Psalm 62, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: Our Good Intentions

Struggles come for sure—but so does God! Before amen—comes the power of a simple prayer. As simple as, “Father, You are good. I need help. Heal me and forgive me. They need help. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

We want to pray but the calendar pounces on our good intentions like a tiger on a rabbit. Prayer is not a privilege for the pious, not the art of a chosen few. It is simply conversation between God and you. He wants to talk with you!

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Sign on at BeforeAmen.com—take a few minutes and do the Prayer Strengths Assessment. It will not only encourage you but give you a building block for your growth in prayer!

From Before Amen

Psalm 62

God, the one and only—

    I’ll wait as long as he says.

Everything I need comes from him,

    so why not?

He’s solid rock under my feet,

    breathing room for my soul,

An impregnable castle:

    I’m set for life.

3-4 How long will you gang up on me?

    How long will you run with the bullies?

There’s nothing to you, any of you—

    rotten floorboards, worm-eaten rafters,

Anthills plotting to bring down mountains,

    far gone in make-believe.

You talk a good line,

    but every “blessing” breathes a curse.

5-6 God, the one and only—

    I’ll wait as long as he says.

Everything I hope for comes from him,

    so why not?

He’s solid rock under my feet,

    breathing room for my soul,

An impregnable castle:

    I’m set for life.

7-8 My help and glory are in God

    —granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—

So trust him absolutely, people;

    lay your lives on the line for him.

    God is a safe place to be.

9 Man as such is smoke,

    woman as such, a mirage.

Put them together, they’re nothing;

    two times nothing is nothing.

10 And a windfall, if it comes—

    don’t make too much of it.

11 God said this once and for all;

    how many times

Have I heard it repeated?

    “Strength comes

Straight from God.”

12 Love to you, Lord God!

    You pay a fair wage for a good day’s work!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, November 05, 2022

Today's Scripture

1 Corinthians 9:24–27

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.

26-27 I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No lazy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.

Insight

Believers in Jesus in Corinth would have connected with Paul’s athletic metaphors in 1 Corinthians 9. Corinth was the place where the Isthmian games convened. Craig Keener notes in The IVP Bible Background Commentary: “Corinth itself hosted major games for all Greece every two years on the isthmus; these were the best-attended Greek festivals next to the Olympic games.” Running and boxing (v. 26) were just two of the events in which athletes would compete. Other events included wrestling, throwing the discus and javelin, the long jump, chariot racing, poetry reading, and singing. Paul makes athletic references in 1 Timothy 4:8, 2 Timothy 2:5, and in these verses from 2 Timothy 4:7–8: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day.” By: Arthur Jackson

Running the Race

We [go into strict training] to get a crown that will last forever. 1 Corinthians 9:25

The careers of most National Football League players are remarkably brief: just 3.3 years on average, according to statista.com. Then there’s NFL quarterback Tom Brady. In 2021, he began his twenty-second season at the age of forty-four. How? Perhaps his famously rigorous diet and exercise routine have enabled him to maintain his competitive edge. Brady’s seven Super Bowl rings have earned him the title of G.O.A.T.—greatest of all time in the NFL. But it’s a title he never could have achieved apart from letting his single-minded pursuit of football perfection shape everything in his life.

The apostle Paul recognized athletes exhibiting similar discipline in his day (1 Corinthians 9:24). But he also saw that no matter how much they trained, ultimately their glory faded. In contrast, he said, we have an opportunity to live for Jesus in a way that affects eternity. If athletes striving for momentary glory can work so hard at it, Paul implies, how much more should those living for “a crown that will last forever” (v. 25).

We don’t train to earn salvation. Rather, just the opposite: as we realize how truly wondrous our salvation is, it reshapes our priorities, our perspective, and the very things we live for as each of us faithfully runs our own race of faith in God’s strength. By:  Adam Holz

Reflect & Pray

How do you think your faith motivates you to give your very best? How can you avoid legalism as you grow in spiritual disciplines?

Father, help me to grow in discipline as a response to Your love and not as an attempt to earn something You’ve already given me.

Learn more about the basics of spiritual life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, November 05, 2022

Partakers of His Suffering

…but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings… —1 Peter 4:13

If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, “Oh, I can’t deal with that person.” Why can’t you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way.

The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered “according to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:19), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the “long road home.”

Are we partakers of Christ’s sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— “God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!”

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 34-36; Hebrews 2

Psalm 61, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HOW PRAYERS GET HEARD - November 4, 2022

None of us pray as much as we should, but all of us pray more than we think, because the Holy Spirit turns our sighs into petitions and our tears into entreaties. He makes sure you get heard.

Now, suppose a person never learns about the sealing and the intercession of the Holy Spirit. This person may assume then, that salvation—security—resides in our works, not God’s, and that the power of prayer depends upon our prayer, not the prayers of the Spirit. What kind of life will this person lead? A parched and prayerless one.

But what if you believe in the work of the Spirit? Will you be different as a result? You bet your sweet Sunday you will. Your shoulders will lift, your knees will bend as you discover the buoyant power of praying in the Spirit. A higher walk. Deeper prayers. And most of all, a quiet confidence that comes from knowing it’s not up to you!

Psalm 61

God, listen to me shout,

    bend an ear to my prayer.

When I’m far from anywhere,

    down to my last gasp,

I call out, “Guide me

    up High Rock Mountain!”

3-5 You’ve always given me breathing room,

    a place to get away from it all,

A lifetime pass to your safe-house,

    an open invitation as your guest.

You’ve always taken me seriously, God,

    made me welcome among those who know and love you.

6-8 Let the days of the king add up

    to years and years of good rule.

Set his throne in the full light of God;

    post Steady Love and Good Faith as lookouts,

And I’ll be the poet who sings your glory—

    and live what I sing every day.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, November 04, 2022

Today's Scripture

Ruth 2:20–22; 4:13–17

Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Why, God bless that man! God hasn’t quite walked out on us after all! He still loves us, in bad times as well as good!”

Naomi went on, “That man, Ruth, is one of our circle of covenant redeemers, a close relative of ours!”

21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “Well, listen to this: He also told me, ‘Stick with my workers until my harvesting is finished.’”

22 Naomi said to Ruth, “That’s wonderful, dear daughter! Do that! You’ll be safe in the company of his young women; no danger now of being raped in some stranger’s field.”

Boaz married Ruth. She became his wife. Boaz slept with her. By God’s gracious gift she conceived and had a son.

14-15 The town women said to Naomi, “Blessed be God! He didn’t leave you without family to carry on your life. May this baby grow up to be famous in Israel! He’ll make you young again! He’ll take care of you in old age. And this daughter-in-law who has brought him into the world and loves you so much, why, she’s worth more to you than seven sons!”

16 Naomi took the baby and held him in her arms, cuddling him, cooing over him, waiting on him hand and foot.

17 The neighborhood women started calling him “Naomi’s baby boy!” But his real name was Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

Insight

Naomi described Boaz as a “close relative; . . . one of our guardian-redeemers” (Ruth 2:20). The newborn son of Ruth and Boaz is also referred to as a “guardian-redeemer” (4:14). The “guardian-redeemer” is the central focus of the book of Ruth (see also 3:9, 12; 4:1, 3, 6, 8). The Hebrew word go’el can also be translated “family redeemer,” “kinsman-redeemer,” or “family protector” and refers to the nearest relative with the responsibility of rescuing the family in trouble (see Leviticus 25:23–55; Deuteronomy 25:5–10). Boaz, though not the nearest relative (Ruth 4:2–4), willingly assumed guardian-redeemer obligations; he bought back Elimelek’s land (vv. 3–4) and married the childless widow (Ruth) of a deceased relative (Mahlon) to carry on his family line (v. 5).

