Sunday, January 7, 2018
Genesis 37, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Stubborn Peace
Who do you know with a stubborn peace? Their problems aren't any different, but there's a serenity that softens the corners of their lips.
A priest visited just such a man in the hospital. The man was nearing death. The priest noticed an empty chair beside the bed and wondered if someone else had been there. The old man smiled, "I place Jesus on that chair, and I talk to him." The priest was puzzled so the man explained. "Years ago a friend told me prayer is as simple as talking to a good friend. So every day I pull up a chair and Jesus and I have a good talk."
When his daughter informed the priest her father had died, she explained, "When I got to his room, I found him dead. Strangely, his head was resting, not on the pillow, but on an empty chair beside his bed." The picture of stubborn peace!
From The Applause of Heaven
Genesis 37
Meanwhile Jacob had settled down where his father had lived, the land of Canaan.
Joseph and His Brothers
2 This is the story of Jacob. The story continues with Joseph, seventeen years old at the time, helping out his brothers in herding the flocks. These were his half brothers actually, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought his father bad reports on them.
3-4 Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was the child of his old age. And he made him an elaborately embroidered coat. When his brothers realized that their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him—they wouldn’t even speak to him.
5-7 Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said, “Listen to this dream I had. We were all out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. All of a sudden my bundle stood straight up and your bundles circled around it and bowed down to mine.”
8 His brothers said, “So! You’re going to rule us? You’re going to boss us around?” And they hated him more than ever because of his dreams and the way he talked.
9 He had another dream and told this one also to his brothers: “I dreamed another dream—the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me!”
10-11 When he told it to his father and brothers, his father reprimanded him: “What’s with all this dreaming? Am I and your mother and your brothers all supposed to bow down to you?” Now his brothers were really jealous; but his father brooded over the whole business.
12-13 His brothers had gone off to Shechem where they were pasturing their father’s flocks. Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are with flocks in Shechem. Come, I want to send you to them.”
Joseph said, “I’m ready.”
14 He said, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing and bring me back a report.” He sent him off from the valley of Hebron to Shechem.
15 A man met him as he was wandering through the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 “I’m trying to find my brothers. Do you have any idea where they are grazing their flocks?”
17 The man said, “They’ve left here, but I overheard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph took off, tracked his brothers down, and found them in Dothan.
18-20 They spotted him off in the distance. By the time he got to them they had cooked up a plot to kill him. The brothers were saying, “Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him and throw him into one of these old cisterns; we can say that a vicious animal ate him up. We’ll see what his dreams amount to.”
21-22 Reuben heard the brothers talking and intervened to save him, “We’re not going to kill him. No murder. Go ahead and throw him in this cistern out here in the wild, but don’t hurt him.” Reuben planned to go back later and get him out and take him back to his father.
23-24 When Joseph reached his brothers, they ripped off the fancy coat he was wearing, grabbed him, and threw him into a cistern. The cistern was dry; there wasn’t any water in it.
25-27 Then they sat down to eat their supper. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites on their way from Gilead, their camels loaded with spices, ointments, and perfumes to sell in Egypt. Judah said, “Brothers, what are we going to get out of killing our brother and concealing the evidence? Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not kill him—he is, after all, our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 By that time the Midianite traders were passing by. His brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who took Joseph with them down to Egypt.
29-30 Later Reuben came back and went to the cistern—no Joseph! He ripped his clothes in despair. Beside himself, he went to his brothers. “The boy’s gone! What am I going to do!”
31-32 They took Joseph’s coat, butchered a goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. They took the fancy coat back to their father and said, “We found this. Look it over—do you think this is your son’s coat?”
33 He recognized it at once. “My son’s coat—a wild animal has eaten him. Joseph torn limb from limb!”
34-35 Jacob tore his clothes in grief, dressed in rough burlap, and mourned his son a long, long time. His sons and daughters tried to comfort him but he refused their comfort. “I’ll go to the grave mourning my son.” Oh, how his father wept for him.
36 In Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, manager of his household affairs.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, January 07, 2018
Read: Philippians 2:5–11
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Footnotes:
Philippians 2:6 Or in the form of
Philippians 2:7 Or the form
INSIGHT
God, who exists eternally in three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—has a variety of names that describe His attributes, including Good Shepherd, Lion of Judah, Lamb of God, Prince of Peace, Almighty God, Strong Tower, and Comforter. Yet here in Philippians 2 Jesus is called the “name that is above every name” (v. 9). Paul, the author of Philippians, goes on to say that at the sound of His name “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (v. 10). Why this enthusiastic praise for the name of Jesus? It’s because of who He is, what He left behind, and what He accomplished. Jesus, the Son of God, left the magnificence of heaven and the presence of His Father and humbled Himself by taking on “human likeness” and “becoming obedient to death” (vv. 7–8). Thus humbled, Jesus was “exalted . . . to the highest place” and given the name above all names (v. 9). He died and rose again because of His love for us and is deserving of our praise and the overflowing joy it expresses.
Whom can you tell about Jesus? - Alyson Kieda
One Name
By David C. McCasland
At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Philippians 2:10
Cleopatra, Galileo, Shakespeare, Elvis, Pelé. They are all so well known that they need only one name to be recognized. They have remained prominent in history because of who they were and what they did. But there is another name that stands far above these or any other name!
Before the Son of God was born into this world, the angel told Mary and Joseph to name Him Jesus because “he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), and “he . . . will be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32). Jesus didn’t come as a celebrity but as a servant who humbled Himself and died on the cross so that anyone who receives Him can be forgiven and freed from the power of sin.
Jesus Christ is not valued at all until He is valued above all. Augustine
The apostle Paul wrote, “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11).
In our times of greatest joy and our deepest need, the name we cling to is Jesus. He will never leave us, and His love will not fail.
Jesus, You are the name above all names, our Savior and Lord. We lift our praise to You as we celebrate Your presence and power in our lives today.
Jesus Christ is not valued at all until He is valued above all. Augustine
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, January 07, 2018
Intimate With Jesus
Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?" —John 14:9
These words were not spoken as a rebuke, nor even with surprise; Jesus was encouraging Philip to draw closer. Yet the last person we get intimate with is Jesus. Before Pentecost the disciples knew Jesus as the One who gave them power to conquer demons and to bring about a revival (see Luke 10:18-20). It was a wonderful intimacy, but there was a much closer intimacy to come: “…I have called you friends…” (John 15:15). True friendship is rare on earth. It means identifying with someone in thought, heart, and spirit. The whole experience of life is designed to enable us to enter into this closest relationship with Jesus Christ. We receive His blessings and know His Word, but do we really know Him?
Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away…” (John 16:7). He left that relationship to lead them even closer. It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to walk more intimately with Him. The bearing of fruit is always shown in Scripture to be the visible result of an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ (see John 15:1-4).
Once we get intimate with Jesus we are never lonely and we never lack for understanding or compassion. We can continually pour out our hearts to Him without being perceived as overly emotional or pitiful. The Christian who is truly intimate with Jesus will never draw attention to himself but will only show the evidence of a life where Jesus is completely in control. This is the outcome of allowing Jesus to satisfy every area of life to its depth. The picture resulting from such a life is that of the strong, calm balance that our Lord gives to those who are intimate with Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried. He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Genesis 36, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Summit
Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened" (Matthew 11:28).
I wish I could say it happens all the time; but it doesn't. Sometimes He asks and I don't listen. Other times He asks and I just don't go. But sometimes I follow. I leave behind the deadlines, the schedule and walk the narrow trail up the mountain with Him.
You've been there. You've turned your back on the noise and sought His voice. You've stepped away from the masses and followed the Master as He led you up the winding path to the summit. The roar of the marketplace is down there, the perspective of the peak is up here.
He gently reminds you, "You'll go nowhere tomorrow that I haven't already been." "The victory is already yours." "My delight is one decision away-seize it!" Ah, the words on the sacred summit. A place of permanence in a world of transition.
From The Applause of Heaven
Genesis 36
This is the family tree of Esau, who is also called Edom.
2-3 Esau married women of Canaan: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite;
Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.
4 Adah gave Esau Eliphaz;
Basemath had Reuel;
5 Oholibamah had Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
6-8 Esau gathered up his wives, sons and daughters, and everybody in his household, along with all his livestock—all the animals and possessions he had gotten in Canaan—and moved a considerable distance away from his brother Jacob. The brothers had too many possessions to live together in the same place; the land couldn’t support their combined herds of livestock. So Esau ended up settling in the hill country of Seir (Esau and Edom are the same).
9-10 So this is the family tree of Esau, ancestor of the people of Edom, in the hill country of Seir. The names of Esau’s sons:
Eliphaz, son of Esau’s wife Adah;
Reuel, son of Esau’s wife Basemath.
11-12 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. (Eliphaz also had a concubine Timna, who had Amalek.) These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.
13 And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah—grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
14 These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah the son of Zibeon. She gave Esau his sons Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
15-16 These are the chieftains in Esau’s family tree. From the sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn, came the chieftains Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Korah, Gatam, and Amalek—the chieftains of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; all of them sons of Adah.
17 From the sons of Esau’s son Reuel came the chieftains Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the chieftains of Reuel in the land of Edom; all these were sons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
18 These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: the chieftains Jeush, Jalam, and Korah—chieftains born of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.
19 These are the sons of Esau, that is, Edom, and these are their chieftains.
20-21 This is the family tree of Seir the Horite, who were native to that land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chieftains of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.
22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Homam; Lotan’s sister was Timna.
23 The sons of Shobal were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
24 The sons of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah—this is the same Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness while herding his father Zibeon’s donkeys.
25 The children of Anah were Dishon and his daughter Oholibamah.
26 The sons of Dishon were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.
27 The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.
28 The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
29-30 And these were the Horite chieftains: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan—the Horite chieftains clan by clan in the land of Seir.
31-39 And these are the kings who ruled in Edom before there was a king in Israel: Bela son of Beor was the king of Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah. When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah became the next king. When Jobab died, he was followed by Hushan from the land of the Temanites. When Hushan died, he was followed by Hadad son of Bedad; he was the king who defeated the Midianites in Moab; the name of his city was Avith. When Hadad died, Samlah of Masrekah became the next king. When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth-on-the-River became king. When Shaul died, he was followed by Baal-Hanan son of Acbor. When Baal-Hanan son of Acbor died, Hadad became king; the name of his city was Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-Zahab.
40-43 And these are the chieftains from the line of Esau, clan by clan, region by region: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram—the chieftains of Edom as they occupied their various regions.
This accounts for the family tree of Esau, ancestor of all Edomites.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, January 06, 2018
Read: Matthew 2:1–12
The Magi Visit the Messiah
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Footnotes:
Matthew 2:1 Traditionally wise men
Matthew 2:6 Micah 5:2,4
INSIGHT
The gifts the magi brought were precious. But the worship they offered the King of Kings from bended knee and bowed head was of greater value than the material gifts.
How can you worship God today? - J.R. Hudberg
The Gift of the Magi
By Mart DeHaan
We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. Matthew 2:2
A young married couple had more love than money. As Christmas neared, both struggled to find a gift that would show how much they cared for the other. Finally, on Christmas Eve, Della sold her long, knee-length hair to buy Jim a platinum chain for the watch he’d inherited from his father and grandfather. Jim, however, had just sold the watch to buy a set of expensive combs for Della’s hair.
Author O. Henry called the couple’s story The Gift of the Magi. His creation suggests that even though their gifts became useless and may have caused them to look foolish on Christmas morning, their love made them among the wisest of those who give gifts.
Father in heaven, please help us in this season to learn what it means to give.
The wise men of the first Christmas story also could have looked foolish to some as they arrived in Bethlehem with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11). They weren’t Jewish. They were outsiders, Gentiles, who didn’t realize how much they would disturb the peace of Jerusalem by asking about a newly born king of the Jews (v. 2).
As with Jim and Della’s experience, the magi’s plans didn’t turn out the way they expected. But they gave what money cannot buy. They came with gifts, but then bowed to worship One who would ultimately make the greatest of all loving sacrifices for them—and for us.
Father in heaven, please help us to learn what it means to give what money cannot buy.
God’s gift of grace is priceless.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, January 06, 2018
Worship
He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. —Genesis 12:8
Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.
Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram “pitched his tent” between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must “pitch our tents” where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R
Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened" (Matthew 11:28).
I wish I could say it happens all the time; but it doesn't. Sometimes He asks and I don't listen. Other times He asks and I just don't go. But sometimes I follow. I leave behind the deadlines, the schedule and walk the narrow trail up the mountain with Him.
You've been there. You've turned your back on the noise and sought His voice. You've stepped away from the masses and followed the Master as He led you up the winding path to the summit. The roar of the marketplace is down there, the perspective of the peak is up here.
He gently reminds you, "You'll go nowhere tomorrow that I haven't already been." "The victory is already yours." "My delight is one decision away-seize it!" Ah, the words on the sacred summit. A place of permanence in a world of transition.
From The Applause of Heaven
Genesis 36
This is the family tree of Esau, who is also called Edom.
