Max Lucado Daily: Press Into God’s Promises
Our God is a promise-keeping God. Others may make a promise and forget it. But if God makes a promise, he keeps it. Does God’s integrity make a difference? When your daughter is on life support, it does. When you are pacing the ER floor, it does. When you are wondering what to do and you have to choose between faith or fear; God’s purpose or random history; a God who knows and cares or a God who isn’t there? We all choose.
Promised Land people choose to trust God’s promises. They choose to believe that God is up to something good even though all we see looks bad. Press into God’s promises. When fears surface, respond with this thought: But God said … And when doubts arise, but God said… And when guilt overwhelms you, but God said... Search the Scriptures like a miner digging for gold and trust the promises you find.
From Glory Days
1 Corinthians 4
Don’t imagine us leaders to be something we aren’t. We are servants of Christ, not his masters. We are guides into God’s most sublime secrets, not security guards posted to protect them. The requirements for a good guide are reliability and accurate knowledge. It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don’t even rank myself. Comparisons in these matters are pointless. I’m not aware of anything that would disqualify me from being a good guide for you, but that doesn’t mean much. The Master makes that judgment.
5 So don’t get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, he will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of—inner motives and purposes and prayers. Only then will any one of us get to hear the “Well done!” of God.
6 All I’m doing right now, friends, is showing how these things pertain to Apollos and me so that you will learn restraint and not rush into making judgments without knowing all the facts. It’s important to look at things from God’s point of view. I would rather not see you inflating or deflating reputations based on mere hearsay.
7-8 For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle. Without bringing either Apollos or me into it, you’re sitting on top of the world—at least God’s world—and we’re right there, sitting alongside you!
9-13 It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We’re something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street. We’re the Messiah’s misfits. You might be sure of yourselves, but we live in the midst of frailties and uncertainties. You might be well-thought-of by others, but we’re mostly kicked around. Much of the time we don’t have enough to eat, we wear patched and threadbare clothes, we get doors slammed in our faces, and we pick up odd jobs anywhere we can to eke out a living. When they call us names, we say, “God bless you.” When they spread rumors about us, we put in a good word for them. We’re treated like garbage, potato peelings from the culture’s kitchen. And it’s not getting any better.
14-16 I’m not writing all this as a neighborhood scold just to make you feel rotten. I’m writing as a father to you, my children. I love you and want you to grow up well, not spoiled. There are a lot of people around who can’t wait to tell you what you’ve done wrong, but there aren’t many fathers willing to take the time and effort to help you grow up. It was as Jesus helped me proclaim God’s Message to you that I became your father. I’m not, you know, asking you to do anything I’m not already doing myself.
17 This is why I sent Timothy to you earlier. He is also my dear son, and true to the Master. He will refresh your memory on the instructions I regularly give all the churches on the way of Christ.
18-20 I know there are some among you who are so full of themselves they never listen to anyone, let alone me. They don’t think I’ll ever show up in person. But I’ll be there sooner than you think, God willing, and then we’ll see if they’re full of anything but hot air. God’s Way is not a matter of mere talk; it’s an empowered life.
21 So how should I prepare to come to you? As a severe disciplinarian who makes you toe the mark? Or as a good friend and counselor who wants to share heart-to-heart with you? You decide.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ephesians 4:11–14
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
Insight
The New Testament contains three main listings of spiritual gifts—Romans 12:6–8, 1 Corinthians 12:8–10, and 1 Corinthians 12:28–30. In addition, Ephesians 4:11 lists offices carried out by those with specific gifts, and 1 Peter 4:10–11 classifies the gifts into speaking and serving. That no two lists are identical suggests they’re not exhaustive. In each, the emphasis isn’t on the quantity of gifts but on their diversity and purpose. They’re to be used in a loving way to promote unity in the church (1 Corinthians 12:12–27; 13:1–13), build up the spiritual maturity of the believers (Ephesians 4:12–16), and bring glory to God (1 Peter 4:10–11). In Ephesians 4, interposed between the unity (vv. 1–6) and maturity (vv. 14–16) of the church, Paul highlights the teaching gifts that help grow, build up, stabilize, unite, equip, and mature the church (vv. 11–13).
Carefully Crafted
Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people. Ephesians 4:11–12
In a YouTube video, Alan Glustoff, a cheese farmer in Goshen, New York, described his process for aging cheese, a process that adds to a cheese’s flavor and texture. Before it can be sent out to a market, each block of cheese remains on a shelf in an underground cave for six to twelve months. In this humid environment the cheese is carefully tended. “We do our best to give it the right environment to thrive . . . [and] to develop to its truest potential,” Glustoff explained.
Glustoff’s passion for developing the potential of the cheese he produces reminded me of God’s passion for developing the “truest potential” of His children so they will become fruitful and mature. In Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul describes the people involved in this process: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (v. 11). People with these gifts help to stimulate the growth of each believer as well as to encourage acts of service (the “works” mentioned in verse 12). The goal is that we “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (v. 13).
Spiritual growth comes about through the power of the Holy Spirit as we submit to His maturing process. As we follow the guidance of the people He places in our lives, we become more effective as He sends us out to serve. By: Linda Washington
Reflect & Pray
Who has been most influential to your spiritual growth? In what ways have you been challenged to grow? How can you encourage the growth of someone else?
Loving God, I’m grateful for the tender way You help me to grow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, November 30, 2019
“By the Grace of God I Am What I Am”
By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain… —1 Corinthians 15:10
The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him. We say things such as, “Oh, I shouldn’t claim to be sanctified; I’m not a saint.” But to say that before God means, “No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are opportunities I have not had and so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible.” That may sound wonderfully humble to others, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.
Conversely, the things that sound humble before God may sound exactly the opposite to people. To say, “Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,” is in God’s eyes the purest expression of humility. It means you have so completely surrendered yourself to God that you know He is true. Never worry about whether what you say sounds humble before others or not. But always be humble before God, and allow Him to be your all in all.
There is only one relationship that really matters, and that is your personal relationship to your personal Redeemer and Lord. If you maintain that at all costs, letting everything else go, God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Friday, November 29, 2019
Psalm 147 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: JESUS WELCOMES OUR PROBLEMS
Do you want to see a father’s face go ashen? Watch as he discovers three words on the box of a just-bought toy– “Some assembly required!”
What follows are hours of squeezing A into B, bolting D into F, sliding R over Z, and hoping no one notices if steps four, five, and six were skipped altogether. I’m convinced the devil indwells the details of toy assembly. Somewhere in perdition is a warehouse of stolen toy parts.
“Some assembly required.” Not the most welcome sentence but an honest one. Life is a gift, albeit unassembled. The pieces don’t fit. When they don’t, take your problem to Jesus. He says, “Bring your problems to Me!” In prayer, state them simply. Present them faithfully, and trust Him reverently!
Psalm 147
Hallelujah!
It’s a good thing to sing praise to our God;
praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.
2-6 God’s the one who rebuilds Jerusalem,
who regathers Israel’s scattered exiles.
He heals the heartbroken
and bandages their wounds.
He counts the stars
and assigns each a name.
Our Lord is great, with limitless strength;
we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.
God puts the fallen on their feet again
and pushes the wicked into the ditch.
7-11 Sing to God a thanksgiving hymn,
play music on your instruments to God,
Who fills the sky with clouds,
preparing rain for the earth,
Then turning the mountains green with grass,
feeding both cattle and crows.
He’s not impressed with horsepower;
the size of our muscles means little to him.
Those who fear God get God’s attention;
they can depend on his strength.
12-18 Jerusalem, worship God!
Zion, praise your God!
He made your city secure,
he blessed your children among you.
He keeps the peace at your borders,
he puts the best bread on your tables.
He launches his promises earthward—
how swift and sure they come!
He spreads snow like a white fleece,
he scatters frost like ashes,
He broadcasts hail like birdseed—
who can survive his winter?
Then he gives the command and it all melts;
he breathes on winter—suddenly it’s spring!
19-20 He speaks the same way to Jacob,
speaks words that work to Israel.
He never did this to the other nations;
they never heard such commands.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 29, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Isaiah 6:1–10
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.[a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
Footnotes:
Isaiah 6:10 Hebrew; Septuagint ‘You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / 10 This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes
Insight
The book of Isaiah was written by the prophet whose name means “Yahweh is salvation” during a time of almost constant clash with the kingdom of Assyria. Isaiah was the son of Amoz and was married to a woman called “the prophetess” (8:3). They had two sons—Shear-Jashub and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (7:3; 8:3). From the very first verse we know that Isaiah prophesied “during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah,” a period of possibly fifty years. By: Alyson Kieda
Hazardous Materials
See, this [live coal] has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. Isaiah 6:7
The sound of a siren increased to an ear-piercing level as an emergency vehicle sped by my car. Its flashing lights glared through my windshield, illuminating the words “hazardous materials” printed on the side of the truck. Later, I learned it had been racing to a science laboratory where a 400-gallon container of sulfuric acid had begun to leak. Emergency workers had to contain the substance immediately because of its ability to damage whatever it came in contact with.
As I thought about this news story, I wondered what would happen if sirens blared every time a harsh or critical word “leaked” out of my mouth? Sadly, it might become rather noisy around our house.
The prophet Isaiah shared this sense of awareness about his sin. When he saw God’s glory in a vision, he was overcome by his unworthiness. He recognized that he was “a man of unclean lips” living with people who shared the same problem (Isaiah 6:5). What happened next gives me hope. An angel touched his lips with a red-hot coal, explaining, “your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (v. 7).
We have moment-by-moment choices to make with our words—both written and spoken. Will they be “hazardous” material, or will we allow God’s glory to convict us and His grace to heal us so we can honor Him with everything we express? By: Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Reflect & Pray
Why do our words have such a powerful effect on others? How might God want to change your speech?
Dear God, help me to see how my words affect other people. Show me how to encourage them.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 29, 2019
The Supremacy of Jesus Christ
He will glorify Me… —John 16:14
The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.
The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!
Jesus said, “…when He, the Spirit of truth, has come,…He will glorify Me…” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who then begins interpreting to me what Jesus did. The Spirit of God does in me internally all that Jesus Christ did for me externally.
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
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, November 29, 2019
Daisy Chains - #8580
Amy Carmichael was one of India's most heroic missionaries, and a woman whose life continues to inspire a lot of people today. She has written some inspiring words, but none more inspiring than her account of a scene she saw in her mind one sleepless night as she agonized over the people around her who didn't have a relationship with Jesus. She saw herself standing on the edge of a sheer cliff that dropped off into this dark and seemingly bottomless space. She described the people who were moving steadily toward that edge. She saw a blind woman plunge over the cliff with a baby in her arms and a child holding onto her dress. Streams of people began to come from all directions; all of them blind.
There were horrible screams as they suddenly found themselves plunging into that awful darkness. There were, thankfully, a few sentinels along the edge, but the gaps between them were really far apart. And while the sentinels were able to save a few, most people just kept plummeting unwarned into that oblivion. In Amy Carmichael's words, "Over and over the people fell, like a waterfall of souls." She went on to say, "Then I saw a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned toward that gulf." When she investigated what had them so occupied that they were ignoring the carnage just beyond their circle, she found them playing with the grass and the flowers. They were busy, they said, making daisy chains.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Daisy Chains."
It's an awful picture, isn't it? One I can't get out of my mind. And, honestly, I hope it's a picture you'll not forget. Because somewhere in that tragic vision is you and me. If you've never put your total trust in Jesus Christ and His cross to rescue you from your sins, you're the blind man or woman headed for that spiritual cliff. Not because it's what God wants, but because you've never opened your heart to the Savior who died so you don't have to. And none of us knows how soon we'll reach the edge.
Or maybe your place in the picture is standing as one of those sentinels, trying to stop as many people as possible from going over the edge into a Christless eternity. You're actively praying for opportunities to tell people about Jesus. You're seizing every possible opportunity to give them the life-saving message about Him. Because of you, some of those folks will be rescued by Jesus. They'll be in heaven with you, and that will be the ultimate legacy of your life.
But sadly, too many of us are in that group sitting in the grass, doing nothing about those around us who are moving steadily toward an awful eternity. We're real busy making our daisy chains. Listen to God's warning in Amos 6:1, our word for today from the Word of God. "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion." Complacent in God's place; going to heaven but not much caring about those who aren't - making daisy chains. You're so immersed in your work, your family, your activities, even your church you might be missing the reason God has placed you where you are - to help some of the folks there be in heaven with you someday! To be sure, God has to draw them to Himself, but His chosen deliverer of how to know Him is you. He won't be sending an angel to tell them what Jesus did for them on the cross. He's left that with you. You're their chance.
Maybe there's a gap in the rescue line because you haven't taken your place as God's rescuer of the people around you. God's command from Proverbs 24:11 is: "Rescue those being led away to death... If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?...Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?"
If in that picture you are the one who has been, maybe unknowingly, heading toward the destruction of the death penalty for human sin, and you're headed for the edge and you've never asked Jesus to rescue you from your destruction - see He took all that for you. Well, right now would be your time to say, "Jesus, I'm yours." And to go to our website and get the information that will help you be sure you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.
But if you know Jesus, how can you be content making your oh-so important daisy chains when every day someone is plunging over the edge into an unthinkable eternity?
