Max Lucado Daily: Uninterrupted Awareness of God
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus for you.
I Thessalonians 15:16-18
Unceasing prayer may sound complicated, but it needn’t be that way.
Change your definition of prayer—less an activity and more as an awareness of God. Uninterrupted awareness.
In line at the grocery store you can be thinking, “Thank you, Lord, for being here.” Or, doing dishes, “I welcome your presence, Lord.”
Brother Lawrence was a monk who called himself the “lord of all pots and pans.” In his book The Practice of the Presence of God, he wrote:
“The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees.”
Besides, it makes more sense to talk to God than mumble to yourself.
Psalm 32
Of David. A maskil.[a]
1 Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one
whose sin the LORD does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.[b]
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.
10 Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the LORD’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in him.
11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 2:12-18
Do Everything Without Grumbling
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”[a] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Just Do What’s Right
November 28, 2011 — by Joe Stowell
That you may become . . . children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. —Philippians 2:15
On a trip out of the country, I happened to meet an attorney who was from my hometown in New Jersey. We were surprised at how much we had in common. In the course of the conversation, he asked, “Did you say your name was Stillwell?” I said, “No, it’s Stowell.” He then mentioned that he had a client named Stillwell. “Is it Art Stillwell?” I asked, and, to my surprise, he said yes. Art Stillwell attended my church and was an influential businessman in the community.
The attorney admitted that he had no client quite like Art. He explained that most of his clients want him to do whatever it takes to get them out of their problems, but Art was different. Whenever he asked Art what to do in any given situation, Art always replied, “Just do what’s right!” Obviously it had made an impression on the attorney.
Yielding to Christ in all of our desires and decisions regardless of the outcome is what sets us apart in a world full of people consumed by their own interests. When we live blameless lives “without fault”—courageously reflecting the integrity, love, and grace of Jesus—we clearly “shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15).
So, if you want to light up your world in a compelling way, just do what’s right!
Dim not, little candle,
Show Jesus through me!
Glow brightly till others
The Light clearly see! —Adams
Light up your world by reflecting the light of Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 28, 2011
The Riches of the Destitute
. . . being justified freely by His grace . . . —Romans 3:24
The gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the truth that it reveals is not palatable or easy to swallow. There is a certain pride in people that causes them to give and give, but to come and accept a gift is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom; I will dedicate my life to service— I will do anything. But do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God through our own efforts. We must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we get there, our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us as long as we think we are sufficient in and of ourselves. We must enter into His kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are “rich,” particularly in the area of pride or independence, God can do nothing for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is placed and made effective in us by the Holy Spirit. He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, making us truly alive. He takes that which was “beyond” us and places it “within” us. And immediately, once “the beyond” has come “within,” it rises up to “the above,” and we are lifted into the kingdom where Jesus lives and reigns (see John 3:5).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Something Better Than Leftovers - #6491
Monday, November 28, 2011
Oh, it happens every year after Thanksgiving and Christmas...leftovers. I cannot believe the infinite possibilities for preparing turkey. You know how it goes: You have turkey crispies for breakfast, and turkey, butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, etc. I mean, listen, there are so many ways to get rid of that turkey! Actually, any time of the year, it's just hard to get a lot of enthusiasm for dinner when it's leftovers. It's just not fair how many times you and I serve just that to our family. They deserve much better.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Something Better Than Leftovers."
I'm not talking about food here. I'm talking about leftover me, leftover you. Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Psalm 101:2-3, and yes, it does have something to do with something better than leftovers. Here's what it says. David is speaking. He says, "I will be careful to lead a blameless life." Now, Before we go on to the next verse, let's think about that word blameless for a minute. What does he mean? What's a blameless life?
Well, it means living your life in such a way that you have nothing to regret. Isn't that nice to wake up in the morning with no extra baggage, no emotional hangover, nothing to regret, nothing to repair, nothing to hide? That's a blameless life.
Okay, now listen to the next verse, "I will walk in my house with a blameless heart." Actually, these verses in this Psalm give us several arenas in life. After he says, "I'm going to be careful to be blameless" he gives us several arenas in which he wants to do that. But the number one is my family. He says, "When I'm with them, I want them to get blameless living from me. They will get not my leftovers. They are going to get my emotional and spiritual best." Is that how it is with your family and you?
I'll tell you, it often is not the case, is it? Our friends get much better treatment sometimes than our family does. In fact, if we treated our friends as we treat our family, our friends wouldn't stand for it. We'd be out of friends pretty quick. But our friends shouldn't be getting our best. Our family should get that.
David says, "You start in your house with blameless living." Sometimes we save our best for the kids at school, or the people at work, people at church. Oh, they see a wonderful person that the people at home so seldom see. We use up all our patience, all our listening, all our love, our helpfulness, our unselfishness some place else. And guess what we dish out to our family when we get home? Yep! Leftovers!
And that's wrong!
Here's the way it ought to be. Everyone should just be getting the overflow of the respect, and love, and patience that you're practicing at home. And David says, "I will be careful to lead a blameless life."
See, there's a tendency to let down on living so we won't have regrets, and won't have anything to fix, or repair, or hide. It's easy to let down at home. That's why we have to be careful to lead a blameless life. When we get home, we let down, we're careless because we think no one's watching. But the biblical priority is put on how you live at home.
Like David, let's make it a commitment - give your family your best, your very best. You've served them enough leftovers.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
John 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: God Knows Us By Name
The Lord is my shepherd;
I have everything I need.
Psalm 23:1
Sheep aren’t smart. They tend to wander into running creeks for water, then their wool grows heavy and they drown. They need a shepherd to lead them to “calm water” (Ps. 23:2). They have no natural defense—no claws, no horns, no fangs. They are helpless. Sheep need a shepherd with a “rod and … walking stick” (Ps. 23:4) to protect them. They have no sense of direction. They need someone to lead them “on paths that are right” (Ps. 23:3).
So do we. We, too, tend to be swept away by waters we should have avoided. We have no defense against the evil lion who prowls about seeking whom he might devour. We, too, get lost.
We need a shepherd. We need a shepherd to care for us and to guide us. And we have one. One who knows us by name.
John 3
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 86
A prayer of David.
1 Hear me, LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; 3 have mercy on me, Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
for I put my trust in you.
5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, LORD;
listen to my cry for mercy.
7 When I am in distress, I call to you,
because you answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;
no deeds can compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made
will come and worship before you, Lord;
they will bring glory to your name.
10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, LORD,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths,
from the realm of the dead.
14 Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God;
ruthless people are trying to kill me—
they have no regard for you.
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me;
show your strength in behalf of your servant;
save me, because I serve you
just as my mother did.
17 Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
Feeling Poor?
November 27, 2011 — by Dave Branon
I am poor and needy. —Psalm 86:1
In one way or another, we can all relate to Psalm 86:1 where David says, “I am poor and needy.” Even the richest among us should understand that poverty and need relate more to the spirit than to the wallet. When billionaire Rich DeVos speaks to groups he often says, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.”
Psalm 86 tells us that the help God provides is not measured by a monetary ledger sheet. When we acknowledge that we are poor and needy, it’s not so God will lavish material riches on us. No, we do so to open the door to other, more valuable treasures.
Here’s what God does for the poor and needy. He will “preserve” our lives and “save” all those who trust in Him (v.2). He will be “merciful” and “ready to forgive” (vv.3,5). He will listen to and answer prayer (vv.6-7).
But we’re not to take God’s blessings without giving back. We have a responsibility to learn God’s ways, walk in His truth, “fear [God’s] name,” praise the Lord, and “glorify [His] name” (vv.11-12).
Do you consider yourself among the “poor and needy”? If so, welcome to the club. Let’s not forget all the spiritual blessings God has for us and the godly response we should have toward His generosity.
We’re thankful for the blessings, Lord,
You give us day by day;
Now help us show our gratitude
By walking in Your way. —Sper
The poorest man is he whose only wealth is money.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, November 27, 2011
The Consecration of Spiritual Power
. . by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world —Galatians 6:14
If I dwell on the Cross of Christ, I do not simply become inwardly devout and solely interested in my own holiness— I become strongly focused on Jesus Christ’s interests. Our Lord was not a recluse nor a fanatical holy man practicing self-denial. He did not physically cut Himself off from society, but He was inwardly disconnected all the time. He was not aloof, but He lived in another world. In fact, He was so much in the common everyday world that the religious people of His day accused Him of being a glutton and a drunkard. Yet our Lord never allowed anything to interfere with His consecration of spiritual power.
It is not genuine consecration to think that we can refuse to be used of God now in order to store up our spiritual power for later use. That is a hopeless mistake. The Spirit of God has set a great many people free from their sin, yet they are experiencing no fullness in their lives— no true sense of freedom. The kind of religious life we see around the world today is entirely different from the vigorous holiness of the life of Jesus Christ. “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). We are to be in the world but not of it— to be separated internally, not externally (seeJohn 17:16).
We must never allow anything to interfere with the consecration of our spiritual power. Consecration (being dedicated to God’s service) is our part; sanctification (being set apart from sin and being made holy) is God’s part. We must make a deliberate determination to be interested only in what God is interested. The way to make that determination, when faced with a perplexing problem, is to ask yourself, “Is this the kind of thing in which Jesus Christ is interested, or is it something in which the spirit that is diametrically opposed to Jesus is interested?”
The Lord is my shepherd;
I have everything I need.
Psalm 23:1
Sheep aren’t smart. They tend to wander into running creeks for water, then their wool grows heavy and they drown. They need a shepherd to lead them to “calm water” (Ps. 23:2). They have no natural defense—no claws, no horns, no fangs. They are helpless. Sheep need a shepherd with a “rod and … walking stick” (Ps. 23:4) to protect them. They have no sense of direction. They need someone to lead them “on paths that are right” (Ps. 23:3).
So do we. We, too, tend to be swept away by waters we should have avoided. We have no defense against the evil lion who prowls about seeking whom he might devour. We, too, get lost.
We need a shepherd. We need a shepherd to care for us and to guide us. And we have one. One who knows us by name.
John 3
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 86
A prayer of David.
1 Hear me, LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; 3 have mercy on me, Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
for I put my trust in you.
5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, LORD;
listen to my cry for mercy.
7 When I am in distress, I call to you,
because you answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;
no deeds can compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made
will come and worship before you, Lord;
they will bring glory to your name.
10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, LORD,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths,
from the realm of the dead.
