Max Lucado Daily:Obedience is the Key
Do you want a Promised Land life? Do you desire the fullness of Glory Days? Then obey God’s commands! What’s that? You expected something more mystical, exotic, or intriguing? You thought that the Promised Land level life was birthed from ecstatic utterances or angelic visions, mountaintop moments, or midnight messages from heaven? Sorry to disappoint you.
Obedience, wrote C.S. Lewis, is the key to all doors. Don’t think for a second you can heed the wrong voice, make the wrong choice, and escape the consequences. At the same time, obedience leads to a waterfall of goodness not just for you but for your children, your children’s children, and great-grandchildren. It is God’s promise in Exodus 20:6 to “show love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” As we obey God’s commands, we open the door for God’s favor!
From Glory Days
1 Thessalonians 5
I don’t think, friends, that I need to deal with the question of when all this is going to happen. You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars. He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar would. About the time everybody’s walking around complacently, congratulating each other—“We’ve sure got it made! Now we can take it easy!”—suddenly everything will fall apart. It’s going to come as suddenly and inescapably as birth pangs to a pregnant woman.
4-8 But friends, you’re not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let’s not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let’s keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we’re creatures of Day, let’s act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.
9-11 God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we’re awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we’re alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.
12-13 And now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!
13-15 Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.
16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
19-22 Don’t suppress the Spirit, and don’t stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don’t be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what’s good. Throw out anything tainted with evil.
23-24 May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!
25-27 Friends, keep up your prayers for us. Greet all the followers of Jesus there with a holy embrace. And make sure this letter gets read to all the brothers and sisters. Don’t leave anyone out.
28 The amazing grace of Jesus Christ be with you!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, November 03, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Acts 2:1–12
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Footnotes:
Acts 2:4 Or languages; also in verse 11
Acts 2:9 That is, the Roman province by that name
Insight
The celebration of Pentecost on the Christian calendar occurs seven weeks (or fifty days) after Easter. This special recognition commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit (as promised by Jesus—Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5, 8), the subsequent birth of the church, and the ingathering of the first members of the family in Christ. But before Pentecost had significance for believers in Jesus, it was observed by God’s people in the Old Testament. The feast took place seven weeks after the Passover on the fiftieth day (see Leviticus 23:15–22). The event is also known as the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Harvest. This great harvest festival was so special that work stopped and adult men traveled to the place of worship where loaves of bread baked from the new grain were offered to God (vv. 17–22). Following Christ’s death and resurrection, it was on this significant day that God sent the Holy Spirit. By: Arthur Jackson
New Humanity
When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Acts 2:6
While I was visiting London’s Tate Modern gallery, one piece of art caught my attention. Created by Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles, it was a giant tower made of hundreds of old radios. Each radio was turned on and tuned to a different station, creating a cacophony of confusing, indecipherable speech. Meireles called the sculpture Babel.
The title is appropriate. At the original tower of Babel, God thwarted humanity’s attempt to seize heaven by confusing mankind’s languages (Genesis 11:1–9). No longer able to communicate with one another, humanity fractured into tribes of various dialects (vv. 10–26). Divided by language, we’ve struggled to understand each other ever since.
There’s a second part to the story. When the Holy Spirit came upon the first Christians at Pentecost, He enabled them to praise God in the various languages of those visiting Jerusalem that day (Acts 2:1–12). Through this miracle, everyone heard the same message, no matter their nationality or language. The confusion of Babel was reversed.
In a world of ethnic and cultural division, this is good news. Through Jesus, God is forming a new humanity from every nation, tribe, and tongue (Revelation 7:9). As I stood at Tate Modern, I imagined all those radios suddenly tuning to a new signal and playing the same song to all in the room: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.” By: Sheridan Voysey
Reflect & Pray
How does your shared faith with believers of other nationalities bring you together despite your differences? How can you help create harmony?
God is breaking down barriers to form a new humanity.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, November 03, 2019
A Bondservant of Jesus
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me… —Galatians 2:20
These words mean the breaking and collapse of my independence brought about by my own hands, and the surrendering of my life to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me up to this point three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but He cannot push me through it. It means breaking the hard outer layer of my individual independence from God, and the liberating of myself and my nature into oneness with Him; not following my own ideas, but choosing absolute loyalty to Jesus. Once I am at that point, there is no possibility of misunderstanding. Very few of us know anything about loyalty to Christ or understand what He meant when He said, “…for My sake” (Matthew 5:11). That is what makes a strong saint.
Has that breaking of my independence come? All the rest is religious fraud. The one point to decide is— will I give up? Will I surrender to Jesus Christ, placing no conditions whatsoever as to how the brokenness will come? I must be broken from my own understanding of myself. When I reach that point, immediately the reality of the supernatural identification with Jesus Christ takes place. And the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable— “I have been crucified with Christ….”
The passion of Christianity comes from deliberately signing away my own rights and becoming a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Until I do that, I will not begin to be a saint.
One student a year who hears God’s call would be sufficient for God to have called the Bible Training College into existence. This college has no value as an organization, not even academically. Its sole value for existence is for God to help Himself to lives. Will we allow Him to help Himself to us, or are we more concerned with our own ideas of what we are going to be?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.
Not Knowing Whither
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Psalm 119 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Rousing Ovation
Scott Norwood, a former NFL champion with the Buffalo Bills, walked off the field with his head down. He missed the kick and lost the game. In spite of the loss the team was honored with a turnout of thousands of people cheering them on. Scott stayed in the background but fans had something else in mind. “We want Scott!” The chant grew to a rousing ovation. He missed the kick, but they made sure he knew he was still a part of their community.
In Hebrews 12:1, the Bible says we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Thousands upon thousands of saved saints are looking down upon us. Abraham. Peter. David. Paul. Joshua. Your grandpa, your uncle, your neighbor, your coach. They have seen God’s great grace; and they are all pulling for you. Do you hear them? They are chanting your name. “Don’t quit!” “It’s worth it!” “Try again!”
From Glory Days
Psalm 119
You’re blessed when you stay on course,
walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
You’re blessed when you follow his directions,
doing your best to find him.
That’s right—you don’t go off on your own;
you walk straight along the road he set.
You, God, prescribed the right way to live;
now you expect us to live it.
Oh, that my steps might be steady,
keeping to the course you set;
Then I’d never have any regrets
in comparing my life with your counsel.
I thank you for speaking straight from your heart;
I learn the pattern of your righteous ways.
I’m going to do what you tell me to do;
don’t ever walk off and leave me.
9-16 How can a young person live a clean life?
By carefully reading the map of your Word.
I’m single-minded in pursuit of you;
don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted.
I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart
so I won’t sin myself bankrupt.
Be blessed, God;
train me in your ways of wise living.
I’ll transfer to my lips
all the counsel that comes from your mouth;
I delight far more in what you tell me about living
than in gathering a pile of riches.
I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you,
I attentively watch how you’ve done it.
I relish everything you’ve told me of life,
I won’t forget a word of it.
17-24 Be generous with me and I’ll live a full life;
not for a minute will I take my eyes off your road.
Open my eyes so I can see
what you show me of your miracle-wonders.
I’m a stranger in these parts;
give me clear directions.
My soul is starved and hungry, ravenous!—
insatiable for your nourishing commands.
And those who think they know so much,
ignoring everything you tell them—let them have it!
Don’t let them mock and humiliate me;
I’ve been careful to do just what you said.
While bad neighbors maliciously gossip about me,
I’m absorbed in pondering your wise counsel.
Yes, your sayings on life are what give me delight;
I listen to them as to good neighbors!
25-32 I’m feeling terrible—I couldn’t feel worse!
Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember?
When I told my story, you responded;
train me well in your deep wisdom.
Help me understand these things inside and out
so I can ponder your miracle-wonders.
My sad life’s dilapidated, a falling-down barn;
build me up again by your Word.
Barricade the road that goes Nowhere;
grace me with your clear revelation.
I choose the true road to Somewhere,
I post your road signs at every curve and corner.
I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me;
God, don’t let me down!
I’ll run the course you lay out for me
if you’ll just show me how.
33-40 God, teach me lessons for living
so I can stay the course.
Give me insight so I can do what you tell me—
my whole life one long, obedient response.
Guide me down the road of your commandments;
I love traveling this freeway!
Give me a bent for your words of wisdom,
and not for piling up loot.
Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets,
invigorate me on the pilgrim way.
Affirm your promises to me—
promises made to all who fear you.
Deflect the harsh words of my critics—
but what you say is always so good.
See how hungry I am for your counsel;
preserve my life through your righteous ways!
41-48 Let your love, God, shape my life
with salvation, exactly as you promised;
Then I’ll be able to stand up to mockery
because I trusted your Word.
Don’t ever deprive me of truth, not ever—
your commandments are what I depend on.
Oh, I’ll guard with my life what you’ve revealed to me,
guard it now, guard it ever;
And I’ll stride freely through wide open spaces
as I look for your truth and your wisdom;
Then I’ll tell the world what I find,
speak out boldly in public, unembarrassed.
I cherish your commandments—oh, how I love them!—
relishing every fragment of your counsel.
49-56 Remember what you said to me, your servant—
I hang on to these words for dear life!
These words hold me up in bad times;
yes, your promises rejuvenate me.
The insolent ridicule me without mercy,
but I don’t budge from your revelation.
I watch for your ancient landmark words,
and know I’m on the right track.
But when I see the wicked ignore your directions,
I’m beside myself with anger.
I set your instructions to music
and sing them as I walk this pilgrim way.
I meditate on your name all night, God,
treasuring your revelation, O God.
Still, I walk through a rain of derision
because I live by your Word and counsel.
57-64 Because you have satisfied me, God, I promise
to do everything you say.
I beg you from the bottom of my heart: smile,
be gracious to me just as you promised.
When I took a long, careful look at your ways,
I got my feet back on the trail you blazed.
I was up at once, didn’t drag my feet,
was quick to follow your orders.
The wicked hemmed me in—there was no way out—
but not for a minute did I forget your plan for me.
I get up in the middle of the night to thank you;
your decisions are so right, so true—I can’t wait till morning!
I’m a friend and companion of all who fear you,
of those committed to living by your rules.
Your love, God, fills the earth!
Train me to live by your counsel.
65-72 Be good to your servant, God;
be as good as your Word.
Train me in good common sense;
I’m thoroughly committed to living your way.
Before I learned to answer you, I wandered all over the place,
but now I’m in step with your Word.
You are good, and the source of good;
train me in your goodness.
The godless spread lies about me,
but I focus my attention on what you are saying;
They’re bland as a bucket of lard,
while I dance to the tune of your revelation.
My troubles turned out all for the best—
they forced me to learn from your textbook.
Truth from your mouth means more to me
than striking it rich in a gold mine.
73-80 With your very own hands you formed me;
now breathe your wisdom over me so I can understand you.
When they see me waiting, expecting your Word,
those who fear you will take heart and be glad.
I can see now, God, that your decisions are right;
your testing has taught me what’s true and right.
Oh, love me—and right now!—hold me tight!
just the way you promised.
Now comfort me so I can live, really live;
your revelation is the tune I dance to.
Let the fast-talking tricksters be exposed as frauds;
they tried to sell me a bill of goods,
but I kept my mind fixed on your counsel.
Let those who fear you turn to me
for evidence of your wise guidance.
And let me live whole and holy, soul and body,
so I can always walk with my head held high.
81-88 I’m homesick—longing for your salvation;
I’m waiting for your word of hope.
My eyes grow heavy watching for some sign of your promise;
how long must I wait for your comfort?
There’s smoke in my eyes—they burn and water,
but I keep a steady gaze on the instructions you post.
How long do I have to put up with all this?
How long till you haul my tormentors into court?
The arrogant godless try to throw me off track,
ignorant as they are of God and his ways.
Everything you command is a sure thing,
but they harass me with lies. Help!
They’ve pushed and pushed—they never let up—
but I haven’t relaxed my grip on your counsel.
In your great love revive me
so I can alertly obey your every word.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, November 02, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 46:1–11
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth.[b] A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Footnotes:
Psalm 46:1 In Hebrew texts 46:1-11 is numbered 46:2-12.
Psalm 46:1 Title: Probably a musical term
Psalm 46:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 7 and 11.
