Mark 16 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: You Are Heard in Heaven - January 28, 2022

“Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard” (Daniel 10:12). Those words were spoken by an angel to the prophet Daniel. The moment Daniel began praying, the answer was issued. Demonic forces blocked the pathway of the angel. The impasse lasted a full three weeks until the archangel Michael arrived on the scene with his superior authority. The standoff was ended, and the prayer was answered

Have your prayers been met with a silent sky? Have you prayed and heard nothing? Are you floundering in the land between an offered and an answered prayer? If so, I beg you, don’t give up. What the angel said to Daniel, God says to you. You have been heard in Heaven. Angelic armies have been dispatched. Reinforcements have been rallied. Do what Daniel did – remain before the Lord.

Mark 16

The Resurrection

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, “Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?”

4-5 Then they looked up, saw that it had been rolled back—it was a huge stone—and walked right in. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white. They were completely taken aback, astonished.

6-7 He said, “Don’t be afraid. I know you’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the One they nailed on the cross. He’s been raised up; he’s here no longer. You can see for yourselves that the place is empty. Now—on your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You’ll see him there, exactly as he said.”

8 They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, their heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone.

9-11 [After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared early on Sunday morning to Mary Magdalene, whom he had delivered from seven demons. She went to his former companions, now weeping and carrying on, and told them. When they heard her report that she had seen him alive and well, they didn’t believe her.

12-13 Later he appeared, but in a different form, to two of them out walking in the countryside. They went back and told the rest, but they weren’t believed either.

14-16 Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe those who had seen him raised up. Then he said, “Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God’s good news to one and all. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved; whoever refuses to believe is damned.

17-18 “These are some of the signs that will accompany believers: They will throw out demons in my name, they will speak in new tongues, they will take snakes in their hands, they will drink poison and not be hurt, they will lay hands on the sick and make them well.”

19-20 Then the Master Jesus, after briefing them, was taken up to heaven, and he sat down beside God in the place of honor. And the disciples went everywhere preaching, the Master working right with them, validating the Message with indisputable evidence.]

Note: Mark 16:9-20 [the portion in brackets] is not found in the earliest handwritten copies.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, January 28, 2022
Today's Scripture
Jeremiah 17:5–8
(NIV)

This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,t

who draws strength from mere flesh

and whose heart turns away from the Lord.u

6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;

they will not see prosperity when it comes.

They will dwell in the parched placesv of the desert,

in a saltw land where no one lives.

7 “But blessedx is the one who trustsy in the Lord,

whose confidence is in him.

8 They will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.z

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of droughta

and never fails to bear fruit.”

Insight

In Jeremiah 17:6, the “bush in the wastelands” refers to the tamarisk, a dwarf juniper, which would “not see prosperity when it comes” because of its stunted roots that didn’t reach into the water levels beneath the surface. As commentator R. K. Harrison notes: “The implications of the allusion would not be lost on the [Israelites], who—had they lived in a faith-relationship with God—could have been flourishing like the green bay tree.” If they’d held fast to God, they’d have been “like a tree planted by the water” (v. 8). However, the people of Judah trusted in false gods and in military alliances with other nations instead of God, the only true source of strength. They’d face judgment (“be cursed”) if they didn’t repent, but He would restore and prosper (bless) them if they returned to Him (15:19; 17:5, 7, 13). By: Alyson Kieda

In God We Put Our Trust

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
Jeremiah 17:7

The baby wasn’t due for another six weeks, but the doctor had just diagnosed Whitney with cholestasis, a liver condition common in pregnancy. In a whirlwind of emotions, Whitney was taken to the hospital where she received treatment and was told her baby would be induced in twenty-four hours! In another part of the hospital, ventilators and other equipment needed for the onslaught of COVID-19 cases were being put into place. As a result, Whitney was sent home. She made the decision to trust God and His plans, and she delivered a healthy baby a few days later.

When Scripture takes root in us, it transforms the way we react in trying situations. Jeremiah lived in a time when most of society trusted in human alliances, and the worship of idols was prevalent. The prophet contrasts the person who “draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5) with the one who trusts in God. “Blessed is the one . . . whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that . . . does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green” (vv. 7–8).