14 Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God;
ruthless people are trying to kill me—
they have no regard for you.
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me;
show your strength in behalf of your servant;
save me, because I serve you
just as my mother did.
17 Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
Feeling Poor?
November 27, 2011 — by Dave Branon
I am poor and needy. —Psalm 86:1
In one way or another, we can all relate to Psalm 86:1 where David says, “I am poor and needy.” Even the richest among us should understand that poverty and need relate more to the spirit than to the wallet. When billionaire Rich DeVos speaks to groups he often says, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.”
Psalm 86 tells us that the help God provides is not measured by a monetary ledger sheet. When we acknowledge that we are poor and needy, it’s not so God will lavish material riches on us. No, we do so to open the door to other, more valuable treasures.
Here’s what God does for the poor and needy. He will “preserve” our lives and “save” all those who trust in Him (v.2). He will be “merciful” and “ready to forgive” (vv.3,5). He will listen to and answer prayer (vv.6-7).
But we’re not to take God’s blessings without giving back. We have a responsibility to learn God’s ways, walk in His truth, “fear [God’s] name,” praise the Lord, and “glorify [His] name” (vv.11-12).
Do you consider yourself among the “poor and needy”? If so, welcome to the club. Let’s not forget all the spiritual blessings God has for us and the godly response we should have toward His generosity.
We’re thankful for the blessings, Lord,
You give us day by day;
Now help us show our gratitude
By walking in Your way. —Sper
The poorest man is he whose only wealth is money.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, November 27, 2011
The Consecration of Spiritual Power
. . by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world —Galatians 6:14
If I dwell on the Cross of Christ, I do not simply become inwardly devout and solely interested in my own holiness— I become strongly focused on Jesus Christ’s interests. Our Lord was not a recluse nor a fanatical holy man practicing self-denial. He did not physically cut Himself off from society, but He was inwardly disconnected all the time. He was not aloof, but He lived in another world. In fact, He was so much in the common everyday world that the religious people of His day accused Him of being a glutton and a drunkard. Yet our Lord never allowed anything to interfere with His consecration of spiritual power.
It is not genuine consecration to think that we can refuse to be used of God now in order to store up our spiritual power for later use. That is a hopeless mistake. The Spirit of God has set a great many people free from their sin, yet they are experiencing no fullness in their lives— no true sense of freedom. The kind of religious life we see around the world today is entirely different from the vigorous holiness of the life of Jesus Christ. “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). We are to be in the world but not of it— to be separated internally, not externally (seeJohn 17:16).
We must never allow anything to interfere with the consecration of our spiritual power. Consecration (being dedicated to God’s service) is our part; sanctification (being set apart from sin and being made holy) is God’s part. We must make a deliberate determination to be interested only in what God is interested. The way to make that determination, when faced with a perplexing problem, is to ask yourself, “Is this the kind of thing in which Jesus Christ is interested, or is it something in which the spirit that is diametrically opposed to Jesus is interested?”
Saturday, November 26, 2011
2 Samuel 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: A Plea for Mercy
The Lord is not…willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 NKJV
What of those who die with no faith? My husband never prayed. My grandpa never worshiped. My mother never opened a Bible, much less her heart. What about the one who never believed?
How do we know he didn’t?
Who among us is privy to a person’s final thoughts? Who among us knows what transpires in those final moments? Are you sure no prayer was offered? Eternity can bend the proudest knees. Could a person stare into the yawning canyon of death without whispering a plea for mercy? And could our God, who is partial to the humble, resist it?
He couldn’t on Calvary. The confession of the thief on the cross was both a first and final one. But Christ heard it. Christ received it. Maybe you never heard your loved one confess Christ, but who’s to say Christ didn’t?
2 Samuel 12
Nathan Rebukes David
1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for[d] the LORD, the son born to you will die.”
15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth[e] on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”
19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
21 His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”
22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; 25 and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.[f]
26 Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel. 27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply. 28 Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will take the city, and it will be named after me.”
29 So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it. 30 David took the crown from their king’s[g] head, and it was placed on his own head. It weighed a talent[h] of gold, and it was set with precious stones. David took a great quantity of plunder from the city 31 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes, and he made them work at brickmaking.[i] David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then he and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 4:32-40
The LORD Is God
32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God[a] speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.
39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.
Singing Bowl
November 26, 2011 — by Julie Ackerman Link
We therefore ought to . . . become fellow workers for the truth. —3 John 1:8
Artist and scientist Michael Flynn designed a singing bowl for display in ArtPrize, an international art competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The bowl requires no electricity but it does require something that is in short supply: cooperation.
As I observed people trying to make the bowl sing, I was surprised that none of them bothered to read the directions about rocking it gently. Instead, impatient to make music, they kept trying their own ideas. After a few minutes they walked away frustrated and disappointed, as if the bowl was defective.
How many times, I wonder, do we become frustrated that life isn’t working the way we think it should? We keep trying ways that seem right, but things keep turning out wrong. Instead of following God’s Word, we continue trying to find our own way.
The singing bowl reminds us that we can’t expect life to go well if we ignore the instructions of the Designer (Deut. 4:40). Failing to obey divides us from one another and separates us from God. To fulfill His plan for the world and make the way of salvation known (Ps. 67:2), we need to follow His instructions about living and working peacefully together. When life doesn’t go well, it may be that we’ve stopped following God’s plan.
Sure it takes a lot of courage to put things in God’s hands,
To give ourselves completely, our lives, our hopes, our plans;
To follow where He leads us and make His will our own;
But all it takes is foolishness to go the way alone! —Kline
Life is a beautiful song that God is teaching us to play.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 25, 2011
The Focal Point of Spiritual Power
. . . except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14
If you want to know the power of God (that is, the resurrection life of Jesus) in your human flesh, you must dwell on the tragedy of God. Break away from your personal concern over your own spiritual condition, and with a completely open spirit consider the tragedy of God. Instantly the power of God will be in you. “Look to Me. . .” (Isaiah 45:22). Pay attention to the external Source and the internal power will be there. We lose power because we don’t focus on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these. We are to preach “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s focal point in your preaching, and even if your listeners seem to pay it no attention, they will never be the same again. If I share my own words, they are of no more importance than your words are to me. But if we share the truth of God with one another, we will encounter it again and again. We have to focus on the great point of spiritual power— the Cross. If we stay in contact with that center of power, its energy is released in our lives. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings, the focus tends to be put not on the Cross of Christ but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.
The Lord is not…willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 NKJV
What of those who die with no faith? My husband never prayed. My grandpa never worshiped. My mother never opened a Bible, much less her heart. What about the one who never believed?
How do we know he didn’t?
Who among us is privy to a person’s final thoughts? Who among us knows what transpires in those final moments? Are you sure no prayer was offered? Eternity can bend the proudest knees. Could a person stare into the yawning canyon of death without whispering a plea for mercy? And could our God, who is partial to the humble, resist it?
He couldn’t on Calvary. The confession of the thief on the cross was both a first and final one. But Christ heard it. Christ received it. Maybe you never heard your loved one confess Christ, but who’s to say Christ didn’t?
2 Samuel 12
Nathan Rebukes David
1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for[d] the LORD, the son born to you will die.”
15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth[e] on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”
19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
21 His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”
22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; 25 and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.[f]
26 Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel. 27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply. 28 Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will take the city, and it will be named after me.”
29 So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it. 30 David took the crown from their king’s[g] head, and it was placed on his own head. It weighed a talent[h] of gold, and it was set with precious stones. David took a great quantity of plunder from the city 31 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes, and he made them work at brickmaking.[i] David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then he and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 4:32-40
The LORD Is God
32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God[a] speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.
39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.
Singing Bowl
November 26, 2011 — by Julie Ackerman Link
We therefore ought to . . . become fellow workers for the truth. —3 John 1:8
Artist and scientist Michael Flynn designed a singing bowl for display in ArtPrize, an international art competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The bowl requires no electricity but it does require something that is in short supply: cooperation.
As I observed people trying to make the bowl sing, I was surprised that none of them bothered to read the directions about rocking it gently. Instead, impatient to make music, they kept trying their own ideas. After a few minutes they walked away frustrated and disappointed, as if the bowl was defective.
How many times, I wonder, do we become frustrated that life isn’t working the way we think it should? We keep trying ways that seem right, but things keep turning out wrong. Instead of following God’s Word, we continue trying to find our own way.
The singing bowl reminds us that we can’t expect life to go well if we ignore the instructions of the Designer (Deut. 4:40). Failing to obey divides us from one another and separates us from God. To fulfill His plan for the world and make the way of salvation known (Ps. 67:2), we need to follow His instructions about living and working peacefully together. When life doesn’t go well, it may be that we’ve stopped following God’s plan.
Sure it takes a lot of courage to put things in God’s hands,
To give ourselves completely, our lives, our hopes, our plans;
To follow where He leads us and make His will our own;
But all it takes is foolishness to go the way alone! —Kline
Life is a beautiful song that God is teaching us to play.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 25, 2011
The Focal Point of Spiritual Power
. . . except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14
If you want to know the power of God (that is, the resurrection life of Jesus) in your human flesh, you must dwell on the tragedy of God. Break away from your personal concern over your own spiritual condition, and with a completely open spirit consider the tragedy of God. Instantly the power of God will be in you. “Look to Me. . .” (Isaiah 45:22). Pay attention to the external Source and the internal power will be there. We lose power because we don’t focus on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these. We are to preach “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s focal point in your preaching, and even if your listeners seem to pay it no attention, they will never be the same again. If I share my own words, they are of no more importance than your words are to me. But if we share the truth of God with one another, we will encounter it again and again. We have to focus on the great point of spiritual power— the Cross. If we stay in contact with that center of power, its energy is released in our lives. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings, the focus tends to be put not on the Cross of Christ but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.
Friday, November 25, 2011
2 Samuel 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: God Heals
We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. Romans 8:28
Prayer isn’t what heals us. God heals, not prayer. A matter of semantics? No. If you think the power is in the prayer and not the One who hears the prayer, you fault the pray-er for unanswered prayer. If I had prayed more, better, differently. It’s a depressing cycle.
Don’t assume that the faithful will never suffer.
Remember that Peter was in a storm before he walked on water. Lazarus was in a grave before he came out of it. In Matthew 26:39, Jesus himself prayed to be delivered from earthly pain.
Please don’t interpret the presence of your disease as the absence of God’s love. I pray he heals you. And he will, ultimately.
