Max Lucado Daily: Let your light shine
“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” Matthew 5:16, NIV
Did you notice the first five letters of the word courteous spell court? In old England, to be courteous was to act in the way of the court. The family and servants of the king were expected to follow a higher standard.
So are we. Are we not called to represent the King? Then “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
Esther 9
On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. 2 The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. 3 And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them. 4 Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.
5 The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. 6 In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. 7 They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, 10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
11 The number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day. 12 The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.”
13 “If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be impaled on poles.”
14 So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled the ten sons of Haman. 15 The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
16 Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. 17 This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.
18 The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.
19 That is why rural Jews—those living in villages—observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.
Purim Established
20 Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, 21 to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar 22 as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
23 So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them. 24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction. 25 But when the plot came to the king’s attention,[a] he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled on poles. 26 (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, 27 the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. 28 These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.
29 So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. 30 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of Xerxes’ kingdom—words of goodwill and assurance— 31 to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation. 32 Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ephesians 4:1-6
Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ
4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Insight
The letter to the Ephesians contains practical advice about following Christ. Today’s passage is a very clear admonition on what that entails. In verse 1, Paul asks the believers in Ephesus to “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” In verses 2-3, he explains just what that means: to be lowly and gentle, patient (longsuffering), “bearing with one another in love,” and “endeavoring to keep . . . the bond of peace.” All of these elaborate on how we are to interact with those around us. What happens in our relationship with Christ impacts our other relationships.
Maintain Unity
February 9, 2014 — by Albert Lee
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. —Ephesians 4:3
A man stranded by himself on an island was finally discovered. His rescuers asked him about the three huts they saw there. He pointed and said, “This one is my home and that one is my church.” He then pointed to the third hut: “That was my former church.” Though we may laugh at the silliness of this story, it does highlight a concern about unity among believers.
The church of Ephesus during the time of the apostle Paul was comprised of both rich and poor, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, masters and slaves. And where differences exist, so does friction. One concern Paul wrote about was the issue of unity. But observe what Paul said about this issue in Ephesians 4:3. He didn’t tell them to be “eager to produce or to organize unity.” He told them to endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Unity already exists because believers share one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all (vv.4-6).
How do we “keep the unity”? By expressing our different opinions and convictions with lowliness, gentleness, and patience (v.2). The Spirit will give us the power to react in love toward those with whom we disagree.
Lord, may our walk and our service be a
picture of the unity of Father, Son, and Spirit in
heaven above. Fill us with the fruit of the Spirit
that we might love others as You desire.
Unity among believers comes from our union with Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 9, 2014
Are You Exhausted Spiritually?
The everlasting God . . . neither faints nor is weary —Isaiah 40:28
Exhaustion means that our vital energies are completely worn out and spent. Spiritual exhaustion is never the result of sin, but of service. Whether or not you experience exhaustion will depend on where you get your supplies. Jesus said to Peter, “Feed My sheep,” but He gave him nothing with which to feed them (John 21:17). The process of being made broken bread and poured-out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other people’s souls until they learn to feed on God. They must drain you completely— to the very last drop. But be careful to replenish your supply, or you will quickly be utterly exhausted. Until others learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus directly, they will have to draw on His life through you. You must literally be their source of supply, until they learn to take their nourishment from God. We owe it to God to be our best for His lambs and sheep, as well as for Him.
Have you delivered yourself over to exhaustion because of the way you have been serving God? If so, then renew and rekindle your desires and affections. Examine your reasons for service. Is your source based on your own understanding or is it grounded on the redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually look back to the foundation of your love and affection and remember where your Source of power lies. You have no right to complain, “O Lord, I am so exhausted.” He saved and sanctified you to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that He is your supply. “All my springs are in you” (Psalm 87:7).
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Revelation 14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Connected But Not Altered
When you give your life to Christ, He moves in, unpacks his bags and is ready to change you into His likeness. So why do I still have the hang-ups of Max?
Part of the answer is in the story of a wealthy but frugal lady living in a small house at the turn of the century. Friends were surprised when she had electricity put in her home. Weeks afterward, a meter reader appeared. “Your meter shows scarcely any usage,” he said. “Are you using your power?” “Certainly,” she answered. “Each evening I turn on my lights long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off.”
She’s tapped into the power but doesn’t use it. Her house is connected but not altered. Don’t we make the same mistake? God is willing to change us into the likeness of the Savior. Shall we accept His offer?
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:18-19a).
From Just Like Jesus
Revelation 14
The Lamb and the 144,000 and (Ravi Zacharias speaks of 144,000 and more)
14 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. 5 No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
The Three Angels
6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
8 A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’[a] which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Harvesting the Earth and Trampling the Winepress
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man[b] with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.[c]
Footnotes:
Revelation 14:8 Isaiah 21:9
Revelation 14:14 See Daniel 7:13.
Revelation 14:20 That is, about 180 miles or about 300 kilometers
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Leviticus 4:1-3 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands—
3 “‘If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without defect as a sin offering[a] for the sin he has committed.
Footnotes:
Leviticus 4:3 Or purification offering; here and throughout this chapter
Romans 3:21-26
Righteousness Through Faith
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[b] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Footnotes:
Romans 3:22 Or through the faithfulness of
Romans 3:25 The Greek for sacrifice of atonement refers to the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant (see Lev. 16:15,16).
Insight
Today’s passage from Romans is one of the most beautiful statements in Scripture of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus bore our sins on the cross, He has made us righteous in God’s eyes. This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus (v.22); is given to us by God’s grace; and, best of all, is free to all who believe (v.24).
Unintentional
February 8, 2014 — by Dennis Fisher
If a person sins unintentionally . . . let him offer to the Lord . . . a young bull without blemish. —Leviticus 4:2-3
When I was returning our grandson Alex to his family after a visit, the traffic seemed especially challenging. Fast-maneuvering cars blocked me from the correct toll lane, forcing me to go through a lane where only cars with a prepaid pass are permitted, which I didn’t have. Alex told me that my license plate would be photographed and a ticket might be mailed to me. I was frustrated because a penalty would have to be paid even though my infraction was unintentional.
For the ancient Jews, a violation of God’s laws committed even in ignorance was taken very seriously. The Old Testament recognized and provided for unintentional sins through appropriate sacrifices: “If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments . . . let him offer to the Lord . . . a young bull without blemish as a sin offering” (Lev. 4:2-3).
Old Testament sacrifices were more than a reminder that accidental wrongs have consequences. They were given in anticipation that God in His grace would provide atonement even for wrongs we didn’t realize we were doing. He did this through the death of Jesus in our place. God’s grace is far greater than we could ever imagine!
Grace is getting what we do not deserve. Mercy is not receiving what we do deserve.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 8, 2014
The Cost of Sanctification
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself . . .” (John 17:19). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.
Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, “Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can”? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us?
When you give your life to Christ, He moves in, unpacks his bags and is ready to change you into His likeness. So why do I still have the hang-ups of Max?
Part of the answer is in the story of a wealthy but frugal lady living in a small house at the turn of the century. Friends were surprised when she had electricity put in her home. Weeks afterward, a meter reader appeared. “Your meter shows scarcely any usage,” he said. “Are you using your power?” “Certainly,” she answered. “Each evening I turn on my lights long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off.”
She’s tapped into the power but doesn’t use it. Her house is connected but not altered. Don’t we make the same mistake? God is willing to change us into the likeness of the Savior. Shall we accept His offer?
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:18-19a).
From Just Like Jesus
Revelation 14
The Lamb and the 144,000 and (Ravi Zacharias speaks of 144,000 and more)
14 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. 5 No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
The Three Angels
6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
8 A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’[a] which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Harvesting the Earth and Trampling the Winepress
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man[b] with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.[c]
Footnotes:
Revelation 14:8 Isaiah 21:9
Revelation 14:14 See Daniel 7:13.
Revelation 14:20 That is, about 180 miles or about 300 kilometers
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Leviticus 4:1-3 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands—
3 “‘If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without defect as a sin offering[a] for the sin he has committed.
Footnotes:
Leviticus 4:3 Or purification offering; here and throughout this chapter
Romans 3:21-26
Righteousness Through Faith
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[b] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Footnotes:
Romans 3:22 Or through the faithfulness of
Romans 3:25 The Greek for sacrifice of atonement refers to the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant (see Lev. 16:15,16).
Insight
Today’s passage from Romans is one of the most beautiful statements in Scripture of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus bore our sins on the cross, He has made us righteous in God’s eyes. This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus (v.22); is given to us by God’s grace; and, best of all, is free to all who believe (v.24).
Unintentional
February 8, 2014 — by Dennis Fisher
If a person sins unintentionally . . . let him offer to the Lord . . . a young bull without blemish. —Leviticus 4:2-3
When I was returning our grandson Alex to his family after a visit, the traffic seemed especially challenging. Fast-maneuvering cars blocked me from the correct toll lane, forcing me to go through a lane where only cars with a prepaid pass are permitted, which I didn’t have. Alex told me that my license plate would be photographed and a ticket might be mailed to me. I was frustrated because a penalty would have to be paid even though my infraction was unintentional.
For the ancient Jews, a violation of God’s laws committed even in ignorance was taken very seriously. The Old Testament recognized and provided for unintentional sins through appropriate sacrifices: “If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments . . . let him offer to the Lord . . . a young bull without blemish as a sin offering” (Lev. 4:2-3).
Old Testament sacrifices were more than a reminder that accidental wrongs have consequences. They were given in anticipation that God in His grace would provide atonement even for wrongs we didn’t realize we were doing. He did this through the death of Jesus in our place. God’s grace is far greater than we could ever imagine!
Grace is getting what we do not deserve. Mercy is not receiving what we do deserve.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 8, 2014
The Cost of Sanctification
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself . . .” (John 17:19). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.
Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, “Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can”? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us?
Friday, February 7, 2014
Esther 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Remember the Sabbath Day
Could you use a reminder on how to slow your life down? One of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:8 says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day to the Lord your God.”
What did Jesus do on that last Sabbath of his life? Look in the Gospel of Matthew. Find anything? Try Mark. Nothing there? What about Luke? Hmm…it looks like Jesus was quiet that day.
Do you mean that with one week left to live, Jesus observed the Sabbath? Are you telling me that Jesus thought worship was more important than work? That’s exactly what I’m telling you. If Jesus found time in the midst of a racing agenda to stop the rush and sit in the silence, do you think we could, too?
From And The Angels Were Silent
Esther 8
The King’s Edict in Behalf of the Jews
That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. 2 The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.
3 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. 4 Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.
5 “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. 6 For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”
7 King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. 8 Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”
9 At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.[c] These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.
11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children,[d] and to plunder the property of their enemies. 12 The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14 The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.
The Triumph of the Jews
15 When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration. 16 For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. 17 In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.
Esther 8:9 That is, the upper Nile region
Esther 8:11 Or province, together with their women and children, who might attack them;
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Judges 3:7-11
Othniel
7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim,[a] to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9 But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge[b] and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. 11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
Footnotes:
Judges 3:8 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
Judges 3:10 Or leader
Insight
The book of Judges gives the story of the people of Israel in the Promised Land, but without their great leaders of the past—Moses and Joshua—and before the first of the kings. This lack of leadership resulted in repeated seasons of rebellion and idolatry during which God would raise up judges to defeat the Israelites’ enemies and to guide the wayward people back to Himself. The story of this era is a difficult one, summarized in the words of Judges 21:25, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Who’s That Hero?
