Max Lucado Daily: GOD IS ALWAYS SOVEREIGN
I love what Chuck Swindoll always says. That “God is not sometimes sovereign. He is always sovereign.” The challenge that awaits us is to not give in to despair…to not do foolish things, but to trust.
The key question that we all need to be asking right now is, “What is God saying to us?” I think He’s talking to the whole world. I think He’s telling us that our priorities have gotten misplaced. We need to dislodge those priorities and return to our heavenly Father. I think He’s calling us back to Himself. I do…I do.
Is this a signal of end times as some people are saying? I do not know. But I do know God is doing something in the world and He’s calling upon us. He’s talking to the whole world. And we are going to get through this. It may not be quick. It may not be easy. But God is going to use this for good.
Acts 20:17-38
From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the leaders of the congregation. When they arrived, he said, “You know that from day one of my arrival in Asia I was with you totally—laying my life on the line, serving the Master no matter what, putting up with no end of scheming by Jews who wanted to do me in. I didn’t skimp or trim in any way. Every truth and encouragement that could have made a difference to you, you got. I taught you out in public and I taught you in your homes, urging Jews and Greeks alike to a radical life-change before God and an equally radical trust in our Master Jesus.
22-24 “But there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.
25-27 “And so this is good-bye. You’re not going to see me again, nor I you, you whom I have gone among for so long proclaiming the news of God’s inaugurated kingdom. I’ve done my best for you, given you my all, held back nothing of God’s will for you.
28 “Now it’s up to you. Be on your toes—both for yourselves and your congregation of sheep. The Holy Spirit has put you in charge of these people—God’s people they are—to guard and protect them. God himself thought they were worth dying for.
29-31 “I know that as soon as I’m gone, vicious wolves are going to show up and rip into this flock, men from your very own ranks twisting words so as to seduce disciples into following them instead of Jesus. So stay awake and keep up your guard. Remember those three years I kept at it with you, never letting up, pouring my heart out with you, one after another.
32 “Now I’m turning you over to God, our marvelous God whose gracious Word can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need in this community of holy friends.
33-35 “I’ve never, as you so well know, had any taste for wealth or fashion. With these bare hands I took care of my own basic needs and those who worked with me. In everything I’ve done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.’”
36-38 Then Paul went down on his knees, all of them kneeling with him, and prayed. And then a river of tears. Much clinging to Paul, not wanting to let him go. They knew they would never see him again—he had told them quite plainly. The pain cut deep. Then, bravely, they walked him down to the ship.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ephesians 1:3–14
Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,g who has blessed us in the heavenly realmsh with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose usi in him before the creation of the worldj to be holy and blamelessk in his sight. In lovel 5 heb predestinedm us for adoption to sonshipc n through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasureo and will—6 to the praise of his glorious grace,p which he has freely given us in the One he loves.q 7 In him we have redemptionr through his blood,s the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the richest of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 hed made known to us the mysteryu of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposedv in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillmentw—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.x
11 In him we were also chosen,e having been predestinedy according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purposez of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.a 13 And you also were included in Christb when you heard the message of truth,c the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal,d the promised Holy Spirit,e 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritancef until the redemptiong of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Insight
Ephesians 1:3–14 praises God for His work of creation and redemption. Paul goes to great lengths to describe and celebrate the goodness of God for His grace and promise. Twice Paul mentions that our salvation is in accordance with His good pleasure or “according to the purpose of His will” (vv. 5, 9 esv). God made the decision to lavish grace on those who would be saved in Jesus Christ, and He took delight in extending that grace.
Inheritance Isn’t Earned
He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. Ephesians 1:5
“Thanks for dinner, Dad,” I said as I set my napkin on the restaurant table. I was home on a break from college and, after being gone for a while, it felt strange to have my parents pay for me. “You’re welcome, Julie,” my dad replied, “but you don’t have to thank me for everything all the time. I know you’ve been off on your own, but you’re still my daughter and a part of the family.” I smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”
In my family, I haven’t done anything to earn my parents’ love or what they do for me. But my dad’s comment reminds me that I haven’t done anything to deserve to be a part of God’s family either.
In the book of Ephesians, Paul tells his readers that God chose them “to be holy and blameless in his sight” (1:4), or to stand without blemish before Him (5:25–27). But this is only possible through Jesus, in whom “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (1:7). We don’t have to earn God’s grace, forgiveness, or entrance into His family. We simply accept His free gift.
When we turn our lives over to Jesus, we become children of God, which means we receive eternal life and have an inheritance waiting for us in heaven. Praise God for offering such a wonderful gift! By: Julie Schwab
Reflect & Pray
In what ways do you feel or act as if you have to earn God’s love? How can you practice living in the freedom of His love?
Faithful God, thank You for freely giving Your Son so I can be a part of Your family. Help me to honor You in all You’ve done for me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Heedfulness or Hypocrisy in Ourselves?
If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. —1 John 5:16
If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other people are failing, and then we take our discernment and turn it into comments of ridicule and criticism, instead of turning it into intercession on their behalf. God reveals this truth about others to us not through the sharpness of our minds but through the direct penetration of His Spirit. If we are not attentive, we will be completely unaware of the source of the discernment God has given us, becoming critical of others and forgetting that God says, “…he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” Be careful that you don’t become a hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right with God before you worship Him yourself.
One of the most subtle and illusive burdens God ever places on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning others. He gives us discernment so that we may accept the responsibility for those souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them (see Philippians 2:5). We should intercede in accordance with what God says He will give us, namely, “life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” It is not that we are able to bring God into contact with our minds, but that we awaken ourselves to the point where God is able to convey His mind to us regarding the people for whom we intercede.
Can Jesus Christ see the agony of His soul in us? He can’t unless we are so closely identified with Him that we have His view concerning the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ will be completely and overwhelmingly satisfied with us as intercessors.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. Biblical Ethics, 99 R
Bible in a Year: Judges 11-12; Luke 6:1-26
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
The Difference Between Life and Death - #8667
The cable news people called it a miracle. So did the man who is alive today because of what happened. He'd gone out for an afternoon on his boat off the coast of California. He didn't expect that sudden high wind that hit his vessel. Threw him catapulting over the rail and into the water. The boat continued moving with its propellers nearly cutting him to pieces. He escaped that danger with relatively minor cuts, but now he was alone and adrift in these cold waters, knowing that hypothermia would soon set in. He was unable to sustain himself in that water, and he prayed for divine help. And at that moment, he saw a balloon floating on the water nearby. He grabbed the balloon, put it under his shirt to keep him buoyant. There's one problem with balloons - they tend to lose air. And slowly, the balloon that was holding him up just did that.
With hypothermia beginning to set in, he was at the end of his ability to stay alive or to stay afloat. He closed his eyes, knowing death was going to be near. He said, "All I could do was begin to say the 23rd Psalm out loud, 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' When I got to the part that says, 'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me,' (He said) I opened my eyes. And there, floating in front of me, was a board. I grabbed it. I hung on tight. Then, in front of me, I saw a large buoy. I paddled to that buoy, only to be challenged by a huge sea lion." That's when he was sure he was going to die. But that was when, five hours after he'd gone overboard, his brother arrived in a search boat and saved his life. Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Difference Between Life and Death."
Here's a man facing a seemingly deadly situation, a series of amazing intervention, and the arrival of the rescuer who was his only hope...just in the nick of time. For someone listening today, that's not just a story. It's actually your story, or it's about to be. It's my story. It's a story of millions of others whose only hope was a rescue - a spiritual rescue.
Our word for today from the Word of God is really just eight powerful words from Zephaniah 3:17. It simply says, "The Lord your God is mighty to save." He really is. He has both the love and the power to do whatever it takes to save you from the emptiness and the turbulence of a life away from God, and more importantly, from the awful agony of an eternity without God. He's in the saving business.
Like that man overboard, the Bible says that we're all in a deadly situation from which we can't save ourselves, and often we don't even know the danger we're in. The Bible says we are "without hope and without God in this world" (Ephesians 2:12) - away from the Source of our life because we've hijacked our life from Him. It's called sin. It's a lifetime of willful choices that have ignored and disobeyed God's laws. And the Bible says, "The wages of (that) sin is death" (Romans 6:23). We're overboard, we're drifting, and we're dying.
Along the way, though, the One who is "mighty to save" has sent you some "boards" and "balloons" that would keep you afloat until you could find the real Rescuer. You are alive today by His grace and His intervention in ways you don't even know. He's wanted you to have a chance to grab the hand of His Son, His rescuer from heaven. Because one day you will "walk through that valley of the shadow of death," and your only hope is those four words, "You are with me." If Jesus isn't with you when you enter eternity, you're without hope. If He is with you, you're in heaven forever.
Today, the nail-pierced hand of heaven's Rescuer is reaching for you. The nail prints are there because He had to die so you could live; took the penalty for your sin. And this day, you have to make your choice about Him. How do you grab His hand? You say, "Jesus, I've done it my way. I'm done. You died for my sin. I am Yours." In that moment, you're saved, you're rescued, and you're safe.
Our website will help you cross over. All the information you need is there. ANewStory.com. Because none of us knows how much longer we have to choose life. So, would you let today be the day that you grab the hand of that One who is mighty to save?
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Monday, March 30, 2020
Isaiah 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: FEED YOUR FAITH, NOT YOUR FEARS
I’m just checking in to make sure that you are feeding your faith more than you are feeding your fears. You know if you feed your faith, your fears will starve. But if you feed your fears, your faith will. So we have to make an intentional decision during this season of high anxiety and turbulence to encourage one another and to feed one another’s faith. And also we need to take the initiative to feed our own faith.
So I encourage you my friend, I encourage you. Don’t give into despair. Don’t give into anxiety. We’re gonna get through this. We really are. I know that we’re getting new news day by day. I know that developments are changing it seems by the hour. But let me tell you the thing that has not changed. Our heavenly father is still on the throne.
Isaiah 8
Then God told me, “Get a big sheet of paper and write in indelible ink, ‘This belongs to Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Spoil-Speeds-Plunder-Hurries).’”
2-3 I got two honest men, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, to witness the document. Then I went home to my wife, the prophetess. She conceived and gave birth to a son.
3-4 God told me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Before that baby says ‘Daddy’ or ‘Mamma’ the king of Assyria will have plundered the wealth of Damascus and the riches of Samaria.”
5-8 God spoke to me again, saying:
“Because this people has turned its back
on the gently flowing stream of Shiloah
And gotten all excited over Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
I’m stepping in and facing them with
the wild floodwaters of the Euphrates,
The king of Assyria and all his fanfare,
a river in flood, bursting its banks,
Pouring into Judah, sweeping everything before it,
water up to your necks,
A huge wingspan of a raging river,
O Immanuel, spreading across your land.”
9-10 But face the facts, all you oppressors, and then wring your hands.
Listen, all of you, far and near.
Prepare for the worst and wring your hands.
Yes, prepare for the worst and wring your hands!
Plan and plot all you want—nothing will come of it.
All your talk is mere talk, empty words,
Because when all is said and done,
the last word is Immanuel—God-With-Us.
11-15 God spoke strongly to me, grabbed me with both hands and warned me not to go along with this people. He said:
“Don’t be like this people,
always afraid somebody is plotting against them.
Don’t fear what they fear.
Don’t take on their worries.
If you’re going to worry,
worry about The Holy. Fear God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
The Holy can be either a Hiding Place
or a Boulder blocking your way,
The Rock standing in the willful way
of both houses of Israel,
A barbed-wire Fence preventing trespass
to the citizens of Jerusalem.
Many of them are going to run into that Rock
and get their bones broken,
Get tangled up in that barbed wire
and not get free of it.”
16-18 Gather up the testimony,
preserve the teaching for my followers,
While I wait for God as long as he remains in hiding,
while I wait and hope for him.
I stand my ground and hope,
I and the children God gave me as signs to Israel,
Warning signs and hope signs from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
who makes his home in Mount Zion.
19-22 When people tell you, “Try out the fortunetellers.
Consult the spiritualists.
Why not tap into the spirit-world,
get in touch with the dead?”
Tell them, “No, we’re going to study the Scriptures.”
People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!
Frustrated and famished,
they try one thing after another.
When nothing works out they get angry,
cursing first this god and then that one,
Looking this way and that,
up, down, and sideways—and seeing nothing,
A blank wall, an empty hole.
They end up in the dark with nothing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 30, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:Matthew 26:26–29
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke itd and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup,e and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of theb covenant,f which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.g 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with youh in my Father’s kingdom.”
Insight
The Passover is a family meal observed at the beginning of Israel’s religious calendar, commemorating their deliverance from Egyptian slavery and celebrating the beginning of a redeemed people who belong to God (Exodus 12:1–3; 13:3, 14–16; 19:5–6).
Because Jesus Himself is the true Passover Lamb (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7), He instituted a new family meal. His eating the Passover with His disciples points to the formation of a new kingdom of God—a new redeemed people and a new family of God. Today we refer to it as the Last Supper because it would have been the last Passover meal for Jesus before the cross (Matthew 26:17–30). Many scholars believe the next feast will be at the great messianic banquet when Jesus returns to establish His Father’s kingdom on earth (see Isaiah 25:6; Luke 13:29; 14:15).
Blessed Bread
Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Matthew 26:26 nlt
When our oldest child became a teenager, my wife and I gave her a journal that we’d been writing in since her birth. We’d recorded her likes and dislikes, quirks and memorable one-liners. At some point the entries became more like letters, describing what we see in her and how we see God at work in her. When we gave it to her on her thirteenth birthday, she was mesmerized. She’d been given the gift of knowing a crucial part of the origins of her identity.
In blessing something as common as bread, Jesus was revealing its identity. What it—along with all creation—was made to reflect: God’s glory. I believe Jesus was also pointing to the future of the material world. All creation will one day be filled with the glory of God. So in blessing bread (Matthew 26:26), Jesus was pointing to the origin and the destiny of creation (Romans 8:21–22).
Maybe the “beginning” of your story feels messed up. Maybe you don’t think there’s much of a future. But there’s a bigger story. It’s a story of a God who made you on purpose and for a purpose, who took pleasure in you. It’s a story of God who came to rescue you (Matthew 26:28); a God who put His Spirit in you to renew you and recover your identity. It’s a story of a God who wants to bless you. By: Glenn Packiam
Reflect & Pray
How does seeing your true origin story as being made on purpose and for a purpose change the way you see yourself? What’s the bigger story than simply your situation right now?
Dear Jesus, I place my life like bread in Your hands. Only You can return me to my origin. Only You can carry me to my destiny. Jesus, You are the author and the finisher of my faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 30, 2020
Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
He…wondered that there was no intercessor… —Isaiah 59:16
The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work— work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L
Bible in a Year: Judges 9-10; Luke 5:17-39
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 30, 2020
Heaven's Balanced Books - #8666
When there's a string of corporate meltdowns, Wall Street gets a very bad case of the jitters. It happened a few years ago, didn't it? The sudden discovery that a major company we thought was doing well is actually in big trouble doesn't exactly inspire investor confidence. In some cases, some unusually "creative accounting" conceal how bad things really are for some time. Of course, the fundamentals of financial viability never really change. Your outgo and your income, your losses and your gains have to at least balance, and it's management's job to, of course, be sure that they do.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Heaven's Balanced Books."
When you open your heart to Jesus Christ, it would be appropriate to hang a sign that says, "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT." You step down and the One who should have been your Chief Executive Officer all along takes charge. And you can be sure He's committed to balancing the books in your life, keeping a loving balance between gains and losses.
In the midst of horrendous personal losses, Job was still able to see this balancing work of God in his life. In Job 1:21, which is our word for today from the Word of God, he says, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." Later, Job would have this balancing work of God more than proved when, as the Bible says, "the Lord...gave him twice as much as he had before...the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first" (Job 42:10-12).
In God's deep love and infinite wisdom, He knows that we just can't stand to have all blessings or all burdens, all happiness or all heartaches. That might be why the writer of Proverbs 30 says, "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you...or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:8-9).
Solomon assures us that, in God's great management of our life, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...a time to tear down and a time to build...a time to weep and a time to laugh" (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3-4).
