Psalm 32, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: One Option: God
When you recognize God as Creator, you will admire Him. When you recognize His wisdom, you will learn from Him. When you discover His strength, you will rely on Him. But only when He saves you will you worship Him.
It's a "before and after" scenario. Before your rescue, He was high on your priority list, but He shared the spot with others. Then came the storm, the rage, the fight. Despair fell like a fog. Could you turn to your career for help? Only if you want to hide from the storm, not escape it. Lean on your status for strength? A storm isn't impressed with your title. Suddenly you're left with one option-God. And when you ask, genuinely ask, He will come. And from that moment on, He is not just a deity to admire, or a master to obey. He is the Savior.  The Savior to be worshiped!
From In the Eye of the Storm

Psalm 32
Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
    you get a fresh start,
    your slate’s wiped clean.
2 Count yourself lucky—
    God holds nothing against you
    and you’re holding nothing back from him.
3 When I kept it all inside,
    my bones turned to powder,
    my words became daylong groans.
4 The pressure never let up;
    all the juices of my life dried up.
5 Then I let it all out;
    I said, “I’ll come clean about my failures to God.”
Suddenly the pressure was gone—
    my guilt dissolved,
    my sin disappeared.
6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray;
    when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts
    we’ll be on high ground, untouched.
7 God’s my island hideaway,
    keeps danger far from the shore,
    throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.
8 Let me give you some good advice;
    I’m looking you in the eye
    and giving it to you straight:
9 “Don’t be ornery like a horse or mule
    that needs bit and bridle
    to stay on track.”
10 God-defiers are always in trouble;
    God-affirmers find themselves loved
    every time they turn around.
11 Celebrate God.
    Sing together—everyone!
    All you honest hearts, raise the roof!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Today's Scripture
Philippians 3:10–21
  I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
Focused on the Goal
12–14  I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
15–16  So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.
17–19  Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.
20–21  But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.
Insight
When Paul received the Macedonian vision (Acts 16:6–10), he and his colleagues found passage from Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and traveled to Philippi. There, they searched out a prayer meeting where they shared the message of the love of Christ, resulting in the first converts in Europe. Later, however, Paul and Silas were arrested and beaten severely. This suffering led to the conversion of the jailer and his family—further strengthening the fledgling assembly of believers. The commitment to go and reach out and the determination not to be deterred by suffering were key elements to the Philippian church’s birth.
By: Bill Crowder
Radiant Drifters
Let us live up to what we have already attained.

Philippians 3:16
Under the night sky in the spring of 2020, surfers rode bioluminescent waves along the coast of San Diego. These lightshows were caused by microscopic organisms called phytoplankton, a name derived from a Greek word meaning “wanderer” or “drifter.” During the day, the living organisms create red tides and capture sunlight that converts into chemical energy. When disturbed in the darkness, they produce an electric blue light.
Believers in Jesus are citizens of heaven who, much like the red-tide algae, live like wanderers or drifters on earth. When difficult circumstances disturb our well-laid plans, the Holy Spirit empowers us to respond like Jesus—the Light of the World—so we can reflect His radiant character in the darkness. According to Paul the apostle, nothing is more valuable than our intimacy with Christ and the righteousness that comes through our faith in Him (Philippians 3:8–9). His life proved that knowing Jesus and the power of His resurrection changes us, impacting the way we live and the way we respond when trials disrupt our lives (vv. 10–16).
When we spend time with God’s Son daily, the Holy Spirit equips us with the truth we need—enabling us to face every challenge on this earth in ways that reflect Christ’s character (vv. 17–21). We can be beacons of God’s love and hope, cutting through the darkness until the day He calls us home or comes again.
By:  Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
How has your perspective on life’s challenges changed as you’ve considered what Christ has done for you? What can you do to become radiant with the character of Christ?
Merciful Jesus, when difficult circumstances come, please shine through me and help me point others to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Christ-Awareness
…and I will give you rest. —Matthew 11:28
Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once, asking Him to re-establish your rest. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life that is causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not as something you should allow to remain. Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will disappear. Then He will be your all in all. Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue, because slowly but surely it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. Don’t allow yourself to say, “Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something over which they should be apologizing to me; I’m sure I must have this cleared up with them already.” Learn to leave others alone regarding this. Simply ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute.
A complete life is the life of a child. When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, “Lord, what is your will?” A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.
If we try to overcome our self-awareness through any of our own commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously. Jesus says, “Come to Me…and I will give you rest,” that is, Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes rest— the rest of the completion of activity in our lives that is never aware of itself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
Bible in a Year: Psalms 105-106; 1 Corinthians 3