Max Lucado Daily: HOW TO LOVE GROWING OLD
The dawning of old age. Empty nest. Bifocals. Everything hurts when you wake up. And what doesn’t hurt, doesn’t work. Regret can become a major pastime and may lead to rebellion against whatever ties you down.
Growing old can be dangerous, so you need to be prepared. Luke 17:33 advises, “Whoever tries to keep his life safe will lose it, and the man who is prepared to lose his life will preserve it.” The wisest are not the ones with the most years in their lives, but the most life in their years.
You can take the safe route, or you can hear the voice of God’s adventure. Follow God’s impulses. Adopt the child. Move overseas. Teach the class. Change careers. Make a difference. Your last chapters can be your best chapters. God’s oldest have always been among his choicest.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
Psalm 29
A David Psalm
29 1-2 Bravo, God, bravo!
Gods and all angels shout, “Encore!”
In awe before the glory,
in awe before God’s visible power.
Stand at attention!
Dress your best to honor him!
3 God thunders across the waters,
Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming brightness—
God, across the flood waters.
4 God’s thunder tympanic,
God’s thunder symphonic.
5 God’s thunder smashes cedars,
God topples the northern cedars.
6 The mountain ranges skip like spring colts,
The high ridges jump like wild kid goats.
7-8 God’s thunder spits fire.
God thunders, the wilderness quakes;
He makes the desert of Kadesh shake.
9 God’s thunder sets the oak trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.
We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!”
10 Above the floodwaters is God’s throne
from which his power flows,
from which he rules the world.
11 God makes his people strong.
God gives his people peace.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Proverbs 16:1-3
Mortals make elaborate plans,
but God has the last word.
2 Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good;
God probes for what is good.
3 Put God in charge of your work,
then what you’ve planned will take place.
Insight
The proverbs are not step-by-step instructions on what to do in each and every moment. Rather, they give us general principles for wise living. They show us how to interact with our fellow human beings and how to keep from being foolish—or how to stop being foolish. When we practice the wisdom of the proverbs, we’re far less likely to rush into ill-conceived plans. We learn to leverage the resources God has already given us. In the process we grow, and we spare ourselves untold disaster. The proverbs don’t tell us what plans to make; they teach us to make wise plans and commit them to the Lord (Proverbs 16:3). By: Tim Gustafson
Expect Delays
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9
Are you kidding me? I was already late. But the road sign ahead instructed me to adjust my expectations: “Expect Delays,” it announced. Traffic was slowing down.
I had to laugh: I expect things to work on my ideal timeline; I don’t expect road construction.
On a spiritual level, few of us plan for crises that slow us down or reroute our lives. Yet, if I think about it, I can recall many times when circumstances redirected me—in big ways and small. Delays happen.
Solomon never saw a sign that said, “Expect Delays.” But in Proverbs 16, he does contrast our plans with God’s providential guidance. The Message paraphrases verse 1 as follows: “Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has the last word.” Solomon restates that idea in verse 9, where he adds that even though we “plan [our] course . . . the Lord establishes [our] steps.” In other words, we have ideas about what’s supposed to happen, but sometimes God has another path for us.
How do I lose track of this spiritual truth? I make my plans, sometimes forgetting to ask Him what His plans are. I get frustrated when interruptions interfere.
But in place of that worrying, we could, as Solomon teaches, grow in simply trusting that God guides us, step-by-step, as we prayerfully seek Him, await His leading, and—yes—allow Him to continually redirect us. By Adam Holz
Today's Reflection
How do you typically face unexpected delays and detours? When frustrations come, what will help you lean into God and trust Him more?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Total Surrender
Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." —Mark 10:28
Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this surrender is “for My sake and the gospel’s” (Mark 10:29). It was not for the purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For example, “I’m going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” Being delivered from sin and being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your showcase so I can say, ‘This is what God has done for me.’ ” Gaining heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender. Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.
Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse— “Yes, Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ‘cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).
True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” We all have faith in good principles, in good management, in good common sense, but who amongst us has faith in Jesus Christ? Physical courage is grand, moral courage is grander, but the man who trusts Jesus Christ in the face of the terrific problems of life is worth a whole crowd of heroes. The Highest Good, 544 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 12, 2019 (2015)
Peace Within Your Reach - #7349
Sister is a dog. No, I didn't say my sister was a dog. My friend, Curtis, has a dog he named Sister, which leads to some very amusing sentences. When Curtis' Sister first arrived in our area, Sister lived in this big, fenced-in area around the house. But Curtis got a nice dog house for Sister, the dog that is, and went to work making it a nice winter home for her. He installed two inches of insulation, put in a new floor, and even put a waterbed heater under the floor and some zip lock bags of water for the heater to heat. Sister basically had her own home with her own waterbed.
But for the first couple of weeks after her home was completed, she wouldn't go in it. Curtis was away for the weekend. He asked a friend to check on Sister. It was one of those days was when a powerful Nor'easter storm hit our area with drenching rain. And when Curtis' friend visited Sister, there was that dog running around outside the dog house in the wind and the pouring rain, still refusing to go in that home that had been provided for her.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Peace Within Your Reach."
Curtis said he was frustrated. He said, "Here I lovingly prepared a warm, safe place, and she insists on staying outside in the cold and the rain." That frustration is one that Jesus knows very well.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 19:21. "As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it. He said, 'If you only would have known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. You did not recognize the time of God's coming to you.'" This kind of grieving in the heart of Jesus isn't limited to that one time and that one place. It happens every time another person keeps running in the rain when they could be living in the safety and warmth that He has prepared for them.
Jesus makes very clear what He wants to give us; what the result will be if we respond to Him. He talks about what would "bring you peace." And peace is what's at stake in what you do with Jesus; personal peace, peace with God, peace for all eternity. Jesus may actually have shed some tears for you. So many times He's given you the opportunity to come into that wonderful peace of a personal relationship with Him, but you have refused to enter.
The results: You're alone out in the storm, feeling unnecessary loneliness because you're living outside His never-leaving love. Unnecessary stress because you're trying to handle life without His peace. You're feeling unnecessary pain because you're trying to carry the load without His great strength, and maybe unnecessary emptiness because you're trying to make life make sense without the One who gave you your life. And Jesus is saying, "If you only knew what I can do for you if you'll just come inside."
The spiritual shelter Jesus invites you to has been very lovingly prepared for you, very expensively prepared for you. There was no way into a God relationship as long as the death penalty for our sins stood between us and God. We're spiritual orphans in this world. We're separated from our Father because of our sins. But the Bible says, speaking of the suffering and crucifixion of God's Son, "He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities." All that because of how much Jesus loves you.
And the result of this incredible love? Here's what it says, "The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him." The peace that has eluded you for your whole life can finally be yours today if you'll give yourself to the One who gave His life for you on a cross. He said of the people who had missed Him, "You did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." That time for you might be today.
He's come to you. He's knocking on the door of your heart. Would you open up? Let Him in and let Him take the wheel of your life from this day on. If you're tired of being in the storm without the peace that He wants to give you, that He died to give you, would you say to Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
I'd love to help you with that. Go to our website. We'll take it from there - AnewStory.com. You don't need to run alone in the rain any more. You know which way is home and Jesus is there.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Monday, March 11, 2019
Psalm 28, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A CRAZY HUNCH AND A HIGH HOPE
We don’t know her name, but we know her situation. According to the 5th chapter of Mark, she “had been bleeding for twelve years. She suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had; but instead of improving she was getting worse.” She was physically exhausted and socially ostracized.
She extended her arm through the crowd thinking, If only I can touch him. When her dilemma met His dedication, a miracle occurred. With that small, courageous gesture, she experienced Jesus’ tender power.
God’s help is near and always available, but it is only given to those who seek it. Do something that demonstrates faith—radical, risk-taking faith. God will respond. He has never rejected a genuine gesture of faith. Never.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
Psalm 28
A David Psalm
28 Don’t turn a deaf ear
when I call you, God.
If all I get from you is
deafening silence,
I’d be better off
in the Black Hole.
2 I’m letting you know what I need,
calling out for help
And lifting my arms
toward your inner sanctum.
3-4 Don’t shove me into
the same jail cell with those crooks,
With those who are
full-time employees of evil.
They talk a good line of “peace,”
then moonlight for the Devil.
Pay them back for what they’ve done,
for how bad they’ve been.
Pay them back for their long hours
in the Devil’s workshop;
Then cap it with a huge bonus.
5 Because they have no idea how God works
or what he is up to,
God will smash them to smithereens
and walk away from the ruins.
6-7 Blessed be God—
he heard me praying.
He proved he’s on my side;
I’ve thrown my lot in with him.
Now I’m jumping for joy,
and shouting and singing my thanks to him.
8-9 God is all strength for his people,
ample refuge for his chosen leader;
Save your people
and bless your heritage.
Care for them;
carry them like a good shepherd.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 11, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Isaiah 43:25
“But I, yes I, am the one
who takes care of your sins—that’s what I do.
I don’t keep a list of your sins.
Isaiah 44:21-23 The Message (MSG)
21-22 “Remember these things, O Jacob.
Take it seriously, Israel, that you’re my servant.
I made you, shaped you: You’re my servant.
O Israel, I’ll never forget you.
I’ve wiped the slate of all your wrongdoings.
There’s nothing left of your sins.
Come back to me, come back.
I’ve redeemed you.”
23 High heavens, sing!
God has done it.
Deep earth, shout!
And you mountains, sing!
A forest choir of oaks and pines and cedars!
God has redeemed Jacob.
God’s glory is on display in Israel.
Insight
The theme of forgiveness found in Isaiah 44:21–23 beautifully describes the lavish grace and mercy of the God who forgives. Here God speaks to His wayward people and calls them to three important responses. First, they are challenged to remember that they have been made by Him and called to relationship with Him—for He will never forget them (v. 21). In spite of their spiritual drifting, Yahweh has extravagantly poured out forgiveness on them. Their response to this forgiveness? They are to return to Him (v. 22), accepting His gift of redemption. Finally, they are to witness the way that all of creation celebrates the mercy and love of their forgiving God (v. 23). Just as God’s glory is revealed in His creation, He also has chosen to reveal it in His forgiven, restored, and redeemed covenant people.
For more on God’s forgiveness, read The Forgiveness of God at discoveryseries.org/q0602. By: Bill Crowder
Swept Away
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Isaiah 44:22
When he invented the pencil eraser, British engineer Edward Nairne was reaching instead for a piece of bread. Crusts of bread were used then, in 1770, to erase marks on paper. Picking up a piece of latex rubber by mistake, Nairne found it erased his error, leaving rubberized “crumbs” easily swept away by hand.
With us too the worst errors of our lives can be swept away. It’s the Lord—the Bread of Life—who cleans them with His own life, promising never to remember our sins. “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake,” says Isaiah 43:25, “and remembers your sins no more.”
This can seem to be a remarkable fix—and not deserved. For many, it’s hard to believe our past sins can be swept away by God “like the morning mist.” Does God, who knows everything, forget them so easily?
That’s exactly what God does when we accept Jesus as our Savior. Choosing to forgive our sins and to “[remember them] no more,” our heavenly Father frees us to move forward. No longer dragged down by past wrongs, we’re free of debris and cleaned up to serve, now and forever.
Yes, consequences may remain. But God sweeps sin itself away, inviting us to return to Him for our clean new life. There’s no better way to be swept away. By Patricia Raybon
Today's Reflection
What things from your past do you have trouble forgetting? Ask God to help you take Him at His word.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 11, 2019
Obedience to the “Heavenly Vision”
I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. —Acts 26:19
If we lose “the heavenly vision” God has given us, we alone are responsible— not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient to “the heavenly vision” is to give our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision. But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our everyday life— sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public meetings.
“Though it tarries, wait for it…” (Habakkuk 2:3). We cannot bring the vision to fulfillment through our own efforts, but must live under its inspiration until it fulfills itself. We try to be so practical that we forget the vision. At the very beginning we saw the vision but did not wait for it. We rushed off to do our practical work, and once the vision was fulfilled we could no longer even see it. Waiting for a vision that “tarries” is the true test of our faithfulness to God. It is at the risk of our own soul’s welfare that we get caught up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision.
Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send you out through His storm, and don’t go until He does. If you select your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an unproductive, empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you will “bear much fruit” (John 15:8).
It is essential that we live and “walk in the light” of God’s vision for us (1 John 1:7).\
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
Not Knowing Whither
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 11, 2019
How To End The War You're In - #8391
"Our planes were in the air." That's what the Air Force briefing officer told us as we had the privilege of touring a major American defense command facility. He was talking about a day during the Cold War when, unbeknownst to most Americans, World War III could have almost begun. America's warning systems had indicated clearly that Russian planes were in the air and headed for the United States. In those days when nuclear war was our greatest fear and a real possibility, the orders were given to get our planes in the air. Those planes were headed for the Soviet Union with the capability of starting a nuclear war. Why hadn't you heard about it? Thankfully, the trackers discovered in time that what was sent out was an erroneous message about the Russian planes. You know why? Because of one defective computer chip. That's a close call!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How To End The War You're In."
We never knew how close we had come to being in a war that would have been a tragic mistake. Thank God, that war was avoided. Of course, not all wars are between nations. No, some are between individuals. You might be in one now: in a family, a church, a neighborhood, a school, a team, an organization. There's a good chance it's a war God doesn't want you involved in. It's a war He wants to help you either prevent before it starts or end it if it's already started.
And He's given us a plan for peace in our word for today from the Word of God in Joshua 22, beginning with verse 10. Here's the scene. The twelve tribes of Israel have conquered the Promised Land, each tribe now settling the portion of Canaan that had been given to them. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned to their land, which happened to be on the other side – the east side of the Jordan River. That distance set the stage for what was almost a war between the west-siders and the east-siders. A war that should not have been; maybe like a war that's looming in your life. There's a lot of lesson here. Follow this.
The Bible says that the two and a half tribes on the east side of the river "built an imposing altar there by the Jordan." When the rest of the Jews heard about this "they gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them." See, they were thinking that they were establishing an alternative to the worship of Jehovah God by setting up another altar.
The Book of Joshua goes on to explain that the Israelites sent a high-ranking delegation across the Jordan. They said to the east-siders, "How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this?" And the east-siders explained they weren't rebelling against God by building this altar. They were just afraid that someday another generation might cut them off from worshiping the Lord on the other side of the river. In other words, it was to insure that they could worship Jehovah God. You know what the result was? The west-side leaders returned home with their report and here's the end of the story, "they talked no more about going to war against them."
Let's bring it down to us. Conflicts often result from misunderstanding the other person's motives or actions. The only way to avoid that is to do what these ancient Jews did. Go directly to the person or persons involved and let them explain what they're thinking. Don't go on hearsay, second-hand information, rumors, or suppositions. Peace between God's people is too precious for that. Go to them – don't wait for them to come to you. Use healing words like "Help me understand", "Let's not let any walls get between us", "I miss you", "Please forgive me", "I forgive you", or even those hard but healing words, "I was wrong." So many wars – in your family, in that friendship, in a working relationship, in a ministry are unnecessary wars where only the devil wins.