Maybe right now you're particularly focused on a lot of bad news, some losses you're experiencing. This might be a good time to step back and look at the big picture of what heaven's CEO is doing in your life. It's time to review the blessings that are there side-by-side with the burdens. Are you missing that? God has this incredible way of knowing just how much loss you can handle and how to balance that with some good news, and how much victory you can handle and how to balance that with some struggle.
This loving God, who knows exactly what you need and when you need it, is working this very day on His gracious, life-building balance. At any given moment, you'll have something discouraging, but always something encouraging to offset it and make it bearable.
At any given moment, you will have some wonderful answered prayers and you'll also have some yet-to-be-answered prayers. You can be sure that until the day you see Jesus, you will always, and I mean always, have plenty to thank Him for and plenty to trust Him for. That's how spiritual babies become spiritual adults. That's how spiritual wimps become spiritual warriors.
Don't miss the good things God is doing because you're nearsightedly focusing on the hard things. You have a Savior who's always balancing the gains and the losses to make your life more profitable than you could ever imagine.
I’m just checking in to make sure that you are feeding your faith more than you are feeding your fears. You know if you feed your faith, your fears will starve. But if you feed your fears, your faith will. So we have to make an intentional decision during this season of high anxiety and turbulence to encourage one another and to feed one another’s faith. And also we need to take the initiative to feed our own faith.
So I encourage you my friend, I encourage you. Don’t give into despair. Don’t give into anxiety. We’re gonna get through this. We really are. I know that we’re getting new news day by day. I know that developments are changing it seems by the hour. But let me tell you the thing that has not changed. Our heavenly father is still on the throne.
Isaiah 8
Then God told me, “Get a big sheet of paper and write in indelible ink, ‘This belongs to Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Spoil-Speeds-Plunder-Hurries).’”
2-3 I got two honest men, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, to witness the document. Then I went home to my wife, the prophetess. She conceived and gave birth to a son.
3-4 God told me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Before that baby says ‘Daddy’ or ‘Mamma’ the king of Assyria will have plundered the wealth of Damascus and the riches of Samaria.”
5-8 God spoke to me again, saying:
“Because this people has turned its back
on the gently flowing stream of Shiloah
And gotten all excited over Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
I’m stepping in and facing them with
the wild floodwaters of the Euphrates,
The king of Assyria and all his fanfare,
a river in flood, bursting its banks,
Pouring into Judah, sweeping everything before it,
water up to your necks,
A huge wingspan of a raging river,
O Immanuel, spreading across your land.”
9-10 But face the facts, all you oppressors, and then wring your hands.
Listen, all of you, far and near.
Prepare for the worst and wring your hands.
Yes, prepare for the worst and wring your hands!
Plan and plot all you want—nothing will come of it.
All your talk is mere talk, empty words,
Because when all is said and done,
the last word is Immanuel—God-With-Us.
11-15 God spoke strongly to me, grabbed me with both hands and warned me not to go along with this people. He said:
“Don’t be like this people,
always afraid somebody is plotting against them.
Don’t fear what they fear.
Don’t take on their worries.
If you’re going to worry,
worry about The Holy. Fear God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
The Holy can be either a Hiding Place
or a Boulder blocking your way,
The Rock standing in the willful way
of both houses of Israel,
A barbed-wire Fence preventing trespass
to the citizens of Jerusalem.
Many of them are going to run into that Rock
and get their bones broken,
Get tangled up in that barbed wire
and not get free of it.”
16-18 Gather up the testimony,
preserve the teaching for my followers,
While I wait for God as long as he remains in hiding,
while I wait and hope for him.
I stand my ground and hope,
I and the children God gave me as signs to Israel,
Warning signs and hope signs from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
who makes his home in Mount Zion.
19-22 When people tell you, “Try out the fortunetellers.
Consult the spiritualists.
Why not tap into the spirit-world,
get in touch with the dead?”
Tell them, “No, we’re going to study the Scriptures.”
People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!
Frustrated and famished,
they try one thing after another.
When nothing works out they get angry,
cursing first this god and then that one,
Looking this way and that,
up, down, and sideways—and seeing nothing,
A blank wall, an empty hole.
They end up in the dark with nothing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 30, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:Matthew 26:26–29
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke itd and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup,e and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of theb covenant,f which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.g 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with youh in my Father’s kingdom.”
Insight
The Passover is a family meal observed at the beginning of Israel’s religious calendar, commemorating their deliverance from Egyptian slavery and celebrating the beginning of a redeemed people who belong to God (Exodus 12:1–3; 13:3, 14–16; 19:5–6).
Because Jesus Himself is the true Passover Lamb (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7), He instituted a new family meal. His eating the Passover with His disciples points to the formation of a new kingdom of God—a new redeemed people and a new family of God. Today we refer to it as the Last Supper because it would have been the last Passover meal for Jesus before the cross (Matthew 26:17–30). Many scholars believe the next feast will be at the great messianic banquet when Jesus returns to establish His Father’s kingdom on earth (see Isaiah 25:6; Luke 13:29; 14:15).
Blessed Bread
Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Matthew 26:26 nlt
When our oldest child became a teenager, my wife and I gave her a journal that we’d been writing in since her birth. We’d recorded her likes and dislikes, quirks and memorable one-liners. At some point the entries became more like letters, describing what we see in her and how we see God at work in her. When we gave it to her on her thirteenth birthday, she was mesmerized. She’d been given the gift of knowing a crucial part of the origins of her identity.
In blessing something as common as bread, Jesus was revealing its identity. What it—along with all creation—was made to reflect: God’s glory. I believe Jesus was also pointing to the future of the material world. All creation will one day be filled with the glory of God. So in blessing bread (Matthew 26:26), Jesus was pointing to the origin and the destiny of creation (Romans 8:21–22).
Maybe the “beginning” of your story feels messed up. Maybe you don’t think there’s much of a future. But there’s a bigger story. It’s a story of a God who made you on purpose and for a purpose, who took pleasure in you. It’s a story of God who came to rescue you (Matthew 26:28); a God who put His Spirit in you to renew you and recover your identity. It’s a story of a God who wants to bless you. By: Glenn Packiam
Reflect & Pray
How does seeing your true origin story as being made on purpose and for a purpose change the way you see yourself? What’s the bigger story than simply your situation right now?
Dear Jesus, I place my life like bread in Your hands. Only You can return me to my origin. Only You can carry me to my destiny. Jesus, You are the author and the finisher of my faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 30, 2020
Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
He…wondered that there was no intercessor… —Isaiah 59:16
The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work— work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L
Bible in a Year: Judges 9-10; Luke 5:17-39
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 30, 2020
Heaven's Balanced Books - #8666
When there's a string of corporate meltdowns, Wall Street gets a very bad case of the jitters. It happened a few years ago, didn't it? The sudden discovery that a major company we thought was doing well is actually in big trouble doesn't exactly inspire investor confidence. In some cases, some unusually "creative accounting" conceal how bad things really are for some time. Of course, the fundamentals of financial viability never really change. Your outgo and your income, your losses and your gains have to at least balance, and it's management's job to, of course, be sure that they do.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Heaven's Balanced Books."
When you open your heart to Jesus Christ, it would be appropriate to hang a sign that says, "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT." You step down and the One who should have been your Chief Executive Officer all along takes charge. And you can be sure He's committed to balancing the books in your life, keeping a loving balance between gains and losses.
In the midst of horrendous personal losses, Job was still able to see this balancing work of God in his life. In Job 1:21, which is our word for today from the Word of God, he says, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." Later, Job would have this balancing work of God more than proved when, as the Bible says, "the Lord...gave him twice as much as he had before...the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first" (Job 42:10-12).
In God's deep love and infinite wisdom, He knows that we just can't stand to have all blessings or all burdens, all happiness or all heartaches. That might be why the writer of Proverbs 30 says, "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you...or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:8-9).
Solomon assures us that, in God's great management of our life, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...a time to tear down and a time to build...a time to weep and a time to laugh" (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3-4).
Maybe right now you're particularly focused on a lot of bad news, some losses you're experiencing. This might be a good time to step back and look at the big picture of what heaven's CEO is doing in your life. It's time to review the blessings that are there side-by-side with the burdens. Are you missing that? God has this incredible way of knowing just how much loss you can handle and how to balance that with some good news, and how much victory you can handle and how to balance that with some struggle.
This loving God, who knows exactly what you need and when you need it, is working this very day on His gracious, life-building balance. At any given moment, you'll have something discouraging, but always something encouraging to offset it and make it bearable.
At any given moment, you will have some wonderful answered prayers and you'll also have some yet-to-be-answered prayers. You can be sure that until the day you see Jesus, you will always, and I mean always, have plenty to thank Him for and plenty to trust Him for. That's how spiritual babies become spiritual adults. That's how spiritual wimps become spiritual warriors.
Don't miss the good things God is doing because you're nearsightedly focusing on the hard things. You have a Savior who's always balancing the gains and the losses to make your life more profitable than you could ever imagine.
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Isaiah 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Six Hours, One Friday
Six hours, one Friday. Mundane to the casual observer. A shepherd with his sheep, a housewife with her thoughts, a doctor with his patients. But to a handful of awestruck witnesses, the most maddening of miracles is occurring. God is on a cross. The creator of the universe is being executed.
It is no normal six hours. It is no normal Friday. Far worse than the breaking of his body is the shredding of his heart. And now his own father is beginning to turn his back on him, leaving him alone. What do you do with that day in history? What do you do with its claims? They were the most critical hours in history.
Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did. The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint!
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
from Six Hours One Friday
Isaiah 7
During the time that Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel attacked Jerusalem, but the attack sputtered out. When the Davidic government learned that Aram had joined forces with Ephraim (that is, Israel), Ahaz and his people were badly shaken. They shook like trees in the wind.
3-6 Then God told Isaiah, “Go and meet Ahaz. Take your son Shear-jashub (A-Remnant-Will-Return) with you. Meet him south of the city at the end of the aqueduct where it empties into the upper pool on the road to the public laundry. Tell him, Listen, calm down. Don’t be afraid. And don’t panic over these two burnt-out cases, Rezin of Aram and the son of Remaliah. They talk big but there’s nothing to them. Aram, along with Ephraim’s son of Remaliah, have plotted to do you harm. They’ve conspired against you, saying, ‘Let’s go to war against Judah, dismember it, take it for ourselves, and set the son of Tabeel up as a puppet king over it.’
7-9 But God, the Master, says,
“It won’t happen.
Nothing will come of it
Because the capital of Aram is Damascus
and the king of Damascus is a mere man, Rezin.
As for Ephraim, in sixty-five years
it will be rubble, nothing left of it.
The capital of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the king of Samaria is the mere son of Remaliah.
If you don’t take your stand in faith,
you won’t have a leg to stand on.”
10-11 God spoke again to Ahaz. This time he said, “Ask for a sign from your God. Ask anything. Be extravagant. Ask for the moon!”
12 But Ahaz said, “I’d never do that. I’d never make demands like that on God!”
13-17 So Isaiah told him, “Then listen to this, government of David! It’s bad enough that you make people tired with your pious, timid hypocrisies, but now you’re making God tired. So the Master is going to give you a sign anyway. Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She’ll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us). By the time the child is twelve years old, able to make moral decisions, the threat of war will be over. Relax, those two kings that have you so worried will be out of the picture. But also be warned: God will bring on you and your people and your government a judgment worse than anything since the time the kingdom split, when Ephraim left Judah. The king of Assyria is coming!”
18-19 That’s when God will whistle for the flies at the headwaters of Egypt’s Nile, and whistle for the bees in the land of Assyria. They’ll come and infest every nook and cranny of this country. There’ll be no getting away from them.
20 And that’s when the Master will take the razor rented from across the Euphrates—the king of Assyria no less!—and shave the hair off your heads and genitals, leaving you shamed, exposed, and denuded. He’ll shave off your beards while he’s at it.
21-22 It will be a time when survivors will count themselves lucky to have a cow and a couple of sheep. At least they’ll have plenty of milk! Whoever’s left in the land will learn to make do with the simplest foods—curds, whey, and honey.
23-25 But that’s not the end of it. This country that used to be covered with fine vineyards—thousands of them, worth millions!—will revert to a weed patch. Weeds and thornbushes everywhere! Good for nothing except, perhaps, hunting rabbits. Cattle and sheep will forage as best they can in the fields of weeds—but there won’t be a trace of all those fertile and well-tended gardens and fields.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 15:5–8
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;y apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.z 7 If you remain in mea and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.b 8 This is to my Father’s glory,c that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Insight
It’s important to consider the full revelation of God in Scripture when trying to understand the meaning of any passage. Jesus’ words in John 15:5, “Apart from me, you can do nothing,” are similar to Paul’s statements in Acts 17:28, “In him we live and move and have our being,” and Colossians 1:17, “in him all things hold together.” All of these verses emphasize the necessity of Christ to our very existence.
In John 15, Jesus is speaking specifically to His followers. He’s talking about the fruit that comes from the branch connected to the vine. When Jesus says that without Him we can do nothing, He means that without the source of life—the vine—the branch can’t even produce a leaf or a flower, let alone the fruit that brings God honor.
Fruit Juice
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. John 15:5
A thrift-store bargain, the lamp seemed perfect for my home office—the right color, size, and price. Back at home, however, when I plugged in the cord, nothing happened. No light. No power. No juice.
No problem, my husband assured me. “I can fix that. Easy.” As he took the lamp apart, he saw the trouble immediately. The plug wasn’t connected to anything. Without wiring to a source of power, the “perfect” pretty lamp was useless.
The same is true for us. Jesus told His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” But then he added this reminder: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
This teaching was given in a grape-growing region, so His disciples readily understood it. Grapevines are hardy plants, and their branches tolerate vigorous pruning. Cut off from their life source, however, the branches are worthless deadwood. So it is with us.
As we remain in Jesus and let His words dwell in us, we’re wired to our life source—Christ Himself. “This is to my Father’s glory,” said Jesus, “that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (v. 8). Such a fruitful outcome needs daily nourishment, however. Freely, God provides it through the Scriptures and His love. So plug in and let the juice flow! By: Patricia Raybon
Reflect & Pray
What does it mean for you to remain in Jesus? How has He equipped you to bear fruit for Him?
All-powerful God, empower me to remain in You and allow Your loving Word to yield good fruit in me.
To learn more about growing spiritually, visit christianuniversity.org/SF104.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Our Lord’s Surprise Visits
You also be ready… —Luke 12:40
A Christian worker’s greatest need is a readiness to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience has been. This battle is not against sin, difficulties, or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in our service to Jesus Christ that we are not ready to face Jesus Himself at every turn. The greatest need is not facing our beliefs or doctrines, or even facing the question of whether or not we are of any use to Him, but the need is to face Him.
Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This sense of expectation will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious. In other words, we must stop using religion as if it were some kind of a lofty lifestyle— we must be spiritually real.
If you are avoiding the call of the religious thinking of today’s world, and instead are “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2), setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts, you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer. But when He suddenly appears in the work of the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he blocks your sight of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible does not thrill; the Bible nourishes. Give time to the reading of the Bible and the recreating effect is as real as that of fresh air physically. Disciples Indeed, 387 R
Bible in a Year: Judges 7-8; Luke 5:1-16
Six hours, one Friday. Mundane to the casual observer. A shepherd with his sheep, a housewife with her thoughts, a doctor with his patients. But to a handful of awestruck witnesses, the most maddening of miracles is occurring. God is on a cross. The creator of the universe is being executed.
It is no normal six hours. It is no normal Friday. Far worse than the breaking of his body is the shredding of his heart. And now his own father is beginning to turn his back on him, leaving him alone. What do you do with that day in history? What do you do with its claims? They were the most critical hours in history.
Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did. The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint!
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
from Six Hours One Friday
Isaiah 7
During the time that Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel attacked Jerusalem, but the attack sputtered out. When the Davidic government learned that Aram had joined forces with Ephraim (that is, Israel), Ahaz and his people were badly shaken. They shook like trees in the wind.