Psalm 46:9 Or chariots
Insight
Psalm 46 celebrates God as the only sure source of peace, joy, and courage in a troubled world. The “city of God” (v. 4) likely refers to Jerusalem, seen as where God dwelled with His people in a unique way (v. 5). The “river whose streams make glad the city of God” (v. 4) seems to symbolize not only literal sustenance but God’s continual presence bringing nourishment, cleansing, and renewal to His people. Joel 3:18 uses similar imagery to describe a fountain flowing out of God’s house. The fountain represents God’s life-giving water, indicating His provision and care for His people after the judgment of the nations. The book of Revelation also describes a river, this one flowing from God’s throne. When Jesus has fully defeated the curse of death and evil (22:3), God’s healing presence will flow to all “for the healing of the nations” (v. 2) as creation’s joy and flourishing is finally restored. By: Monica Brands
The Safest Place
God is our refuge and strength. Psalm 46:1
As Hurricane Florence was bearing down on Wilmington, North Carolina, with devastating force, my daughter prepared to leave her home. She’d waited until the last moment, hoping the storm would veer away. But now she was hurriedly sorting through important papers, pictures, and belongings, trying to decide what to take with her. “I didn’t expect it would be so hard to leave,” she told me later, “but in that moment I didn’t know if anything would be there when I got back.”
Life’s storms come in many forms: hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, unexpected problems in marriage or with children, the sudden loss of health or finances. So much we value can be swept away in a moment.
Amid the storms, Scripture points us to the safest place: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way” (Psalm 46:1–2).
The writers of this psalm were descendants of a man who generations earlier served God but then rebelled against Him and perished in an earthquake (see Numbers 26:9–11). The outlook they share shows humility and a profound understanding of God’s greatness, compassion, and redeeming love.
Troubles come, but God outlasts them all. Those who run to the Savior discover that He can’t be shaken. In the arms of His eternal love we find our place of peace. By: James Banks
Reflect & Pray
Amid life’s unpredictable storms, how does God give you peace? How do you intend to run to Him today?
O God, the One who is greater than the storm, help me to place every fear in Your hands today and to rest in Your unfailing love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, November 02, 2019
Obedience or Independence?
If you love Me, keep My commandments. —John 14:15
Our Lord never insists on obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “If,” meaning, “You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so.” “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Luke 9:23). In other words, “To be My disciple, let him give up his right to himself to Me.” Our Lord is not talking about our eternal position, but about our being of value to Him in this life here and now. That is why He sounds so stern (see Luke 14:26). Never try to make sense from these words by separating them from the One who spoke them.
The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When God’s redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces. If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
Scott Norwood, a former NFL champion with the Buffalo Bills, walked off the field with his head down. He missed the kick and lost the game. In spite of the loss the team was honored with a turnout of thousands of people cheering them on. Scott stayed in the background but fans had something else in mind. “We want Scott!” The chant grew to a rousing ovation. He missed the kick, but they made sure he knew he was still a part of their community.
In Hebrews 12:1, the Bible says we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Thousands upon thousands of saved saints are looking down upon us. Abraham. Peter. David. Paul. Joshua. Your grandpa, your uncle, your neighbor, your coach. They have seen God’s great grace; and they are all pulling for you. Do you hear them? They are chanting your name. “Don’t quit!” “It’s worth it!” “Try again!”
From Glory Days
Psalm 119
You’re blessed when you stay on course,
walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
You’re blessed when you follow his directions,
doing your best to find him.
That’s right—you don’t go off on your own;
you walk straight along the road he set.
You, God, prescribed the right way to live;
now you expect us to live it.
Oh, that my steps might be steady,
keeping to the course you set;
Then I’d never have any regrets
in comparing my life with your counsel.
I thank you for speaking straight from your heart;
I learn the pattern of your righteous ways.
I’m going to do what you tell me to do;
don’t ever walk off and leave me.
9-16 How can a young person live a clean life?
By carefully reading the map of your Word.
I’m single-minded in pursuit of you;
don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted.
I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart
so I won’t sin myself bankrupt.
Be blessed, God;
train me in your ways of wise living.
I’ll transfer to my lips
all the counsel that comes from your mouth;
I delight far more in what you tell me about living
than in gathering a pile of riches.
I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you,
I attentively watch how you’ve done it.
I relish everything you’ve told me of life,
I won’t forget a word of it.
17-24 Be generous with me and I’ll live a full life;
not for a minute will I take my eyes off your road.
Open my eyes so I can see
what you show me of your miracle-wonders.
I’m a stranger in these parts;
give me clear directions.
My soul is starved and hungry, ravenous!—
insatiable for your nourishing commands.
And those who think they know so much,
ignoring everything you tell them—let them have it!
Don’t let them mock and humiliate me;
I’ve been careful to do just what you said.
While bad neighbors maliciously gossip about me,
I’m absorbed in pondering your wise counsel.
Yes, your sayings on life are what give me delight;
I listen to them as to good neighbors!
25-32 I’m feeling terrible—I couldn’t feel worse!
Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember?
When I told my story, you responded;
train me well in your deep wisdom.
Help me understand these things inside and out
so I can ponder your miracle-wonders.
My sad life’s dilapidated, a falling-down barn;
build me up again by your Word.
Barricade the road that goes Nowhere;
grace me with your clear revelation.
I choose the true road to Somewhere,
I post your road signs at every curve and corner.
I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me;
God, don’t let me down!
I’ll run the course you lay out for me
if you’ll just show me how.
33-40 God, teach me lessons for living
so I can stay the course.
Give me insight so I can do what you tell me—
my whole life one long, obedient response.
Guide me down the road of your commandments;
I love traveling this freeway!
Give me a bent for your words of wisdom,
and not for piling up loot.
Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets,
invigorate me on the pilgrim way.
Affirm your promises to me—
promises made to all who fear you.
Deflect the harsh words of my critics—
but what you say is always so good.
See how hungry I am for your counsel;
preserve my life through your righteous ways!
41-48 Let your love, God, shape my life
with salvation, exactly as you promised;
Then I’ll be able to stand up to mockery
because I trusted your Word.
Don’t ever deprive me of truth, not ever—
your commandments are what I depend on.
Oh, I’ll guard with my life what you’ve revealed to me,
guard it now, guard it ever;
And I’ll stride freely through wide open spaces
as I look for your truth and your wisdom;
Then I’ll tell the world what I find,
speak out boldly in public, unembarrassed.
I cherish your commandments—oh, how I love them!—
relishing every fragment of your counsel.
49-56 Remember what you said to me, your servant—
I hang on to these words for dear life!
These words hold me up in bad times;
yes, your promises rejuvenate me.
The insolent ridicule me without mercy,
but I don’t budge from your revelation.
I watch for your ancient landmark words,
and know I’m on the right track.
But when I see the wicked ignore your directions,
I’m beside myself with anger.
I set your instructions to music
and sing them as I walk this pilgrim way.
I meditate on your name all night, God,
treasuring your revelation, O God.
Still, I walk through a rain of derision
because I live by your Word and counsel.
57-64 Because you have satisfied me, God, I promise
to do everything you say.
I beg you from the bottom of my heart: smile,
be gracious to me just as you promised.
When I took a long, careful look at your ways,
I got my feet back on the trail you blazed.
I was up at once, didn’t drag my feet,
was quick to follow your orders.
The wicked hemmed me in—there was no way out—
but not for a minute did I forget your plan for me.
I get up in the middle of the night to thank you;
your decisions are so right, so true—I can’t wait till morning!
I’m a friend and companion of all who fear you,
of those committed to living by your rules.
Your love, God, fills the earth!
Train me to live by your counsel.
65-72 Be good to your servant, God;
be as good as your Word.
Train me in good common sense;
I’m thoroughly committed to living your way.
Before I learned to answer you, I wandered all over the place,
but now I’m in step with your Word.
You are good, and the source of good;
train me in your goodness.
The godless spread lies about me,
but I focus my attention on what you are saying;
They’re bland as a bucket of lard,
while I dance to the tune of your revelation.
My troubles turned out all for the best—
they forced me to learn from your textbook.
Truth from your mouth means more to me
than striking it rich in a gold mine.
73-80 With your very own hands you formed me;
now breathe your wisdom over me so I can understand you.
When they see me waiting, expecting your Word,
those who fear you will take heart and be glad.
I can see now, God, that your decisions are right;
your testing has taught me what’s true and right.
Oh, love me—and right now!—hold me tight!
just the way you promised.
Now comfort me so I can live, really live;
your revelation is the tune I dance to.
Let the fast-talking tricksters be exposed as frauds;
they tried to sell me a bill of goods,
but I kept my mind fixed on your counsel.
Let those who fear you turn to me
for evidence of your wise guidance.
And let me live whole and holy, soul and body,
so I can always walk with my head held high.
81-88 I’m homesick—longing for your salvation;
I’m waiting for your word of hope.
My eyes grow heavy watching for some sign of your promise;
how long must I wait for your comfort?
There’s smoke in my eyes—they burn and water,
but I keep a steady gaze on the instructions you post.
How long do I have to put up with all this?
How long till you haul my tormentors into court?
The arrogant godless try to throw me off track,
ignorant as they are of God and his ways.
Everything you command is a sure thing,
but they harass me with lies. Help!
They’ve pushed and pushed—they never let up—
but I haven’t relaxed my grip on your counsel.
In your great love revive me
so I can alertly obey your every word.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, November 02, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 46:1–11
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth.[b] A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Footnotes:
Psalm 46:1 In Hebrew texts 46:1-11 is numbered 46:2-12.
Psalm 46:1 Title: Probably a musical term
Psalm 46:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 7 and 11.
Psalm 46:9 Or chariots
Insight
Psalm 46 celebrates God as the only sure source of peace, joy, and courage in a troubled world. The “city of God” (v. 4) likely refers to Jerusalem, seen as where God dwelled with His people in a unique way (v. 5). The “river whose streams make glad the city of God” (v. 4) seems to symbolize not only literal sustenance but God’s continual presence bringing nourishment, cleansing, and renewal to His people. Joel 3:18 uses similar imagery to describe a fountain flowing out of God’s house. The fountain represents God’s life-giving water, indicating His provision and care for His people after the judgment of the nations. The book of Revelation also describes a river, this one flowing from God’s throne. When Jesus has fully defeated the curse of death and evil (22:3), God’s healing presence will flow to all “for the healing of the nations” (v. 2) as creation’s joy and flourishing is finally restored. By: Monica Brands
The Safest Place
God is our refuge and strength. Psalm 46:1
As Hurricane Florence was bearing down on Wilmington, North Carolina, with devastating force, my daughter prepared to leave her home. She’d waited until the last moment, hoping the storm would veer away. But now she was hurriedly sorting through important papers, pictures, and belongings, trying to decide what to take with her. “I didn’t expect it would be so hard to leave,” she told me later, “but in that moment I didn’t know if anything would be there when I got back.”
Life’s storms come in many forms: hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, unexpected problems in marriage or with children, the sudden loss of health or finances. So much we value can be swept away in a moment.
Amid the storms, Scripture points us to the safest place: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way” (Psalm 46:1–2).
The writers of this psalm were descendants of a man who generations earlier served God but then rebelled against Him and perished in an earthquake (see Numbers 26:9–11). The outlook they share shows humility and a profound understanding of God’s greatness, compassion, and redeeming love.
Troubles come, but God outlasts them all. Those who run to the Savior discover that He can’t be shaken. In the arms of His eternal love we find our place of peace. By: James Banks
Reflect & Pray
Amid life’s unpredictable storms, how does God give you peace? How do you intend to run to Him today?
O God, the One who is greater than the storm, help me to place every fear in Your hands today and to rest in Your unfailing love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, November 02, 2019
Obedience or Independence?
If you love Me, keep My commandments. —John 14:15
Our Lord never insists on obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “If,” meaning, “You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so.” “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Luke 9:23). In other words, “To be My disciple, let him give up his right to himself to Me.” Our Lord is not talking about our eternal position, but about our being of value to Him in this life here and now. That is why He sounds so stern (see Luke 14:26). Never try to make sense from these words by separating them from the One who spoke them.
The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When God’s redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces. If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
Friday, November 1, 2019
1 Thessalonians 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: TUNE UP YOUR PRAYER LIFE
I’m a recovering prayer wimp. For years my prayers seemed to zig, then zag, then zig again. Maybe you can relate. Perhaps your prayer life could use a tune up, a reboot? If that sounds overwhelming, I’m inviting you to a simpler plan. Four minutes, plus four weeks, equals forever change! Every day for four weeks, pray for four minutes, focusing on these core elements of prayer:
“Father, You are good.