Do you want to see a father’s face go ashen? Watch as he discovers three words on the box of a just-bought toy– “Some assembly required!”
What follows are hours of squeezing A into B, bolting D into F, sliding R over Z, and hoping no one notices if steps four, five, and six were skipped altogether. I’m convinced the devil indwells the details of toy assembly. Somewhere in perdition is a warehouse of stolen toy parts.
“Some assembly required.” Not the most welcome sentence but an honest one. Life is a gift, albeit unassembled. The pieces don’t fit. When they don’t, take your problem to Jesus. He says, “Bring your problems to Me!” In prayer, state them simply. Present them faithfully, and trust Him reverently!
Psalm 147
Hallelujah!
It’s a good thing to sing praise to our God;
praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.
2-6 God’s the one who rebuilds Jerusalem,
who regathers Israel’s scattered exiles.
He heals the heartbroken
and bandages their wounds.
He counts the stars
and assigns each a name.
Our Lord is great, with limitless strength;
we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.
God puts the fallen on their feet again
and pushes the wicked into the ditch.
7-11 Sing to God a thanksgiving hymn,
play music on your instruments to God,
Who fills the sky with clouds,
preparing rain for the earth,
Then turning the mountains green with grass,
feeding both cattle and crows.
He’s not impressed with horsepower;
the size of our muscles means little to him.
Those who fear God get God’s attention;
they can depend on his strength.
12-18 Jerusalem, worship God!
Zion, praise your God!
He made your city secure,
he blessed your children among you.
He keeps the peace at your borders,
he puts the best bread on your tables.
He launches his promises earthward—
how swift and sure they come!
He spreads snow like a white fleece,
he scatters frost like ashes,
He broadcasts hail like birdseed—
who can survive his winter?
Then he gives the command and it all melts;
he breathes on winter—suddenly it’s spring!
19-20 He speaks the same way to Jacob,
speaks words that work to Israel.
He never did this to the other nations;
they never heard such commands.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 29, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Isaiah 6:1–10
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.[a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
Footnotes:
Isaiah 6:10 Hebrew; Septuagint ‘You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / 10 This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes
Insight
The book of Isaiah was written by the prophet whose name means “Yahweh is salvation” during a time of almost constant clash with the kingdom of Assyria. Isaiah was the son of Amoz and was married to a woman called “the prophetess” (8:3). They had two sons—Shear-Jashub and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (7:3; 8:3). From the very first verse we know that Isaiah prophesied “during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah,” a period of possibly fifty years. By: Alyson Kieda
Hazardous Materials
See, this [live coal] has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. Isaiah 6:7
The sound of a siren increased to an ear-piercing level as an emergency vehicle sped by my car. Its flashing lights glared through my windshield, illuminating the words “hazardous materials” printed on the side of the truck. Later, I learned it had been racing to a science laboratory where a 400-gallon container of sulfuric acid had begun to leak. Emergency workers had to contain the substance immediately because of its ability to damage whatever it came in contact with.
As I thought about this news story, I wondered what would happen if sirens blared every time a harsh or critical word “leaked” out of my mouth? Sadly, it might become rather noisy around our house.
The prophet Isaiah shared this sense of awareness about his sin. When he saw God’s glory in a vision, he was overcome by his unworthiness. He recognized that he was “a man of unclean lips” living with people who shared the same problem (Isaiah 6:5). What happened next gives me hope. An angel touched his lips with a red-hot coal, explaining, “your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (v. 7).
We have moment-by-moment choices to make with our words—both written and spoken. Will they be “hazardous” material, or will we allow God’s glory to convict us and His grace to heal us so we can honor Him with everything we express? By: Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Reflect & Pray
Why do our words have such a powerful effect on others? How might God want to change your speech?
Dear God, help me to see how my words affect other people. Show me how to encourage them.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 29, 2019
The Supremacy of Jesus Christ
He will glorify Me… —John 16:14
The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.
The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!
Jesus said, “…when He, the Spirit of truth, has come,…He will glorify Me…” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who then begins interpreting to me what Jesus did. The Spirit of God does in me internally all that Jesus Christ did for me externally.
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
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, November 29, 2019
Daisy Chains - #8580
Amy Carmichael was one of India's most heroic missionaries, and a woman whose life continues to inspire a lot of people today. She has written some inspiring words, but none more inspiring than her account of a scene she saw in her mind one sleepless night as she agonized over the people around her who didn't have a relationship with Jesus. She saw herself standing on the edge of a sheer cliff that dropped off into this dark and seemingly bottomless space. She described the people who were moving steadily toward that edge. She saw a blind woman plunge over the cliff with a baby in her arms and a child holding onto her dress. Streams of people began to come from all directions; all of them blind.
There were horrible screams as they suddenly found themselves plunging into that awful darkness. There were, thankfully, a few sentinels along the edge, but the gaps between them were really far apart. And while the sentinels were able to save a few, most people just kept plummeting unwarned into that oblivion. In Amy Carmichael's words, "Over and over the people fell, like a waterfall of souls." She went on to say, "Then I saw a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned toward that gulf." When she investigated what had them so occupied that they were ignoring the carnage just beyond their circle, she found them playing with the grass and the flowers. They were busy, they said, making daisy chains.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Daisy Chains."
It's an awful picture, isn't it? One I can't get out of my mind. And, honestly, I hope it's a picture you'll not forget. Because somewhere in that tragic vision is you and me. If you've never put your total trust in Jesus Christ and His cross to rescue you from your sins, you're the blind man or woman headed for that spiritual cliff. Not because it's what God wants, but because you've never opened your heart to the Savior who died so you don't have to. And none of us knows how soon we'll reach the edge.
Or maybe your place in the picture is standing as one of those sentinels, trying to stop as many people as possible from going over the edge into a Christless eternity. You're actively praying for opportunities to tell people about Jesus. You're seizing every possible opportunity to give them the life-saving message about Him. Because of you, some of those folks will be rescued by Jesus. They'll be in heaven with you, and that will be the ultimate legacy of your life.
But sadly, too many of us are in that group sitting in the grass, doing nothing about those around us who are moving steadily toward an awful eternity. We're real busy making our daisy chains. Listen to God's warning in Amos 6:1, our word for today from the Word of God. "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion." Complacent in God's place; going to heaven but not much caring about those who aren't - making daisy chains. You're so immersed in your work, your family, your activities, even your church you might be missing the reason God has placed you where you are - to help some of the folks there be in heaven with you someday! To be sure, God has to draw them to Himself, but His chosen deliverer of how to know Him is you. He won't be sending an angel to tell them what Jesus did for them on the cross. He's left that with you. You're their chance.
Maybe there's a gap in the rescue line because you haven't taken your place as God's rescuer of the people around you. God's command from Proverbs 24:11 is: "Rescue those being led away to death... If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?...Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?"
If in that picture you are the one who has been, maybe unknowingly, heading toward the destruction of the death penalty for human sin, and you're headed for the edge and you've never asked Jesus to rescue you from your destruction - see He took all that for you. Well, right now would be your time to say, "Jesus, I'm yours." And to go to our website and get the information that will help you be sure you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.
But if you know Jesus, how can you be content making your oh-so important daisy chains when every day someone is plunging over the edge into an unthinkable eternity?
Thursday, November 28, 2019
1 Corinthians 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THANK GOD—EVERY DAY FOR EVERYTHING
A person never runs out of reasons to say “thanks!” Just the word lifts the spirit! To say, “thanks” is to celebrate a gift. Something. Anything.
In Scripture the idea of giving thanks is not a suggestion or a recommendation; it’s a command. It carries the same weight as “love your neighbor” and “give to the poor.” More than a hundred times, either by imperative or example, the Bible commands us to be thankful. If quantity implies gravity, God takes thanksgiving seriously.
Ingratitude is the original sin. Adam and Eve had a million reasons to give thanks. They lived in a perfect world. Then Satan slithered into the garden and just like that, Eden wasn’t enough. Oh, the hissing we hear. “Don’t you want more?” So thank God. Moment by moment. Day by day. Thank him…for everything!
1 Corinthians 3
But for right now, friends, I’m completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You’re acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I’ll nurse you since you don’t seem capable of anything more. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything’s going your way? When one of you says, “I’m on Paul’s side,” and another says, “I’m for Apollos,” aren’t you being totally infantile?
5-9 Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us—servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working.
9-15 Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.
16-17 You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple.
18-20 Don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. Be God’s fool—that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It’s written in Scripture,
He exposes the chicanery of the chic.
The Master sees through the smoke screens
of the know-it-alls.
21-23 I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift—Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 9:1–2, 7–10
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David.
1 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.
Footnotes:
Psalm 9:1 Psalms 9 and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which alternating lines began with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.
Psalm 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1-20 is numbered 9:2-21.
The Lord reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world in righteousness
and judges the peoples with equity.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Insight
Psalms 9 and 10 may have originally been a single acrostic poem in Hebrew in which alternating lines begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Unlike other laments (a prayer or poem of deep sorrow for the hardships and difficulties of life), these psalms begin with deep confidence and praise to God. Even in the midst of the trials, the author recognizes that God has done wonderful things and the proper response is to give thanks, spread the news of those deeds, and rejoice and sing praises to His name (9:1–2).
We see in Psalm 9 a lesson in perspective. Not only has God performed grand things like delivering His people from Egypt, sustaining them in the wilderness, and giving them the Promised Land, but His deeds are personal as well. God shows His goodness and unfolds His plan in both grand and personal ways.
A Sincere Thank You
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1
In preparation for Xavier’s first job interview, my husband, Alan, handed our son a pack of thank-you cards for him to send out after he met with prospective employers. He then pretended to be a hiring interviewer, using his decades of experience as a manager to ask Xavier questions. After the role-playing, our son tucked several copies of his resume into a folder. He smiled when Alan reminded him about the cards. “I know,” he said. “A sincere thank-you note will set me apart from all the other applicants.”
When the manager called to hire Xavier, he expressed gratitude for the first hand-written thank-you card he’d received in years.
Saying thanks makes a lasting impact. The psalmists’ heartfelt prayers and grateful worship were preserved in the book of Psalms. Though there are one hundred and fifty psalms, these two verses reflect a message of thankfulness: “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High” (Psalm 9:1–2).
We will never be able to finish expressing our gratitude for all God’s wonderful deeds. But we can start with a sincere thank you through our prayers. We can nurture a lifestyle of grateful worship, praising God and acknowledging all He’s done and all He promises He’ll do. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
What would you like to thank God for on this day He’s made? How can writing down prayers of thanks help us cultivate a spirit of gratitude in all circumstances?
Generous and loving God, please help us acknowledge the countless and wonderful ways You work.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, November 28, 2019
The Riches of the Destitute
…being justified freely by His grace… —Romans 3:24
The gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the truth that it reveals is not palatable or easy to swallow. There is a certain pride in people that causes them to give and give, but to come and accept a gift is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom; I will dedicate my life to service— I will do anything. But do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God through our own efforts. We must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we get there, our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us as long as we think we are sufficient in and of ourselves. We must enter into His kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are “rich,” particularly in the area of pride or independence, God can do nothing for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is placed and made effective in us by the Holy Spirit. He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, making us truly alive. He takes that which was “beyond” us and places it “within” us. And immediately, once “the beyond” has come “within,” it rises up to “the above,” and we are lifted into the kingdom where Jesus lives and reigns (see John 3:5).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Awe is the condition of a man’s spirit realizing Who God is and what He has done for him personally. Our Lord emphasizes the attitude of a child; no attitude can express such solemn awe and familiarity as that of a child. Not Knowing Whither, 882 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, November 28, 2019
The Man Who Saved Thanksgiving - #8579
I think our granddaughter was about nine years old when she came home from school and said, "Mommy, Daddy, my favorite holiday, I know what it is. It's Thanksgiving." And they asked her why that is. Well, her daddy is our son and her mommy is Native American, so she came in with a unique perspective on Turkey Day. She said, "I love Thanksgiving because I'm a Pilgrim and an Indian!"
Actually, there were Pilgrims because there were Indians; one Indian in particular - Squanto. So many of our Pilgrim forefathers and mothers, you know, died that first winter; something like half of the Mayflower survivors. The survival of the Pilgrims was pretty much in serious doubt. And then came their brown-skinned miracle - a Native American who somehow spoke English.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Man Who Saved Thanksgiving."
Now, a few years earlier, young Squanto had been carried off to England by traders who worked the Massachusetts coast. He learned English and the Bible. And then, thanks to a compassionate benefactor, he made it back home on another English trading vessel, only to find that his entire village had been wiped out by disease.
But God had amazingly equipped him to save the lives of another people. Oh, he knew what the Pilgrims did not know - how to plant, and cultivate, and harvest and survive in this new land. And because of what Squanto taught them, they reaped the bountiful harvest that made the difference, and sparked the gratitude in their hearts that brought together the Pilgrims and their Native American neighbors for, you know, that first Thanksgiving.
In a sense, when we're talking about the Pilgrims, they're sort of my people. And the lives of "my people" were saved by some of the first Americans. And in a sense, now it's our turn. So many of the Native Americans are dying so young. All we've taken from them has left a harvest of pain and grief and brokenness.
