Max Lucado Daily:THE THIEF ON THE CROSS
Much has been said about the prayer of the penitent thief on the cross next to Jesus. But dare we forget the one who didn’t pray? He offered no request. He, too, could have requested mercy. He, too could have asked Jesus to remember him in the new kingdom. But he didn’t. He offered no prayer of repentance. And Jesus didn’t demand one.
Jesus gave both criminals the same choice. One said “remember me.” The other said nothing. There are times when God sends thunder to stir us. There are times when God sends blessings to lure us. But then there are times when God sends nothing but silence as he honors us with the freedom to choose where we spend eternity.
From He Chose the Nails
Philemon
1-3 I, Paul, am a prisoner for the sake of Christ, here with my brother Timothy. I write this letter to you, Philemon, my good friend and companion in this work—also to our sister Apphia, to Archippus, a real trooper, and to the church that meets in your house. God’s best to you! Christ’s blessings on you!
4-7 Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, “Oh, thank you, God!” I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to other believers. And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it. Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel, doubly so when I see your hospitality to fellow believers.
To Call the Slave Your Friend
8-9 In line with all this I have a favor to ask of you. As Christ’s ambassador and now a prisoner for him, I wouldn’t hesitate to command this if I thought it necessary, but I’d rather make it a personal request.
10-14 While here in jail, I’ve fathered a child, so to speak. And here he is, hand-carrying this letter—Onesimus! He was useless to you before; now he’s useful to both of us. I’m sending him back to you, but it feels like I’m cutting off my right arm in doing so. I wanted in the worst way to keep him here as your stand-in to help out while I’m in jail for the Message. But I didn’t want to do anything behind your back, make you do a good deed that you hadn’t willingly agreed to.
15-16 Maybe it’s all for the best that you lost him for a while. You’re getting him back now for good—and no mere slave this time, but a true Christian brother! That’s what he was to me—he’ll be even more than that to you.
17-20 So if you still consider me a comrade-in-arms, welcome him back as you would me. If he damaged anything or owes you anything, chalk it up to my account. This is my personal signature—Paul—and I stand behind it. (I don’t need to remind you, do I, that you owe your very life to me?) Do me this big favor, friend. You’ll be doing it for Christ, but it will also do my heart good.
21-22 I know you well enough to know you will. You’ll probably go far beyond what I’ve written. And by the way, get a room ready for me. Because of your prayers, I fully expect to be your guest again.
23-25 Epaphras, my cellmate in the cause of Christ, says hello. Also my coworkers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. All the best to you from the Master, Jesus Christ!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, April 07, 2017
Read: 1 Chronicles 17:1-20
The Lord’s Covenant Promise to David
When David was settled in his palace, he summoned Nathan the prophet. “Look,” David said, “I am living in a beautiful cedar palace,[a] but the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant is out there under a tent!”
2 Nathan replied to David, “Do whatever you have in mind, for God is with you.”
3 But that same night God said to Nathan,
4 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord has declared: You are not the one to build a house for me to live in. 5 I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. My home has always been a tent, moving from one place to another in a Tabernacle. 6 Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel’s leaders, the shepherds of my people. I have never asked them, “Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar house?”’
7 “Now go and say to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I took you from tending sheep in the pasture and selected you to be the leader of my people Israel. 8 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before your eyes. Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth! 9 And I will provide a homeland for my people Israel, planting them in a secure place where they will never be disturbed. Evil nations won’t oppress them as they’ve done in the past, 10 starting from the time I appointed judges to rule my people Israel. And I will defeat all your enemies.
“‘Furthermore, I declare that the Lord will build a house for you—a dynasty of kings! 11 For when you die and join your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong. 12 He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for me. And I will secure his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my favor from him as I took it from the one who ruled before you. 14 I will confirm him as king over my house and my kingdom for all time, and his throne will be secure forever.’”
15 So Nathan went back to David and told him everything the Lord had said in this vision.
David’s Prayer of Thanks
16 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed,
“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 17 And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great,[b] O Lord God!
18 “What more can I say to you about the way you have honored me? You know what your servant is really like. 19 For the sake of your servant, O Lord, and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known.
20 “O Lord, there is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you!
Footnotes:
17:1 Hebrew a house of cedar.
17:17 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
His Plans or Ours?
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
“Who am I, Lord God . . . that you have brought me this far?” 1 Chronicles 17:16
When my husband was 18 years old, he started a car-cleaning business. He rented a garage, hired helpers, and created advertising brochures. The business prospered. His intention was to sell it and use the proceeds to pay for college, so he was thrilled when a buyer expressed interest. After some negotiations, it seemed that the transaction would happen. But at the last minute, the deal collapsed. It wouldn’t be until several months later that his plan to sell the business would succeed.
It’s normal to be disappointed when God’s timing and design for our lives do not match our expectations. When David wanted to build the Lord’s temple, he had the right motives, the leadership ability, and the resources. Yet God said he could not undertake the project because he had killed too many people in battle (1 Chron. 22:8).
True satisfaction is found in yielding ourselves to the will of God.
David could have shaken his fist at the sky in anger. He could have pouted or plowed ahead with his own plans. But he humbly said, “Who am I, Lord God . . . that you have brought me this far?” (17:16). David went on to praise God and affirm his devotion to Him. He valued his relationship with God more than his ambition.
What is more important—achieving our hopes and dreams, or our love for God?
Dear heavenly Father, I commit all of my plans to You. Thank You for bringing me this far. You mean more to me than anything in the world.
True satisfaction is found in yielding ourselves to the will of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 07, 2017
Why We Lack Understanding
He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. —Mark 9:9
As the disciples were commanded, you should also say nothing until the Son of Man has risen in you— until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth. When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you were not able to understand them before because you had not yet developed the proper spiritual condition to deal with them.
Our Lord doesn’t hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life. Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His Word is becoming understandable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we don’t have His Spirit. And our own unyielding and headstrong opinions will effectively prevent God from revealing anything to us. But our insensible thinking will end immediately once His resurrection life has its way with us.
“…tell no one….” But so many people do tell what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration— their mountaintop experience. They have seen a vision and they testify to it, but there is no connection between what they say and how they live. Their lives don’t add up because the Son of Man has not yet risen in them. How long will it be before His resurrection life is formed and evident in you and in me?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly. Disciples Indeed, 393 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 07, 2017
The Hypocrite Hang-up - #7890
Seven years of junior high band concerts. Yep, that was the special joy Karen and I had since all three of the Hutchcraft kids were in junior high band. Oh, it wasn't always a supreme musical experience, but hey, it's our kids, right? Let's imagine you have never heard of the brilliant composer Ludwig von Beethoven before. And I say to you, "Beethoven was a genius. His music is some of the most beautiful ever written." You're a little skeptical because you've never heard any of his music, but "I suggest a way you could remedy that. See, the junior high band is having a concert this week, and they're performing Beethoven's 9th Symphony." So you go, and you come back to me and you say, "I thought you said this Beethoven guy was a genius! I just heard his music. It wasn't brilliant!" Now what's the problem here? It isn't Beethoven-it's the way the band played his music. Just because they don't play his music well doesn't mean the man who wrote the music wasn't a genius!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Hypocrite Hang-up."
I've devoted my life to telling people about the Genius who can harmonize our lives, who wrote the music that's supposed to guide everything we do. His name is Jesus. But many people-maybe you-can't bring themselves to a point where they'll put their trust in Jesus Christ to be their own personal Savior from their personal sin. And one of the biggest reasons? Christians who are hypocrites. Maybe some hypocrites you know have been a major roadblock in your considering Christ.
That's why I'm so glad for today's word for today from the Word of God, where Jesus clarifies what, and who, is the real issue in this whole Christian thing. Mark 2:14, our word for today from the Word of God, "As Jesus walked along, He saw Levi sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow Me', Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed Him."
Jesus sums up here the central decision we all have to make by issuing a clear, two-word invitation that He gave to many people: "Follow Me." Jesus basically is saying, "I'm the issue. Your decision is about me." He repeated that invitation so many times when He was here on earth. And I think He's extending it to you today.
As for those Christians who aren't a very good advertisement-well, they're like that junior high band trying to play the Beethoven symphony. Unfortunately, some of us don't play Jesus' music very well. But it has nothing to do with Jesus. He's still the Genius who forgives our failures, who loves us with a "never leave you" love. He promised, "I'll never leave you." And who can take us to heaven when we die because He walked out of his grave and conquered death.
Jesus never said, "Follow My followers." He never said, "Follow My leaders," or "Follow My religion" or "Follow My rules." He said, "Follow Me." The only reason not to be a Christian is if you have something against Jesus. And there wasn't a trace of hypocrisy in Him.
All that's going to matter when you keep your appointment with God is what you did with Jesus, God's one and only Son who died on the cross to pay...not for His sins, but for yours. Honestly, there's just no place to hide when it comes to Jesus. Either you commit yourself to this Man who died for you or you turn your back on Him and you walk away.
It's all about Jesus. And maybe you're ready to surrender all the baggage that has kept you from experiencing His love for yourself. Forget all those people that in your mind are between you and Him. It's Jesus and you, because it's Jesus you're trusting, not Christianity, not Christians. Maybe you're ready to begin this relationship you were created for. I hope you are.
Well, tell Him that, "Jesus, I'm yours." And please go to our website. It's called ANewStory.com. And there I think if you give me just a few minutes, I can walk you through how to be sure you are now belonging to Jesus Christ.
On Judgment Day, it will just be you and Jesus. Today it's you and Jesus. There's an old hymn that says this: "What will you do with Jesus? Neutral you cannot be. For someday your heart will be asking, 'What will He do with me?'"
Friday, April 7, 2017
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Daniel 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: JESUS HIMSELF CHOSE THE NAILS
God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, can’t be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins hidden. “He has forgiven you all your sins: he has utterly wiped out the written evidence. . .and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14 Phillips).
He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you, and since he couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails. The verdict behind the death was not decided by jealous Jews. With a flex of the biceps, Jesus could have resisted. Jesus himself chose the nails. He knew that the purpose of the nail was to place your sins where they could be hidden by his sacrifice—nailed to the cross; covered by his blood.
From He Chose the Nails
Daniel 10
A Vision of a Big War
In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, a message was made plain to Daniel, whose Babylonian name was Belteshazzar. The message was true. It dealt with a big war. He understood the message, the understanding coming by revelation:
2-3 “During those days, I, Daniel, went into mourning over Jerusalem for three weeks. I ate only plain and simple food, no seasoning or meat or wine. I neither bathed nor shaved until the three weeks were up.
4-6 “On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris. I looked up and to my surprise saw a man dressed in linen with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body was hard and glistening, as if sculpted from a precious stone, his face radiant, his eyes bright and penetrating like torches, his arms and feet glistening like polished bronze, and his voice, deep and resonant, sounded like a huge choir of voices.
7-8 “I, Daniel, was the only one to see this. The men who were with me, although they didn’t see it, were overcome with fear and ran off and hid, fearing the worst. Left alone after the appearance, abandoned by my friends, I went weak in the knees, the blood drained from my face.
9-10 “I heard his voice. At the sound of it I fainted, fell flat on the ground, face in the dirt. A hand touched me and pulled me to my hands and knees.
11 “‘Daniel,’ he said, ‘man of quality, listen carefully to my message. And get up on your feet. Stand at attention. I’ve been sent to bring you news.’
“When he had said this, I stood up, but I was still shaking.
12-14 “‘Relax, Daniel,’ he continued, ‘don’t be afraid. From the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard, and I set out to come to you. But I was waylaid by the angel-prince of the kingdom of Persia and was delayed for a good three weeks. But then Michael, one of the chief angel-princes, intervened to help me. I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. And now I’m here to help you understand what will eventually happen to your people. The vision has to do with what’s ahead.’
15-17 “While he was saying all this, I looked at the ground and said nothing. Then I was surprised by something like a human hand that touched my lips. I opened my mouth and started talking to the messenger: ‘When I saw you, master, I was terror-stricken. My knees turned to water. I couldn’t move. How can I, a lowly servant, speak to you, my master? I’m paralyzed. I can hardly breathe!’
18-19 “Then this humanlike figure touched me again and gave me strength. He said, ‘Don’t be afraid, friend. Peace. Everything is going to be all right. Take courage. Be strong.’
“Even as he spoke, courage surged up within me. I said, ‘Go ahead, let my master speak. You’ve given me courage.’
20-21 “He said, ‘Do you know why I’ve come here to you? I now have to go back to fight against the angel-prince of Persia, and when I get him out of the way, the angel-prince of Greece will arrive. But first let me tell you what’s written in The True Book. No one helps me in my fight against these beings except Michael, your angel-prince.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, April 06, 2017
Read: Psalm 102:25–28 |
God sovereignly brought me to my knees,
he cut me down in my prime.
“Oh, don’t,” I prayed, “please don’t let me die.
You have more years than you know what to do with!
You laid earth’s foundations a long time ago,
and handcrafted the very heavens;
You’ll still be around when they’re long gone,
threadbare and discarded like an old suit of clothes.
You’ll throw them away like a worn-out coat,
but year after year you’re as good as new.
Your servants’ children will have a good place to live
and their children will be at home with you.”
INSIGHT:
Many of the psalms begin with a superscription, a statement preceding the song’s lyrics, that often provides the composer’s name, musical instruction, and/or the events that prompted the psalmist to write. Psalm 102’s superscription reads, “A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.” The author is unnamed but described—“the afflicted.” This season of affliction is so intense that the singer cries out to God for relief. As such, Psalm 102 fits into the psalms of lament. In lament songs, psalmists pour out their fears, hurts, and confusion to God, often wondering when He will meet them in their distress. Psalm 102 does that in verse 2, “Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me.” Clearly, the psalmist’s distress is multiplied by waiting for the Lord’s help. Still, the singer has confident hope in God’s response to his pain (vv. 17–21).
What Lasts Forever?
By Poh Fang Chia |
You remain the same, and your years will never end. Psalm 102:27
My friend, who had gone through many difficulties recently, wrote, “As I reflect on the past four semesters of student life, so many things have changed . . . . It is scary, really scary. Nothing stays forever.”
Indeed, many things can happen in two years—a career change, newfound friendship, illness, death. Good or bad, a life-altering experience may be lurking just around the corner, waiting to pounce! We simply don’t know. What great comfort, then, to know that our loving heavenly Father does not change.
Lord, You are the One who never changes, and You are so good to us.
The psalmist says, “You remain the same, and your years will never end” (Ps. 102:27). The implication of this truth is immense. It means that God is forever loving, just, and wise. As Bible teacher Arthur W. Pink so wonderfully states: “Whatever the attributes of God were before the universe was called into existence, they are precisely the same now, and will remain so forever.”
In the New Testament, James writes, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). In our changing circumstances, we can be assured that our good God will always be consistent to His character. He is the source of everything good, and everything He does is good.
It may seem that nothing lasts forever, but our God will remain consistently good to those who are His own.
Lord, You are the One who never changes, and You are so good to us. Calm our hearts today with the grace and peace that come only from You.
The One who holds the universe together will not let go of you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, April 06, 2017
The Collision of God and Sin
…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree… —1 Peter 2:24
The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.
The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh…” from “…He made Him…to be sin for us…” (1 Timothy 3:16 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.
The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience. The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.
The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him. Approved Unto God, 10 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, April 06, 2017
The Passion of a Powerful Life - #7889
He's a real American hero! He received America's highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and He earned it, believe me. It was November 14, 1965, Major Bruce Crandall flew a Huey helicopter assigned to lift troops into Ia Drang, which was to become known as the "Valley of Death". His mission to deliver the troops was done. But pretty soon he realized the plight of those troops. There were 450 American soldiers hugely outnumbered by 2,000 enemy troops. Major Crandall began flying into that Valley of Death to bring out the wounded and to bring in ammunition. Before that day was over, he had flown for fourteen hours straight-22 flights barraged with enemy fire. It took three different choppers to do it all; two were too damaged to continue. One officer said, "Without Major Crandall, our battalion would almost surely have been overrun." Crandall simply said, "They knew we would come if they needed it no matter what." That's heroism.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Passion of a Powerful Life."
Another officer in the Valley of Death that day bottom lined their heroic rescuer's work this way: "If he hadn't come, every man there would have died." But then, that's always the way it is with rescue, right? If the rescuer doesn't come, people die.
When you hear sermons about "witnessing" or "evangelism" or "sharing your faith," you probably don't think, "I may be the difference between someone living or dying." You are. Here's God's clear command in Proverbs 24:11-12. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will not He repay each person according to what He has done?"
God gave His Son so we could be rescued from an eternal Valley of Death. He's really not interested in our excuses for not telling the people we know about the Christ that their eternity depends on. We're so scared of what might happen to us if we dared to tell them about Jesus. How about being a whole lot more afraid of what will happen to them if we don't tell them.
