Thursday, August 2, 2018
I have stepped out of the boat of my chaos "with no shore, no success"...
"If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is the process itself. What He desires for me is that I see “Him walking on the sea” with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see “Him walking on the sea” (Mark 6:49). It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God".- Oswald Chambers July 28th....
Luke 4:31-44, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE DEPENDABILITY OF GOD
From the first chapter of Scripture, the Bible makes a case for the dependability of God. Without exception when God spoke, something wonderful happened. By divine fiat there was light, land, beaches, and creatures. God consulted no advisers. He needed no assistance. “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” (Psalm 33:9).
The same power is seen in Jesus. He is unchanging. He’s never caught off guard by the unexpected. “God never changes or casts a shifting shadow” (James 1:17).
God is strong. He does not overpromise and under deliver. “God is able to do whatever he promises” (Romans 4:21). “It is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). God will keep his promises. It must happen because of who God is! And because God’s promises are unbreakable, our hope is unshakable!
Read more Unshakable Hope
Luke 4:31-44
He went down to Capernaum, a village in Galilee. He was teaching the people on the Sabbath. They were surprised and impressed—his teaching was so forthright, so confident, so authoritative, not the quibbling and quoting they were used to.
33-34 In the meeting place that day there was a man demonically disturbed. He screamed, “Ho! What business do you have here with us, Jesus? Nazarene! I know what you’re up to. You’re the Holy One of God and you’ve come to destroy us!”
35 Jesus shut him up: “Quiet! Get out of him!” The demonic spirit threw the man down in front of them all and left. The demon didn’t hurt him.
36-37 That set everyone back on their heels, whispering and wondering, “What’s going on here? Someone whose words make things happen? Someone who orders demonic spirits to get out and they go?” Jesus was the talk of the town.
He Healed Them All
38-39 He left the meeting place and went to Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was running a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. He stood over her, told the fever to leave—and it left. Before they knew it, she was up getting dinner for them.
40-41 When the sun went down, everyone who had anyone sick with some ailment or other brought them to him. One by one he placed his hands on them and healed them. Demons left in droves, screaming, “Son of God! You’re the Son of God!” But he shut them up, refusing to let them speak because they knew too much, knew him to be the Messiah.
42-44 He left the next day for open country. But the crowds went looking and, when they found him, clung to him so he couldn’t go on. He told them, “Don’t you realize that there are yet other villages where I have to tell the Message of God’s kingdom, that this is the work God sent me to do?” Meanwhile he continued preaching in the meeting places of Galilee.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, August 02, 2018
Read: Psalm 107:1–16, 35–36
Book Five
Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble[a]
3 and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
4 Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to a city to dwell in;
5 hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He led them by a straight way
till they reached a city to dwell in.
8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
9 For he satisfies the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
prisoners in affliction and in irons,
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
they fell down, with none to help.
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and burst their bonds apart.
15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
16 For he shatters the doors of bronze
and cuts in two the bars of iron.
Footnotes:
Psalm 107:2 Or from the hand of the foe
Psalm 107:35-36 English Standard Version (ESV)
35 He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
36 And there he lets the hungry dwell,
and they establish a city to live in;
INSIGHT
Following Christ gives us a hope that is both present and future. Paul said, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19). This present/future hope—rooted in Jesus’s resurrection—reminds us that whether today is good or bad, we have confidence in Him for a better day to come. - Bill Crowder
Healing Flood
By Monica Brands
He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs. Psalm 107:35
I’ve always loved a good thunderstorm. As kids, whenever a storm was truly incredible—with booming thunder and buckets of heavy rain pounding down—my siblings and I would make a mad dash around the outside of our house, slipping and sliding along the way. When it was time to go back inside, we were soaked to the bone.
It was an exhilarating taste—for just a few minutes—of being immersed in something so powerful we couldn’t quite tell whether we were having fun or terrified.
This picture comes to mind when, as in Psalm 107, Scripture compares God’s restoration to a barren wilderness transformed into “pools of water” (v. 35). Because the kind of storm that transforms a desert into an oasis isn’t a gentle shower—it’s a downpour, flooding every crack of parched ground with new life.
