Jeremiah 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: We Don't Know Enough
God is the One who judges. We don't know enough! We condemn a man for stumbling this morning, but we didn't see the blows he took yesterday. We judge a woman for the limp in her walk but cannot see the tack in her shoe. Only one who has followed yesterday's steps can be their judge. Not only are we ignorant about yesterday, we are ignorant about tomorrow. How can you dismiss a soul until God's work is complete? Philippians 1:6 says, "God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again."
Be careful! A stammering shepherd in this generation may be the mighty Moses of the next.  Don't call Noah a fool. You may be asking him for a lift. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:5, "Do not judge before the right time; wait until the Lord comes."
From In the Grip of Grace

Jeremiah 13

People Who Do Only What They Want to Do

God told me, “Go and buy yourself some linen shorts. Put them on and keep them on. Don’t even take them off to wash them.” So I bought the shorts as God directed and put them on.

3-5 Then God told me, “Take the shorts that you bought and go straight to Perath and hide them there in a crack in the rock.” So I did what God told me and hid them at Perath.

6-7 Next, after quite a long time, God told me, “Go back to Perath and get the linen shorts I told you to hide there.” So I went back to Perath and dug them out of the place where I had hidden them. The shorts by then had rotted and were worthless.

8-11 God explained, “This is the way I am going to ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem—a wicked bunch of people who won’t obey me, who do only what they want to do, who chase after all kinds of no-gods and worship them. They’re going to turn out as rotten as these old shorts. Just as shorts clothe and protect, so I kept the whole family of Israel under my care”—God’s Decree—“so that everyone could see they were my people, a people I could show off to the world and be proud of. But they refused to do a thing I said.

12 “And then tell them this, ‘God’s Message, personal from the God of Israel: Every wine jug should be full of wine.’

“And they’ll say, ‘Of course. We know that. Every wine jug should be full of wine!’

13-14 “Then you’ll say, ‘This is what God says: Watch closely. I’m going to fill every person who lives in this country—the kings who rule from David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, the citizens of Jerusalem—with wine that will make them drunk. And then I’ll smash them, smash the wine-filled jugs—old and young alike. Nothing will stop me. Not an ounce of pity or mercy or compassion will slow me down. Every last drunken jug of them will be smashed!’”

The Light You Always Took for Granted
15-17 Then I said, Listen. Listen carefully: Don’t stay stuck in your ways!
    It’s God’s Message we’re dealing with here.
Let your lives glow bright before God
    before he turns out the lights,
Before you trip and fall
    on the dark mountain paths.
The light you always took for granted will go out
    and the world will turn black.
If you people won’t listen,
    I’ll go off by myself and weep over you,
Weep because of your stubborn arrogance,
    bitter, bitter tears,
Rivers of tears from my eyes,
    because God’s sheep will end up in exile.

18-19 Tell the king and the queen-mother,
    “Come down off your high horses.
Your dazzling crowns
    will tumble off your heads.”
The villages in the Negev will be surrounded,
    everyone trapped,
And Judah dragged off to exile,
    the whole country dragged to oblivion.

20-22 Look, look, Jerusalem!
    Look at the enemies coming out of the north!
What will become of your flocks of people,
    the beautiful flocks in your care?
How are you going to feel when the people
    you’ve played up to, looked up to all these years
Now look down on you? You didn’t expect this?
    Surprise! The pain of a woman having a baby!
Do I hear you saying,
    “What’s going on here? Why me?”
The answer’s simple: You’re guilty,
    hugely guilty.
Your guilt has your life endangered,
    your guilt has you writhing in pain.

23 Can an African change skin?
    Can a leopard get rid of its spots?
So what are the odds on you doing good,
    you who are so long-practiced in evil?

24-27 “I’ll blow these people away—
    like wind-blown leaves.
You have it coming to you.
    I’ve measured it out precisely.”
        God’s Decree.
“It’s because you forgot me
    and embraced the Big Lie,
    that so-called god Baal.
I’m the one who will rip off your clothes,
    expose and shame you before the watching world.
Your obsessions with gods, gods, and more gods,
    your goddess affairs, your god-adulteries.
Gods on the hills, gods in the fields—
    every time I look you’re off with another god.
O Jerusalem, what a sordid life!
    Is there any hope for you!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

1 Thessalonians 5:12–28

Final Instructions

 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26 Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Insight
Today’s passage is drawn from Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessalonica in Macedonia. Thessalonica was an important city strategically located on the Ignatian Way, an important Roman highway. It was also situated on the Aegean Sea, which added to its status as a city of commerce. Acts 17:1–9 describes Paul’s ministry there. For three Sabbaths, he taught about Jesus in the city’s synagogue. As a result, some Jews, many Greeks, and several women turned to Jesus (v. 4). However, others started a riot, and Paul and his coworker Silas had to flee the city (vv. 5–10). Paul begins 1 Thessalonians with affirmation and prayer, and throughout we see his concern for these new believers.

Day of Encouragement
We urge you, brothers and sisters, . . . encourage the disheartened. 1 Thessalonians 5:14

First responders show dedication and courage daily by being on the front lines when disasters occur. In the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001 when thousands of people were killed or injured, more than four hundred emergency workers also lost their lives. In honor of first responders, the US Senate designated September 12 as the National Day of Encouragement.

While it may seem unique that a government would declare a national day of encouragement, the apostle Paul certainly thought this was needed for the growth of a church. He commended the young church in Thessalonica, a city in Macedonia, to “encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone” (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Although they were going through persecution, Paul encouraged the believers to “always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else” (v. 15). He knew that as humans, they would be prone to despair, selfishness, and conflict. But he also knew they would not be able to uplift one another without God’s help and strength.

Things are no different today. We all need to be uplifted, and we need to do the same for those around us. Yet we can’t do it in our own strength. That’s why Paul’s encouragement that “the one who calls you [Jesus] is faithful, and he will do it” is so reassuring (v. 24). With His help, we can encourage one another every day.   By:  Estera Pirosca Escobar

Reflect & Pray
How can a word of encouragement keep despair away? Who can you encourage today?

Jesus, thank You for the encouragement You give me each day. Show me who I need to encourage as well.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Going Through Spiritual Confusion
Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask." —Matthew 20:22

There are times in your spiritual life when there is confusion, and the way out of it is not simply to say that you should not be confused. It is not a matter of right and wrong, but a matter of God taking you through a way that you temporarily do not understand. And it is only by going through the spiritual confusion that you will come to the understanding of what God wants for you.

The Shrouding of His Friendship (see Luke 11:5-8). Jesus gave the illustration here of a man who appears not to care for his friend. He was saying, in effect, that is how the heavenly Father will appear to you at times. You will think that He is an unkind friend, but remember— He is not. The time will come when everything will be explained. There seems to be a cloud on the friendship of the heart, and often even love itself has to wait in pain and tears for the blessing of fuller fellowship and oneness. When God appears to be completely shrouded, will you hang on with confidence in Him?

The Shadow on His Fatherhood (see Luke 11:11-13). Jesus said that there are times when your Father will appear as if He were an unnatural father— as if He were callous and indifferent— but remember, He is not. “Everyone who asks receives…” (Luke 11:10). If all you see is a shadow on the face of the Father right now, hang on to the fact that He will ultimately give you clear understanding and will fully justify Himself in everything that He has allowed into your life.

The Strangeness of His Faithfulness (see Luke 18:1-8). “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Will He find the kind of faith that counts on Him in spite of the confusion? Stand firm in faith, believing that what Jesus said is true, although in the meantime you do not understand what God is doing. He has bigger issues at stake than the particular things you are asking of Him right now.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.  The Place of Help, 1051 L

Bible in a Year: Proverbs 13-15; 2 Corinthians 5

Jeremiah 49, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: YOU HAVE NOTHING TO PROVE

Satan and the Son of God stood on the southeastern wall of the temple, more than a hundred feet above the Kidron Valley, and Satan told Jesus to jump into the arms of God. Jesus refused, not because God wouldn’t catch him. He refused because he didn’t have anything to prove to anyone, much less the Devil.