God uses some sobering words to describe the lost people around us. In His own words, they are "staggering toward slaughter." According to Luke 19:10, they are "lost". These are people you know. They're "condemned" according to John 3:18. According to Ephesians 2:12, they're "Without hope and without God". And in 2 Thessalonians 1, they are those who "will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord." That's people we know, and it won't happen because that's what God wants. He sent His Son to take their hell. But they can't reach for Him as their Rescuer unless they know about him, unless someone explains what He did for them. Someone they know. Someone in their world; someone like you.
We may think we're not responsible, but if you know a lost person, God holds you responsible and will, in God's own words, in Ezekiel 3, "hold you accountable for his blood". Maybe we think we're not capable. That's what Moses thought. And God says to you what He said to him, "I will be with you...Now go; I will help you speak and teach you what to say" (Exodus 3:10, 4:12).
Look, you're not the hand. You're just a glove. You're just God's glove. He'll put His hand into your life and your influence and your story and your personality, and He'll do through you what you thought you could never do. You're just God's glove.
Friends of ours, family members, coworkers, fellow students; they are, whether they know it or not, in the spiritual Valley of Death. God has put you in their world to help rescue them. Would you tell your Commander, "Lord, I will rescue the dying, whatever it takes, because You did!"
God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, can’t be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins hidden. “He has forgiven you all your sins: he has utterly wiped out the written evidence. . .and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14 Phillips).
He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you, and since he couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails. The verdict behind the death was not decided by jealous Jews. With a flex of the biceps, Jesus could have resisted. Jesus himself chose the nails. He knew that the purpose of the nail was to place your sins where they could be hidden by his sacrifice—nailed to the cross; covered by his blood.
From He Chose the Nails
Daniel 10
A Vision of a Big War
In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, a message was made plain to Daniel, whose Babylonian name was Belteshazzar. The message was true. It dealt with a big war. He understood the message, the understanding coming by revelation:
2-3 “During those days, I, Daniel, went into mourning over Jerusalem for three weeks. I ate only plain and simple food, no seasoning or meat or wine. I neither bathed nor shaved until the three weeks were up.
4-6 “On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris. I looked up and to my surprise saw a man dressed in linen with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body was hard and glistening, as if sculpted from a precious stone, his face radiant, his eyes bright and penetrating like torches, his arms and feet glistening like polished bronze, and his voice, deep and resonant, sounded like a huge choir of voices.
7-8 “I, Daniel, was the only one to see this. The men who were with me, although they didn’t see it, were overcome with fear and ran off and hid, fearing the worst. Left alone after the appearance, abandoned by my friends, I went weak in the knees, the blood drained from my face.
9-10 “I heard his voice. At the sound of it I fainted, fell flat on the ground, face in the dirt. A hand touched me and pulled me to my hands and knees.
11 “‘Daniel,’ he said, ‘man of quality, listen carefully to my message. And get up on your feet. Stand at attention. I’ve been sent to bring you news.’
“When he had said this, I stood up, but I was still shaking.
12-14 “‘Relax, Daniel,’ he continued, ‘don’t be afraid. From the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard, and I set out to come to you. But I was waylaid by the angel-prince of the kingdom of Persia and was delayed for a good three weeks. But then Michael, one of the chief angel-princes, intervened to help me. I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. And now I’m here to help you understand what will eventually happen to your people. The vision has to do with what’s ahead.’
15-17 “While he was saying all this, I looked at the ground and said nothing. Then I was surprised by something like a human hand that touched my lips. I opened my mouth and started talking to the messenger: ‘When I saw you, master, I was terror-stricken. My knees turned to water. I couldn’t move. How can I, a lowly servant, speak to you, my master? I’m paralyzed. I can hardly breathe!’
18-19 “Then this humanlike figure touched me again and gave me strength. He said, ‘Don’t be afraid, friend. Peace. Everything is going to be all right. Take courage. Be strong.’
“Even as he spoke, courage surged up within me. I said, ‘Go ahead, let my master speak. You’ve given me courage.’
20-21 “He said, ‘Do you know why I’ve come here to you? I now have to go back to fight against the angel-prince of Persia, and when I get him out of the way, the angel-prince of Greece will arrive. But first let me tell you what’s written in The True Book. No one helps me in my fight against these beings except Michael, your angel-prince.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, April 06, 2017
Read: Psalm 102:25–28 |
God sovereignly brought me to my knees,
he cut me down in my prime.
“Oh, don’t,” I prayed, “please don’t let me die.
You have more years than you know what to do with!
You laid earth’s foundations a long time ago,
and handcrafted the very heavens;
You’ll still be around when they’re long gone,
threadbare and discarded like an old suit of clothes.
You’ll throw them away like a worn-out coat,
but year after year you’re as good as new.
Your servants’ children will have a good place to live
and their children will be at home with you.”
INSIGHT:
Many of the psalms begin with a superscription, a statement preceding the song’s lyrics, that often provides the composer’s name, musical instruction, and/or the events that prompted the psalmist to write. Psalm 102’s superscription reads, “A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.” The author is unnamed but described—“the afflicted.” This season of affliction is so intense that the singer cries out to God for relief. As such, Psalm 102 fits into the psalms of lament. In lament songs, psalmists pour out their fears, hurts, and confusion to God, often wondering when He will meet them in their distress. Psalm 102 does that in verse 2, “Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me.” Clearly, the psalmist’s distress is multiplied by waiting for the Lord’s help. Still, the singer has confident hope in God’s response to his pain (vv. 17–21).
What Lasts Forever?
By Poh Fang Chia |
You remain the same, and your years will never end. Psalm 102:27
My friend, who had gone through many difficulties recently, wrote, “As I reflect on the past four semesters of student life, so many things have changed . . . . It is scary, really scary. Nothing stays forever.”
Indeed, many things can happen in two years—a career change, newfound friendship, illness, death. Good or bad, a life-altering experience may be lurking just around the corner, waiting to pounce! We simply don’t know. What great comfort, then, to know that our loving heavenly Father does not change.
Lord, You are the One who never changes, and You are so good to us.
The psalmist says, “You remain the same, and your years will never end” (Ps. 102:27). The implication of this truth is immense. It means that God is forever loving, just, and wise. As Bible teacher Arthur W. Pink so wonderfully states: “Whatever the attributes of God were before the universe was called into existence, they are precisely the same now, and will remain so forever.”
In the New Testament, James writes, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). In our changing circumstances, we can be assured that our good God will always be consistent to His character. He is the source of everything good, and everything He does is good.
It may seem that nothing lasts forever, but our God will remain consistently good to those who are His own.
Lord, You are the One who never changes, and You are so good to us. Calm our hearts today with the grace and peace that come only from You.
The One who holds the universe together will not let go of you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, April 06, 2017
The Collision of God and Sin
…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree… —1 Peter 2:24
The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.
The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh…” from “…He made Him…to be sin for us…” (1 Timothy 3:16 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.
The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience. The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.
The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him. Approved Unto God, 10 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, April 06, 2017
The Passion of a Powerful Life - #7889
He's a real American hero! He received America's highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and He earned it, believe me. It was November 14, 1965, Major Bruce Crandall flew a Huey helicopter assigned to lift troops into Ia Drang, which was to become known as the "Valley of Death". His mission to deliver the troops was done. But pretty soon he realized the plight of those troops. There were 450 American soldiers hugely outnumbered by 2,000 enemy troops. Major Crandall began flying into that Valley of Death to bring out the wounded and to bring in ammunition. Before that day was over, he had flown for fourteen hours straight-22 flights barraged with enemy fire. It took three different choppers to do it all; two were too damaged to continue. One officer said, "Without Major Crandall, our battalion would almost surely have been overrun." Crandall simply said, "They knew we would come if they needed it no matter what." That's heroism.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Passion of a Powerful Life."
Another officer in the Valley of Death that day bottom lined their heroic rescuer's work this way: "If he hadn't come, every man there would have died." But then, that's always the way it is with rescue, right? If the rescuer doesn't come, people die.
When you hear sermons about "witnessing" or "evangelism" or "sharing your faith," you probably don't think, "I may be the difference between someone living or dying." You are. Here's God's clear command in Proverbs 24:11-12. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will not He repay each person according to what He has done?"
God gave His Son so we could be rescued from an eternal Valley of Death. He's really not interested in our excuses for not telling the people we know about the Christ that their eternity depends on. We're so scared of what might happen to us if we dared to tell them about Jesus. How about being a whole lot more afraid of what will happen to them if we don't tell them.
God uses some sobering words to describe the lost people around us. In His own words, they are "staggering toward slaughter." According to Luke 19:10, they are "lost". These are people you know. They're "condemned" according to John 3:18. According to Ephesians 2:12, they're "Without hope and without God". And in 2 Thessalonians 1, they are those who "will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord." That's people we know, and it won't happen because that's what God wants. He sent His Son to take their hell. But they can't reach for Him as their Rescuer unless they know about him, unless someone explains what He did for them. Someone they know. Someone in their world; someone like you.
We may think we're not responsible, but if you know a lost person, God holds you responsible and will, in God's own words, in Ezekiel 3, "hold you accountable for his blood". Maybe we think we're not capable. That's what Moses thought. And God says to you what He said to him, "I will be with you...Now go; I will help you speak and teach you what to say" (Exodus 3:10, 4:12).
Look, you're not the hand. You're just a glove. You're just God's glove. He'll put His hand into your life and your influence and your story and your personality, and He'll do through you what you thought you could never do. You're just God's glove.
Friends of ours, family members, coworkers, fellow students; they are, whether they know it or not, in the spiritual Valley of Death. God has put you in their world to help rescue them. Would you tell your Commander, "Lord, I will rescue the dying, whatever it takes, because You did!"
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Daniel 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE HAND OF GOD
Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers press a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. As the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it, think about the hand that received the nail. The fist doesn’t clench—the moment isn’t aborted.
A mallet drove a nail into the hand, not just of a carpenter, but into the hand of God. Fingers that formed Adam out of clay and furrowed truth into tablets felt the pain of crucifixion. The same hand that stilled the seas stilled your guilt. And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you.
From He Chose the Nails
Daniel 9
God’s Covenant Commitment
1-4 “Darius, son of Ahasuerus, born a Mede, became king over the land of Babylon. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was meditating on the Scriptures that gave, according to the Word of God to the prophet Jeremiah, the number of years that Jerusalem had to lie in ruins, namely, seventy. I turned to the Master God, asking for an answer—praying earnestly, fasting from meals, wearing rough penitential burlap, and kneeling in the ashes. I poured out my heart, baring my soul to God, my God:
4-8 “‘O Master, great and august God. You never waver in your covenant commitment, never give up on those who love you and do what you say. Yet we have sinned in every way imaginable. We’ve done evil things, rebelled, dodged and taken detours around your clearly marked paths. We’ve turned a deaf ear to your servants the prophets, who preached your Word to our kings and leaders, our parents, and all the people in the land. You have done everything right, Master, but all we have to show for our lives is guilt and shame, the whole lot of us—people of Judah, citizens of Jerusalem, Israel at home and Israel in exile in all the places we’ve been banished to because of our betrayal of you. Oh yes, God, we’ve been exposed in our shame, all of us—our kings, leaders, parents—before the whole world. And deservedly so, because of our sin.
9-12 “‘Compassion is our only hope, the compassion of you, the Master, our God, since in our rebellion we’ve forfeited our rights. We paid no attention to you when you told us how to live, the clear teaching that came through your servants the prophets. All of us in Israel ignored what you said. We defied your instructions and did what we pleased. And now we’re paying for it: The solemn curse written out plainly in the revelation to God’s servant Moses is now doing its work among us, the wages of our sin against you. You did to us and our rulers what you said you would do: You brought this catastrophic disaster on us, the worst disaster on record—and in Jerusalem!
13-14 “‘Just as written in God’s revelation to Moses, the catastrophe was total. Nothing was held back. We kept at our sinning, never giving you a second thought, oblivious to your clear warning, and so you had no choice but to let the disaster loose on us in full force. You, our God, had a perfect right to do this since we persistently and defiantly ignored you.
15-17 “‘Master, you are our God, for you delivered your people from the land of Egypt in a show of power—people are still talking about it! We confess that we have sinned, that we have lived bad lives. Following the lines of what you have always done in setting things right, setting people right, please stop being so angry with Jerusalem, your very own city, your holy mountain. We know it’s our fault that this has happened, all because of our sins and our parents’ sins, and now we’re an embarrassment to everyone around us. We’re a blot on the neighborhood. So listen, God, to this determined prayer of your servant. Have mercy on your ruined Sanctuary. Act out of who you are, not out of what we are.
18 “‘Turn your ears our way, God, and listen. Open your eyes and take a long look at our ruined city, this city named after you. We know that we don’t deserve a hearing from you. Our appeal is to your compassion. This prayer is our last and only hope:
19 “‘Master, listen to us!
Master, forgive us!
Master, look at us and do something!
Master, don’t put us off!
Your city and your people are named after you:
You have a stake in us!’
Seventy Sevens
20-21 “While I was pouring out my heart, baring my sins and the sins of my people Israel, praying my life out before my God, interceding for the holy mountain of my God—while I was absorbed in this praying, the humanlike Gabriel, the one I had seen in an earlier vision, approached me, flying in like a bird about the time of evening worship.
22-23 “He stood before me and said, ‘Daniel, I have come to make things plain to you. You had no sooner started your prayer when the answer was given. And now I’m here to deliver the answer to you. You are much loved! So listen carefully to the answer, the plain meaning of what is revealed:
24 “‘Seventy sevens are set for your people and for your holy city to throttle rebellion, stop sin, wipe out crime, set things right forever, confirm what the prophet saw, and anoint The Holy of Holies.
25-26 “‘Here is what you must understand: From the time the word goes out to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Anointed Leader, there will be seven sevens. The rebuilding will take sixty-two sevens, including building streets and digging a moat. Those will be rough times. After the sixty-two sevens, the Anointed Leader will be killed—the end of him. The city and Sanctuary will be laid in ruins by the army of the newly arriving leader. The end will come in a rush, like a flood. War will rage right up to the end, desolation the order of the day.
27 “‘Then for one seven, he will forge many and strong alliances, but halfway through the seven he will banish worship and prayers. At the place of worship, a desecrating obscenity will be set up and remain until finally the desecrator himself is decisively destroyed.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, April 05, 2017
Read: 2 Kings 23:12–14, 21–25
The king smashed all the altars to smithereens—the altar on the roof shrine of Ahaz, the various altars the kings of Judah had made, the altars of Manasseh that littered the courtyard of The Temple—he smashed them all, pulverized the fragments, and scattered their dust in the Valley of Kidron. The king proceeded to make a clean sweep of all the sex-and-religion shrines that had proliferated east of Jerusalem on the south slope of Abomination Hill, the ones Solomon king of Israel had built to the obscene Sidonian sex goddess Ashtoreth, to Chemosh the dirty-old-god of the Moabites, and to Milcom the depraved god of the Ammonites. He tore apart the altars, chopped down the phallic Asherah-poles, and scattered old bones over the sites. Next, he took care of the altar at the shrine in Bethel that Jeroboam son of Nebat had built—the same Jeroboam who had led Israel into a life of sin. He tore apart the altar, burned down the shrine leaving it in ashes, and then lit fire to the phallic Asherah-pole.
2 Kings 23:21-25The Message (MSG)
21 The king now commanded the people, “Celebrate the Passover to God, your God, exactly as directed in this Book of the Covenant.”
22-23 This commanded Passover had not been celebrated since the days that the judges judged Israel—none of the kings of Israel and Judah had celebrated it. But in the eighteenth year of the rule of King Josiah this very Passover was celebrated to God in Jerusalem.
24 Josiah scrubbed the place clean and trashed spirit-mediums, sorcerers, domestic gods, and carved figures—all the vast accumulation of foul and obscene relics and images on display everywhere you looked in Judah and Jerusalem. Josiah did this in obedience to the words of God’s Revelation written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in The Temple of God.
25 There was no king to compare with Josiah—neither before nor after—a king who turned in total and repentant obedience to God, heart and mind and strength, following the instructions revealed to and written by Moses. The world would never again see a king like Josiah.
INSIGHT:
Ask God to help you see false trusts that are robbing you of the joy of living in the presence and joy of the One whose mercy and love are more real and sure than the air we breathe.
Kossi’s Courage
By Tim Gustafson
You shall have no other gods before me. . . . You shall not bow down to them or worship them. Exodus 20:3, 5
As he awaited his baptism in Togo’s Mono River, Kossi stooped to pick up a worn wooden carving. His family had worshiped the object for generations. Now they watched as he tossed the grotesque figure into a fire prepared for the occasion. No longer would their choicest chickens be sacrificed to this god.
In the West, most Christians think of idols as metaphors for what they put in place of God. In Togo, West Africa, idols represent literal gods that must be appeased with sacrifice. Idol burning and baptism make a courageous statement about a new believer’s allegiance to the one true God.