February 7, 2014 — by Poh Fang chia
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:16
Reading the book of Judges, with its battles and mighty warriors, can sometimes feel like reading about comic book superheroes. We have Deborah, Barak, Gideon, and Samson. However, in the line of judges (or deliverers), we also find Othniel.
The account of his life is brief and straightforward (Judges 3:7-11). No drama. No display of prowess. But what we do see is what God did through Othniel: “The Lord raised up a deliverer” (v.9), “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him” (v.10), and “the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand” (v.10).
The Othniel account helps us focus on what is most important—the activity of God. Interesting stories and fascinating people can obscure that. We end up concentrating on those and fail to see what the Lord is doing.
When I was young, I wished I could be more talented so that I could point more people to Christ. But I was looking at the wrong thing. God often uses ordinary people for His extraordinary work. It is His light shining through our lives that glorifies God and draws others to Him (Matt. 5:16).
When others look at our life, it is more important that they see God—not us.
May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power. —Wilkinson
Our limited ability highlights God’s limitless power.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, February 07, 2014
Spiritual Dejection
We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened —Luke 24:21
Every fact that the disciples stated was right, but the conclusions they drew from those facts were wrong. Anything that has even a hint of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If I am depressed or burdened, I am to blame, not God or anyone else. Dejection stems from one of two sources— I have either satisfied a lust or I have not had it satisfied. In either case, dejection is the result. Lust means “I must have it at once.” Spiritual lust causes me to demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Himself who gives the answer. What have I been hoping or trusting God would do? Is today “the third day” and He has still not done what I expected? Am I therefore justified in being dejected and in blaming God? Whenever we insist that God should give us an answer to prayer we are off track. The purpose of prayer is that we get ahold of God, not of the answer. It is impossible to be well physically and to be dejected, because dejection is a sign of sickness. This is also true spiritually. Dejection spiritually is wrong, and we are always to blame for it.
We look for visions from heaven and for earth-shaking events to see God’s power. Even the fact that we are dejected is proof that we do this. Yet we never realize that all the time God is at work in our everyday events and in the people around us. If we will only obey, and do the task that He has placed closest to us, we will see Him. One of the most amazing revelations of God comes to us when we learn that it is in the everyday things of life that we realize the magnificent deity of Jesus Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Saving Lives With the Newspaper - #7065
Friday, February 7, 2014
I love to read my newspaper; a bit of a news junkie. I have to confess it's one of life's simple pleasures, but it's an important part of my day. I've found out that a newspaper isn't finished though when you finish reading it. Oh, no, no! It's more than informative. A newspaper is useful! It's well worth the little money I spend for it. And, of course, today I can get a lot of that news online too. But what's in the news is useful for wrapping fragile items, or storing them or shipping them. We were just doing that the other day. And let's see, it's useful for killing flies. A newspaper is useful for lining pet cages. You need that. It's useful for building a fire. Oh yeah, and what's in the news or in the newspaper is useful for saving lives.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Saving Lives With the Newspaper."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke chapter 13, and I'll begin reading at verse 4. Jesus is speaking to a crowd, and He says, "Those eighteen who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
Now, Jesus here is referring to what was probably the headline of that day - the collapse of this tower in Siloam. Today that tower disaster might be equivalent to, let's say, an earthquake where a number of people died, or a plane crash with a lot of fatalities. Jesus uses this headline to get people thinking about their lives and thinking about Him. He says, "Remember that disaster we just all heard about? Well, you know, those people are no different from you. It pays to be ready. What if that had happened to you? Have you repented? Are you right with God?"
You know what Jesus is doing here? He is modeling an approach to reaching people that honestly is just as relevant today. I call it "headline" evangelism; using the news to open a door to talk about Jesus. Now, if you're a follower of Christ, there are probably some people that you are spiritually burdened for, who you want to have in heaven with you someday. Some days you find yourself saying, "You know, there's got to be a way to open a conversation." And you wonder if some day they are going to say to you, "You know, we talked about everything, but you never told me about this Jesus you know." You want to, but you don't know how to get started. Well, here's a way. Ask God to show you attention getters in what's happening in the world, what's reported in the news; things that could help open a door to a spiritual conversation.
Larry and Pat were a couple we were very burdened for, and one day we were talking about the dramatic world changes that had been taking place. I said, "You know, it's amazing how much of that is predicted in the Bible." They said, "What do you mean? Like what?" Well, that led us into a discussion of prophecy, which led to a discussion that Jesus is Lord, that's why He knows what's going to happen, which led to a discussion of who Jesus can be to us.
Sometimes it might be a story of a sudden death that's in the headlines, a crash, an accident. And I find myself saying, "You know, it's good to know for sure where you're going to go when you die. It's so good that it's possible to know you're going to heaven." And somebody goes, "Really? How can you be sure you're going to heaven?"
See, that's when you can bring up the good news about Jesus. Maybe it will be all the struggles some successful public figure is going through, or struggles that show that success doesn't fill the hole inside.
Often the world's bad news gives you the golden opportunity to share God's good news. Today's headlines, consecrated to God, might just help point someone to Jesus Christ. So, you actually could be saving lives with the newspaper.
Could you use a reminder on how to slow your life down? One of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:8 says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day to the Lord your God.”
What did Jesus do on that last Sabbath of his life? Look in the Gospel of Matthew. Find anything? Try Mark. Nothing there? What about Luke? Hmm…it looks like Jesus was quiet that day.
Do you mean that with one week left to live, Jesus observed the Sabbath? Are you telling me that Jesus thought worship was more important than work? That’s exactly what I’m telling you. If Jesus found time in the midst of a racing agenda to stop the rush and sit in the silence, do you think we could, too?
From And The Angels Were Silent
Esther 8
The King’s Edict in Behalf of the Jews
That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. 2 The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.
3 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. 4 Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.
5 “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. 6 For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”
7 King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. 8 Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”
9 At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.[c] These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.
11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children,[d] and to plunder the property of their enemies. 12 The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14 The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.
The Triumph of the Jews
15 When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration. 16 For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. 17 In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.
Esther 8:9 That is, the upper Nile region
Esther 8:11 Or province, together with their women and children, who might attack them;
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Judges 3:7-11
Othniel
7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim,[a] to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9 But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge[b] and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. 11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
Footnotes:
Judges 3:8 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
Judges 3:10 Or leader
Insight
The book of Judges gives the story of the people of Israel in the Promised Land, but without their great leaders of the past—Moses and Joshua—and before the first of the kings. This lack of leadership resulted in repeated seasons of rebellion and idolatry during which God would raise up judges to defeat the Israelites’ enemies and to guide the wayward people back to Himself. The story of this era is a difficult one, summarized in the words of Judges 21:25, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Who’s That Hero?
February 7, 2014 — by Poh Fang chia
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:16
Reading the book of Judges, with its battles and mighty warriors, can sometimes feel like reading about comic book superheroes. We have Deborah, Barak, Gideon, and Samson. However, in the line of judges (or deliverers), we also find Othniel.
The account of his life is brief and straightforward (Judges 3:7-11). No drama. No display of prowess. But what we do see is what God did through Othniel: “The Lord raised up a deliverer” (v.9), “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him” (v.10), and “the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand” (v.10).
The Othniel account helps us focus on what is most important—the activity of God. Interesting stories and fascinating people can obscure that. We end up concentrating on those and fail to see what the Lord is doing.
When I was young, I wished I could be more talented so that I could point more people to Christ. But I was looking at the wrong thing. God often uses ordinary people for His extraordinary work. It is His light shining through our lives that glorifies God and draws others to Him (Matt. 5:16).
When others look at our life, it is more important that they see God—not us.
May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power. —Wilkinson
Our limited ability highlights God’s limitless power.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, February 07, 2014
Spiritual Dejection
We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened —Luke 24:21
Every fact that the disciples stated was right, but the conclusions they drew from those facts were wrong. Anything that has even a hint of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If I am depressed or burdened, I am to blame, not God or anyone else. Dejection stems from one of two sources— I have either satisfied a lust or I have not had it satisfied. In either case, dejection is the result. Lust means “I must have it at once.” Spiritual lust causes me to demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Himself who gives the answer. What have I been hoping or trusting God would do? Is today “the third day” and He has still not done what I expected? Am I therefore justified in being dejected and in blaming God? Whenever we insist that God should give us an answer to prayer we are off track. The purpose of prayer is that we get ahold of God, not of the answer. It is impossible to be well physically and to be dejected, because dejection is a sign of sickness. This is also true spiritually. Dejection spiritually is wrong, and we are always to blame for it.
We look for visions from heaven and for earth-shaking events to see God’s power. Even the fact that we are dejected is proof that we do this. Yet we never realize that all the time God is at work in our everyday events and in the people around us. If we will only obey, and do the task that He has placed closest to us, we will see Him. One of the most amazing revelations of God comes to us when we learn that it is in the everyday things of life that we realize the magnificent deity of Jesus Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Saving Lives With the Newspaper - #7065
Friday, February 7, 2014
I love to read my newspaper; a bit of a news junkie. I have to confess it's one of life's simple pleasures, but it's an important part of my day. I've found out that a newspaper isn't finished though when you finish reading it. Oh, no, no! It's more than informative. A newspaper is useful! It's well worth the little money I spend for it. And, of course, today I can get a lot of that news online too. But what's in the news is useful for wrapping fragile items, or storing them or shipping them. We were just doing that the other day. And let's see, it's useful for killing flies. A newspaper is useful for lining pet cages. You need that. It's useful for building a fire. Oh yeah, and what's in the news or in the newspaper is useful for saving lives.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Saving Lives With the Newspaper."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke chapter 13, and I'll begin reading at verse 4. Jesus is speaking to a crowd, and He says, "Those eighteen who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
Now, Jesus here is referring to what was probably the headline of that day - the collapse of this tower in Siloam. Today that tower disaster might be equivalent to, let's say, an earthquake where a number of people died, or a plane crash with a lot of fatalities. Jesus uses this headline to get people thinking about their lives and thinking about Him. He says, "Remember that disaster we just all heard about? Well, you know, those people are no different from you. It pays to be ready. What if that had happened to you? Have you repented? Are you right with God?"
You know what Jesus is doing here? He is modeling an approach to reaching people that honestly is just as relevant today. I call it "headline" evangelism; using the news to open a door to talk about Jesus. Now, if you're a follower of Christ, there are probably some people that you are spiritually burdened for, who you want to have in heaven with you someday. Some days you find yourself saying, "You know, there's got to be a way to open a conversation." And you wonder if some day they are going to say to you, "You know, we talked about everything, but you never told me about this Jesus you know." You want to, but you don't know how to get started. Well, here's a way. Ask God to show you attention getters in what's happening in the world, what's reported in the news; things that could help open a door to a spiritual conversation.
Larry and Pat were a couple we were very burdened for, and one day we were talking about the dramatic world changes that had been taking place. I said, "You know, it's amazing how much of that is predicted in the Bible." They said, "What do you mean? Like what?" Well, that led us into a discussion of prophecy, which led to a discussion that Jesus is Lord, that's why He knows what's going to happen, which led to a discussion of who Jesus can be to us.