We can't afford to form our firing squad in a circle and shoot at each other. We need to reserve all our ammunition for the enemy that wants to bring us all down. The war-preventing, peacekeeping plan of God can be pretty well summed up in these twelve little words from James 1:19, "Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." Remember: blessed are the peacemakers!
We don’t know her name, but we know her situation. According to the 5th chapter of Mark, she “had been bleeding for twelve years. She suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had; but instead of improving she was getting worse.” She was physically exhausted and socially ostracized.
She extended her arm through the crowd thinking, If only I can touch him. When her dilemma met His dedication, a miracle occurred. With that small, courageous gesture, she experienced Jesus’ tender power.
God’s help is near and always available, but it is only given to those who seek it. Do something that demonstrates faith—radical, risk-taking faith. God will respond. He has never rejected a genuine gesture of faith. Never.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
Psalm 28
A David Psalm
28 Don’t turn a deaf ear
when I call you, God.
If all I get from you is
deafening silence,
I’d be better off
in the Black Hole.
2 I’m letting you know what I need,
calling out for help
And lifting my arms
toward your inner sanctum.
3-4 Don’t shove me into
the same jail cell with those crooks,
With those who are
full-time employees of evil.
They talk a good line of “peace,”
then moonlight for the Devil.
Pay them back for what they’ve done,
for how bad they’ve been.
Pay them back for their long hours
in the Devil’s workshop;
Then cap it with a huge bonus.
5 Because they have no idea how God works
or what he is up to,
God will smash them to smithereens
and walk away from the ruins.
6-7 Blessed be God—
he heard me praying.
He proved he’s on my side;
I’ve thrown my lot in with him.
Now I’m jumping for joy,
and shouting and singing my thanks to him.
8-9 God is all strength for his people,
ample refuge for his chosen leader;
Save your people
and bless your heritage.
Care for them;
carry them like a good shepherd.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 11, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Isaiah 43:25
“But I, yes I, am the one
who takes care of your sins—that’s what I do.
I don’t keep a list of your sins.
Isaiah 44:21-23 The Message (MSG)
21-22 “Remember these things, O Jacob.
Take it seriously, Israel, that you’re my servant.
I made you, shaped you: You’re my servant.
O Israel, I’ll never forget you.
I’ve wiped the slate of all your wrongdoings.
There’s nothing left of your sins.
Come back to me, come back.
I’ve redeemed you.”
23 High heavens, sing!
God has done it.
Deep earth, shout!
And you mountains, sing!
A forest choir of oaks and pines and cedars!
God has redeemed Jacob.
God’s glory is on display in Israel.
Insight
The theme of forgiveness found in Isaiah 44:21–23 beautifully describes the lavish grace and mercy of the God who forgives. Here God speaks to His wayward people and calls them to three important responses. First, they are challenged to remember that they have been made by Him and called to relationship with Him—for He will never forget them (v. 21). In spite of their spiritual drifting, Yahweh has extravagantly poured out forgiveness on them. Their response to this forgiveness? They are to return to Him (v. 22), accepting His gift of redemption. Finally, they are to witness the way that all of creation celebrates the mercy and love of their forgiving God (v. 23). Just as God’s glory is revealed in His creation, He also has chosen to reveal it in His forgiven, restored, and redeemed covenant people.
For more on God’s forgiveness, read The Forgiveness of God at discoveryseries.org/q0602. By: Bill Crowder
Swept Away
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Isaiah 44:22
When he invented the pencil eraser, British engineer Edward Nairne was reaching instead for a piece of bread. Crusts of bread were used then, in 1770, to erase marks on paper. Picking up a piece of latex rubber by mistake, Nairne found it erased his error, leaving rubberized “crumbs” easily swept away by hand.
With us too the worst errors of our lives can be swept away. It’s the Lord—the Bread of Life—who cleans them with His own life, promising never to remember our sins. “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake,” says Isaiah 43:25, “and remembers your sins no more.”
This can seem to be a remarkable fix—and not deserved. For many, it’s hard to believe our past sins can be swept away by God “like the morning mist.” Does God, who knows everything, forget them so easily?
That’s exactly what God does when we accept Jesus as our Savior. Choosing to forgive our sins and to “[remember them] no more,” our heavenly Father frees us to move forward. No longer dragged down by past wrongs, we’re free of debris and cleaned up to serve, now and forever.
Yes, consequences may remain. But God sweeps sin itself away, inviting us to return to Him for our clean new life. There’s no better way to be swept away. By Patricia Raybon
Today's Reflection
What things from your past do you have trouble forgetting? Ask God to help you take Him at His word.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 11, 2019
Obedience to the “Heavenly Vision”
I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. —Acts 26:19
If we lose “the heavenly vision” God has given us, we alone are responsible— not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient to “the heavenly vision” is to give our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision. But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our everyday life— sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public meetings.
“Though it tarries, wait for it…” (Habakkuk 2:3). We cannot bring the vision to fulfillment through our own efforts, but must live under its inspiration until it fulfills itself. We try to be so practical that we forget the vision. At the very beginning we saw the vision but did not wait for it. We rushed off to do our practical work, and once the vision was fulfilled we could no longer even see it. Waiting for a vision that “tarries” is the true test of our faithfulness to God. It is at the risk of our own soul’s welfare that we get caught up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision.
Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send you out through His storm, and don’t go until He does. If you select your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an unproductive, empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you will “bear much fruit” (John 15:8).
It is essential that we live and “walk in the light” of God’s vision for us (1 John 1:7).\
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
Not Knowing Whither
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 11, 2019
How To End The War You're In - #8391
"Our planes were in the air." That's what the Air Force briefing officer told us as we had the privilege of touring a major American defense command facility. He was talking about a day during the Cold War when, unbeknownst to most Americans, World War III could have almost begun. America's warning systems had indicated clearly that Russian planes were in the air and headed for the United States. In those days when nuclear war was our greatest fear and a real possibility, the orders were given to get our planes in the air. Those planes were headed for the Soviet Union with the capability of starting a nuclear war. Why hadn't you heard about it? Thankfully, the trackers discovered in time that what was sent out was an erroneous message about the Russian planes. You know why? Because of one defective computer chip. That's a close call!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How To End The War You're In."
We never knew how close we had come to being in a war that would have been a tragic mistake. Thank God, that war was avoided. Of course, not all wars are between nations. No, some are between individuals. You might be in one now: in a family, a church, a neighborhood, a school, a team, an organization. There's a good chance it's a war God doesn't want you involved in. It's a war He wants to help you either prevent before it starts or end it if it's already started.
And He's given us a plan for peace in our word for today from the Word of God in Joshua 22, beginning with verse 10. Here's the scene. The twelve tribes of Israel have conquered the Promised Land, each tribe now settling the portion of Canaan that had been given to them. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned to their land, which happened to be on the other side – the east side of the Jordan River. That distance set the stage for what was almost a war between the west-siders and the east-siders. A war that should not have been; maybe like a war that's looming in your life. There's a lot of lesson here. Follow this.
The Bible says that the two and a half tribes on the east side of the river "built an imposing altar there by the Jordan." When the rest of the Jews heard about this "they gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them." See, they were thinking that they were establishing an alternative to the worship of Jehovah God by setting up another altar.
The Book of Joshua goes on to explain that the Israelites sent a high-ranking delegation across the Jordan. They said to the east-siders, "How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this?" And the east-siders explained they weren't rebelling against God by building this altar. They were just afraid that someday another generation might cut them off from worshiping the Lord on the other side of the river. In other words, it was to insure that they could worship Jehovah God. You know what the result was? The west-side leaders returned home with their report and here's the end of the story, "they talked no more about going to war against them."
Let's bring it down to us. Conflicts often result from misunderstanding the other person's motives or actions. The only way to avoid that is to do what these ancient Jews did. Go directly to the person or persons involved and let them explain what they're thinking. Don't go on hearsay, second-hand information, rumors, or suppositions. Peace between God's people is too precious for that. Go to them – don't wait for them to come to you. Use healing words like "Help me understand", "Let's not let any walls get between us", "I miss you", "Please forgive me", "I forgive you", or even those hard but healing words, "I was wrong." So many wars – in your family, in that friendship, in a working relationship, in a ministry are unnecessary wars where only the devil wins.
We can't afford to form our firing squad in a circle and shoot at each other. We need to reserve all our ammunition for the enemy that wants to bring us all down. The war-preventing, peacekeeping plan of God can be pretty well summed up in these twelve little words from James 1:19, "Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." Remember: blessed are the peacemakers!
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Psalm 27, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Universal Symbol of Christianity
The cross is the universal symbol of Christianity. An odd choice, don’t you think? Strange that a tool of torture would come to embody a movement of hope. Its design could not be simpler. One beam horizontal—the other vertical. One reaches out like God’s love. The other reaches up, as does God’s holiness. One represents the width of His love; the other the height of His holiness. The cross is the intersection. The cross is where God forgave His children without lowering His standards. God treated His Son as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God.
Why would He? John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world.” Aren’t you glad the verse doesn’t read: For God so loved the rich?. . .the famous? The sober or the successful? No, it simply reads: “For God so loved the world!”
From He Chose the Nails
Psalm 27
A David Psalm
27 Light, space, zest—
that’s God!
So, with him on my side I’m fearless,
afraid of no one and nothing.
2 When vandal hordes ride down
ready to eat me alive,
Those bullies and toughs
fall flat on their faces.
3 When besieged,
I’m calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
I’m collected and cool.
4 I’m asking God for one thing,
only one thing:
To live with him in his house
my whole life long.
I’ll contemplate his beauty;
I’ll study at his feet.
5 That’s the only quiet, secure place
in a noisy world,
The perfect getaway,
far from the buzz of traffic.
6 God holds me head and shoulders
above all who try to pull me down.
I’m headed for his place to offer anthems
that will raise the roof!
Already I’m singing God-songs;
I’m making music to God.
7-9 Listen, God, I’m calling at the top of my lungs:
“Be good to me! Answer me!”
When my heart whispered, “Seek God,”
my whole being replied,
“I’m seeking him!”
Don’t hide from me now!
9-10 You’ve always been right there for me;
don’t turn your back on me now.
Don’t throw me out, don’t abandon me;
you’ve always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me,
but God took me in.
11-12 Point me down your highway, God;
direct me along a well-lighted street;
show my enemies whose side you’re on.
Don’t throw me to the dogs,
those liars who are out to get me,
filling the air with their threats.
13-14 I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness
in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God!
Take heart. Don’t quit.
I’ll say it again:
Stay with God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Luke 19:1-10
Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way—he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by.
5-7 When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him. Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, “What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?”
8 Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”
9-10 Jesus said, “Today is salvation day in this home! Here he is: Zacchaeus, son of Abraham! For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.”
Insight
Luke 19 brings us to the threshold of Jesus’s last week of public life (19:28–23:56). In the preceding chapters, we saw rumors spread like fire as the miracle worker from Nazareth moved through the Jordan Valley on His way to Jerusalem. When a blind man called out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (18:38), the noise of wonder must have increased. But when Jesus invited Himself to the house of Zacchaeus (19:1–10), a prominent Jericho tax collector, tempers flared. Jewish citizens who collected taxes for Rome were regarded as traitors. This looked suspicious.
Only later would it be known that Zacchaeus responded to Jesus’s kindness by promising to give half of his wealth to the poor and to return to those he had cheated four times what he had taken from them. Jesus was giving His nation and us a richer understanding of salvation and what it means for sinners to be saved. By: Mart DeHaan
The Greatest Rescue Mission
The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10
On February 18, 1952, a massive storm split the SS Pendleton, a tanker ship, into two pieces about ten miles off the Massachusetts coast. More than forty sailors were trapped inside the ship’s sinking stern in the midst of fierce winds and violent waves.
When word of the disaster reached the Coast Guard station in Chatham, Massachusetts, Boatswain’s Mate First Class Bernie Webber took three men on a lifeboat to try to save the stranded crew against nearly impossible odds—and brought thirty-two of the seemingly doomed sailors to safety. Their courageous feat was deemed one of the greatest rescues in United States Coast Guard history and was the subject of the 2016 film The Finest Hours.
In Luke 19:10, Jesus declared His own rescue mission: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” The cross and the resurrection became the ultimate expression of that rescue, as Jesus took on Himself our sins and restored to the Father all who trust Him. For 2,000 years, people have embraced His offer of abundant life now and eternal life with Him. Rescued!
As followers of Jesus we have the privilege, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to join our Savior in the greatest rescue mission of all. Who in your life needs His rescuing love? By Bill Crowder
Today's Reflection
How have God’s rescuing ways affected you? What will help you effectively share His rescue plan with others?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Being an Example of His Message
Preach the word! —2 Timothy 4:2
We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message— “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.
There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is someone who has received the call of God and is determined to use all his energy to proclaim God’s truth. God takes us beyond our own aspirations and ideas for our lives, and molds and shapes us for His purpose, just as He worked in the disciples’ lives after Pentecost. The purpose of Pentecost was not to teach the disciples something, but to make them the incarnation of what they preached so that they would literally become God’s message in the flesh. “…you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8).
Allow God to have complete liberty in your life when you speak. Before God’s message can liberate other people, His liberation must first be real in you. Gather your material carefully, and then allow God to “set your words on fire” for His glory.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
The cross is the universal symbol of Christianity. An odd choice, don’t you think? Strange that a tool of torture would come to embody a movement of hope. Its design could not be simpler. One beam horizontal—the other vertical. One reaches out like God’s love. The other reaches up, as does God’s holiness. One represents the width of His love; the other the height of His holiness. The cross is the intersection. The cross is where God forgave His children without lowering His standards. God treated His Son as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God.
Why would He? John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world.” Aren’t you glad the verse doesn’t read: For God so loved the rich?. . .the famous? The sober or the successful? No, it simply reads: “For God so loved the world!”
From He Chose the Nails
Psalm 27
A David Psalm
27 Light, space, zest—
that’s God!
So, with him on my side I’m fearless,
afraid of no one and nothing.
2 When vandal hordes ride down
ready to eat me alive,
Those bullies and toughs
fall flat on their faces.
3 When besieged,
I’m calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
I’m collected and cool.
4 I’m asking God for one thing,
only one thing:
To live with him in his house
my whole life long.
I’ll contemplate his beauty;
I’ll study at his feet.
5 That’s the only quiet, secure place
in a noisy world,
The perfect getaway,
far from the buzz of traffic.
6 God holds me head and shoulders
above all who try to pull me down.
I’m headed for his place to offer anthems
that will raise the roof!
Already I’m singing God-songs;
I’m making music to God.
7-9 Listen, God, I’m calling at the top of my lungs:
“Be good to me! Answer me!”
When my heart whispered, “Seek God,”
my whole being replied,
“I’m seeking him!”
Don’t hide from me now!
9-10 You’ve always been right there for me;
don’t turn your back on me now.
Don’t throw me out, don’t abandon me;
you’ve always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me,
but God took me in.
11-12 Point me down your highway, God;
direct me along a well-lighted street;
show my enemies whose side you’re on.
Don’t throw me to the dogs,
those liars who are out to get me,
filling the air with their threats.
13-14 I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness
in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God!
Take heart. Don’t quit.