You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3
As an eight-year-old, King Josiah came to power in an idol-worshiping, sex-obsessed culture. His father and grandfather had been two of the worst kings in all of Judah’s sordid history. Then the high priest discovered the book of the law. When the young king heard its words, he took them to heart (2 Kings 22:8–13). Josiah destroyed the pagan altars, burned the vile items dedicated to the goddess Asherah, and stopped the ritual prostitution (ch. 23). In place of these practices, he celebrated the Passover (23:21–23).
Whenever we look for answers apart from God—consciously or subconsciously—we pursue a false god. It would be wise to ask ourselves: What idols, literal or figurative, do we need to throw on the fire?
Lord, forgive us for those things we turn to that show our hearts are not focused on You. Show us what we need to give up, and replace it with the presence of Your Holy Spirit.
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:21
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 05, 2017
His Agony and Our Access
Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples…."Stay here and watch with Me." —Matthew 26:36, 38
We can never fully comprehend Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but at least we don’t have to misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with sin. We cannot learn about Gethsemane through personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary represent something totally unique— they are the gateway into life for us.
It was not death on the cross that Jesus agonized over in Gethsemane. In fact, He stated very emphatically that He came with the purpose of dying. His concern here was that He might not get through this struggle as the Son of Man. He was confident of getting through it as the Son of God— Satan could not touch Him there. But Satan’s assault was that our Lord would come through for us on His own solely as the Son of Man. If Jesus had done that, He could not have been our Savior (see Hebrews 9:11-15). Read the record of His agony in Gethsemane in light of His earlier wilderness temptation— “…the devil…departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). In Gethsemane, Satan came back and was overthrown again. Satan’s final assault against our Lord as the Son of Man was in Gethsemane.
The agony in Gethsemane was the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is pulled back here to reveal all that it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony was the basis for the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ was a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him. Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, April 05, 2017
The Biggest Star Of All - #7888
When you hear the word "superstar", you may think of some great athlete or A-list movie star or some television personality - a celebrity. I'm sorry, but I personally think that's a pretty lame use of the word when you hear about the kind of star that astronomers have been discovering. Like the largest known star in the universe! Conventional telescopes had missed it because of vast dust clouds. But the Hubble Space Telescope picked it up. It is (get this) 186 million miles wide and 10 million times brighter than the Sun! That's a superstar. Don't even try to comprehend one star that enormous! Interesting footnote-according to many theories on how stars are formed, a star this large is an impossibility! No, it's not.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Biggest Star Of All."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 8:1-4. "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens...When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"
It's hard to come up with a theory big enough to contain the infinity of what's out there. But it's not hard to come up with a creator big enough to explain it all. And speaking of Jesus, the Bible further explains in John 1:3 that "through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made."
When you consider that beyond that superstar are literally millions of galaxies, your mind just goes on overload. But there is something more staggering than the size of creation...and that is the possibility that you could have a personal love relationship with the creator of it all! That's what the psalmist couldn't grasp-in light of the splendor and magnitude of all you've created, God, why do you care about us little guys and girls on this speck of dust called earth?
But the amazing truth is that this awesome God has a deep, deep love for you. Here's how you can know that. In those same verses that tell us Jesus created it all, it says that He "became flesh and made His dwelling among us" (John 1:14). The One who created that mega-star-and countless millions of galaxies-left the Throne Room of the universe to come here as one of us. And everything in us screams, "But why?"
Answer-two chapters later. "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Why? God loves you so much. So much that even though we've defied Him by running our own life, He sent His Son to go to a cross to bear the death penalty for my sin and yours. God does not want to lose you.
And when Jesus comes knocking on the door of your heart, offering you His love and His forgiveness, it just doesn't make any sense to reject Him or postpone Him. This is the One who made it all-who loved you enough to die for you. Why would you wait another day to begin a personal love-relationship with the most awesome person in all the universe?
Have you ever begun this relationship that Jesus died to make possible? He proved that He can give it to us, because He walked out of his grave under his own power. And only the One who's proven He has eternal life can give it to you. This is your day to be born into God's family; to begin your relationship you were made for.
Reach out to Jesus where you are. Say, "Jesus, I'm tired of running my own life. I resign from running my life. You died for the sin that's come from my decision to take over a life you were suppose to run. And today, Jesus, I'm pinning all my hopes on you. Thank you for loving me so much." Tell Him you're putting all the faith you've got into Him to forgive you and get you to heaven.
You know, we have a website that is just for people at the point of beginning that personal relationship. I invite you to go there as soon as you can today and find out exactly how to be sure you belong to this great God. Go to ANewStory.com.
Jesus-the one who made the stars-the biggest Star of all-has come to you. Don't miss this amazing love.
Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers press a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. As the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it, think about the hand that received the nail. The fist doesn’t clench—the moment isn’t aborted.
A mallet drove a nail into the hand, not just of a carpenter, but into the hand of God. Fingers that formed Adam out of clay and furrowed truth into tablets felt the pain of crucifixion. The same hand that stilled the seas stilled your guilt. And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you.
From He Chose the Nails
Daniel 9
God’s Covenant Commitment
1-4 “Darius, son of Ahasuerus, born a Mede, became king over the land of Babylon. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was meditating on the Scriptures that gave, according to the Word of God to the prophet Jeremiah, the number of years that Jerusalem had to lie in ruins, namely, seventy. I turned to the Master God, asking for an answer—praying earnestly, fasting from meals, wearing rough penitential burlap, and kneeling in the ashes. I poured out my heart, baring my soul to God, my God:
4-8 “‘O Master, great and august God. You never waver in your covenant commitment, never give up on those who love you and do what you say. Yet we have sinned in every way imaginable. We’ve done evil things, rebelled, dodged and taken detours around your clearly marked paths. We’ve turned a deaf ear to your servants the prophets, who preached your Word to our kings and leaders, our parents, and all the people in the land. You have done everything right, Master, but all we have to show for our lives is guilt and shame, the whole lot of us—people of Judah, citizens of Jerusalem, Israel at home and Israel in exile in all the places we’ve been banished to because of our betrayal of you. Oh yes, God, we’ve been exposed in our shame, all of us—our kings, leaders, parents—before the whole world. And deservedly so, because of our sin.
9-12 “‘Compassion is our only hope, the compassion of you, the Master, our God, since in our rebellion we’ve forfeited our rights. We paid no attention to you when you told us how to live, the clear teaching that came through your servants the prophets. All of us in Israel ignored what you said. We defied your instructions and did what we pleased. And now we’re paying for it: The solemn curse written out plainly in the revelation to God’s servant Moses is now doing its work among us, the wages of our sin against you. You did to us and our rulers what you said you would do: You brought this catastrophic disaster on us, the worst disaster on record—and in Jerusalem!
13-14 “‘Just as written in God’s revelation to Moses, the catastrophe was total. Nothing was held back. We kept at our sinning, never giving you a second thought, oblivious to your clear warning, and so you had no choice but to let the disaster loose on us in full force. You, our God, had a perfect right to do this since we persistently and defiantly ignored you.
15-17 “‘Master, you are our God, for you delivered your people from the land of Egypt in a show of power—people are still talking about it! We confess that we have sinned, that we have lived bad lives. Following the lines of what you have always done in setting things right, setting people right, please stop being so angry with Jerusalem, your very own city, your holy mountain. We know it’s our fault that this has happened, all because of our sins and our parents’ sins, and now we’re an embarrassment to everyone around us. We’re a blot on the neighborhood. So listen, God, to this determined prayer of your servant. Have mercy on your ruined Sanctuary. Act out of who you are, not out of what we are.
18 “‘Turn your ears our way, God, and listen. Open your eyes and take a long look at our ruined city, this city named after you. We know that we don’t deserve a hearing from you. Our appeal is to your compassion. This prayer is our last and only hope:
19 “‘Master, listen to us!
Master, forgive us!
Master, look at us and do something!
Master, don’t put us off!
Your city and your people are named after you:
You have a stake in us!’
Seventy Sevens
20-21 “While I was pouring out my heart, baring my sins and the sins of my people Israel, praying my life out before my God, interceding for the holy mountain of my God—while I was absorbed in this praying, the humanlike Gabriel, the one I had seen in an earlier vision, approached me, flying in like a bird about the time of evening worship.
22-23 “He stood before me and said, ‘Daniel, I have come to make things plain to you. You had no sooner started your prayer when the answer was given. And now I’m here to deliver the answer to you. You are much loved! So listen carefully to the answer, the plain meaning of what is revealed:
24 “‘Seventy sevens are set for your people and for your holy city to throttle rebellion, stop sin, wipe out crime, set things right forever, confirm what the prophet saw, and anoint The Holy of Holies.
25-26 “‘Here is what you must understand: From the time the word goes out to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Anointed Leader, there will be seven sevens. The rebuilding will take sixty-two sevens, including building streets and digging a moat. Those will be rough times. After the sixty-two sevens, the Anointed Leader will be killed—the end of him. The city and Sanctuary will be laid in ruins by the army of the newly arriving leader. The end will come in a rush, like a flood. War will rage right up to the end, desolation the order of the day.
27 “‘Then for one seven, he will forge many and strong alliances, but halfway through the seven he will banish worship and prayers. At the place of worship, a desecrating obscenity will be set up and remain until finally the desecrator himself is decisively destroyed.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, April 05, 2017
Read: 2 Kings 23:12–14, 21–25
The king smashed all the altars to smithereens—the altar on the roof shrine of Ahaz, the various altars the kings of Judah had made, the altars of Manasseh that littered the courtyard of The Temple—he smashed them all, pulverized the fragments, and scattered their dust in the Valley of Kidron. The king proceeded to make a clean sweep of all the sex-and-religion shrines that had proliferated east of Jerusalem on the south slope of Abomination Hill, the ones Solomon king of Israel had built to the obscene Sidonian sex goddess Ashtoreth, to Chemosh the dirty-old-god of the Moabites, and to Milcom the depraved god of the Ammonites. He tore apart the altars, chopped down the phallic Asherah-poles, and scattered old bones over the sites. Next, he took care of the altar at the shrine in Bethel that Jeroboam son of Nebat had built—the same Jeroboam who had led Israel into a life of sin. He tore apart the altar, burned down the shrine leaving it in ashes, and then lit fire to the phallic Asherah-pole.
2 Kings 23:21-25The Message (MSG)
21 The king now commanded the people, “Celebrate the Passover to God, your God, exactly as directed in this Book of the Covenant.”
22-23 This commanded Passover had not been celebrated since the days that the judges judged Israel—none of the kings of Israel and Judah had celebrated it. But in the eighteenth year of the rule of King Josiah this very Passover was celebrated to God in Jerusalem.
24 Josiah scrubbed the place clean and trashed spirit-mediums, sorcerers, domestic gods, and carved figures—all the vast accumulation of foul and obscene relics and images on display everywhere you looked in Judah and Jerusalem. Josiah did this in obedience to the words of God’s Revelation written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in The Temple of God.
25 There was no king to compare with Josiah—neither before nor after—a king who turned in total and repentant obedience to God, heart and mind and strength, following the instructions revealed to and written by Moses. The world would never again see a king like Josiah.
INSIGHT:
Ask God to help you see false trusts that are robbing you of the joy of living in the presence and joy of the One whose mercy and love are more real and sure than the air we breathe.
Kossi’s Courage
By Tim Gustafson
You shall have no other gods before me. . . . You shall not bow down to them or worship them. Exodus 20:3, 5
As he awaited his baptism in Togo’s Mono River, Kossi stooped to pick up a worn wooden carving. His family had worshiped the object for generations. Now they watched as he tossed the grotesque figure into a fire prepared for the occasion. No longer would their choicest chickens be sacrificed to this god.
In the West, most Christians think of idols as metaphors for what they put in place of God. In Togo, West Africa, idols represent literal gods that must be appeased with sacrifice. Idol burning and baptism make a courageous statement about a new believer’s allegiance to the one true God.
You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3
As an eight-year-old, King Josiah came to power in an idol-worshiping, sex-obsessed culture. His father and grandfather had been two of the worst kings in all of Judah’s sordid history. Then the high priest discovered the book of the law. When the young king heard its words, he took them to heart (2 Kings 22:8–13). Josiah destroyed the pagan altars, burned the vile items dedicated to the goddess Asherah, and stopped the ritual prostitution (ch. 23). In place of these practices, he celebrated the Passover (23:21–23).
Whenever we look for answers apart from God—consciously or subconsciously—we pursue a false god. It would be wise to ask ourselves: What idols, literal or figurative, do we need to throw on the fire?
Lord, forgive us for those things we turn to that show our hearts are not focused on You. Show us what we need to give up, and replace it with the presence of Your Holy Spirit.
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:21
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 05, 2017
His Agony and Our Access
Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples…."Stay here and watch with Me." —Matthew 26:36, 38
We can never fully comprehend Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but at least we don’t have to misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with sin. We cannot learn about Gethsemane through personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary represent something totally unique— they are the gateway into life for us.
It was not death on the cross that Jesus agonized over in Gethsemane. In fact, He stated very emphatically that He came with the purpose of dying. His concern here was that He might not get through this struggle as the Son of Man. He was confident of getting through it as the Son of God— Satan could not touch Him there. But Satan’s assault was that our Lord would come through for us on His own solely as the Son of Man. If Jesus had done that, He could not have been our Savior (see Hebrews 9:11-15). Read the record of His agony in Gethsemane in light of His earlier wilderness temptation— “…the devil…departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). In Gethsemane, Satan came back and was overthrown again. Satan’s final assault against our Lord as the Son of Man was in Gethsemane.
The agony in Gethsemane was the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is pulled back here to reveal all that it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony was the basis for the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ was a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him. Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, April 05, 2017
The Biggest Star Of All - #7888
When you hear the word "superstar", you may think of some great athlete or A-list movie star or some television personality - a celebrity. I'm sorry, but I personally think that's a pretty lame use of the word when you hear about the kind of star that astronomers have been discovering. Like the largest known star in the universe! Conventional telescopes had missed it because of vast dust clouds. But the Hubble Space Telescope picked it up. It is (get this) 186 million miles wide and 10 million times brighter than the Sun! That's a superstar. Don't even try to comprehend one star that enormous! Interesting footnote-according to many theories on how stars are formed, a star this large is an impossibility! No, it's not.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Biggest Star Of All."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 8:1-4. "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens...When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"
It's hard to come up with a theory big enough to contain the infinity of what's out there. But it's not hard to come up with a creator big enough to explain it all. And speaking of Jesus, the Bible further explains in John 1:3 that "through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made."
When you consider that beyond that superstar are literally millions of galaxies, your mind just goes on overload. But there is something more staggering than the size of creation...and that is the possibility that you could have a personal love relationship with the creator of it all! That's what the psalmist couldn't grasp-in light of the splendor and magnitude of all you've created, God, why do you care about us little guys and girls on this speck of dust called earth?
But the amazing truth is that this awesome God has a deep, deep love for you. Here's how you can know that. In those same verses that tell us Jesus created it all, it says that He "became flesh and made His dwelling among us" (John 1:14). The One who created that mega-star-and countless millions of galaxies-left the Throne Room of the universe to come here as one of us. And everything in us screams, "But why?"
Answer-two chapters later. "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Why? God loves you so much. So much that even though we've defied Him by running our own life, He sent His Son to go to a cross to bear the death penalty for my sin and yours. God does not want to lose you.
And when Jesus comes knocking on the door of your heart, offering you His love and His forgiveness, it just doesn't make any sense to reject Him or postpone Him. This is the One who made it all-who loved you enough to die for you. Why would you wait another day to begin a personal love-relationship with the most awesome person in all the universe?
Have you ever begun this relationship that Jesus died to make possible? He proved that He can give it to us, because He walked out of his grave under his own power. And only the One who's proven He has eternal life can give it to you. This is your day to be born into God's family; to begin your relationship you were made for.
Reach out to Jesus where you are. Say, "Jesus, I'm tired of running my own life. I resign from running my life. You died for the sin that's come from my decision to take over a life you were suppose to run. And today, Jesus, I'm pinning all my hopes on you. Thank you for loving me so much." Tell Him you're putting all the faith you've got into Him to forgive you and get you to heaven.
You know, we have a website that is just for people at the point of beginning that personal relationship. I invite you to go there as soon as you can today and find out exactly how to be sure you belong to this great God. Go to ANewStory.com.
Jesus-the one who made the stars-the biggest Star of all-has come to you. Don't miss this amazing love.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Daniel 8 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE BRIAR PATCH OF HUMANITY
What is the fruit of sin? Step into the briar patch of humanity and feel a few thistles. Shame. Fear. Disgrace. Discouragement. Anxiety. Haven’t our hearts been caught in these brambles?
The heart of Jesus, however, had not. Jesus never knew the fruits of sin—until he became sin for us. And when he did, all the emotions of sin tumbled in on him. Can’t you hear the emotion in his prayer at the cross? “My God, my God, why have you rejected me?” (Matthew 27:46). These are not the words of a saint. This is the cry of a sinner. He stood silent as a million guilty verdicts echoed in the tribunal of heaven.