Sometimes it might be a story of a sudden death that's in the headlines, a crash, an accident. And I find myself saying, "You know, it's good to know for sure where you're going to go when you die. It's so good that it's possible to know you're going to heaven." And somebody goes, "Really? How can you be sure you're going to heaven?"
See, that's when you can bring up the good news about Jesus. Maybe it will be all the struggles some successful public figure is going through, or struggles that show that success doesn't fill the hole inside.
Often the world's bad news gives you the golden opportunity to share God's good news. Today's headlines, consecrated to God, might just help point someone to Jesus Christ. So, you actually could be saving lives with the newspaper.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Esther 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Just Right
When my daughter was small, she wrote a song for me. From a musical standpoint, everything was wrong with it. The lyrics didn't rhyme. The rhythm was off. Technically the song was a failure. But for me, the song was a masterpiece. Why? Because she wrote it for me. What dad wouldn't like that? What father wouldn't bask in the praise of even an off-key adulation?
Ideally, when we approach God, our motive and the way we sing is as strong as the reason we sing. The words are just right; our worship is as attractive as it is sincere. But many times it isn't. Many times our worship is less than what we want it to be. "Lord, help!"
"You will search for me," God declared. "And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me. I will let you find me" (Jeremiah 29:13). What a promise!
From And The Angels Were Silent
Esther 7
Haman Impaled
So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet, 2 and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”
3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. 4 For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.[a]”
5 King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”
6 Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”
Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.
The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?”
As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits[b] stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”
The king said, “Impale him on it!” 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 55:1-8,16-17
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil[b] of David.
1 Listen to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my plea;
2 hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
3 because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;[c]
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.”
Footnotes:
Psalm 55:1 In Hebrew texts 55:1-23 is numbered 55:2-24.
Psalm 55:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 55:7 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and in the middle of verse 19.
Psalm 55:16-17
16 As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me.
17 Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice
Insight
Psalm 55 is a song of the shepherd-king David. It was written during a season of great distress and may have been the expression of David's despair as he fled from his son Absalom. The oldest of David's sons, Absalom had enlisted men of Israel in a conspiracy to overthrow David as king so that he could then take the throne for himself (2 Sam. 15). If this indeed is the context, the lament of verses 12-14 likely refers to David's trusted friend and counselor Ahithophel (1 Chron. 27:33), who abandoned David and joined the conspiracy with Absalom.
Before And After
February 6, 2014 — by Dave Branon
Give ear to my prayer, O God . . . . My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. —Psalm 55:1,4
What changes take place in a life of faith after severe testing? I thought of this as I read the tragic story of a Jamaican dad who accidentally shot and killed his 18-year-old daughter while trying to protect his family from intruders.
News reports said he went to church (as was his habit) the next day—distraught but still seeking God’s help. Faith in God guided him before, and he knew God could sustain him after.
I thought about this in regard to my own life—having also lost a teenage daughter. To review how I viewed life and faith before Melissa’s death, I dug into my computer archives to read the last article I had written before we lost her in June 2002. How would what I said then correspond to what I know now? Had severe testing changed my view of faith in God? In May of that year, I had written this: “David was not afraid to go boldly to God and tell Him what was on his heart. . . . We don’t have to be afraid to tell God what is on our heart.”
Before I went through tough times, I went to God and He listened to me. After, I discovered that He still listens and comforts and sustains. So I continue to pray in faith. Our faith remains intact and is strengthened because He is the God of the before and the after.
God is still on the throne,
He never forsaketh His own;
His promise is true, He will not forget you,
God is still on the throne. —Suffield
What we know of God encourages us to trust Him in all we do not know.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, February 06, 2014
Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (2)
I am already being poured out as a drink offering . . . —2 Timothy 4:6
Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.
“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents-burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose-the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice . . . to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?
Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Dirty Up Close - #7064
Thursday, February 6, 2014
It was a steep trail! It was during the summer and we were up about 12,000 feet on this mountain. Of course the air was pretty thin, but it was worth the climb because my wife and I were hiking up to this magnificent glacier. Now, you can't see it from the road, but as you climb the mountain, you finally get a peek at it near the top of the trail. That would be shortly before I collapsed from oxygen deprivation. There's this beautiful white blanket on top of the mountain, especially at the end of the summer. Actually, it looked more beautiful from a distance.
See, we finally reached the lake at the foot of the glacier and we sat there and rested and congratulated ourselves and enjoyed God's artwork up there on that mountain. We even watched a couple of guys skiing in one of the few places they could find any snow at the end of the summer. And then they came down. We asked these guys as we walked down with them how it was up there at the top of the mountain. They said, "Well it was fun, but it's really dirty up there!" See, these guys had been in direct contact with that snow, and they didn't think it was quite as beautiful as I did from a distance.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dirty - Up Close."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 10:9 . God is praising a person who is clean all the way through. Here's what it says, "The man of integrity walks securely. But he who takes crooked paths will be found out." In other words, when you have nothing to hide-you're full of integrity-you have nothing to fear. You've got no fear of discovery. So you can be a pretty secure person; there's nothing for anyone to find out about you, to catch you doing.
Proverbs 11:3 says, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity." Integrity? Well, good idea. What is it? Well, it's obviously the deciding factor in every choice for a righteous person. What does integrity demand? It means there's only one you. Like a whole number in math; an integer; there's only one number. There's only one you; no duplicity; not another you. A lot of issues are settled when you settle this one issue, "Is integrity going to be my bottom line or not?"
Now, integrity means you don't just look good from a distance like my glacier. When you got close to that snow cap, you saw how dirty it really was. How about the people who get really close to you: your mate, close friends, your kids, your parents? The people around you whom you feel like you can be yourself. Are they impressed? See, a lot of people are good from a distance, and maybe you have a great image. You're making a great impression. Maybe you're even getting a lot of strokes for it.
But like those boys who were in direct contact with the glacier, the people who are in close contact with you know what you're really like. Would they say you're patient? Would they say you always tell the truth, you're kind, you're gentle, you're an unselfish person? Would they say you walk with God when no one else sees you, you're consistent, you keep your promises, you're pure in what you watch and what you listen to, what you talk about?
See, if you're a real quality human being, the closer they get the better you look. Because there's only one you. The public and the private you are the same person. Then people aren't unpleasantly surprised when they get close. That's a pretty free and very powerful way to live.
Remember to live in such a way that no one who gets close to you will ever say, "Oh, yeah, they look good from a distance, but man, when you get close." Be full of integrity, clean all the way through no matter how close they ge
When my daughter was small, she wrote a song for me. From a musical standpoint, everything was wrong with it. The lyrics didn't rhyme. The rhythm was off. Technically the song was a failure. But for me, the song was a masterpiece. Why? Because she wrote it for me. What dad wouldn't like that? What father wouldn't bask in the praise of even an off-key adulation?
Ideally, when we approach God, our motive and the way we sing is as strong as the reason we sing. The words are just right; our worship is as attractive as it is sincere. But many times it isn't. Many times our worship is less than what we want it to be. "Lord, help!"
"You will search for me," God declared. "And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me. I will let you find me" (Jeremiah 29:13). What a promise!
From And The Angels Were Silent
Esther 7
Haman Impaled
So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet, 2 and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”
3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. 4 For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.[a]”
5 King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”
6 Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”
Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.
The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?”
As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits[b] stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”
The king said, “Impale him on it!” 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 55:1-8,16-17
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil[b] of David.
1 Listen to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my plea;
2 hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
3 because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;[c]
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.”
Footnotes:
Psalm 55:1 In Hebrew texts 55:1-23 is numbered 55:2-24.
Psalm 55:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 55:7 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and in the middle of verse 19.
Psalm 55:16-17
16 As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me.
17 Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice
Insight
Psalm 55 is a song of the shepherd-king David. It was written during a season of great distress and may have been the expression of David's despair as he fled from his son Absalom. The oldest of David's sons, Absalom had enlisted men of Israel in a conspiracy to overthrow David as king so that he could then take the throne for himself (2 Sam. 15). If this indeed is the context, the lament of verses 12-14 likely refers to David's trusted friend and counselor Ahithophel (1 Chron. 27:33), who abandoned David and joined the conspiracy with Absalom.
Before And After
February 6, 2014 — by Dave Branon
Give ear to my prayer, O God . . . . My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. —Psalm 55:1,4
What changes take place in a life of faith after severe testing? I thought of this as I read the tragic story of a Jamaican dad who accidentally shot and killed his 18-year-old daughter while trying to protect his family from intruders.
News reports said he went to church (as was his habit) the next day—distraught but still seeking God’s help. Faith in God guided him before, and he knew God could sustain him after.
I thought about this in regard to my own life—having also lost a teenage daughter. To review how I viewed life and faith before Melissa’s death, I dug into my computer archives to read the last article I had written before we lost her in June 2002. How would what I said then correspond to what I know now? Had severe testing changed my view of faith in God? In May of that year, I had written this: “David was not afraid to go boldly to God and tell Him what was on his heart. . . . We don’t have to be afraid to tell God what is on our heart.”
Before I went through tough times, I went to God and He listened to me. After, I discovered that He still listens and comforts and sustains. So I continue to pray in faith. Our faith remains intact and is strengthened because He is the God of the before and the after.
God is still on the throne,
He never forsaketh His own;
His promise is true, He will not forget you,
God is still on the throne. —Suffield
What we know of God encourages us to trust Him in all we do not know.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, February 06, 2014
Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (2)
I am already being poured out as a drink offering . . . —2 Timothy 4:6
Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.
“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents-burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose-the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice . . . to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?
Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Dirty Up Close - #7064
Thursday, February 6, 2014
It was a steep trail! It was during the summer and we were up about 12,000 feet on this mountain. Of course the air was pretty thin, but it was worth the climb because my wife and I were hiking up to this magnificent glacier. Now, you can't see it from the road, but as you climb the mountain, you finally get a peek at it near the top of the trail. That would be shortly before I collapsed from oxygen deprivation. There's this beautiful white blanket on top of the mountain, especially at the end of the summer. Actually, it looked more beautiful from a distance.
See, we finally reached the lake at the foot of the glacier and we sat there and rested and congratulated ourselves and enjoyed God's artwork up there on that mountain. We even watched a couple of guys skiing in one of the few places they could find any snow at the end of the summer. And then they came down. We asked these guys as we walked down with them how it was up there at the top of the mountain. They said, "Well it was fun, but it's really dirty up there!" See, these guys had been in direct contact with that snow, and they didn't think it was quite as beautiful as I did from a distance.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dirty - Up Close."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 10:9 . God is praising a person who is clean all the way through. Here's what it says, "The man of integrity walks securely. But he who takes crooked paths will be found out." In other words, when you have nothing to hide-you're full of integrity-you have nothing to fear. You've got no fear of discovery. So you can be a pretty secure person; there's nothing for anyone to find out about you, to catch you doing.
Proverbs 11:3 says, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity." Integrity? Well, good idea. What is it? Well, it's obviously the deciding factor in every choice for a righteous person. What does integrity demand? It means there's only one you. Like a whole number in math; an integer; there's only one number. There's only one you; no duplicity; not another you. A lot of issues are settled when you settle this one issue, "Is integrity going to be my bottom line or not?"
