Max Lucado Daily: THE HAPPINESS CHALLENGE
Desire a rain shower of joy? Then do this: serve someone, greet someone, give up your seat, listen to someone’s story, write a check, pen a letter, give your time, your counsel, and your heart. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
I’d like to challenge you to set out to alter the joy level of a hundred people over the next forty days. Pray for people, serve more, practice patience, and bring out the best in people. Keep a journal in which you describe the encounter and what you did.
I took the challenge. The experience was twice as difficult as I imagined but a hundred times more fulfilling than I ever thought it would be. So, take the happiness challenge, and see if you aren’t the one smiling the most. This is how happiness happens.
Psalm 118
Thank God because he’s good,
because his love never quits.
Tell the world, Israel,
“His love never quits.”
And you, clan of Aaron, tell the world,
“His love never quits.”
And you who fear God, join in,
“His love never quits.”
5-16 Pushed to the wall, I called to God;
from the wide open spaces, he answered.
God’s now at my side and I’m not afraid;
who would dare lay a hand on me?
God’s my strong champion;
I flick off my enemies like flies.
Far better to take refuge in God
than trust in people;
Far better to take refuge in God
than trust in celebrities.
Hemmed in by barbarians,
in God’s name I rubbed their faces in the dirt;
Hemmed in and with no way out,
in God’s name I rubbed their faces in the dirt;
Like swarming bees, like wild prairie fire, they hemmed me in;
in God’s name I rubbed their faces in the dirt.
I was right on the cliff-edge, ready to fall,
when God grabbed and held me.
God’s my strength, he’s also my song,
and now he’s my salvation.
Hear the shouts, hear the triumph songs
in the camp of the saved?
“The hand of God has turned the tide!
The hand of God is raised in victory!
The hand of God has turned the tide!”
17-20 I didn’t die. I lived!
And now I’m telling the world what God did.
God tested me, he pushed me hard,
but he didn’t hand me over to Death.
Swing wide the city gates—the righteous gates!
I’ll walk right through and thank God!
This Temple Gate belongs to God,
so the victors can enter and praise.
21-25 Thank you for responding to me;
you’ve truly become my salvation!
The stone the masons discarded as flawed
is now the capstone!
This is God’s work.
We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it!
This is the very day God acted—
let’s celebrate and be festive!
Salvation now, God. Salvation now!
Oh yes, God—a free and full life!
26-29 Blessed are you who enter in God’s name—
from God’s house we bless you!
God is God,
he has bathed us in light.
Festoon the shrine with garlands,
hang colored banners above the altar!
You’re my God, and I thank you.
O my God, I lift high your praise.
Thank God—he’s so good.
His love never quits!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 20:24–29
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Footnotes:
John 20:24 Thomas (Aramaic) and Didymus (Greek) both mean twin.
Insight
The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke)—so-named because they contain many of the same events in the same order—tell us nothing about Thomas except to list him as one of the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15). It’s only in John’s gospel where we learn more about his interactions with Jesus (John 11:14–16; 14:5–6; 20:24–29; 21:1–14). In John 11:16, he’s called “Thomas (also known as Didymus).” Thomas is his Hebrew name; Didymus is his Greek name, which means “Twin.” So some translations render his name as “Thomas, the Twin” (nlt, esv, nkjv). John presents him as a devout believer in Jesus. Because Lazarus had died, Jesus wanted to go back into Judea for his funeral (11:14). Earlier the Jews had tried to stone Jesus to death (10:31, 39), so it was dangerous for Him to go into Judea. Thomas showed raw devotion to Christ when he urged his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus” (11:16 nlt).
Scar Stories
See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. John 20:27
The butterfly flitted in and out of my mother’s panda-faced pansies. As a child, I longed to catch it. I raced from our backyard into our kitchen and grabbed a glass jar, but on my hasty return, I tripped and hit the concrete patio hard. The jar smashed under my wrist and left an ugly slash that would require eighteen stitches to close. Today the scar crawls like a caterpillar across my wrist, telling the story of both wounding and healing.
When Jesus appeared to the disciples after His death, He brought His scars. John reports Thomas wanting to see “the nail marks in his hands” and Jesus inviting Thomas to “put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side” (John 20:25, 27). In order to demonstrate He was the same Jesus, He rose from the dead with the scars of His suffering still visible.
The scars of Jesus prove Him to be the Savior and tell the story of our salvation. The pierced marks through His hands and feet and the hollow in His side reveal a story of pain inflicted, endured, and then healed—for us. He did it so that we might be restored to Him and made whole.
Have you ever considered the story told by Christ’s scars? By: Elisa Morgan
Reflect & Pray
How do the Savior’s scars promise healing for the wounds you’ve endured? What wounds will you bring to Him today?
Jesus, how I love the story Your scars tell to me—and to our world. May I learn to love You more and more through the story of Your scars.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 31, 2019
The Trial of Faith
If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you. —Matthew 17:20
We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.
Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, “I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.” The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ reveals, not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but One who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man. Disciples Indeed, 388 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Changing the Climate - #8559
Columnist Bob Greene told a story that touched my heart. It's about a newspaperman in a small Midwestern town and the call he got from a school teacher. She wanted to tell him about something that had happened to a child on the playground. He was braced for bad news. Well, it wasn't. During a lunch break, most of the 8th graders were gathered in groups, talking and playing. This one boy - a student who actually suffered from severe physical disabilities and was new to the school - was off by himself as usual. He was, like, painfully shy.
The teacher noticed another boy - one of the most popular kids in school, a great athlete - leave his group of the "in crowd" boys and walk over to this lone student. Well, eavesdropping, the teacher heard the athlete ask the other boy if he'd like to play catch. That disabled boy said no one liked to play with him and he was afraid he would mess up and the others would laugh at him. With his impaired vision and his thick glasses, he could barely see the ball.
The athlete assured him, "Hey, it's OK to mess up, man. We all do." So they began to play catch. When some of the other students saw that Mr. Athlete had included the other boy, they came over to join and play. They made sure he could catch their passes; they made him part of the group all during the lunch break. The teacher said, "It was the kindest thing I've witnessed in 28 years as a school teacher." Then she told the reporter, "The athlete was your son." That reporter choked back tears at what had suddenly become the proudest moment of his life.
Because of what that popular student did that lunchtime, the school year became a little more bearable for a boy who had been treated as an outcast until then. Most of the time, he's been treated now with decency and friendship that he actually deserves.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Changing the Climate."
That's what one student did on that playground that day. He changed the climate by his example. It's what God's calling you to do where you are. In 1 Timothy 4:12, our word for today from the Word of God, Paul says, "Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." Like a thermostat in a building, you can literally help change the temperature where you are by setting the temperature where it should be.
That's what one school athlete did, and it changed the climate of how people treated each other. God's calling us to show folks how they should be talking, the kinds of life-choices they should be making, how they should be treating each other, how they should be trusting God for big things, how they should be living pure and uncompromised and with integrity. Not to preach to them about it. To demonstrate it so they know what it looks like!
It's easy to complain about how things are in your family, or how they are at work or how they are at church or at school. But complaining won't change a thing. Neither will condemning or criticizing or preaching. What is needed where you are is someone who will be what they wish others would be - to lead by contagious example. To step out from a climate that's negative or nasty or stressed, prideful, selfish, and to challenge it. Not so much by their words, but by their actions. Decide how you wish everyone would be in your situation, and be it yourself!
Over time, one person can have amazing power to change the atmosphere and to improve the climate. In the places where God has put you, why don't you be the one who quietly leads everyone else to something better? Don't wait for someone else to change. No, you have Jesus, and you have the power to start changing the climate in your personal world.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Psalm 117, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WORKS IN PROGRESS
Keep in mind that we are all works in progress. God isn’t finished, and some of his works—well, some of us—need extra attention.
Be the cheerleader who brings out the best, not the critic who points out the rest. You have a tool chest of encouraging words, a phrase of admonition, a warm greeting, genuine forgiveness, patience, kindness and unselfishness. Do whatever it takes to bring out the best in others.
Why? Because God is bringing out the best in you. Little by little, God is making a new you out of you.
Your Father is following you, my friend. And on this journey of life and love when you find it difficult to love the people who are hard to love, just pause and call out God’s name. He’s not about to let you walk this path without his help. And this is how happiness happens.
Psalm 117
Praise God, everybody!
Applaud God, all people!
His love has taken over our lives;
God’s faithful ways are eternal.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 1:5; 16:1–11, 33
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
John 16:1-11 New International Version (NIV)
16 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
John 16:33 New International Version (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Insight
Jesus promised that His departure would be a good thing for the disciples because His leaving would initiate the coming of the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Advocate (John 16:7). But after the Spirit came, persecution would follow. The religious leaders would kill believers in Jesus, thinking they were doing it as a service to God (v. 2). Jesus knew His disciples would need the comfort and help of the Spirit during those difficult days—things we need today as well.
A Light in the Darkness
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33
In These Are the Generations, Mr. Bae describes God’s faithfulness and the power of the gospel to penetrate the darkness. His grandfather, parents, and his own family were all persecuted for sharing their faith in Christ. But an interesting thing happened when Mr. Bae was imprisoned for telling a friend about God: his faith grew. The same was true for his parents when they were sentenced to a concentration camp—they continued to share Christ’s love even there. Mr. Bae found the promise of John 1:5 to be true: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus warned His disciples about the trouble they’d face. They would be rejected by people who “will do such things because they have not known the Father or me” (16:3). But Jesus offered words of comfort: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (v. 33).
While many believers in Jesus haven’t experienced persecution on the level of that endured by the family of Mr. Bae, we can expect to face trouble. But we don’t have to give in to discouragement or resentment. We have a Helper—the Holy Spirit Jesus promised to send. We can turn to Him for guidance and comfort (v. 7). The power of God’s presence can hold us steady in dark times. By: Linda Washington
Reflect & Pray
What trouble have you experienced as a believer in Christ or witnessed others experiencing? What is your first reaction during hard times?
Heavenly Father, please protect Your children who are experiencing persecution.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Faith
Without faith it is impossible to please Him… —Hebrews 11:6
Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. “We know that all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children.
For every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, “Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
The Amazing Reason Why You Are Where You Are - #8558
It's hard to find any "good news" in the bad news of being diagnosed with cancer. But Ellen did, and she told me about it after a recent seminar I had in her area. I'm really excited about how God uses the A Life That Matters book and training to help everyday believers help people they know be in heaven with them. Ellen told me she'd read the book about that when it came out, but she didn't really look for or see many opportunities to tell people the good news about Jesus...until she got cancer.
Suddenly she was in the middle of a lot of people, in her words were "facing their own mortality; people whose future was suddenly uncertain because of that chilling word - cancer. Now, because of what she was going through and what they were going through, her cancer strangely qualified her to share the Christ who died and rose again to get us ready for eternity. Ellen said, "I went back. I re-read your book so I'd know what to do." Well, God has used Ellen in a powerful way. She said, "Ron, I have led so many cancer patients to Jesus - people from many different religions and people with no faith at all!" Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Amazing Reason Why You Are Where You Are."
It turned out there was an eternal reason - a life-saving reason that Ellen had found for being a cancer patient. What she was going through uniquely qualified her to help some people around her be in heaven with her. That's the reason you are where you are. Jesus assigns us to places and to situations to be, as Paul said, "...ambassadors for Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:20). If you have eyes to see, your personal situation right now is loaded with opportunities to bring up the difference that a relationship with Jesus makes.
You may feel like surely there's someone who could do a better job of representing Jesus. You'd better take that up with Him. You're His chosen representative, because He planted you in the place you work, the place you live, the school you go to, the activity you're involved in. And people listen to people who are walking the same trail as they are, who are in the same tribe. Moms listen to moms, truckers listen to truckers, salesmen to salesmen, farmers listen to farmers, engineers to engineers, athletes to athletes, dads listen to dads, and students listen to students. You got it by now, right? You are uniquely qualified to reach people like you. And you may, in fact, be their best chance to find Jesus, or maybe even their only chance.