And isn’t that the kind of restoration we long for? When our stories feel like tales of aimless wandering because we are “hungry and thirsty”—starving—for healing that never seems to arrive (vv. 4–5), we need more than a bit of hope. And when deep-rooted patterns of sin leave us trapped “in utter darkness” (vv. 10–11), our hearts need more than a little change.
That’s exactly the kind of transformation our God can bring (v. 20). It’s never too late to bring our fears and shame to the One who’s more than able to break our chains and flood our darkness with His light (vv. 13–14).
Father, help us turn to You with our burdens, trusting Your love and power to write a new story of healing and transformation.
God’s power transforms.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, August 02, 2018
The Teaching of Adversity
In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. —John 16:33
The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling…” (Psalm 91:1,10)— the place where you are at one with God.
If you are a child of God, you will certainly encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He is saying, “There is nothing for you to fear.” The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of what it means to live the life of a saint.
God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength. Are you asking God to give you life, liberty, and joy? He cannot, unless you are willing to accept the strain. And once you face the strain, you will immediately get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the first step. Then God will give you nourishment— “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life…” (Revelation 2:7). If you completely give of yourself physically, you become exhausted. But when you give of yourself spiritually, you get more strength. God never gives us strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the moment. Our temptation is to face adversities from the standpoint of our own common sense. But a saint can “be of good cheer” even when seemingly defeated by adversities, because victory is absurdly impossible to everyone, except God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, August 02, 2018
No Way There's No Way - #8234
Driving is never more exciting than it is during a major snow storm. In fact it is so exciting, you ought to avoid it. Sometimes you just can't. I was scheduled to speak at this retreat in the Poconos Mountains one January weekend and a major snow storm moved in right on the Friday when everyone was supposed to be traveling to Pennsylvania from New Jersey. So I waited all day for the call, I was sure it was going to come. "Sorry, it's been cancelled." Oh, I got the call; yeah, they were still going. And by that time it was dark, it was snowing very impressively and I got on the Interstate. I traveled at a very reduced speed and it looked almost impossible to make it until I spotted my friend up ahead. Well, my friend the snow plow. He was clearing a lane as he went. So I just fell in right behind Mr. Snow plow and followed him through the storm all the way to the Pennsylvania line. Oh, that works!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Way There's No Way."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Isaiah 43, verse 16. Here's what God says, "This is what the Lord says--He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters" Verse 18, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Now God is described here as "He who made a way." That's an exciting view of our Heavenly Father. He is the Way Maker when there's no way. Like when the Jews were on the bank of the Red Sea, every sense said, "It's over, no way."
There's been in recent years kind of a popular phrase, you know, people go, "No way" and somebody will go "Way". In other words, that's short for, "You're wrong. There is a way." Well right now you might be facing a seemingly impossible situation and you're shaking your head like the Jews at the Red Sea and you're saying "No way". Then there's this unexpected whisper from God's heart to yours, "Way". He usually doesn't tell you what the way will be or when it will be. He's just trying to assure you that He will make a way through mighty waters that seem overwhelming, unmovable, and through the desert, a place where you're like, "I don't see any resources here."
Now, if you've committed yourself to Jesus as your Savior, you belong to a way-making God. What does that mean? Well, you can't judge the outcome by how bad the situation is. Your Father can overrule that. You can't judge by how impossible it seems to be. It's only impossible by earth's standards.
But your God doesn't have impossible in His vocabulary. You can't judge by how late it is. You say, "Man, listen, there's not enough time for an answer now." Really? Well, God could do in an hour what men couldn't pull off in 50 years. So stand with Job on this conviction. It's in Job 42:2, "I know that you can do all things, Lord, no plan of yours can be thwarted." It's time to say, "Amen" right there.