2 Samuel 11
David and Bathsheba
1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,[b] and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth[c]? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”
22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”
25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 42:1-11
Psalm 42[a][b]
For the director of music. A maskil[c] of the Sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One[d]
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
6 My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
8 By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Finding Hope
November 25, 2011 — by David C. McCasland
Why are you cast down, O my soul? . . . Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him. —Psalm 42:5
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota found that almost 15 percent of American teenagers felt it was “highly likely” that they would die before their 35th birthday. Those with this pessimistic outlook were more likely to engage in reckless behavior. Dr. Iris Borowsky, author of the study published in Pediatrics magazine, said: “These youth may take risks because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake.”
No one is immune to feelings of despair. The Psalms express repeated pleas for help when life seems dark. “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence” (Ps. 42:5 NASB). In a defiant step of faith, the psalmist tells himself not to forget about God, who will never forsake him.
Curtis Almquist has written: “Hope is fueled by the presence of God. . . . [It] is also fueled by the future of God in our lives.” We can say with the psalmist, “I shall yet praise Him” (v.5).
No follower of Christ should feel reluctant to seek counsel for depression. Nor should we feel that faith and prayer are too simplistic to help. There is always hope in God!
My sheep I know, they are My own,
I leave them not in trials alone;
I will be with them to the end,
Their Hope, their Joy, their dearest Friend. —Anon.
Hope for the Christian is a certainty— because its basis is Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 25, 2011
The Secret of Spiritual Consistency
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Black Friday Bargain Fever - #6490
Friday, November 25, 2011
Get up crazy early. Stand in a long line. Spend hours in bone-chilling cold. Try to avoid being trampled by a stampeding crowd.
Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun doesn't it? Oh, what a way to spend the day after Thanksgiving! Or any day, for that matter. Yeah, guess what? More people than we can count--that's what they do. The news is filled with the countless stories of Americans doing just that. As you hit the stores, you try to scoop up the "door-busting" bargains offered in the wee hours of what they call "Black Friday." For some people it's more like black and blue Friday.
Now, Black Friday veterans have told me it's not just a crunch, it's also a rush. It's all about recognizing these short-lived opportunities and aggressively going after them before they're gone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Black Friday Bargain Fever."
You know, that rush--recognizing short-lived opportunities, going after them before they're gone. Why, that should be what it's like to tell people the Good News about Jesus--that He can erase your sins, love you without strings. He can guarantee you heaven. It's all about recognizing the opportunities we all have regularly to bring up Jesus, and realizing that those windows of opportunity won't last long. Oh yeah, and going after those opportunities aggressively.
That's part of the Bible's description of how to live smart. It's in our word for today from the Word of God in {bible}Ephesians 5:15-16{bible}. Here's what it says, "Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise (okay, living smart), making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Another translation talks about "buying up the time." Just like those Black Friday shoppers, going after it with this passionate sense of urgency. It's not going to be there long. Grab it while you can.
When the bargains are gone, well, you lost a little money. When the Jesus-sharing opportunities are gone, it can cost you the eternity of someone you care about. Because in the words of the Bible, "he that has the Son has life; he that does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12). If you've got Jesus, you've got life forever in heaven. It's up to you to share that life with those around you who don't have Him and don't have that life.
Now, what creates a natural opportunity to talk about your relationship with Jesus? Well, it might be something happening in your life, it might be something happening in their life, or it could be something going on in the world. Anything that legitimately provides a natural opportunity for you to reference some difference that having Jesus has made for you.
More than anything, I think what opens natural opportunities to talk about Jesus is praying for them. You can't be around me too long without learning about the three-open prayer based on Colossians 4:3-4, where Paul says, "Pray for us, that God will open a door for our message." And then he says, "Pray that we'll proclaim it clearly as we should." So, you say, "Lord, open a door." That's a natural opportunity to bring up Jesus. And then, "Lord, open their heart." Get them ready. If you're going to get me ready to talk to them, get them ready to hear about Jesus. And then, "Lord, open my mouth." Give me the words, give me the courage, give me the approach to use.
You know, if you start to pray that three-open prayer, and I guarantee that God will answer it. You don't have to say, "Lord, if it is Your will." It is His will. "Lord, open a door." "Lord, open their heart." "Lord, open my mouth." When you ask God for open doors, then open your eyes to look for them. They'll be there, all over the place, because God really wants you to tell the people you know about His Son.
It's exciting to live the adventure of discovering life-giving opportunities. And it's costly to miss them...really costly.
We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. Romans 8:28
Prayer isn’t what heals us. God heals, not prayer. A matter of semantics? No. If you think the power is in the prayer and not the One who hears the prayer, you fault the pray-er for unanswered prayer. If I had prayed more, better, differently. It’s a depressing cycle.
Don’t assume that the faithful will never suffer.
Remember that Peter was in a storm before he walked on water. Lazarus was in a grave before he came out of it. In Matthew 26:39, Jesus himself prayed to be delivered from earthly pain.
Please don’t interpret the presence of your disease as the absence of God’s love. I pray he heals you. And he will, ultimately.
2 Samuel 11
David and Bathsheba
1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,[b] and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth[c]? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”
22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”
25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 42:1-11
Psalm 42[a][b]
For the director of music. A maskil[c] of the Sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One[d]
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
6 My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
8 By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Finding Hope
November 25, 2011 — by David C. McCasland
Why are you cast down, O my soul? . . . Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him. —Psalm 42:5
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota found that almost 15 percent of American teenagers felt it was “highly likely” that they would die before their 35th birthday. Those with this pessimistic outlook were more likely to engage in reckless behavior. Dr. Iris Borowsky, author of the study published in Pediatrics magazine, said: “These youth may take risks because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake.”
No one is immune to feelings of despair. The Psalms express repeated pleas for help when life seems dark. “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence” (Ps. 42:5 NASB). In a defiant step of faith, the psalmist tells himself not to forget about God, who will never forsake him.
Curtis Almquist has written: “Hope is fueled by the presence of God. . . . [It] is also fueled by the future of God in our lives.” We can say with the psalmist, “I shall yet praise Him” (v.5).
No follower of Christ should feel reluctant to seek counsel for depression. Nor should we feel that faith and prayer are too simplistic to help. There is always hope in God!
My sheep I know, they are My own,
I leave them not in trials alone;
I will be with them to the end,
Their Hope, their Joy, their dearest Friend. —Anon.
Hope for the Christian is a certainty— because its basis is Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 25, 2011
The Secret of Spiritual Consistency
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Black Friday Bargain Fever - #6490
Friday, November 25, 2011
Get up crazy early. Stand in a long line. Spend hours in bone-chilling cold. Try to avoid being trampled by a stampeding crowd.
Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun doesn't it? Oh, what a way to spend the day after Thanksgiving! Or any day, for that matter. Yeah, guess what? More people than we can count--that's what they do. The news is filled with the countless stories of Americans doing just that. As you hit the stores, you try to scoop up the "door-busting" bargains offered in the wee hours of what they call "Black Friday." For some people it's more like black and blue Friday.
Now, Black Friday veterans have told me it's not just a crunch, it's also a rush. It's all about recognizing these short-lived opportunities and aggressively going after them before they're gone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Black Friday Bargain Fever."
You know, that rush--recognizing short-lived opportunities, going after them before they're gone. Why, that should be what it's like to tell people the Good News about Jesus--that He can erase your sins, love you without strings. He can guarantee you heaven. It's all about recognizing the opportunities we all have regularly to bring up Jesus, and realizing that those windows of opportunity won't last long. Oh yeah, and going after those opportunities aggressively.
That's part of the Bible's description of how to live smart. It's in our word for today from the Word of God in {bible}Ephesians 5:15-16{bible}. Here's what it says, "Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise (okay, living smart), making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Another translation talks about "buying up the time." Just like those Black Friday shoppers, going after it with this passionate sense of urgency. It's not going to be there long. Grab it while you can.
When the bargains are gone, well, you lost a little money. When the Jesus-sharing opportunities are gone, it can cost you the eternity of someone you care about. Because in the words of the Bible, "he that has the Son has life; he that does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12). If you've got Jesus, you've got life forever in heaven. It's up to you to share that life with those around you who don't have Him and don't have that life.
Now, what creates a natural opportunity to talk about your relationship with Jesus? Well, it might be something happening in your life, it might be something happening in their life, or it could be something going on in the world. Anything that legitimately provides a natural opportunity for you to reference some difference that having Jesus has made for you.
More than anything, I think what opens natural opportunities to talk about Jesus is praying for them. You can't be around me too long without learning about the three-open prayer based on Colossians 4:3-4, where Paul says, "Pray for us, that God will open a door for our message." And then he says, "Pray that we'll proclaim it clearly as we should." So, you say, "Lord, open a door." That's a natural opportunity to bring up Jesus. And then, "Lord, open their heart." Get them ready. If you're going to get me ready to talk to them, get them ready to hear about Jesus. And then, "Lord, open my mouth." Give me the words, give me the courage, give me the approach to use.
You know, if you start to pray that three-open prayer, and I guarantee that God will answer it. You don't have to say, "Lord, if it is Your will." It is His will. "Lord, open a door." "Lord, open their heart." "Lord, open my mouth." When you ask God for open doors, then open your eyes to look for them. They'll be there, all over the place, because God really wants you to tell the people you know about His Son.
It's exciting to live the adventure of discovering life-giving opportunities. And it's costly to miss them...really costly.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
2 Samuel 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: He Became the Servant
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5
Jesus understood what it meant to be a servant.
Jesus dined out a few times in the Bible. What did he do?
At the feedings of the four and five thousand, Jesus played chef and asked the disciples to be the waiters. With the apostles at Passover, he played host and washed their feet. The host became the servant.
So how would Jesus treat a waiter?
He would be encouraging—to help him endure the struggles of his job. He’d give him a spoken word or an invitation to hear more. He’d offer forgiveness despite the mismatched orders and dirty spoon.
And I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be any hesitation to say “thanks” through a satisfactory gratuity of 15-20 percent.
2 Samuel 10
David Defeats the Ammonites
1 In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. 2 David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.
When David’s men came to the land of the Ammonites, 3 the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending envoys to you to express sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to you only to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?” 4 So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.
5 When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.”
6 When the Ammonites realized that they had become obnoxious to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maakah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob.
7 On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. 8 The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance of their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maakah were by themselves in the open country.
9 Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. 10 He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother and deployed them against the Ammonites. 11 Joab said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. 12 Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight.”