The prayer of Colossians 4:3-4, our word for today from the Word of God, becomes a very significant prayer for you. I call it The Three-Open Prayer. The verse that follows, Colossians 4:5, says: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders" (that's people who are outside of Jesus) "make the most of every opportunity." Don't miss chances to be their spiritual rescuer and to bring up Jesus. Now, here's the prayer that paves the way for the rescue: "Pray...that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should." Okay, The Three-Open Prayer, "Lord, open a door." A door is a natural opportunity to bring up your relationship with Christ. Then, "Lord, open their heart." Get them ready to hear about You, Lord. And then, "Lord, open my mouth." Give me the courage, the words and the approach to use to present You clearly. You got it? Open a door, open their heart and open my mouth.
See, there's an eternal reason why you are where you are occupationally, geographically, situationally, parentally, physically, emotionally, maybe even medically. You've been given a stretch of spiritual beach where Jesus has assigned you as His lifeguard, and you can be sure there are spiritually drowning people there within your reach.
There's meaning in the situation you're in...forever meaning, life-saving meaning. You're there to rescue. Don't let them down. Don't let Jesus down.
Keep in mind that we are all works in progress. God isn’t finished, and some of his works—well, some of us—need extra attention.
Be the cheerleader who brings out the best, not the critic who points out the rest. You have a tool chest of encouraging words, a phrase of admonition, a warm greeting, genuine forgiveness, patience, kindness and unselfishness. Do whatever it takes to bring out the best in others.
Why? Because God is bringing out the best in you. Little by little, God is making a new you out of you.
Your Father is following you, my friend. And on this journey of life and love when you find it difficult to love the people who are hard to love, just pause and call out God’s name. He’s not about to let you walk this path without his help. And this is how happiness happens.
Psalm 117
Praise God, everybody!
Applaud God, all people!
His love has taken over our lives;
God’s faithful ways are eternal.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 1:5; 16:1–11, 33
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
John 16:1-11 New International Version (NIV)
16 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
John 16:33 New International Version (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Insight
Jesus promised that His departure would be a good thing for the disciples because His leaving would initiate the coming of the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Advocate (John 16:7). But after the Spirit came, persecution would follow. The religious leaders would kill believers in Jesus, thinking they were doing it as a service to God (v. 2). Jesus knew His disciples would need the comfort and help of the Spirit during those difficult days—things we need today as well.
A Light in the Darkness
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33
In These Are the Generations, Mr. Bae describes God’s faithfulness and the power of the gospel to penetrate the darkness. His grandfather, parents, and his own family were all persecuted for sharing their faith in Christ. But an interesting thing happened when Mr. Bae was imprisoned for telling a friend about God: his faith grew. The same was true for his parents when they were sentenced to a concentration camp—they continued to share Christ’s love even there. Mr. Bae found the promise of John 1:5 to be true: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus warned His disciples about the trouble they’d face. They would be rejected by people who “will do such things because they have not known the Father or me” (16:3). But Jesus offered words of comfort: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (v. 33).
While many believers in Jesus haven’t experienced persecution on the level of that endured by the family of Mr. Bae, we can expect to face trouble. But we don’t have to give in to discouragement or resentment. We have a Helper—the Holy Spirit Jesus promised to send. We can turn to Him for guidance and comfort (v. 7). The power of God’s presence can hold us steady in dark times. By: Linda Washington
Reflect & Pray
What trouble have you experienced as a believer in Christ or witnessed others experiencing? What is your first reaction during hard times?
Heavenly Father, please protect Your children who are experiencing persecution.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Faith
Without faith it is impossible to please Him… —Hebrews 11:6
Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. “We know that all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children.
For every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, “Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
The Amazing Reason Why You Are Where You Are - #8558
It's hard to find any "good news" in the bad news of being diagnosed with cancer. But Ellen did, and she told me about it after a recent seminar I had in her area. I'm really excited about how God uses the A Life That Matters book and training to help everyday believers help people they know be in heaven with them. Ellen told me she'd read the book about that when it came out, but she didn't really look for or see many opportunities to tell people the good news about Jesus...until she got cancer.
Suddenly she was in the middle of a lot of people, in her words were "facing their own mortality; people whose future was suddenly uncertain because of that chilling word - cancer. Now, because of what she was going through and what they were going through, her cancer strangely qualified her to share the Christ who died and rose again to get us ready for eternity. Ellen said, "I went back. I re-read your book so I'd know what to do." Well, God has used Ellen in a powerful way. She said, "Ron, I have led so many cancer patients to Jesus - people from many different religions and people with no faith at all!" Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Amazing Reason Why You Are Where You Are."
It turned out there was an eternal reason - a life-saving reason that Ellen had found for being a cancer patient. What she was going through uniquely qualified her to help some people around her be in heaven with her. That's the reason you are where you are. Jesus assigns us to places and to situations to be, as Paul said, "...ambassadors for Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:20). If you have eyes to see, your personal situation right now is loaded with opportunities to bring up the difference that a relationship with Jesus makes.
You may feel like surely there's someone who could do a better job of representing Jesus. You'd better take that up with Him. You're His chosen representative, because He planted you in the place you work, the place you live, the school you go to, the activity you're involved in. And people listen to people who are walking the same trail as they are, who are in the same tribe. Moms listen to moms, truckers listen to truckers, salesmen to salesmen, farmers listen to farmers, engineers to engineers, athletes to athletes, dads listen to dads, and students listen to students. You got it by now, right? You are uniquely qualified to reach people like you. And you may, in fact, be their best chance to find Jesus, or maybe even their only chance.
The prayer of Colossians 4:3-4, our word for today from the Word of God, becomes a very significant prayer for you. I call it The Three-Open Prayer. The verse that follows, Colossians 4:5, says: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders" (that's people who are outside of Jesus) "make the most of every opportunity." Don't miss chances to be their spiritual rescuer and to bring up Jesus. Now, here's the prayer that paves the way for the rescue: "Pray...that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should." Okay, The Three-Open Prayer, "Lord, open a door." A door is a natural opportunity to bring up your relationship with Christ. Then, "Lord, open their heart." Get them ready to hear about You, Lord. And then, "Lord, open my mouth." Give me the courage, the words and the approach to use to present You clearly. You got it? Open a door, open their heart and open my mouth.
See, there's an eternal reason why you are where you are occupationally, geographically, situationally, parentally, physically, emotionally, maybe even medically. You've been given a stretch of spiritual beach where Jesus has assigned you as His lifeguard, and you can be sure there are spiritually drowning people there within your reach.
There's meaning in the situation you're in...forever meaning, life-saving meaning. You're there to rescue. Don't let them down. Don't let Jesus down.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Psalm 116, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S ART GALLERY
The reason God loves you is that he has chosen to love you.
Others may abandon you, divorce you, and ignore you. God will love you. These are his words: “I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved” (Romans 9:25 THE MSG).
Let this love happen in your life, and prepare yourself for a new day. As God has his way with you, he will not let you live with your old hatred and prejudices. You will see people in a different way. The neighbor down the street? He’s not a person who forgets to mow his lawn. He is made in the image of God.
God loves a diverse creation. And God’s love finds beauty in the collage of humanity. Life will become less a chore and more a stroll through God’s art gallery. And this is how happiness happens.
Psalm 116
I love God because he listened to me,
listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn;
then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
“Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
7-8 I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
9-11 I’m striding in the presence of God,
alive in the land of the living!
I stayed faithful, though bedeviled,
and despite a ton of bad luck,
Despite giving up on the human race,
saying, “They’re all liars and cheats.”
12-19 What can I give back to God
for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it together with his people.
When they arrive at the gates of death,
God welcomes those who love him.
Oh, God, here I am, your servant,
your faithful servant: set me free for your service!
I’m ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice
and pray in the name of God.
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it in company with his people,
In the place of worship, in God’s house,
in Jerusalem, God’s city.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Isaiah 42:10–17
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
you islands, and all who live in them.
11 Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices;
let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
let them shout from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord
and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13 The Lord will march out like a champion,
like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
and will triumph over his enemies.
14 “For a long time I have kept silent,
I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
I cry out, I gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up the pools.
16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them.
17 But those who trust in idols,
who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’
will be turned back in utter shame.
Insight
In Isaiah 42:1–9, God speaks of “my servant,” the first of four prophecies in Isaiah (42:1–9; 49:1–13; 50:4–11; 52:13–53:12) known as the “Servant Songs.” The servant first refers to the nation Israel (Isaiah 41:8; 49:3) and also prophetically to Jesus (Matthew 12:17–20). After telling us of the servant’s mission and compassion (Isaiah 42:1–9), the prophet gives us “a new song” (v. 10), inviting us to “rejoice . . . [and] give glory to the Lord” (vv. 11–12) for His salvation.
A Road Not Traveled
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them. Isaiah 42:16
People ask me if I have a five-year plan. How can I plan five years “down the road” on a road I’ve never traveled?
I think back to the 1960s when I was a minister to students at Stanford University. I’d been a physical education major in college and had a lot of fun, but I left no record of being a scholar. I felt wholly inadequate in my new position. Most days I wandered around the campus, a blind man groping in the darkness, asking God to show me what to do. One day a student “out of the blue” asked me to lead a Bible study in his fraternity. It was a beginning.
God doesn’t stand at a juncture and point the way: He’s a guide, not a signpost. He walks with us, leading us down paths we never envisioned. All we have to do is walk alongside Him.
The path won’t be easy; there’ll be “rough places” along the way. But God has promised that He will “turn the darkness into light” and “will not forsake” us (Isaiah 42:16). He’ll be with us all the way.
Paul said that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). We can scheme and envision, but our Lord’s imagination far transcends our plans. We must hold them loosely and see what God has in mind. By: David H. Roper
Reflect & Pray
In what ways has God turned your darkness into light? What have you found to be your greatest joy as you walk with Him?
Jesus, I thank You that You have plans for me far beyond my imagination. Help me follow Your lead.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Substitution
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2 Corinthians 5:21
The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made…to be sin….” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9, where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples.
That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (see Galatians 4:19).
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
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Beyond Yesterday - #8557
The plane bound for Newark Airport was full. All those passengers are waiting for their suitcase now to arrive on the baggage carousel along with passengers from a couple of other flights. And to think people pay to go to the zoo! Man, there are times when that crowd of people gets pretty big and we're all crammed together in an area that can get pretty wall-to-wall. I remember when the claustrophobia got worse than ever. See, they had put up a wall that reduced the already limited space. You could get pretty steamed about it if you didn't realize the wall was there to cover up some construction that was in progress. See, they were improving and enlarging that whole area! Now how do they make us feel good about this crunch in the meantime? They put up a sign on that construction wall and it seemed to do the job. Look, I didn't forget it did I? It said this, "Thanks for your patience. We are getting rid of yesterday so we can get ready for tomorrow."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beyond Yesterday."
By the way, that's God's construction strategy, too, for improving and enlarging your life. Our word for today from the Word of God, Philippians 3:13-14. Paul says, "One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Or, you might say, I'm getting rid of yesterday so I can get ready for tomorrow.
Well, are you hanging on to yesterday. Those construction people at the airport had to make a choice. Should we hang on to what's been in the past or leave that behind and build something better for the future? You can't have both. They couldn't have the future if they kept hanging onto the past, and neither can you.
It may be that you are writing the verse this way, "Dwelling on what is behind," "remembering what is behind." Because you won't let go of the past: the hurts, the slights, the pain, the problems, the misunderstandings, the grudge, the resentments. You keep reliving them and replaying them and consequently you have pretty much identified your place in life, "I'm a victim." And you may very well have been a victim. But you will be tomorrow a victim, only if you insist on carrying your yesterday into your tomorrow.
You've got Jesus now. Your identity is "child of God," not "victim." Your tomorrows need to be focused on pursuing what Jesus can make you, not what your past has made you. Maybe the yesterdays you won't forget are your own failures. You've got to leave them behind, too.
You can't change the past, and the Devil would love to have you focused on what can't be changed. Then you're a slave for life. Jesus wants you to focus on what can be changed, and that's in the future. That has yet to be written. You can determine right now, no matter what the past has been that the rest of your days will be the best of your days and that your past will not infect or determine your future. You draw a line today.
The choice is clear, just like that construction company, you have to choose between yesterday or tomorrow. Dwelling on your yesterdays will cost you what your tomorrows could have been. Releasing your yesterdays, deliberately moving past them, makes room for what God wants to build in your future. Jesus is in the construction business with you, getting rid of yesterday so He can get you ready for tomorrow.
The reason God loves you is that he has chosen to love you.
Others may abandon you, divorce you, and ignore you. God will love you. These are his words: “I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved” (Romans 9:25 THE MSG).