Neither do you. In church, of all places, Satan will do with you what he did with Jesus. He will urge you to do tricks…to impress others with your service, make a show of your faith, or call attention to your good deeds. Satan loves to turn church assemblies into Las Vegas presentations where people show off their abilities rather than boast in God’s. Don’t be suckered!  You don’t have anything to prove.

Jeremiah 49

You’re a Broken-Down Has-Been

 God’s Message on the Ammonites:

“Doesn’t Israel have any children,
    no one to step into her inheritance?
So why is the god Milcom taking over Gad’s land,
    his followers moving into its towns?
But not for long! The time’s coming”
    —God’s Decree—
“When I’ll fill the ears of Rabbah, Ammon’s big city,
    with battle cries.
She’ll end up a pile of rubble,
    all her towns burned to the ground.
Then Israel will kick out the invaders.
    I, God, say so, and it will be so.
Wail Heshbon, Ai is in ruins.
    Villages of Rabbah, wring your hands!
Dress in mourning, weep buckets of tears.
    Go into hysterics, run around in circles!
Your god Milcom will be hauled off to exile,
    and all his priests and managers right with him.
Why do you brag of your once-famous strength?
    You’re a broken-down has-been, a castoff
Who fondles his trophies and dreams of glory days
    and vainly thinks, ‘No one can lay a hand on me.’
Well, think again. I’ll face you with terror from all sides.”
    Word of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“You’ll be stampeded headlong,
    with no one to round up the runaways.
Still, the time will come
    when I will make things right with Ammon.” God’s Decree.

Strutting Across the Stage of History
7-11 The Message of God-of-the-Angel-Armies on Edom:

“Is there nobody wise left in famous Teman?
    no one with a sense of reality?
Has their wisdom gone wormy and rotten?
    Run for your lives! Get out while you can!
Find a good place to hide,
    you who live in Dedan!
I’m bringing doom to Esau.
    It’s time to settle accounts.
When harvesters work your fields,
    don’t they leave gleanings?
When burglars break into your house,
    don’t they take only what they want?
But I’ll strip Esau clean.
    I’ll search out every nook and cranny.
I’ll destroy everything connected with him,
    children and relatives and neighbors.
There’ll be no one left who will be able to say,
    ‘I’ll take care of your orphans.
    Your widows can depend on me.’”

12-13 Indeed. God says, “I tell you, if there are people who have to drink the cup of God’s wrath even though they don’t deserve it, why would you think you’d get off? You won’t get off. You’ll drink it. Oh yes, you’ll drink every drop. And as for Bozrah, your capital, I swear by all that I am”—God’s Decree—“that that city will end up a pile of charred ruins, a stinking garbage dump, an obscenity—and all her daughter-cities with her.”

14 I’ve just heard the latest from God.
    He’s sent an envoy to the nations:
“Muster your troops and attack Edom.
    Present arms! Go to war!”

15-16 “Ah, Edom, I’m dropping you to last place among nations,
    the bottom of the heap, kicked around.
You think you’re so great—
    strutting across the stage of history,
Living high in the impregnable rocks,
    acting like king of the mountain.
You think you’re above it all, don’t you,
    like an eagle in its aerie?
Well, you’re headed for a fall.
    I’ll bring you crashing to the ground.” God’s Decree.

17-18 “Edom will end up trash. Stinking, despicable trash. A wonder of the world in reverse. She’ll join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors in the sewers of history.” God says so.

“No one will live there,
    no mortal soul move in there.

19 “Watch this: Like a lion coming up
    from the thick jungle of the Jordan
Looking for prey in the mountain pastures,
    I will come upon Edom and pounce.
I’ll take my pick of the flock—and who’s to stop me?
    The shepherds of Edom are helpless before me.”

20-22 So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against Edom, the blueprint of what he’s prepared for those who live in Teman:

“Believe it or not, the young, the vulnerable—
    mere lambs and kids—will be dragged off.
Believe it or not, the flock
    in shock, helpless to help, will watch it happen.
The very earth will shudder because of their cries,
    cries of anguish heard at the distant Red Sea.
Look! An eagle soars, swoops down,
    spreads its wings over Bozrah.
Brave warriors will double up in pain, helpless to fight,
    like a woman giving birth to a baby.”

The Blood Will Drain from the Face of Damascus
23-27 The Message on Damascus:

“Hamath and Arpad will be in shock
    when they hear the bad news.
Their hearts will melt in fear
    as they pace back and forth in worry.
The blood will drain from the face of Damascus
    as she turns to flee.
Hysterical, she’ll fall to pieces,
    disabled, like a woman in childbirth.
And now how lonely—bereft, abandoned!
    The once famous city, the once happy city.
Her bright young men dead in the streets,
    her brave warriors silent as death.
On that day”—Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
    “I’ll start a fire at the wall of Damascus
    that will burn down all of Ben-hadad’s forts.”

Find a Safe Place to Hide
28-33 The Message on Kedar and the sheikdoms of Hazor who were attacked by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. This is God’s Message:

“On your feet! Attack Kedar!
    Plunder the Bedouin nomads from the east.
    Grab their blankets and pots and pans.
Steal their camels.
    Traumatize them, shouting, ‘Terror! Death! Doom!
Danger everywhere!’
    Oh, run for your lives,
You nomads from Hazor.” God’s Decree.
    “Find a safe place to hide.
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
    has plans to wipe you out,
    to go after you with a vengeance:
‘After them,’ he says. ‘Go after these relaxed nomads
    who live free and easy in the desert,
Who live in the open with no doors to lock,
    who live off by themselves.’
Their camels are there for the taking,
    their herds and flocks, easy picking.
I’ll scatter them to the four winds,
    these defenseless nomads on the fringes of the desert.
I’ll bring terror from every direction.
    They won’t know what hit them.” God’s Decree.
“Jackals will take over the camps of Hazor,
    camps abandoned to wind and sand.
No one will live there,
    no mortal soul move in there.”

The Winds Will Blow Away Elam
34-39 God’s Message to the prophet Jeremiah on Elam at the outset of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies says:

“Watch this! I’ll break Elam’s bow,
    her weapon of choice, across my knee.
Then I’ll let four winds loose on Elam,
    winds from the four corners of earth.
I’ll blow them away in all directions,
    landing homeless Elamites in every country on earth.
They’ll live in constant fear and terror
    among enemies who want to kill them.
I’ll bring doom on them,
    my anger-fueled doom.
I’ll set murderous hounds on their heels
    until there’s nothing left of them.
And then I’ll set up my throne in Elam,
    having thrown out the king and his henchmen.
But the time will come when I make
    everything right for Elam again.” God’s Decree.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, September 11, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Exodus 3:1–10
Moses and the Burning Bush

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

Exodus 3:6 Masoretic Text; Samaritan Pentateuch (see Acts 7:32) fathers

Insight
God’s call to Moses on the mountain is representative of how God often works, for a season of training in the wilderness is often His instrument of equipping for ministry. Joseph served in a wilderness of slavery before becoming God’s instrument of rescue. Both Elijah and Paul spent time in the wilderness. Even Jesus Himself spent forty days in the wilderness before starting His public ministry.

Fire in the Desert
I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. Exodus 3:10

While riding in the Chihuahuan Desert in the late 1800s, Jim White spotted a strange cloud of smoke spiraling skyward. Suspecting a wildfire, the young cowboy rode toward the source, only to learn that the “smoke” was a vast swarm of bats spilling from a hole in the ground. White had come across New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns, an immense and spectacular system of caves.

As Moses was tending sheep in a Middle Eastern desert, he too saw an odd sight that grabbed his attention—a flaming bush that didn’t burn up (Exodus 3:2). When God Himself spoke from the bush, Moses realized he had come to something far grander than it had first appeared. He told Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham” (v. 6). God was about to lead an enslaved people to freedom and show them their true identity as His children (v. 10).

More than six hundred years earlier, God had made this promise to Abraham: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). The flight of the Israelites from Egypt was but one step in that blessing—God’s plan to rescue His creation through the Messiah, Abraham’s descendant.