13 Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. 14 When the Ammonites realized that the Arameans were fleeing, they fled before Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.
15 After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped. 16 Hadadezer had Arameans brought from beyond the Euphrates River; they went to Helam, with Shobak the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.
17 When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him. 18 But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers.[a] He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died there. 19 When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them.
So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 1:1-10
The Incarnation of the Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, 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. 2 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. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our[a] joy complete.
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But 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[b] sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Thanksgiving Pardon
November 24, 2011 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin. —1 John 1:7
Each year at the end of November, the President of the United States issues an official pardon for the National Thanksgiving Turkey. During this lighthearted ceremony, one president remarked: “Our guest of honor looks a little nervous. Nobody’s told him yet that I’m going to give him a pardon.” The poor turkey had a good reason to be uneasy—without an acquittal, he was doomed to be Thanksgiving dinner.
We are in a similar situation when it comes to our sin. Without God’s pardon, we’re on our way to certain demise. This condition is a direct result of our own wrongdoing. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). However, we can be set free from this death sentence because God’s Son bore our sin in His body on the cross, “that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). First John 1:7 tells us that Jesus’ blood “cleanses us from all sin.”
We can accept God’s pardon for our sin and receive eternal life when we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9). Today, consider how you will respond to God’s offer of forgiveness.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow—
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! —Chisholm
Through faith in Christ,
we receive God’s pardon and escape sin’s penalty.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Direction of Focus
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters . . . , so our eyes look to the Lord our God . . . —Psalm 123:2
This verse is a description of total reliance on God. Just as the eyes of a servant are riveted on his master, our eyes should be directed to and focused on God. This is how knowledge of His countenance is gained and how God reveals Himself to us (seeIsaiah 53:1). Our spiritual strength begins to be drained when we stop lifting our eyes to Him. Our stamina is sapped, not so much through external troubles surrounding us but through problems in our thinking. We wrongfully think, “I suppose I’ve been stretching myself a little too much, standing too tall and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person.” We have to realize that no effort can be too high.
For example, you came to a crisis in your life, took a stand for God, and even had the witness of the Spirit as a confirmation that what you did was right. But now, maybe weeks or years have gone by, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion— “Well, maybe what I did showed too much pride or was superficial. Was I taking a stand a bit too high for me?” Your “rational” friends come and say, “Don’t be silly. We knew when you first talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a passing impulse, that you couldn’t hold up under the strain. And anyway, God doesn’t expect you to endure.” You respond by saying, “Well, I suppose I was expecting too much.” That sounds humble to say, but it means that your reliance on God is gone, and you are now relying on worldly opinion. The danger comes when, no longer relying on God, you neglect to focus your eyes on Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize that you have been the loser. Whenever there is a spiritual drain in your life, correct it immediately. Realize that something has been coming between you and God, and change or remove it at once.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Message at Macy's Parade - #6489
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Well, I watched it as a kid, and then my kids watched it, and now my grandkids are watching it. Yep! The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has been around for a pretty long time! And those Rockettes, Well, the announcer said they've been around for over 50 years! That's just amazing they can still get their legs off the ground at that age isn't it?
Well, as the balloons floated by on Thanksgiving, I kept seeing this one word on the store behind them, "Believe." I guess that's inspiring--vaguely. Actually, "Believe." That's a pretty popular message these days. Think positive thoughts. Have faith...in something.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Message at Macy's Parade."
Now, our "open-minded" culture thinks it's a good idea to believe, but it doesn't seem to matter much what you believe in. Believe in yourself. Believe in the future. Believe in a better world.
Actually, it really does matter what you believe. You can tell that from our word for today from the Word of God. Proverbs 14:12 throws up a serious "danger" sign when it says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." I read a few years ago about some young men fighting a wildfire out west, and the wind suddenly stoked that fire and it turned on the firefighters. Well, those rookies headed in the direction that they firmly believed was the road out, but it was a dead-end road. They never made it out. They believed in the wrong thing.
When it comes to the final outcome for our eternal soul, believing--well, now we're talking a life-or-death imperative. Acts 16:31 says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." God emphatically says, "There is no other Name under heaven...by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Now, that's "saved" as in rescued from the forever death penalty of a lifetime of defying God. That's what sin is. It's doing what we want instead of what He wants. And we've lost count; we could never add up the number of times in our life that we've done what we've wanted instead of what He wanted.
And that lifetime of rebellion against God carries an eternal death penalty, and that death penalty can only be paid by someone dying...and someone did so you wouldn't have to. But only one Someone did, and that's Jesus.
Oh, there are all kinds of religions and moral philosophies and spiritualities. Actually, if a religion could have done it, if any spirituality could have done it, God would have never put His Son through the horror of that cross. No religion, including the Christian religion, can die for our sins; can get us to heaven. That's why "there's no other Name" but Jesus. It's not about there being only one religion. It's about there only being one Savior. There's only one rescuer. There's only one person who even claimed to die for our sins. There's only one person who backed up that claim by walking out of His grave under His own power, because only someone who has eternal life can give it. Jesus alone paid the price so you and I wouldn't have to.
So, we've got something...we've got Someone to believe in who can make this life have meaning and the life after this life...eternal. You know, if you have never begun your relationship with this Jesus, if you have never taken all of your trust and put it in Him like a drowning person would put all their trust in a rescuer, let this be the day you do that. Maybe God has sent this message to you to move you beyond just believing in something, or even trusting in your religion, to trusting His Son, the Savior who died for you. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours. Starting this day, I am Yours."
And go to our website. There's so much information there and encouragement that will help you get started with Jesus. It's YoursForLife.net. If you could begin a life with meaning and guarantee heaven forever with a commitment to Christ today, wow, now that's reason for a thanksgiving parade.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5
Jesus understood what it meant to be a servant.
Jesus dined out a few times in the Bible. What did he do?
At the feedings of the four and five thousand, Jesus played chef and asked the disciples to be the waiters. With the apostles at Passover, he played host and washed their feet. The host became the servant.
So how would Jesus treat a waiter?
He would be encouraging—to help him endure the struggles of his job. He’d give him a spoken word or an invitation to hear more. He’d offer forgiveness despite the mismatched orders and dirty spoon.
And I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be any hesitation to say “thanks” through a satisfactory gratuity of 15-20 percent.
2 Samuel 10
David Defeats the Ammonites
1 In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. 2 David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.
When David’s men came to the land of the Ammonites, 3 the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending envoys to you to express sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to you only to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?” 4 So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.
5 When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.”
6 When the Ammonites realized that they had become obnoxious to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maakah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob.
7 On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. 8 The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance of their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maakah were by themselves in the open country.
9 Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. 10 He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother and deployed them against the Ammonites. 11 Joab said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. 12 Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight.”
13 Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. 14 When the Ammonites realized that the Arameans were fleeing, they fled before Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.
15 After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped. 16 Hadadezer had Arameans brought from beyond the Euphrates River; they went to Helam, with Shobak the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.
17 When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him. 18 But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers.[a] He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died there. 19 When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them.
So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 1:1-10
The Incarnation of the Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, 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. 2 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. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our[a] joy complete.
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But 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[b] sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Thanksgiving Pardon
November 24, 2011 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin. —1 John 1:7
Each year at the end of November, the President of the United States issues an official pardon for the National Thanksgiving Turkey. During this lighthearted ceremony, one president remarked: “Our guest of honor looks a little nervous. Nobody’s told him yet that I’m going to give him a pardon.” The poor turkey had a good reason to be uneasy—without an acquittal, he was doomed to be Thanksgiving dinner.
We are in a similar situation when it comes to our sin. Without God’s pardon, we’re on our way to certain demise. This condition is a direct result of our own wrongdoing. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). However, we can be set free from this death sentence because God’s Son bore our sin in His body on the cross, “that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). First John 1:7 tells us that Jesus’ blood “cleanses us from all sin.”
We can accept God’s pardon for our sin and receive eternal life when we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9). Today, consider how you will respond to God’s offer of forgiveness.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow—
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! —Chisholm
Through faith in Christ,
we receive God’s pardon and escape sin’s penalty.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Direction of Focus
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters . . . , so our eyes look to the Lord our God . . . —Psalm 123:2
This verse is a description of total reliance on God. Just as the eyes of a servant are riveted on his master, our eyes should be directed to and focused on God. This is how knowledge of His countenance is gained and how God reveals Himself to us (seeIsaiah 53:1). Our spiritual strength begins to be drained when we stop lifting our eyes to Him. Our stamina is sapped, not so much through external troubles surrounding us but through problems in our thinking. We wrongfully think, “I suppose I’ve been stretching myself a little too much, standing too tall and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person.” We have to realize that no effort can be too high.
For example, you came to a crisis in your life, took a stand for God, and even had the witness of the Spirit as a confirmation that what you did was right. But now, maybe weeks or years have gone by, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion— “Well, maybe what I did showed too much pride or was superficial. Was I taking a stand a bit too high for me?” Your “rational” friends come and say, “Don’t be silly. We knew when you first talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a passing impulse, that you couldn’t hold up under the strain. And anyway, God doesn’t expect you to endure.” You respond by saying, “Well, I suppose I was expecting too much.” That sounds humble to say, but it means that your reliance on God is gone, and you are now relying on worldly opinion. The danger comes when, no longer relying on God, you neglect to focus your eyes on Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize that you have been the loser. Whenever there is a spiritual drain in your life, correct it immediately. Realize that something has been coming between you and God, and change or remove it at once.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Message at Macy's Parade - #6489
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Well, I watched it as a kid, and then my kids watched it, and now my grandkids are watching it. Yep! The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has been around for a pretty long time! And those Rockettes, Well, the announcer said they've been around for over 50 years! That's just amazing they can still get their legs off the ground at that age isn't it?
Well, as the balloons floated by on Thanksgiving, I kept seeing this one word on the store behind them, "Believe." I guess that's inspiring--vaguely. Actually, "Believe." That's a pretty popular message these days. Think positive thoughts. Have faith...in something.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Message at Macy's Parade."
Now, our "open-minded" culture thinks it's a good idea to believe, but it doesn't seem to matter much what you believe in. Believe in yourself. Believe in the future. Believe in a better world.
Actually, it really does matter what you believe. You can tell that from our word for today from the Word of God. Proverbs 14:12 throws up a serious "danger" sign when it says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." I read a few years ago about some young men fighting a wildfire out west, and the wind suddenly stoked that fire and it turned on the firefighters. Well, those rookies headed in the direction that they firmly believed was the road out, but it was a dead-end road. They never made it out. They believed in the wrong thing.