Let this love happen in your life, and prepare yourself for a new day. As God has his way with you, he will not let you live with your old hatred and prejudices. You will see people in a different way. The neighbor down the street? He’s not a person who forgets to mow his lawn. He is made in the image of God.
God loves a diverse creation. And God’s love finds beauty in the collage of humanity. Life will become less a chore and more a stroll through God’s art gallery. And this is how happiness happens.
Psalm 116
I love God because he listened to me,
listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn;
then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
“Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
7-8 I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
9-11 I’m striding in the presence of God,
alive in the land of the living!
I stayed faithful, though bedeviled,
and despite a ton of bad luck,
Despite giving up on the human race,
saying, “They’re all liars and cheats.”
12-19 What can I give back to God
for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it together with his people.
When they arrive at the gates of death,
God welcomes those who love him.
Oh, God, here I am, your servant,
your faithful servant: set me free for your service!
I’m ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice
and pray in the name of God.
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it in company with his people,
In the place of worship, in God’s house,
in Jerusalem, God’s city.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Isaiah 42:10–17
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
you islands, and all who live in them.
11 Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices;
let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
let them shout from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord
and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13 The Lord will march out like a champion,
like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
and will triumph over his enemies.
14 “For a long time I have kept silent,
I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
I cry out, I gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up the pools.
16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them.
17 But those who trust in idols,
who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’
will be turned back in utter shame.
Insight
In Isaiah 42:1–9, God speaks of “my servant,” the first of four prophecies in Isaiah (42:1–9; 49:1–13; 50:4–11; 52:13–53:12) known as the “Servant Songs.” The servant first refers to the nation Israel (Isaiah 41:8; 49:3) and also prophetically to Jesus (Matthew 12:17–20). After telling us of the servant’s mission and compassion (Isaiah 42:1–9), the prophet gives us “a new song” (v. 10), inviting us to “rejoice . . . [and] give glory to the Lord” (vv. 11–12) for His salvation.
A Road Not Traveled
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them. Isaiah 42:16
People ask me if I have a five-year plan. How can I plan five years “down the road” on a road I’ve never traveled?
I think back to the 1960s when I was a minister to students at Stanford University. I’d been a physical education major in college and had a lot of fun, but I left no record of being a scholar. I felt wholly inadequate in my new position. Most days I wandered around the campus, a blind man groping in the darkness, asking God to show me what to do. One day a student “out of the blue” asked me to lead a Bible study in his fraternity. It was a beginning.
God doesn’t stand at a juncture and point the way: He’s a guide, not a signpost. He walks with us, leading us down paths we never envisioned. All we have to do is walk alongside Him.
The path won’t be easy; there’ll be “rough places” along the way. But God has promised that He will “turn the darkness into light” and “will not forsake” us (Isaiah 42:16). He’ll be with us all the way.
Paul said that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). We can scheme and envision, but our Lord’s imagination far transcends our plans. We must hold them loosely and see what God has in mind. By: David H. Roper
Reflect & Pray
In what ways has God turned your darkness into light? What have you found to be your greatest joy as you walk with Him?
Jesus, I thank You that You have plans for me far beyond my imagination. Help me follow Your lead.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Substitution
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2 Corinthians 5:21
The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made…to be sin….” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9, where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples.
That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (see Galatians 4:19).
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
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Beyond Yesterday - #8557
The plane bound for Newark Airport was full. All those passengers are waiting for their suitcase now to arrive on the baggage carousel along with passengers from a couple of other flights. And to think people pay to go to the zoo! Man, there are times when that crowd of people gets pretty big and we're all crammed together in an area that can get pretty wall-to-wall. I remember when the claustrophobia got worse than ever. See, they had put up a wall that reduced the already limited space. You could get pretty steamed about it if you didn't realize the wall was there to cover up some construction that was in progress. See, they were improving and enlarging that whole area! Now how do they make us feel good about this crunch in the meantime? They put up a sign on that construction wall and it seemed to do the job. Look, I didn't forget it did I? It said this, "Thanks for your patience. We are getting rid of yesterday so we can get ready for tomorrow."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beyond Yesterday."
By the way, that's God's construction strategy, too, for improving and enlarging your life. Our word for today from the Word of God, Philippians 3:13-14. Paul says, "One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Or, you might say, I'm getting rid of yesterday so I can get ready for tomorrow.
Well, are you hanging on to yesterday. Those construction people at the airport had to make a choice. Should we hang on to what's been in the past or leave that behind and build something better for the future? You can't have both. They couldn't have the future if they kept hanging onto the past, and neither can you.
It may be that you are writing the verse this way, "Dwelling on what is behind," "remembering what is behind." Because you won't let go of the past: the hurts, the slights, the pain, the problems, the misunderstandings, the grudge, the resentments. You keep reliving them and replaying them and consequently you have pretty much identified your place in life, "I'm a victim." And you may very well have been a victim. But you will be tomorrow a victim, only if you insist on carrying your yesterday into your tomorrow.
You've got Jesus now. Your identity is "child of God," not "victim." Your tomorrows need to be focused on pursuing what Jesus can make you, not what your past has made you. Maybe the yesterdays you won't forget are your own failures. You've got to leave them behind, too.
You can't change the past, and the Devil would love to have you focused on what can't be changed. Then you're a slave for life. Jesus wants you to focus on what can be changed, and that's in the future. That has yet to be written. You can determine right now, no matter what the past has been that the rest of your days will be the best of your days and that your past will not infect or determine your future. You draw a line today.
The choice is clear, just like that construction company, you have to choose between yesterday or tomorrow. Dwelling on your yesterdays will cost you what your tomorrows could have been. Releasing your yesterdays, deliberately moving past them, makes room for what God wants to build in your future. Jesus is in the construction business with you, getting rid of yesterday so He can get you ready for tomorrow.
Monday, October 28, 2019
1 Thessalonians 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: HAVE YOU LET GOD LOVE YOU?
“Love one another as I have loved you” James 13:34. The Greek word used for love (agape) denotes an unselfish affection. The final phrase is the essential one: “as I have loved you.” Have you let God love you? Please don’t hurry past the question.
We don’t love people because people are lovable. People can be cranky, stubborn, selfish, and cruel. We love people for this reason: we have come to experience and believe the love that God has for us. We are beneficiaries of an unexpected, undeserved, yet undeniable gift— the love of God.
It is only by receiving our Father’s agape love that we can discover an agape love for others. Be loved, and then love. Just as hurt people hurt people, loved people love people. So let God love you!
This is how happiness happens.
1 Thessalonians 3
So when we couldn’t stand being separated from you any longer and could find no way to visit you ourselves, we stayed in Athens and sent Timothy to get you up and about, cheering you on so you wouldn’t be discouraged by these hard times. He’s a brother and companion in the faith, God’s man in spreading the Message, preaching Christ.
3-5 Not that the troubles should come as any surprise to you. You’ve always known that we’re in for this kind of thing. It’s part of our calling. When we were with you, we made it quite clear that there was trouble ahead. And now that it’s happened, you know what it’s like. That’s why I couldn’t quit worrying; I had to know for myself how you were doing in the faith. I didn’t want the Tempter getting to you and tearing down everything we had built up together.
6-8 But now that Timothy is back, bringing this terrific report on your faith and love, we feel a lot better. It’s especially gratifying to know that you continue to think well of us, and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you! In the middle of our trouble and hard times here, just knowing how you’re doing keeps us going. Knowing that your faith is alive keeps us alive.
9-10 What would be an adequate thanksgiving to offer God for all the joy we experience before him because of you? We do what we can, praying away, night and day, asking for the bonus of seeing your faces again and doing what we can to help when your faith falters.
11-13 May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 28, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Judges 6:1, 11–16
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.
Judges 6:11-16 New International Version (NIV)
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
Insight
When the Israelites cried out to God for help after years of ignoring Him (Judges 6:6), He sent a prophet who told them exactly what was wrong (vv. 7–10). Then God began to work, but Gideon had no idea what was happening. The story simply says, “The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah” (v. 11). Gideon asked the angel, “Where are all [God’s] wonders that our ancestors told us about?” (v. 13). Only when fire consumed Gideon’s offering (v. 21) did he sense God’s presence (v. 22). Despite this miraculous display, Gideon needed even more assurance from Him (vv. 36–40) before leading his tiny band against the enemy (ch. 7). By: Tim Gustafson
Walk Like a Warrior
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Judges 6:12
Eighteen-year-old Emma faithfully talks about Jesus on social media, even though bullies have criticized her joy and enthusiastic love for Christ. Some have attacked her with remarks about her physical appearance. Others have suggested a lack of intelligence because of her devotion to God. Though the unkind words cut deep into Emma’s heart, she continues to spread the gospel with bold faith and love for Jesus and others. Sometimes, though, she’s tempted to believe her identity and worth are determined by the criticism of others. When that happens, she asks God for help, prays for her persecutors, meditates on the words of Scripture, and perseveres with Spirit-empowered courage and confidence.
Gideon faced fierce tormentors—the Midianites (Judges 6:1–10). Though God called him a “mighty warrior,” Gideon struggled to let go of his doubt, self-imposed limitations, and insecurities (vv. 11–15). On more than one occasion, he questioned the Lord’s presence and his own qualifications, but eventually surrendered in faith.
When we trust God, we can live like we believe what He says about us is true. Even when persecution tempts us to doubt our identity, our loving Father confirms His presence and fights on our behalf. He affirms we can walk like mighty warriors armed with His absolute love, guarded by His endless grace, and secured in His reliable truth. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
Which verses help you remain steadfast when you’re tempted to doubt your identity and worth? What can you do to combat verbal attacks?
God, please help us recall Your love and respond in grace every time someone tempts us to doubt our value or question our unique roles.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 28, 2019
Justification by Faith
If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. —Romans 5:10
I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished.
The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is impossible to read too much, but always keep before you why you read. Remember that “the need to receive, recognize, and rely on the Holy Spirit” is before all else. Approved Unto God, 11 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 28, 2019
The Light That Weathers All Your Storms - #8556
Some of our most memorable vacation moments as a family have been spent on the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina. It hasn't always been beautiful for ships that were navigating those treacherous shoals that are off the shores of the Outer Banks. In fact, it's estimated that over 2,000 ships have gone down there over those centuries. But a lot more lives could have been lost there if it hadn't been for the Cape Hatteras Light, one of the most famous lighthouses in America. Its octagonal tower rises massively above the beach and the sand hills, and it's been the guiding light that kept many ships from going aground. It's stood there for nearly two centuries. Imagine the storms that she's weathered, including more than a hundred hurricanes! Storms that blew away so many other structures, but the lighthouse still stands.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Light That Weathers All Your Storms."
So many lights that people have depended on just couldn't survive the storms. The marriage that was supposed to give love for a lifetime, the job we thought would always be there, the person that was supposed to be an anchor, the retirement plans that you thought was so secure. But they're gone. Our health that we always just took for granted, even our religion that just wasn't enough to sustain us through the storm.
But there's something in us that yearns for - that really needs - one certain light that will always be there, no matter how stormy it gets, no matter how dark it gets. We need something that's unshakably secure that helps guide us through the toughest times. In fact, we're created with a need for that - a need that was actually designed to be met by the One who put us here in the first place. Actually, we are made for Him, and our Creator is the only light that never goes out and never goes away.
John 8:12 - it's our word for today from the Word of God. Here's what it says. We've got Jesus taking us straight to the light that weathers every storm. "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
For 2,000 years, through every changing culture and circumstance, Jesus has been the light that has dispelled the darkness for millions of lives, the one love that no storm has ever touched, the one security that lasts a lifetime, actually lasts for eternity. In fact, Jesus is the light for the darkest journey you will ever take - the last one. He's the light that will guide you all the way to heaven.
But for Jesus to be our light, He had to go through the darkest darkness any human being has ever endured - that cross. That awful death on a cross where Jesus took on Himself every wrong thing every one of us has ever done, including every sin of your life and mine. It was literally our hell that Jesus was taking there so we could go to heaven. Because the deepest darkness of all is the darkness inside us, the sin that only the Man who died for you can forgive. That only the man who conquered death with His resurrection can overcome.
I know a relationship with Jesus can weather every storm. He's loved and sustained us through losing a baby, financial crises, through all the struggles of parenting, through major medical battles, and even at the casket of a woman I have loved for a lifetime.
