Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 6
Our Problem Is Sin
Fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out.
Romans 12:2 (MSG)
Real change is an inside job. You might alter things a day or two with money and systems, but the heart of the matter is and always will be, the matter of the heart.
Allow me to get specific. Our problem is sin. Not finances. Not budgets.... Our problem is sin. We are in rebellion against our Creator. We are separated from our Father. We are cut off from the source of life. A new president or policy won't fix that. It can only be solved by God.
That's why the Bible uses drastic terms like conversion, repentance, and lost and found. Society may renovate, but only God re-creates.
Revelation 3
To the Church in Sardis
1"To the angel[a] of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits[b]of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 4Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the Church in Philadelphia
7"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. 11I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the Church in Laodicea
14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Ephesians 3:14-21
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
October 6, 2008
Not Much In Between
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ephesians 3:14-21
That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. —Ephesians 3:19
In the western panhandle of Texas is a small town named Texline. It had an ostentatious beginning in the late 1800s as a thriving center along a new railroad line. Within a few years, though, most of the shops had closed and the town’s population shriveled to about 400. In 2000, the population was still just over 500.
One online description of Texline says that it has “a city limits sign at one end, another at the other end, and not much in between.”
What a waste if the same description could be given of our spiritual journey! The journey of the Christian life on earth begins at the moment of faith in Jesus and ends when the believer goes to be with the Lord. This raises an important question: What happens in between?
A rich and full life is available to all who believe in and serve Jesus. The apostle Paul prayed that believers would “be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). He wanted them to know life “abundantly” (John 10:10). But how many of us experience even a small part of the abundant life Christ promised to those who are faithful to Him?
God desires to give us a marvelous beginning with salvation and a great ending in Glory—with much in between. — David C. Egner
Lord, thank You for all that You have done for me.
I commit myself to making the most of my spiritual journey.
I want to experience as much as I can of You and all
You have to offer to me. Amen.
A life given fully to God becomes a God-filled life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 6, 2008
The Nature of Regeneration
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
When it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me . . . —Galatians 1:15-16
If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature— His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.
The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God— ". . . until Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19 ). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, "Blessed are you . . ." ( Matthew 5:11 ). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.
Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19 ). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Reason for Your Bumpy Landings - #5671 - October 6, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Monday, October 6, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I was on an early morning flight into Pittsburgh. It's the kind where most of the passengers are real veteran flyers, you know, like business people. And wouldn't you know, we got one of those two-for-the-price-of-one landings. Yeah, it's one of those bumpy, bouncy ones. You know? I mean, even with the seasoned flyers aboard, that landing got everyone's heads out of their papers and their briefcases - including mine. I couldn't wait to hear what the flight attendant was going to say. And, fortunately, we got one of the few that could show a sense of humor. He came on and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, now that I have your attention, I'd like to make a few announcements!" That's great! Believe me, after a landing like that, he had our attention!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Reason for Your Bumpy Landings."
You may have been experiencing a few bumpy landings lately yourself. It might be medical, or marital, economic, romantic, maybe it's parental issues or relationship issues. You're wondering why things have been so rocky. There could be many reasons, but we know that ultimately God is in charge of things. So, why has He sent or allowed these bumpy landings? Could it be He's trying to get your attention? Maybe if you could hear God's voice audibly right now, you'd hear Him saying, "Now that I have your attention, I'd like to make a few announcements."
One of King David's Psalms in the Old Testament is about how our bumpy landings can serve as spiritual wakeup calls. In our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 32:1, he says, "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered...When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer."
David says the best position you can be in in your life is to have all your sins forgiven, your moral mistakes forgiven and cleaned up and to know you're OK with God and that you have a new beginning. But he goes on to say that he wasn't really dealing with the junk that was between him and God until he hit some bumpy landings. Until he started hurting physically, emotionally, until he felt God's heavy hand on him...until he was shot. That's when God got his attention and showed him that he needed to face his sin problem which was the ultimate cause of all his other problems.