I’ll say it again:
Stay with God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Luke 19:1-10
Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way—he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by.
5-7 When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him. Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, “What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?”
8 Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”
9-10 Jesus said, “Today is salvation day in this home! Here he is: Zacchaeus, son of Abraham! For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.”
Insight
Luke 19 brings us to the threshold of Jesus’s last week of public life (19:28–23:56). In the preceding chapters, we saw rumors spread like fire as the miracle worker from Nazareth moved through the Jordan Valley on His way to Jerusalem. When a blind man called out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (18:38), the noise of wonder must have increased. But when Jesus invited Himself to the house of Zacchaeus (19:1–10), a prominent Jericho tax collector, tempers flared. Jewish citizens who collected taxes for Rome were regarded as traitors. This looked suspicious.
Only later would it be known that Zacchaeus responded to Jesus’s kindness by promising to give half of his wealth to the poor and to return to those he had cheated four times what he had taken from them. Jesus was giving His nation and us a richer understanding of salvation and what it means for sinners to be saved. By: Mart DeHaan
The Greatest Rescue Mission
The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10
On February 18, 1952, a massive storm split the SS Pendleton, a tanker ship, into two pieces about ten miles off the Massachusetts coast. More than forty sailors were trapped inside the ship’s sinking stern in the midst of fierce winds and violent waves.
When word of the disaster reached the Coast Guard station in Chatham, Massachusetts, Boatswain’s Mate First Class Bernie Webber took three men on a lifeboat to try to save the stranded crew against nearly impossible odds—and brought thirty-two of the seemingly doomed sailors to safety. Their courageous feat was deemed one of the greatest rescues in United States Coast Guard history and was the subject of the 2016 film The Finest Hours.
In Luke 19:10, Jesus declared His own rescue mission: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” The cross and the resurrection became the ultimate expression of that rescue, as Jesus took on Himself our sins and restored to the Father all who trust Him. For 2,000 years, people have embraced His offer of abundant life now and eternal life with Him. Rescued!
As followers of Jesus we have the privilege, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to join our Savior in the greatest rescue mission of all. Who in your life needs His rescuing love? By Bill Crowder
Today's Reflection
How have God’s rescuing ways affected you? What will help you effectively share His rescue plan with others?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Being an Example of His Message
Preach the word! —2 Timothy 4:2
We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message— “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.
There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is someone who has received the call of God and is determined to use all his energy to proclaim God’s truth. God takes us beyond our own aspirations and ideas for our lives, and molds and shapes us for His purpose, just as He worked in the disciples’ lives after Pentecost. The purpose of Pentecost was not to teach the disciples something, but to make them the incarnation of what they preached so that they would literally become God’s message in the flesh. “…you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8).
Allow God to have complete liberty in your life when you speak. Before God’s message can liberate other people, His liberation must first be real in you. Gather your material carefully, and then allow God to “set your words on fire” for His glory.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
Saturday, March 9, 2019
John 11:1-29, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: How Do you Say Lucado?
My last name has created some awkward moments. A woman said, “Max Lu-KAH-do—I’ve been wanting to meet you.” I let it go thinking that was the end of it. But then a man said to me, “My wife and I’ve been trying to figure out how you say your name. Is it Lu-KAY-doh or Lu-KAH-doh! I felt trapped…as I looked at my new friend who had been mispronouncing my name.
On an infinitely grander scale, God faces with humankind a similar issue I faced with the woman. How can He be both just and kind? How can He redeem the sinner without endorsing the sin? From our perspective there are only two equally unappealing solutions. From God’s perspective, however, there is a third. It’s called the Cross of Christ! And that is one phrase you want to say correctly!
From He Chose the Nails
John 11:1-29
A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. This was the same Mary who massaged the Lord’s feet with aromatic oils and then wiped them with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Master, the one you love so very much is sick.”
4 When Jesus got the message, he said, “This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show God’s glory by glorifying God’s Son.”
5-7 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days. After the two days, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8 They said, “Rabbi, you can’t do that. The Jews are out to kill you, and you’re going back?”
9-10 Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn’t stumble because there’s plenty of light from the sun. Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can’t see where he’s going.”
11 He said these things, and then announced, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I’m going to wake him up.”
12-13 The disciples said, “Master, if he’s gone to sleep, he’ll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine.” Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.
14-15 Then Jesus became explicit: “Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn’t there. You’re about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let’s go to him.”
16 That’s when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his companions, “Come along. We might as well die with him.”
17-20 When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.
21-22 Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.”
23 Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.”
24 Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.”
25-26 “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.”
28 After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”
29-32 The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him. Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary run off, they followed her, thinking she was on her way to the tomb to weep there. Mary came to where Jesus was waiting and fell at his feet, saying, “Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, March 09, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Deuteronomy 10:12-19
So now Israel, what do you think God expects from you? Just this: Live in his presence in holy reverence, follow the road he sets out for you, love him, serve God, your God, with everything you have in you, obey the commandments and regulations of God that I’m commanding you today—live a good life.
14-18 Look around you: Everything you see is God’s—the heavens above and beyond, the Earth, and everything on it. But it was your ancestors who God fell in love with; he picked their children—that’s you!—out of all the other peoples. That’s where we are right now. So cut away the thick calluses from your heart and stop being so willfully hardheaded. God, your God, is the God of all gods, he’s the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome. He doesn’t play favorites, takes no bribes, makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by seeing that they get food and clothing.
19-21 You must treat foreigners with the same loving care—
remember, you were once foreigners in Egypt.
Reverently respect God, your God, serve him, hold tight to him,
back up your promises with the authority of his name.
He’s your praise! He’s your God!
He did all these tremendous, these staggering things
that you saw with your own eyes.
Insight
The book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book in the Pentateuch, is attributed to Moses. This book is a series of three sermons (chs. 1–4; 5–26; 27–34) given to the Israelites shortly before Moses’s death and the conquest of the land under Joshua’s leadership. Among the themes in Deuteronomy is the call to obedience, as we see in Deuteronomy 10:12–19. God wants His people to love and obey Him (v. 12), and one way they can do this is to treat others (including foreigners) with kindness. Why? Because God Himself does so and because they too were once foreigners (vv. 18–19). We see this theme throughout the Pentateuch (Exodus 22:21; Leviticus 19:34; Deuteronomy 23:7). Like the Israelites, all God’s people are to follow His loving example. After all, before God adopted us as His sons and daughters, we were all foreigners (Ephesians 2:12–19). By: Alyson Kieda
Welcoming Strangers
You are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:19
When my friends lived in Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, they were overwhelmed by the warm welcome they received there, especially from other Christians. Once they took some clothes and provisions to a couple from their church who were very poor, yet who were fostering several children. The couple treated my friends like honored guests, giving them sweet tea and, despite their protests, something to eat. As my friends left with gifts of watermelons and other fruits and vegetables, they marveled at the hospitality they experienced.
These believers embody the welcome that God commanded His people, the Israelites, to exhibit. He instructed them “to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12). How could the Israelites live this out? The answer comes a few verses later: “You are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt” (v. 19). By welcoming strangers, they would be serving and honoring God; and in showing them love and care, they would demonstrate their trust in Him.
Our circumstances might differ from the Moldovans or the Israelites, but we too can live out our love for God through our welcome to others. Whether through opening our homes or smiling a greeting to those we meet, we can extend God’s care and hospitality in a lonely, hurting world. By Amy Boucher Pye
Today's Reflection
When you receive the gift of hospitality, how does that affect you? When you think about welcoming someone, does a specific person come to mind?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 09, 2019
Turning Back or Walking with Jesus?
Do you also want to go away? —John 6:67
What a penetrating question! Our Lord’s words often hit home for us when He speaks in the simplest way. In spite of the fact that we know who Jesus is, He asks, “Do you also want to go away?” We must continually maintain an adventurous attitude toward Him, despite any potential personal risk.
“From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66). They turned back from walking with Jesus; not into sin, but away from Him. Many people today are pouring their lives out and working for Jesus Christ, but are not really walking with Him. One thing God constantly requires of us is a oneness with Jesus Christ. After being set apart through sanctification, we should discipline our lives spiritually to maintain this intimate oneness. When God gives you a clear determination of His will for you, all your striving to maintain that relationship by some particular method is completely unnecessary. All that is required is to live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. Never try to live your life with God in any other way than His way. And His way means absolute devotion to Him. Showing no concern for the uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus.
Peter saw in Jesus only someone who could minister salvation to him and to the world. But our Lord wants us to be fellow laborers with Him.
In John 6:70 Jesus lovingly reminded Peter that he was chosen to go with Him. And each of us must answer this question for ourselves and no one else: “Do you also want to go away?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. Biblical Ethics, 111 L
My last name has created some awkward moments. A woman said, “Max Lu-KAH-do—I’ve been wanting to meet you.” I let it go thinking that was the end of it. But then a man said to me, “My wife and I’ve been trying to figure out how you say your name. Is it Lu-KAY-doh or Lu-KAH-doh! I felt trapped…as I looked at my new friend who had been mispronouncing my name.
On an infinitely grander scale, God faces with humankind a similar issue I faced with the woman. How can He be both just and kind? How can He redeem the sinner without endorsing the sin? From our perspective there are only two equally unappealing solutions. From God’s perspective, however, there is a third. It’s called the Cross of Christ! And that is one phrase you want to say correctly!
From He Chose the Nails
John 11:1-29
A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. This was the same Mary who massaged the Lord’s feet with aromatic oils and then wiped them with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Master, the one you love so very much is sick.”
4 When Jesus got the message, he said, “This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show God’s glory by glorifying God’s Son.”
5-7 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days. After the two days, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8 They said, “Rabbi, you can’t do that. The Jews are out to kill you, and you’re going back?”
9-10 Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn’t stumble because there’s plenty of light from the sun. Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can’t see where he’s going.”
11 He said these things, and then announced, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I’m going to wake him up.”
12-13 The disciples said, “Master, if he’s gone to sleep, he’ll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine.” Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.
14-15 Then Jesus became explicit: “Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn’t there. You’re about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let’s go to him.”
16 That’s when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his companions, “Come along. We might as well die with him.”
17-20 When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.
21-22 Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.”
23 Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.”
24 Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.”
25-26 “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.”
28 After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”
29-32 The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him. Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary run off, they followed her, thinking she was on her way to the tomb to weep there. Mary came to where Jesus was waiting and fell at his feet, saying, “Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, March 09, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Deuteronomy 10:12-19
So now Israel, what do you think God expects from you? Just this: Live in his presence in holy reverence, follow the road he sets out for you, love him, serve God, your God, with everything you have in you, obey the commandments and regulations of God that I’m commanding you today—live a good life.
14-18 Look around you: Everything you see is God’s—the heavens above and beyond, the Earth, and everything on it. But it was your ancestors who God fell in love with; he picked their children—that’s you!—out of all the other peoples. That’s where we are right now. So cut away the thick calluses from your heart and stop being so willfully hardheaded. God, your God, is the God of all gods, he’s the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome. He doesn’t play favorites, takes no bribes, makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by seeing that they get food and clothing.
19-21 You must treat foreigners with the same loving care—
remember, you were once foreigners in Egypt.
Reverently respect God, your God, serve him, hold tight to him,
back up your promises with the authority of his name.
He’s your praise! He’s your God!
He did all these tremendous, these staggering things
that you saw with your own eyes.
Insight
The book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book in the Pentateuch, is attributed to Moses. This book is a series of three sermons (chs. 1–4; 5–26; 27–34) given to the Israelites shortly before Moses’s death and the conquest of the land under Joshua’s leadership. Among the themes in Deuteronomy is the call to obedience, as we see in Deuteronomy 10:12–19. God wants His people to love and obey Him (v. 12), and one way they can do this is to treat others (including foreigners) with kindness. Why? Because God Himself does so and because they too were once foreigners (vv. 18–19). We see this theme throughout the Pentateuch (Exodus 22:21; Leviticus 19:34; Deuteronomy 23:7). Like the Israelites, all God’s people are to follow His loving example. After all, before God adopted us as His sons and daughters, we were all foreigners (Ephesians 2:12–19). By: Alyson Kieda
Welcoming Strangers
You are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:19
When my friends lived in Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, they were overwhelmed by the warm welcome they received there, especially from other Christians. Once they took some clothes and provisions to a couple from their church who were very poor, yet who were fostering several children. The couple treated my friends like honored guests, giving them sweet tea and, despite their protests, something to eat. As my friends left with gifts of watermelons and other fruits and vegetables, they marveled at the hospitality they experienced.
These believers embody the welcome that God commanded His people, the Israelites, to exhibit. He instructed them “to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12). How could the Israelites live this out? The answer comes a few verses later: “You are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt” (v. 19). By welcoming strangers, they would be serving and honoring God; and in showing them love and care, they would demonstrate their trust in Him.
Our circumstances might differ from the Moldovans or the Israelites, but we too can live out our love for God through our welcome to others. Whether through opening our homes or smiling a greeting to those we meet, we can extend God’s care and hospitality in a lonely, hurting world. By Amy Boucher Pye
Today's Reflection
When you receive the gift of hospitality, how does that affect you? When you think about welcoming someone, does a specific person come to mind?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 09, 2019
Turning Back or Walking with Jesus?
Do you also want to go away? —John 6:67
What a penetrating question! Our Lord’s words often hit home for us when He speaks in the simplest way. In spite of the fact that we know who Jesus is, He asks, “Do you also want to go away?” We must continually maintain an adventurous attitude toward Him, despite any potential personal risk.
“From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66). They turned back from walking with Jesus; not into sin, but away from Him. Many people today are pouring their lives out and working for Jesus Christ, but are not really walking with Him. One thing God constantly requires of us is a oneness with Jesus Christ. After being set apart through sanctification, we should discipline our lives spiritually to maintain this intimate oneness. When God gives you a clear determination of His will for you, all your striving to maintain that relationship by some particular method is completely unnecessary. All that is required is to live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. Never try to live your life with God in any other way than His way. And His way means absolute devotion to Him. Showing no concern for the uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus.
Peter saw in Jesus only someone who could minister salvation to him and to the world. But our Lord wants us to be fellow laborers with Him.
In John 6:70 Jesus lovingly reminded Peter that he was chosen to go with Him. And each of us must answer this question for ourselves and no one else: “Do you also want to go away?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. Biblical Ethics, 111 L
Friday, March 8, 2019
John 10:22-42, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GUARD YOUR ATTITUDE
The tenth chapter of Luke describes the step-by-step process of the sweet becoming sour. It’s the story of two sisters. Martha has things to do. Mary has thoughts to think.
Martha is having Jesus and friends over for dinner. She’s literally serving Jesus. But she makes a common, yet dangerous mistake. Her work becomes more important than her Lord. Martha’s heart sours with anxiety. And worry makes her forget who’s in charge, and she bosses God around.
Jesus points out that “only one thing is important. Mary has chosen it.” God is more pleased with the quiet attention of a sincere servant than the noisy service of a sour one. A bad attitude spoils the gift we leave on the altar for God. So guard your attitude.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
John 10:22-42
They were celebrating Hanukkah just then in Jerusalem. It was winter. Jesus was strolling in the Temple across Solomon’s Porch. The Jews, circling him, said, “How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you’re the Messiah, tell us straight out.”