Now, integrity means you don't just look good from a distance like my glacier. When you got close to that snow cap, you saw how dirty it really was. How about the people who get really close to you: your mate, close friends, your kids, your parents? The people around you whom you feel like you can be yourself. Are they impressed? See, a lot of people are good from a distance, and maybe you have a great image. You're making a great impression. Maybe you're even getting a lot of strokes for it.
But like those boys who were in direct contact with the glacier, the people who are in close contact with you know what you're really like. Would they say you're patient? Would they say you always tell the truth, you're kind, you're gentle, you're an unselfish person? Would they say you walk with God when no one else sees you, you're consistent, you keep your promises, you're pure in what you watch and what you listen to, what you talk about?
See, if you're a real quality human being, the closer they get the better you look. Because there's only one you. The public and the private you are the same person. Then people aren't unpleasantly surprised when they get close. That's a pretty free and very powerful way to live.
Remember to live in such a way that no one who gets close to you will ever say, "Oh, yeah, they look good from a distance, but man, when you get close." Be full of integrity, clean all the way through no matter how close they ge
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Esther 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Sight to the Blind
When people are refused access to Christ by those closest to him, the result is empty, hollow religion. Ugly religion.
Hard to believe? Yet it happens—even in the church. It happens when a church spends more time discussing the style of its sanctuary than it does the needs of the hungry. It happens when a church is known more for its stance on an issue than its reliance upon God. It happens when we think Jesus has more important things to do than to be bothered by such insignificant people.
Christ thought otherwise. Jesus felt sorry for the blind men and touched their eyes, and at once they could see. In that moment, of all the people, it was the blind who really saw Jesus.
From And The Angels Were Silent
Esther 6
Mordecai Honored
That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. 2 It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
3 “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked.
“Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered.
4 The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him.
5 His attendants answered, “Haman is standing in the court.”
“Bring him in,” the king ordered.
6 When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?”
Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” 7 So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, 8 have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. 9 Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’”
10 “Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.”
11 So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”
12 Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, 13 and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.
His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him—you will surely come to ruin!” 14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 3:16-24
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Insight
Today’s reading establishes the benchmark for loving others by looking at what Jesus did for us on the cross (v.16). We know love because of the willingness of Jesus to die for us, and the necessary response to this love is that we be willing to give of ourselves for others. The context implies that this does not require a physical dying on another’s behalf. It does, however, challenge us to sacrifice our own interests for the welfare of others as evidence that we have received God’s love (v.17).
The Telltale Heart
February 5, 2014 — by David C. McCasland
If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. —1 John 3:20
Recently I read about a private investigator in the US who would knock on a door, show his badge to whoever answered, and say, “I guess we don’t have to tell you why we’re here.” Many times, the person would look stunned and say, “How did you find out?” then go on to describe an undiscovered criminal act committed long ago. Writing in Smithsonian magazine, Ron Rosenbaum described the reaction as “an opening for the primal force of conscience, the telltale heart’s internal monologue.”
We all know things about ourselves that no one else knows—failures, faults, sins—that although confessed to God and forgiven by Him may come back to accuse us again and again. John, one of Jesus’ close followers, wrote about God’s love for us and the call to follow His commands, saying: “By this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (1 John 3:19-20).
Our confidence toward God grows out of His love and forgiveness in Christ, not our performance in life. “We know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us” (v.24).
God, who knows everything about us, is greater than our self-condemnation.
No condemnation now I dread,
I am my Lord’s and He is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine. —Wesley
The one who receives Christ will never receive God’s condemnation.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 5, 2014
Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (1)
If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all—Philippians 2:17
Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer—to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him. I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have certain people watching me and saying, ’Well done.’ ”
It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat” under other people’s feet. God’s purpose may be to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased . . .” (Philippians 4:12). Are you ready to be sacrificed like that? Are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket—to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted—not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work while maintaining a saintly attitude, because they feel such service is beneath their dignity.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Spare Parts - #7063
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
This is probably going to take a little imagination; maybe a lot of imagination. Let's say you go to buy a new car and you're going to pay in cash. So, let's make up a number - $25,000 in cash. Is your imagination still going? OK, good! Now, the dealer stamps the invoice Paid In Full. He says it will be here in two weeks. You show up all excited about getting your new car and you say, "Here I am. Remember me?" He says, "Oh yeah! Sure!" And he gives you this gift-wrapped box, shakes your hand and walks away. You go, "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" He says, "No, open the box, I think you're going to like it." So you open it up and here's a new steering wheel, a new carburetor, and a new hub cap. You go, "Hey, wait, Buddy! These are just spare parts! I paid the full price! I should get the full product."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Spare Parts."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Revelation chapter 5. I think in many ways this is one of the most incredible chapters in the Bible. It pulls the curtain on heaven in John's vision and it reveals Christ in all His majesty as we seldom see Him in the Bible. This is not the Jesus of Bethlehem or the cross. This is Jesus as He is now; as we're going to meet Him one day.
In this vision there are 24 elders who represent the church - us believers. And in the middle of their praise and their amazement they say this to Jesus Christ in Revelation 5:9-10 , "And they sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its' seals because You were slain and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God. And they will reign on the earth."
Man, in heaven they're celebrating nonstop the inconceivable price the Son of God paid for you and me, which brings us to that box of spare parts. How much of you have you given to this One who gave everything for you? This says that Jesus purchased men for God with His blood. A lot of us tend to divide our lives into compartments, and we've got a nice Jesus compartment. In that compartment we've got our Bible reading, our prayer, our church, and our ministry work.
But then there are all those other compartments; how we treat our family, how we treat our coworkers, here's what we do for fun, there's our music over there, here's our recreation, here's the websites we go to. And then there's the compartment for our business, our career, our love life, sexuality, our friends, our prized possessions. Those are the things that really matter to us.
When we heard the knock of Jesus on our heart, we said, "Come into my life, Lord." And maybe we give Him a compartment. In essence, we brought Him a gift-wrapped box filled with spare parts; the things that really didn't matter much to us. But this is Jesus, the King of kings. He's expecting to get what He paid so much for. Could it be Jesus is coming to you where you are right now and He's saying, "Please don't give Me the parts of your life you don't need anyway. I paid the whole price for you. I should get the whole product."
He could have stopped in the garden when He wanted to, but He didn't. He could have stopped when they were torturing Him, but He didn't. He could have stopped when He was agonizing on that cross, but He paid your death penalty instead. The old hymn writer said, "He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy the world and set Him free. But He died alone for you and me."
Remember, you are very expensive. God's one and only Son paid for you with His life. By the way, have you ever embraced this man who died for you as your only hope of a relationship with God, of having your sins forgiven and going to heaven? If you never have, you know one day God's going to ask you, "What did you do with My Son who died for you?" You need to be able to say, "I gave Him me."
If you never have, I would love to introduce you to Him and show you how that could begin. Join me at our website today, will you - ANewStory.com. Give Jesus what He paid for; all of you. He sure deserves more than spare parts.
When people are refused access to Christ by those closest to him, the result is empty, hollow religion. Ugly religion.
Hard to believe? Yet it happens—even in the church. It happens when a church spends more time discussing the style of its sanctuary than it does the needs of the hungry. It happens when a church is known more for its stance on an issue than its reliance upon God. It happens when we think Jesus has more important things to do than to be bothered by such insignificant people.
Christ thought otherwise. Jesus felt sorry for the blind men and touched their eyes, and at once they could see. In that moment, of all the people, it was the blind who really saw Jesus.
From And The Angels Were Silent
Esther 6
Mordecai Honored
That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. 2 It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
3 “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked.
“Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered.
4 The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him.
5 His attendants answered, “Haman is standing in the court.”
“Bring him in,” the king ordered.
6 When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?”
Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” 7 So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, 8 have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. 9 Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’”
10 “Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.”
11 So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”
12 Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, 13 and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.
His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him—you will surely come to ruin!” 14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 3:16-24
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Insight
Today’s reading establishes the benchmark for loving others by looking at what Jesus did for us on the cross (v.16). We know love because of the willingness of Jesus to die for us, and the necessary response to this love is that we be willing to give of ourselves for others. The context implies that this does not require a physical dying on another’s behalf. It does, however, challenge us to sacrifice our own interests for the welfare of others as evidence that we have received God’s love (v.17).
The Telltale Heart
February 5, 2014 — by David C. McCasland
If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. —1 John 3:20
Recently I read about a private investigator in the US who would knock on a door, show his badge to whoever answered, and say, “I guess we don’t have to tell you why we’re here.” Many times, the person would look stunned and say, “How did you find out?” then go on to describe an undiscovered criminal act committed long ago. Writing in Smithsonian magazine, Ron Rosenbaum described the reaction as “an opening for the primal force of conscience, the telltale heart’s internal monologue.”
We all know things about ourselves that no one else knows—failures, faults, sins—that although confessed to God and forgiven by Him may come back to accuse us again and again. John, one of Jesus’ close followers, wrote about God’s love for us and the call to follow His commands, saying: “By this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (1 John 3:19-20).
Our confidence toward God grows out of His love and forgiveness in Christ, not our performance in life. “We know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us” (v.24).
God, who knows everything about us, is greater than our self-condemnation.
No condemnation now I dread,
I am my Lord’s and He is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine. —Wesley
The one who receives Christ will never receive God’s condemnation.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 5, 2014
Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (1)
If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all—Philippians 2:17
Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer—to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him. I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have certain people watching me and saying, ’Well done.’ ”
It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat” under other people’s feet. God’s purpose may be to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased . . .” (Philippians 4:12). Are you ready to be sacrificed like that? Are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket—to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted—not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work while maintaining a saintly attitude, because they feel such service is beneath their dignity.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Spare Parts - #7063
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
This is probably going to take a little imagination; maybe a lot of imagination. Let's say you go to buy a new car and you're going to pay in cash. So, let's make up a number - $25,000 in cash. Is your imagination still going? OK, good! Now, the dealer stamps the invoice Paid In Full. He says it will be here in two weeks. You show up all excited about getting your new car and you say, "Here I am. Remember me?" He says, "Oh yeah! Sure!" And he gives you this gift-wrapped box, shakes your hand and walks away. You go, "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" He says, "No, open the box, I think you're going to like it." So you open it up and here's a new steering wheel, a new carburetor, and a new hub cap. You go, "Hey, wait, Buddy! These are just spare parts! I paid the full price! I should get the full product."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Spare Parts."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Revelation chapter 5. I think in many ways this is one of the most incredible chapters in the Bible. It pulls the curtain on heaven in John's vision and it reveals Christ in all His majesty as we seldom see Him in the Bible. This is not the Jesus of Bethlehem or the cross. This is Jesus as He is now; as we're going to meet Him one day.
In this vision there are 24 elders who represent the church - us believers. And in the middle of their praise and their amazement they say this to Jesus Christ in Revelation 5:9-10 , "And they sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its' seals because You were slain and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God. And they will reign on the earth."
Man, in heaven they're celebrating nonstop the inconceivable price the Son of God paid for you and me, which brings us to that box of spare parts. How much of you have you given to this One who gave everything for you? This says that Jesus purchased men for God with His blood. A lot of us tend to divide our lives into compartments, and we've got a nice Jesus compartment. In that compartment we've got our Bible reading, our prayer, our church, and our ministry work.
But then there are all those other compartments; how we treat our family, how we treat our coworkers, here's what we do for fun, there's our music over there, here's our recreation, here's the websites we go to. And then there's the compartment for our business, our career, our love life, sexuality, our friends, our prized possessions. Those are the things that really matter to us.
