Genesis 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: REASON FOR COMFORT - January 23, 2025

When will the rapture take place? Some Bible students place the rapture during the tribulation, others after the tribulation. It seems best to position it before the years of trouble. Jesus compared this moment to the rescues of Noah and Lot. Noah felt no raindrops; Lot felt no brimstone. In the same manner, I believe Jesus will emancipate his church, and we will not feel the evil of the Antichrist.

Also, Paul urged us to “encourage one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:18 NIV). How can we use the rapture message to encourage one another if we are going to face the Antichrist and the tribulation? If such were the case, Paul would have said, “Warn one another.” But he didn’t.

The rapture of the church is a reason for comfort and assurance. Yes, the tribulation is coming. But, yes, the church will be leaving. Consequently, be encouraged.

What Happens Next

Genesis 4

Adam slept with Eve his wife. She conceived and had Cain. She said, “I’ve gotten a man, with God’s help!”

2  Then she had another baby, Abel. Abel was a herdsman and Cain a farmer.

3–5  Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm. Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering didn’t get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.

6–7  God spoke to Cain: “Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won’t you be accepted? And if you don’t do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it.”

8  Cain had words with his brother. They were out in the field; Cain came at Abel his brother and killed him.

9  God said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”

He said, “How should I know? Am I his babysitter?”

10–12  God said, “What have you done! The voice of your brother’s blood is calling to me from the ground. From now on you’ll get nothing but curses from this ground; you’ll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother. You’ll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You’ll be a homeless wanderer on Earth.”

13–14  Cain said to God, “My punishment is too much. I can’t take it! You’ve thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I’m a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me.”

15  God told him, “No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over.” God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.

16  Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man’s-Land, east of Eden.

17–18  Cain slept with his wife. She conceived and had Enoch. He then built a city and named it after his son, Enoch.

Enoch had Irad,

Irad had Mehujael,

Mehujael had Methushael,

Methushael had Lamech.

19–22  Lamech married two wives, Adah and Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal, the ancestor of all who live in tents and herd cattle. His brother’s name was Jubal, the ancestor of all who play the lyre and flute. Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who worked at the forge making bronze and iron tools. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

23–24  Lamech said to his wives,

Adah and Zillah, listen to me;

you wives of Lamech, hear me out:

I killed a man for wounding me,

a young man who attacked me.

If Cain is avenged seven times,

for Lamech it’s seventy-seven!

25–26  Adam slept with his wife again. She had a son whom she named Seth. She said, “God has given me another child in place of Abel whom Cain killed.” And then Seth had a son whom he named Enosh.

That’s when men and women began praying and worshiping in the name of God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, January 23, 2025

by Karen Huang

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

Today's Insights

We sometimes fail to consider the connection between suffering and spiritual growth. In Paul’s letter to the people in Corinth, he spoke of the eternal glory that our troubles bring: “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

This isn’t the only place where Scripture states that our difficulties are actually beneficial for us. The apostle says in Romans, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (5:3-4). James too tells us that the testing of our faith is for our benefit: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (1:2-4).

God’s Promises

What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

It was painful to see my dad losing his memory. Dementia is cruel, taking away all the recollections of people until there’s no remembrance left of the life they lived. One night, I had a dream I believe God used to encourage me. In the dream, He had a small treasure chest in His hands. “All your dad’s memories are safely stored here,” He told me. “I’ll keep them in the meantime. Then one day, in heaven, I’ll return them to him.”

In the following years, this dream comforted me whenever my dad didn’t know who I was. I’d be reminded that his disease was temporary. Because he was a child of God, he’d be permanently restored one day.

It also helped to remember that Paul described suffering as “light and momentary” (2 Corinthians 4:17). The apostle wasn’t underplaying suffering; he himself had suffered much (vv. 7-12). He was emphasizing that in the light of eternity and the future glory that’s ours in Christ, our troubles are light and momentary. All the glorious blessings we already have in Jesus now—and those we’ll one day experience—will infinitely outweigh them all (v. 17).

Because of God and His promises, we can choose not to lose heart. Even as we suffer, we can live each day in faith, relying on His power to renew us (v. 16). Let’s “fix our eyes” on His eternal promises today (v. 18).

Reflect & Pray

What suffering are you experiencing? How can God’s promises and all that you have as His child help you to not lose heart?

Father, thank You that my suffering doesn’t have the final say. You do.

What has God promised, and how can we learn to trust Him? Read here to learn more.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, January 23, 2025

The Unveiled Face

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image. —2 Corinthians 3:18

The most remarkable characteristic of a Christian is the unveiled face. Open and honest, hiding nothing, we stand before God so that our lives may become a mirror of his. By being filled with the Spirit, we are transformed. By standing unveiled before him, we become his mirror. It is always easy to sense when someone has been beholding the glory of the Lord. We can feel the Lord’s own character, shining out from within.

The golden rule for the Christian life is this unfailing concentration on God. If God requires it, we must be willing to set aside our concerns for everything else—work, food, clothing, shelter, everything. The busyness of modern life tends to draw our attention away from God, darkening the mirror within. Usually, the thing that dirties the mirror is a “good” thing, a worthy concern. It is the good that is the enemy of the best.

Let other things come and go as they may. Let other people criticize as they will. But never let anything disturb the life that is hidden with Christ in God. Never be hurried out of the relationship of abiding in him. This is the one thing that tends to get pushed aside, and it is the one thing that shouldn’t. It is the toughest discipline we undergo as Christians: the discipline of keeping our focus on the glory of the Lord.

Exodus 7-8; Matthew 15:1-20

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Jesus Christ reveals, not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but One who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man. 

Disciples Indeed, 388 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, January 23, 2025

All Day Righteousness - #9924

Some days I wear a shirt and tie, because, well, that's kind of appropriate for the meetings I'm going to have that day. Now, you go home a little later and get into jeans and an old shirt. Why? Well, because I don't want to do all the work I'm going to be doing there in, you know, my dress up clothes. It will be appropriate for the work I have to do there.

Now, when I go to a wedding in a few weeks, I'll dress up for that. I'll get in my very best. When I go to the beach, No, I won't do that. I won't wear what I wear to the wedding. See, I change my clothes for the occasion just like you do. There is something I don't change no matter what the occasion - my skin. I change my clothes; I always have the same skin.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "All Day Righteousness."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 10, and I'm going to read verse 31. "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." That's an interesting verse. What Paul's saying here is that living for Christ is so practical that you can even do it while you're eating or drinking; having lunch, having breakfast. It's that kind of practical thing.

A couple of Sundays ago I had preached at a church about giving God your best instead of giving Him just your leftovers. And a man came up to me very sincerely and said, "Ron, I really do want to give God my best, but no matter how much I try to do for Him, I feel like I'm never doing enough. You know, I've got my job, and I've got my family, and I've got a lot of other things, and I feel like I'm just never doing enough for Him."

Well, as we talked, I began to realize that enough meant for him doing more spiritual things. And that isn't primarily what the Lord is looking for. He wants to make more things you're already doing spiritual; not have you do more spiritual things.

Our problem is that we reduce our Christ-life to a compartment. We say, "Well, let's see. Here's my money, here's my friends, here's my family, here's my job, here's my recreation. Oh, wait, here's a compartment I have available. Yeah, that's for Jesus. I'll just write in Jesus there and now I've got my Jesus compartment."

Jesus is King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He is not going to be a compartment. He doesn't fit in a compartment. He wants to be in all the compartments; not have one of His own. He wants to be the Lord of all those practical areas. So, you're not adding a list of spiritual things to do. You're letting Christ make the things you already do His things.

So you drive unselfishly for example. You drive to the glory of God. You use your car to help others. You shop for Him. Maybe walking into that grocery store and trying to bring some joy and some love into the otherwise dull life of a checkout girl. Who knows?

Colossians 3:17 picks up the same theme when it says, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." And then it goes on to talk about what kind of wife you are, being a husband to the glory of God. It talks about obeying your parents, and as you're doing it saying to the Lord, "This is for You, Jesus." Fathering in positive ways that don't tear your kids down. It talks about employees working with all their heart as if Jesus were their boss. He is.