25-30 Jesus answered, “I told you, but you don’t believe. Everything I have done has been authorized by my Father, actions that speak louder than words. You don’t believe because you’re not my sheep. My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from him. I and the Father are one heart and mind.”
31-32 Again the Jews picked up rocks to throw at him. Jesus said, “I have made a present to you from the Father of a great many good actions. For which of these acts do you stone me?”
33 The Jews said, “We’re not stoning you for anything good you did, but for what you said—this blasphemy of calling yourself God.”
34-38 Jesus said, “I’m only quoting your inspired Scriptures, where God said, ‘I tell you—you are gods.’ If God called your ancestors ‘gods’—and Scripture doesn’t lie—why do you yell, ‘Blasphemer! Blasphemer!’ at the unique One the Father consecrated and sent into the world, just because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I don’t do the things my Father does, well and good; don’t believe me. But if I am doing them, put aside for a moment what you hear me say about myself and just take the evidence of the actions that are right before your eyes. Then perhaps things will come together for you, and you’ll see that not only are we doing the same thing, we are the same—Father and Son. He is in me; I am in him.”
39-42 They tried yet again to arrest him, but he slipped through their fingers. He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and stayed there. A lot of people followed him over. They were saying, “John did no miracles, but everything he said about this man has come true.” Many believed in him then and there.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 08, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Isaiah 40:10-11
Climb a high mountain, Zion.
You’re the preacher of good news.
Raise your voice. Make it good and loud, Jerusalem.
You’re the preacher of good news.
Speak loud and clear. Don’t be timid!
Tell the cities of Judah,
“Look! Your God!”
Look at him! God, the Master, comes in power,
ready to go into action.
He is going to pay back his enemies
and reward those who have loved him.
Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock,
gathering the lambs in his arms,
Hugging them as he carries them,
leading the nursing ewes to good pasture.
Insight
The theme of shepherds and sheep is repeated in Isaiah’s prophecies. In Isaiah 40:11, Isaiah paints a picture of God Himself as the loving, caring Shepherd of Israel. In 38:12, the prophet quotes King Hezekiah referring to his own dwelling as a “shepherd’s tent”; and in 44:28, God surprisingly refers to the conquering King Cyrus as God’s own shepherd! Finally, in 63:11 the people reflect on God’s care for their ancestors in the wilderness and long for that care afresh. Isaiah captures four different speakers (himself, Hezekiah, God, the people) using the imagery of a shepherd in very different ways, no doubt because it was a word picture that would resonate with people living in an agricultural culture where sheep and shepherds were common sights. This imagery of shepherds and their care for their flocks reminded the people of their need for that same care from their God. By: Bill Crowder
Gentle Yet Powerful
Let your gentleness be evident to all. Philippians 4:5
As the enemy occupation of the Netherlands increased, Anne Frank and her family bravely prepared and then moved to a secret hiding place to escape the danger. They hid there two years during World War II before being found and sent to concentration camps. Yet Anne, writing in what became her famous Diary of a Young Girl, said this: “In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.”
Gentleness can be a complicated issue as we deal with real life.
In Isaiah 40 we get a picture of God that shows Him to be both gentle and powerful. In verse 11 we read: “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms.” But that verse follows this: “See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm” (v. 10). Full of power, but gentle when it comes to protecting the vulnerable.
And think of Jesus, who fashioned a whip and brandished it as He flipped over the money-changers tables in the temple but who also gently cared for children. He used powerful words to denounce the Pharisees (Matthew 23) but forgave a woman who needed His gentle mercy (John 8:1–11).
While there may be times to stand up with power for the weak and challenge others to pursue justice—we’re also to “let [our] gentleness be evident to all” (Philippians 4:5). As we serve God, sometimes our greatest strength reveals a heart of gentleness to those in need. By Dave Branon
Today's Reflection
How can you gently but firmly promote justice and mercy today? How does the Holy Spirit help us be both gentle and powerful?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 08, 2019
The Surrendered Life
I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20
To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all our claims of even being worthy of God’s consideration.
Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?
We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them.
If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 08, 2019
A Brand New You - #8390
We were on a business trip when my friend Rich found a site that advertised caverns and an Indian artifact museum. An Indian man, with his coal black hair pulled back and a face my friend described as "well-weathered," offered to take Rich on the museum tour which he thought would last about 15 minutes. Nearly two hours later, he had received an incredible history lesson on the Shawnee Nation. The guide said the Shawnee Nation is made up of many different Indian tribes and the Shawnees have "adopted" these people into their nation. And several times he pointed out that once the tribe allows this to happen, the adopted people or person can never speak of their former tribe or nation again!
Several times Rich's guide asked if he really understood that concept and my friend assured him that he did. Suddenly, the Shawnee man stepped back a few feet and he said, "You're a Christian, aren't you?" Rich gave him a wholehearted yes, and then he asked how he could tell. The Native American man's response: "Only a true Shawnee or a Christian can understand forsaking all past life and accepting a new life!" Later, these guys prayed together, and it was clear that this man who my friend described as "truly amazing" was both a Shawnee and a Christian.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Brand New You."
The Indian brother really understands what it means to become a part of Jesus' tribe far better than many of us who claim to be following Jesus. What he said is almost a paraphrase of exactly what God says in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning in verse 15.
"Christ died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves." Wait a minute! Stop and ask yourself, "Are you really living for yourself?" - "but to live for Him who died for them and was raised again...Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" And paralleling the Shawnee experience, the way we become "in Christ" is "to be adopted as God's sons through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:5). Adopted - not to have part of us in our old family, which is really the devil's family, and part of us in God's family. No, we're talking here about leaving one way of life for good and taking on a brand new you! Which may make some of the junk in your life right now a little hard to explain.
You can't really hold Jesus with one hand, and with your other hand you're holding some of the junk that killed Him. After all, in God's words, "He bore our sins in His own body on the tree so we might die to sins and live for righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24). Imagine how it must make Jesus feel to see you hanging onto sins that He died to get you out of!
It may be that you've missed the imperative Jesus gave us to "repent" when we come to Him. It would be easy to miss. I mean, nobody talks much about repenting these days. But it still matters just as much to Jesus. And your failure to really repent may explain your constant spiritual roller coaster, your recurring doubts about whether or not you really belong to Jesus. In Acts 3:19, the call is to "repent and turn to God, so your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord." Repenting of that sin isn't just saying, "I'm sorry." It's saying, "I'm not doing that stuff anymore!"
You've tried carrying your dual identity long enough; you're a half-hearted sinner and a half-hearted Christian. It's time to turn your back, once and for all, on that junk that has shackled you for so long. Tell Jesus right now, "Jesus, with Your power, I'm dropping this junk. I'm saying goodbye to the old me once and for all."
This might be the time you actually are pinning your hopes, for the first time, on Jesus completely, who died on the cross for those sins. This could be the beginning of really belonging to Him; having a real love relationship with Jesus.
You want to make sure of that? Our website is for that, and that's why we do it. I encourage you to go there today and check it out for yourself. It's called ANewStory.com appropriately. It might be the beginning of yours.
You know, Jesus died to get you out of the old darkness. And beginning today, this could be the beginning of a brand new you.
The tenth chapter of Luke describes the step-by-step process of the sweet becoming sour. It’s the story of two sisters. Martha has things to do. Mary has thoughts to think.
Martha is having Jesus and friends over for dinner. She’s literally serving Jesus. But she makes a common, yet dangerous mistake. Her work becomes more important than her Lord. Martha’s heart sours with anxiety. And worry makes her forget who’s in charge, and she bosses God around.
Jesus points out that “only one thing is important. Mary has chosen it.” God is more pleased with the quiet attention of a sincere servant than the noisy service of a sour one. A bad attitude spoils the gift we leave on the altar for God. So guard your attitude.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
John 10:22-42
They were celebrating Hanukkah just then in Jerusalem. It was winter. Jesus was strolling in the Temple across Solomon’s Porch. The Jews, circling him, said, “How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you’re the Messiah, tell us straight out.”
25-30 Jesus answered, “I told you, but you don’t believe. Everything I have done has been authorized by my Father, actions that speak louder than words. You don’t believe because you’re not my sheep. My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from him. I and the Father are one heart and mind.”
31-32 Again the Jews picked up rocks to throw at him. Jesus said, “I have made a present to you from the Father of a great many good actions. For which of these acts do you stone me?”
33 The Jews said, “We’re not stoning you for anything good you did, but for what you said—this blasphemy of calling yourself God.”
34-38 Jesus said, “I’m only quoting your inspired Scriptures, where God said, ‘I tell you—you are gods.’ If God called your ancestors ‘gods’—and Scripture doesn’t lie—why do you yell, ‘Blasphemer! Blasphemer!’ at the unique One the Father consecrated and sent into the world, just because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I don’t do the things my Father does, well and good; don’t believe me. But if I am doing them, put aside for a moment what you hear me say about myself and just take the evidence of the actions that are right before your eyes. Then perhaps things will come together for you, and you’ll see that not only are we doing the same thing, we are the same—Father and Son. He is in me; I am in him.”
39-42 They tried yet again to arrest him, but he slipped through their fingers. He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and stayed there. A lot of people followed him over. They were saying, “John did no miracles, but everything he said about this man has come true.” Many believed in him then and there.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 08, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Isaiah 40:10-11
Climb a high mountain, Zion.
You’re the preacher of good news.
Raise your voice. Make it good and loud, Jerusalem.
You’re the preacher of good news.
Speak loud and clear. Don’t be timid!
Tell the cities of Judah,
“Look! Your God!”
Look at him! God, the Master, comes in power,
ready to go into action.
He is going to pay back his enemies
and reward those who have loved him.
Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock,
gathering the lambs in his arms,
Hugging them as he carries them,
leading the nursing ewes to good pasture.
Insight
The theme of shepherds and sheep is repeated in Isaiah’s prophecies. In Isaiah 40:11, Isaiah paints a picture of God Himself as the loving, caring Shepherd of Israel. In 38:12, the prophet quotes King Hezekiah referring to his own dwelling as a “shepherd’s tent”; and in 44:28, God surprisingly refers to the conquering King Cyrus as God’s own shepherd! Finally, in 63:11 the people reflect on God’s care for their ancestors in the wilderness and long for that care afresh. Isaiah captures four different speakers (himself, Hezekiah, God, the people) using the imagery of a shepherd in very different ways, no doubt because it was a word picture that would resonate with people living in an agricultural culture where sheep and shepherds were common sights. This imagery of shepherds and their care for their flocks reminded the people of their need for that same care from their God. By: Bill Crowder
Gentle Yet Powerful
Let your gentleness be evident to all. Philippians 4:5
As the enemy occupation of the Netherlands increased, Anne Frank and her family bravely prepared and then moved to a secret hiding place to escape the danger. They hid there two years during World War II before being found and sent to concentration camps. Yet Anne, writing in what became her famous Diary of a Young Girl, said this: “In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.”
Gentleness can be a complicated issue as we deal with real life.
In Isaiah 40 we get a picture of God that shows Him to be both gentle and powerful. In verse 11 we read: “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms.” But that verse follows this: “See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm” (v. 10). Full of power, but gentle when it comes to protecting the vulnerable.
And think of Jesus, who fashioned a whip and brandished it as He flipped over the money-changers tables in the temple but who also gently cared for children. He used powerful words to denounce the Pharisees (Matthew 23) but forgave a woman who needed His gentle mercy (John 8:1–11).
While there may be times to stand up with power for the weak and challenge others to pursue justice—we’re also to “let [our] gentleness be evident to all” (Philippians 4:5). As we serve God, sometimes our greatest strength reveals a heart of gentleness to those in need. By Dave Branon
Today's Reflection
How can you gently but firmly promote justice and mercy today? How does the Holy Spirit help us be both gentle and powerful?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 08, 2019
The Surrendered Life
I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20
To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all our claims of even being worthy of God’s consideration.
Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?
We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them.
If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 08, 2019
A Brand New You - #8390
We were on a business trip when my friend Rich found a site that advertised caverns and an Indian artifact museum. An Indian man, with his coal black hair pulled back and a face my friend described as "well-weathered," offered to take Rich on the museum tour which he thought would last about 15 minutes. Nearly two hours later, he had received an incredible history lesson on the Shawnee Nation. The guide said the Shawnee Nation is made up of many different Indian tribes and the Shawnees have "adopted" these people into their nation. And several times he pointed out that once the tribe allows this to happen, the adopted people or person can never speak of their former tribe or nation again!
Several times Rich's guide asked if he really understood that concept and my friend assured him that he did. Suddenly, the Shawnee man stepped back a few feet and he said, "You're a Christian, aren't you?" Rich gave him a wholehearted yes, and then he asked how he could tell. The Native American man's response: "Only a true Shawnee or a Christian can understand forsaking all past life and accepting a new life!" Later, these guys prayed together, and it was clear that this man who my friend described as "truly amazing" was both a Shawnee and a Christian.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Brand New You."
The Indian brother really understands what it means to become a part of Jesus' tribe far better than many of us who claim to be following Jesus. What he said is almost a paraphrase of exactly what God says in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning in verse 15.
"Christ died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves." Wait a minute! Stop and ask yourself, "Are you really living for yourself?" - "but to live for Him who died for them and was raised again...Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" And paralleling the Shawnee experience, the way we become "in Christ" is "to be adopted as God's sons through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:5). Adopted - not to have part of us in our old family, which is really the devil's family, and part of us in God's family. No, we're talking here about leaving one way of life for good and taking on a brand new you! Which may make some of the junk in your life right now a little hard to explain.
You can't really hold Jesus with one hand, and with your other hand you're holding some of the junk that killed Him. After all, in God's words, "He bore our sins in His own body on the tree so we might die to sins and live for righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24). Imagine how it must make Jesus feel to see you hanging onto sins that He died to get you out of!
It may be that you've missed the imperative Jesus gave us to "repent" when we come to Him. It would be easy to miss. I mean, nobody talks much about repenting these days. But it still matters just as much to Jesus. And your failure to really repent may explain your constant spiritual roller coaster, your recurring doubts about whether or not you really belong to Jesus. In Acts 3:19, the call is to "repent and turn to God, so your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord." Repenting of that sin isn't just saying, "I'm sorry." It's saying, "I'm not doing that stuff anymore!"
You've tried carrying your dual identity long enough; you're a half-hearted sinner and a half-hearted Christian. It's time to turn your back, once and for all, on that junk that has shackled you for so long. Tell Jesus right now, "Jesus, with Your power, I'm dropping this junk. I'm saying goodbye to the old me once and for all."
This might be the time you actually are pinning your hopes, for the first time, on Jesus completely, who died on the cross for those sins. This could be the beginning of really belonging to Him; having a real love relationship with Jesus.
You want to make sure of that? Our website is for that, and that's why we do it. I encourage you to go there today and check it out for yourself. It's called ANewStory.com appropriately. It might be the beginning of yours.
You know, Jesus died to get you out of the old darkness. And beginning today, this could be the beginning of a brand new you.
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Psalm 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THREE IMPORTANT WORDS: DON’T GIVE UP!
Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, had a task to do—Jesus’ body had to be prepared for burial.