3-6 Then God told Isaiah, “Go and meet Ahaz. Take your son Shear-jashub (A-Remnant-Will-Return) with you. Meet him south of the city at the end of the aqueduct where it empties into the upper pool on the road to the public laundry. Tell him, Listen, calm down. Don’t be afraid. And don’t panic over these two burnt-out cases, Rezin of Aram and the son of Remaliah. They talk big but there’s nothing to them. Aram, along with Ephraim’s son of Remaliah, have plotted to do you harm. They’ve conspired against you, saying, ‘Let’s go to war against Judah, dismember it, take it for ourselves, and set the son of Tabeel up as a puppet king over it.’
7-9 But God, the Master, says,
“It won’t happen.
Nothing will come of it
Because the capital of Aram is Damascus
and the king of Damascus is a mere man, Rezin.
As for Ephraim, in sixty-five years
it will be rubble, nothing left of it.
The capital of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the king of Samaria is the mere son of Remaliah.
If you don’t take your stand in faith,
you won’t have a leg to stand on.”
10-11 God spoke again to Ahaz. This time he said, “Ask for a sign from your God. Ask anything. Be extravagant. Ask for the moon!”
12 But Ahaz said, “I’d never do that. I’d never make demands like that on God!”
13-17 So Isaiah told him, “Then listen to this, government of David! It’s bad enough that you make people tired with your pious, timid hypocrisies, but now you’re making God tired. So the Master is going to give you a sign anyway. Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She’ll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us). By the time the child is twelve years old, able to make moral decisions, the threat of war will be over. Relax, those two kings that have you so worried will be out of the picture. But also be warned: God will bring on you and your people and your government a judgment worse than anything since the time the kingdom split, when Ephraim left Judah. The king of Assyria is coming!”
18-19 That’s when God will whistle for the flies at the headwaters of Egypt’s Nile, and whistle for the bees in the land of Assyria. They’ll come and infest every nook and cranny of this country. There’ll be no getting away from them.
20 And that’s when the Master will take the razor rented from across the Euphrates—the king of Assyria no less!—and shave the hair off your heads and genitals, leaving you shamed, exposed, and denuded. He’ll shave off your beards while he’s at it.
21-22 It will be a time when survivors will count themselves lucky to have a cow and a couple of sheep. At least they’ll have plenty of milk! Whoever’s left in the land will learn to make do with the simplest foods—curds, whey, and honey.
23-25 But that’s not the end of it. This country that used to be covered with fine vineyards—thousands of them, worth millions!—will revert to a weed patch. Weeds and thornbushes everywhere! Good for nothing except, perhaps, hunting rabbits. Cattle and sheep will forage as best they can in the fields of weeds—but there won’t be a trace of all those fertile and well-tended gardens and fields.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 15:5–8
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;y apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.z 7 If you remain in mea and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.b 8 This is to my Father’s glory,c that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Insight
It’s important to consider the full revelation of God in Scripture when trying to understand the meaning of any passage. Jesus’ words in John 15:5, “Apart from me, you can do nothing,” are similar to Paul’s statements in Acts 17:28, “In him we live and move and have our being,” and Colossians 1:17, “in him all things hold together.” All of these verses emphasize the necessity of Christ to our very existence.
In John 15, Jesus is speaking specifically to His followers. He’s talking about the fruit that comes from the branch connected to the vine. When Jesus says that without Him we can do nothing, He means that without the source of life—the vine—the branch can’t even produce a leaf or a flower, let alone the fruit that brings God honor.
Fruit Juice
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. John 15:5
A thrift-store bargain, the lamp seemed perfect for my home office—the right color, size, and price. Back at home, however, when I plugged in the cord, nothing happened. No light. No power. No juice.
No problem, my husband assured me. “I can fix that. Easy.” As he took the lamp apart, he saw the trouble immediately. The plug wasn’t connected to anything. Without wiring to a source of power, the “perfect” pretty lamp was useless.
The same is true for us. Jesus told His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” But then he added this reminder: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
This teaching was given in a grape-growing region, so His disciples readily understood it. Grapevines are hardy plants, and their branches tolerate vigorous pruning. Cut off from their life source, however, the branches are worthless deadwood. So it is with us.
As we remain in Jesus and let His words dwell in us, we’re wired to our life source—Christ Himself. “This is to my Father’s glory,” said Jesus, “that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (v. 8). Such a fruitful outcome needs daily nourishment, however. Freely, God provides it through the Scriptures and His love. So plug in and let the juice flow! By: Patricia Raybon
Reflect & Pray
What does it mean for you to remain in Jesus? How has He equipped you to bear fruit for Him?
All-powerful God, empower me to remain in You and allow Your loving Word to yield good fruit in me.
To learn more about growing spiritually, visit christianuniversity.org/SF104.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Our Lord’s Surprise Visits
You also be ready… —Luke 12:40
A Christian worker’s greatest need is a readiness to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience has been. This battle is not against sin, difficulties, or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in our service to Jesus Christ that we are not ready to face Jesus Himself at every turn. The greatest need is not facing our beliefs or doctrines, or even facing the question of whether or not we are of any use to Him, but the need is to face Him.
Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This sense of expectation will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious. In other words, we must stop using religion as if it were some kind of a lofty lifestyle— we must be spiritually real.
If you are avoiding the call of the religious thinking of today’s world, and instead are “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2), setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts, you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer. But when He suddenly appears in the work of the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he blocks your sight of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible does not thrill; the Bible nourishes. Give time to the reading of the Bible and the recreating effect is as real as that of fresh air physically. Disciples Indeed, 387 R
Bible in a Year: Judges 7-8; Luke 5:1-16
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Acts 20:1-16 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Spiritual MRI
We can't live with foreign objects buried in our bodies or our souls. What would an X-ray of your interior reveal? Remorse over a poor choice? Shame about the marriage that didn't work, the temptation you couldn't resist? Guilt lies hidden beneath the surface, festering, irritating. Sometimes so deeply embedded you don't know the cause.
And you can be touchy, you know. Understandable, since you have a shank of shame lodged in your soul. Would you like an extraction? Here's what you do. Confess! Ask God to help you. Psalm 139:23-24 says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
Confession. You see, confessors find a freedom that deniers don't. If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins! He will cleanse us. Not might, could, would, or should. He WILL!
From Grace
Acts 20:1-16
With things back to normal, Paul called the disciples together and encouraged them to keep up the good work in Ephesus. Then, saying his good-byes, he left for Macedonia. Traveling through the country, passing from one gathering to another, he gave constant encouragement, lifting their spirits and charging them with fresh hope.
2-4 Then he came to Greece and stayed on for three months. Just as he was about to sail for Syria, the Jews cooked up a plot against him. So he went the other way, by land back through Macedonia, and gave them the slip. His companions for the journey were Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, both Thessalonians; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and the two from western Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.
5-6 They went on ahead and waited for us in Troas. Meanwhile, we stayed in Philippi for Passover Week, and then set sail. Within five days we were again in Troas and stayed a week.
7-9 We met on Sunday to worship and celebrate the Master’s Supper. Paul addressed the congregation. Our plan was to leave first thing in the morning, but Paul talked on, way past midnight. We were meeting in a well-lighted upper room. A young man named Eutychus was sitting in an open window. As Paul went on and on, Eutychus fell sound asleep and toppled out the third-story window. When they picked him up, he was dead.
10-12 Paul went down, stretched himself on him, and hugged him hard. “No more crying,” he said. “There’s life in him yet.” Then Paul got up and served the Master’s Supper. And went on telling stories of the faith until dawn! On that note, they left—Paul going one way, the congregation another, leading the boy off alive, and full of life themselves.
13-16 In the meantime, the rest of us had gone on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we planned to pick up Paul. Paul wanted to walk there, and so had made these arrangements earlier. Things went according to plan: We met him in Assos, took him on board, and sailed to Mitylene. The next day we put in opposite Chios, Samos a day later, and then Miletus. Paul had decided to bypass Ephesus so that he wouldn’t be held up in Asia province. He was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem in time for the Feast of Pentecost, if at all possible.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight: 2 Kings 6:1–7
An Axhead Floats
6 The companyl of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.”
And he said, “Go.”
3 Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?”
“I will,” Elisha replied. 4 And he went with them.
They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”
6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threwm it there, and made the iron float. 7 “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.
Insight
Most of Israel had turned against God, but a faithful remnant of seven thousand had not worshiped the pagan god Baal (1 Kings 19:18). These included at least three schools of prophets. Scholars believe these schools (perhaps the equivalent of Bible seminaries today) were started by Samuel (1 Samuel 19:20). At the time of Elisha, “the company of the prophets” could be found in three cities: Bethel (2 Kings 2:3), Jericho (v. 5), and Gilgal (4:38). In 2 Kings 6:1–7, Elisha was teaching the students who were training for ministry. Because their meeting place was too small, they decided to build a bigger classroom (vv. 1–2). While cutting a tree, the iron ax fell into the Jordan River. The loss of the borrowed ax would be extremely costly for that student because very few tools at that time were made of iron. Elisha saved that man from debt, if he were unable to compensate for such a huge loss, and possible servitude.
The Would-Be Woodcutter
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
One year when I was in college, I cut, stacked, sold, and delivered firewood. It was a hard job, so I have empathy for the hapless logger in the 2 Kings 6 story.
Elisha’s school for prophets had prospered, and their meeting place had become too small. Someone suggested they go into the woods, cut logs, and enlarge their facilities. Elisha agreed and accompanied the workers. Things were going remarkably well until someone’s axhead fell into the water (v. 5).
Some have suggested that Elisha simply probed in the water with his stick until he located the axhead and dragged it into sight. That would hardly be worth mentioning, however. No, it was a miracle: The axhead was set in motion by God’s hand and began to float so the man could retrieve it (vv. 6–7).
The simple miracle enshrines a profound truth: God cares about the small stuff of life—lost axheads, lost keys, lost glasses, lost phones—the little things that cause us to fret. He doesn’t always restore what’s lost, but He understands and comforts us in our distress.
Next to the assurance of our salvation, the assurance of God’s care is essential. Without it we would feel alone in the world, exposed to innumerable worries. It’s good to know He cares and is moved by our losses—small as they may be. Our concerns are His concerns. By: David H. Roper
Reflect & Pray
What “little” things are troubling you that you can cast on God right now? How does it encourage you to know that you can be assured of His daily care for you?
Loving God, here are my concerns. Please take them, provide as You see best, and give me Your peace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Isn’t There Some Misunderstanding?
"Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to Him, "…are You going there again?" —John 11:7-8
ust because I don’t understand what Jesus Christ says, I have no right to determine that He must be mistaken in what He says. That is a dangerous view, and it is never right to think that my obedience to God’s directive will bring dishonor to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonor is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honor ahead of what He is plainly guiding me to do is never right, even though it may come from a real desire to prevent Him from being put to an open shame. I know when the instructions have come from God because of their quiet persistence. But when I begin to weigh the pros and cons, and doubt and debate enter into my mind, I am bringing in an element that is not of God. This will only result in my concluding that His instructions to me were not right. Many of us are faithful to our ideas about Jesus Christ, but how many of us are faithful to Jesus Himself? Faithfulness to Jesus means that I must step out even when and where I can’t see anything (see Matthew 14:29). But faithfulness to my own ideas means that I first clear the way mentally. Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.
Are you debating whether you should take a step of faith in Jesus, or whether you should wait until you can clearly see how to do what He has asked? Simply obey Him with unrestrained joy. When He tells you something and you begin to debate, it is because you have a misunderstanding of what honors Him and what doesn’t. Are you faithful to Jesus, or faithful to your ideas about Him? Are you faithful to what He says, or are you trying to compromise His words with thoughts that never came from Him? “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L
Bible in a Year: Judges 4-6; Luke 4:31-44
We can't live with foreign objects buried in our bodies or our souls. What would an X-ray of your interior reveal? Remorse over a poor choice? Shame about the marriage that didn't work, the temptation you couldn't resist? Guilt lies hidden beneath the surface, festering, irritating. Sometimes so deeply embedded you don't know the cause.
And you can be touchy, you know. Understandable, since you have a shank of shame lodged in your soul. Would you like an extraction? Here's what you do. Confess! Ask God to help you. Psalm 139:23-24 says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
Confession. You see, confessors find a freedom that deniers don't. If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins! He will cleanse us. Not might, could, would, or should. He WILL!
From Grace
Acts 20:1-16
With things back to normal, Paul called the disciples together and encouraged them to keep up the good work in Ephesus. Then, saying his good-byes, he left for Macedonia. Traveling through the country, passing from one gathering to another, he gave constant encouragement, lifting their spirits and charging them with fresh hope.
2-4 Then he came to Greece and stayed on for three months. Just as he was about to sail for Syria, the Jews cooked up a plot against him. So he went the other way, by land back through Macedonia, and gave them the slip. His companions for the journey were Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, both Thessalonians; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and the two from western Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.
5-6 They went on ahead and waited for us in Troas. Meanwhile, we stayed in Philippi for Passover Week, and then set sail. Within five days we were again in Troas and stayed a week.
7-9 We met on Sunday to worship and celebrate the Master’s Supper. Paul addressed the congregation. Our plan was to leave first thing in the morning, but Paul talked on, way past midnight. We were meeting in a well-lighted upper room. A young man named Eutychus was sitting in an open window. As Paul went on and on, Eutychus fell sound asleep and toppled out the third-story window. When they picked him up, he was dead.
10-12 Paul went down, stretched himself on him, and hugged him hard. “No more crying,” he said. “There’s life in him yet.” Then Paul got up and served the Master’s Supper. And went on telling stories of the faith until dawn! On that note, they left—Paul going one way, the congregation another, leading the boy off alive, and full of life themselves.
13-16 In the meantime, the rest of us had gone on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we planned to pick up Paul. Paul wanted to walk there, and so had made these arrangements earlier. Things went according to plan: We met him in Assos, took him on board, and sailed to Mitylene. The next day we put in opposite Chios, Samos a day later, and then Miletus. Paul had decided to bypass Ephesus so that he wouldn’t be held up in Asia province. He was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem in time for the Feast of Pentecost, if at all possible.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight: 2 Kings 6:1–7
An Axhead Floats
6 The companyl of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.”
And he said, “Go.”
3 Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?”
“I will,” Elisha replied. 4 And he went with them.
They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”
6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threwm it there, and made the iron float. 7 “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.
Insight
Most of Israel had turned against God, but a faithful remnant of seven thousand had not worshiped the pagan god Baal (1 Kings 19:18). These included at least three schools of prophets. Scholars believe these schools (perhaps the equivalent of Bible seminaries today) were started by Samuel (1 Samuel 19:20). At the time of Elisha, “the company of the prophets” could be found in three cities: Bethel (2 Kings 2:3), Jericho (v. 5), and Gilgal (4:38). In 2 Kings 6:1–7, Elisha was teaching the students who were training for ministry. Because their meeting place was too small, they decided to build a bigger classroom (vv. 1–2). While cutting a tree, the iron ax fell into the Jordan River. The loss of the borrowed ax would be extremely costly for that student because very few tools at that time were made of iron. Elisha saved that man from debt, if he were unable to compensate for such a huge loss, and possible servitude.
The Would-Be Woodcutter
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
One year when I was in college, I cut, stacked, sold, and delivered firewood. It was a hard job, so I have empathy for the hapless logger in the 2 Kings 6 story.
Elisha’s school for prophets had prospered, and their meeting place had become too small. Someone suggested they go into the woods, cut logs, and enlarge their facilities. Elisha agreed and accompanied the workers. Things were going remarkably well until someone’s axhead fell into the water (v. 5).
Some have suggested that Elisha simply probed in the water with his stick until he located the axhead and dragged it into sight. That would hardly be worth mentioning, however. No, it was a miracle: The axhead was set in motion by God’s hand and began to float so the man could retrieve it (vv. 6–7).
The simple miracle enshrines a profound truth: God cares about the small stuff of life—lost axheads, lost keys, lost glasses, lost phones—the little things that cause us to fret. He doesn’t always restore what’s lost, but He understands and comforts us in our distress.
Next to the assurance of our salvation, the assurance of God’s care is essential. Without it we would feel alone in the world, exposed to innumerable worries. It’s good to know He cares and is moved by our losses—small as they may be. Our concerns are His concerns. By: David H. Roper
Reflect & Pray
What “little” things are troubling you that you can cast on God right now? How does it encourage you to know that you can be assured of His daily care for you?