Do you want to know the most amazing thing about the One who gave up the crown of heaven for a crown of thorns? He did it for you. Just for you.
From He Chose the Nails
Daniel 8
A Vision of a Ram and a Billy Goat
“In King Belshazzar’s third year as king, another vision came to me, Daniel. This was now the second vision.
2-4 “In the vision, I saw myself in Susa, the capital city of the province Elam, standing at the Ulai Canal. Looking around, I was surprised to see a ram also standing at the gate. The ram had two huge horns, one bigger than the other, but the bigger horn was the last to appear. I watched as the ram charged: first west, then north, then south. No beast could stand up to him. He did just as he pleased, strutting as if he were king of the beasts.
5-7 “While I was watching this, wondering what it all meant, I saw a billy goat with an immense horn in the middle of its forehead come up out of the west and fly across the whole country, not once touching the ground. The billy goat approached the double-horned ram that I had earlier seen standing at the gate and, enraged, charged it viciously. I watched as, mad with rage, it charged the ram and hit it so hard that it broke off its two horns. The ram didn’t stand a chance against it. The billy goat knocked the ram to the ground and stomped all over it. Nothing could have saved the ram from the goat.
8-12 “Then the billy goat swelled to an enormous size. At the height of its power its immense horn broke off and four other big horns sprouted in its place, pointing to the four points of the compass. And then from one of these big horns another horn sprouted. It started small, but then grew to an enormous size, facing south and east—toward lovely Palestine. The horn grew tall, reaching to the stars, the heavenly army, and threw some of the stars to the earth and stomped on them. It even dared to challenge the power of God, Prince of the Celestial Army! And then it threw out daily worship and desecrated the Sanctuary. As judgment against their sin, the holy people of God got the same treatment as the daily worship. The horn cast God’s Truth aside. High-handed, it took over everything and everyone.
13 “Then I overheard two holy angels talking. One asked, ‘How long is what we see here going to last—the abolishing of daily worship, this devastating judgment against sin, the kicking around of God’s holy people and the Sanctuary?’
14 “The other answered, ‘Over the course of 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning. Then the Sanctuary will be set right again.’
15 “While I, Daniel, was trying to make sense of what I was seeing, suddenly there was a humanlike figure standing before me.
16-17 “Then I heard a man’s voice from over by the Ulai Canal calling out, ‘Gabriel, tell this man what is going on. Explain the vision to him.’ He came up to me, but when he got close I became terrified and fell facedown on the ground.
17-18 “He said, ‘Understand that this vision has to do with the time of the end.’ As soon as he spoke, I fainted, my face in the dirt. But he picked me up and put me on my feet.
19 “And then he continued, ‘I want to tell you what is going to happen as the judgment days of wrath wind down, for there is going to be an end to all this.
20-22 “‘The double-horned ram you saw stands for the two kings of the Medes and Persians. The billy goat stands for the kingdom of the Greeks. The huge horn on its forehead is the first Greek king. The four horns that sprouted after it was broken off are the four kings that come after him, but without his power.
23-26 “‘As their kingdoms cool down
and rebellions heat up,
A king will show up,
hard-faced, a master trickster.
His power will swell enormously.
He’ll talk big, high-handedly,
Doing whatever he pleases,
knocking off heroes and holy ones left and right.
He’ll plot and scheme to make crime flourish—
and oh, how it will flourish!
He’ll think he’s invincible
and get rid of anyone who gets in his way.
But when he takes on the Prince of all princes,
he’ll be smashed to bits—
but not by human hands.
This vision of the 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning,
is accurate but confidential.
Keep it to yourself.
It refers to the far future.’
27 “I, Daniel, walked around in a daze, unwell for days. Then I got a grip on myself and went back to work taking care of the king’s affairs. But I continued to be upset by the vision. I couldn’t make sense of it.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
Read: Psalm 63:1–11
A David Psalm, When He Was out in the Judean Wilderness
God—you’re my God!
I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
traveling across dry and weary deserts.
2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
My lips brim praises like fountains.
I bless you every time I take a breath;
My arms wave like banners of praise to you.
5-8 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;
I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises!
If I’m sleepless at midnight,
I spend the hours in grateful reflection.
Because you’ve always stood up for me,
I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
and you hold me steady as a post.
9-11 Those who are out to get me are marked for doom,
marked for death, bound for hell.
They’ll die violent deaths;
jackals will tear them limb from limb.
But the king is glad in God;
his true friends spread the joy,
While small-minded gossips
are gagged for good.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 63 can encourage us as we reflect on how the psalmist David brought his struggles to God. First, he expressed his thirst for the living God as being like a thirsty man yearning for life-giving water (vv. 1–2). Second, he observed God’s glory in the sanctuary and compared it to eating and being satisfied by delicious and nourishing food (vv. 3–5). Third, even when he was on his bed at night, he meditated on his Creator and Savior and felt the closeness of God’s love (vv. 6–8). Fourth, he trusted God for protection when he encountered real-life enemies (vv. 9–10). Finally, the psalmist admitted that his power didn’t come from his regal position. Instead, it was rooted in the living God who brings joy to the heart and glory to His name (v. 11).
What can we learn from David’s example? Why not spend some time today reflecting on the character of God.
His Word the Last Word
By David McCasland
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 63:6–7
Dawson Trotman, a dynamic Christian leader of the mid-twentieth century and founder of The Navigators, emphasized the importance of the Bible in the life of every Christian. Trotman ended each day with a practice he called “His Word the last word.” Before going to sleep he meditated on a memorized Bible verse or passage, then prayed about its place and influence in his life. He wanted the last words he thought about each day to be God’s words.
The psalmist David wrote, “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings” (Ps. 63:6–7). Whether we are in great difficulty or enjoying a time of peace, our last thought at night can ease our minds with the rest and comfort God gives. It may also set the tone for our first thought the next morning.
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 63:7
A friend and his wife conclude each day by reading aloud a Bible passage and daily devotional with their four children. They welcome questions and thoughts from each child and talk about what it means to follow Jesus at home and school. They call it their version of “His Word the last word” for each day.
What better way to end our day!
Thank You Father, for Your Word in our hearts and our minds—our last thought at night as we rest securely in You.
Do you have a favorite verse you have committed to memory? Share it on Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
The Spirit of God renews our minds when we meditate on the Word of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
The Way to Permanent Faith
Indeed the hour is coming…that you will be scattered… —John 16:32
Jesus was not rebuking the disciples in this passage. Their faith was real, but it was disordered and unfocused, and was not at work in the important realities of life. The disciples were scattered to their own concerns and they had interests apart from Jesus Christ. After we have the perfect relationship with God, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life. We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we experience, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life.
“…you…will leave Me alone.” Have we been scattered and have we left Jesus alone by not seeing His providential care for us? Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God’s blessings is fundamental.
“…be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
The Trail You Leave - #7887
One of the men on our Team stopped me and said, "Have you been down to the men's room lately?" That's not usually something we stop and discuss in the hall, but I was anxious to find out why he wanted to know. He said, "Well, I walked in and smelled this beautiful aroma." Well, I had to agree that we wouldn't normally associate a public restroom with a beautiful aroma. He went on to say, "When I got back to my office, it had that same beautiful aroma." And what was the explanation for this spreading fragrance? Clarene, the wonderful volunteer who had been cleaning our offices every week. She'd been doing her scrubbing and spraying. And though we didn't see her in any of those rooms that day, she left that great aroma wherever she had been.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Trail You Leave."
Our friend who does the cleaning, she's not the only one who leaves an aroma behind. You do. I do. The only question is, "What kind of trail are we leaving where we go?"
And that leads us to our word for today from the Word of God from 2 Corinthians 2:14. "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him." Paul is echoing here the life-attitude that he talks about in my life verse actually - Romans 8:37. And it has nothing to do with how painful your circumstances might be. I mean, he lists the ugliest things that can happen to you in life, and then he says, "In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." See, God's calling us to live with the joy and positiveness of someone who is always on the winning side.
And when you do, you just leave this special fragrance everywhere you go. People feel something after you've been with them. They feel important or maybe ignored, they feel relaxed or they feel stressed, they feel lighter after they've been around you or heavier. You're leaving some kind of emotional scent everywhere you go. We all do. It's supposed to be the scent of Jesus - the One the Bible describes as the "Lily of the valley" (Song of Solomon 2:1).
Things should be sweeter after you've been there...lighter. But the aroma you leave has everything to do with the time you spend with the Lily of the valley. When you're with Jesus, you become like Jesus, and you create the kind of climate Jesus created wherever He went. People feel more encouraged, more cared about, and more joyful. The effect of your presence is the fragrance that comes (the verse says) from "the knowledge of Him."
When you neglect your time with Jesus, you start to turn harder, you get more self-focused, more stressed, our default position, you get more negative. You tend to bring out the worst in your family, your co-workers, your friends, and even your casual contacts.
I like the word "everywhere" in this fragrant verse, that "...through us He spreads 'everywhere' the fragrance of the knowledge of Him." This Jesus aroma is supposed to be spread everywhere. That means that you've got a wonderful mission in every contact of your day - not just to get your business done, but to leave a Jesus-touch where you go.
So you first make it your goal to sweeten and lighten the atmosphere at home, and then at the grocery store, in a traffic jam, where you work, waiting in a line, in each phone call, each appointment, each text. Life is so much richer when you make it your conscious decision to leave a little love and encouragement everywhere you go. And on the days when you feel the least like doing it, it will do the most for you.
At our office, we experienced the fragrant trail left behind by a person who improved every room she was in. When you've really been with Jesus and you've let His attitude become your attitude, you're going to leave a trail that makes people very glad you were there.
What is the fruit of sin? Step into the briar patch of humanity and feel a few thistles. Shame. Fear. Disgrace. Discouragement. Anxiety. Haven’t our hearts been caught in these brambles?
The heart of Jesus, however, had not. Jesus never knew the fruits of sin—until he became sin for us. And when he did, all the emotions of sin tumbled in on him. Can’t you hear the emotion in his prayer at the cross? “My God, my God, why have you rejected me?” (Matthew 27:46). These are not the words of a saint. This is the cry of a sinner. He stood silent as a million guilty verdicts echoed in the tribunal of heaven.
Do you want to know the most amazing thing about the One who gave up the crown of heaven for a crown of thorns? He did it for you. Just for you.
From He Chose the Nails
Daniel 8
A Vision of a Ram and a Billy Goat
“In King Belshazzar’s third year as king, another vision came to me, Daniel. This was now the second vision.
2-4 “In the vision, I saw myself in Susa, the capital city of the province Elam, standing at the Ulai Canal. Looking around, I was surprised to see a ram also standing at the gate. The ram had two huge horns, one bigger than the other, but the bigger horn was the last to appear. I watched as the ram charged: first west, then north, then south. No beast could stand up to him. He did just as he pleased, strutting as if he were king of the beasts.
5-7 “While I was watching this, wondering what it all meant, I saw a billy goat with an immense horn in the middle of its forehead come up out of the west and fly across the whole country, not once touching the ground. The billy goat approached the double-horned ram that I had earlier seen standing at the gate and, enraged, charged it viciously. I watched as, mad with rage, it charged the ram and hit it so hard that it broke off its two horns. The ram didn’t stand a chance against it. The billy goat knocked the ram to the ground and stomped all over it. Nothing could have saved the ram from the goat.
8-12 “Then the billy goat swelled to an enormous size. At the height of its power its immense horn broke off and four other big horns sprouted in its place, pointing to the four points of the compass. And then from one of these big horns another horn sprouted. It started small, but then grew to an enormous size, facing south and east—toward lovely Palestine. The horn grew tall, reaching to the stars, the heavenly army, and threw some of the stars to the earth and stomped on them. It even dared to challenge the power of God, Prince of the Celestial Army! And then it threw out daily worship and desecrated the Sanctuary. As judgment against their sin, the holy people of God got the same treatment as the daily worship. The horn cast God’s Truth aside. High-handed, it took over everything and everyone.
13 “Then I overheard two holy angels talking. One asked, ‘How long is what we see here going to last—the abolishing of daily worship, this devastating judgment against sin, the kicking around of God’s holy people and the Sanctuary?’
14 “The other answered, ‘Over the course of 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning. Then the Sanctuary will be set right again.’
15 “While I, Daniel, was trying to make sense of what I was seeing, suddenly there was a humanlike figure standing before me.
16-17 “Then I heard a man’s voice from over by the Ulai Canal calling out, ‘Gabriel, tell this man what is going on. Explain the vision to him.’ He came up to me, but when he got close I became terrified and fell facedown on the ground.
17-18 “He said, ‘Understand that this vision has to do with the time of the end.’ As soon as he spoke, I fainted, my face in the dirt. But he picked me up and put me on my feet.
19 “And then he continued, ‘I want to tell you what is going to happen as the judgment days of wrath wind down, for there is going to be an end to all this.
20-22 “‘The double-horned ram you saw stands for the two kings of the Medes and Persians. The billy goat stands for the kingdom of the Greeks. The huge horn on its forehead is the first Greek king. The four horns that sprouted after it was broken off are the four kings that come after him, but without his power.
23-26 “‘As their kingdoms cool down
and rebellions heat up,
A king will show up,
hard-faced, a master trickster.
His power will swell enormously.
He’ll talk big, high-handedly,
Doing whatever he pleases,
knocking off heroes and holy ones left and right.
He’ll plot and scheme to make crime flourish—
and oh, how it will flourish!
He’ll think he’s invincible
and get rid of anyone who gets in his way.
But when he takes on the Prince of all princes,
he’ll be smashed to bits—
but not by human hands.
This vision of the 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning,
is accurate but confidential.
Keep it to yourself.
It refers to the far future.’
27 “I, Daniel, walked around in a daze, unwell for days. Then I got a grip on myself and went back to work taking care of the king’s affairs. But I continued to be upset by the vision. I couldn’t make sense of it.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
Read: Psalm 63:1–11
A David Psalm, When He Was out in the Judean Wilderness
God—you’re my God!
I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
traveling across dry and weary deserts.
2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
My lips brim praises like fountains.
I bless you every time I take a breath;
My arms wave like banners of praise to you.
5-8 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;
I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises!
If I’m sleepless at midnight,
I spend the hours in grateful reflection.
Because you’ve always stood up for me,
I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
and you hold me steady as a post.
9-11 Those who are out to get me are marked for doom,
marked for death, bound for hell.
They’ll die violent deaths;
jackals will tear them limb from limb.
But the king is glad in God;
his true friends spread the joy,
While small-minded gossips
are gagged for good.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 63 can encourage us as we reflect on how the psalmist David brought his struggles to God. First, he expressed his thirst for the living God as being like a thirsty man yearning for life-giving water (vv. 1–2). Second, he observed God’s glory in the sanctuary and compared it to eating and being satisfied by delicious and nourishing food (vv. 3–5). Third, even when he was on his bed at night, he meditated on his Creator and Savior and felt the closeness of God’s love (vv. 6–8). Fourth, he trusted God for protection when he encountered real-life enemies (vv. 9–10). Finally, the psalmist admitted that his power didn’t come from his regal position. Instead, it was rooted in the living God who brings joy to the heart and glory to His name (v. 11).
What can we learn from David’s example? Why not spend some time today reflecting on the character of God.
His Word the Last Word
By David McCasland
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 63:6–7
Dawson Trotman, a dynamic Christian leader of the mid-twentieth century and founder of The Navigators, emphasized the importance of the Bible in the life of every Christian. Trotman ended each day with a practice he called “His Word the last word.” Before going to sleep he meditated on a memorized Bible verse or passage, then prayed about its place and influence in his life. He wanted the last words he thought about each day to be God’s words.
The psalmist David wrote, “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings” (Ps. 63:6–7). Whether we are in great difficulty or enjoying a time of peace, our last thought at night can ease our minds with the rest and comfort God gives. It may also set the tone for our first thought the next morning.
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 63:7
A friend and his wife conclude each day by reading aloud a Bible passage and daily devotional with their four children. They welcome questions and thoughts from each child and talk about what it means to follow Jesus at home and school. They call it their version of “His Word the last word” for each day.
What better way to end our day!
Thank You Father, for Your Word in our hearts and our minds—our last thought at night as we rest securely in You.
Do you have a favorite verse you have committed to memory? Share it on Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
The Spirit of God renews our minds when we meditate on the Word of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
The Way to Permanent Faith
Indeed the hour is coming…that you will be scattered… —John 16:32
Jesus was not rebuking the disciples in this passage. Their faith was real, but it was disordered and unfocused, and was not at work in the important realities of life. The disciples were scattered to their own concerns and they had interests apart from Jesus Christ. After we have the perfect relationship with God, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life. We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we experience, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life.
“…you…will leave Me alone.” Have we been scattered and have we left Jesus alone by not seeing His providential care for us? Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God’s blessings is fundamental.