I need help.
They need help.
Thank you.”
It’s that simple. Really! Talking with God doesn’t have to be complicated or complex. The power isn’t in the words we pray—but in the One who hears them.
Here’s my challenge for you! Every day for four weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
1 Thessalonians 4
One final word, friends. We ask you—urge is more like it—that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance. You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus. God wants you to live a pure life.
Keep yourselves from sexual promiscuity.
4-5 Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body, not abusing it, as is so common among those who know nothing of God.
6-7 Don’t run roughshod over the concerns of your brothers and sisters. Their concerns are God’s concerns, and he will take care of them. We’ve warned you about this before. God hasn’t invited us into a disorderly, unkempt life but into something holy and beautiful—as beautiful on the inside as the outside.
8 If you disregard this advice, you’re not offending your neighbors; you’re rejecting God, who is making you a gift of his Holy Spirit.
9-10 Regarding life together and getting along with each other, you don’t need me to tell you what to do. You’re God-taught in these matters. Just love one another! You’re already good at it; your friends all over the province of Macedonia are the evidence. Keep it up; get better and better at it.
11-12 Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You’ve heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts. We want you living in a way that will command the respect of outsiders, not lying around sponging off your friends.
13-14 And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.
15-18 And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master’s word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 01, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthians 5:14–21
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 5:17 Or Christ, that person is a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:21 Or be a sin offering
Insight
A key element of this important text is found in verse 20: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” Tyndale Bible Dictionary defines an ambassador as a “messenger or envoy officially representing a higher authority.” It explains that an ambassador in the Old Testament was “a messenger, envoy, or negotiator sent on a special, temporary mission as an official representative of the king, government, or authority who sent him.” This description gives us a valuable backdrop to the challenge to Paul (and to us) to be God’s ambassadors to our world. Our mission is to officially represent the highest of all possible authorities—the Creator of the universe—and to present His message to those we encounter in His name. By: Bill Crowder
The Door of Reconciliation
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18
Inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, there’s a door that tells a five-century-old tale. In 1492 two families, the Butlers and the FitzGeralds, began fighting over a high-level position in the region. The fight escalated, and the Butlers took refuge in the cathedral. When the FitzGeralds came to ask for a truce, the Butlers were afraid to open the door. So the FitzGeralds cut a hole in it, and their leader offered his hand in peace. The two families then reconciled, and adversaries became friends.
God has a door of reconciliation that the apostle Paul wrote passionately about in his letter to the church in Corinth. At His initiative and because of His infinite love, God exchanged the broken relationship with humans for a restored relationship through Christ’s death on the cross. We were far away from God, but in His mercy He didn’t leave us there. He offers us restoration with Himself—“not counting people’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Justice was fulfilled when “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us,” so that in Him we could be at peace with God (v. 21).
Once we accept God’s hand in peace, we’re given the important task of bringing that message to others. We represent the amazing, loving God who offers complete forgiveness and restoration to everyone who believes.
By: Estera Pirosca Escobar
Reflect & Pray
What does God’s offer of reconciliation mean to you? How will you extend His offer to those who need to hear it today?
God, thank You for not leaving me in a place of no hope, separated from You forever. Thank You that the sacrifice of Your beloved Son, Jesus, has provided the way for me to come to You.
To learn more about forgiveness, see bit.ly/2F5wVhT.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 01, 2019
“You Are Not Your Own”
Do you not know that…you are not your own? —1 Corinthians 6:19
There is no such thing as a private life, or a place to hide in this world, for a man or woman who is intimately aware of and shares in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. God divides the private life of His saints and makes it a highway for the world on one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves. We are called into intimacy with the gospel, and things happen that appear to have nothing to do with us. But God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way. If you refuse, you will be of no value to God in His redemptive work in the world, but will be a hindrance and a stumbling block.
The first thing God does is get us grounded on strong reality and truth. He does this until our cares for ourselves individually have been brought into submission to His way for the purpose of His redemption. Why shouldn’t we experience heartbreak? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God’s purpose and enter a slow death through self-pity. And all the so-called Christian sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, as if to say, “Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine.” If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, November 01, 2019
Trampling On a Masterpiece - #8560
I was on a mission in England and Ireland, and I had a day to spend in the beautiful city of York. What a place! I mean, it's surrounded by a medieval wall actually and it's dominated by this cathedral that might be second only to Westminster Abbey in London. There was an unusual scene out in front. There was an artist actually on his knees, and he's working painstakingly on this chalk drawing on the sidewalk right in front of the cathedral. When I got closer, I looked at it. It was really easy to recognize it. He actually had drawn the Mona Lisa. He had to be working on it all day, and it was really beautifully done. Well, I went inside a restaurant, and while I was there, I saw that the artist had left. Within minutes, this little boy came up, and he intentionally ran over the artwork, stomped back and forth and made footprints all over it. Other kids followed what he had done. They had just trampled all over the work of an artist who had worked very hard on it. I'll tell you what, it hurts to see someone doing that.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Trampling on a Masterpiece."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 4:29-30. It says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God." God is saying here don't tear down somebody with your words. Don't trample them with your words. Why does it bother Him so much? Why does it grieve and break the heart of the Holy Spirit of God? It's like we can make God cry it sounds like. I mean, what does that?
We have to go back to Ephesians 2:10. It says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He prepared in advance for us to do." So, God is working on this unique masterpiece creation in every person you'll ever meet. He has a job for them to do. He's trying to build them up and help them know what that job is. In a world that tears down our worth from every direction, He's trying to get them to believe they are the workmanship that He created in Christ Jesus. No matter how difficult that person might be, no matter how hard to get along with they might be, no matter how obscured the work of God might be, God is trying to finish a work of art in someone He created. That's why it hurts Him so much when we trample on one of those masterpieces in progress.
In our angry moments, our impatient moments, our critical moments - listen, have you maybe left some verbal footprints on your son or your daughter, your husband or your wife? Social scientists tell us that our kids need seven positives to come back to zero after they've heard just one negative. You know this: we never forget the names that we're called by a parent (good or bad), or things that we were accused of by a parent. I'm sure you haven't forgotten those voices as much as we'd like to. Every time you have fired careless words at your husband or your wife when you're tired, or you want to win or you want to get your way, you've been ripping a person God is trying to build.
What about the attacks that the other person doesn't even hear? Maybe damaging words have been said at work, or at church, among friends, behind their back. You are still trampling on God's work, marking them up in the eyes of others. We don't usually do trampling with our feet, we do it with our mouth. I can still visualize those footprints on that artist's skillful work in front of the cathedral. It was ugly. It's ugly when you do it to somebody else with your mouth.
Maybe it's time you did something about the footprints that you have left on a masterpiece of God. Maybe it's time you go back and make it right, and make a commitment to not ever again let your mouth markup the artwork of Almighty God.
I’m a recovering prayer wimp. For years my prayers seemed to zig, then zag, then zig again. Maybe you can relate. Perhaps your prayer life could use a tune up, a reboot? If that sounds overwhelming, I’m inviting you to a simpler plan. Four minutes, plus four weeks, equals forever change! Every day for four weeks, pray for four minutes, focusing on these core elements of prayer:
“Father, You are good.
I need help.
They need help.
Thank you.”
It’s that simple. Really! Talking with God doesn’t have to be complicated or complex. The power isn’t in the words we pray—but in the One who hears them.
Here’s my challenge for you! Every day for four weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
1 Thessalonians 4
One final word, friends. We ask you—urge is more like it—that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance. You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus. God wants you to live a pure life.
Keep yourselves from sexual promiscuity.
4-5 Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body, not abusing it, as is so common among those who know nothing of God.
6-7 Don’t run roughshod over the concerns of your brothers and sisters. Their concerns are God’s concerns, and he will take care of them. We’ve warned you about this before. God hasn’t invited us into a disorderly, unkempt life but into something holy and beautiful—as beautiful on the inside as the outside.
8 If you disregard this advice, you’re not offending your neighbors; you’re rejecting God, who is making you a gift of his Holy Spirit.
9-10 Regarding life together and getting along with each other, you don’t need me to tell you what to do. You’re God-taught in these matters. Just love one another! You’re already good at it; your friends all over the province of Macedonia are the evidence. Keep it up; get better and better at it.
11-12 Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You’ve heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts. We want you living in a way that will command the respect of outsiders, not lying around sponging off your friends.
13-14 And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.
15-18 And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master’s word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 01, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthians 5:14–21
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 5:17 Or Christ, that person is a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:21 Or be a sin offering
Insight
A key element of this important text is found in verse 20: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” Tyndale Bible Dictionary defines an ambassador as a “messenger or envoy officially representing a higher authority.” It explains that an ambassador in the Old Testament was “a messenger, envoy, or negotiator sent on a special, temporary mission as an official representative of the king, government, or authority who sent him.” This description gives us a valuable backdrop to the challenge to Paul (and to us) to be God’s ambassadors to our world. Our mission is to officially represent the highest of all possible authorities—the Creator of the universe—and to present His message to those we encounter in His name. By: Bill Crowder
The Door of Reconciliation
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18
Inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, there’s a door that tells a five-century-old tale. In 1492 two families, the Butlers and the FitzGeralds, began fighting over a high-level position in the region. The fight escalated, and the Butlers took refuge in the cathedral. When the FitzGeralds came to ask for a truce, the Butlers were afraid to open the door. So the FitzGeralds cut a hole in it, and their leader offered his hand in peace. The two families then reconciled, and adversaries became friends.
God has a door of reconciliation that the apostle Paul wrote passionately about in his letter to the church in Corinth. At His initiative and because of His infinite love, God exchanged the broken relationship with humans for a restored relationship through Christ’s death on the cross. We were far away from God, but in His mercy He didn’t leave us there. He offers us restoration with Himself—“not counting people’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Justice was fulfilled when “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us,” so that in Him we could be at peace with God (v. 21).
Once we accept God’s hand in peace, we’re given the important task of bringing that message to others. We represent the amazing, loving God who offers complete forgiveness and restoration to everyone who believes.
By: Estera Pirosca Escobar
Reflect & Pray
What does God’s offer of reconciliation mean to you? How will you extend His offer to those who need to hear it today?
God, thank You for not leaving me in a place of no hope, separated from You forever. Thank You that the sacrifice of Your beloved Son, Jesus, has provided the way for me to come to You.
To learn more about forgiveness, see bit.ly/2F5wVhT.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 01, 2019
“You Are Not Your Own”
Do you not know that…you are not your own? —1 Corinthians 6:19
There is no such thing as a private life, or a place to hide in this world, for a man or woman who is intimately aware of and shares in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. God divides the private life of His saints and makes it a highway for the world on one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves. We are called into intimacy with the gospel, and things happen that appear to have nothing to do with us. But God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way. If you refuse, you will be of no value to God in His redemptive work in the world, but will be a hindrance and a stumbling block.
The first thing God does is get us grounded on strong reality and truth. He does this until our cares for ourselves individually have been brought into submission to His way for the purpose of His redemption. Why shouldn’t we experience heartbreak? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God’s purpose and enter a slow death through self-pity. And all the so-called Christian sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, as if to say, “Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine.” If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, November 01, 2019
Trampling On a Masterpiece - #8560
I was on a mission in England and Ireland, and I had a day to spend in the beautiful city of York. What a place! I mean, it's surrounded by a medieval wall actually and it's dominated by this cathedral that might be second only to Westminster Abbey in London. There was an unusual scene out in front. There was an artist actually on his knees, and he's working painstakingly on this chalk drawing on the sidewalk right in front of the cathedral. When I got closer, I looked at it. It was really easy to recognize it. He actually had drawn the Mona Lisa. He had to be working on it all day, and it was really beautifully done. Well, I went inside a restaurant, and while I was there, I saw that the artist had left. Within minutes, this little boy came up, and he intentionally ran over the artwork, stomped back and forth and made footprints all over it. Other kids followed what he had done. They had just trampled all over the work of an artist who had worked very hard on it. I'll tell you what, it hurts to see someone doing that.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Trampling on a Masterpiece."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 4:29-30. It says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God." God is saying here don't tear down somebody with your words. Don't trample them with your words. Why does it bother Him so much? Why does it grieve and break the heart of the Holy Spirit of God? It's like we can make God cry it sounds like. I mean, what does that?