When we heard the knock of Jesus on our heart, we said, "Come into my life, Lord." And maybe we give Him a compartment. In essence, we brought Him a gift-wrapped box filled with spare parts; the things that really didn't matter much to us. But this is Jesus, the King of kings. He's expecting to get what He paid so much for. Could it be Jesus is coming to you where you are right now and He's saying, "Please don't give Me the parts of your life you don't need anyway. I paid the whole price for you. I should get the whole product."
He could have stopped in the garden when He wanted to, but He didn't. He could have stopped when they were torturing Him, but He didn't. He could have stopped when He was agonizing on that cross, but He paid your death penalty instead. The old hymn writer said, "He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy the world and set Him free. But He died alone for you and me."
Remember, you are very expensive. God's one and only Son paid for you with His life. By the way, have you ever embraced this man who died for you as your only hope of a relationship with God, of having your sins forgiven and going to heaven? If you never have, you know one day God's going to ask you, "What did you do with My Son who died for you?" You need to be able to say, "I gave Him me."
If you never have, I would love to introduce you to Him and show you how that could begin. Join me at our website today, will you - ANewStory.com. Give Jesus what He paid for; all of you. He sure deserves more than spare parts.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Revelation 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily:
The Son of Man
Matthew 20:28 says of Jesus, "The Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and give His life as a ransom for many people."
As a young boy, I read a Russian fable about a master and a servant who went on a journey. Before they reached their destination they were caught in a blizzard and lost their direction. When they were found the master was frozen to death, face down in the snow. When they lifted him they found the servant, cold but alive. The master had voluntarily placed himself on top of the servant so the servant could live.
Jesus did the same for you! Jesus wears a sovereign crown but he bears a father's heart. The King who suffers for the peasant, the Master who sacrifices himself for the servant. He is the Son of Man who came to serve and to give his life as a ransom-for you!
From And the Angels Were Silent
Revelation 13
The Beast out of the Sea
The dragon[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]
9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.
10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed[c] with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed.”[d]
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.
The Beast out of the Earth
11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[e] That number is 666.
Footnotes:
Revelation 13:1 Some manuscripts And I
Revelation 13:8 Or written from the creation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slain
Revelation 13:10 Some manuscripts anyone kills
Revelation 13:10 Jer. 15:2
Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s numbe
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
READ: Mark 12:28-34
The Greatest Commandment
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Footnotes:
Mark 12:29 Or The Lord our God is one Lord
Mark 12:30 Deut. 6:4,5
Mark 12:31 Lev. 19:18
Insight
Many Bible scholars believe that Mark’s gospel record was written primarily to a Roman audience. Part of the reason for this view is rooted in the fast-paced presentation of the story of Jesus with a focus on action and movement. Also contributing to this thinking is Mark’s occasional parenthetical explanations of Jewish practices that would likely have been foreign to the people of Rome. One example is seen in Mark 7:3-4, where the ceremonial washing of hands is described.
Our Daily Bread -- An Important Command
February 4, 2014
You shall love the your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. —Mark 12:30
When asked by a lawyer to identify the most important rule in life, Jesus replied, “You shall love the your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). In those words, Jesus summed up what God most desires from us.
I wonder how I can possibly learn to love God with all my heart, soul, and mind. Neal Plantinga remarks on a subtle change in this commandment as recorded in the New Testament. Deuteronomy charges us to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength (6:5). Jesus added the word . Plantinga explains, “You shall love God with everything you have and everything you are. Everything.”
That helps us change our perspective. As we learn to love God with everything, we begin to see our difficulties as “our light and momentary troubles”—just as the apostle Paul described his grueling ordeals. He had in mind a “far more exceeding and eternal . . . glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).
In the advanced school of prayer, where one loves God with the entire soul, doubts and struggles do not disappear, but their effect on us diminishes. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and our urgent questions recede as we learn to trust His ultimate goodness. —Philip Yancey
Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek; give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be:
More love, O Christ, to Thee. —Prentiss
The most treasured gift we can give to God is one that He can never force us to give—our love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 4, 2014
The Compelling Majesty of His Power
The love of Christ compels us . . . —2 Corinthians 5:14
Paul said that he was overpowered, subdued, and held as in a vise by “the love of Christ.” Very few of us really know what it means to be held in the grip of the love of God. We tend so often to be controlled simply by our own experience. The one thing that gripped and held Paul, to the exclusion of everything else, was the love of God. “The love of Christ compels us . . . .” When you hear that coming from the life of a man or woman it is unmistakable. You will know that the Spirit of God is completely unhindered in that person’s life.
When we are born again by the Spirit of God, our testimony is based solely on what God has done for us, and rightly so. But that will change and be removed forever once you “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . .” (Acts 1:8). Only then will you begin to realize what Jesus meant when He went on to say, “. . . you shall be witnesses to Me . . . .” Not witnesses to what Jesus can do— that is basic and understood— but “witnesses to Me . . . .” We will accept everything that happens as if it were happening to Him, whether we receive praise or blame, persecution or reward. No one is able to take this stand for Jesus Christ who is not totally compelled by the majesty of His power. It is the only thing that matters, and yet it is strange that it’s the last thing we as Christian workers realize. Paul said that he was gripped by the love of God and that is why he acted as he did. People could perceive him as mad or sane-he did not care. There was only one thing he lived for— to persuade people of the coming judgment of God and to tell them of “the love of Christ.” This total surrender to “the love of Christ” is the only thing that will bear fruit in your life. And it will always leave the mark of God’s holiness and His power, never drawing attention to your personal holiness.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Landing Hard - #7062
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
I've lost count of how many times I have landed in an airplane. But who would care? For the most part - routine landings - except for the ones that were unusually soft or unusually hard. In fact I experienced one of those hard landings not too long ago. We hit the runway let's say with authority.
Now, my neighbor in the seat next to me commented very matter-of-factly, "Navy pilot." When I asked him what he meant by that, he said, "Well, I've observed this over the years. The guys who are former Air Force pilots glide in because they're used to landing on big runways at big airports. But the former Navy pilots, they land hard. They're used to landing on ships in the middle of the ocean."
And that started me thinking, "Man, if all I had to land on was this little speck in a big ocean called a carrier, I'd land hard too." That's the smart thing to do when there's only one spot to land on.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Landing Hard."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 1, and I'm going to be reading verses 8 and 9. As I read, would you see if any of these phrases might sound familiar in your life? Here's what Paul says, "We do not want you to be uninformed about the hardships we suffered in the Province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."
Any of those phrases sound like anything you've been going through? Hardships, under great pressure, beyond your ability to endure, despairing even of life? He said, "In our hearts, man, we felt like we were dying the sentence of death." A dark time! In a sense, Paul has no place to land with his pain but one place, and that's why God allowed all the pain so his options would be limited to one. With only one place to land, Paul landed hard in the arms of God and he traded in self-reliance for God-reliance.
This talented, competent, successful, driven, well-educated man had to reach the end of himself to find out what God's power was like. And when he had only God to turn to, he said, "Man, that's when I learned who I was supposed to rely on." He traded in human strength for heaven's strength.
You can learn a lot from studying the people who got a miracle in Jesus' day. The Bible says in Mark chapter 1, "A man with leprosy came to Him and begged Him on his knees, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean.'" And then in Mark chapter 5, one of the synagogue rulers came. "Seeing Jesus, he fell at His feet and pleaded earnestly with Him." Now, this guy was a "big shot"; he was an official. And yet you see him pleading earnestly; falling at Jesus' feet.
And it says of the woman then who came to Jesus with a hemorrhaging problem she'd had for 12 years, "When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd, touched His cloak, because she thought, 'If I just touch His clothes I would be healed.'" You could just see her desperately pushing through the crowd. She's just lunging for Jesus.
See, people who got a miracle landed hard at Jesus' feet; totally powerless, grabbing Him as if He were their only hope. And their desperate faith released the power of God to change their situation. This is faith that doesn't just pray, "Dear God..." No, it prays urgently, "Oh, Lord." It lands hard.
Well, maybe you're running out of fuel and you've run out of places to land. There's one place left. You could land hard at the feet of Jesus Christ. You know, that's how you even begin a relationship with God. That's how you get your sins forgiven. That's how you trade hell for heaven, as you realize that there's nothing you can do to contribute to you getting to heaven; nothing you could do that would give you a relationship with God. And so, that's when you grab Jesus. You land hard in His arms and say, "Jesus, rescue me."
Maybe you've never done that and you'd like to. You'd like to know you belong to Him. I would like to show you how that could happen. I want to invite you to join me at our website, ANewStory.com. He wants you to pin all your hopes on Him. And when you do, you'll be ready to fly again.
The Son of Man
Matthew 20:28 says of Jesus, "The Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and give His life as a ransom for many people."
As a young boy, I read a Russian fable about a master and a servant who went on a journey. Before they reached their destination they were caught in a blizzard and lost their direction. When they were found the master was frozen to death, face down in the snow. When they lifted him they found the servant, cold but alive. The master had voluntarily placed himself on top of the servant so the servant could live.
Jesus did the same for you! Jesus wears a sovereign crown but he bears a father's heart. The King who suffers for the peasant, the Master who sacrifices himself for the servant. He is the Son of Man who came to serve and to give his life as a ransom-for you!
From And the Angels Were Silent
Revelation 13
The Beast out of the Sea
The dragon[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]
9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.
10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed[c] with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed.”[d]
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.
The Beast out of the Earth
11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[e] That number is 666.
Footnotes:
Revelation 13:1 Some manuscripts And I
Revelation 13:8 Or written from the creation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slain
Revelation 13:10 Some manuscripts anyone kills
Revelation 13:10 Jer. 15:2
Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s numbe
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
READ: Mark 12:28-34
The Greatest Commandment
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Footnotes:
Mark 12:29 Or The Lord our God is one Lord
Mark 12:30 Deut. 6:4,5
Mark 12:31 Lev. 19:18
Insight
Many Bible scholars believe that Mark’s gospel record was written primarily to a Roman audience. Part of the reason for this view is rooted in the fast-paced presentation of the story of Jesus with a focus on action and movement. Also contributing to this thinking is Mark’s occasional parenthetical explanations of Jewish practices that would likely have been foreign to the people of Rome. One example is seen in Mark 7:3-4, where the ceremonial washing of hands is described.
Our Daily Bread -- An Important Command
February 4, 2014
You shall love the your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. —Mark 12:30
When asked by a lawyer to identify the most important rule in life, Jesus replied, “You shall love the your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). In those words, Jesus summed up what God most desires from us.
I wonder how I can possibly learn to love God with all my heart, soul, and mind. Neal Plantinga remarks on a subtle change in this commandment as recorded in the New Testament. Deuteronomy charges us to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength (6:5). Jesus added the word . Plantinga explains, “You shall love God with everything you have and everything you are. Everything.”
That helps us change our perspective. As we learn to love God with everything, we begin to see our difficulties as “our light and momentary troubles”—just as the apostle Paul described his grueling ordeals. He had in mind a “far more exceeding and eternal . . . glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).
In the advanced school of prayer, where one loves God with the entire soul, doubts and struggles do not disappear, but their effect on us diminishes. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and our urgent questions recede as we learn to trust His ultimate goodness. —Philip Yancey
Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek; give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be:
More love, O Christ, to Thee. —Prentiss
The most treasured gift we can give to God is one that He can never force us to give—our love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 4, 2014
The Compelling Majesty of His Power
The love of Christ compels us . . . —2 Corinthians 5:14
Paul said that he was overpowered, subdued, and held as in a vise by “the love of Christ.” Very few of us really know what it means to be held in the grip of the love of God. We tend so often to be controlled simply by our own experience. The one thing that gripped and held Paul, to the exclusion of everything else, was the love of God. “The love of Christ compels us . . . .” When you hear that coming from the life of a man or woman it is unmistakable. You will know that the Spirit of God is completely unhindered in that person’s life.
When we are born again by the Spirit of God, our testimony is based solely on what God has done for us, and rightly so. But that will change and be removed forever once you “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . .” (Acts 1:8). Only then will you begin to realize what Jesus meant when He went on to say, “. . . you shall be witnesses to Me . . . .” Not witnesses to what Jesus can do— that is basic and understood— but “witnesses to Me . . . .” We will accept everything that happens as if it were happening to Him, whether we receive praise or blame, persecution or reward. No one is able to take this stand for Jesus Christ who is not totally compelled by the majesty of His power. It is the only thing that matters, and yet it is strange that it’s the last thing we as Christian workers realize. Paul said that he was gripped by the love of God and that is why he acted as he did. People could perceive him as mad or sane-he did not care. There was only one thing he lived for— to persuade people of the coming judgment of God and to tell them of “the love of Christ.” This total surrender to “the love of Christ” is the only thing that will bear fruit in your life. And it will always leave the mark of God’s holiness and His power, never drawing attention to your personal holiness.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Landing Hard - #7062
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
I've lost count of how many times I have landed in an airplane. But who would care? For the most part - routine landings - except for the ones that were unusually soft or unusually hard. In fact I experienced one of those hard landings not too long ago. We hit the runway let's say with authority.
Now, my neighbor in the seat next to me commented very matter-of-factly, "Navy pilot." When I asked him what he meant by that, he said, "Well, I've observed this over the years. The guys who are former Air Force pilots glide in because they're used to landing on big runways at big airports. But the former Navy pilots, they land hard. They're used to landing on ships in the middle of the ocean."
And that started me thinking, "Man, if all I had to land on was this little speck in a big ocean called a carrier, I'd land hard too." That's the smart thing to do when there's only one spot to land on.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Landing Hard."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 1, and I'm going to be reading verses 8 and 9. As I read, would you see if any of these phrases might sound familiar in your life? Here's what Paul says, "We do not want you to be uninformed about the hardships we suffered in the Province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."
Any of those phrases sound like anything you've been going through? Hardships, under great pressure, beyond your ability to endure, despairing even of life? He said, "In our hearts, man, we felt like we were dying the sentence of death." A dark time! In a sense, Paul has no place to land with his pain but one place, and that's why God allowed all the pain so his options would be limited to one. With only one place to land, Paul landed hard in the arms of God and he traded in self-reliance for God-reliance.
This talented, competent, successful, driven, well-educated man had to reach the end of himself to find out what God's power was like. And when he had only God to turn to, he said, "Man, that's when I learned who I was supposed to rely on." He traded in human strength for heaven's strength.
You can learn a lot from studying the people who got a miracle in Jesus' day. The Bible says in Mark chapter 1, "A man with leprosy came to Him and begged Him on his knees, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean.'" And then in Mark chapter 5, one of the synagogue rulers came. "Seeing Jesus, he fell at His feet and pleaded earnestly with Him." Now, this guy was a "big shot"; he was an official. And yet you see him pleading earnestly; falling at Jesus' feet.
And it says of the woman then who came to Jesus with a hemorrhaging problem she'd had for 12 years, "When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd, touched His cloak, because she thought, 'If I just touch His clothes I would be healed.'" You could just see her desperately pushing through the crowd. She's just lunging for Jesus.
See, people who got a miracle landed hard at Jesus' feet; totally powerless, grabbing Him as if He were their only hope. And their desperate faith released the power of God to change their situation. This is faith that doesn't just pray, "Dear God..." No, it prays urgently, "Oh, Lord." It lands hard.
Well, maybe you're running out of fuel and you've run out of places to land. There's one place left. You could land hard at the feet of Jesus Christ. You know, that's how you even begin a relationship with God. That's how you get your sins forgiven. That's how you trade hell for heaven, as you realize that there's nothing you can do to contribute to you getting to heaven; nothing you could do that would give you a relationship with God. And so, that's when you grab Jesus. You land hard in His arms and say, "Jesus, rescue me."
Maybe you've never done that and you'd like to. You'd like to know you belong to Him. I would like to show you how that could happen. I want to invite you to join me at our website, ANewStory.com. He wants you to pin all your hopes on Him. And when you do, you'll be ready to fly again.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Esther 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Passion for the Forgotten
A day late and a dollar short. One brick short of a load. You pick the phrase-the result is the same. Get told enough times that only the rotten fruit gets left in the bin, and you begin to believe it. You begin to believe you are "too little, too late."
God has a peculiar passion for the forgotten. Have you noticed? See his hand on the skin of the leper? See the face of the prostitute cupped in Jesus' hands? See him with his arm around little Zacchaeus? God wants us to get the message: What society puts out, God puts in. What the world writes off, God picks up.
Why did He pick you? He wanted to. After all, you are his, and he made you. No matter how long you've waited or how much time you've wasted, you are his and he has a place for you.
From And The Angels Were Silent
Esther 5
Esther’s Request to the King
On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. 2 When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
3 Then the king asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.”
4 “If it pleases the king,” replied Esther, “let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.”
5 “Bring Haman at once,” the king said, “so that we may do what Esther asks.”
So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. 6 As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, “Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”
7 Esther replied, “My petition and my request is this: 8 If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”
Haman’s Rage Against Mordecai
9 Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. 10 Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.
Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, 11 Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. 12 “And that’s not all,” Haman added. “I’m the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. 13 But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.”
14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a pole set up, reaching to a height of fifty cubits,[c] and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai impaled on it. Then go with the king to the banquet and enjoy yourself.” This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the pole set up.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 14:1-13
The Weak and the Strong
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”[b]
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
Footnotes:
Romans 14:10 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in verses 13, 15 and 21.
Romans 14:11 Isaiah 45:23
Insight
The judgment seat of Christ (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:9-10) is believed to speak of a time in the future when followers of Christ will be held accountable by the Savior for their lives lived in His name—resulting in either receiving rewards or losing rewards.
Resolve To Resolve
February 3, 2014 — by Julie Ackerman Link
Resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. —Romans 14:13
I haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions since 1975. I haven’t needed any new ones—I’m still working on old ones like these: write at least a short note in my journal every day; make a strong effort to read my Bible and pray each day; organize my time; try to keep my room clean (this was before I had a whole house to keep clean).
This year, however, I am adding a new resolution that I found in Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way” (14:13). Although this resolution is old (about 2,000 years), it is one that we should renew annually. Like believers in Rome centuries ago, believers today sometimes make up rules for others to follow and insist on adherence to certain behaviors and beliefs that the Bible says little or nothing about. These “stumbling blocks” make it difficult for followers of Jesus to continue in the way of faith that He came to show us—that salvation is by grace not works (Gal. 2:16). It requires only that we trust in His death and resurrection for forgiveness.
We can celebrate this good news of Christ in the coming year by resolving not to set up hurdles that cause people to stumble.
Thank You, Lord, that You sent the Holy Spirit
to do the work of convincing and convicting.
May I be content with my own assignment:
to do what leads to peace and edification.
Faith is the hand that receives God’s gift, then faith is the feet that walk with God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 3, 2014
Becoming the “Filth of the World”
We have been made as the filth of the world . . . —1 Corinthians 4:13
These words are not an exaggeration. The only reason they may not be true of us who call ourselves ministers of the gospel is not that Paul forgot or misunderstood the exact truth of them, but that we are too cautious and concerned about our own desires to allow ourselves to become the refuse or “filth of the world.” “Fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . .” (Colossians 1:24) is not the result of the holiness of sanctification, but the evidence of consecration-being “separated to the gospel of God . . .” (Romans 1:1).
“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you . . .” (1 Peter 4:12). If we do think the things we encounter are strange, it is because we are fearful and cowardly. We pay such close attention to our own interests and desires that we stay out of the mire and say, “I won’t submit; I won’t bow or bend.” And you don’t have to— you can be saved by the “skin of your teeth” if you like. You can refuse to let God count you as one who is “separated to the gospel . . . .” Or you can say, “I don’t care if I am treated like ’the filth of the world’ as long as the gospel is proclaimed.” A true servant of Jesus Christ is one who is willing to experience martyrdom for the reality of the gospel of God. When a moral person is confronted with contempt, immorality, disloyalty, or dishonesty, he is so repulsed by the offense that he turns away and in despair closes his heart to the offender. But the miracle of the redemptive reality of God is that the worst and the vilest offender can never exhaust the depths of His love. Paul did not say that God separated him to show what a wonderful man He could make of him, but “to reveal His Son in me. . .” (Galatians 1:16).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Nelson Mandela - And How To Be Free - #7061
It was on virtually every newscast, here and around the world - the death of Nelson Mandela. He, of course, was the first black president in South Africa, where the 90% black majority had never had the right to vote. Or many other basic human rights for that matter.
Four American Presidents, the head of the United Nations, the leaders of scores of nations; I mean, they all attended the memorial service to honor him.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Nelson Mandela - And How To Be Free."
Beyond all the tributes of those powerful people, Nelson Mandela actually has a message for me, and maybe for you, about how to be truly free. Because what changed his nation can help change ours. It can change our family. It could change a feud; a fractured relationship.
I remember when Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist by our government. But now, he is lauded as one of the great - maybe the greatest - leaders of our time. He was imprisoned when he finally resorted to violence to end apartheid; a policy that empowered 10% of the population to suppress the 90%. I visited South Africa during that time and, I'll tell you, it felt like a nation at war.
And, I was there after a worldwide outcry brought about Nelson Mandela's release after 27 years of crippling imprisonment. Within four years, the walls of apartheid came crashing down. And stunningly, Nelson Mandela had been elected the leader of his nation.
But the Mandela that came out of prison wasn't the same one who went in. The younger Mandela was full of hate and bitterness for what had been done to his people. But something happened; something that changed him - and ultimately saved a nation. He forgave. He said, "As I walked out the door toward that gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison."
That's powerful! See, unforgiveness means the very person who hurt us, in a sense, controls us with our permission. We can't stop thinking about them. We continually replay what they did to us, and then we insure that it will poison our present and our future. But forgiving cuts the rope that ties us to the hurts and the hurters of the past. As President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela was suddenly in the power position. He had the power to get even, to punish. But instead, he reached out to those who had been his "enemies", speaking their language, including them in his government, embracing one of the most despised symbols of the white-dominated past - the national rugby team.
And a nation that was poised to explode into a race war became a beacon of reconciliation. Nelson Mandela's journey to forgiveness was played out on a global stage. Mine isn't. But the stakes for me and my little personal world are just as high. Will I keep letting unforgiveness make me a prisoner of the pain of my past? Will I continue to risk poisoning the people close to me with the bitterness I'm harboring? Will I let the healing begin by trying to build a bridge where there's been a wall for a long time?