“…be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
The Trail You Leave - #7887
One of the men on our Team stopped me and said, "Have you been down to the men's room lately?" That's not usually something we stop and discuss in the hall, but I was anxious to find out why he wanted to know. He said, "Well, I walked in and smelled this beautiful aroma." Well, I had to agree that we wouldn't normally associate a public restroom with a beautiful aroma. He went on to say, "When I got back to my office, it had that same beautiful aroma." And what was the explanation for this spreading fragrance? Clarene, the wonderful volunteer who had been cleaning our offices every week. She'd been doing her scrubbing and spraying. And though we didn't see her in any of those rooms that day, she left that great aroma wherever she had been.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Trail You Leave."
Our friend who does the cleaning, she's not the only one who leaves an aroma behind. You do. I do. The only question is, "What kind of trail are we leaving where we go?"
And that leads us to our word for today from the Word of God from 2 Corinthians 2:14. "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him." Paul is echoing here the life-attitude that he talks about in my life verse actually - Romans 8:37. And it has nothing to do with how painful your circumstances might be. I mean, he lists the ugliest things that can happen to you in life, and then he says, "In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." See, God's calling us to live with the joy and positiveness of someone who is always on the winning side.
And when you do, you just leave this special fragrance everywhere you go. People feel something after you've been with them. They feel important or maybe ignored, they feel relaxed or they feel stressed, they feel lighter after they've been around you or heavier. You're leaving some kind of emotional scent everywhere you go. We all do. It's supposed to be the scent of Jesus - the One the Bible describes as the "Lily of the valley" (Song of Solomon 2:1).
Things should be sweeter after you've been there...lighter. But the aroma you leave has everything to do with the time you spend with the Lily of the valley. When you're with Jesus, you become like Jesus, and you create the kind of climate Jesus created wherever He went. People feel more encouraged, more cared about, and more joyful. The effect of your presence is the fragrance that comes (the verse says) from "the knowledge of Him."
When you neglect your time with Jesus, you start to turn harder, you get more self-focused, more stressed, our default position, you get more negative. You tend to bring out the worst in your family, your co-workers, your friends, and even your casual contacts.
I like the word "everywhere" in this fragrant verse, that "...through us He spreads 'everywhere' the fragrance of the knowledge of Him." This Jesus aroma is supposed to be spread everywhere. That means that you've got a wonderful mission in every contact of your day - not just to get your business done, but to leave a Jesus-touch where you go.
So you first make it your goal to sweeten and lighten the atmosphere at home, and then at the grocery store, in a traffic jam, where you work, waiting in a line, in each phone call, each appointment, each text. Life is so much richer when you make it your conscious decision to leave a little love and encouragement everywhere you go. And on the days when you feel the least like doing it, it will do the most for you.
At our office, we experienced the fragrant trail left behind by a person who improved every room she was in. When you've really been with Jesus and you've let His attitude become your attitude, you're going to leave a trail that makes people very glad you were there.
Monday, April 3, 2017
Titus 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE GIFTS OF THE CROSS
Have you ever wondered why God gives us so much? We could exist on far less! God could have left the world flat and gray—we wouldn’t have known the difference. But he didn’t. Why give a flower its fragrance? Why give food its taste?
Jesus asked, “If you hardhearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won’t your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them?” (Matthew 7:11 TLB).
Every gift reveals God’s love—but no gift reveals his love more than the gifts of the cross. They came, not wrapped in paper, but in passion. Not covered with ribbons, but sprinkled with blood. The gifts of the cross! Have you taken time to open these gifts? If you do, perhaps you will hear him whisper, “I did it just for you.”
From He Chose the Nails
Titus 3
He Put Our Lives Together
1-2 Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God’s people should be bighearted and courteous.
3-8 It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.
8-11 I want you to put your foot down. Take a firm stand on these matters so that those who have put their trust in God will concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone. Stay away from mindless, pointless quarreling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere. Warn a quarrelsome person once or twice, but then be done with him. It’s obvious that such a person is out of line, rebellious against God. By persisting in divisiveness he cuts himself off.
12-13 As soon as I send either Artemas or Tychicus to you, come immediately and meet me in Nicopolis. I’ve decided to spend the winter there. Give Zenas the lawyer and Apollos a hearty send-off. Take good care of them.
14 Our people have to learn to be diligent in their work so that all necessities are met (especially among the needy) and they don’t end up with nothing to show for their lives.
15 All here want to be remembered to you. Say hello to our friends in the faith. Grace to all of you.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, April 03, 2017
Read: Colossians 3:12–17
12-14 So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
INSIGHT:
Compassion is not just feeling pity for a needy person; our emotions must move us to relieve the misery of that person. The apostle Paul calls us to “be kind and compassionate to one another” (Eph. 4:32) and “to follow God’s example” (5:1). Jesus commands us to be “compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36 nlt). In one of the greatest self-revelations in the Bible, God described Himself as “the compassionate and gracious God” (Ex. 34:6). We echo with the apostle James, “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (James 5:11).
Imagine a world without compassion. What would it be like? How is showing compassion essential for God’s children?
A Heart of Compassion
By Dave Branon
Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12
Seven of us were attending a musical production at a crowded amusement park. Wanting to sit together, we tried to squeeze into one row. But as we did, a woman rushed between us. My wife mentioned to her that we wanted to stay together, but the woman quickly said, “Too bad,” as she and her two companions pushed on into the row.
As three of us sat one row behind the other four, my wife, Sue, noticed that the woman had an adult with her who appeared to have special needs. She had been trying to keep her little group together so she could take care of her friend. Suddenly, our irritation faded. Sue said, “Imagine how tough things are for her in a crowded place like this.” Yes, perhaps the woman did respond rudely. But we could respond with compassion rather than anger.
Compassion is understanding the troubles of others.
Wherever we go, we will encounter people who need compassion. Perhaps these words from the apostle Paul can help us view everyone around us in a different light—as people who need the gentle touch of grace. “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col. 3:12). He also suggests that we “bear with each other and forgive one another” (v. 13).
As we show compassion, we will be pointing others to the One who poured out His heart of grace and compassion on us.
Your compassions never fail, Father. May we mirror Your heart by showing compassion to others.
Compassion is understanding the troubles of others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 03, 2017
“If You Had Known!”
If you had known…in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. —Luke 19:42
Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly and the city was stirred to its very foundations, but a strange god was there– the pride of the Pharisees. It was a god that seemed religious and upright, but Jesus compared it to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).
What is it that blinds you to the peace of God “in this your day”? Do you have a strange god– not a disgusting monster but perhaps an unholy nature that controls your life? More than once God has brought me face to face with a strange god in my life, and I knew that I should have given it up, but I didn’t do it. I got through the crisis “by the skin of my teeth,” only to find myself still under the control of that strange god. I am blind to the very things that make for my own peace. It is a shocking thing that we can be in the exact place where the Spirit of God should be having His completely unhindered way with us, and yet we only make matters worse, increasing our blame in God’s eyes.
“If you had known….” God’s words here cut directly to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind them. These words imply responsibility for our own faults. God holds us accountable for what we refuse to see or are unable to see because of our sin. And “now they are hidden from your eyes” because you have never completely yielded your nature to Him. Oh, the deep, unending sadness for what might have been! God never again opens the doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut– doors which had no need to be shut. Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Awe is the condition of a man’s spirit realizing Who God is and what He has done for him personally. Our Lord emphasizes the attitude of a child; no attitude can express such solemn awe and familiarity as that of a child. Not Knowing Whither, 882 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, April 03, 2017
Going Where You Thought You Couldn't - #7886
I looked, I blinked, I looked again, and I still wasn't sure what I was seeing. We were driving next to a railroad track and I saw this vehicle moving along the railroad track, but it wasn't a train. It was a pickup truck. Now, he's moving right along the track like a train, but he's a truck? Let's see, trucks have tires, railroads have tracks. Tires don't ride on tracks. I see a problem here. Well, as I looked closer I realized what was going on. This was a maintenance truck for the railroad, specially modified to run on tracks. It was mounted with these special train wheels extending out from both the front and the back of the pickup. Kind of cool! So because he had been specially outfitted, he was able to go where he normally could never go!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Going Where You Thought You Couldn't."
Since I feel like the Lord wanted me to talk about this today, it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's because you're headed into something that you're not sure you can handle. In fact, you may be almost sure you can't. Maybe there's a burden you're going to have to carry or you are carrying, or there's a challenge or an assignment that you have in front of you, or some possibilities that may be frightening or exciting, or maybe a little of both.
Well, your Lord, who may very well be the One leading you into something you're sure you can't handle, wanted you to be encouraged today with this word for today from the Word of God. Psalm 18:31, "For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?" Now notice who is the subject of the promises of the following verses; notice the one doing what the verbs say will happen.
"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." I can hear you say, "Well, boy, I don't know if I've got the strength for this." God says, "Right, you don't. But I'm going to outfit you with strength you've never had, because you've never needed it like this before. But you're going to have it." Psalm 18 continues, "He makes my feet like the feet of a deer." This sounds strangely like a railroad saying to a pickup truck, "I will make your wheels like the wheels of a train."
God says He'll give you feet like a deer. Why? Well, it says, "He enables me to stand on the height." That means standing where you never could stand except that He's going to custom outfit you for what He's asking you to do. He's never going to take you where He won't keep you. He's never going to ask you to do something for which He will not equip you.
Then it says, "He trains my hands for battle." Maybe you're saying, "I don't know how to do this," God says, "I'll show you how." And then it says, "...my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me Your shield of victory, and Your right hand sustains me...You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not turn." So God says I'll get the road ready for you so you don't have to worry about falling.
See, God is fully committed to providing all you need to do what He is telling you to do. Those who've never risked going where they never thought they could go have never seen God at His most amazing and His most miraculous. You'll never walk on water if you don't get out of the boat.
See, God is custom fitting you for the road ahead, for the assignment ahead. He's enlarging you to be what you'll need to be, and He's even clearing the track ahead of you. Sounds to me like you're ready to roll.
Have you ever wondered why God gives us so much? We could exist on far less! God could have left the world flat and gray—we wouldn’t have known the difference. But he didn’t. Why give a flower its fragrance? Why give food its taste?
Jesus asked, “If you hardhearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won’t your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them?” (Matthew 7:11 TLB).
Every gift reveals God’s love—but no gift reveals his love more than the gifts of the cross. They came, not wrapped in paper, but in passion. Not covered with ribbons, but sprinkled with blood. The gifts of the cross! Have you taken time to open these gifts? If you do, perhaps you will hear him whisper, “I did it just for you.”
From He Chose the Nails
Titus 3
He Put Our Lives Together
1-2 Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God’s people should be bighearted and courteous.
3-8 It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.
8-11 I want you to put your foot down. Take a firm stand on these matters so that those who have put their trust in God will concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone. Stay away from mindless, pointless quarreling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere. Warn a quarrelsome person once or twice, but then be done with him. It’s obvious that such a person is out of line, rebellious against God. By persisting in divisiveness he cuts himself off.
12-13 As soon as I send either Artemas or Tychicus to you, come immediately and meet me in Nicopolis. I’ve decided to spend the winter there. Give Zenas the lawyer and Apollos a hearty send-off. Take good care of them.
14 Our people have to learn to be diligent in their work so that all necessities are met (especially among the needy) and they don’t end up with nothing to show for their lives.
15 All here want to be remembered to you. Say hello to our friends in the faith. Grace to all of you.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, April 03, 2017
Read: Colossians 3:12–17
12-14 So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
INSIGHT:
Compassion is not just feeling pity for a needy person; our emotions must move us to relieve the misery of that person. The apostle Paul calls us to “be kind and compassionate to one another” (Eph. 4:32) and “to follow God’s example” (5:1). Jesus commands us to be “compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36 nlt). In one of the greatest self-revelations in the Bible, God described Himself as “the compassionate and gracious God” (Ex. 34:6). We echo with the apostle James, “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (James 5:11).
Imagine a world without compassion. What would it be like? How is showing compassion essential for God’s children?
A Heart of Compassion
By Dave Branon
Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12
Seven of us were attending a musical production at a crowded amusement park. Wanting to sit together, we tried to squeeze into one row. But as we did, a woman rushed between us. My wife mentioned to her that we wanted to stay together, but the woman quickly said, “Too bad,” as she and her two companions pushed on into the row.
As three of us sat one row behind the other four, my wife, Sue, noticed that the woman had an adult with her who appeared to have special needs. She had been trying to keep her little group together so she could take care of her friend. Suddenly, our irritation faded. Sue said, “Imagine how tough things are for her in a crowded place like this.” Yes, perhaps the woman did respond rudely. But we could respond with compassion rather than anger.
Compassion is understanding the troubles of others.
Wherever we go, we will encounter people who need compassion. Perhaps these words from the apostle Paul can help us view everyone around us in a different light—as people who need the gentle touch of grace. “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col. 3:12). He also suggests that we “bear with each other and forgive one another” (v. 13).
As we show compassion, we will be pointing others to the One who poured out His heart of grace and compassion on us.
Your compassions never fail, Father. May we mirror Your heart by showing compassion to others.
Compassion is understanding the troubles of others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 03, 2017
“If You Had Known!”
If you had known…in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. —Luke 19:42
Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly and the city was stirred to its very foundations, but a strange god was there– the pride of the Pharisees. It was a god that seemed religious and upright, but Jesus compared it to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).
What is it that blinds you to the peace of God “in this your day”? Do you have a strange god– not a disgusting monster but perhaps an unholy nature that controls your life? More than once God has brought me face to face with a strange god in my life, and I knew that I should have given it up, but I didn’t do it. I got through the crisis “by the skin of my teeth,” only to find myself still under the control of that strange god. I am blind to the very things that make for my own peace. It is a shocking thing that we can be in the exact place where the Spirit of God should be having His completely unhindered way with us, and yet we only make matters worse, increasing our blame in God’s eyes.
“If you had known….” God’s words here cut directly to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind them. These words imply responsibility for our own faults. God holds us accountable for what we refuse to see or are unable to see because of our sin. And “now they are hidden from your eyes” because you have never completely yielded your nature to Him. Oh, the deep, unending sadness for what might have been! God never again opens the doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut– doors which had no need to be shut. Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Awe is the condition of a man’s spirit realizing Who God is and what He has done for him personally. Our Lord emphasizes the attitude of a child; no attitude can express such solemn awe and familiarity as that of a child. Not Knowing Whither, 882 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, April 03, 2017
Going Where You Thought You Couldn't - #7886
I looked, I blinked, I looked again, and I still wasn't sure what I was seeing. We were driving next to a railroad track and I saw this vehicle moving along the railroad track, but it wasn't a train. It was a pickup truck. Now, he's moving right along the track like a train, but he's a truck? Let's see, trucks have tires, railroads have tracks. Tires don't ride on tracks. I see a problem here. Well, as I looked closer I realized what was going on. This was a maintenance truck for the railroad, specially modified to run on tracks. It was mounted with these special train wheels extending out from both the front and the back of the pickup. Kind of cool! So because he had been specially outfitted, he was able to go where he normally could never go!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Going Where You Thought You Couldn't."
Since I feel like the Lord wanted me to talk about this today, it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's because you're headed into something that you're not sure you can handle. In fact, you may be almost sure you can't. Maybe there's a burden you're going to have to carry or you are carrying, or there's a challenge or an assignment that you have in front of you, or some possibilities that may be frightening or exciting, or maybe a little of both.
Well, your Lord, who may very well be the One leading you into something you're sure you can't handle, wanted you to be encouraged today with this word for today from the Word of God. Psalm 18:31, "For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?" Now notice who is the subject of the promises of the following verses; notice the one doing what the verbs say will happen.
"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." I can hear you say, "Well, boy, I don't know if I've got the strength for this." God says, "Right, you don't. But I'm going to outfit you with strength you've never had, because you've never needed it like this before. But you're going to have it." Psalm 18 continues, "He makes my feet like the feet of a deer." This sounds strangely like a railroad saying to a pickup truck, "I will make your wheels like the wheels of a train."
God says He'll give you feet like a deer. Why? Well, it says, "He enables me to stand on the height." That means standing where you never could stand except that He's going to custom outfit you for what He's asking you to do. He's never going to take you where He won't keep you. He's never going to ask you to do something for which He will not equip you.
Then it says, "He trains my hands for battle." Maybe you're saying, "I don't know how to do this," God says, "I'll show you how." And then it says, "...my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me Your shield of victory, and Your right hand sustains me...You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not turn." So God says I'll get the road ready for you so you don't have to worry about falling.
See, God is fully committed to providing all you need to do what He is telling you to do. Those who've never risked going where they never thought they could go have never seen God at His most amazing and His most miraculous. You'll never walk on water if you don't get out of the boat.
See, God is custom fitting you for the road ahead, for the assignment ahead. He's enlarging you to be what you'll need to be, and He's even clearing the track ahead of you. Sounds to me like you're ready to roll.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Daniel 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Calvary
Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers shove the carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts his hammer to strike it!