By: K. T. Sim

God Redeems Our Pain

The Lord bless him! . . . That man is our close relative. Ruth 2:20

Olive watched her friend loading her dental equipment into his car. A fellow dentist, he’d bought the brand-new supplies from her. Having her own practice had been Olive’s dream for years, but when her son Kyle was born with cerebral palsy, she realized she had to stop working to care for him.

“If I had a million lifetimes, I’d make the same choice,” my friend told me. “But giving up dentistry was difficult. It was the death of a dream.”

We often go through difficulties we can’t understand. For Olive, it was the heartache of her child’s unexpected medical condition and relinquishing her own ambitions. For Naomi, it was the heartache of losing her entire family. In Ruth 1:21 she lamented, “The Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”  

But there was more to Naomi’s story than what she could see. God didn’t abandon her; He brought restoration by providing her with a grandson, Obed (Ruth 4:17). Obed would not only carry on the name of Naomi’s husband and son, but through him, she would be a relative of an ancestor (Boaz) of Jesus Himself  (Matthew 1:5, 16).

God redeemed Naomi’s pain. He also redeemed Olive’s pain by helping her begin a ministry for children with neurological conditions. We may experience seasons of heartache, but we can trust that as we obey and follow God, He can redeem our pain. In His love and wisdom, He can make good come out of it.  

By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

How has God redeemed your trials in the past? How is He encouraging you in your present difficulties?

Dear God, thank You that You’re redeeming the painful stories of my life.

For further study, read Why? Seeing God in Our Pain.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, November 04, 2022

The Authority of Truth

raw near to God and He will draw near to you. —James 4:8

It is essential that you give people the opportunity to act on the truth of God. The responsibility must be left with the individual— you cannot act for him. It must be his own deliberate act, but the evangelical message should always lead him to action. Refusing to act leaves a person paralyzed, exactly where he was previously. But once he acts, he is never the same. It is the apparent folly of the truth that stands in the way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God. Once I press myself into action, I immediately begin to live. Anything less is merely existing. The moments I truly live are the moments when I act with my entire will.

When a truth of God is brought home to your soul, never allow it to pass without acting on it internally in your will, not necessarily externally in your physical life. Record it with ink and with blood— work it into your life. The weakest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is liberated the second he acts and God’s almighty power is available on his behalf. We come up to the truth of God, confess we are wrong, but go back again. Then we approach it again and turn back, until we finally learn we have no business going back. When we are confronted with such a word of truth from our redeeming Lord, we must move directly to transact business with Him. “Come to Me…” (Matthew 11:28). His word come means “to act.” Yet the last thing we want to do is come. But everyone who does come knows that, at that very moment, the supernatural power of the life of God invades him. The dominating power of the world, the flesh, and the devil is now paralyzed; not by your act, but because your act has joined you to God and tapped you in to His redemptive power.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him. Approved Unto God, 10 R

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 32-33; Hebrews 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, November 04, 2022

THE CANCER THAT'S KILLING YOU - #9345

After a while I gave up trying to read those little blurbs that were next to the senior pictures in a high school yearbook. In our school, the seniors got to write their own, and it was usually in cryptic abbreviations so they could get in as many words as possible. Now, those abbreviations refer to something meaningful to the person who wrote it; some important people, some important memories, "Oh, yeah, sure." But most of those blurbs are like hopelessly cryptic. I guess you had to be there in order to understand what they're writing about, right?

But I understood Scott's when I read it. He was one of the top scholars in our recent graduating class; honored many times over. At the end of his blurb he had these words, "Miss U Mom." His Mom was a teacher at the high school. She died of cancer in his sophomore year, and it added a note of sadness to the joy of graduation to know that Scott's Mom wasn't there to see him on his night of high honor. She, with so many others, was taken by that monster we call cancer. You know what? In a way, I'm a cancer victim too. So are you.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Cancer That's Killing You."

Our word for today from the Word of God is in James 1, and I'll read verse 15 today. "After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown gives birth to death." This is a description of a killer disease - a spiritual disease - called sin, and we all have it. Romans 3:23 in the Bible says, "Everyone has sinned and come short of the glory of God." So, it's a disease we all have, and frankly it does work very much like cancer.

All of our cells are kind of programmed to do a certain job within the body. They sort of answer to central intelligence, and there's a master plan built into our cells; the millions of cells in your body. It's built right into the control center in that cell, and that's why some of them know that it's time to rush to a certain spot in your body when you get injured, or they build a wall around an infection so it won't spread. That's their job.

But one day one cell says, "Forget the master plan; I'm going to do as I please." And it no longer takes orders from central intelligence, goes off on its own, begins to multiply, and ultimately attacks a vein or a vital organ, and then the young man writes in a yearbook, "Miss U Mom."

Inside you and me is the spiritual cancer called sin. It's really made up of that middle letter of the word - "I" - SIN. The master plan is that I live for God and I live for others. But I've chosen to go off on my own and pretty much like the song says, "I'll do it my way." That's true of me, too.

That disease kills the people that we cut with our temper, it kills closeness, it ruins the reality and the meaning of sex, love, and families. And we all have it! We have this disease. James 1:15 says, "When it's fully conceived it gives birth to death. There's a wall between God and us. I probably didn't have to tell you that wall was there. I mean, you can already feel it. If it's there when we die, it's there forever. Cancer uncontrolled will kill your body; sin uncontrolled sends you and me to hell.

Your biggest problem in your life isn't death or family or finances. It's sin. This is your deadly condition. But listen to Jesus saying, "I let it kill me so it doesn't have to kill you." See, Jesus took all the dying for this spiritual cancer of sin when He died on the cross. There is a cure for the killer in us.

I want to invite you today on behalf of Jesus to go to the place where you get the cure. It is at the cross of Jesus Christ, where the price was paid. A blood cure! His blood is the only cure. And he invites you today to go there and say, "Jesus, I'm Yours."

Join me today at our website, would you, because I've laid out there how you can begin your personal relationship with Jesus and know you are forgiven. It's ANewStory.com. You could open your life to the Savior today and be cured of the sin that otherwise is so deadly.

John 13:1-20 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: CONDUCT THAT HONORS CHRIST - November 3, 2022

Those who don’t believe in Jesus note what we who believe in Jesus do. They make decisions about Christ by watching us. When we’re kind, they assume Christ is kind. When we’re gracious, they assume Christ is gracious. But when we’re dishonest, what assumption will an observer make about our Master?

No wonder the Apostle Paul says, “Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should” (Colossians 4:5-6 NCV).

Courteous conduct honors Christ. It also honors his children. When you make an effort to greet everyone in the room, especially the ones others may have overlooked, you honor God’s children with a love worth giving.

John 13:1-20

Washing His Disciples’ Feet

Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.

3-6 Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”

7 Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”

8 Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!”

Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”

9 “Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”

10-12 Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you.” (He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you.”) After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.

12-17 Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.

The One Who Ate Bread at My Table

18-20 “I’m not including all of you in this. I know precisely whom I’ve selected, so as not to interfere with the fulfillment of this Scripture:

The one who ate bread at my table

Will stab me in the back.

“I’m telling you all this ahead of time so that when it happens you will believe that I am who I say I am. Make sure you get this right: Receiving someone I send is the same as receiving me, just as receiving me is the same as receiving the One who sent me.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, November 03, 2022

Today's Scripture

John 10:1–6, 27

He Calls His Sheep by Name

 “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”

6-10 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep rustlers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

0 Jesus answered, “I told you, but you don’t believe. Everything I have done has been authorized by my Father, actions that speak louder than words. You don’t believe because you’re not my sheep. My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from him. I and the Father are one heart and mind.”

Insight

In the Bible, leaders were considered “shepherds of [their] people” (Psalm 78:70–72). These leaders were to provide for, protect, and guide the sheep under their care. God is called the “Shepherd of Israel . . . who [leads] Joseph like a flock” (80:1). Psalm 23 expresses this beautifully. And Isaiah 40:11 says, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” In Ezekiel 34, we see both a stern warning against the wicked “shepherds of Israel” (v. 2) and a rich depiction of God as our perfect Shepherd. In the New Testament, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who “lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). He has “compassion on” (Mark 6:34) and cares for His wandering and lost sheep (Matthew 18:12–14).