Matthew 28:2 says, “At that time there was a strong earthquake. An angel of the Lord came down from heaven, went to the tomb, and rolled the stone away from the entrance.” Did the angel roll away the rock for Jesus? Did God have to have help? I don’t think so. Then the angel says to the women, “Come and see the place where his body was.” The stone was moved—not so Jesus could come out, but so the women could see in!
Just when the road was too dark for Mary Magdalene and Mary, the angel glowed and the Savior showed, and they were forever changed. The lesson? Three words: Don’t give up! God still sends angels and He still moves stones.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
Psalm 26
A David Psalm
26 Clear my name, God;
I’ve kept an honest shop.
I’ve thrown in my lot with you, God, and
I’m not budging.
2 Examine me, God, from head to foot,
order your battery of tests.
Make sure I’m fit
inside and out
3 So I never lose
sight of your love,
But keep in step with you,
never missing a beat.
4-5 I don’t hang out with tricksters,
I don’t pal around with thugs;
I hate that pack of gangsters,
I don’t deal with double-dealers.
6-7 I scrub my hands with purest soap,
then join hands with the others in the great circle,
dancing around your altar, God,
Singing God-songs at the top of my lungs,
telling God-stories.
8-10 God, I love living with you;
your house glows with your glory.
When it’s time for spring cleaning,
don’t sweep me out with the quacks and crooks,
Men with bags of dirty tricks,
women with purses stuffed with bribe-money.
11-12 You know I’ve been aboveboard with you;
now be aboveboard with me.
I’m on the level with you, God;
I bless you every chance I get.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 07, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: 1 Kings 19:9-13
He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep.
Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”
10 “I’ve been working my heart out for the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,” said Elijah. “The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”
11-12 Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”
A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.
13-14 When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, “So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?” Elijah said it again, “I’ve been working my heart out for God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, because the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed your places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”
Insight
Elijah’s meeting with the Lord on “Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:8) was not the first time the Lord met with one of His servants in that place. Centuries earlier the Lord had met Moses there. “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1). At Horeb the Lord revealed Himself to Moses and commissioned him to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt (vv. 2–12). The mountain we mostly associate Moses with is Mount Sinai (19:18–20). But passages like Deuteronomy 4:10 help us to see that Horeb and Sinai are used synonymously and interchangeably in Scripture. Two of the Lord’s chosen servants met Him on that mountain and departed to do His will in His strength. By: Arthur Jackson
Escaping the Noise
After the fire came a gentle whisper. 1 Kings 19:12
Several years ago, the president of a college suggested that students join her in “powering down” for an evening. Although the students agreed, it was with great reluctance that they laid aside their cell phones and entered the chapel. For the next hour, they sat quietly in a service of music and prayer. Afterward, one participant described the experience as “a wonderful opportunity to calm down . . . a place to just tune out all of the extra noise.”
Sometimes, it’s difficult to escape “extra noise.” The clamor of both our external and internal worlds can be deafening. But when we’re willing to “power down,” we begin to understand the psalmist’s reminder of the necessity to be still so we can know God (Psalm 46:10). In 1 Kings 19, we discover as well that when the prophet Elijah looked for the Lord, he didn’t find Him in the pandemonium of the wind or the earthquake or the fire (vv. 9–13). Instead, Elijah heard God’s gentle whisper (v. 12).
Extra noise is practically guaranteed during celebrations. When families and friends come together, it’s likely a time of animated conversations, excess food, boisterous laughter, and sweet expressions of love. But when we quietly open our hearts, we find that time with God is even sweeter. Like Elijah, we’re more likely to encounter God in the stillness. And sometimes, if we listen, we too will hear that gentle whisper. By Cindy Hess Kasper
Today's Reflection
What will help you draw close to God in silence and solitude? How can you regularly “power down” both your devices and your busy mind?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 07, 2019
The Source of Abundant Joy
In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. —Romans 8:37
Paul was speaking here of the things that might seem likely to separate a saint from the love of God. But the remarkable thing is that nothing can come between the love of God and a saint. The things Paul mentioned in this passage can and do disrupt the close fellowship of our soul with God and separate our natural life from Him. But none of them is able to come between the love of God and the soul of a saint on the spiritual level. The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. Paul said this is the reason that “in all these things we are more than conquerors.” We are super-victors with a joy that comes from experiencing the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us.
Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let’s apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against— tribulation, suffering, and persecution— are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. “We are more than conquerors through Him” “in all these things”; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 7:4).
The undiminished radiance, which is the result of abundant joy, is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can change. And the experiences of life, whether they are everyday events or terrifying ones, are powerless to “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 07, 2019
How to Improve Your Man - #8389
Now here's a memory for your summer vacation scrapbook. You got kissed by a dolphin. No thank you. But it happens to people at SeaWorld. At least when I was there they were doing it. You know, it's that park where you can see the fish and the seals, etc. doing these amazing tricks. Those dolphins are really something. I watched them jump through hoops (I wish you could get your kids to do that), they'll dance on their tails, and did I mention jumping out of the water and kissing tourists? Yeah. But if you want to understand why they do all this neat stuff, you have to watch what they do after each trick. They swim around the pool and straight for the guy with the bag. You know what's in that bag. Fish! Yummy fish! If you want a dolphin to do something, give him a fish and he'll do it again! Men are a lot like that.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Improve Your Man."
I really do think my half of the human race has a lot in common with those dolphins. If you give us a fish when we do something good, we'll want to jump through that hoop again.
Some women seem to believe that the best way to get their man to improve is to nag him into it, to shame him into it, or to criticize him into doing it. The Bible describes two kinds of women in Proverbs 14:1: "The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." There are some things that a woman does that build the people she cares about, and there are others that tear them down.
Now there's no question every man needs a lot of work. We know that. But if you approach your husband like your personal home improvement project, like "I've got to fix this guy!" you'll probably keep him from changing. Is it stubbornness? Ego? Deafness? I'm not sure, but I do know that when a man is pushed, he tends to go the other way, not come your way.
Part of love is what I call "mirroring" - holding up a mirror to the person you love and letting them know what you see when you look at them. We tend to be a lot better at mirroring the things we don't like than some of the good things about that person. But it's in affirming the good that we give a person the courage and the encouragement to work on the rest.
Proverbs 31 contains God's description of a woman who's got it right. And, after all, He invented man and woman! In Proverbs 31, beginning with verse 10, our word for today from the Word of God, He says, "A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and he lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life." This woman continues to bring value and confidence and good into her husband's life. And it pays off. It says, "Her husband is respected at the city gate. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, he praises her."
I guess if you want to improve your man, bring him good, bring him value. Tell him what's good about him. Praise him when he does something right, even if it's just a tiny improvement. Give him a fish if you want him to do it some more. Or, as my wife has often said, "Water what you want to grow."
When you consistently have a ministry of encouragement and affirmation in your man's life, he feels safe. And, look, we're insecure. We're not going to risk changing unless we're in a place where we feel safe. If he feels safe and valued by you, he's a lot more likely to listen when you need to tell him something that's hard to hear. He'll know you love him and he'll know that you want him to be the best man he can possibly be.
Billy Graham's wife, Ruth, had a wonderful outlook on this. She said, "It's my job to love Billy. It's God's job to change him!" Well, that says it better than I ever could.
Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, had a task to do—Jesus’ body had to be prepared for burial.
Matthew 28:2 says, “At that time there was a strong earthquake. An angel of the Lord came down from heaven, went to the tomb, and rolled the stone away from the entrance.” Did the angel roll away the rock for Jesus? Did God have to have help? I don’t think so. Then the angel says to the women, “Come and see the place where his body was.” The stone was moved—not so Jesus could come out, but so the women could see in!
Just when the road was too dark for Mary Magdalene and Mary, the angel glowed and the Savior showed, and they were forever changed. The lesson? Three words: Don’t give up! God still sends angels and He still moves stones.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
Psalm 26
A David Psalm
26 Clear my name, God;
I’ve kept an honest shop.
I’ve thrown in my lot with you, God, and
I’m not budging.
2 Examine me, God, from head to foot,
order your battery of tests.
Make sure I’m fit
inside and out
3 So I never lose
sight of your love,
But keep in step with you,
never missing a beat.
4-5 I don’t hang out with tricksters,
I don’t pal around with thugs;
I hate that pack of gangsters,
I don’t deal with double-dealers.
6-7 I scrub my hands with purest soap,
then join hands with the others in the great circle,
dancing around your altar, God,
Singing God-songs at the top of my lungs,
telling God-stories.
8-10 God, I love living with you;
your house glows with your glory.
When it’s time for spring cleaning,
don’t sweep me out with the quacks and crooks,
Men with bags of dirty tricks,
women with purses stuffed with bribe-money.
11-12 You know I’ve been aboveboard with you;
now be aboveboard with me.
I’m on the level with you, God;
I bless you every chance I get.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 07, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: 1 Kings 19:9-13
He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep.
Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”
10 “I’ve been working my heart out for the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,” said Elijah. “The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”
11-12 Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”
A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.
13-14 When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, “So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?” Elijah said it again, “I’ve been working my heart out for God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, because the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed your places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”
Insight
Elijah’s meeting with the Lord on “Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:8) was not the first time the Lord met with one of His servants in that place. Centuries earlier the Lord had met Moses there. “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1). At Horeb the Lord revealed Himself to Moses and commissioned him to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt (vv. 2–12). The mountain we mostly associate Moses with is Mount Sinai (19:18–20). But passages like Deuteronomy 4:10 help us to see that Horeb and Sinai are used synonymously and interchangeably in Scripture. Two of the Lord’s chosen servants met Him on that mountain and departed to do His will in His strength. By: Arthur Jackson
Escaping the Noise
After the fire came a gentle whisper. 1 Kings 19:12
Several years ago, the president of a college suggested that students join her in “powering down” for an evening. Although the students agreed, it was with great reluctance that they laid aside their cell phones and entered the chapel. For the next hour, they sat quietly in a service of music and prayer. Afterward, one participant described the experience as “a wonderful opportunity to calm down . . . a place to just tune out all of the extra noise.”
Sometimes, it’s difficult to escape “extra noise.” The clamor of both our external and internal worlds can be deafening. But when we’re willing to “power down,” we begin to understand the psalmist’s reminder of the necessity to be still so we can know God (Psalm 46:10). In 1 Kings 19, we discover as well that when the prophet Elijah looked for the Lord, he didn’t find Him in the pandemonium of the wind or the earthquake or the fire (vv. 9–13). Instead, Elijah heard God’s gentle whisper (v. 12).
Extra noise is practically guaranteed during celebrations. When families and friends come together, it’s likely a time of animated conversations, excess food, boisterous laughter, and sweet expressions of love. But when we quietly open our hearts, we find that time with God is even sweeter. Like Elijah, we’re more likely to encounter God in the stillness. And sometimes, if we listen, we too will hear that gentle whisper. By Cindy Hess Kasper
Today's Reflection
What will help you draw close to God in silence and solitude? How can you regularly “power down” both your devices and your busy mind?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 07, 2019
The Source of Abundant Joy
In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. —Romans 8:37
Paul was speaking here of the things that might seem likely to separate a saint from the love of God. But the remarkable thing is that nothing can come between the love of God and a saint. The things Paul mentioned in this passage can and do disrupt the close fellowship of our soul with God and separate our natural life from Him. But none of them is able to come between the love of God and the soul of a saint on the spiritual level. The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. Paul said this is the reason that “in all these things we are more than conquerors.” We are super-victors with a joy that comes from experiencing the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us.
Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let’s apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against— tribulation, suffering, and persecution— are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. “We are more than conquerors through Him” “in all these things”; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 7:4).
The undiminished radiance, which is the result of abundant joy, is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can change. And the experiences of life, whether they are everyday events or terrifying ones, are powerless to “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 07, 2019
How to Improve Your Man - #8389
Now here's a memory for your summer vacation scrapbook. You got kissed by a dolphin. No thank you. But it happens to people at SeaWorld. At least when I was there they were doing it. You know, it's that park where you can see the fish and the seals, etc. doing these amazing tricks. Those dolphins are really something. I watched them jump through hoops (I wish you could get your kids to do that), they'll dance on their tails, and did I mention jumping out of the water and kissing tourists? Yeah. But if you want to understand why they do all this neat stuff, you have to watch what they do after each trick. They swim around the pool and straight for the guy with the bag. You know what's in that bag. Fish! Yummy fish! If you want a dolphin to do something, give him a fish and he'll do it again! Men are a lot like that.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Improve Your Man."
I really do think my half of the human race has a lot in common with those dolphins. If you give us a fish when we do something good, we'll want to jump through that hoop again.
Some women seem to believe that the best way to get their man to improve is to nag him into it, to shame him into it, or to criticize him into doing it. The Bible describes two kinds of women in Proverbs 14:1: "The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." There are some things that a woman does that build the people she cares about, and there are others that tear them down.
Now there's no question every man needs a lot of work. We know that. But if you approach your husband like your personal home improvement project, like "I've got to fix this guy!" you'll probably keep him from changing. Is it stubbornness? Ego? Deafness? I'm not sure, but I do know that when a man is pushed, he tends to go the other way, not come your way.
Part of love is what I call "mirroring" - holding up a mirror to the person you love and letting them know what you see when you look at them. We tend to be a lot better at mirroring the things we don't like than some of the good things about that person. But it's in affirming the good that we give a person the courage and the encouragement to work on the rest.
Proverbs 31 contains God's description of a woman who's got it right. And, after all, He invented man and woman! In Proverbs 31, beginning with verse 10, our word for today from the Word of God, He says, "A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and he lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life." This woman continues to bring value and confidence and good into her husband's life. And it pays off. It says, "Her husband is respected at the city gate. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, he praises her."
I guess if you want to improve your man, bring him good, bring him value. Tell him what's good about him. Praise him when he does something right, even if it's just a tiny improvement. Give him a fish if you want him to do it some more. Or, as my wife has often said, "Water what you want to grow."
When you consistently have a ministry of encouragement and affirmation in your man's life, he feels safe. And, look, we're insecure. We're not going to risk changing unless we're in a place where we feel safe. If he feels safe and valued by you, he's a lot more likely to listen when you need to tell him something that's hard to hear. He'll know you love him and he'll know that you want him to be the best man he can possibly be.
Billy Graham's wife, Ruth, had a wonderful outlook on this. She said, "It's my job to love Billy. It's God's job to change him!" Well, that says it better than I ever could.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Psalm 25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: DEALING WITH DIFFICULT RELATIVES
Odds are, you probably have a difficult relative—someone you can’t talk to and can’t walk away from. Did you know Jesus had a difficult family? In fact, they were embarrassed by him. Mark 3:21 tells us, “His family went to get him because they thought he was out of his mind.”
Notice that Jesus didn’t try to control his family’s behavior, nor did he let their behavior control his. As long as you think you can control people’s behavior toward you, you are held in bondage by their opinions.
Let God give you what your family doesn’t. We know that God affirmed Jesus as “my Son, whom I love, and I am very pleased with him.” Jesus gave his relatives space, time, and grace. And because he did, they changed. One brother became an apostle, and others became missionaries. So don’t lose heart. God still changes families.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
Psalm 25
A David Psalm
25 1-2 My head is high, God, held high;
I’m looking to you, God;
No hangdog skulking for me.
3 I’ve thrown in my lot with you;
You won’t embarrass me, will you?
Or let my enemies get the best of me?
Don’t embarrass any of us
Who went out on a limb for you.
It’s the traitors who should be humiliated.
4 Show me how you work, God;
School me in your ways.
5 Take me by the hand;
Lead me down the path of truth.
You are my Savior, aren’t you?
6 Mark the milestones of your mercy and love, God;
Rebuild the ancient landmarks!
7 Forget that I sowed wild oats;
Mark me with your sign of love.
Plan only the best for me, God!
8 God is fair and just;
He corrects the misdirected,
Sends them in the right direction.
9 He gives the rejects his hand,
And leads them step-by-step.
10 From now on every road you travel
Will take you to God.
Follow the Covenant signs;
Read the charted directions.
11 Keep up your reputation, God;
Forgive my bad life;
It’s been a very bad life.
12 My question: What are God-worshipers like?
Your answer: Arrows aimed at God’s bull’s-eye.
13 They settle down in a promising place;
Their kids inherit a prosperous farm.
14 God-friendship is for God-worshipers;
They are the ones he confides in.
15 If I keep my eyes on God,
I won’t trip over my own feet.
16 Look at me and help me!
I’m all alone and in big trouble.
17 My heart and kidneys are fighting each other;
Call a truce to this civil war.
18 Take a hard look at my life of hard labor,
Then lift this ton of sin.
19 Do you see how many people
Have it in for me?
How viciously they hate me?
20 Keep watch over me and keep me out of trouble;
Don’t let me down when I run to you.
21 Use all your skill to put me together;
I wait to see your finished product.
22 God, give your people a break
From this run of bad luck
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 06, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Mark 10:17-31
As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”
18-19 Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”
20 He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”
21 Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”
22 The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.
23-25 Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: “You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.”
26 That set the disciples back on their heels. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked.
27 Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”
28 Peter tried another angle: “We left everything and followed you.”
29-31 Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land—whatever—because of me and the Message will lose out. They’ll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life! This is once again the Great Reversal: Many who are first will end up last, and the last first.”
Insight
The Old Testament law contains no commandment to sell all our possessions, yet Jesus told the rich young man to do exactly that. Why? Would that save him? No! Jesus uncovered the man’s true love—wealth. The law is powerless to change our hearts; it can only condemn us. Jesus fulfilled the law, accomplishing what we cannot (Mark 10:27). By: Tim Gustafson
Return on Investment
We have left everything to follow you! Mark 10:28
In 1995 US stock market investors received record-high returns—on average, a whopping 37.6 percent return on their dollars. Then in 2008 investors lost almost exactly as much: a negative 37.0 percent. The years between had varying returns, causing those with money in the market to wonder—sometimes with fear—what would become of their investment.
Jesus assured His followers they would have an incredible return on investing their lives in Him. They “left everything to follow [Him]”—leaving their homes, jobs, status, and families to put their lives on deposit (v. 28). But they grew concerned that their investment might not pay off after watching a wealthy man struggle with the grip worldly goods had on him. Jesus replied, however, that anyone willing to sacrifice for Him would “receive a hundred times as much in this present age . . . and in the age to come eternal life” (v. 30). That’s a far better outcome than any stock market could ever match.
We don’t have to be concerned about the “interest rate” on our spiritual investment—with God, it’s an unmatched certainty. With money, our aim is to maximize the financial gain from our investment. With God, what we get back isn’t measured in dollars and cents, but in the joy that comes from knowing Him now and forever—and sharing that joy with others! By Kirsten Holmberg
Today's Reflection
What can you “invest” in God today—including your time, talents, or treasure? How have you experienced joy in your relationship with Jesus?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 06, 2019
Taking the Next Step
…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses. —2 Corinthians 6:4
When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life, and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty to Him. It takes much more of the grace of God, and a much greater awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to preach the gospel.
Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by bringing the next step down into flesh-and-blood reality and by working it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ inJohn 13:1-17.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. Biblical Ethics, 111 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 06, 2019
Running Out of Ammo - #8388
For many years, it was an inspiring book. Then it became a hit Broadway musical. Then it's been made into a movie several times. The story is Victor Hugo's classic, Lés Misérables. One of the many dramas in the book portrays the efforts of this group of valiant young men and women to fight to free their fellow Frenchmen from a tyrannical government. They make their stand against a massive French army at a makeshift wall they have constructed. They call it the "barricade of freedom." They fight bravely, but their cause is threatened by a major problem that develops. They begin to run out of ammunition. Well, this one little boy realizes that their fight for freedom can only continue if they can find more ammunition. So, he risks his own life to crawl across the battle zone, picking up bullets from wounded and dying French soldiers. Because you can't win the battle when you're running out of bullets.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Running Out of Ammo."
Right now, there's an ammunition shortage in the most decisive battle of all - that would be the battle for human souls, the battle for human lives. It began at the cross where Jesus died to make eternal life possible. It moved out across the planet at Jesus' command and in the power of His resurrection, and it continues this very day in cities and towns across this country and in every country of the world. It is a fight to liberate people Jesus died for from the penalty and the power of their sin, from an unspeakable eternity, and from Satan's chains.
But on so many fronts in the battle, Jesus' forces are running out of bullets. In many places God's soldiers are beating back the enemy, taking prisoners from the enemy and pushing back the darkness. But they're running short of bullets. The money just isn't there to keep pressing the battle.
All those letters and appeals you get asking for money for ministry - they're about a lot more than money. For ministries that are really making a difference, it's all about ammunition to keep fighting the battle for lives. But something's gone wrong. It can't be that God isn't giving the money to people through whom He wants to meet these needs. It must be that some of us are sitting on the ammunition instead of sending it to the front lines. And when we lose one of these battles, it's lives we lose - maybe forever.
Our word for today from the Word of God lays out how the supply line for God's army is supposed to work. And thinking of the economic battles and struggles and sometimes the downturns of our time, it seems particularly relevant to go back to those Macedonian believers that Paul cited as an example for all of us. Here's what Paul says, "Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity...they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability" (2 Corinthians 8:2-3).
It was sacrificial giving so the believers in Jerusalem would have the ammunition they needed to fight their battles. Why? It goes on to say, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that through His poverty we might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus impoverished Himself to make us rich, and He's the Son of God. So, how can we hang onto what He's given us so we can stay in our comfort zone? The battle for a lost and dying world is every believer's battle, not just the battle for a few spiritual daredevils who take all the risks, exercise all the faith, and make all the sacrifices.
For those who are fighting on the front lines, it's our responsibility to make every bullet count, to stay on mission, to always take the high road of integrity, and put our faith in Jehovah Jireh, not in our contributors. And for every one of us, we need to hear the cries from the front lines, "We're winning, but we're running out of ammunition!" Listen, while there time, let's throw everything we can into this battle for which Jesus gave everything He had!
Odds are, you probably have a difficult relative—someone you can’t talk to and can’t walk away from. Did you know Jesus had a difficult family? In fact, they were embarrassed by him. Mark 3:21 tells us, “His family went to get him because they thought he was out of his mind.”
Notice that Jesus didn’t try to control his family’s behavior, nor did he let their behavior control his. As long as you think you can control people’s behavior toward you, you are held in bondage by their opinions.
Let God give you what your family doesn’t. We know that God affirmed Jesus as “my Son, whom I love, and I am very pleased with him.” Jesus gave his relatives space, time, and grace. And because he did, they changed. One brother became an apostle, and others became missionaries. So don’t lose heart. God still changes families.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
Psalm 25
A David Psalm
25 1-2 My head is high, God, held high;
I’m looking to you, God;
No hangdog skulking for me.
3 I’ve thrown in my lot with you;
You won’t embarrass me, will you?
Or let my enemies get the best of me?
Don’t embarrass any of us
Who went out on a limb for you.
It’s the traitors who should be humiliated.
4 Show me how you work, God;
School me in your ways.
5 Take me by the hand;
Lead me down the path of truth.
You are my Savior, aren’t you?
6 Mark the milestones of your mercy and love, God;
Rebuild the ancient landmarks!
7 Forget that I sowed wild oats;
Mark me with your sign of love.
Plan only the best for me, God!
8 God is fair and just;
He corrects the misdirected,
Sends them in the right direction.
9 He gives the rejects his hand,
And leads them step-by-step.
10 From now on every road you travel
Will take you to God.
Follow the Covenant signs;
Read the charted directions.
11 Keep up your reputation, God;
Forgive my bad life;
It’s been a very bad life.
12 My question: What are God-worshipers like?
Your answer: Arrows aimed at God’s bull’s-eye.
13 They settle down in a promising place;
Their kids inherit a prosperous farm.
14 God-friendship is for God-worshipers;
They are the ones he confides in.
15 If I keep my eyes on God,
I won’t trip over my own feet.
16 Look at me and help me!
I’m all alone and in big trouble.
17 My heart and kidneys are fighting each other;
Call a truce to this civil war.
18 Take a hard look at my life of hard labor,
Then lift this ton of sin.
19 Do you see how many people
Have it in for me?
How viciously they hate me?
20 Keep watch over me and keep me out of trouble;
Don’t let me down when I run to you.
21 Use all your skill to put me together;
I wait to see your finished product.
22 God, give your people a break
From this run of bad luck
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 06, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Mark 10:17-31
As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”
18-19 Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”
20 He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”
21 Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”
22 The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.
23-25 Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: “You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.”
26 That set the disciples back on their heels. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked.
27 Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”
28 Peter tried another angle: “We left everything and followed you.”
29-31 Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land—whatever—because of me and the Message will lose out. They’ll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life! This is once again the Great Reversal: Many who are first will end up last, and the last first.”
Insight
The Old Testament law contains no commandment to sell all our possessions, yet Jesus told the rich young man to do exactly that. Why? Would that save him? No! Jesus uncovered the man’s true love—wealth. The law is powerless to change our hearts; it can only condemn us. Jesus fulfilled the law, accomplishing what we cannot (Mark 10:27). By: Tim Gustafson
Return on Investment
We have left everything to follow you! Mark 10:28
In 1995 US stock market investors received record-high returns—on average, a whopping 37.6 percent return on their dollars. Then in 2008 investors lost almost exactly as much: a negative 37.0 percent. The years between had varying returns, causing those with money in the market to wonder—sometimes with fear—what would become of their investment.
Jesus assured His followers they would have an incredible return on investing their lives in Him. They “left everything to follow [Him]”—leaving their homes, jobs, status, and families to put their lives on deposit (v. 28). But they grew concerned that their investment might not pay off after watching a wealthy man struggle with the grip worldly goods had on him. Jesus replied, however, that anyone willing to sacrifice for Him would “receive a hundred times as much in this present age . . . and in the age to come eternal life” (v. 30). That’s a far better outcome than any stock market could ever match.
We don’t have to be concerned about the “interest rate” on our spiritual investment—with God, it’s an unmatched certainty. With money, our aim is to maximize the financial gain from our investment. With God, what we get back isn’t measured in dollars and cents, but in the joy that comes from knowing Him now and forever—and sharing that joy with others! By Kirsten Holmberg
Today's Reflection
What can you “invest” in God today—including your time, talents, or treasure? How have you experienced joy in your relationship with Jesus?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 06, 2019
Taking the Next Step
…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses. —2 Corinthians 6:4
When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life, and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty to Him. It takes much more of the grace of God, and a much greater awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to preach the gospel.
Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by bringing the next step down into flesh-and-blood reality and by working it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ inJohn 13:1-17.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. Biblical Ethics, 111 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 06, 2019
Running Out of Ammo - #8388
For many years, it was an inspiring book. Then it became a hit Broadway musical. Then it's been made into a movie several times. The story is Victor Hugo's classic, Lés Misérables. One of the many dramas in the book portrays the efforts of this group of valiant young men and women to fight to free their fellow Frenchmen from a tyrannical government. They make their stand against a massive French army at a makeshift wall they have constructed. They call it the "barricade of freedom." They fight bravely, but their cause is threatened by a major problem that develops. They begin to run out of ammunition. Well, this one little boy realizes that their fight for freedom can only continue if they can find more ammunition. So, he risks his own life to crawl across the battle zone, picking up bullets from wounded and dying French soldiers. Because you can't win the battle when you're running out of bullets.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Running Out of Ammo."
Right now, there's an ammunition shortage in the most decisive battle of all - that would be the battle for human souls, the battle for human lives. It began at the cross where Jesus died to make eternal life possible. It moved out across the planet at Jesus' command and in the power of His resurrection, and it continues this very day in cities and towns across this country and in every country of the world. It is a fight to liberate people Jesus died for from the penalty and the power of their sin, from an unspeakable eternity, and from Satan's chains.
But on so many fronts in the battle, Jesus' forces are running out of bullets. In many places God's soldiers are beating back the enemy, taking prisoners from the enemy and pushing back the darkness. But they're running short of bullets. The money just isn't there to keep pressing the battle.
All those letters and appeals you get asking for money for ministry - they're about a lot more than money. For ministries that are really making a difference, it's all about ammunition to keep fighting the battle for lives. But something's gone wrong. It can't be that God isn't giving the money to people through whom He wants to meet these needs. It must be that some of us are sitting on the ammunition instead of sending it to the front lines. And when we lose one of these battles, it's lives we lose - maybe forever.
Our word for today from the Word of God lays out how the supply line for God's army is supposed to work. And thinking of the economic battles and struggles and sometimes the downturns of our time, it seems particularly relevant to go back to those Macedonian believers that Paul cited as an example for all of us. Here's what Paul says, "Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity...they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability" (2 Corinthians 8:2-3).
It was sacrificial giving so the believers in Jerusalem would have the ammunition they needed to fight their battles. Why? It goes on to say, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that through His poverty we might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus impoverished Himself to make us rich, and He's the Son of God. So, how can we hang onto what He's given us so we can stay in our comfort zone? The battle for a lost and dying world is every believer's battle, not just the battle for a few spiritual daredevils who take all the risks, exercise all the faith, and make all the sacrifices.
For those who are fighting on the front lines, it's our responsibility to make every bullet count, to stay on mission, to always take the high road of integrity, and put our faith in Jehovah Jireh, not in our contributors. And for every one of us, we need to hear the cries from the front lines, "We're winning, but we're running out of ammunition!" Listen, while there time, let's throw everything we can into this battle for which Jesus gave everything He had!
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Psalm 24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: DON’T MISS THE PARTY
Perhaps the best-known of Jesus’ parables is found in the fifteenth chapter of Luke—the story of the lost son. It’s also the case of the elder brother. While his brother sowed wild oats, he stayed home and sowed the crops. But when the rebellious son returned, the father threw a party! And the elder son sat outside and pouted.
Bitterness is its own prison. You can choose to chain yourself to your hurt. Or you put away your hurts and go to the party. How does God deal with your bitter heart? He reminds you that you still have your relationship with God. No one can take that. We are wise if we rise above our hurts. For if we do, we’ll be present at the Father’s final celebration. A party where no pouters will be present.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
Psalm 24
A David Psalm
24 1-2 God claims Earth and everything in it,
God claims World and all who live on it.