Your relationship with Christ isn't just some set of spiritual clothes you put on to do spiritual work, to go to spiritual meetings and then take off. It's skin that you carry with you into every area of your life.

Living for Christ is a style that you carry with you all day, everywhere, like skin.

Matthew 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A MOMENT OF MIRACLES - January 22, 2025

What a moment of miracles the rapture will be! All prayers for healing will be answered. Jesus said, “Whatever you ask of me, I will do for you” (John 16:23-24, paraphrased). This is no over-promise. It’s only a matter of time.

This calling forth includes all God’s children who were conceived yet never took a breath outside the womb. Miscarriages and abortions took many. Christ will lay claim to them all, and they will live in glorified bodies.

This raptured population includes children who never reached the age of accountability. They lacked the maturity to decide for or against Christ. They are safe in his care. So are people who lacked the mental capacity to comprehend salvation.

This resurrection of the righteous will occur in a “twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52 NKJV). That is how long Jesus needs to collect his church.

What Happens Next

Matthew 1

The family tree of Jesus Christ, David’s son, Abraham’s son:

2–6  Abraham had Isaac,

Isaac had Jacob,

Jacob had Judah and his brothers,

Judah had Perez and Zerah (the mother was Tamar),

Perez had Hezron,

Hezron had Aram,

Aram had Amminadab,

Amminadab had Nahshon,

Nahshon had Salmon,

Salmon had Boaz (his mother was Rahab),

Boaz had Obed (Ruth was the mother),

Obed had Jesse,

Jesse had David,

and David became king.

6–11  David had Solomon (Uriah’s wife was the mother),

Solomon had Rehoboam,

Rehoboam had Abijah,

Abijah had Asa,

Asa had Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat had Joram,

Joram had Uzziah,

Uzziah had Jotham,

Jotham had Ahaz,

Ahaz had Hezekiah,

Hezekiah had Manasseh,

Manasseh had Amon,

Amon had Josiah,

Josiah had Jehoiachin and his brothers,

and then the people were taken into the Babylonian exile.

12–16  When the Babylonian exile ended,

Jeconiah had Shealtiel,

Shealtiel had Zerubbabel,

Zerubbabel had Abiud,

Abiud had Eliakim,

Eliakim had Azor,

Azor had Zadok,

Zadok had Achim,

Achim had Eliud,

Eliud had Eleazar,

Eleazar had Matthan,

Matthan had Jacob,

Jacob had Joseph, Mary’s husband,

the Mary who gave birth to Jesus,

the Jesus who was called Christ.

17  There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David,

another fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile,

and yet another fourteen from the Babylonian exile to Christ.

The Birth of Jesus

18–19  The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.) Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.

20–23  While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.” This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term:

Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;

They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for “God is with us”).

24–25  Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

by Winn Collier

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Hebrews 1:1-4

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

The Son Is Higher than Angels

3–6  After he finished the sacrifice for sins, the Son took his honored place high in the heavens right alongside God, far higher than any angel in rank and rule.

Today's Insights

How God has made Himself known to us is noted briefly in Hebrews 1. In the past, He spoke “through the prophets” (v. 1), but now He “has spoken to us by his Son” (v. 2). The supreme revelation of God to us is Jesus. The first of several warning passages comes on the heels of the exaltation of Jesus in Hebrews 1. Readers are cautioned about rejecting the message of the Son and those commissioned by Him (2:3).

The revelation of the Son is also seen in the teaching of Christ in Mark 12:1-12. Using story, He spoke of a man who planted a vineyard and sent servants (representing the prophets) to gather its fruit. When they were rejected, the man sent “a son, whom he loved” (v. 6)—a reference to God’s Son, Jesus—and they killed him (v. 8). Christ’s teaching here also concludes with words about rejecting the Son—“the stone the builders rejected” (v. 10).

Recognizing God

The Son is the . . . exact representation of [God’s] being. Hebrews 1:3

Today's Devotional

I flew to India, a land I’d never visited, and arrived at the Bengaluru airport after midnight. Though there’d been a flurry of emails, I didn’t know who was picking me up or where I should meet him. I followed the streaming mass of humanity to the baggage claim and customs, then out into the sticky night where I tried to spot a pair of friendly eyes among the sea of faces. For an hour, I walked back and forth in front of the crowd, hoping someone would recognize me. A kind man finally approached. “Are you Winn?” he asked. “I’m so sorry. I thought I’d recognize you, and you kept walking in front of me—but you didn’t look how I expected.”

We regularly get confused and fail to recognize people or places we should know. God provides an unmistakable way of recognizing Him, however. He arrived in our world as Jesus, who “is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). Christ is God’s exact representation. When we see Him, we have complete confidence that we’re seeing God.

If we want to know what God is like—what He would say, how He would love—then we need only look and listen to Jesus. Are we truly hearing what “[God] has spoken” (v. 2) through Him? Are we actually following His truth? To be sure that we know how to recognize God, we fix our gaze on the Son and learn from Him.

Reflect & Pray

When do you have trouble recognizing God’s voice? How does fixing your focus on Jesus help?

Dear God, I want to know Your voice and follow You. Please help me recognize You in Jesus.

Learn how to listen for God's voice by checking out 4 Ways You Might be Mishearing God: How to Listen for His Voice.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Where Am I Looking?

Look unto me, and be ye saved. —Isaiah 45:22 kjv

The mind wanders, casting about. It worries over today and tomorrow, growing dizzy with its troubles and trials. These troubles vanish when we look to God, but we must truly look: to look means to concentrate fully on Jesus. This, in effect, is the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount: we must narrow all our interests until the attitude of our mind and heart and body is concentration on Jesus Christ (Matthew 5–7).

To look to God is to be saved. We have stories and ideas in our minds of great Christian saints and heroes. We think we must emulate their lives to be saved. But there is no salvation in emulation; it is not simple enough. “Look unto me, and be ye saved,” says God. Not “you will be saved” but “you are saved.” We get preoccupied and grumpy with God, and all the time he is saying, “Just look.”

Concentrating on God is a great spiritual challenge. It is easier in times of trouble, when we desperately need him, than in times of peace and contentment. God’s blessings absorb us, pulling us away in delighted distraction. We must not let them. Though a thousand wonderful things vie for our attention, we must learn to let them come and go, keeping our focus on God.

“Look unto me,” says God. The moment you look, salvation is.

Exodus 4-6; Matthew 14:22-36

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

An intellectual conception of God may be found in a bad vicious character. The knowledge and vision of God is dependent entirely on a pure heart. Character determines the revelation of God to the individual. The pure in heart see God.

Biblical Ethics, 125 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

The Warning is the Difference - #9923

He was in Singapore when he got word of a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean and the possibility of a killer tsunami that could be headed for land; land that included his own village in India. He knew what he had to do. Desperately, he tried to reach his family there by means of a cell phone, and they answered. He warned them about the approaching danger, and they in turn warned the entire village of some 150 people. Within minutes they all were headed for high ground. The tsunami did hit that village full force. The homes were destroyed, the boats were destroyed, but every single person from that village survived.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Warning is the Difference."

People that Indian man cared about, people who otherwise would have died, are alive today because of a simple reason - one man who gave the warning.

For every person you care about, every person in your personal world, whether they live or die eternally depends on that same urgent act of love - someone giving the warning. Warning that God's judgment for our lifetime of sinning is coming our way for all of us. The Bible makes clear that "man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). We're all guilty of rebellion against God; making ourselves the center of our lives where our Creator is the only One who belongs there. But the warning of God's Word declares not only the bad news of the inevitable death penalty for our sin, but the wonderful Good News of where the high ground is. It's that hill where Jesus died to pay the death penalty that we all deserve. The lives of people around you can literally be saved forever if someone gives them the warning.

To be sure, God's the One who draws them to Jesus. He's the one who saves the lost. But we're His plan - you and I - for pointing them His direction. And our silence is a fatal silence. That's why God has made our responsibility vividly clear in a number of places in Scripture, including our word for today from the Word of God. In Ezekiel 3, beginning with verse 16, God's challenge to His prophet mirrors what He is expecting of us who know the way to eternal safety; some of the most sobering words in the Bible, "I have made you a watchman." You're the one on the wall who can see the danger coming and whom God holds responsible for warning the people around you.