By: Alyson Kieda

Hearing Christ, Not Chaos

My sheep listen to my voice.

John 10:27

After watching TV news for hours each day, the elderly man grew agitated and anxious—worried the world was falling apart and taking him with it. “Please turn it off,” his grown daughter begged him. “Just stop listening.” But the man continued to spend an excessive amount of time on social media and other news sources.

What we listen to matters deeply. We see this in Jesus’ encounter with Pontius Pilate. Responding to criminal charges brought against Jesus by religious leaders, Pilate summoned Him and asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?” (John 18:33). Jesus replied with a stunning question: “Is that your own idea . . . or did others talk to you about me?” (v. 34).

The same question tests us. In a world of panic, are we listening to chaos or to Christ? Indeed, “my sheep listen to my voice,” He said. “I know them, and they follow me” (10:27). Jesus “used this figure of speech” (v. 6) to explain Himself to doubting religious leaders. As with a good shepherd, He said that “his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice” (vv. 4–5).

As our Good Shepherd, Jesus bids us to hear Him above all. May we listen well and find His peace.

By:  Patricia Raybon

Reflect & Pray

What do you hear on the news or social media that makes you feel anxious? How can you give more time to hearing the voice of God?

Loving God, in a noisy world, when You speak to my heart, mind, and spirit in and through the Scriptures, may I hear You over all.

For further study, read Being Jesus Online.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, November 03, 2022

A Bondservant of Jesus

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me… —Galatians 2:20

These words mean the breaking and collapse of my independence brought about by my own hands, and the surrendering of my life to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me up to this point three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but He cannot push me through it. It means breaking the hard outer layer of my individual independence from God, and the liberating of myself and my nature into oneness with Him; not following my own ideas, but choosing absolute loyalty to Jesus. Once I am at that point, there is no possibility of misunderstanding. Very few of us know anything about loyalty to Christ or understand what He meant when He said, “…for My sake” (Matthew 5:11). That is what makes a strong saint.

Has that breaking of my independence come? All the rest is religious fraud. The one point to decide is— will I give up? Will I surrender to Jesus Christ, placing no conditions whatsoever as to how the brokenness will come? I must be broken from my own understanding of myself. When I reach that point, immediately the reality of the supernatural identification with Jesus Christ takes place. And the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable— “I have been crucified with Christ….”

The passion of Christianity comes from deliberately signing away my own rights and becoming a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Until I do that, I will not begin to be a saint.

One student a year who hears God’s call would be sufficient for God to have called the Bible Training College into existence. This college has no value as an organization, not even academically. Its sole value for existence is for God to help Himself to lives. Will we allow Him to help Himself to us, or are we more concerned with our own ideas of what we are going to be?

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus.  Facing Reality, 34 R

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 30-31; Philemon

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, November 03, 2022

WHY YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL - #9344

Your first clue that something unusual ahead is a sign on the Interstate announcing what they call "the biggest cross in the Western Hemisphere." And, sure enough, as you approach that spot in Texas, you begin to see this huge white cross on the horizon. Actually, it doesn't look all that large from a distance. But then, as you drive that direction, it looks more and more impressive. Until you are coming up on it; (or especially when you do what I did), you stop and you stand at the foot of it - that cross is huge!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Your God Is Too Small."

When you're far away, that cross is nice but it's not particularly impressive. But the closer you get, the bigger it looks. Sadly, there are people, even good church people, who go through their life never realizing the magnitude of the God they belong to. He's nice, but they never really see how big He is because they never get close enough to Him to experience His amazingness. Their God is too small, so their life is too small.

The Apostle Paul didn't want the believers that he cared about to miss the awesomeness of the God they had. In Ephesians 3, beginning with verse 17, our word for today from the Word of God, he says, "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power... to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (In other words, so you can experience everything God's got.) Then Paul, who has paid the price to see God up close, describes what He's like when you see Him up close. He describes God as "Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us."

You don't get to see God that big by just taking your place at church every time the doors are open. You never see the amazingness of your Lord by just reading the Bible when you get around to it; by praying general, predictable prayers; by obeying God's Holy Spirit only when it's not too hard or not too risky. It is possible to be around Almighty God for your whole life and just keep a safe distance. You've determined how big God's piece of your life is going to be and that's that. But you'll never know what your life could have been if you would dare to step on the spiritual accelerator and experience God up close. When you do that, nothing else in your life ever needs to be overwhelming to you again except the overwhelming size of your God.

If you want to experience a big, big God, make a daily time with Him in His Word the non-negotiable of your personal schedule. You can't specialize in your Lord unless you specialize in His Word. Throw open the doors of your heart and tell Him, "Lord, I've played it safe long enough. I'm ready to go for everything you've got by surrendering everything I've got." Tell Him you're ready to follow Him out of your comfort zone; beyond where it feels safe.

We make serious mistakes because we forget, or we don't know, how very big our God is. We overestimate earth-stuff and underestimate our Almighty God. A safe distance turns out it really isn't safe at all. Don't just believe in Him, pursue Him with everything you've got. The closer you get, the more amazing He looks.

Psalm 58, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD USES COMMON THINGS - November 2, 2022

Luke 17:33 says, “Those who try to keep their lives will lose them. But those who give up their lives will save them.”

Heaven may have a shrine to honor God’s uncommon use of the common. If so, it’s a place you don’t want to miss. See Rahab’s rope, David’s sling, and Samson’s jawbone. Wrap your hand around the staff that split the sea, and sniff the ointment that soothed Jesus’ skin and lifted his heart.

I don’t know if these items will be there. But I’m sure of one thing – the people who used them, they’ll be there. The risk takers: Rahab who sheltered the spy. David, slinging a stone, and Samson, swinging a bone. Mary at Jesus’ feet. What she gave cost much, but somehow she knew what he would give would cost more.

Psalm 58

Is this any way to run a country?

    Is there an honest politician in the house?

Behind the scenes you weave webs of deceit,

    behind closed doors you make deals with demons.

3-5 The wicked crawl from the wrong side of the cradle;

    their first words out of the womb are lies.

Poison, lethal rattlesnake poison,

    drips from their forked tongues—

Deaf to threats, deaf to charm,

    decades of wax built up in their ears.

6-9 God, smash their teeth to bits,

    leave them toothless tigers.

Let their lives be buckets of water spilled,

    all that’s left, a damp stain in the sand.

Let them be trampled grass

    worn smooth by the traffic.

Let them dissolve into snail slime,

    be a miscarried fetus that never sees sunlight.

Before what they cook up is half-done, God,

    throw it out with the garbage!

10-11 The righteous will call up their friends

    when they see the wicked get their reward,

Serve up their blood in goblets

    as they toast one another,

Everyone cheering, “It’s worth it to play by the rules!

    God’s handing out trophies and tending the earth!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, November 02, 2022

Today's Scripture

Psalm 19:7–14

The revelation of God is whole

    and pulls our lives together.

The signposts of God are clear

    and point out the right road.

The life-maps of God are right,

    showing the way to joy.

The directions of God are plain

    and easy on the eyes.

God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,

    with a lifetime guarantee.

The decisions of God are accurate

    down to the nth degree.

10 God’s Word is better than a diamond,

    better than a diamond set between emeralds.

You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring,

    better than red, ripe strawberries.

11-14 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger

    and directs us to hidden treasure.

Otherwise how will we find our way?

    Or know when we play the fool?

Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!

    Keep me from stupid sins,

    from thinking I can take over your work;

Then I can start this day sun-washed,

    scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.

These are the words in my mouth;

    these are what I chew on and pray.