Now, in our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 25:35-45, you can see that Jesus takes very seriously how we respond to those who are wounded and hurting. He says, "'For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed Me. I was sick and you looked after Me. I was in prison; you came to visit Me.'
And then the righteous will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?' And the King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for Me.'" It's clear here that Jesus identifies with the wounded and the hurting.
Now, it isn't that Native Americans need non-Native people to come swooping in like white mini-saviors. No, they need for us to support them so they can fight for their own people. I've been privileged to be a part of watching that happen. Our ministry has seen the amazing potential of Native American young people whose lives have been radiated with hope by Jesus Christ - modern-day "Squantos." We've seen what happens when they go to reservations on our On Eagles' Wings teams and tell their Native brothers and sisters about a brown-skinned Savior named Jesus. Hope is born where hope has been needed for so long. I have been an eye-witness to thousands of Native Americans coming to Christ through them.
But those young spiritual warriors are enabled to go by non-Native Jesus-followers who stand behind them with their prayer and their giving. It's like a holy, life-saving partnership. And the "children of the Pilgrims" are helping to save the lives of the "children of the first Americans." It's long overdue, but, thank God, it's happening. For Jesus has said, "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners" (Isaiah 61:1b).
Look, you may not have any Native Americans at your Thanksgiving table this week, but you can take a little time to talk to God on their behalf. For most Americans, they're just not on our radar. But they are surely on God's radar when He "determined the exact places every nation of man should live" (Acts 17:26), He made the people we call Indians the first Americans.
And just as my people battled to survive many years ago in Plymouth, so Native Americans are battling for survival today. We cannot be blind to their pain. This Thanksgiving, wouldn't this be a good time to ask, "Lord, is there something you'd like me to do?" At minimum, He'll want you to fight for them in prayer. Because there is a battle raging for their lives, and prayer is the most powerful weapon there is.
So, in a spiritual sense, you can have some Native Americans at your table this Thanksgiving as you bring them to the Throne Room of our Father in heaven, who sent His Son for their people and my people.
A person never runs out of reasons to say “thanks!” Just the word lifts the spirit! To say, “thanks” is to celebrate a gift. Something. Anything.
In Scripture the idea of giving thanks is not a suggestion or a recommendation; it’s a command. It carries the same weight as “love your neighbor” and “give to the poor.” More than a hundred times, either by imperative or example, the Bible commands us to be thankful. If quantity implies gravity, God takes thanksgiving seriously.
Ingratitude is the original sin. Adam and Eve had a million reasons to give thanks. They lived in a perfect world. Then Satan slithered into the garden and just like that, Eden wasn’t enough. Oh, the hissing we hear. “Don’t you want more?” So thank God. Moment by moment. Day by day. Thank him…for everything!
1 Corinthians 3
But for right now, friends, I’m completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You’re acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I’ll nurse you since you don’t seem capable of anything more. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything’s going your way? When one of you says, “I’m on Paul’s side,” and another says, “I’m for Apollos,” aren’t you being totally infantile?
5-9 Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us—servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working.
9-15 Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.
16-17 You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple.
18-20 Don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. Be God’s fool—that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It’s written in Scripture,
He exposes the chicanery of the chic.
The Master sees through the smoke screens
of the know-it-alls.
21-23 I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift—Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 9:1–2, 7–10
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David.
1 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.
Footnotes:
Psalm 9:1 Psalms 9 and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which alternating lines began with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.
Psalm 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1-20 is numbered 9:2-21.
The Lord reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world in righteousness
and judges the peoples with equity.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Insight
Psalms 9 and 10 may have originally been a single acrostic poem in Hebrew in which alternating lines begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Unlike other laments (a prayer or poem of deep sorrow for the hardships and difficulties of life), these psalms begin with deep confidence and praise to God. Even in the midst of the trials, the author recognizes that God has done wonderful things and the proper response is to give thanks, spread the news of those deeds, and rejoice and sing praises to His name (9:1–2).
We see in Psalm 9 a lesson in perspective. Not only has God performed grand things like delivering His people from Egypt, sustaining them in the wilderness, and giving them the Promised Land, but His deeds are personal as well. God shows His goodness and unfolds His plan in both grand and personal ways.
A Sincere Thank You
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1
In preparation for Xavier’s first job interview, my husband, Alan, handed our son a pack of thank-you cards for him to send out after he met with prospective employers. He then pretended to be a hiring interviewer, using his decades of experience as a manager to ask Xavier questions. After the role-playing, our son tucked several copies of his resume into a folder. He smiled when Alan reminded him about the cards. “I know,” he said. “A sincere thank-you note will set me apart from all the other applicants.”
When the manager called to hire Xavier, he expressed gratitude for the first hand-written thank-you card he’d received in years.
Saying thanks makes a lasting impact. The psalmists’ heartfelt prayers and grateful worship were preserved in the book of Psalms. Though there are one hundred and fifty psalms, these two verses reflect a message of thankfulness: “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High” (Psalm 9:1–2).
We will never be able to finish expressing our gratitude for all God’s wonderful deeds. But we can start with a sincere thank you through our prayers. We can nurture a lifestyle of grateful worship, praising God and acknowledging all He’s done and all He promises He’ll do. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
What would you like to thank God for on this day He’s made? How can writing down prayers of thanks help us cultivate a spirit of gratitude in all circumstances?
Generous and loving God, please help us acknowledge the countless and wonderful ways You work.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, November 28, 2019
The Riches of the Destitute
…being justified freely by His grace… —Romans 3:24
The gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the truth that it reveals is not palatable or easy to swallow. There is a certain pride in people that causes them to give and give, but to come and accept a gift is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom; I will dedicate my life to service— I will do anything. But do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God through our own efforts. We must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we get there, our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us as long as we think we are sufficient in and of ourselves. We must enter into His kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are “rich,” particularly in the area of pride or independence, God can do nothing for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is placed and made effective in us by the Holy Spirit. He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, making us truly alive. He takes that which was “beyond” us and places it “within” us. And immediately, once “the beyond” has come “within,” it rises up to “the above,” and we are lifted into the kingdom where Jesus lives and reigns (see John 3:5).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Awe is the condition of a man’s spirit realizing Who God is and what He has done for him personally. Our Lord emphasizes the attitude of a child; no attitude can express such solemn awe and familiarity as that of a child. Not Knowing Whither, 882 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, November 28, 2019
The Man Who Saved Thanksgiving - #8579
I think our granddaughter was about nine years old when she came home from school and said, "Mommy, Daddy, my favorite holiday, I know what it is. It's Thanksgiving." And they asked her why that is. Well, her daddy is our son and her mommy is Native American, so she came in with a unique perspective on Turkey Day. She said, "I love Thanksgiving because I'm a Pilgrim and an Indian!"
Actually, there were Pilgrims because there were Indians; one Indian in particular - Squanto. So many of our Pilgrim forefathers and mothers, you know, died that first winter; something like half of the Mayflower survivors. The survival of the Pilgrims was pretty much in serious doubt. And then came their brown-skinned miracle - a Native American who somehow spoke English.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Man Who Saved Thanksgiving."
Now, a few years earlier, young Squanto had been carried off to England by traders who worked the Massachusetts coast. He learned English and the Bible. And then, thanks to a compassionate benefactor, he made it back home on another English trading vessel, only to find that his entire village had been wiped out by disease.
But God had amazingly equipped him to save the lives of another people. Oh, he knew what the Pilgrims did not know - how to plant, and cultivate, and harvest and survive in this new land. And because of what Squanto taught them, they reaped the bountiful harvest that made the difference, and sparked the gratitude in their hearts that brought together the Pilgrims and their Native American neighbors for, you know, that first Thanksgiving.
In a sense, when we're talking about the Pilgrims, they're sort of my people. And the lives of "my people" were saved by some of the first Americans. And in a sense, now it's our turn. So many of the Native Americans are dying so young. All we've taken from them has left a harvest of pain and grief and brokenness.
Now, in our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 25:35-45, you can see that Jesus takes very seriously how we respond to those who are wounded and hurting. He says, "'For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed Me. I was sick and you looked after Me. I was in prison; you came to visit Me.'
And then the righteous will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?' And the King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for Me.'" It's clear here that Jesus identifies with the wounded and the hurting.
Now, it isn't that Native Americans need non-Native people to come swooping in like white mini-saviors. No, they need for us to support them so they can fight for their own people. I've been privileged to be a part of watching that happen. Our ministry has seen the amazing potential of Native American young people whose lives have been radiated with hope by Jesus Christ - modern-day "Squantos." We've seen what happens when they go to reservations on our On Eagles' Wings teams and tell their Native brothers and sisters about a brown-skinned Savior named Jesus. Hope is born where hope has been needed for so long. I have been an eye-witness to thousands of Native Americans coming to Christ through them.
But those young spiritual warriors are enabled to go by non-Native Jesus-followers who stand behind them with their prayer and their giving. It's like a holy, life-saving partnership. And the "children of the Pilgrims" are helping to save the lives of the "children of the first Americans." It's long overdue, but, thank God, it's happening. For Jesus has said, "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners" (Isaiah 61:1b).
Look, you may not have any Native Americans at your Thanksgiving table this week, but you can take a little time to talk to God on their behalf. For most Americans, they're just not on our radar. But they are surely on God's radar when He "determined the exact places every nation of man should live" (Acts 17:26), He made the people we call Indians the first Americans.
And just as my people battled to survive many years ago in Plymouth, so Native Americans are battling for survival today. We cannot be blind to their pain. This Thanksgiving, wouldn't this be a good time to ask, "Lord, is there something you'd like me to do?" At minimum, He'll want you to fight for them in prayer. Because there is a battle raging for their lives, and prayer is the most powerful weapon there is.
So, in a spiritual sense, you can have some Native Americans at your table this Thanksgiving as you bring them to the Throne Room of our Father in heaven, who sent His Son for their people and my people.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Psalm 146, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD IS A FATHER TO THE FATHERLESS
Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” A glimpse of God’s goodness changes us. If He is only slightly stronger than us, why pray? If He has limitations, questions, and hesitations, then you might as well pray to the Wizard of Oz.
Psalm 68:5-6 says that God is “a father to the fatherless. He sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity.”
Will you pray this with me? Dear God, today, remind me that you protect me. Be my father and defender. Defend those who’re weak and afraid and feel forgotten. Show up in their lives today. Thank you for giving me a spiritual family that can never be taken away. I pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.
At any point you’re only a prayer away from help!
Psalm 146
Hallelujah!
O my soul, praise God!
All my life long I’ll praise God,
singing songs to my God as long as I live.
3-9 Don’t put your life in the hands of experts
who know nothing of life, of salvation life.
Mere humans don’t have what it takes;
when they die, their projects die with them.
Instead, get help from the God of Jacob,
put your hope in God and know real blessing!
God made sky and soil,
sea and all the fish in it.
He always does what he says—
he defends the wronged,
he feeds the hungry.
God frees prisoners—
he gives sight to the blind,
he lifts up the fallen.
God loves good people, protects strangers,
takes the side of orphans and widows,
but makes short work of the wicked.
10 God’s in charge—always.
Zion’s God is God for good!
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 4:4–8
And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
5 Fools fold their hands
and ruin themselves.
6 Better one handful with tranquillity
than two handfuls with toil
and chasing after the wind.
7 Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:
8 There was a man all alone;
he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
“and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
a miserable business!
Insight
The book of Ecclesiastes is properly placed amid the Wisdom books of the Old Testament (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs). This obscure book highlights the concerns of mankind from the beginning, with questions about God, earthly living and eternity, joy and sorrow, good and evil, death and dying, wisdom and folly. Ecclesiastes is like a twelve-chapter journal where the author records his musings and perspective on how life works. The writer is a realist (he doesn’t ignore the many complexities of life) and uses phrases that represent the author’s varied frustrations. The word meaningless is repeated thirty-five times, and the phrase chasing after the wind occurs nine times. But the writer is also a theist—he believes in God. He urges his readers to acknowledge and reverence their Maker. Why? “God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (12:14). By: Arthur Jackson
Greedy Grasping
Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 4:6
In the ancient fable The Boy and the Filberts (Nuts), a boy sticks his hand into a jar of nuts and grabs a great fistful. But his hand is so full that it gets stuck in the jar. Unwilling to lose even a little of his bounty, the boy begins to weep. Eventually, he’s counseled to let go of some of the nuts so the jar will let go of his hand. Greed can be a hard boss.
The wise teacher of Ecclesiastes illustrates this moral with a lesson on hands and what they say about us. He compared and contrasted the lazy with the greedy when he wrote: “Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves. Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind” (4:5–6). While the lazy procrastinate until they’re ruined, those who pursue wealth come to realize their efforts are “meaningless—a miserable business!” (v. 8).
According to the teacher, the desired state is to relax from the toil of greedy grasping in order to find contentment in what truly belongs to us. For that which is ours will always remain. As Jesus said, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul” (Mark 8:36). By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
What are you driven to pursue and grasp? How can you apply the wise words of Ecclesiastes in order to find tranquility?