He built it on Ocean foundations,
laid it out on River girders.
3-4 Who can climb Mount God?
Who can scale the holy north-face?
Only the clean-handed,
only the pure-hearted;
Men who won’t cheat,
women who won’t seduce.
5-6 God is at their side;
with God’s help they make it.
This, Jacob, is what happens
to God-seekers, God-questers.
7 Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
King-Glory is ready to enter.
8 Who is this King-Glory?
God, armed
and battle-ready.
9 Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
King-Glory is ready to enter.
10 Who is this King-Glory?
God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
he is King-Glory.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Acts 1:15-26
During this time, Peter stood up in the company—there were about 120 of them in the room at the time—and said, “Friends, long ago the Holy Spirit spoke through David regarding Judas, who became the guide to those who arrested Jesus. That Scripture had to be fulfilled, and now has been. Judas was one of us and had his assigned place in this ministry.
18-20 “As you know, he took the evil bribe money and bought a small farm. There he came to a bad end, rupturing his belly and spilling his guts. Everybody in Jerusalem knows this by now; they call the place Murder Meadow. It’s exactly what we find written in the Psalms:
Let his farm become haunted
So no one can ever live there.
“And also what was written later:
Let someone else take over his post.
21-22 “Judas must now be replaced. The replacement must come from the company of men who stayed together with us from the time Jesus was baptized by John up to the day of his ascension, designated along with us as a witness to his resurrection.”
23-26 They nominated two: Joseph Barsabbas, nicknamed Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, O God, know every one of us inside and out. Make plain which of these two men you choose to take the place in this ministry and leadership that Judas threw away in order to go his own way.” They then drew straws. Matthias won and was counted in with the eleven apostles.
Insight
In Acts 1:15–26, Matthias is selected to replace Judas’s position in the Twelve—symbolically pointing to God’s restoration of His people into a “new Israel” ( Luke 22:30). Although the Psalms alluded to (69:25 and 109:8) originally referred to David’s enemies, Peter saw a deeper meaning—the ultimate betrayal by Judas. Still, Peter’s own betrayal and restoration couldn’t have been far from his mind. Matthias’s name (“gift of God”) points to grace even deeper than the gravest sin. By: Monica Brands
When You’re Not Chosen
Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias. Acts 1:26
My friend’s Facebook post announced he had finished a project. Others congratulated him, but his post knifed my heart. That project was supposed to be mine. I had been passed over, and I wasn’t sure why.
Poor Joseph. He was passed over by God, and he knew why. Joseph was one of two men in the running to replace Judas. The disciples prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen” (Acts 1:24). God chose the other guy. Then He announced His decision to the group, when “the lot fell to Matthias” (v. 26).
As the disciples congratulated Matthias, I wonder about Joseph. How did he handle his rejection? Did he feel jilted, wallow in self-pity, and distance himself from the others? Or did he trust God and cheerfully remain in a supportive role?
I know which option is best. And I know which option I’d want to take. How embarrassing! If you don’t want me, fine. Let’s see how you do without me. That choice might feel better, but only because it’s selfish.
Joseph isn’t mentioned again in Scripture, so we don’t know how he reacted. More relevant is how we respond when we’re not chosen. May we remember that Jesus’s kingdom matters more than our success, and may we joyfully serve in whatever role He selects. By Mike Wittmer
Today's Reflection
How do you feel when you’re not chosen or are left out? How could your attitude be hindering you from seeing God’s direction for your life?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
Is He Really My Lord?
…so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus… —Acts 20:24
Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific purpose for which I was created and born again, not from successfully doing something of my own choosing. The joy our Lord experienced came from doing what the Father sent Him to do. And He says to us, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). Have you received a ministry from the Lord? If so, you must be faithful to it— to consider your life valuable only for the purpose of fulfilling that ministry. Knowing that you have done what Jesus sent you to do, think how satisfying it will be to hear Him say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). We each have to find a niche in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive a ministry from the Lord. To do this we must have close fellowship with Jesus and must know Him as more than our personal Savior. And we must be willing to experience the full impact of Acts 9:16 — “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
“Do you love Me?” Then, “Feed My sheep” (John 21:17). He is not offering us a choice of how we can serve Him; He is asking for absolute loyalty to His commission, a faithfulness to what we discern when we are in the closest possible fellowship with God. If you have received a ministry from the Lord Jesus, you will know that the need is not the same as the call— the need is the opportunity to exercise the call. The call is to be faithful to the ministry you received when you were in true fellowship with Him. This does not imply that there is a whole series of differing ministries marked out for you. It does mean that you must be sensitive to what God has called you to do, and this may sometimes require ignoring demands for service in other areas.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
The High Price of a Little Ice - #8387
Some years ago, during a trip to Alaska to reach young Native Alaskans, I spent a lot of time in those little missionary aircraft. It's the only way to get to villages that are like 400 miles from the nearest road! One day when the weather wasn't much fun, our pilot asked me to keep an eye on the wing on my side. He said, "Let me know if you see any icing." Of course, I hear icing, I think of a birthday cake, right? But a pilot hears icing, and he thinks danger in the air. Amazingly, a little ice on the wings can add just enough weight to endanger the whole plane. It interrupts the airflow somehow that keeps the plane airborne, and the plane will start losing altitude. So that day over Alaska, I really kept my eyes open for ice!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The High Price of a Little Ice."
Now, it doesn't take much ice on the wings to cause an airplane to start losing altitude. It doesn't take much ice in your soul to cause you to start losing altitude - to start going down spiritually.
Our word for today from the Word of God addresses some of the attitudes and the reactions that start an ice buildup in your heart. Let's begin in Ephesians 4:26. Paul says, "In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry."
A little anger accumulating in your heart; hard feelings that aren't immediately confronted and resolved. Hey, how dangerous can that be? About as dangerous to your relationship with God and with that other person as a little ice on an airplane's wings. Listen to what God says about it. "And do not give the devil a foothold." Woah! Unresolved anger, even for a day, literally gives the devil a wide open door to bring you down!
Then God tells us to take radical action against other destructive feelings. "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice." In other words, God says get rid of it! Attack it - the resentment you've allowed to build up inside you, the jealousy, the unforgiveness, the anger.
God knows you can't remove the ice in your soul without replacing it with something warm. So He tells you to treat the people who have angered or aggravated or hurt you exactly the opposite of the way you feel like treating them. He says, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you."
See, those last few words are the key, and they basically do in any excuse I've got. You make a conscious decision to remove the walls and treat that person, not as they've treated you, but as Jesus has treated you. And how was that? Undeserved grace. Undeserved forgiveness.
Until you reach out to God for the grace to forgive that person, to treat them with compassion, kindness, and gentleness - you'll keep going down. And ultimately the weight of that ice in your soul will make you crash in your relationship with God and in your relationships with other people who weren't even involved in what hurt you in the first place.
Be as vigilant about that ice in your soul as a pilot is about ice on the wings. And do not let it build up for even a day! If you do, it can ultimately bring down a relationship, a marriage, a family, a church, a ministry. It will bring down your walk with God, and that's a very high price to pay for a little ice!
Perhaps the best-known of Jesus’ parables is found in the fifteenth chapter of Luke—the story of the lost son. It’s also the case of the elder brother. While his brother sowed wild oats, he stayed home and sowed the crops. But when the rebellious son returned, the father threw a party! And the elder son sat outside and pouted.
Bitterness is its own prison. You can choose to chain yourself to your hurt. Or you put away your hurts and go to the party. How does God deal with your bitter heart? He reminds you that you still have your relationship with God. No one can take that. We are wise if we rise above our hurts. For if we do, we’ll be present at the Father’s final celebration. A party where no pouters will be present.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
Psalm 24
A David Psalm
24 1-2 God claims Earth and everything in it,
God claims World and all who live on it.
He built it on Ocean foundations,
laid it out on River girders.
3-4 Who can climb Mount God?
Who can scale the holy north-face?
Only the clean-handed,
only the pure-hearted;
Men who won’t cheat,
women who won’t seduce.
5-6 God is at their side;
with God’s help they make it.
This, Jacob, is what happens
to God-seekers, God-questers.
7 Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
King-Glory is ready to enter.
8 Who is this King-Glory?
God, armed
and battle-ready.
9 Wake up, you sleepyhead city!
Wake up, you sleepyhead people!
King-Glory is ready to enter.
10 Who is this King-Glory?
God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
he is King-Glory.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Acts 1:15-26
During this time, Peter stood up in the company—there were about 120 of them in the room at the time—and said, “Friends, long ago the Holy Spirit spoke through David regarding Judas, who became the guide to those who arrested Jesus. That Scripture had to be fulfilled, and now has been. Judas was one of us and had his assigned place in this ministry.
18-20 “As you know, he took the evil bribe money and bought a small farm. There he came to a bad end, rupturing his belly and spilling his guts. Everybody in Jerusalem knows this by now; they call the place Murder Meadow. It’s exactly what we find written in the Psalms:
Let his farm become haunted
So no one can ever live there.
“And also what was written later:
Let someone else take over his post.
21-22 “Judas must now be replaced. The replacement must come from the company of men who stayed together with us from the time Jesus was baptized by John up to the day of his ascension, designated along with us as a witness to his resurrection.”
23-26 They nominated two: Joseph Barsabbas, nicknamed Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, O God, know every one of us inside and out. Make plain which of these two men you choose to take the place in this ministry and leadership that Judas threw away in order to go his own way.” They then drew straws. Matthias won and was counted in with the eleven apostles.
Insight
In Acts 1:15–26, Matthias is selected to replace Judas’s position in the Twelve—symbolically pointing to God’s restoration of His people into a “new Israel” ( Luke 22:30). Although the Psalms alluded to (69:25 and 109:8) originally referred to David’s enemies, Peter saw a deeper meaning—the ultimate betrayal by Judas. Still, Peter’s own betrayal and restoration couldn’t have been far from his mind. Matthias’s name (“gift of God”) points to grace even deeper than the gravest sin. By: Monica Brands
When You’re Not Chosen
Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias. Acts 1:26
My friend’s Facebook post announced he had finished a project. Others congratulated him, but his post knifed my heart. That project was supposed to be mine. I had been passed over, and I wasn’t sure why.
Poor Joseph. He was passed over by God, and he knew why. Joseph was one of two men in the running to replace Judas. The disciples prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen” (Acts 1:24). God chose the other guy. Then He announced His decision to the group, when “the lot fell to Matthias” (v. 26).
As the disciples congratulated Matthias, I wonder about Joseph. How did he handle his rejection? Did he feel jilted, wallow in self-pity, and distance himself from the others? Or did he trust God and cheerfully remain in a supportive role?
I know which option is best. And I know which option I’d want to take. How embarrassing! If you don’t want me, fine. Let’s see how you do without me. That choice might feel better, but only because it’s selfish.
Joseph isn’t mentioned again in Scripture, so we don’t know how he reacted. More relevant is how we respond when we’re not chosen. May we remember that Jesus’s kingdom matters more than our success, and may we joyfully serve in whatever role He selects. By Mike Wittmer
Today's Reflection
How do you feel when you’re not chosen or are left out? How could your attitude be hindering you from seeing God’s direction for your life?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
Is He Really My Lord?
…so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus… —Acts 20:24
Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific purpose for which I was created and born again, not from successfully doing something of my own choosing. The joy our Lord experienced came from doing what the Father sent Him to do. And He says to us, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). Have you received a ministry from the Lord? If so, you must be faithful to it— to consider your life valuable only for the purpose of fulfilling that ministry. Knowing that you have done what Jesus sent you to do, think how satisfying it will be to hear Him say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). We each have to find a niche in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive a ministry from the Lord. To do this we must have close fellowship with Jesus and must know Him as more than our personal Savior. And we must be willing to experience the full impact of Acts 9:16 — “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
“Do you love Me?” Then, “Feed My sheep” (John 21:17). He is not offering us a choice of how we can serve Him; He is asking for absolute loyalty to His commission, a faithfulness to what we discern when we are in the closest possible fellowship with God. If you have received a ministry from the Lord Jesus, you will know that the need is not the same as the call— the need is the opportunity to exercise the call. The call is to be faithful to the ministry you received when you were in true fellowship with Him. This does not imply that there is a whole series of differing ministries marked out for you. It does mean that you must be sensitive to what God has called you to do, and this may sometimes require ignoring demands for service in other areas.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
The High Price of a Little Ice - #8387
Some years ago, during a trip to Alaska to reach young Native Alaskans, I spent a lot of time in those little missionary aircraft. It's the only way to get to villages that are like 400 miles from the nearest road! One day when the weather wasn't much fun, our pilot asked me to keep an eye on the wing on my side. He said, "Let me know if you see any icing." Of course, I hear icing, I think of a birthday cake, right? But a pilot hears icing, and he thinks danger in the air. Amazingly, a little ice on the wings can add just enough weight to endanger the whole plane. It interrupts the airflow somehow that keeps the plane airborne, and the plane will start losing altitude. So that day over Alaska, I really kept my eyes open for ice!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The High Price of a Little Ice."
Now, it doesn't take much ice on the wings to cause an airplane to start losing altitude. It doesn't take much ice in your soul to cause you to start losing altitude - to start going down spiritually.
Our word for today from the Word of God addresses some of the attitudes and the reactions that start an ice buildup in your heart. Let's begin in Ephesians 4:26. Paul says, "In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry."
A little anger accumulating in your heart; hard feelings that aren't immediately confronted and resolved. Hey, how dangerous can that be? About as dangerous to your relationship with God and with that other person as a little ice on an airplane's wings. Listen to what God says about it. "And do not give the devil a foothold." Woah! Unresolved anger, even for a day, literally gives the devil a wide open door to bring you down!
Then God tells us to take radical action against other destructive feelings. "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice." In other words, God says get rid of it! Attack it - the resentment you've allowed to build up inside you, the jealousy, the unforgiveness, the anger.
God knows you can't remove the ice in your soul without replacing it with something warm. So He tells you to treat the people who have angered or aggravated or hurt you exactly the opposite of the way you feel like treating them. He says, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you."
See, those last few words are the key, and they basically do in any excuse I've got. You make a conscious decision to remove the walls and treat that person, not as they've treated you, but as Jesus has treated you. And how was that? Undeserved grace. Undeserved forgiveness.
Until you reach out to God for the grace to forgive that person, to treat them with compassion, kindness, and gentleness - you'll keep going down. And ultimately the weight of that ice in your soul will make you crash in your relationship with God and in your relationships with other people who weren't even involved in what hurt you in the first place.
Be as vigilant about that ice in your soul as a pilot is about ice on the wings. And do not let it build up for even a day! If you do, it can ultimately bring down a relationship, a marriage, a family, a church, a ministry. It will bring down your walk with God, and that's a very high price to pay for a little ice!
Monday, March 4, 2019
John 10:1-21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: JESUS MESSAGE IS NOT GUILTY!
Whether private or public, shame is always painful. And unless you deal with it, it is permanent. The eighth chapter of John tells us about a woman caught in the act of adultery. It was really a trap to snag Jesus. The woman was only the bait in the Pharisees’ game. Jesus responded by writing in the sand and saying, “Anyone here who has never sinned can throw the first stone at her.” Finally, Jesus and the woman are left alone and he said to her, “I also don’t judge you guilty.”
