Esther 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Enough of This Frenzy

Attempts at "self-salvation" guarantee nothing but exhaustion. We scamper and scurry, trying to please God, collecting merit badges and brownie points, scowling at anyone who questions our accomplishments.  The result?  The weariest people on earth.  We so fear failure that we create the image of perfection.  Call us the church of hound-dog faces and slumped shoulders. Stop it!  Once and for all, enough of this frenzy!
Hebrews 13:9 says, "Your hearts should be strengthened by God's grace, not by obeying rules."  In Matthew 11:28 Jesus promises, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
There is no fine print. A second shoe isn't going to drop. God's promise has no hidden language. Let grace happen. You have His unending affection. Stretch yourself out in the hammock of grace. You can rest now!
From GRACE

Esther 7

So the king and Haman went to dinner with Queen Esther. At this second dinner, while they were drinking wine the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what would you like? Half of my kingdom! Just ask and it’s yours.”

3 Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O King, and if it please the king, give me my life, and give my people their lives.

4 “We’ve been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed—sold to be massacred, eliminated. If we had just been sold off into slavery, I wouldn’t even have brought it up; our troubles wouldn’t have been worth bothering the king over.”

5 King Xerxes exploded, “Who? Where is he? This is monstrous!”

6 “An enemy. An adversary. This evil Haman,” said Esther.

Haman was terror-stricken before the king and queen.

7-8 The king, raging, left his wine and stomped out into the palace garden.

Haman stood there pleading with Queen Esther for his life—he could see that the king was finished with him and that he was doomed. As the king came back from the palace garden into the banquet hall, Haman was groveling at the couch on which Esther reclined. The king roared out, “Will he even molest the queen while I’m just around the corner?”

When that word left the king’s mouth, all the blood drained from Haman’s face.

9 Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, spoke up: “Look over there! There’s the gallows that Haman had built for Mordecai, who saved the king’s life. It’s right next to Haman’s house—seventy-five feet high!”

The king said, “Hang him on it!”

10 So Haman was hanged on the very gallows that he had built for Mordecai. And the king’s hot anger cooled.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Read: Luke 10:38–42

At the Home of Martha and Mary

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

INSIGHT
There are at least two ways of reading Jesus’ correction of Martha in Luke 10:38–42. One is to hear Him gently telling her to put first things first: to join Mary and sit with the other disciples at His feet, listening to His teaching. There would be time later to prepare something to eat.

The other possibility is to hear the Teacher lovingly addressing what was happening in Martha’s heart. Yes, she was upset with Mary, but she also seems to be questioning Jesus’ concern for her. Didn’t He care that she had to do all the work by herself? Perhaps Jesus wants Martha to see that if she’d been attending to the details of her hospitality with the kind of heart she’d seen in Him—serving her guests out of love for Him and the others—then she, like Mary, would have been expressing a devotion and trust that would never be taken from her.

Loving Correction -By Cindy Hess Kasper

Whoever heeds life-giving correction will be at home among the wise. Proverbs 15:31

For more than fifty years, my dad strove for excellence in his editing. His passion wasn’t to just look for mistakes but also to make the copy better in terms of clarity, logic, flow, and grammar. Dad used a green pen for his corrections, rather than a red one. A green pen he felt was “friendlier,” while slashes of red might be jarring to a novice or less confident writer. His objective was to gently point out a better way.

When Jesus corrected people, He did so in love. In some circumstances—such as when He was confronted with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (Matthew 23)—He rebuked them harshly, yet still for their benefit. But in the case of his friend Martha, a gentle correction was all that was needed (Luke 10:38–42). While the Pharisees responded poorly to His rebuke, Martha remained one of His dearest friends (John 11:5).

Correction can be uncomfortable and few of us like it. Sometimes, because of our pride, it’s hard to receive it graciously. The book of Proverbs talks much about wisdom and indicates that “heeding correction” is a sign of wisdom and understanding (15:31–32).

God’s loving correction helps us to adjust our direction and to follow Him more closely. Those who refuse it are sternly warned (v. 10), but those who respond to it through the power of the Holy Spirit will gain wisdom and understanding (vv. 31–32).

How do you usually respond to loving correction from your heavenly Father? What correction have you received from someone that’s made a significant difference in your life?

Father, help me learn to graciously accept Your loving correction so I can grow in wisdom and understanding.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Friendship with God

Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…? —Genesis 18:17

The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.

The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, “Well, I don’t know, maybe this is not God’s will,” then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you prayed about— were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ.  My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R

Bible in a Year: Joshua 4-6; Luke 1:1-20

Esther 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE PRICE IS TOO HIGH

In the days when I was a missionary in Brazil I once went to visit one of our church leaders. We hadn’t seen him for several Sundays. Friends told me he had inherited three hundred dollars, and he was constructing, by hand, a one-room house. When he gave me a tour of the project, it took about twenty seconds. I told him we’d missed him, that the church needed him back. He grew quiet and turned and looked at his house. His eyes were moist. “You’re right, Max,” he confessed. “I guess I got just too greedy.”

“Greedy?” I wanted to say, “You’re building a hut in a swamp and you call it greed?” But he was right. Greed is relative. Greed is not defined by what something costs; it is measured by what it costs you. If anything costs you your family, or your faith, the price is too high.

Esther 6

That night the king couldn’t sleep. He ordered the record book, the day-by-day journal of events, to be brought and read to him. They came across the story there about the time that Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh—the two royal eunuchs who guarded the entrance and who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

3 The king asked, “What great honor was given to Mordecai for this?”

“Nothing,” replied the king’s servants who were in attendance. “Nothing has been done for him.”

4 The king said, “Is there anybody out in the court?”

Now Haman had just come into the outer court of the king’s palace to talk to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had built for him.

5 The king’s servants said, “Haman is out there, waiting in the court.”

“Bring him in,” said the king.

6-9 When Haman entered, the king said, “What would be appropriate for the man the king especially wants to honor?”

Haman thought to himself, “He must be talking about honoring me—who else?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, do this: Bring a royal robe that the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crown on its head. Then give the robe and the horse to one of the king’s most noble princes. Have him robe the man whom the king especially wants to honor; have the prince lead him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king especially wants to honor!’”

10 “Go and do it,” the king said to Haman. “Don’t waste another minute. Take the robe and horse and do what you have proposed to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the King’s Gate. Don’t leave out a single detail of your plan.”

11 So Haman took the robe and horse; he robed Mordecai and led him through the city square, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king especially wants to honor!”

12-13 Then Mordecai returned to the King’s Gate, but Haman fled to his house, thoroughly mortified, hiding his face. When Haman had finished telling his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his knowledgeable friends who were there and his wife Zeresh said, “If this Mordecai is in fact a Jew, your bad luck has only begun. You don’t stand a chance against him—you’re as good as ruined.”

14 While they were still talking, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman off to the dinner that Esther had prepared.

* * *


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, March 19, 2021
Read: Romans 15:23–33

Paul’s Plan to Visit Rome

But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, 24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. 29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.

30 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31 Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, 32 so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. 33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

INSIGHT
The book of Acts tells us that Paul desired to go to Rome to minister (19:21). During his three-month stay in Corinth at the end of his third missionary journey (20:2–3), he wrote to the Roman believers in Jesus about his proposed visit and to solicit support for his future work in Spain (Romans 1:10–15; 15:23–24, 28–29). Giving a summary of his missionary work and his future plans (15:14–33), the apostle said he had proclaimed the gospel of Christ “from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum [modern-day Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Albania]” (v. 19). But not ready to retire just yet, Paul intended to push further west all the way to Spain, visiting Rome on the way (v. 28).

The Purple Shawl - By Xochitl Dixon
I urge you . . . to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Romans 15:30

While serving as my mom’s live-in caregiver at a cancer center hundreds of miles away from my home, I asked people to pray for us. As the months passed, isolation and loneliness sapped my strength. How could I care for my mom if I gave in to my physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion?