God, thank You for Your provision and faithful presence in my life. Help me to live in a contented way, exhibiting true gratefulness to You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
The Consecration of Spiritual Power
…by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. —Galatians 6:14
If I dwell on the Cross of Christ, I do not simply become inwardly devout and solely interested in my own holiness— I become strongly focused on Jesus Christ’s interests. Our Lord was not a recluse nor a fanatical holy man practicing self-denial. He did not physically cut Himself off from society, but He was inwardly disconnected all the time. He was not aloof, but He lived in another world. In fact, He was so much in the common everyday world that the religious people of His day accused Him of being a glutton and a drunkard. Yet our Lord never allowed anything to interfere with His consecration of spiritual power.
It is not genuine consecration to think that we can refuse to be used of God now in order to store up our spiritual power for later use. That is a hopeless mistake. The Spirit of God has set a great many people free from their sin, yet they are experiencing no fullness in their lives— no true sense of freedom. The kind of religious life we see around the world today is entirely different from the vigorous holiness of the life of Jesus Christ. “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). We are to be in the world but not of it— to be separated internally, not externally (see John 17:16).
We must never allow anything to interfere with the consecration of our spiritual power. Consecration (being dedicated to God’s service) is our part; sanctification (being set apart from sin and being made holy) is God’s part. We must make a deliberate determination to be interested only in what God is interested. The way to make that determination, when faced with a perplexing problem, is to ask yourself, “Is this the kind of thing in which Jesus Christ is interested, or is it something in which the spirit that is diametrically opposed to Jesus is interested?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. Biblical Ethics, 111 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Be Prepared to Stop - #8578
You've probably been speeding down the highway as I have at times, and all of a sudden you'll come to a construction area that says, "Slow down - 35 mph." So everyone, of course, slows down by two or three miles an hour. They're down to 57 now or something like that. And then you'll see as you get a little more into the construction area these words, "Be prepared to stop." Well, I don't want to be prepared to stop. I don't know if you're like me, but I calculate how many miles I've got to go, how long it's going to take. Let's see, "Sixty miles - sixty minutes." Something like that. I don't want to be prepared to stop. I'm prepared to do the speed limit. Sometimes we live our whole lives that way. We're speeding too fast to stop.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Be Prepared to Stop."
Our word for today from the Word of God - we are in the 18th chapter of the book of Luke. I'm going to begin reading at verse 35. "As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, 'Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.' He called out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to Him. (The Bible says.) When he came near, Jesus asked him, 'What do you want me to do for you?' 'Lord, I want to see' he replied."
And, of course, as they say, the rest is history. Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus that day. But I think the words that leaped out at me from this passage are two simple little words. Did you catch them? "Jesus stopped." But then He always did. He always had time to stop for an individual who needed Him. Now, he had three good reasons that I can think of not to stop this day when He came into Jericho.
First of all, He was only days away from dying on the cross, and He knew it. He had His own burdens on His mind. The cross had to be what He was thinking about. I think He would be forgiven for not stopping, "I just can't. I've got so much on My mind."
Secondly, he had a crowd pressing on him. Thirdly, this guy seems to have been quite a nuisance. Everybody seemed to consider him a nuisance except Jesus. But in spite of those three reasons not to, Jesus stopped. You know, maybe you're speeding through your life much like I am; stressful, high pressure, rat race existence, always on your way to something or from something that's very demanding.
If you're like your Master, you'll stop when you hear the cries, for a child who needs a hug, for a mate who needs your shoulder, who might need your attention right now - who needs your ear, who needs you to listen, maybe it's a worker in your office. You've got so much to get done today, but there's someone there who obviously needs your love, your encouragement, needs your praise. Sometimes you'll stop and say to somebody, "How are you?" And they'll give you that hollow, "Okay, I guess." Woah! Do you have time to stop when it's not okay?
You can't always drop everything, I know that. But you could at least set a time and say, "Listen, I can't talk right now. But in an hour, I'll be out of this, and let's get together then."
Don't let the preoccupations of your agenda, your problems, your demands, even the un-lovable-ness of the person who needs you keep you from being there for them. Don't let those things make you forget that people are most important. They're going to last forever. So please, like the sign says, "Be prepared to stop."
Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” A glimpse of God’s goodness changes us. If He is only slightly stronger than us, why pray? If He has limitations, questions, and hesitations, then you might as well pray to the Wizard of Oz.
Psalm 68:5-6 says that God is “a father to the fatherless. He sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity.”
Will you pray this with me? Dear God, today, remind me that you protect me. Be my father and defender. Defend those who’re weak and afraid and feel forgotten. Show up in their lives today. Thank you for giving me a spiritual family that can never be taken away. I pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.
At any point you’re only a prayer away from help!
Psalm 146
Hallelujah!
O my soul, praise God!
All my life long I’ll praise God,
singing songs to my God as long as I live.
3-9 Don’t put your life in the hands of experts
who know nothing of life, of salvation life.
Mere humans don’t have what it takes;
when they die, their projects die with them.
Instead, get help from the God of Jacob,
put your hope in God and know real blessing!
God made sky and soil,
sea and all the fish in it.
He always does what he says—
he defends the wronged,
he feeds the hungry.
God frees prisoners—
he gives sight to the blind,
he lifts up the fallen.
God loves good people, protects strangers,
takes the side of orphans and widows,
but makes short work of the wicked.
10 God’s in charge—always.
Zion’s God is God for good!
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 4:4–8
And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
5 Fools fold their hands
and ruin themselves.
6 Better one handful with tranquillity
than two handfuls with toil
and chasing after the wind.
7 Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:
8 There was a man all alone;
he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
“and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
a miserable business!
Insight
The book of Ecclesiastes is properly placed amid the Wisdom books of the Old Testament (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs). This obscure book highlights the concerns of mankind from the beginning, with questions about God, earthly living and eternity, joy and sorrow, good and evil, death and dying, wisdom and folly. Ecclesiastes is like a twelve-chapter journal where the author records his musings and perspective on how life works. The writer is a realist (he doesn’t ignore the many complexities of life) and uses phrases that represent the author’s varied frustrations. The word meaningless is repeated thirty-five times, and the phrase chasing after the wind occurs nine times. But the writer is also a theist—he believes in God. He urges his readers to acknowledge and reverence their Maker. Why? “God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (12:14). By: Arthur Jackson
Greedy Grasping
Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 4:6
In the ancient fable The Boy and the Filberts (Nuts), a boy sticks his hand into a jar of nuts and grabs a great fistful. But his hand is so full that it gets stuck in the jar. Unwilling to lose even a little of his bounty, the boy begins to weep. Eventually, he’s counseled to let go of some of the nuts so the jar will let go of his hand. Greed can be a hard boss.
The wise teacher of Ecclesiastes illustrates this moral with a lesson on hands and what they say about us. He compared and contrasted the lazy with the greedy when he wrote: “Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves. Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind” (4:5–6). While the lazy procrastinate until they’re ruined, those who pursue wealth come to realize their efforts are “meaningless—a miserable business!” (v. 8).
According to the teacher, the desired state is to relax from the toil of greedy grasping in order to find contentment in what truly belongs to us. For that which is ours will always remain. As Jesus said, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul” (Mark 8:36). By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
What are you driven to pursue and grasp? How can you apply the wise words of Ecclesiastes in order to find tranquility?
God, thank You for Your provision and faithful presence in my life. Help me to live in a contented way, exhibiting true gratefulness to You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
The Consecration of Spiritual Power
…by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. —Galatians 6:14
If I dwell on the Cross of Christ, I do not simply become inwardly devout and solely interested in my own holiness— I become strongly focused on Jesus Christ’s interests. Our Lord was not a recluse nor a fanatical holy man practicing self-denial. He did not physically cut Himself off from society, but He was inwardly disconnected all the time. He was not aloof, but He lived in another world. In fact, He was so much in the common everyday world that the religious people of His day accused Him of being a glutton and a drunkard. Yet our Lord never allowed anything to interfere with His consecration of spiritual power.
It is not genuine consecration to think that we can refuse to be used of God now in order to store up our spiritual power for later use. That is a hopeless mistake. The Spirit of God has set a great many people free from their sin, yet they are experiencing no fullness in their lives— no true sense of freedom. The kind of religious life we see around the world today is entirely different from the vigorous holiness of the life of Jesus Christ. “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). We are to be in the world but not of it— to be separated internally, not externally (see John 17:16).
We must never allow anything to interfere with the consecration of our spiritual power. Consecration (being dedicated to God’s service) is our part; sanctification (being set apart from sin and being made holy) is God’s part. We must make a deliberate determination to be interested only in what God is interested. The way to make that determination, when faced with a perplexing problem, is to ask yourself, “Is this the kind of thing in which Jesus Christ is interested, or is it something in which the spirit that is diametrically opposed to Jesus is interested?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. Biblical Ethics, 111 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Be Prepared to Stop - #8578
You've probably been speeding down the highway as I have at times, and all of a sudden you'll come to a construction area that says, "Slow down - 35 mph." So everyone, of course, slows down by two or three miles an hour. They're down to 57 now or something like that. And then you'll see as you get a little more into the construction area these words, "Be prepared to stop." Well, I don't want to be prepared to stop. I don't know if you're like me, but I calculate how many miles I've got to go, how long it's going to take. Let's see, "Sixty miles - sixty minutes." Something like that. I don't want to be prepared to stop. I'm prepared to do the speed limit. Sometimes we live our whole lives that way. We're speeding too fast to stop.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Be Prepared to Stop."
Our word for today from the Word of God - we are in the 18th chapter of the book of Luke. I'm going to begin reading at verse 35. "As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, 'Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.' He called out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to Him. (The Bible says.) When he came near, Jesus asked him, 'What do you want me to do for you?' 'Lord, I want to see' he replied."
And, of course, as they say, the rest is history. Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus that day. But I think the words that leaped out at me from this passage are two simple little words. Did you catch them? "Jesus stopped." But then He always did. He always had time to stop for an individual who needed Him. Now, he had three good reasons that I can think of not to stop this day when He came into Jericho.
First of all, He was only days away from dying on the cross, and He knew it. He had His own burdens on His mind. The cross had to be what He was thinking about. I think He would be forgiven for not stopping, "I just can't. I've got so much on My mind."
Secondly, he had a crowd pressing on him. Thirdly, this guy seems to have been quite a nuisance. Everybody seemed to consider him a nuisance except Jesus. But in spite of those three reasons not to, Jesus stopped. You know, maybe you're speeding through your life much like I am; stressful, high pressure, rat race existence, always on your way to something or from something that's very demanding.
If you're like your Master, you'll stop when you hear the cries, for a child who needs a hug, for a mate who needs your shoulder, who might need your attention right now - who needs your ear, who needs you to listen, maybe it's a worker in your office. You've got so much to get done today, but there's someone there who obviously needs your love, your encouragement, needs your praise. Sometimes you'll stop and say to somebody, "How are you?" And they'll give you that hollow, "Okay, I guess." Woah! Do you have time to stop when it's not okay?
You can't always drop everything, I know that. But you could at least set a time and say, "Listen, I can't talk right now. But in an hour, I'll be out of this, and let's get together then."
Don't let the preoccupations of your agenda, your problems, your demands, even the un-lovable-ness of the person who needs you keep you from being there for them. Don't let those things make you forget that people are most important. They're going to last forever. So please, like the sign says, "Be prepared to stop."
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Psalm 136, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE POWER OF A MOMENT
A lot of us make unnecessary messes. But we can change that. May I make a suggestion? Before you face the world, face your Father. Take this pocket prayer: Father. . .You are good Your heart is good. The words come slowly at first, but stay at it. . . Your ways are right. The weather’s bad, the economy is bad, but God, you are awesome.
Don’t underestimate the power of this moment. You just opened the door to God and welcomed truth to enter your heart. Who knows, you might even start to worship. Is your world different because you prayed? In one sense, no. But you are different. You have peace. You’ve talked to your Father.
Here’s my challenge for you! Every day for four weeks pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
Psalm 136
Thank God! He deserves your thanks.
His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.
4-22 Thank the miracle-working God,
His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos,
His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations,
His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light,
His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day,
His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night,
His love never quits.
The God who struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
His love never quits.
And rescued Israel from Egypt’s oppression,
His love never quits.
Took Israel in hand with his powerful hand,
His love never quits.
Split the Red Sea right in half,
His love never quits.
Led Israel right through the middle,
His love never quits.
Dumped Pharaoh and his army in the sea,
His love never quits.
The God who marched his people through the desert,
His love never quits.
Smashed huge kingdoms right and left,
His love never quits.
Struck down the famous kings,
His love never quits.
Struck Sihon the Amorite king,
His love never quits.
Struck Og the Bashanite king,
His love never quits.
Then distributed their land as booty,
His love never quits.
Handed the land over to Israel.
His love never quits.
23-26 God remembered us when we were down,
His love never quits.
Rescued us from the trampling boot,
His love never quits.
Takes care of everyone in time of need.
His love never quits.
Thank God, who did it all!
His love never quits!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Peter 3:14–18
So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Insight
Peter wrote both of his letters (see 1 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 3:1) to Christians in “the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (roughly modern Turkey). In his second letter, he warns the believers to be on guard against false teachers (3:17). To ensure they’re not easily persuaded, they must “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 18). To know Jesus intimately is the clarion call of true discipleship and the end goal of every believer (John 17:3; Ephesians 1:17; Colossians 2:2). Peter says we’ve received “everything we need for living a godly life . . . by coming to know him” (2 Peter 1:3 nlt).
