Revelation 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: CHOOSE GOD’S LOVE

Does a branch ever release the vine?  Only at the risk of death.  Would you say the branch is vine dependent?  I would. How well do you pass the vine test?  Do you ever release yourself from the love of Christ?  Do you ever go unnourished?  You do so at the certain risk of a parched heart.

From the file entitled “It Ain’t Gonna Happen,“ I pull and pose this suggestion.  Let’s make Christ’s command a federal law:  No person may walk out into the world to begin the day until he or she has stood beneath the cross to receive God’s love.  Wild idea?  I agree.  God’s love cannot be legislated, but it can be chosen.  For Christ’s sake, and yours, choose it. The prayer is as powerful as it is simple– “Lord, I receive your love.  Nothing can separate me today from your love.”

Revelation 9

The fifth Angel trumpeted. I saw a Star plummet from Heaven to earth. The Star was handed a key to the Well of the Abyss. He unlocked the Well of the Abyss—smoke poured out of the Well, billows and billows of smoke, sun and air in blackout from smoke pouring out of the Well.

3-6 Then out of the smoke crawled locusts with the venom of scorpions. They were given their orders: “Don’t hurt the grass, don’t hurt anything green, don’t hurt a single tree—only men and women, and then only those who lack the seal of God on their foreheads.” They were ordered to torture but not kill, torture them for five months, the pain like a scorpion sting. When this happens, people are going to prefer death to torture, look for ways to kill themselves. But they won’t find a way—death will have gone into hiding.

7-11 The locusts looked like horses ready for war. They had gold crowns, human faces, women’s hair, the teeth of lions, and iron breastplates. The sound of their wings was the sound of horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. Their tails were equipped with stings, like scorpion tails. With those tails they were ordered to torture the human race for five months. They had a king over them, the Angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek, Apollyon—“Destroyer.”

12 The first doom is past. Two dooms yet to come.

13-14 The sixth Angel trumpeted. I heard a voice speaking to the sixth Angel from the horns of the Golden Altar before God: “Let the Four Angels loose, the Angels confined at the great River Euphrates.”

15-19 The Four Angels were untied and let loose, Four Angels all prepared for the exact year, month, day, and even hour when they were to kill a third of the human race. The number of the army of horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard the count and saw both horses and riders in my vision: fiery breastplates on the riders, lion heads on the horses breathing out fire and smoke and brimstone. With these three weapons—fire and smoke and brimstone—they killed a third of the human race. The horses killed with their mouths and tails; their serpentlike tails also had heads that wreaked havoc.

20-21 The remaining men and women who weren’t killed by these weapons went on their merry way—didn’t change their way of life, didn’t quit worshiping demons, didn’t quit centering their lives around lumps of gold and silver and brass, hunks of stone and wood that couldn’t see or hear or move. There wasn’t a sign of a change of heart. They plunged right on in their murderous, occult, promiscuous, and thieving ways.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, March 04, 2021
Read: John 14:8–11

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

INSIGHT
Jesus’ response to Philip’s request to “show us the Father” (John 14:8) likely echoes Moses’ request in Exodus 33:18 (“show me your glory”). In response to Moses’ request, God promised to “cause all [His] goodness to pass” before Moses, but Moses wasn’t permitted to see His face (Exodus 33:20). Jesus’ response to Philip in John 14:9—“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”—makes it clear that Jesus is the fullest possible encounter with God’s glory. Echoes of Moses’ request can also be heard in John 1:14, which describes witnessing in Christ “the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father.” John explains, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (v. 18).

Knowing the Father -By Con Campbell
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14:9

According to legend, British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham once saw a distinguished-looking woman in a hotel foyer. Believing he knew her but unable to remember her name, he paused to talk with her. As the two chatted, he vaguely recollected that she had a brother. Hoping for a clue, he asked how her brother was doing and whether he was still working at the same job. “Oh, he’s very well,” she said, “And still king.”

A case of mistaken identity can be embarrassing, as it was for Sir Beecham. But at other times it may be more serious, as it was for Jesus’ disciple Philip. The disciple knew Christ, of course, but he hadn’t fully appreciated who He was. He wanted Jesus to “show [them] the Father,” and Jesus responded, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:8–9). As God’s unique Son, Christ reveals the Father so perfectly that to know one is to know the other (vv. 10–11).

If we ever wonder what God is like in His character, personality, or concern for others, we only need to look to Jesus to find out. Christ’s character, kindness, love, and mercy reveal God’s character. And although our amazing, awesome God is beyond our complete comprehension and understanding, we have a tremendous gift in what He’s revealed of Himself in Jesus.

How well do you know God’s character? How does it match your perception of who Jesus is?