Jesus has never abandoned, never let down anyone who's put their life in His hands. He's the one certain light that your heart needs. He died so you could have a relationship with Him. But you have to choose Him for yourself by telling Him, "Jesus, I don't belong at the steering wheel of my life any more. You do, and I'm putting all my trust in You to remove the wall between me and God. I want to belong to you from this day on."
That's exactly, by the way, why our website ANewStory.com is there, to help you get this done. That website is ANewStory.com.
For all your storms, for all your dark times, even for your final journey, there's a light that will always be there, and His name is Jesus.
“Love one another as I have loved you” James 13:34. The Greek word used for love (agape) denotes an unselfish affection. The final phrase is the essential one: “as I have loved you.” Have you let God love you? Please don’t hurry past the question.
We don’t love people because people are lovable. People can be cranky, stubborn, selfish, and cruel. We love people for this reason: we have come to experience and believe the love that God has for us. We are beneficiaries of an unexpected, undeserved, yet undeniable gift— the love of God.
It is only by receiving our Father’s agape love that we can discover an agape love for others. Be loved, and then love. Just as hurt people hurt people, loved people love people. So let God love you!
This is how happiness happens.
1 Thessalonians 3
So when we couldn’t stand being separated from you any longer and could find no way to visit you ourselves, we stayed in Athens and sent Timothy to get you up and about, cheering you on so you wouldn’t be discouraged by these hard times. He’s a brother and companion in the faith, God’s man in spreading the Message, preaching Christ.
3-5 Not that the troubles should come as any surprise to you. You’ve always known that we’re in for this kind of thing. It’s part of our calling. When we were with you, we made it quite clear that there was trouble ahead. And now that it’s happened, you know what it’s like. That’s why I couldn’t quit worrying; I had to know for myself how you were doing in the faith. I didn’t want the Tempter getting to you and tearing down everything we had built up together.
6-8 But now that Timothy is back, bringing this terrific report on your faith and love, we feel a lot better. It’s especially gratifying to know that you continue to think well of us, and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you! In the middle of our trouble and hard times here, just knowing how you’re doing keeps us going. Knowing that your faith is alive keeps us alive.
9-10 What would be an adequate thanksgiving to offer God for all the joy we experience before him because of you? We do what we can, praying away, night and day, asking for the bonus of seeing your faces again and doing what we can to help when your faith falters.
11-13 May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 28, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Judges 6:1, 11–16
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.
Judges 6:11-16 New International Version (NIV)
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
Insight
When the Israelites cried out to God for help after years of ignoring Him (Judges 6:6), He sent a prophet who told them exactly what was wrong (vv. 7–10). Then God began to work, but Gideon had no idea what was happening. The story simply says, “The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah” (v. 11). Gideon asked the angel, “Where are all [God’s] wonders that our ancestors told us about?” (v. 13). Only when fire consumed Gideon’s offering (v. 21) did he sense God’s presence (v. 22). Despite this miraculous display, Gideon needed even more assurance from Him (vv. 36–40) before leading his tiny band against the enemy (ch. 7). By: Tim Gustafson
Walk Like a Warrior
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Judges 6:12
Eighteen-year-old Emma faithfully talks about Jesus on social media, even though bullies have criticized her joy and enthusiastic love for Christ. Some have attacked her with remarks about her physical appearance. Others have suggested a lack of intelligence because of her devotion to God. Though the unkind words cut deep into Emma’s heart, she continues to spread the gospel with bold faith and love for Jesus and others. Sometimes, though, she’s tempted to believe her identity and worth are determined by the criticism of others. When that happens, she asks God for help, prays for her persecutors, meditates on the words of Scripture, and perseveres with Spirit-empowered courage and confidence.
Gideon faced fierce tormentors—the Midianites (Judges 6:1–10). Though God called him a “mighty warrior,” Gideon struggled to let go of his doubt, self-imposed limitations, and insecurities (vv. 11–15). On more than one occasion, he questioned the Lord’s presence and his own qualifications, but eventually surrendered in faith.
When we trust God, we can live like we believe what He says about us is true. Even when persecution tempts us to doubt our identity, our loving Father confirms His presence and fights on our behalf. He affirms we can walk like mighty warriors armed with His absolute love, guarded by His endless grace, and secured in His reliable truth. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
Which verses help you remain steadfast when you’re tempted to doubt your identity and worth? What can you do to combat verbal attacks?
God, please help us recall Your love and respond in grace every time someone tempts us to doubt our value or question our unique roles.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 28, 2019
Justification by Faith
If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. —Romans 5:10
I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished.
The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is impossible to read too much, but always keep before you why you read. Remember that “the need to receive, recognize, and rely on the Holy Spirit” is before all else. Approved Unto God, 11 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 28, 2019
The Light That Weathers All Your Storms - #8556
Some of our most memorable vacation moments as a family have been spent on the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina. It hasn't always been beautiful for ships that were navigating those treacherous shoals that are off the shores of the Outer Banks. In fact, it's estimated that over 2,000 ships have gone down there over those centuries. But a lot more lives could have been lost there if it hadn't been for the Cape Hatteras Light, one of the most famous lighthouses in America. Its octagonal tower rises massively above the beach and the sand hills, and it's been the guiding light that kept many ships from going aground. It's stood there for nearly two centuries. Imagine the storms that she's weathered, including more than a hundred hurricanes! Storms that blew away so many other structures, but the lighthouse still stands.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Light That Weathers All Your Storms."
So many lights that people have depended on just couldn't survive the storms. The marriage that was supposed to give love for a lifetime, the job we thought would always be there, the person that was supposed to be an anchor, the retirement plans that you thought was so secure. But they're gone. Our health that we always just took for granted, even our religion that just wasn't enough to sustain us through the storm.
But there's something in us that yearns for - that really needs - one certain light that will always be there, no matter how stormy it gets, no matter how dark it gets. We need something that's unshakably secure that helps guide us through the toughest times. In fact, we're created with a need for that - a need that was actually designed to be met by the One who put us here in the first place. Actually, we are made for Him, and our Creator is the only light that never goes out and never goes away.
John 8:12 - it's our word for today from the Word of God. Here's what it says. We've got Jesus taking us straight to the light that weathers every storm. "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
For 2,000 years, through every changing culture and circumstance, Jesus has been the light that has dispelled the darkness for millions of lives, the one love that no storm has ever touched, the one security that lasts a lifetime, actually lasts for eternity. In fact, Jesus is the light for the darkest journey you will ever take - the last one. He's the light that will guide you all the way to heaven.
But for Jesus to be our light, He had to go through the darkest darkness any human being has ever endured - that cross. That awful death on a cross where Jesus took on Himself every wrong thing every one of us has ever done, including every sin of your life and mine. It was literally our hell that Jesus was taking there so we could go to heaven. Because the deepest darkness of all is the darkness inside us, the sin that only the Man who died for you can forgive. That only the man who conquered death with His resurrection can overcome.
I know a relationship with Jesus can weather every storm. He's loved and sustained us through losing a baby, financial crises, through all the struggles of parenting, through major medical battles, and even at the casket of a woman I have loved for a lifetime.
Jesus has never abandoned, never let down anyone who's put their life in His hands. He's the one certain light that your heart needs. He died so you could have a relationship with Him. But you have to choose Him for yourself by telling Him, "Jesus, I don't belong at the steering wheel of my life any more. You do, and I'm putting all my trust in You to remove the wall between me and God. I want to belong to you from this day on."
That's exactly, by the way, why our website ANewStory.com is there, to help you get this done. That website is ANewStory.com.
For all your storms, for all your dark times, even for your final journey, there's a light that will always be there, and His name is Jesus.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Psalm 115 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God Uses Failures
What was I thinking taking this job? I should have done better. It’s all my fault. The voices—you’ve heard them all. When you lost your job, flunked the exam, or when your marriage went south…when you failed. The voices began to howl, laughing at you. You heard them and you joined them. You disqualified yourself and berated yourself. You sentenced yourself to hard labor in the Leavenworth of poor self-worth. Oh, the voices of failure. Failure finds us all.
But God’s Word is written for failures. It’s full of folks who were foul-ups. David was a failure, yet God used him. Jonah was in the belly of a fish and God heard his prayer. Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet! A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures! Miss this truth and you miss your Glory Days. God’s grace is greater than your failures.
From Glory Days
Psalm 115
Not for our sake, God, no, not for our sake,
but for your name’s sake, show your glory.
Do it on account of your merciful love,
do it on account of your faithful ways.
Do it so none of the nations can say,
“Where now, oh where is their God?”
3-8 Our God is in heaven
doing whatever he wants to do.
Their gods are metal and wood,
handmade in a basement shop:
Carved mouths that can’t talk,
painted eyes that can’t see,
Tin ears that can’t hear,
molded noses that can’t smell,
Hands that can’t grasp, feet that can’t walk or run,
throats that never utter a sound.
Those who make them have become just like them,
have become just like the gods they trust.
9-11 But you, Israel: put your trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
Clan of Aaron, trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
You who fear God, trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
12-16 O God, remember us and bless us,
bless the families of Israel and Aaron.
And let God bless all who fear God—
bless the small, bless the great.
Oh, let God enlarge your families—
giving growth to you, growth to your children.
May you be blessed by God,
by God, who made heaven and earth.
The heaven of heavens is for God,
but he put us in charge of the earth.
17-18 Dead people can’t praise God—
not a word to be heard from those buried in the ground.
But we bless God, oh yes—
we bless him now, we bless him always!
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Mark 2:13–17
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Insight
Tax collectors were despised and hated by the Jews because they were regarded as mercenaries and traitors who worked for the hated Roman conquerors who subjugated them. They also collected more than what was legally mandated, pocketing the excess and dishonestly enriching themselves at the expense of their own people (Luke 3:13–14). The term “sinners” was used to describe the notoriously wicked—reprobates who rejected God’s law. The Pharisees also used “sinners” to include anyone who didn’t meticulously maintain ceremonial purity or follow their rigid standards. Tax collectors were deliberately lumped together with sinners to show how degenerate and wicked the tax collectors were. Jesus was invited to dine with all sorts of people, even with the Pharisees (Luke 7:36; 11:37; 14:1). But He ate so often with social and religious outcasts—considered to be the scum of society—that He earned the reputation of being “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19).
Join the Street Team
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:17
City health workers in San Francisco are taking medical care to the streets to supply the homeless who are suffering from opioid addiction with medicine to treat their addiction. The program began in response to the rising number of homeless who are injecting. Customarily, doctors wait for patients to come to a clinic. By taking medical care to the afflicted instead, patients don’t have to overcome the challenges of transportation or needing to remember the appointment.
The health workers’ willingness to go to those in need of care reminds me of the way Jesus has come to us in our need. In His ministry, Jesus sought out those who the religious elite were quick to ignore: He ate with “sinners and tax collectors” (Mark 2:16). When asked why He would do that, Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (v. 17). He went on to say that His intention was to call sinners, not the righteous, into relationship with Him.
When we realize that we’re all “sick” and in need of a doctor (Romans 3:10), we can better appreciate Jesus’s willingness to eat with the “sinners and tax collectors”—us. In turn, like the health care workers in San Francisco, Jesus appointed us as His “street team” to take His saving message to others in need. By: Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
How did Jesus seek you out? To whom can you take the medicine of Jesus?
Thank You, Jesus, for meeting me in my condition.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 27, 2019
The Method of Missions
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… —Matthew 28:19
Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go…make disciples of all the nations….” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.
The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, but foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world, to trust in what Jesus Christ has said? Or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of limitless confidence in Christ Jesus, which is really God’s only call for a missionary? If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord— “All authority has been given to Me….Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18-19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage
What was I thinking taking this job? I should have done better. It’s all my fault. The voices—you’ve heard them all. When you lost your job, flunked the exam, or when your marriage went south…when you failed. The voices began to howl, laughing at you. You heard them and you joined them. You disqualified yourself and berated yourself. You sentenced yourself to hard labor in the Leavenworth of poor self-worth. Oh, the voices of failure. Failure finds us all.
But God’s Word is written for failures. It’s full of folks who were foul-ups. David was a failure, yet God used him. Jonah was in the belly of a fish and God heard his prayer. Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet! A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures! Miss this truth and you miss your Glory Days. God’s grace is greater than your failures.
From Glory Days
Psalm 115
Not for our sake, God, no, not for our sake,
but for your name’s sake, show your glory.