Couldn't Jesus have stopped him? With a flex of bicep, a clench of the fist, he could've resisted. But the moment isn't aborted. Why? Why didn't Jesus resist? As the soldier pressed his arm, Jesus saw a nail-yes. The soldier's hand-yes. But he saw something else. A long list of our lusts and lies and greedy moments and prodigal years. A list of our sins. He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you. And he couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you. He chose the nails!
From On Calvary's Hill
Daniel 7
A Vision of Four Animals
In the first year of the reign of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream. What he saw as he slept in his bed terrified him—a real nightmare. Then he wrote out his dream:
2-3 “In my dream that night I saw the four winds of heaven whipping up a great storm on the sea. Four huge animals, each different from the others, ascended out of the sea.
4 “The first animal looked like a lion, but it had the wings of an eagle. While I watched, its wings were pulled off. It was then pulled erect so that it was standing on two feet like a man. Then a human heart was placed in it.
5 “Then I saw a second animal that looked like a bear. It lurched from side to side, holding three ribs in its jaws. It was told, ‘Attack! Devour! Fill your belly!’
6 “Next I saw another animal. This one looked like a panther. It had four birdlike wings on its back. This animal had four heads and was made to rule.
7 “After that, a fourth animal appeared in my dream. This one was a grisly horror—hideous. It had huge iron teeth. It crunched and swallowed its victims. Anything left over, it trampled into the ground. It was different from the other animals—this one was a real monster. It had ten horns.
8 “As I was staring at the horns and trying to figure out what they meant, another horn sprouted up, a little horn. Three of the original horns were pulled out to make room for it. There were human eyes in this little horn, and a big mouth speaking arrogantly.
9-10 “As I was watching all this,
“Thrones were set in place
and The Old One sat down.
His robes were white as snow,
his hair was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
its wheels blazing.
A river of fire
poured out of the throne.
Thousands upon thousands served him,
tens of thousands attended him.
The courtroom was called to order,
and the books were opened.
11-13 “I kept watching. The little horn was speaking arrogantly. Then, as I watched, the monster was killed and its body cremated in a roaring fire. The other animals lived on for a limited time, but they didn’t really do anything, had no power to rule. My dream continued.
13-14 “I saw a human form, a son of man,
arriving in a whirl of clouds.
He came to The Old One
and was presented to him.
He was given power to rule—all the glory of royalty.
Everyone—race, color, and creed—had to serve him.
His rule would be forever, never ending.
His kingly rule would never be replaced.
15-16 “But as for me, Daniel, I was disturbed. All these dream-visions had me agitated. So I went up to one of those standing by and asked him the meaning of all this. And he told me, interpreting the dream for me:
17-18 “‘These four huge animals,’ he said, ‘mean that four kingdoms will appear on earth. But eventually the holy people of the High God will be given the kingdom and have it ever after—yes, forever and ever.’
19-22 “But I wanted to know more. I was curious about the fourth animal, the one so different from the others, the hideous monster with the iron teeth and the bronze claws, gulping down what it ripped to pieces and trampling the leftovers into the dirt. And I wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and the other horn that sprouted up while three of the original horns were removed. This new horn had eyes and a big mouth and spoke arrogantly, dominating the other horns. I watched as this horn was making war on God’s holy people and getting the best of them. But then The Old One intervened and decided things in favor of the people of the High God. In the end, God’s holy people took over the kingdom.
23-25 “The bystander continued, telling me this: ‘The fourth animal is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from the first three kingdoms, a monster kingdom that will chew up everyone in sight and spit them out. The ten horns are ten kings, one after another, that will come from this kingdom. But then another king will arrive. He will be different from the earlier kings. He will begin by toppling three kings. Then he will blaspheme the High God, persecute the followers of the High God, and try to get rid of sacred worship and moral practice. God’s holy people will be persecuted by him for a time, two times, half a time.
26-27 “‘But when the court comes to order, the horn will be stripped of its power and totally destroyed. Then the royal rule and the authority and the glory of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the people of the High God. Their royal rule will last forever. All other rulers will serve and obey them.’
28 “And there it ended. I, Daniel, was in shock. I was like a man who had seen a ghost. But I kept it all to myself.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, April 02, 2017
Read: Daniel 10:1–14
A Vision of a Big War
In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, a message was made plain to Daniel, whose Babylonian name was Belteshazzar. The message was true. It dealt with a big war. He understood the message, the understanding coming by revelation:
2-3 “During those days, I, Daniel, went into mourning over Jerusalem for three weeks. I ate only plain and simple food, no seasoning or meat or wine. I neither bathed nor shaved until the three weeks were up.
4-6 “On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris. I looked up and to my surprise saw a man dressed in linen with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body was hard and glistening, as if sculpted from a precious stone, his face radiant, his eyes bright and penetrating like torches, his arms and feet glistening like polished bronze, and his voice, deep and resonant, sounded like a huge choir of voices.
7-8 “I, Daniel, was the only one to see this. The men who were with me, although they didn’t see it, were overcome with fear and ran off and hid, fearing the worst. Left alone after the appearance, abandoned by my friends, I went weak in the knees, the blood drained from my face.
9-10 “I heard his voice. At the sound of it I fainted, fell flat on the ground, face in the dirt. A hand touched me and pulled me to my hands and knees.
11 “‘Daniel,’ he said, ‘man of quality, listen carefully to my message. And get up on your feet. Stand at attention. I’ve been sent to bring you news.’
“When he had said this, I stood up, but I was still shaking.
12-14 “‘Relax, Daniel,’ he continued, ‘don’t be afraid. From the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard, and I set out to come to you. But I was waylaid by the angel-prince of the kingdom of Persia and was delayed for a good three weeks. But then Michael, one of the chief angel-princes, intervened to help me. I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. And now I’m here to help you understand what will eventually happen to your people. The vision has to do with what’s ahead.’
Behind the Scenes
By Kirsten Holmberg
Your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. Daniel 10:12
My daughter sent a text message to a friend, in hopes of having a question answered quickly. Her phone’s messaging service showed that the recipient had read the message, so she waited anxiously for a reply. Mere moments passed, yet she grew frustrated, groaning her annoyance at the delay. Irritation eroded into worry; she wondered whether the lack of response meant there was a problem between them. Eventually a reply came and my daughter was relieved to see their relationship was fine. Her friend had simply been sorting out the details needed to answer the question.
The Old Testament prophet Daniel also anxiously awaited a reply. After receiving a frightening vision of great war, Daniel fasted and sought God through humble prayer (10:3, 12). For three weeks, he received no reply (vv. 2, 13). Finally, an angel arrived and assured Daniel his prayers had been heard “since the first day.” In the meantime, the angel had been battling on behalf of those prayers. Though Daniel didn’t know it at first, God was at work during each of the twenty-one days that elapsed between his first prayer and the angel’s coming.
God is always at work on behalf of His people.
The confidence that God hears our prayers can cause us to become anxious when His reply doesn’t come when we want it to. We are prone to wonder whether He cares. Yet Daniel’s experience reminds us that God is at work on behalf of those He loves even when it isn’t obvious to us.
Lord, help me to trust Your care for me even when I can’t see it.
Read more at Why Doesn't God Answer Me? discoveryseries.org/hp112.
God is always at work on behalf of His people.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 02, 2017
The Glory That’s Unsurpassed
…the Lord Jesus…has sent me that you may receive your sight… —Acts 9:17
When Paul received his sight, he also received spiritual insight into the Person of Jesus Christ. His entire life and preaching from that point on were totally consumed with nothing but Jesus Christ— “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Paul never again allowed anything to attract and hold the attention of his mind and soul except the face of Jesus Christ.
We must learn to maintain a strong degree of character in our lives, even to the level that has been revealed in our vision of Jesus Christ.
The lasting characteristic of a spiritual man is the ability to understand correctly the meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life, and the ability to explain the purposes of God to others. The overruling passion of his life is Jesus Christ. Whenever you see this quality in a person, you get the feeling that he is truly a man after God’s own heart (see Acts 13:22).
Never allow anything to divert you from your insight into Jesus Christ. It is the true test of whether you are spiritual or not. To be unspiritual means that other things have a growing fascination for you.
Since mine eyes have looked on Jesus,
I’ve lost sight of all beside,
So enchained my spirit’s vision,
Gazing on the Crucified.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”? Disciples Indeed, 389 L
Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers shove the carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts his hammer to strike it!
Couldn't Jesus have stopped him? With a flex of bicep, a clench of the fist, he could've resisted. But the moment isn't aborted. Why? Why didn't Jesus resist? As the soldier pressed his arm, Jesus saw a nail-yes. The soldier's hand-yes. But he saw something else. A long list of our lusts and lies and greedy moments and prodigal years. A list of our sins. He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you. And he couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you. He chose the nails!
From On Calvary's Hill
Daniel 7
A Vision of Four Animals
In the first year of the reign of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream. What he saw as he slept in his bed terrified him—a real nightmare. Then he wrote out his dream:
2-3 “In my dream that night I saw the four winds of heaven whipping up a great storm on the sea. Four huge animals, each different from the others, ascended out of the sea.
4 “The first animal looked like a lion, but it had the wings of an eagle. While I watched, its wings were pulled off. It was then pulled erect so that it was standing on two feet like a man. Then a human heart was placed in it.
5 “Then I saw a second animal that looked like a bear. It lurched from side to side, holding three ribs in its jaws. It was told, ‘Attack! Devour! Fill your belly!’
6 “Next I saw another animal. This one looked like a panther. It had four birdlike wings on its back. This animal had four heads and was made to rule.
7 “After that, a fourth animal appeared in my dream. This one was a grisly horror—hideous. It had huge iron teeth. It crunched and swallowed its victims. Anything left over, it trampled into the ground. It was different from the other animals—this one was a real monster. It had ten horns.
8 “As I was staring at the horns and trying to figure out what they meant, another horn sprouted up, a little horn. Three of the original horns were pulled out to make room for it. There were human eyes in this little horn, and a big mouth speaking arrogantly.
9-10 “As I was watching all this,
“Thrones were set in place
and The Old One sat down.
His robes were white as snow,
his hair was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
its wheels blazing.
A river of fire
poured out of the throne.
Thousands upon thousands served him,
tens of thousands attended him.
The courtroom was called to order,
and the books were opened.
11-13 “I kept watching. The little horn was speaking arrogantly. Then, as I watched, the monster was killed and its body cremated in a roaring fire. The other animals lived on for a limited time, but they didn’t really do anything, had no power to rule. My dream continued.
13-14 “I saw a human form, a son of man,
arriving in a whirl of clouds.
He came to The Old One
and was presented to him.
He was given power to rule—all the glory of royalty.
Everyone—race, color, and creed—had to serve him.
His rule would be forever, never ending.
His kingly rule would never be replaced.
15-16 “But as for me, Daniel, I was disturbed. All these dream-visions had me agitated. So I went up to one of those standing by and asked him the meaning of all this. And he told me, interpreting the dream for me:
17-18 “‘These four huge animals,’ he said, ‘mean that four kingdoms will appear on earth. But eventually the holy people of the High God will be given the kingdom and have it ever after—yes, forever and ever.’
19-22 “But I wanted to know more. I was curious about the fourth animal, the one so different from the others, the hideous monster with the iron teeth and the bronze claws, gulping down what it ripped to pieces and trampling the leftovers into the dirt. And I wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and the other horn that sprouted up while three of the original horns were removed. This new horn had eyes and a big mouth and spoke arrogantly, dominating the other horns. I watched as this horn was making war on God’s holy people and getting the best of them. But then The Old One intervened and decided things in favor of the people of the High God. In the end, God’s holy people took over the kingdom.
23-25 “The bystander continued, telling me this: ‘The fourth animal is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from the first three kingdoms, a monster kingdom that will chew up everyone in sight and spit them out. The ten horns are ten kings, one after another, that will come from this kingdom. But then another king will arrive. He will be different from the earlier kings. He will begin by toppling three kings. Then he will blaspheme the High God, persecute the followers of the High God, and try to get rid of sacred worship and moral practice. God’s holy people will be persecuted by him for a time, two times, half a time.
26-27 “‘But when the court comes to order, the horn will be stripped of its power and totally destroyed. Then the royal rule and the authority and the glory of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the people of the High God. Their royal rule will last forever. All other rulers will serve and obey them.’
28 “And there it ended. I, Daniel, was in shock. I was like a man who had seen a ghost. But I kept it all to myself.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, April 02, 2017
Read: Daniel 10:1–14
A Vision of a Big War
In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, a message was made plain to Daniel, whose Babylonian name was Belteshazzar. The message was true. It dealt with a big war. He understood the message, the understanding coming by revelation:
2-3 “During those days, I, Daniel, went into mourning over Jerusalem for three weeks. I ate only plain and simple food, no seasoning or meat or wine. I neither bathed nor shaved until the three weeks were up.
4-6 “On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris. I looked up and to my surprise saw a man dressed in linen with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body was hard and glistening, as if sculpted from a precious stone, his face radiant, his eyes bright and penetrating like torches, his arms and feet glistening like polished bronze, and his voice, deep and resonant, sounded like a huge choir of voices.
7-8 “I, Daniel, was the only one to see this. The men who were with me, although they didn’t see it, were overcome with fear and ran off and hid, fearing the worst. Left alone after the appearance, abandoned by my friends, I went weak in the knees, the blood drained from my face.
9-10 “I heard his voice. At the sound of it I fainted, fell flat on the ground, face in the dirt. A hand touched me and pulled me to my hands and knees.
11 “‘Daniel,’ he said, ‘man of quality, listen carefully to my message. And get up on your feet. Stand at attention. I’ve been sent to bring you news.’
“When he had said this, I stood up, but I was still shaking.
12-14 “‘Relax, Daniel,’ he continued, ‘don’t be afraid. From the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard, and I set out to come to you. But I was waylaid by the angel-prince of the kingdom of Persia and was delayed for a good three weeks. But then Michael, one of the chief angel-princes, intervened to help me. I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. And now I’m here to help you understand what will eventually happen to your people. The vision has to do with what’s ahead.’
Behind the Scenes
By Kirsten Holmberg
Your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. Daniel 10:12
My daughter sent a text message to a friend, in hopes of having a question answered quickly. Her phone’s messaging service showed that the recipient had read the message, so she waited anxiously for a reply. Mere moments passed, yet she grew frustrated, groaning her annoyance at the delay. Irritation eroded into worry; she wondered whether the lack of response meant there was a problem between them. Eventually a reply came and my daughter was relieved to see their relationship was fine. Her friend had simply been sorting out the details needed to answer the question.
The Old Testament prophet Daniel also anxiously awaited a reply. After receiving a frightening vision of great war, Daniel fasted and sought God through humble prayer (10:3, 12). For three weeks, he received no reply (vv. 2, 13). Finally, an angel arrived and assured Daniel his prayers had been heard “since the first day.” In the meantime, the angel had been battling on behalf of those prayers. Though Daniel didn’t know it at first, God was at work during each of the twenty-one days that elapsed between his first prayer and the angel’s coming.
God is always at work on behalf of His people.
The confidence that God hears our prayers can cause us to become anxious when His reply doesn’t come when we want it to. We are prone to wonder whether He cares. Yet Daniel’s experience reminds us that God is at work on behalf of those He loves even when it isn’t obvious to us.
Lord, help me to trust Your care for me even when I can’t see it.
Read more at Why Doesn't God Answer Me? discoveryseries.org/hp112.
God is always at work on behalf of His people.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 02, 2017
The Glory That’s Unsurpassed
…the Lord Jesus…has sent me that you may receive your sight… —Acts 9:17
When Paul received his sight, he also received spiritual insight into the Person of Jesus Christ. His entire life and preaching from that point on were totally consumed with nothing but Jesus Christ— “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Paul never again allowed anything to attract and hold the attention of his mind and soul except the face of Jesus Christ.
We must learn to maintain a strong degree of character in our lives, even to the level that has been revealed in our vision of Jesus Christ.
The lasting characteristic of a spiritual man is the ability to understand correctly the meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life, and the ability to explain the purposes of God to others. The overruling passion of his life is Jesus Christ. Whenever you see this quality in a person, you get the feeling that he is truly a man after God’s own heart (see Acts 13:22).
Never allow anything to divert you from your insight into Jesus Christ. It is the true test of whether you are spiritual or not. To be unspiritual means that other things have a growing fascination for you.
Since mine eyes have looked on Jesus,
I’ve lost sight of all beside,
So enchained my spirit’s vision,
Gazing on the Crucified.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”? Disciples Indeed, 389 L
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Daniel 6 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: BORN AGAIN
Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).” Born again? You must be kidding! Put life in reverse? We can’t be born again.
Oh, but wouldn’t we like to? A try-again. A reload. How can this be? Jesus answers in John 3:16—the hope diamond of the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. A twenty-six word parade of hope!
If you know nothing of the Bible—start here. If you know everything about the Bible—return here! He loves. He gave. We believe. We live! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” John 3:16.