Dear God, help me to grow in my knowledge and appreciation of who You are.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 04, 2021
Is This True of Me?

None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself… —Acts 20:24

It is easier to serve or work for God without a vision and without a call, because then you are not bothered by what He requires. Common sense, covered with a layer of Christian emotion, becomes your guide. You may be more prosperous and successful from the world’s perspective, and will have more leisure time, if you never acknowledge the call of God. But once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God asks of you will always be there to prod you on to do His will. You will no longer be able to work for Him on the basis of common sense.

What do I count in my life as “dear to myself”? If I have not been seized by Jesus Christ and have not surrendered myself to Him, I will consider the time I decide to give God and my own ideas of service as dear. I will also consider my own life as “dear to myself.” But Paul said he considered his life dear so that he might fulfill the ministry he had received, and he refused to use his energy on anything else. This verse shows an almost noble annoyance by Paul at being asked to consider himself. He was absolutely indifferent to any consideration other than that of fulfilling the ministry he had received. Our ordinary and reasonable service to God may actually compete against our total surrender to Him. Our reasonable work is based on the following argument which we say to ourselves, “Remember how useful you are here, and think how much value you would be in that particular type of work.” That attitude chooses our own judgment, instead of Jesus Christ, to be our guide as to where we should go and where we could be used the most. Never consider whether or not you are of use— but always consider that “you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are His.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.  The Place of Help, 1051 L

Bible in a Year: Numbers 31-33; Mark 9:1-29

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 04, 2021
Driving Hard On the Wrong Road - #8909

So this guy was heading from northern Arizona to Phoenix, which is in southern Arizona. He called his wife from Flagstaff. That's a two-hour, 75-mile-an-hour drive. "See you in a couple of hours," he said. So he got on the Interstate and took full advantage of those Western speed limits. He had a lot on his mind that day - apparently not including where he was going. By the time he realized what road he was on, he was almost in California; nowhere near Phoenix! Nowhere near home! The guy? Yeah, that was me. I was lost. I didn't even know it!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Driving Hard On the Wrong Road."

Poor guy! Poor me; driving hard on what I was sure was the right road, but there was no way it was going to get me home. It wasn't a fatal mistake, though. When you make that mistake with God, it costs you your eternity. The Bible reveals that a lot of people are driving on a road they think will get them to God and that will get them heaven, and there's no way. It's not going to get them home. However sincere they may be in believing they're on the right road, they are in God's eyes, totally lost.

Our word for today from the Word of God is in Proverbs 14:12. It's what I'd call a wakeup call from God. It says in no uncertain terms, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." When it comes to God, "seems right" won't get you there. It's got to be right according to God; not according to us, or our feelings, or what our religion says. This is the one thing you cannot afford to be wrong about, because eternity is a very long time.

Matthew 7 records that Jesus said many are on the road to destruction, thinking it's the right road (Matthew 7:13-14). A few verses later He describes one of those ways that seemed right to folks but led them to death. He said on Judgment Day, "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons or perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you'" (Matthew 7:22-23). On Judgment Day there will be people who knew lots of Christian things, did lots of Christian things, who didn't know Jesus. They had the religion, but they missed the relationship. They had Christianity, but they missed Christ.

It doesn't matter how hard you're driving on the wrong road - how dedicated you might be to it - if it isn't God's road, you will be forever lost. And contrary to what so many think, being good is not the way to go to heaven. That's what God says. He says, for example, "No one will be declared righteous in His sight (or, fit for heaven) by observing the law." No one, no matter how good. Because goodness can't pay the death penalty that we deserve because of our sin.

Then, in Romans 3, God spells out the road that will get us to Him. We "are justified (that means made right with God) through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:20, 24). And that came when Jesus hung on that cross and absorbed all the guilt and all the hell of all of my sin and all of yours.

That's why God says this about Jesus in words that are hard to misunderstand: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

God says it all comes down to what you do with Jesus. Trust Him and Him alone to get you to heaven or put your trust in something else and never get there. It's a choice every one of us has to make, and our eternity hangs in the balance.

I truly believe God's speaking to someone who's listening right now and He's saying, "You're on the wrong road, man. But today is your day to get on the road that will bring you home. This is your day to give yourself to My Son who gave His life for you." And I pray you'll listen to that invitation in your heart. Everything depends on it. Tell Him, "Jesus, from this day on I'm Yours ." He doesn't point the way to heaven; He is the way.

You want to get this settled once and for all? Let me encourage you to get to our website. There's a simple explanation there that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus. The website's ANewStory.com.

God does not want to lose you. That's why He's coming to you today to show you how you can get home to Him. The right road will give you everything. The wrong road will cost you everything.