Loving God, here are my concerns. Please take them, provide as You see best, and give me Your peace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Isn’t There Some Misunderstanding?
"Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to Him, "…are You going there again?" —John 11:7-8
ust because I don’t understand what Jesus Christ says, I have no right to determine that He must be mistaken in what He says. That is a dangerous view, and it is never right to think that my obedience to God’s directive will bring dishonor to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonor is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honor ahead of what He is plainly guiding me to do is never right, even though it may come from a real desire to prevent Him from being put to an open shame. I know when the instructions have come from God because of their quiet persistence. But when I begin to weigh the pros and cons, and doubt and debate enter into my mind, I am bringing in an element that is not of God. This will only result in my concluding that His instructions to me were not right. Many of us are faithful to our ideas about Jesus Christ, but how many of us are faithful to Jesus Himself? Faithfulness to Jesus means that I must step out even when and where I can’t see anything (see Matthew 14:29). But faithfulness to my own ideas means that I first clear the way mentally. Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.
Are you debating whether you should take a step of faith in Jesus, or whether you should wait until you can clearly see how to do what He has asked? Simply obey Him with unrestrained joy. When He tells you something and you begin to debate, it is because you have a misunderstanding of what honors Him and what doesn’t. Are you faithful to Jesus, or faithful to your ideas about Him? Are you faithful to what He says, or are you trying to compromise His words with thoughts that never came from Him? “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L
Bible in a Year: Judges 4-6; Luke 4:31-44
Friday, March 27, 2020
2 Chronicles 32, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: I WILL GIVE YOU PEACE
There is a story in the Bible about some men in a boat who were caught in the midst of a big storm. They are afraid for their lives. All hope seems lost. But then they call on Jesus who is in the boat with them. He answers their call and speaks peace to the storm. He calms the raging sea around them, and most importantly, the fear in their hearts.
God wants to bring peace into the storms in our lives. He doesn’t want us living in fear or losing our hope. When the storm rages around us, we can find comfort knowing that we are not alone. The God of Peace is in the boat with us. We are not alone. We are not facing the storm alone. He is with us and he is for us, if we will call on him.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). Turn to Him today.
2 Chronicles 32
And then, after this exemplary track record, this: Sennacherib king of Assyria came and attacked Judah. He put the fortified cities under siege, determined to take them.
2-4 When Hezekiah realized that Sennacherib’s strategy was to take Jerusalem, he talked to his advisors and military leaders about eliminating all the water supplies outside the city; they thought it was a good idea. There was a great turnout of people to plug the springs and tear down the aqueduct. They said, “Why should the kings of Assyria march in and be furnished with running water?”
5-6 Hezekiah also went to work repairing every part of the city wall that was damaged, built defensive towers on it, built another wall of defense further out, and reinforced the defensive rampart (the Millo) of the old City of David. He also built up a large store of armaments—spears and shields. He then appointed military officers to be responsible for the people and got them all together at the public square in front of the city gate.
6-8 Hezekiah rallied the people, saying, “Be strong! Take courage! Don’t be intimidated by the king of Assyria and his troops—there are more on our side than on their side. He only has a bunch of mere men; we have our God to help us and fight for us!”
Morale surged. Hezekiah’s words put steel in their spines.
9-15 Later on, Sennacherib, who had set up camp a few miles away at Lachish, sent messengers to Jerusalem, addressing Judah through Hezekiah: “A proclamation of Sennacherib king of Assyria: You poor people—do you think you’re safe in that so-called fortress of Jerusalem? You’re sitting ducks. Do you think Hezekiah will save you? Don’t be stupid—Hezekiah has fed you a pack of lies. When he says, ‘God will save us from the power of the king of Assyria,’ he’s lying—you’re all going to end up dead. Wasn’t it Hezekiah who cleared out all the neighborhood worship shrines and told you, ‘There is only one legitimate place to worship’? Do you have any idea what I and my ancestors have done to all the countries around here? Has there been a single god anywhere strong enough to stand up against me? Can you name one god among all the nations that either I or my ancestors have ravaged that so much as lifted a finger against me? So what makes you think you’ll make out any better with your god? Don’t let Hezekiah fool you; don’t let him get by with his barefaced lies; don’t trust him. No god of any country or kingdom ever has been one bit of help against me or my ancestors—what kind of odds does that give your god?”
16 The messengers felt free to throw in their personal comments, putting down both God and God’s servant Hezekiah.
17 Sennacherib continued to send letters insulting the God of Israel: “The gods of the nations were powerless to help their people; the god of Hezekiah is no better, probably worse.”
18-19 The messengers would come up to the wall of Jerusalem and shout up to the people standing on the wall, shouting their propaganda in Hebrew, trying to scare them into demoralized submission. They contemptuously lumped the God of Jerusalem in with the handmade gods of other peoples.
20-21 King Hezekiah, joined by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, responded by praying, calling up to heaven. God answered by sending an angel who wiped out everyone in the Assyrian camp, both warriors and officers. Sennacherib was forced to return home in disgrace, tail between his legs. When he went into the temple of his god, his own sons killed him.
22-23 God saved Hezekiah and the citizens of Jerusalem from Sennacherib king of Assyria and everyone else. And he continued to take good care of them. People streamed into Jerusalem bringing offerings for the worship of God and expensive presents to Hezekiah king of Judah. All the surrounding nations were impressed—Hezekiah’s stock soared.
24 Some time later Hezekiah became deathly sick. He prayed to God and was given a reassuring sign.
25-26 But the sign, instead of making Hezekiah grateful, made him arrogant. This made God angry, and his anger spilled over on Judah and Jerusalem. But then Hezekiah, and Jerusalem with him, repented of his arrogance, and God withdrew his anger while Hezekiah lived.
27-31 Hezekiah ended up very wealthy and much honored. He built treasuries for all his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and valuables, barns for the grain, new wine, and olive oil, stalls for his various breeds of cattle, and pens for his flocks. He founded royal cities for himself and built up huge stocks of sheep and cattle. God saw to it that he was extravagantly rich. Hezekiah was also responsible for diverting the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and rerouting the water to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did. But when the rulers of Babylon sent emissaries to find out about the sign from God that had taken place earlier, God left him on his own to see what he would do; he wanted to test his heart.
32-33 The rest of the history of Hezekiah and his life of loyal service, you can read for yourself—it’s written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the Royal Annals of the Kings of Judah and Israel. When Hezekiah died, they buried him in the upper part of the King David cemetery. Everyone in Judah and Jerusalem came to the funeral. He was buried in great honor.
Manasseh his son was the next king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 27, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 116:12–19
What shall I return to the Lord
for all his goodnessa to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the nameb of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vowsc to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sightd of the Lord
is the death of his faithful servants.e
16 Truly I am your servant, Lord;f
I serve you just as my mother did;g
you have freed me from my chains.h
17 I will sacrifice a thank offeringi to you
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vowsj to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courtsk of the house of the Lord—
in your midst, Jerusalem.l
Praise the Lord.
Insight
We don’t know who penned this psalm, but we readily identify with the writer’s humanity. A life-threatening ordeal—perhaps some disease or an event in battle—had brought the author face to face with death and closer to God as a consequence. “The cords of death entangled me; the anguish of the grave came over me” (Psalm 116:3). This terror prompted the author to call on the Almighty: “Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘Lord, save me!’ ” (v. 4). Yet ultimately, death isn’t to be feared. The most quoted section of the psalm is, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants” (v. 15). Might the motivation for this declaration have been the death of the writer’s God-fearing mother? For in the very next line the psalmist says, “I serve you just as my mother did” (v. 16).
Precious Departure
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. Psalm 116:15
Sculptor Liz Shepherd’s 2018 exhibition The Wait was described by a Boston Globe correspondent as “evok[ing] the precious, exposed, and transcendent in life.” Inspired by the time Shepherd spent at her dying father’s bedside, the exhibition attempts to convey yearning, the emptiness of loss, and the fragile sense that loved ones are just out of reach.
The idea that death is precious might seem counterintuitive; however, the psalmist declares, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants” (Psalm 116:15). God treasures the death of His people, for in their passing He welcomes them home.
Who are these faithful servants (“saints” nkjv) of God? According to the psalmist, they are those who serve God in gratitude for His deliverance, who call on His name, and who honor the words they speak before Him (Psalm 116:16–18). Such actions represent deliberate choices to walk with God, accept the freedom He offers, and cultivate a relationship with Him.
In so doing, we find ourselves in the company of Jesus, who is “chosen by God and precious to him . . . . 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’ ” (1 Peter 2:4–6). When our trust is in God, our departure from this life is precious in His sight. By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
How does your perception of death compare with God’s view of the passing of His people? To what extent is your perception influenced by what the Bible says about death?
Dear God, help me to trust You even in the challenges and losses of life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 27, 2020
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Character
Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place… —Revelation 4:1
A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, “Friend, come up even higher.” There is also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but when you do, you only encounter other temptations and character traits. Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in temptation, and the effect is quite different. When the devil elevates you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve. Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple. You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to move. But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease.
Compare this week in your spiritual life with the same week last year to see how God has called you to a higher level. We have all been brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light.
Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven’t turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where you are spiritually. Have you heard God say, “Come up higher,” not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character?
“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…?” (Genesis 18:17). God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal it.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
Bible in a Year: Judges 1-3; Luke 4:1-30
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 27, 2020
Why "More" is Never Enough - #8665
There was this little song from a children's TV show. It goes, "One of these things is not like the other; one of these things doesn't belong." That's how I look in the middle of twenty or thirty professional football players. That's where I've ended up a number of times when I've spoken for NFL chapel services. Every professional football team actually has a chapel meeting before their game. Often, I was invited to join the players for the team meal after the chapel. Of course, their game day meal was this massive buffet, designed to help them power up for this grueling afternoon they have ahead. After one chapel, I had the privilege of visiting for some time with one of the players who had actually played in three Super Bowls and had been named the Most Valuable Player in one of them. I said, "So you have three Super Bowl rings?" He said, "Yep, but it's still not enough. I've got ten fingers. I won't be happy until I've got a Super Bowl ring on all of them!" Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why 'More' is Never Enough."
Here's a man who has won one of the most coveted prizes in professional sports - three times! But it's not enough? I remember hearing the story of one player who had just experienced the fulfillment of his lifelong dream. He played on a national champion college football team. The morning after, his team and his name were all over the front pages, announcing they had won the championship. But he said he couldn't get over this deep feeling of depression that morning. And here were his words: He had everything he'd been living for, "Now what?"
John D. Rockefeller, one of the richest men in American history was asked by a reporter once, "How much money is enough money?" He smiled and answered simply, "A little bit more." It's true, isn't it? Whatever we've looked for in our life, there never seems to be enough of it to satisfy our restless heart. If you're still climbing whatever is your own "Mt. Happiness," you figure you're not satisfied because you're not there yet. But the people who are already at the top of that mountain are saying, "I'm here and I don't have it. Now what?"
Thousands of years ago, King Solomon, the richest and most sought after man of his time, reached this conclusion, recorded in the Bible in Ecclesiastes 1, "There is nothing new under the sun...I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." That says it, doesn't it - chasing the wind.
In Ecclesiastes 3:11, our word for today from the Word of God, Solomon actually puts his finger on why happiness is so elusive: He says, "God has set eternity in the hearts of men." And that's it! We're made for something that will last forever, and nothing that doesn't last forever could ever fill the hole in our hearts. In fact, we were made for a personal relationship with God, the only One who's big enough to fill that hole because that hole was made for Him. The Bible describes our hearts as being "like the tossing sea, which cannot rest...there is no peace," it says (Isaiah 57:20-21).
But we haven't made our Creator the center of our lives. We've marginalized Him. We've minimized Him. We've pushed Him to the edges of our life, and we've confining Him to a little compartment marked "religion." We're lonely for God. We're away from God; so far away that it took the death of God's only Son to bridge the gap between us.
Our self-run lives (and the Bible calls that sin) place us under the death penalty for all rebels against God. But the death of Jesus Christ on that cross, and His resurrection from the dead three days later, was to pay for every wrong thing you've ever done and to open the door to love and life that will never end, and for that eternity you were made for.
The Bible bottom lines what Jesus did for you on the cross in these words: "The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5). The Bible says you can be, "complete in Him." Don't you want that finally? If you're tired of
searching and you're ready to place your total trust in Jesus to forgive your sin, to bring you to God, tell Him that right now, "Jesus, beginning right now, I'm Yours."
Get to our website. It's there literally to help you at this crossroads. The website is ANewStory.com. Your heart's been looking for home for a long time. Guess what? Today home has come looking for you.
There is a story in the Bible about some men in a boat who were caught in the midst of a big storm. They are afraid for their lives. All hope seems lost. But then they call on Jesus who is in the boat with them. He answers their call and speaks peace to the storm. He calms the raging sea around them, and most importantly, the fear in their hearts.
God wants to bring peace into the storms in our lives. He doesn’t want us living in fear or losing our hope. When the storm rages around us, we can find comfort knowing that we are not alone. The God of Peace is in the boat with us. We are not alone. We are not facing the storm alone. He is with us and he is for us, if we will call on him.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). Turn to Him today.
2 Chronicles 32
And then, after this exemplary track record, this: Sennacherib king of Assyria came and attacked Judah. He put the fortified cities under siege, determined to take them.
2-4 When Hezekiah realized that Sennacherib’s strategy was to take Jerusalem, he talked to his advisors and military leaders about eliminating all the water supplies outside the city; they thought it was a good idea. There was a great turnout of people to plug the springs and tear down the aqueduct. They said, “Why should the kings of Assyria march in and be furnished with running water?”
5-6 Hezekiah also went to work repairing every part of the city wall that was damaged, built defensive towers on it, built another wall of defense further out, and reinforced the defensive rampart (the Millo) of the old City of David. He also built up a large store of armaments—spears and shields. He then appointed military officers to be responsible for the people and got them all together at the public square in front of the city gate.
6-8 Hezekiah rallied the people, saying, “Be strong! Take courage! Don’t be intimidated by the king of Assyria and his troops—there are more on our side than on their side. He only has a bunch of mere men; we have our God to help us and fight for us!”
Morale surged. Hezekiah’s words put steel in their spines.
9-15 Later on, Sennacherib, who had set up camp a few miles away at Lachish, sent messengers to Jerusalem, addressing Judah through Hezekiah: “A proclamation of Sennacherib king of Assyria: You poor people—do you think you’re safe in that so-called fortress of Jerusalem? You’re sitting ducks. Do you think Hezekiah will save you? Don’t be stupid—Hezekiah has fed you a pack of lies. When he says, ‘God will save us from the power of the king of Assyria,’ he’s lying—you’re all going to end up dead. Wasn’t it Hezekiah who cleared out all the neighborhood worship shrines and told you, ‘There is only one legitimate place to worship’? Do you have any idea what I and my ancestors have done to all the countries around here? Has there been a single god anywhere strong enough to stand up against me? Can you name one god among all the nations that either I or my ancestors have ravaged that so much as lifted a finger against me? So what makes you think you’ll make out any better with your god? Don’t let Hezekiah fool you; don’t let him get by with his barefaced lies; don’t trust him. No god of any country or kingdom ever has been one bit of help against me or my ancestors—what kind of odds does that give your god?”
16 The messengers felt free to throw in their personal comments, putting down both God and God’s servant Hezekiah.
17 Sennacherib continued to send letters insulting the God of Israel: “The gods of the nations were powerless to help their people; the god of Hezekiah is no better, probably worse.”
18-19 The messengers would come up to the wall of Jerusalem and shout up to the people standing on the wall, shouting their propaganda in Hebrew, trying to scare them into demoralized submission. They contemptuously lumped the God of Jerusalem in with the handmade gods of other peoples.
20-21 King Hezekiah, joined by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, responded by praying, calling up to heaven. God answered by sending an angel who wiped out everyone in the Assyrian camp, both warriors and officers. Sennacherib was forced to return home in disgrace, tail between his legs. When he went into the temple of his god, his own sons killed him.
22-23 God saved Hezekiah and the citizens of Jerusalem from Sennacherib king of Assyria and everyone else. And he continued to take good care of them. People streamed into Jerusalem bringing offerings for the worship of God and expensive presents to Hezekiah king of Judah. All the surrounding nations were impressed—Hezekiah’s stock soared.