2-3 Esau married women of Canaan: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite;
Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.
4 Adah gave Esau Eliphaz;
Basemath had Reuel;
5 Oholibamah had Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
6-8 Esau gathered up his wives, sons and daughters, and everybody in his household, along with all his livestock—all the animals and possessions he had gotten in Canaan—and moved a considerable distance away from his brother Jacob. The brothers had too many possessions to live together in the same place; the land couldn’t support their combined herds of livestock. So Esau ended up settling in the hill country of Seir (Esau and Edom are the same).
9-10 So this is the family tree of Esau, ancestor of the people of Edom, in the hill country of Seir. The names of Esau’s sons:
Eliphaz, son of Esau’s wife Adah;
Reuel, son of Esau’s wife Basemath.
11-12 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. (Eliphaz also had a concubine Timna, who had Amalek.) These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.
13 And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah—grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
14 These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah the son of Zibeon. She gave Esau his sons Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
15-16 These are the chieftains in Esau’s family tree. From the sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn, came the chieftains Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Korah, Gatam, and Amalek—the chieftains of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; all of them sons of Adah.
17 From the sons of Esau’s son Reuel came the chieftains Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the chieftains of Reuel in the land of Edom; all these were sons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
18 These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: the chieftains Jeush, Jalam, and Korah—chieftains born of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.
19 These are the sons of Esau, that is, Edom, and these are their chieftains.
20-21 This is the family tree of Seir the Horite, who were native to that land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chieftains of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.
22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Homam; Lotan’s sister was Timna.
23 The sons of Shobal were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
24 The sons of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah—this is the same Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness while herding his father Zibeon’s donkeys.
25 The children of Anah were Dishon and his daughter Oholibamah.
26 The sons of Dishon were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.
27 The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.
28 The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
29-30 And these were the Horite chieftains: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan—the Horite chieftains clan by clan in the land of Seir.
31-39 And these are the kings who ruled in Edom before there was a king in Israel: Bela son of Beor was the king of Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah. When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah became the next king. When Jobab died, he was followed by Hushan from the land of the Temanites. When Hushan died, he was followed by Hadad son of Bedad; he was the king who defeated the Midianites in Moab; the name of his city was Avith. When Hadad died, Samlah of Masrekah became the next king. When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth-on-the-River became king. When Shaul died, he was followed by Baal-Hanan son of Acbor. When Baal-Hanan son of Acbor died, Hadad became king; the name of his city was Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-Zahab.
40-43 And these are the chieftains from the line of Esau, clan by clan, region by region: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram—the chieftains of Edom as they occupied their various regions.
This accounts for the family tree of Esau, ancestor of all Edomites.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, January 06, 2018
Read: Matthew 2:1–12
The Magi Visit the Messiah
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Footnotes:
Matthew 2:1 Traditionally wise men
Matthew 2:6 Micah 5:2,4
INSIGHT
The gifts the magi brought were precious. But the worship they offered the King of Kings from bended knee and bowed head was of greater value than the material gifts.
How can you worship God today? - J.R. Hudberg
The Gift of the Magi
By Mart DeHaan
We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. Matthew 2:2
A young married couple had more love than money. As Christmas neared, both struggled to find a gift that would show how much they cared for the other. Finally, on Christmas Eve, Della sold her long, knee-length hair to buy Jim a platinum chain for the watch he’d inherited from his father and grandfather. Jim, however, had just sold the watch to buy a set of expensive combs for Della’s hair.
Author O. Henry called the couple’s story The Gift of the Magi. His creation suggests that even though their gifts became useless and may have caused them to look foolish on Christmas morning, their love made them among the wisest of those who give gifts.
Father in heaven, please help us in this season to learn what it means to give.
The wise men of the first Christmas story also could have looked foolish to some as they arrived in Bethlehem with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11). They weren’t Jewish. They were outsiders, Gentiles, who didn’t realize how much they would disturb the peace of Jerusalem by asking about a newly born king of the Jews (v. 2).
As with Jim and Della’s experience, the magi’s plans didn’t turn out the way they expected. But they gave what money cannot buy. They came with gifts, but then bowed to worship One who would ultimately make the greatest of all loving sacrifices for them—and for us.
Father in heaven, please help us to learn what it means to give what money cannot buy.
God’s gift of grace is priceless.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, January 06, 2018
Worship
He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. —Genesis 12:8
Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.
Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram “pitched his tent” between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must “pitch our tents” where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R
Friday, January 5, 2018
Matthew 21:1-22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S WAY IS ALWAYS BEST
In the game of golf, logic says, “Don’t go for the green.” Golf 101 says, “Don’t go for the green.” But I say, “Give me my driver, I’m going for the green!” Golf reveals a lot about a person. I don’t need advice—whack! I can handle this myself—clang!
Can you relate? We want to do things our way. Forget the easy way and forget the best way. Forget God’s way. Too much stubbornness. Too much independence. Too much self-reliance. All I needed to do was apologize, but I had to argue. All I needed to do was listen, but I had to open my big mouth. All I needed to do was be patient, but I had to take control. All I had to do was give it to God, but I tried to fix it myself.
Scripture tells us to do it God’s way. Experience says to do it God’s way. And every so often, we do! We might even make the green.
Read more Traveling Light
Matthew 21:1-22
The Royal Welcome
1-3 When they neared Jerusalem, having arrived at Bethphage on Mount Olives, Jesus sent two disciples with these instructions: “Go over to the village across from you. You’ll find a donkey tethered there, her colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you’re doing, say, ‘The Master needs them!’ He will send them with you.”
4-5 This is the full story of what was sketched earlier by the prophet:
Tell Zion’s daughter,
“Look, your king’s on his way,
poised and ready, mounted
On a donkey, on a colt,
foal of a pack animal.”
6-9 The disciples went and did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They led the donkey and colt out, laid some of their clothes on them, and Jesus mounted. Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their garments down on the road, giving him a royal welcome. Others cut branches from the trees and threw them down as a welcome mat. Crowds went ahead and crowds followed, all of them calling out, “Hosanna to David’s son!” “Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!” “Hosanna in highest heaven!”
10 As he made his entrance into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. Unnerved, people were asking, “What’s going on here? Who is this?”
11 The parade crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee.”
He Kicked Over the Tables
12-14 Jesus went straight to the Temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text:
My house was designated a house of prayer;
You have made it a hangout for thieves.
Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and he healed them.
15-16 When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things he was doing, and heard all the children running and shouting through the Temple, “Hosanna to David’s Son!” they were up in arms and took him to task. “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Jesus said, “Yes, I hear them. And haven’t you read in God’s Word, ‘From the mouths of children and babies I’ll furnish a place of praise’?”
17 Fed up, Jesus turned on his heel and left the city for Bethany, where he spent the night.
The Withered Fig Tree
18-20 Early the next morning Jesus was returning to the city. He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree alongside the road, he approached it anticipating a breakfast of figs. When he got to the tree, there was nothing but fig leaves. He said, “No more figs from this tree—ever!” The fig tree withered on the spot, a dry stick. The disciples saw it happen. They rubbed their eyes, saying, “Did we really see this? A leafy tree one minute, a dry stick the next?”
21-22 But Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Yes—and if you embrace this kingdom life and don’t doubt God, you’ll not only do minor feats like I did to the fig tree, but also triumph over huge obstacles. This mountain, for instance, you’ll tell, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it will jump. Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, January 05, 2018
Read: 1 Peter 5:8–12
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Final Greetings
12 With the help of Silas,[a] whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.
Footnotes:
1 Peter 5:12 Greek Silvanus, a variant of Silas
INSIGHT
Not everyone has a father whose boots they wish to fill. Some of us don’t even know our father. But the Bible gives us real hope! We have a Father who welcomes us with open arms. And He tells us, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
We shouldn’t let that lofty challenge frighten us. Our loving Father gives us what we need to follow Him, even when we fail. Just look at Simon Peter’s life. Peter wrote to a church facing intense persecution, and he warned of a mortal enemy—the devil—who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (5:8). That imagery reminds us of Jesus’s warning to Peter before His crucifixion: “Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31–32).
Jesus prayed for Peter. He prays for us too. Wherever we are today we can “turn back,” as Peter did, and find our Father’s welcome.
What hinders you from enjoying God’s acceptance and love? - Tim Gustafson
Just Like My Father
By David H. Roper |
It is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16
My father’s dusty, heeled-over, cowboy boots rest on the floor of my study, daily reminders of the kind of man he was.
Among other things, he raised and trained cutting horses—equine athletes that move like quicksilver. I loved to watch him at work, marveling that he could stay astride.
Father God, we want to be just like You. Help us to grow more and more like You each day!
As a boy, growing up, I wanted to be just like him. I’m in my eighties, and his boots are still too large for me to fill.
My father’s in heaven now, but I have another Father to emulate. I want to be just like Him—filled with His goodness, fragrant with His love. I’m not there and never will be in this life; His boots are much too large for me to fill.
But the apostle Peter said this: “The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ . . . will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10). He has the wisdom and power to do that, you know (v. 11).
Our lack of likeness to our heavenly Father will not last forever. God has called us to share the beauty of character that is His. In this life we reflect Him poorly, but in heaven our sin and sorrow will be no more and we’ll reflect Him more fully! This is the “true grace of God” (v. 12).
Father God, we want to be just like You. Help us to grow more and more like You each day!
Through the cross, believers are made perfect in His sight.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 05, 2018
The Life of Power to Follow
Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward." —John 13:36
“And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me’ ” (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, “Follow Me” (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first “Follow Me” was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).
Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. “…He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ ” (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to “receive the Holy Spirit.” “Receive the Holy Spirit” — the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold. Baffled to Fight Better, 69 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 05, 2018
An Orphan No More - #8085
As your parents get older, they love to tell those stories again, and again, and again. We've enjoyed hearing some of the family stories that my wife's Dad had to tell. And, you know what? It filled in a lot of blanks, as we tried to put together the history of the last couple of generations. We asked him once about that little girl named Ada. My wife's grandfather, Granddad Glenn, had one child – her Dad. And he wanted a sister! So, Granddad Glenn traveled from their small town to a major city to check out the adoption possibilities at an orphanage there. I don't know if he was prepared for the reception he got there. Everywhere he went, children asked him if they could go home with him. But there was this one dark-haired, dark-eyed little girl who just would not leave his side. Her name was Ada. She wouldn't let go of Granddad's hand, and she kept looking up at him with her big brown eyes and begging him, "Please let me go home with you. Please take me." He did. And my wife's Dad got his sister.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "An Orphan No More."
The heart of an orphan desperately reaching for someone to love and take care of her. Maybe that's a feeling you know even though you're not physically an orphan. But life can get pretty lonely; relationships that were supposed to bring you love and happiness ended up bringing disappointment and hurt. You live enough years, there's a good chance you end up feeling abandoned at some point, left out, rejected, alone – even with a lot of people around you.
And the biggest mistakes we make in our life are often mistakes we make for love. We keep reaching for a hand that might offer love and saying, "Take me. If you do, I'll be OK." But we've never really been totally OK. No love has ever been enough love, and sometimes we've paid too high a price to get someone to take us.
It's this orphan feeling in the human heart that Jesus Christ speaks to in our word for today from the Word of God, recorded in John 14:18. He says, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." Jesus says, "I can give you the 'never leave you' love that your heart's always been hungry for.'" Actually, He's the only one who can finally bring us spiritual orphans home.
The loneliness we just keep feeling is ultimately cosmic loneliness. We're lonely for God. Why? Well, He made us for His love and we've left Him. It isn't that we don't have a Father. We feel like emotional and spiritual orphans because we've never begun a relationship with this Father who loves us so very much.
In Isaiah 53:6, God describes how we have missed His love. It says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way." Our sin – our "my way" living has cut us off from the love we were made for, and only Jesus could bring us back. The rest of that verse says, "The Lord laid on him (that's Jesus) the wrongdoing of us all."
In other words, Jesus died on the cross, carrying all the guilt and all the hell of all your sin and mine. That's why He cried out from the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) Reason: He was cut off from His Father so you would never have to be cut off from Him again.
And now He's reaching out His hand for you to offer you the relationship – the love you were made for. The questions is, "Are you going to reach back?" Won't you grab the hand of Jesus and tell Him, "Lord, take me. You're this orphan's only hope. You died for me. I am yours. I want to be a child of the Heavenly Father, born into His family this day because of what You did on the cross for me." Would you tell Him that right now where you are?
Let me encourage you to go to our website, because it really has all the information that will help you confirm that you are beginning and have this life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. It's ANewStory.com. Please go there as soon as you can.
Your Heavenly Father has come to where you are today to bring you into His family, to bring you home to His love. Like a little orphan many years ago, reach up and say, "Take me." You will be an orphan no more.
In the game of golf, logic says, “Don’t go for the green.” Golf 101 says, “Don’t go for the green.” But I say, “Give me my driver, I’m going for the green!” Golf reveals a lot about a person. I don’t need advice—whack! I can handle this myself—clang!
