Max Lucado Daily: HEIRS OF GOD’S PROMISE
Heroes in the Bible came from all walks of life—rulers, servants, teachers, and doctors—male, female, single, and married. Yet one common denominator united them: they built their lives on the promises of God. Noah believed in rain before rain was a word. Joshua led two million people into enemy territory. One writer went so far as to call such saints “heirs of the promise” in Hebrews 6:17.
As God prepared the Israelites to face a new land, he made a promise to them. “Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you” (Exodus 34:10). God’s promises are unbreakable; our hope is unshakable!
2 Chronicles 5
That completed the work King Solomon did on The Temple of God. He then brought in the holy offerings of his father David, the silver and the gold and the artifacts. He placed them all in the treasury of God’s Temple.
2-3 Bringing all this to a climax, Solomon got all the leaders together in Jerusalem—all the chiefs of tribes and the family patriarchs—to move the Chest of the Covenant of God from Zion and install it in The Temple. All the men of Israel assembled before the king on the feast day of the seventh month, the Feast of Booths.
4-6 When all the leaders of Israel were ready, the Levites took up the Chest. They carried the Chest, the Tent of Meeting, and all the sacred things in the Tent used in worship. The priests, all Levites, carried them. King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel were there before the Chest, worshiping and sacrificing huge numbers of sheep and cattle—so many that no one could keep track.
7-10 The priests brought the Chest of the Covenant of God to its place in the Inner Sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim. The outspread wings of the cherubim formed a canopy over the Chest and its poles. The ends of the poles were so long that they stuck out from the entrance of the Inner Sanctuary, but were not noticeable further out—they’re still there today. There was nothing in the Chest itself but the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb where God made a covenant with Israel after bringing them up from Egypt.
11-13 The priests then left the Holy Place. All the priests there were consecrated, regardless of rank or assignment; and all the Levites who were musicians were there—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their families, dressed in their worship robes; the choir and orchestra assembled on the east side of the Altar and were joined by 120 priests blowing trumpets. The choir and trumpets made one voice of praise and thanks to God—orchestra and choir in perfect harmony singing and playing praise to God:
Yes! God is good!
His loyal love goes on forever!
13-14 Then a billowing cloud filled The Temple of God. The priests couldn’t even carry out their duties because of the cloud—the glory of God!—that filled The Temple of God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, February 03, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 3:15–18
The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if Johny might possibly be the Messiah.z 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you withb water.a But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you withc the Holy Spirit and fire.b 17 His winnowing forkc is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”d 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.
Insight
Fire shows up in the Bible in literal and figurative ways. As a common source of light and heat, it’s a word picture for both the danger and consequences of sin (Proverbs 6:27–28; Isaiah 9:18) and for God (Deuteronomy 4:24). He speaks to Moses from within a burning bush that wasn’t consumed (Exodus 3:2) while describing Himself as a consuming fire that rages against evil and refines what He wants to preserve (Deuteronomy 4:24–26; 1 Peter 1:7). God is with His people through the literal fires of human persecution (Daniel 3:19–22) as well as in the figurative fires of cleansing judgment (1 Corinthians 3:11–15). By: Mart DeHaan
A Fire Called Holy
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Luke 3:16
After several years of drought, the wildfires of Southern California left some residents thinking of them as acts of God. This disturbing impression was reinforced when news sources began referring to one as the Holy Fire. Many unfamiliar with the area didn’t realize it was a reference to the Holy Jim Canyon region. But who was Holy Jim? According to local history, he was a nineteenth-century beekeeper so irreligious and cantankerous that neighbors tagged him with that ironic nickname.
John the Baptist’s reference to a baptism of “the Holy Spirit and fire” also came with its own story and explanation (Luke 3:16). Looking back, he was likely thinking of the kind of Messiah and refining fire foreseen by the prophet Malachi (3:1–3; 4:1). But only after the Spirit of God came like wind and fire on the followers of Jesus did the words of Malachi and John come into focus (Acts 2:1–4).
The fire John predicted wasn’t what was expected. As a true act of God, it came with boldness to proclaim a different kind of Messiah and holy flame. In the Spirit of Jesus, it exposed and consumed our futile human efforts—while making room for the love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22–23). Those are the acts of God that He would like to work in us. By: Mart DeHaan
Reflect & Pray
How has your life been affected by the work of the Holy Spirit? What does it mean for you to pursue a holy—set apart—life before God?