It could be God is trying to make the same kind of announcement to you right now. I hope that through your bumpy landings Jesus can finally get your attention. His announcements? Well, things you might otherwise not have listened to or considered. He's using the trouble to say to you things like, "You are not enough, you need something lasting, you've tried it long enough without Me, or I love you so much." And He stands ready to do for you what you have needed and maybe avoided for years - to remove what's between you and the God that you need so much.
Jesus can do that because He absorbed all the guilt and all the hell of all your sin when He paid for it on the cross. And your bumpy landings may be all to bring you to the place that you've missed all these years - that cross where He loved you enough to die for you. All the journey of your life has been to bring you to this moment where you could finally commit yourself to the Savior you were made by, the Savior you were made for, the Savior who loves you so very much. Then you will be able to say as King David did, "Lord, You forgave the guilt of my sin."
If you've missed Jesus all these years, if you don't want to miss Him any longer, you want to begin your personal relationship with Him, tell Him that right now. And I'd invite you to check out our website sometime as soon as you can today. It's YoursForLife.net. Because I've tried to lay out there simply and non-religiously as I could how you can be sure you belong to Jesus Christ. Or you can call and get the booklet that I wrote Yours For Life toll free at 877-741-1200.
Your bumpy landings may have shaken up your life, but only so you would turn your attention to the Son of God so He could finally bring you safely home.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Revelation 2, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 5
The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength.
Psalm 138:3 (The Message)
Where is God when we hurt? Where is he when sleep won’t come? Where is he when we awaken in a hospital bed with pain that won’t subside? He’s right here!
He hung on the gallows to prove once and for all, with pierced hands and
blood-stained-face—that he’s here—that he didn’t create the hurt, but he came to take it away.
When you hurt, God hurts with you.
Revelation 2
To the church in Ephesus
1"To the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
To the Church in Smyrna
8"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.
To the Church in Pergamum
12"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. 14Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. 15Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.
To the Church in Thyatira
18"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. 20Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. 24Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): 25Only hold on to what you have until I come. 26To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—
27'He will rule them with an iron scepter;
he will dash them to pieces like pottery'[b]— just as I have received authority from my Father. 28I will also give him the morning star. 29He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Ephesians 3
Paul the Preacher to the Gentiles
1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.
October 5, 2008
Rosetta Stone
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ephesians 3:1-7
The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, . . . has now been revealed by the Spirit. —Ephesians 3:4-5
For centuries, the hieroglyphic word pictures painted on Egyptian ruins were a mystery. Then in 1799 a French archaeological expedition at the Egyptian harbor of Rosetta discovered an ancient stone. It weighed 1,676 pounds and reflected beautiful dark gray, blue, and pink hues. But that is not what made it valuable.
The stone was inscribed with an identical message in different ancient scripts. Among them were hieroglyphics and classical Greek. Using Greek to translate, scholars soon understood the meaning of the hieroglyphics. They were no longer a mystery.
The Bible has also contained an ancient mystery. For centuries, it seemed as if God’s purposes were limited to the Jews. Yet with the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, the promise to Abraham to bless the whole world came to light (Gen. 12:1-3). Paul wrote: “The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known . . . has now been revealed by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:4-5). God provides salvation to all people who repent and believe in His Son (Gal. 3:8-9,28).
The revelation of the New Testament describes a glorious future when people from every ethnic group, nation, and language will share in the inheritance of the children of God (Rev. 5:9). — Dennis Fisher
O glorious mystery of love,
That I, a child of earth,
May dwell by faith with Christ above,
The Lamb of matchless worth! —Christiansen
The Christian’s inheritance is guaranteed forever!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 5, 2008
The Nature of Degeneration
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26 ). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, "I am my own god." This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25 ).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. "This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . " ( John 3:19 ).
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 5
The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength.
Psalm 138:3 (The Message)
Where is God when we hurt? Where is he when sleep won’t come? Where is he when we awaken in a hospital bed with pain that won’t subside? He’s right here!
He hung on the gallows to prove once and for all, with pierced hands and
blood-stained-face—that he’s here—that he didn’t create the hurt, but he came to take it away.
When you hurt, God hurts with you.