Can you relate? We want to do things our way. Forget the easy way and forget the best way. Forget God’s way. Too much stubbornness. Too much independence. Too much self-reliance. All I needed to do was apologize, but I had to argue. All I needed to do was listen, but I had to open my big mouth. All I needed to do was be patient, but I had to take control. All I had to do was give it to God, but I tried to fix it myself.
Scripture tells us to do it God’s way. Experience says to do it God’s way. And every so often, we do! We might even make the green.
Read more Traveling Light
Matthew 21:1-22
The Royal Welcome
1-3 When they neared Jerusalem, having arrived at Bethphage on Mount Olives, Jesus sent two disciples with these instructions: “Go over to the village across from you. You’ll find a donkey tethered there, her colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you’re doing, say, ‘The Master needs them!’ He will send them with you.”
4-5 This is the full story of what was sketched earlier by the prophet:
Tell Zion’s daughter,
“Look, your king’s on his way,
poised and ready, mounted
On a donkey, on a colt,
foal of a pack animal.”
6-9 The disciples went and did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They led the donkey and colt out, laid some of their clothes on them, and Jesus mounted. Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their garments down on the road, giving him a royal welcome. Others cut branches from the trees and threw them down as a welcome mat. Crowds went ahead and crowds followed, all of them calling out, “Hosanna to David’s son!” “Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!” “Hosanna in highest heaven!”
10 As he made his entrance into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. Unnerved, people were asking, “What’s going on here? Who is this?”
11 The parade crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee.”
He Kicked Over the Tables
12-14 Jesus went straight to the Temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text:
My house was designated a house of prayer;
You have made it a hangout for thieves.
Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and he healed them.
15-16 When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things he was doing, and heard all the children running and shouting through the Temple, “Hosanna to David’s Son!” they were up in arms and took him to task. “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Jesus said, “Yes, I hear them. And haven’t you read in God’s Word, ‘From the mouths of children and babies I’ll furnish a place of praise’?”
17 Fed up, Jesus turned on his heel and left the city for Bethany, where he spent the night.
The Withered Fig Tree
18-20 Early the next morning Jesus was returning to the city. He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree alongside the road, he approached it anticipating a breakfast of figs. When he got to the tree, there was nothing but fig leaves. He said, “No more figs from this tree—ever!” The fig tree withered on the spot, a dry stick. The disciples saw it happen. They rubbed their eyes, saying, “Did we really see this? A leafy tree one minute, a dry stick the next?”
21-22 But Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Yes—and if you embrace this kingdom life and don’t doubt God, you’ll not only do minor feats like I did to the fig tree, but also triumph over huge obstacles. This mountain, for instance, you’ll tell, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it will jump. Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, January 05, 2018
Read: 1 Peter 5:8–12
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Final Greetings
12 With the help of Silas,[a] whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.
Footnotes:
1 Peter 5:12 Greek Silvanus, a variant of Silas
INSIGHT
Not everyone has a father whose boots they wish to fill. Some of us don’t even know our father. But the Bible gives us real hope! We have a Father who welcomes us with open arms. And He tells us, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
We shouldn’t let that lofty challenge frighten us. Our loving Father gives us what we need to follow Him, even when we fail. Just look at Simon Peter’s life. Peter wrote to a church facing intense persecution, and he warned of a mortal enemy—the devil—who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (5:8). That imagery reminds us of Jesus’s warning to Peter before His crucifixion: “Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31–32).
Jesus prayed for Peter. He prays for us too. Wherever we are today we can “turn back,” as Peter did, and find our Father’s welcome.
What hinders you from enjoying God’s acceptance and love? - Tim Gustafson
Just Like My Father
By David H. Roper |
It is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16
My father’s dusty, heeled-over, cowboy boots rest on the floor of my study, daily reminders of the kind of man he was.
Among other things, he raised and trained cutting horses—equine athletes that move like quicksilver. I loved to watch him at work, marveling that he could stay astride.
Father God, we want to be just like You. Help us to grow more and more like You each day!
As a boy, growing up, I wanted to be just like him. I’m in my eighties, and his boots are still too large for me to fill.
My father’s in heaven now, but I have another Father to emulate. I want to be just like Him—filled with His goodness, fragrant with His love. I’m not there and never will be in this life; His boots are much too large for me to fill.
But the apostle Peter said this: “The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ . . . will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10). He has the wisdom and power to do that, you know (v. 11).
Our lack of likeness to our heavenly Father will not last forever. God has called us to share the beauty of character that is His. In this life we reflect Him poorly, but in heaven our sin and sorrow will be no more and we’ll reflect Him more fully! This is the “true grace of God” (v. 12).
Father God, we want to be just like You. Help us to grow more and more like You each day!
Through the cross, believers are made perfect in His sight.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, January 05, 2018
The Life of Power to Follow
Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward." —John 13:36
“And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me’ ” (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, “Follow Me” (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first “Follow Me” was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).
Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. “…He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ ” (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to “receive the Holy Spirit.” “Receive the Holy Spirit” — the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold. Baffled to Fight Better, 69 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, January 05, 2018
An Orphan No More - #8085
As your parents get older, they love to tell those stories again, and again, and again. We've enjoyed hearing some of the family stories that my wife's Dad had to tell. And, you know what? It filled in a lot of blanks, as we tried to put together the history of the last couple of generations. We asked him once about that little girl named Ada. My wife's grandfather, Granddad Glenn, had one child – her Dad. And he wanted a sister! So, Granddad Glenn traveled from their small town to a major city to check out the adoption possibilities at an orphanage there. I don't know if he was prepared for the reception he got there. Everywhere he went, children asked him if they could go home with him. But there was this one dark-haired, dark-eyed little girl who just would not leave his side. Her name was Ada. She wouldn't let go of Granddad's hand, and she kept looking up at him with her big brown eyes and begging him, "Please let me go home with you. Please take me." He did. And my wife's Dad got his sister.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "An Orphan No More."
The heart of an orphan desperately reaching for someone to love and take care of her. Maybe that's a feeling you know even though you're not physically an orphan. But life can get pretty lonely; relationships that were supposed to bring you love and happiness ended up bringing disappointment and hurt. You live enough years, there's a good chance you end up feeling abandoned at some point, left out, rejected, alone – even with a lot of people around you.
And the biggest mistakes we make in our life are often mistakes we make for love. We keep reaching for a hand that might offer love and saying, "Take me. If you do, I'll be OK." But we've never really been totally OK. No love has ever been enough love, and sometimes we've paid too high a price to get someone to take us.
It's this orphan feeling in the human heart that Jesus Christ speaks to in our word for today from the Word of God, recorded in John 14:18. He says, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." Jesus says, "I can give you the 'never leave you' love that your heart's always been hungry for.'" Actually, He's the only one who can finally bring us spiritual orphans home.
The loneliness we just keep feeling is ultimately cosmic loneliness. We're lonely for God. Why? Well, He made us for His love and we've left Him. It isn't that we don't have a Father. We feel like emotional and spiritual orphans because we've never begun a relationship with this Father who loves us so very much.
In Isaiah 53:6, God describes how we have missed His love. It says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way." Our sin – our "my way" living has cut us off from the love we were made for, and only Jesus could bring us back. The rest of that verse says, "The Lord laid on him (that's Jesus) the wrongdoing of us all."
In other words, Jesus died on the cross, carrying all the guilt and all the hell of all your sin and mine. That's why He cried out from the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) Reason: He was cut off from His Father so you would never have to be cut off from Him again.
And now He's reaching out His hand for you to offer you the relationship – the love you were made for. The questions is, "Are you going to reach back?" Won't you grab the hand of Jesus and tell Him, "Lord, take me. You're this orphan's only hope. You died for me. I am yours. I want to be a child of the Heavenly Father, born into His family this day because of what You did on the cross for me." Would you tell Him that right now where you are?
Let me encourage you to go to our website, because it really has all the information that will help you confirm that you are beginning and have this life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. It's ANewStory.com. Please go there as soon as you can.
Your Heavenly Father has come to where you are today to bring you into His family, to bring you home to His love. Like a little orphan many years ago, reach up and say, "Take me." You will be an orphan no more.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Matthew 20:17-34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WE NEED A MIDDLE C
When author Lloyd Douglas attended college, he lived in a boardinghouse with a retired music professor who lived on the first floor. Douglas would stick his head in the door and ask, “Well, what’s the good news?” The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his chair and say, “That’s middle C. It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat. The piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, that is middle C!”
You and I need a middle C. A still point in a turning world. An unchanging Shepherd. A God who can still the storm. A Lord who can declare the meaning of life. And according to David in Psalm 23—you have one. The Lord is your shepherd! He is your middle C!
Read more Traveling Light
Matthew 20:17-34
To Drink from the Cup
17-19 Jesus, now well on the way up to Jerusalem, took the Twelve off to the side of the road and said, “Listen to me carefully. We are on our way up to Jerusalem. When we get there, the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars. They will sentence him to death. They will then hand him over to the Romans for mockery and torture and crucifixion. On the third day he will be raised up alive.”
20 It was about that time that the mother of the Zebedee brothers came with her two sons and knelt before Jesus with a request.
21 “What do you want?” Jesus asked.
She said, “Give your word that these two sons of mine will be awarded the highest places of honor in your kingdom, one at your right hand, one at your left hand.”
22 Jesus responded, “You have no idea what you’re asking.” And he said to James and John, “Are you capable of drinking the cup that I’m about to drink?”
They said, “Sure, why not?”
23 Jesus said, “Come to think of it, you are going to drink my cup. But as to awarding places of honor, that’s not my business. My Father is taking care of that.”
24-28 When the ten others heard about this, they lost their tempers, thoroughly disgusted with the two brothers. So Jesus got them together to settle things down. He said, “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.”
29-31 As they were leaving Jericho, a huge crowd followed. Suddenly they came upon two blind men sitting alongside the road. When they heard it was Jesus passing, they cried out, “Master, have mercy on us! Mercy, Son of David!” The crowd tried to hush them up, but they got all the louder, crying, “Master, have mercy on us! Mercy, Son of David!”
32 Jesus stopped and called over, “What do you want from me?”
33 They said, “Master, we want our eyes opened. We want to see!”
34 Deeply moved, Jesus touched their eyes. They had their sight back that very instant, and joined the procession.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 04, 2018
Read: John 5:31–40
Testimonies About Jesus
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.
33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study[a] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
Footnotes:
John 5:39 Or 39 Study
INSIGHT
An Old Testament example of “experts” who missed the mark is the account of the “wise men” in the book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered them to explain his dreams, but these experts admitted, “No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among humans” (2:11). However, God enabled Daniel to explain the dreams, and he told the king: “No wise man . . . can explain . . . the mystery. . . , but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (vv. 27–28). The king’s experts were right to say no one can reveal mysteries except God, but they were clearly wrong that God does “not live among humans” (v. 11). The Scriptures tell us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14).
How does knowing Jesus is God and lives in us through the Spirit give you confidence in this world of uncertainty? - Sim Kay Tee
What Do the Experts Say?
By Tim Gustafson
These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39–40
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby writes of the “uncanny ability of experts to get things hopelessly, cataclysmically wrong.” A quick glance at recent history shows he’s right. The great inventor Thomas Edison, for instance, once declared that talking movies would never replace silent films. And in 1928, Henry Ford declared, “People are becoming too intelligent ever to have another war.” Countless other predictions by “experts” have missed the mark badly. Genius obviously has its limits.
Only one Person is completely reliable, and He had strong words for some so-called experts. The religious leaders of Jesus’s day claimed to have the truth. These scholars and theologians thought they knew what the promised Messiah would be like when He arrived.
Knowing the future is uncertain; knowing the One who holds the future is a sure thing.
Jesus cautioned them, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.” Then He pointed out how they were missing the heart of the matter. “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39–40).
As another new year gets underway, we’ll hear predictions ranging from the terrifying to the wildly optimistic. Many of them will be stated with a great deal of confidence and authority. Don’t be alarmed. Our confidence remains in the One at the very heart of the Scriptures. He has a firm grip on us and on our future.
Father, whenever we are troubled or alarmed, help us to seek You. We commit this coming year and all it holds to You.
Knowing the future is uncertain; knowing the One who holds the future is a sure thing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 04, 2018
Why Can I Not Follow You Now?
There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.
At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.
Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. “I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. “Jesus answered him, ‘…the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ ” (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally. The Moral Foundations of Life, 721 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 04, 2018
Tools Without Power - #8084
When my wife and I inherited her grandparents' old farmstead in the country, we knew it was going to take some work. We were just grateful that we had a place to kind of get away, you know, and get some "r and r". We had several workmen there, racing a deadline to get some building and remodeling done before we had a lot of company. Well, on Thursday, they brought in some of the specialized tools they would need to finish the job on Friday. We went to bed Thursday night looking forward to having everything finished the next day. Now I don't usually wake up in the middle of the night, but this particular night I did. As I looked at our glow-in-the-dark digital clock, I noticed its' red numbers were flashing the same time at me, over and over again. This is not a good sign. Power outage! I almost went right back to sleep, figuring the power would come back on sooner or later. And then it hit me. Those workmen are going to be here shortly after sunrise, and they're not getting anything done without those special tools. And those tools won't work without power. Believe me, we didn't get back to sleep. We got right on the phone to the power company! Actually, hey, I did my part. I identified the problem. I asked my wife to get up and make the call. What a guy!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Tools Without Power."