When it comes to the final outcome for our eternal soul, believing--well, now we're talking a life-or-death imperative. Acts 16:31 says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." God emphatically says, "There is no other Name under heaven...by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Now, that's "saved" as in rescued from the forever death penalty of a lifetime of defying God. That's what sin is. It's doing what we want instead of what He wants. And we've lost count; we could never add up the number of times in our life that we've done what we've wanted instead of what He wanted.
And that lifetime of rebellion against God carries an eternal death penalty, and that death penalty can only be paid by someone dying...and someone did so you wouldn't have to. But only one Someone did, and that's Jesus.
Oh, there are all kinds of religions and moral philosophies and spiritualities. Actually, if a religion could have done it, if any spirituality could have done it, God would have never put His Son through the horror of that cross. No religion, including the Christian religion, can die for our sins; can get us to heaven. That's why "there's no other Name" but Jesus. It's not about there being only one religion. It's about there only being one Savior. There's only one rescuer. There's only one person who even claimed to die for our sins. There's only one person who backed up that claim by walking out of His grave under His own power, because only someone who has eternal life can give it. Jesus alone paid the price so you and I wouldn't have to.
So, we've got something...we've got Someone to believe in who can make this life have meaning and the life after this life...eternal. You know, if you have never begun your relationship with this Jesus, if you have never taken all of your trust and put it in Him like a drowning person would put all their trust in a rescuer, let this be the day you do that. Maybe God has sent this message to you to move you beyond just believing in something, or even trusting in your religion, to trusting His Son, the Savior who died for you. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours. Starting this day, I am Yours."
And go to our website. There's so much information there and encouragement that will help you get started with Jesus. It's YoursForLife.net. If you could begin a life with meaning and guarantee heaven forever with a commitment to Christ today, wow, now that's reason for a thanksgiving parade.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
John 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: A Guide in the Storm
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Prov. 14:12
NKJV
Don’t make a decision in a storm that you wouldn’t make in calm weather.
I have a friend who recently learned to fly. His teacher wanted to train him to trust the instrument panel because storms and fog can distort the pilot’s judgment. She may think she’s flying safely when actually the plane is descending toward the earth. It can have devastating consequences.
The same happens to us. Circumstances and struggles bounce us around. Our perspective gets distorted and our equilibrium gets out of whack. Do we cheat? Or stay honest? Do we compromise? Or take a stand?
Can we trust our instincts in the storm? The Bible says we can’t. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12 NKJV).
We need an outside force. A guide that is unaffected by storms.
John 2
Jesus Changes Water Into Wine
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Woman,[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[b]
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
Jesus Clears the Temple Courts
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”[c]
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.[d] 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 5:1-11
Peace and Hope
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
The World Of More
November 23, 2011 — by Anne Cetas
Eye has not seen . . . the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. —1 Corinthians 2:9
My cable company sent a postcard inviting me to check out its latest improvements in TV channels. The card indicated that I needed to contact the company to get the necessary new digital equipment and explained how to hook it up and activate it. After that, the ad said I was just to “sit back and enjoy the World of More.”
The card made me think of the “World of More” that Christians are privileged to live in. When God transports people from the darkness of sin “into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9), a whole new life opens up.
Romans 5 tells us some of the more that we have in Christ: We have been “reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (v.10) and therefore have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v.1). We have access to God and His grace (v.2). Rejoicing in trouble is now possible because we understand that it’s an opportunity to grow in our character through trusting Him (vv.3-4). Additionally, the Holy Spirit, who has been given to live in us, pours the love of God into our hearts (v.5). And sin no longer has the same hold on us (6:18).
As Christians, we have unlimited access to a real “World of More.” Wouldn’t it be selfish not to invite others to join us in that special world?
The world seeks fulfillment in
The pleasures they adore;
But those who follow Jesus Christ
Are given so much more. —Sper
Belonging to God brings boundless blessings.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The Distraction of Contempt
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt —Psalm 123:3
What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. “Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:16). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.
Beware of “the cares of this world . . .” (Mark 4:19). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by “the cares of this world.”
Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.” Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, “I must explain myself,” or, “I must get people to understand.” Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.
When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
You Got Mail...For Thanksgiving - #6488
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
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 rare means something is valuable: antiques, baseball cards, all kinds of collectibles. The less there is of something, the more valuable it is.
Like "thank you" for example. When Jesus healed ten lepers of their deadly, defacing disease, only one came back to say thanks. That seems to be how it always is with thank you's. Maybe one thanks for every ten things you should be grateful for to God; 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 a 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. Many years ago we had our family memorize it, and 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." Now, 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 this is 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. In any case, it's just hard to be hard when someone is 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, to others' lives. And something good happens in their life when they get your gratitude in a letter. You are indeed building them up.
Now, I've 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:
First of all, "I love you..." Just expressing your affection; your love for them. Now, you've got to fill in the blanks. I can start it for you. "I love you..." You take it from there. Second part of the letter is, "Thank you for..." You've got to do the rest. Think about specific qualities that you appreciate about them, or experiences or actions, maybe just small things. Maybe they were recent; maybe they were years ago, but something and some things you are thankful for. The third part of the letter goes, "I'm sorry for..." What are some things you wished you'd done differently? "I'm sorry for..."
And then, "I wish we could..." (how you'd like your relationship to be in the future). However it's been recently, however it has been in the past, how would you like your relationship 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 to reach out with this gift that... well, 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?
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Prov. 14:12
NKJV
Don’t make a decision in a storm that you wouldn’t make in calm weather.
I have a friend who recently learned to fly. His teacher wanted to train him to trust the instrument panel because storms and fog can distort the pilot’s judgment. She may think she’s flying safely when actually the plane is descending toward the earth. It can have devastating consequences.
The same happens to us. Circumstances and struggles bounce us around. Our perspective gets distorted and our equilibrium gets out of whack. Do we cheat? Or stay honest? Do we compromise? Or take a stand?
Can we trust our instincts in the storm? The Bible says we can’t. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12 NKJV).
We need an outside force. A guide that is unaffected by storms.
John 2
Jesus Changes Water Into Wine
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Woman,[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[b]
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
Jesus Clears the Temple Courts
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”[c]
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.[d] 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 5:1-11
Peace and Hope
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
The World Of More
November 23, 2011 — by Anne Cetas
Eye has not seen . . . the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. —1 Corinthians 2:9
My cable company sent a postcard inviting me to check out its latest improvements in TV channels. The card indicated that I needed to contact the company to get the necessary new digital equipment and explained how to hook it up and activate it. After that, the ad said I was just to “sit back and enjoy the World of More.”
The card made me think of the “World of More” that Christians are privileged to live in. When God transports people from the darkness of sin “into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9), a whole new life opens up.
Romans 5 tells us some of the more that we have in Christ: We have been “reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (v.10) and therefore have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v.1). We have access to God and His grace (v.2). Rejoicing in trouble is now possible because we understand that it’s an opportunity to grow in our character through trusting Him (vv.3-4). Additionally, the Holy Spirit, who has been given to live in us, pours the love of God into our hearts (v.5). And sin no longer has the same hold on us (6:18).
As Christians, we have unlimited access to a real “World of More.” Wouldn’t it be selfish not to invite others to join us in that special world?
The world seeks fulfillment in
The pleasures they adore;
But those who follow Jesus Christ
Are given so much more. —Sper
Belonging to God brings boundless blessings.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The Distraction of Contempt
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt —Psalm 123:3
What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. “Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:16). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.
Beware of “the cares of this world . . .” (Mark 4:19). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by “the cares of this world.”
Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.” Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, “I must explain myself,” or, “I must get people to understand.” Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.
When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
You Got Mail...For Thanksgiving - #6488
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
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 rare means something is valuable: antiques, baseball cards, all kinds of collectibles. The less there is of something, the more valuable it is.
Like "thank you" for example. When Jesus healed ten lepers of their deadly, defacing disease, only one came back to say thanks. That seems to be how it always is with thank you's. Maybe one thanks for every ten things you should be grateful for to God; 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 a 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. Many years ago we had our family memorize it, and 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." Now, 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 this is 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. In any case, it's just hard to be hard when someone is 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, to others' lives. And something good happens in their life when they get your gratitude in a letter. You are indeed building them up.
Now, I've 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:
First of all, "I love you..." Just expressing your affection; your love for them. Now, you've got to fill in the blanks. I can start it for you. "I love you..." You take it from there. Second part of the letter is, "Thank you for..." You've got to do the rest. Think about specific qualities that you appreciate about them, or experiences or actions, maybe just small things. Maybe they were recent; maybe they were years ago, but something and some things you are thankful for. The third part of the letter goes, "I'm sorry for..." What are some things you wished you'd done differently? "I'm sorry for..."
And then, "I wish we could..." (how you'd like your relationship to be in the future). However it's been recently, however it has been in the past, how would you like your relationship 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 to reach out with this gift that... well, 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?
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Psalm 60, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: Hang In There
Is anything too hard for the Lord? No!
Genesis 18:14
Hang in there. Don’t give up! Is anything too hard for the Lord? No!
Just when you least suspect it—the God of surprises strikes again. God does that for the faithful. Just when the womb gets too old for babies, Sarah gets pregnant. Just when the failure is too great for grace, David is pardoned.
The lesson? Three words. Don’t give up!
Is the road long? Don’t stop.
Is the night black? Don’t quit.
God is watching. For all you know right at this moment … the check may be in the mail. The apology may be in the making. The job contract may be on the desk.
Don’t quit. You may miss the answer to your prayers.
God is faithful—He’s always on time.
Psalm 60
Psalm 60[a]
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A miktam[b] of David. For teaching. When he fought Aram Naharaim[c] and Aram Zobah,[d] and when Joab returned and struck down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
1 You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us;
you have been angry—now restore us!
2 You have shaken the land and torn it open;
mend its fractures, for it is quaking.
3 You have shown your people desperate times;
you have given us wine that makes us stagger.
4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
to be unfurled against the bow.[e]
5 Save us and help us with your right hand,
that those you love may be delivered.
6 God has spoken from his sanctuary:
“In triumph I will parcel out Shechem
and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin,
on Edom I toss my sandal;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Is it not you, God, you who have now rejected us
and no longer go out with our armies?
11 Give us aid against the enemy,
for human help is worthless.
