about it, worrying about it, scheming over it – who knows what miracles we would see!
Open up this exciting ministry frontier in your life. Take time each day to go to our "Daddy" in heaven for people you care about – "Daddy, she really needs you – please come now!"