One day, a friend sent me an unexpected care package. Jodi had crocheted a purple prayer shawl, a warm reminder that we had people praying for us daily. Whenever I wrapped the soft yarn around my shoulders, I felt God hugging me with the prayers of His people. Years later, He still uses that purple shawl to comfort me and strengthen my resolve.

The apostle Paul affirmed the importance and spirit-refreshing power of praying for others. Through his passionate request for prayerful support and encouragement during his travels, Paul demonstrated how those who pray for others become partners in ministry (Romans 15:30). Offering specific requests, the apostle not only showed his dependence on the support of fellow believers but his trust that God powerfully answers prayer (vv. 31–33).

We’ll all experience days when we feel alone. But Paul shows us how to ask for prayer as we pray for others. When we’re wrapped in the intercessory prayers of God’s people, we can experience God’s strength and comfort no matter where life takes us.

Who has God used to encourage you through intercessory prayer? Who can you pray for today?

Loving God, thank You for the gift of intercessory prayers and for assuring me that You hear me and care for me wherever I go.

Read Moving Mountains: The Practice of Persistent Prayer at DiscoverySeries.org/Q0740.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 19, 2021
Abraham’s Life of Faith

He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8

In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.

Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason— a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.

The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith— a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God…” (Romans 4:3).

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, 199 R

Bible in a Year: Joshua 1-3; Mark 16

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 19, 2021

Setting the Temperature - #8920

It was so cold in the house when I woke up that bitter winter morning. The thermometer announced to me it was like 40-some degrees in the house! I mean, my kids had some good laughs and some rare comments when they saw me praying that morning in front of an open stove in the kitchen. Look, it was the only warm place in the house! Well, Mr. Furnace came over, and he checked things out and informed us that we needed a new thermostat. As soon as our thermostat was working, the thermometer had better news for us; the house was warming up again! It is amazing what a difference a functioning thermostat can make!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Setting the Temperature."

Now, in your family, or your church, where you work, with your friends you're either a thermostat or a thermometer. A thermometer simply reflects the temperature around them. A thermostat sets the temperature. Too often, we're thermometers, aren't we? If it's hot around us, we get hot. If people are cold, we're cold. If things are stressed, we're stressed. If things are dark, we're discouraged. If things are tough, we're defeated.

But with the God of the universe living inside you, you have the power; you have the responsibility to be the thermostat in your situation. God has given us a wonderful picture of what thermostatic living looks like in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Genesis 39 beginning with verse 2. Joseph has been attacked by his jealous brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt. He becomes a slave in the home of one of Egypt's top military leaders, Potiphar.

The Bible says, "When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes ... Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned." Well, Joseph's got a great situation here, huh? But suddenly it turns ugly when Potiphar's wife tries to seduce him and he refuses her. She accuses him of the very thing he refused to do, and Potiphar has him thrown into prison. So the Bible says, "While Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him...and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison" - sound familiar here? - "and he was made responsible for all that was done there."

That's pretty amazing! You put Joseph in a great situation and he's the trusted person, the one who says yes to responsibility. Put him in a terrible situation, he's the same guy; making things better, changing his environment, setting a positive climate. That's a thermostat. And that's what the people around you need you to be. Grownup people, godly people, make-a-difference people respond to situations, not from the environment around them or the feelings inside them, but from the character inside them - the Lord who's inside them!

Why don't you try being yourself what you wish others would be? Don't wait for them to be that way. Set the temperature; treat the people around you as you want to be treated and as you'd like them to treat others. Keep your commitments, carry your load, spread

joy. Spread hope, gentleness, encouragement no matter what everyone else is spreading.

The Lord was with Joseph in the great place and in the awful place. Just like He is with you, which means you could be the stabilizer, the thermostat, the climate-setter, the difference maker wherever you are, and you will set the temperature where God wants it to be!

Revelation 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WHAT’S YOUR PRICE? -

Some years ago, I read a study of what most Americans would do in exchange for ten million dollars. Among the options were abandon their family, abandon their church, give up their citizenship, leave their spouse or their children. It’s not surprising to me what someone would do for ten million dollars. What’s surprising is that most would do something. What would you do? Or better, what are you doing?

“Get real, Max,” you’re saying, “I’ve never had a shot at ten million.” The amount may not have been the same, but the choices are. And some people are willing to give up their family, faith, or morals for far less than ten million dollars. Jesus had a word for that: greed. He called it the practice of measuring life by possessions (Luke 12:15). Jesus cautioned against “all kinds of greed.” What’s your price?

Revelation 13

The Beast from the Sea

And the Dragon stood on the shore of the sea. I saw a Beast rising from the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads—on each horn a crown, and each head inscribed with a blasphemous name. The Beast I saw looked like a leopard with bear paws and a lion’s mouth. The Dragon turned over its power to it, its throne and great authority.

3-4 One of the Beast’s heads looked as if it had been struck a deathblow, and then healed. The whole earth was agog, gaping at the Beast. They worshiped the Dragon who gave the Beast authority, and they worshiped the Beast, exclaiming, “There’s never been anything like the Beast! No one would dare go to war with the Beast!”

5-8 The Beast had a loud mouth, boastful and blasphemous. It could do anything it wanted for forty-two months. It yelled blasphemies against God, blasphemed his Name, blasphemed his Church, especially those already dwelling with God in Heaven. It was permitted to make war on God’s holy people and conquer them. It held absolute sway over all tribes and peoples, tongues and races. Everyone on earth whose name was not written from the world’s foundation in the slaughtered Lamb’s Book of Life will worship the Beast.

9-10 Are you listening to this? They’ve made their bed; now they must lie in it. Anyone marked for prison goes straight to prison; anyone pulling a sword goes down by the sword. Meanwhile, God’s holy people passionately and faithfully stand their ground.

The Beast from Under the Ground
11-12 I saw another Beast rising out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb but sounded like a dragon when it spoke. It was a puppet of the first Beast, made earth and everyone in it worship the first Beast, which had been healed of its deathblow.

13-17 This second Beast worked magical signs, dazzling people by making fire come down from Heaven. It used the magic it got from the Beast to dupe earth dwellers, getting them to make an image of the Beast that received the deathblow and lived. It was able to animate the image of the Beast so that it talked, and then arrange that anyone not worshiping the Beast would be killed. It forced all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark on the right hand or forehead. Without the mark of the name of the Beast or the number of its name, it was impossible to buy or sell anything.

18 Solve a riddle: Put your heads together and figure out the meaning of the number of the Beast. It’s a human number: 666.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, March 18, 2021

Read: Ephesians 2:4–10

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

INSIGHT
In Ephesians, we learn that it’s because of the grace of God that we’ve been saved (kept from eternal separation from God), through our faith (wholehearted trust) in His Son (2:5, 8). What is grace? Grace is an undeserved, freely given “gift” (v. 8). It isn’t earned through anything we do. It’s not by our good works or kind actions (v. 9; Romans 11:5–6). Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty we deserved because of our sins (wrongdoings) and made a way for us to be with Him for eternity (John 3:16–18). Because of His sacrifice, we have “peace with God” (Romans 5:1). In Psalms we find a wonderful description of God’s grace: “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him” (Psalm 103:10–11; see Ephesians 2:4).


Small Yet Mighty -By Monica La Rose
We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Ephesians 2:10

There are times late at night in North America’s harsh Sonoran Desert where one can hear a faint, high-pitched howl. But you probably wouldn’t suspect the source of the sound—the small yet mighty grasshopper mouse, howling at the moon to establish its territory.

This unique rodent (dubbed the “werewolf mouse”) is also carnivorous. In fact, it preys on creatures few would dare mess with, such as the scorpion. But the werewolf mouse is uniquely equipped for that particular battle. It not only has a resistance to scorpion venom but can even convert the toxins into a painkiller!