12 With God we will gain the victory,
and he will trample down our enemies.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 107:31-43
31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the council of the elders.
33 He turned rivers into a desert,
flowing springs into thirsty ground,
34 and fruitful land into a salt waste,
because of the wickedness of those who lived there.
35 He turned the desert into pools of water
and the parched ground into flowing springs;
36 there he brought the hungry to live,
and they founded a city where they could settle.
37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards
that yielded a fruitful harvest;
38 he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased,
and he did not let their herds diminish.
39 Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled
by oppression, calamity and sorrow;
40 he who pours contempt on nobles
made them wander in a trackless waste.
41 But he lifted the needy out of their affliction
and increased their families like flocks.
42 The upright see and rejoice,
but all the wicked shut their mouths.
43 Let the one who is wise heed these things
and ponder the loving deeds of the LORD.
Unexpressed Gratitude
November 22, 2011 — by Cindy Hess Kasper
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! . . . Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. —Psalm 107:1-2
The whole reason for saying thanks is to let the giver of a gift know how much you appreciate something. Author G. B. Stern once said, “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.”
When our son was young, he sometimes needed to be reminded that avoiding eye contact, looking down at his feet, and mumbling some unintelligible words was not an acceptable “thank you.” And after many years of marriage, my husband and I are still learning that it’s important for us to continually express our gratitude to each other. When one of us feels appreciative, we try to verbalize it—even if we’ve said it many times before about the same thing. William Arthur Ward said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
Showing our gratitude is obviously important in human relationships, but it’s even more essential in our relationship with God. As we think about the many blessings we have received, do we express our thanks to Him throughout the day? And when we think of the amazing gift of His death and resurrection for forgiveness of our sins, do our hearts bubble over with awe and thanksgiving? (Rom. 6:23; 2 Cor. 9:15).
Take the reminder in Psalm 107:1 to heart each day: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!”
How great should be our gratitude
To God our unseen Friend!
The volume of His gifts to us
We cannot comprehend. —Hess
God’s highest Gift should awaken our deepest gratitude.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Shallow and Profound
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God —1 Corinthians 10:31
Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow aspects of life are not ordained by God; they are ordained by Him equally as much as the profound. We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of spiritual pride. We must be careful, for this is how contempt for others is produced in our lives. And it causes us to be a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than we are. Beware of posing as a profound person— God became a baby.
To be shallow is not a sign of being sinful, nor is shallowness an indication that there is no depth to your life at all— the ocean has a shore. Even the shallow things of life, such as eating and drinking, walking and talking, are ordained by God. These are all things our Lord did. He did them as the Son of God, and He said, “A disciple is not above his teacher . . .” (Matthew 10:24).
We are safeguarded by the shallow things of life. We have to live the surface, commonsense life in a commonsense way. Then when God gives us the deeper things, they are obviously separated from the shallow concerns. Never show the depth of your life to anyone but God. We are so nauseatingly serious, so desperately interested in our own character and reputation, we refuse to behave like Christians in the shallow concerns of life.
Make a determination to take no one seriously except God. You may find that the first person you must be the most critical with, as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Big Wings - #6487
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
I just can't get this little four-year-old girl out of my mind. Even as I was preparing this, her story just hits my heart again.
She and her family only had moments to prepare before the F5 tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri not long ago. Now, Mom and Dad battled fierce winds; they were desperately trying to shepherd everyone into the safest corner of the house, but not quite everyone. Somehow this little four-year-old daughter of theirs got separated from them, and these winds were so strong that it was impossible to look for her any more. So, they huddled together as the tornado made a direct hit on their house. When they looked up, it had leveled everything almost instantly.
Now, I'm picturing my precious five-year-old granddaughter as I try to imagine these parents' panic as they're searching frantically--some reports said for up to two hours. And they searched the rubble that once had been their home. And then they found her. Hunkered down in one surviving corner of their house, but far from where the rest of the family had sought shelter. Miraculously this little girl was unharmed. The entire house was gone except for the family's safe spot and their daughter's one little corner.
They asked her, "Honey, how did you get here?" She said, "The man with big wings put me here."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Big Wings."
The man with big wings! She got to see what actually happens all the time, but usually beyond what we can see. Our word for today from the Word of God, Psalm 91:11-12 tell us that "...He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands..." Oh, and according to the book of Isaiah, they have big wings (Isaiah 6:2).
Every once in a while God will pull back the curtain between the world we can see and the spiritual world we can't see, so that we can be reminded that the children of the Most High God are constantly under the protection of His "Homeland Security." The angelic security forces from what is the Homeland of those who belong to Jesus.
Now, some folks have made a really big deal out of angels. But they're not the big deal. They are just, according to Hebrews, "ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14). It's the God who assigns them that's the big deal. Psalm 121 says, "My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth...He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."
So I can live without fear. My safety and security? Well, it doesn't depend on my situation or my surroundings. It depends on the powerful protection of a God who's promised it will be there. The important thing is that each day I seek to follow His leading and be in His plan. Then I am as safe on a battlefield as I am in my living room, or in the path of a tornado, not because of where I am, but because of Whose I am. Yes, I should, as that family in Joplin did, take wise precautions. But ultimately, it must be God who keeps me safe.
Many of us decide whether we'll do what God wants based on what's safe or comfortable or secure. But the safest place on earth is to be in the center of the perfect will of God. There are no risky obediences to God, only risky disobediences.
Yeah, there will come a time when God will lift His protection and allow some instrument of His to bring me home to Him. But that will not happen until "all the days ordained for me" according to the Psalmist, are gone (Psalm 139:16); until my work is done. As the Apostle Paul said, "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:18).
Who knows how many times I have been rescued from danger I never even knew by "the man with big wings." The few I do know are just the tip of the iceberg of the countless times God has kept His rescue promise. The little song our kids sang before they went to sleep each night says it all: "Safe am I, safe am I, in the hollow of His hands."
Is anything too hard for the Lord? No!
Genesis 18:14
Hang in there. Don’t give up! Is anything too hard for the Lord? No!
Just when you least suspect it—the God of surprises strikes again. God does that for the faithful. Just when the womb gets too old for babies, Sarah gets pregnant. Just when the failure is too great for grace, David is pardoned.
The lesson? Three words. Don’t give up!
Is the road long? Don’t stop.
Is the night black? Don’t quit.
God is watching. For all you know right at this moment … the check may be in the mail. The apology may be in the making. The job contract may be on the desk.
Don’t quit. You may miss the answer to your prayers.
God is faithful—He’s always on time.
Psalm 60
Psalm 60[a]
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A miktam[b] of David. For teaching. When he fought Aram Naharaim[c] and Aram Zobah,[d] and when Joab returned and struck down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
1 You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us;
you have been angry—now restore us!
2 You have shaken the land and torn it open;
mend its fractures, for it is quaking.
3 You have shown your people desperate times;
you have given us wine that makes us stagger.
4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
to be unfurled against the bow.[e]
5 Save us and help us with your right hand,
that those you love may be delivered.
6 God has spoken from his sanctuary:
“In triumph I will parcel out Shechem
and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin,
on Edom I toss my sandal;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Is it not you, God, you who have now rejected us
and no longer go out with our armies?
11 Give us aid against the enemy,
for human help is worthless.
12 With God we will gain the victory,
and he will trample down our enemies.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 107:31-43
31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the council of the elders.
33 He turned rivers into a desert,
flowing springs into thirsty ground,
34 and fruitful land into a salt waste,
because of the wickedness of those who lived there.
35 He turned the desert into pools of water
and the parched ground into flowing springs;
36 there he brought the hungry to live,
and they founded a city where they could settle.
37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards
that yielded a fruitful harvest;
38 he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased,
and he did not let their herds diminish.
39 Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled
by oppression, calamity and sorrow;
40 he who pours contempt on nobles
made them wander in a trackless waste.
41 But he lifted the needy out of their affliction
and increased their families like flocks.
42 The upright see and rejoice,
but all the wicked shut their mouths.
43 Let the one who is wise heed these things
and ponder the loving deeds of the LORD.
Unexpressed Gratitude
November 22, 2011 — by Cindy Hess Kasper
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! . . . Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. —Psalm 107:1-2
The whole reason for saying thanks is to let the giver of a gift know how much you appreciate something. Author G. B. Stern once said, “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.”
When our son was young, he sometimes needed to be reminded that avoiding eye contact, looking down at his feet, and mumbling some unintelligible words was not an acceptable “thank you.” And after many years of marriage, my husband and I are still learning that it’s important for us to continually express our gratitude to each other. When one of us feels appreciative, we try to verbalize it—even if we’ve said it many times before about the same thing. William Arthur Ward said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
Showing our gratitude is obviously important in human relationships, but it’s even more essential in our relationship with God. As we think about the many blessings we have received, do we express our thanks to Him throughout the day? And when we think of the amazing gift of His death and resurrection for forgiveness of our sins, do our hearts bubble over with awe and thanksgiving? (Rom. 6:23; 2 Cor. 9:15).
Take the reminder in Psalm 107:1 to heart each day: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!”
How great should be our gratitude
To God our unseen Friend!
The volume of His gifts to us
We cannot comprehend. —Hess
God’s highest Gift should awaken our deepest gratitude.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Shallow and Profound
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God —1 Corinthians 10:31
Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow aspects of life are not ordained by God; they are ordained by Him equally as much as the profound. We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of spiritual pride. We must be careful, for this is how contempt for others is produced in our lives. And it causes us to be a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than we are. Beware of posing as a profound person— God became a baby.
To be shallow is not a sign of being sinful, nor is shallowness an indication that there is no depth to your life at all— the ocean has a shore. Even the shallow things of life, such as eating and drinking, walking and talking, are ordained by God. These are all things our Lord did. He did them as the Son of God, and He said, “A disciple is not above his teacher . . .” (Matthew 10:24).
We are safeguarded by the shallow things of life. We have to live the surface, commonsense life in a commonsense way. Then when God gives us the deeper things, they are obviously separated from the shallow concerns. Never show the depth of your life to anyone but God. We are so nauseatingly serious, so desperately interested in our own character and reputation, we refuse to behave like Christians in the shallow concerns of life.
Make a determination to take no one seriously except God. You may find that the first person you must be the most critical with, as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Big Wings - #6487
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
I just can't get this little four-year-old girl out of my mind. Even as I was preparing this, her story just hits my heart again.
