Esther 1, bible reading and daily devotionals.

Max Lucado Daily: More Dinghy than Cruise Ship?

Are you more dinghy. . .than cruise ship? Or in my case, more blue jeans than blue blood? Well congratulations, God changes the world with folks like you!

The next time you say, “I don’t think God could use me!”—stop right there!  Satan’s going to try to tell you that God has an IQ requirement.  That he employs only experts and high-powered personalities.  When you hear Satan whispering that lie—hit him with this:  God stampeded the first-century society with swaybacks, not thoroughbreds.  Before Jesus came along, the disciples were loading trucks, coaching soccer, and selling Slurpee drinks at the convenience store!

But what they had going for them was a willingness to take a step when Jesus said, “Follow me.”

So what do you think?  More plumber than executive?  More stand-in than movie star? Yeah—congratulations!  God uses people like you…and me.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  Matthew 16:24?

From Max on Life

Esther 1

This is the story of something that happened in the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled from India to Ethiopia—127 provinces in all. King Xerxes ruled from his royal throne in the palace complex of Susa. In the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers. The military brass of Persia and Media were also there, along with the princes and governors of the provinces.

4–7  For six months he put on exhibit the huge wealth of his empire and its stunningly beautiful royal splendors. At the conclusion of the exhibit, the king threw a weeklong party for everyone living in Susa, the capital—important and unimportant alike. The party was in the garden courtyard of the king’s summer house. The courtyard was elaborately decorated with white and blue cotton curtains tied with linen and purple cords to silver rings on marble columns. Silver and gold couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and colored stones. Drinks were served in gold chalices, each chalice one-of-a-kind. The royal wine flowed freely—a generous king!

8–9  The guests could drink as much as they liked—king’s orders!—with waiters at their elbows to refill the drinks. Meanwhile, Queen Vashti was throwing a separate party for women inside King Xerxes’ royal palace.

10–11  On the seventh day of the party, the king, high on the wine, ordered the seven eunuchs who were his personal servants (Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas) to bring him Queen Vashti resplendent in her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the guests and officials. She was extremely good-looking.

12–15  But Queen Vashti refused to come, refused the summons delivered by the eunuchs. The king lost his temper. Seething with anger over her insolence, the king called in his counselors, all experts in legal matters. It was the king’s practice to consult his expert advisors. Those closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven highest-ranking princes of Persia and Media, the inner circle with access to the king’s ear. He asked them what legal recourse they had against Queen Vashti for not obeying King Xerxes’ summons delivered by the eunuchs.

16–18  Memucan spoke up in the council of the king and princes: “It’s not only the king Queen Vashti has insulted, it’s all of us, leaders and people alike in every last one of King Xerxes’ provinces. The word’s going to get out: ‘Did you hear the latest about Queen Vashti? King Xerxes ordered her to be brought before him and she wouldn’t do it!’ When the women hear it, they’ll start treating their husbands with contempt. The day the wives of the Persian and Mede officials get wind of the queen’s insolence, they’ll be out of control. Is that what we want, a country of angry women who don’t know their place?

19–20  “So, if the king agrees, let him pronounce a royal ruling and have it recorded in the laws of the Persians and Medes so that it cannot be revoked, that Vashti is permanently banned from King Xerxes’ presence. And then let the king give her royal position to a woman who knows her place. When the king’s ruling becomes public knowledge throughout the kingdom, extensive as it is, every woman, regardless of her social position, will show proper respect to her husband.”

21–22  The king and the princes liked this. The king did what Memucan proposed. He sent bulletins to every part of the kingdom, to each province in its own script, to each people in their own language: “Every man is master of his own house; whatever he says, goes.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, November 30, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Daniel 6:1-10

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

1–3  6 Darius reorganized his kingdom. He appointed one hundred twenty governors to administer all the parts of his realm. Over them were three vice-regents, one of whom was Daniel. The governors reported to the vice-regents, who made sure that everything was in order for the king. But Daniel, brimming with spirit and intelligence, so completely outclassed the other vice-regents and governors that the king decided to put him in charge of the whole kingdom.

4–5  The vice-regents and governors got together to find some old scandal or skeleton in Daniel’s life that they could use against him, but they couldn’t dig up anything. He was totally exemplary and trustworthy. They could find no evidence of negligence or misconduct. So they finally gave up and said, “We’re never going to find anything against this Daniel unless we can cook up something religious.”

6–7  The vice-regents and governors conspired together and then went to the king and said, “King Darius, live forever! We’ve convened your vice-regents, governors, and all your leading officials, and have agreed that the king should issue the following decree:

For the next thirty days no one is to pray to any god or mortal except you, O king. Anyone who disobeys will be thrown into the lions’ den.

8  “Issue this decree, O king, and make it unconditional, as if written in stone like all the laws of the Medes and the Persians.”

9  King Darius signed the decree.

10  When Daniel learned that the decree had been signed and posted, he continued to pray just as he had always done. His house had windows in the upstairs that opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he knelt there in prayer, thanking and praising his God.

Today's Insights

The book of Daniel spans seventy years of the Babylonian exile and is both biography (chs. 1-6) and prophecy (chs. 7-12). The first six chapters tell how Daniel distinguished himself to become the trusted adviser to Nebuchadnezzar (5:11-12) and Darius (6:1-5)—kings of two of the superpower empires of the ancient world. When God exiled the Israelites to Babylon, He commanded them to work for “the peace and prosperity” of their conquerors (Jeremiah 29:7). Daniel “was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (Daniel 6:4) and “so distinguished himself . . . that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom” (v. 3).

A Grateful Response -Tom Felten

[Daniel] prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Daniel 6:10

Raw fish and rainwater. An Australian sailor named Timothy survived on only those provisions for three months. Marooned on his storm-damaged catamaran, he was losing hope—bobbing 1,200 miles from land in the Pacific Ocean. But then the crew of a Mexican tuna boat spotted his ailing boat and rescued him. Later, the thin and weather-beaten man declared, “To the captain and fishing company that saved my life, I’m just so grateful!”

Timothy gave thanks following his ordeal, but the prophet Daniel revealed a grateful heart before, during, and after a crisis. Having been exiled to Babylon from Judah with other Jews (Daniel 1:1-6), Daniel had risen in power only to be threatened by other leaders who wanted him dead (6:1-7). His foes got the king of Babylon to sign a decree stating that anyone who prayed “to any god” would be “thrown into the lions’ den” (v. 7). What would Daniel, a man who loved and served the one true God, do? He “got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to . . . God, just as he had done before” (v. 10). He gave thanks, and his grateful heart was rewarded as God spared his life and brought him honor (vv. 26-28).

As the apostle Paul wrote, may God help us “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Whether we’re facing a crisis or have just come through one, a grateful response honors Him and helps keep our faith afloat.  

Reflect & Pray

Why is it vital to regularly thank God? How can you grow a more grateful heart?

Dear God, please help me give thanks even when life is hard.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, November 30, 2024

By the Grace of God

His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. — 1 Corinthians 15:10

The way we continually talk about our inabilities is an insult to the Creator. When we complain about our incompetence, we slander God; it’s as though we are saying he’s overlooked us. These things sound humble to people, but if you get into the habit of examining them from God’s point of view, you’ll be amazed at how rude and impertinent they are. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to say I’m sanctified. I’m no saint.” Say this before God, and it’s as though you’re saying, “No, Lord, it’s impossible for you to save and sanctify me. There are chances I haven’t had. There are so many imperfections in my brain and body. No, it isn’t possible.” This may sound wonderfully humble to other people, but before God it’s an attitude of defiance.

The opposite is also true. The things that sound humble to God may sound boastful to other people. If you say, “Thank God, I’m saved and sanctified,” people might think you’re bragging. But in God’s eyes it’s the pinnacle of humility. It means that you have so completely abandoned yourself to him that you know he is true.

Never worry about whether or not you sound humble to other people, but always be humble before God. Let him be all in all. Only one relationship matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal redeemer. Maintain this relationship at all costs, letting go of everything else, and God will fulfill his purpose through you. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purpose, and yours may be that life.

Ezekiel 37-39; 2 Peter 2

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. 

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L

Revelation 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE NEXT DOOR SAVIOR - November 29, 2024

In the aftermath of 9/11 a group of religious leaders was invited to come to Washington and pray with President Bush. The group was well-frocked and well-known. You might wonder if I felt out of place. The only time I wear a robe is when I step out of the shower.

But when it came my turn to meet George W. Bush, I added, “And Mr. President, I was raised in Andrews, Texas—a half-hour drive from your hometown.” He smiled that lopsided smile and let his accent drawl ever so slightly. “Why, I know your town. I’ve walked those streets. I’ve even played your golf course.” It was nice to know that the president knew my home.

How much nicer to know the same about God. Yes, he rules the universe. Yes, he has walked your streets. He’s still the next door Savior. Jesus – above all powers? You bet he is!

Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

Revelation 11

The Two Witnesses

1–2  11 I was given a stick for a measuring rod and told, “Get up and measure God’s Temple and Altar and everyone worshiping in it. Exclude the outside court; don’t measure it. It’s been handed over to non-Jewish outsiders. They’ll desecrate the Holy City for forty-two months.

3–6  “Meanwhile, I’ll provide my two Witnesses. Dressed in sackcloth, they’ll prophesy for 1,260 days. These are the two Olive Trees, the two Lampstands, standing at attention before God on earth. If anyone tries to hurt them, a blast of fire from their mouths will incinerate them—burn them to a crisp just like that. They’ll have power to seal the sky so that it doesn’t rain for the time of their prophesying, power to turn rivers and springs to blood, power to hit earth with any and every disaster as often as they want.

7–10  “When they’ve completed their witness, the Beast from the Abyss will emerge and fight them, conquer and kill them, leaving their corpses exposed on the street of the Great City spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, the same City where their Master was crucified. For three and a half days they’ll be there—exposed, prevented from getting a decent burial, stared at by the curious from all over the world. Those people will cheer at the spectacle, shouting ‘Good riddance!’ and calling for a celebration, for these two prophets pricked the conscience of all the people on earth, made it impossible for them to enjoy their sins.

11  “Then, after three and a half days, the Living Spirit of God will enter them—they’re on their feet!—and all those gloating spectators will be scared to death.”

12–13  I heard a strong voice out of Heaven calling, “Come up here!” and up they went to Heaven, wrapped in a cloud, their enemies watching it all. At that moment there was a gigantic earthquake—a tenth of the city fell to ruin, seven thousand perished in the earthquake, the rest frightened to the core of their being, frightened into giving honor to the God-of-Heaven.

14  The second doom is past, the third doom coming right on its heels.

The Last Trumpet Sounds

15–18  The seventh Angel trumpeted. A crescendo of voices in Heaven sang out,

The kingdom of the world is now

the Kingdom of our God and his Messiah!

He will rule forever and ever!

The Twenty-four Elders seated before God on their thrones fell to their knees, worshiped, and sang,

We thank you, O God, Sovereign-Strong,

Who Is and Who Was.

You took your great power

and took over—reigned!

The angry nations now

get a taste of your anger.

The time has come to judge the dead,

to reward your servants, all prophets and saints,

Reward small and great who fear your Name,

and destroy the destroyers of earth.

19  The doors of God’s Temple in Heaven flew open, and the Ark of his Covenant was clearly seen surrounded by flashes of lightning, loud shouts, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a fierce hailstorm.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, November 29, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Job 13:1-12

I’m Taking My Case to God

1–5  13 “Yes, I’ve seen all this with my own eyes,

heard and understood it with my very own ears.

Everything you know, I know,

so I’m not taking a backseat to any of you.

I’m taking my case straight to God Almighty;

I’ve had it with you—I’m going directly to God.

You graffiti my life with lies.

You’re a bunch of pompous quacks!

I wish you’d shut your mouths—

silence is your only claim to wisdom.

6–12  “Listen now while I make my case,

consider my side of things for a change.

Or are you going to keep on lying ‘to do God a service’?

to make up stories ‘to get him off the hook’?

Why do you always take his side?

Do you think he needs a lawyer to defend himself?

How would you fare if you were in the dock?

Your lies might convince a jury—but would they convince God?

He’d reprimand you on the spot

if he detected a bias in your witness.

Doesn’t his splendor put you in awe?

Aren’t you afraid to speak cheap lies before him?

Your wise sayings are knickknack wisdom,

good for nothing but gathering dust.

Today's Insights

We rightly remember Job as an exceptionally good man. “They have the patience of Job,” we say when we notice someone who demonstrates remarkable restraint under pressure. Not to be missed, however, is Job’s obvious humanity. Having lost his children, his health, and his wealth, we see him lash out at his friends who offer him useless counsel. “You . . . smear me with lies,” he says, and calls them “worthless physicians” (Job 13:4). The problem with Job’s friends is that they imagined they were speaking wisely when they were merely spouting empty platitudes. Job says of their advice, “Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay” (v. 12). This raw picture of his response to his trouble and his alleged “comforters” (16:2) humanizes him, enriching our understanding of human pain and suffering. We also learn to guard our speech when we encounter another in deep pain.

Restraining Orde r-Kenneth Petersen

I want to argue my case with God himself. Job 13:3 nlt

Today's Devotional

A man in court filed a restraining order against God. He claimed God had been “particularly unkind” to him and had exhibited a “seriously negative attitude.” The presiding judge dismissed the suit, saying the man needed help not from the court but for his mental health. A true story: humorous, but also sad.

But are we so different? Don’t we sometimes want to say, “Stop, God, please, I’ve had enough!” Job did. He put God on trial. After enduring unspeakable personal tragedies, Job says, “I want to argue my case with God himself” (Job 13:3 nlt) and imagines taking “God to court” (9:3 nlt). He even puts forth a restraining order: “Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me” (13:21). Job’s prosecution argument wasn’t his own innocence but what he viewed as God’s unreasonable harshness: “Does it please you to oppress me?” (10:3).

Sometimes we feel God is unfair. In truth, the story of Job is complex, not providing easy answers. God restores Job’s physical fortunes in the end, but that isn’t always His plan for us. Perhaps we find something of a verdict in Job’s final admission: “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (42:3). The point is, God has reasons we know nothing of, and there’s wonderful hope in that.

Reflect & Pray

What occasions have prompted you to “take God to court”? Why is it okay for you to ask Him tough questions?

Dear God, I sometimes feel angry about what I’ve had to endure. Please help me bring my complaints to You.

For further study, read Understanding the Bible: The Wisdom Books.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, November 29, 2024

The Absolute Authority of Jesus Christ

He shall glorify Me. — John 16:14

The sentimental religious movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament. Nothing in what they teach requires the death of Jesus Christ. All they require is prayer and devotion and a pious atmosphere. This type of religious experience isn’t supernatural or miraculous. It didn’t cost the passion of God. It isn’t dyed in the blood of the Lamb or stamped with the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t have the quality that makes people say with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty.”

The type of Christian experience the New Testament talks about is the experience of personal, passionate devotion to the person of Jesus Christ. Every other type of so-called Christian experience is detached from the person of Jesus. There’s no regeneration—no being born again into the kingdom where Christ lives—only the idea that he is a role model. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is Savior long before he is a role model. Today he is often dismissed as the mere figurehead of a religion or as an example we should follow. Jesus Christ is a figurehead and an example, but he is also infinitely more. He is Salvation itself. He is the Gospel of God.

Jesus said, “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, . . . he will glorify me” (John 16:13–14). When I commit myself to the revelation made in the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who begins to interpret to me what Jesus did, who does in me what Jesus Christ did for me. This is the supernatural, miraculous means by which I enter into a personal relationship with my Lord and become absolutely his.

Ezekiel 35-36; 2 Peter 1

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else. 

The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, November 29, 2024

Personal Power Failures - #9885

You think you've had a bad day? Oh, I'll tell you about a bad day. It was the summer of 1997; you're a cosmonaut on Russia's space station Mir. So far, you've battled a fire on board. Then a supply ship runs into you in a docking procedure. You lose 40% of your power. You think you've already had your fill of bad days for one mission. But then, the central computer on the space station suddenly shuts down. You are tumbling through space in what reporters called "chaotic flight." Hard to believe! It happened!

The day the computer failed, those cosmonauts were thrown into a particularly dangerous situation. That space station was solar-powered and all of a sudden, as one reporter put it, it lost its orientation to the sun, which means you don't have the power to meet the demands of your flight, and worst case, your life is in jeopardy. Why? All because Mir turned its back on the sun.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Personal Power Failures."

The crisis that faced that space station? Not enough power to meet the demands. That's a feeling a lot of us have had in our lives. Trying to meet the demands of our family, our relationships, our work responsibilities, and frankly, our resources just aren't enough. Do you ever feel like you're running without the personal peace you need, the love, the power? Maybe the description of that space station's situation describes your own life - "Chaotic flight."

It could be that the confusion and the power failure is for a similar reason, too, that space station is designed to draw its life from the sun. Listen to these words from the Bible about how God designed us. Speaking of Jesus, it says we were "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). That Him is the Son of God - S-O-N. Our lives? Well, they're essentially tumbling aimlessly when we lose our proper orientation to the Son. And according to God's Book, we all have.

Here we go from our Word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 53:6. "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way." Three words explain why we feel so spiritually disoriented, "his own way." The One who gave us our life was supposed to run our life and we simply took our life and we've run it "our own way."

If you wanted to draw that in picture form, you'd probably put you on the left side of the page, God on the right, and you'd be walking away from Him, with your back to Him; with your back to the source of the love and the peace and the power and the meaning you need. If you die with your back still to Him, erase God from your picture forever. And that's hell. Unless you can find a way to get rid of your sin and get back to Him, like the space station without the sun, the result is ultimately death.

I'm so glad that "gone astray" verse doesn't stop there. It also tells us the way to find the God we've lost. It says, "And the Lord has laid on Him the wrongdoing of us all" The Him is Jesus and all the sin that cuts us off from God was laid on Jesus, God's sinless Son, when He died on that cross. You can literally walk up to that cross and say, "For me. He's doing that for me."

The day you tell Jesus you're putting your total trust in Him to rescue you from your sin is the day you find your Creator, the Son you were created for. For you, it could be today. That's why God brought us together, so this could be your day.

If you want to know how to begin with Him and how to know you belong to Him, that's what our website's all about. I urge you to check it out as soon as you can today - ANewStory.com.

Hasn't your "chaotic flight" lasted long enough? It's the Son - the Son of God - you need right now. He has all the power you'll ever need to meet every demand of your life.

Ezra 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: YOU’LL NEVER HAVE TO - November 28, 2024

Suppose you were to stand on a stage while a film of every secret and selfish moment of your life was projected on the screen behind you. Would you not scream for the heavens to have mercy? And would you not feel just a fraction of what Christ felt on the cross? The icy displeasure of a sin-hating God.

The Bible says Christ carried all our sins in his body. See Christ on the cross? That’s a gossiper hanging there. See Jesus? Embezzler. Liar. Bigot. “Hold it, Max! Don’t you lump Christ with those evildoers.” I didn’t. He did. More than place his name in the same sentence, he placed himself in their place. And yours! With hands nailed open, he invited God, “Treat me as you would them.” And God did.

“My God my God, why did you abandon me?” Why did Jesus scream those words? Simple – so that you’ll never have to.

Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

Ezra 7

Ezra Arrives

1–5  7 After all this, Ezra. It was during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia. Ezra was the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the high priest.

6–7  That’s Ezra. He arrived from Babylon, a scholar well-practiced in the Revelation of Moses that the God of Israel had given. Because God’s hand was on Ezra, the king gave him everything he asked for. Some of the Israelites—priests, Levites, singers, temple security guards, and temple slaves—went with him to Jerusalem. It was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.

8–10  They arrived at Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king’s reign. Ezra had scheduled their departure from Babylon on the first day of the first month; they arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month under the generous guidance of his God. Ezra had committed himself to studying the Revelation of God, to living it, and to teaching Israel to live its truths and ways.

11  What follows is the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra, priest and scholar, expert in matters involving the truths and ways of God concerning Israel:

 12–20  Artaxerxes, King of Kings, to Ezra the priest, a scholar of the Teaching of the God-of-Heaven.

Peace. I hereby decree that any of the people of Israel living in my kingdom who want to go to Jerusalem, including their priests and Levites, may go with you. You are being sent by the king and his seven advisors to carry out an investigation of Judah and Jerusalem in relation to the Teaching of your God that you are carrying with you. You are also authorized to take the silver and gold that the king and his advisors are giving for the God of Israel, whose residence is in Jerusalem, along with all the silver and gold that has been collected from the generously donated offerings all over Babylon, including that from the people and the priests, for The Temple of their God in Jerusalem. Use this money carefully to buy bulls, rams, lambs, and the ingredients for Grain-Offerings and Drink-Offerings and then offer them on the Altar of The Temple of your God in Jerusalem. You are free to use whatever is left over from the silver and gold for what you and your brothers decide is in keeping with the will of your God. Deliver to the God of Jerusalem the vessels given to you for the services of worship in The Temple of your God. Whatever else you need for The Temple of your God you may pay for out of the royal bank.

21–23  I, Artaxerxes the king, have formally authorized and ordered all the treasurers of the land across the Euphrates to give Ezra the priest, scholar of the Teaching of the God-of-Heaven, the full amount of whatever he asks for up to 100 talents of silver, 650 bushels of wheat, and 607 gallons each of wine and olive oil. There is no limit on the salt. Everything the God-of-Heaven requires for The Temple of God must be given without hesitation. Why would the king and his sons risk stirring up his wrath?

24  Also, let it be clear that no one is permitted to impose tribute, tax, or duty on any priest, Levite, singer, temple security guard, temple servant, or any other worker connected with The Temple of God.

25  I authorize you, Ezra, exercising the wisdom of God that you have in your hands, to appoint magistrates and judges so they can administer justice among all the people of the land across the Euphrates who live by the Teaching of your God. Anyone who does not know the Teaching, you teach them.

26  Anyone who does not obey the Teaching of your God and the king must be tried and sentenced at once—death, banishment, a fine, prison, whatever.

Ezra: “I Was Ready to Go”

27–28  Blessed be God, the God-of-Our-Fathers, who put it in the mind of the king to beautify The Temple of God in Jerusalem! Not only that, he caused the king and all his advisors and influential officials actually to like me and back me. My God was on my side and I was ready to go. And I organized all the leaders of Israel to go with me.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, November 28, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Micah 7:18-20

Where is the god who can compare with you—

wiping the slate clean of guilt,

Turning a blind eye, a deaf ear,

to the past sins of your purged and precious people?

You don’t nurse your anger and don’t stay angry long,

for mercy is your specialty. That’s what you love most.

And compassion is on its way to us.

You’ll stamp out our wrongdoing.

You’ll sink our sins

to the bottom of the ocean.

You’ll stay true to your word to Father Jacob

and continue the compassion you showed Grandfather Abraham—

Everything you promised our ancestors

from a long time ago.

Today's Insights

Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea, ministered to both Israel and Judah during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (750-686 bc). He prophesied about Israel’s destruction by the Assyrians, which happened in his lifetime (722 bc), and the destruction of the Jerusalem temple and Judah’s exile by the Babylonians more than a hundred years later (586 bc). His prophecy that “Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble” (Micah 3:12) led King Hezekiah (716-687 bc) to repent (Jeremiah 26:18-19).

Micah’s name means “Who is like the Lord?” At the end of his prophecy, he uses a play on words and asks, “Who is a God like you?” (Micah 7:18)—a question asked often in the Old Testament (see Exodus 15:11; 1 Kings 8:23; Job 36:22; Psalm 35:10; 89:6; 113:5). Reminiscent of God’s own self-revelation in Exodus 34:6-7, Micah proclaims that God is the compassionate God who forgives sins (Micah 7:18-19) and the faithful God who keeps His covenant with His people (v. 20).

Pardoned by God -Lisa M. Samra

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin . . . ? Micah 7:18

Today's Devotional

Around the national Thanksgiving holiday, the US president welcomes two turkeys to the White House before granting them a presidential pardon. Instead of being served as the main dish of the traditional Thanksgiving meal, the turkeys safely live out the rest of their lives on a farm. Although the turkeys can’t comprehend the freedom they’ve been granted, the unusual annual tradition highlights the life-giving power of a pardon.

The prophet Micah understood the significance of a pardon when he wrote a strong warning to the Israelites still in Jerusalem. Similar in form to a legal complaint, Micah recorded God bearing witness against the nation (Micah 1:2) for desiring evil and indulging in greed, dishonesty, and violence (6:10-15).

Despite these rebellious acts, Micah ends with hope rooted in the promise that God doesn’t stay angry forever but instead “pardons sin and forgives” (7:18). As the Creator and Judge over all, He can authoritatively declare that He won’t hold our actions against us because of His promise to Abraham (v. 20)—ultimately fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Being pardoned from all the ways we fail to live up to God’s standards is an undeserved gift that brings immense blessings. As we grasp more and more of the benefits of His complete forgiveness, let’s respond in praise and gratitude.

Reflect & Pray

What are the benefits of the pardon God offers? How does it prompt gratitude?

May I live, merciful Father, in gratitude because of the pardon You’ve offered me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, November 28, 2024

The Bounty of the Destitute

All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. — Romans 3:24

The gospel of God’s grace awakens an intense longing in the human soul, but also an equally intense resentment. We resent the revelation that we are justified freely by God’s grace, that there’s nothing we have to do to receive it. Human beings take a certain pride in giving, but receiving is a different matter. To come and accept something freely offered to us offends our pride. I’ll gladly give my life to martyrdom; I’ll gladly give myself in consecration. But don’t humiliate me by placing me on the same level as the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do for my salvation is to accept it as a gift through Jesus Christ.

We have to realize that we can’t earn or win anything from God. We must either receive his grace as a gift or go without. The greatest blessing spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we arrive at this knowledge, our Lord is powerless to help us. He can do nothing for us if we think we’re sufficient without him. As long as we believe ourselves to be rich, as long as we possess anything resembling pride or independence, we won’t be able to enter his kingdom. We have to enter it by the door of destitution.

Are you knocking at the door of destitution now? Are you spiritually hungry? Only when we get spiritually hungry do we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes effectual in us the very nature of God. By the Spirit, God imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, the life that puts the “beyond” within us. The instant the “beyond” is inside us, it rises to the “above,” lifting us into the domain where Jesus lives.

Ezekiel 33-34; 1 Peter 5

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.

The Place of Help

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, November 28, 2024

You Got Mail...For Thanksgiving - #9884

Okay, so they won't deliver mail on Thanksgiving. But it still might be a good day for someone you love to get mail. Possibly hand-delivered by you!

Now, in our world, you know that rare means something is valuable, like antiques, baseball cards, all kinds of collectibles. The less there is of something, the more valuable it is. How about "thank you." Yeah, that's rare.

When Jesus healed ten lepers of their deadly, defacing disease, only one came back to say thanks out of ten. Seems to be how it always is with thank you's. Maybe one thanks for every ten things you should be grateful to God for, or to each other. That's why you can really light up someone's life this Thanksgiving by giving them some thanks in writing, where it can really sink in; where they can go back to it on their dark day.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You Got Mail - For Thanksgiving."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 4:29. It's a favorite of mine. In fact, many years ago we had our family memorize this, and well, we wanted everybody to kind of program their heart, and their mind, and their relationships - including me - with this verse. It simply says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is useful for building others up." So, the Bible encourages us to use our words to build other people up. We should be in the construction business. And nothing can be more powerful in building people up than words of encouragement, words of gratitude, words that say "thank you," and isn't this a great time to be doing that?

Now, here's the kind of letter you might write. It might be to someone very close to you, or someone you used to be close to until something happened; or someone you pray for but you can't seem to break through to them. In any case, it's just hard to be hard when someone's thanking you for who you are.

Now, we're pretty good at thinking of things we don't like about someone. But something good happens in your heart when you make yourself sit down and you start writing about that person's strengths, and their contributions to your life and to other lives. And something good happens in their life when they get your gratitude in a letter. You are indeed, like the Bible says, building them up.

I've actually seen hard hearts begin to thaw. I've seen closed hearts begin to open when someone who loved them dared to write a letter that, well, went something like this (I'll give you the parts of the letter). Here we go.

First of all, "I love you..." Just expressing your affection, your love for them. Now, you've got to fill in the blanks on it. I can't do that for you. But "I love you..." You take it from there. Second part of the letter, "Thank you for..." You've got to do the rest. But think about the specific qualities that you appreciate about them, or experiences or actions, maybe it's just small things. Maybe, you know, they're not always that way. But you have seen that light; a glimmer of that light. Think of the things you can encourage in them that you've seen that you can thank them for. Maybe good things were recent; maybe they were years ago, but there are some things you've got to be thankful for in that person. The third part of the letter goes, "I'm sorry for..." That's the hard part. What are some of the things you wished you'd done differently? Put it there, "I'm sorry for..."

And then, "I wish we could..." That's the last part of the letter. "I wish we could..." How would you like your relationship to be from now on? However it's been recently, however it's been in the past, how would you like it to be in the future? "I wish we could..."

See, if you will open your heart like this, there's a chance they might open theirs. And honestly, there's no better time than Thanksgiving and the upcoming holiday season to reach out with this gift that only you can give. Because no one can hear all those nice things people say about them at their funeral.

Why don't you give them their bouquets while they can still smell the flowers, and don't wait for the funeral? And, well, my friend, Happy Thanksgiving. 

Ezra 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: NOTHING IN BETWEEN - November 27, 2024

Make no mistake, Jesus saw himself as God. And he leaves us with two options: accept him as God, or reject him as a megalomaniac. There’s no third alternative. Oh, but we try to create one! Suppose you came across me standing on the side of the road. I can go north or south. You ask me which way I’m going. “I’m going sorth. I can’t choose between north and south, so I’m going both. I’m going sorth!” “You can’t do that,” you reply. “You have to choose.”

When it comes to Christ, you’ve got to do the same. Call him crazy, or crown him as king. Dismiss him as a fraud, or declare him to be God. Walk away from him, or bow before him, but don’t play games with him. He is either hope or all hype. But nothing in between.

Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

Ezra 6

So King Darius ordered a search through the records in the archives in Babylon. Eventually a scroll was turned up in the fortress of Ecbatana over in the province of Media, with this writing on it:

Memorandum

In his first year as king, Cyrus issued an official decree regarding The Temple of God in Jerusalem, as follows:

3–5  The Temple where sacrifices are offered is to be rebuilt on new foundations. It is to be ninety feet high and ninety feet wide with three courses of large stones topped with one course of timber. The cost is to be paid from the royal bank. The gold and silver vessels from The Temple of God that Nebuchadnezzar carried to Babylon are to be returned to The Temple at Jerusalem, each to its proper place; place them in The Temple of God.

6–7  Now listen, Tattenai governor of the land beyond the Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, associates, and all officials of that land: Stay out of their way. Leave the governor and leaders of the Jews alone so they can work on that Temple of God as they rebuild it.

8–10  I hereby give official orders on how you are to help the leaders of the Jews in the rebuilding of that Temple of God:

1. All construction costs are to be paid to these men from the royal bank out of the taxes coming in from the land beyond the Euphrates. And pay them on time, without delays.

2. Whatever is required for their worship—young bulls, rams, and lambs for Whole-Burnt-Offerings to the God-of-Heaven; and whatever wheat, salt, wine, and anointing oil the priests of Jerusalem request—is to be given to them daily without delay so that they may make sacrifices to the God-of-Heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

11–12  I’ve issued an official decree that anyone who violates this order is to be impaled on a timber torn out of his own house, and the house itself made a manure pit. And may the God who put his Name on that place wipe out any king or people who dares to defy this decree and destroy The Temple of God at Jerusalem.

I, Darius, have issued an official decree. Carry it out precisely and promptly.

13  Tattenai governor of the land across the Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their associates did it: They carried out the decree of Darius precisely and promptly.

The Building Completed: “Exuberantly Celebrated the Dedication”

14–15  So the leaders of the Jews continued to build; the work went well under the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo. They completed the rebuilding under orders of the God of Israel and authorization by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. The Temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

16–18  And then the Israelites celebrated—priests, Levites, every last exile, exuberantly celebrated the dedication of The Temple of God. At the dedication of this Temple of God they sacrificed a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs—and, as an Absolution-Offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. They placed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their places for the service of God at Jerusalem—all as written out in the Book of Moses.

19  On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover.

20  All the priests and Levites had purified themselves—all, no exceptions. They were all ritually clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for the exiles, their brother priests, and themselves.

21–22  Then the Israelites who had returned from exile, along with everyone who had removed themselves from the defilements of the nations to join them and seek God, the God of Israel, ate the Passover. With great joy they celebrated the Feast of Unraised Bread for seven days. God had plunged them into a sea of joy; he had changed the mind of the king of Assyria to back them in rebuilding The Temple of God, the God of Israel.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 John 1:5-7

Walk in the Light

5  This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.

6–7  If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.

Today's Insights

Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe points out how God reveals Himself through His creation, but there’s additional—and vital—revelation. Wiersbe notes that we also have “the Word of life” (1 John 1:1), which is Christ Himself. And we have the eyewitness testimony of the apostles, including John, who tells us, “[That] which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (v. 1). John wanted us to know the truth of his message. He writes, “The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us” (v. 2). This is the heart of the gospel message. Jesus appeared on earth as one of us, and eternal life is only through Him.

Christ’s Light Shines Bright

God is light. 1 John 1:5

Today's Devotional -Patricia Raybon

When the lights went out on the streets of Highland Park, Michigan, a passion for another light source—the sun—found a home there. The struggling town lacked funds to pay its utility company. The power company turned off the streetlights and removed the lightbulbs in 1,400 light poles. That left residents unsafe and in the dark. “Here comes a couple of children right now, on their way to school,” a resident told a news crew. “There are no lights. They just have to take a chance on walking down the street.”

That changed when a nonprofit group formed to install solar-powered streetlights in the town. Working together, the humanitarian organization saved the city money on energy bills while securing a light source that helped meet residents’ needs.  

In our life in Christ, our reliable light source is Jesus Himself, the Son of God. As John the apostle wrote, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). John noted, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (v. 7).

Jesus Himself declared, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). With God’s Holy Spirit guiding our every step, we’ll never walk in darkness. His light always shines bright. 

Reflect & Pray

How have you experienced the light of Jesus in your life? Today, who can you tell about Him?

Let Your light shine bright, dear God, in every corner of my life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

The Consecration of Spiritual Energy

. . . through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. — Galatians 6:14

When I brood on the cross of Christ, I become a person who is concentrated on and dominated by Jesus Christ’s interests. My focus is taken off myself and my own holiness. I’m no longer trapped in my private, subjective viewpoint. I’m identified with my Lord’s view-point and interests.

Our Lord wasn’t a recluse or an ascetic; he didn’t cut himself off from society. He was so much in the ordinary world that the religious people of his day called him a glutton and a drunkard (Matthew 11:19). And yet our Lord maintained an inward separateness all the time. On a fundamental level, he lived in a world apart from this one. Everything he did, he did for the glory of his heavenly Father, devoting every thought and action to God.

We, too, must devote every ounce of spiritual energy God gives us to doing his work, letting nothing interfere; this is how we consecrate our lives to him. Sanctification is God’s part; consecration is our part. We have to deliberately decide to have God’s interests as our interests. The way to solve perplexing problems is to ask, “Is this the kind of thing that interests Jesus Christ? Or is it something the spirit of the devil would embrace?”

A counterfeit version of consecration is the conscious cutting off of certain activities and pleasures with the idea of storing up spiritual power for use later on. This is a hopeless mistake. The Spirit of God has prevented the sins of a great many people, yet there’s no emancipation, no fullness in their lives. The ascetic, reclusive religious life is entirely different from the robust holiness of the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ preached that we are to be in the world but not of it—detached fundamentally, not externally: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15).

Ezekiel 30-32; 1 Peter 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Who You Are and Why You're There - #9883

As a general rule, I don't do hospitals. Oh, I visit other people in hospitals, but I don't stay in them. God has blessed me with wonderful health over the years. But there was a time I had such an intense bout with the flu that I ended up badly dehydrated. The doctor was concerned enough about me that he put me in the hospital, yeah, put me in the hospital to stay for a short time, actually, to get rehydrated with intravenous fluids. Now I've got to tell you, I was not a happy camper when they told me they were going to admit me to the hospital. Oh, I tried to be nice on the outside, but inside I was like mrrr-mrrr-mrrr-mrrrr. Well, then my wife reminded me of something she said I had told her once or twice. (See, I hate this! I hate it when my own words come back to haunt me. I can't argue with myself!) She said, "Remember who you are and remember why you're here."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Who You Are and Why You're There."

Actually, God gave me a tremendous opportunity to sow some Gospel seed in the hospital staff while I was there; the hospital I "no way" wanted to be in. But as I finally woke up to the fact that I had been assigned there by God and not by dehydration, I began to take advantage of the opportunities to show and tell about the love of Jesus. One nurse wanted a copy of all my books. She said, "You know, it's been really good having you here. Just think of the influence you've had on all us heathens." I said, "No, Betty - not heathen. People God loved so much that He sent His Son to die for you."

What helped me see what was really going on in my undesirable situation was that challenge, which was actually the Mordecai Challenge. Maybe you're a candidate for the Mordecai Challenge where you are right now. In our word for today from the Word of God in Esther 4:14, we find a Jewish young woman named Esther providentially placed in the position of being Queen of Persia. No one knows she's Jewish, and she's in this great position which her Cousin Mordecai is asking her now to totally lay on the line.

In a palace plot, Esther's people - God's people - have been targeted for annihilation. Only Esther was in a position to get to the king and plead for the lives of her people. But the law called for anyone who went unbidden into the throne room of the king to be put to death. And Esther hasn't heard from the king for a month. Now here's that Mordecai Challenge in Esther 4:14, "Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

Okay, here is what I was told in the hospital, "Remember who you are. Remember why you're there." Esther realizes she has been placed where she is to save lives, and she risks hers to rescue them. And her people live because of it. Right now, God may be saying to you about your situation - where you work, where you go to school, the sport you're in, the club you're in, the situation you're in, the neighborhood you're in, the jam you're in, "You have been put in this position for such a time as this. Use that position to tell people about My Son."

I guess in a sense, we're all Esther. God has placed us where we are in order to save some lives there; lives that Jesus died for. And God has put those people within your reach through your situation so you can give them a chance to be rescued. How are you doing on the real reason you're there?

Remember who you are - Christ's personal ambassador to the people around you - and don't forget why you're there: to help some of those people around you be in heaven with you forever.

Ezra 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HEAR JESUS - November 26, 2024

The Torah sends you to Moses. The Quran sends you to Muhammad. Buddhists invite you to meditate; spiritists, to levitate. “Step right up—try my witchcraft.” “Psst, over here. Interested in some new age channels?” Oh, the voices. And we pray, “Father, help me out! Please modulate one and relegate the others.”

If that’s your prayer, then Luke 9 is your chapter. The day God isolated the authoritative voice of history and declared, “Listen to him.” On the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus was praying with Peter and James and John. And his face became different, and his clothing became white and gleaming. “And a voice came out of a cloud, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son. Hear him!’ (Luke 9:35 NKJV). Hear Jesus amidst all the other voices. Listen to him.

Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

Ezra 5

The Building Resumed: “Help the Leaders in the Rebuilding”

1–2  5 Meanwhile the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo were preaching to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the authority of the God of Israel who ruled them. And so Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak started again, rebuilding The Temple of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were right there helping them.

3–4  Tattenai was governor of the land beyond the Euphrates at this time. Tattenai, Shethar-Bozenai, and their associates came to the Israelites and asked, “Who issued you a permit to rebuild this Temple and restore it to use?” Then we told them the names of the men responsible for this construction work.

5  But God had his eye on the leaders of the Jews, and the work wasn’t stopped until a report could reach Darius and an official reply be returned.

6–7  Tattenai, governor of the land beyond the Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and his associates—the officials of that land—sent a letter to Darius the king. This is what they wrote to him:

To Darius the king. Peace and blessing!

8  We want to report to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to The Temple of the great God that is being rebuilt with large stones. Timbers are being fitted into the walls; the work is going on with great energy and in good time.

9–10  We asked the leaders, “Who issued you the permit to rebuild this Temple and restore it to use?” We also asked for their names so we could pass them on to you and have a record of the men at the head of the construction work.

11–12  This is what they told us: “We are servants of the God of the heavens and the earth. We are rebuilding The Temple that was built a long time ago. A great king of Israel built it, the entire structure. But our ancestors made the God of the heavens really angry and he turned them over to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who knocked this Temple down and took the people to Babylon in exile.

13–16  “But when Cyrus became king of Babylon, in his first year he issued a building permit to rebuild this Temple of God. He also gave back the gold and silver vessels of The Temple of God that Nebuchadnezzar had carted off and put in the Babylon temple. Cyrus the king removed them from the temple of Babylon and turned them over to Sheshbazzar, the man he had appointed governor. He told him, ‘Take these vessels and place them in The Temple of Jerusalem and rebuild The Temple of God on its original site.’ And Sheshbazzar did it. He laid the foundation of The Temple of God in Jerusalem. It has been under construction ever since but it is not yet finished.”

17  So now, if it please the king, look up the records in the royal archives in Babylon and see if it is indeed a fact that Cyrus the king issued an official building permit authorizing the rebuilding of The Temple of God in Jerusalem. And then send the king’s ruling on this matter to us.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Mark 6:35-44

And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 pSend them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, q“You give them something to eat.” And rthey said to him, s“Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii6 worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, t“Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he ulooked up to heaven and vsaid a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

Today's Insights

In Mark’s account of a large crowd being fed with only five loaves of bread and two fish, the focus is on how this miracle instructed the disciples—both in God’s power as well as in their calling to serve (Mark 6:35, 39). The “how” of the miracle is mysterious. Mark doesn’t tell us that the crowd is even aware of a miracle occurring; the disciples simply start dispensing the food and somehow there’s enough for all.

Jesus opens the meal with a customary prayer of thanks (v. 41). He may have spoken this traditional Jewish prayer: “Praise be to you, O Lord our God, King of the world, who makes bread to come from the earth, and who provides for all that you have created.”

Partnership with God

You give them something to eat. Mark 6:37

Today's Devotional- Sheridan Voysey

When my friend and her husband struggled to conceive, doctors recommended she have a medical procedure done. But my friend was hesitant. “Shouldn’t prayer be enough to fix our problem?” she asked. “Do I really need to do the procedure?” My friend was trying to work out what role human action has in seeing God work.

The story of Jesus feeding the crowd can help us here (Mark 6:35-44). We may know how the story ends—thousands of people are miraculously fed with just a little bread and some fish (v. 42). But notice who is to feed the crowd? The disciples (v. 37). And who provides the food? They do (v. 38). Who distributes the food and cleans up afterward? The disciples (vv. 39-43). “You give them something to eat,” Jesus said (v. 37). Jesus did the miracle, but it happened as the disciples acted.

A good crop is a gift from God (Psalm 65:9-10), but a farmer must still work the land. Jesus promised Peter “a catch” of fish but the fisherman still had to cast his nets (Luke 5:4-6). God can tend the earth and do miracles without us but typically chooses to work in a divine-human partnership.

My friend went through with the procedure and later successfully conceived. While this is no formula for a miracle, it was a lesson for my friend and me. God often does His miraculous work through the methods He’s placed in our hands.

Reflect & Pray

When are you tempted to pray without acting? What’s God calling you to act on right now?

Dear God, thank You for including me in Your amazing work. Please take what’s in my hands and do wonders through it.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

The Concentration of Spiritual Energy

. . . the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me. — Galatians 6:14

If you want to know the energy of God—the energy of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ—in your physical body, you must do more than simply think on the tragedy of God on the cross; you must brood upon it. Cut yourself off from distractions, stop taking an obsessive interest in your personal spiritual development, and consider, bare-spirited, the tragedy of God. The instant you do, his energy will be in you.

“Turn to me,” says God (Isaiah 45:22). God must become the dominating object of your attention. Pay attention to the objective Source and the subjective energy will follow. We lose power when we fail to concentrate on the right thing. The right thing is the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross is the only thing we are called to preach—not salvation or sanctification or healing. In much preaching today, the focus is placed not on the cross but on its effects. Churches are criticized as feeble, and the criticism is justified because there has been no concentration of spiritual energy, no brooding on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.

Concentrate on the cross in your preaching, and though the members of your audience might not seem to pay attention, they’ll never be the same again. If I talk my own talk, it’s of no more importance to you than your talk is to me. But if I talk the truth of God, you will meet it again, and so will I. When you concentrate on the great point of spiritual energy—the cross—keeping in contact with this center where all the power lies, its energy will be let loose. The proclaiming of the cross of Jesus Christ does its own work.

Ezekiel 27-29; 1 Peter 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance.

Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Crashproof Peace - #9882

I was on a flight several years ago and my neighbor was one of the flight attendants. For whatever reason we ended up talking about plane crashes. There was one that came to mind in particular because it was a tragic crash off the coast of Nova Scotia back in the '90s.

Since the passengers and the crew knew about the plane's critical situation for a while, we talked about how it must have felt to be anticipating that crash for half an hour. And I couldn't help but reflect on two occasions when the plane I was in had pretty close calls: one where we had serious hydraulic problems, and another where my plane had blown a tire on takeoff. On those occasions we knew about the problem for a while, and we had some time to think about the possibilities.

On one of those flights, I was seated next to a sweet little grandmother who was very scared. Fortunately I was able to be some comfort to her. In fact, I even got her to laugh a little. After we landed with a wounded plane but safe passengers, she said, "How could you stay so calm during a time like this?" I said, "I guess it's because my peace isn't from what's going on around me. It's from inside where nothing can touch it." Or, as I told my flight attendant neighbor, "The peace passed the test."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Crashproof Peace."

I was doubly grateful in those airline emergencies because, well, my plane didn't crash and neither did my peace. Living in the kind of turbulent, unpredictable, even painful world you and I do, our hearts need a source of peace that's unshakable, no matter what. When that grandmother asked me how I could have peace when we could have been facing a crash, I said, "It's because my peace isn't anchored to what's happening around me. It's anchored to my love-relationship with Jesus Christ, which nothing can touch!"

Now that's a peace you may need right now. Our word for today from the Word of God talks about how to have that kind of stability when everything else in our life is up for grabs. It's in Hebrews 6:19. It begins by saying, "We have this hope..." Which hope? Well, the verses around it are talking about the hope we have because Jesus opened a way for us to go right to the heart of God. It says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." Man, I love that!

"As an anchor for the soul." Sounds pretty good doesn't it? See, while the storm is blowing the ship of our life back and forth, an anchor is there that never moves, that keeps us from being blown away. It may be that there's been plenty of turbulence lately for you, and maybe there's heavy weather coming. Maybe you've already seen some things or even some people that you were counting on blown away. The word "peace" so describes what your heart needs right now - something unloseable.

That's what Jesus promised those who belong to Him. He said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you" (John 14:27). It was that peace that never failed me when I was anticipating a possible plane crash, when my wife was suddenly gone, when we lost a baby, when my Dad died. It was this peace of Jesus I just saw in my dear friends whose teenage son was killed in a traffic accident. They told me of the deepest pain of their lives, and the most amazing sense of well-being that they had ever experienced.

That's got to be Jesus! Only He could do that, and He wants to do it for you. He gave His life to give you the peace that you need most of all - peace with God. We have this wall between us and our Creator, made from all the sins of our life. But Jesus died to pay the death penalty for our sins so the wall could come down. So you and I could finally trade our hell for His heaven, and our restlessness and our pain for His peace.

Do you want that? Do you want to know you belong to Him? Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website and let me walk you through there how to be sure you belong to Him - ANewStory.com.

When you open up to the peace of Jesus Christ, you have found the anchor for your soul, and no storm, no crash can touch it.

Revelation 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL - November 25, 2024

God gets into things! Red seas, big fish, lions’ dens, and furnaces. Bankrupt businesses and jail cells. Look, and you’ll find what everyone from Moses to Martha discovered: God in the middle of our storms.

A young woman missed her station on the subway. By the time she realized her mistake, she didn’t know what to do. She prayed for some sign of God’s presence. This was no hour or place to be passing through a rough neighborhood alone.  At that moment the doors opened and a disheveled man plopped down next to her. “God, are you near?” she prayed. And the man pulled out a harmonica and played “Be Thou My Vision”—her mother’s favorite hymn. The song was enough to convince her Christ was here, in the midst of it all.

And you? Look closer. He’s there. Right in the middle of it all.

Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

Revelation 10

I saw another powerful Angel coming down out of Heaven wrapped in a cloud. There was a rainbow over his head, his face was sun-radiant, his legs pillars of fire. He had a small book open in his hand. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on land, then called out thunderously, a lion roar. When he called out, the Seven Thunders called back. When the Seven Thunders spoke, I started to write it all down, but a voice out of Heaven stopped me, saying, “Seal with silence the Seven Thunders; don’t write a word.”

5–7  Then the Angel I saw astride sea and land lifted his right hand to Heaven and swore by the One Living Forever and Ever, who created Heaven and everything in it, earth and everything in it, sea and everything in it, that time was up—that when the seventh Angel blew his trumpet, which he was about to do, the Mystery of God, all the plans he had revealed to his servants, the prophets, would be completed.

8–11  The voice out of Heaven spoke to me again: “Go, take the book held open in the hand of the Angel astride sea and earth.” I went up to the Angel and said, “Give me the little book.” He said, “Take it, then eat it. It will taste sweet like honey, but turn sour in your stomach.” I took the little book from the Angel’s hand and it was sweet honey in my mouth, but when I swallowed, my stomach curdled. Then I was told, “You must go back and prophesy again over many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, November 25, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 100

A Thanksgiving Psalm

1–2  100 On your feet now—applaud God!

Bring a gift of laughter,

sing yourselves into his presence.

3  Know this: God is God, and God, God.

He made us; we didn’t make him.

We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.

4  Enter with the password: “Thank you!”

Make yourselves at home, talking praise.

Thank him. Worship him.

5  For God is sheer beauty,

all-generous in love,

loyal always and ever.