There’s something inspiring about the way this resilient little mouse seems custom-made to survive and even thrive in its harsh environment. As Paul explains in Ephesians 2:10, that kind of marvelous craftsmanship characterizes God’s designs for His people as well. Each of us is “God’s handiwork” in Jesus, uniquely equipped to contribute to His kingdom. No matter how God has gifted you, you have much to offer. As you embrace with confidence who He’s made you to be, you’ll be a living witness to the hope and joy of life in Him.

So as you face whatever feels most menacing in your own life, take courage. You may feel small, but through the gifting and empowerment of the Spirit, God can use you to do mighty things.

Is it easy or difficult for you to see yourself as God’s marvelous handiwork? Why? In what areas of your life might remembering this truth give you renewed confidence and courage?

God, thank You for the incredible way You’ve designed me to live with joy and purpose. Help me to believe, and find courage in, the truth of who I am in You.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 18, 2021

Will I Bring Myself Up to This Level?

…perfecting holiness in the fear of God. —2 Corinthians 7:1

“Therefore, having these promises….” I claim God’s promises for my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows only the human perspective on them. God’s perspective is that through His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For example, do I realize that my “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not “confer with flesh and blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.

I must cleanse myself from all filthiness in my flesh and my spirit until both are in harmony with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I mentally rebellious and defiant? Am I allowing the mind of Christ to be formed in me? (see Philippians 2:5). Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived— a level of perfect submission to His Father’s will— where I pay no attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the fear of God? Is God having His way with me, and are people beginning to see God in my life more and more?

Be serious in your commitment to God and gladly leave everything else alone. Literally put God first in your life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be.  Conformed to His Image, 354 L

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 32-34; Mark 15:26-47

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 18, 2021

The Peace of Releasing the Wheel - #8919

Oh, give me a break. It's not like I'm the only man in the world with this control thing. I mean, it's probably part of our wiring to be in control, huh? Like driving. If you've got four guys traveling together, you usually have four people who want to drive, but that makes the front seat awfully crowded. When a family's going on a long trip, many men make it very clear, "I'll drive." I'm one of those guys who doesn't like to ride very much. I do like to drive. But a while back, I learned a valuable lesson about this "must drive" neurosis. We had an all-day trip ahead of us and I had a full day of preparation for speaking and radio programs. I find that's hard to do with a steering wheel in your hand. Yeah, something the National Safety Council would not be excited about. So my wife drove the whole trip while I buried myself in my work. I got so much done!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Peace of Releasing the Wheel."

I learned a lesson that day that I've applied to a number of other trips. You get so much more done when someone else is driving. Great things happen when you finally let go of the wheel and let someone else take it. Especially if the someone else is the One who was supposed to be driving all along. Yeah, that would be the God who gave you your life. He's supposed to be driving your life.

But we'd rather do the driving ourselves. Oh, sure, we don't mind having God as a passenger in our life. It's nice to have Him along. Just as long as He doesn't have the wheel. And me driving the life that God gave me is exactly what the Bible means when it talks about our "sin" - me driving when God was supposed to. Taking my life where I want it to go instead of where He created it to go. Doing what I feel like doing with my life instead of living as I was made to live. If you're wondering why you never seem to get to the destination you've been looking for, if you're wondering why you feel lost, why there have been costly crashes, it's because the wrong person is driving.

Here's how the Bible describes how we get lost and then get stuck on a road that's going nowhere. It's in Isaiah 53:6, our word for today from

the Word of God. "We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way." Turning to our own way means we are literally turning our back to God, the author of our life. The issue of control now becomes a life-or-death issue. Because if we insist on driving, our life will inevitably go over the cliff into an awful eternity without God, all because we had to be in control - because we had to drive.

Thank God, He did what it took to make it possible for us to turn around. To be forgiven instead of condemned. To go to heaven instead of hell. That Bible verse about us going our way concludes with God's loving answer: "The Lord has laid on Him (that's talking about Jesus) the iniquity (or the wrongdoing) of us all." The verse before it tells what it took for us to have a chance to live instead of die. Listen to this: "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him." That day Jesus allowed them to hang Him on a cross, He was absorbing all the punishment for all the sinning that you've ever done. Because that's how much He loves you.

And now you have an opportunity to have every sin of your life erased from God's book, and trade hell for heaven. Jesus comes into your life when you tell Him, as a song once said, "Jesus, take the wheel." You put your trust in Him because He gave His life for you. He doesn't ride - He drives. It's time to give Him the wheel.

If you want to begin this relationship with him, a great place for you to find out how to do that is our website. Would you go there? It's ANewStory.com.

You've been driving long enough. It's time to let Jesus drive. You'll have this wonderful peace, you'll go where you were created to go, and your final destination - it will be awesome.

Esther 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE SURPRISE OF GRACE

Seems to me God gives a lot more grace than we’d ever imagine. We could do the same. Now, I’m not for watering down the truth or compromising the Gospel. But if a fellow with a pure heart calls God Father, can’t I call that man Brother? If God doesn’t make doctrinal perfection a requirement for family membership, should I? If God can tolerate my mistakes, can’t I tolerate the mistakes of others? If God can overlook my errors, can’t I overlook the errors of others? If God allows me, with my foibles and failures, to him Father, shouldn’t I extend that same grace to others?

One thing is for sure: when we get to heaven, we’ll be surprised at some of the folks we see. And some of them will be surprised when they see us!

Esther 5

Three days later Esther dressed in her royal robes and took up a position in the inner court of the palace in front of the king’s throne room. The king was on his throne facing the entrance. When he noticed Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased to see her; the king extended the gold scepter in his hand. Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. The king asked, “And what’s your desire, Queen Esther? What do you want? Ask and it’s yours—even if it’s half my kingdom!”

4 “If it please the king,” said Esther, “let the king come with Haman to a dinner I’ve prepared for him.”

5-6 “Get Haman at once,” said the king, “so we can go to dinner with Esther.”

So the king and Haman joined Esther at the dinner she had arranged. As they were drinking the wine, the king said, “Now, what is it you want? Half of my kingdom isn’t too much to ask! Just ask.”

7-8 Esther answered, “Here’s what I want. If the king favors me and is pleased to do what I desire and ask, let the king and Haman come again tomorrow to the dinner that I will fix for them. Then I’ll give a straight answer to the king’s question.”

* * *

9-13 Haman left the palace that day happy, beaming. And then he saw Mordecai sitting at the King’s Gate ignoring him, oblivious to him. Haman was furious with Mordecai. But he held himself in and went on home. He got his friends together with his wife Zeresh and started bragging about how much money he had, his many sons, all the times the king had honored him, and his promotion to the highest position in the government. “On top of all that,” Haman continued, “Queen Esther invited me to a private dinner she gave for the king, just the three of us. And she’s invited me to another one tomorrow. But I can’t enjoy any of it when I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King’s Gate.”

14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends said, “Build a gallows seventy-five feet high. First thing in the morning speak with the king; get him to order Mordecai hanged on it. Then happily go with the king to dinner.”

Haman liked that. He had the gallows built.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Read: Colossians 1:27–29; 2:6–10

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

Spiritual Fullness in Christ
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

INSIGHT
Paul’s letter to the Colossians describes the supremacy of Christ. One interesting phrase Paul uses is that Jesus is “the firstborn from among the dead” (Colossians 1:18). In other words, Jesus was the first to die and rise again in a body that wouldn’t die. For this reason, He has supremacy over all things (v. 18). Additionally, He’s the head of the church (vv. 18–20). Some scholars see the word head as a metaphor for leader. Verse 15 tells us He’s “the image of the invisible God.” The word for image is eikon, which explains something that represents the original, such as a picture. These passages proclaim the deity of Jesus as fully God (see also v. 19; 2:9). Because Jesus is both fully God and fully man, He was the only one able to “reconcile” all things to God through His death on the cross (1:20).
It’s Jesus! -By Lisa Samra
God has chosen to make known . . . the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27

During an episode of the popular US television talent competition America’s Got Talent, a five-year-old girl sang with such exuberance that a judge compared her to a famous child singer and dancer in the 1930s. He remarked, “I think Shirley Temple is living somewhere inside of you.” Her unexpected response: “Not Shirley Temple. Jesus!”