If you’ve ever wondered how God reacts when you fail, read these words and let them wash over your soul. Jesus left a message—not in the sand, but on a cross. Not with his hand, but with his blood. His message has two words– Not guilty.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
John 10:1-21
“Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”
6-10 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
11-13 “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him.
14-18 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.”
19-21 This kind of talk caused another split in the Jewish ranks. A lot of them were saying, “He’s crazy, a maniac—out of his head completely. Why bother listening to him?” But others weren’t so sure: “These aren’t the words of a crazy man. Can a ‘maniac’ open blind eyes?”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 04, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Matthew 14:13-21
When Jesus got the news, he slipped away by boat to an out-of-the-way place by himself. But unsuccessfully—someone saw him and the word got around. Soon a lot of people from the nearby villages walked around the lake to where he was. When he saw them coming, he was overcome with pity and healed their sick.
15 Toward evening the disciples approached him. “We’re out in the country and it’s getting late. Dismiss the people so they can go to the villages and get some supper.”
16 But Jesus said, “There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper.”
17 “All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish,” they said.
18-21 Jesus said, “Bring them here.” Then he had the people sit on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples then gave the food to the congregation. They all ate their fill. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand were fed.
Insight
A set of three events illustrates the fast-paced, powerful nature of Jesus’s ministry and the emotional roller coaster it must have been for the disciples. First is the recounting of John the Baptist’s death, culminating with John’s disciples reporting his death to Jesus (Matthew 14:1–12). This is followed by the miraculous feeding of 5,000 men, plus women and children (vv. 13–21). After this miracle, Jesus sends the disciples away by boat (vv. 22–33), joining them later that night by walking to them on the stormy Galilee. This appearance prompts His men to worship Him as “the Son of God” (v. 33). By: Bill Crowder
Right There with Us
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. Matthew 14:17
She was completely focused on the top shelf, where the glass jars of spaghetti sauce sat. I’d been standing beside her in the grocery aisle for a minute or two eyeing that same shelf, trying to decide. But she seemed oblivious to my presence, lost in her own predicament. Now I have no problem with top shelves because I’m a fairly tall man. She, on the other hand, was not tall, not at all. I spoke up and offered to help. Startled, she said, “Goodness, I didn’t even see you standing there. Yes, please help me.”
The disciples had quite the situation on their hands—hungry crowds, a remote place, and time slipping away—“It’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food” (Matthew 14:15). When challenged by Jesus to take care of the people themselves, they responded, “We have here only . . .” (v. 17). All they seemed to be aware of was their lack. Yet standing right beside them was Jesus, not just the multiplier of bread but the Bread of Life Himself.
We can get so wrapped up in our challenges and trying to figure them out for ourselves with our often-limited perspective that we miss the abiding presence of the risen Christ. From remote hillsides to grocery store aisles and everywhere else in between, He’s Immanuel—God right there with us, an ever-present help in trouble. By John Blase
Today's Reflection
How can you increase your awareness of Jesus’s presence? Why is it vital for us to gain His perspective in what we’re facing?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 04, 2019
Is This True of Me?
None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself… —Acts 20:24
It is easier to serve or work for God without a vision and without a call, because then you are not bothered by what He requires. Common sense, covered with a layer of Christian emotion, becomes your guide. You may be more prosperous and successful from the world’s perspective, and will have more leisure time, if you never acknowledge the call of God. But once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God asks of you will always be there to prod you on to do His will. You will no longer be able to work for Him on the basis of common sense.
What do I count in my life as “dear to myself”? If I have not been seized by Jesus Christ and have not surrendered myself to Him, I will consider the time I decide to give God and my own ideas of service as dear. I will also consider my own life as “dear to myself.” But Paul said he considered his life dear so that he might fulfill the ministry he had received, and he refused to use his energy on anything else. This verse shows an almost noble annoyance by Paul at being asked to consider himself. He was absolutely indifferent to any consideration other than that of fulfilling the ministry he had received. Our ordinary and reasonable service to God may actually compete against our total surrender to Him. Our reasonable work is based on the following argument which we say to ourselves, “Remember how useful you are here, and think how much value you would be in that particular type of work.” That attitude chooses our own judgment, instead of Jesus Christ, to be our guide as to where we should go and where we could be used the most. Never consider whether or not you are of use— but always consider that “you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are His.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly. Disciples Indeed, 393 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 04, 2019
Stranded On This Side of the Rainbow - #8386
So what was the greatest song of the Twentieth Century? That was the question they asked on a major survey that was taken early in the twenty-first century. And the winner: Judy Garland's signature song from The Wizard of Oz believe it or not "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Let me sing that for you...no, I won't - blessed are the merciful. The tragedy is that Judy Garland herself could never seem to get there. She was an international star at the age of 17 and she remains one of the towering entertainers of the last century. But tragically, her search for health and happiness led her down a road of drug addiction, disappointing relationships, psychiatric hospitals, and a physical collapse. She died of a drug overdose in a London hotel. It's just painfully ironic, huh? The voice that tried to take us "over the rainbow" could never make it there herself.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Stranded On This Side Of the Rainbow."
"The rainbow" means something a little different to all of us, but it ultimately represents the fulfillment, the worth, the love that we all want to have to fill us up inside. But Judy Garland's inability to ever get what her heart craved is not an isolated exception. You know that. In a sense, maybe you feel stranded on this side of the rainbow.
It isn't for lack of trying. It's just that every achievement has left you feeling hollow afterwards. Every relationship's left you still feeling unexplainably lonely. Every great experience, even spiritual experiences, has left you strangely unsatisfied. In a sense, you've been searching for as long as you can remember, but so far never really finding. The "rainbow" is still beyond your reach. It always will be until you belong to the person who gave you your life in the first place. Every other "rainbow" in our life is a terribly inadequate substitute for a love relationship with the God of the universe.
In our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus is talking to a woman who's been looking for the end of her search in relationships with men. You can fill in the blank and you can put in there whatever your "rainbow" has been. Jesus has run into this woman at a well where they were both looking for water, and in John 4:13-14, He says, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again." Just a minute here, that's the problem with every "rainbow," every "well" that we've thought would do it for us. We end up like "thirsty again."
Then Jesus goes on to say, "But whoever drinks the water I give Him, it will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life." Jesus is offering to her and to you a spring inside that will never leave you thirsty again, a relationship with Him that will literally give you life here and life forever in heaven. We've cut ourselves off from our source because we've stubbornly lived our way instead of His way. And there would be no hope of belonging to the One we were made for, except that Jesus died on that cross to absorb the death penalty that you and I deserve for hijacking our life from God.
And He's coming to you today to offer you the relationship with Him that will end your search once and for all. He's reaching out to you, but you have to reach back. You have to like grab His hand as your only hope of being forgiven - your only hope of going to heaven. Would you like to belong to this Jesus, who loves you like no one loves you, who has power to walk out of His grave under His own power? Who's got power like that to give? You want to belong to Him from this day on, tell Him that right now where you are, "Jesus, beginning right now I'm yours. I'm pinning all my hopes on you."
Look, you're going to want more information, and it's available right there at our website - ANewStory.com. I want to urge you to go there as soon as you can today. Can you remember that? ANewStory.com. There I think you will find out how you can be sure before this day is over you belong to Jesus Christ.
If you're tired of seeking and you're ready to find, then make this your Jesus-day. He's everything your heart has always looked for and never found...until today.
Whether private or public, shame is always painful. And unless you deal with it, it is permanent. The eighth chapter of John tells us about a woman caught in the act of adultery. It was really a trap to snag Jesus. The woman was only the bait in the Pharisees’ game. Jesus responded by writing in the sand and saying, “Anyone here who has never sinned can throw the first stone at her.” Finally, Jesus and the woman are left alone and he said to her, “I also don’t judge you guilty.”
If you’ve ever wondered how God reacts when you fail, read these words and let them wash over your soul. Jesus left a message—not in the sand, but on a cross. Not with his hand, but with his blood. His message has two words– Not guilty.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
John 10:1-21
“Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”
6-10 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
11-13 “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him.
14-18 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.”
19-21 This kind of talk caused another split in the Jewish ranks. A lot of them were saying, “He’s crazy, a maniac—out of his head completely. Why bother listening to him?” But others weren’t so sure: “These aren’t the words of a crazy man. Can a ‘maniac’ open blind eyes?”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 04, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: Matthew 14:13-21
When Jesus got the news, he slipped away by boat to an out-of-the-way place by himself. But unsuccessfully—someone saw him and the word got around. Soon a lot of people from the nearby villages walked around the lake to where he was. When he saw them coming, he was overcome with pity and healed their sick.
15 Toward evening the disciples approached him. “We’re out in the country and it’s getting late. Dismiss the people so they can go to the villages and get some supper.”
16 But Jesus said, “There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper.”
17 “All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish,” they said.
18-21 Jesus said, “Bring them here.” Then he had the people sit on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples then gave the food to the congregation. They all ate their fill. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand were fed.
Insight
A set of three events illustrates the fast-paced, powerful nature of Jesus’s ministry and the emotional roller coaster it must have been for the disciples. First is the recounting of John the Baptist’s death, culminating with John’s disciples reporting his death to Jesus (Matthew 14:1–12). This is followed by the miraculous feeding of 5,000 men, plus women and children (vv. 13–21). After this miracle, Jesus sends the disciples away by boat (vv. 22–33), joining them later that night by walking to them on the stormy Galilee. This appearance prompts His men to worship Him as “the Son of God” (v. 33). By: Bill Crowder
Right There with Us
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. Matthew 14:17
She was completely focused on the top shelf, where the glass jars of spaghetti sauce sat. I’d been standing beside her in the grocery aisle for a minute or two eyeing that same shelf, trying to decide. But she seemed oblivious to my presence, lost in her own predicament. Now I have no problem with top shelves because I’m a fairly tall man. She, on the other hand, was not tall, not at all. I spoke up and offered to help. Startled, she said, “Goodness, I didn’t even see you standing there. Yes, please help me.”
The disciples had quite the situation on their hands—hungry crowds, a remote place, and time slipping away—“It’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food” (Matthew 14:15). When challenged by Jesus to take care of the people themselves, they responded, “We have here only . . .” (v. 17). All they seemed to be aware of was their lack. Yet standing right beside them was Jesus, not just the multiplier of bread but the Bread of Life Himself.
We can get so wrapped up in our challenges and trying to figure them out for ourselves with our often-limited perspective that we miss the abiding presence of the risen Christ. From remote hillsides to grocery store aisles and everywhere else in between, He’s Immanuel—God right there with us, an ever-present help in trouble. By John Blase
Today's Reflection
How can you increase your awareness of Jesus’s presence? Why is it vital for us to gain His perspective in what we’re facing?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 04, 2019
Is This True of Me?
None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself… —Acts 20:24
It is easier to serve or work for God without a vision and without a call, because then you are not bothered by what He requires. Common sense, covered with a layer of Christian emotion, becomes your guide. You may be more prosperous and successful from the world’s perspective, and will have more leisure time, if you never acknowledge the call of God. But once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God asks of you will always be there to prod you on to do His will. You will no longer be able to work for Him on the basis of common sense.
What do I count in my life as “dear to myself”? If I have not been seized by Jesus Christ and have not surrendered myself to Him, I will consider the time I decide to give God and my own ideas of service as dear. I will also consider my own life as “dear to myself.” But Paul said he considered his life dear so that he might fulfill the ministry he had received, and he refused to use his energy on anything else. This verse shows an almost noble annoyance by Paul at being asked to consider himself. He was absolutely indifferent to any consideration other than that of fulfilling the ministry he had received. Our ordinary and reasonable service to God may actually compete against our total surrender to Him. Our reasonable work is based on the following argument which we say to ourselves, “Remember how useful you are here, and think how much value you would be in that particular type of work.” That attitude chooses our own judgment, instead of Jesus Christ, to be our guide as to where we should go and where we could be used the most. Never consider whether or not you are of use— but always consider that “you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are His.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly. Disciples Indeed, 393 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 04, 2019
Stranded On This Side of the Rainbow - #8386
So what was the greatest song of the Twentieth Century? That was the question they asked on a major survey that was taken early in the twenty-first century. And the winner: Judy Garland's signature song from The Wizard of Oz believe it or not "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Let me sing that for you...no, I won't - blessed are the merciful. The tragedy is that Judy Garland herself could never seem to get there. She was an international star at the age of 17 and she remains one of the towering entertainers of the last century. But tragically, her search for health and happiness led her down a road of drug addiction, disappointing relationships, psychiatric hospitals, and a physical collapse. She died of a drug overdose in a London hotel. It's just painfully ironic, huh? The voice that tried to take us "over the rainbow" could never make it there herself.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Stranded On This Side Of the Rainbow."
"The rainbow" means something a little different to all of us, but it ultimately represents the fulfillment, the worth, the love that we all want to have to fill us up inside. But Judy Garland's inability to ever get what her heart craved is not an isolated exception. You know that. In a sense, maybe you feel stranded on this side of the rainbow.
It isn't for lack of trying. It's just that every achievement has left you feeling hollow afterwards. Every relationship's left you still feeling unexplainably lonely. Every great experience, even spiritual experiences, has left you strangely unsatisfied. In a sense, you've been searching for as long as you can remember, but so far never really finding. The "rainbow" is still beyond your reach. It always will be until you belong to the person who gave you your life in the first place. Every other "rainbow" in our life is a terribly inadequate substitute for a love relationship with the God of the universe.
In our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus is talking to a woman who's been looking for the end of her search in relationships with men. You can fill in the blank and you can put in there whatever your "rainbow" has been. Jesus has run into this woman at a well where they were both looking for water, and in John 4:13-14, He says, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again." Just a minute here, that's the problem with every "rainbow," every "well" that we've thought would do it for us. We end up like "thirsty again."
Then Jesus goes on to say, "But whoever drinks the water I give Him, it will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life." Jesus is offering to her and to you a spring inside that will never leave you thirsty again, a relationship with Him that will literally give you life here and life forever in heaven. We've cut ourselves off from our source because we've stubbornly lived our way instead of His way. And there would be no hope of belonging to the One we were made for, except that Jesus died on that cross to absorb the death penalty that you and I deserve for hijacking our life from God.
And He's coming to you today to offer you the relationship with Him that will end your search once and for all. He's reaching out to you, but you have to reach back. You have to like grab His hand as your only hope of being forgiven - your only hope of going to heaven. Would you like to belong to this Jesus, who loves you like no one loves you, who has power to walk out of His grave under His own power? Who's got power like that to give? You want to belong to Him from this day on, tell Him that right now where you are, "Jesus, beginning right now I'm yours. I'm pinning all my hopes on you."
Look, you're going to want more information, and it's available right there at our website - ANewStory.com. I want to urge you to go there as soon as you can today. Can you remember that? ANewStory.com. There I think you will find out how you can be sure before this day is over you belong to Jesus Christ.
If you're tired of seeking and you're ready to find, then make this your Jesus-day. He's everything your heart has always looked for and never found...until today.
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