Listen, He goes on to say, "When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood." Whether or not you think you're responsible to warn the people you know, God obviously thinks you are, and He's going to judge you accordingly. Like that man who called his village to warn the people he loved, God has given you life-saving information - information which they must have in order to have a chance at heaven. You know it. They don't. It's up to you in the power of God's Spirit. Whatever consequences you're afraid of if you tell them about Jesus, they can't even compare to the consequences if you don't tell them.

Just before God spoke this challenge, He led His messenger to just spend some time among the people he was being sent to rescue. Ezekiel says, "I sat among them for seven days - overwhelmed." Would you just look at the spiritual needs around you. Let God give you His eyes to see what He sees when He looks at the people you know. To feel what He feels about the destiny that awaits them unless someone tells them how to get to Heaven.

Let God overwhelm you, even break your heart for the precious people within your reach. Pray for God to open their heart, to open a door for you to speak to them, and to open your mouth when He does. Because the wave is coming, but they don't have to die. No, if you'll just give them the warning.

Genesis 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A GLORIFIED BODY - January 21, 2025

The rapture. Jesus will appear in the sky, and all who share his nature—who house his Spirit, who have within them the presence of Christ—will be caught up by his magnetic presence to meet him in the air. When we see Jesus, “he will change our humble bodies and make them like his glorified body” (Philippians 3:21 GW). Goodbye, cancer. Farewell, deformity. Hello healing, renewal, and restoration.

At the rapture the bodies of Christians will be raised and reconstituted to resemble the risen body of our Lord.  His glorified body was similar to his pre-crucifixion body. He could be touched. He ate and drank. Yet, he also passed through walls and appeared in various locations without any visible means of transportation. And, most significantly, he ascended into Paradise. We will do the same.

What Happens Next

 

Genesis 3

The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”

2–3  The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’ ”

4–5  The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”

6  When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.

7  Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.

8  When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.

9  God called to the Man: “Where are you?”

10  He said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.”

11  God said, “Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?”

12  The Man said, “The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it.”

God said to the Woman, “What is this that you’ve done?”

13  “The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.”

14–15  God told the serpent:

“Because you’ve done this, you’re cursed,

cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals,

Cursed to slink on your belly

and eat dirt all your life.

I’m declaring war between you and the Woman,

between your offspring and hers.

He’ll wound your head,

you’ll wound his heel.”

16  He told the Woman:

“I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth;

you’ll give birth to your babies in pain.

You’ll want to please your husband,

but he’ll lord it over you.”

17–19  He told the Man:

“Because you listened to your wife

and ate from the tree

That I commanded you not to eat from,

‘Don’t eat from this tree,’

The very ground is cursed because of you;

getting food from the ground

Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife;

you’ll be working in pain all your life long.

The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,

you’ll get your food the hard way,

Planting and tilling and harvesting,

sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk,

Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried;

you started out as dirt, you’ll end up dirt.”

20  The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

21  God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.

22  God said, “The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!”

23–24  So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they’d been made. He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

by Patricia Raybon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Peter 4:12-19

Glory Just Around the Corner

12–13  Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.

14–16  If you’re abused because of Christ, count yourself fortunate. It’s the Spirit of God and his glory in you that brought you to the notice of others. If they’re on you because you broke the law or disturbed the peace, that’s a different matter. But if it’s because you’re a Christian, don’t give it a second thought. Be proud of the distinguished status reflected in that name!

17–19  It’s judgment time for God’s own family. We’re first in line. If it starts with us, think what it’s going to be like for those who refuse God’s Message!

If good people barely make it,

what’s in store for the bad?

So if you find life difficult because you’re doing what God said, take it in stride. Trust him. He knows what he’s doing, and he’ll keep on doing it.

Today's Insights

The apostle Peter penned his first letter to encourage believers in Jesus who—because of persecution in Jerusalem (see Acts 8:1)—had been scattered throughout Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Peter’s words still encourage suffering believers today. We’re not to be surprised when we face persecution because of our faith (1 Peter 4:12). After all, Christ warned, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20). Yet Peter tells us to rejoice when we suffer for being Christ’s followers (1 Peter 4:13, 16). We see this modeled by Paul in prison (Acts 16:22-25). God the Holy Spirit was with the early believers in their trials—and He’s with us in ours (1 Peter 4:14; see John 14:15-17; Romans 5:5). He comforts (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) and inspires His followers to persevere with rejoicing.

The Gift of Trials

The Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 1 Peter 4:14

The two men conquered human flight, but the Wright brothers’ journey to success was never easy. Despite countless failures, ridicule, money woes, and serious injury to one of them, the brothers weren’t stopped by the trials they faced. As Orville Wright observed, “No bird soars in a calm.” The idea, according to biographer David McCullough, means that adversity can “often be exactly what you need to give you a lift higher.” Said McCullough, “Their joy was not getting to the top of the mountain. Their joy was climbing the mountain.”

The apostle Peter taught a similar spiritual principle to the persecuted early church. He told them, “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you” (1 Peter 4:12). This wasn’t a denial of suffering’s pain. Peter knew that hope in Christ grows our trust in God.

This is especially true when we suffer for being a believer in Jesus, as those early Christians did. Peter wrote to them, “Rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (v. 13). He went on, “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” (v. 14).

As the Wright brothers’ character was hailed by their biographer, may others see God’s loving character at work in us. He uses our adversity to raise us to new heights.

Reflect & Pray

How have you suffered for Christ? How was He glorified?

Suffering tests me, dear God. Please grant me hope for Your glory.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

What God Remembers

I remember the devotion of your youth. —Jeremiah 2:2

Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me? Am I full of the sort of small, simple actions and thoughts that cheer his heart? Or am I constantly irritated, obsessed with the idea that things aren’t going my way?

There is no joy in the soul that has forgotten what God loves and needs. Think on this: God needs you. Do you know that? It is a great thing. “Will you give me a drink?” Jesus asked the Samaritan woman, counting on the spontaneous spark of goodness and charity that might lead someone from a different people, a different tribe, to offer help (John 4:7). We too must act in spontaneous joy and love for his sake—the sake of his reputation with others.

Do I remember how it was in the beginning of my relationship with him? God does: “I remember the devotion of your youth.” God remembers when I cared for nothing but him, when I had an extravagance of love for Jesus, when I would have gone anywhere, done anything, to prove my love.

Am I still so in love that I take no consideration for myself? Or have I grown calculating, always watching for the respect I think I deserve, weighing how much service I should give, asking if it’s worth it?

Remember as God remembers. And if you find that he is not what he used to be—your soul’s beloved—let it produce shame and humiliation. The shame will bring the goodly, godly sorrow that works repentance.

Exodus 1-3; Matthew 14:1-21

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The emphasis to-day is placed on the furtherance of an organization; the note is, “We must keep this thing going.” If we are in God’s order the thing will go; if we are not in His order, it won’t. 

Conformed to His Image, 357 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

The High Cost Of Convenience - #9922

We knew some folks who owned a convenience store and they were people who worked some very long hours to make a living, believe me. But we enjoyed teasing them about the prices in their store. We'd give some astronomical price for a half-gallon of milk, or a boxes of cookies, or a candy bar. Now it wasn't quite that bad, but you usually do pay noticeably more for things in a convenience store. See, that's the profit factor in being open at times and on days when other stores are closed. Our store owner friends were quick to defend those prices. They reminded us of a simple fact of life - convenience costs more. They're right.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The High Cost Of Convenience."

Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Matthew 7:13-14. Notice the price tag on what's convenient and what's easy. Jesus says, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Take the easy road - destruction. Take the narrow road - life. Convenience costs. That's a life principle...it's a law of the universe. We instinctively want to do what's the easiest, the fastest. Right now you may be facing some important choices about a relationship, about your future, about your marriage, your financial situation maybe, or your business. My guess is that one road you could take is the easy one...the other road looks harder.