She and her family only had moments to prepare before the F5 tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri not long ago. Now, Mom and Dad battled fierce winds; they were desperately trying to shepherd everyone into the safest corner of the house, but not quite everyone. Somehow this little four-year-old daughter of theirs got separated from them, and these winds were so strong that it was impossible to look for her any more. So, they huddled together as the tornado made a direct hit on their house. When they looked up, it had leveled everything almost instantly.
Now, I'm picturing my precious five-year-old granddaughter as I try to imagine these parents' panic as they're searching frantically--some reports said for up to two hours. And they searched the rubble that once had been their home. And then they found her. Hunkered down in one surviving corner of their house, but far from where the rest of the family had sought shelter. Miraculously this little girl was unharmed. The entire house was gone except for the family's safe spot and their daughter's one little corner.
They asked her, "Honey, how did you get here?" She said, "The man with big wings put me here."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Big Wings."
The man with big wings! She got to see what actually happens all the time, but usually beyond what we can see. Our word for today from the Word of God, Psalm 91:11-12 tell us that "...He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands..." Oh, and according to the book of Isaiah, they have big wings (Isaiah 6:2).
Every once in a while God will pull back the curtain between the world we can see and the spiritual world we can't see, so that we can be reminded that the children of the Most High God are constantly under the protection of His "Homeland Security." The angelic security forces from what is the Homeland of those who belong to Jesus.
Now, some folks have made a really big deal out of angels. But they're not the big deal. They are just, according to Hebrews, "ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14). It's the God who assigns them that's the big deal. Psalm 121 says, "My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth...He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."
So I can live without fear. My safety and security? Well, it doesn't depend on my situation or my surroundings. It depends on the powerful protection of a God who's promised it will be there. The important thing is that each day I seek to follow His leading and be in His plan. Then I am as safe on a battlefield as I am in my living room, or in the path of a tornado, not because of where I am, but because of Whose I am. Yes, I should, as that family in Joplin did, take wise precautions. But ultimately, it must be God who keeps me safe.
Many of us decide whether we'll do what God wants based on what's safe or comfortable or secure. But the safest place on earth is to be in the center of the perfect will of God. There are no risky obediences to God, only risky disobediences.
Yeah, there will come a time when God will lift His protection and allow some instrument of His to bring me home to Him. But that will not happen until "all the days ordained for me" according to the Psalmist, are gone (Psalm 139:16); until my work is done. As the Apostle Paul said, "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:18).
Who knows how many times I have been rescued from danger I never even knew by "the man with big wings." The few I do know are just the tip of the iceberg of the countless times God has kept His rescue promise. The little song our kids sang before they went to sleep each night says it all: "Safe am I, safe am I, in the hollow of His hands."
Monday, November 21, 2011
2 Samuel 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: Hidden in His Love
He … loads me with love and mercy Psalm 103:4
It’s time to let God’s love cover all things in your life. All the secrets. The hurts.
The mornings you awoke in the bed of a stranger? His love will cover that. The years you peddled prejudice and pride? His love will cover that. Every promise broken, drug taken, penny stolen. Every cross word, cuss word, and harsh word. His love covers all things.
Let it. Discover along with the psalmist: “He … loads me with love and mercy” (Ps. 103:4). Picture a giant dump truck full of love. There you are behind it. God lifts the bed until the love starts to slide. Slowly at first, then down, down, down until you are hidden, buried, covered in His love.
“Hey, where are you?” someone asks.
“In here, covered in love.”
2 Samuel 9
David and Mephibosheth
1 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
2 Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”
“At your service,” he replied.
3 The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”
4 “Where is he?” the king asked.
Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”
5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.
6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
“At your service,” he replied.
7 “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”
9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
11 Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s[i] table like one of the king’s sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Exodus 31:1-5
Bezalel and Oholiab
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.
The Craftsman’s Touch
November 21, 2011 — by Dennis Fisher
We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. —Ephesians 2:10
I recently saw a documentary about the making of a Steinway piano. It traced the meticulous care that goes into crafting this fine instrument. From the cutting of trees until the piano appears on a showroom floor, it goes through countless delicate adjustments by skilled craftsmen. When the year-long process is complete, accomplished musicians play the piano and often comment on how the same rich sounds could never be produced by a computerized assembly line. The secret to the final product is the craftsman’s touch.
When the tabernacle was built, we see that God also valued the craftsman’s touch. He chose the craftsman Bezalel and said of him: “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood” (Ex. 31:3-5).
Today God dwells in the hearts of believers. Yet the call to craftsmanship has not ended. Now each individual believer is God’s “workmanship” (Eph. 2:10). The Master Craftsman is the Holy Spirit, who chips away at flaws in our character to make each of us like Jesus (Rom. 8:28-29). And as we yield to His workmanship, we will find that the secret to the final product is the Craftsman’s touch.
The Spirit is the Craftsman
Who makes us like the Son;
He’ll mold and shape our being
Until His work is done. —Sper
The Father gave us the Spirit to make us like His Son.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 21, 2011
"It is Finished!"
I have finished the work which You have given Me to do —John 17:4
The death of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment in history of the very mind and intent of God. There is no place for seeing Jesus Christ as a martyr. His death was not something that happened to Him— something that might have been prevented. His death was the very reason He came.
Never build your case for forgiveness on the idea that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. That contradicts the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ. It makes the Cross unnecessary, and the redemption “much ado about nothing.” God forgives sin only because of the death of Christ. God could forgive people in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted as Savior because of His death. “We see Jesus . . . for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor . . .” (Hebrews 2:9). The greatest note of triumph ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ— “It is finished!” (John 19:30). That is the final word in the redemption of humankind.
Anything that lessens or completely obliterates the holiness of God, through a false view of His love, contradicts the truth of God as revealed by Jesus Christ. Never allow yourself to believe that Jesus Christ stands with us, and against God, out of pity and compassion, or that He became a curse for us out of sympathy for us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by divine decree. Our part in realizing the tremendous meaning of His curse is the conviction of sin. Conviction is given to us as a gift of shame and repentance; it is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the sin in people, and Calvary is the measure of His hatred.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Fighting the Right Enemy - #6486
Monday, November 21, 2011
We've always been big Winnie the Pooh fans at our house. Our kids always enjoyed having that read to them, and now they read it to their own kids. Now, there is one scene from Winnie the Pooh that I really remember.
You know, I'm really big into classical literature like this, and I remember when Winnie the Pooh was trying to pursue an animal he called the "Heffalump." He saw his tracks in the snow, and so he started to pursue the "Heffalump." He went around this tree, and then around this bush, and came back around again, and he said, "Oh, look at these tracks. I think this is where he is." And he went, well, several times he made a circle around that tree and that bush, continually hoping he would find the "Heffalump," and taking quite a while to realize that he was actually following himself and there was no "Heffalump" to follow.
I remember a classic from the comic strip Pogo some years ago where one of the characters says, "We have found the enemy and they is us!" You know, I actually believe the single greatest tool that the devil tries to use against God's work is often following that very same line of thinking, "We have found the enemy, and they is us." Wouldn't it be something to realize that we are actually helping the enemy use his greatest weapon against God's work?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and today I want to have A Word With You about "Fighting the Right Enemy."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Genesis 13:7-8. We're taking an incident out of the life of Abram; his name before it was changed to Abraham, and his experience with his nephew, Lot. Both Abram and Lot have developed fairly large flocks and holdings, and they had a lot of herdsmen working for them. And there was this dispute about who would have what land. Of course, grazing land was a very important issue in that kind of a culture.
Here's what it says, "Quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. Now the Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So, Abraham said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company, and if you go to the left, I'll go to the right. If you go to the right, I'll go to the left."
Now, here's what it seems Abram realized here, that when you're surrounded by Canaanites, you don't waste any time shooting at each other; you have no ammunition to spare. He looked around and he said, "Look, we've got people who don't like us being here. They think we're aliens. We have people who don't believe in our God. Lot, let's you and me keep our act together, because we can't afford to waste any ammunition on each other."
Now, the devil has always operated with his favorite strategy--divide and conquer. He would never divide his kingdom, but he tries to divide the Lord's kingdom and weaken it. It's interesting that when they were in famine in Egypt that Abram and Lot never had any quarreling. See, when you're in hard times you usually don't. It's like banding together like the Christians in China. They actually got rid of all the denominations. They got rid of all the labels. You know, just knowing Christ brings you together. It seems like sometimes it's only in comfortable times, in easy places like America that we can afford the luxury, unfortunately, of quarreling with each other.
I wonder, is there a brother that maybe you've been shooting at, maybe somebody at church, or another Christian, maybe somebody in your own family? But they're a brother or sister in Christ, and you've been wasting ammunition on them. Somebody said, "Christians are the only army on earth that form their firing squads in a circle." Maybe the devil has succeeded in getting you to start to criticize and waste ammunition on another church, or another denomination, or another Christian movement, or an organization, or on a brother or sister in Christ.
Listen, save your ammunition for the enemy and fight side-by-side with your brother.
He … loads me with love and mercy Psalm 103:4
It’s time to let God’s love cover all things in your life. All the secrets. The hurts.
The mornings you awoke in the bed of a stranger? His love will cover that. The years you peddled prejudice and pride? His love will cover that. Every promise broken, drug taken, penny stolen. Every cross word, cuss word, and harsh word. His love covers all things.
Let it. Discover along with the psalmist: “He … loads me with love and mercy” (Ps. 103:4). Picture a giant dump truck full of love. There you are behind it. God lifts the bed until the love starts to slide. Slowly at first, then down, down, down until you are hidden, buried, covered in His love.
“Hey, where are you?” someone asks.
“In here, covered in love.”
2 Samuel 9
David and Mephibosheth
1 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
2 Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”
“At your service,” he replied.
3 The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”
4 “Where is he?” the king asked.
Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”
5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.
6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
“At your service,” he replied.
7 “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”
9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
11 Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s[i] table like one of the king’s sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Exodus 31:1-5
Bezalel and Oholiab
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.
The Craftsman’s Touch
November 21, 2011 — by Dennis Fisher
We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. —Ephesians 2:10
I recently saw a documentary about the making of a Steinway piano. It traced the meticulous care that goes into crafting this fine instrument. From the cutting of trees until the piano appears on a showroom floor, it goes through countless delicate adjustments by skilled craftsmen. When the year-long process is complete, accomplished musicians play the piano and often comment on how the same rich sounds could never be produced by a computerized assembly line. The secret to the final product is the craftsman’s touch.