I marveled at the young girl’s deep awareness that her joy came from Jesus living in her. Scripture assures us of the amazing reality that all who trust in Him not only receive the promise of eternal life with God but also Jesus’ presence living in them through His Spirit—our hearts become Jesus’ home (Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 3:17).

Jesus’ presence in our hearts fills us with countless reasons for gratitude (Colossians 2:6–7). He brings the ability to live with purpose and energy (1:28–29). He cultivates joy in our hearts in the midst of all circumstances, in both times of celebration and times of struggle (Philippians 4:12–13). Christ’s Spirit provides hope to our hearts that God is working all things together for good, even when we can’t see it (Romans 8:28). And the Spirit gives a peace that persists regardless of the chaos swirling around us (Colossians 3:15).

With the confidence that comes from Jesus living in our hearts, we can allow His presence to shine through so that others can’t help but notice.

What blessing of Jesus’ presence in your life encourages you today? How might you share Him as the reason for your hope and joy?

Jesus, thank You for making my heart Your home. Please help my life to reflect Your presence.

To learn more about Jesus and who He is, visit ChristianUniversity.org/NT111.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
The Servant’s Primary Goal

We make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him. —2 Corinthians 5:9

“We make it our aim….” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor.

Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being “approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15) may result in our rejection from further service for Him. When you discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary to keep “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest…I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound?

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: Deuteronomy 30-31; Mark 15:1-25

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Treating the Real Problem - #8918

I got to thinking there was something wrong with my nose! Because every couple of months it develops this tender spot on the inside, and that was okay, because only I knew that. But when the outside started to swell and turn to some not so beautiful shades of red, well, then everybody knew. Those were the days I was glad I'm on radio instead of television. So it seemed like a few days a year I get to look like Rudolph, whether it's Christmas or not. I went to the doctor with it, and I said, "Doctor, this is ugly. What will I do?" He said, "Well, you know, there might be an infection in there." Well, that's probably more information than you want, but I'm going somewhere with this, so stick with me. He prescribed an appropriate antibiotic. Sure enough, if I took that antibiotic when that first tenderness started to come along, it stopped the flare-up. So, what other people could see on the outside, well, that wasn't my real problem.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Treating the Real Problem."

Enough about my nose. Let's go to our word for today from the Word of God. It comes from John 4, and I'm going to be reading verses 13 and 14. You might remember that John 4 deals with Jesus meeting at a well with a very immoral woman from a Samaritan village. She's come to draw water that day, she's had several husbands; she is now living with a guy. And the fact that she has to come for her water at noon...well, see, usually all the other women came early in the morning when it was cool. She comes with this heavy water pot at noontime, probably indicating she was not considered the best company everybody wanted to be seen with. She had to kind of hang out alone. I don't think she was respected in her community. I can only imagine the names they called her in that village.

Well, here's how Jesus handles the situation. "Everyone," He says, "who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." He promises here an eternal spiritual fulfillment. "The woman said to Him, 'Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty again."

This woman's merry-go-round of short-lived relationships with men was actually a symptom of a deep soul thirst. Until that thirst was quenched by spiritual peace, she'd keep going to one relationship well after another. Now, our Lord is modeling here an important principle in dealing with people's problems. Look beyond the deeds - her immorality, to the needs - the emptiness inside.

Maybe you've got someone in your life whose actions are a deep concern to you right now, maybe even an aggravation. There's a tendency to look at that family member, or friend, or coworker, person at church and say, "Problem!" But if you look through Jesus' eyes you know what you'll say? "Need!" You realize the deeds won't change until the needs are met. Is that person acting out some deep wounds from years ago or a need for approval, maybe just a very frightened insecurity? Maybe they're trying to fill a hole left by someone whose love they needed but they never got, or maybe love they lost, or they were betrayed. Behind the actions is a wound.

If you'll look for the need, you can become part of God's answer instead of somebody who just wounds them some more. That doesn't mean you don't address the problem; you don't address the deeds. Jesus did. He dealt with the problem of the men in her life. But first you move in with the love of Christ and apply some healing to the wounds inside.

What you see on the outside? That's probably not the real problem. Don't attack the deeds, but go after the needs. Don't attack that flare-up on the surface. No, with the power and insight of Jesus, treat the infection that's on the inside.

Esther 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: STUNNED BY GOD’S GRACE

I’ve never been surprised by God’s judgment, but I’m still stunned by his grace. David the psalmist becomes David the voyeur, but by God’s grace becomes David the psalmist again. Peter denied Christ before he preached Christ. Zacchaeus the crook: the cleanest part of his life was the money he’d laundered, but Jesus still had time for him. The thief on the cross: hell bent and hung-out-to die one minute, heaven-bound and smiling the next.

Story after story, surprise after surprise. Seems that God is looking more for ways to get us home than for ways to keep us out. I challenge you to find one soul who came to God seeking grace and did not find it. Search the pages, read the stories. Find one person who came seeking a second chance and left with a stern lecture. I dare you! You won’t find it.


Esther 4

When Mordecai learned what had been done, he ripped his clothes to shreds and put on sackcloth and ashes. Then he went out in the streets of the city crying out in loud and bitter cries. He came only as far as the King’s Gate, for no one dressed in sackcloth was allowed to enter the King’s Gate. As the king’s order was posted in every province, there was loud lament among the Jews—fasting, weeping, wailing. And most of them stretched out on sackcloth and ashes.

4-8 Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her. The queen was stunned. She sent fresh clothes to Mordecai so he could take off his sackcloth but he wouldn’t accept them. Esther called for Hathach, one of the royal eunuchs whom the king had assigned to wait on her, and told him to go to Mordecai and get the full story of what was happening. So Hathach went to Mordecai in the town square in front of the King’s Gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him. He also told him the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to deposit in the royal bank to finance the massacre of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the bulletin that had been posted in Susa ordering the massacre so he could show it to Esther when he reported back with instructions to go to the king and intercede and plead with him for her people.

9-11 Hathach came back and told Esther everything Mordecai had said. Esther talked it over with Hathach and then sent him back to Mordecai with this message: “Everyone who works for the king here, and even the people out in the provinces, knows that there is a single fate for every man or woman who approaches the king without being invited: death. The one exception is if the king extends his gold scepter; then he or she may live. And it’s been thirty days now since I’ve been invited to come to the king.”

12-14 When Hathach told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai sent her this message: “Don’t think that just because you live in the king’s house you’re the one Jew who will get out of this alive. If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this.”

15-16 Esther sent back her answer to Mordecai: “Go and get all the Jews living in Susa together. Fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, either day or night. I and my maids will fast with you. If you will do this, I’ll go to the king, even though it’s forbidden. If I die, I die.”

17 Mordecai left and carried out Esther’s instructions.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Read: Psalm 73:21–28

When my heart was grieved
    and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
    I was a brute beast before you.

23 Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart
    and my portion forever.

27 Those who are far from you will perish;
    you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
    I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
    I will tell of all your deeds.

INSIGHT
Asaph, whose name means “Jehovah has gathered,” is the author of twelve psalms (Psalms 50, 73–83). He was a Levite and one of David’s three chief musicians (1 Chronicles 6:31, 39–43; 15:16–17; 16:4–5; 25:1–2). He was also a prophet or seer (1 Samuel 9:9; 1 Chronicles 25:2; 2 Chronicles 29:30).

In Psalm 73—a Wisdom psalm that instructs readers on how to deal with life’s challenges and pain—Asaph is bitterly overwhelmed by the injustice of the prosperity of the wicked (vv. 1–14). But when he understands God’s presence in his life, his own glorious destiny, and the destined punishment of the wicked (vv. 23–28), his perspective on this present world changes. Certain that “earth has nothing” he desires (v. 25), Asaph embraces the sovereign God as his strength (literally “rock” in Hebrew), refuge, and permanent and eternal possession (vv. 25–28).

A Strong Heart -By Bill Crowder

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26

In his book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, co-authored with Philip Yancey, Dr. Paul Brand observed, “A hummingbird heart weighs a fraction of an ounce and beats eight hundred times a minute; a blue whale’s heart weighs half a ton, beats only ten times per minute, and can be heard two miles away. In contrast to either, the human heart seems dully functional, yet it does its job, beating 100,000 times a day [65–70 times a minute] with no time off for rest, to get most of us through seventy years or more.”

The amazing heart so thoroughly powers us through life that it has become a metaphor for our overall inner well-being. Yet, both our literal and metaphorical hearts are prone to failure. What can we do?

The psalmist Asaph, a worship leader of Israel, acknowledged in Psalm 73 that true strength comes from somewhere—Someone—else. He wrote, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (v. 26). Asaph was right. The living God is our ultimate and eternal strength. As the Maker of heaven and earth, He knows no such limitations to His perfect power.

In our times of difficulty and challenge, may we discover what Asaph learned through his own struggles: God is the true strength of our hearts. We can rest in that strength every day.

How is your metaphorical heart like your spiritual heart? When you feel like you’re “losing heart,” how can you find strength in your loving, caring Father?

Heavenly Father, I thank You that when I’m weak, You’re strong. That when I’m overwhelmed, You’re enough. That when I’m confused, You have perfect clarity.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
The Master Will Judge

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ… —2 Corinthians 5:10

Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.

“If we walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 664 L

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 28-29; Mark 14:54-72

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Why God Sends the Storm - #8917

It was another one of those unforgettable summers with that amazing group of Native American young people. This particular summer, we had traveled to 14 Indian reservations to tell about the hope that these young men and women found in Jesus Christ. One village we were in was typical of so many - so much violence that we were actually advised not to sleep overnight there with the team; a lot of gang activity, a ton of despair. In most places, we're there for multiple nights, but in this particular village we could only do a single night outreach event. Usually, we're outside on a basketball court where the basketball events, the contemporary Christian music and the powerful Hope Stories of the team members convene and hold the attention of a very large crowd. But this night we had to be in a gym, and when team members began to talk about the Savior who had changed their lives, we had an unusual - and very distracting - exodus from the building that was led by several big gang members.

As they gathered outside, a strong wind suddenly roared in, blowing some of their caps into a nearby field. They stayed outside. Then a heavy rain suddenly opened up. A few drenched young people pushed back into the gym, but most of them still chose to stay outside. That's when the little hailstones started. Still, they didn't come in. Then the serious hail began. Big hail; the kind that just pelts your skin! That was it! Everyone pushed inside the gym just in time for an opportunity to begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; which a number of them chose to do.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why God Sends the Storm."

Just in case someone might have missed who was behind the stormy events that night, God left His signature: a giant rainbow that actually arced from behind the gym and right over our bus. God had done what He has done so many times. He sent a storm to drive people to Him. I wonder if that's what He's doing in your life right now.

Our word for today from the Word of God provides a classic example of what part a storm in your life could play in you finding God's love. Jonah, one of God's prophets, didn't like what God had asked him to do, so according to Jonah 1:3, "Jonah ran away from the Lord." He boarded a ship going the opposite direction from his divine orders. And the Bible says, "The Lord sent a great wind on the sea and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up."

Ultimately, Jonah confesses that God has sent this storm and it was there because of him, and he told them to throw him overboard to save their own lives. Later, inside the great fish the Bible says God sent to rescue Jonah, he says, "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered You, Lord, and my prayer rose to You...salvation comes from the Lord."

Could it be that the storm that's hit you lately - the storm that even threatens to break up your ship - is God's tool to drive you into His arms? Not because He's mad at you, but because He loves you. He loves you enough to send His Son, Jesus, to take all the punishment for all your sin. But maybe you've been running from the man who died for you. Well, see, God loves you too much to lose you. He doesn't want you to keep running from His love until time suddenly runs out - forever.

So He sent this storm; something you can't control or you can't fix, so you'd finally realize how much you need Him. So you'd finally grab the hand of Jesus that's been reaching out to you for a long time.

Don't miss this opportunity to have every sin of your life forgiven, to have the hole in your heart finally filled, to trade hell for heaven. This is the only opportunity you can be sure of. In the midst of your storm, grab Jesus' hand. Not just to save you from the storm, but to save your soul. It happens when you say, "Jesus, I've run my life long enough. I resign. You died on the cross for my sin. I am yours from today on."

If you want this, our website is for you right now. It's ANewStory.com. Please check it out. Because when you finally let Jesus into that stormy heart of yours, He brings something wonderful with Him. It's called peace.

Esther 3 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE HERO NEXT DOOR

A hero could be next door and you wouldn’t know it. The fellow who changes the oil in your car could be a hero in overalls. Maybe as he works he prays, asking God to do with the heart of the driver what he does with the engine. The daycare worker where you drop off the kids? Perhaps her morning prayers include the name of each child and the dream that one of them will change the world.

I know—those folks don’t fit our image of a hero. They are too, well, normal. Give us four stars, titles, and headlines. But we seldom see heroes in the making. And we seldom recognize heroes, but we’d do well to keep our eyes open. Tomorrow’s great preacher might be mowing your lawn. And the hero who inspires that person might be nearer than you think — maybe in your mirror.

Esther 3

Some time later, King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, making him the highest-ranking official in the government. All the king’s servants at the King’s Gate used to honor him by bowing down and kneeling before Haman—that’s what the king had commanded.

2-4 Except Mordecai. Mordecai wouldn’t do it, wouldn’t bow down and kneel. The king’s servants at the King’s Gate asked Mordecai about it: “Why do you cross the king’s command?” Day after day they spoke to him about this but he wouldn’t listen, so they went to Haman to see whether something shouldn’t be done about it. Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew.

5-6 When Haman saw for himself that Mordecai didn’t bow down and kneel before him, he was outraged. Meanwhile, having learned that Mordecai was a Jew, Haman hated to waste his fury on just one Jew; he looked for a way to eliminate not just Mordecai but all Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.

7 In the first month, the month of Nisan, of the twelfth year of Xerxes, the pur—that is, the lot—was cast under Haman’s charge to determine the propitious day and month. The lot turned up the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

8-9 Haman then spoke with King Xerxes: “There is an odd set of people scattered through the provinces of your kingdom who don’t fit in. Their customs and ways are different from those of everybody else. Worse, they disregard the king’s laws. They’re an affront; the king shouldn’t put up with them. If it please the king, let orders be given that they be destroyed. I’ll pay for it myself. I’ll deposit 375 tons of silver in the royal bank to finance the operation.”

10 The king slipped his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, archenemy of the Jews.

11 “Go ahead,” the king said to Haman. “It’s your money—do whatever you want with those people.”

12 The king’s secretaries were brought in on the thirteenth day of the first month. The orders were written out word for word as Haman had addressed them to the king’s satraps, the governors of every province, and the officials of every people. They were written in the script of each province and the language of each people in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.

13-14 Bulletins were sent out by couriers to all the king’s provinces with orders to massacre, kill, and eliminate all the Jews—youngsters and old men, women and babies—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar, and to plunder their goods. Copies of the bulletin were to be posted in each province, publicly available to all peoples, to get them ready for that day.

15 At the king’s command, the couriers took off; the order was also posted in the palace complex of Susa. The king and Haman sat back and had a drink while the city of Susa reeled from the news.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, March 15, 2021

Read: 1 Peter 2:4–10

The Living Stone and a Chosen People
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”[b]

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”[c]

8 and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”[d]

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

INSIGHT
In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter gives four characteristics of the church followed by a purpose statement. The apostle tells members of the church what and who they are and then tells them what their identity is meant to do. The description of the church in 1 Peter is similar to the description of the people of Israel found in the Old Testament. The church is a chosen people (compare Deuteronomy 7:6), a royal priesthood and a holy nation (compare Exodus 19:6), and God’s special possession (compare Exodus 19:5). These qualities allow the church to fulfill its mission: to “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).