He’s Got This
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18
Pastor Watson Jones remembers learning to ride a bike. His father was walking alongside when little Watson saw some girls sitting on a porch. “Daddy, I got this!” he said. He didn’t. He realized too late he hadn’t learned to balance without his father’s steadying grip. He wasn’t as grown up as he thought.
Our heavenly Father longs for us to grow up and “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). But spiritual maturity is different from natural maturity. Parents raise their children to become independent, to no longer need them. Our divine Father raises us to daily depend on Him more.
Peter begins his letter by promising “grace and peace . . . through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,” and he ends by urging us to “grow in” that same “grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18). Mature Christians never outgrow their need for Jesus.
Watson warns, “Some of us are busy slapping Jesus’s hands off the handlebars of our life.” As if we didn’t need His strong hands to hold us, to pick us up, and to hug us when we wobble and flop. We can’t grow beyond our dependence on Christ. We only grow by sinking our roots deeper in the grace and knowledge of Him. By: Mike Wittmer
Reflect & Pray
Where do you feel your dependence on Jesus? How is that a sign of maturity?
Jesus, thank You for walking alongside me as I grow in my relationship with You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
The Focal Point of Spiritual Power
…except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
If you want to know the power of God (that is, the resurrection life of Jesus) in your human flesh, you must dwell on the tragedy of God. Break away from your personal concern over your own spiritual condition, and with a completely open spirit consider the tragedy of God. Instantly the power of God will be in you. “Look to Me…” (Isaiah 45:22). Pay attention to the external Source and the internal power will be there. We lose power because we don’t focus on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these. We are to preach “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s focal point in your preaching, and even if your listeners seem to pay it no attention, they will never be the same again. If I share my own words, they are of no more importance than your words are to me. But if we share the truth of God with one another, we will encounter it again and again. We have to focus on the great point of spiritual power— the Cross. If we stay in contact with that center of power, its energy is released in our lives. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings, the focus tends to be put not on the Cross of Christ but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
The Light That Weathers All Your Storms - #8577
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. It's estimated that over 2,000 ships have gone down there over the centuries. But a lot more lives could have been lost 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's 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 couldn't survive the storms. The marriage that was supposed to give you love for a lifetime, the job that maybe you thought would always be there, the person that was supposed to be an anchor, the retirement plans that you thought were so secure. But they're gone. Our health 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 are created with a need for that - a need that was designed to be met by the One who put us here in the first place. Actually, we were made for Him, and our Creator is the only light that never goes out; never goes away.
In John 8:12, which is our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus took us straight to the light that weathers every storm. He said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." For two thousand years, through every changing culture and circumstance, Jesus has been the light that has dispelled the darkness for millions of lives, including mine. The one love that no storm has ever touched, the one security that lasts a lifetime, that lasts an eternity. Jesus is, in fact, 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 himself had to go through the darkest darkness any human being has ever endured - that cross. That awful death on the cross where Jesus took on Himself every wrong thing every one of us has ever done, including every sin of your life. It was literally your hell, my hell, that Jesus was taking there so you and I 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 can overcome.
I know a relationship with Jesus can weather every storm. He has loved and sustained me as we lost a baby, through financial crises, through all the struggles of parenting, through major medical battles, and at the casket of so many we've loved, including the woman I loved for a lifetime.
Jesus has never abandoned, never let down anyone who's put their life in His hands. He is the one certain light that your heart needs. I know that. He died so you could have a relationship with Him. But you have to choose Him by telling Him, "Jesus, I don't belong at the steering wheel of my life. You do, and I'm putting all my trust in You to remove that wall between me and God. I want to belong to you from this day on."
Look, if you do, our website would be a great destination for you right now. Because the information is there to help you secure that relationship. The website is ANewStory.com.
For all your storms, for your darkest times, even for your final journey, there's a light that will always be there. That light has a name. His name is Jesus.
A lot of us make unnecessary messes. But we can change that. May I make a suggestion? Before you face the world, face your Father. Take this pocket prayer: Father. . .You are good Your heart is good. The words come slowly at first, but stay at it. . . Your ways are right. The weather’s bad, the economy is bad, but God, you are awesome.
Don’t underestimate the power of this moment. You just opened the door to God and welcomed truth to enter your heart. Who knows, you might even start to worship. Is your world different because you prayed? In one sense, no. But you are different. You have peace. You’ve talked to your Father.
Here’s my challenge for you! Every day for four weeks pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
Psalm 136
Thank God! He deserves your thanks.
His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.
4-22 Thank the miracle-working God,
His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos,
His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations,
His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light,
His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day,
His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night,
His love never quits.
The God who struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
His love never quits.
And rescued Israel from Egypt’s oppression,
His love never quits.
Took Israel in hand with his powerful hand,
His love never quits.
Split the Red Sea right in half,
His love never quits.
Led Israel right through the middle,
His love never quits.
Dumped Pharaoh and his army in the sea,
His love never quits.
The God who marched his people through the desert,
His love never quits.
Smashed huge kingdoms right and left,
His love never quits.
Struck down the famous kings,
His love never quits.
Struck Sihon the Amorite king,
His love never quits.
Struck Og the Bashanite king,
His love never quits.
Then distributed their land as booty,
His love never quits.
Handed the land over to Israel.
His love never quits.
23-26 God remembered us when we were down,
His love never quits.
Rescued us from the trampling boot,
His love never quits.
Takes care of everyone in time of need.
His love never quits.
Thank God, who did it all!
His love never quits!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Peter 3:14–18
So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Insight
Peter wrote both of his letters (see 1 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 3:1) to Christians in “the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (roughly modern Turkey). In his second letter, he warns the believers to be on guard against false teachers (3:17). To ensure they’re not easily persuaded, they must “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 18). To know Jesus intimately is the clarion call of true discipleship and the end goal of every believer (John 17:3; Ephesians 1:17; Colossians 2:2). Peter says we’ve received “everything we need for living a godly life . . . by coming to know him” (2 Peter 1:3 nlt).
He’s Got This
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18
Pastor Watson Jones remembers learning to ride a bike. His father was walking alongside when little Watson saw some girls sitting on a porch. “Daddy, I got this!” he said. He didn’t. He realized too late he hadn’t learned to balance without his father’s steadying grip. He wasn’t as grown up as he thought.
Our heavenly Father longs for us to grow up and “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). But spiritual maturity is different from natural maturity. Parents raise their children to become independent, to no longer need them. Our divine Father raises us to daily depend on Him more.
Peter begins his letter by promising “grace and peace . . . through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,” and he ends by urging us to “grow in” that same “grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18). Mature Christians never outgrow their need for Jesus.
Watson warns, “Some of us are busy slapping Jesus’s hands off the handlebars of our life.” As if we didn’t need His strong hands to hold us, to pick us up, and to hug us when we wobble and flop. We can’t grow beyond our dependence on Christ. We only grow by sinking our roots deeper in the grace and knowledge of Him. By: Mike Wittmer
Reflect & Pray
Where do you feel your dependence on Jesus? How is that a sign of maturity?
Jesus, thank You for walking alongside me as I grow in my relationship with You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
The Focal Point of Spiritual Power
…except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
If you want to know the power of God (that is, the resurrection life of Jesus) in your human flesh, you must dwell on the tragedy of God. Break away from your personal concern over your own spiritual condition, and with a completely open spirit consider the tragedy of God. Instantly the power of God will be in you. “Look to Me…” (Isaiah 45:22). Pay attention to the external Source and the internal power will be there. We lose power because we don’t focus on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these. We are to preach “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s focal point in your preaching, and even if your listeners seem to pay it no attention, they will never be the same again. If I share my own words, they are of no more importance than your words are to me. But if we share the truth of God with one another, we will encounter it again and again. We have to focus on the great point of spiritual power— the Cross. If we stay in contact with that center of power, its energy is released in our lives. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings, the focus tends to be put not on the Cross of Christ but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
The Light That Weathers All Your Storms - #8577
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. It's estimated that over 2,000 ships have gone down there over the centuries. But a lot more lives could have been lost 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's 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 couldn't survive the storms. The marriage that was supposed to give you love for a lifetime, the job that maybe you thought would always be there, the person that was supposed to be an anchor, the retirement plans that you thought were so secure. But they're gone. Our health 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 are created with a need for that - a need that was designed to be met by the One who put us here in the first place. Actually, we were made for Him, and our Creator is the only light that never goes out; never goes away.
In John 8:12, which is our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus took us straight to the light that weathers every storm. He said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." For two thousand years, through every changing culture and circumstance, Jesus has been the light that has dispelled the darkness for millions of lives, including mine. The one love that no storm has ever touched, the one security that lasts a lifetime, that lasts an eternity. Jesus is, in fact, 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 himself had to go through the darkest darkness any human being has ever endured - that cross. That awful death on the cross where Jesus took on Himself every wrong thing every one of us has ever done, including every sin of your life. It was literally your hell, my hell, that Jesus was taking there so you and I 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 can overcome.
I know a relationship with Jesus can weather every storm. He has loved and sustained me as we lost a baby, through financial crises, through all the struggles of parenting, through major medical battles, and at the casket of so many we've loved, including the woman I loved for a lifetime.
Jesus has never abandoned, never let down anyone who's put their life in His hands. He is the one certain light that your heart needs. I know that. He died so you could have a relationship with Him. But you have to choose Him by telling Him, "Jesus, I don't belong at the steering wheel of my life. You do, and I'm putting all my trust in You to remove that wall between me and God. I want to belong to you from this day on."
Look, if you do, our website would be a great destination for you right now. Because the information is there to help you secure that relationship. The website is ANewStory.com.
For all your storms, for your darkest times, even for your final journey, there's a light that will always be there. That light has a name. His name is Jesus.
Monday, November 25, 2019
1 Corinthians 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: OUR GOD CANNOT BE CONTAINED
Most people have small thoughts about God. In an effort to see God as our friend, we have lost his immensity. In our desire to understand him, we have sought to contain him.
The God of the Bible cannot be contained. With a word he called Adam out of dust and Eve out of a bone. He consulted no committee. He sought no counsel. He has authority over the world and…He has authority over your world. He’s never surprised. He has never, ever uttered the phrase, “How did that happen?”
God’s goodness is a major headline in the Bible. If he were only mighty, we’d salute Him. But since he is merciful and mighty, we can approach him. If God is at once Father and Creator, holy—unlike us—and high above us, then we at any point are only a prayer away from help
1 Corinthians 2
You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified.
3-5 I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else.
6-10 We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our day haven’t a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn’t have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross. That’s why we have this Scripture text:
No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.
But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.
10-13 The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
14-16 The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 25, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Peter 2:4–10
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”[b]
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”[c]
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”[d]
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Insight
When Peter speaks of Jesus and His disciples as being like living stones (1 Peter 2:4–6), he draws on words from the prophet Isaiah and Psalm 118. Using the language of a builder, Isaiah foresees a cornerstone God will lay in Jerusalem as a safe foundation for all who build on it (28:16). Psalm 118 praises the day when this cornerstone will be laid, describing it as a stone human builders rejected before God used it to show that His faithful love endures forever (vv. 22–24, 29). Peter is joined by the apostle Paul, who also refers to Jesus as the cornerstone of a temple made of the treasured lives of God’s own people (Ephesians 2:19–22). Together, these Old and New Testament texts give us a picture of a temple that comes alive in the people of God as they’re filled with the Spirit of Christ. By: Mart DeHaan
God’s Special Treasure
But you are . . . God’s special possession. 1 Peter 2:9
Imagine a vast throne room. Seated on the throne is a great king. He’s surrounded by all manner of attendants, each on their best behavior. Now imagine a box that sits at the king’s feet. From time to time the king reaches down and runs his hands through the contents. And what’s in the box? Jewels, gold, and gemstones particular to the king’s tastes. This box holds the king’s treasures, a collection that brings him great joy. Can you see that image in your mind’s eye?
The Hebrew word for this treasure is segulah, and it means “special possession.” That word is found in such Old Testament Scriptures as Exodus 19:5, Deuteronomy 7:6, and Psalm 135:4, where it refers to the nation of Israel. But that same word picture shows up in the New Testament by way of the pen of Peter the apostle. He’s describing the “people of God,” those who “have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:10), a collection now beyond the nation of Israel. In other words, he’s talking about those who believe in Jesus, both Jew and gentile. And he writes “But you are . . . God’s special possession” (v. 9).
Imagine that! The great and powerful King of heaven considers you among His special treasures. He has rescued you from the grip of sin and death. He claims you as His own. The King’s voice says, “This one I love. This one is mine.” By: John Blase
Reflect & Pray
Can you recall a time when someone genuinely called you “special”? What effect did it have on you? What does it mean for you to know that you’re precious to God?