You're tempted to give up - that's the easy choice. There's a temptation really pulling on you - it would be so easy just to give in and go for it. You need money, and it would be easy to go for quick money, dishonest money, or money that would load you up with debt. But remember - convenience costs more!

What Jesus describes with the easy road and the hard road is very revealing. They are sort of like a funnel. Take the easy choice and it's wide up front, but the farther you go on that road, the narrower it gets, squeezing you, restricting you, scarring you, and ultimately destroying you.

Or you could choose the road that will take longer, that will require more discipline and sacrifice, and maybe even cost you something you value. But it's like an inverted funnel. It's narrow up front but it ultimately opens up into long-range happiness and long-range peace. So, in reality, the seemingly hard road is really the least expensive choice in the long run. But it's almost surely the road that will take longer, require more risks, more sacrifice, and yes more faith. But the reward and the payoff is so much greater! Remember, it's the narrow road that leads to life.

So, look at the temptation to take the easy road right now and don't fall for the lure of what's easy. I know it may be pulling hard - but you can't afford the price tag. The narrow road leads to life. And, after all, it's the destination that counts, not the road.

Maybe God sent this program into your life right now, knowing the choice you face, to warn you away from the easier - but ultimately far more expensive - road. Remember - in all the things that really matter in life - convenience costs more!

Genesis 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE LAST TRUMPET - January 20, 2025

Christians, upon the signal of Christ, will be transported into the presence of Christ. This rescue will be activated by the conclusion of the church age. Or, as the apostle Paul wrote, when “the full number of the Gentiles come in“ (Romans 11:25 RSV). The Lord will come with a loud command. At his side will be the sole figure identified in the Bible as an archangel—Michael—the great foe of Satan.

We will hear a trumpet at the rapture. Roman soldiers learned to respond to three types of trumpets. The first prompted them to rise and strike their tents. The second announced it was time to fall into line. The last trumpet was the signal to march away. Christ will signal for us to march away—either out of the grave or off the earth—and “we will be with the Lord forever.”

What Happens Next

Genesis 2

Heaven and Earth were finished,

down to the last detail.

2–4  By the seventh day

God had finished his work.

On the seventh day

he rested from all his work.

God blessed the seventh day.

He made it a Holy Day

Because on that day he rested from his work,

all the creating God had done.

This is the story of how it all started,

of Heaven and Earth when they were created.

Adam and Eve

5–7  At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground—God hadn’t yet sent rain on Earth, nor was there anyone around to work the ground (the whole Earth was watered by underground springs)—God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!

8–9  Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.

10–14  A river flows out of Eden to water the garden and from there divides into four rivers. The first is named Pishon; it flows through Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this land is good. The land is also known for a sweet-scented resin and the onyx stone. The second river is named Gihon; it flows through the land of Cush. The third river is named Hiddekel and flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15  God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.

16–17  God commanded the Man, “You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.”

18–20  God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion.

21–22  God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.

23–25  The Man said,

“Finally! Bone of my bone,

flesh of my flesh!

Name her Woman

for she was made from Man.”

Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.

The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, January 20, 2025

by Lisa M. Samra

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Exodus 3:1-10

Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.

3  Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”

4  God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

He said, “Yes? I’m right here!”

5  God said, “Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing on holy ground.”

6  Then he said, “I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.

7–8  God said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

9–10  “The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Today's Insights

Moses’ burning bush experience (Exodus 3) involves what’s known as a theophany, “a theological term to refer to either a visible or auditory manifestation of God” (Evangelical Dictionary of Theology). The sight or sound grabs one’s attention, but the message is what’s paramount. God assured Moses: “I have indeed seen the misery of my people . . . . I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering” (v. 7). Another example of a theophany is when God appeared in fire and smoke at Mount Sinai (19:16-20).

Let My People Go

The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.” Exodus 3:7

The acclaimed painting Let My People Go by Aaron Douglas uses vibrant colors of lavender, green, and gold, along with traditional African imagery, to tell the biblical story of Moses and connect it with black Americans' struggle for freedom and justice.

The painting portrays God's appearance to Moses in a burning bush when He revealed that He'd seen the plight of the Israelites in Egypt. The artist uses a beam of light to symbolize God and His message, 'So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt' (Exodus 3:10).

In Let My People Go, Moses kneels in obedient submission to God's instructions, but the eye is drawn to the dark waves and horses trained for war surrounding him--reminding viewers of the struggles the Israelites would face as they left Egypt. But the beam of light shines brightly as a reminder that God would be with the Israelites.

The emotions evoked by the painting resonate because the struggle against injustice continues; many use their power to oppress men, women, and children around the world. As those who are suffering cry out for God to be "a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble" (Psalm 9:9), we can plead with God to respond to their cries for help. And, like Moses, we can be willing to act on behalf of the oppressed.

Reflect & Pray

How might you pray for oppressed people? How might you learn more about caring for those suffering from injustice?

Heavenly Father, please make Your presence known to all those who suffer unjustly.

Need help with you prayer life? Check out Prayer Basics to develop good prayer habits.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, January 20, 2025

Are You Fresh for Everything?

No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. —John 3:3

Being born again of the Spirit is an unmistakable work of God, as mysterious as the wind, as surprising as God himself. We do not know where it begins; it is hidden away in the depths of our personal lives.

Being born again from above is a perennial, perpetual, and eternal beginning. It is a freshness all the time in thinking and talking and living, the continual surprise of the life of God. Sometimes, we are fresh for a prayer meeting, but not for cleaning boots! If this is the case, it’s a sign that something isn’t right between our souls and God. If we’ve ever found ourselves grumbling, “I have to do this thing or it will never get done,” we’ve let staleness creep in.

Consider the moment you are in right now: Do you feel the spark of eternity, of life itself, lighting you from within? The spark never comes from our own efforts. Obedience keeps us in the light, but it doesn’t fill us with vibrant, vital, untiring life. This can only come from the Spirit. To keep in touch with the Spirit within, we must jealously guard our relationship to God. Jesus prayed that we would be one as he and the Father are one—with absolutely nothing in between (John 17:21).

Keep every area of your life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don’t pretend with him. Are you drawing on any other source than God himself? If you’re depending upon anything but him, you will never know when he is gone. Being born of the Spirit means much more than we generally take it to mean. It gives us a new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything, thanks to the perennial supply of the life of God.

Genesis 49-50; Matthew 13:31-58

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). 

Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, January 20, 2025

Refusing To Move, Losing It All - #9921

La Conchita, California - a community sitting on this narrow strip of land between the Pacific Coast Highway and a steep cliff. In 1995, 600,000 tons of mud collapsed and buried nine houses there. Well, thankfully it moved slowly enough that everybody was able to get out alive. Well, not this time. In January of 2005, a chunk of the 300-foot bluff that towered over the town collapsed with a loud roar. In moments this sea of mud had crushed 15 homes and damaged 16 others. One man who missed the mudslide because of a quick trip for ice cream ran back to his buried home and began frantically digging for his wife and family with the rescuers. Tragically, they were some of those who died in the mudslide. It had been such a nice place to live; such a deadly place to live.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Refusing To Move, Losing It All."

Many people who live in potentially dangerous places in America refuse to move, and that certainly is their choice. It's understandable. "This is where I'm from. This is home." But there is a question to be seriously considered: is any place so nice to live that it's worth dying for?

That question becomes life's most important question when it comes to the eternal future of a person because so many are facing a deadly spiritual future. Not because there isn't a safe place, but because they refuse to move. And unlike a geographical area where disaster is possible, it is, for those in the spiritual danger zone, inevitable.

There is no escaping the Bible's clear decree that "man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). That "judgment," well, that's facing the consequences of a life lived putting me first instead of my Creator, of living out-of-bounds, breaking God's laws, of doing and saying and thinking so many things that ultimately defy the God who made me.

Thankfully, though, the catastrophe of an unthinkable hell is not inevitable if you're willing to move. Because the Bible explains that Jesus Christ, God's Son, "carried our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24), loving us so much He absorbed the hell that we deserve, so we could have the heaven that we could never deserve. In God's words, though "the wages" of our sin "is death, the gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23).