Today we can enjoy the benefits of that blessing, for God offers this rescue to everyone. Christ came to die for the sins of the whole world. By faith in Him, we too become children of the living God. By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray
What surprising things have helped you learn about God? How are you living in the knowledge that you are one of His children?

Thank You, Father, for making Yourself accessible to me despite Your great power, holiness, and overwhelming presence.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 11, 2020
Missionary Weapons (2)
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. —John 13:14

Ministering in Everyday Opportunities. Ministering in everyday opportunities that surround us does not mean that we select our own surroundings— it means being God’s very special choice to be available for use in any of the seemingly random surroundings which He has engineered for us. The very character we exhibit in our present surroundings is an indication of what we will be like in other surroundings.

The things Jesus did were the most menial of everyday tasks, and this is an indication that it takes all of God’s power in me to accomplish even the most common tasks in His way. Can I use a towel as He did? Towels, dishes, sandals, and all the other ordinary things in our lives reveal what we are made of more quickly than anything else. It takes God Almighty Incarnate in us to do the most menial duty as it ought to be done.

Jesus said, “I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15). Notice the kind of people that God brings around you, and you will be humiliated once you realize that this is actually His way of revealing to you the kind of person you have been to Him. Now He says we should exhibit to those around us exactly what He has exhibited to us.

Do you find yourself responding by saying, “Oh, I will do all that once I’m out on the mission field”? Talking in this way is like trying to produce the weapons of war while in the trenches of the battlefield— you will be killed while trying to do it.

We have to go the “second mile” with God (see Matthew 5:41). Yet some of us become worn out in the first ten steps. Then we say, “Well, I’ll just wait until I get closer to the next big crisis in my life.” But if we do not steadily minister in everyday opportunities, we will do nothing when the crisis comes.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1449 L

Bible in a Year: Proverbs 10-12; 2 Corinthians 4

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 11, 2020
When Only Blood Could Do It - #8785

He's a noted surgeon who wants to make a difference in the world. So once a year, he dedicates a month to going to Central America to do volunteer medical work. Well, I heard on the news he was in an emergency medical clinic one year performing urgent surgery on a young boy in a really remote location. The boy started losing blood faster than expected, and he clearly needed blood. The problem was he had a rare blood type that only 2% of the population carries. And this village clinic certainly didn't have anything that rare. In that critical moment, the doctor suddenly put down his scalpel and went to another room - where he gave blood. He, too, had that rare blood. The boy got the blood he needed, the surgeon returned to finish the operation, and that boy came through just fine.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Only Blood Could Do It."

A boy's life hanging in the balance; his only hope - blood given by the only one who had what it took to save him. Boy, do I understand that. Mine was once a life hanging in the balance, and my only hope was the gift of someone's blood - the only One who had the blood that could meet my need.

Some have called Him the Great Physician. Many call Him Savior. We all call Him Jesus. And my only hope of escaping the spiritual death penalty for the sins of my life was blood - His blood; the blood of the only Man who had no sin of His own to pay for - God's one and only Son. No matter what religion you are, no matter how religious or spiritual you are, His blood is your only hope, too.

All of our theories, all our systems for getting to God and getting to heaven are, at best, guesswork. Only God can tell us what it takes to get to Him; to be forgiven of the sin that makes it impossible for Him to have a relationship with us. And God does tell us in Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Sin carries this eternal death penalty of being separated from our God now and forever. And a death penalty can't be paid by doing nice things. Someone has to die; and someone did. Hebrews 9:26, our word for today from the Word of God, says of Christ: "Now He has appeared once for all...to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Incredibly, Jesus said to God the Father, "Let Me die so Ron doesn't have to." You could put your name there. "Father, let Me die so (your name) doesn't have to."

If you get to the end of your life and you find out that you have missed heaven, that your eternal destination turned out to be hell, don't blame God. He gave His only Son to die for you so you would not have to go there. If a rescuer extends his hand and you don't grab his hand, don't blame the rescuer. In this case, the Rescuer is God's Son, reaching for you. He didn't just donate blood so you could be saved. He poured out His life-blood, dying for you. It's the blood of Jesus that could cover every sin of your life. It is because of that blood shed for you that God is willing to say to you today, "You are forgiven. You are clean. You are Mine forever." You can see why what you do with Jesus is the decisive choice of your life. God will never forget what you do with His Son, because He gave His Son for you.

This is a spiritual rescue we're talking about. And your only hope is to grab the hand of God's rescuer, Jesus, with all the faith you've got. That step will trigger a cleansing miracle of God. In the Bible's words, "The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Every sin you've ever committed, erased from God's book forever today, if you will tell Jesus you are His from this day on - that His blood, shed for you, is your only hope.

Our website has a brief explanation of just how to begin this life-giving relationship with Jesus. Please go there soon today. It's ANewStory.com.

There's an old hymn that says it pretty powerfully: "Just as I am, without one plea, but that Your blood was shed for me. And that You bid me come to Thee. O Lamb of God, I come."

Hebrews 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: THE WISE BUILDER

Obedience leads to blessing.  Disobedience leads to trouble!  Remember Jesus’ parable about the two builders who each built a house?  One built on cheap, easy-to-access-sand.  The other built on costly, difficult-to-reach rock.  The second construction project demanded more time and expense, but when the spring rains turned the creek into a gulley washer…guess which builder enjoyed a blessing and which experienced trouble?

According to Jesus, the wise builder is “whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them” (Matthew 7:24).  The difference between the two was not knowledge and ignorance but obedience and disobedience.  Security comes as we put God’s precepts into practice.  We’re only as strong as our obedience.

Hebrews 2

It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off. If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all, it was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him. All the while God was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles, as he saw fit.

The Salvation Pioneer
5-9 God didn’t put angels in charge of this business of salvation that we’re dealing with here. It says in Scripture,

What is man and woman that you bother with them;
    why take a second look their way?
You made them not quite as high as angels,
    bright with Eden’s dawn light;
Then you put them in charge
    of your entire handcrafted world.

When God put them in charge of everything, nothing was excluded. But we don’t see it yet, don’t see everything under human jurisdiction. What we do see is Jesus, made “not quite as high as angels,” and then, through the experience of death, crowned so much higher than any angel, with a glory “bright with Eden’s dawn light.” In that death, by God’s grace, he fully experienced death in every person’s place.

10-13 It makes good sense that the God who got everything started and keeps everything going now completes the work by making the Salvation Pioneer perfect through suffering as he leads all these people to glory. Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to treat them as family, saying,

I’ll tell my good friends, my brothers and sisters, all I know about you;
I’ll join them in worship and praise to you.

Again, he puts himself in the same family circle when he says,

Even I live by placing my trust in God.

And yet again,

I’m here with the children God gave me.

14-15 Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.

16-18 It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, September 10, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

2 Corinthians 3:17–18

 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Insight
When Paul writes about “unveiled faces” (2 Corinthians 3:18), we must understand his words in the context of Exodus 33 and 34. After his first ascent of Mount Sinai, Moses had earnestly asked God to see His glory. God agreed, and then instructed Moses to climb Sinai again (see Exodus 33:18–34:3). Upon his return from the mountain, Moses’ face shone with the glory of being in the presence of God. It was too much for the people, and he covered his face with a veil (34:29–35). In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul compares the glory of the old covenant (the giving of the law) as visibly demonstrated in Moses’ face, with the glory of the new covenant (the giving and ministry of the Holy Spirit). Through the work of Jesus (vv. 13–15), God’s Holy Spirit brings us freedom to consider His glory with “unveiled faces,” and we’re “transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (v. 18).


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 10, 2020
Missionary Weapons (1)
When you were under the fig tree, I saw you. —John 1:48

Worshiping in Everyday Occasions. We presume that we would be ready for battle if confronted with a great crisis, but it is not the crisis that builds something within us— it simply reveals what we are made of already. Do you find yourself saying, “If God calls me to battle, of course I will rise to the occasion”? Yet you won’t rise to the occasion unless you have done so on God’s training ground. If you are not doing the task that is closest to you now, which God has engineered into your life, when the crisis comes, instead of being fit for battle, you will be revealed as being unfit. Crises always reveal a person’s true character.