High King of heaven, my identity is found entirely in You, and You call me Your special treasure. I know this isn’t because of anything I’ve done, but because of everything You are.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 25, 2019
The Secret of Spiritual Consistency
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “…it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.…we preach Christ crucified…” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 25, 2019
Small Leaks - #8576
The Titanic couldn't miss that iceberg. These days, you can't miss the Titanic. Ever since they found the unsinkable ship where it sank two and a half miles beneath the sea, there's been a rekindled fascination with the Titanic. As they have studied the wreckage with the latest underwater technology, they've discovered some surprising new information about what happened to the grandest ocean liner in history. It was the equivalent of four city blocks in length! Now most people have probably pictured the Titanic plowing into this huge iceberg and opening up a gaping hole in it. But now we know that the Titanic basically just sideswiped that iceberg; in fact, many passengers didn't even know anything had happened. And it wasn't some gaping hole that sank the unsinkable ship. It was what one newspaper called, "small wounds that doomed the Titanic." There were six relatively small punctures in the hull - "pin pricks" according to a TV special on the subject. Here's a ship that was 95,000 square feet in size, and it was sunk by little leaks that one article said, all put together, would have been about 12 square feet - about the size of a door!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Small Leaks."
That's all it takes to sink a mighty ship, or a mighty man or woman of God. Song of Songs 2:15, our word for today from the Word of God says, "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom." Big vineyard ruined by little foxes. Big ship sunk by small leaks. It's no wonder that God's wisdom tells us to catch the little foxes, or stop the small leaks. Don't wait for them to get big.
So many people who were growing in Christ and making a difference for Him have tragically sunk - human Titanics - because of what seemed to be small moral or ethical or spiritual leaks. So small that they didn't think they could do any damage; so small they didn't need to be dealt with. So small nobody noticed. Well, they were dead wrong. Leaders have sunk from those small leaks, entire ministries, marriages, reputations, businesses, and many followers of Jesus.
It might not be a major crash that could bring you down. It might be just a seemingly minor scrape. But if you underestimate the power of sin and compromise, even if it seems small at the time, you'll discover too late the deadly damage it can do.
Honestly, now, where is the small spiritual leak in your life? Maybe it's just a small financial compromise, a little lie, a little flirtation with sexual sin, or some small fantasies that are setting you up for a major fall. Maybe you're dating someone you know you shouldn't be, you're watching or listening to input that's slowly wearing down your resistance to sin. Or maybe it's just a little gossip, a little complaining, a little bad attitude, or a little spiritual vacation.
But little leaks like those are big enough for you to start taking on the water that can sink you. If you can't see where the water might be coming in, then pray David's insightful prayer, "Search me, O God, and see if there be any wicked way in me." Remember, Satan seldom destroys people by explosion. He does it by erosion - that gradual wearing you down that eventually prepares you for the big cave-in where you end up going where you were sure you would never go.
Maybe God is trying to send you a warning through this little visit today, to go after those little foxes, to plug those small leaks before you lose more than you could have ever imagined. It happened to the Titanic; it can happen to you. But it doesn't have to if you act now.
Most people have small thoughts about God. In an effort to see God as our friend, we have lost his immensity. In our desire to understand him, we have sought to contain him.
The God of the Bible cannot be contained. With a word he called Adam out of dust and Eve out of a bone. He consulted no committee. He sought no counsel. He has authority over the world and…He has authority over your world. He’s never surprised. He has never, ever uttered the phrase, “How did that happen?”
God’s goodness is a major headline in the Bible. If he were only mighty, we’d salute Him. But since he is merciful and mighty, we can approach him. If God is at once Father and Creator, holy—unlike us—and high above us, then we at any point are only a prayer away from help
1 Corinthians 2
You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified.
3-5 I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else.
6-10 We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our day haven’t a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn’t have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross. That’s why we have this Scripture text:
No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.
But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.
10-13 The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
14-16 The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 25, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Peter 2:4–10
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”[b]
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”[c]
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”[d]
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Insight
When Peter speaks of Jesus and His disciples as being like living stones (1 Peter 2:4–6), he draws on words from the prophet Isaiah and Psalm 118. Using the language of a builder, Isaiah foresees a cornerstone God will lay in Jerusalem as a safe foundation for all who build on it (28:16). Psalm 118 praises the day when this cornerstone will be laid, describing it as a stone human builders rejected before God used it to show that His faithful love endures forever (vv. 22–24, 29). Peter is joined by the apostle Paul, who also refers to Jesus as the cornerstone of a temple made of the treasured lives of God’s own people (Ephesians 2:19–22). Together, these Old and New Testament texts give us a picture of a temple that comes alive in the people of God as they’re filled with the Spirit of Christ. By: Mart DeHaan
God’s Special Treasure
But you are . . . God’s special possession. 1 Peter 2:9
Imagine a vast throne room. Seated on the throne is a great king. He’s surrounded by all manner of attendants, each on their best behavior. Now imagine a box that sits at the king’s feet. From time to time the king reaches down and runs his hands through the contents. And what’s in the box? Jewels, gold, and gemstones particular to the king’s tastes. This box holds the king’s treasures, a collection that brings him great joy. Can you see that image in your mind’s eye?
The Hebrew word for this treasure is segulah, and it means “special possession.” That word is found in such Old Testament Scriptures as Exodus 19:5, Deuteronomy 7:6, and Psalm 135:4, where it refers to the nation of Israel. But that same word picture shows up in the New Testament by way of the pen of Peter the apostle. He’s describing the “people of God,” those who “have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:10), a collection now beyond the nation of Israel. In other words, he’s talking about those who believe in Jesus, both Jew and gentile. And he writes “But you are . . . God’s special possession” (v. 9).
Imagine that! The great and powerful King of heaven considers you among His special treasures. He has rescued you from the grip of sin and death. He claims you as His own. The King’s voice says, “This one I love. This one is mine.” By: John Blase
Reflect & Pray
Can you recall a time when someone genuinely called you “special”? What effect did it have on you? What does it mean for you to know that you’re precious to God?
High King of heaven, my identity is found entirely in You, and You call me Your special treasure. I know this isn’t because of anything I’ve done, but because of everything You are.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 25, 2019
The Secret of Spiritual Consistency
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “…it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.…we preach Christ crucified…” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 25, 2019
Small Leaks - #8576
The Titanic couldn't miss that iceberg. These days, you can't miss the Titanic. Ever since they found the unsinkable ship where it sank two and a half miles beneath the sea, there's been a rekindled fascination with the Titanic. As they have studied the wreckage with the latest underwater technology, they've discovered some surprising new information about what happened to the grandest ocean liner in history. It was the equivalent of four city blocks in length! Now most people have probably pictured the Titanic plowing into this huge iceberg and opening up a gaping hole in it. But now we know that the Titanic basically just sideswiped that iceberg; in fact, many passengers didn't even know anything had happened. And it wasn't some gaping hole that sank the unsinkable ship. It was what one newspaper called, "small wounds that doomed the Titanic." There were six relatively small punctures in the hull - "pin pricks" according to a TV special on the subject. Here's a ship that was 95,000 square feet in size, and it was sunk by little leaks that one article said, all put together, would have been about 12 square feet - about the size of a door!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Small Leaks."
That's all it takes to sink a mighty ship, or a mighty man or woman of God. Song of Songs 2:15, our word for today from the Word of God says, "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom." Big vineyard ruined by little foxes. Big ship sunk by small leaks. It's no wonder that God's wisdom tells us to catch the little foxes, or stop the small leaks. Don't wait for them to get big.
So many people who were growing in Christ and making a difference for Him have tragically sunk - human Titanics - because of what seemed to be small moral or ethical or spiritual leaks. So small that they didn't think they could do any damage; so small they didn't need to be dealt with. So small nobody noticed. Well, they were dead wrong. Leaders have sunk from those small leaks, entire ministries, marriages, reputations, businesses, and many followers of Jesus.
It might not be a major crash that could bring you down. It might be just a seemingly minor scrape. But if you underestimate the power of sin and compromise, even if it seems small at the time, you'll discover too late the deadly damage it can do.
Honestly, now, where is the small spiritual leak in your life? Maybe it's just a small financial compromise, a little lie, a little flirtation with sexual sin, or some small fantasies that are setting you up for a major fall. Maybe you're dating someone you know you shouldn't be, you're watching or listening to input that's slowly wearing down your resistance to sin. Or maybe it's just a little gossip, a little complaining, a little bad attitude, or a little spiritual vacation.
But little leaks like those are big enough for you to start taking on the water that can sink you. If you can't see where the water might be coming in, then pray David's insightful prayer, "Search me, O God, and see if there be any wicked way in me." Remember, Satan seldom destroys people by explosion. He does it by erosion - that gradual wearing you down that eventually prepares you for the big cave-in where you end up going where you were sure you would never go.
Maybe God is trying to send you a warning through this little visit today, to go after those little foxes, to plug those small leaks before you lose more than you could have ever imagined. It happened to the Titanic; it can happen to you. But it doesn't have to if you act now.
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Psalm 135 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Trust God
You will never have a problem-free life. Pigs might fly. A kangaroo might swim. Men might surrender the remote control. Women might quit buying purses. It’s not likely, but it’s possible. But a problem-free, no-hassle existence of smooth sailing? Don’t hold your breath. All people have problems, but not all people see problems the same way. Some are left bitter; others are left better. Some face their challenges with fear, others with faith. What about you?
The Psalmist asked, ”Why are you downcast, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?” The struggles of life threatened to pull him under. But at just the right time, the writer made this decision: “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him!” A deliberate decision to treat his downcast soul with thoughts of God. When troubles come, we can be stressed and upset…or we can trust God!
From Glory Days
Psalm 135
Hallelujah!
Praise the name of God,
praise the works of God.
All you priests on duty in God’s temple,
serving in the sacred halls of our God,
Shout “Hallelujah!” because God’s so good,
sing anthems to his beautiful name.
And why? Because God chose Jacob,
embraced Israel as a prize possession.
5-12 I, too, give witness to the greatness of God,
our Lord, high above all other gods.
He does just as he pleases—
however, wherever, whenever.
He makes the weather—clouds and thunder,
lightning and rain, wind pouring out of the north.
He struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
both human and animal firstborn.
He made Egypt sit up and take notice,
confronted Pharaoh and his servants with miracles.
Yes, he struck down great nations,
he slew mighty kings—
Sihon king of the Amorites, also Og of Bashan—
every last one of the Canaanite kings!
Then he turned their land over to Israel,
a gift of good land to his people.
13-18 God, your name is eternal,
God, you’ll never be out-of-date.
God stands up for his people,
God holds the hands of his people.
The gods of the godless nations are mere trinkets,
made for quick sale in the markets:
Chiseled mouths that can’t talk,
painted eyes that can’t see,
Carved ears that can’t hear—
dead wood! cold metal!
Those who make and trust them
become like them.
19-21 Family of Israel, bless God!
Family of Aaron, bless God!
Family of Levi, bless God!
You who fear God, bless God!
Oh, blessed be God of Zion,
First Citizen of Jerusalem!
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Deuteronomy 11:13–21
So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
Insight
Jesus quoted Deuteronomy more than any other Old Testament book except the Psalms. When tempted in the wilderness, He rebuffed Satan three times with teachings from Deuteronomy (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10, quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:16, and 6:13). And when a teacher of the law asked Him which commandment was the greatest (Matthew 22:34–40), Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5. That passage is repeated here in 11:13, emphasizing its importance. If Israel obeyed God’s law by loving “the Lord [their] God and [serving] him with all [their] heart and with all [their] soul,” God’s blessing would follow. By: Tim Gustafson
God Talk
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Deuteronomy 11:18
A study conducted by the Barna Group in 2018 found that most Americans don’t like to talk about God. Only seven percent of Americans say they talk about spiritual matters regularly—and practicing believers in Jesus in America aren’t that different. Only thirteen percent of regular churchgoers say they have a spiritual conversation about once a week.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that spiritual conversations are on the decline. Talking about God can be dangerous. Whether because of a polarized political climate, because disagreement might cause a rift in a relationship, or because a spiritual conversation might cause you to realize a change you need to make in your life—these can feel like high-stakes conversations.
But in the instructions given to God’s people, the Israelites, in the book of Deuteronomy, talking about God can be a normal, natural part of everyday life. God’s people were to memorize His words and to display them in places where they’d often be seen. The law said to talk about God’s instructions for life with your children “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (11:19).
God calls us to conversation. Take a chance, rely on the Spirit, and try turning your small talk toward something deeper. God will bless our communities as we talk about His words and practice them. By: Amy Peterson
Reflect & Pray
What challenges have come to you as a result of spiritual conversations with friends? What blessings?
There’s so much about You, God, that can be shared with others in my life. Lead me as I interact with them.
To learn more about why the Bible endures, visit https://ourdailybreadfilms.org/film/the-bible-why-does-it-endure/.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Direction of Focus
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters…, so our eyes look to the Lord our God… —Psalm 123:2
This verse is a description of total reliance on God. Just as the eyes of a servant are riveted on his master, our eyes should be directed to and focused on God. This is how knowledge of His countenance is gained and how God reveals Himself to us (see Isaiah 53:1). Our spiritual strength begins to be drained when we stop lifting our eyes to Him. Our stamina is sapped, not so much through external troubles surrounding us but through problems in our thinking. We wrongfully think, “I suppose I’ve been stretching myself a little too much, standing too tall and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person.” We have to realize that no effort can be too high.