Now those workmen have some really impressive tools, but they're useless if there's no power. Just like our tools. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 20:7. These words were penned by King David who had some impressive tools in his tool kit-including probably the greatest arsenal of horses and chariots in the Middle East at that time. And in those days, whoever had the most chariots and horses was the superpower. That would be David here. Here's what he says about his impressive battle tools, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."
King David says, "I've got some great weapons. I've got some great tools here, but that's not what I'm trusting in. It's not where my power comes from. I am depending totally on the Lord my God." Now David didn't sell his horses. He didn't burn his chariots. He used them. He just didn't depend on them. He knew where the real power is, and it is not in our human weapons.
So, let's talk about the tools we use to get things done, even in God's work. I call them the six "powerless p's": planning, promotion, politics, personalities, programs, persuasion. If we can just make a great plan, get the right personalities, put together a hot program, promote this just right...hey, we've got a winner here. Or if we just have the right connections, the right image, the right presentation, we've nailed it.
And God says all our impressive tools are as useless without His power as those workmen's tools were without electrical power. God has told us how to access His power with the only "p" that has any real power-prayer...the tool we often think of last...the tool we spend the least time on. Our actions, our use of time tell us that, no matter what our theology says, it's really our human weapons we're depending on most of the time. That's why we spend a lot more time in planning meetings than prayer meetings.
The frequency and the fervency of your prayers--that's the way to measure your dependency on God. If you're not praying often, if you're not praying passionately, with desperate dependency, then it's earth stuff you're really counting on, tools that are ultimately powerless.
The real enemies in your situation are ultimately spiritual enemies, in heavenly places, the Bible says. And our weapons are powerless to defeat those enemies. Only the Lord can do that. That's why, in Paul's words, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." (2 Corinthians 10:3)
Listen, it's time to give God regular, dedicated time-to enter His holy presence and unleash His awesome power. Without that, all you've got are some impressive weapons, lying powerless on the ground because of a power failure, because of a prayer failure.
When author Lloyd Douglas attended college, he lived in a boardinghouse with a retired music professor who lived on the first floor. Douglas would stick his head in the door and ask, “Well, what’s the good news?” The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his chair and say, “That’s middle C. It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat. The piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, that is middle C!”
You and I need a middle C. A still point in a turning world. An unchanging Shepherd. A God who can still the storm. A Lord who can declare the meaning of life. And according to David in Psalm 23—you have one. The Lord is your shepherd! He is your middle C!
Read more Traveling Light
Matthew 20:17-34
To Drink from the Cup
17-19 Jesus, now well on the way up to Jerusalem, took the Twelve off to the side of the road and said, “Listen to me carefully. We are on our way up to Jerusalem. When we get there, the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars. They will sentence him to death. They will then hand him over to the Romans for mockery and torture and crucifixion. On the third day he will be raised up alive.”
20 It was about that time that the mother of the Zebedee brothers came with her two sons and knelt before Jesus with a request.
21 “What do you want?” Jesus asked.
She said, “Give your word that these two sons of mine will be awarded the highest places of honor in your kingdom, one at your right hand, one at your left hand.”
22 Jesus responded, “You have no idea what you’re asking.” And he said to James and John, “Are you capable of drinking the cup that I’m about to drink?”
They said, “Sure, why not?”
23 Jesus said, “Come to think of it, you are going to drink my cup. But as to awarding places of honor, that’s not my business. My Father is taking care of that.”
24-28 When the ten others heard about this, they lost their tempers, thoroughly disgusted with the two brothers. So Jesus got them together to settle things down. He said, “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.”
29-31 As they were leaving Jericho, a huge crowd followed. Suddenly they came upon two blind men sitting alongside the road. When they heard it was Jesus passing, they cried out, “Master, have mercy on us! Mercy, Son of David!” The crowd tried to hush them up, but they got all the louder, crying, “Master, have mercy on us! Mercy, Son of David!”
32 Jesus stopped and called over, “What do you want from me?”
33 They said, “Master, we want our eyes opened. We want to see!”
34 Deeply moved, Jesus touched their eyes. They had their sight back that very instant, and joined the procession.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, January 04, 2018
Read: John 5:31–40
Testimonies About Jesus
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.
33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study[a] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
Footnotes:
John 5:39 Or 39 Study
INSIGHT
An Old Testament example of “experts” who missed the mark is the account of the “wise men” in the book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered them to explain his dreams, but these experts admitted, “No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among humans” (2:11). However, God enabled Daniel to explain the dreams, and he told the king: “No wise man . . . can explain . . . the mystery. . . , but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (vv. 27–28). The king’s experts were right to say no one can reveal mysteries except God, but they were clearly wrong that God does “not live among humans” (v. 11). The Scriptures tell us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14).
How does knowing Jesus is God and lives in us through the Spirit give you confidence in this world of uncertainty? - Sim Kay Tee
What Do the Experts Say?
By Tim Gustafson
These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39–40
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby writes of the “uncanny ability of experts to get things hopelessly, cataclysmically wrong.” A quick glance at recent history shows he’s right. The great inventor Thomas Edison, for instance, once declared that talking movies would never replace silent films. And in 1928, Henry Ford declared, “People are becoming too intelligent ever to have another war.” Countless other predictions by “experts” have missed the mark badly. Genius obviously has its limits.
Only one Person is completely reliable, and He had strong words for some so-called experts. The religious leaders of Jesus’s day claimed to have the truth. These scholars and theologians thought they knew what the promised Messiah would be like when He arrived.
Knowing the future is uncertain; knowing the One who holds the future is a sure thing.
Jesus cautioned them, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.” Then He pointed out how they were missing the heart of the matter. “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39–40).
As another new year gets underway, we’ll hear predictions ranging from the terrifying to the wildly optimistic. Many of them will be stated with a great deal of confidence and authority. Don’t be alarmed. Our confidence remains in the One at the very heart of the Scriptures. He has a firm grip on us and on our future.
Father, whenever we are troubled or alarmed, help us to seek You. We commit this coming year and all it holds to You.
Knowing the future is uncertain; knowing the One who holds the future is a sure thing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 04, 2018
Why Can I Not Follow You Now?
There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.
At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.
Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. “I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. “Jesus answered him, ‘…the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ ” (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally. The Moral Foundations of Life, 721 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, January 04, 2018
Tools Without Power - #8084
When my wife and I inherited her grandparents' old farmstead in the country, we knew it was going to take some work. We were just grateful that we had a place to kind of get away, you know, and get some "r and r". We had several workmen there, racing a deadline to get some building and remodeling done before we had a lot of company. Well, on Thursday, they brought in some of the specialized tools they would need to finish the job on Friday. We went to bed Thursday night looking forward to having everything finished the next day. Now I don't usually wake up in the middle of the night, but this particular night I did. As I looked at our glow-in-the-dark digital clock, I noticed its' red numbers were flashing the same time at me, over and over again. This is not a good sign. Power outage! I almost went right back to sleep, figuring the power would come back on sooner or later. And then it hit me. Those workmen are going to be here shortly after sunrise, and they're not getting anything done without those special tools. And those tools won't work without power. Believe me, we didn't get back to sleep. We got right on the phone to the power company! Actually, hey, I did my part. I identified the problem. I asked my wife to get up and make the call. What a guy!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Tools Without Power."
Now those workmen have some really impressive tools, but they're useless if there's no power. Just like our tools. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 20:7. These words were penned by King David who had some impressive tools in his tool kit-including probably the greatest arsenal of horses and chariots in the Middle East at that time. And in those days, whoever had the most chariots and horses was the superpower. That would be David here. Here's what he says about his impressive battle tools, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."
King David says, "I've got some great weapons. I've got some great tools here, but that's not what I'm trusting in. It's not where my power comes from. I am depending totally on the Lord my God." Now David didn't sell his horses. He didn't burn his chariots. He used them. He just didn't depend on them. He knew where the real power is, and it is not in our human weapons.
So, let's talk about the tools we use to get things done, even in God's work. I call them the six "powerless p's": planning, promotion, politics, personalities, programs, persuasion. If we can just make a great plan, get the right personalities, put together a hot program, promote this just right...hey, we've got a winner here. Or if we just have the right connections, the right image, the right presentation, we've nailed it.
And God says all our impressive tools are as useless without His power as those workmen's tools were without electrical power. God has told us how to access His power with the only "p" that has any real power-prayer...the tool we often think of last...the tool we spend the least time on. Our actions, our use of time tell us that, no matter what our theology says, it's really our human weapons we're depending on most of the time. That's why we spend a lot more time in planning meetings than prayer meetings.
The frequency and the fervency of your prayers--that's the way to measure your dependency on God. If you're not praying often, if you're not praying passionately, with desperate dependency, then it's earth stuff you're really counting on, tools that are ultimately powerless.
The real enemies in your situation are ultimately spiritual enemies, in heavenly places, the Bible says. And our weapons are powerless to defeat those enemies. Only the Lord can do that. That's why, in Paul's words, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." (2 Corinthians 10:3)
Listen, it's time to give God regular, dedicated time-to enter His holy presence and unleash His awesome power. Without that, all you've got are some impressive weapons, lying powerless on the ground because of a power failure, because of a prayer failure.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Genesis 35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD DOES NOT CHANGE
You and I are governed. The weather determines what we wear. Gravity dictates our speed and health determines our strength. We may change these forces, alter them slightly, but we never remove them. God is an unchanging God, an uncaused God, and an ungoverned God. He doesn’t check the weather; He makes it. He doesn’t defy gravity; He created it. He isn’t affected by health; He has no body. Jesus said, “God is spirit” (John 4:24). Since He has no body, He has no limitations—He’s equally active in Cambodia as He is in Connecticut. “Where can I go to get away from your Spirit?” asked David in Psalm 139:7.
God–Unchanging. God–Uncaused. God–Ungoverned. Only a fraction of God’s qualities, but aren’t they enough to give you a glimpse of your Father? Psalm 90:2 says, “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God!”
Read more Traveling Light
Genesis 35
God spoke to Jacob: “Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau.”
2-3 Jacob told his family and all those who lived with him, “Throw out all the alien gods which you have, take a good bath and put on clean clothes, we’re going to Bethel. I’m going to build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I’ve gone since.”
4-5 They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they’d been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob.
6-7 Jacob and his company arrived at Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan. He built an altar there and named it El-Bethel (God-of-Bethel) because that’s where God revealed himself to him when he was running from his brother.
8 And that’s when Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried just below Bethel under the oak tree. It was named Allon-Bacuth (Weeping-Oak).
9-10 God revealed himself once again to Jacob, after he had come back from Paddan Aram and blessed him: “Your name is Jacob (Heel); but that’s your name no longer. From now on your name is Israel (God-Wrestler).”
11-12 God continued,
I am The Strong God.
Have children! Flourish!
A nation—a whole company of nations!—
will come from you.
Kings will come from your loins;
the land I gave Abraham and Isaac
I now give to you,
and pass it on to your descendants.
13 And then God was gone, ascended from the place where he had spoken with him.
14-15 Jacob set up a stone pillar on the spot where God had spoken with him. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. Jacob dedicated the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (God’s-House).
16-17 They left Bethel. They were still quite a ways from Ephrath when Rachel went into labor—hard, hard labor. When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid—you have another boy.”
18 With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune).
19-20 Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar to mark her grave. It is still there today, “Rachel’s Grave Stone.”
21-22 Israel kept on his way and set up camp at Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. And Israel heard of what he did.
22-26 There were twelve sons of Jacob.
The sons by Leah:
Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn
Simeon
Levi
Judah
Issachar
Zebulun.
The sons by Rachel:
Joseph
Benjamin.
The sons by Bilhah, Rachel’s maid:
Dan
Naphtali.
The sons by Zilpah, Leah’s maid:
Gad
Asher.
These were Jacob’s sons, born to him in Paddan Aram.
27-29 Finally, Jacob made it back home to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived. Isaac was now 180 years old. Isaac breathed his last and died—an old man full of years. He was buried with his family by his sons Esau and Jacob.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
Read: 1 Chronicles 29:10–13
David’s Prayer
10 David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,
“Praise be to you, Lord,
the God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
12 Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
INSIGHT
David’s prayer in 1 Chronicles 29 paints a beautiful portrait of a powerful and generous God. While these sentiments—God is everlasting, everything belongs to Him, and He strengthens His people—are all undoubtedly true, David isn’t just praying a random prayer. First Chronicles 29 is about the people giving resources and materials to the building of the temple. David’s prayer follows a listing of the resources people donated to the “building fund”—gold, silver, precious jewels, bronze, wood. We see a striking similarity between the descriptions of the building materials and the descriptions of God in that both are written in terms that inspire awe. The temple materials, both in amount and in type, would have been something to behold. Similarly, David describes God in terms that inspire awestruck reverence at His glory. Could it be that the writer was attempting to make the point that the house should reflect the occupant? The temple was where God resided among His people. Shouldn’t it reflect His glory? Today God’s Spirit dwells in believers.