Accept them when I place them

    on the morning altar,

O God, my Altar-Rock,

    God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

Insight

In Psalm 19, using the poetic device of Hebrew parallelism, David listed six things “of the Lord” that guide us: the law, the statutes, the precepts, the commands, the fear, and the decrees. Most of these might appear to be synonymous, but each has a slightly different connotation. Each “of the Lord” phrase is followed by a statement describing its individual properties or benefits. In total, they refresh the soul, make us wise, give joy, give light, endure forever, and exhibit God’s righteousness (vv. 7–9). Most distinctive is “the fear of the Lord” (v. 9), which is a healthy and proper reverence for God.

By: Tim Gustafson

Grasping God’s Word

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy. Psalm 19:7

A rugged, cast-iron ring stood strong against the harsh Minnesota winter as it hung on the doorframe of my great uncle’s old farmhouse. More than a hundred feet away was another ring, firmly fixed to the dairy barn. When there was a blizzard, my uncle would attach a line between both rings so he could find the path between the house and the barn. Keeping a firm grip on the line kept him from losing his way in the blinding snow.

My uncle’s use of a safety line in a snowstorm reminds me of how David used lines of Hebrew poetry to trace how God’s wisdom guides us through life and guards us against sin and error: “The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:9–11).

A firm grasp of the truths of Scripture informed by God’s Spirit working in our hearts keeps us from losing our way and helps us make decisions that honor God and others. The Bible warns us against wandering from God and shows us the way home. It tells us of the priceless love of our Savior and the blessings that await all who place their faith in Him. Scripture is a lifeline! May God help us cling to it always.

By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

What promises from Scripture give you hope? In what ways will you hold on to its truths today?

Heavenly Father, help me to treasure Your teaching today. Thank You for the rich, deep blessings of Scripture!

Learn more about New Testament Basics.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, November 02, 2022

Obedience or Independence?

If you love Me, keep My commandments. —John 14:15

Our Lord never insists on obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “If,” meaning, “You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so.” “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Luke 9:23). In other words, “To be My disciple, let him give up his right to himself to Me.” Our Lord is not talking about our eternal position, but about our being of value to Him in this life here and now. That is why He sounds so stern (see Luke 14:26). Never try to make sense from these words by separating them from the One who spoke them.

The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When God’s redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces. If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. Disciples Indeed, 385 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 27-29; Titus 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, November 02, 2022

GO-BEDIENCE - #9343

Our sons' room was upstairs, off the beaten path where my wife and I tended to travel in our house. But usually when we did venture into Boys World, we were in for a shock. Let's just say the boys had this unlimited capacity to make a mess and this uncanny ability to live in one without even noticing the mess. (Did I mention to you they're guys?) So, often the stern command would reverberate in the halls of our home: "Clean your room!" The boys seldom disagreed. Usually they would respond with a compliant, "We will." And, I think they really intended to...maybe. They knew it was fundamental to the privileges they wanted, so they went along with our cleaning orders. But did that mean the disaster area got un-disastered? Usually, no. The boys didn't disagree with what they were supposed to do; they just somehow didn't get around to doing it.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about (here's a new word) "Go-bedience."

Now, obedience isn't obedience just because you agree with what you're supposed to do. There's no obedience until you go and do it. It's go-bedience!

I wonder if there's something your Heavenly Father's been telling you to do through His Word or through the inner tug of the Holy Spirit and you've been saying, "I will, Father. I agree." You know He's right. You intend to obey, but you're still sitting where you were. As surely as our sons were still disobeying until they did what we said, you're still disobeying God however politely. It's still disobedience because there's no such thing as passive obedience. If you're not moving on it, you're not obeying.

Which leads us to a powerful example of what obeying really means. It's from the life of Abraham as highlighted in our word for today from the Word of God from Hebrews 11:8. It says, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."

God had summoned Abraham to leave his family, his comfort - his comfort zone actually - to obey Him and go to a future about which God supplied almost no details. Now Abraham could have said, "Okay, Lord. I'll go." But it wasn't agreement that launched him into God's amazing adventure. It was going! It was doing it without knowing what was coming, which is what God has asked of so many of His children all through the Bible, and all through my life.

Which is what God may be asking you to do right now, to go without knowing how it's all going to work. Maybe your Lord's asking you to start something, or to leave something or someone, or maybe to stop doing something, or to confront something, or give something, or tell someone about the Savior who died for them.

But you're delaying your obedience. You're waiting until there's more facts, or until more of the risks are eliminated. You want to analyze the situation a little more, to get more signs. But you're not obeying! It's not obedience until it's go-bedience! And faith obedience steps out, not because you know where or you know how, but because you know Who. You know Who you are following. You're following an all-powerful Lord who will never do you wrong! Would anyone who loved you enough to die for you ever do you wrong?

It's one thing to agree with what your Father wants you to do. It's a whole other thing to start doing it. Until you do, you're just disobeying your Father. The old song is right. "Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey."

Psalm 55, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  WHEN GOD ENTERED TIME - November 1, 2022

When God entered time and became a man, he who was boundless became bound. For more than three decades, his once limitless reach would be limited to the stretch of an arm. His speed would be checked to the pace of human feet.

I wonder, was he ever tempted to reclaim his boundlessness? When the rain chilled his bones, was he tempted to change the weather? If he ever entertained such a thought, he never gave in to it.

Not once did Christ use his supernatural powers for personal comfort. With one word he could’ve transformed the hard earth into a soft bed, but he didn’t. With a wave of his hand, he could’ve boomeranged the spit of his accusers back into their faces. With the arch of his brow, he could’ve paralyzed the hand of the soldier as the soldier braided the crown of thorns. But Jesus didn’t.

Psalm 55

 Open your ears, God, to my prayer;

    don’t pretend you don’t hear me knocking.

Come close and whisper your answer.

    I really need you.

I shudder at the mean voice,

    quail before the evil eye,

As they pile on the guilt,

    stockpile angry slander.

4-8 My insides are turned inside out;

    specters of death have me down.

I shake with fear,

    I shudder from head to foot.

“Who will give me wings,” I ask—

    “wings like a dove?”

Get me out of here on dove wings;

    I want some peace and quiet.

I want a walk in the country,

    I want a cabin in the woods.

I’m desperate for a change

    from rage and stormy weather.

9-11 Come down hard, Lord—slit their tongues.

    I’m appalled how they’ve split the city

Into rival gangs

    prowling the alleys

Day and night spoiling for a fight,

    trash piled in the streets,

Even shopkeepers gouging and cheating

    in broad daylight.

12-14 This isn’t the neighborhood bully

    mocking me—I could take that.

This isn’t a foreign devil spitting

    invective—I could tune that out.

It’s you! We grew up together!

    You! My best friend!

Those long hours of leisure as we walked

    arm in arm, God a third party to our conversation.

15 Haul my betrayers off alive to hell—let them

    experience the horror, let them

    feel every desolate detail of a damned life.

16-19 I call to God;

    God will help me.

At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh

    deep sighs—he hears, he rescues.

My life is well and whole, secure

    in the middle of danger

Even while thousands

    are lined up against me.

God hears it all, and from his judge’s bench

    puts them in their place.

But, set in their ways, they won’t change;

    they pay him no mind.

20-21 And this, my best friend, betrayed his best friends;

    his life betrayed his word.

All my life I’ve been charmed by his speech,

    never dreaming he’d turn on me.

His words, which were music to my ears,

    turned to daggers in my heart.

22-23 Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—

    he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.

He’ll never let good people

    topple into ruin.

But you, God, will throw the others

    into a muddy bog,

Cut the lifespan of assassins

    and traitors in half.

And I trust in you.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, November 01, 2022

Today's Scripture

Acts 2:42–47

 That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

* * *

43-45 Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.