For example, you came to a crisis in your life, took a stand for God, and even had the witness of the Spirit as a confirmation that what you did was right. But now, maybe weeks or years have gone by, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion— “Well, maybe what I did showed too much pride or was superficial. Was I taking a stand a bit too high for me?” Your “rational” friends come and say, “Don’t be silly. We knew when you first talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a passing impulse, that you couldn’t hold up under the strain. And anyway, God doesn’t expect you to endure.” You respond by saying, “Well, I suppose I was expecting too much.” That sounds humble to say, but it means that your reliance on God is gone, and you are now relying on worldly opinion. The danger comes when, no longer relying on God, you neglect to focus your eyes on Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize that you have been the loser. Whenever there is a spiritual drain in your life, correct it immediately. Realize that something has been coming between you and God, and change or remove it at once.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L
You will never have a problem-free life. Pigs might fly. A kangaroo might swim. Men might surrender the remote control. Women might quit buying purses. It’s not likely, but it’s possible. But a problem-free, no-hassle existence of smooth sailing? Don’t hold your breath. All people have problems, but not all people see problems the same way. Some are left bitter; others are left better. Some face their challenges with fear, others with faith. What about you?
The Psalmist asked, ”Why are you downcast, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?” The struggles of life threatened to pull him under. But at just the right time, the writer made this decision: “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him!” A deliberate decision to treat his downcast soul with thoughts of God. When troubles come, we can be stressed and upset…or we can trust God!
From Glory Days
Psalm 135
Hallelujah!
Praise the name of God,
praise the works of God.
All you priests on duty in God’s temple,
serving in the sacred halls of our God,
Shout “Hallelujah!” because God’s so good,
sing anthems to his beautiful name.
And why? Because God chose Jacob,
embraced Israel as a prize possession.
5-12 I, too, give witness to the greatness of God,
our Lord, high above all other gods.
He does just as he pleases—
however, wherever, whenever.
He makes the weather—clouds and thunder,
lightning and rain, wind pouring out of the north.
He struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
both human and animal firstborn.
He made Egypt sit up and take notice,
confronted Pharaoh and his servants with miracles.
Yes, he struck down great nations,
he slew mighty kings—
Sihon king of the Amorites, also Og of Bashan—
every last one of the Canaanite kings!
Then he turned their land over to Israel,
a gift of good land to his people.
13-18 God, your name is eternal,
God, you’ll never be out-of-date.
God stands up for his people,
God holds the hands of his people.
The gods of the godless nations are mere trinkets,
made for quick sale in the markets:
Chiseled mouths that can’t talk,
painted eyes that can’t see,
Carved ears that can’t hear—
dead wood! cold metal!
Those who make and trust them
become like them.
19-21 Family of Israel, bless God!
Family of Aaron, bless God!
Family of Levi, bless God!
You who fear God, bless God!
Oh, blessed be God of Zion,
First Citizen of Jerusalem!
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Deuteronomy 11:13–21
So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
Insight
Jesus quoted Deuteronomy more than any other Old Testament book except the Psalms. When tempted in the wilderness, He rebuffed Satan three times with teachings from Deuteronomy (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10, quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:16, and 6:13). And when a teacher of the law asked Him which commandment was the greatest (Matthew 22:34–40), Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5. That passage is repeated here in 11:13, emphasizing its importance. If Israel obeyed God’s law by loving “the Lord [their] God and [serving] him with all [their] heart and with all [their] soul,” God’s blessing would follow. By: Tim Gustafson
God Talk
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Deuteronomy 11:18
A study conducted by the Barna Group in 2018 found that most Americans don’t like to talk about God. Only seven percent of Americans say they talk about spiritual matters regularly—and practicing believers in Jesus in America aren’t that different. Only thirteen percent of regular churchgoers say they have a spiritual conversation about once a week.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that spiritual conversations are on the decline. Talking about God can be dangerous. Whether because of a polarized political climate, because disagreement might cause a rift in a relationship, or because a spiritual conversation might cause you to realize a change you need to make in your life—these can feel like high-stakes conversations.
But in the instructions given to God’s people, the Israelites, in the book of Deuteronomy, talking about God can be a normal, natural part of everyday life. God’s people were to memorize His words and to display them in places where they’d often be seen. The law said to talk about God’s instructions for life with your children “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (11:19).
God calls us to conversation. Take a chance, rely on the Spirit, and try turning your small talk toward something deeper. God will bless our communities as we talk about His words and practice them. By: Amy Peterson
Reflect & Pray
What challenges have come to you as a result of spiritual conversations with friends? What blessings?
There’s so much about You, God, that can be shared with others in my life. Lead me as I interact with them.
To learn more about why the Bible endures, visit https://ourdailybreadfilms.org/film/the-bible-why-does-it-endure/.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Direction of Focus
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters…, so our eyes look to the Lord our God… —Psalm 123:2
This verse is a description of total reliance on God. Just as the eyes of a servant are riveted on his master, our eyes should be directed to and focused on God. This is how knowledge of His countenance is gained and how God reveals Himself to us (see Isaiah 53:1). Our spiritual strength begins to be drained when we stop lifting our eyes to Him. Our stamina is sapped, not so much through external troubles surrounding us but through problems in our thinking. We wrongfully think, “I suppose I’ve been stretching myself a little too much, standing too tall and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person.” We have to realize that no effort can be too high.
For example, you came to a crisis in your life, took a stand for God, and even had the witness of the Spirit as a confirmation that what you did was right. But now, maybe weeks or years have gone by, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion— “Well, maybe what I did showed too much pride or was superficial. Was I taking a stand a bit too high for me?” Your “rational” friends come and say, “Don’t be silly. We knew when you first talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a passing impulse, that you couldn’t hold up under the strain. And anyway, God doesn’t expect you to endure.” You respond by saying, “Well, I suppose I was expecting too much.” That sounds humble to say, but it means that your reliance on God is gone, and you are now relying on worldly opinion. The danger comes when, no longer relying on God, you neglect to focus your eyes on Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize that you have been the loser. Whenever there is a spiritual drain in your life, correct it immediately. Realize that something has been coming between you and God, and change or remove it at once.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Psalm 134, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: An Heir of God’s Estate
Long after Joshua had distributed the land of Canaan, seven of the tribes were still in the military camp. Joshua scolded them in Joshua 18:3, “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?” They marched out of the wilderness and conquered the land; yet when the time came to inherit their unique parcels, they grew lazy.
Don’t make the same mistake. You are an heir with Christ of God’s estate. He has placed his Spirit in your heart as a down payment. What God said to Joshua in Joshua 1:3 he says to you. “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you.” But you must possess it. You must deliberately receive what God so graciously gives! Find your lot in life and live in it!
From Glory Days
Psalm 134
A Pilgrim Song
Come, bless God,
all you servants of God!
You priests of God, posted to the nightwatch
in God’s shrine,
Lift your praising hands to the Holy Place,
and bless God.
In turn, may God of Zion bless you—
God who made heaven and earth!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Thessalonians 2:1–4
You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.
Insight
On his second missionary journey (Acts 15:36–18:22), Paul wanted to preach the gospel in Asia Minor and Bithynia (modern western and northern Turkey), but God redirected him northwest into Europe via Troas through “a vision of a man of Macedonia” (16:6–12). Paul preached in Thessalonica (northern Greece), the second European city evangelized (after Philippi), for about a month (17:2). After starting a church there, he left because of persecution (vv. 5–10), but he was deeply concerned for the infant church. After trying unsuccessfully to return (1 Thessalonians 2:17–18), he sent Timothy to visit the church (3:1–5). Timothy reported that it was thriving—standing firm in Christ despite persecution (vv. 6–8)—but he also shared concerns about immoral behavior and erroneous beliefs concerning Christ’s return (4:1–18). In response, Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians to commend the church for being “a model to all the believers” and for their “faith in God” (1:7–8).
The Approval of One
We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 2:4
When the legendary composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) was young, a hunger for approval drove him toward success. Warren Wiersbe wrote of him: “When Verdi produced his first opera in Florence, the composer stood by himself in the shadows and kept his eye on the face of one man in the audience—the great Rossini. It mattered not to Verdi whether the people in the hall were cheering him or jeering him; all he wanted was a smile of approval from the master musician.”
Whose approval do we seek? A parent’s? A boss’s? A love interest’s? For Paul, there was but one answer. He wrote, “We speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).
What does it mean to seek God’s approval? At the very least, it involves two things: turning from the desire for the applause of others and allowing His Spirit to make us more like Christ—the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. As we yield to His perfect purposes in us and through us, we can anticipate a day when we will experience the smile of His approval—the approval of the One who matters most. By: Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
Whose approval do you find yourself seeking and why is their validation so important to you? How could God’s approval satisfy even more deeply?
Father, it’s far too easy to seek the applause of those around me and to desire their praise. Help me to lift my eyes to You, the One who knows me best and loves me most. For further study, read Living an Authentic Christian Life at discoveryseries.org/hp111.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, November 23, 2019
The Distraction of Contempt
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. —Psalm 123:3
What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. “Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:16). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.
Beware of “the cares of this world…” (Mark 4:19). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by “the cares of this world.”
Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.” Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, “I must explain myself,” or, “I must get people to understand.” Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.
When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R
Long after Joshua had distributed the land of Canaan, seven of the tribes were still in the military camp. Joshua scolded them in Joshua 18:3, “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?” They marched out of the wilderness and conquered the land; yet when the time came to inherit their unique parcels, they grew lazy.
Don’t make the same mistake. You are an heir with Christ of God’s estate. He has placed his Spirit in your heart as a down payment. What God said to Joshua in Joshua 1:3 he says to you. “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you.” But you must possess it. You must deliberately receive what God so graciously gives! Find your lot in life and live in it!
From Glory Days
Psalm 134
A Pilgrim Song
Come, bless God,
all you servants of God!
You priests of God, posted to the nightwatch
in God’s shrine,
Lift your praising hands to the Holy Place,
and bless God.
In turn, may God of Zion bless you—
God who made heaven and earth!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Thessalonians 2:1–4
You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.
Insight
On his second missionary journey (Acts 15:36–18:22), Paul wanted to preach the gospel in Asia Minor and Bithynia (modern western and northern Turkey), but God redirected him northwest into Europe via Troas through “a vision of a man of Macedonia” (16:6–12). Paul preached in Thessalonica (northern Greece), the second European city evangelized (after Philippi), for about a month (17:2). After starting a church there, he left because of persecution (vv. 5–10), but he was deeply concerned for the infant church. After trying unsuccessfully to return (1 Thessalonians 2:17–18), he sent Timothy to visit the church (3:1–5). Timothy reported that it was thriving—standing firm in Christ despite persecution (vv. 6–8)—but he also shared concerns about immoral behavior and erroneous beliefs concerning Christ’s return (4:1–18). In response, Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians to commend the church for being “a model to all the believers” and for their “faith in God” (1:7–8).
The Approval of One
We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 2:4
When the legendary composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) was young, a hunger for approval drove him toward success. Warren Wiersbe wrote of him: “When Verdi produced his first opera in Florence, the composer stood by himself in the shadows and kept his eye on the face of one man in the audience—the great Rossini. It mattered not to Verdi whether the people in the hall were cheering him or jeering him; all he wanted was a smile of approval from the master musician.”
Whose approval do we seek? A parent’s? A boss’s? A love interest’s? For Paul, there was but one answer. He wrote, “We speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).
What does it mean to seek God’s approval? At the very least, it involves two things: turning from the desire for the applause of others and allowing His Spirit to make us more like Christ—the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. As we yield to His perfect purposes in us and through us, we can anticipate a day when we will experience the smile of His approval—the approval of the One who matters most. By: Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
Whose approval do you find yourself seeking and why is their validation so important to you? How could God’s approval satisfy even more deeply?
Father, it’s far too easy to seek the applause of those around me and to desire their praise. Help me to lift my eyes to You, the One who knows me best and loves me most. For further study, read Living an Authentic Christian Life at discoveryseries.org/hp111.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, November 23, 2019
The Distraction of Contempt
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. —Psalm 123:3
What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. “Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:16). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.
Beware of “the cares of this world…” (Mark 4:19). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by “the cares of this world.”
Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.” Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, “I must explain myself,” or, “I must get people to understand.” Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.
When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R
Friday, November 22, 2019
Psalm 133, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A HEARTFELT CRY TO GOD
When my eldest daughter was 13 years old, she flubbed her piano piece at a recital. The silence in the auditorium was broken only by the pounding of her parents’ hearts. She hurried off the stage, threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shirt. “Oh, Daddy.” That was enough for me. At that moment I’d have given her the moon. All she said was, “Oh Daddy!”
Prayer starts here. Prayer begins with an honest and heartfelt, “Oh Daddy!” Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy.
Here’s my challenge for you! Every day for four weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
Psalm 133
A Pilgrim Song of David
How wonderful, how beautiful,
when brothers and sisters get along!
It’s like costly anointing oil
flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron’s beard,
flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.
It’s like the dew on Mount Hermon
flowing down the slopes of Zion.