From: 3:16 The Numbers of Hope
Daniel 6
Daniel in the Lions’ Den
1-3 Darius reorganized his kingdom. He appointed one hundred twenty governors to administer all the parts of his realm. Over them were three vice-regents, one of whom was Daniel. The governors reported to the vice-regents, who made sure that everything was in order for the king. But Daniel, brimming with spirit and intelligence, so completely outclassed the other vice-regents and governors that the king decided to put him in charge of the whole kingdom.
4-5 The vice-regents and governors got together to find some old scandal or skeleton in Daniel’s life that they could use against him, but they couldn’t dig up anything. He was totally exemplary and trustworthy. They could find no evidence of negligence or misconduct. So they finally gave up and said, “We’re never going to find anything against this Daniel unless we can cook up something religious.”
6-7 The vice-regents and governors conspired together and then went to the king and said, “King Darius, live forever! We’ve convened your vice-regents, governors, and all your leading officials, and have agreed that the king should issue the following decree:
For the next thirty days no one is to pray to any god or mortal except you, O king. Anyone who disobeys will be thrown into the lions’ den.
8 “Issue this decree, O king, and make it unconditional, as if written in stone like all the laws of the Medes and the Persians.”
9 King Darius signed the decree.
10 When Daniel learned that the decree had been signed and posted, he continued to pray just as he had always done. His house had windows in the upstairs that opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he knelt there in prayer, thanking and praising his God.
11-12 The conspirators came and found him praying, asking God for help. They went straight to the king and reminded him of the royal decree that he had signed. “Did you not,” they said, “sign a decree forbidding anyone to pray to any god or man except you for the next thirty days? And anyone caught doing it would be thrown into the lions’ den?”
“Absolutely,” said the king. “Written in stone, like all the laws of the Medes and Persians.”
13 Then they said, “Daniel, one of the Jewish exiles, ignores you, O king, and defies your decree. Three times a day he prays.”
14 At this, the king was very upset and tried his best to get Daniel out of the fix he’d put him in. He worked at it the whole day long.
15 But then the conspirators were back: “Remember, O king, it’s the law of the Medes and Persians that the king’s decree can never be changed.”
16 The king caved in and ordered Daniel brought and thrown into the lions’ den. But he said to Daniel, “Your God, to whom you are so loyal, is going to get you out of this.”
17 A stone slab was placed over the opening of the den. The king sealed the cover with his signet ring and the signet rings of all his nobles, fixing Daniel’s fate.
18 The king then went back to his palace. He refused supper. He couldn’t sleep. He spent the night fasting.
19-20 At daybreak the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. As he approached the den, he called out anxiously, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve so loyally, saved you from the lions?”
21-22 “O king, live forever!” said Daniel. “My God sent his angel, who closed the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. I’ve been found innocent before God and also before you, O king. I’ve done nothing to harm you.”
23 When the king heard these words, he was happy. He ordered Daniel taken up out of the den. When he was hauled up, there wasn’t a scratch on him. He had trusted his God.
24 Then the king commanded that the conspirators who had informed on Daniel be thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. Before they hit the floor, the lions had them in their jaws, tearing them to pieces.
25-27 King Darius published this proclamation to every race, color, and creed on earth:
Peace to you! Abundant peace!
I decree that Daniel’s God shall be worshiped and feared in all parts of my kingdom.
He is the living God, world without end. His kingdom never falls.
His rule continues eternally.
He is a savior and rescuer.
He performs astonishing miracles in heaven and on earth.
He saved Daniel from the power of the lions.
28 From then on, Daniel was treated well during the reign of Darius, and also in the following reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, April 01, 2017
Read: Romans 8:22–28
22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
INSIGHT:
The theme of Romans 8 seems to be the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Paul encourages us to set our minds on the Spirit (vv. 5–6), to see Him as vital to our spiritual identity (v. 9), to embrace His indwelling (v. 11), to follow His leading (v. 14), to see Him as assurance of our security in Christ (v. 16), and to rest in Him with our prayers (vv. 26–27). This theme is important to the life of God’s child because, as John wrote, “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13). The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is God’s promise of the future (Eph. 1:13) and His enabling for the present (Gal. 5:16). May we trust the Spirit to continue His wonderful work in us, making us more like the Jesus He came to honor (John 15:26).
When Yes Means No
By Xochitl Dixon
I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me. Psalm 120:1
I thanked God for the privilege of serving as my mom’s live-in caregiver during her battle against leukemia. When medicines began to hurt more than help, she decided to stop treatment. “I don’t want to suffer anymore,” she said. “I want to enjoy my last days with family. God knows I’m ready to go home.”
I pleaded with our loving heavenly Father—the Great Physician—confident He could work miracles. But to say yes to my mom’s prayers, He would have to say no to mine. Sobbing, I surrendered, “Your will be done, Lord.”
We can trust Him to answer every prayer according to His will.
Soon after, Jesus welcomed my mama into a pain-free eternity.
In this fallen world, we’ll experience suffering until Jesus returns (Rom. 8:22–25). Our sinful nature, limited vision, and fear of pain can distort our ability to pray. Thankfully, “the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (v. 27). He reminds us that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him (v. 28), even when His yes to someone else means a heartbreaking no for us.
When we accept our small part in His greater purpose, we can echo my mom’s watchword: “God is good, and that’s all there is to it. Whatever He decides, I’m at peace.” With confidence in the Lord’s goodness, we can trust Him to answer every prayer according to His will and for His glory.
Our Daily Bread welcomes writer Xochitl Dixon!
Meet Xochitl and all our authors at odb.org/all-authors.
God’s answers are wiser than our prayers.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 01, 2017
Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?
It is Christ…who also makes intercession for us….the Spirit…makes intercession for the saints… —Romans 8:34, 27
Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors– that Christ “always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25), and that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.
Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.
Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
God engineers circumstances to see what we will do. Will we be the children of our Father in heaven, or will we go back again to the meaner, common-sense attitude? Will we stake all and stand true to Him? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of life means I shall see that my Lord has got the victory after all, even in me. The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 530 L
Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).” Born again? You must be kidding! Put life in reverse? We can’t be born again.
Oh, but wouldn’t we like to? A try-again. A reload. How can this be? Jesus answers in John 3:16—the hope diamond of the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. A twenty-six word parade of hope!
If you know nothing of the Bible—start here. If you know everything about the Bible—return here! He loves. He gave. We believe. We live! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” John 3:16.
From: 3:16 The Numbers of Hope
Daniel 6
Daniel in the Lions’ Den
1-3 Darius reorganized his kingdom. He appointed one hundred twenty governors to administer all the parts of his realm. Over them were three vice-regents, one of whom was Daniel. The governors reported to the vice-regents, who made sure that everything was in order for the king. But Daniel, brimming with spirit and intelligence, so completely outclassed the other vice-regents and governors that the king decided to put him in charge of the whole kingdom.
4-5 The vice-regents and governors got together to find some old scandal or skeleton in Daniel’s life that they could use against him, but they couldn’t dig up anything. He was totally exemplary and trustworthy. They could find no evidence of negligence or misconduct. So they finally gave up and said, “We’re never going to find anything against this Daniel unless we can cook up something religious.”
6-7 The vice-regents and governors conspired together and then went to the king and said, “King Darius, live forever! We’ve convened your vice-regents, governors, and all your leading officials, and have agreed that the king should issue the following decree:
For the next thirty days no one is to pray to any god or mortal except you, O king. Anyone who disobeys will be thrown into the lions’ den.
8 “Issue this decree, O king, and make it unconditional, as if written in stone like all the laws of the Medes and the Persians.”
9 King Darius signed the decree.
10 When Daniel learned that the decree had been signed and posted, he continued to pray just as he had always done. His house had windows in the upstairs that opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he knelt there in prayer, thanking and praising his God.
11-12 The conspirators came and found him praying, asking God for help. They went straight to the king and reminded him of the royal decree that he had signed. “Did you not,” they said, “sign a decree forbidding anyone to pray to any god or man except you for the next thirty days? And anyone caught doing it would be thrown into the lions’ den?”
“Absolutely,” said the king. “Written in stone, like all the laws of the Medes and Persians.”
13 Then they said, “Daniel, one of the Jewish exiles, ignores you, O king, and defies your decree. Three times a day he prays.”
14 At this, the king was very upset and tried his best to get Daniel out of the fix he’d put him in. He worked at it the whole day long.
15 But then the conspirators were back: “Remember, O king, it’s the law of the Medes and Persians that the king’s decree can never be changed.”
16 The king caved in and ordered Daniel brought and thrown into the lions’ den. But he said to Daniel, “Your God, to whom you are so loyal, is going to get you out of this.”
17 A stone slab was placed over the opening of the den. The king sealed the cover with his signet ring and the signet rings of all his nobles, fixing Daniel’s fate.
18 The king then went back to his palace. He refused supper. He couldn’t sleep. He spent the night fasting.
19-20 At daybreak the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. As he approached the den, he called out anxiously, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve so loyally, saved you from the lions?”
21-22 “O king, live forever!” said Daniel. “My God sent his angel, who closed the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. I’ve been found innocent before God and also before you, O king. I’ve done nothing to harm you.”
23 When the king heard these words, he was happy. He ordered Daniel taken up out of the den. When he was hauled up, there wasn’t a scratch on him. He had trusted his God.
24 Then the king commanded that the conspirators who had informed on Daniel be thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. Before they hit the floor, the lions had them in their jaws, tearing them to pieces.
25-27 King Darius published this proclamation to every race, color, and creed on earth:
Peace to you! Abundant peace!
I decree that Daniel’s God shall be worshiped and feared in all parts of my kingdom.
He is the living God, world without end. His kingdom never falls.
His rule continues eternally.
He is a savior and rescuer.
He performs astonishing miracles in heaven and on earth.
He saved Daniel from the power of the lions.
28 From then on, Daniel was treated well during the reign of Darius, and also in the following reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, April 01, 2017
Read: Romans 8:22–28
22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
INSIGHT:
The theme of Romans 8 seems to be the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Paul encourages us to set our minds on the Spirit (vv. 5–6), to see Him as vital to our spiritual identity (v. 9), to embrace His indwelling (v. 11), to follow His leading (v. 14), to see Him as assurance of our security in Christ (v. 16), and to rest in Him with our prayers (vv. 26–27). This theme is important to the life of God’s child because, as John wrote, “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13). The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is God’s promise of the future (Eph. 1:13) and His enabling for the present (Gal. 5:16). May we trust the Spirit to continue His wonderful work in us, making us more like the Jesus He came to honor (John 15:26).
When Yes Means No
By Xochitl Dixon
I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me. Psalm 120:1
I thanked God for the privilege of serving as my mom’s live-in caregiver during her battle against leukemia. When medicines began to hurt more than help, she decided to stop treatment. “I don’t want to suffer anymore,” she said. “I want to enjoy my last days with family. God knows I’m ready to go home.”
I pleaded with our loving heavenly Father—the Great Physician—confident He could work miracles. But to say yes to my mom’s prayers, He would have to say no to mine. Sobbing, I surrendered, “Your will be done, Lord.”
We can trust Him to answer every prayer according to His will.
Soon after, Jesus welcomed my mama into a pain-free eternity.
In this fallen world, we’ll experience suffering until Jesus returns (Rom. 8:22–25). Our sinful nature, limited vision, and fear of pain can distort our ability to pray. Thankfully, “the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (v. 27). He reminds us that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him (v. 28), even when His yes to someone else means a heartbreaking no for us.
When we accept our small part in His greater purpose, we can echo my mom’s watchword: “God is good, and that’s all there is to it. Whatever He decides, I’m at peace.” With confidence in the Lord’s goodness, we can trust Him to answer every prayer according to His will and for His glory.
Our Daily Bread welcomes writer Xochitl Dixon!
Meet Xochitl and all our authors at odb.org/all-authors.
God’s answers are wiser than our prayers.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 01, 2017
Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?
It is Christ…who also makes intercession for us….the Spirit…makes intercession for the saints… —Romans 8:34, 27
Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors– that Christ “always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25), and that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.
Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.
Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
God engineers circumstances to see what we will do. Will we be the children of our Father in heaven, or will we go back again to the meaner, common-sense attitude? Will we stake all and stand true to Him? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of life means I shall see that my Lord has got the victory after all, even in me. The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 530 L
Friday, March 31, 2017
Daniel 5 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: CHRIST IN OUR PLACE
Just suppose you were to stand on a stage while a film of every secret and selfish second of your life was projected on the screen behind you? Wouldn’t you shout to the heavens to have mercy?
Imagine what Christ felt on the cross! Scripture says “He personally carried all our sins in his body. . .” (1 Peter 2:24). See Christ on the cross? That’s a gossiper hanging there. See Jesus? Embezzler. Liar. See the crucified carpenter? He’s an addict and murderer.
Hold it, Max. Don’t you lump Christ with those evildoers. I didn’t. HE did. More than place his name in the same sentence, he placed himself in their place. With hands nailed open, he invited God, “Treat me as you would treat them!” And God did.
“My God, my God, why did you abandon me?” (Matthew 27:46). Why did Christ scream those words? So you’ll never have to.
From Next Door Savior
Daniel 5
The Writing of a Disembodied Hand
1-4 King Belshazzar held a great feast for his one thousand nobles. The wine flowed freely. Belshazzar, heady with the wine, ordered that the gold and silver chalices his father Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from God’s Temple of Jerusalem be brought in so that he and his nobles, his wives and concubines, could drink from them. When the gold and silver chalices were brought in, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, drank wine from them. They drank the wine and drunkenly praised their gods made of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
5-7 At that very moment, the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the lamp-illumined, whitewashed wall of the palace. When the king saw the disembodied hand writing away, he went white as a ghost, scared out of his wits. His legs went limp and his knees knocked. He yelled out for the enchanters, the fortunetellers, and the diviners to come. He told these Babylonian magi, “Anyone who can read this writing on the wall and tell me what it means will be famous and rich—purple robe, the great gold chain—and be third-in-command in the kingdom.”
8-9 One after the other they tried, but could make no sense of it. They could neither read what was written nor interpret it to the king. So now the king was really frightened. All the blood drained from his face. The nobles were in a panic.
10-12 The queen heard of the hysteria among the king and his nobles and came to the banquet hall. She said, “Long live the king! Don’t be upset. Don’t sit around looking like ghosts. There is a man in your kingdom who is full of the divine Holy Spirit. During your father’s time he was well known for his intellectual brilliance and spiritual wisdom. He was so good that your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, made him the head of all the magicians, enchanters, fortunetellers, and diviners. There was no one quite like him. He could do anything—interpret dreams, solve mysteries, explain puzzles. His name is Daniel, but he was renamed Belteshazzar by the king. Have Daniel called in. He’ll tell you what is going on here.”
13-16 So Daniel was called in. The king asked him, “Are you the Daniel who was one of the Jewish exiles my father brought here from Judah? I’ve heard about you—that you’re full of the Holy Spirit, that you’ve got a brilliant mind, that you are incredibly wise. The wise men and enchanters were brought in here to read this writing on the wall and interpret it for me. They couldn’t figure it out—not a word, not a syllable. But I’ve heard that you interpret dreams and solve mysteries. So—if you can read the writing and interpret it for me, you’ll be rich and famous—a purple robe, the great gold chain around your neck—and third-in-command in the kingdom.”
17 Daniel answered the king, “You can keep your gifts, or give them to someone else. But I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.
18-21 “Listen, O king! The High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar a great kingdom and a glorious reputation. Because God made him so famous, people from everywhere, whatever their race, color, and creed, were totally intimidated by him. He killed or spared people on whim. He promoted or humiliated people capriciously. He developed a big head and a hard spirit. Then God knocked him off his high horse and stripped him of his fame. He was thrown out of human company, lost his mind, and lived like a wild animal. He ate grass like an ox and was soaked by heaven’s dew until he learned his lesson: that the High God rules human kingdoms and puts anyone he wants in charge.
22-23 “You are his son and have known all this, yet you’re as arrogant as he ever was. Look at you, setting yourself up in competition against the Master of heaven! You had the sacred chalices from his Temple brought into your drunken party so that you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines, could drink from them. You used the sacred chalices to toast your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone—blind, deaf, and imbecile gods. But you treat with contempt the living God who holds your entire life from birth to death in his hand.
24-26 “God sent the hand that wrote on the wall, and this is what is written: mene, teqel, and peres. This is what the words mean:
“Mene: God has numbered the days of your rule and they don’t add up.
27 “Teqel: You have been weighed on the scales and you don’t weigh much.
28 “Peres: Your kingdom has been divided up and handed over to the Medes and Persians.”
29 Belshazzar did what he had promised. He robed Daniel in purple, draped the great gold chain around his neck, and promoted him to third-in-charge in the kingdom.
30-31 That same night the Babylonian king Belshazzar was murdered. Darius the Mede was sixty-two years old when he succeeded him as king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 31, 2017
Read: Isaiah 55:1–7
Buy Without Money
1-5 “Hey there! All who are thirsty,
come to the water!