When the tabernacle was built, we see that God also valued the craftsman’s touch. He chose the craftsman Bezalel and said of him: “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood” (Ex. 31:3-5).
Today God dwells in the hearts of believers. Yet the call to craftsmanship has not ended. Now each individual believer is God’s “workmanship” (Eph. 2:10). The Master Craftsman is the Holy Spirit, who chips away at flaws in our character to make each of us like Jesus (Rom. 8:28-29). And as we yield to His workmanship, we will find that the secret to the final product is the Craftsman’s touch.
The Spirit is the Craftsman
Who makes us like the Son;
He’ll mold and shape our being
Until His work is done. —Sper
The Father gave us the Spirit to make us like His Son.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 21, 2011
"It is Finished!"
I have finished the work which You have given Me to do —John 17:4
The death of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment in history of the very mind and intent of God. There is no place for seeing Jesus Christ as a martyr. His death was not something that happened to Him— something that might have been prevented. His death was the very reason He came.
Never build your case for forgiveness on the idea that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. That contradicts the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ. It makes the Cross unnecessary, and the redemption “much ado about nothing.” God forgives sin only because of the death of Christ. God could forgive people in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted as Savior because of His death. “We see Jesus . . . for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor . . .” (Hebrews 2:9). The greatest note of triumph ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ— “It is finished!” (John 19:30). That is the final word in the redemption of humankind.
Anything that lessens or completely obliterates the holiness of God, through a false view of His love, contradicts the truth of God as revealed by Jesus Christ. Never allow yourself to believe that Jesus Christ stands with us, and against God, out of pity and compassion, or that He became a curse for us out of sympathy for us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by divine decree. Our part in realizing the tremendous meaning of His curse is the conviction of sin. Conviction is given to us as a gift of shame and repentance; it is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the sin in people, and Calvary is the measure of His hatred.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Fighting the Right Enemy - #6486
Monday, November 21, 2011
We've always been big Winnie the Pooh fans at our house. Our kids always enjoyed having that read to them, and now they read it to their own kids. Now, there is one scene from Winnie the Pooh that I really remember.
You know, I'm really big into classical literature like this, and I remember when Winnie the Pooh was trying to pursue an animal he called the "Heffalump." He saw his tracks in the snow, and so he started to pursue the "Heffalump." He went around this tree, and then around this bush, and came back around again, and he said, "Oh, look at these tracks. I think this is where he is." And he went, well, several times he made a circle around that tree and that bush, continually hoping he would find the "Heffalump," and taking quite a while to realize that he was actually following himself and there was no "Heffalump" to follow.
I remember a classic from the comic strip Pogo some years ago where one of the characters says, "We have found the enemy and they is us!" You know, I actually believe the single greatest tool that the devil tries to use against God's work is often following that very same line of thinking, "We have found the enemy, and they is us." Wouldn't it be something to realize that we are actually helping the enemy use his greatest weapon against God's work?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and today I want to have A Word With You about "Fighting the Right Enemy."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Genesis 13:7-8. We're taking an incident out of the life of Abram; his name before it was changed to Abraham, and his experience with his nephew, Lot. Both Abram and Lot have developed fairly large flocks and holdings, and they had a lot of herdsmen working for them. And there was this dispute about who would have what land. Of course, grazing land was a very important issue in that kind of a culture.
Here's what it says, "Quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. Now the Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So, Abraham said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company, and if you go to the left, I'll go to the right. If you go to the right, I'll go to the left."
Now, here's what it seems Abram realized here, that when you're surrounded by Canaanites, you don't waste any time shooting at each other; you have no ammunition to spare. He looked around and he said, "Look, we've got people who don't like us being here. They think we're aliens. We have people who don't believe in our God. Lot, let's you and me keep our act together, because we can't afford to waste any ammunition on each other."
Now, the devil has always operated with his favorite strategy--divide and conquer. He would never divide his kingdom, but he tries to divide the Lord's kingdom and weaken it. It's interesting that when they were in famine in Egypt that Abram and Lot never had any quarreling. See, when you're in hard times you usually don't. It's like banding together like the Christians in China. They actually got rid of all the denominations. They got rid of all the labels. You know, just knowing Christ brings you together. It seems like sometimes it's only in comfortable times, in easy places like America that we can afford the luxury, unfortunately, of quarreling with each other.
I wonder, is there a brother that maybe you've been shooting at, maybe somebody at church, or another Christian, maybe somebody in your own family? But they're a brother or sister in Christ, and you've been wasting ammunition on them. Somebody said, "Christians are the only army on earth that form their firing squads in a circle." Maybe the devil has succeeded in getting you to start to criticize and waste ammunition on another church, or another denomination, or another Christian movement, or an organization, or on a brother or sister in Christ.
Listen, save your ammunition for the enemy and fight side-by-side with your brother.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
2 Samuel 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen to God’s teaching)
Max Lucado Daily: God Knows the Answers
If any of you needs wisdom,
you should ask God for it.
James 1:5
Thomas came with doubts. Did Christ turn him away?
Moses had his reservations. Did God tell him to go home?
Job had his struggles. Did God avoid him?
Paul had his hard times. Did God abandon him?
No. God never turns away the sincere heart. Tough questions don’t stump God. He invites our probing.
Mark it down. God never turns away the honest seeker. Go to God with your questions. You may not find all the answers, but in finding God, you know the One who does.
2 Samuel 8
David’s Victories
1 In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the control of the Philistines.
2 David also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them off with a length of cord. Every two lengths of them were put to death, and the third length was allowed to live. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute.
3 Moreover, David defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his monument at[a] the Euphrates River. 4 David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers[b] and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses.
5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them. 6 He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought tribute. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
7 David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 From Tebah[c] and Berothai, towns that belonged to Hadadezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze.
9 When Tou[d] king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, 10 he sent his son Joram[e] to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory in battle over Hadadezer, who had been at war with Tou. Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold and of bronze.
11 King David dedicated these articles to the LORD, as he had done with the silver and gold from all the nations he had subdued: 12 Edom[f] and Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistines, and Amalek. He also dedicated the plunder taken from Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
13 And David became famous after he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites[g] in the Valley of Salt.
14 He put garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
David’s Officials
15 David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people. 16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelek son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was secretary; 18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests.[h]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 5:9,38-48
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Eye for Eye
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[a] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[b] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
A Family Trait
November 20, 2011 — by Joe Stowell
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. —Matthew 5:9
There’s an old Sunday school song that periodically comes back to my mind. Its words testify to the blessing of the peace that Jesus so generously gives: “I have the peace that passes understanding down in my heart—down in my heart to stay!”
There is something missing in that well-intentioned song, however. The peace of God is truly a gift we enjoy in our hearts as we fellowship in His presence (John 14:27; 16:33). But He never intended for us to keep all of that peace to ourselves. Peace is a gift to be shared with those around us. As Christians, it should mark our relationships and characterize the environment of our churches.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matt. 5:9), which indicates that we are to be intentional about bringing peace to our relationships. Since we are prone to be troublemakers instead of peacemakers, this is important advice. So, what does peacemaking look like? Peacemakers are those who turn the other cheek (v.39), go the extra mile (v.41), and love their enemies while praying for those who persecute them (v.44).
Why should we do this? Because God is a peacemaker, and when we make peace we are “called sons of God” (v.9). Peacemaking is a family trait.
Lord, thank You for the peace we have down in our
hearts. And that we can be peacemakers with others
through our attitude, words, and deeds.
Help me to show Your mercy and peace. Amen.
Because of the peace of God and peace with God,
we can be peacemakers for God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, November 20, 2011
The Forgiveness of God
In Him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins . . . —Ephesians 1:7
Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.
Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.
Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.
If any of you needs wisdom,
you should ask God for it.
James 1:5
Thomas came with doubts. Did Christ turn him away?
Moses had his reservations. Did God tell him to go home?
Job had his struggles. Did God avoid him?
Paul had his hard times. Did God abandon him?
No. God never turns away the sincere heart. Tough questions don’t stump God. He invites our probing.
Mark it down. God never turns away the honest seeker. Go to God with your questions. You may not find all the answers, but in finding God, you know the One who does.
2 Samuel 8
David’s Victories
1 In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the control of the Philistines.
2 David also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them off with a length of cord. Every two lengths of them were put to death, and the third length was allowed to live. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute.
3 Moreover, David defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his monument at[a] the Euphrates River. 4 David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers[b] and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses.
5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them. 6 He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought tribute. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
7 David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 From Tebah[c] and Berothai, towns that belonged to Hadadezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze.
9 When Tou[d] king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, 10 he sent his son Joram[e] to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory in battle over Hadadezer, who had been at war with Tou. Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold and of bronze.
11 King David dedicated these articles to the LORD, as he had done with the silver and gold from all the nations he had subdued: 12 Edom[f] and Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistines, and Amalek. He also dedicated the plunder taken from Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
13 And David became famous after he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites[g] in the Valley of Salt.
14 He put garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
David’s Officials
15 David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people. 16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelek son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was secretary; 18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests.[h]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 5:9,38-48
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Eye for Eye
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[a] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[b] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
A Family Trait
November 20, 2011 — by Joe Stowell
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. —Matthew 5:9
There’s an old Sunday school song that periodically comes back to my mind. Its words testify to the blessing of the peace that Jesus so generously gives: “I have the peace that passes understanding down in my heart—down in my heart to stay!”
There is something missing in that well-intentioned song, however. The peace of God is truly a gift we enjoy in our hearts as we fellowship in His presence (John 14:27; 16:33). But He never intended for us to keep all of that peace to ourselves. Peace is a gift to be shared with those around us. As Christians, it should mark our relationships and characterize the environment of our churches.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matt. 5:9), which indicates that we are to be intentional about bringing peace to our relationships. Since we are prone to be troublemakers instead of peacemakers, this is important advice. So, what does peacemaking look like? Peacemakers are those who turn the other cheek (v.39), go the extra mile (v.41), and love their enemies while praying for those who persecute them (v.44).
Why should we do this? Because God is a peacemaker, and when we make peace we are “called sons of God” (v.9). Peacemaking is a family trait.
Lord, thank You for the peace we have down in our
hearts. And that we can be peacemakers with others
through our attitude, words, and deeds.
Help me to show Your mercy and peace. Amen.
Because of the peace of God and peace with God,
we can be peacemakers for God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, November 20, 2011
The Forgiveness of God
In Him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins . . . —Ephesians 1:7
Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.
Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.
Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.
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