Psalm 100, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:UNSHEATHE GOD’S SWORD

“His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey.  Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word.  We can’t get away from it—no matter what” (Hebrews 4:12–13 MSG).

Unsheathe God’s sword, the Word of God, and brandish its glimmering blade in the face of evil. When you read or quote a scripture in the face of pain or doubt or evil, you activate a weapon of the Spirit.  Say… I know a verse in the Bible that might help.  Or… A scripture that means much to me is… (your selection).

My go-to list includes scriptures like these:

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
“I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

This is how happiness happens.

Psalm 100

A Thanksgiving Psalm

On your feet now—applaud God!
    Bring a gift of laughter,
    sing yourselves into his presence.

3 Know this: God is God, and God, God.
    He made us; we didn’t make him.
    We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.

4 Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
    Thank him. Worship him.

5 For God is sheer beauty,
    all-generous in love,
    loyal always and ever.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthians 1:8–11

 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 1:8 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 8:1; 13:11

Insight
Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, more than any of his other New Testament letters, expresses his willingness to do whatever it took to share the heart of Christ (1:3–11; 2:4; 4:7–12; 6:3–10; 11:16–29; 12:6–10). While knowing that some would accuse him of boasting, he wanted his readers to know how deeply he cared for them in the Spirit of Christ who had suffered not only for him, but also for them. In the process, he became a living reflection of the God who, at His own expense, sacrificially intervened, mediated, and interceded for us, so that we in turn could lead and intercede on behalf of others. His prayer is that his readers would join him in discovering for themselves hope in the face of death, strength in weakness, courage in fear, and joy in answered prayer. By: Mart DeHaan

Haystack Prayers
You help us by your prayers. 2 Corinthians 1:11

Samuel Mills and four of his friends often gathered together to pray for God to send more people to share the good news of Jesus. One day in 1806, after returning from their prayer meeting, they got caught in a thunderstorm and took refuge in a haystack. Their weekly prayer gathering then became known as the Haystack Prayer Meeting, which resulted in a global mission movement. Today the Haystack Prayer Monument stands at Williams College in the US as a reminder of what God can do through prayer.

Our heavenly Father is delighted when His children approach Him with a common request. It’s like a family gathering where they’re united in purpose, sharing a common burden.

The apostle Paul acknowledges how God helped him through the prayers of others during a time of severe suffering: “He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers” (2 Corinthians 1:10–11). God has chosen to use our prayers—especially our prayers together—to accomplish His work in the world. No wonder the verse continues: “Then many will give thanks . . . [for the] answer to the prayers of many.”

Let’s pray together so we can also rejoice together in God’s goodness. Our loving Father is waiting for us to come to Him so He can work through us in ways that reach far beyond anything we could ever imagine. By:  Poh Fang Chia

Reflect & Pray
What request can you and others pray for? How has your faith been strengthened when you pray with others?

Father, help us to pray together even as we work together.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
The Key to the Missionary’s Message
He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. —1 John 2:2

The key to the missionary’s message is the propitiation of Christ Jesus— His sacrifice for us that completely satisfied the wrath of God. Look at any other aspect of Christ’s work, whether it is healing, saving, or sanctifying, and you will see that there is nothing limitless about those. But— “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”— that is limitless (John 1:29). The missionary’s message is the limitless importance of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins, and a missionary is someone who is immersed in the truth of that revelation.

The real key to the missionary’s message is the “remissionary” aspect of Christ’s life, not His kindness, His goodness, or even His revealing of the fatherhood of God to us. “…repentance and remission of sins should be preached…to all nations…” (Luke 24:47). The greatest message of limitless importance is that “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins….” The missionary’s message is not nationalistic, favoring nations or individuals; it is “for the whole world.” When the Holy Spirit comes into me, He does not consider my partialities or preferences; He simply brings me into oneness with the Lord Jesus.

A missionary is someone who is bound by marriage to the stated mission and purpose of his Lord and Master. He is not to proclaim his own point of view, but is only to proclaim “the Lamb of God.” It is easier to belong to a faction that simply tells what Jesus Christ has done for me, and easier to become a devotee of divine healing, or of a special type of sanctification, or of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But Paul did not say, “Woe is me if I do not preach what Christ has done for me,” but, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). And this is the gospel— “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
The Trouble With Life's Great Catches - #8547

In his classic, "Old Man and the Sea," Ernest Hemingway told about a very weary old fisherman who, like most of his village, had had hard times most of his life. He's barely eking out a living, goes out one day and decides to travel farther than usual to fish. And to his amazement, he hooks the largest fish he's ever seen in his life - so big he can't even bring it into his boat. So he begins to tow his prize fish behind his boat, excited about what this catch could mean and how it might be the beginning of a wonderful turn of his fortunes. It's the dream catch of his life! But as he comes into the harbor and up to the dock, his joy turns back to an even greater despair than ever before. All the while that he's been towing his prize; the other creatures of the sea have been feeding on it. And all that's left of his dream is bones.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Trouble With Life's Great Catches."

Maybe one reason that story has enduring interest is that it's a mirror of many of our lives. We pursue what we think will give us what we've needed. We catch it, but our great catches all too often turn out to be just carcasses in the end. They gave us hope for a while and then they let us down.

So we go back out, fishing for something else that will be our answer. And ultimately, our next catch disappoints us, too. The trail behind us from our days like even as a teenager is littered with the pieces of things that were supposed to make us happy but ultimately did not. I noticed a comment in Johnny Carson's biography, the long-time host of the Tonight Show. Something was said after the great entertainer's death. I mean, he was lauded as the best in his field, we laughed at what he did so many times, he was a giant in television. Here's what his biographer said: "I can't say that Johnny was ever a truly happy man. I don't think he would ever say he was a happy man." Wow! Well, he's not alone.

In a few sledgehammer words, Jesus Christ exposed all our futile expeditions to find answers for our life and the only place really worth looking for it. It's in Mark 8:36. It's our word for today from the Word of God, where Jesus said, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?"

You can catch everything this world has to offer. You can get its acclaim, its wealth, its pleasures, its success - and lose the only thing that really matters, which is your soul. It's your soul that's always hungry for something you've never been able to find. And your soul is like forever restless because you're away from the One you were made by; the One you were made for. In God's own words, "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2).

We've got this God-sized hole, and we've tried to fill it with things and people that can't begin to take His place. If we live like this, we'll live without peace and we'll live without meaning. If we die like this, we'll spend eternity without God, without His love. He didn't leave us separated from Him, though. He could have. He didn't. He pursued us. He sent His Son, Jesus, to sacrifice His life for yours and mine; to take the rap for all our sin, that defiant self-rule of our lives.

So what gaining the whole world could never do, Jesus can do. He said, "He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35). That could be you, beginning today. Beginning the moment that you admit your need for His forgiveness and that you're ready to turn the driver's seat over to Him, you're willing to put your complete trust in Him and Him alone as your only hope; this crucified and, then, risen from the dead Savior. This is quite simply the end of your search.

For some people that search has ended with the information they found at our website, which I want to invite you to go to. Nothing there for you to join, just information that will help you know you belong to Jesus. And that site is ANewStory.com.

You've been so busy fishing for things that can't save or can't satisfy your soul. Maybe you've neglected your soul, but not today. This is the day you could find Jesus and you can finally find what your soul has been looking for for so long.