Yes, that’s where God commands the blessing,
ordains eternal life.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 22, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 15:11–13; 17–24
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
Insight
Luke 15 is a parable with three distinct but related parts in which Jesus describes three lost things—a sheep, a coin, and a son. Each part ends with rejoicing over finding what was lost to show there will be rejoicing in heaven over “a sinner who repents” (vv. 7, 10, 32). Those listening were Pharisees and teachers who criticized Jesus for welcoming sinners (vv. 1–2). Through the older brother (vv. 25–31), Jesus pointed out the need of the Pharisees to repent. He doesn’t tell us whether the older son chose to attend his brother’s celebration. It’s almost as if He placed the Pharisees in the older brother’s shoes to show them they had a choice of whether they themselves would repent. By: Julie Schwab
The Older Brother
[They] muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Luke 15:2
Author Henri Nouwen recalls his visit to a museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he spent hours reflecting on Rembrandt’s portrayal of the prodigal son. As the day wore on, changes in the natural lighting from a nearby window left Nouwen with the impression that he was seeing as many different paintings as there were changes of light. Each seemed to reveal something else about a father’s love for his broken son.
Nouwen describes how, at about four o’clock, three figures in the painting appeared to “step forward.” One was the older son who resented his father’s willingness to roll out the red carpet for the homecoming of his younger brother, the prodigal. After all, hadn’t he squandered so much of the family fortune, causing them pain and embarrassment in the process? (Luke 15:28–30).
The other two figures reminded Nouwen of the religious leaders who were present as Jesus told His parable. They were the ones who muttered in the background about the sinners Jesus was attracting (vv. 1–2).
Nouwen saw himself in all of them—in the wasted life of his youngest son, in the condemning older brother and religious leaders, and in a Father’s heart that’s big enough for anyone and everyone.
What about us? Can we see ourselves anywhere in Rembrandt’s painting? In some way, every story Jesus told is about us. By: Mart DeHaan
Reflect & Pray
How might you reflect again on the story Jesus told and on the Rembrandt painting? As the light changes, where do you find yourself?
Father, help me to see myself for how much You love me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 22, 2019
Shallow and Profound
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31
Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow aspects of life are not ordained by God; they are ordained by Him equally as much as the profound. We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of spiritual pride. We must be careful, for this is how contempt for others is produced in our lives. And it causes us to be a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than we are. Beware of posing as a profound person— God became a baby.
To be shallow is not a sign of being sinful, nor is shallowness an indication that there is no depth to your life at all— the ocean has a shore. Even the shallow things of life, such as eating and drinking, walking and talking, are ordained by God. These are all things our Lord did. He did them as the Son of God, and He said, “A disciple is not above his teacher…” (Matthew 10:24).
We are safeguarded by the shallow things of life. We have to live the surface, commonsense life in a commonsense way. Then when God gives us the deeper things, they are obviously separated from the shallow concerns. Never show the depth of your life to anyone but God. We are so nauseatingly serious, so desperately interested in our own character and reputation, we refuse to behave like Christians in the shallow concerns of life.
Make a determination to take no one seriously except God. You may find that the first person you must be the most critical with, as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, November 22, 2019
Insisting on Driving - #8575
Yeah, my wife was always this way, I'm this way. We're some of those psychos called marathon drivers. Now I know long-haul truckers have to do it for a living. But sometimes, you know, I've been known to choose to do it, just because, well, we wanted to get somewhere quickly. Of course, like most men, I like to be the one driving, sometimes for longer than I should. My wife would always tell me that our lives start to be in danger from the time I would start rubbing my right leg while I'm driving. Now, what does that have to do with it? Apparently, that's the first tip-off I'm going to sleep soon. So she would gently offer to drive and I would, of course, refuse. She'd offer several other times to drive, and then I would start doing a workout at the wheel. And then I would turn on some obnoxious radio station at full volume. Then I would open the window to let in the 20-below wind chill. Finally, just before we're just about to become a National Safety Council statistic, I would grudgingly pull over to the side of the road. We would change seats, and I would be out before we could start the car again.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Insisting on Driving."
I have a feeling I am not the only one who hates to give up the wheel, even if it's dangerous to keep driving. A lot of us want that control, not just of our vehicle, but of our lives. And no one's going to get our hands off the wheel of our life - including God.
Now maybe you're a very independent person. You've driven your life all these years, and you're not about to relinquish the wheel now. But all these years, the One who created you has been saying, "Isn't it about time you let Me drive?" And while you may have tried to keep God happy by being religious, you've stubbornly tightened your fingers around the wheel.
The truth is we were never created to drive our own life! The Bible makes that very clear when it says in Colossians 1:16 that "all things were created by Him and for Him." Now it's talking about Jesus Christ. You were created by Jesus. You were created for Jesus. And you've had a hole in your heart all these years because you didn't have Jesus. The One who gave you your life is supposed to be running your life. But it might be that you've insisted on being your own god, because whoever's driving your life is who your god really is.
Which leads us to an important warning from God in our word for today from the Word of God. Proverbs 29:1 says, "A man (and it could just as easily be a woman) who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes (or warnings) will suddenly be destroyed without remedy." Now chances are that you've had many warnings in your life that you shouldn't be driving and that you should move over; you should turn the wheel over to the God who made you.
It may be that someone who really loves you has been encouraging you to come to Jesus, but you've been too proud to let that happen. Well, that's expensive pride; maybe fatal pride...eternally fatal pride.
At the moment God decides your life is over, your eternity is totally in His hands. And He will care about only one thing: did you give your life to His Son Jesus, who gave His life to die for your sins on the cross? So many of us who have finally turned the wheel over to Him put it off as long as we could only to say now, "Why did I wait so long? This peace, this security, the weight off that I feel in my heart when He's driving!"
Now Jesus is saying it again today, "Let Me drive." If you keep driving, you'll ultimately crash. While there's time, would you let go of the wheel of your life and turn it over to the One who was meant to drive all along. Don't you want to begin this personal love relationship with Jesus?
Well, what you need to do then is tell him right now, "Jesus, I've been running my life. I've been putting You off. I've postponed You. I've ignored You. I've tried to compensate by being good, but none of that will pay for my sin. It took You dying on the cross, Jesus, and I'm grabbing You like a drowning person will grab a lifeguard. You're my only hope." That relationship begins at the point when you do that.
That's what our website is there for, to help guide you on that road to begin that relationship and know you have. Would you go to ANewStory.com.
Please don't let your stubbornness, your pride, cost you Jesus, because that will cost you heaven. You've driven long enough. Why don't you let Him drive the rest of the way?
When my eldest daughter was 13 years old, she flubbed her piano piece at a recital. The silence in the auditorium was broken only by the pounding of her parents’ hearts. She hurried off the stage, threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shirt. “Oh, Daddy.” That was enough for me. At that moment I’d have given her the moon. All she said was, “Oh Daddy!”
Prayer starts here. Prayer begins with an honest and heartfelt, “Oh Daddy!” Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy.
Here’s my challenge for you! Every day for four weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
Psalm 133
A Pilgrim Song of David
How wonderful, how beautiful,
when brothers and sisters get along!
It’s like costly anointing oil
flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron’s beard,
flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.
It’s like the dew on Mount Hermon
flowing down the slopes of Zion.
Yes, that’s where God commands the blessing,
ordains eternal life.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 22, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 15:11–13; 17–24
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
Insight
Luke 15 is a parable with three distinct but related parts in which Jesus describes three lost things—a sheep, a coin, and a son. Each part ends with rejoicing over finding what was lost to show there will be rejoicing in heaven over “a sinner who repents” (vv. 7, 10, 32). Those listening were Pharisees and teachers who criticized Jesus for welcoming sinners (vv. 1–2). Through the older brother (vv. 25–31), Jesus pointed out the need of the Pharisees to repent. He doesn’t tell us whether the older son chose to attend his brother’s celebration. It’s almost as if He placed the Pharisees in the older brother’s shoes to show them they had a choice of whether they themselves would repent. By: Julie Schwab
The Older Brother
[They] muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Luke 15:2
Author Henri Nouwen recalls his visit to a museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he spent hours reflecting on Rembrandt’s portrayal of the prodigal son. As the day wore on, changes in the natural lighting from a nearby window left Nouwen with the impression that he was seeing as many different paintings as there were changes of light. Each seemed to reveal something else about a father’s love for his broken son.
Nouwen describes how, at about four o’clock, three figures in the painting appeared to “step forward.” One was the older son who resented his father’s willingness to roll out the red carpet for the homecoming of his younger brother, the prodigal. After all, hadn’t he squandered so much of the family fortune, causing them pain and embarrassment in the process? (Luke 15:28–30).
The other two figures reminded Nouwen of the religious leaders who were present as Jesus told His parable. They were the ones who muttered in the background about the sinners Jesus was attracting (vv. 1–2).
Nouwen saw himself in all of them—in the wasted life of his youngest son, in the condemning older brother and religious leaders, and in a Father’s heart that’s big enough for anyone and everyone.
What about us? Can we see ourselves anywhere in Rembrandt’s painting? In some way, every story Jesus told is about us. By: Mart DeHaan
Reflect & Pray
How might you reflect again on the story Jesus told and on the Rembrandt painting? As the light changes, where do you find yourself?
Father, help me to see myself for how much You love me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 22, 2019
Shallow and Profound
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31
Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow aspects of life are not ordained by God; they are ordained by Him equally as much as the profound. We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of spiritual pride. We must be careful, for this is how contempt for others is produced in our lives. And it causes us to be a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than we are. Beware of posing as a profound person— God became a baby.
To be shallow is not a sign of being sinful, nor is shallowness an indication that there is no depth to your life at all— the ocean has a shore. Even the shallow things of life, such as eating and drinking, walking and talking, are ordained by God. These are all things our Lord did. He did them as the Son of God, and He said, “A disciple is not above his teacher…” (Matthew 10:24).
We are safeguarded by the shallow things of life. We have to live the surface, commonsense life in a commonsense way. Then when God gives us the deeper things, they are obviously separated from the shallow concerns. Never show the depth of your life to anyone but God. We are so nauseatingly serious, so desperately interested in our own character and reputation, we refuse to behave like Christians in the shallow concerns of life.
Make a determination to take no one seriously except God. You may find that the first person you must be the most critical with, as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, November 22, 2019
Insisting on Driving - #8575
Yeah, my wife was always this way, I'm this way. We're some of those psychos called marathon drivers. Now I know long-haul truckers have to do it for a living. But sometimes, you know, I've been known to choose to do it, just because, well, we wanted to get somewhere quickly. Of course, like most men, I like to be the one driving, sometimes for longer than I should. My wife would always tell me that our lives start to be in danger from the time I would start rubbing my right leg while I'm driving. Now, what does that have to do with it? Apparently, that's the first tip-off I'm going to sleep soon. So she would gently offer to drive and I would, of course, refuse. She'd offer several other times to drive, and then I would start doing a workout at the wheel. And then I would turn on some obnoxious radio station at full volume. Then I would open the window to let in the 20-below wind chill. Finally, just before we're just about to become a National Safety Council statistic, I would grudgingly pull over to the side of the road. We would change seats, and I would be out before we could start the car again.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Insisting on Driving."
I have a feeling I am not the only one who hates to give up the wheel, even if it's dangerous to keep driving. A lot of us want that control, not just of our vehicle, but of our lives. And no one's going to get our hands off the wheel of our life - including God.
Now maybe you're a very independent person. You've driven your life all these years, and you're not about to relinquish the wheel now. But all these years, the One who created you has been saying, "Isn't it about time you let Me drive?" And while you may have tried to keep God happy by being religious, you've stubbornly tightened your fingers around the wheel.
The truth is we were never created to drive our own life! The Bible makes that very clear when it says in Colossians 1:16 that "all things were created by Him and for Him." Now it's talking about Jesus Christ. You were created by Jesus. You were created for Jesus. And you've had a hole in your heart all these years because you didn't have Jesus. The One who gave you your life is supposed to be running your life. But it might be that you've insisted on being your own god, because whoever's driving your life is who your god really is.
Which leads us to an important warning from God in our word for today from the Word of God. Proverbs 29:1 says, "A man (and it could just as easily be a woman) who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes (or warnings) will suddenly be destroyed without remedy." Now chances are that you've had many warnings in your life that you shouldn't be driving and that you should move over; you should turn the wheel over to the God who made you.
It may be that someone who really loves you has been encouraging you to come to Jesus, but you've been too proud to let that happen. Well, that's expensive pride; maybe fatal pride...eternally fatal pride.
At the moment God decides your life is over, your eternity is totally in His hands. And He will care about only one thing: did you give your life to His Son Jesus, who gave His life to die for your sins on the cross? So many of us who have finally turned the wheel over to Him put it off as long as we could only to say now, "Why did I wait so long? This peace, this security, the weight off that I feel in my heart when He's driving!"
Now Jesus is saying it again today, "Let Me drive." If you keep driving, you'll ultimately crash. While there's time, would you let go of the wheel of your life and turn it over to the One who was meant to drive all along. Don't you want to begin this personal love relationship with Jesus?
Well, what you need to do then is tell him right now, "Jesus, I've been running my life. I've been putting You off. I've postponed You. I've ignored You. I've tried to compensate by being good, but none of that will pay for my sin. It took You dying on the cross, Jesus, and I'm grabbing You like a drowning person will grab a lifeguard. You're my only hope." That relationship begins at the point when you do that.
That's what our website is there for, to help guide you on that road to begin that relationship and know you have. Would you go to ANewStory.com.
Please don't let your stubbornness, your pride, cost you Jesus, because that will cost you heaven. You've driven long enough. Why don't you let Him drive the rest of the way?
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