46-47 They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

Insight

After writing an account of the life and ministry of Jesus (Luke 1:1–4), Luke wrote the book of Acts, an account of the life and ministry of His disciples. Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would indwell them and empower them to share the gospel (Acts 1:8). Luke documented the acts of the disciples and early believers in bringing the gospel to those “in Jerusalem” (chs. 1–7), “in all Judea and Samaria” (chs. 8–12), and “to the ends of the earth” (chs. 13–28). He described the first church in Jerusalem as growing and generous. The believers had “fellowship” (2:42) with one another. The Greek word for “fellowship” (koinonia) means “close relationships, participating in and sharing the common among them.” Together they worshiped, learned spiritual truths, depended on God, and cared for one another (vv. 43–44). They especially cared for the needy and poor in their midst, showing extravagant acts of generosity (v. 45).

By: K. T. Sim

Better Together

All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Acts 2:44

Marie, a single working mom, rarely missed church or Bible study. Each week, she rode the bus to and from church with her five children and helped with set up and clean up.

One Sunday, the pastor told Marie that some church members had donated gifts for the family. One couple provided the family a house with reduced rent. Another couple offered her a job with benefits at their coffee shop. A young man gave her an old car he’d rebuilt and promised to serve as her personal mechanic. Marie thanked God for the joy of living in a community devoted to serving God and each other.

Though we may not all be able to give as generously as Marie’s church family, God’s people are designed to help each other. The gospel writer Luke described believers in Jesus as “devoted” to the “apostles’ teaching and to fellowship” (Acts 2:42). When we combine our resources, we can work together to help those in need like the first believers in Jesus did (vv. 44–45). As we grow closer to God and each other, we can care for one another. Witnessing God’s love demonstrated through His people’s actions can lead others to a saving relationship with Jesus (vv. 46–47).

We can serve others with a smile or a kind deed. We can offer a financial gift or a prayer. As God works in and through us, we’re simply better together.

By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

Why is it important to experience a community devoted to serving God and each other? How can you serve someone selflessly and generously this week?

Loving Father, please help me see those in need and serve You by serving others.

For further study, read Understanding the Bible: The Book of Acts.

 

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, November 01, 2022

“You Are Not Your Own”

Do you not know that…you are not your own? —1 Corinthians 6:19

There is no such thing as a private life, or a place to hide in this world, for a man or woman who is intimately aware of and shares in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. God divides the private life of His saints and makes it a highway for the world on one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves. We are called into intimacy with the gospel, and things happen that appear to have nothing to do with us. But God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way. If you refuse, you will be of no value to God in His redemptive work in the world, but will be a hindrance and a stumbling block.

The first thing God does is get us grounded on strong reality and truth. He does this until our cares for ourselves individually have been brought into submission to His way for the purpose of His redemption. Why shouldn’t we experience heartbreak? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God’s purpose and enter a slow death through self-pity. And all the so-called Christian sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, as if to say, “Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine.” If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern.  The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 24-26; Titus 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, November 01, 2022

BEYOND COMFORTABLE TO AMAZING - #9342

One of our staff came back from his vacation and he reported on how exciting it had been for him and his family to see the sights of Washington, D.C. I asked him if he had ever been there before, and he said, "No. In fact, none of us had ever seen it." Then he went on to explain, "You know I'm sort of a hometown kind of guy." I know that's true. He actually has lived most of his life within a relatively short distance of home base. Then he said, "I sort of had to stretch to do this, but I'm really glad we did."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beyond Comfortable to Amazing."

My friend actually had to move out of where he felt comfortable to experience some exciting things he had never experienced before. So do you and I. That is, in fact, a fundamental principle of getting everything our Lord Jesus wants us to experience. And maybe it's important we talk about that today, because someone who's listening - maybe you - could be stuck in their comfort zone, missing some scary but exciting things that God wants you to see.

I love the picture that God gives of this dynamic in Matthew 14, beginning with verse 25. It's our word for today from the Word of God. Jesus had told His disciples to go on across the Sea of Galilee without Him. They encountered this violent storm. And during it, the Bible says, "Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake." The disciples were understandably freaked out. The Bible says, "but Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.' 'Lord, if it's You,' Peter replied, 'tell me to come to You on the water.' 'Come,' Jesus said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came to Jesus."

Peter did what no man, other than Jesus, had ever done before or has ever done since: he walked on water! Well, the boat was obviously the safe place to be. But Peter was willing to leave where it was safe on one condition, "Lord, if it's You." And that's got to be our bottom line, too. "Is that You, Lord, leading me out of the boat I've been in and out into the "wild water" of something new? Well, if it's You, I'm going!

Like my friend who saw some memorable new things when he moved beyond where he felt comfortable, you're going to see powerful things you've never seen before if you'll get out of the boat. God's leading you beyond where you feel adequate, where you can figure it out, where you can pull it off. But what a great place to be... you're in the miracle zone! He's leading you to a new episode where you'll need Him more than you've ever needed Him before and you'll have Him as you've never had Him before. It's not the water that's going to hold you up, it's Jesus. You're headed where it's going to be not much of you and a whole lot of God! That's something to be excited about!

One day this same Peter who dared to get out of the boat would be led by his Lord to preach the Gospel boldly on the streets of Jerusalem, calling to Christ some of the very people who had wanted Jesus crucified. (Talk about getting out of your comfort zone!) And Jesus would ask him to go where no Jew ever thought he'd go-to introduce those nasty Gentiles to Jesus.

Once you stop defining your decisions by what's comfortable, once you follow Jesus into a place where He's everything, you've begun to blow the lid off your life. Living by faith turns out to be the only really safe way there is to live! But you'll never walk on water if you never get out of the boat!

Psalm 53 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: YOUR “ONLY GOD” MOMENTS - October 31, 2022

There is something unique about your story. Would you be willing to share it? Become well versed in your “only God” moments – those precious events in your life that only God could have orchestrated.

There was an occasion when Jesus healed a deranged man. The fellow had made his home in a cemetery and cut himself with rocks. When Jesus delivered him from the affliction, the man wanted to go with Jesus. Christ, however, said, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you…” (Mark 5:19 NKJV).

In other words, speak up. Do you feel ill equipped to do so? That’s okay. You have God’s Spirit to help you. And God’s plan is reduced to one strategy: ordinary folks telling the extraordinary story of Jesus with the extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 53

 Bilious and bloated, they gas,

    “God is gone.”

It’s poison gas—

    they foul themselves, they poison

Rivers and skies;

    thistles are their cash crop.

God sticks his head out of heaven.

    He looks around.

He’s looking for someone not stupid—

    one man, even, God-expectant,

    just one God-ready woman.

3 He comes up empty. A string

    of zeros. Useless, unshepherded

Sheep, taking turns pretending

    to be Shepherd.

The ninety and nine

    follow the one.

4 Don’t they know anything,

    all these predators?

Don’t they know

    they can’t get away with this,

Treating people like a fast-food meal

    over which they’re too busy to pray?

5 Night is coming for them, and nightmare—

    a nightmare they’ll never wake up from.

God will make hash of these squatters,

    send them packing for good.

6 Is there anyone around to save Israel?

    God turns life around.

Turned-around Jacob skips rope,

    turned-around Israel sings laughter.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, October 31, 2022

Today's Scripture

Matthew 5:13–16

Salt and Light

13 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

Insight

The New Testament uses various metaphors to describe the responsibilities of believers in Jesus. For example, Paul says that as good soldiers of Christ, we’re to endure suffering and to “please [our] commanding officer” (2 Timothy 2:3–5). As athletes, we undergo strict training to compete according to the rules (1 Corinthians 9:25). In Matthew 5:13–16, Jesus used two everyday items—salt and a lamp—to illustrate the impact we can have on the society we live in. Salt is a preservative, a flavor enhancer, and a thirst stimulant. We’re to bring the salt of preservation and joy to a bland, tasteless, and otherwise decaying world. A lamp gives light that enables people to see and to give direction. The lamp must necessarily be placed in a conspicuous position for the light to be effective. We’re to be the light of salvation to a world darkened by sin.