A private relationship of worshiping God is the greatest essential element of spiritual fitness. The time will come, as Nathanael experienced in this passage, that a private “fig-tree” life will no longer be possible. Everything will be out in the open, and you will find yourself to be of no value there if you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions in your own home. If your worship is right in your private relationship with God, then when He sets you free, you will be ready. It is in the unseen life, which only God saw, that you have become perfectly fit. And when the strain of the crisis comes, you can be relied upon by God.

Are you saying, “But I can’t be expected to live a sanctified life in my present circumstances; I have no time for prayer or Bible study right now; besides, my opportunity for battle hasn’t come yet, but when it does, of course I will be ready”? No, you will not. If you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions, when you get involved in God’s work, you will not only be useless yourself but also a hindrance to those around you.

God’s training ground, where the missionary weapons are found, is the hidden, personal, worshiping life of the saint.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.
Biblical Psychology

Bible in a Year: Proverbs 8-9; 2 Corinthians 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 10, 2020
Your Total Upgrade - #8784

Okay, it's no secret. I am technically challenged. When it comes to computers, I know just the basics, you know, just enough to get by. Even I know enough to appreciate some things God provided for our ministry, like new computers that worked much faster than our old ones. We were able to upgrade some of our software. And the new software had capabilities that made a lot of things possible that weren't possible before. When it comes to the computers that make such a difference in our lives, a software upgrade can take you to a whole new level.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Total Upgrade."

Long before computers and software and hardware, God's been in the business of upgrading the central processing system of people's lives. It's called your mind. He talks about it in our word for today from the Word of God in the familiar and defining words of Romans 12:1-2. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing, and perfect will."

God calls us here to surrender ourselves completely to the One who gave Himself completely for us. That commitment is going to mean marching to the beat of a different drummer from the one we've marched to all our lives. Without surrendering to Jesus, we follow "the pattern of this world." We base our choices and our values on what our culture says, what our family says, what our environment says, or what our feelings tell us. But God wants to "transform" us, to liberate us from being puppets of our culture, or our surroundings, or our background.

We're not just talking about keeping a few rules or some superficial transformation on the outside. No, God doesn't just shave caterpillars, He transforms them into butterflies - substantial transformation, not just superficial change. God literally wants to upgrade your whole outlook on life by a process He calls "the renewing of your mind."

In a way, it's like upgrading your computer or your software. Now that Christ is in your life, He wants to install some new attitudes about who you are, who you can be because you belong to Jesus. He wants to enable you to see your family through His eyes as He sees them, the problem people in your life as He sees them, and the events of your life as He sees them. This is the exciting process that takes you from the old you to being what the Bible calls "a new creation in Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:17). If you'll work with Him on this "computer upgrade" in your mind, you'll find yourself instinctively choosing His will each day, which puts you right in the middle of the plans for which you were created.

Pretty exciting stuff, huh? How does it happen? By immersing yourself in God's way of thinking. It's called the Bible! If you want your mind renewed, you need to be in His Word every opportunity you get. That's where you develop, if I can put it this way, "God-think"; thinking like God does about something. You need to make opportunities to be in His Word! And make your time with Him in His book the non-negotiable of your daily schedule. Each new day is a new challenge to live His way and to think His way. So each new day, you need to begin by installing His software, by bathing your mind with His thoughts - with His perspective.

Commit yourself to the aggressive study of God's words in the Bible. Examine every situation, examine every relationship, and every decision in light of what God says. Day-by-day, you will experience that awesome miracle that God describes as "the renewing of your mind."

Jeremiah 48, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: RISK BELIEVING IN GOD

When forced to stand at the crossroads of belief and unbelief, God’s people choose belief! God’s people risk believing!  Nowhere is this better exemplified than in Joshua’s story. You could argue that the central message of the book of Joshua is this headline:  “God keeps his promises.  Trust him.”

Three times Joshua declares God did what he said he would do!  1) “The LORD gave all He had sworn to give.”  2) “The LORD gave rest according to all He had sworn to their fathers.”  3) “Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken.  All came to pass” (Joshua 21:43-45). Learn from Joshua.  Take a risk. Believe in God. He will do what he has said he will do.

Jeremiah 48

Get Out While You Can!

The Message on Moab from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel:

“Doom to Nebo! Leveled to the ground!
    Kiriathaim demeaned and defeated,
The mighty fortress reduced to a molehill,
    Moab’s glory—dust and ashes.
Conspirators plot Heshbon’s doom:
    ‘Come, let’s wipe Moab off the map.’
Dungface Dimon will loudly lament,
    as killing follows killing.
Listen! A cry out of Horonaim:
    ‘Disaster—doom and more doom!’
Moab will be shattered.
    Her cries will be heard clear down in Zoar.
Up the ascent of Luhith
    climbers weep,
And down the descent from Horonaim,
    cries of loss and devastation.
Oh, run for your lives! Get out while you can!
    Survive by your wits in the wild!
You trusted in thick walls and big money, yes?
    But it won’t help you now.
Your big god Chemosh will be hauled off,
    his priests and managers with him.
A wrecker will wreck every city.
    Not a city will survive.
The valley fields will be ruined,
    the plateau pastures destroyed, just as I told you.
Cover the land of Moab with salt.
    Make sure nothing ever grows here again.
Her towns will all be ghost towns.
    Nobody will ever live here again.
Sloppy work in God’s name is cursed,
    and cursed all halfhearted use of the sword.

11-17 “Moab has always taken it easy—
    lazy as a dog in the sun,
Never had to work for a living,
    never faced any trouble,
Never had to grow up,
    never once worked up a sweat.
But those days are a thing of the past.
    I’ll put him to work at hard labor.
That will wake him up to the world of hard knocks.
    That will smash his illusions.
Moab will be as ashamed of god Chemosh
    as Israel was ashamed of her Bethel calf-gods,
    the calf-gods she thought were so great.
For how long do you think you’ll be saying, ‘We’re tough.
    We can beat anyone anywhere’?
The destruction of Moab has already begun.
    Her choice young soldiers are lying dead right now.”
The King’s Decree—
    his full name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Yes. Moab’s doom is on countdown,
    disaster targeted and launched.
Weep for Moab, friends and neighbors,
    all who know how famous he’s been.
Lament, ‘His mighty scepter snapped in two like a toothpick,
    that magnificent royal staff!’

18-20 “Come down from your high horse, pampered beauty of Dibon.
    Sit in dog dung.
The destroyer of Moab will come against you.
    He’ll wreck your safe, secure houses.
Stand on the roadside,
    pampered women of Aroer.
Interview the refugees who are running away.
    Ask them, ‘What’s happened? And why?’
Moab will be an embarrassing memory, nothing left of the place.
    Wail and weep your eyes out!
Tell the bad news along the Arnon river.
    Tell the world that Moab is no more.

21-24 “My judgment will come to the plateau cities: on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath; on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim; on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon; on Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of Moab, far and near.

25 “Moab’s link to power is severed.
    Moab’s arm is broken.” God’s Decree.

The Sheer Nothingness of Moab
26-27 “Turn Moab into a drunken sot, drunk on the wine of my wrath, a dung-faced drunk, filling the country with vomit—Moab a falling-down drunk, a joke in bad taste. Wasn’t it you, Moab, who made crude jokes over Israel? And when they were caught in bad company, didn’t you cluck and gossip and snicker?

28 “Leave town! Leave! Look for a home in the cliffs,
    you who grew up in Moab.
Try living like a dove
    who nests high in the river gorge.