Now, how does a person still end up paying that eternal death penalty for their sin when Jesus already did? By refusing to move; refusing to let go of something or someone that is fatally important to them. Like the irresistible ring in the "Lord of the Rings" that inevitably destroys the one who holds onto it, some earth-person or earth-thing becomes our "Precious" - the thing we refuse to let go of, even though hanging onto it will cost us forever.

In Mark 10:17-22, our word for today from the Word of God, a rich young ruler comes to Jesus, asking how to go to heaven. Their conversation reveals that he's led a righteous life. But when Jesus asks him to let go of his wealth, because it's his god, the Bible says, "He went away sad, because he had great wealth." (vs. 22) As far as we know, he went away lost. I wonder what your "Precious" is - the thing that keeps you from moving to Jesus; a relationship, friends, a lifestyle, a favorite sin, even your stubborn trust in your religion rather than in Christ alone. Maybe it's control you don't want to give up. Because you're not willing to move, you stand in the path of the awful judgment of God that Jesus already took.

But is any place in life worth holding onto when it's going to cost you eternal life? Don't miss Jesus because you won't move. And that move you could make today! And say, "Jesus I now believe that what you did on that cross was for me, for my sin." And this day, your judgement could be cancelled and Heaven guaranteed.

Listen, our website's all about how to be sure you belong to Him. Check it out today. It's ANewStory.com.

None of us knows when our appointment with God is. What we do know is how to be sure we're ready for it whenever it comes, by moving to the only safe place there is, and that's in the arms of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 1, Bible reading and Daily Devotions

Max Lucado Daily: God’s Gift To You

“Every perfect gift is from God.” James 1:17

An itinerant preacher from Nazareth can do something for the hurt that is in your heart. Maybe you’re trying to rebuild an estranged relationship . . . Maybe you’ve been trying to find God for longer than you can remember. There was something about this Nazarene preacher that made people cluster around him like he was God’s gift to humanity. He is your gift as well.

Genesis 1

Heaven and Earth

1–2  1 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

3–5  God spoke: “Light!”

And light appeared.

God saw that light was good

and separated light from dark.

God named the light Day,

he named the dark Night.

It was evening, it was morning—

Day One.

6–8  God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;

separate water from water!”

God made sky.

He separated the water under sky

from the water above sky.

And there it was:

he named sky the Heavens;

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Two.

9–10  God spoke: “Separate!

Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;

Land, appear!”

And there it was.

God named the land Earth.

He named the pooled water Ocean.

God saw that it was good.

11–13  God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties

of seed-bearing plants,

Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.”

And there it was.

Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,

all varieties,

And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.

God saw that it was good.

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Three.

14–15  God spoke: “Lights! Come out!

Shine in Heaven’s sky!

Separate Day from Night.

Mark seasons and days and years,

Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”

And there it was.

16–19  God made two big lights, the larger

to take charge of Day,

The smaller to be in charge of Night;

and he made the stars.

God placed them in the heavenly sky

to light up Earth

And oversee Day and Night,

to separate light and dark.

God saw that it was good.

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Four.

20–23  God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!

Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”

God created the huge whales,

all the swarm of life in the waters,

And every kind and species of flying birds.

God saw that it was good.

God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!

Birds, reproduce on Earth!”

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Five.

24–25  God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:

cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”

And there it was:

wild animals of every kind,

Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.

God saw that it was good.

26–28  God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them

reflecting our nature

So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,

the birds in the air, the cattle,

And, yes, Earth itself,

and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”

God created human beings;

he created them godlike,

Reflecting God’s nature.

He created them male and female.

God blessed them:

“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!

Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,

for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”

29–30  Then God said, “I’ve given you

every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth

And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,

given them to you for food.

To all animals and all birds,

everything that moves and breathes,

I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”

And there it was.

31  God looked over everything he had made;

it was so good, so very good!

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Six.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, January 19, 2025

by John Blase

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 92:12-15

“Good people will prosper like palm trees,

Grow tall like Lebanon cedars;

transplanted to God’s courtyard,

They’ll grow tall in the presence of God,

lithe and green, virile still in old age.”

15  Such witnesses to upright God!

My Mountain, my huge, holy Mountain!

Today's Insights

January 19 Still Fruitful: Ps. 92:12-15 (150/129)

The book of Psalms has been described as a “prayer book for God’s people as they wait for the arrival of the Messiah and the fulfillment of God’s promises” (The Bible Project). The Psalms are divided into five books: Book One, Psalms 1-41; Book Two, Psalms 42-72; Book Three, Psalms 73-89; Book Four, Psalms 90-106; and Book Five, Psalms 107-150. Psalms 90-92 form the opening portion of Book Four.

Psalm 92 has a deep connection to the psalms that precede it. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary says: “Psalms 90-92 are united by development of concepts and repetition of vocabulary. These psalms lead the worshiper from a meditation on the transience of life (Psalm 90) and a call for wisdom (Psalm 91) to a climactic celebration of divine deliverance and protection (Psalm 92).”

Still Fruitful for God

They will still bear fruit in old age. Psalm 92:14

There’s an old folktale about a woman who carried water home every day from a river using two buckets at either end of a long pole—one bucket new and solid, the other much older and cracked. When the woman got home, the new bucket was still full, but the old bucket almost empty. The old bucket felt bad and apologized. The woman turned and pointed back down the road and asked the old bucket, “Do you see all those flowers, growing on your side of the road? Every day you water them, and my walk to and from the river is always filled with beauty.”

We live in a world that worships and rewards youth—the young and solid, unscarred and efficient. Yet the Bible clearly tells us of a righteous beauty that comes from the older and weaker, maybe even the cracked and leaky. “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,” said the old songwriter, “they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon” (Psalm 92:12).

Granted, old is not always synonymous with wise, but the old contribute to our lives in ways the young can’t because they’ve lived a little longer, experienced a little more, and stand a little more rooted, flourishing in faith and trust in God. Such people “will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green” (v. 14).

Older adults in our lives continue to bear beautiful fruit. Let’s take the time to see it and care for them.

Reflect & Pray

How can you serve the older adults on your path? What will you do today to see and appreciate them?

Father, please give me eyes to see those still bearing fruit in old age.

Check out Chapter 3 of Fruitful Living to learn about the fruit of the Spirit.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Vision and Darkness

A thick and dreadful darkness came over him. —Genesis 15:12

When God gives us a vision, he puts us, so to speak, in the shadow of his hand. There is a darkness that comes from too much light, and this is the time to listen. Thirteen years of silence passed between visions God sent Abraham, but in that time Abraham’s selfishness and self-sufficiency were destroyed and he was transformed into the man God wanted him to be, a man worthy of being called the father of many nations (Genesis 17). Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not punishment.

Whenever God sends you a vision and darkness follows, wait. God is remaking you in the image of what he has shown you: “Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God” (Isaiah 50:10).

Am I trusting entirely in the name of the Lord, or is my confidence in myself and other people? Is it in books and prayers and ecstasies, or is it in God himself? The one thing for which we are all being disciplined is to know that God is real. Until we know this, the vision will not come to pass. After we know it, everything that seemed so real to us before—books and prayers, other people’s words and actions—will become as shadows. Nothing can disturb the one who is built on God.

Genesis 46-48; Matthew 13:1-30

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.

The Place of Help

Revelation 22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Grace Makes All the Difference

If life is…  "because I have to"-where's the joy in that?  Too often I hear folks rejecting Christ because they think the Christian life is all about rules and regulations-all about stifling and suffocating ritual.

This happens when we confuse Christ with legalism.  Legalism is joyless because it's endless.  There's always another class to attend.  Inmates incarcerated in self-salvation find work, but never joy!

Grace!  It makes all the difference.  I like this quote: "Gone are the exertions of law-keeping, gone the disciplines of legalism, the anxiety that having done everything we might not have done enough.  We reach the goal, not by the stairs, but by the lift-God pledges his promised righteousness to those who will stop trying to save themselves!"1

Grace offers rest.  Legalism?  Never!