Poet Maya Angelou said in an interview, "It is a gift to yourself to forgive and I would say that Nelson Mandela's gift to the world was his ability to forgive." That's a gift we need to reach out for - and then we need to start giving it.
One man's forgiving may have saved a nation. You know, it can help save a marriage, a relationship with a parent or a child, a group, a church, an organization. See, forgiving is hard. Not forgiving is even harder. Unforgiveness is a prison. Forgiveness sets people free; most of all, the forgiver. I know the power of forgiveness, because I am the forgiven by someone I have sinned against over and over again. His name is Jesus. He paid a price for what I've done that went far beyond a prison sentence. He paid my death sentence.
The Bible says "He was pierced...crushed...His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man" (Isaiah 53:5, 6; 52:14). Beyond that was what happened in His soul when He was cut off from God the Father so I would never have to be. And "everyone who believes in Him (the Bible says) receives forgiveness of sins through His name" (Acts 10:43). That could happen for you today, if you would reach out and say, "Jesus, I claim you as my only possible rescuer from my sin. Would you erase from God's book every wrong thing I've ever done?" And then you experience the power of our word for today from the Word of God in Colossians 3:13, that says "forgive as the Lord forgave you."
You could be clean inside today. See, that's the new beginning miracle Jesus does for anyone who takes for themselves what He did on the cross. I'd love to help you meet the Great Forgiver today. Would you join me at ANewStory.com and find out how the new life starts.
A day late and a dollar short. One brick short of a load. You pick the phrase-the result is the same. Get told enough times that only the rotten fruit gets left in the bin, and you begin to believe it. You begin to believe you are "too little, too late."
God has a peculiar passion for the forgotten. Have you noticed? See his hand on the skin of the leper? See the face of the prostitute cupped in Jesus' hands? See him with his arm around little Zacchaeus? God wants us to get the message: What society puts out, God puts in. What the world writes off, God picks up.
Why did He pick you? He wanted to. After all, you are his, and he made you. No matter how long you've waited or how much time you've wasted, you are his and he has a place for you.
From And The Angels Were Silent
Esther 5
Esther’s Request to the King
On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. 2 When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
3 Then the king asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.”
4 “If it pleases the king,” replied Esther, “let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.”
5 “Bring Haman at once,” the king said, “so that we may do what Esther asks.”
So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. 6 As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, “Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”
7 Esther replied, “My petition and my request is this: 8 If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”
Haman’s Rage Against Mordecai
9 Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. 10 Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.
Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, 11 Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. 12 “And that’s not all,” Haman added. “I’m the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. 13 But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.”
14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a pole set up, reaching to a height of fifty cubits,[c] and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai impaled on it. Then go with the king to the banquet and enjoy yourself.” This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the pole set up.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 14:1-13
The Weak and the Strong
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”[b]
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
Footnotes:
Romans 14:10 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in verses 13, 15 and 21.
Romans 14:11 Isaiah 45:23
Insight
The judgment seat of Christ (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:9-10) is believed to speak of a time in the future when followers of Christ will be held accountable by the Savior for their lives lived in His name—resulting in either receiving rewards or losing rewards.
Resolve To Resolve
February 3, 2014 — by Julie Ackerman Link
Resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. —Romans 14:13
I haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions since 1975. I haven’t needed any new ones—I’m still working on old ones like these: write at least a short note in my journal every day; make a strong effort to read my Bible and pray each day; organize my time; try to keep my room clean (this was before I had a whole house to keep clean).
This year, however, I am adding a new resolution that I found in Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way” (14:13). Although this resolution is old (about 2,000 years), it is one that we should renew annually. Like believers in Rome centuries ago, believers today sometimes make up rules for others to follow and insist on adherence to certain behaviors and beliefs that the Bible says little or nothing about. These “stumbling blocks” make it difficult for followers of Jesus to continue in the way of faith that He came to show us—that salvation is by grace not works (Gal. 2:16). It requires only that we trust in His death and resurrection for forgiveness.
We can celebrate this good news of Christ in the coming year by resolving not to set up hurdles that cause people to stumble.
Thank You, Lord, that You sent the Holy Spirit
to do the work of convincing and convicting.
May I be content with my own assignment:
to do what leads to peace and edification.
Faith is the hand that receives God’s gift, then faith is the feet that walk with God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 3, 2014
Becoming the “Filth of the World”
We have been made as the filth of the world . . . —1 Corinthians 4:13
These words are not an exaggeration. The only reason they may not be true of us who call ourselves ministers of the gospel is not that Paul forgot or misunderstood the exact truth of them, but that we are too cautious and concerned about our own desires to allow ourselves to become the refuse or “filth of the world.” “Fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . .” (Colossians 1:24) is not the result of the holiness of sanctification, but the evidence of consecration-being “separated to the gospel of God . . .” (Romans 1:1).
“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you . . .” (1 Peter 4:12). If we do think the things we encounter are strange, it is because we are fearful and cowardly. We pay such close attention to our own interests and desires that we stay out of the mire and say, “I won’t submit; I won’t bow or bend.” And you don’t have to— you can be saved by the “skin of your teeth” if you like. You can refuse to let God count you as one who is “separated to the gospel . . . .” Or you can say, “I don’t care if I am treated like ’the filth of the world’ as long as the gospel is proclaimed.” A true servant of Jesus Christ is one who is willing to experience martyrdom for the reality of the gospel of God. When a moral person is confronted with contempt, immorality, disloyalty, or dishonesty, he is so repulsed by the offense that he turns away and in despair closes his heart to the offender. But the miracle of the redemptive reality of God is that the worst and the vilest offender can never exhaust the depths of His love. Paul did not say that God separated him to show what a wonderful man He could make of him, but “to reveal His Son in me. . .” (Galatians 1:16).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Nelson Mandela - And How To Be Free - #7061
It was on virtually every newscast, here and around the world - the death of Nelson Mandela. He, of course, was the first black president in South Africa, where the 90% black majority had never had the right to vote. Or many other basic human rights for that matter.
Four American Presidents, the head of the United Nations, the leaders of scores of nations; I mean, they all attended the memorial service to honor him.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Nelson Mandela - And How To Be Free."
Beyond all the tributes of those powerful people, Nelson Mandela actually has a message for me, and maybe for you, about how to be truly free. Because what changed his nation can help change ours. It can change our family. It could change a feud; a fractured relationship.
I remember when Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist by our government. But now, he is lauded as one of the great - maybe the greatest - leaders of our time. He was imprisoned when he finally resorted to violence to end apartheid; a policy that empowered 10% of the population to suppress the 90%. I visited South Africa during that time and, I'll tell you, it felt like a nation at war.
And, I was there after a worldwide outcry brought about Nelson Mandela's release after 27 years of crippling imprisonment. Within four years, the walls of apartheid came crashing down. And stunningly, Nelson Mandela had been elected the leader of his nation.
But the Mandela that came out of prison wasn't the same one who went in. The younger Mandela was full of hate and bitterness for what had been done to his people. But something happened; something that changed him - and ultimately saved a nation. He forgave. He said, "As I walked out the door toward that gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison."
That's powerful! See, unforgiveness means the very person who hurt us, in a sense, controls us with our permission. We can't stop thinking about them. We continually replay what they did to us, and then we insure that it will poison our present and our future. But forgiving cuts the rope that ties us to the hurts and the hurters of the past. As President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela was suddenly in the power position. He had the power to get even, to punish. But instead, he reached out to those who had been his "enemies", speaking their language, including them in his government, embracing one of the most despised symbols of the white-dominated past - the national rugby team.
And a nation that was poised to explode into a race war became a beacon of reconciliation. Nelson Mandela's journey to forgiveness was played out on a global stage. Mine isn't. But the stakes for me and my little personal world are just as high. Will I keep letting unforgiveness make me a prisoner of the pain of my past? Will I continue to risk poisoning the people close to me with the bitterness I'm harboring? Will I let the healing begin by trying to build a bridge where there's been a wall for a long time?
Poet Maya Angelou said in an interview, "It is a gift to yourself to forgive and I would say that Nelson Mandela's gift to the world was his ability to forgive." That's a gift we need to reach out for - and then we need to start giving it.
One man's forgiving may have saved a nation. You know, it can help save a marriage, a relationship with a parent or a child, a group, a church, an organization. See, forgiving is hard. Not forgiving is even harder. Unforgiveness is a prison. Forgiveness sets people free; most of all, the forgiver. I know the power of forgiveness, because I am the forgiven by someone I have sinned against over and over again. His name is Jesus. He paid a price for what I've done that went far beyond a prison sentence. He paid my death sentence.
The Bible says "He was pierced...crushed...His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man" (Isaiah 53:5, 6; 52:14). Beyond that was what happened in His soul when He was cut off from God the Father so I would never have to be. And "everyone who believes in Him (the Bible says) receives forgiveness of sins through His name" (Acts 10:43). That could happen for you today, if you would reach out and say, "Jesus, I claim you as my only possible rescuer from my sin. Would you erase from God's book every wrong thing I've ever done?" And then you experience the power of our word for today from the Word of God in Colossians 3:13, that says "forgive as the Lord forgave you."
You could be clean inside today. See, that's the new beginning miracle Jesus does for anyone who takes for themselves what He did on the cross. I'd love to help you meet the Great Forgiver today. Would you join me at ANewStory.com and find out how the new life starts.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Esther 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily:
Max Lucado Daily: Spiritual Life
“Human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from the Spirit.” John 3:6
Spiritual life comes from the Spirit! Your parents may have given you genes, but God gives you grace. Your parents may be responsible for your body, but God has taken charge of your soul. You may get your looks from your mother, but you get eternity from your Father, your heavenly Father.
Esther 4
Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help
When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
17 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: James 4:11-17
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[a] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Footnotes:
James 4:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.
Insight
Many Bible teachers consider the book of James to be the New Testament parallel to the Old Testament book of Proverbs. This is because James offers a significant amount of practical wisdom for day-to-day living. This includes wisdom on how to respond to trials, how to approach the Scriptures, and how to deal fairly with one another. It also addresses the challenge of controlling our speech, understanding God’s purposes, and enduring life’s difficult times. Very practical words for very practical life situations.
Guidance Needed
February 2, 2014 — by Bill Crowder
When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. —John 16:13
St. Nicholas Church in Galway, Ireland, has both a long history and an active present. It’s the oldest church in Ireland, and it provides guidance in a very practical way. The church towers over the town, and its steeple is used by ships’ captains as a guide for navigating their way safely into Galway Bay. For centuries, this church has reliably pointed the way home for sailors.
We can all certainly identify with the need for guidance. In fact, Jesus addressed this very need during His Upper Room Discourse. He said that after His departure the Holy Spirit would play a crucial role in the lives of believers. As part of that role, Jesus promised, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
What a marvelous provision! In a world of confusion and fear, guidance is often needed. We can easily be misdirected by the culture around us or by the brokenness within us (1 John 2:15-17). God’s Spirit, however, is here to help, to direct, and to guide. How thankful we can be that the Spirit of truth has come to give us the guidance that we often so desperately need. Set your course by His life, and you will reach safe harbor.