29-33 “We’ve all heard of Moab’s pride,
    that legendary pride,
The strutting, bullying, puffed-up pride,
    the insufferable arrogance.
I know”—God’s Decree—“his rooster-crowing pride,
    the inflated claims, the sheer nothingness of Moab.
But I will weep for Moab,
    yes, I will mourn for the people of Moab.
    I will even mourn for the people of Kir-heres.
I’ll weep for the grapevines of Sibmah
    and join Jazer in her weeping—
Grapevines that once reached the Dead Sea
    with tendrils as far as Jazer.
Your summer fruit and your bursting grapes
    will be looted by brutal plunderers,
Lush Moab stripped
    of song and laughter.
And yes, I’ll shut down the winepresses,
    stop all the shouts and hurrahs of harvest.

34 “Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out, and the people in Jahaz will hear the cries. They will hear them all the way from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up.

35 “I will put a stop in Moab”—God’s Decree—“to all hiking to the high places to offer burnt sacrifices to the gods.

36 “My heart moans for Moab, for the men of Kir-heres, like soft flute sounds carried by the wind. They’ve lost it all. They’ve got nothing.

37 “Everywhere you look are signs of mourning:
    heads shaved, beards cut,
Hands scratched and bleeding,
    clothes ripped and torn.

38 “In every house in Moab there’ll be loud lamentation, on every street in Moab, loud lamentation. As with a pottery jug that no one wants, I’ll smash Moab to bits.” God’s Decree.

39 “Moab ruined!
    Moab shamed and ashamed to be seen!
Moab a cruel joke!
    The stark horror of Moab!”

40-42 God’s verdict on Moab. Indeed!

“Look! An eagle is about to swoop down
    and spread its wings over Moab.
The towns will be captured,
    the fortresses taken.
Brave warriors will double up in pain, helpless to fight,
    like a woman giving birth to a baby.
There’ll be nothing left of Moab, nothing at all,
    because of his defiant arrogance against me.

43-44 “Terror and pit and trap
    are what you have facing you, Moab.” God’s Decree.
“A man running in terror
    will fall into a trap.
A man climbing out of a pit
    will be caught in a trap.
This is my agenda for Moab
    on doomsday.” God’s Decree.

45-47 “On the outskirts of Heshbon,
    refugees will pull up short, worn out.
Fire will flame high from Heshbon,
    a firestorm raging from the capital of Sihon’s kingdom.
It will burn off Moab’s eyebrows,
    will scorch the skull of the braggarts.
That’s all for you, Moab!
    You worshipers of Chemosh will be finished off!
Your sons will be trucked off to prison camps;
    your daughters will be herded into exile.
But yet there’s a day that’s coming
    when I’ll put things right in Moab.
    “For now, that’s the judgment on Moab.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, September 09, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Proverbs 7:1–5

Warning Against the Adulterous Woman

My son, keep my words
    and store up my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and you will live;
    guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and to insight, “You are my relative.”
5 They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words.

Insight
In Proverbs 7:1–5, Solomon warns his son (or sons, as v. 24 notes) to obey his words. He uses the illustration of an adulterous woman leading a man astray to explain the importance of obedience and describes the danger of this woman’s house as “a highway to the grave” (v. 27).

To keep Solomon’s commands and avoid the seductive woman, the reader is told to “bind them [the commands] on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart” (v. 3). This metaphor implies the need for external action (the physicality of fingers) and internal character change (the character of the heart). The reference to wisdom as a “sister” in verse 4 uses a word that generally means a close or intimate female relative. Depending on the context, it can sometimes refer to a wife or bride. Both suggest an intimate connection and emphasize the importance of adhering to this advice.

Printed on Our Hearts
Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 7:3

When Johannes Gutenberg combined the printing press with moveable type in 1450, he ushered in the era of mass communications in the West, spreading learning into new social realms. Literacy increased across the globe and new ideas produced rapid transformations in social and religious contexts. Gutenberg produced the first-ever printed version of the Bible. Prior to this, Bibles were painstakingly hand-copied, taking scribes up to a year to produce.

For centuries since, the printing press has provided people like you and me the privilege of direct access to Scripture. While we also have electronic versions available to us, many of us often hold a physical Bible in our hands because of his invention. What was once inaccessible given the sheer cost and time to have a Bible copied is readily at our fingertips today.

Having access to God’s truth is an amazing privilege. The writer of Proverbs indicates we should treat His instructions to us in the Scriptures as something to be cherished, as “the apple of [our] eye” (Proverbs 7:2) and to write His words of wisdom on “the tablet of [our] heart” (v. 3). As we seek to understand the Bible and live according to its wisdom, we, like scribes, are drawing God’s truth from our “fingers” down into our hearts, to be taken with us wherever we go. By:  Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray
How has having Scripture stored in your heart benefitted you? How can you begin to internalize more of God’s wisdom?

Loving God, help me to know Your Word intimately that I might live in the way You desire.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 09, 2020
Do It Yourself (2)
…bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ… —2 Corinthians 10:5

Determinedly Discipline Other Things. This is another difficult aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood. Paul said, according to the Moffatt translation of this verse, “…I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ….” So much Christian work today has never been disciplined, but has simply come into being by impulse! In our Lord’s life every project was disciplined to the will of His Father. There was never the slightest tendency to follow the impulse of His own will as distinct from His Father’s will— “the Son can do nothing of Himself…” (John 5:19). Then compare this with what we do— we take “every thought” or project that comes to us by impulse and jump into action immediately, instead of imprisoning and disciplining ourselves to obey Christ.

Practical work for Christians is greatly overemphasized today, and the saints who are “bringing every thought [and project] into captivity” are criticized and told that they are not determined, and that they lack zeal for God or zeal for the souls of others. But true determination and zeal are found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that arises from our own undisciplined human nature. It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not “bringing every thought [and project] into captivity,” but are simply doing work for God that has been instigated by their own human nature, and has not been made spiritual through determined discipline.

We have a tendency to forget that a person is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation, but is also committed, responsible, and accountable to Jesus Christ’s view of God, the world, and of sin and the devil. This means that each person must recognize the responsibility to “be transformed by the renewing of [his] mind….” (Romans 12:2).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.
The Place of Help

Bible in a Year: Proverbs 6-7; 2 Corinthians 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 09, 2020
How to Break a Log Jam - #8783

Up in Maine, where the roads run out, it's logging country. Now, the loggers will tell you that once you get a tree down, the next challenge is getting that big, old log where it's supposed to go to the mill. The answer? Well, you're not going to carry it there probably. So, you use natural power. They float those logs right down the river, until of course; well, sometimes too many logs decide to have a meeting in one place. You know what they call that. Right! We call it that in many parts of our life. They call it a log jam. Suddenly nothing's moving. The answer? Explosive power. Dynamite breaks that jam, gets things moving again. Of course, that's kind of how real life log jams are, too. It takes something explosive to get them going.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Break a Log Jam."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Samuel 9. I'll be reading from verse 21. Now, in order to get the context of this, understand that we are approaching the time when Israel is about to get it's first ever king. Saul has been God's choice for that. And Samuel is God's representative to let Saul know that. Unfortunately, even though Saul's got the ability, and he's been selected by God, he doesn't seem to have the heart for the challenge. That's the one obstacle. When he's given the news that he's God's choice, Saul answers, "But am I not a Benjamite from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?" He said, "Man, look, I come from a dinky tribe. Nobody's ever heard of us. They don't respect us. I think you've got the wrong man for the job."

Then comes the message from God, and then the change that takes place in 1 Samuel 10:9. The log jam is broken. "As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart." I love those words. "And all these signs were fulfilled that day." Did you get that? There's the dynamite that breaks the human log jam. God changed Saul's heart. Samuel didn't change his heart. Circumstances didn't change his heart. The signs that God put in front of him didn't change his heart. But God changed his heart. Sometimes the only way a situation will move is if someone's heart changes. And maybe you can think of that someone right now.

Sounds like a situation you're in maybe. And you can't change a heart. A changed heart is an act of God. I'll bet there's a changed heart needed in someone you know, maybe it's your boss. Maybe it's your folks, your son, your daughter. It could be your husband or your wife. Maybe there's someone who's attacking you unjustly. Or someone who desperately needs Christ, and seems so close to Him. Maybe there's just a log jam right now, and there can't be any more progress until something changes - actually, until someone changes. You've done all you could do. You have planned, you've worked, you've tried to persuade, you've done your homework.