Do it on account of your merciful love,
do it on account of your faithful ways.
Do it so none of the nations can say,
“Where now, oh where is their God?”
3-8 Our God is in heaven
doing whatever he wants to do.
Their gods are metal and wood,
handmade in a basement shop:
Carved mouths that can’t talk,
painted eyes that can’t see,
Tin ears that can’t hear,
molded noses that can’t smell,
Hands that can’t grasp, feet that can’t walk or run,
throats that never utter a sound.
Those who make them have become just like them,
have become just like the gods they trust.
9-11 But you, Israel: put your trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
Clan of Aaron, trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
You who fear God, trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
12-16 O God, remember us and bless us,
bless the families of Israel and Aaron.
And let God bless all who fear God—
bless the small, bless the great.
Oh, let God enlarge your families—
giving growth to you, growth to your children.
May you be blessed by God,
by God, who made heaven and earth.
The heaven of heavens is for God,
but he put us in charge of the earth.
17-18 Dead people can’t praise God—
not a word to be heard from those buried in the ground.
But we bless God, oh yes—
we bless him now, we bless him always!
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Mark 2:13–17
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Insight
Tax collectors were despised and hated by the Jews because they were regarded as mercenaries and traitors who worked for the hated Roman conquerors who subjugated them. They also collected more than what was legally mandated, pocketing the excess and dishonestly enriching themselves at the expense of their own people (Luke 3:13–14). The term “sinners” was used to describe the notoriously wicked—reprobates who rejected God’s law. The Pharisees also used “sinners” to include anyone who didn’t meticulously maintain ceremonial purity or follow their rigid standards. Tax collectors were deliberately lumped together with sinners to show how degenerate and wicked the tax collectors were. Jesus was invited to dine with all sorts of people, even with the Pharisees (Luke 7:36; 11:37; 14:1). But He ate so often with social and religious outcasts—considered to be the scum of society—that He earned the reputation of being “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19).
Join the Street Team
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:17
City health workers in San Francisco are taking medical care to the streets to supply the homeless who are suffering from opioid addiction with medicine to treat their addiction. The program began in response to the rising number of homeless who are injecting. Customarily, doctors wait for patients to come to a clinic. By taking medical care to the afflicted instead, patients don’t have to overcome the challenges of transportation or needing to remember the appointment.
The health workers’ willingness to go to those in need of care reminds me of the way Jesus has come to us in our need. In His ministry, Jesus sought out those who the religious elite were quick to ignore: He ate with “sinners and tax collectors” (Mark 2:16). When asked why He would do that, Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (v. 17). He went on to say that His intention was to call sinners, not the righteous, into relationship with Him.
When we realize that we’re all “sick” and in need of a doctor (Romans 3:10), we can better appreciate Jesus’s willingness to eat with the “sinners and tax collectors”—us. In turn, like the health care workers in San Francisco, Jesus appointed us as His “street team” to take His saving message to others in need. By: Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
How did Jesus seek you out? To whom can you take the medicine of Jesus?
Thank You, Jesus, for meeting me in my condition.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 27, 2019
The Method of Missions
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… —Matthew 28:19
Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go…make disciples of all the nations….” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.
The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, but foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world, to trust in what Jesus Christ has said? Or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of limitless confidence in Christ Jesus, which is really God’s only call for a missionary? If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord— “All authority has been given to Me….Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18-19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Psalm 114, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Currency of Heaven
Imagine you were living in the South during the Civil War and had accumulated large amounts of Confederate currency. Through a series of events you became convinced that the South was going to lose and your money would soon be worthless. What would you do? If you had any common sense you would put every penny into the currency that is to come and prepare yourself for the end of the war.
Are you investing in the currency of heaven? The currency of this world will be worth nothing when you die or when Christ returns. Whom do you trust? God or King More? King More is a rotten ruler. He never satisfies. He rusts. He loses his value. For all the promises he makes, he cannot keep a single one. King More will break your heart. But the King of Kings? He will catch you every single time!
From Glory Days
Psalm 114
After Israel left Egypt,
the clan of Jacob left those barbarians behind;
Judah became holy land for him,
Israel the place of holy rule.
Sea took one look and ran the other way;
River Jordan turned around and ran off.
The mountains turned playful and skipped like rams,
the hills frolicked like spring lambs.
What’s wrong with you, Sea, that you ran away?
and you, River Jordan, that you turned and ran off?
And mountains, why did you skip like rams?
and you, hills, frolic like spring lambs?
Tremble, Earth! You’re in the Lord’s presence!
in the presence of Jacob’s God.
He turned the rock into a pool of cool water,
turned flint into fresh spring water.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Mark 4:26–29
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
Insight
In Mark 4 (see also Matthew 13:1–3; Luke 5:1–3), Mark tells us the crowd that gathered to hear Jesus speak was so large that He climbed into a boat to teach them. Why do that? Because sound travels farther on the water. And on the shores of the Sea of Galilee or Lake of Gennesaret (also called Sea of Tiberias) near Capernaum is a naturally formed amphitheater. It slopes downward to the sea on an inlet or bay—today called the Bay of Parables—where a crowd of thousands could have comfortably sat and where the acoustics would have made it easy for the people to hear Christ’s words.
To learn more about the geography of the biblical land visit christianuniversity.org/NT110. By: Alyson Kieda
Seeds of Grace
The seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. Mark 4:27
For nearly four decades, a man in India has worked to bring a scorched, sandy wasteland back to life. Seeing how erosion and changing ecosystems had destroyed the river island he loved, he began to plant one tree at a time, bamboo then cotton. Now, lush forests and abundant wildlife fill more than 1,300 acres. However, the man insists the rebirth was not something he made happen. Acknowledging the amazing way the natural world is designed, he marvels at how seeds are carried to fertile ground by the wind. Birds and animals participate in sowing them as well, and rivers also contribute in helping plants and trees flourish.
Creation works in ways we can’t comprehend or control. According to Jesus, this same principle applies to the kingdom of God. “This is what the kingdom of God is like,” Jesus said. “A man scatters seed on the ground . . . the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how” (Mark 4:26–27). God brings life and healing into the world as pure gifts, without our manipulation. We do whatever God asks us of us, and then we watch life emerge. We know that everything flows from His grace.
It’s tempting to believe we’re responsible to change someone’s heart or ensure results for our faithful efforts. However, we need not live under that exhausting pressure. God makes all our seeds grow. It’s all grace. By: Winn Collier
Reflect & Pray
When are you tempted to think it’s your job to make things happen or grow? Why is it vital for you to trust God’s grace rather than your own effort?
God continues to grow His kingdom by His grace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 26, 2019
What is a Missionary?
Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." —John 20:21
A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.
Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19).
When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
Imagine you were living in the South during the Civil War and had accumulated large amounts of Confederate currency. Through a series of events you became convinced that the South was going to lose and your money would soon be worthless. What would you do? If you had any common sense you would put every penny into the currency that is to come and prepare yourself for the end of the war.
Are you investing in the currency of heaven? The currency of this world will be worth nothing when you die or when Christ returns. Whom do you trust? God or King More? King More is a rotten ruler. He never satisfies. He rusts. He loses his value. For all the promises he makes, he cannot keep a single one. King More will break your heart. But the King of Kings? He will catch you every single time!
From Glory Days
Psalm 114
After Israel left Egypt,
the clan of Jacob left those barbarians behind;
Judah became holy land for him,
Israel the place of holy rule.
Sea took one look and ran the other way;
River Jordan turned around and ran off.
The mountains turned playful and skipped like rams,
the hills frolicked like spring lambs.
What’s wrong with you, Sea, that you ran away?
and you, River Jordan, that you turned and ran off?
And mountains, why did you skip like rams?
and you, hills, frolic like spring lambs?
Tremble, Earth! You’re in the Lord’s presence!
in the presence of Jacob’s God.
He turned the rock into a pool of cool water,
turned flint into fresh spring water.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Mark 4:26–29
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
Insight
In Mark 4 (see also Matthew 13:1–3; Luke 5:1–3), Mark tells us the crowd that gathered to hear Jesus speak was so large that He climbed into a boat to teach them. Why do that? Because sound travels farther on the water. And on the shores of the Sea of Galilee or Lake of Gennesaret (also called Sea of Tiberias) near Capernaum is a naturally formed amphitheater. It slopes downward to the sea on an inlet or bay—today called the Bay of Parables—where a crowd of thousands could have comfortably sat and where the acoustics would have made it easy for the people to hear Christ’s words.
To learn more about the geography of the biblical land visit christianuniversity.org/NT110. By: Alyson Kieda
Seeds of Grace
The seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. Mark 4:27
For nearly four decades, a man in India has worked to bring a scorched, sandy wasteland back to life. Seeing how erosion and changing ecosystems had destroyed the river island he loved, he began to plant one tree at a time, bamboo then cotton. Now, lush forests and abundant wildlife fill more than 1,300 acres. However, the man insists the rebirth was not something he made happen. Acknowledging the amazing way the natural world is designed, he marvels at how seeds are carried to fertile ground by the wind. Birds and animals participate in sowing them as well, and rivers also contribute in helping plants and trees flourish.
Creation works in ways we can’t comprehend or control. According to Jesus, this same principle applies to the kingdom of God. “This is what the kingdom of God is like,” Jesus said. “A man scatters seed on the ground . . . the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how” (Mark 4:26–27). God brings life and healing into the world as pure gifts, without our manipulation. We do whatever God asks us of us, and then we watch life emerge. We know that everything flows from His grace.
It’s tempting to believe we’re responsible to change someone’s heart or ensure results for our faithful efforts. However, we need not live under that exhausting pressure. God makes all our seeds grow. It’s all grace. By: Winn Collier
Reflect & Pray
When are you tempted to think it’s your job to make things happen or grow? Why is it vital for you to trust God’s grace rather than your own effort?
God continues to grow His kingdom by His grace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 26, 2019
What is a Missionary?
Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." —John 20:21
A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.
Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19).
When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
Friday, October 25, 2019
Psalm 113, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: OFFERING GRACE
Forgiveness is the act of applying your undeserved mercy to your undeserved hurts. You didn’t deserve to be hurt, but neither do you deserve to be forgiven. Does it not make sense to give grace to others? You’ve been immersed in forgiveness, submerged in grace. Can you, standing as you are, shoulder-high in God’s ocean of grace, not fill a cup and offer the happiness of forgiveness to others?
In 2015 the world watched in horror as ISIS released its hatred on the streets of Paris. Antoine Leiris lost his wife to their bullets. But he didn’t lose his heart to hate. He resolved to focus his energy on loving his son, not attacking his attackers.
Let’s do likewise. Offer to others the grace you’ve been given. It’s time to forgive, just as God, in Christ, forgave you. This is how happiness happens.
Psalm 113
Hallelujah!
You who serve God, praise God!
Just to speak his name is praise!
Just to remember God is a blessing—
now and tomorrow and always.
From east to west, from dawn to dusk,
keep lifting all your praises to God!
4-9 God is higher than anything and anyone,
outshining everything you can see in the skies.
Who can compare with God, our God,
so majestically enthroned,
Surveying his magnificent
heavens and earth?
He picks up the poor from out of the dirt,
rescues the wretched who’ve been thrown out with the trash,
Seats them among the honored guests,
a place of honor among the brightest and best.
He gives childless couples a family,
gives them joy as the parents of children.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, October 25, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 4:9–12
Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Insight
The book of Ecclesiastes is often classified as Poetry or Wisdom Literature. Traditionally, the author has been considered to be Solomon due to the reference “son of David, king in Jerusalem” (1:1). But this kind of terminology was commonly used at the time to refer to a descendant who wasn’t necessarily a son. This person could be multiple generations down the line. Many scholars simply refer to the author as Qoheleth, the Hebrew word for teacher in Ecclesiastes 1:2, which refers to someone who instructs a group of people as in an assembly. And some scholars suggest the book was written by two authors because the language switches from first person to third person and back again. By: Julie Schwab
Braided Together
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12
A friend gave me a houseplant she’d owned for more than forty years. The plant was equal to my height, and it produced large leaves from three separate spindly trunks. Over time, the weight of the leaves had caused all three of the stalks to curve down toward the floor. To straighten them, I put a wedge under the plant’s pot and placed it near a window so the sunlight could draw the leaves upward and help cure its bad posture.
