Mark 1:23-45, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: Decide Now - October 26, 2021

Resistance matters. Long after acts of compliance are forgotten, acts of courage are pondered. In the story of Esther, Mordecai refused to bow before evil Haman. And his refusal to bow was the first link in a chain of courageous acts that led to the salvation of his people. Your resolve might be the decisive gesture that breaks the stronghold.

So decide now what you will do then. Don’t wait until the heat of the moment. A crisis is no time to prepare an escape plan. Being in the arms of your date in a motel room is not the time or place to make up your mind about morality. There is a reason the airline attendant points out the emergency exits before the plane leaves the ground. We do not think clearly during a free fall. The time to determine to resist temptation is before it strikes. May you take a stand for what is right.

Mark 1:23-45

Suddenly, while still in the meeting place, he was interrupted by a man who was deeply disturbed and yelling out, “What business do you have here with us, Jesus? Nazarene! I know what you’re up to! You’re the Holy One of God, and you’ve come to destroy us!”

25-26 Jesus shut him up: “Quiet! Get out of him!” The afflicting spirit threw the man into spasms, protesting loudly—and got out.

27-28 Everyone there was spellbound, buzzing with curiosity. “What’s going on here? A new teaching that does what it says? He shuts up defiling, demonic spirits and tells them to get lost!” News of this traveled fast and was soon all over Galilee.

29-31 Directly on leaving the meeting place, they came to Simon and Andrew’s house, accompanied by James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed, burning up with fever. They told Jesus. He went to her, took her hand, and raised her up. No sooner had the fever left than she was up fixing dinner for them.

32-34 That evening, after the sun was down, they brought sick and evil-afflicted people to him, the whole city lined up at his door! He cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits. Because the demons knew his true identity, he didn’t let them say a word.
The Leper

35-37 While it was still night, way before dawn, he got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with him went looking for him. They found him and said, “Everybody’s looking for you.”

38-39 Jesus said, “Let’s go to the rest of the villages so I can preach there also. This is why I’ve come.” He went to their meeting places all through Galilee, preaching and throwing out the demons.

40 A leper came to him, begging on his knees, “If you want to, you can cleanse me.”

41-45 Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there the leprosy was gone, his skin smooth and healthy. Jesus dismissed him with strict orders: “Say nothing to anyone. Take the offering for cleansing that Moses prescribed and present yourself to the priest. This will validate your healing to the people.” But as soon as the man was out of earshot, he told everyone he met what had happened, spreading the news all over town. So Jesus kept to out-of-the-way places, no longer able to move freely in and out of the city. But people found him, and came from all over.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Today's Scripture
Job 42:1–9
(NIV)

Then Job replied to the Lord:

2 “I know that you can do all things;d

no purpose of yours can be thwarted.e

3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’f

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me to know.g

4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.’h

5 My ears had heard of youi

but now my eyes have seen you.j

6 Therefore I despise myselfk

and repentl in dust and ashes.”m

Epilogue

7 After the Lord had said these things to Jobn, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends,o because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.p 8 So now take seven bulls and seven ramsq and go to my servant Jobr and sacrifice a burnt offerings for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayert and not deal with you according to your folly.u You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”v 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathitew did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

Insight

After encountering God face to face, Job finds his anger and questions fading, and even describes himself repenting “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). Yet God doesn’t rebuke Job for his questions and in fact suggests that in his grief and pain he was closer to the truth than his friends. In their quickness to defend what they saw as an attack on God, Job’s friends spoke arrogantly and without compassion. They preferred to blame Job for his pain than to have their ideas about God challenged—such as God always protecting the righteous from genuine tragedy. Ironically, in their hurry to defend Him, they “had not spoken the truth about [Him],” while Job had spoken honestly (v. 7). God’s approval of Job reveals that God doesn’t want us to suppress our pain, anger, and hard questions but deeply values genuine, honest relationship with Him. By: Monica La Rose

A Purpose in Suffering

I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.
Job 42:7

“So what you’re saying is, it may not be my fault.” The woman’s words took me by surprise. Having been a guest speaker at her church, we were now discussing what I’d shared that morning. “I have a chronic illness,” she explained, “and I have prayed, fasted, confessed my sins, and done everything else I was told to do to be healed. But I’m still sick, so I thought I was to blame.”