But the real issue is someone's heart. Well, you have a powerful weapon to break the log jam - fervent, passionate, consistent prayer that God will do what only God can do - change that person's heart like He did Saul's and like He has millions of hearts throughout the years. That weapon right now is within your reach...prayer is within your reach right now. It's the one we so often fail to use though. We try everything else to change the situation.

You want to get things moving? Then reach for the dynamite. Light the fuse called prayer. Then stand back and watch the awesome power of God, who is the changer of people's hearts.
 

Jeremiah 47, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: YOU ARE MORE

You are so much more than a few days between the womb and the tomb. Paul the Apostle says, “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.  Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone” (Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG).

Above and around us God directs a grander saga, written by his hand, orchestrated by his will, and unveiled according to his calendar. Your life emerges from the greatest mind, the kindest heart in the history of the universe!  The mind and heart of God!  You are God’s idea.  And remember, God doesn’t have any bad ideas.

Jeremiah 47
It’s Doomsday for Philistines

 God’s Message to the prophet Jeremiah regarding the Philistines just before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. This is what God says:

“Look out! Water will rise in the north country,
    swelling like a river in flood.
The torrent will flood the land,
    washing away city and citizen.
Men and women will scream in terror,
    wails from every door and window,
As the thunder from the hooves of the horses will be heard,
    the clatter of chariots, the banging of wheels.
Fathers, paralyzed by fear,
    won’t even grab up their babies
Because it will be doomsday for Philistines, one and all,
    no hope of help for Tyre and Sidon.
God will finish off the Philistines,
    what’s left of those from the island of Crete.
Gaza will be shaved bald as an egg,
    Ashkelon struck dumb as a post.
You’re on your last legs.
    How long will you keep flailing?

6 “Oh, Sword of God,
    how long will you keep this up?
Return to your scabbard.
    Haven’t you had enough? Can’t you call it quits?

7 “But how can it quit
    when I, God, command the action?
I’ve ordered it to cut down
    Ashkelon and the seacoast.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, September 08, 2020

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Footnotes
2 Corinthians 1:8 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 8:1; 13:11.

Insight
The apostle Paul clearly had an up-and-down relationship with the Corinthian believers. In the two letters to Corinth preserved in the Scriptures, he deals heavily in correction of their misconduct while responding to accusations against him and attacks on his position as an apostle. In spite of those conflicts, however, Paul opens 2 Corinthians with words of God’s encouragement for them (1:3–7). Later in the letter, he even speaks of how they’ve encouraged him in spite of his struggles with them! (7:13). Paul also shares the joy he felt when the church comforted Titus, who had been “refreshed” by them. Paul’s joy “was greater than ever” because of their longing, sorrow, and concern for him (vv. 7, 13). It’s encouraging to see how “the God of all comfort” (1:3) can use the most surprising vessels to bring His encouragement to us.

Loving Others with Our Prayers
This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:9

That was one of the first questions a missionary asked his wife whenever she was allowed to visit him in prison. He had been falsely accused and incarcerated for his faith for two years. His life was frequently in danger because of the conditions and hostility in the prison, and believers around the world were earnestly praying for him. He wanted to be assured they wouldn’t stop, because he believed God was using their prayers in a powerful way.

Our prayers for others—especially those who are persecuted for their faith—are a vital gift. Paul made this clear when he wrote the believers in Corinth about hardships he faced during his missionary journey. He “was under great pressure,” so much that he “despaired of life itself” (2 Corinthians 1:8). But then he told them God had delivered him and described the tool He’d used to do it: “We have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers” (vv. 10–11, emphasis added).

God moves through our prayers to accomplish great good in the lives of His people. One of the best ways to love others is to pray for them, because through our prayers we open the door to the help only God can provide. When we pray for others, we love them in His strength. There’s none greater or more loving than He. By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray
How do you love others with your prayers? In what ways can you encourage prayer for those who are persecuted for their faith?

Loving and Almighty God, thank You for the amazing gift of prayer and the ways You move through it. Please help me to pray faithfully for others today!

For help in your prayer life, read Jesus’ Blueprint for Prayer at DiscoverySeries.org/HJ891.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 08, 2020
Do It Yourself (1)
…casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God… —2 Corinthians 10:5

Determinedly Demolish Some Things. Deliverance from sin is not the same as deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, that the saint can only destroy through sheer neglect. But there are other things that have to be destroyed through violence, that is, through God’s divine strength imparted by His Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but only to “stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord…” (see Exodus 14:13). But every theory or thought that raises itself up as a fortified barrier “against the knowledge of God” is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not through human effort or by compromise (see 2 Corinthians 10:4).

It is only when God has transformed our nature and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin— Jesus Christ conquered that in His redemption of us. The conflict is waged over turning our natural life into a spiritual life. This is never done easily, nor does God intend that it be so. It is accomplished only through a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense that He makes our character holy. He makes us holy in the sense that He has made us innocent before Him. And then we have to turn that innocence into holy character through the moral choices we make. These choices are continually opposed and hostile to the things of our natural life which have become so deeply entrenched— the very things that raise themselves up as fortified barriers “against the knowledge of God.” We can either turn back, making ourselves of no value to the kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things, allowing Jesus to bring another son to glory (see Hebrews 2:10).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come.  Shade of His Hand, 1226 L

Bible in a Year: Proverbs 3-5; 2 Corinthians 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 08, 2020
Released, Not Restricted - #8782

A friend had been doing a lot of remodeling in his house, including some in his four-year-old son's room. They were building a little room inside his room that would have its own window and desk, and it would sort of be Troy's own little space. Of course at that point, it was just a frame with no walls. So Dad took Troy in there one day to see the work that he'd been doing. The little guy went into the frame of what would soon be his personal space. He came out with his lower lip out so far he almost tripped over it. Dad couldn't figure out why this nice thing they were doing for him would make him so sad. He quickly found out why. Troy said, "Dad, is this going to be my cage for my timeouts when I'm bad?"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Released, Not Restricted."

Poor little guy. He thought his father had built a cage to punish him when his Dad was really building something special for him. You could smile at a four-year-old's misread of what his father was doing for him, but all too often we make that same mistake with our Heavenly Father!

Maybe you have a tendency to think that God is usually mad at you - punishing you. But, you know, our feelings about God are based way too much on our experiences with our parents, with people who've hurt us, and on our immediate circumstances. So we end up missing the love that our Heavenly Father is trying to show us. We expect the worst like little Troy was thinking he was getting a cage for times when he was bad.

Actually the plan God is unfolding in your life right now is designed ultimately to release you, not to restrict you. God's intentions for you are expressed in some words He originally spoke to His Old Testament people. But if you know Christ, you are one of those God calls "my people" in our word for today from the Word of God.

Leviticus 26:12-13 - "I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt" (now, that's whatever has been a place of bondage or despair for you) "so that you would no longer be slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high." Your Lord is committed to releasing you from those old habits, the old mental programming, the old ways of thinking and reacting that have caged you for too long. And He's committing to taking you through experiences with Him, some of which will be painful, to purge some of the ugly stuff, to change your view of Him, to change your view of yourself, and to outfit you to really make a difference in other people's lives.

Maybe the reason God had to remind His ancient people that He was about releasing them and not restricting them, was that their journey included plagues and wilderness. In order for them to be free, they had to go through all those plagues in Egypt and a very difficult time through the wilderness. Maybe you've been having your own share of plagues, your own share of wilderness. But that's not because God doesn't love you; it's because He does! Enough to take you through the processes that will set you free and ultimately lead you to the better life He has for you.

So, don't be confused by the pain - by the wilderness. Your Heavenly Father has some awesome plans for you, and He's not building a cage to contain your life. He's making something very special for you. After all, you are His child purchased with the blood of His Son! Is there any question how He feels about you?