Shortly after receiving the plant, I saw one just like it in a waiting room at a local business. It also grew from three long skinny stalks, but they’d been braided together to form a larger, more solid core. This plant stood upright without any help.
Any two people may stay in the same “pot” for years, yet grow apart and experience fewer of the benefits God wants them to enjoy. When their lives are woven together with God, however, there is a greater sense of stability and closeness. Their relationship will grow stronger. “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
Like houseplants, marriages and friendships require some nurturing. Tending to these relationships involves merging spiritually so that God is present at the center of each important bond. He’s an endless supply of love and grace—the things we need most to stay happily united with each other. By: Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Reflect & Pray
What can you do to strengthen the spiritual bonds you share with the important people in your life? How might your relationships change if serving and worshiping God together became a priority?
Dear God, I welcome You into my closest relationships today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 25, 2019
Submitting to God’s Purpose
I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. —1 Corinthians 9:22
A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, “If only I were somewhere else!” All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact— “…Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
“I chose you…” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.
Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside…to the right or the left…” (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.
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
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 25, 2019
The Forever Stormy Sea - #8555
We had spent a couple of days at the home of a friend at the New Jersey Shore, just a block away from the Atlantic Ocean. We arrived at night as this powerful storm started hitting our area. So we went to sleep with the loud lullaby of winds that roared around our room and pounded the rain against the windows like pellets. The next morning, the ocean was something to see. Crashing waves, a heaving tide, this wild and angry look, and all kinds of junk thrown onto the beach by all that turbulence.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Forever Stormy Sea."
I stood watching that storm-tossed sea, and something came to my mind that I had read in the Bible. It's a vivid picture of what goes on inside so many of us. God gives it to us in the book written by His prophet Isaiah in chapter 57, verses 20 and 21. It's our word for today from the Word of God. It might be a word that God means very personally for you.
God says: "The wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. 'There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked.'" Now when God talks about the "wicked," we think of people who do some really evil things. But actually God's talking about anyone who has violated His laws, His commandments; anyone who's lived their life their own way rather than His way. Well, the Bible makes it clear that in that is all of us.
And our heart is like that storm-tossed sea - constant turbulence inside, constant upheaval. Well, like God said, "no peace." Maybe for all your experiences and accomplishments and relationships and religion, those words really would still describe the feeling in your soul a lot of the time - "no peace." Forever restless, never satisfied, always searching, and sometimes like the ocean, even destructive.
A few chapters earlier, Isaiah explained why we can't find any lasting peace. He said, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). We've gotten away from the God who made us, and the God we were made for. And there's no peace there. Our soul is missing the only One who can remove the things that keep that sea in our soul so turbulent; our guilt over the mistakes we've made, our regrets over things we never should have done, the restless searching for what will give life real meaning, the uneasiness about what's going to happen to us when we die.
But in that same verse that says we got away from God, we find the good news of what God has done so we can get back to Him. It says, speaking of Jesus Christ, "the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." See, God loves you so much that He took all the sin of your life and dumped it on His Son on the cross, where Jesus died to pay our death penalty. And He did that so we can find peace with God and finally then have peace in our soul.
When Jesus was here, He was in a boat with His disciples in the middle of this violent storm that threatened to sink them. He went to the bow of the boat and He said, "Peace be still," and the storm stopped. That's what He wants to do with the storm in your heart. If you'll reach out to Him and say, "Jesus, You're my only hope. Beginning today, I want to turn away from my sin. I want to trust You alone as the One who died and rose again so I can be forgiven, so I can be in heaven with You forever."
Man, I hope this is your day to choose this Jesus to calm the storm in your heart. And if you're there, then let me suggest your next stop might be our website ANewStory.com. Because there you're going to find the information from God's Word that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus from this day on. That's ANewStory.com.
Ultimately, peace is a person, and his name is Jesus. He's waiting right now to speak His "Peace, be still" to that turbulence in your soul.
Forgiveness is the act of applying your undeserved mercy to your undeserved hurts. You didn’t deserve to be hurt, but neither do you deserve to be forgiven. Does it not make sense to give grace to others? You’ve been immersed in forgiveness, submerged in grace. Can you, standing as you are, shoulder-high in God’s ocean of grace, not fill a cup and offer the happiness of forgiveness to others?
In 2015 the world watched in horror as ISIS released its hatred on the streets of Paris. Antoine Leiris lost his wife to their bullets. But he didn’t lose his heart to hate. He resolved to focus his energy on loving his son, not attacking his attackers.
Let’s do likewise. Offer to others the grace you’ve been given. It’s time to forgive, just as God, in Christ, forgave you. This is how happiness happens.
Psalm 113
Hallelujah!
You who serve God, praise God!
Just to speak his name is praise!
Just to remember God is a blessing—
now and tomorrow and always.
From east to west, from dawn to dusk,
keep lifting all your praises to God!
4-9 God is higher than anything and anyone,
outshining everything you can see in the skies.
Who can compare with God, our God,
so majestically enthroned,
Surveying his magnificent
heavens and earth?
He picks up the poor from out of the dirt,
rescues the wretched who’ve been thrown out with the trash,
Seats them among the honored guests,
a place of honor among the brightest and best.
He gives childless couples a family,
gives them joy as the parents of children.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, October 25, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 4:9–12
Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Insight
The book of Ecclesiastes is often classified as Poetry or Wisdom Literature. Traditionally, the author has been considered to be Solomon due to the reference “son of David, king in Jerusalem” (1:1). But this kind of terminology was commonly used at the time to refer to a descendant who wasn’t necessarily a son. This person could be multiple generations down the line. Many scholars simply refer to the author as Qoheleth, the Hebrew word for teacher in Ecclesiastes 1:2, which refers to someone who instructs a group of people as in an assembly. And some scholars suggest the book was written by two authors because the language switches from first person to third person and back again. By: Julie Schwab
Braided Together
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12
A friend gave me a houseplant she’d owned for more than forty years. The plant was equal to my height, and it produced large leaves from three separate spindly trunks. Over time, the weight of the leaves had caused all three of the stalks to curve down toward the floor. To straighten them, I put a wedge under the plant’s pot and placed it near a window so the sunlight could draw the leaves upward and help cure its bad posture.
Shortly after receiving the plant, I saw one just like it in a waiting room at a local business. It also grew from three long skinny stalks, but they’d been braided together to form a larger, more solid core. This plant stood upright without any help.
Any two people may stay in the same “pot” for years, yet grow apart and experience fewer of the benefits God wants them to enjoy. When their lives are woven together with God, however, there is a greater sense of stability and closeness. Their relationship will grow stronger. “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
Like houseplants, marriages and friendships require some nurturing. Tending to these relationships involves merging spiritually so that God is present at the center of each important bond. He’s an endless supply of love and grace—the things we need most to stay happily united with each other. By: Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Reflect & Pray
What can you do to strengthen the spiritual bonds you share with the important people in your life? How might your relationships change if serving and worshiping God together became a priority?
Dear God, I welcome You into my closest relationships today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 25, 2019
Submitting to God’s Purpose
I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. —1 Corinthians 9:22
A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, “If only I were somewhere else!” All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact— “…Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
“I chose you…” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.
Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside…to the right or the left…” (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.
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
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 25, 2019
The Forever Stormy Sea - #8555
We had spent a couple of days at the home of a friend at the New Jersey Shore, just a block away from the Atlantic Ocean. We arrived at night as this powerful storm started hitting our area. So we went to sleep with the loud lullaby of winds that roared around our room and pounded the rain against the windows like pellets. The next morning, the ocean was something to see. Crashing waves, a heaving tide, this wild and angry look, and all kinds of junk thrown onto the beach by all that turbulence.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Forever Stormy Sea."
I stood watching that storm-tossed sea, and something came to my mind that I had read in the Bible. It's a vivid picture of what goes on inside so many of us. God gives it to us in the book written by His prophet Isaiah in chapter 57, verses 20 and 21. It's our word for today from the Word of God. It might be a word that God means very personally for you.
God says: "The wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. 'There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked.'" Now when God talks about the "wicked," we think of people who do some really evil things. But actually God's talking about anyone who has violated His laws, His commandments; anyone who's lived their life their own way rather than His way. Well, the Bible makes it clear that in that is all of us.
And our heart is like that storm-tossed sea - constant turbulence inside, constant upheaval. Well, like God said, "no peace." Maybe for all your experiences and accomplishments and relationships and religion, those words really would still describe the feeling in your soul a lot of the time - "no peace." Forever restless, never satisfied, always searching, and sometimes like the ocean, even destructive.
A few chapters earlier, Isaiah explained why we can't find any lasting peace. He said, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). We've gotten away from the God who made us, and the God we were made for. And there's no peace there. Our soul is missing the only One who can remove the things that keep that sea in our soul so turbulent; our guilt over the mistakes we've made, our regrets over things we never should have done, the restless searching for what will give life real meaning, the uneasiness about what's going to happen to us when we die.
But in that same verse that says we got away from God, we find the good news of what God has done so we can get back to Him. It says, speaking of Jesus Christ, "the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." See, God loves you so much that He took all the sin of your life and dumped it on His Son on the cross, where Jesus died to pay our death penalty. And He did that so we can find peace with God and finally then have peace in our soul.
When Jesus was here, He was in a boat with His disciples in the middle of this violent storm that threatened to sink them. He went to the bow of the boat and He said, "Peace be still," and the storm stopped. That's what He wants to do with the storm in your heart. If you'll reach out to Him and say, "Jesus, You're my only hope. Beginning today, I want to turn away from my sin. I want to trust You alone as the One who died and rose again so I can be forgiven, so I can be in heaven with You forever."
Man, I hope this is your day to choose this Jesus to calm the storm in your heart. And if you're there, then let me suggest your next stop might be our website ANewStory.com. Because there you're going to find the information from God's Word that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus from this day on. That's ANewStory.com.
Ultimately, peace is a person, and his name is Jesus. He's waiting right now to speak His "Peace, be still" to that turbulence in your soul.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
1 Thessalonians 2 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: TENDERHEARTED, FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER
The question is not, Did you get hurt? The question is, Are you going to let the hurt harden you? Wouldn’t you prefer to be “tenderhearted, forgiving one another”?
Try these steps.
Decide what you need to forgive. Be specific. Narrow it down to the identifiable offense.
Ask yourself why it hurts. Why does this offense sting? What about it leaves you wounded?
Take it to Jesus. Talk to Jesus about the offense until the anger subsides. And when it returns, talk to Jesus again.
Tell your offender. If it feels safe, simply explain the offense and the way it makes you feel.
Pray for your offender. You cannot force reconciliation, but you can offer intercession.
Conduct a funeral. Bury the offense in the cemetery known as “Moving On with Life.”
This is how happiness happens.
1 Thessalonians 2
So, friends, it’s obvious that our visit to you was no waste of time. We had just been given rough treatment in Philippi, as you know, but that didn’t slow us down. We were sure of ourselves in God, and went right ahead and said our piece, presenting God’s Message to you, defiant of the opposition.
3-5 God tested us thoroughly to make sure we were qualified to be trusted with this Message. Be assured that when we speak to you we’re not after crowd approval—only God approval. Since we’ve been put through that battery of tests, you’re guaranteed that both we and the Message are free of error, mixed motives, or hidden agendas. We never used words to butter you up. No one knows that better than you. And God knows we never used words as a smoke screen to take advantage of you.
6-8 Even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren’t aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.
9-12 You remember us in those days, friends, working our fingers to the bone, up half the night, moonlighting so you wouldn’t have the burden of supporting us while we proclaimed God’s Message to you. You saw with your own eyes how discreet and courteous we were among you, with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. And God knows we weren’t freeloaders! You experienced it all firsthand. With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life.
13 And now we look back on all this and thank God, an artesian well of thanks! When you got the Message of God we preached, you didn’t pass it off as just one more human opinion, but you took it to heart as God’s true word to you, which it is, God himself at work in you believers!
14-16 Friends, do you realize that you followed in the exact footsteps of the churches of God in Judea, those who were the first to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ? You got the same bad treatment from your countrymen as they did from theirs, the Jews who killed the Master Jesus (to say nothing of the prophets) and followed it up by running us out of town. They make themselves offensive to God and everyone else by trying to keep us from telling people who’ve never heard of our God how to be saved. They’ve made a career of opposing God, and have gotten mighty good at it. But God is fed up, ready to put an end to it.