Caring Letters -By Elisa Morgan

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession. 1 Peter 2:9
Decades ago, Dr. Jerry Motto discovered the power of a “caring letter.” His research found that simply sending a letter expressing care to discharged patients who had previously attempted suicide reduced the rate of recurrence by half. Recently, health care providers have rediscovered this power when sending “caring” texts, postcards, and even social media memes as follow-up treatment for the severely depressed.

Twenty-one “books” in the Bible are actually letters—epistles—caringly written to first-century believers who struggled for a variety of reasons. Paul, James, and John wrote letters to explain the basics of faith and worship, and how to resolve conflict and build unity.

The apostle Peter, however, specifically wrote to believers who were being persecuted by the Roman emperor, Nero. Peter reminded them of their intrinsic value to God, describing them this way in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.” This lifted their gaze to God’s great purpose for them in their world: “that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Our great God Himself wrote a book filled with caring letters to us—inspired Scripture—that we might always have a record of the value He assigns us as His own. May we read His letters daily and share them with others who need the hope Jesus offers.

How does reading the Epistles as caring letters help you receive God’s encouragement? How will you share the hope of God’s caring letters today?

Loving God, thank You for the caring letters in the Bible!


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 15, 2021
The Discipline of Dismay

As they followed they were afraid. —Mark 10:32

At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. But now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar— “Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed” (Mark 10:32).

There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple’s heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set “like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and I can no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant.

Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings could experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don’t know Him. We don’t recognize even one characteristic of His life, and we don’t know how to begin to follow Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him.

The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 50:10-11). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
Not Knowing Whither

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 26-27; Mark 14:27-53

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 15, 2021

A Thousand Teachers - #8916

Kids count the days. Teachers count the days. Principals count the days. Until everybody can shout those happiest of all words, "School's out!" Police cars sport bumper stickers that warn drivers to be extra careful. Same reason: "School's out." And graduations are real milestones because you don't ever have to go back to that school if you don't want to! Listen, I hate to rain on anybody's parade, but that "school's out" thing? Yeah, that's a myth. Or at least it should be.

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

Oh, it might be alright if you don't spend any more hours in a school building...if you don't have to take any more of those stressful midterms or finals. But there's a sense in which God doesn't want us to ever consider "school" as being "out", because He's got so much to teach us and so many teachers through whom He wants to send it. Smart people are looking for teachers for the rest of their life.

Listen to how God describes people that He considers wise in our word for today from the Word of God. In James 3, beginning with verse 13, God says, "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom...The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure: then peace-loving, considerate, submissive..." Now, notice that God links wisdom with humility. And you can see that link when God describes what wisdom looks like in a person. One way it shows up is when a person is "submissive."

Humble people are wise people. Wise people are humble people because they're teachable people. An arrogant person is closed - unteachable. For a wise person, school is never really out because they realize how much they have to learn from almost every person they meet.

A person who realizes that virtually every person he meets has something to teach him is an emotional and spiritual millionaire. In fact, I believe God brings into our lives people through whom He wants to teach us things we need to know. Humility becomes more concrete when you think of it, at least in part, as teachability. Which leads us to the million-dollar question, "Are you a teachable person?"

When you meet a new person, do you talk mostly about yourself or do you want to let them tell you about themselves? Do you approach new people, asking yourself, "What can I learn from this person?" Do you welcome the opportunity to meet people who are from a different background, who have a different kind of personality - someone from a different denominational perspective, a different racial background, another generation? They've got so much to give you because they've seen and experienced life from another perspective. And they've learned or become things that you might not know much about.

And how about your response to the suggestions you get, the ideas, the criticisms of the people close to you? Are you closed or are you open to what they see and what they say? So, in humility, do you gain insight from their input? Or are you all proud, rigid, inflexible, always right? Then by God's definition, you're just not one of those folks that He calls "wise," that He calls "understanding."

Many of the most important teachers you'll ever have in your life are not the ones you'll necessarily meet in a classroom, as important as they are. It will be the people that God brings into your everyday life with something He knows you need to know.

And the more teachers you welcome into your life, the wiser you're going to be.

Revelation 12 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: An Advocate

Not all guilt is bad.  God uses appropriate doses of guilt to awaken us to sin! God's guilt brings enough regret to change us! Satan's guilt, on the other hand, brings enough regret to enslave us.  Don't let Satan lock his shackles on you!
Colossians 3:3 reminds us, "your life is hidden with Christ in God."  When God looks at you, he sees Jesus first.  In the Chinese language the word for "righteousness" is a combination of two characters, the figure of a lamb and a person.  The lamb is on top, covering the person.  Whenever God looks down at you, this is what he sees:  The perfect Lamb of God covering you.
So, do you trust your Advocate, Jesus, or do you trust your Accuser-Satan?  Give no heed to Satan's voice!  You have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous! (I John 2:1).
From GRACE

Revelation 12

A great Sign appeared in Heaven: a Woman dressed all in sunlight, standing on the moon, and crowned with Twelve Stars. She was giving birth to a Child and cried out in the pain of childbirth.

3-4 And then another Sign alongside the first: a huge and fiery Dragon! It had seven heads and ten horns, a crown on each of the seven heads. With one flick of its tail it knocked a third of the Stars from the sky and dumped them on earth. The Dragon crouched before the Woman in childbirth, poised to eat up the Child when it came.

5-6 The Woman gave birth to a Son who will shepherd all nations with an iron rod. Her Son was seized and placed safely before God on his Throne. The Woman herself escaped to the desert to a place of safety prepared by God, all comforts provided her for 1,260 days.

7-12 War broke out in Heaven. Michael and his Angels fought the Dragon. The Dragon and his Angels fought back, but were no match for Michael. They were cleared out of Heaven, not a sign of them left. The great Dragon—ancient Serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, the one who led the whole earth astray—thrown out, and all his Angels thrown out with him, thrown down to earth. Then I heard a strong voice out of Heaven saying,

Salvation and power are established!
    Kingdom of our God, authority of his Messiah!
The Accuser of our brothers and sisters thrown out,
    who accused them day and night before God.
They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb
    and the bold word of their witness.
They weren’t in love with themselves;
    they were willing to die for Christ.
So rejoice, O Heavens, and all who live there,
    but doom to earth and sea,
For the Devil’s come down on you with both feet;
    he’s had a great fall;
He’s wild and raging with anger;
    he hasn’t much time and he knows it.

13-17 When the Dragon saw he’d been thrown to earth, he went after the Woman who had given birth to the Man-Child. The Woman was given wings of a great eagle to fly to a place in the desert to be kept in safety and comfort for a time and times and half a time, safe and sound from the Serpent. The Serpent vomited a river of water to swamp and drown her, but earth came to her help, swallowing the water the Dragon spewed from its mouth. Helpless with rage, the Dragon raged at the Woman, then went off to make war with the rest of her children, the children who keep God’s commands and hold firm to the witness of Jesus.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, March 14, 2021

Read: Mark 4:35–41

Jesus Calms the Storm
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

INSIGHT
The Gospels tell us of two separate times when Jesus calmed a storm. Here in Mark 4, Jesus is already with the disciples, but He’s asleep in the boat. Although they’d seen Him perform great miracles, the disciples didn’t yet understand the full impact of those miracles, which clearly demonstrated Jesus’ power over every situation.

The second time Jesus stilled the sea (Mark 6:47–52), He wasn’t with the disciples. He was “walking on the lake” during a storm. In both cases, the disciples were in great fear—the first time because of the dangerous storm, the second because they thought Jesus was a ghost. These dramatic stories both show how God was building the faith of His disciples. He permitted them to sail into the middle of a fearful situation in order to stretch their faith.