We have to go back to Ephesians 2:10. It says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He prepared in advance for us to do." So, God is working on this unique masterpiece creation in every person you'll ever meet. He has a job for them to do. He's trying to build them up and help them know what that job is. In a world that tears down our worth from every direction, He's trying to get them to believe they are the workmanship that He created in Christ Jesus. No matter how difficult that person might be, no matter how hard to get along with they might be, no matter how obscured the work of God might be, God is trying to finish a work of art in someone He created. That's why it hurts Him so much when we trample on one of those masterpieces in progress.
In our angry moments, our impatient moments, our critical moments - listen, have you maybe left some verbal footprints on your son or your daughter, your husband or your wife? Social scientists tell us that our kids need seven positives to come back to zero after they've heard just one negative. You know this: we never forget the names that we're called by a parent (good or bad), or things that we were accused of by a parent. I'm sure you haven't forgotten those voices as much as we'd like to. Every time you have fired careless words at your husband or your wife when you're tired, or you want to win or you want to get your way, you've been ripping a person God is trying to build.
What about the attacks that the other person doesn't even hear? Maybe damaging words have been said at work, or at church, among friends, behind their back. You are still trampling on God's work, marking them up in the eyes of others. We don't usually do trampling with our feet, we do it with our mouth. I can still visualize those footprints on that artist's skillful work in front of the cathedral. It was ugly. It's ugly when you do it to somebody else with your mouth.
Maybe it's time you did something about the footprints that you have left on a masterpiece of God. Maybe it's time you go back and make it right, and make a commitment to not ever again let your mouth markup the artwork of Almighty God.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Psalm 118, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: THE HAPPINESS CHALLENGE
Desire a rain shower of joy? Then do this: serve someone, greet someone, give up your seat, listen to someone’s story, write a check, pen a letter, give your time, your counsel, and your heart. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
I’d like to challenge you to set out to alter the joy level of a hundred people over the next forty days. Pray for people, serve more, practice patience, and bring out the best in people. Keep a journal in which you describe the encounter and what you did.
I took the challenge. The experience was twice as difficult as I imagined but a hundred times more fulfilling than I ever thought it would be. So, take the happiness challenge, and see if you aren’t the one smiling the most. This is how happiness happens.
Psalm 118
Thank God because he’s good,
because his love never quits.
Tell the world, Israel,
“His love never quits.”
And you, clan of Aaron, tell the world,
“His love never quits.”
And you who fear God, join in,
“His love never quits.”
5-16 Pushed to the wall, I called to God;
from the wide open spaces, he answered.
God’s now at my side and I’m not afraid;
who would dare lay a hand on me?
God’s my strong champion;
I flick off my enemies like flies.
Far better to take refuge in God
than trust in people;
Far better to take refuge in God
than trust in celebrities.
Hemmed in by barbarians,
in God’s name I rubbed their faces in the dirt;
Hemmed in and with no way out,
in God’s name I rubbed their faces in the dirt;
Like swarming bees, like wild prairie fire, they hemmed me in;
in God’s name I rubbed their faces in the dirt.
I was right on the cliff-edge, ready to fall,
when God grabbed and held me.
God’s my strength, he’s also my song,
and now he’s my salvation.
Hear the shouts, hear the triumph songs
in the camp of the saved?
“The hand of God has turned the tide!
The hand of God is raised in victory!
The hand of God has turned the tide!”
17-20 I didn’t die. I lived!
And now I’m telling the world what God did.
God tested me, he pushed me hard,
but he didn’t hand me over to Death.
Swing wide the city gates—the righteous gates!
I’ll walk right through and thank God!
This Temple Gate belongs to God,
so the victors can enter and praise.
21-25 Thank you for responding to me;
you’ve truly become my salvation!
The stone the masons discarded as flawed
is now the capstone!
This is God’s work.
We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it!
This is the very day God acted—
let’s celebrate and be festive!
Salvation now, God. Salvation now!
Oh yes, God—a free and full life!
26-29 Blessed are you who enter in God’s name—
from God’s house we bless you!
God is God,
he has bathed us in light.
Festoon the shrine with garlands,
hang colored banners above the altar!
You’re my God, and I thank you.
O my God, I lift high your praise.
Thank God—he’s so good.
His love never quits!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 20:24–29
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Footnotes:
John 20:24 Thomas (Aramaic) and Didymus (Greek) both mean twin.
Insight
The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke)—so-named because they contain many of the same events in the same order—tell us nothing about Thomas except to list him as one of the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15). It’s only in John’s gospel where we learn more about his interactions with Jesus (John 11:14–16; 14:5–6; 20:24–29; 21:1–14). In John 11:16, he’s called “Thomas (also known as Didymus).” Thomas is his Hebrew name; Didymus is his Greek name, which means “Twin.” So some translations render his name as “Thomas, the Twin” (nlt, esv, nkjv). John presents him as a devout believer in Jesus. Because Lazarus had died, Jesus wanted to go back into Judea for his funeral (11:14). Earlier the Jews had tried to stone Jesus to death (10:31, 39), so it was dangerous for Him to go into Judea. Thomas showed raw devotion to Christ when he urged his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus” (11:16 nlt).
Scar Stories
See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. John 20:27
The butterfly flitted in and out of my mother’s panda-faced pansies. As a child, I longed to catch it. I raced from our backyard into our kitchen and grabbed a glass jar, but on my hasty return, I tripped and hit the concrete patio hard. The jar smashed under my wrist and left an ugly slash that would require eighteen stitches to close. Today the scar crawls like a caterpillar across my wrist, telling the story of both wounding and healing.
When Jesus appeared to the disciples after His death, He brought His scars. John reports Thomas wanting to see “the nail marks in his hands” and Jesus inviting Thomas to “put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side” (John 20:25, 27). In order to demonstrate He was the same Jesus, He rose from the dead with the scars of His suffering still visible.
The scars of Jesus prove Him to be the Savior and tell the story of our salvation. The pierced marks through His hands and feet and the hollow in His side reveal a story of pain inflicted, endured, and then healed—for us. He did it so that we might be restored to Him and made whole.
Have you ever considered the story told by Christ’s scars? By: Elisa Morgan
Reflect & Pray
How do the Savior’s scars promise healing for the wounds you’ve endured? What wounds will you bring to Him today?
Jesus, how I love the story Your scars tell to me—and to our world. May I learn to love You more and more through the story of Your scars.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 31, 2019
The Trial of Faith
If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you. —Matthew 17:20
We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.
Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, “I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.” The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ reveals, not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but One who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man. Disciples Indeed, 388 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Changing the Climate - #8559
Columnist Bob Greene told a story that touched my heart. It's about a newspaperman in a small Midwestern town and the call he got from a school teacher. She wanted to tell him about something that had happened to a child on the playground. He was braced for bad news. Well, it wasn't. During a lunch break, most of the 8th graders were gathered in groups, talking and playing. This one boy - a student who actually suffered from severe physical disabilities and was new to the school - was off by himself as usual. He was, like, painfully shy.
The teacher noticed another boy - one of the most popular kids in school, a great athlete - leave his group of the "in crowd" boys and walk over to this lone student. Well, eavesdropping, the teacher heard the athlete ask the other boy if he'd like to play catch. That disabled boy said no one liked to play with him and he was afraid he would mess up and the others would laugh at him. With his impaired vision and his thick glasses, he could barely see the ball.
The athlete assured him, "Hey, it's OK to mess up, man. We all do." So they began to play catch. When some of the other students saw that Mr. Athlete had included the other boy, they came over to join and play. They made sure he could catch their passes; they made him part of the group all during the lunch break. The teacher said, "It was the kindest thing I've witnessed in 28 years as a school teacher." Then she told the reporter, "The athlete was your son." That reporter choked back tears at what had suddenly become the proudest moment of his life.
Because of what that popular student did that lunchtime, the school year became a little more bearable for a boy who had been treated as an outcast until then. Most of the time, he's been treated now with decency and friendship that he actually deserves.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Changing the Climate."
That's what one student did on that playground that day. He changed the climate by his example. It's what God's calling you to do where you are. In 1 Timothy 4:12, our word for today from the Word of God, Paul says, "Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." Like a thermostat in a building, you can literally help change the temperature where you are by setting the temperature where it should be.
That's what one school athlete did, and it changed the climate of how people treated each other. God's calling us to show folks how they should be talking, the kinds of life-choices they should be making, how they should be treating each other, how they should be trusting God for big things, how they should be living pure and uncompromised and with integrity. Not to preach to them about it. To demonstrate it so they know what it looks like!
It's easy to complain about how things are in your family, or how they are at work or how they are at church or at school. But complaining won't change a thing. Neither will condemning or criticizing or preaching. What is needed where you are is someone who will be what they wish others would be - to lead by contagious example. To step out from a climate that's negative or nasty or stressed, prideful, selfish, and to challenge it. Not so much by their words, but by their actions. Decide how you wish everyone would be in your situation, and be it yourself!
Over time, one person can have amazing power to change the atmosphere and to improve the climate. In the places where God has put you, why don't you be the one who quietly leads everyone else to something better? Don't wait for someone else to change. No, you have Jesus, and you have the power to start changing the climate in your personal world.
Desire a rain shower of joy? Then do this: serve someone, greet someone, give up your seat, listen to someone’s story, write a check, pen a letter, give your time, your counsel, and your heart. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
I’d like to challenge you to set out to alter the joy level of a hundred people over the next forty days. Pray for people, serve more, practice patience, and bring out the best in people. Keep a journal in which you describe the encounter and what you did.
I took the challenge. The experience was twice as difficult as I imagined but a hundred times more fulfilling than I ever thought it would be. So, take the happiness challenge, and see if you aren’t the one smiling the most. This is how happiness happens.
Psalm 118
Thank God because he’s good,
because his love never quits.
Tell the world, Israel,
“His love never quits.”
And you, clan of Aaron, tell the world,
“His love never quits.”
And you who fear God, join in,
“His love never quits.”
5-16 Pushed to the wall, I called to God;
from the wide open spaces, he answered.
God’s now at my side and I’m not afraid;
who would dare lay a hand on me?
God’s my strong champion;
I flick off my enemies like flies.
Far better to take refuge in God
than trust in people;
Far better to take refuge in God
than trust in celebrities.
Hemmed in by barbarians,
in God’s name I rubbed their faces in the dirt;
Hemmed in and with no way out,
in God’s name I rubbed their faces in the dirt;
Like swarming bees, like wild prairie fire, they hemmed me in;
in God’s name I rubbed their faces in the dirt.
I was right on the cliff-edge, ready to fall,
when God grabbed and held me.
God’s my strength, he’s also my song,
and now he’s my salvation.
Hear the shouts, hear the triumph songs
in the camp of the saved?
“The hand of God has turned the tide!
The hand of God is raised in victory!
The hand of God has turned the tide!”
17-20 I didn’t die. I lived!
And now I’m telling the world what God did.
God tested me, he pushed me hard,
but he didn’t hand me over to Death.
Swing wide the city gates—the righteous gates!
I’ll walk right through and thank God!
This Temple Gate belongs to God,
so the victors can enter and praise.
21-25 Thank you for responding to me;
you’ve truly become my salvation!
The stone the masons discarded as flawed
is now the capstone!
This is God’s work.
We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it!
This is the very day God acted—
let’s celebrate and be festive!
Salvation now, God. Salvation now!
Oh yes, God—a free and full life!
26-29 Blessed are you who enter in God’s name—
from God’s house we bless you!
God is God,
he has bathed us in light.
Festoon the shrine with garlands,
hang colored banners above the altar!
You’re my God, and I thank you.
O my God, I lift high your praise.
Thank God—he’s so good.
His love never quits!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 20:24–29
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Footnotes:
John 20:24 Thomas (Aramaic) and Didymus (Greek) both mean twin.
Insight
The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke)—so-named because they contain many of the same events in the same order—tell us nothing about Thomas except to list him as one of the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15). It’s only in John’s gospel where we learn more about his interactions with Jesus (John 11:14–16; 14:5–6; 20:24–29; 21:1–14). In John 11:16, he’s called “Thomas (also known as Didymus).” Thomas is his Hebrew name; Didymus is his Greek name, which means “Twin.” So some translations render his name as “Thomas, the Twin” (nlt, esv, nkjv). John presents him as a devout believer in Jesus. Because Lazarus had died, Jesus wanted to go back into Judea for his funeral (11:14). Earlier the Jews had tried to stone Jesus to death (10:31, 39), so it was dangerous for Him to go into Judea. Thomas showed raw devotion to Christ when he urged his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus” (11:16 nlt).