From GRACE

Revelation 22

Then the Angel showed me Water-of-Life River, crystal bright. It flowed from the Throne of God and the Lamb, right down the middle of the street. The Tree of Life was planted on each side of the River, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month. The leaves of the Tree are for healing the nations. Never again will anything be cursed. The Throne of God and of the Lamb is at the center. His servants will offer God service—worshiping, they’ll look on his face, their foreheads mirroring God. Never again will there be any night. No one will need lamplight or sunlight. The shining of God, the Master, is all the light anyone needs. And they will rule with him age after age after age.

Don’t Put It Away on the Shelf

6–7  The Angel said to me, “These are dependable and accurate words, every one. The God and Master of the spirits of the prophets sent his Angel to show his servants what must take place, and soon. And tell them, ‘Yes, I’m on my way!’ Blessed be the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

8–9  I, John, saw all these things with my own eyes, heard them with my ears. Immediately when I heard and saw, I fell on my face to worship at the feet of the Angel who laid it all out before me. He objected, “No you don’t! I’m a servant just like you and your companions, the prophets, and all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

10–11  The Angel continued, “Don’t seal the words of the prophecy of this book; don’t put it away on the shelf. Time is just about up. Let evildoers do their worst and the dirty-minded go all out in pollution, but let the righteous maintain a straight course and the holy continue on in holiness.”

12–13  “Yes, I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon! I’m bringing my payroll with me. I’ll pay all people in full for their life’s work. I’m A to Z, the First and the Final, Beginning and Conclusion.

14–15  “How blessed are those who wash their robes! The Tree of Life is theirs for good, and they’ll walk through the gates to the City. But outside for good are the filthy curs: sorcerers, fornicators, murderers, idolaters—all who love and live lies.

16  “I, Jesus, sent my Angel to testify to these things for the churches. I’m the Root and Branch of David, the Bright Morning Star.”

17  “Come!” say the Spirit and the Bride.

Whoever hears, echo, “Come!”

Is anyone thirsty? Come!

All who will, come and drink,

Drink freely of the Water of Life!

18–19  I give fair warning to all who hear the words of the prophecy of this book: If you add to the words of this prophecy, God will add to your life the disasters written in this book; if you subtract from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will subtract your part from the Tree of Life and the Holy City that are written in this book.

20  He who testifies to all these things says it again: “I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon!”

Yes! Come, Master Jesus!

21  The grace of the Master Jesus be with all of you. Oh, Yes!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, January 18, 2025

by Dave Branon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Corinthians 5:21-6:2

How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

Staying at Our Post

1–10  6 Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us,

I heard your call in the nick of time;

The day you needed me, I was there to help.

Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped.

Today's Insights

At its heart, Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that Jesus “had no sin” shows us the magnitude of Christ’s work through His life and death. The Greek word translated “had” (in some versions “knew”) suggests an intimate acquaintance with something. Jesus knew of sin and its consequences, but it was something he’d never experienced Himself. He had no intimate, personal acquaintance with sin.

Much like the first humans who had no personal experience with sin until they took the fruit of the tree of knowledge (Genesis 2:25–3:7), Christ didn’t sin. But “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21)—or “to be the offering for our sin” (nlt)—so that humanity could be reconciled to God forever.

Made Right with Jesus

Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2

“We’re ready to board our flight to Montego Bay,” came the announcement. I was traveling as a speaker for and leader of a high school group on a missions trip to Jamaica. I reached into my backpack for my boarding pass and passport—and panic hit. My passport was gone!

Our group boarded the plane without me, and I faced four days of frantic efforts trying to get a new passport. After hundreds of phone calls, a fruitless trip to Washington DC, a long drive back to Grand Rapids, Michigan, two days in a nearby city, and the help of our local congresswoman’s office—I finally got a new passport and could join my group in Jamaica.

A passport. A simple little book—but my only guarantee to where I wanted to go. As hard as I worked to get that new document, its value pales in comparison to something that will determine our eternal destination: faith in Jesus, which is the only guarantee of receiving salvation from our sins and new life in Him.

Scripture says, “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Paul was describing the reality that the dawn of salvation arrived in Christ. By believing in Him, we can experience God’s love and His redemptive, restoring work in all creation. Today, let’s make sure that we truly know what it means to “be made right with God through Christ” (5:21 nlt).

Reflect & Pray

How has Jesus provided the way for you to receive salvation? What does it mean for you to trust Him as your Savior?

Dear Jesus, thank You for providing the way for me to receive salvation from sin and death.

Learn more about having a personal relationship with God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Unbribed Devotion

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” —John 4:7

When Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for water, he indicated the proper form our devotion should take. How many of us spend our lives begging Jesus to satisfy our thirst, when we should be satisfying him? To be a witness for the Lord is to lead a life of unsullied, uncompromising, and unbribed devotion. It is to make ourselves a satisfaction to him wherever he places us.

Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. Sometimes, the greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for him. Instead of losing ourselves in love for our Savior, we busy ourselves with work, allowing it to distract us from our relationship with him. Recall how Jesus admonished Martha, as she rushed about doing chores while her sister, Mary, sat devotedly at his feet: “Martha, Martha,” Jesus said, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better” (Luke 10:41–42).

It is easier to serve than to be drunk with love and devotion. But the one aim of the call of God is the satisfaction of God. It is not a call to keep busy, or to rack up accomplishments, or to keep a running tally of how many souls we’ve saved. All of that is God’s concern, not ours, and we must leave him to it. We are not called to battle for God but to be used by God in his battles. Are we allowing ourselves to be used in this way?

Genesis 43-45; Matthew 12:24-50

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.

Not Knowing Whither

Malachi 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THERE’S GOOD NEWS - January 17, 2025

“He will cause deceit to prosper,…When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power” (Daniel 8:25 NIV).

Chapters 6 through 19 of Revelation describe in detail what will happen during the oppression by the Antichrist: famine, death, cosmic disturbances. The Jewish remnant will feel the full force of his anti-Semitic ire. Deception will be standard fare. I’m describing the darkest chapter of human history.

But I’ve not yet told you the good news. The tribulation? It’s going to happen. Satan’s henchman? He will be worse than anyone can imagine. But the wonderful news? If you are in Christ, you won’t have to face him. For by the time he arrives, you will be long gone in Paradise.

What Happens Next

Malachi 4

The Sun of Righteousness Will Dawn

1–3  4 “Count on it: The day is coming, raging like a forest fire. All the arrogant people who do evil things will be burned up like stove wood, burned to a crisp, nothing left but scorched earth and ash—a black day. But for you, sunrise! The sun of righteousness will dawn on those who honor my name, healing radiating from its wings. You will be bursting with energy, like colts frisky and frolicking. And you’ll tromp on the wicked. They’ll be nothing but ashes under your feet on that Day.” God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so.

4  “Remember and keep the revelation I gave through my servant Moses, the revelation I commanded at Horeb for all Israel, all the rules and procedures for right living.

5–6  “But also look ahead: I’m sending Elijah the prophet to clear the way for the Big Day of God—the decisive Judgment Day! He will convince parents to look after their children and children to look up to their parents. If they refuse, I’ll come and put the land under a curse.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, January 17, 2025

by Poh Fang Chia

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Galatians 6:7-10

Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

9–10  So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

Today's Insights

The letter to the Galatians wasn’t written to a single church or city but to “the churches in Galatia” (1:2), a region of what was then known as Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). There’s been an ongoing debate regarding the exact location of the recipients of this letter. Some scholars say the letter was directed to northern Galatia. Others say it was directed to southern Galatia, where Paul planted churches (Acts 13-14). Although the letter’s specific destination is unclear, there’s no doubt about its message. Paul is challenging the Galatians to set aside the teaching of those who taught adherence to Moses’ law as a condition of salvation. It’s all about grace. Bill Crowder

Learn more about Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

Don’t Lose Heart

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

Weary. That’s how Satya felt after nine months in his new job. As a believer in Jesus, he’d sought to follow God’s principles in the way he solved problems and directed the work. But people-related problems persisted, and little organizational progress seemed to have been made. He felt like throwing in the towel.