Storms of Fear - By Adam Holz
[Jesus] said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:40

In a TV commercial I saw recently, a woman casually asks someone in a group watching TV, “What are you searching for, Mark?” “A version of myself that doesn’t make decisions based on fear,” he responds soberly—not realizing that she was just asking what he liked to watch on TV!

Whoa, I thought. I wasn’t expecting a TV commercial to hit me so profoundly! But I related to poor Mark: I too feel embarrassed by the way fear sometimes seems to direct my life.

Jesus’ disciples also experienced the profound power of fear. Once, as they headed across the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35), “a furious squall came up” (v. 37). Terror gripped them, and they suggested that Jesus (who’d been sleeping!) might not care about them: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (v. 38).

Fear distorted the disciples’ vision, blinding them to Jesus’ good intentions for them. After He rebuked the wind and waves (v. 39), Christ confronted the disciples with two penetrating questions: “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (v. 40).

Storms rage in our lives as well, don’t they? But Jesus’ questions can help us put our fears in perspective. His first question invites us to name our fears. The second invites us to entrust those distorted feelings to Him—asking Him for eyes to see how He guides us even through life’s most raging storms.

What storms are you facing right now? How can you entrust your fears and emotions to Jesus when the winds blow and the waters rise?

Loving Savior, thank You that You’re always present in the storm. As I move through life’s scary moments, help me each day to talk to You and entrust You with my fears.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Yielding

…you are that one’s slaves whom you obey… —Romans 6:16

The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.

If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “…He has anointed Me…to proclaim liberty to the captives…” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).

When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from. The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 23-25; Mark 14:1-26

Esther 2 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Satan’s Condemnation

Satan’s condemnation brings no repentance or resolve, just regret! Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). To steal your peace, kill your dreams, and destroy your future. Satan has deputized people to peddle his poison.  Friends dredge up your past. Preachers proclaim all guilt and no grace.  And parents, oh, your parents. “Why can’t you grow up?” they say.  “When are you going to make me proud?” they say. But your accusers will not have the last word!  Jesus has acted on your behalf.  Jesus Christ has risen to your defense.

Hebrews 10:22 urges “. . .let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, because we have been made free from a guilty conscience.”

Not just for our past mistakes but also for our future ones.  Behold the fruit of grace: saved by God, raised by God, seated with God! Gifted, equipped, and commissioned!

From GRACE

Esther 2

 Later, when King Xerxes’ anger had cooled and he was having second thoughts about what Vashti had done and what he had ordered against her, the king’s young attendants stepped in and got the ball rolling: “Let’s begin a search for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint officials in every province of his kingdom to bring every beautiful young virgin to the palace complex of Susa and to the harem run by Hegai, the king’s eunuch who oversees the women; he will put them through their beauty treatments. Then let the girl who best pleases the king be made queen in place of Vashti.”

The king liked this advice and took it.

* * *

5-7 Now there was a Jew who lived in the palace complex in Susa. His name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish—a Benjaminite. His ancestors had been taken from Jerusalem with the exiles and carried off with King Jehoiachin of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon into exile. Mordecai had raised his cousin Hadassah, otherwise known as Esther, since she had no father or mother. The girl had a good figure and a beautiful face. After her parents died, Mordecai had adopted her.

8 When the king’s order had been publicly posted, many young girls were brought to the palace complex of Susa and given over to Hegai who was overseer of the women. Esther was among them.

9-10 Hegai liked Esther and took a special interest in her. Right off he started her beauty treatments, ordered special food, assigned her seven personal maids from the palace, and put her and her maids in the best rooms in the harem. Esther didn’t say anything about her family and racial background because Mordecai had told her not to.

11 Every day Mordecai strolled beside the court of the harem to find out how Esther was and get news of what she was doing.

12-14 Each girl’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes after she had completed the twelve months of prescribed beauty treatments—six months’ treatment with oil of myrrh followed by six months with perfumes and various cosmetics. When it was time for the girl to go to the king, she was given whatever she wanted to take with her when she left the harem for the king’s quarters. She would go there in the evening; in the morning she would return to a second harem overseen by Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines. She never again went back to the king unless the king took a special liking to her and asked for her by name.

15 When it was Esther’s turn to go to the king (Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his daughter), she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, had recommended. Esther, just as she was, won the admiration of everyone who saw her.

16 She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of the king’s reign.

17-18 The king fell in love with Esther far more than with any of his other women or any of the other virgins—he was totally smitten by her. He placed a royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. Then the king gave a great banquet for all his nobles and officials—“Esther’s Banquet.” He proclaimed a holiday for all the provinces and handed out gifts with royal generosity.

* * *

19-20 On one of the occasions when the virgins were being gathered together, Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate. All this time, Esther had kept her family background and race a secret as Mordecai had ordered; Esther still did what Mordecai told her, just as when she was being raised by him.

21-23 On this day, with Mordecai sitting at the King’s Gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had it in for the king and were making plans to kill King Xerxes. But Mordecai learned of the plot and told Queen Esther, who then told King Xerxes, giving credit to Mordecai. When the thing was investigated and confirmed as true, the two men were hanged on a gallows. This was all written down in a logbook kept for the king’s use.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, March 13, 2021
Read: Genesis 1:26–31

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

INSIGHT
We’re given two different accounts of creation in Genesis 1–2. The reason for two accounts is the source of much scholarly debate. One view is that having two creation stories is similar to having two birth narratives for Jesus (Matthew 1–2 and Luke 1–2) or to the presence of four gospel records—each provides details not presented in the others. Applying this approach to the two creation accounts, it’s not unreasonable to see Genesis 1 as an overview of the big picture of the world’s creation, with chapter 2 looping back to provide us with important details, particularly regarding the creation of the first man and woman.

God’s Storybook -By Anne Cetas
God blessed them. . . . God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:28, 31

Wanting to enjoy the beautiful day, I headed out for a walk and soon met a new neighbor. He stopped me and introduced himself: “My name is Genesis, and I’m six and a half years old.”

“Genesis is a great name! It’s a book in the Bible,” I replied.

“What’s the Bible?” he asked.

“It’s God’s storybook about how He made the world and people and how He loves us.”

His inquisitive response made me smile: “Why did He make the world and people and cars and houses? And is my picture in His book?”

While there isn’t a literal picture of my new friend Genesis or the rest of us in the Scriptures, we’re a big part of God’s storybook. We see in Genesis 1 that “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God He created them” (v. 27). God walked with them in the garden, and then warned about giving in to the temptation to be their own god (ch. 3). Later in His book, God told about how, in love, His Son, Jesus, came to walk with us again and brought about a plan for our forgiveness and the restoration of His creation.

As we look at the Bible, we learn that our Creator wants us to know Him, talk with Him, and even ask Him our questions. He cares for us more than we can imagine.

Where do you see yourself in God’s story? In what ways are you experiencing His fellowship?

Loving God, thank You for making me a part of Your story. May I love You and others as You love me.

Read Understanding the Bible: The Gospels at DiscoverySeries.org/Q0414.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 13, 2021
God’s Total Surrender to Us

For God so loved the world that He gave… —John 3:16

Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself.

To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us.

If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us— totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 20-22; Mark 13:21-37

Esther 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD IS DOING A GOOD WORK 

Changing direction in life is not tragic, but losing passion in life is. Something happens along the way. Convictions to change the world downgrade to commitments to pay the bills. Rather than make a difference, we make a salary. Rather than look outward, we look inward. And we don’t like what we see.

But God is not finished with you yet. Oh you may think he is. You may think you’ve peaked. You may think he’s got someone else to do the job. If so, think again! The Bible says that “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” (Philippians 1:6). Did you see what God is doing? A good work in you. Did you see when he’ll be finished? When Jesus Christ comes again. May I spell out the message? God ain’t finished with you yet!