Hebrews 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: LET JESUS HEAL YOU

Would you like Jesus to heal you?  Then, ask Him. The four Gospels detail approximately 36 miracles and reference even more.  He changed water into wine, calmed more than one storm, restored sight to more than one blind man. Yet Jesus never grandstanded his miraculous powers. He performed miracles for two reasons–  to prove his identity and to help his people. Can you imagine the testimonies if you were a part of the crowd he fed, one of the dead he raised, or one of the sick he healed?

The church exploded like a fire on a West Texas prairie. Why? Because Jesus healed people. Why not let him heal you? You can be sure that, in the right time and in the right way, Jesus will respond.

Hebrews 1

Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!

The Son Is Higher than Angels
3-6 After he finished the sacrifice for sins, the Son took his honored place high in the heavens right alongside God, far higher than any angel in rank and rule. Did God ever say to an angel, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you” or “I’m his Father, he’s my Son”? When he presents his honored Son to the world, he says, “All angels must worship him.”

7 Regarding angels he says,

The messengers are winds,
    the servants are tongues of fire.

8-9 But he says to the Son,

You’re God, and on the throne for good;
    your rule makes everything right.
You love it when things are right;
    you hate it when things are wrong.
That is why God, your God,
    poured fragrant oil on your head,
Marking you out as king,
    far above your dear companions.

10-12 And again to the Son,

You, Master, started it all, laid earth’s foundations,
    then crafted the stars in the sky.
Earth and sky will wear out, but not you;
    they become threadbare like an old coat;
You’ll fold them up like a worn-out cloak,
    and lay them away on the shelf.
But you’ll stay the same, year after year;
    you’ll never fade, you’ll never wear out.

13 And did he ever say anything like this to an angel?

Sit alongside me here on my throne
Until I make your enemies a stool for your feet.

14 Isn’t it obvious that all angels are sent to help out with those lined up to receive salvation?

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, September 07, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Proverbs 2:1–11

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

My son, if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the upright,
    he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
    and protects the way of his faithful ones.

9 Then you will understand what is right and just
    and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you.

Insight
The book of Proverbs contains general wisdom applicable to people everywhere. No one has a corner on sayings like “walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble” (Proverbs 13:20 nlt) and “Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value” (10:2). But what isn’t common to people everywhere is the attribution of everyday wisdom to the God of gods. The name of the Lord (Yahweh) is used eighty-seven times in Proverbs to give source, story, spirit, and context to the wisdom of these proverbs. The Lord of Israel’s exodus, wilderness, exile, and Messianic hope wants us to know that He’s the beginning and end of all true wisdom and knowledge (2:6). It’s the God of Solomon’s insight who can be trusted to turn even common sense into timely perspective and actions that help us while giving honor to Him (3:5–7).

Now, then Next
He holds success in store for the upright. Proverbs 2:7

I recently attended a high school graduation during which the speaker provided a needed challenge for the young adults awaiting their diplomas. He mentioned that this was a time in their lives when everyone was asking them, “What’s next?” What career would they be pursuing next? Where would they be going to school or working next? Then he said that the more important question was what were they doing now?

In the context of their faith journey, what daily decisions would they be making that would guide them to live for Jesus and not for themselves?

His words reminded me of the book of Proverbs, which makes many pointed statements about how to live—now. For instance: practicing honesty, now (11:1); choosing the right friends, now (12:26); living with integrity, now (13:6); having good judgment, now (13:15); speaking wisely, now (14:3).          

Living for God now, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, makes the decisions about what is next much easier. “The Lord gives wisdom; . . . He holds success in store for the upright, . . . he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones” (2:6–8). May God supply what we need for us to live by His guidelines now, and may He guide us into what’s next for His honor. By:  Dave Branon

Reflect & Pray
What changes in direction do you need to make now to honor God? How can you seek God’s guidance and empowerment in doing so?

Thank You, heavenly Father, for Your guidance in my life today. Protect me and give me wisdom to live in a way that both pleases You and reveals who You are.

To learn more about the spiritual life, visit ChristianUniversity.org/SF212.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, September 07, 2020
Fountains of Blessings
The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. —John 4:14

The picture our Lord described here is not that of a simple stream of water, but an overflowing fountain. Continue to “be filled” (Ephesians 5:18) and the sweetness of your vital relationship to Jesus will flow as generously out of you as it has been given to you. If you find that His life is not springing up as it should, you are to blame— something is obstructing the flow. Was Jesus saying to stay focused on the Source so that you may be blessed personally? No, you are to focus on the Source so that out of you “will flow rivers of living water”— irrepressible life (John 7:38).

We are to be fountains through which Jesus can flow as “rivers of living water” in blessing to everyone. Yet some of us are like the Dead Sea, always receiving but never giving, because our relationship is not right with the Lord Jesus. As surely as we receive blessings from Him, He will pour out blessings through us. But whenever the blessings are not being poured out in the same measure they are received, there is a defect in our relationship with Him. Is there anything between you and Jesus Christ? Is there anything hindering your faith in Him? If not, then Jesus says that out of you “will flow rivers of living water.” It is not a blessing that you pass on, or an experience that you share with others, but a river that continually flows through you. Stay at the Source, closely guarding your faith in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow into the lives of others with no dryness or deadness whatsoever.

Is it excessive to say that rivers will flow out of one individual believer? Do you look at yourself and say, “But I don’t see the rivers”? Through the history of God’s work you will usually find that He has started with the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but those who have been steadfastly true to Jesus Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

Bible in a Year: Proverbs 1-2; 1 Corinthians 16

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, September 07, 2020
Deadly Deafness - #8781

Jim was spending his first night as a college student. As he began to fall asleep in his dorm room, he was suddenly awakened by a frightening sound. A train whistle blew, and the train was coming right through his room. Well, at least that's how it sounded to this particular college student. It turned out that the railroad tracks were right next to his dorm. That's probably why they put freshmen there, right? Well, Jim found it pretty challenging to slip into la-la land for the night when it sounded like a train was roaring through his room. I said, "But I'll bet you eventually got used to it, didn't you?" He said, "Well, after a while, I didn't even notice the train anymore!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Deadly Deafness."

Amazing, isn't it? What used to seem so loud to you becomes something you can eventually ignore totally. That's good if it's the sound of a train roaring by your room at night. It's bad if it's the voice of God you don't hear anymore. And the more you've been around the Word of God, the greater the danger that you may be developing the most deadly form of deafness in the world - deafness to the God you cannot afford to miss.

Our word for today from the Word of God is a sobering warning about this deadly deafness. Hebrews 3:7 says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."

Every time you hear about what Jesus did for you on the cross and you do nothing about it, your heart gets a little harder. We wouldn't know that if God didn't tell us that in the Bible. This hardening of your heart is gradual - almost imperceptible - but it's very, very real and very, very dangerous. Proverbs 29:1 tells us that the one who continually ignores many warnings from God "will suddenly be destroyed - without remedy."

The Bible gives us a disturbing example of this danger in the story of Pharaoh. Moses continued to deliver a message from God to Egypt's king and he continued to disregard it. The Book of Exodus tells us that "Pharaoh hardened his heart" (Exodus 8:14; 8:32). After all the times Pharaoh heard and rejected God's message, the Bible tells us that "the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart" (Exodus 9:12). He reached the point where he could not respond to God because of all the times he would not respond to God. Ultimately, Moses says, speaking on God's behalf, "I will never appear before you again" (Exodus 10:29).

Right now I'm talking to someone who has heard about Jesus many times. You've heard what He did on the cross for you. You've heard it was to pay for the sins that have cut you off from God. You've heard that He's alive. You've heard that He's inviting you to put your trust in Him. And you agree with Jesus. You like Jesus, but you've never given yourself to Jesus. Without knowing it, without meaning to, you've been hardening your heart. You're so familiar with Jesus that you're becoming immune to Jesus.

If you sense any stirring in your heart toward Him right now, there's still time. You can still believe, because God has come to draw you to His Son at least one more time; at least this time. When will it be too late to choose Jesus? Only God knows. What we do know is that today is your only guaranteed opportunity to make Jesus your own Savior from your own sin; to change your eternal destination from hell to heaven.