Revelation 2
To the church in Ephesus
1"To the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
To the Church in Smyrna
8"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.
To the Church in Pergamum
12"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. 14Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. 15Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.
To the Church in Thyatira
18"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. 20Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. 24Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): 25Only hold on to what you have until I come. 26To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—
27'He will rule them with an iron scepter;
he will dash them to pieces like pottery'[b]— just as I have received authority from my Father. 28I will also give him the morning star. 29He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Ephesians 3
Paul the Preacher to the Gentiles
1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.
October 5, 2008
Rosetta Stone
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Ephesians 3:1-7
The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, . . . has now been revealed by the Spirit. —Ephesians 3:4-5
For centuries, the hieroglyphic word pictures painted on Egyptian ruins were a mystery. Then in 1799 a French archaeological expedition at the Egyptian harbor of Rosetta discovered an ancient stone. It weighed 1,676 pounds and reflected beautiful dark gray, blue, and pink hues. But that is not what made it valuable.
The stone was inscribed with an identical message in different ancient scripts. Among them were hieroglyphics and classical Greek. Using Greek to translate, scholars soon understood the meaning of the hieroglyphics. They were no longer a mystery.
The Bible has also contained an ancient mystery. For centuries, it seemed as if God’s purposes were limited to the Jews. Yet with the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, the promise to Abraham to bless the whole world came to light (Gen. 12:1-3). Paul wrote: “The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known . . . has now been revealed by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:4-5). God provides salvation to all people who repent and believe in His Son (Gal. 3:8-9,28).
The revelation of the New Testament describes a glorious future when people from every ethnic group, nation, and language will share in the inheritance of the children of God (Rev. 5:9). — Dennis Fisher
O glorious mystery of love,
That I, a child of earth,
May dwell by faith with Christ above,
The Lamb of matchless worth! —Christiansen
The Christian’s inheritance is guaranteed forever!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 5, 2008
The Nature of Degeneration
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26 ). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, "I am my own god." This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25 ).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. "This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . " ( John 3:19 ).
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Revelation 1, daily readings and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 4
Ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find.
Matthew 7:7 (NCV)
Countless copies of Scripture sit unread on bookshelves and nightstands simply because people don't know how to read it. What can we do to make the Bible real in our lives?
The clearest answer is found in the words of Jesus. "Ask and God will give it to you."
The first step in understanding the Bible is asking God to help us.
Revelation 1
Prologue
1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
Greetings and doxology
4John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7Look, he is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
One like a Son of Man
9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
12I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man,"[b]dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19"Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels[c] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 9
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
11He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
12"Where is this man?" they asked him.
"I don't know," he said.
October 4, 2008
Curiosity Or Compassion?
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: John 9:1-12
[Jesus’] disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” —John 9:2
Why is it that when we hear about someone who is suffering, we are more interested in the details of what, why, when, and where than we are about how we can help?
When the disciples passed the blind beggar (John 9:1), their curiosity about why he was suffering outweighed the prospect of reaching out to help him. “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” they asked (v.2). Their pop-quiz for Jesus revealed that they were dreadfully out of step with their
Master’s heart. In fact, lurking beneath their question was a judgmental spirit—a desire to know whom to blame—as if that would make anyone feel better!
Thankfully, Jesus modeled a compassionate response. Rather than speculation and condemnation, He marshaled His resources to help, which in this case meant complete healing. He made it clear that the man’s blindness was intended to provide a moment for God to be magnified through Jesus’ compassionate touch.
Feeling curious about somebody’s problem? Shift into Jesus’ mode and move past the point of curiosity to his or her point of need. Reach out and touch someone’s pain. Show the compassionate love of Jesus in action. — Joe Stowell
Amid the snares misfortune lays
Unseen, beneath the steps of all,
Blest is the Love that seeks to raise
And stay and strengthen those who fall. —Bryant
Do you want to be like Jesus? Replace curiosity with compassion.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 4, 2008
The Vision and The Reality
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . to those who are . . . called to be saints . . . —1 Corinthians 1:2
Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.
There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Our little "I am" always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little "I am" be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation--"I AM WHO I AM . . . has sent me to you" ( Exodus 3:14 ). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.
A Fine-tuned Instrument
by Os Hillman
...I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, "They are My people," and they will say, "The Lord is our God." - Zechariah 13:9
My former business career was as an owner of an advertising agency. Over the years, I had the privilege to work on many different and prestigious accounts. One of those accounts was Steinway Pianos, the maker of the world's finest pianos. Each piano has always been made from scratch; it takes over a year to make one Steinway. The most impressive scene as I toured the manufacturing plant was the place where the soundboard is stretched to its maximum tolerance and allowed to sit for an extended period until it remains in the curved design. This was done in an off-to-the-corner part of the plant. If the wood were alive, it would be crying out for mercy.
After an extended time of stretching, the wood will never spring back to its original state. It is permanently changed. The piano is becoming a fine-tuned instrument. After this process takes place, the next step requires another point of stress. It takes 11 tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. Each step in the process moves the piano closer to a finished product that will ultimately be played by the world's finest musicians. These musicians desire a particular sound that only a piano like this can make.
God looks at each of us as a fine-tuned instrument. However, we begin as rough wood that He desires to transform into gold. Tuning us requires certain experiences that will stretch our faith, our frame, and our very life. Sainthood springs out of suffering. If we can stand the strain of this intense process, we will come forth as gold-as a sweet-smelling offering to our Maker. When we are in the midst of these times, it feels like fire. It is painful to be stretched beyond our perceived limits, but the Lord knows this is necessary for us to become an instrument that can play a beautiful song that others will seek after.
Let the master Craftsman have His way in your life today. You will be pleased with the instrument He fashions.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 4
Ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find.
Matthew 7:7 (NCV)
Countless copies of Scripture sit unread on bookshelves and nightstands simply because people don't know how to read it. What can we do to make the Bible real in our lives?
The clearest answer is found in the words of Jesus. "Ask and God will give it to you."
The first step in understanding the Bible is asking God to help us.
Revelation 1
Prologue
1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
Greetings and doxology
4John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7Look, he is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
One like a Son of Man
9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
12I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man,"[b]dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19"Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels[c] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 9
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
11He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
12"Where is this man?" they asked him.
"I don't know," he said.
October 4, 2008
Curiosity Or Compassion?
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: John 9:1-12
[Jesus’] disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” —John 9:2
Why is it that when we hear about someone who is suffering, we are more interested in the details of what, why, when, and where than we are about how we can help?
When the disciples passed the blind beggar (John 9:1), their curiosity about why he was suffering outweighed the prospect of reaching out to help him. “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” they asked (v.2). Their pop-quiz for Jesus revealed that they were dreadfully out of step with their
Master’s heart. In fact, lurking beneath their question was a judgmental spirit—a desire to know whom to blame—as if that would make anyone feel better!
Thankfully, Jesus modeled a compassionate response. Rather than speculation and condemnation, He marshaled His resources to help, which in this case meant complete healing. He made it clear that the man’s blindness was intended to provide a moment for God to be magnified through Jesus’ compassionate touch.
Feeling curious about somebody’s problem? Shift into Jesus’ mode and move past the point of curiosity to his or her point of need. Reach out and touch someone’s pain. Show the compassionate love of Jesus in action. — Joe Stowell
Amid the snares misfortune lays
Unseen, beneath the steps of all,
Blest is the Love that seeks to raise
And stay and strengthen those who fall. —Bryant
Do you want to be like Jesus? Replace curiosity with compassion.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 4, 2008
The Vision and The Reality
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . to those who are . . . called to be saints . . . —1 Corinthians 1:2
Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.
There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Our little "I am" always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little "I am" be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation--"I AM WHO I AM . . . has sent me to you" ( Exodus 3:14 ). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.
A Fine-tuned Instrument
by Os Hillman
...I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, "They are My people," and they will say, "The Lord is our God." - Zechariah 13:9
My former business career was as an owner of an advertising agency. Over the years, I had the privilege to work on many different and prestigious accounts. One of those accounts was Steinway Pianos, the maker of the world's finest pianos. Each piano has always been made from scratch; it takes over a year to make one Steinway. The most impressive scene as I toured the manufacturing plant was the place where the soundboard is stretched to its maximum tolerance and allowed to sit for an extended period until it remains in the curved design. This was done in an off-to-the-corner part of the plant. If the wood were alive, it would be crying out for mercy.
After an extended time of stretching, the wood will never spring back to its original state. It is permanently changed. The piano is becoming a fine-tuned instrument. After this process takes place, the next step requires another point of stress. It takes 11 tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. Each step in the process moves the piano closer to a finished product that will ultimately be played by the world's finest musicians. These musicians desire a particular sound that only a piano like this can make.
God looks at each of us as a fine-tuned instrument. However, we begin as rough wood that He desires to transform into gold. Tuning us requires certain experiences that will stretch our faith, our frame, and our very life. Sainthood springs out of suffering. If we can stand the strain of this intense process, we will come forth as gold-as a sweet-smelling offering to our Maker. When we are in the midst of these times, it feels like fire. It is painful to be stretched beyond our perceived limits, but the Lord knows this is necessary for us to become an instrument that can play a beautiful song that others will seek after.
Let the master Craftsman have His way in your life today. You will be pleased with the instrument He fashions.
Friday, October 3, 2008
1 Jude 1, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 3
Radical Reconstruction
Rejoice and be glad, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven.
Matthew 5:12 (NCV)
In the Sermon on the mount,...what Jesus promises is not a gimmick to give you goose bumps nor a mental attitude that has to be pumped up at pep rallies. No, Matthew 5 describes God's radical reconstruction of the heart.
Observe the sequence. First, we recognize we are in need (we're poor in spirit). Next, we repent of our self-sufficiency (we mourn). We quit calling the shots and surrender control to God (we're meek). So grateful are we for his presence that we yearn for more of him (we hunger and thirst). As we grow closer to him, we become more like him. We forgive others (we're merciful). We change our outlook (we're pure in heart). We love others (we're peacemakers). We endure injustice (we're persecuted).
It's no casual shift of attitude. It is a demolition of the old structure and a creation of the new. The more radical the change, the greater the joy. And it's worth every effort, for this is the joy of God.
Jude 1
1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by[a] Jesus Christ:
2Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
The sin and doom of Godless men
3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4For certain men whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
5Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[c] delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
8In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. 9But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.
11Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
12These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 16These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
A call to persevere
17But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
20But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22Be merciful to those who doubt; 23snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Doxology
24To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Jeremiah 36
Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah's Scroll
1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 2 "Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. 3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin."
4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the LORD had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. 5 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, "I am restricted; I cannot go to the LORD's temple. 6 So you go to the house of the LORD on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the LORD that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7 Perhaps they will bring their petition before the LORD, and each will turn from his wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the LORD are great."
8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the LORD's temple he read the words of the LORD from the scroll.
Jeremiah 36:21-26
21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. 22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24 The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. 25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD had hidden them.
October 3, 2008
Read A Banned Book
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Jeremiah 36:1-8,21-26
Write . . . all the words that I have spoken to you . . . that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. —Jeremiah 36:2-3
The American Library Association has designated this week as Banned Books Week in celebration of the freedom to read and to express one’s opinion “even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular.”
The Bible is the all-time bestselling book, but in some parts of the world it is banned because it’s considered dangerous. The Bible is dangerous, however, only to those who fear finding out that they are wrong. It’s dangerous to those who exploit the weak and the innocent, who use force to keep others enslaved in poverty and ignorance, who don’t want to give up their favorite sin, who believe that salvation can be found apart from Christ.
No one wants to be told they are wrong. No one wants to hear that their behavior is putting themselves and those they love in danger or that God’s patience will eventually wear out. Yet that was the message God told Jeremiah to write (Jer. 36:2). When His message was read to King Jehoiakim, the king cut up the scroll and threw it into the fire (v.23).
The only way to know we are right is to be willing to discover where we are wrong. Read the all-time bestselling banned book, and let it reveal to you the truth about God—and about yourself. — