A GOOD, HEALTHY STRUGGLE - June 21, 2024 -God’s using your struggle to toughen you up. It’s like viewing a movie after you’ve read the book. When something bad happens, everyone else gasps at the crisis on the screen. But not you. Why? You’ve read the book. You know how the good guy gets out of the tight spot.
God views your life with the same confidence. He’s not only read your story, he wrote it. His perspective is different, and his purpose is clear. One of God’s cures for weak faith? A good, healthy struggle. “Consider it a gift when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. Under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.” Scripture says, “Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way” (James 1:2-4 MSG). Join with Isaiah who resolved, “I will trust in him and not be afraid!” (Isaiah 12:2 NLT).
Daniel 8
A Vision of a Ram and a Billy Goat
1 8 “In King Belshazzar’s third year as king, another vision came to me, Daniel. This was now the second vision.
2–4 “In the vision, I saw myself in Susa, the capital city of the province Elam, standing at the Ulai Canal. Looking around, I was surprised to see a ram also standing at the gate. The ram had two huge horns, one bigger than the other, but the bigger horn was the last to appear. I watched as the ram charged: first west, then north, then south. No beast could stand up to him. He did just as he pleased, strutting as if he were king of the beasts.
5–7 “While I was watching this, wondering what it all meant, I saw a billy goat with an immense horn in the middle of its forehead come up out of the west and fly across the whole country, not once touching the ground. The billy goat approached the double-horned ram that I had earlier seen standing at the gate and, enraged, charged it viciously. I watched as, mad with rage, it charged the ram and hit it so hard that it broke off its two horns. The ram didn’t stand a chance against it. The billy goat knocked the ram to the ground and stomped all over it. Nothing could have saved the ram from the goat.
8–12 “Then the billy goat swelled to an enormous size. At the height of its power its immense horn broke off and four other big horns sprouted in its place, pointing to the four points of the compass. And then from one of these big horns another horn sprouted. It started small, but then grew to an enormous size, facing south and east—toward lovely Palestine. The horn grew tall, reaching to the stars, the heavenly army, and threw some of the stars to the earth and stomped on them. It even dared to challenge the power of God, Prince of the Celestial Army! And then it threw out daily worship and desecrated the Sanctuary. As judgment against their sin, the holy people of God got the same treatment as the daily worship. The horn cast God’s Truth aside. High-handed, it took over everything and everyone.
13 “Then I overheard two holy angels talking. One asked, ‘How long is what we see here going to last—the abolishing of daily worship, this devastating judgment against sin, the kicking around of God’s holy people and the Sanctuary?’
14 “The other answered, ‘Over the course of 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning. Then the Sanctuary will be set right again.’
15 “While I, Daniel, was trying to make sense of what I was seeing, suddenly there was a humanlike figure standing before me.
16–17 “Then I heard a man’s voice from over by the Ulai Canal calling out, ‘Gabriel, tell this man what is going on. Explain the vision to him.’ He came up to me, but when he got close I became terrified and fell facedown on the ground.
17–18 “He said, ‘Understand that this vision has to do with the time of the end.’ As soon as he spoke, I fainted, my face in the dirt. But he picked me up and put me on my feet.
19 “And then he continued, ‘I want to tell you what is going to happen as the judgment days of wrath wind down, for there is going to be an end to all this.
20–22 “ ‘The double-horned ram you saw stands for the two kings of the Medes and Persians. The billy goat stands for the kingdom of the Greeks. The huge horn on its forehead is the first Greek king. The four horns that sprouted after it was broken off are the four kings that come after him, but without his power.
23–26 “ ‘As their kingdoms cool down
and rebellions heat up,
A king will show up,
hard-faced, a master trickster.
His power will swell enormously.
He’ll talk big, high-handedly,
Doing whatever he pleases,
knocking off heroes and holy ones left and right.
He’ll plot and scheme to make crime flourish—
and oh, how it will flourish!
He’ll think he’s invincible
and get rid of anyone who gets in his way.
But when he takes on the Prince of all princes,
he’ll be smashed to bits—
but not by human hands.
This vision of the 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning,
is accurate but confidential.
Keep it to yourself.
It refers to the far future.’
27 “I, Daniel, walked around in a daze, unwell for days. Then I got a grip on myself and went back to work taking care of the king’s affairs. But I continued to be upset by the vision. I couldn’t make sense of it.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 21, 2024
Today's Scripture
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”
Insight
The church in Corinth was established by Paul on his second missionary journey (around ad 50). Some four years later, at the end of his third missionary journey, he wrote to a troubled church characterized by congregational conflicts, abuse of liberty, lack of humility, immorality, and disunity. Paul deals with the source of their problems—their arrogant pride (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). He reminded them they weren’t the influential, powerful elites they assumed they were—wise philosophers, politically powerful, or materially wealthy. They were the opposite—foolish, weak, lowly, despised nobodies (vv. 27-28). Yet, God chose them to be His children based solely on His grace, not on their merits. Therefore, “no one may boast before him” (v. 29; see vv. 4-5). Elsewhere, Paul reminds us, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Unpack Paul’s letters to the church of Corinth. By: K. T. Sim
Use Me
Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:31
James Morris was once described as “an illiterate but warmhearted layman,” but God used him to draw Augustus Toplady to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Toplady, the eighteenth-century author of the timeless hymn “Rock of Ages,” described hearing Morris preach: “Strange that I . . . should be brought nigh unto God . . . amidst a handful of God’s people met together in a barn, and under the ministry of one who could hardly spell his name. Surely this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous.”
Indeed, God does marvelous things in unlikely places and through those we may rank as “unqualified” or ordinary. In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul reminded believers in Jesus that they were an unimpressive lot. “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth” (v. 26). Though the Corinthian believers were quite ordinary, by God’s grace they weren’t lacking in giftedness and usefulness (see v. 7). And God—who knows how to put boasters in their place (vv. 27-29)—was at work among them and through them.
Do you see yourself as “plain,” “ordinary,” or even “less than”? Don’t fret. If you have Jesus and are willing to be used by Him, you have enough. May your heart’s prayer be, “God, use me!” By: Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
Who comes to mind when you think of one who’s been quietly but effectively used by God? What can you do to help shift your focus from what you have or don’t have to what God can do through you?
Heavenly Father, please forgive me for focusing on myself and not enough on You. Use me where I am in Your holy service.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 21, 2024
A Royal Priesthood
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession. — 1 Peter 2:9
By what right do we become “a royal priesthood”? By the right of the atonement, which is given to us as an absolute gift. Are we prepared to accept this gift, set aside all concerns about ourselves, and embark on the priestly work of intercessory prayer?
To begin the work of intercessory prayer is to take the focus off ourselves. The endless, self-centered quest to find out if we are what we ought to be creates a morbid kind of Christianity, not the simple, robust life of the child of God. Until we get into a right relationship with God, we are always wondering whether or not we’ve done enough to win his favor, and our prayers are devoted to worries about our own salvation.
There is nothing of the miracle of the redemption in this mindset. We must launch ourselves out in the reckless belief that the redemption is complete. Jesus Christ has already saved us; we don’t need to ask him to do it again. If we truly believe that our salvation is already accomplished, we will set aside concerns for ourselves and do as Jesus said: we will pray for the friend who comes to us at midnight, pray for the faithful, pray for everyone (Luke 11:1–13; 1 Timothy 2:1–4). We will pray in the realization that we are only perfect in Christ Jesus, not on this plea: “Oh, Lord, I’ve done my best; please hear me.”
How long is it going to take God to free us from the morbid habit of thinking about ourselves? We must get sick to death of ourselves, until we are no longer surprised by anything God can tell us about ourselves. If we are searching ourselves in the hopes of discovering how deep our depravity goes, we’ll be searching forever: the depth of sinfulness inside us is so profound we can never fathom it. There is only one place where we are right, and that is in Christ Jesus.
Esther 3-5; Acts 5:22-42
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.
Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 21, 2024
Love Protects - #9770
When I used to go places with my two sons, people would often say, "And who are these young men?" And I'd say, "Oh, these are my bodyguards." We'd all get a good laugh at that! Of course, you know, these guys of ours grew up pretty fast, and it was believable that they could be my bodyguards.
Actually, if I really felt that I needed one, well I would look to, you know, a professional wrestler or good old Mr. T from TV days of yore. Now, there was a bodyguard. In fact, before he became a TV personality and a movie star, he was actually a bodyguard for people like Muhammad Ali. So he got noticed first and got into the movies and into that old A-Team series.
Now, it's interesting to think of bodyguards. There are people who need them, and you picture those big beefy guys who stand between the celebrity or whoever they're protecting and whoever might want to cause them any trouble. It's almost as if they're saying, "Nothing's going to happen to you my friend as long as I'm looking out for you. I'm going to stand between you and anyone who tries to hurt you." That's bodyguards. Hey, did you know you're a bodyguard? Well, I mean, at least you're supposed to be.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Love Protects."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is from that great love chapter of the Bible - 1 Corinthians 13. I'm going to read just a portion of it beginning with verse 4. As you listen to this ultimate description of love, perhaps you might compare your own love right now for your family, the people you live with, the people you spend a lot of time with. Compare your love to this description, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
1 Corinthians 13:7 - I want to pick up these three little words from that wonderful description, "...love always protects." In other words, if we love as Christ loves, we are meant to be looking out for each other. I guess I'm supposed to be your bodyguard and you're supposed to be mine if we're brothers and sisters in Christ. That means that if someone comes to me and starts to attack a brother or sister's reputation, then I'm the one who intervenes and says, "Hey, wait a minute! Let's not talk about him. Have you thought about the other side of the story?" You become, as a spiritual body guard, the one who stops the gossip when it comes to you and then it says, "Excuse me, but that will be enough of that. It stops here."
When someone comes to you and starts criticizing another person, you've got to be the one who says, "Hey wait a minute! Go to them. I don't think I need to hear this. Have you talked to them about it? Go tell them." You're the one who makes sure that you never say anything bad about a family member or lets anyone else get away with it. You're the one who reminds people of the good points of a person that maybe they're having a hard time remembering. You say, "Yeah, but have you thought about this?" You're the one who encourages understanding and communication, because ultimately it is not your body that you're protecting. It is the body of Christ.
We are all part of that, those of us who are in Christ. And His body has been broken enough. He said, "This is My body which was broken for you." Don't allow it to be broken any more by a Christian attacking another Christian. Don't throw any punches at someone that Jesus loves very much.
Instead say, "Nothing's going to happen to you because I'm looking out for you."