As believers in Jesus, we’re called to live by faith as we look to Him for solutions. As He provides the strength, we can choose to fear or to trust Him. God says we’re blessed—fully satisfied—when we choose to place our trust in Him. By:  Regie Keller

Reflect & Pray

When have you felt worried or afraid and then were reminded of God’s promise to bless those who trust Him? How has the realization that you can trust God in all circumstances brought you relief?

Dear God, thank You that I can trust You in all situations and come to You in prayer. You’re right there in the midst of my struggles, and You give me strength.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 28, 2022
How Could Someone So Persecute Jesus!

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? —Acts 26:14

Are you determined to have your own way in living for God? We will never be free from this trap until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of “the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). Stubbornness and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set on our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our own rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Him. Whenever we rely on self-respect, we systematically disturb and grieve His Spirit. And when we finally understand that it is Jesus we have been persecuting all this time, it is the most crushing revelation ever.

Is the Word of God tremendously penetrating and sharp in me as I hand it on to you, or does my life betray the things I profess to teach? I may teach sanctification and yet exhibit the spirit of Satan, the very spirit that persecutes Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of only one thing— a perfect oneness with the Father. And He tells us, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). All I do should be based on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly. This will mean that others may use me, go around me, or completely ignore me, but if I will submit to it for His sake, I will prevent Jesus Christ from being persecuted.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L

Bible in a Year: Exodus 19-20; Matthew 18:21-35

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 28, 2022
Seeing What Jesus Sees - #9145

When you're a kid, you're wet cement. Impressions, well, they get written on you so easily and so deeply. And then they harden into beliefs or un-beliefs, and that kid becomes an adult. You know, the late Steve Jobs was no exception.

Apple's communications genius and revolutionary, had been described as "intriguing, yet inscrutable." But as he battled cancer, he opened some windows into his mind and soul to the author who was writing his life story. According to that biography that bears his name, Steve Jobs studied Zen Buddhism for years. An article in USA Today said, "He never went back to church after he saw a photo of starving children on the cover of Life Magazine and asked his Sunday school pastor if God knew what would happen to them. He was 13 at the time."

Now, in a separate article, USA Today included this near-the-end spiritual observation from his biography: "The juice goes out of Christianity when it becomes too based on faith rather than on living like Jesus or seeing the world as Jesus saw it."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seeing What Jesus Sees."

None of us knows exactly, of course, where anyone finally lands in their spiritual journey. But in his words about Jesus there was a glimmer of the bedrock truth that answers so many spiritual questions: It's all about Jesus.

Christianity, the religion, has never been the issue, although many have been unable or unwilling to separate Jesus from the religion that's about Him. But Jesus made it all about Him, and Him alone, in that simple two-word invitation He extended over and over again, "Follow Me." Jesus never said "follow My religion" or "follow My followers." He didn't say "follow My rules." He didn't say, "follow My leaders." The only reason to turn away from Jesus is if you've got a problem with Jesus.

And as for "seeing the world as Jesus saw it," He saw it broken because people walk past the wounded, all absorbed with themselves, like the story of that Good Samaritan. He saw the world as cold, and lonely, and twisted, because every man has chosen to ignore the Manufacturer's instructions and to become our own god for our own life. And that has brought us a world of bleeding families, greedy hoarding that produces global hunger, and an endless drama of people being used, abused, ignored, walked on.

And what about those starving children? Jesus said when we reach for them to help them, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me." And our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 25:40, says, "whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for Me." Jesus is so personally identified with the hurting people of our world that He takes our treatment of them as our treatment of Him, with eternal consequences.

This Jesus that it's all about came here, in the Bible's words, as "a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering ... pierced for our transgressions ... crushed for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:3, 5). This is the God who leaves the throne to die on the cross. He's a God you can believe in. He's a God who stands alone above all the wannabe gods of earth's spiritual pantheon. And ultimately, we find in Jesus the only man of the billions who've lived who has come back from the grave and who promised eternal life to all those who would "follow Me."

And the question is, "On this side of eternity, while you can still decide, have you ever made this Jesus your Jesus? Can you imagine Him calling your name today, "follow Me"? He died for you. He's risen from the dead to prove He can give you eternal life. He's waiting for you to reach out and say, "Jesus, I'm Yours."

Our website is there to help you take that step. Please check it out - ANewStory.com. Behind all the fog of all those "sophisticated" spiritualities and the dueling religions of our world stands one real God, one real Savior. He's the God who hung on a cross.