By: K. T. Sim

Opportunities to Shine

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

In March 2020, while walking his dog in New York City’s Central Park, Whitney, a retired financial expert, saw trucks, stacks of tarps, and white tents, each bearing a cross and the name of a charity he’d never heard of before. When he discovered the group was building a field hospital for his fellow New Yorkers with COVID-19, he asked if he could help. For weeks, despite differing faiths and politics, he and his family pitched in wherever they could. Whitney stated, “Every single person I’ve met has been a genuinely nice person.” And he applauded the fact that no one was paying them to “help my city in our hour of deep, deep need.”

In response to the tremendous needs resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, unlikely partners in service were brought together, and believers in Jesus were given new opportunities to share Christ’s light with others. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught His followers to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds” (Matthew 5:16). We shine Christ’s light by letting the Spirit guide us in loving, kind, and good words and actions (see Galatians 5:22–23). When we allow the light we’ve received from Jesus to shine clearly in our daily lives, we also “glorify [our] Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

This day and every day may we shine for Christ, as He helps us be salt and light in a world that desperately needs Him.

By:  Alyson Kieda

Reflect & Pray

Where do you see an opportunity to share hope and light with others today? When has someone been light to you in a difficult time?

Jesus, help me to shine Your light in all I say and do.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, October 31, 2022

The Trial of Faith

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you. —Matthew 17:20

We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.

Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, “I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.” The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.  My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 22-23; Titus 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, October 31, 2022

COMING BACK FROM CRASHING - #9341

You've probably seen pictures of an eagle, probably soaring majestically. You've actually seen some eagles? Okay. I'll bet they were soaring. It's always special when you see one. But apparently, from something I read recently, there are times that they can't even fly. and very few people have ever seen them in their bad times. According to this account, eagles do get sick, and sometimes when they're sick they're almost immobilized. They're weak, depleted, and frankly they're not much to see. When an eagle crashes like that he goes off to a place where he can be alone, often on top of a high cliff. And he lies out in the sun, face up, spread-eagled, totally collapsed. God has actually outfitted the eagle with eyes that can look at the sun without any damage, and that's what the powerless eagle does. He focuses his eyes on the sun and he lies there until his strength comes back. Yeah, the eagle crashes, but he knows how to come back to soar again!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Coming Back From Crashing."

It's not just eagles that crash...so do we. We all go through those times when we've got nothing left to give. You may be in one of those seasons right now. You're weak, you're depleted, you're exhausted, you're physically, emotionally, spiritually drained. I know the feeling. You don't have the personal resources to meet your challenges - the demands that you've got in front of you. It's in those moments that you become a candidate for resources far beyond your own. Let's call it "eagle power."

It's described in our word for today from the Word of God in the familiar words of Isaiah 40, beginning with verse 28. "The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom." Now, if the word "weak" or "weary" would describe you right now, then this next promise has your name on it. "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Now, if we can grasp how it is that an eagle in crash mode renews his strength, we'll understand how we can renew ours - and then "soar on wings like eagles." Just picture that usually strong eagle, sprawled out powerlessly, eyes focused on the sun, his body and spirit soaking up its strength. He totally gives up in order to gain strength. The law of God's renewing work is pretty simple - you have to surrender to get strong.

God has not allowed you to reach the end of you so you'll give up, but so you'll give up control! It's time to finally take your fingers off that steering wheel that you've held onto so tightly and relinquish all control to Almighty God. "I give up, Lord. I can't fix it. I can't figure it out. I can't contribute anything to a solution. I'm wiped out and I'm totally releasing all of me and all of my issues to You." At that moment, God miraculously begins to replace your weakness with His unlimited strength and your confusion with His infinite wisdom. Your exhaustion for his boundless energy and your despair for his indomitable hope.

That surrender can't just be a one-time thing. Paul said we're "renewed day by day." You need to come to Him each new day, confessing your powerlessness, surrendering control, and downloading His strength and power. When you keep your eyes on the son of God...when you totally surrender to Him, you'll become a candidate for His strength and His power. And you know what? You are ready again to "soar on eagles' wings!"

John 12:27-50 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Simple, Powerful Prayers

James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."

And here's this simple "pocket prayer" for you today:

Dear Father.  Teach me to accept what you've given. I may not always understand circumstances, but show me how they are blessings and give me gratitude for all your gifts.

Rain your blessings on my friends and family today. Give them hope whatever they face. Thank you that Your blessings never end. In Jesus' name, amen.

Here's an invitation for you today-one to encourage your daily conversations with God. Go to BeforeAmen.com and take the brief Prayer Strengths Assessment. It'll give you a building block for your growth in prayer!

Before Amen

John 12:27-50

 “Right now I am shaken. And what am I going to say? ‘Father, get me out of this’? No, this is why I came in the first place. I’ll say, ‘Father, put your glory on display.’”

A voice came out of the sky: “I have glorified it, and I’ll glorify it again.”

29 The listening crowd said, “Thunder!”

Others said, “An angel spoke to him!”

30-33 Jesus said, “The voice didn’t come for me but for you. At this moment the world is in crisis. Now Satan, the ruler of this world, will be thrown out. And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around me.” He put it this way to show how he was going to be put to death.

34 Voices from the crowd answered, “We heard from God’s Law that the Messiah lasts forever. How can it be necessary, as you put it, that the Son of Man ‘be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

35-36 Jesus said, “For a brief time still, the light is among you. Walk by the light you have so darkness doesn’t destroy you. If you walk in darkness, you don’t know where you’re going. As you have the light, believe in the light. Then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives. You’ll be children of light.”

Their Eyes Are Blinded

36-40 Jesus said all this, and then went into hiding. All these God-signs he had given them and they still didn’t get it, still wouldn’t trust him. This proved that the prophet Isaiah was right:

God, who believed what we preached?

Who recognized God’s arm, outstretched and ready to act?

First they wouldn’t believe, then they couldn’t—again, just as Isaiah said:

Their eyes are blinded,

    their hearts are hardened,

So that they wouldn’t see with their eyes

    and perceive with their hearts,

And turn to me, God,

    so I could heal them.

41 Isaiah said these things after he got a glimpse of God’s overflowing glory that would pour through the Messiah.

42-43 On the other hand, a considerable number from the ranks of the leaders did believe. But because of the Pharisees, they didn’t come out in the open with it. They were afraid of getting kicked out of the meeting place. When push came to shove they cared more for human approval than for God’s glory.

44-46 Jesus summed it all up when he cried out, “Whoever believes in me, believes not just in me but in the One who sent me. Whoever looks at me is looking, in fact, at the One who sent me. I am Light that has come into the world so that all who believe in me won’t have to stay any longer in the dark.

47-50 “If anyone hears what I am saying and doesn’t take it seriously, I don’t reject him. I didn’t come to reject the world; I came to save the world. But you need to know that whoever puts me off, refusing to take in what I’m saying, is willfully choosing rejection. The Word, the Word-made-flesh that I have spoken and that I am, that Word and no other is the last word. I’m not making any of this up on my own. The Father who sent me gave me orders, told me what to say and how to say it. And I know exactly what his command produces: real and eternal life. That’s all I have to say. What the Father told me, I tell you.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Today's Scripture

Lamentations 3:22–26

God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,

    his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.

They’re created new every morning.

    How great your faithfulness!

I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).

    He’s all I’ve got left.

25-27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,

    to the woman who diligently seeks.

It’s a good thing to quietly hope,

    quietly hope for help from God.

It’s a good thing when you’re young

    to stick it out through the hard times.