17-20 Do you have any idea how very homesick we became for you, dear friends? Even though it hadn’t been that long and it was only our bodies that were separated from you, not our hearts, we tried our very best to get back to see you. You can’t imagine how much we missed you! I, Paul, tried over and over to get back, but Satan stymied us each time. Who do you think we’re going to be proud of when our Master Jesus appears if it’s not you? You’re our pride and joy!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Revelation 1:9–18
I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,[a] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Footnotes:
Revelation 1:13 See Daniel 7:13.
Insight
Seeing Jesus in a vision, John “fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17). This is similar to his response some sixty years earlier when he saw the exalted Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration: he “fell facedown to the ground, terrified” (Matthew 17:6). Such reverence is the appropriate response toward “the Alpha and the Omega . . . the First and the Last” (Revelation 1:8, 17). In revealing Himself as “the First and the Last,” Jesus is saying He’s God. For God Himself has declared, “I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6).
Just a Touch
Then he placed his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” Revelation 1:17
It was just a touch, but it made all the difference to Colin. As his small team was preparing to do charitable work in a region known for hostility to believers in Jesus, his stress level began to rise. When he shared his worries with a teammate, his friend stopped, placed his hand on his shoulder, and shared a few encouraging words with him. Colin now looks back on that brief touch as a turning point, a powerful reminder of the simple truth that God was with him.
John, the close friend and disciple of Jesus, had been banished to the desolate island of Patmos for preaching the gospel, when he heard “a loud voice like a trumpet” (Revelation 1:10). That startling event was followed by a vision of the Lord Himself, and John “fell at his feet as though dead.” But in that frightening moment, he received comfort and courage. John wrote, “He placed his right hand on me and said, ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last’” (v. 17).
God takes us out of our comfort zone to show us new things, to stretch us, to help us grow. But He also brings the courage and comfort to go through every situation. He won’t leave us alone in our trials. He has everything under control. He has us in His hands. By: Tim Gustafson
Reflect & Pray
How is God taking you out of your comfort zone? What friends has He given you for support and comfort?
Jesus, help me recognize Your presence and Your touch in the midst of things that frighten me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 24, 2019
The Proper Perspective
Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ… —2 Corinthians 2:14
The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.
The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him…” (Romans 8:37).
“We are to God the fragrance of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 24, 2019
How to Keep Going When Your Tank is Empty - #8554
My friend, Mike, had just started up his pickup truck when the trouble started. He was taking the truck out for a test drive for some people who had just bought it. And as he backed it out of the new owner's garage, it suddenly started sputtering and stalling. He couldn't keep it running no matter what he tried. He got to a phone and called the old owner and said, "What's the deal with this truck you just sold?" Well, the man who sold it is an honorable man, and he was really distressed about this suddenly dysfunctional truck. Then suddenly he asked Mike, "Did you happen to mess with the radio at all?" Yes, he had. The previous owner told Mike to go check these two switches that are right next to the radio. See, this truck has a wonderful feature, especially for the country roads that it travels so much. It has a reserve gas tank. Now, Mike had unknowingly turned off Tank 2, which was full of gas, and turned on Tank 1, which was totally empty. But the good news is that as soon as he switched from the empty tank to the reserve tank, Mr. Pickup Truck ran and ran and ran.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Keep Going When Your Tank is Empty."
I'm assuming that your life runs pretty fast, pretty hard like mine. And there are times when your tank is basically empty. You're totally exhausted, you've got nothing left to give, depleted, your demands and responsibilities are just greater than the strength you have to meet them. Boy, I know that feeling. And sometimes you just run out of ideas, you're out of solutions, you're out of motivation, you're out of energy. Now why am I assuming that you know about an empty tank like this? Because I'm assuming you're not that different from me.
But there's good news when your tank has nothing left. Our word for today from the Word of God, Isaiah 40:28 - "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary and His understanding no one can fathom." So, now the God you belong to, the God who lives in you, well He's inexhaustible. He is what the theologians call infinite. His resources and wisdom just never, never run out, but yours do. Mine do.
Here's where the reserve tank kicks in. The passage continues, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall." By the way, any words here, that sound like you? "Weary, weak, tired, stumble, fall?" Here's what God promises to the totally overwhelmed and depleted person. "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).
When Mike's Tank 1 on that truck was empty, the fuel in Tank 2 was all the difference. I can't tell you how many times I have reached empty in my tank, and God's never-empty tank has kicked in and it has made all the difference. After an exhausting week, I wake up and I say, "God, I'm so tired." He says, "I'm not." I say, "I'm empty, Lord." He says, "I know, but switch on My power, Ron. I'm not empty." It's as I sang about as a little boy and I didn't really understand it until life got more complicated, "Little ones to Him belong, they are weak, but He is strong."
If you dwell on how stressed you are, or how tired, or how sick or overwhelmed, you're done. You're dwelling on your empty tank. But if, on those depleted days, you consciously focus on your Lord's inexhaustible strength, your Lord's unlimited power, you will be able to keep driving when you thought you couldn't go another mile.
The songwriter of one of my favorite songs said it pretty well. "When we have exhausted our store of endurance; when our strength has failed ere the day is half done. When we've reached the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving has only begun."
The question is not, Did you get hurt? The question is, Are you going to let the hurt harden you? Wouldn’t you prefer to be “tenderhearted, forgiving one another”?
Try these steps.
Decide what you need to forgive. Be specific. Narrow it down to the identifiable offense.
Ask yourself why it hurts. Why does this offense sting? What about it leaves you wounded?
Take it to Jesus. Talk to Jesus about the offense until the anger subsides. And when it returns, talk to Jesus again.
Tell your offender. If it feels safe, simply explain the offense and the way it makes you feel.
Pray for your offender. You cannot force reconciliation, but you can offer intercession.
Conduct a funeral. Bury the offense in the cemetery known as “Moving On with Life.”
This is how happiness happens.
1 Thessalonians 2
So, friends, it’s obvious that our visit to you was no waste of time. We had just been given rough treatment in Philippi, as you know, but that didn’t slow us down. We were sure of ourselves in God, and went right ahead and said our piece, presenting God’s Message to you, defiant of the opposition.
3-5 God tested us thoroughly to make sure we were qualified to be trusted with this Message. Be assured that when we speak to you we’re not after crowd approval—only God approval. Since we’ve been put through that battery of tests, you’re guaranteed that both we and the Message are free of error, mixed motives, or hidden agendas. We never used words to butter you up. No one knows that better than you. And God knows we never used words as a smoke screen to take advantage of you.
6-8 Even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren’t aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.
9-12 You remember us in those days, friends, working our fingers to the bone, up half the night, moonlighting so you wouldn’t have the burden of supporting us while we proclaimed God’s Message to you. You saw with your own eyes how discreet and courteous we were among you, with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. And God knows we weren’t freeloaders! You experienced it all firsthand. With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life.
13 And now we look back on all this and thank God, an artesian well of thanks! When you got the Message of God we preached, you didn’t pass it off as just one more human opinion, but you took it to heart as God’s true word to you, which it is, God himself at work in you believers!
14-16 Friends, do you realize that you followed in the exact footsteps of the churches of God in Judea, those who were the first to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ? You got the same bad treatment from your countrymen as they did from theirs, the Jews who killed the Master Jesus (to say nothing of the prophets) and followed it up by running us out of town. They make themselves offensive to God and everyone else by trying to keep us from telling people who’ve never heard of our God how to be saved. They’ve made a career of opposing God, and have gotten mighty good at it. But God is fed up, ready to put an end to it.
17-20 Do you have any idea how very homesick we became for you, dear friends? Even though it hadn’t been that long and it was only our bodies that were separated from you, not our hearts, we tried our very best to get back to see you. You can’t imagine how much we missed you! I, Paul, tried over and over to get back, but Satan stymied us each time. Who do you think we’re going to be proud of when our Master Jesus appears if it’s not you? You’re our pride and joy!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Revelation 1:9–18
I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,[a] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Footnotes:
Revelation 1:13 See Daniel 7:13.
Insight
Seeing Jesus in a vision, John “fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17). This is similar to his response some sixty years earlier when he saw the exalted Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration: he “fell facedown to the ground, terrified” (Matthew 17:6). Such reverence is the appropriate response toward “the Alpha and the Omega . . . the First and the Last” (Revelation 1:8, 17). In revealing Himself as “the First and the Last,” Jesus is saying He’s God. For God Himself has declared, “I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6).
Just a Touch
Then he placed his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” Revelation 1:17
It was just a touch, but it made all the difference to Colin. As his small team was preparing to do charitable work in a region known for hostility to believers in Jesus, his stress level began to rise. When he shared his worries with a teammate, his friend stopped, placed his hand on his shoulder, and shared a few encouraging words with him. Colin now looks back on that brief touch as a turning point, a powerful reminder of the simple truth that God was with him.
John, the close friend and disciple of Jesus, had been banished to the desolate island of Patmos for preaching the gospel, when he heard “a loud voice like a trumpet” (Revelation 1:10). That startling event was followed by a vision of the Lord Himself, and John “fell at his feet as though dead.” But in that frightening moment, he received comfort and courage. John wrote, “He placed his right hand on me and said, ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last’” (v. 17).
God takes us out of our comfort zone to show us new things, to stretch us, to help us grow. But He also brings the courage and comfort to go through every situation. He won’t leave us alone in our trials. He has everything under control. He has us in His hands. By: Tim Gustafson
Reflect & Pray
How is God taking you out of your comfort zone? What friends has He given you for support and comfort?
Jesus, help me recognize Your presence and Your touch in the midst of things that frighten me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 24, 2019
The Proper Perspective
Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ… —2 Corinthians 2:14
The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.
The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him…” (Romans 8:37).
“We are to God the fragrance of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 24, 2019
How to Keep Going When Your Tank is Empty - #8554
My friend, Mike, had just started up his pickup truck when the trouble started. He was taking the truck out for a test drive for some people who had just bought it. And as he backed it out of the new owner's garage, it suddenly started sputtering and stalling. He couldn't keep it running no matter what he tried. He got to a phone and called the old owner and said, "What's the deal with this truck you just sold?" Well, the man who sold it is an honorable man, and he was really distressed about this suddenly dysfunctional truck. Then suddenly he asked Mike, "Did you happen to mess with the radio at all?" Yes, he had. The previous owner told Mike to go check these two switches that are right next to the radio. See, this truck has a wonderful feature, especially for the country roads that it travels so much. It has a reserve gas tank. Now, Mike had unknowingly turned off Tank 2, which was full of gas, and turned on Tank 1, which was totally empty. But the good news is that as soon as he switched from the empty tank to the reserve tank, Mr. Pickup Truck ran and ran and ran.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Keep Going When Your Tank is Empty."
I'm assuming that your life runs pretty fast, pretty hard like mine. And there are times when your tank is basically empty. You're totally exhausted, you've got nothing left to give, depleted, your demands and responsibilities are just greater than the strength you have to meet them. Boy, I know that feeling. And sometimes you just run out of ideas, you're out of solutions, you're out of motivation, you're out of energy. Now why am I assuming that you know about an empty tank like this? Because I'm assuming you're not that different from me.
But there's good news when your tank has nothing left. Our word for today from the Word of God, Isaiah 40:28 - "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary and His understanding no one can fathom." So, now the God you belong to, the God who lives in you, well He's inexhaustible. He is what the theologians call infinite. His resources and wisdom just never, never run out, but yours do. Mine do.
Here's where the reserve tank kicks in. The passage continues, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall." By the way, any words here, that sound like you? "Weary, weak, tired, stumble, fall?" Here's what God promises to the totally overwhelmed and depleted person. "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).
When Mike's Tank 1 on that truck was empty, the fuel in Tank 2 was all the difference. I can't tell you how many times I have reached empty in my tank, and God's never-empty tank has kicked in and it has made all the difference. After an exhausting week, I wake up and I say, "God, I'm so tired." He says, "I'm not." I say, "I'm empty, Lord." He says, "I know, but switch on My power, Ron. I'm not empty." It's as I sang about as a little boy and I didn't really understand it until life got more complicated, "Little ones to Him belong, they are weak, but He is strong."
If you dwell on how stressed you are, or how tired, or how sick or overwhelmed, you're done. You're dwelling on your empty tank. But if, on those depleted days, you consciously focus on your Lord's inexhaustible strength, your Lord's unlimited power, you will be able to keep driving when you thought you couldn't go another mile.