Today's Insights

Psalm 100 is the last of eight consecutive psalms (93-100) that emphasize God as King. Each psalm highlights a particular aspect of this King’s reign. Psalm 93 shows God ruling over the seas (vv. 3-4)—a characteristic especially meaningful to a people who’d passed safely through the Red Sea as their enemies drowned behind them (see Exodus 14). Psalm 94 shows God as the righteous judge who opposes the wicked. Psalms 95-97 praise the incomparability of the one true God, “the great King above all gods” (95:3), extolling His “righteousness and justice” as “the foundation of his throne” (97:2). This emphasis on God “above all gods” (v. 9) is vital for Israel as they were surrounded by nations that worshiped false gods. Psalm 100 recognizes this true King as Israel’s creator and shepherd (v. 3) and calls everyone to “enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise” (v. 4).

Being Thankful Despite Trials by  Nancy Gavilanes

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to [God] and praise his name. Psalm 100:4

I’ve been following and praying for a fellow writer who’s been posting online about her cancer journey. She alternates between sharing updates about her physical pain and challenges and sharing prayer requests with Scripture and praises to God. It’s beautiful to see her courageous smile whether she’s in the hospital awaiting treatments or at home wearing a bandana because her hair is falling out. With each challenge, she never fails to encourage others to trust God during trials.

When we’re going through difficulties, it may be challenging to find reasons to be grateful and to praise God. However, Psalm 100 gives us reasons to rejoice and give God praise despite our circumstances. The psalmist says: “Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture” (v. 3). He adds, “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (v. 5).

Whatever our trial, we can take comfort knowing that God is near to our broken hearts (34:18). The more time we spend with God in prayer and reading the Bible, the more we’ll be able to “enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise” and “give thanks to him and praise his name” (100:4). We can “shout for joy to the Lord” (v. 1) even and perhaps especially when we’re in a difficult season because our God is faithful.  

Reflect & Pray

What are you grateful for? What can you praise God for right now?

Dear God, please help me to praise You even in my trials.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, November 25, 2024

The Secret of Spiritual Coherence

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. — Galatians 6:14

When people are first born again, they become incoherent. They display a certain amount of unregulated emotion; their actions seem not to make sense. Yet this incoherence is only on the surface. The external life of the apostle Paul appeared haphazard, but underlying everything he did was a strong, steady coherence. Paul was rooted and grounded in God, and because of this he was able to let his external life change without it causing him distress.

Most of us aren’t spiritually coherent for the simple reason that we care more about external coherence than internal coherence. Paul lived in the basement; his consistency was down in the fundamentals, where the order of God’s purpose reigns. Most of us live in the upper stories, among the coherent critics, where external consistency is all that matters. The two spaces do not begin to touch each other. The great basis of Paul’s coherence was the agony of God in the redemption of the world—the cross of Jesus Christ.

Restate to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible. Get back to the bedrock of the cross of Christ. Viewed as a single event in history, the cross is an infinitesimal thing; from the point of view of the Bible, it’s more important than all the empires of the world. If, when we preach, we drift away from brooding on the tragedy of God upon the cross, our preaching will produce nothing. It won’t convey the energy of God, and though it may be interesting, it will have no power. But if we preach the cross, the energy of God will be set loose. “God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. . . . We preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).

Ezekiel 24-26; 1 Peter 2

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed.

So Send I You, 1330 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, November 25, 2024

The Battle for Your Body - #9881

They tell me that a dog is man's best friend. I hope so, because if you have one of those best friends you get to go for a walk with him very, very often, right? I mean, it's nice to have a walk with your best friend. Of course, you often see folks in our neighborhood walking their dog, and occasionally you see a humorous variation on the old theme of a man walking his dog.

There's this very big dog and this not so big person, and you see the owner desperately trying to control and keep up with his dog. It's a great picture. You chuckle to yourself and you think, "Oh, look at that dog walking the man!" It's kind of backwards. I mean, it's funny to see a person being led by something that they're supposed to be leading, right? Or is it?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Battle for Your Body."

Our word for today from the Word of God is from 1 Corinthians 9, and I'm going to be reading verses 24-27. It's about controlling or being controlled; the issue Paul's writing about. He says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training; they do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

Now, Paul is, of course, giving us an Olympic picture here, and what he's really saying is that a champion cannot let his body walk him like that man had the big dog taking him for a walk. You've got to control your body. I watched my son at football practice, and the coaches, man, they put them through the ringer. Why? They wanted the players to learn that when your body feels like quitting, you've got to keep going. You don't stop at the first sign of fatigue or pain, "Oh, I hurt. I'm going to quit." You've got to train your body so you control it and it doesn't control you.

That means that if you're a champion, you keep going even if you don't feel like it. It means you don't necessarily eat whatever you want. You don't quit when you feel like quitting; you don't indulge yourself. Now, if you and I are going to be spiritual champions, we've got to stop letting our body call the shots, and too often we do. We have an appetite to eat, so we do. We have a lustful desire; we let it wreak havoc in our soul. We don't exercise to protect that temple of God; the place where God lives - this body, because we don't have time and we don't feel like it. We're letting our body make the decisions.

In his book The Christian Response, Michel Quoist says, "If your body makes all the decisions and gives all the orders, and if you obey the physical, you can effectively destroy every other dimension of your personality." Wow! Over 200 years ago, Susanna Wesley, John Wesley's mother said, "Whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind - that is sin to you."

We're going to have to learn championship techniques here, to deny our appetites and desires, and to exercise daily practices of saying no to your body. Look, has your body been walking you? It's time to get control again. There's an important spiritual reason for passing up that food I don't need, the drink I should never use, the sexual flirtations I should avoid. My body, uncontrolled, will wage war against my soul!

"Lord, once again, become the lord of my body." Say to Him, "Lord, I've been on the wrong end of this leash long enough."

Psalm 126, bible reading and daily devotionals.

Max Lucado Daily: More Dinghy than Cruise Ship?

Are you more dinghy. . .than cruise ship? Or in my case, more blue jeans than blue blood? Well congratulations, God changes the world with folks like you!

The next time you say, “I don’t think God could use me!”—stop right there!  Satan’s going to try to tell you that God has an IQ requirement.  That he employs only experts and high-powered personalities.  When you hear Satan whispering that lie—hit him with this:  God stampeded the first-century society with swaybacks, not thoroughbreds.  Before Jesus came along, the disciples were loading trucks, coaching soccer, and selling Slurpee drinks at the convenience store!

But what they had going for them was a willingness to take a step when Jesus said, “Follow me.”

So what do you think?  More plumber than executive?  More stand-in than movie star? Yeah—congratulations!  God uses people like you…and me.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  Matthew 16:24?

From Max on Life

 Psalm 126

A Pilgrim Song

1–3  126 It seemed like a dream, too good to be true,

when God returned Zion’s exiles.

We laughed, we sang,

we couldn’t believe our good fortune.

We were the talk of the nations—

“God was wonderful to them!”

God was wonderful to us;

we are one happy people.

4–6  And now, God, do it again—

bring rains to our drought-stricken lives

So those who planted their crops in despair

will shout hurrahs at the harvest,

So those who went off with heavy hearts

will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, November 24, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Peter 1:3-11

Don’t Put It Off

3–4  Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.

5–9  So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

10–11  So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, his choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Today's Insights

Believers in Jesus in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) were suffering because of persecution. In Peter’s first letter, he encouraged them to remain faithful by following the example of Christ, who also suffered unjustly, and to live God-honoring lives in a hostile world. In his second letter, the apostle reminded his readers that it’s possible to live a life that honors God because He “has given us everything we need . . . through our knowledge of him” (v. 3). He’s given us “very great and precious promises” (v. 4) that enable all who know Him through Jesus to partake of His divine nature and overcome sinful desires. Verses 5-11 describes what that looks like as we pursue the virtues that will make us become more like Jesus. If we’re to live faithful and Christ-honoring lives, we must “make every effort” to pursue and draw on the provisions and power of God (vv. 5, 10).

Character Change by Mike Wittmer

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness. 2 Peter 1:5

Family gathered around the bed of Dominique Bouhours, a seventeenth-century grammarian who was dying. As he took his final breaths, he reportedly said, “I am about to—or I am going to—die; either expression is correct.” Who would care about grammar on their deathbed? Only someone who cared about grammar his entire life.

By the time we reach old age, we’re largely set in our ways. We’ve had a lifetime for our choices to harden into habits that calcify into character—good or bad. We are who we’ve chosen to become.  

It’s easier to develop godly habits while our character is young and flexible. Peter urges, “Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:5-7). Practice these virtues, and “you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 11). 

Which traits in Peter’s list are most alive in you? Which qualities still need work? We can’t truly change who we’ve become, but Jesus can. Ask Him to transform and empower you. It may be a slow, arduous journey, but Jesus specializes in providing exactly what we need. Ask Him to transform your character so you become more and more like Him.

Reflect & Pray

Which trait would you most like to change? How can you seek God’s power and provision and begin to change? 