24 Some time later Hezekiah became deathly sick. He prayed to God and was given a reassuring sign.
25-26 But the sign, instead of making Hezekiah grateful, made him arrogant. This made God angry, and his anger spilled over on Judah and Jerusalem. But then Hezekiah, and Jerusalem with him, repented of his arrogance, and God withdrew his anger while Hezekiah lived.
27-31 Hezekiah ended up very wealthy and much honored. He built treasuries for all his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and valuables, barns for the grain, new wine, and olive oil, stalls for his various breeds of cattle, and pens for his flocks. He founded royal cities for himself and built up huge stocks of sheep and cattle. God saw to it that he was extravagantly rich. Hezekiah was also responsible for diverting the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and rerouting the water to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did. But when the rulers of Babylon sent emissaries to find out about the sign from God that had taken place earlier, God left him on his own to see what he would do; he wanted to test his heart.
32-33 The rest of the history of Hezekiah and his life of loyal service, you can read for yourself—it’s written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the Royal Annals of the Kings of Judah and Israel. When Hezekiah died, they buried him in the upper part of the King David cemetery. Everyone in Judah and Jerusalem came to the funeral. He was buried in great honor.
Manasseh his son was the next king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 27, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 116:12–19
What shall I return to the Lord
for all his goodnessa to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the nameb of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vowsc to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sightd of the Lord
is the death of his faithful servants.e
16 Truly I am your servant, Lord;f
I serve you just as my mother did;g
you have freed me from my chains.h
17 I will sacrifice a thank offeringi to you
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vowsj to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courtsk of the house of the Lord—
in your midst, Jerusalem.l
Praise the Lord.
Insight
We don’t know who penned this psalm, but we readily identify with the writer’s humanity. A life-threatening ordeal—perhaps some disease or an event in battle—had brought the author face to face with death and closer to God as a consequence. “The cords of death entangled me; the anguish of the grave came over me” (Psalm 116:3). This terror prompted the author to call on the Almighty: “Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘Lord, save me!’ ” (v. 4). Yet ultimately, death isn’t to be feared. The most quoted section of the psalm is, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants” (v. 15). Might the motivation for this declaration have been the death of the writer’s God-fearing mother? For in the very next line the psalmist says, “I serve you just as my mother did” (v. 16).
Precious Departure
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. Psalm 116:15
Sculptor Liz Shepherd’s 2018 exhibition The Wait was described by a Boston Globe correspondent as “evok[ing] the precious, exposed, and transcendent in life.” Inspired by the time Shepherd spent at her dying father’s bedside, the exhibition attempts to convey yearning, the emptiness of loss, and the fragile sense that loved ones are just out of reach.
The idea that death is precious might seem counterintuitive; however, the psalmist declares, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants” (Psalm 116:15). God treasures the death of His people, for in their passing He welcomes them home.
Who are these faithful servants (“saints” nkjv) of God? According to the psalmist, they are those who serve God in gratitude for His deliverance, who call on His name, and who honor the words they speak before Him (Psalm 116:16–18). Such actions represent deliberate choices to walk with God, accept the freedom He offers, and cultivate a relationship with Him.
In so doing, we find ourselves in the company of Jesus, who is “chosen by God and precious to him . . . . 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’ ” (1 Peter 2:4–6). When our trust is in God, our departure from this life is precious in His sight. By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
How does your perception of death compare with God’s view of the passing of His people? To what extent is your perception influenced by what the Bible says about death?
Dear God, help me to trust You even in the challenges and losses of life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 27, 2020
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Character
Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place… —Revelation 4:1
A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, “Friend, come up even higher.” There is also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but when you do, you only encounter other temptations and character traits. Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in temptation, and the effect is quite different. When the devil elevates you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve. Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple. You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to move. But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease.
Compare this week in your spiritual life with the same week last year to see how God has called you to a higher level. We have all been brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light.
Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven’t turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where you are spiritually. Have you heard God say, “Come up higher,” not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character?
“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…?” (Genesis 18:17). God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal it.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
Bible in a Year: Judges 1-3; Luke 4:1-30
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 27, 2020
Why "More" is Never Enough - #8665
There was this little song from a children's TV show. It goes, "One of these things is not like the other; one of these things doesn't belong." That's how I look in the middle of twenty or thirty professional football players. That's where I've ended up a number of times when I've spoken for NFL chapel services. Every professional football team actually has a chapel meeting before their game. Often, I was invited to join the players for the team meal after the chapel. Of course, their game day meal was this massive buffet, designed to help them power up for this grueling afternoon they have ahead. After one chapel, I had the privilege of visiting for some time with one of the players who had actually played in three Super Bowls and had been named the Most Valuable Player in one of them. I said, "So you have three Super Bowl rings?" He said, "Yep, but it's still not enough. I've got ten fingers. I won't be happy until I've got a Super Bowl ring on all of them!" Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why 'More' is Never Enough."
Here's a man who has won one of the most coveted prizes in professional sports - three times! But it's not enough? I remember hearing the story of one player who had just experienced the fulfillment of his lifelong dream. He played on a national champion college football team. The morning after, his team and his name were all over the front pages, announcing they had won the championship. But he said he couldn't get over this deep feeling of depression that morning. And here were his words: He had everything he'd been living for, "Now what?"
John D. Rockefeller, one of the richest men in American history was asked by a reporter once, "How much money is enough money?" He smiled and answered simply, "A little bit more." It's true, isn't it? Whatever we've looked for in our life, there never seems to be enough of it to satisfy our restless heart. If you're still climbing whatever is your own "Mt. Happiness," you figure you're not satisfied because you're not there yet. But the people who are already at the top of that mountain are saying, "I'm here and I don't have it. Now what?"
Thousands of years ago, King Solomon, the richest and most sought after man of his time, reached this conclusion, recorded in the Bible in Ecclesiastes 1, "There is nothing new under the sun...I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." That says it, doesn't it - chasing the wind.
In Ecclesiastes 3:11, our word for today from the Word of God, Solomon actually puts his finger on why happiness is so elusive: He says, "God has set eternity in the hearts of men." And that's it! We're made for something that will last forever, and nothing that doesn't last forever could ever fill the hole in our hearts. In fact, we were made for a personal relationship with God, the only One who's big enough to fill that hole because that hole was made for Him. The Bible describes our hearts as being "like the tossing sea, which cannot rest...there is no peace," it says (Isaiah 57:20-21).
But we haven't made our Creator the center of our lives. We've marginalized Him. We've minimized Him. We've pushed Him to the edges of our life, and we've confining Him to a little compartment marked "religion." We're lonely for God. We're away from God; so far away that it took the death of God's only Son to bridge the gap between us.
Our self-run lives (and the Bible calls that sin) place us under the death penalty for all rebels against God. But the death of Jesus Christ on that cross, and His resurrection from the dead three days later, was to pay for every wrong thing you've ever done and to open the door to love and life that will never end, and for that eternity you were made for.
The Bible bottom lines what Jesus did for you on the cross in these words: "The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5). The Bible says you can be, "complete in Him." Don't you want that finally? If you're tired of
searching and you're ready to place your total trust in Jesus to forgive your sin, to bring you to God, tell Him that right now, "Jesus, beginning right now, I'm Yours."
Get to our website. It's there literally to help you at this crossroads. The website is ANewStory.com. Your heart's been looking for home for a long time. Guess what? Today home has come looking for you.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
2 Chronicles 31, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: DO NOT FEAR
In times like these, it is easy to let fear grip our hearts. Fear of sickness. Fear of lack. Fear of the unknown. But when fear and anxiety try to plague our every thought, we can remember this one important truth— God is with us. He his with us. He is for us. He loves us. And he invites us to enter into his rest.
We are not alone. When the storm rages, he offers us peace and refuge in the midst of it. He promises hope and strength to those who turn to him. What is God saying in this crisis?” Among the answers must be this promise: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will surely help you” (Isaiah 41:10). Turn to Him today.
2 Chronicles 31
After the Passover celebration, they all took off for the cities of Judah and smashed the phallic stone monuments, chopped down the sacred Asherah groves, and demolished the neighborhood sex-and-religion shrines and local god shops. They didn’t stop until they had been all through Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Then they all went back home and resumed their everyday lives.
2 Hezekiah organized the groups of priests and Levites for their respective tasks, handing out job descriptions for conducting the services of worship: making the various offerings, and making sure that thanks and praise took place wherever and whenever God was worshiped.
3 He also designated his personal contribution for the Whole-Burnt-Offerings for the morning and evening worship, for Sabbaths, for New Moon festivals, and for the special worship days set down in The Revelation of God.
4 In addition, he asked the people who lived in Jerusalem to be responsible for providing for the priests and Levites so they, without distraction or concern, could give themselves totally to The Revelation of God.
5-7 As soon as Hezekiah’s orders had gone out, the Israelites responded generously: firstfruits of the grain harvest, new wine, oil, honey—everything they grew. They didn’t hold back, turning over a tithe of everything. They also brought in a tithe of their cattle, sheep, and anything else they owned that had been dedicated to God. Everything was sorted and piled in mounds. They started doing this in the third month and didn’t finish until the seventh month.
8-9 When Hezekiah and his leaders came and saw the extent of the mounds of gifts, they praised God and commended God’s people Israel. Hezekiah then consulted the priests and Levites on how to handle the abundance of offerings.
10 Azariah, chief priest of the family of Zadok, answered, “From the moment of this huge outpouring of gifts to The Temple of God, there has been plenty to eat for everyone with food left over. God has blessed his people—just look at the evidence!”
11-18 Hezekiah then ordered storerooms to be prepared in The Temple of God. When they were ready, they brought in all the offerings of tithes and sacred gifts. They put Conaniah the Levite in charge with his brother Shimei as assistant. Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were project managers under the direction of Conaniah and Shimei, carrying out the orders of King Hezekiah and Azariah the chief priest of The Temple of God. Kore son of Imnah the Levite, security guard of the East Gate, was in charge of the Freewill-Offerings of God and responsible for distributing the offerings and sacred gifts. Faithful support out in the priestly cities was provided by Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah. They were even-handed in their distributions to their coworkers (all males thirty years and older) in each of their respective divisions as they entered The Temple of God each day to do their assigned work (their work was all organized by divisions). The divisions comprised officially registered priests by family and Levites twenty years and older by job description. The official family tree included everyone in the entire congregation—their small children, wives, sons, and daughters. The ardent dedication they showed in bringing themselves and their gifts to worship was total—no one was left out.
19 The Aaronites, the priests who lived out on the pastures that belonged to the priest-cities, had reputable men on hand to distribute regular rations to every priest—everyone listed in the official family tree of the Levites.
20-21 Hezekiah carried out this work and kept it up everywhere in Judah. He was the very best—good, right, and true before his God. Everything he took up, whether it had to do with worship in God’s Temple or the carrying out of God’s Law and Commandments, he did well in a spirit of prayerful worship. He was a great success.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 3:1–6
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilatei was governor of Judea, Herodj tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,k the word of God came to Johnl son of Zechariahm in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.n 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’ ”
Insight
Luke, the writer of the third gospel, has an impressive resume. His credits include theologian, physician (Colossians 4:14), researcher, and historian. His attention to historical detail appears early in the book (see Luke 1:3–5; 2:1–2). This pattern continues in Luke 3:1–2 where he briefly notes the secular and religious ruling authorities during the ministry of John the Baptist. The Roman emperor Tiberius (ruled ad 14–37) was over the entire empire. Pontius Pilate (in office ad 26–36) was a provincial ruler who governed in Judea. Three men (Herod [Antipas], Philip, and Lysanias) are said to be tetrarchs. Literally the word tetrarch means “ruler of a fourth,” but it actually referred to a “ruler of lower rank.” These subordinate leaders were over particular territories. Religious leaders—Annas and Caiaphas—also come into view (v. 2). Though Caiaphas actually held the office of high priest, clearly Annas shared the power of that office with him.
Seeing Salvation
All people will see God’s salvation. Luke 3:6
At fifty-three, the last thing Sonia expected to do was abandon her business and her country to join a group of asylum seekers journeying to a new land. After gangs murdered her nephew and tried to force her seventeen-year-old son into their ranks, Sonia felt escape was her only option. “I pray to God. . . . I will do whatever is necessary,” Sonia explained. “I will do anything so [my son and I] don’t die of hunger. . . I prefer to see him suffer here than end up in a bag or canal.”
Does the Bible have anything to say to Sonia and her son—or to so many who have suffered injustice and devastation? When John the Baptist proclaimed the arrival of Jesus, he announced good news to Sonia, to us, to the world. “Prepare the way for the Lord,” John proclaimed (Luke 3:4). He insisted that when Jesus arrived, God would enact a powerful, comprehensive rescue. The biblical word for this rescue is salvation.
Salvation encompasses both the healing of our sinful hearts and—one day—the healing of all the world’s evils. God’s transforming work is for every story, every human system, and is available to everyone. “All people will see God’s salvation,” John said (v. 6).
Whatever evil we face, Christ’s cross and resurrection assure us we’ll see God’s salvation. One day we’ll experience His final liberation. By: Winn Collier
Reflect & Pray
Where do you need to see God’s salvation in your life? How has God called you to be part of His transforming work on earth?
God, You promise that all people will see Your salvation. I claim this promise. Show me Your rescue and healing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. —Matthew 5:8
Purity is not innocence— it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of maintaining our spiritual vision through personal purity. If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our character— it is “the pure in heart” who “see God.”
God makes us pure by an act of His sovereign grace, but we still have something that we must carefully watch. It is through our bodily life coming in contact with other people and other points of view that we tend to become tarnished. Not only must our “inner sanctuary” be kept right with God, but also the “outer courts” must be brought into perfect harmony with the purity God gives us through His grace. Our spiritual vision and understanding is immediately blurred when our “outer court” is stained. If we want to maintain personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean refusing to do or even think certain things. And some things that are acceptable for others will become unacceptable for us.
A practical help in keeping your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, “That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus!”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
Bible in a Year: Joshua 22-24; Luke 3
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 26, 2020
The Antidote for the Overwhelming - #8664
When my ministry teammate, Donna, showed me how it started, I wasn't very impressed. It began with a Mason jar lid and a little cloth circle she made with it. Great. A little cloth circle. O.K. Donna then sort of gathered that round piece of cloth into a puckered little circle called a "quilted yo-yo." Finally, she had that piece finished and looking like what she wanted. Great. A little piece of cloth that's now a little quilted yo-yo. But she kept making those pieces, and then she began putting them together in a pattern I didn't see. When she was finished, she had this large American flag creation, made from all those little pieces into something really impressive.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Antidote for the Overwhelming."
My friend showed me a quilt she made the same way - one little piece at a time. No single piece of her creations is all that impressive, I think. But when you see the whole tapestry, that's amazing. And assembled, not all at once, but one little piece at a time. She didn't work on a flag or a quilt. She worked on one piece at a time.
Which is exactly how God weaves the amazing tapestry of your life and mine. He sees the whole thing; He sees the finished product. We see the piece in front of us. It's this little 24-hour thing we call a day. God's modus operandi should be clear to us from the very day the world began, as recorded in our word for today from the Word of God.
Genesis 1:3-5 tells us, for example, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light...God called the light 'day,' and the darkness He called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day." From the very genesis of our world, God sets things up to be done as "days" - one small piece of the big tapestry at a time.
That way of doing life is reinforced over and over again in Scriptures. Lamentations 3:23 tells us to experience God by discovering that "His mercies are new every morning." The psalmist said that He "daily carries our burdens" (Psalm 68:19). Jesus told us His provision would come to us as "daily bread" (Matthew 6:11), His renewing of our soul would come "day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16), and Jesus said the way to follow Him our whole life is to "take up your cross daily" (Luke 9:23). See, He does the big tapestry. Our job is to do this little piece called today.
Maybe you're overwhelmed right now by the size of what's in front of you. You're overwhelmed by the undone, by your responsibilities, by the expectations, by that massive challenge, that unsolvable problem, that unfixable situation. It's time you bowed before the Lord Jesus each new day and crown Him Lord of your undone, your undoable, or your unbearable. You've been trying to figure it out, to worry about the whole huge tapestry. That is His problem. He'll put together the big thing through you doing each day faithfully. He does the tapestry. You do today.
When folks casually tell you to "have a nice day," they probably have no idea they're reinforcing God's instructions for a life that doesn't overwhelm you. Your job is to do one day prayerfully, obediently, wholeheartedly, lovingly, joyfully. When you let the "mights" and the "coulds" and the "what ifs" of your tomorrow leak into your todays, you start to sink, because you're trying to do God's job instead of your job.
The big future is up to God. You just do the day. And when you reach the end of your day, you leave in His hands all you didn't get done, all you need to do, and all you can't possibly do.
You know what? That's a pretty liberating way to live. You do today's piece, God's doing the big tapestry. Then, on that day when you see Jesus, you can lay at His feet a whole life you lived for Him one faithful day at a time.
In times like these, it is easy to let fear grip our hearts. Fear of sickness. Fear of lack. Fear of the unknown. But when fear and anxiety try to plague our every thought, we can remember this one important truth— God is with us. He his with us. He is for us. He loves us. And he invites us to enter into his rest.
We are not alone. When the storm rages, he offers us peace and refuge in the midst of it. He promises hope and strength to those who turn to him. What is God saying in this crisis?” Among the answers must be this promise: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will surely help you” (Isaiah 41:10). Turn to Him today.
2 Chronicles 31
After the Passover celebration, they all took off for the cities of Judah and smashed the phallic stone monuments, chopped down the sacred Asherah groves, and demolished the neighborhood sex-and-religion shrines and local god shops. They didn’t stop until they had been all through Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Then they all went back home and resumed their everyday lives.
2 Hezekiah organized the groups of priests and Levites for their respective tasks, handing out job descriptions for conducting the services of worship: making the various offerings, and making sure that thanks and praise took place wherever and whenever God was worshiped.
3 He also designated his personal contribution for the Whole-Burnt-Offerings for the morning and evening worship, for Sabbaths, for New Moon festivals, and for the special worship days set down in The Revelation of God.
4 In addition, he asked the people who lived in Jerusalem to be responsible for providing for the priests and Levites so they, without distraction or concern, could give themselves totally to The Revelation of God.
5-7 As soon as Hezekiah’s orders had gone out, the Israelites responded generously: firstfruits of the grain harvest, new wine, oil, honey—everything they grew. They didn’t hold back, turning over a tithe of everything. They also brought in a tithe of their cattle, sheep, and anything else they owned that had been dedicated to God. Everything was sorted and piled in mounds. They started doing this in the third month and didn’t finish until the seventh month.
8-9 When Hezekiah and his leaders came and saw the extent of the mounds of gifts, they praised God and commended God’s people Israel. Hezekiah then consulted the priests and Levites on how to handle the abundance of offerings.
10 Azariah, chief priest of the family of Zadok, answered, “From the moment of this huge outpouring of gifts to The Temple of God, there has been plenty to eat for everyone with food left over. God has blessed his people—just look at the evidence!”
11-18 Hezekiah then ordered storerooms to be prepared in The Temple of God. When they were ready, they brought in all the offerings of tithes and sacred gifts. They put Conaniah the Levite in charge with his brother Shimei as assistant. Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were project managers under the direction of Conaniah and Shimei, carrying out the orders of King Hezekiah and Azariah the chief priest of The Temple of God. Kore son of Imnah the Levite, security guard of the East Gate, was in charge of the Freewill-Offerings of God and responsible for distributing the offerings and sacred gifts. Faithful support out in the priestly cities was provided by Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah. They were even-handed in their distributions to their coworkers (all males thirty years and older) in each of their respective divisions as they entered The Temple of God each day to do their assigned work (their work was all organized by divisions). The divisions comprised officially registered priests by family and Levites twenty years and older by job description. The official family tree included everyone in the entire congregation—their small children, wives, sons, and daughters. The ardent dedication they showed in bringing themselves and their gifts to worship was total—no one was left out.
19 The Aaronites, the priests who lived out on the pastures that belonged to the priest-cities, had reputable men on hand to distribute regular rations to every priest—everyone listed in the official family tree of the Levites.
20-21 Hezekiah carried out this work and kept it up everywhere in Judah. He was the very best—good, right, and true before his God. Everything he took up, whether it had to do with worship in God’s Temple or the carrying out of God’s Law and Commandments, he did well in a spirit of prayerful worship. He was a great success.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 3:1–6
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilatei was governor of Judea, Herodj tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,k the word of God came to Johnl son of Zechariahm in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.n 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’ ”
Insight
Luke, the writer of the third gospel, has an impressive resume. His credits include theologian, physician (Colossians 4:14), researcher, and historian. His attention to historical detail appears early in the book (see Luke 1:3–5; 2:1–2). This pattern continues in Luke 3:1–2 where he briefly notes the secular and religious ruling authorities during the ministry of John the Baptist. The Roman emperor Tiberius (ruled ad 14–37) was over the entire empire. Pontius Pilate (in office ad 26–36) was a provincial ruler who governed in Judea. Three men (Herod [Antipas], Philip, and Lysanias) are said to be tetrarchs. Literally the word tetrarch means “ruler of a fourth,” but it actually referred to a “ruler of lower rank.” These subordinate leaders were over particular territories. Religious leaders—Annas and Caiaphas—also come into view (v. 2). Though Caiaphas actually held the office of high priest, clearly Annas shared the power of that office with him.
Seeing Salvation
All people will see God’s salvation. Luke 3:6
At fifty-three, the last thing Sonia expected to do was abandon her business and her country to join a group of asylum seekers journeying to a new land. After gangs murdered her nephew and tried to force her seventeen-year-old son into their ranks, Sonia felt escape was her only option. “I pray to God. . . . I will do whatever is necessary,” Sonia explained. “I will do anything so [my son and I] don’t die of hunger. . . I prefer to see him suffer here than end up in a bag or canal.”
Does the Bible have anything to say to Sonia and her son—or to so many who have suffered injustice and devastation? When John the Baptist proclaimed the arrival of Jesus, he announced good news to Sonia, to us, to the world. “Prepare the way for the Lord,” John proclaimed (Luke 3:4). He insisted that when Jesus arrived, God would enact a powerful, comprehensive rescue. The biblical word for this rescue is salvation.
Salvation encompasses both the healing of our sinful hearts and—one day—the healing of all the world’s evils. God’s transforming work is for every story, every human system, and is available to everyone. “All people will see God’s salvation,” John said (v. 6).
Whatever evil we face, Christ’s cross and resurrection assure us we’ll see God’s salvation. One day we’ll experience His final liberation. By: Winn Collier
Reflect & Pray
Where do you need to see God’s salvation in your life? How has God called you to be part of His transforming work on earth?
God, You promise that all people will see Your salvation. I claim this promise. Show me Your rescue and healing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. —Matthew 5:8
Purity is not innocence— it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of maintaining our spiritual vision through personal purity. If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our character— it is “the pure in heart” who “see God.”
God makes us pure by an act of His sovereign grace, but we still have something that we must carefully watch. It is through our bodily life coming in contact with other people and other points of view that we tend to become tarnished. Not only must our “inner sanctuary” be kept right with God, but also the “outer courts” must be brought into perfect harmony with the purity God gives us through His grace. Our spiritual vision and understanding is immediately blurred when our “outer court” is stained. If we want to maintain personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean refusing to do or even think certain things. And some things that are acceptable for others will become unacceptable for us.
A practical help in keeping your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, “That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus!”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
Bible in a Year: Joshua 22-24; Luke 3
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 26, 2020
The Antidote for the Overwhelming - #8664
When my ministry teammate, Donna, showed me how it started, I wasn't very impressed. It began with a Mason jar lid and a little cloth circle she made with it. Great. A little cloth circle. O.K. Donna then sort of gathered that round piece of cloth into a puckered little circle called a "quilted yo-yo." Finally, she had that piece finished and looking like what she wanted. Great. A little piece of cloth that's now a little quilted yo-yo. But she kept making those pieces, and then she began putting them together in a pattern I didn't see. When she was finished, she had this large American flag creation, made from all those little pieces into something really impressive.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Antidote for the Overwhelming."
My friend showed me a quilt she made the same way - one little piece at a time. No single piece of her creations is all that impressive, I think. But when you see the whole tapestry, that's amazing. And assembled, not all at once, but one little piece at a time. She didn't work on a flag or a quilt. She worked on one piece at a time.
Which is exactly how God weaves the amazing tapestry of your life and mine. He sees the whole thing; He sees the finished product. We see the piece in front of us. It's this little 24-hour thing we call a day. God's modus operandi should be clear to us from the very day the world began, as recorded in our word for today from the Word of God.
Genesis 1:3-5 tells us, for example, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light...God called the light 'day,' and the darkness He called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day." From the very genesis of our world, God sets things up to be done as "days" - one small piece of the big tapestry at a time.
That way of doing life is reinforced over and over again in Scriptures. Lamentations 3:23 tells us to experience God by discovering that "His mercies are new every morning." The psalmist said that He "daily carries our burdens" (Psalm 68:19). Jesus told us His provision would come to us as "daily bread" (Matthew 6:11), His renewing of our soul would come "day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16), and Jesus said the way to follow Him our whole life is to "take up your cross daily" (Luke 9:23). See, He does the big tapestry. Our job is to do this little piece called today.
Maybe you're overwhelmed right now by the size of what's in front of you. You're overwhelmed by the undone, by your responsibilities, by the expectations, by that massive challenge, that unsolvable problem, that unfixable situation. It's time you bowed before the Lord Jesus each new day and crown Him Lord of your undone, your undoable, or your unbearable. You've been trying to figure it out, to worry about the whole huge tapestry. That is His problem. He'll put together the big thing through you doing each day faithfully. He does the tapestry. You do today.
When folks casually tell you to "have a nice day," they probably have no idea they're reinforcing God's instructions for a life that doesn't overwhelm you. Your job is to do one day prayerfully, obediently, wholeheartedly, lovingly, joyfully. When you let the "mights" and the "coulds" and the "what ifs" of your tomorrow leak into your todays, you start to sink, because you're trying to do God's job instead of your job.
The big future is up to God. You just do the day. And when you reach the end of your day, you leave in His hands all you didn't get done, all you need to do, and all you can't possibly do.
You know what? That's a pretty liberating way to live. You do today's piece, God's doing the big tapestry. Then, on that day when you see Jesus, you can lay at His feet a whole life you lived for Him one faithful day at a time.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Acts 19:21-41, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE UNCHANGING CREATOR IS FOR US
Everything is changing! Flight schedules are changing. The economy is changing.The school schedule is changing. Changes, everywhere.
But what hasn’t changed? God’s love for us. The four most welcome words in the Bible are God is for us. GOD is for us— the unchanging Creator is FOR us. His love for us is constant and unchanging. He’s not plotting to take us down. He wants to build us up. He hasn’t turned away from us. He has turned toward us and is inviting us to run to him for peace and strength.
Among all the changes in this season, find comfort in this steadfast promise from Christ. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). Turn to Him today.
Acts 19:21-41
After all this had come to a head, Paul decided it was time to move on to Macedonia and Achaia provinces, and from there to Jerusalem. “Then,” he said, “I’m off to Rome. I’ve got to see Rome!” He sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, on to Macedonia and then stayed for a while and wrapped things up in Asia.
23-26 But before he got away, a huge ruckus occurred over what was now being referred to as “the Way.” A certain silversmith, Demetrius, conducted a brisk trade in the manufacture of shrines to the goddess Artemis, employing a number of artisans in his business. He rounded up his workers and others similarly employed and said, “Men, you well know that we have a good thing going here—and you’ve seen how Paul has barged in and discredited what we’re doing by telling people that there’s no such thing as a god made with hands. A lot of people are going along with him, not only here in Ephesus but all through Asia province.
27 “Not only is our little business in danger of falling apart, but the temple of our famous goddess Artemis will certainly end up a pile of rubble as her glorious reputation fades to nothing. And this is no mere local matter—the whole world worships our Artemis!”
28-31 That set them off in a frenzy. They ran into the street yelling, “Great Artemis of the Ephesians! Great Artemis of the Ephesians!” They put the whole city in an uproar, stampeding into the stadium, and grabbing two of Paul’s associates on the way, the Macedonians Gaius and Aristarchus. Paul wanted to go in, too, but the disciples wouldn’t let him. Prominent religious leaders in the city who had become friendly to Paul concurred: “By no means go near that mob!”
32-34 Some were yelling one thing, some another. Most of them had no idea what was going on or why they were there. As the Jews pushed Alexander to the front to try to gain control, different factions clamored to get him on their side. But he brushed them off and quieted the mob with an impressive sweep of his arms. But the moment he opened his mouth and they knew he was a Jew, they shouted him down: “Great Artemis of the Ephesians! Great Artemis of the Ephesians!”—on and on and on, for over two hours.
35-37 Finally, the town clerk got the mob quieted down and said, “Fellow citizens, is there anyone anywhere who doesn’t know that our dear city Ephesus is protector of glorious Artemis and her sacred stone image that fell straight out of heaven? Since this is beyond contradiction, you had better get hold of yourselves. This is conduct unworthy of Artemis. These men you’ve dragged in here have done nothing to harm either our temple or our goddess.
38-41 “So if Demetrius and his guild of artisans have a complaint, they can take it to court and make all the accusations they want. If anything else is bothering you, bring it to the regularly scheduled town meeting and let it be settled there. There is no excuse for what’s happened today. We’re putting our city in serious danger. Rome, remember, does not look kindly on rioters.” With that, he sent them home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight: Ephesians 6:10–20
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lords and in his mighty power.t 11 Put on the full armor of God,u so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,v but against the rulers, against the authorities,w against the powersx of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.y 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God,z so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,a with the breastplate of righteousness in place,b 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.c 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,d with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.e 17 Take the helmet of salvationf and the sword of the Spirit,g which is the word of God.h
18 And pray in the Spiriti on all occasionsj with all kinds of prayers and requests.k With this in mind, be alert and always keep on prayingl for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me,m that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlesslyn make known the mysteryo of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassadorp in chains.q Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Insight
Four times in Ephesians 6:18–20 Paul asks the Ephesian believers to pray, twice asking them to pray he won’t be fearful. What might make him fearful? The answer is in the preceding verses where he clarifies against whom we fight our battles. The battle isn’t against our visible enemies—those who may give us tangible resistance. Instead, we fight against our enemies in the spiritual realm. Paul, however, has also outlined the way to combat those spiritual forces—by putting on the armor of God (vv. 10–17). God provides the armor, but He works through our prayers.
It’s Time to Pray . . . Again
Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:18
I pulled into my driveway, waving at my neighbor Myriam and her little girl Elizabeth. Over the years, Elizabeth had grown accustomed to our spontaneous chats lasting longer than the promised “few minutes” and morphing into prayer meetings. She climbed the tree planted in the center of their front yard, dangled her legs over a branch, and busied herself while her mother and I spoke. After a while, Elizabeth hopped down from her roost and ran to where we stood. Grabbing our hands, she smiled and almost sang, “It’s time to pray . . . again.” Even at an early age, Elizabeth seemed to understand how important prayer was in our friendship.
After encouraging believers to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (Ephesians 6:10), the apostle Paul offered special insight on the crucial role of continual prayer. He described the necessary armor God’s people would need during their spiritual walk with the Lord, who provides protection, discernment, and confidence in His truth (vv. 11–17). However, the apostle emphasized this God-given strength grew from deliberate immersion in the life-giving gift of prayer (vv. 18–20).
God hears and cares about our concerns, whether they’re spoken boldly, sobbed silently, or secured deep in a hurting heart. He’s always ready to make us strong in His power, as He invites us to pray again and again and again. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
How can ongoing prayer change our perspective, relationships, and day-to-day living? What would it mean for you to consider your time in prayer to be as vital as breathing?
Heavenly Father, thank You for the privilege of coming to You in prayer.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Maintaining the Proper Relationship
…the friend of the bridegroom… —John 3:29
Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left with this thought— “What a fine person that man is!” That is not being a true “friend of the bridegroom”— I am increasing all the time; He is not.