Scar Stories
See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. John 20:27
The butterfly flitted in and out of my mother’s panda-faced pansies. As a child, I longed to catch it. I raced from our backyard into our kitchen and grabbed a glass jar, but on my hasty return, I tripped and hit the concrete patio hard. The jar smashed under my wrist and left an ugly slash that would require eighteen stitches to close. Today the scar crawls like a caterpillar across my wrist, telling the story of both wounding and healing.
When Jesus appeared to the disciples after His death, He brought His scars. John reports Thomas wanting to see “the nail marks in his hands” and Jesus inviting Thomas to “put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side” (John 20:25, 27). In order to demonstrate He was the same Jesus, He rose from the dead with the scars of His suffering still visible.
The scars of Jesus prove Him to be the Savior and tell the story of our salvation. The pierced marks through His hands and feet and the hollow in His side reveal a story of pain inflicted, endured, and then healed—for us. He did it so that we might be restored to Him and made whole.
Have you ever considered the story told by Christ’s scars? By: Elisa Morgan
Reflect & Pray
How do the Savior’s scars promise healing for the wounds you’ve endured? What wounds will you bring to Him today?
Jesus, how I love the story Your scars tell to me—and to our world. May I learn to love You more and more through the story of Your scars.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 31, 2019
The Trial of Faith
If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you. —Matthew 17:20
We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.
Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, “I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.” The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ reveals, not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but One who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man. Disciples Indeed, 388 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Changing the Climate - #8559
Columnist Bob Greene told a story that touched my heart. It's about a newspaperman in a small Midwestern town and the call he got from a school teacher. She wanted to tell him about something that had happened to a child on the playground. He was braced for bad news. Well, it wasn't. During a lunch break, most of the 8th graders were gathered in groups, talking and playing. This one boy - a student who actually suffered from severe physical disabilities and was new to the school - was off by himself as usual. He was, like, painfully shy.
The teacher noticed another boy - one of the most popular kids in school, a great athlete - leave his group of the "in crowd" boys and walk over to this lone student. Well, eavesdropping, the teacher heard the athlete ask the other boy if he'd like to play catch. That disabled boy said no one liked to play with him and he was afraid he would mess up and the others would laugh at him. With his impaired vision and his thick glasses, he could barely see the ball.
The athlete assured him, "Hey, it's OK to mess up, man. We all do." So they began to play catch. When some of the other students saw that Mr. Athlete had included the other boy, they came over to join and play. They made sure he could catch their passes; they made him part of the group all during the lunch break. The teacher said, "It was the kindest thing I've witnessed in 28 years as a school teacher." Then she told the reporter, "The athlete was your son." That reporter choked back tears at what had suddenly become the proudest moment of his life.
Because of what that popular student did that lunchtime, the school year became a little more bearable for a boy who had been treated as an outcast until then. Most of the time, he's been treated now with decency and friendship that he actually deserves.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Changing the Climate."
That's what one student did on that playground that day. He changed the climate by his example. It's what God's calling you to do where you are. In 1 Timothy 4:12, our word for today from the Word of God, Paul says, "Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." Like a thermostat in a building, you can literally help change the temperature where you are by setting the temperature where it should be.
That's what one school athlete did, and it changed the climate of how people treated each other. God's calling us to show folks how they should be talking, the kinds of life-choices they should be making, how they should be treating each other, how they should be trusting God for big things, how they should be living pure and uncompromised and with integrity. Not to preach to them about it. To demonstrate it so they know what it looks like!
It's easy to complain about how things are in your family, or how they are at work or how they are at church or at school. But complaining won't change a thing. Neither will condemning or criticizing or preaching. What is needed where you are is someone who will be what they wish others would be - to lead by contagious example. To step out from a climate that's negative or nasty or stressed, prideful, selfish, and to challenge it. Not so much by their words, but by their actions. Decide how you wish everyone would be in your situation, and be it yourself!
Over time, one person can have amazing power to change the atmosphere and to improve the climate. In the places where God has put you, why don't you be the one who quietly leads everyone else to something better? Don't wait for someone else to change. No, you have Jesus, and you have the power to start changing the climate in your personal world.
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Psalm 117, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WORKS IN PROGRESS
Keep in mind that we are all works in progress. God isn’t finished, and some of his works—well, some of us—need extra attention.
Be the cheerleader who brings out the best, not the critic who points out the rest. You have a tool chest of encouraging words, a phrase of admonition, a warm greeting, genuine forgiveness, patience, kindness and unselfishness. Do whatever it takes to bring out the best in others.
Why? Because God is bringing out the best in you. Little by little, God is making a new you out of you.
Your Father is following you, my friend. And on this journey of life and love when you find it difficult to love the people who are hard to love, just pause and call out God’s name. He’s not about to let you walk this path without his help. And this is how happiness happens.
Psalm 117
Praise God, everybody!
Applaud God, all people!
His love has taken over our lives;
God’s faithful ways are eternal.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 1:5; 16:1–11, 33
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
John 16:1-11 New International Version (NIV)
16 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
John 16:33 New International Version (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Insight
Jesus promised that His departure would be a good thing for the disciples because His leaving would initiate the coming of the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Advocate (John 16:7). But after the Spirit came, persecution would follow. The religious leaders would kill believers in Jesus, thinking they were doing it as a service to God (v. 2). Jesus knew His disciples would need the comfort and help of the Spirit during those difficult days—things we need today as well.
A Light in the Darkness
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33
In These Are the Generations, Mr. Bae describes God’s faithfulness and the power of the gospel to penetrate the darkness. His grandfather, parents, and his own family were all persecuted for sharing their faith in Christ. But an interesting thing happened when Mr. Bae was imprisoned for telling a friend about God: his faith grew. The same was true for his parents when they were sentenced to a concentration camp—they continued to share Christ’s love even there. Mr. Bae found the promise of John 1:5 to be true: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus warned His disciples about the trouble they’d face. They would be rejected by people who “will do such things because they have not known the Father or me” (16:3). But Jesus offered words of comfort: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (v. 33).
While many believers in Jesus haven’t experienced persecution on the level of that endured by the family of Mr. Bae, we can expect to face trouble. But we don’t have to give in to discouragement or resentment. We have a Helper—the Holy Spirit Jesus promised to send. We can turn to Him for guidance and comfort (v. 7). The power of God’s presence can hold us steady in dark times. By: Linda Washington
Reflect & Pray
What trouble have you experienced as a believer in Christ or witnessed others experiencing? What is your first reaction during hard times?
Heavenly Father, please protect Your children who are experiencing persecution.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Faith
Without faith it is impossible to please Him… —Hebrews 11:6
Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. “We know that all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children.
For every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, “Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
The Amazing Reason Why You Are Where You Are - #8558
It's hard to find any "good news" in the bad news of being diagnosed with cancer. But Ellen did, and she told me about it after a recent seminar I had in her area. I'm really excited about how God uses the A Life That Matters book and training to help everyday believers help people they know be in heaven with them. Ellen told me she'd read the book about that when it came out, but she didn't really look for or see many opportunities to tell people the good news about Jesus...until she got cancer.
Suddenly she was in the middle of a lot of people, in her words were "facing their own mortality; people whose future was suddenly uncertain because of that chilling word - cancer. Now, because of what she was going through and what they were going through, her cancer strangely qualified her to share the Christ who died and rose again to get us ready for eternity. Ellen said, "I went back. I re-read your book so I'd know what to do." Well, God has used Ellen in a powerful way. She said, "Ron, I have led so many cancer patients to Jesus - people from many different religions and people with no faith at all!" Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Amazing Reason Why You Are Where You Are."
It turned out there was an eternal reason - a life-saving reason that Ellen had found for being a cancer patient. What she was going through uniquely qualified her to help some people around her be in heaven with her. That's the reason you are where you are. Jesus assigns us to places and to situations to be, as Paul said, "...ambassadors for Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:20). If you have eyes to see, your personal situation right now is loaded with opportunities to bring up the difference that a relationship with Jesus makes.
You may feel like surely there's someone who could do a better job of representing Jesus. You'd better take that up with Him. You're His chosen representative, because He planted you in the place you work, the place you live, the school you go to, the activity you're involved in. And people listen to people who are walking the same trail as they are, who are in the same tribe. Moms listen to moms, truckers listen to truckers, salesmen to salesmen, farmers listen to farmers, engineers to engineers, athletes to athletes, dads listen to dads, and students listen to students. You got it by now, right? You are uniquely qualified to reach people like you. And you may, in fact, be their best chance to find Jesus, or maybe even their only chance.
The prayer of Colossians 4:3-4, our word for today from the Word of God, becomes a very significant prayer for you. I call it The Three-Open Prayer. The verse that follows, Colossians 4:5, says: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders" (that's people who are outside of Jesus) "make the most of every opportunity." Don't miss chances to be their spiritual rescuer and to bring up Jesus. Now, here's the prayer that paves the way for the rescue: "Pray...that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should." Okay, The Three-Open Prayer, "Lord, open a door." A door is a natural opportunity to bring up your relationship with Christ. Then, "Lord, open their heart." Get them ready to hear about You, Lord. And then, "Lord, open my mouth." Give me the courage, the words and the approach to use to present You clearly. You got it? Open a door, open their heart and open my mouth.
See, there's an eternal reason why you are where you are occupationally, geographically, situationally, parentally, physically, emotionally, maybe even medically. You've been given a stretch of spiritual beach where Jesus has assigned you as His lifeguard, and you can be sure there are spiritually drowning people there within your reach.
There's meaning in the situation you're in...forever meaning, life-saving meaning. You're there to rescue. Don't let them down. Don't let Jesus down.
Keep in mind that we are all works in progress. God isn’t finished, and some of his works—well, some of us—need extra attention.
Be the cheerleader who brings out the best, not the critic who points out the rest. You have a tool chest of encouraging words, a phrase of admonition, a warm greeting, genuine forgiveness, patience, kindness and unselfishness. Do whatever it takes to bring out the best in others.
Why? Because God is bringing out the best in you. Little by little, God is making a new you out of you.
Your Father is following you, my friend. And on this journey of life and love when you find it difficult to love the people who are hard to love, just pause and call out God’s name. He’s not about to let you walk this path without his help. And this is how happiness happens.
Psalm 117
Praise God, everybody!
Applaud God, all people!
His love has taken over our lives;
God’s faithful ways are eternal.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 1:5; 16:1–11, 33
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
John 16:1-11 New International Version (NIV)
16 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
John 16:33 New International Version (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Insight
Jesus promised that His departure would be a good thing for the disciples because His leaving would initiate the coming of the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Advocate (John 16:7). But after the Spirit came, persecution would follow. The religious leaders would kill believers in Jesus, thinking they were doing it as a service to God (v. 2). Jesus knew His disciples would need the comfort and help of the Spirit during those difficult days—things we need today as well.
A Light in the Darkness
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33
In These Are the Generations, Mr. Bae describes God’s faithfulness and the power of the gospel to penetrate the darkness. His grandfather, parents, and his own family were all persecuted for sharing their faith in Christ. But an interesting thing happened when Mr. Bae was imprisoned for telling a friend about God: his faith grew. The same was true for his parents when they were sentenced to a concentration camp—they continued to share Christ’s love even there. Mr. Bae found the promise of John 1:5 to be true: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus warned His disciples about the trouble they’d face. They would be rejected by people who “will do such things because they have not known the Father or me” (16:3). But Jesus offered words of comfort: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (v. 33).
While many believers in Jesus haven’t experienced persecution on the level of that endured by the family of Mr. Bae, we can expect to face trouble. But we don’t have to give in to discouragement or resentment. We have a Helper—the Holy Spirit Jesus promised to send. We can turn to Him for guidance and comfort (v. 7). The power of God’s presence can hold us steady in dark times. By: Linda Washington
Reflect & Pray
What trouble have you experienced as a believer in Christ or witnessed others experiencing? What is your first reaction during hard times?
Heavenly Father, please protect Your children who are experiencing persecution.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Faith
Without faith it is impossible to please Him… —Hebrews 11:6
Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. “We know that all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children.
For every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, “Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
The Amazing Reason Why You Are Where You Are - #8558
It's hard to find any "good news" in the bad news of being diagnosed with cancer. But Ellen did, and she told me about it after a recent seminar I had in her area. I'm really excited about how God uses the A Life That Matters book and training to help everyday believers help people they know be in heaven with them. Ellen told me she'd read the book about that when it came out, but she didn't really look for or see many opportunities to tell people the good news about Jesus...until she got cancer.
Suddenly she was in the middle of a lot of people, in her words were "facing their own mortality; people whose future was suddenly uncertain because of that chilling word - cancer. Now, because of what she was going through and what they were going through, her cancer strangely qualified her to share the Christ who died and rose again to get us ready for eternity. Ellen said, "I went back. I re-read your book so I'd know what to do." Well, God has used Ellen in a powerful way. She said, "Ron, I have led so many cancer patients to Jesus - people from many different religions and people with no faith at all!" Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Amazing Reason Why You Are Where You Are."
It turned out there was an eternal reason - a life-saving reason that Ellen had found for being a cancer patient. What she was going through uniquely qualified her to help some people around her be in heaven with her. That's the reason you are where you are. Jesus assigns us to places and to situations to be, as Paul said, "...ambassadors for Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:20). If you have eyes to see, your personal situation right now is loaded with opportunities to bring up the difference that a relationship with Jesus makes.
You may feel like surely there's someone who could do a better job of representing Jesus. You'd better take that up with Him. You're His chosen representative, because He planted you in the place you work, the place you live, the school you go to, the activity you're involved in. And people listen to people who are walking the same trail as they are, who are in the same tribe. Moms listen to moms, truckers listen to truckers, salesmen to salesmen, farmers listen to farmers, engineers to engineers, athletes to athletes, dads listen to dads, and students listen to students. You got it by now, right? You are uniquely qualified to reach people like you. And you may, in fact, be their best chance to find Jesus, or maybe even their only chance.
The prayer of Colossians 4:3-4, our word for today from the Word of God, becomes a very significant prayer for you. I call it The Three-Open Prayer. The verse that follows, Colossians 4:5, says: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders" (that's people who are outside of Jesus) "make the most of every opportunity." Don't miss chances to be their spiritual rescuer and to bring up Jesus. Now, here's the prayer that paves the way for the rescue: "Pray...that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should." Okay, The Three-Open Prayer, "Lord, open a door." A door is a natural opportunity to bring up your relationship with Christ. Then, "Lord, open their heart." Get them ready to hear about You, Lord. And then, "Lord, open my mouth." Give me the courage, the words and the approach to use to present You clearly. You got it? Open a door, open their heart and open my mouth.
See, there's an eternal reason why you are where you are occupationally, geographically, situationally, parentally, physically, emotionally, maybe even medically. You've been given a stretch of spiritual beach where Jesus has assigned you as His lifeguard, and you can be sure there are spiritually drowning people there within your reach.
There's meaning in the situation you're in...forever meaning, life-saving meaning. You're there to rescue. Don't let them down. Don't let Jesus down.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Psalm 116, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S ART GALLERY
The reason God loves you is that he has chosen to love you.
Others may abandon you, divorce you, and ignore you. God will love you. These are his words: “I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved” (Romans 9:25 THE MSG).
Let this love happen in your life, and prepare yourself for a new day. As God has his way with you, he will not let you live with your old hatred and prejudices. You will see people in a different way. The neighbor down the street? He’s not a person who forgets to mow his lawn. He is made in the image of God.
God loves a diverse creation. And God’s love finds beauty in the collage of humanity. Life will become less a chore and more a stroll through God’s art gallery. And this is how happiness happens.
Psalm 116
I love God because he listened to me,
listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn;
then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
“Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
7-8 I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
9-11 I’m striding in the presence of God,
alive in the land of the living!
I stayed faithful, though bedeviled,
and despite a ton of bad luck,
Despite giving up on the human race,
saying, “They’re all liars and cheats.”
12-19 What can I give back to God
for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it together with his people.
When they arrive at the gates of death,
God welcomes those who love him.
Oh, God, here I am, your servant,
your faithful servant: set me free for your service!
I’m ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice
and pray in the name of God.
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it in company with his people,
In the place of worship, in God’s house,
in Jerusalem, God’s city.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Isaiah 42:10–17
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
you islands, and all who live in them.
11 Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices;
let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
let them shout from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord
and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13 The Lord will march out like a champion,
like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
and will triumph over his enemies.
14 “For a long time I have kept silent,
I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
I cry out, I gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up the pools.
16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them.
17 But those who trust in idols,
who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’
will be turned back in utter shame.
Insight
In Isaiah 42:1–9, God speaks of “my servant,” the first of four prophecies in Isaiah (42:1–9; 49:1–13; 50:4–11; 52:13–53:12) known as the “Servant Songs.” The servant first refers to the nation Israel (Isaiah 41:8; 49:3) and also prophetically to Jesus (Matthew 12:17–20). After telling us of the servant’s mission and compassion (Isaiah 42:1–9), the prophet gives us “a new song” (v. 10), inviting us to “rejoice . . . [and] give glory to the Lord” (vv. 11–12) for His salvation.
A Road Not Traveled
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them. Isaiah 42:16
People ask me if I have a five-year plan. How can I plan five years “down the road” on a road I’ve never traveled?
I think back to the 1960s when I was a minister to students at Stanford University. I’d been a physical education major in college and had a lot of fun, but I left no record of being a scholar. I felt wholly inadequate in my new position. Most days I wandered around the campus, a blind man groping in the darkness, asking God to show me what to do. One day a student “out of the blue” asked me to lead a Bible study in his fraternity. It was a beginning.
God doesn’t stand at a juncture and point the way: He’s a guide, not a signpost. He walks with us, leading us down paths we never envisioned. All we have to do is walk alongside Him.
The path won’t be easy; there’ll be “rough places” along the way. But God has promised that He will “turn the darkness into light” and “will not forsake” us (Isaiah 42:16). He’ll be with us all the way.
Paul said that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). We can scheme and envision, but our Lord’s imagination far transcends our plans. We must hold them loosely and see what God has in mind. By: David H. Roper
Reflect & Pray
In what ways has God turned your darkness into light? What have you found to be your greatest joy as you walk with Him?
Jesus, I thank You that You have plans for me far beyond my imagination. Help me follow Your lead.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Substitution
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2 Corinthians 5:21
The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made…to be sin….” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9, where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples.
That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (see Galatians 4:19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Beyond Yesterday - #8557
The plane bound for Newark Airport was full. All those passengers are waiting for their suitcase now to arrive on the baggage carousel along with passengers from a couple of other flights. And to think people pay to go to the zoo! Man, there are times when that crowd of people gets pretty big and we're all crammed together in an area that can get pretty wall-to-wall. I remember when the claustrophobia got worse than ever. See, they had put up a wall that reduced the already limited space. You could get pretty steamed about it if you didn't realize the wall was there to cover up some construction that was in progress. See, they were improving and enlarging that whole area! Now how do they make us feel good about this crunch in the meantime? They put up a sign on that construction wall and it seemed to do the job. Look, I didn't forget it did I? It said this, "Thanks for your patience. We are getting rid of yesterday so we can get ready for tomorrow."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beyond Yesterday."
By the way, that's God's construction strategy, too, for improving and enlarging your life. Our word for today from the Word of God, Philippians 3:13-14. Paul says, "One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Or, you might say, I'm getting rid of yesterday so I can get ready for tomorrow.
Well, are you hanging on to yesterday. Those construction people at the airport had to make a choice. Should we hang on to what's been in the past or leave that behind and build something better for the future? You can't have both. They couldn't have the future if they kept hanging onto the past, and neither can you.
It may be that you are writing the verse this way, "Dwelling on what is behind," "remembering what is behind." Because you won't let go of the past: the hurts, the slights, the pain, the problems, the misunderstandings, the grudge, the resentments. You keep reliving them and replaying them and consequently you have pretty much identified your place in life, "I'm a victim." And you may very well have been a victim. But you will be tomorrow a victim, only if you insist on carrying your yesterday into your tomorrow.
You've got Jesus now. Your identity is "child of God," not "victim." Your tomorrows need to be focused on pursuing what Jesus can make you, not what your past has made you. Maybe the yesterdays you won't forget are your own failures. You've got to leave them behind, too.
You can't change the past, and the Devil would love to have you focused on what can't be changed. Then you're a slave for life. Jesus wants you to focus on what can be changed, and that's in the future. That has yet to be written. You can determine right now, no matter what the past has been that the rest of your days will be the best of your days and that your past will not infect or determine your future. You draw a line today.
The choice is clear, just like that construction company, you have to choose between yesterday or tomorrow. Dwelling on your yesterdays will cost you what your tomorrows could have been. Releasing your yesterdays, deliberately moving past them, makes room for what God wants to build in your future. Jesus is in the construction business with you, getting rid of yesterday so He can get you ready for tomorrow.
The reason God loves you is that he has chosen to love you.
Others may abandon you, divorce you, and ignore you. God will love you. These are his words: “I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved” (Romans 9:25 THE MSG).
Let this love happen in your life, and prepare yourself for a new day. As God has his way with you, he will not let you live with your old hatred and prejudices. You will see people in a different way. The neighbor down the street? He’s not a person who forgets to mow his lawn. He is made in the image of God.
God loves a diverse creation. And God’s love finds beauty in the collage of humanity. Life will become less a chore and more a stroll through God’s art gallery. And this is how happiness happens.
Psalm 116
I love God because he listened to me,
listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn;
then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
“Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
7-8 I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
9-11 I’m striding in the presence of God,
alive in the land of the living!
I stayed faithful, though bedeviled,
and despite a ton of bad luck,
Despite giving up on the human race,
saying, “They’re all liars and cheats.”
12-19 What can I give back to God
for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it together with his people.
When they arrive at the gates of death,
God welcomes those who love him.
Oh, God, here I am, your servant,
your faithful servant: set me free for your service!
I’m ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice
and pray in the name of God.
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it in company with his people,
In the place of worship, in God’s house,
in Jerusalem, God’s city.
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Isaiah 42:10–17
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
you islands, and all who live in them.
11 Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices;
let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
let them shout from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord
and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13 The Lord will march out like a champion,
like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
and will triumph over his enemies.
14 “For a long time I have kept silent,
I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
I cry out, I gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up the pools.
16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them.
17 But those who trust in idols,
who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’
will be turned back in utter shame.
Insight
In Isaiah 42:1–9, God speaks of “my servant,” the first of four prophecies in Isaiah (42:1–9; 49:1–13; 50:4–11; 52:13–53:12) known as the “Servant Songs.” The servant first refers to the nation Israel (Isaiah 41:8; 49:3) and also prophetically to Jesus (Matthew 12:17–20). After telling us of the servant’s mission and compassion (Isaiah 42:1–9), the prophet gives us “a new song” (v. 10), inviting us to “rejoice . . . [and] give glory to the Lord” (vv. 11–12) for His salvation.
A Road Not Traveled
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them. Isaiah 42:16
People ask me if I have a five-year plan. How can I plan five years “down the road” on a road I’ve never traveled?
I think back to the 1960s when I was a minister to students at Stanford University. I’d been a physical education major in college and had a lot of fun, but I left no record of being a scholar. I felt wholly inadequate in my new position. Most days I wandered around the campus, a blind man groping in the darkness, asking God to show me what to do. One day a student “out of the blue” asked me to lead a Bible study in his fraternity. It was a beginning.
God doesn’t stand at a juncture and point the way: He’s a guide, not a signpost. He walks with us, leading us down paths we never envisioned. All we have to do is walk alongside Him.
The path won’t be easy; there’ll be “rough places” along the way. But God has promised that He will “turn the darkness into light” and “will not forsake” us (Isaiah 42:16). He’ll be with us all the way.
Paul said that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). We can scheme and envision, but our Lord’s imagination far transcends our plans. We must hold them loosely and see what God has in mind. By: David H. Roper
Reflect & Pray
In what ways has God turned your darkness into light? What have you found to be your greatest joy as you walk with Him?
Jesus, I thank You that You have plans for me far beyond my imagination. Help me follow Your lead.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Substitution
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2 Corinthians 5:21
The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made…to be sin….” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9, where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples.