Perhaps, like Satya, you’re feeling tired. You know the good that you ought to do but simply feel too emotionally and physically drained to carry on. Take heart. The apostle Paul encourages us with these words: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). He uses the metaphor of a farmer. And, as any farmer knows, sowing is hard work.

Sowing to “please the Spirit” (v. 8) is hard work too. Believers in Jesus who seek to follow the Spirit’s lead and live a life that honors Him can grow faint and lose heart. But as we hang on to His promise, the harvest will come. We’ll “reap eternal life” (v. 8; see John 17:3)—a bumper crop of God’s blessing when Christ returns, and in this life, we’ll have the confidence and joy that come from knowing Him. We’ll reap at the proper time, a time determined not by seasons or the weather but by the will of a perfect God. Until the harvest comes, let’s keep sowing in God’s strength.  

Reflect & Pray

What’s causing you to lose heart? How can you hang on to the promise that “at the proper time we will reap a harvest”?

Dear Father, please help me to not lose heart and to persevere in doing good.

Learn about finding rest in the Spirit by reading The Sword, the Son, and a Rest for God’s People.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, January 17, 2025

But when God . . . was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles . . . —Galatians 1:15–16

If the call of God is an expression of his nature, and not our own, how are we to answer it? Paul writes that he went out to preach the gospel when God called. The call was God’s; the preaching was Paul’s interpretation of it, an action fitted to Paul’s own nature. Paul had always been able to preach, but now, having received the Holy Spirit, he began to use his gift for God’s purposes.

This is what service means: God’s nature awakening and filtering through our own. God’s own nature is supernatural, but our acts of service to him are always part of our natural lives. We may be called to serve him in big ways or in small, through the seemingly unimportant tasks that fill our days. The size of the act doesn’t matter. If we perform it as an act of service, it becomes a sacramental expression. To serve God is the deliberate love gift of a nature that has heard his call.

If I have received God’s nature, if the Holy Spirit dwells inside me, I will hear the most beautiful echo when God calls, the voice from outside resounding on the inside, the two joining together to help me do his work. When the life of Jesus is revealed in me in this way, I will serve God’s purposes all the time, pouring myself out in superabounding devotion to him.

Genesis 41-42; Matthew 12:1-23

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

An intellectual conception of God may be found in a bad vicious character. The knowledge and vision of God is dependent entirely on a pure heart. Character determines the revelation of God to the individual. The pure in heart see God.

Biblical Ethics, 125 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, January 17, 2025

YOU NEED GOD'S BAND - #9920

Quite often, I'll speak in churches that have two morning services, and it was a Sunday like that. I went into that little room off the sanctuary where you meet to pray with church leaders. But the people who were there when I went in weren't praying. They were playing - their trombones, that is. Actually, they were warming up to play in the brass section of the church's worship band. Now, there were some very interesting sounds coming from that room. In fact, I was almost afraid to go in, but I did. And I got involved in a conversation with the men behind the music. One of them had just made a minor goof in what he was practicing. Of course, how would I know - Mr. Music Dork? But that led to George telling me why he would much rather play with a band than play a solo. He said, "It is so much easier when the band is there to support you." When I asked him what he meant by "support you," he said, "Well, the rest of the band sort of carries you along and they cover up your mistakes!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You Need God's Band."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 2:14. It's in the middle of one of the most powerful sermons ever preached. It's on the day the Holy Spirit came just as Jesus had predicted to indwell and empower His followers. It's about two months after Jesus' return to heaven, and Peter is standing right in the middle of the crowds in downtown Jerusalem. The city is still very highly charged with hostility toward Jesus and toward His followers. Remember the preacher here is Peter, the same man who wimped out on Jesus only a few weeks earlier. He denied Jesus even in front of a little girl. Here's what it says, "Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd." Peter went on to tell some of the very people who had crucified Jesus that they needed Him as their Savior! And 3,000 people came to Christ that day! What happened to Peter? He suddenly changed from a chicken into a tiger! Several answers: he sincerely repented of his failures, he now had the inner power of the Holy Spirit. But there was something else that gave him courage and confidence. He wasn't playing a solo. The band was there to support him! It says he "Stood up with the Eleven." We all need that kind of support. Are you consistently giving that kind of support to the people close to you? Are you playing like a team member or a solo performer? Are you doing all you can to create a climate of playing together instead of every one for himself?

God provides a beautiful score for our spiritual band to follow in Hebrews 10:24-25, a standard to measure what you're doing with your family, the folks you work with, the people you minister with. It says, "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Hey, is the result of being around you that people feel more motivated to be loving - to make a difference? It goes on to say, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Maybe you've somehow allowed yourself to slip into a solo mode where you're cut off from the support of the band and where every mistake is amplified.

In Africa, when a lion wants a gazelle for lunch, he seldom attacks when the gazelle is with the herd. He waits for it to wander off by itself. I think Satan operates like that. He wants to get you away from the rest of the band, isolate you so he can attack and devour you. Don't let your frustrations - don't let your differences get you to pull away from the band whose support you really need. That's the body of Christ.

Where you live, where you work, where you minister, be known as the encourager. Learn to appreciate the unique contribution of the other instruments, even if they sound very different from you. We were never meant to be soloists. We were created to play with the support of the band around us. Together, we can carry each other along and we can cover each other's mistakes!

Malachi 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: MASTER OF INTRIGUE - January 16, 2025

“When rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause outstanding devastation…” (Daniel 8:23-24 NIV).

The Antichrist. At some point after the rapture he will appear. Filled with the fullness of Satan, he will mesmerize the world with his arrogant words. He will even claim to be God. Just as Satan entered Judas on the day of betrayal, so Satan will enter this person. He will rise from obscurity as a great peacemaker. He will negotiate a seven-year treaty with the nation of Israel. Yet, midway through the treaty, he will break it—and all hell will break loose.

You do not want to be on earth when the Antichrist comes. Give your heart to Christ, and he will give his home to you.

What Happens Next

Malachi 3

The Master You’ve Been Looking For

1  3 “Look! I’m sending my messenger on ahead to clear the way for me. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Leader you’ve been looking for will enter his Temple—yes, the Messenger of the Covenant, the one you’ve been waiting for. Look! He’s on his way!” A Message from the mouth of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

2–4  But who will be able to stand up to that coming? Who can survive his appearance?

He’ll be like white-hot fire from the smelter’s furnace. He’ll be like the strongest lye soap at the laundry. He’ll take his place as a refiner of silver, as a cleanser of dirty clothes. He’ll scrub the Levite priests clean, refine them like gold and silver, until they’re fit for God, fit to present offerings of righteousness. Then, and only then, will Judah and Jerusalem be fit and pleasing to God, as they used to be in the years long ago.

5  “Yes, I’m on my way to visit you with Judgment. I’ll present compelling evidence against sorcerers, adulterers, liars, those who exploit workers, those who take advantage of widows and orphans, those who are inhospitable to the homeless—anyone and everyone who doesn’t honor me.” A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

6–7  “I am God—yes, I Am. I haven’t changed. And because I haven’t changed, you, the descendants of Jacob, haven’t been destroyed. You have a long history of ignoring my commands. You haven’t done a thing I’ve told you. Return to me so I can return to you,” says God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

“You ask, ‘But how do we return?’

8–11  “Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob me day after day.

“You ask, ‘How have we robbed you?’

“The tithe and the offering—that’s how! And now you’re under a curse—the whole lot of you—because you’re robbing me. Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don’t open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams. For my part, I will defend you against marauders, protect your wheat fields and vegetable gardens against plunderers.” The Message of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

12  “You’ll be voted ‘Happiest Nation.’ You’ll experience what it’s like to be a country of grace.” God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so.

The Difference Between Serving God and Not Serving Him

13  God says, “You have spoken hard, rude words to me.

“You ask, ‘When did we ever do that?’

14–15  “When you said, ‘It doesn’t pay to serve God. What do we ever get out of it? When we did what he said and went around with long faces, serious about God-of-the-Angel-Armies, what difference did it make? Those who take life into their own hands are the lucky ones. They break all the rules and get ahead anyway. They push God to the limit and get by with it.’ ”

16  Then those whose lives honored God got together and talked it over. God saw what they were doing and listened in. A book was opened in God’s presence and minutes were taken of the meeting, with the names of the God-fearers written down, all the names of those who honored God’s name.