To maintain this friendship and faithfulness to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful to have the moral and vital relationship to Him above everything else, including obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey and our only task is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, seeing that nothing interferes with it. Only occasionally is it a matter of obedience. At those times when a crisis arises, we have to find out what God’s will is. Yet most of our life is not spent in trying to be consciously obedient, but in maintaining this relationship— being the “friend of the bridegroom.” Christian work can actually be a means of diverting a person’s focus away from Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends “of the bridegroom,” we may become amateur providences of God to someone else, working against Him while we use His weapons.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R
Bible in a Year: Joshua 19-21; Luke 2:25-52
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Tsunami Heroes - #8663
If you're a parent, or even a grandparent, when your kid gets a great teacher, they become a hero to them and to you. But every once in a while, a teacher does something so unforgettable that we nominate them for the Heroes Hall of Fame. Robert Bailey - he was in the news a while back - is one of those. He's a 27-year-old British teacher, serving in a school in Japan. A school that suddenly was right in the path of a monster tsunami that swamped northern Japan. The students there had eight minutes to find a safe place after the tsunami sirens went off. He described the moment that earthquake hit this way: "We first heard a weird cracking noise, and then came the violent shaking."
Bailey said he immediately ushered the students outside onto the baseball field so they wouldn't be hit by falling debris. They found ground that was slightly elevated and then they just watched the water just keep coming toward them. Thankfully, they were able to avoid the killer wave as it passed through the valley below them, but their school was obliterated. Every other student, 137 of them, was unaccounted for. But the 42 in Robert Bailey's class? They survived because of one man who led them to safety.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Tsunami Heroes."
See, when you lead people out of the path of destruction and to the safe place, you're really a hero. It's the kind of hero that God is summoning you to be. Here's what He says in Daniel 12:2-3, our word for today from the Word of God. "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt."Okay, hold up a minute here. Every person on this planet, every person you know, is on one of two lists. Those headed for awesome eternity with God and those headed for awful eternity without God.
The next verse suggests what will make the difference. "...Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars for ever and ever." God's talking about those who point people to where the life is, where a saving relationship with Him is - in His Son, Jesus. It's the one thing you can do in this life that will still mean something a hundred million years from now. Those who rescue the dying on earth are going to be heaven's forever heroes.
And that's why He's put you where you are. It's no accident you are where you are. You've been divinely positioned to be God's tsunami warning system. And the warning is the difference between life and death. God said through the prophet Ezekiel, "I have made you a watchman...hear the word I speak. Give them warning from Me...I will hold you accountable..." (Ezekiel 3:16-18).
The tsunami of God's judgment is headed our way. The Bible says, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). But the tsunami of God's judgment was already taken by Jesus when He died for the sins of the people you know. The high ground - the only safe place - is that cross where Jesus paid for our sins, and you know that. Some of the people you know don't know that.
Someone has to lead them to safety, and God's counting on you. You don't have to know hundreds of Bible verses. You don't have to have your life totally together. You don't have to have all the answers. You just have to be able to point them to the safe place. Your mission is to walk with them up that hill called Skull Hill in the Bible; the one with the cross on top. Take them there. Tell them that the man who died there is dying for them. That it was their sins He was paying for. That He loves them that much. It's all about Jesus!
Maybe you're holding back because you're afraid. That's a normal feeling. Robert Bailey, who led those teenagers to safety in the face of that looming tsunami, was afraid. He actually said he was "terrified." But he said he had a duty to keep those kids safe. Heroism and courage aren't the absence of fear; they're the disregard of fear, because you don't want the people you're responsible for to die.
The tsunami of death and judgment is coming. The warning has been sounded. The lives of the people around you depend on someone leading them to the high ground of Jesus' cross. You're their chance. You're a candidate to be one of Heaven's Heroes.
Everything is changing! Flight schedules are changing. The economy is changing.The school schedule is changing. Changes, everywhere.
But what hasn’t changed? God’s love for us. The four most welcome words in the Bible are God is for us. GOD is for us— the unchanging Creator is FOR us. His love for us is constant and unchanging. He’s not plotting to take us down. He wants to build us up. He hasn’t turned away from us. He has turned toward us and is inviting us to run to him for peace and strength.
Among all the changes in this season, find comfort in this steadfast promise from Christ. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). Turn to Him today.
Acts 19:21-41
After all this had come to a head, Paul decided it was time to move on to Macedonia and Achaia provinces, and from there to Jerusalem. “Then,” he said, “I’m off to Rome. I’ve got to see Rome!” He sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, on to Macedonia and then stayed for a while and wrapped things up in Asia.
23-26 But before he got away, a huge ruckus occurred over what was now being referred to as “the Way.” A certain silversmith, Demetrius, conducted a brisk trade in the manufacture of shrines to the goddess Artemis, employing a number of artisans in his business. He rounded up his workers and others similarly employed and said, “Men, you well know that we have a good thing going here—and you’ve seen how Paul has barged in and discredited what we’re doing by telling people that there’s no such thing as a god made with hands. A lot of people are going along with him, not only here in Ephesus but all through Asia province.
27 “Not only is our little business in danger of falling apart, but the temple of our famous goddess Artemis will certainly end up a pile of rubble as her glorious reputation fades to nothing. And this is no mere local matter—the whole world worships our Artemis!”
28-31 That set them off in a frenzy. They ran into the street yelling, “Great Artemis of the Ephesians! Great Artemis of the Ephesians!” They put the whole city in an uproar, stampeding into the stadium, and grabbing two of Paul’s associates on the way, the Macedonians Gaius and Aristarchus. Paul wanted to go in, too, but the disciples wouldn’t let him. Prominent religious leaders in the city who had become friendly to Paul concurred: “By no means go near that mob!”
32-34 Some were yelling one thing, some another. Most of them had no idea what was going on or why they were there. As the Jews pushed Alexander to the front to try to gain control, different factions clamored to get him on their side. But he brushed them off and quieted the mob with an impressive sweep of his arms. But the moment he opened his mouth and they knew he was a Jew, they shouted him down: “Great Artemis of the Ephesians! Great Artemis of the Ephesians!”—on and on and on, for over two hours.
35-37 Finally, the town clerk got the mob quieted down and said, “Fellow citizens, is there anyone anywhere who doesn’t know that our dear city Ephesus is protector of glorious Artemis and her sacred stone image that fell straight out of heaven? Since this is beyond contradiction, you had better get hold of yourselves. This is conduct unworthy of Artemis. These men you’ve dragged in here have done nothing to harm either our temple or our goddess.
38-41 “So if Demetrius and his guild of artisans have a complaint, they can take it to court and make all the accusations they want. If anything else is bothering you, bring it to the regularly scheduled town meeting and let it be settled there. There is no excuse for what’s happened today. We’re putting our city in serious danger. Rome, remember, does not look kindly on rioters.” With that, he sent them home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight: Ephesians 6:10–20
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lords and in his mighty power.t 11 Put on the full armor of God,u so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,v but against the rulers, against the authorities,w against the powersx of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.y 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God,z so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,a with the breastplate of righteousness in place,b 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.c 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,d with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.e 17 Take the helmet of salvationf and the sword of the Spirit,g which is the word of God.h
18 And pray in the Spiriti on all occasionsj with all kinds of prayers and requests.k With this in mind, be alert and always keep on prayingl for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me,m that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlesslyn make known the mysteryo of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassadorp in chains.q Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Insight
Four times in Ephesians 6:18–20 Paul asks the Ephesian believers to pray, twice asking them to pray he won’t be fearful. What might make him fearful? The answer is in the preceding verses where he clarifies against whom we fight our battles. The battle isn’t against our visible enemies—those who may give us tangible resistance. Instead, we fight against our enemies in the spiritual realm. Paul, however, has also outlined the way to combat those spiritual forces—by putting on the armor of God (vv. 10–17). God provides the armor, but He works through our prayers.
It’s Time to Pray . . . Again
Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:18
I pulled into my driveway, waving at my neighbor Myriam and her little girl Elizabeth. Over the years, Elizabeth had grown accustomed to our spontaneous chats lasting longer than the promised “few minutes” and morphing into prayer meetings. She climbed the tree planted in the center of their front yard, dangled her legs over a branch, and busied herself while her mother and I spoke. After a while, Elizabeth hopped down from her roost and ran to where we stood. Grabbing our hands, she smiled and almost sang, “It’s time to pray . . . again.” Even at an early age, Elizabeth seemed to understand how important prayer was in our friendship.
After encouraging believers to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (Ephesians 6:10), the apostle Paul offered special insight on the crucial role of continual prayer. He described the necessary armor God’s people would need during their spiritual walk with the Lord, who provides protection, discernment, and confidence in His truth (vv. 11–17). However, the apostle emphasized this God-given strength grew from deliberate immersion in the life-giving gift of prayer (vv. 18–20).
God hears and cares about our concerns, whether they’re spoken boldly, sobbed silently, or secured deep in a hurting heart. He’s always ready to make us strong in His power, as He invites us to pray again and again and again. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
How can ongoing prayer change our perspective, relationships, and day-to-day living? What would it mean for you to consider your time in prayer to be as vital as breathing?
Heavenly Father, thank You for the privilege of coming to You in prayer.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Maintaining the Proper Relationship
…the friend of the bridegroom… —John 3:29
Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left with this thought— “What a fine person that man is!” That is not being a true “friend of the bridegroom”— I am increasing all the time; He is not.
To maintain this friendship and faithfulness to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful to have the moral and vital relationship to Him above everything else, including obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey and our only task is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, seeing that nothing interferes with it. Only occasionally is it a matter of obedience. At those times when a crisis arises, we have to find out what God’s will is. Yet most of our life is not spent in trying to be consciously obedient, but in maintaining this relationship— being the “friend of the bridegroom.” Christian work can actually be a means of diverting a person’s focus away from Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends “of the bridegroom,” we may become amateur providences of God to someone else, working against Him while we use His weapons.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R
Bible in a Year: Joshua 19-21; Luke 2:25-52
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Tsunami Heroes - #8663
If you're a parent, or even a grandparent, when your kid gets a great teacher, they become a hero to them and to you. But every once in a while, a teacher does something so unforgettable that we nominate them for the Heroes Hall of Fame. Robert Bailey - he was in the news a while back - is one of those. He's a 27-year-old British teacher, serving in a school in Japan. A school that suddenly was right in the path of a monster tsunami that swamped northern Japan. The students there had eight minutes to find a safe place after the tsunami sirens went off. He described the moment that earthquake hit this way: "We first heard a weird cracking noise, and then came the violent shaking."
Bailey said he immediately ushered the students outside onto the baseball field so they wouldn't be hit by falling debris. They found ground that was slightly elevated and then they just watched the water just keep coming toward them. Thankfully, they were able to avoid the killer wave as it passed through the valley below them, but their school was obliterated. Every other student, 137 of them, was unaccounted for. But the 42 in Robert Bailey's class? They survived because of one man who led them to safety.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Tsunami Heroes."
See, when you lead people out of the path of destruction and to the safe place, you're really a hero. It's the kind of hero that God is summoning you to be. Here's what He says in Daniel 12:2-3, our word for today from the Word of God. "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt."Okay, hold up a minute here. Every person on this planet, every person you know, is on one of two lists. Those headed for awesome eternity with God and those headed for awful eternity without God.
The next verse suggests what will make the difference. "...Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars for ever and ever." God's talking about those who point people to where the life is, where a saving relationship with Him is - in His Son, Jesus. It's the one thing you can do in this life that will still mean something a hundred million years from now. Those who rescue the dying on earth are going to be heaven's forever heroes.
And that's why He's put you where you are. It's no accident you are where you are. You've been divinely positioned to be God's tsunami warning system. And the warning is the difference between life and death. God said through the prophet Ezekiel, "I have made you a watchman...hear the word I speak. Give them warning from Me...I will hold you accountable..." (Ezekiel 3:16-18).
The tsunami of God's judgment is headed our way. The Bible says, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). But the tsunami of God's judgment was already taken by Jesus when He died for the sins of the people you know. The high ground - the only safe place - is that cross where Jesus paid for our sins, and you know that. Some of the people you know don't know that.
Someone has to lead them to safety, and God's counting on you. You don't have to know hundreds of Bible verses. You don't have to have your life totally together. You don't have to have all the answers. You just have to be able to point them to the safe place. Your mission is to walk with them up that hill called Skull Hill in the Bible; the one with the cross on top. Take them there. Tell them that the man who died there is dying for them. That it was their sins He was paying for. That He loves them that much. It's all about Jesus!
Maybe you're holding back because you're afraid. That's a normal feeling. Robert Bailey, who led those teenagers to safety in the face of that looming tsunami, was afraid. He actually said he was "terrified." But he said he had a duty to keep those kids safe. Heroism and courage aren't the absence of fear; they're the disregard of fear, because you don't want the people you're responsible for to die.
The tsunami of death and judgment is coming. The warning has been sounded. The lives of the people around you depend on someone leading them to the high ground of Jesus' cross. You're their chance. You're a candidate to be one of Heaven's Heroes.
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
2 Chronicles 30, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: PEACE IN THE FACE OF UNCERTAINTY
Everything is being canceled. The NBA games. The NHL games. March Madness. Broadway plays. Flights. Cruises. Cancellations, everywhere!
But can I tell you the one thing that has not and WILL not be canceled? God will never cancel his promise to take care of us. Do not interpret the presence of problems as the absence of God. God has promised, “Never will I never leave you, never will I forsake you.” He is with us. He is for us. He offers us peace in the face of uncertainty, and hope in exchange for heaviness.
The question of this crisis is simply this, what is God saying to us? Among the answers must be this promise from Matthew 11:28, “Come to me all of you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” Turn to Him today.
2 Chronicles 30
Then Hezekiah invited all of Israel and Judah, with personal letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, to come to The Temple of God in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to Israel’s God. The king and his officials and the congregation in Jerusalem had decided to celebrate Passover in the second month. They hadn’t been able to celebrate it at the regular time because not enough of the priests were yet personally prepared and the people hadn’t had time to gather in Jerusalem. Under these circumstances, the revised date was approved by both king and people and they sent out the invitation from one end of the country to the other, from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north: “Come and celebrate the Passover to Israel’s God in Jerusalem.” No one living had ever celebrated it properly.
6-9 The king gave the orders, and the couriers delivered the invitations from the king and his leaders throughout Israel and Judah. The invitation read: “O Israelites! Come back to God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he can return to you who have survived the predations of the kings of Assyria. Don’t repeat the sins of your ancestors who turned their backs on God, the God of their ancestors who then brought them to ruin—you can see the ruins all around you. Don’t be pigheaded as your ancestors were. Clasp God’s outstretched hand. Come to his Temple of holy worship, consecrated for all time. Serve God, your God. You’ll no longer be in danger of his hot anger. If you come back to God, your captive relatives and children will be treated compassionately and allowed to come home. Your God is gracious and kind and won’t snub you—come back and he’ll welcome you with open arms.”
10-12 So the couriers set out, going from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far north as Zebulun. But the people poked fun at them, treated them as a joke. But not all; some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun weren’t too proud to accept the invitation and come to Jerusalem. It was better in Judah—God worked powerfully among them to make it unanimous, responding to the orders sent out by the king and his officials, orders backed up by the word of God.
13-17 It turned out that there was a tremendous crowd of people when the time came in the second month to celebrate the Passover (sometimes called the Feast of Unraised Bread). First they went to work and got rid of all the pagan altars that were in Jerusalem—hauled them off and dumped them in the Kidron Valley. Then, on the fourteenth day of the second month, they slaughtered the Passover lambs. The priests and Levites weren’t ready; but now, embarrassed in their laziness, they consecrated themselves and brought Whole-Burnt-Offerings to The Temple of God. Ready now, they stood at their posts as designated by The Revelation of Moses the holy man; the priests sprinkled the blood the Levites handed to them. Because so many in the congregation had not properly prepared themselves by consecration and so were not qualified, the Levites took charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs so that they would be properly consecrated to God.
18-19 There were a lot of people, especially those from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, who did not eat the Passover meal because they had not prepared themselves adequately. Hezekiah prayed for these as follows: “May God who is all good, pardon and forgive everyone who sincerely desires God, the God of our ancestors. Even—especially!—these who do not meet the literal conditions stated for access to The Temple.”