One treacherous snowy night I looked ahead at a road that seemed impossible until I saw someone going ahead of me who could clear that road. One fearful day God's ancient people stood on the banks of the Red Sea trapped before the attacking armies of Egypt until they saw someone who could part a sea and bury an army and that very same God, the way-making God, is out in front of you.
From the first chapter of Scripture, the Bible makes a case for the dependability of God. Without exception when God spoke, something wonderful happened. By divine fiat there was light, land, beaches, and creatures. God consulted no advisers. He needed no assistance. “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” (Psalm 33:9).
The same power is seen in Jesus. He is unchanging. He’s never caught off guard by the unexpected. “God never changes or casts a shifting shadow” (James 1:17).
God is strong. He does not overpromise and under deliver. “God is able to do whatever he promises” (Romans 4:21). “It is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). God will keep his promises. It must happen because of who God is! And because God’s promises are unbreakable, our hope is unshakable!
Read more Unshakable Hope
Luke 4:31-44
He went down to Capernaum, a village in Galilee. He was teaching the people on the Sabbath. They were surprised and impressed—his teaching was so forthright, so confident, so authoritative, not the quibbling and quoting they were used to.
33-34 In the meeting place that day there was a man demonically disturbed. He screamed, “Ho! What business do you have here with us, Jesus? Nazarene! I know what you’re up to. You’re the Holy One of God and you’ve come to destroy us!”
35 Jesus shut him up: “Quiet! Get out of him!” The demonic spirit threw the man down in front of them all and left. The demon didn’t hurt him.
36-37 That set everyone back on their heels, whispering and wondering, “What’s going on here? Someone whose words make things happen? Someone who orders demonic spirits to get out and they go?” Jesus was the talk of the town.
He Healed Them All
38-39 He left the meeting place and went to Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was running a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. He stood over her, told the fever to leave—and it left. Before they knew it, she was up getting dinner for them.
40-41 When the sun went down, everyone who had anyone sick with some ailment or other brought them to him. One by one he placed his hands on them and healed them. Demons left in droves, screaming, “Son of God! You’re the Son of God!” But he shut them up, refusing to let them speak because they knew too much, knew him to be the Messiah.
42-44 He left the next day for open country. But the crowds went looking and, when they found him, clung to him so he couldn’t go on. He told them, “Don’t you realize that there are yet other villages where I have to tell the Message of God’s kingdom, that this is the work God sent me to do?” Meanwhile he continued preaching in the meeting places of Galilee.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, August 02, 2018
Read: Psalm 107:1–16, 35–36
Book Five
Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble[a]
3 and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
4 Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to a city to dwell in;
5 hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He led them by a straight way
till they reached a city to dwell in.
8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
9 For he satisfies the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
prisoners in affliction and in irons,
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
they fell down, with none to help.
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and burst their bonds apart.
15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
16 For he shatters the doors of bronze
and cuts in two the bars of iron.
Footnotes:
Psalm 107:2 Or from the hand of the foe
Psalm 107:35-36 English Standard Version (ESV)
35 He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
36 And there he lets the hungry dwell,
and they establish a city to live in;
INSIGHT
Following Christ gives us a hope that is both present and future. Paul said, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19). This present/future hope—rooted in Jesus’s resurrection—reminds us that whether today is good or bad, we have confidence in Him for a better day to come. - Bill Crowder
Healing Flood
By Monica Brands
He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs. Psalm 107:35
I’ve always loved a good thunderstorm. As kids, whenever a storm was truly incredible—with booming thunder and buckets of heavy rain pounding down—my siblings and I would make a mad dash around the outside of our house, slipping and sliding along the way. When it was time to go back inside, we were soaked to the bone.
It was an exhilarating taste—for just a few minutes—of being immersed in something so powerful we couldn’t quite tell whether we were having fun or terrified.
This picture comes to mind when, as in Psalm 107, Scripture compares God’s restoration to a barren wilderness transformed into “pools of water” (v. 35). Because the kind of storm that transforms a desert into an oasis isn’t a gentle shower—it’s a downpour, flooding every crack of parched ground with new life.