Knowing that you are the temple of God’s Spirit, how can you reflect His glory? - J.R. Hudberg
Breathtaking Glory
By Dave Branon
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor. 1 Chronicles 29:11
One of the pleasures of a trip to Europe is visiting the grand cathedrals that dot the landscape. They are breathtakingly beautiful as they soar toward the heavens. The architecture, art, and symbolism found in these amazing buildings present a spellbinding experience of wonder and magnificence.
As I thought about the fact that these structures were built to reflect God’s magnificence and His all-surpassing splendor, I wondered how we could possibly recapture in our hearts and minds a similar feeling of God’s grandeur and be reminded again of His greatness.
God alone is worthy of our worship.
One way we can do that is to look beyond man’s grand, regal structures and contemplate the greatness of what God Himself has created. Take one look at a starry night sky and think of God’s power as He spoke the universe into existence. Hold a newborn baby in your arms and thank God for the miracle of life itself. Look at the snow-covered mountains of Alaska or the majestic Atlantic Ocean teeming with millions of God-designed creatures and imagine the power that makes that ecosystem work.
Mankind is not wrong to reach for the sky with structures that are intended to point us to God. But our truest admiration should be reserved for God Himself as we say to Him, “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor” (1 Chronicles 29:11).
Lord, You do take our breath away with Your greatness. Thank You for reminding us of Your grandeur in Your world and in Your Word.
God alone is worthy of our worship.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
Clouds and Darkness
Clouds and darkness surround Him… —Psalm 97:2
A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him….” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Only after the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable “darkness” of realizing who He is.
Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Once, the Bible was just so many words to us — “clouds and darkness”— then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way— words.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. Biblical Ethics, 99 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
Rescue Ready - #8083
On a visit to the home area where my wife grew up, she took me to this picturesque spot along the beautiful river there. When she was a little girl, she and her whole family went swimming there with the pastor of their church and his wife. That little patch of river became the scene of a dramatic rescue that afternoon. The pastor almost drowned and my father-in-law jumped in and literally saved this pastor's life. I learned recently that that pastor was one of four people that my father-in-law saved from drowning in his life. He got very serious about that when he told me the reason why. He told me about a time when he was a boy, and he literally watched two young girls drown in a river before he even knew how to swim. Immediately after that he learned to swim and to rescue drowning people. You know what motivated him? I'll tell you what, in his own words, he said, "I saw someone I couldn't rescue and I decided right then that would never happen again."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Rescue Ready."
Our word for today from the Word of God, 1 Peter 3:15: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Did you get those words? "Always be prepared!" to explain that hope that you found in Jesus. So, do you feel prepared to do that, always?
Why is it so important? Because of God's command. Proverbs 24:11 says, "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter." If you know Jesus, you know those about-to-die people it's talking about. You know who they are. Listen to Jesus' words in John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son (that's Him) has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life." That's people you know, and it says about them, "God's wrath remains on him."
My father-in-law saw dying people he couldn't rescue, so he made up his mind, in his words, "to never let that happen again." He did what he had to do to learn how to be a rescuer, and he saved four lives as a result. People who are spiritually lost don't know they're dying, but you know it if you believe what Jesus said about heaven and hell. How many times have you felt like you should have said something about your Savior but you just weren't ready and another spiritually drowning person slipped beyond your grasp?
You can't do anything about those missed opportunities, and we all have a lot of those. I do. But you can make up your mind that you're going to do what you have to do to be ready for rescuing from now on. "Like what?" you say. Like thinking through how you would explain what Jesus did in the kind of non-religious words that a lost person would understand. Talk about life's most important relationship, not a religion!
I encourage people to present Christ this way. There's a relationship you're created to have. Colossians 1:16, "All things were created by Him and for Him." But it's a relationship you don't have because of your sin; you running your life instead of God running it. Isaiah 59:2, "Your sins have separated you from your God." But it's a relationship you can have because of what Jesus did on the cross by paying the death penalty. And 1 Peter 3:18 talks about Him dying in your place.
And it's a relationship you must choose. That's all in John 3:16, "God loved the world so much He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." I have people put their name in there. "God loved ______ so much He gave His one and only Son that if ______ (there's their name) believes in Him, then ______ (your name again) will not perish but have eternal life."
You also get ready for rescue when you think through your personal Jesus-story-your Hope Story. How is your life different because of Jesus? In your lonely times, your hurting times, your stressful times? What kind of difference is He making in the kind of mate you are, or parent, or son or daughter, or student, or employee? They want to know what the difference is that Jesus makes.
Finally, pray daily for God to give you a natural opportunity to talk about your relationship with Jesus. Get yourself ready. We've let enough drowning people go. We've got to get ready for rescuing. Who knows how many people may live forever because you were ready!
You and I are governed. The weather determines what we wear. Gravity dictates our speed and health determines our strength. We may change these forces, alter them slightly, but we never remove them. God is an unchanging God, an uncaused God, and an ungoverned God. He doesn’t check the weather; He makes it. He doesn’t defy gravity; He created it. He isn’t affected by health; He has no body. Jesus said, “God is spirit” (John 4:24). Since He has no body, He has no limitations—He’s equally active in Cambodia as He is in Connecticut. “Where can I go to get away from your Spirit?” asked David in Psalm 139:7.
God–Unchanging. God–Uncaused. God–Ungoverned. Only a fraction of God’s qualities, but aren’t they enough to give you a glimpse of your Father? Psalm 90:2 says, “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God!”
Read more Traveling Light
Genesis 35
God spoke to Jacob: “Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau.”
2-3 Jacob told his family and all those who lived with him, “Throw out all the alien gods which you have, take a good bath and put on clean clothes, we’re going to Bethel. I’m going to build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I’ve gone since.”
4-5 They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they’d been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob.
6-7 Jacob and his company arrived at Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan. He built an altar there and named it El-Bethel (God-of-Bethel) because that’s where God revealed himself to him when he was running from his brother.
8 And that’s when Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried just below Bethel under the oak tree. It was named Allon-Bacuth (Weeping-Oak).
9-10 God revealed himself once again to Jacob, after he had come back from Paddan Aram and blessed him: “Your name is Jacob (Heel); but that’s your name no longer. From now on your name is Israel (God-Wrestler).”
11-12 God continued,
I am The Strong God.
Have children! Flourish!
A nation—a whole company of nations!—
will come from you.
Kings will come from your loins;
the land I gave Abraham and Isaac
I now give to you,
and pass it on to your descendants.
13 And then God was gone, ascended from the place where he had spoken with him.
14-15 Jacob set up a stone pillar on the spot where God had spoken with him. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. Jacob dedicated the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (God’s-House).
16-17 They left Bethel. They were still quite a ways from Ephrath when Rachel went into labor—hard, hard labor. When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid—you have another boy.”
18 With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune).
19-20 Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar to mark her grave. It is still there today, “Rachel’s Grave Stone.”
21-22 Israel kept on his way and set up camp at Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. And Israel heard of what he did.
22-26 There were twelve sons of Jacob.
The sons by Leah:
Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn
Simeon
Levi
Judah
Issachar
Zebulun.
The sons by Rachel:
Joseph
Benjamin.
The sons by Bilhah, Rachel’s maid:
Dan
Naphtali.
The sons by Zilpah, Leah’s maid:
Gad
Asher.
These were Jacob’s sons, born to him in Paddan Aram.
27-29 Finally, Jacob made it back home to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived. Isaac was now 180 years old. Isaac breathed his last and died—an old man full of years. He was buried with his family by his sons Esau and Jacob.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
Read: 1 Chronicles 29:10–13
David’s Prayer
10 David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,
“Praise be to you, Lord,
the God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
12 Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
INSIGHT
David’s prayer in 1 Chronicles 29 paints a beautiful portrait of a powerful and generous God. While these sentiments—God is everlasting, everything belongs to Him, and He strengthens His people—are all undoubtedly true, David isn’t just praying a random prayer. First Chronicles 29 is about the people giving resources and materials to the building of the temple. David’s prayer follows a listing of the resources people donated to the “building fund”—gold, silver, precious jewels, bronze, wood. We see a striking similarity between the descriptions of the building materials and the descriptions of God in that both are written in terms that inspire awe. The temple materials, both in amount and in type, would have been something to behold. Similarly, David describes God in terms that inspire awestruck reverence at His glory. Could it be that the writer was attempting to make the point that the house should reflect the occupant? The temple was where God resided among His people. Shouldn’t it reflect His glory? Today God’s Spirit dwells in believers.
Knowing that you are the temple of God’s Spirit, how can you reflect His glory? - J.R. Hudberg
Breathtaking Glory
By Dave Branon
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor. 1 Chronicles 29:11
One of the pleasures of a trip to Europe is visiting the grand cathedrals that dot the landscape. They are breathtakingly beautiful as they soar toward the heavens. The architecture, art, and symbolism found in these amazing buildings present a spellbinding experience of wonder and magnificence.
As I thought about the fact that these structures were built to reflect God’s magnificence and His all-surpassing splendor, I wondered how we could possibly recapture in our hearts and minds a similar feeling of God’s grandeur and be reminded again of His greatness.
God alone is worthy of our worship.
One way we can do that is to look beyond man’s grand, regal structures and contemplate the greatness of what God Himself has created. Take one look at a starry night sky and think of God’s power as He spoke the universe into existence. Hold a newborn baby in your arms and thank God for the miracle of life itself. Look at the snow-covered mountains of Alaska or the majestic Atlantic Ocean teeming with millions of God-designed creatures and imagine the power that makes that ecosystem work.
Mankind is not wrong to reach for the sky with structures that are intended to point us to God. But our truest admiration should be reserved for God Himself as we say to Him, “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor” (1 Chronicles 29:11).
Lord, You do take our breath away with Your greatness. Thank You for reminding us of Your grandeur in Your world and in Your Word.
God alone is worthy of our worship.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
Clouds and Darkness
Clouds and darkness surround Him… —Psalm 97:2
A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him….” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Only after the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable “darkness” of realizing who He is.
Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Once, the Bible was just so many words to us — “clouds and darkness”— then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way— words.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. Biblical Ethics, 99 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
Rescue Ready - #8083
On a visit to the home area where my wife grew up, she took me to this picturesque spot along the beautiful river there. When she was a little girl, she and her whole family went swimming there with the pastor of their church and his wife. That little patch of river became the scene of a dramatic rescue that afternoon. The pastor almost drowned and my father-in-law jumped in and literally saved this pastor's life. I learned recently that that pastor was one of four people that my father-in-law saved from drowning in his life. He got very serious about that when he told me the reason why. He told me about a time when he was a boy, and he literally watched two young girls drown in a river before he even knew how to swim. Immediately after that he learned to swim and to rescue drowning people. You know what motivated him? I'll tell you what, in his own words, he said, "I saw someone I couldn't rescue and I decided right then that would never happen again."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Rescue Ready."
Our word for today from the Word of God, 1 Peter 3:15: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Did you get those words? "Always be prepared!" to explain that hope that you found in Jesus. So, do you feel prepared to do that, always?
Why is it so important? Because of God's command. Proverbs 24:11 says, "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter." If you know Jesus, you know those about-to-die people it's talking about. You know who they are. Listen to Jesus' words in John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son (that's Him) has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life." That's people you know, and it says about them, "God's wrath remains on him."
My father-in-law saw dying people he couldn't rescue, so he made up his mind, in his words, "to never let that happen again." He did what he had to do to learn how to be a rescuer, and he saved four lives as a result. People who are spiritually lost don't know they're dying, but you know it if you believe what Jesus said about heaven and hell. How many times have you felt like you should have said something about your Savior but you just weren't ready and another spiritually drowning person slipped beyond your grasp?
You can't do anything about those missed opportunities, and we all have a lot of those. I do. But you can make up your mind that you're going to do what you have to do to be ready for rescuing from now on. "Like what?" you say. Like thinking through how you would explain what Jesus did in the kind of non-religious words that a lost person would understand. Talk about life's most important relationship, not a religion!
I encourage people to present Christ this way. There's a relationship you're created to have. Colossians 1:16, "All things were created by Him and for Him." But it's a relationship you don't have because of your sin; you running your life instead of God running it. Isaiah 59:2, "Your sins have separated you from your God." But it's a relationship you can have because of what Jesus did on the cross by paying the death penalty. And 1 Peter 3:18 talks about Him dying in your place.
And it's a relationship you must choose. That's all in John 3:16, "God loved the world so much He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." I have people put their name in there. "God loved ______ so much He gave His one and only Son that if ______ (there's their name) believes in Him, then ______ (your name again) will not perish but have eternal life."