It starts when you tell Jesus, "I'm Yours, Lord. I believe when you were dying on that cross it was for me for my sin. I believe you're alive, and I want to begin my relationship with you. You're my only hope. I have no hope but You and what You did on the cross for me."

I'll tell you, it would be my great privilege to help you make sure that you belong to Him. That's what we do at our website. It's ANewStory.com. It could be that your new story could begin there today! I hope you'll check it out.

Remember what God says. Today if you hear His voice, grab Him while you still can. There's so much to gain when you grab Jesus. There's so much to lose if you don't.

Jeremiah 46, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  We Don’t Like to Wait

We don’t like to wait.  We’re the giddy-up generation. We frown at the person who takes eleven items to the ten-item express checkout. We drum our fingers while the microwave heats our coffee. “Come on, come on.”  We really don’t like to wait!

Look around you. Do you realize where we sit?  This planet is God’s waiting room. The young couple? Waiting to get pregnant. The guy with the briefcase?  Waiting for work. Waiting on God to give or to help.  Waiting on God to come. The land of waiting. And you? Are you in God’s waiting room?

You may be infertile or inactive, in limbo, in between jobs or in search of a house, spouse, health, or help. Here’s what you need to know. While you wait, God works! God never twiddles His thumbs. He never stops. Just because you’re idle, don’t assume God is. Trust Him.  In the right time, you’ll get through this.

From You’ll Get Through This

Jeremiah 46

You Vainly Collect Medicines

God’s Messages through the prophet Jeremiah regarding the godless nations.

2-5 The Message to Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt at the time it was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon while camped at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah:

“‘Present arms!
    March to the front!
Harness the horses!
    Up in the saddles!
Battle formation! Helmets on,
    spears sharpened, armor in place!’
But what’s this I see?
    They’re scared out of their wits!
They break ranks and run for cover.
    Their soldiers panic.
They run this way and that,
    stampeding blindly.
It’s total chaos, total confusion, danger everywhere!”
    God’s Decree.

6 “The swiftest runners won’t get away,
    the strongest soldiers won’t escape.
In the north country, along the River Euphrates,
    they’ll stagger, stumble, and fall.

7-9 “Who is this like the Nile in flood?
    like its streams torrential?
Why, it’s Egypt like the Nile in flood,
    like its streams torrential,
Saying, ‘I’ll take over the world.
    I’ll wipe out cities and peoples.’
Run, horses!
    Roll, chariots!
Advance, soldiers
    from Cush and Put with your shields,
Soldiers from Lud,
    experts with bow and arrow.

10 “But it’s not your day. It’s the Master’s, me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
    the day when I have it out with my enemies,
The day when Sword puts an end to my enemies,
    when Sword exacts vengeance.
I, the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    will pile them on an altar—a huge sacrifice!—
In the great north country,
    along the mighty Euphrates.

11-12 “Oh, virgin Daughter Egypt,
    climb into the mountains of Gilead, get healing balm.
You will vainly collect medicines,
    for nothing will be able to cure what ails you.
The whole world will hear your anguished cries.
    Your wails fill the earth,
As soldier falls against soldier
    and they all go down in a heap.”

Egypt’s Army Slithers Like a Snake
13 The Message that God gave to the prophet Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon was on his way to attack Egypt:

14 “Tell Egypt, alert Migdol,
    post warnings in Noph and Tahpanhes:
‘Wake up! Be prepared!
    War’s coming!’

15-19 “Why will your bull-god Apis run off?
    Because God will drive him off.
Your ragtag army will fall to pieces.
    The word is passing through the ranks,
‘Let’s get out of here while we still can.
    Let’s head for home and save our skins.’
When they get home they’ll nickname Pharaoh
    ‘Big-Talk-Bad-Luck.’
As sure as I am the living God”
    —the King’s Decree, God-of-the-Angel-Armies is his name—
“A conqueror is coming: like Tabor, singular among mountains;
    like Carmel, jutting up from the sea!
So pack your bags for exile,
    you coddled daughters of Egypt,
For Memphis will soon be nothing,
    a vacant lot grown over with weeds.

20-21 “Too bad, Egypt, a beautiful sleek heifer
    attacked by a horsefly from the north!
All her hired soldiers are stationed to defend her—
    like well-fed calves they are.
But when their lives are on the line, they’ll run off,
    cowards every one.
When the going gets tough,
    they’ll take the easy way out.

22-24 “Egypt will slither and hiss like a snake
    as the enemy army comes in force.
They will rush in, swinging axes
    like lumberjacks cutting down trees.
They’ll level the country”—God’s Decree—“nothing
    and no one standing for as far as you can see.
The invaders will be a swarm of locusts,
    innumerable, past counting.
Daughter Egypt will be ravished,
    raped by vandals from the north.”

25-26 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Watch out when I visit doom on the god Amon of Thebes, Egypt and its gods and kings, Pharaoh and those who trust in him. I’ll turn them over to those who are out to kill them, to Nebuchadnezzar and his military. Egypt will be set back a thousand years. Eventually people will live there again.” God’s Decree.

27-28 “But you, dear Jacob my servant, you have nothing to fear.
    Israel, there’s no need to worry.
Look up! I’ll save you from that far country,
    I’ll get your children out of the land of exile.
Things are going to be normal again for Jacob,
    safe and secure, smooth sailing.
Yes, dear Jacob my servant, you have nothing to fear.
    Depend on it, I’m on your side.
I’ll finish off all the godless nations
    among which I’ve scattered you,
But I won’t finish you off.
    I have more work left to do on you.
I’ll punish you, but fairly.
    No, I’m not finished with you yet.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, September 06, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Galatians 3:1–6

Faith or Works of the Law

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?[a] 4 Have you experienced[b] so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[c]

Insight
Writing to the believers in Galatia, a Roman province located in the western half of what is now modern-day Turkey, Paul confronted the teachings of a group known as the Judaizers. They were Jews who embraced Jesus as the Messiah but also required adherence to certain Jewish religious customs in order to be saved. This meant they pushed gentiles (non-Jewish people) to become Jews in order to follow Jesus. Chief among the requirements was circumcision.

At the Council at Jerusalem, the church leaders discussed the issue of which Jewish practices to require of gentile believers (Acts 15). By saying that “unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved” (v. 1), the Judaizers were teaching a gospel of works instead of grace (Galatians 2–3; 6:15).

Failed Again
After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Galatians 3:3

Back in my sermon-making days I approached some Sunday mornings feeling like a lowly worm. During the week before, I had not been the best husband, father, or friend. I felt that before God could use me again I had to establish a track record of right living. So I vowed to get through the sermon as best I could and try to live better the coming week.

That was not the right approach. In Galatians 3 it’s said that God continually supplies us with His Spirit and works powerfully through us as a free gift—not because we’ve done anything or deserve it.

Abraham’s life demonstrates this. At times he failed as a husband. For example, he twice put Sarah’s life in jeopardy by lying to save his own skin (Genesis 12:10–20; 20:1–18). Yet his faith “was credited to him as righteousness” (Galatians 3:6). Abraham put himself in God’s hands despite his failures, and God used him to bring salvation to the world through his lineage.

There’s no justification for behaving badly. Jesus has asked us to follow Him in obedience, and He supplies the means to do so. A hard, unrepentant heart will always hinder His purposes for us, but His ability to use us doesn’t depend on a lengthy pattern of good behavior. It’s based solely on God’s willingness to work through us as we are: saved and growing by grace. You don’t have to work for His grace—it’s free. By:  David H. Roper

Reflect & Pray
Think of those situations in which you’ve felt disqualified. How does God look at those occasions? How do you?

I’m thankful, God, that You bless me and use me in spite of my failures. Your grace is amazing!

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, September 06, 2020
The Far-Reaching Rivers of Life
He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. —John 7:38

A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— “This is the work of God, that you believe…” (John 6:29). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.

A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.

Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Civilization is based on principles which imply that the passing moment is permanent. The only permanent thing is God, and if I put anything else as permanent, I become atheistic. I must build only on God (John 14:6). The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 148-150; 1 Corinthians 15:29-58