The songwriter of one of my favorite songs said it pretty well. "When we have exhausted our store of endurance; when our strength has failed ere the day is half done. When we've reached the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving has only begun."
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Psalm 112, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE UPPER ROOM OF MERCY
Jesus has seen every backstreet, back-seat, backhanded moment of our lives. And he has resolved, “My grace is enough. I can cleanse these people. I will wash away their betrayals.” For that reason we must make the Upper Room of Mercy our home address.
Jesus said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14–15).
You are the creation of a good God, made in his image. You are destined to reign in an eternal kingdom. Secure in who you are, you can do what Jesus did. Throw aside the robe of rights and expectation and make the most courageous of moves. Wash feet. This is how happiness happens
Psalm 112
Hallelujah!
Blessed man, blessed woman, who fear God,
Who cherish and relish his commandments,
Their children robust on the earth,
And the homes of the upright—how blessed!
Their houses brim with wealth
And a generosity that never runs dry.
Sunrise breaks through the darkness for good people—
God’s grace and mercy and justice!
The good person is generous and lends lavishly;
No shuffling or stumbling around for this one,
But a sterling and solid and lasting reputation.
Unfazed by rumor and gossip,
Heart ready, trusting in God,
Spirit firm, unperturbed,
Ever blessed, relaxed among enemies,
They lavish gifts on the poor—
A generosity that goes on, and on, and on.
An honored life! A beautiful life!
Someone wicked takes one look and rages,
Blusters away but ends up speechless.
There’s nothing to the dreams of the wicked. Nothing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
James 3:7–12
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Insight
James’s strong warning on the danger of misusing our words comes in the context of a focus on the influence of teachers (3:1). Because our language is capable of causing great division and harm, especially when wielded by those with power and influence, James is emphasizing how essential humility is for true wisdom (vv. 2, 13). In that context, when he claims that “no human being can tame the tongue” (v. 8), he’s not excusing harmful language (as though since failing is inevitable we might as well give up), but once again emphasizing the need for humility. By: Monica Brands
This Is Me
Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. James 3:10
The powerful song “This Is Me” is an unforgettable show tune featured in The Greatest Showman, the smash movie musical loosely based on the life of P. T. Barnum and his traveling circus. The lyrics, sung by characters in the film who’d suffered verbal taunts and abuse for failing to conform to societal norms, describe words as destructive bullets and knives that leave scars.
The song’s popularity points to how many people bear the invisible, but real, wounds caused by weaponized words.
James understood the potential danger of our words to cause destructive and long-lasting harm, calling the tongue “a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8). By using this surprisingly strong comparison, James emphasized the urgent need for believers to recognize the immense power of their words. Even more, he highlighted the inconsistency of praising God with one breath and then injuring people who are made in God’s image with the next (vv. 9–10).
The song “This Is Me” similarly challenges the truth of verbal attacks by insisting that we’re all glorious—a truth the Bible affirms. The Bible establishes the unique dignity and beauty of each human being, not because of outward appearance or anything we have done, but because we are each beautifully designed by God—His unique masterpieces (Psalm 139:14). And our words to each other and about each other have the power to reinforce that reassuring reality. By: Lisa M. Samra
Reflect & Pray
Whose forgiveness might you need to seek for using damaging words? How might you encourage someone today?
Creator God, thank You for creating each of us. Help us to use our words both in praise of You and to encourage the people You expertly designed.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Nothing of the Old Life!
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17
Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind…is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else. The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Fat Birds - #8553
Once upon a time, a father and mother bird decided to build a nest in the vent in our kitchen range exhaust fan. We were on vacation, and the nest got so huge it made the fan unworkable. We learned it was there as we saw spiders hanging down from the hood over the stove. We really didn't want to kill a nest full of babies. By the way, we couldn't see them. No, we could just hear them when they were hungry.
So we waited until we saw mom and dad take the babies out one day. A couple of weeks later, after we were sure they were all gone, my wife and I got a long stick and we proceeded to rake out the nest from out of the exhaust fan. As the nest came out, we discovered much to our surprise the fattest baby bird we had ever seen seated in the nest! Well, we got some gloves and we got a box. And by the time we got back, he had gotten away. See, the problem was he was so fat, he wasn't able to get out of the nest.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fat Birds."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Kings 7:9. It's a pretty intriguing story. The capital city is under siege, and no food has gone into the city for a long time. They're starving to death, people have even turned to cannibalism to stay alive, and God is about to rescue them. Oh, they don't even know it, because He has taken the attacking army and scattered them miraculously. They have even left their camp and all their food behind.
But there were four lepers who lived outside the wall of the city, and they lived on whatever scraps the people threw over the wall, and there weren't any scraps now. They're really starving. So they figure, "Well, our best chance to survive is to give up to the other army and hope they don't kill us. That's the worst that could happen; we could die either way."
They get to the camp. The camp is empty! They say, "I can't believe this!" And they begin to gorge themselves on the food there. And then they reach this conclusion: "They said to each other, 'We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once.'"
Okay, now look, they had an abundance of food that everybody else was starving for, and they just sat around and kept stuffing themselves. Whoa! Could that be a picture of you and me and our Savior? We stuff ourselves with all the Christian stuff: the concerts, the seminars, the sermons, the websites, recordings, radio, books, Christian magazines, and Christian meetings. You get fat on the events, you hunker down in the Christian nest and kind of say, "Let's just keep nesting till Jesus comes."
Okay, let's go back to the story of the lepers. Hearing the cries of dying people coming from that city, how can we sit on all this food?" Well, how can we be focusing most of our Christian effort on just - can we put it this way - fattening up birds who are already overfed? Isn't it time you get out of this nest and begin flying into the world where your lost neighbors and friends are? You have what they need.
It's time we pray for lost friends to know Christ, and lots of other lost people. Isn't it time to turn our resources outward to save the dying instead of spending it all inwardly to feed us some more? People are dying. They go to an unthinkable eternity. Can't you hear God saying, "My Son gave His life for these lost people. Will someone leave the Christian nest and start telling them about that; start giving their lives to the lost ones?" Maybe you're the one who will say, 'Well, Lord, I will."
Ask Him to break your heart for those lost people around you. "Go ahead, God, break my heart." Ask Him to take a piece of His heart and put it into yours, because there are dying people within your reach. Don't be that fat bird just staying in the nest.
Jesus has seen every backstreet, back-seat, backhanded moment of our lives. And he has resolved, “My grace is enough. I can cleanse these people. I will wash away their betrayals.” For that reason we must make the Upper Room of Mercy our home address.
Jesus said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14–15).
You are the creation of a good God, made in his image. You are destined to reign in an eternal kingdom. Secure in who you are, you can do what Jesus did. Throw aside the robe of rights and expectation and make the most courageous of moves. Wash feet. This is how happiness happens
Psalm 112
Hallelujah!
Blessed man, blessed woman, who fear God,
Who cherish and relish his commandments,
Their children robust on the earth,
And the homes of the upright—how blessed!
Their houses brim with wealth
And a generosity that never runs dry.
Sunrise breaks through the darkness for good people—
God’s grace and mercy and justice!
The good person is generous and lends lavishly;
No shuffling or stumbling around for this one,
But a sterling and solid and lasting reputation.
Unfazed by rumor and gossip,
Heart ready, trusting in God,
Spirit firm, unperturbed,
Ever blessed, relaxed among enemies,
They lavish gifts on the poor—
A generosity that goes on, and on, and on.
An honored life! A beautiful life!
Someone wicked takes one look and rages,
Blusters away but ends up speechless.
There’s nothing to the dreams of the wicked. Nothing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
James 3:7–12
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Insight
James’s strong warning on the danger of misusing our words comes in the context of a focus on the influence of teachers (3:1). Because our language is capable of causing great division and harm, especially when wielded by those with power and influence, James is emphasizing how essential humility is for true wisdom (vv. 2, 13). In that context, when he claims that “no human being can tame the tongue” (v. 8), he’s not excusing harmful language (as though since failing is inevitable we might as well give up), but once again emphasizing the need for humility. By: Monica Brands
This Is Me
Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. James 3:10
The powerful song “This Is Me” is an unforgettable show tune featured in The Greatest Showman, the smash movie musical loosely based on the life of P. T. Barnum and his traveling circus. The lyrics, sung by characters in the film who’d suffered verbal taunts and abuse for failing to conform to societal norms, describe words as destructive bullets and knives that leave scars.
The song’s popularity points to how many people bear the invisible, but real, wounds caused by weaponized words.
James understood the potential danger of our words to cause destructive and long-lasting harm, calling the tongue “a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8). By using this surprisingly strong comparison, James emphasized the urgent need for believers to recognize the immense power of their words. Even more, he highlighted the inconsistency of praising God with one breath and then injuring people who are made in God’s image with the next (vv. 9–10).
The song “This Is Me” similarly challenges the truth of verbal attacks by insisting that we’re all glorious—a truth the Bible affirms. The Bible establishes the unique dignity and beauty of each human being, not because of outward appearance or anything we have done, but because we are each beautifully designed by God—His unique masterpieces (Psalm 139:14). And our words to each other and about each other have the power to reinforce that reassuring reality. By: Lisa M. Samra
Reflect & Pray
Whose forgiveness might you need to seek for using damaging words? How might you encourage someone today?
Creator God, thank You for creating each of us. Help us to use our words both in praise of You and to encourage the people You expertly designed.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Nothing of the Old Life!
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17
Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind…is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else. The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Fat Birds - #8553
Once upon a time, a father and mother bird decided to build a nest in the vent in our kitchen range exhaust fan. We were on vacation, and the nest got so huge it made the fan unworkable. We learned it was there as we saw spiders hanging down from the hood over the stove. We really didn't want to kill a nest full of babies. By the way, we couldn't see them. No, we could just hear them when they were hungry.
So we waited until we saw mom and dad take the babies out one day. A couple of weeks later, after we were sure they were all gone, my wife and I got a long stick and we proceeded to rake out the nest from out of the exhaust fan. As the nest came out, we discovered much to our surprise the fattest baby bird we had ever seen seated in the nest! Well, we got some gloves and we got a box. And by the time we got back, he had gotten away. See, the problem was he was so fat, he wasn't able to get out of the nest.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fat Birds."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Kings 7:9. It's a pretty intriguing story. The capital city is under siege, and no food has gone into the city for a long time. They're starving to death, people have even turned to cannibalism to stay alive, and God is about to rescue them. Oh, they don't even know it, because He has taken the attacking army and scattered them miraculously. They have even left their camp and all their food behind.
But there were four lepers who lived outside the wall of the city, and they lived on whatever scraps the people threw over the wall, and there weren't any scraps now. They're really starving. So they figure, "Well, our best chance to survive is to give up to the other army and hope they don't kill us. That's the worst that could happen; we could die either way."
They get to the camp. The camp is empty! They say, "I can't believe this!" And they begin to gorge themselves on the food there. And then they reach this conclusion: "They said to each other, 'We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once.'"
Okay, now look, they had an abundance of food that everybody else was starving for, and they just sat around and kept stuffing themselves. Whoa! Could that be a picture of you and me and our Savior? We stuff ourselves with all the Christian stuff: the concerts, the seminars, the sermons, the websites, recordings, radio, books, Christian magazines, and Christian meetings. You get fat on the events, you hunker down in the Christian nest and kind of say, "Let's just keep nesting till Jesus comes."
Okay, let's go back to the story of the lepers. Hearing the cries of dying people coming from that city, how can we sit on all this food?" Well, how can we be focusing most of our Christian effort on just - can we put it this way - fattening up birds who are already overfed? Isn't it time you get out of this nest and begin flying into the world where your lost neighbors and friends are? You have what they need.
It's time we pray for lost friends to know Christ, and lots of other lost people. Isn't it time to turn our resources outward to save the dying instead of spending it all inwardly to feed us some more? People are dying. They go to an unthinkable eternity. Can't you hear God saying, "My Son gave His life for these lost people. Will someone leave the Christian nest and start telling them about that; start giving their lives to the lost ones?" Maybe you're the one who will say, 'Well, Lord, I will."
Ask Him to break your heart for those lost people around you. "Go ahead, God, break my heart." Ask Him to take a piece of His heart and put it into yours, because there are dying people within your reach. Don't be that fat bird just staying in the nest.
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