And isn’t that the kind of restoration we long for? When our stories feel like tales of aimless wandering because we are “hungry and thirsty”—starving—for healing that never seems to arrive (vv. 4–5), we need more than a bit of hope. And when deep-rooted patterns of sin leave us trapped “in utter darkness” (vv. 10–11), our hearts need more than a little change.
That’s exactly the kind of transformation our God can bring (v. 20). It’s never too late to bring our fears and shame to the One who’s more than able to break our chains and flood our darkness with His light (vv. 13–14).
Father, help us turn to You with our burdens, trusting Your love and power to write a new story of healing and transformation.
God’s power transforms.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, August 02, 2018
The Teaching of Adversity
In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. —John 16:33
The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling…” (Psalm 91:1,10)— the place where you are at one with God.
If you are a child of God, you will certainly encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He is saying, “There is nothing for you to fear.” The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of what it means to live the life of a saint.
God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength. Are you asking God to give you life, liberty, and joy? He cannot, unless you are willing to accept the strain. And once you face the strain, you will immediately get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the first step. Then God will give you nourishment— “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life…” (Revelation 2:7). If you completely give of yourself physically, you become exhausted. But when you give of yourself spiritually, you get more strength. God never gives us strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the moment. Our temptation is to face adversities from the standpoint of our own common sense. But a saint can “be of good cheer” even when seemingly defeated by adversities, because victory is absurdly impossible to everyone, except God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, August 02, 2018
No Way There's No Way - #8234
Driving is never more exciting than it is during a major snow storm. In fact it is so exciting, you ought to avoid it. Sometimes you just can't. I was scheduled to speak at this retreat in the Poconos Mountains one January weekend and a major snow storm moved in right on the Friday when everyone was supposed to be traveling to Pennsylvania from New Jersey. So I waited all day for the call, I was sure it was going to come. "Sorry, it's been cancelled." Oh, I got the call; yeah, they were still going. And by that time it was dark, it was snowing very impressively and I got on the Interstate. I traveled at a very reduced speed and it looked almost impossible to make it until I spotted my friend up ahead. Well, my friend the snow plow. He was clearing a lane as he went. So I just fell in right behind Mr. Snow plow and followed him through the storm all the way to the Pennsylvania line. Oh, that works!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Way There's No Way."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Isaiah 43, verse 16. Here's what God says, "This is what the Lord says--He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters" Verse 18, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Now God is described here as "He who made a way." That's an exciting view of our Heavenly Father. He is the Way Maker when there's no way. Like when the Jews were on the bank of the Red Sea, every sense said, "It's over, no way."
There's been in recent years kind of a popular phrase, you know, people go, "No way" and somebody will go "Way". In other words, that's short for, "You're wrong. There is a way." Well right now you might be facing a seemingly impossible situation and you're shaking your head like the Jews at the Red Sea and you're saying "No way". Then there's this unexpected whisper from God's heart to yours, "Way". He usually doesn't tell you what the way will be or when it will be. He's just trying to assure you that He will make a way through mighty waters that seem overwhelming, unmovable, and through the desert, a place where you're like, "I don't see any resources here."
Now, if you've committed yourself to Jesus as your Savior, you belong to a way-making God. What does that mean? Well, you can't judge the outcome by how bad the situation is. Your Father can overrule that. You can't judge by how impossible it seems to be. It's only impossible by earth's standards.
But your God doesn't have impossible in His vocabulary. You can't judge by how late it is. You say, "Man, listen, there's not enough time for an answer now." Really? Well, God could do in an hour what men couldn't pull off in 50 years. So stand with Job on this conviction. It's in Job 42:2, "I know that you can do all things, Lord, no plan of yours can be thwarted." It's time to say, "Amen" right there.
One treacherous snowy night I looked ahead at a road that seemed impossible until I saw someone going ahead of me who could clear that road. One fearful day God's ancient people stood on the banks of the Red Sea trapped before the attacking armies of Egypt until they saw someone who could part a sea and bury an army and that very same God, the way-making God, is out in front of you.
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