Insight

The book of Lamentations (unique in biblical literature) is a collection of funeral songs or dirges (laments). The first four of the five chapters are arranged acrostically using the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Chapter 3, which includes sixty-six verses, is arranged acrostically in sequences of three verses each beginning with the same alphabet letter. The book’s tone is heavy. God’s judgment had come on Jerusalem (1:1) and the nation (v. 3). Though the literary tour of the city is heart-wrenching, verses 22–25 of chapter 3 are heart-warming and hope-inspiring. Similar encouragement is expressed in verses 31–32: “For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.” By: Arthur Jackson

Hope in God

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Lamentations 3:24

As the holiday season approached, package shipments were delayed due to an unprecedented influx of online orders. I can remember a time when my family preferred to simply go to the store and purchase items because we knew we had very little control over the speed of mail delivery. However, when my mother signed up for an account that included expedited shipping, this expectation changed. Now with a two-day guaranteed delivery, we’re accustomed to receiving things quickly, and we become frustrated by delays.  

We live in a world accustomed to instant gratification, and waiting can be difficult. But in the spiritual realm, patience is still rewarded. When the book of Lamentations was written, the Israelites were mourning the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army, and they faced a series of challenges. However, in the midst of chaos, the writer boldly affirmed that because he was confident that God would meet his needs, he would wait on Him (Lamentations 3:24). God knows we’re inclined to become anxious when answers to our prayers are delayed. Scripture encourages us by reminding us to wait on God. We don’t have to be consumed or worried because “his compassions never fail” (v. 22). Instead, with God’s help we can “be still . . . and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7). May we wait on God, trusting in His love and faithfulness even as we wrestle with longings and unanswered prayers.

By:  Kimya Loder

Reflect & Pray

How have you been waiting for God? How might you trust His timing?

Heavenly Father, sometimes it can be difficult to wait on You. Please give me the strength to continue hoping in You.  

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Faith

Without faith it is impossible to please Him… —Hebrews 11:6

Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. “We know that all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children.

For every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, “Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him.  Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 20-21; 2 Timothy 4

Psalm 41, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: Pray About Everything

The moment you sense a problem, however large or small, take it to Christ.

“Max, if I take my problems to Jesus every time I have one, I’m going to be talking to Jesus all day long.”

Now you’re getting the point! An un-prayed for problem is an embedded thorn. It festers and infects the finger, then the hand, then the entire arm. Best to go straight to the person who has the tweezers. We can only wonder how many disasters would be averted if we would go first to Jesus?

Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.”

Sign on at BeforeAmen.com and every day for 4 weeks, pray 4 minutes—simple, powerful prayers.  It’ll change your prayer life forever!

Before Amen

Psalm 41 

1-3 Dignify those who are down on their luck;

    you’ll feel good—that’s what God does.

God looks after us all,

    makes us robust with life—

Lucky to be in the land,

    we’re free from enemy worries.

Whenever we’re sick and in bed,

    God becomes our nurse,

    nurses us back to health.

4-7 I said, “God, be gracious!

    Put me together again—

    my sins have torn me to pieces.”

My enemies are wishing the worst for me;

    they make bets on what day I will die.

If someone comes to see me,

    he mouths empty platitudes,

All the while gathering gossip about me

    to entertain the street-corner crowd.

These “friends” who hate me

    whisper slanders all over town.

They form committees

    to plan misery for me.

8-9 The rumor goes out, “He’s got some dirty,

    deadly disease. The doctors

    have given up on him.”

Even my best friend, the one I always told everything

    —he ate meals at my house all the time!—

    has bitten my hand.

10 God, give grace, get me up on my feet.

    I’ll show them a thing or two.

11-12 Meanwhile, I’m sure you’re on my side—

    no victory shouts yet from the enemy camp!

You know me inside and out, you hold me together,

    you never fail to stand me tall in your presence

    so I can look you in the eye.

13 Blessed is God, Israel’s God,

    always, always, always.

    Yes. Yes. Yes.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Today's Scripture

Jeremiah 20:7–13

You pushed me into this, God, and I let you do it.

    You were too much for me.

And now I’m a public joke.

    They all poke fun at me.

Every time I open my mouth

    I’m shouting, “Murder!” or “Rape!”

And all I get for my God-warnings

    are insults and contempt.

But if I say, “Forget it!

    No more God-Messages from me!”

The words are fire in my belly,

    a burning in my bones.

I’m worn out trying to hold it in.

    I can’t do it any longer!

Then I hear whispering behind my back:

    “There goes old ‘Danger-Everywhere.’ Shut him up! Report him!”

Old friends watch, hoping I’ll fall flat on my face:

    “One misstep and we’ll have him. We’ll get rid of him for good!”

11 But God, a most fierce warrior, is at my side.

    Those who are after me will be sent sprawling—

Slapstick buffoons falling all over themselves,

    a spectacle of humiliation no one will ever forget.

12 Oh, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, no one fools you.

    You see through everyone, everything.

I want to see you pay them back for what they’ve done.

    I rest my case with you.

13 Sing to God! All praise to God!

    He saves the weak from the grip of the wicked.

Insight

In Jeremiah 20, we see the raw humanity of this great prophet. God had called Jeremiah by saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). Now the prophet cursed the day he was born (20:14), and wishes he’d never come out of the womb (v. 18). He felt betrayed by God, who’d promised, “I am with you and will rescue you” (1:8). God had also told him, “I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (v. 10). But in this dark moment, Jeremiah didn’t sense that power, nor could he see His rescue. Despite his personal anguish, he remained faithful and carried out the difficult mission God had given him. By: Tim Gustafson

When Weakness Is Strength

Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?

Jeremiah 20:18

Drew had been imprisoned for two years because he served Jesus. He’d read stories of missionaries who felt constant joy throughout their incarceration, but he confessed this was not his experience. He told his wife that God had picked the wrong man to suffer for Him. She replied, “No. I think maybe He picked the right man. This was not an accident.”

Drew could likely relate to the prophet Jeremiah, who had faithfully served God by warning Judah that God would punish them for their sins. But God’s judgment hadn’t fallen yet, and Judah’s leaders beat Jeremiah and put him in stocks. Jeremiah blamed God: “You deceived me, Lord” (Jeremiah 20:7). The prophet believed God had failed to deliver. His word had only “brought [him] insult and reproach all day long” (v. 8). “Cursed be the day I was born!” Jeremiah said. “Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?” (vv. 14, 18).

Eventually Drew was released, but through his ordeal he began to understand that perhaps God chose him—much like He chose Jeremiah—because he was weak. If he and Jeremiah had been naturally strong, they might have received some of the praise for their success. But if they were naturally weak, all the glory for their perseverance would go to God (1 Corinthians 1:26–31). His frailty made him the perfect person for Jesus to use. By:  Mike Wittmer

Reflect & Pray

Where do you feel particularly weak? How might you turn your weakness into a significant spiritual advantage?

Jesus, Your power is made visible in my weakness. I confess my failings so I can boast in You!

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Substitution

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2 Corinthians 5:21

The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made…to be sin….” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9, where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples.

That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (see Galatians 4:19).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus.  Facing Reality, 34 R

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 18-19; 2 Timothy 3

Psalm 40, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: UNCOMMON FORCES - October 28, 2022

“‘Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say…For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you'” (Matthew 10:19-20 ESV). Best I can tell, this promise of Jesus has not been rescinded.

On the day Brenda Jones went to see the plastic surgeon, she was in a battle with breast cancer. She asked if she could share a story, and Dr. Pete politely said yes. He listened to the story about the God who became a baby, then a man, and then a sacrifice for humanity. “He died for you, Doctor Pete,” she told him. The fifteen-minute conversation changed Dr. Pete forever.

The promise of Pentecost: the Spirit turns common folk into uncommon forces and turns those who are lost into those who are saved. Might the Spirit do the same with us?  With you?

Psalm 40

 I waited and waited and waited for God.

    At last he looked; finally he listened.

He lifted me out of the ditch,

    pulled me from deep mud.