17–18  God-of-the-Angel-Armies said, “They’re mine, all mine. They’ll get special treatment when I go into action. I treat them with the same consideration and kindness that parents give the child who honors them. Once more you’ll see the difference it makes between being a person who does the right thing and one who doesn’t, between serving God and not serving him.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, January 16, 2025

by  Mike Wittmer

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Exodus 14:5-14

When the king of Egypt was told that the people were gone, he and his servants changed their minds. They said, “What have we done, letting Israel, our slave labor, go free?” So he had his chariots harnessed up and got his army together. He took six hundred of his best chariots, with the rest of the Egyptian chariots and their drivers coming along.

8–9  God made Pharaoh king of Egypt stubborn, determined to chase the Israelites as they walked out on him without even looking back. The Egyptians gave chase and caught up with them where they had made camp by the sea—all Pharaoh’s horse-drawn chariots and their riders, all his foot soldiers there at Pi Hahiroth opposite Baal Zephon.

10–12  As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw them—Egyptians! Coming at them!

They were totally afraid. They cried out in terror to God. They told Moses, “Weren’t the cemeteries large enough in Egypt so that you had to take us out here in the wilderness to die? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Back in Egypt didn’t we tell you this would happen? Didn’t we tell you, ‘Leave us alone here in Egypt—we’re better off as slaves in Egypt than as corpses in the wilderness.’ ”

13  Moses spoke to the people: “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and watch God do his work of salvation for you today. Take a good look at the Egyptians today for you’re never going to see them again.

14  God will fight the battle for you.

And you? You keep your mouths shut!”

Today's Insights

After Pharaoh set the Israelites free from slavery (Exodus 12:28-33), he immediately had a change of heart and summoned his elite army to recapture them (14:5-9). Although God had overwhelmingly demonstrated His great power through the ten plagues (chs. 7-11), the Israelites chose not to trust in Him. Terrified, they accused Moses of deceiving them and leading them into the wilderness to die (14:11-12). But Moses encouraged them not to be afraid, to be still, and to trust in God (vv. 13-14). He was faithful and saved them from Pharaoh’s army (vv. 21-23) and continued to provide for them during their forty years in the wilderness.

Easy and Hard

God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” Exodus 13:17

Mark was a promising young pastor. Then one morning his son, Owen, collapsed and died while kicking a ball with him. Mark was devastated and still grieves the loss. But through his pain he’s become a more compassionate pastor. I’ve mourned with Mark and wondered if his trial illustrates an insight A. W. Tozer noted: “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.” I fear that’s true.

Then again, perhaps it’s not that simple. We learn about the complexity of God’s ways by observing the exodus of Israel. God led the young nation out of Egypt on an easy road, saying of Israel, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt” (Exodus 13:17). Yet a few verses later, God told Moses to double back so Pharaoh would rally his army and come out to fight (14:1-4). Pharaoh took the bait. The Israelites “were terrified and cried out to the Lord” (v. 10). Moses chided them, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (v. 14).

God uses both easy and hard paths to grow His people and bring Him glory. He promised, “I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord” (v. 4). So did Israel. So can we. God is building our faith through every test, whether easy or hard. When life is easy, rest in Him. When life is hard, let Him carry you.

Reflect & Pray

How has pain contributed to your growth? Why do you think God uses both easy and hard tests?

Dear Jesus, You’re enough for every test.

Sometimes life does not seem fair. Learn how we can rely on God, even in times we don't understand.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Tuned In to God

I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?” —Isaiah 6:8

What does the call of God sound like? There is the call of the sea, the call of the mountains, the call of the great ice barriers. These are calls heard only by the few—by those who have the sea or the mountains or the ice in their blood. So it is with the call of God. His call is the expression of his nature, and only those with the same nature inside them can hear it.

Have we ever heard God calling? His call always comes intimately, through the circumstances of our lives. There is no point asking anyone else about these circumstances; they are strands of our existence that God has woven specially for us.

It is easy—too easy—to miss the call. We have to maintain the profound relationship between our soul and God if we are to hear it. Isaiah was able to hear because, after the tremendous crisis he had been through, his soul, open and raw, was tuned in to God.

Most of us are tuned in only to ourselves; we hear nothing of what God is saying. I have to realize that the call of God is not an echo of my own nature. My likes and dislikes are not part of it. Neither is my temperament. As long as I place concern for myself at the center of my life, all I’ll hear are my own thoughts, echoing back at me.

To be brought into an intimate conversation with God is to be profoundly changed. It is to see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and understand with our hearts all that God is saying (Isaiah 6:10).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. 

Biblical Ethics, 99 R

Genesis 39-40; Matthew 11

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, January 16, 2025

THIRTY SECONDS AFTER YOU'RE GONE - #9919

She must have been scared to death. She wasn't a public speaker, but that day she agreed to speak to 70,000 people in a football stadium in the Northwest. It was the last day of Billy Graham's Crusade in her city. And he had asked her to read a letter she'd received from her son. It was the end of the first Gulf War, and the troops were coming home; except for a relatively few American soldiers who weren't coming home and her son was one of them.

He had died in a helicopter crash on the last day of the war. He had written a letter to his mother and given it to a good friend with instructions to mail it only if he was killed. Now she shared that letter with the masses in that stadium. His letter said, "Mom, if you're reading this letter, it means I didn't make it. But that's OK, Mom. Because now, for the first time, I'm smarter than you are! Because Mom, I've seen heaven. I've seen Jesus!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Thirty Seconds After You're Gone."

What a way to live! What a way to die - knowing that all death is going to do is send you to heaven...to see the One whose death and resurrection opened the door for you to be there. God wants for you to be able to say and to know beyond any shadow of a doubt that 30 seconds after you're gone, you're going to be saying, "I've seen heaven! I've seen Jesus!"

Is it possible to really know that you're going to heaven when you die? Not if you have to earn heaven by living a good life. You'll never know if you're good enough. Keanu Reeves starred in a movie that had some supernatural subject matter. In an interview he was asked, "What are your notions of heaven and hell, and eternal damnation vs. eternal bliss?" He said, "Well, I hope I get the bliss. And I know I'm going to have to work for it."

A lot of folks think that way. God doesn't. He actually says in His book, and these are God's words. "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy" (Titus 3:5). You can't possibly do enough good to satisfy a perfect God or to pay the death penalty for the sinning you've done. It took Jesus to do that.

God tells us that when those who belong to Him are "away from the body," they are "at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). How can you be sure that will be you? As Jesus was dying on the cross, there was a criminal on one side of Him who had started out mocking Him like everybody else. Then, in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 23:42-43, he suddenly says, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." What changed him? Moments before, He had heard Jesus say these words from the cross: "Father, forgive them." And that criminal must have thought, "If Jesus would forgive the people who nailed Him there, then He'd forgive me for my sin." Here was Jesus' amazing answer, "Today you will be with me in paradise."

That's what He wants to say to you when you've breathed your last breath, "Today you'll be with Me in heaven - and forever." But that can only happen if you put all your trust in the One who said from the cross where He died for you, "Father, forgive them." He was forgiving you that day. But it's like a gift He's offering you. You have to take what He paid for at such a high price.

When should you do that? The Bible says, "Now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:3). Why would you wait one more day to turn from your sin, to put your trust in Jesus to forgive your sin, and have every sin erased from God's book forever? Why would you wait one more day to trade hell for heaven when you don't know how many more days you'll have?

Let this be your Jesus day. Tell Him now, "Jesus, I believe when You died on that cross it was for sinning I have done. And, Jesus, I am yours from this day on." Our website is there to just help you make sure that you belong to Him. I wish you'd go there as soon as you can today. I invite you to ANewStory.com.

There is no greater peace than going to sleep at night knowing beyond any shadow of a doubt what will happen when you have taken your last breath. You're going to be seeing heaven and you'll be seeing Jesus.