You also get ready for rescue when you think through your personal Jesus-story-your Hope Story. How is your life different because of Jesus? In your lonely times, your hurting times, your stressful times? What kind of difference is He making in the kind of mate you are, or parent, or son or daughter, or student, or employee? They want to know what the difference is that Jesus makes.
Finally, pray daily for God to give you a natural opportunity to talk about your relationship with Jesus. Get yourself ready. We've let enough drowning people go. We've got to get ready for rescuing. Who knows how many people may live forever because you were ready!
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Genesis 34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: YOU HAVE A RACE TO RUN
God wants to use you my friend, but how can He if you’re exhausted?
The other day when I was getting ready for my run, the sun was out, but the wind was chilly. Jacket or sweatshirt? The Boy Scout within me prevailed and I wore both. Got my cell phone, my water bottle. So no one would steal my car, I pocketed my keys. I looked more like a pack mule than a runner! Within half a mile, I was pealing off the jacket. That kind of weight will slow you down.
What’s true in jogging is true in faith. God has a great race for you to run. But you have to drop some stuff. How can you lift someone else’s load if your arms are full with your own? For the sake of those you love, travel light. For the sake of the God you serve, travel light. For the sake of your own joy, travel light!
Read more Traveling Light
Genesis 34
1-4 One day Dinah, the daughter Leah had given Jacob, went to visit some of the women in that country. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was chieftain there, saw her and raped her. Then he felt a strong attraction to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, fell in love with her, and wooed her. Shechem went to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl for my wife.”
5-7 Jacob heard that Shechem had raped his daughter Dinah, but his sons were out in the fields with the livestock so he didn’t say anything until they got home. Hamor, Shechem’s father, went to Jacob to work out marriage arrangements. Meanwhile Jacob’s sons on their way back from the fields heard what had happened. They were outraged, explosive with anger. Shechem’s rape of Jacob’s daughter was intolerable in Israel and not to be put up with.
8-10 Hamor spoke with Jacob and his sons, “My son Shechem is head over heels in love with your daughter—give her to him as his wife. Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us and we’ll give our daughters to you. Live together with us as one family. Settle down among us and make yourselves at home. Prosper among us.”
11-12 Shechem then spoke for himself, addressing Dinah’s father and brothers: “Please, say yes. I’ll pay anything. Set the bridal price as high as you will—the sky’s the limit! Only give me this girl for my wife.”
13-17 Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with cunning. Their sister, after all, had been raped. They said, “This is impossible. We could never give our sister to a man who was uncircumcised. Why, we’d be disgraced. The only condition on which we can talk business is if all your men become circumcised like us. Then we will freely exchange daughters in marriage and make ourselves at home among you and become one big, happy family. But if this is not an acceptable condition, we will take our sister and leave.”
18 That seemed fair enough to Hamor and his son Shechem.
19 The young man was so smitten with Jacob’s daughter that he proceeded to do what had been asked. He was also the most admired son in his father’s family.
20-23 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public square and spoke to the town council: “These men like us; they are our friends. Let them settle down here and make themselves at home; there’s plenty of room in the country for them. And, just think, we can even exchange our daughters in marriage. But these men will only accept our invitation to live with us and become one big family on one condition, that all our males become circumcised just as they themselves are. This is a very good deal for us—these people are very wealthy with great herds of livestock and we’re going to get our hands on it. So let’s do what they ask and have them settle down with us.”
24 Everyone who was anyone in the city agreed with Hamor and his son, Shechem; every male was circumcised.
25-29 Three days after the circumcision, while all the men were still very sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each with his sword in hand, walked into the city as if they owned the place and murdered every man there. They also killed Hamor and his son Shechem, rescued Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. When the rest of Jacob’s sons came on the scene of slaughter, they looted the entire city in retaliation for Dinah’s rape. Flocks, herds, donkeys, belongings—everything, whether in the city or the fields—they took. And then they took all the wives and children captive and ransacked their homes for anything valuable.
30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You’ve made my name stink to high heaven among the people here, these Canaanites and Perizzites. If they decided to gang up on us and attack, as few as we are we wouldn’t stand a chance; they’d wipe me and my people right off the map.”
31 They said, “Nobody is going to treat our sister like a whore and get by with it.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, January 02, 2018
Read: Philippians 3:7–14
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Footnotes:
Philippians 3:9 Or through the faithfulness of
INSIGHT
Today’s reading contains the most personal statement Paul makes in his letters. In the preceding verses (vv. 4–6), he unpacks his Jewish heritage, religious training, and great zeal for Judaism. The startling candor comes in verse 8 when, reflecting on what had defined his life prior to encountering Christ on the Damascus Road, he writes, “I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” Garbage—that’s strong! All the things that had driven him to persecute and kill were now counted worthless compared to the value of Christ. This speaks to the extraordinary value of relationship and rescue over religion and ritual. And that relationship with God through Christ is the strength that fuels our hearts in all the seasons of life—whether good or bad.
For more, check out the Discovery Series booklet Following Jesus: Relationship or Religion? at discoveryseries.org/q0215. - Bill Crowder
Pressing On
By Lawrence Darmani
I press on toward the goal to win the prize. Philippians 3:14
As I walked past an outside wall of the office building where I work, I was amazed to see a beautiful flower growing up through a crack between concrete slabs covering the ground. Despite its deprived circumstance, the plant had found a foothold, rooted itself in the dry crevice, and was flourishing. Later, I noticed that an air-conditioning unit located directly above the plant dropped water on it throughout the day. While its surroundings were hostile, the plant received the help it needed from the water above.
Growing in the Christian life can sometimes be difficult, but when we persevere with Christ, barriers are surmountable. Our circumstances may be unfavorable and discouragement may seem like an obstacle. Yet if we press on in our relationship with the Lord, we can flourish like that lone plant. This was the experience of the apostle Paul. Despite the severe hardships and challenges he faced (2 Corinthians 11:23–27), he wouldn’t give up. “I . . . take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me,” he wrote. “I press on toward the goal to win the prize” (Philippians 3:12, 14).
This is a day that You have made, Father. Thank You that You’ll be near me in whatever I face today.
Paul realized he could do all things through the Lord who strengthened him (4:13), and so can we as we press on with the help of One who gives us strength.
This is a day that You have made, Father. Thank You that You’ll be near me in whatever I face today.
God provides the strength we need to persevere and grow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 02, 2018
Will You Go Out Without Knowing?
He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
Have you ever “gone out” in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?” You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “…do not worry about your life…nor about the body…” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?
Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to “go out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 02, 2018
When 'Later' Never Comes - #8082
It was before Christmas, and I went shopping for toys for my kids. Now you might not think there's anything unusual about that – unless you happen to know that all my kids are grown up now. But that doesn't mean they can't have one little spark of childhood left in them, right? For example, I always buy my daughter a doll for Christmas; I always have, I always will. And we've got one son who for a long time was a big fan of a certain Sesame Street character, and he had a collection of everything Ernie. Yeah, believe it or not! Well, there came a time when this Ernie toy was one of the hottest Christmas items on the market, and I wanted one for my son, the Ernie enthusiast. I discovered the toy in September in a store before it became an officially hot item. I held it in my hand. I could have bought it, but I said, "Naw, Christmas is a long way off. I can always get it later." Wrong! When 'later' came, no more Ernies to be found.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "When 'Later' Never Comes."
When it's a toy you miss because you waited – no big deal. When it's God you miss, when it's eternity in heaven you miss, that's huge.
Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 6:2. God says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." God says here there is a time of His favor; there is a day of His salvation. And that's when you need to grab Him. Then He clearly spells out the time we need to respond to Him. God's Word says, "I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation."
When God talks about salvation, He's talking about rescuing us from the death sentence that we're all headed for because of our sin, which is basically the self-rule of our own life. A life that was created to be run by our Creator. This 'salvation' came at a very high price for God. See, someone had to die as your substitute to pay for your sin in order for you to be rescued.
The only one who was qualified to pay that awful price was God's one and only Son. That is Jesus Christ. So, believe me, it really matters to God what you do with His Son, because of what His Son gave up for you. The only response that can change a person's eternal address from hell to heaven is putting your total trust in Jesus as your only hope of belonging to God and of being with God forever.
But so many of us are like I was the day I held that purchase I wanted in my hand. We decide to put it off – make it ours later. I chose to get it later, and later was too late. It was no longer available to me. That's the awful risk you take when you put off Jesus one more day.
Maybe you've been around the message of Jesus a lot. Maybe most folks think you belong to Him. But deep in your heart, you know there's never been a time when you've really committed yourself to Him. It could be you've said, "I will give myself to Jesus when I'm ready."
You need to hear the words of Jesus recorded in John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father...draws him." You don't come to Jesus when you're ready. You come when God's ready. It's God who makes you ready to trust Jesus. If you feel that tug in your heart right now, this is the only time you can be sure God is readying you to come. There are no guarantees of one more opportunity. That's why the Bible says, "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near." (Isaiah 55:6) He may not always be findable. He may not ever be this close again.
If you've never had that "Jesus, I'm yours" moment, would you do that now and get this settled? Eternity is nothing to wait on, procrastinate on. This could be your "Jesus day". Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours. What you did on the cross is my only hope of rescue."
Go to our website. There's a pathway there that I've tried to lay out as simply as I could that you could be sure you belong to Him before you hit the pillow tonight. Our website is ANewStory.com.
Saying 'later' to God's Son is eternally dangerous, because God says the day of salvation is now. It's almost yours now. But later – later may be forever too late.
God wants to use you my friend, but how can He if you’re exhausted?
The other day when I was getting ready for my run, the sun was out, but the wind was chilly. Jacket or sweatshirt? The Boy Scout within me prevailed and I wore both. Got my cell phone, my water bottle. So no one would steal my car, I pocketed my keys. I looked more like a pack mule than a runner! Within half a mile, I was pealing off the jacket. That kind of weight will slow you down.
What’s true in jogging is true in faith. God has a great race for you to run. But you have to drop some stuff. How can you lift someone else’s load if your arms are full with your own? For the sake of those you love, travel light. For the sake of the God you serve, travel light. For the sake of your own joy, travel light!
Read more Traveling Light
Genesis 34
1-4 One day Dinah, the daughter Leah had given Jacob, went to visit some of the women in that country. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was chieftain there, saw her and raped her. Then he felt a strong attraction to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, fell in love with her, and wooed her. Shechem went to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl for my wife.”
5-7 Jacob heard that Shechem had raped his daughter Dinah, but his sons were out in the fields with the livestock so he didn’t say anything until they got home. Hamor, Shechem’s father, went to Jacob to work out marriage arrangements. Meanwhile Jacob’s sons on their way back from the fields heard what had happened. They were outraged, explosive with anger. Shechem’s rape of Jacob’s daughter was intolerable in Israel and not to be put up with.
8-10 Hamor spoke with Jacob and his sons, “My son Shechem is head over heels in love with your daughter—give her to him as his wife. Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us and we’ll give our daughters to you. Live together with us as one family. Settle down among us and make yourselves at home. Prosper among us.”
11-12 Shechem then spoke for himself, addressing Dinah’s father and brothers: “Please, say yes. I’ll pay anything. Set the bridal price as high as you will—the sky’s the limit! Only give me this girl for my wife.”
13-17 Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with cunning. Their sister, after all, had been raped. They said, “This is impossible. We could never give our sister to a man who was uncircumcised. Why, we’d be disgraced. The only condition on which we can talk business is if all your men become circumcised like us. Then we will freely exchange daughters in marriage and make ourselves at home among you and become one big, happy family. But if this is not an acceptable condition, we will take our sister and leave.”
18 That seemed fair enough to Hamor and his son Shechem.
19 The young man was so smitten with Jacob’s daughter that he proceeded to do what had been asked. He was also the most admired son in his father’s family.
20-23 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public square and spoke to the town council: “These men like us; they are our friends. Let them settle down here and make themselves at home; there’s plenty of room in the country for them. And, just think, we can even exchange our daughters in marriage. But these men will only accept our invitation to live with us and become one big family on one condition, that all our males become circumcised just as they themselves are. This is a very good deal for us—these people are very wealthy with great herds of livestock and we’re going to get our hands on it. So let’s do what they ask and have them settle down with us.”
24 Everyone who was anyone in the city agreed with Hamor and his son, Shechem; every male was circumcised.
25-29 Three days after the circumcision, while all the men were still very sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each with his sword in hand, walked into the city as if they owned the place and murdered every man there. They also killed Hamor and his son Shechem, rescued Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. When the rest of Jacob’s sons came on the scene of slaughter, they looted the entire city in retaliation for Dinah’s rape. Flocks, herds, donkeys, belongings—everything, whether in the city or the fields—they took. And then they took all the wives and children captive and ransacked their homes for anything valuable.
30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You’ve made my name stink to high heaven among the people here, these Canaanites and Perizzites. If they decided to gang up on us and attack, as few as we are we wouldn’t stand a chance; they’d wipe me and my people right off the map.”