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand. —Williams
The Spirit is a reliable guide in all of life’s seas.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 2, 2014
The Compelling Force of the Call
Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16
Beware of refusing to hear the call of God. Everyone who is saved is called to testify to the fact of his salvation. That, however, is not the same as the call to preach, but is merely an illustration which can be used in preaching. In this verse, Paul was referring to the stinging pains produced in him by the compelling force of the call to preach the gospel. Never try to apply what Paul said regarding the call to preach to those souls who are being called to God for salvation. There is nothing easier than getting saved, because it is solely God’s sovereign work— “Look to Me, and be saved . . .” (Isaiah 45:22). Our Lord never requires the same conditions for discipleship that he requires for salvation. We are condemned to salvation through the Cross of Christ. But discipleship has an option with it-”If anyone . . .” (Luke 14:26).
Paul’s words have to do with our being made servants of Jesus Christ, and our permission is never asked as to what we will do or where we will go. God makes us as broken bread and poured-out wine to please Himself. To be “separated to the gospel” means being able to hear the call of God (Romans 1:1). Once someone begins to hear that call, a suffering worthy of the name of Christ is produced. Suddenly, every ambition, every desire of life, and every outlook is completely blotted out and extinguished. Only one thing remains— “. . . separated to the gospel. . . .” Woe be to the soul who tries to head in any other direction once that call has come to him. The Bible Training College exists so that each of you may know whether or not God has a man or woman here who truly cares about proclaiming His gospel and to see if God grips you for this purpose. Beware of competing calls once the call of God grips you.
Max Lucado Daily: Spiritual Life
“Human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from the Spirit.” John 3:6
Spiritual life comes from the Spirit! Your parents may have given you genes, but God gives you grace. Your parents may be responsible for your body, but God has taken charge of your soul. You may get your looks from your mother, but you get eternity from your Father, your heavenly Father.
Esther 4
Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help
When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
17 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: James 4:11-17
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[a] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Footnotes:
James 4:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.
Insight
Many Bible teachers consider the book of James to be the New Testament parallel to the Old Testament book of Proverbs. This is because James offers a significant amount of practical wisdom for day-to-day living. This includes wisdom on how to respond to trials, how to approach the Scriptures, and how to deal fairly with one another. It also addresses the challenge of controlling our speech, understanding God’s purposes, and enduring life’s difficult times. Very practical words for very practical life situations.
Guidance Needed
February 2, 2014 — by Bill Crowder
When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. —John 16:13
St. Nicholas Church in Galway, Ireland, has both a long history and an active present. It’s the oldest church in Ireland, and it provides guidance in a very practical way. The church towers over the town, and its steeple is used by ships’ captains as a guide for navigating their way safely into Galway Bay. For centuries, this church has reliably pointed the way home for sailors.
We can all certainly identify with the need for guidance. In fact, Jesus addressed this very need during His Upper Room Discourse. He said that after His departure the Holy Spirit would play a crucial role in the lives of believers. As part of that role, Jesus promised, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
What a marvelous provision! In a world of confusion and fear, guidance is often needed. We can easily be misdirected by the culture around us or by the brokenness within us (1 John 2:15-17). God’s Spirit, however, is here to help, to direct, and to guide. How thankful we can be that the Spirit of truth has come to give us the guidance that we often so desperately need. Set your course by His life, and you will reach safe harbor.
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand. —Williams
The Spirit is a reliable guide in all of life’s seas.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 2, 2014
The Compelling Force of the Call
Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16
Beware of refusing to hear the call of God. Everyone who is saved is called to testify to the fact of his salvation. That, however, is not the same as the call to preach, but is merely an illustration which can be used in preaching. In this verse, Paul was referring to the stinging pains produced in him by the compelling force of the call to preach the gospel. Never try to apply what Paul said regarding the call to preach to those souls who are being called to God for salvation. There is nothing easier than getting saved, because it is solely God’s sovereign work— “Look to Me, and be saved . . .” (Isaiah 45:22). Our Lord never requires the same conditions for discipleship that he requires for salvation. We are condemned to salvation through the Cross of Christ. But discipleship has an option with it-”If anyone . . .” (Luke 14:26).
Paul’s words have to do with our being made servants of Jesus Christ, and our permission is never asked as to what we will do or where we will go. God makes us as broken bread and poured-out wine to please Himself. To be “separated to the gospel” means being able to hear the call of God (Romans 1:1). Once someone begins to hear that call, a suffering worthy of the name of Christ is produced. Suddenly, every ambition, every desire of life, and every outlook is completely blotted out and extinguished. Only one thing remains— “. . . separated to the gospel. . . .” Woe be to the soul who tries to head in any other direction once that call has come to him. The Bible Training College exists so that each of you may know whether or not God has a man or woman here who truly cares about proclaiming His gospel and to see if God grips you for this purpose. Beware of competing calls once the call of God grips you.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Esther 3 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Max Lucado Daily: Just Like Jesus
When they were young, my daughters loved playing “dress-up.” They’d put on their mom’s shoes, fill up a grown-up purse with crayons and pretend grown-up scenarios. For the moment, they wanted to be just like mom.
Don’t we do the same? We look at ourselves, with our immaturity, our sinfulness, and we want to clothe ourselves in something better. We want to be just like Jesus. This seems like an impossible goal until we accept one simple truth: God will help us. He loves us. Not only does God love each of us exactly as we are, but he wants us, little by little, to become like him. Why? Because he wants us to have a heart like his.
Need to hear that message a few more times? Don’t we all? God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way! He wants you to be just like Jesus!
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26).
From Just Like Jesus
Esther 3
Haman’s Plot to Destroy the Jews
After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. 2 All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.
3 Then the royal officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s command?” 4 Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. 6 Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
7 In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur (that is, the lot) was cast in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on[a] the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
8 Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents[b] of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”
10 So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 “Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.”
12 Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. 13 Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.
15 The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Samuel 1:9-20
Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”
18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,[a] saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”
Footnotes:
1 Samuel 1:20 Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard by God.
Heard By God
February 1, 2014 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Hannah spoke in her heart; . . . her voice was not heard. —1 Samuel 1:13
After reading several children’s books with my daughter, I told her that I was going to read a grown-up book for a while and then we would look at books together again. I opened the cover and began to read in silence. A few minutes later, she looked at me doubtfully and said, “Mommy, you aren’t really reading.” She assumed that since I wasn’t speaking, I wasn’t processing the words.
Like reading, prayer can be silent. Hannah, who longed for a child of her own, visited the temple and “spoke in her heart” as she prayed. Her lips were moving, but “her voice was not heard” (1 Sam. 1:13). Eli the priest saw but misunderstood what was happening. She explained, “I . . . have poured out my soul before the Lord” (v.15). God heard Hannah’s silent prayer request and gave her a son (v.20).
Since God searches our hearts and minds (Jer. 17:10), He sees and hears every prayer—even the ones that never escape our lips. His all-knowing nature makes it possible for us to pray with full confidence that He will hear and answer (Matt. 6:8,32). Because of this, we can continually praise God, ask Him for help, and thank Him for blessings—even when no one else can hear us.
Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known. —Walford
God fills our heart with peace when we pour out our heart to Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 1, 2014
The Call of God
Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel . . . —1 Corinthians 1:17
Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But remember what Paul means by “the gospel,” namely, the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are inclined to make sanctification the goal of our preaching. Paul refers to personal experiences only by way of illustration, never as the end of the matter. We are not commissioned to preach salvation or sanctification— we are commissioned to lift up Jesus Christ (see John 12:32). It is an injustice to say that Jesus Christ labored in redemption to make me a saint. Jesus Christ labored in redemption to redeem the whole world and to place it perfectly whole and restored before the throne of God. The fact that we can experience redemption illustrates the power of its reality, but that experience is a byproduct and not the goal of redemption. If God were human, how sick and tired He would be of the constant requests we make for our salvation and for our sanctification. We burden His energies from morning till night asking for things for ourselves or for something from which we want to be delivered! When we finally touch the underlying foundation of the reality of the gospel of God, we will never bother Him anymore with little personal complaints.
The one passion of Paul’s life was to proclaim the gospel of God. He welcomed heartbreak, disillusionment, and tribulation for only one reason— these things kept him unmovable in his devotion to the gospel of God.
When they were young, my daughters loved playing “dress-up.” They’d put on their mom’s shoes, fill up a grown-up purse with crayons and pretend grown-up scenarios. For the moment, they wanted to be just like mom.
Don’t we do the same? We look at ourselves, with our immaturity, our sinfulness, and we want to clothe ourselves in something better. We want to be just like Jesus. This seems like an impossible goal until we accept one simple truth: God will help us. He loves us. Not only does God love each of us exactly as we are, but he wants us, little by little, to become like him. Why? Because he wants us to have a heart like his.
Need to hear that message a few more times? Don’t we all? God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way! He wants you to be just like Jesus!
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26).
From Just Like Jesus
Esther 3
Haman’s Plot to Destroy the Jews
After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. 2 All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.
3 Then the royal officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s command?” 4 Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. 6 Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
7 In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur (that is, the lot) was cast in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on[a] the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
8 Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents[b] of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”
10 So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 “Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.”
12 Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. 13 Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.
15 The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Samuel 1:9-20
Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”
18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,[a] saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”
Footnotes:
1 Samuel 1:20 Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard by God.
Heard By God
February 1, 2014 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Hannah spoke in her heart; . . . her voice was not heard. —1 Samuel 1:13
After reading several children’s books with my daughter, I told her that I was going to read a grown-up book for a while and then we would look at books together again. I opened the cover and began to read in silence. A few minutes later, she looked at me doubtfully and said, “Mommy, you aren’t really reading.” She assumed that since I wasn’t speaking, I wasn’t processing the words.
Like reading, prayer can be silent. Hannah, who longed for a child of her own, visited the temple and “spoke in her heart” as she prayed. Her lips were moving, but “her voice was not heard” (1 Sam. 1:13). Eli the priest saw but misunderstood what was happening. She explained, “I . . . have poured out my soul before the Lord” (v.15). God heard Hannah’s silent prayer request and gave her a son (v.20).
Since God searches our hearts and minds (Jer. 17:10), He sees and hears every prayer—even the ones that never escape our lips. His all-knowing nature makes it possible for us to pray with full confidence that He will hear and answer (Matt. 6:8,32). Because of this, we can continually praise God, ask Him for help, and thank Him for blessings—even when no one else can hear us.
Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known. —Walford
God fills our heart with peace when we pour out our heart to Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 1, 2014
The Call of God
Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel . . . —1 Corinthians 1:17
Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But remember what Paul means by “the gospel,” namely, the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are inclined to make sanctification the goal of our preaching. Paul refers to personal experiences only by way of illustration, never as the end of the matter. We are not commissioned to preach salvation or sanctification— we are commissioned to lift up Jesus Christ (see John 12:32). It is an injustice to say that Jesus Christ labored in redemption to make me a saint. Jesus Christ labored in redemption to redeem the whole world and to place it perfectly whole and restored before the throne of God. The fact that we can experience redemption illustrates the power of its reality, but that experience is a byproduct and not the goal of redemption. If God were human, how sick and tired He would be of the constant requests we make for our salvation and for our sanctification. We burden His energies from morning till night asking for things for ourselves or for something from which we want to be delivered! When we finally touch the underlying foundation of the reality of the gospel of God, we will never bother Him anymore with little personal complaints.
The one passion of Paul’s life was to proclaim the gospel of God. He welcomed heartbreak, disillusionment, and tribulation for only one reason— these things kept him unmovable in his devotion to the gospel of God.
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