He stood me up on a solid rock

    to make sure I wouldn’t slip.

He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,

    a praise-song to our God.

More and more people are seeing this:

    they enter the mystery,

    abandoning themselves to God.

4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,

    turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,”

    ignore what the world worships;

The world’s a huge stockpile

    of God-wonders and God-thoughts.

Nothing and no one

    compares to you!

I start talking about you, telling what I know,

    and quickly run out of words.

Neither numbers nor words

    account for you.

6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you—

    that’s not what you’re after.

Being religious, acting pious—

    that’s not what you’re asking for.

You’ve opened my ears

    so I can listen.

7-8 So I answered, “I’m coming.

    I read in your letter what you wrote about me,

And I’m coming to the party

    you’re throwing for me.”

That’s when God’s Word entered my life,

    became part of my very being.

9-10 I’ve preached you to the whole congregation,

    I’ve kept back nothing, God—you know that.

I didn’t keep the news of your ways

    a secret, didn’t keep it to myself.

I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.

    I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth

For myself alone. I told it all,

    let the congregation know the whole story.

11-12 Now God, don’t hold out on me,

    don’t hold back your passion.

Your love and truth

    are all that keeps me together.

When troubles ganged up on me,

    a mob of sins past counting,

I was so swamped by guilt

    I couldn’t see my way clear.

More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,

    so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.

13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene;

    hurry and get me some help,

So those who are trying to kidnap my soul

    will be embarrassed and lose face,

So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable

    will be heckled and disgraced,

So those who pray for my ruin

    will be booed and jeered without mercy.

16-17 But all who are hunting for you—

    oh, let them sing and be happy.

Let those who know what you’re all about

    tell the world you’re great and not quitting.

And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing:

    make something of me.

You can do it; you’ve got what it takes—

    but God, don’t put it off.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, October 28, 2022

Today's Scripture

Titus 2:1–10

A God-Filled Life

Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives.

7-8 But mostly, show them all this by doing it yourself, trustworthy in your teaching, your words solid and sane. Then anyone who is dead set against us, when he finds nothing weird or misguided, might eventually come around.

9-10 Guide slaves into being loyal workers, a bonus to their masters—no back talk, no petty thievery. Then their good character will shine through their actions, adding luster to the teaching of our Savior God.

Insight

Titus, one of Paul’s gentile converts (Galatians 2:3; Titus 1:4), was Paul’s faithful “partner and co-worker” (2 Corinthians 8:23). Paul sent Titus as his personal representative to deal with the troublesome Corinthian church, which testifies to his character and maturity as well as to his leadership and pastoral abilities (7:6–7, 13–14; 8:6, 16–17; 12:18).

Wherever Paul established a church, he appointed elders to take care of it (Acts 14:23). Scholars aren’t sure who started the church in Crete, but when Paul found that no elders had been appointed to shepherd the young converts, he sent Titus to organize and supervise the church (Titus 1:5). Paul wrote this letter to guide Titus through the supervisory process, instructing him to teach the believers how to live lives that honor God. He emphasized godly leadership (ch. 1), gracious behavior and good deeds within the church family (ch. 2), and instructions for living within society at large (ch. 3).

Learn more about living in union with Christ. By: K. T. Sim

For the Sake of the Gospel

In every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

Titus 2:10

The year was 1916 and Nelson had just graduated from medical school in his native Virginia. Later that year, he and his bride of six months arrived in China. At the age of twenty-two, he became a surgeon at Love and Mercy Hospital, the only hospital in an area of at least two million Chinese residents. Nelson, together with his family, lived in the area for twenty-four more years, running the hospital, performing surgeries, and sharing the gospel with thousands of people. From once being called “foreign devil” by those who distrusted foreigners, Nelson Bell later became known as “The Bell Who Is Lover of the Chinese People.” His daughter Ruth was to later marry the evangelist Billy Graham.

Although Nelson was a brilliant surgeon and Bible teacher, it wasn’t his skills that drew many to Jesus; it was his character and the way he lived out the gospel. In Paul’s letter to Titus, the young gentile leader who was taking care of the church in Crete, the apostle said that living like Christ is crucial because it can make the gospel “attractive” (Titus 2:10). Yet we don’t do this on our own strength. God’s grace helps us live “self-controlled, upright and godly lives” (v. 12), reflecting the truths of our faith (v. 1).

Many people around us still don’t know the good news of Christ, but they know us. May He help us reflect and reveal His message in attractive ways.

By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

What can you learn from people whose life seems to draw others to the gospel? What things can you do (or stop doing) to make the gospel attractive to others?

Loving God, help me to be a good representative of the gospel. Help me to draw others to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, October 28, 2022

Justification by Faith

If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. —Romans 5:10

I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished.

The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion.  The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 15-17; 2 Timothy 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, October 28, 2022

SOMEBODY BIGGER - #9340

When I was growing up, we had a bully in our neighborhood. Maybe every neighborhood has a bully. I don't know. Ours was named Boomer! Nobody knew what his real name was, and if we did we probably would know why he was called Boomer. It kind of sounds like a neighborhood bully doesn't it? He intimidated us little kids, I mean. I think it was his hobby, and honestly we were pretty scared of him. He'd come and take our baseball paraphernalia and call us names and threaten to beat us up.

One day, like a lot of other days, he started after me and started to threaten and make noises like he wanted to hurt me. And all of a sudden there was a voice behind him saying, "Boomer, go home" and he did. It wasn't me. No, my Dad had arrived on the scene. And you know what? He was bigger than Boomer, even though Boomer was bigger than I was. Now, Boomer was the same bully, and I was the same shrimp, but the difference was somebody bigger was with me.

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

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 1:23. And if this sounds like a part of the Christmas Story, it is. But the Christmas Story isn't just for Christmas. This is all about when God came to earth, which is the beginning of the greatest news of all time. The angel is talking to Joseph and says, "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel - which means 'God with us'."

Whoa! Hold that thought for just a minute. There was a survey a few years ago that mapped the position of hundreds of millions of galaxies. The survey revealed the large scale structure of this universe and it uncovered this giant string of galaxies that they now call the The Sloan Great Wall. They say it's 1.4 billion light years across, which makes it the largest structure in the universe. I can't even begin to comprehend it! Why don't we just laugh? There's no point in trying to understand this. I mean, it's huge!

The astronomers said it has raised such profound questions about the origin and the structure of the universe that we actually need a major national observatory just to study it. They say and I quote, "The size of the structure indicates that in present theories of the universe, something is really wrong. That makes a big difference." The astronomer said. "No known force could produce a structure this big in the time since the universe was formed." And I just want to say, "Oh yeah?"

Well, it is that God who is with us because Jesus came. The Creator of something that's 1.4 billion light years across (and that's just a few of the galaxies) - where is He now? Well, He came into this world and looked helpless as a little baby. He wasn't even able to grab His mama's finger, but those are the hands that created the world. He created the tree He died on. And now, that God is with you right where you are. He's there with all the power that made galaxies that big, and that power is available for your life.

There's no excuse for an ordinary life if God is with you. There's no excuse for having small goals, for being embarrassed about your relationship with Him. That God is with you now. There's no excuse for being afraid of anything that God is calling you to do, because that God will be with you.

Maybe you've felt like a victim most of your life, but that's changed now because God is with you. You're alone, you're worried about the future, or you're facing Mission Impossible. God with us! The excitement of life is in looking for that God where He is in your everyday life today. And, by the way, if you've never begun a personal relationship made possible with Him by the death of His Son, Jesus, on the cross for you, why would you wait another day to get started? Would you come to our website and let me show you how to begin that relationship? Just go to ANewStory.com.

The angel said on that Christmas announcement, "This is good news to all people - God is with us." It doesn't matter how big the bully is. He's nothing! Because somebody bigger is with you, so let Him intimidate your bully."