I felt sad at the woman’s confession. Having been given a spiritual “formula” to fix her problem, she had blamed herself when the formula hadn’t worked. Even worse, this formulaic approach to suffering was disproved generations ago.

Simply put, this old formula says that if you’re suffering, you must have sinned. When Job tragically lost his livestock, children, and health, his friends used the formula on him. “Who, being innocent, has ever perished?” Eliphaz said, suspecting Job’s guilt (Job 4:7). Bildad even told Job that his children only died because they had sinned (8:4). Ignorant of the real cause of Job’s calamities (1:6–2:10), they tormented him with simplistic reasons for his pain, later receiving God’s rebuke (42:7).

Suffering is a part of living in a fallen world. Like Job, it can happen for reasons we may never know. But God has a purpose for you that goes beyond the pain you endure. Don’t get discouraged by falling for simplistic formulas. By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray

How else do you see the “suffering = sin” formula being used? Why do you think it’s still so prevalent?

Great Physician, give me words to heal, not hurt, in times of pain.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 27, 2021

The Method of Missions

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… —Matthew 28:19

Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go…make disciples of all the nations….” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.

The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, but foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world, to trust in what Jesus Christ has said? Or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of limitless confidence in Christ Jesus, which is really God’s only call for a missionary? If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord— “All authority has been given to Me….Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18-19).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them.  Biblical Psychology, 189 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 12-14; 2 Timothy 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 27, 2021

The Problem with Bible Clubs - #9078

A Bible is pretty versatile. It can be a file. Did you ever notice how much people stick in their Bible? I look at mine sometimes, and I find a number of things in there I don't want to lose. Unfortunately it does hurt the binding a little bit. Sometimes the Bible can be a record book. You see these Bibles where people put important dates, their family tree, weddings, deaths, and the autographs of people whose ministry they want to remember.

A Bible can be an antique. You can go into an antique store and drop quite a few bucks getting one of those old Bibles. And a Bible is a great gift. I've gotten several as a gift. A Bible can be your identification. I used to carry mine to school. My kids carried theirs to school; it sort of identifies you as a follower of Christ. And at some times in my life the Bible's been a textbook. Oh yeah, there are a lot of ways you can use your Bible. There's one I hope you never use.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Problem with Bible Clubs."

Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Timothy 4:2 - "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction." This is a call, I think, to Bible balance. First of all, Paul is saying, "Use God's Word to help people know what's right; that's correct. To warn them about what they're doing wrong; that's rebuke. And to encourage them in what they're doing right. Use this book boldly to change people's lives. That's certainly part of it.

Here's the other part: Do it gently, do it patiently, do it carefully. Don't use the Bible as a club! You can use it for a lot of things, but not as a club to win an argument, or to beat a person down, or shame them, or corner them. I know it's good to have some Bible clubs where kids meet to study the Bible around the school. I did that in high school. But don't use the Bible as a club. Too many people use the words of the Bible but they lose the spirit of the Bible while they're doing it.

Ephesians 4:15 is the perfect balance, "Speaking the truth in love." The problem is that often the truth bearers leave out the love, and the lovers leave out the truth. It's important to be sure that you measure everything you believe and behave by God's Word. There is no room for, "Well, in my opinion..." Or, "I don't feel like it..." Or, "It doesn't seem right to me." Or, "I just read this great Christian book and it says..." No, show me what the Bible says. God has spoken - the final word.

It's important to remind each other of what the Bible says about how we're living. But it's important to be gentle, non-condemning and patient like God has been with you. We want to make sure that when we're communicating the truth, we're also communicating, "I care about you. That's why I'm doing this. That's why I'm giving you what the Bible says, to correct, or to rebuke or encourage. I want God's best in your life. You're made for more. You're better than this." Not, "I'm sitting in judgment, and here are my verses."

Hebrews 4:12 says, "The Bible penetrates between soul and spirit." It's a sword that does that; it judges. We don't judge, God's Word judges. So let God's Word do the judging. Share it and then let it do the penetrating work God has promised.

Use God's Word to love people with the truth. Don't use it as a club.