31 They said, “Nobody is going to treat our sister like a whore and get by with it.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, January 02, 2018
Read: Philippians 3:7–14
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Footnotes:
Philippians 3:9 Or through the faithfulness of
INSIGHT
Today’s reading contains the most personal statement Paul makes in his letters. In the preceding verses (vv. 4–6), he unpacks his Jewish heritage, religious training, and great zeal for Judaism. The startling candor comes in verse 8 when, reflecting on what had defined his life prior to encountering Christ on the Damascus Road, he writes, “I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” Garbage—that’s strong! All the things that had driven him to persecute and kill were now counted worthless compared to the value of Christ. This speaks to the extraordinary value of relationship and rescue over religion and ritual. And that relationship with God through Christ is the strength that fuels our hearts in all the seasons of life—whether good or bad.
For more, check out the Discovery Series booklet Following Jesus: Relationship or Religion? at discoveryseries.org/q0215. - Bill Crowder
Pressing On
By Lawrence Darmani
I press on toward the goal to win the prize. Philippians 3:14
As I walked past an outside wall of the office building where I work, I was amazed to see a beautiful flower growing up through a crack between concrete slabs covering the ground. Despite its deprived circumstance, the plant had found a foothold, rooted itself in the dry crevice, and was flourishing. Later, I noticed that an air-conditioning unit located directly above the plant dropped water on it throughout the day. While its surroundings were hostile, the plant received the help it needed from the water above.
Growing in the Christian life can sometimes be difficult, but when we persevere with Christ, barriers are surmountable. Our circumstances may be unfavorable and discouragement may seem like an obstacle. Yet if we press on in our relationship with the Lord, we can flourish like that lone plant. This was the experience of the apostle Paul. Despite the severe hardships and challenges he faced (2 Corinthians 11:23–27), he wouldn’t give up. “I . . . take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me,” he wrote. “I press on toward the goal to win the prize” (Philippians 3:12, 14).
This is a day that You have made, Father. Thank You that You’ll be near me in whatever I face today.
Paul realized he could do all things through the Lord who strengthened him (4:13), and so can we as we press on with the help of One who gives us strength.
This is a day that You have made, Father. Thank You that You’ll be near me in whatever I face today.
God provides the strength we need to persevere and grow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 02, 2018
Will You Go Out Without Knowing?
He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
Have you ever “gone out” in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?” You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “…do not worry about your life…nor about the body…” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?
Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to “go out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 02, 2018
When 'Later' Never Comes - #8082
It was before Christmas, and I went shopping for toys for my kids. Now you might not think there's anything unusual about that – unless you happen to know that all my kids are grown up now. But that doesn't mean they can't have one little spark of childhood left in them, right? For example, I always buy my daughter a doll for Christmas; I always have, I always will. And we've got one son who for a long time was a big fan of a certain Sesame Street character, and he had a collection of everything Ernie. Yeah, believe it or not! Well, there came a time when this Ernie toy was one of the hottest Christmas items on the market, and I wanted one for my son, the Ernie enthusiast. I discovered the toy in September in a store before it became an officially hot item. I held it in my hand. I could have bought it, but I said, "Naw, Christmas is a long way off. I can always get it later." Wrong! When 'later' came, no more Ernies to be found.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "When 'Later' Never Comes."
When it's a toy you miss because you waited – no big deal. When it's God you miss, when it's eternity in heaven you miss, that's huge.
Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 6:2. God says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." God says here there is a time of His favor; there is a day of His salvation. And that's when you need to grab Him. Then He clearly spells out the time we need to respond to Him. God's Word says, "I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation."
When God talks about salvation, He's talking about rescuing us from the death sentence that we're all headed for because of our sin, which is basically the self-rule of our own life. A life that was created to be run by our Creator. This 'salvation' came at a very high price for God. See, someone had to die as your substitute to pay for your sin in order for you to be rescued.
The only one who was qualified to pay that awful price was God's one and only Son. That is Jesus Christ. So, believe me, it really matters to God what you do with His Son, because of what His Son gave up for you. The only response that can change a person's eternal address from hell to heaven is putting your total trust in Jesus as your only hope of belonging to God and of being with God forever.
But so many of us are like I was the day I held that purchase I wanted in my hand. We decide to put it off – make it ours later. I chose to get it later, and later was too late. It was no longer available to me. That's the awful risk you take when you put off Jesus one more day.
Maybe you've been around the message of Jesus a lot. Maybe most folks think you belong to Him. But deep in your heart, you know there's never been a time when you've really committed yourself to Him. It could be you've said, "I will give myself to Jesus when I'm ready."
You need to hear the words of Jesus recorded in John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father...draws him." You don't come to Jesus when you're ready. You come when God's ready. It's God who makes you ready to trust Jesus. If you feel that tug in your heart right now, this is the only time you can be sure God is readying you to come. There are no guarantees of one more opportunity. That's why the Bible says, "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near." (Isaiah 55:6) He may not always be findable. He may not ever be this close again.
If you've never had that "Jesus, I'm yours" moment, would you do that now and get this settled? Eternity is nothing to wait on, procrastinate on. This could be your "Jesus day". Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours. What you did on the cross is my only hope of rescue."
Go to our website. There's a pathway there that I've tried to lay out as simply as I could that you could be sure you belong to Him before you hit the pillow tonight. Our website is ANewStory.com.
Saying 'later' to God's Son is eternally dangerous, because God says the day of salvation is now. It's almost yours now. But later – later may be forever too late.
Monday, January 1, 2018
Genesis 33 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: I NEED TO TRAVEL LIGHT
I don’t know how to travel light. But I need to learn. You can’t enjoy a journey carrying so much stuff—so much luggage. Odds are, somewhere this morning between the first step on the floor and the last step out the door, you grabbed some luggage.
Don’t remember doing so? That is because you did it without thinking. That’s because the bags we grab aren’t made of leather, they are made of burdens. The suitcase of guilt. A duffel bag of weariness, a hanging bag of grief. A backpack of doubt, an overnight bag of fear. Lugging luggage is exhausting!
God is saying to set that stuff down; you’re carrying burdens you don’t need to bear. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
Yes, I need to learn to travel light!
Genesis 33
1-4 Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants out in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He led the way and, as he approached his brother, bowed seven times, honoring his brother. But Esau ran up and embraced him, held him tight and kissed him. And they both wept.
5 Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children: “And who are these with you?”
Jacob said, “The children that God saw fit to bless me with.”
6-7 Then the maidservants came up with their children and bowed; then Leah and her children, also bowing; and finally, Joseph and Rachel came up and bowed to Esau.
8 Esau then asked, “And what was the meaning of all those herds that I met?”
“I was hoping that they would pave the way for my master to welcome me.”
9 Esau said, “Oh, brother. I have plenty of everything—keep what is yours for yourself.”
10-11 Jacob said, “Please. If you can find it in your heart to welcome me, accept these gifts. When I saw your face, it was as the face of God smiling on me. Accept the gifts I have brought for you. God has been good to me and I have more than enough.” Jacob urged the gifts on him and Esau accepted.
12 Then Esau said, “Let’s start out on our way; I’ll take the lead.”
13-14 But Jacob said, “My master can see that the children are frail. And the flocks and herds are nursing, making for slow going. If I push them too hard, even for a day, I’d lose them all. So, master, you go on ahead of your servant, while I take it easy at the pace of my flocks and children. I’ll catch up with you in Seir.”
15 Esau said, “Let me at least lend you some of my men.”
“There’s no need,” said Jacob. “Your generous welcome is all I need or want.”
16 So Esau set out that day and made his way back to Seir.
17 And Jacob left for Succoth. He built a shelter for himself and sheds for his livestock. That’s how the place came to be called Succoth (Sheds).
18-20 And that’s how it happened that Jacob arrived all in one piece in Shechem in the land of Canaan—all the way from Paddan Aram. He camped near the city. He bought the land where he pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. He paid a hundred silver coins for it. Then he built an altar there and named it El-Elohe-Israel (Mighty Is the God of Israel).
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, January 01, 2018
Read: Ezra 1:1–11
Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return
1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:
2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. 4 And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’”
5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.
7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.[a] 8 Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.
9 This was the inventory:
gold dishes 30
silver dishes 1,000
silver pans[b] 29
10 gold bowls 30
matching silver bowls 410
other articles 1,000
11 In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
Footnotes:
Ezra 1:7 Or gods
Ezra 1:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Beginning Again
By Kirsten Holmberg
Everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:5
After Christmas festivities conclude at the end of December, my thoughts often turn to the coming year. While my children are out of school and our daily rhythms are slow, I reflect on where the last year has brought me and where I hope the next will take me. Those reflections sometimes come with pain and regret over the mistakes I’ve made. Yet the prospect of starting a new year fills me with hope and expectancy. I feel I have the opportunity to begin again with a fresh start, no matter what the last year held.
My anticipation of a fresh start pales in comparison to the sense of hope the Israelites must have felt when Cyrus, the king of Persia, released them to return to their homeland in Judah after seventy long years of captivity in Babylon. The previous king, Nebuchadnezzar, had deported the Israelites from their homeland. But the Lord prompted Cyrus to send the captives home to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple (Ezra 1:2–3). Cyrus also returned to them treasures that had been taken from the temple. Their lives as God’s chosen people, in the land God had appointed to them, began afresh after a long season of hardship in Babylon as a consequence for their sin.
Lord, thank You for Your grace and forgiveness and new beginnings.
No matter what lies in our past, when we confess our sin, God forgives us and gives us a fresh start. What great cause for hope!
What can you do to grow closer to God this year? Share your thoughts with us at Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
God’s grace offers us fresh starts.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 01, 2018
Let Us Keep to the Point
"…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." —Philippians 1:20
My Utmost for His Highest. “…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed….” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.
My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 01, 2018
The Breaking Point and The Breakthrough - #8081
It was the countdown week to the birth of our first grandchild. And, as you might expect, there were some of those mother/daughter conversations about what this experience was going to be like. You know, birthing this child that you've carried for nine months. I didn't think I had a lot to contribute, so I kind of bailed on this conversation. And while our daughter was still at home with some of those first contractions, I overheard her mother giving her some insight-the words of the veteran who's been there and knows what's ahead. She said, "Now, you're going to reach a point where you'll feel like you just can't take it anymore. Well, that's when you've got to hang on, honey, because that's when the baby comes."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Breaking Point and The Breakthrough."
That experience of reaching the breaking point and then experiencing the breakthrough pretty much described our little guy's birth, and millions of other births, and millions of other breakthroughs in peoples' lives. Just when the pain has become almost unbearable-just when you think you can't do this anymore-that's when something wonderful is born.
So many of life's breakthroughs are like that. That's why God gives us this wonderful challenge and wonderful promise in our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 6:9. He says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
That message is for someone today who may be on the edge of giving up--maybe you. You've prayed, you've worked, you've waited, you've sacrificed and nothing has happened. You're tired, you're hurting, and you're wondering if the breakthrough or the victory will ever come. And God is saying to you today, "Hang on! Don't quit now! It's going to happen-if you don't give up."
Maybe you're tempted to give up on a dream God gave you, or your ministry , or your marriage, on that goal, or give up on trying to live for Christ, or trying to beat that old sin, or trying to reach someone for Christ. Like a woman experiencing the protracted pain and effort of labor, it hurts to keep going. But God has given us this exciting promise that if we keep going, the very thing we have prayed and worked so hard for will come.
A wise old saint once said, "Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light." There was a time when you thought what you'd been pursuing was the right thing...that God was going to do something only He could do...that this was worth the wait, it was worth the struggle, it was worth the sacrifice. But it was light then-now it's dark. But God hasn't changed His mind. His plan is still on course, still on schedule, even if His schedule runs a little slower or a lot slower than your schedule. So many people have bailed out just before the awesome thing God was about to do.
No, it's not over. And, yes, there may be some more pain before your answer comes, before you see any results-before the breakthrough. And God may take you all the way to the edge, even to the breaking point-because that's where we totally surrender it to Him. And that's where we can experience His amazing power. So hang in there.
Just like our beautiful grandson, something precious and something priceless is about to be born. If you're at the point where you feel like you just can't take it anymore, don't let go. Just as our daughter experienced in the arrival of our grandson, just beyond the worst of the pain, something precious, something priceless is about to be born.
I don’t know how to travel light. But I need to learn. You can’t enjoy a journey carrying so much stuff—so much luggage. Odds are, somewhere this morning between the first step on the floor and the last step out the door, you grabbed some luggage.
Don’t remember doing so? That is because you did it without thinking. That’s because the bags we grab aren’t made of leather, they are made of burdens. The suitcase of guilt. A duffel bag of weariness, a hanging bag of grief. A backpack of doubt, an overnight bag of fear. Lugging luggage is exhausting!
God is saying to set that stuff down; you’re carrying burdens you don’t need to bear. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
Yes, I need to learn to travel light!
Genesis 33
1-4 Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants out in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He led the way and, as he approached his brother, bowed seven times, honoring his brother. But Esau ran up and embraced him, held him tight and kissed him. And they both wept.
5 Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children: “And who are these with you?”
Jacob said, “The children that God saw fit to bless me with.”