Dear Jesus, please make me more like You, so others will see You clearly.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, November 24, 2024

The Direction of Aspiration

Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters…so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God. — Psalm 123:2 kjv

This verse is a description of what it means to rely entirely on God. Just as the eyes of servants are riveted on their masters, so our eyes are fixed on God. Spiritual drift begins when we cease to lift our eyes to him. This loss of focus comes not so much through trouble on the outside as trouble on the inside, from questioning and doubting our own devotion and effort. “I guess I’ve been stretching myself a bit too much,” we think. “I’ve been standing on tiptoe and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary, humble person.” We have to realize that no effort can be too high.

Think back to your own spiritual crisis. What happened after you made a stand for God and had the witness of the Spirit? At first you were full of inspiration and energy. But the weeks went by, then maybe the years, and you began to think, “Well, after all, I was being pretentious. Wasn’t I aiming a bit too high?” Your rational friends agreed with you. “Don’t be a fool,” they said. “We knew when you talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a fleeting impulse. You can’t keep up the strain, and God doesn’t expect you to.” Now you say, “I guess I was expecting too much.” It sounds humble to say this, but it means that your reliance on God is gone and reliance on worldly opinion has come in. The danger is that, because you no longer rely on God, you no longer lift your eyes to him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize how terribly you’ve been missing out.

Whenever you begin to lose your focus on God, remedy the situation immediately. Recognize that something has been coming between you and him and make a readjustment at once.

Ezekiel 22-23; 1 Peter 1

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else. 

The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L

Psalm 107, bible reading and devotionals.

Max Lucado Daily: He’s the Real Deal

God’s not a love-‘em-and-leave-‘em kind of God!  When I was 7, I ran away from home.  I’d had it with my dad and his rules. With my clothes in a paper bag, I headed out. What do I need a father for?  Well, I didn’t go far.  When it  came down to it, hunger won me over!

Did my dad know what I’d done—what I thought?  I suspect he did—dads always seem to, don’t they?  But you know—my dad called himself my father even when I didn’t call myself his son.  His commitment to me was greater than my commitment to him.

You can count on God to be in your corner—no matter what–He cares!

Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7?

From Max On Life

Psalm 107

 Oh, thank God—he’s so good!

His love never runs out.

All of you set free by God, tell the world!

Tell how he freed you from oppression,

Then rounded you up from all over the place,

from the four winds, from the seven seas.

4–9  Some of you wandered for years in the desert,

looking but not finding a good place to live,

Half-starved and parched with thirst,

staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.

Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God.

He got you out in the nick of time;

He put your feet on a wonderful road

that took you straight to a good place to live.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;

the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

10–16  Some of you were locked in a dark cell,

cruelly confined behind bars,

Punished for defying God’s Word,

for turning your back on the High God’s counsel—

A hard sentence, and your hearts so heavy,

and not a soul in sight to help.

Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;

he got you out in the nick of time.

He led you out of your dark, dark cell,

broke open the jail and led you out.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;

He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors,

he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!

17–22  Some of you were sick because you’d lived a bad life,

your bodies feeling the effects of your sin;

You couldn’t stand the sight of food,

so miserable you thought you’d be better off dead.

Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;

he got you out in the nick of time.

He spoke the word that healed you,

that pulled you back from the brink of death.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;

Offer thanksgiving sacrifices,

tell the world what he’s done—sing it out!

23–32  Some of you set sail in big ships;

you put to sea to do business in faraway ports.

Out at sea you saw God in action,

saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean:

With a word he called up the wind—

an ocean storm, towering waves!

You shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out;

your hearts were stuck in your throats.

You were spun like a top, you reeled like a drunk,

you didn’t know which end was up.

Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;

he got you out in the nick of time.

He quieted the wind down to a whisper,

put a muzzle on all the big waves.

And you were so glad when the storm died down,

and he led you safely back to harbor.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

Lift high your praises when the people assemble,

shout Hallelujah when the elders meet!

33–41  God turned rivers into wasteland,

springs of water into sun-baked mud;

Luscious orchards became alkali flats

because of the evil of the people who lived there.

Then he changed wasteland into fresh pools of water,

arid earth into springs of water,

Brought in the hungry and settled them there;

they moved in—what a great place to live!

They sowed the fields, they planted vineyards,

they reaped a bountiful harvest.

He blessed them and they prospered greatly;

their herds of cattle never decreased.

But abuse and evil and trouble declined

as he heaped scorn on princes and sent them away.

He gave the poor a safe place to live,

treated their clans like well-cared-for sheep.

42–43  Good people see this and are glad;

bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.

If you are really wise, you’ll think this over—

it’s time you appreciated God’s deep love.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, November 23, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Jeremiah 29:1-7

Plans to Give You the Future You Hope For

1–2  29 This is the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to what was left of the elders among the exiles, to the priests and prophets and all the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken to Babylon from Jerusalem, including King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, the government leaders, and all the skilled laborers and craftsmen.

3  The letter was carried by Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The letter said:

 4  This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel’s God, to all the exiles I’ve taken from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5  “Build houses and make yourselves at home.

“Put in gardens and eat what grows in that country.

6  “Marry and have children. Encourage your children to marry and have children so that you’ll thrive in that country and not waste away.

7  “Make yourselves at home there and work for the country’s welfare.

“Pray for Babylon’s well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you.”

Adam R. Holz

Today's Insights

The Hebrew word shalom is used three times in Jeremiah 29:7 and is translated “peace,” “prosperity,” “prosper[s].” It appears at least once in the majority of the thirty-nine Old Testament books. Its significance isn’t limited to the number of times it’s used, however. The concepts embodied in this rich word are noteworthy and far exceed the notion of “quiet from war.” The general idea is that of well-being encompassing health, prosperity, safety, wholeness, soundness, completeness—personally, communally, and cosmically. The King James Version reflects the literal repetition of the word peace: “Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” In Isaiah 9, the source and scope of universal well-being come into focus. Jesus is our shalom, our “Prince of Peace” (v. 6), and His reign will result in universal wholeness (v. 7).

Agents of Shalom

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Jeremiah 29:7

In 2015, local ministries in Colorado Springs, Colorado, teamed up to serve the city, and COSILoveYou was born. Each fall, in an event called CityServe, the group sends believers in Jesus out to serve the community.

Several years ago, my children and I were assigned to a downtown elementary school during CityServe. We cleaned. We pulled weeds. And we worked on an art project, lacing colored plastic tape through a chain-link fence in a way that approximated mountains. Simple, but surprisingly beautiful.

Whenever I drive past the school, our humble art project reminds me of Jeremiah 29. There, God instructed His people to settle down and serve the city they were in. He commanded this even though they were in exile and didn’t want to be there.  

The prophet said, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (v. 7). The word peace here is the Hebrew word shalom. And it encompasses the idea of the wholeness and flourishing that only God’s goodness and redemption can bring.   

Amazingly, God invites each of us to be His agents of shalom—right where we are. We’re invited to create beauty and practice redemption in simple, concrete ways in the spaces He’s placed us.

Reflect & Pray

When have you seen shalom restored? How might you use your time, talents, and resources to help your community?

Father, thank You for inviting me to be an agent of Your blessing. Please help me to see how I can serve my community.  

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, November 23, 2024

The Distraction of Contempt

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly piled with contempt. — Psalm 123:3kjv

The thing we have to watch out for isn’t so much damage to our belief in God as damage to our Christian state of mind. Our mindset has tremendous, far-reaching effects; it can be devoted to and formed by God, or it can be an enemy, one that penetrates to the soul and distracts us from him. There are certain states of mind in which we should never dare indulge, like worry and contempt. If we do indulge in these states of mind, we will find that we are completely distracted from our faith. Until we get back into a quiet mood before God, our faith in him will be nil, and confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity will rule.

Never indulge in worry. Beware of the cares of this world; they produce a wrong temper of soul. It’s extraordinary what enormous power simple things have to pull our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by the cares of this life.

Never indulge in self-justification. St. Augustine praised God for healing him from “the lust of vindicating” himself. The mindset that says “I must explain myself; I must get people to understand” is one that will destroy the soul’s faith in God. Our Lord never explained anything. He left others’ mistaken impressions and interpretations of him to correct themselves.

Never indulge in criticizing others. Sometimes we discern that another person isn’t developing spiritually, and we allow this discernment to turn into criticism and contempt. When we do, we block our own path to God. God doesn’t give us discernment about other people so that we can criticize them. He gives us discernment so that we can intercede in prayer on their behalf.

Ezekiel 20-21; James 5

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. 

My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R