20 God responded to Hezekiah’s prayer and healed the people.
21-22 All the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated the Passover (Feast of Unraised Bread) for seven days, celebrated exuberantly. The Levites and priests praised God day after day, filling the air with praise sounds of percussion and brass. Hezekiah commended the Levites for the superb way in which they had led the people in the worship of God.
22-23 When the feast and festival—that glorious seven days of worship, the making of offerings, and the praising of God, the God of their ancestors—were over, the tables cleared and the floors swept, they all decided to keep going for another seven days! So they just kept on celebrating, and as joyfully as they began.
24-26 Hezekiah king of Judah gave one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the congregation’s worship; the officials gave an additional one thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. And there turned out to be plenty of consecrated priests—qualified and well-prepared. The whole congregation of Judah, the priests and Levites, the congregation that came in from Israel, and the resident aliens from both Israel and Judah, were all in on the joyous celebration. Jerusalem was bursting with joy—nothing like this had taken place in Jerusalem since Solomon son of David king of Israel had built and dedicated The Temple.
27 The priests and Levites had the last word: they stood and blessed the people. And God listened, listened as the ascending sound of their prayers entered his holy heaven.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 16:13–20
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist;z others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”a
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”b
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood,c but by my Father in heaven.d 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,b e and on this rock I will build my church,f and the gates of Hadesc will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keysg of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will bed bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will bee loosed in heaven.”h 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyonei that he was the Messiah.
Insight
The place where Jesus questioned His disciples about His deity (Matthew 16:13)—Caesarea Philippi—is significant. It’s located at the base of Mt. Hermon, some twenty-five miles north of Capernaum. It was a center of idolatry, dedicated to the worship of various gods including Baal, the Canaanite fertility god of storm and rain; Pan, the Greek god of the forest; and the emperor Augustus Caesar. Jesus first asked His disciples what others were saying about Him (vv. 13–14). Then He made it personal by directing His question to His own disciples: “Who do you say I am?” (v. 15). To the world, Jesus was merely a great man—like John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah (vv. 14–16)—but He wasn’t God. Yet Jesus spoke of Himself as “the Son of Man” (v. 13), an exalted Messianic title used exclusively to refer to Himself (Matthew 9:6; 12:8; 13:41; 19:28; 24:30; 26:64; Luke 21:27).
The Bell
I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:18
Jackson dreamed of becoming a US Navy Seal from early childhood—an ambition that led to years of physical discipline and self-sacrifice. He eventually faced grueling tests of strength and endurance including what’s referred to by trainees as “hell week.”
Jackson was physically unable to complete the exhaustive training, and reluctantly rang a bell to inform the commander and other trainees of his choice to leave the program. For most, this would feel like failure. But in spite of the extreme disappointment, Jackson was later able to see his military failure as preparation for his life’s work.
The apostle Peter experienced his own form of failure. He boldly proclaimed that he would remain loyal to Jesus even to prison or death (Luke 22:33). Yet later he wept bitterly after he denied that he knew Jesus (vv. 60–62). But God had plans beyond his failure. Prior to Peter’s denial, Jesus informed him, “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18; see also Luke 22:31–32).
Are you struggling with a failure causing you to feel unworthy or unqualified to move on? Don’t let the ringing bell of failure cause you to miss God’s greater purposes for you. By: evanmorgan
Reflect & Pray
What did you view as a failure in your life that God used to help you grow in Him? Why is it vital for us to find our identity in how God views us?
God, help me to use every circumstance, even my failures, for Your glory and honor!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Decreasing for His Purpose
He must increase, but I must decrease. —John 3:30
If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a “friend of the bridegroom” (John 3:29). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, “This person should not have to experience this difficulty.” Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, “You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him.”
Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. “…the friend of the bridegroom…rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness— at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.
Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L
Bible in a Year: Joshua 16-18; Luke 2:1-24
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
My Amazing Jewish Friend - #8662
Our boys wore clothes with labels way outside my budget, because of the generosity of a local doctor and his wife. He had first been a major medical blessing to us with the excellent care he provided. Then he and his wife blew us away with these bags full of cool clothes that their boys had outgrown.
There was a special connection that led us to being dinner guests in each other's home. I don't remember the dinner at their house, but I'll never forget the conversation. They knew we were Christians, and we knew they were Jewish. I thanked them that night "for how much your people have meant in our lives." Needless to say, they wanted to know more.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "My Amazing Jewish Friend."
I told them that the life of our family was governed and enriched by divine laws handed down from their people, the Jews. And that the roadmap for our life was full of Scriptures authored almost totally by inspired Jewish writers (in fact, Luke is the only Gentile writer of books in the Bible).
Most of all, the most important Person in our lives was a Jewish rabbi from Nazareth. I told them, "Our lives have been changed forever by Jesus, who we believe fulfills the Old Testament prophecies of Israel's Messiah. So we owe so much to the Jewish people - so many gifts in our life - so many of our treasures have come through them."
The doctor's response took me aback. "We have never met Christians like you." Well, I thought how sad that was. We had simply expressed respect and gratitude, which evidently they didn't often receive. I guess many of us who follow Yeshua Mashiach don't realize or don't appreciate how Jewish our faith is. Jesus was the only man who ever lived who could choose His ethnicity, and He was born Jewish.
The Torah's book of Deuteronomy says, "The Lord your God has chosen you of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession. The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you..." (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).
We who love the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have - or ought to have - a special love for His people. Not because Israel the country does everything right, or because of anything Israel does or doesn't do. But because of the divine specialness the Jews as a people have, as described by Paul, who was God's Jewish "apostle to the Gentiles."
Here's what he says in Romans 9:4, our word for today from the Word of God. "Theirs is the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. And from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah." That's why my heart is heavy - along with Jehovah's heart - whenever Jewish people are singled out as targets of hate or violence or prejudice.
And I share Paul's sadness for his people. He agonized over, as he said, his "heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites...that they may be saved" (Romans 10:1). He knew what Jesus had done in his life. As I do in mine. And he wanted it for those he loved. As I do.
For me, one of the most moving passages in all of Scripture comes from the prophecy of the Jewish prophet Isaiah. It says, "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6).
That vividly portrays the death of the one called "the Lamb of God" (John 1:26). Jesus of Nazareth. From the tribe of Judah. God's Lamb. Who died for my sin so I don't have to. If you have never made this Savior who spent His life and blood for you, your Savior, today you can do that. Reach out to Him. This isn't about a religion. This is a relationship with Jehovah God.
Our website tells you how to go about that. It's ANewStory.com. No one has ever loved me like Jesus. Yeshua. Mashiach. Savior.
Everything is being canceled. The NBA games. The NHL games. March Madness. Broadway plays. Flights. Cruises. Cancellations, everywhere!
But can I tell you the one thing that has not and WILL not be canceled? God will never cancel his promise to take care of us. Do not interpret the presence of problems as the absence of God. God has promised, “Never will I never leave you, never will I forsake you.” He is with us. He is for us. He offers us peace in the face of uncertainty, and hope in exchange for heaviness.
The question of this crisis is simply this, what is God saying to us? Among the answers must be this promise from Matthew 11:28, “Come to me all of you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” Turn to Him today.
2 Chronicles 30
Then Hezekiah invited all of Israel and Judah, with personal letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, to come to The Temple of God in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to Israel’s God. The king and his officials and the congregation in Jerusalem had decided to celebrate Passover in the second month. They hadn’t been able to celebrate it at the regular time because not enough of the priests were yet personally prepared and the people hadn’t had time to gather in Jerusalem. Under these circumstances, the revised date was approved by both king and people and they sent out the invitation from one end of the country to the other, from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north: “Come and celebrate the Passover to Israel’s God in Jerusalem.” No one living had ever celebrated it properly.
6-9 The king gave the orders, and the couriers delivered the invitations from the king and his leaders throughout Israel and Judah. The invitation read: “O Israelites! Come back to God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he can return to you who have survived the predations of the kings of Assyria. Don’t repeat the sins of your ancestors who turned their backs on God, the God of their ancestors who then brought them to ruin—you can see the ruins all around you. Don’t be pigheaded as your ancestors were. Clasp God’s outstretched hand. Come to his Temple of holy worship, consecrated for all time. Serve God, your God. You’ll no longer be in danger of his hot anger. If you come back to God, your captive relatives and children will be treated compassionately and allowed to come home. Your God is gracious and kind and won’t snub you—come back and he’ll welcome you with open arms.”
10-12 So the couriers set out, going from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far north as Zebulun. But the people poked fun at them, treated them as a joke. But not all; some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun weren’t too proud to accept the invitation and come to Jerusalem. It was better in Judah—God worked powerfully among them to make it unanimous, responding to the orders sent out by the king and his officials, orders backed up by the word of God.
13-17 It turned out that there was a tremendous crowd of people when the time came in the second month to celebrate the Passover (sometimes called the Feast of Unraised Bread). First they went to work and got rid of all the pagan altars that were in Jerusalem—hauled them off and dumped them in the Kidron Valley. Then, on the fourteenth day of the second month, they slaughtered the Passover lambs. The priests and Levites weren’t ready; but now, embarrassed in their laziness, they consecrated themselves and brought Whole-Burnt-Offerings to The Temple of God. Ready now, they stood at their posts as designated by The Revelation of Moses the holy man; the priests sprinkled the blood the Levites handed to them. Because so many in the congregation had not properly prepared themselves by consecration and so were not qualified, the Levites took charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs so that they would be properly consecrated to God.
18-19 There were a lot of people, especially those from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, who did not eat the Passover meal because they had not prepared themselves adequately. Hezekiah prayed for these as follows: “May God who is all good, pardon and forgive everyone who sincerely desires God, the God of our ancestors. Even—especially!—these who do not meet the literal conditions stated for access to The Temple.”
20 God responded to Hezekiah’s prayer and healed the people.
21-22 All the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated the Passover (Feast of Unraised Bread) for seven days, celebrated exuberantly. The Levites and priests praised God day after day, filling the air with praise sounds of percussion and brass. Hezekiah commended the Levites for the superb way in which they had led the people in the worship of God.
22-23 When the feast and festival—that glorious seven days of worship, the making of offerings, and the praising of God, the God of their ancestors—were over, the tables cleared and the floors swept, they all decided to keep going for another seven days! So they just kept on celebrating, and as joyfully as they began.
24-26 Hezekiah king of Judah gave one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the congregation’s worship; the officials gave an additional one thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. And there turned out to be plenty of consecrated priests—qualified and well-prepared. The whole congregation of Judah, the priests and Levites, the congregation that came in from Israel, and the resident aliens from both Israel and Judah, were all in on the joyous celebration. Jerusalem was bursting with joy—nothing like this had taken place in Jerusalem since Solomon son of David king of Israel had built and dedicated The Temple.
27 The priests and Levites had the last word: they stood and blessed the people. And God listened, listened as the ascending sound of their prayers entered his holy heaven.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 16:13–20
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist;z others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”a
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”b
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood,c but by my Father in heaven.d 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,b e and on this rock I will build my church,f and the gates of Hadesc will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keysg of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will bed bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will bee loosed in heaven.”h 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyonei that he was the Messiah.
Insight
The place where Jesus questioned His disciples about His deity (Matthew 16:13)—Caesarea Philippi—is significant. It’s located at the base of Mt. Hermon, some twenty-five miles north of Capernaum. It was a center of idolatry, dedicated to the worship of various gods including Baal, the Canaanite fertility god of storm and rain; Pan, the Greek god of the forest; and the emperor Augustus Caesar. Jesus first asked His disciples what others were saying about Him (vv. 13–14). Then He made it personal by directing His question to His own disciples: “Who do you say I am?” (v. 15). To the world, Jesus was merely a great man—like John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah (vv. 14–16)—but He wasn’t God. Yet Jesus spoke of Himself as “the Son of Man” (v. 13), an exalted Messianic title used exclusively to refer to Himself (Matthew 9:6; 12:8; 13:41; 19:28; 24:30; 26:64; Luke 21:27).
The Bell
I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:18
Jackson dreamed of becoming a US Navy Seal from early childhood—an ambition that led to years of physical discipline and self-sacrifice. He eventually faced grueling tests of strength and endurance including what’s referred to by trainees as “hell week.”
Jackson was physically unable to complete the exhaustive training, and reluctantly rang a bell to inform the commander and other trainees of his choice to leave the program. For most, this would feel like failure. But in spite of the extreme disappointment, Jackson was later able to see his military failure as preparation for his life’s work.
The apostle Peter experienced his own form of failure. He boldly proclaimed that he would remain loyal to Jesus even to prison or death (Luke 22:33). Yet later he wept bitterly after he denied that he knew Jesus (vv. 60–62). But God had plans beyond his failure. Prior to Peter’s denial, Jesus informed him, “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18; see also Luke 22:31–32).
Are you struggling with a failure causing you to feel unworthy or unqualified to move on? Don’t let the ringing bell of failure cause you to miss God’s greater purposes for you. By: evanmorgan
Reflect & Pray
What did you view as a failure in your life that God used to help you grow in Him? Why is it vital for us to find our identity in how God views us?
God, help me to use every circumstance, even my failures, for Your glory and honor!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Decreasing for His Purpose
He must increase, but I must decrease. —John 3:30
If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a “friend of the bridegroom” (John 3:29). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, “This person should not have to experience this difficulty.” Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, “You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him.”
Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. “…the friend of the bridegroom…rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness— at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.
Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L
Bible in a Year: Joshua 16-18; Luke 2:1-24
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
My Amazing Jewish Friend - #8662
Our boys wore clothes with labels way outside my budget, because of the generosity of a local doctor and his wife. He had first been a major medical blessing to us with the excellent care he provided. Then he and his wife blew us away with these bags full of cool clothes that their boys had outgrown.
There was a special connection that led us to being dinner guests in each other's home. I don't remember the dinner at their house, but I'll never forget the conversation. They knew we were Christians, and we knew they were Jewish. I thanked them that night "for how much your people have meant in our lives." Needless to say, they wanted to know more.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "My Amazing Jewish Friend."
I told them that the life of our family was governed and enriched by divine laws handed down from their people, the Jews. And that the roadmap for our life was full of Scriptures authored almost totally by inspired Jewish writers (in fact, Luke is the only Gentile writer of books in the Bible).
Most of all, the most important Person in our lives was a Jewish rabbi from Nazareth. I told them, "Our lives have been changed forever by Jesus, who we believe fulfills the Old Testament prophecies of Israel's Messiah. So we owe so much to the Jewish people - so many gifts in our life - so many of our treasures have come through them."
The doctor's response took me aback. "We have never met Christians like you." Well, I thought how sad that was. We had simply expressed respect and gratitude, which evidently they didn't often receive. I guess many of us who follow Yeshua Mashiach don't realize or don't appreciate how Jewish our faith is. Jesus was the only man who ever lived who could choose His ethnicity, and He was born Jewish.
The Torah's book of Deuteronomy says, "The Lord your God has chosen you of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession. The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you..." (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).
We who love the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have - or ought to have - a special love for His people. Not because Israel the country does everything right, or because of anything Israel does or doesn't do. But because of the divine specialness the Jews as a people have, as described by Paul, who was God's Jewish "apostle to the Gentiles."
Here's what he says in Romans 9:4, our word for today from the Word of God. "Theirs is the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. And from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah." That's why my heart is heavy - along with Jehovah's heart - whenever Jewish people are singled out as targets of hate or violence or prejudice.
And I share Paul's sadness for his people. He agonized over, as he said, his "heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites...that they may be saved" (Romans 10:1). He knew what Jesus had done in his life. As I do in mine. And he wanted it for those he loved. As I do.
For me, one of the most moving passages in all of Scripture comes from the prophecy of the Jewish prophet Isaiah. It says, "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6).
That vividly portrays the death of the one called "the Lamb of God" (John 1:26). Jesus of Nazareth. From the tribe of Judah. God's Lamb. Who died for my sin so I don't have to. If you have never made this Savior who spent His life and blood for you, your Savior, today you can do that. Reach out to Him. This isn't about a religion. This is a relationship with Jehovah God.
Our website tells you how to go about that. It's ANewStory.com. No one has ever loved me like Jesus. Yeshua. Mashiach. Savior.
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