Father in heaven, please replace our fear of Your Holy Spirit with a love, joy, and peace that is as priceless as our stubborn ways are worthless.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 03, 2020
Becoming the “Filth of the World”
We have been made as the filth of the world… —1 Corinthians 4:13
These words are not an exaggeration. The only reason they may not be true of us who call ourselves ministers of the gospel is not that Paul forgot or misunderstood the exact truth of them, but that we are too cautious and concerned about our own desires to allow ourselves to become the refuse or “filth of the world.” “Fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ…” (Colossians 1:24) is not the result of the holiness of sanctification, but the evidence of consecration— being “separated to the gospel of God…” (Romans 1:1).
“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you…” (1 Peter 4:12). If we do think the things we encounter are strange, it is because we are fearful and cowardly. We pay such close attention to our own interests and desires that we stay out of the mire and say, “I won’t submit; I won’t bow or bend.” And you don’t have to— you can be saved by the “skin of your teeth” if you like. You can refuse to let God count you as one who is “separated to the gospel….” Or you can say, “I don’t care if I am treated like ‘the filth of the world’ as long as the gospel is proclaimed.” A true servant of Jesus Christ is one who is willing to experience martyrdom for the reality of the gospel of God. When a moral person is confronted with contempt, immorality, disloyalty, or dishonesty, he is so repulsed by the offense that he turns away and in despair closes his heart to the offender. But the miracle of the redemptive reality of God is that the worst and the vilest offender can never exhaust the depths of His love. Paul did not say that God separated him to show what a wonderful man He could make of him, but “to reveal His Son in me…” (Galatians 1:16).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.
Biblical Psychology
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 03, 2020
Your Proven Provider - #8626
Helen Roseveare was a veteran missionary, and I heard a true story from her life and it really touched me. And it reminded me of why I can face some huge needs with perfect peace. I thought it would be an encouragement to you today, too. Maybe you need this. Helen was a medical missionary in Zaire, and she told about the night she had tried to save a mother in the labor ward. And those efforts did not succeed. The mother died, left the missionaries with a crying two-year-old daughter and this tiny, premature baby. Now, they didn't have an incubator. They didn't have electricity to run an incubator, and they didn't have any special feeding facilities. And even though they lived on the equator where the nights got pretty chilly. So they wrapped the baby in cotton wool, put him in a box then, and they stoked up a fire. What they really needed was a good, old fashioned hot water bottle for the tiny newborn, but they discovered that the last one they had was burst and there was no way to get one. So they put the baby as near the fire as they could safely and they hoped it would be enough. But it was a touch-and-go fight for that little life. And then came the little girl's prayer.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Proven Provider."
The next day, the missionary, Helen, had prayers with the orphanage children. She explained the problem of keeping the baby warm enough; mentioning the need for a hot water bottle. She also told the children about the two-year-old sister who was crying because her mother died. And that's when ten-year-old Ruth started talking to God.
Here's what she prayed, "Please, God, send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, because the baby will be dead. So please send it this afternoon. And while you're at it, would you please send me a dolly for the little girl so she'll know you really love her?"
Well, of course, Inwardly the missionary was struggling even to honestly say "amen" to that prayer. I mean, after all, the only way God could answer such a pointed prayer would be by sending her a parcel from her homeland in England. And she had been in Africa for almost four years, and she'd never gotten a parcel from home! Besides, who would send a hot water bottle to someone living on the equator!
Well, that afternoon, a large 22-pound parcel arrived on Helen's doorstep, and tears came to her eyes. She asked the orphanage children to help her unwrap and unpack that package. And there were 30 or 40 pairs of eyes focused on this large cardboard box. The missionary lifted out some brightly colored jerseys, which she gave out to the excited children. Then the kids looked a little bored as she pulled out the knitted bandages for the leprosy patient. Then came a box of raisins. Then, as Helen put her hand in again, she felt...well, she had to pull it out to believe it. Yep. it was a brand new (you guessed it) hot water bottle! Helen later said, "I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed He could."
Ruth, the little African girl with the bold prayer, rushed forward and she said, "Well, if God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!" And He did. At the bottom of the box was a beautifully dressed dolly. The parcel had been on the way for five months! It had been packed by Helen's former Sunday School class, whose leader just obeyed a prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. Oh, yes, and a dolly. Five months before, God had provided the answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old girl to bring it in that afternoon.
Whatever you're facing right now, that's the God you belong to. That's the God who provides every need for you in the most amazing ways! So, would you relax in His proven provision and finally - our word for today from the Word of God. The promise that I saved until the end. Isaiah 65:24 - "Before they call, I will answer."