Esther 1

This is the story of something that happened in the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled from India to Ethiopia—127 provinces in all. King Xerxes ruled from his royal throne in the palace complex of Susa. In the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers. The military brass of Persia and Media were also there, along with the princes and governors of the provinces.

4-7 For six months he put on exhibit the huge wealth of his empire and its stunningly beautiful royal splendors. At the conclusion of the exhibit, the king threw a weeklong party for everyone living in Susa, the capital—important and unimportant alike. The party was in the garden courtyard of the king’s summer house. The courtyard was elaborately decorated with white and blue cotton curtains tied with linen and purple cords to silver rings on marble columns. Silver and gold couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and colored stones. Drinks were served in gold chalices, each chalice one-of-a-kind. The royal wine flowed freely—a generous king!

8-9 The guests could drink as much as they liked—king’s orders!—with waiters at their elbows to refill the drinks. Meanwhile, Queen Vashti was throwing a separate party for women inside King Xerxes’ royal palace.

10-11 On the seventh day of the party, the king, high on the wine, ordered the seven eunuchs who were his personal servants (Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas) to bring him Queen Vashti resplendent in her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the guests and officials. She was extremely good-looking.

12-15 But Queen Vashti refused to come, refused the summons delivered by the eunuchs. The king lost his temper. Seething with anger over her insolence, the king called in his counselors, all experts in legal matters. It was the king’s practice to consult his expert advisors. Those closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven highest-ranking princes of Persia and Media, the inner circle with access to the king’s ear. He asked them what legal recourse they had against Queen Vashti for not obeying King Xerxes’ summons delivered by the eunuchs.

16-18 Memucan spoke up in the council of the king and princes: “It’s not only the king Queen Vashti has insulted, it’s all of us, leaders and people alike in every last one of King Xerxes’ provinces. The word’s going to get out: ‘Did you hear the latest about Queen Vashti? King Xerxes ordered her to be brought before him and she wouldn’t do it!’ When the women hear it, they’ll start treating their husbands with contempt. The day the wives of the Persian and Mede officials get wind of the queen’s brazenness, they’ll be out of control. Is that what we want, a country of angry women who don’t know their place?

19-20 “So, if the king agrees, let him pronounce a royal ruling and have it recorded in the laws of the Persians and Medes so that it cannot be revoked, that Vashti is permanently banned from King Xerxes’ presence. And then let the king give her royal position to a woman who knows her place. When the king’s ruling becomes public knowledge throughout the kingdom, extensive as it is, every woman, regardless of her social position, will show proper respect to her husband.”

21-22 The king and the princes liked this. The king did what Memucan proposed. He sent bulletins to every part of the kingdom, to each province in its own script, to each people in their own language: “Every man is master of his own house; whatever he says, goes.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, March 12, 2021
Read: Ezekiel 37:1–3, 7–10, 14

The Valley of Dry Bones

The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

INSIGHT
In the record of Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1–14), two repeated words paint the scene in particularly vivid imagery: bones and breath(e). These words set up the contrast between what Ezekiel sees and what God does. Twelve times the word bone(s) is repeated in these verses. The repetition creates the unmistakable image of death, but not that of the recently deceased. The death shown to Ezekiel by the Spirit of God is that of the long dead—no skin, muscle, or tendons are left; the dry bones lay scattered on the valley floor, no longer connected to each other.

In contrast to the dry bones is the promise and power of God’s breath. It alone undoes death. When “the bones came together” (v. 7) and were covered with sinew and flesh, they still weren’t alive. It was only when the breath of God entered them that they became a living army once again.

Every Breath- By Leslie Koh
I will put breath in you. Ezekiel 37:6

When Tee Unn came down with a rare autoimmune disease that weakened all his muscles and nearly killed him, he realized that being able to breathe was a gift. For more than a week, a machine had to pump air into his lungs every few seconds, which was a painful part of his treatment.

Tee Unn made a miraculous recovery, and today he reminds himself not to complain about life’s challenges. “I’ll just take a deep breath,” he says, “and thank God I can.”

How easy it is to focus on things we need or want, and forget that sometimes the smallest things in life can be the greatest miracles. In Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 37:1–14), God showed the prophet that only He could give life to dry bones. Even after tendons, flesh, and skin had appeared, “there was no breath in them” (v. 8). It was only when God gave them breath that they could live again (v. 10).

This vision illustrated God’s promise to restore Israel from devastation. It also reminds me that anything I have, big or small, is useless unless God gives me breath.

How about thanking God for the simplest blessings in life today? Amid the daily struggle, let’s stop occasionally to take a deep breath, and “let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6).

What will you thank God for right now? How can you remind yourself to thank Him more often today?

Thank You, God, for every breath You’ve given me. Thank You for the smallest things in life and the greatest miracles of life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 12, 2021
Total Surrender

Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." —Mark 10:28

Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this surrender is “for My sake and the gospel’s” (Mark 10:29). It was not for the purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For example, “I’m going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” Being delivered from sin and being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your showcase so I can say, ‘This is what God has done for me.’ ” Gaining heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender. Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.

Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse— “Yes, Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ‘cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).

True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 17-19; Mark 13:1-20

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 12, 2021
The Illusion of Safety - #8915

On a foreboding day in the spring, the tornado warnings were out for this small town in Illinois. Knowing they needed to find a safe place, some folks really ran for shelter into the one basement of a restaurant that was housed in a hundred-year-old stone building. What they didn't factor into their choice was the old sandstone foundation on which that building rested. Well, the tornado roared right through the middle of the town, made a direct hit on that building, and it destroyed everything - the building, the foundation, the basement, and eight people died there that day.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Illusion of Safety."

It's a sad story. The people didn't ignore the danger. They knew they had to seek safety, but they looked for safety in a place that looked like it could save them, but was built on a foundation that couldn't stand the storm. That turned out to be a fatal mistake. A mistake that's made by countless people over the years when it comes to the safety of their soul, and a mistake that has eternally deadly consequences.

Whether you look at a highly civilized culture or one that might be considered a primitive culture, mankind seems to know that we've got trouble with the One who created us. Every culture has its means of trying to deal with the things our God is unhappy with; trying to get on His good side before we die.

A lot of us know that we've got a sin problem. We've done wrong things that could keep us out of heaven someday. And we're right. The Bible says that "nothing impure will ever enter heaven" (Revelation 21:27). We need to do something to escape the storm of the judgment of Almighty God for our rebellion against Him. So we run into a religion for spiritual safety. Our answer to the bad things we've done is to do good things to make up for them - whatever good things our particular faith prescribes; the meetings, the creeds, the rituals, the ceremonies, the good works.

Is that all bad? No. It's just not enough. It's not a matter of which religion is right. The issue is that no religion is enough to please a perfect God or to pay the death penalty for our sin. Like those people in that vulnerable old building, we're depending on something that, in the end, cannot save us.

In Romans 3, beginning with verse 10, our word for today from the Word of God, He says, "There is no one righteous, not even one...No one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law" (Which is the highest form of doing good works). It couldn't be clearer. The God you will face one day has told us bluntly that all our goodness will not make us right with Him. Then He explains what will. "Righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Translation: there's no hope in what you and I can do for God. Our only hope is what God has done for us when His Son paid for our sin on the cross. The moment you abandon your trust in anything else and put your total trust in Jesus, every sin of your life is erased from God's book and your eternal address is changed from hell to heaven.

That could happen to you today if you'll give yourself, by faith, to the man who gave His life for you. Don't you want this? To be right with God and know you are? Then would you tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours. I'm not running my life anymore. I'm grabbing You as the rescuer who died to pay for my sin."

And then a great next step would be to go to our website. I tried to lay out for you there in a simple, brief way how you can begin your relationship with God and know for sure you have it, know that you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.

Please don't risk another day seeking eternal safety in something that looks strong but can't save you. If it could, Jesus would not have gone to that cross. Run to Him today. He took the storm of God's judgment for you, and Jesus is your only safe place.