Are you penniless?
Come anyway—buy and eat!
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.
Buy without money—everything’s free!
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I’m making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
I set him up as a witness to the nations,
made him a prince and leader of the nations,
And now I’m doing it to you:
You’ll summon nations you’ve never heard of,
and nations who’ve never heard of you
will come running to you
Because of me, your God,
because The Holy of Israel has honored you.”
6-7 Seek God while he’s here to be found,
pray to him while he’s close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
INSIGHT:
In Isaiah 55, the prophet draws on the imagery of a royal banquet to give discouraged Judeans hope that, despite their suffering, God’s promises to them remained trustworthy. In the background of Isaiah 55 is God’s promise of an eternal covenant with the line of David (Ps. 89:28–29). Isaiah’s report broadens God’s promise to the line of David even further, depicting a royal feast where all Judeans share the kingly role of representing Yahweh to the nations (55:3–5). When Jesus came, He said He was the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise (John 7:37) and invited everyone, especially the forgotten and marginalized, to His feast (Matt. 22:1–14). Through His Spirit, Jesus’s followers can enjoy Christ’s abundant life and, as His representatives, invite all the world to the banquet. Who might you invite to the feast?
The Greatest Invitation
By David McCasland
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Isaiah 55:1
During a recent week, I received several invitations in the mail. Those inviting me to attend “free” seminars on retirement, real estate, and life insurance were immediately thrown away. But the invitation to a gathering honoring a longtime friend caused me to reply immediately, “Yes! I accept.” Invitation + Desire = Acceptance.
Isaiah 55:1 is one of the great invitations in the Bible. The Lord said to His people who were in difficult circumstances, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” This is God’s remarkable offer of inner nourishment, deep spiritual satisfaction, and everlasting life (vv. 2–3).
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your promise of mercy, forgiveness, and eternal life.
Jesus’s invitation is repeated in the last chapter of the Bible: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Rev. 22:17).
We often think of eternal life as beginning when we die. In reality, it begins when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.
God’s invitation to find eternal life in Him is the greatest invitation of all! Invitation + Desire = Acceptance.
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your promise of mercy, pardon, and eternal life. I acknowledge my failures and receive Jesus as my Savior today.
When we accept Jesus’s invitation to follow Him, our whole life changes direction.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 31, 2017
Heedfulness or Hypocrisy in Ourselves?
If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. —1 John 5:16
If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other people are failing, and then we take our discernment and turn it into comments of ridicule and criticism, instead of turning it into intercession on their behalf. God reveals this truth about others to us not through the sharpness of our minds but through the direct penetration of His Spirit. If we are not attentive, we will be completely unaware of the source of the discernment God has given us, becoming critical of others and forgetting that God says, “…he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” Be careful that you don’t become a hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right with God before you worship Him yourself.
One of the most subtle and illusive burdens God ever places on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning others. He gives us discernment so that we may accept the responsibility for those souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them (see Philippians 2:5). We should intercede in accordance with what God says He will give us, namely, “life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” It is not that we are able to bring God into contact with our minds, but that we awaken ourselves to the point where God is able to convey His mind to us regarding the people for whom we intercede.
Can Jesus Christ see the agony of His soul in us? He can’t unless we are so closely identified with Him that we have His view concerning the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ will be completely and overwhelmingly satisfied with us as intercessors.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 31, 2017
My Father Is Missing - #7885
There was a time when single parenting was kind of an exception in America. Not any more - millions of families where it's just a mom or a dad now. There's been a lot of conversation and a lot of articles written...a lot of commentary about the impact of not having a dad who's really being a father to you. A little while back, one of the leading health officers in the United States said, "The greatest issue facing us is fatherlessness." Then Time Magazine commented on women who actually choose to have a fatherless family. Here's what they said: "They are bringing a child into the world with a hole at the center of his life where a father should be."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "My Father Is Missing."
However you feel about those comments and those quotes, we all know that life's a little tougher if you don't have a dad or somebody who isn't acting like a real dad.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 15. This is the familiar story of the prodigal son, who got his inheritance early from his father, went to a far country, spent it all, ended up feeding the pigs and having to eat with them. Verse 17 says, "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father."
This is the story of a searching man whose real problem was that he was away from his father. Maybe that's a picture of you right now. In the story, God is the father, and God has told us He wants us to know Him as our Heavenly Father. You say, "Well, if he's like the father I had, I'm not interested." Well, remember this. God is not like the father you had on earth. He's like the father we all wish we had, and what you're feeling down deep in your soul, that's father lonely. We have a hole – a daddy deficit – that we're waiting for a father to occupy.
How do we lose Him? How do we find Him? Look at the verbs in Luke 15. It says that the young man "set off for a distant country." The Bible says actually we've all done that. It says, "We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glorious ideal," we've wandered away like sheep. (the Bible says) We are away from God by our own choosing. The next verb says, "He squandered his wealth." See, all our years away from God are squandered years. They're wasted years until you know the relationship with a father that you were made for.
Then the next verb says, "He spent everything." You can do that so easily. We spend, in search of the missing part of us. We spend our self-respect, our relationships, our virginity, our reputation, and our future. We can't find ourselves in achievements. We can't find ourselves in relationships, or pleasure. We spend everything, and then it says, "He longed to fill his stomach." Maybe you feel an emptiness inside of you like a hunger that never goes away, a hole that's never been filled.
Then we read, "He came to his senses." Maybe that's where God is bringing you right now. It's hard to live without God. It's hell to die without Him. It says that the son went to his father. And see, there's only way you can get to the father you were made by and made for. In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." What would happen if you came to Him today? It says, "While the boy was a long way off, his father saw him, ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." That's the welcome you would get from God today. He runs to you with His arms wide open no matter what you've done.
Why don't you run to Him and be born into His family today? Don't you want to begin this relationship? Tell Jesus, "I'm yours, Jesus. You paid the price for me to have my sin forgiven so I could belong to the Father I was made for."
ANewStory.com – that's our website. I want to urge you to go there, because that's where I can kind of meet you with the information that will help you be sure you finally belong to Him.
See, no longer would you then have the hole in the center of your life where a father should be. No father on earth could ever fill that hole anyway. It was made for your Heavenly Father. Come to Him and you'll never be father lonely again.
Just suppose you were to stand on a stage while a film of every secret and selfish second of your life was projected on the screen behind you? Wouldn’t you shout to the heavens to have mercy?
Imagine what Christ felt on the cross! Scripture says “He personally carried all our sins in his body. . .” (1 Peter 2:24). See Christ on the cross? That’s a gossiper hanging there. See Jesus? Embezzler. Liar. See the crucified carpenter? He’s an addict and murderer.
Hold it, Max. Don’t you lump Christ with those evildoers. I didn’t. HE did. More than place his name in the same sentence, he placed himself in their place. With hands nailed open, he invited God, “Treat me as you would treat them!” And God did.
“My God, my God, why did you abandon me?” (Matthew 27:46). Why did Christ scream those words? So you’ll never have to.
From Next Door Savior
Daniel 5
The Writing of a Disembodied Hand
1-4 King Belshazzar held a great feast for his one thousand nobles. The wine flowed freely. Belshazzar, heady with the wine, ordered that the gold and silver chalices his father Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from God’s Temple of Jerusalem be brought in so that he and his nobles, his wives and concubines, could drink from them. When the gold and silver chalices were brought in, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, drank wine from them. They drank the wine and drunkenly praised their gods made of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
5-7 At that very moment, the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the lamp-illumined, whitewashed wall of the palace. When the king saw the disembodied hand writing away, he went white as a ghost, scared out of his wits. His legs went limp and his knees knocked. He yelled out for the enchanters, the fortunetellers, and the diviners to come. He told these Babylonian magi, “Anyone who can read this writing on the wall and tell me what it means will be famous and rich—purple robe, the great gold chain—and be third-in-command in the kingdom.”
8-9 One after the other they tried, but could make no sense of it. They could neither read what was written nor interpret it to the king. So now the king was really frightened. All the blood drained from his face. The nobles were in a panic.
10-12 The queen heard of the hysteria among the king and his nobles and came to the banquet hall. She said, “Long live the king! Don’t be upset. Don’t sit around looking like ghosts. There is a man in your kingdom who is full of the divine Holy Spirit. During your father’s time he was well known for his intellectual brilliance and spiritual wisdom. He was so good that your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, made him the head of all the magicians, enchanters, fortunetellers, and diviners. There was no one quite like him. He could do anything—interpret dreams, solve mysteries, explain puzzles. His name is Daniel, but he was renamed Belteshazzar by the king. Have Daniel called in. He’ll tell you what is going on here.”
13-16 So Daniel was called in. The king asked him, “Are you the Daniel who was one of the Jewish exiles my father brought here from Judah? I’ve heard about you—that you’re full of the Holy Spirit, that you’ve got a brilliant mind, that you are incredibly wise. The wise men and enchanters were brought in here to read this writing on the wall and interpret it for me. They couldn’t figure it out—not a word, not a syllable. But I’ve heard that you interpret dreams and solve mysteries. So—if you can read the writing and interpret it for me, you’ll be rich and famous—a purple robe, the great gold chain around your neck—and third-in-command in the kingdom.”
17 Daniel answered the king, “You can keep your gifts, or give them to someone else. But I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.
18-21 “Listen, O king! The High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar a great kingdom and a glorious reputation. Because God made him so famous, people from everywhere, whatever their race, color, and creed, were totally intimidated by him. He killed or spared people on whim. He promoted or humiliated people capriciously. He developed a big head and a hard spirit. Then God knocked him off his high horse and stripped him of his fame. He was thrown out of human company, lost his mind, and lived like a wild animal. He ate grass like an ox and was soaked by heaven’s dew until he learned his lesson: that the High God rules human kingdoms and puts anyone he wants in charge.
22-23 “You are his son and have known all this, yet you’re as arrogant as he ever was. Look at you, setting yourself up in competition against the Master of heaven! You had the sacred chalices from his Temple brought into your drunken party so that you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines, could drink from them. You used the sacred chalices to toast your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone—blind, deaf, and imbecile gods. But you treat with contempt the living God who holds your entire life from birth to death in his hand.
24-26 “God sent the hand that wrote on the wall, and this is what is written: mene, teqel, and peres. This is what the words mean:
“Mene: God has numbered the days of your rule and they don’t add up.
27 “Teqel: You have been weighed on the scales and you don’t weigh much.
28 “Peres: Your kingdom has been divided up and handed over to the Medes and Persians.”
29 Belshazzar did what he had promised. He robed Daniel in purple, draped the great gold chain around his neck, and promoted him to third-in-charge in the kingdom.
30-31 That same night the Babylonian king Belshazzar was murdered. Darius the Mede was sixty-two years old when he succeeded him as king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 31, 2017
Read: Isaiah 55:1–7
Buy Without Money
1-5 “Hey there! All who are thirsty,
come to the water!
Are you penniless?
Come anyway—buy and eat!
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.
Buy without money—everything’s free!
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I’m making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
I set him up as a witness to the nations,
made him a prince and leader of the nations,
And now I’m doing it to you:
You’ll summon nations you’ve never heard of,
and nations who’ve never heard of you
will come running to you
Because of me, your God,
because The Holy of Israel has honored you.”
6-7 Seek God while he’s here to be found,
pray to him while he’s close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
INSIGHT:
In Isaiah 55, the prophet draws on the imagery of a royal banquet to give discouraged Judeans hope that, despite their suffering, God’s promises to them remained trustworthy. In the background of Isaiah 55 is God’s promise of an eternal covenant with the line of David (Ps. 89:28–29). Isaiah’s report broadens God’s promise to the line of David even further, depicting a royal feast where all Judeans share the kingly role of representing Yahweh to the nations (55:3–5). When Jesus came, He said He was the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise (John 7:37) and invited everyone, especially the forgotten and marginalized, to His feast (Matt. 22:1–14). Through His Spirit, Jesus’s followers can enjoy Christ’s abundant life and, as His representatives, invite all the world to the banquet. Who might you invite to the feast?
The Greatest Invitation
By David McCasland
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Isaiah 55:1
During a recent week, I received several invitations in the mail. Those inviting me to attend “free” seminars on retirement, real estate, and life insurance were immediately thrown away. But the invitation to a gathering honoring a longtime friend caused me to reply immediately, “Yes! I accept.” Invitation + Desire = Acceptance.
Isaiah 55:1 is one of the great invitations in the Bible. The Lord said to His people who were in difficult circumstances, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” This is God’s remarkable offer of inner nourishment, deep spiritual satisfaction, and everlasting life (vv. 2–3).
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your promise of mercy, forgiveness, and eternal life.
Jesus’s invitation is repeated in the last chapter of the Bible: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Rev. 22:17).
We often think of eternal life as beginning when we die. In reality, it begins when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.
God’s invitation to find eternal life in Him is the greatest invitation of all! Invitation + Desire = Acceptance.
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your promise of mercy, pardon, and eternal life. I acknowledge my failures and receive Jesus as my Savior today.
When we accept Jesus’s invitation to follow Him, our whole life changes direction.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 31, 2017
Heedfulness or Hypocrisy in Ourselves?
If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. —1 John 5:16
If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other people are failing, and then we take our discernment and turn it into comments of ridicule and criticism, instead of turning it into intercession on their behalf. God reveals this truth about others to us not through the sharpness of our minds but through the direct penetration of His Spirit. If we are not attentive, we will be completely unaware of the source of the discernment God has given us, becoming critical of others and forgetting that God says, “…he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” Be careful that you don’t become a hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right with God before you worship Him yourself.
One of the most subtle and illusive burdens God ever places on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning others. He gives us discernment so that we may accept the responsibility for those souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them (see Philippians 2:5). We should intercede in accordance with what God says He will give us, namely, “life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” It is not that we are able to bring God into contact with our minds, but that we awaken ourselves to the point where God is able to convey His mind to us regarding the people for whom we intercede.
Can Jesus Christ see the agony of His soul in us? He can’t unless we are so closely identified with Him that we have His view concerning the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ will be completely and overwhelmingly satisfied with us as intercessors.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 31, 2017
My Father Is Missing - #7885
There was a time when single parenting was kind of an exception in America. Not any more - millions of families where it's just a mom or a dad now. There's been a lot of conversation and a lot of articles written...a lot of commentary about the impact of not having a dad who's really being a father to you. A little while back, one of the leading health officers in the United States said, "The greatest issue facing us is fatherlessness." Then Time Magazine commented on women who actually choose to have a fatherless family. Here's what they said: "They are bringing a child into the world with a hole at the center of his life where a father should be."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "My Father Is Missing."
However you feel about those comments and those quotes, we all know that life's a little tougher if you don't have a dad or somebody who isn't acting like a real dad.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 15. This is the familiar story of the prodigal son, who got his inheritance early from his father, went to a far country, spent it all, ended up feeding the pigs and having to eat with them. Verse 17 says, "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father."
This is the story of a searching man whose real problem was that he was away from his father. Maybe that's a picture of you right now. In the story, God is the father, and God has told us He wants us to know Him as our Heavenly Father. You say, "Well, if he's like the father I had, I'm not interested." Well, remember this. God is not like the father you had on earth. He's like the father we all wish we had, and what you're feeling down deep in your soul, that's father lonely. We have a hole – a daddy deficit – that we're waiting for a father to occupy.
How do we lose Him? How do we find Him? Look at the verbs in Luke 15. It says that the young man "set off for a distant country." The Bible says actually we've all done that. It says, "We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glorious ideal," we've wandered away like sheep. (the Bible says) We are away from God by our own choosing. The next verb says, "He squandered his wealth." See, all our years away from God are squandered years. They're wasted years until you know the relationship with a father that you were made for.
Then the next verb says, "He spent everything." You can do that so easily. We spend, in search of the missing part of us. We spend our self-respect, our relationships, our virginity, our reputation, and our future. We can't find ourselves in achievements. We can't find ourselves in relationships, or pleasure. We spend everything, and then it says, "He longed to fill his stomach." Maybe you feel an emptiness inside of you like a hunger that never goes away, a hole that's never been filled.
Then we read, "He came to his senses." Maybe that's where God is bringing you right now. It's hard to live without God. It's hell to die without Him. It says that the son went to his father. And see, there's only way you can get to the father you were made by and made for. In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." What would happen if you came to Him today? It says, "While the boy was a long way off, his father saw him, ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." That's the welcome you would get from God today. He runs to you with His arms wide open no matter what you've done.
Why don't you run to Him and be born into His family today? Don't you want to begin this relationship? Tell Jesus, "I'm yours, Jesus. You paid the price for me to have my sin forgiven so I could belong to the Father I was made for."
ANewStory.com – that's our website. I want to urge you to go there, because that's where I can kind of meet you with the information that will help you be sure you finally belong to Him.
See, no longer would you then have the hole in the center of your life where a father should be. No father on earth could ever fill that hole anyway. It was made for your Heavenly Father. Come to Him and you'll never be father lonely again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)