6-7 Then the maidservants came up with their children and bowed; then Leah and her children, also bowing; and finally, Joseph and Rachel came up and bowed to Esau.
8 Esau then asked, “And what was the meaning of all those herds that I met?”
“I was hoping that they would pave the way for my master to welcome me.”
9 Esau said, “Oh, brother. I have plenty of everything—keep what is yours for yourself.”
10-11 Jacob said, “Please. If you can find it in your heart to welcome me, accept these gifts. When I saw your face, it was as the face of God smiling on me. Accept the gifts I have brought for you. God has been good to me and I have more than enough.” Jacob urged the gifts on him and Esau accepted.
12 Then Esau said, “Let’s start out on our way; I’ll take the lead.”
13-14 But Jacob said, “My master can see that the children are frail. And the flocks and herds are nursing, making for slow going. If I push them too hard, even for a day, I’d lose them all. So, master, you go on ahead of your servant, while I take it easy at the pace of my flocks and children. I’ll catch up with you in Seir.”
15 Esau said, “Let me at least lend you some of my men.”
“There’s no need,” said Jacob. “Your generous welcome is all I need or want.”
16 So Esau set out that day and made his way back to Seir.
17 And Jacob left for Succoth. He built a shelter for himself and sheds for his livestock. That’s how the place came to be called Succoth (Sheds).
18-20 And that’s how it happened that Jacob arrived all in one piece in Shechem in the land of Canaan—all the way from Paddan Aram. He camped near the city. He bought the land where he pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. He paid a hundred silver coins for it. Then he built an altar there and named it El-Elohe-Israel (Mighty Is the God of Israel).
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, January 01, 2018
Read: Ezra 1:1–11
Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return
1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:
2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. 4 And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’”
5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.
7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.[a] 8 Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.
9 This was the inventory:
gold dishes 30
silver dishes 1,000
silver pans[b] 29
10 gold bowls 30
matching silver bowls 410
other articles 1,000
11 In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
Footnotes:
Ezra 1:7 Or gods
Ezra 1:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Beginning Again
By Kirsten Holmberg
Everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:5
After Christmas festivities conclude at the end of December, my thoughts often turn to the coming year. While my children are out of school and our daily rhythms are slow, I reflect on where the last year has brought me and where I hope the next will take me. Those reflections sometimes come with pain and regret over the mistakes I’ve made. Yet the prospect of starting a new year fills me with hope and expectancy. I feel I have the opportunity to begin again with a fresh start, no matter what the last year held.
My anticipation of a fresh start pales in comparison to the sense of hope the Israelites must have felt when Cyrus, the king of Persia, released them to return to their homeland in Judah after seventy long years of captivity in Babylon. The previous king, Nebuchadnezzar, had deported the Israelites from their homeland. But the Lord prompted Cyrus to send the captives home to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple (Ezra 1:2–3). Cyrus also returned to them treasures that had been taken from the temple. Their lives as God’s chosen people, in the land God had appointed to them, began afresh after a long season of hardship in Babylon as a consequence for their sin.
Lord, thank You for Your grace and forgiveness and new beginnings.
No matter what lies in our past, when we confess our sin, God forgives us and gives us a fresh start. What great cause for hope!
What can you do to grow closer to God this year? Share your thoughts with us at Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
God’s grace offers us fresh starts.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 01, 2018
Let Us Keep to the Point
"…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." —Philippians 1:20
My Utmost for His Highest. “…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed….” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.
My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 01, 2018
The Breaking Point and The Breakthrough - #8081
It was the countdown week to the birth of our first grandchild. And, as you might expect, there were some of those mother/daughter conversations about what this experience was going to be like. You know, birthing this child that you've carried for nine months. I didn't think I had a lot to contribute, so I kind of bailed on this conversation. And while our daughter was still at home with some of those first contractions, I overheard her mother giving her some insight-the words of the veteran who's been there and knows what's ahead. She said, "Now, you're going to reach a point where you'll feel like you just can't take it anymore. Well, that's when you've got to hang on, honey, because that's when the baby comes."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Breaking Point and The Breakthrough."
That experience of reaching the breaking point and then experiencing the breakthrough pretty much described our little guy's birth, and millions of other births, and millions of other breakthroughs in peoples' lives. Just when the pain has become almost unbearable-just when you think you can't do this anymore-that's when something wonderful is born.
So many of life's breakthroughs are like that. That's why God gives us this wonderful challenge and wonderful promise in our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 6:9. He says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
That message is for someone today who may be on the edge of giving up--maybe you. You've prayed, you've worked, you've waited, you've sacrificed and nothing has happened. You're tired, you're hurting, and you're wondering if the breakthrough or the victory will ever come. And God is saying to you today, "Hang on! Don't quit now! It's going to happen-if you don't give up."
Maybe you're tempted to give up on a dream God gave you, or your ministry , or your marriage, on that goal, or give up on trying to live for Christ, or trying to beat that old sin, or trying to reach someone for Christ. Like a woman experiencing the protracted pain and effort of labor, it hurts to keep going. But God has given us this exciting promise that if we keep going, the very thing we have prayed and worked so hard for will come.
A wise old saint once said, "Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light." There was a time when you thought what you'd been pursuing was the right thing...that God was going to do something only He could do...that this was worth the wait, it was worth the struggle, it was worth the sacrifice. But it was light then-now it's dark. But God hasn't changed His mind. His plan is still on course, still on schedule, even if His schedule runs a little slower or a lot slower than your schedule. So many people have bailed out just before the awesome thing God was about to do.
No, it's not over. And, yes, there may be some more pain before your answer comes, before you see any results-before the breakthrough. And God may take you all the way to the edge, even to the breaking point-because that's where we totally surrender it to Him. And that's where we can experience His amazing power. So hang in there.
Just like our beautiful grandson, something precious and something priceless is about to be born. If you're at the point where you feel like you just can't take it anymore, don't let go. Just as our daughter experienced in the arrival of our grandson, just beyond the worst of the pain, something precious, something priceless is about to be born.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Matthew 20:1-16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Hope-Filled Heart
You and I live in a trashy world. Unwanted garbage comes our way on a regular basis. Haven’t you been handed a trash sack of mishaps and heartaches? Sure you have. May I ask, what are you going to do with it? You could hide it. Pretend it isn’t there. But sooner or later it will start to stink. So what will you do?
If you follow the example of Christ, you’ll learn to see tough times differently. God wants you to have a hope-filled heart. . .just like Jesus. Wouldn’t you want that? Jesus saw his Father’s presence in the problem. Sure, Max, but Jesus was God. I can’t see the way he saw. Not yet, maybe. But don’t underestimate God’s power. He can change the way you look at life.
From The Lucado Inspirational Reader
Matthew 20:1-16
A Story About Workers
1-2 “God’s kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.
3-5 “Later, about nine o’clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.
5-6 “He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o’clock. At five o’clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, ‘Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?’
7 “They said, ‘Because no one hired us.’
“He told them to go to work in his vineyard.
8 “When the day’s work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, ‘Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.’
9-12 “Those hired at five o’clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, ‘These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.’
13-15 “He replied to the one speaking for the rest, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’
16 “Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Read: Lamentations 3:19–26
I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
INSIGHT
In Lamentations 3, Jeremiah laments those who are persecuted for standing true to the Lord. He feels as if he himself has been plunged into darkness and chained as a prisoner (vv. 1–9). He has experienced attacks, abduction, and isolation, and has been scorned and pierced by his enemies (vv. 10–15). Personal dignity and a sense of security have been painfully replaced with loneliness and sorrow (vv. 16–20).
Yet within this valley of despair there is a greater reality that rises above the circumstances. As we reflect on the character of God we see He is always present in our situation and offers comfort and hope. God’s mercies are as certain as the rising of the sun each day (vv. 21–23). In view of this inspiring truth, the living God truly is all that we need for any of life’s trials (v. 24).
As you think back over the past year, when have you experienced the faithfulness of God? - Dennis Fisher
Faith-Building Memories
By Xochitl Dixon
Great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23
As I stepped into the music-filled sanctuary, I looked around at the crowd that had gathered for a New Year’s Eve party. Joy lifted my heart with hope, as I recalled the prayers of the previous year. Our congregation had collectively grieved over wayward children, deaths of loved ones, job losses, and broken relationships. But we’d also experienced God’s grace as we recalled changed hearts and healed personal connections. We’d celebrated victories, weddings, graduations, and baptisms into God’s family. We’d welcomed children born, adopted, or dedicated to the Lord, and more—so much more.
Reflecting over the history of trials our church family faced, much like Jeremiah remembered his “affliction” and his “wandering” (Lam. 3:19), I believed that “because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail” (v. 22). As the prophet reassured himself of God’s past faithfulness, his words comforted me: “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him” (v. 25).
Great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23
That night, each person in our congregation represented a tangible expression of God’s life-transforming love. Whatever we’d face in the years to come, as members of the interdependent body of Christ, we could rely on the Lord. And as we continue to seek Him and support one another, we can, as did Jeremiah, find our hope being ratified by faith-building memories of God’s unchanging character and dependability.
Lord, thank You for using our past to assure us our hope remains secure in Your everlasting faithfulness.
As we look ahead to the new year, let’s remember that God has always been and always will be faithful.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Yesterday
You shall not go out with haste,…for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. —Isaiah 52:12
Security from Yesterday. “…God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow. “…the Lord will go before you….” This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste….” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To read the Bible according to God’s providential order in your circumstances is the only way to read it, viz., in the blood and passion of personal life. Disciples Indeed, 387 R
You and I live in a trashy world. Unwanted garbage comes our way on a regular basis. Haven’t you been handed a trash sack of mishaps and heartaches? Sure you have. May I ask, what are you going to do with it? You could hide it. Pretend it isn’t there. But sooner or later it will start to stink. So what will you do?
If you follow the example of Christ, you’ll learn to see tough times differently. God wants you to have a hope-filled heart. . .just like Jesus. Wouldn’t you want that? Jesus saw his Father’s presence in the problem. Sure, Max, but Jesus was God. I can’t see the way he saw. Not yet, maybe. But don’t underestimate God’s power. He can change the way you look at life.
From The Lucado Inspirational Reader
Matthew 20:1-16
A Story About Workers
1-2 “God’s kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.
3-5 “Later, about nine o’clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.
5-6 “He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o’clock. At five o’clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, ‘Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?’
7 “They said, ‘Because no one hired us.’
“He told them to go to work in his vineyard.
8 “When the day’s work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, ‘Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.’
9-12 “Those hired at five o’clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, ‘These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.’
13-15 “He replied to the one speaking for the rest, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’
16 “Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Read: Lamentations 3:19–26
I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
INSIGHT
In Lamentations 3, Jeremiah laments those who are persecuted for standing true to the Lord. He feels as if he himself has been plunged into darkness and chained as a prisoner (vv. 1–9). He has experienced attacks, abduction, and isolation, and has been scorned and pierced by his enemies (vv. 10–15). Personal dignity and a sense of security have been painfully replaced with loneliness and sorrow (vv. 16–20).
Yet within this valley of despair there is a greater reality that rises above the circumstances. As we reflect on the character of God we see He is always present in our situation and offers comfort and hope. God’s mercies are as certain as the rising of the sun each day (vv. 21–23). In view of this inspiring truth, the living God truly is all that we need for any of life’s trials (v. 24).
As you think back over the past year, when have you experienced the faithfulness of God? - Dennis Fisher
Faith-Building Memories
By Xochitl Dixon
Great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23
As I stepped into the music-filled sanctuary, I looked around at the crowd that had gathered for a New Year’s Eve party. Joy lifted my heart with hope, as I recalled the prayers of the previous year. Our congregation had collectively grieved over wayward children, deaths of loved ones, job losses, and broken relationships. But we’d also experienced God’s grace as we recalled changed hearts and healed personal connections. We’d celebrated victories, weddings, graduations, and baptisms into God’s family. We’d welcomed children born, adopted, or dedicated to the Lord, and more—so much more.
Reflecting over the history of trials our church family faced, much like Jeremiah remembered his “affliction” and his “wandering” (Lam. 3:19), I believed that “because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail” (v. 22). As the prophet reassured himself of God’s past faithfulness, his words comforted me: “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him” (v. 25).
Great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23
That night, each person in our congregation represented a tangible expression of God’s life-transforming love. Whatever we’d face in the years to come, as members of the interdependent body of Christ, we could rely on the Lord. And as we continue to seek Him and support one another, we can, as did Jeremiah, find our hope being ratified by faith-building memories of God’s unchanging character and dependability.
Lord, thank You for using our past to assure us our hope remains secure in Your everlasting faithfulness.
As we look ahead to the new year, let’s remember that God has always been and always will be faithful.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Yesterday
You shall not go out with haste,…for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. —Isaiah 52:12
Security from Yesterday. “…God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow. “…the Lord will go before you….” This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste….” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To read the Bible according to God’s providential order in your circumstances is the only way to read it, viz., in the blood and passion of personal life. Disciples Indeed, 387 R
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