That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (see Galatians 4:19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Beyond Yesterday - #8557
The plane bound for Newark Airport was full. All those passengers are waiting for their suitcase now to arrive on the baggage carousel along with passengers from a couple of other flights. And to think people pay to go to the zoo! Man, there are times when that crowd of people gets pretty big and we're all crammed together in an area that can get pretty wall-to-wall. I remember when the claustrophobia got worse than ever. See, they had put up a wall that reduced the already limited space. You could get pretty steamed about it if you didn't realize the wall was there to cover up some construction that was in progress. See, they were improving and enlarging that whole area! Now how do they make us feel good about this crunch in the meantime? They put up a sign on that construction wall and it seemed to do the job. Look, I didn't forget it did I? It said this, "Thanks for your patience. We are getting rid of yesterday so we can get ready for tomorrow."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beyond Yesterday."
By the way, that's God's construction strategy, too, for improving and enlarging your life. Our word for today from the Word of God, Philippians 3:13-14. Paul says, "One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Or, you might say, I'm getting rid of yesterday so I can get ready for tomorrow.
Well, are you hanging on to yesterday. Those construction people at the airport had to make a choice. Should we hang on to what's been in the past or leave that behind and build something better for the future? You can't have both. They couldn't have the future if they kept hanging onto the past, and neither can you.
It may be that you are writing the verse this way, "Dwelling on what is behind," "remembering what is behind." Because you won't let go of the past: the hurts, the slights, the pain, the problems, the misunderstandings, the grudge, the resentments. You keep reliving them and replaying them and consequently you have pretty much identified your place in life, "I'm a victim." And you may very well have been a victim. But you will be tomorrow a victim, only if you insist on carrying your yesterday into your tomorrow.
You've got Jesus now. Your identity is "child of God," not "victim." Your tomorrows need to be focused on pursuing what Jesus can make you, not what your past has made you. Maybe the yesterdays you won't forget are your own failures. You've got to leave them behind, too.
You can't change the past, and the Devil would love to have you focused on what can't be changed. Then you're a slave for life. Jesus wants you to focus on what can be changed, and that's in the future. That has yet to be written. You can determine right now, no matter what the past has been that the rest of your days will be the best of your days and that your past will not infect or determine your future. You draw a line today.
The choice is clear, just like that construction company, you have to choose between yesterday or tomorrow. Dwelling on your yesterdays will cost you what your tomorrows could have been. Releasing your yesterdays, deliberately moving past them, makes room for what God wants to build in your future. Jesus is in the construction business with you, getting rid of yesterday so He can get you ready for tomorrow.
Monday, October 28, 2019
1 Thessalonians 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: HAVE YOU LET GOD LOVE YOU?
“Love one another as I have loved you” James 13:34. The Greek word used for love (agape) denotes an unselfish affection. The final phrase is the essential one: “as I have loved you.” Have you let God love you? Please don’t hurry past the question.
We don’t love people because people are lovable. People can be cranky, stubborn, selfish, and cruel. We love people for this reason: we have come to experience and believe the love that God has for us. We are beneficiaries of an unexpected, undeserved, yet undeniable gift— the love of God.
It is only by receiving our Father’s agape love that we can discover an agape love for others. Be loved, and then love. Just as hurt people hurt people, loved people love people. So let God love you!
This is how happiness happens.
1 Thessalonians 3
So when we couldn’t stand being separated from you any longer and could find no way to visit you ourselves, we stayed in Athens and sent Timothy to get you up and about, cheering you on so you wouldn’t be discouraged by these hard times. He’s a brother and companion in the faith, God’s man in spreading the Message, preaching Christ.
3-5 Not that the troubles should come as any surprise to you. You’ve always known that we’re in for this kind of thing. It’s part of our calling. When we were with you, we made it quite clear that there was trouble ahead. And now that it’s happened, you know what it’s like. That’s why I couldn’t quit worrying; I had to know for myself how you were doing in the faith. I didn’t want the Tempter getting to you and tearing down everything we had built up together.
6-8 But now that Timothy is back, bringing this terrific report on your faith and love, we feel a lot better. It’s especially gratifying to know that you continue to think well of us, and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you! In the middle of our trouble and hard times here, just knowing how you’re doing keeps us going. Knowing that your faith is alive keeps us alive.
9-10 What would be an adequate thanksgiving to offer God for all the joy we experience before him because of you? We do what we can, praying away, night and day, asking for the bonus of seeing your faces again and doing what we can to help when your faith falters.
11-13 May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 28, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Judges 6:1, 11–16
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.
Judges 6:11-16 New International Version (NIV)
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
Insight
When the Israelites cried out to God for help after years of ignoring Him (Judges 6:6), He sent a prophet who told them exactly what was wrong (vv. 7–10). Then God began to work, but Gideon had no idea what was happening. The story simply says, “The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah” (v. 11). Gideon asked the angel, “Where are all [God’s] wonders that our ancestors told us about?” (v. 13). Only when fire consumed Gideon’s offering (v. 21) did he sense God’s presence (v. 22). Despite this miraculous display, Gideon needed even more assurance from Him (vv. 36–40) before leading his tiny band against the enemy (ch. 7). By: Tim Gustafson
Walk Like a Warrior
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Judges 6:12
Eighteen-year-old Emma faithfully talks about Jesus on social media, even though bullies have criticized her joy and enthusiastic love for Christ. Some have attacked her with remarks about her physical appearance. Others have suggested a lack of intelligence because of her devotion to God. Though the unkind words cut deep into Emma’s heart, she continues to spread the gospel with bold faith and love for Jesus and others. Sometimes, though, she’s tempted to believe her identity and worth are determined by the criticism of others. When that happens, she asks God for help, prays for her persecutors, meditates on the words of Scripture, and perseveres with Spirit-empowered courage and confidence.
Gideon faced fierce tormentors—the Midianites (Judges 6:1–10). Though God called him a “mighty warrior,” Gideon struggled to let go of his doubt, self-imposed limitations, and insecurities (vv. 11–15). On more than one occasion, he questioned the Lord’s presence and his own qualifications, but eventually surrendered in faith.
When we trust God, we can live like we believe what He says about us is true. Even when persecution tempts us to doubt our identity, our loving Father confirms His presence and fights on our behalf. He affirms we can walk like mighty warriors armed with His absolute love, guarded by His endless grace, and secured in His reliable truth. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
Which verses help you remain steadfast when you’re tempted to doubt your identity and worth? What can you do to combat verbal attacks?
God, please help us recall Your love and respond in grace every time someone tempts us to doubt our value or question our unique roles.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 28, 2019
Justification by Faith
If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. —Romans 5:10
I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished.
The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is impossible to read too much, but always keep before you why you read. Remember that “the need to receive, recognize, and rely on the Holy Spirit” is before all else. Approved Unto God, 11 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 28, 2019
The Light That Weathers All Your Storms - #8556
Some of our most memorable vacation moments as a family have been spent on the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina. It hasn't always been beautiful for ships that were navigating those treacherous shoals that are off the shores of the Outer Banks. In fact, it's estimated that over 2,000 ships have gone down there over those centuries. But a lot more lives could have been lost there if it hadn't been for the Cape Hatteras Light, one of the most famous lighthouses in America. Its octagonal tower rises massively above the beach and the sand hills, and it's been the guiding light that kept many ships from going aground. It's stood there for nearly two centuries. Imagine the storms that she's weathered, including more than a hundred hurricanes! Storms that blew away so many other structures, but the lighthouse still stands.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Light That Weathers All Your Storms."
So many lights that people have depended on just couldn't survive the storms. The marriage that was supposed to give love for a lifetime, the job we thought would always be there, the person that was supposed to be an anchor, the retirement plans that you thought was so secure. But they're gone. Our health that we always just took for granted, even our religion that just wasn't enough to sustain us through the storm.
But there's something in us that yearns for - that really needs - one certain light that will always be there, no matter how stormy it gets, no matter how dark it gets. We need something that's unshakably secure that helps guide us through the toughest times. In fact, we're created with a need for that - a need that was actually designed to be met by the One who put us here in the first place. Actually, we are made for Him, and our Creator is the only light that never goes out and never goes away.
John 8:12 - it's our word for today from the Word of God. Here's what it says. We've got Jesus taking us straight to the light that weathers every storm. "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
For 2,000 years, through every changing culture and circumstance, Jesus has been the light that has dispelled the darkness for millions of lives, the one love that no storm has ever touched, the one security that lasts a lifetime, actually lasts for eternity. In fact, Jesus is the light for the darkest journey you will ever take - the last one. He's the light that will guide you all the way to heaven.
But for Jesus to be our light, He had to go through the darkest darkness any human being has ever endured - that cross. That awful death on a cross where Jesus took on Himself every wrong thing every one of us has ever done, including every sin of your life and mine. It was literally our hell that Jesus was taking there so we could go to heaven. Because the deepest darkness of all is the darkness inside us, the sin that only the Man who died for you can forgive. That only the man who conquered death with His resurrection can overcome.
I know a relationship with Jesus can weather every storm. He's loved and sustained us through losing a baby, financial crises, through all the struggles of parenting, through major medical battles, and even at the casket of a woman I have loved for a lifetime.
Jesus has never abandoned, never let down anyone who's put their life in His hands. He's the one certain light that your heart needs. He died so you could have a relationship with Him. But you have to choose Him for yourself by telling Him, "Jesus, I don't belong at the steering wheel of my life any more. You do, and I'm putting all my trust in You to remove the wall between me and God. I want to belong to you from this day on."
That's exactly, by the way, why our website ANewStory.com is there, to help you get this done. That website is ANewStory.com.
For all your storms, for all your dark times, even for your final journey, there's a light that will always be there, and His name is Jesus.
“Love one another as I have loved you” James 13:34. The Greek word used for love (agape) denotes an unselfish affection. The final phrase is the essential one: “as I have loved you.” Have you let God love you? Please don’t hurry past the question.
We don’t love people because people are lovable. People can be cranky, stubborn, selfish, and cruel. We love people for this reason: we have come to experience and believe the love that God has for us. We are beneficiaries of an unexpected, undeserved, yet undeniable gift— the love of God.
It is only by receiving our Father’s agape love that we can discover an agape love for others. Be loved, and then love. Just as hurt people hurt people, loved people love people. So let God love you!
This is how happiness happens.
1 Thessalonians 3
So when we couldn’t stand being separated from you any longer and could find no way to visit you ourselves, we stayed in Athens and sent Timothy to get you up and about, cheering you on so you wouldn’t be discouraged by these hard times. He’s a brother and companion in the faith, God’s man in spreading the Message, preaching Christ.
3-5 Not that the troubles should come as any surprise to you. You’ve always known that we’re in for this kind of thing. It’s part of our calling. When we were with you, we made it quite clear that there was trouble ahead. And now that it’s happened, you know what it’s like. That’s why I couldn’t quit worrying; I had to know for myself how you were doing in the faith. I didn’t want the Tempter getting to you and tearing down everything we had built up together.
6-8 But now that Timothy is back, bringing this terrific report on your faith and love, we feel a lot better. It’s especially gratifying to know that you continue to think well of us, and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you! In the middle of our trouble and hard times here, just knowing how you’re doing keeps us going. Knowing that your faith is alive keeps us alive.
9-10 What would be an adequate thanksgiving to offer God for all the joy we experience before him because of you? We do what we can, praying away, night and day, asking for the bonus of seeing your faces again and doing what we can to help when your faith falters.
11-13 May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 28, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Judges 6:1, 11–16
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.
Judges 6:11-16 New International Version (NIV)
11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
Insight
When the Israelites cried out to God for help after years of ignoring Him (Judges 6:6), He sent a prophet who told them exactly what was wrong (vv. 7–10). Then God began to work, but Gideon had no idea what was happening. The story simply says, “The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah” (v. 11). Gideon asked the angel, “Where are all [God’s] wonders that our ancestors told us about?” (v. 13). Only when fire consumed Gideon’s offering (v. 21) did he sense God’s presence (v. 22). Despite this miraculous display, Gideon needed even more assurance from Him (vv. 36–40) before leading his tiny band against the enemy (ch. 7). By: Tim Gustafson
Walk Like a Warrior
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Judges 6:12
Eighteen-year-old Emma faithfully talks about Jesus on social media, even though bullies have criticized her joy and enthusiastic love for Christ. Some have attacked her with remarks about her physical appearance. Others have suggested a lack of intelligence because of her devotion to God. Though the unkind words cut deep into Emma’s heart, she continues to spread the gospel with bold faith and love for Jesus and others. Sometimes, though, she’s tempted to believe her identity and worth are determined by the criticism of others. When that happens, she asks God for help, prays for her persecutors, meditates on the words of Scripture, and perseveres with Spirit-empowered courage and confidence.
Gideon faced fierce tormentors—the Midianites (Judges 6:1–10). Though God called him a “mighty warrior,” Gideon struggled to let go of his doubt, self-imposed limitations, and insecurities (vv. 11–15). On more than one occasion, he questioned the Lord’s presence and his own qualifications, but eventually surrendered in faith.
When we trust God, we can live like we believe what He says about us is true. Even when persecution tempts us to doubt our identity, our loving Father confirms His presence and fights on our behalf. He affirms we can walk like mighty warriors armed with His absolute love, guarded by His endless grace, and secured in His reliable truth. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
Which verses help you remain steadfast when you’re tempted to doubt your identity and worth? What can you do to combat verbal attacks?
God, please help us recall Your love and respond in grace every time someone tempts us to doubt our value or question our unique roles.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 28, 2019
Justification by Faith
If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. —Romans 5:10
I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished.
The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is impossible to read too much, but always keep before you why you read. Remember that “the need to receive, recognize, and rely on the Holy Spirit” is before all else. Approved Unto God, 11 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 28, 2019
The Light That Weathers All Your Storms - #8556
Some of our most memorable vacation moments as a family have been spent on the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina. It hasn't always been beautiful for ships that were navigating those treacherous shoals that are off the shores of the Outer Banks. In fact, it's estimated that over 2,000 ships have gone down there over those centuries. But a lot more lives could have been lost there if it hadn't been for the Cape Hatteras Light, one of the most famous lighthouses in America. Its octagonal tower rises massively above the beach and the sand hills, and it's been the guiding light that kept many ships from going aground. It's stood there for nearly two centuries. Imagine the storms that she's weathered, including more than a hundred hurricanes! Storms that blew away so many other structures, but the lighthouse still stands.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Light That Weathers All Your Storms."
So many lights that people have depended on just couldn't survive the storms. The marriage that was supposed to give love for a lifetime, the job we thought would always be there, the person that was supposed to be an anchor, the retirement plans that you thought was so secure. But they're gone. Our health that we always just took for granted, even our religion that just wasn't enough to sustain us through the storm.
But there's something in us that yearns for - that really needs - one certain light that will always be there, no matter how stormy it gets, no matter how dark it gets. We need something that's unshakably secure that helps guide us through the toughest times. In fact, we're created with a need for that - a need that was actually designed to be met by the One who put us here in the first place. Actually, we are made for Him, and our Creator is the only light that never goes out and never goes away.
John 8:12 - it's our word for today from the Word of God. Here's what it says. We've got Jesus taking us straight to the light that weathers every storm. "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
For 2,000 years, through every changing culture and circumstance, Jesus has been the light that has dispelled the darkness for millions of lives, the one love that no storm has ever touched, the one security that lasts a lifetime, actually lasts for eternity. In fact, Jesus is the light for the darkest journey you will ever take - the last one. He's the light that will guide you all the way to heaven.
But for Jesus to be our light, He had to go through the darkest darkness any human being has ever endured - that cross. That awful death on a cross where Jesus took on Himself every wrong thing every one of us has ever done, including every sin of your life and mine. It was literally our hell that Jesus was taking there so we could go to heaven. Because the deepest darkness of all is the darkness inside us, the sin that only the Man who died for you can forgive. That only the man who conquered death with His resurrection can overcome.
I know a relationship with Jesus can weather every storm. He's loved and sustained us through losing a baby, financial crises, through all the struggles of parenting, through major medical battles, and even at the casket of a woman I have loved for a lifetime.
Jesus has never abandoned, never let down anyone who's put their life in His hands. He's the one certain light that your heart needs. He died so you could have a relationship with Him. But you have to choose Him for yourself by telling Him, "Jesus, I don't belong at the steering wheel of my life any more. You do, and I'm putting all my trust in You to remove the wall between me and God. I want to belong to you from this day on."
That's exactly, by the way, why our website ANewStory.com is there, to help you get this done. That website is ANewStory.com.
For all your storms, for all your dark times, even for your final journey, there's a light that will always be there, and His name is Jesus.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Psalm 115 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God Uses Failures
What was I thinking taking this job? I should have done better. It’s all my fault. The voices—you’ve heard them all. When you lost your job, flunked the exam, or when your marriage went south…when you failed. The voices began to howl, laughing at you. You heard them and you joined them. You disqualified yourself and berated yourself. You sentenced yourself to hard labor in the Leavenworth of poor self-worth. Oh, the voices of failure. Failure finds us all.
But God’s Word is written for failures. It’s full of folks who were foul-ups. David was a failure, yet God used him. Jonah was in the belly of a fish and God heard his prayer. Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet! A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures! Miss this truth and you miss your Glory Days. God’s grace is greater than your failures.
From Glory Days
Psalm 115
Not for our sake, God, no, not for our sake,
but for your name’s sake, show your glory.
Do it on account of your merciful love,
do it on account of your faithful ways.
Do it so none of the nations can say,
“Where now, oh where is their God?”
3-8 Our God is in heaven
doing whatever he wants to do.
Their gods are metal and wood,
handmade in a basement shop:
Carved mouths that can’t talk,
painted eyes that can’t see,
Tin ears that can’t hear,
molded noses that can’t smell,
Hands that can’t grasp, feet that can’t walk or run,
throats that never utter a sound.
Those who make them have become just like them,
have become just like the gods they trust.
9-11 But you, Israel: put your trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
Clan of Aaron, trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
You who fear God, trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
12-16 O God, remember us and bless us,
bless the families of Israel and Aaron.
And let God bless all who fear God—
bless the small, bless the great.
Oh, let God enlarge your families—
giving growth to you, growth to your children.
May you be blessed by God,
by God, who made heaven and earth.
The heaven of heavens is for God,
but he put us in charge of the earth.
17-18 Dead people can’t praise God—
not a word to be heard from those buried in the ground.
But we bless God, oh yes—
we bless him now, we bless him always!
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Mark 2:13–17
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Insight
Tax collectors were despised and hated by the Jews because they were regarded as mercenaries and traitors who worked for the hated Roman conquerors who subjugated them. They also collected more than what was legally mandated, pocketing the excess and dishonestly enriching themselves at the expense of their own people (Luke 3:13–14). The term “sinners” was used to describe the notoriously wicked—reprobates who rejected God’s law. The Pharisees also used “sinners” to include anyone who didn’t meticulously maintain ceremonial purity or follow their rigid standards. Tax collectors were deliberately lumped together with sinners to show how degenerate and wicked the tax collectors were. Jesus was invited to dine with all sorts of people, even with the Pharisees (Luke 7:36; 11:37; 14:1). But He ate so often with social and religious outcasts—considered to be the scum of society—that He earned the reputation of being “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19).
Join the Street Team
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:17
City health workers in San Francisco are taking medical care to the streets to supply the homeless who are suffering from opioid addiction with medicine to treat their addiction. The program began in response to the rising number of homeless who are injecting. Customarily, doctors wait for patients to come to a clinic. By taking medical care to the afflicted instead, patients don’t have to overcome the challenges of transportation or needing to remember the appointment.
The health workers’ willingness to go to those in need of care reminds me of the way Jesus has come to us in our need. In His ministry, Jesus sought out those who the religious elite were quick to ignore: He ate with “sinners and tax collectors” (Mark 2:16). When asked why He would do that, Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (v. 17). He went on to say that His intention was to call sinners, not the righteous, into relationship with Him.
When we realize that we’re all “sick” and in need of a doctor (Romans 3:10), we can better appreciate Jesus’s willingness to eat with the “sinners and tax collectors”—us. In turn, like the health care workers in San Francisco, Jesus appointed us as His “street team” to take His saving message to others in need. By: Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
How did Jesus seek you out? To whom can you take the medicine of Jesus?
Thank You, Jesus, for meeting me in my condition.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 27, 2019
The Method of Missions
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… —Matthew 28:19
Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go…make disciples of all the nations….” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.
The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, but foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world, to trust in what Jesus Christ has said? Or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of limitless confidence in Christ Jesus, which is really God’s only call for a missionary? If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord— “All authority has been given to Me….Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18-19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage
What was I thinking taking this job? I should have done better. It’s all my fault. The voices—you’ve heard them all. When you lost your job, flunked the exam, or when your marriage went south…when you failed. The voices began to howl, laughing at you. You heard them and you joined them. You disqualified yourself and berated yourself. You sentenced yourself to hard labor in the Leavenworth of poor self-worth. Oh, the voices of failure. Failure finds us all.
But God’s Word is written for failures. It’s full of folks who were foul-ups. David was a failure, yet God used him. Jonah was in the belly of a fish and God heard his prayer. Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet! A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures! Miss this truth and you miss your Glory Days. God’s grace is greater than your failures.
From Glory Days
Psalm 115
Not for our sake, God, no, not for our sake,
but for your name’s sake, show your glory.
Do it on account of your merciful love,
do it on account of your faithful ways.
Do it so none of the nations can say,
“Where now, oh where is their God?”
3-8 Our God is in heaven
doing whatever he wants to do.
Their gods are metal and wood,
handmade in a basement shop:
Carved mouths that can’t talk,
painted eyes that can’t see,
Tin ears that can’t hear,
molded noses that can’t smell,
Hands that can’t grasp, feet that can’t walk or run,
throats that never utter a sound.
Those who make them have become just like them,
have become just like the gods they trust.
9-11 But you, Israel: put your trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
Clan of Aaron, trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
You who fear God, trust in God!
—trust your Helper! trust your Ruler!
12-16 O God, remember us and bless us,
bless the families of Israel and Aaron.
And let God bless all who fear God—
bless the small, bless the great.
Oh, let God enlarge your families—
giving growth to you, growth to your children.
May you be blessed by God,
by God, who made heaven and earth.
The heaven of heavens is for God,
but he put us in charge of the earth.
17-18 Dead people can’t praise God—
not a word to be heard from those buried in the ground.
But we bless God, oh yes—
we bless him now, we bless him always!
Hallelujah!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Mark 2:13–17
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Insight
Tax collectors were despised and hated by the Jews because they were regarded as mercenaries and traitors who worked for the hated Roman conquerors who subjugated them. They also collected more than what was legally mandated, pocketing the excess and dishonestly enriching themselves at the expense of their own people (Luke 3:13–14). The term “sinners” was used to describe the notoriously wicked—reprobates who rejected God’s law. The Pharisees also used “sinners” to include anyone who didn’t meticulously maintain ceremonial purity or follow their rigid standards. Tax collectors were deliberately lumped together with sinners to show how degenerate and wicked the tax collectors were. Jesus was invited to dine with all sorts of people, even with the Pharisees (Luke 7:36; 11:37; 14:1). But He ate so often with social and religious outcasts—considered to be the scum of society—that He earned the reputation of being “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19).
Join the Street Team
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:17
City health workers in San Francisco are taking medical care to the streets to supply the homeless who are suffering from opioid addiction with medicine to treat their addiction. The program began in response to the rising number of homeless who are injecting. Customarily, doctors wait for patients to come to a clinic. By taking medical care to the afflicted instead, patients don’t have to overcome the challenges of transportation or needing to remember the appointment.
The health workers’ willingness to go to those in need of care reminds me of the way Jesus has come to us in our need. In His ministry, Jesus sought out those who the religious elite were quick to ignore: He ate with “sinners and tax collectors” (Mark 2:16). When asked why He would do that, Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (v. 17). He went on to say that His intention was to call sinners, not the righteous, into relationship with Him.
When we realize that we’re all “sick” and in need of a doctor (Romans 3:10), we can better appreciate Jesus’s willingness to eat with the “sinners and tax collectors”—us. In turn, like the health care workers in San Francisco, Jesus appointed us as His “street team” to take His saving message to others in need. By: Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
How did Jesus seek you out? To whom can you take the medicine of Jesus?
Thank You, Jesus, for meeting me in my condition.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 27, 2019
The Method of Missions
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… —Matthew 28:19
Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go…make disciples of all the nations….” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.
The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, but foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world, to trust in what Jesus Christ has said? Or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of limitless confidence in Christ Jesus, which is really God’s only call for a missionary? If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord— “All authority has been given to Me….Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18-19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage
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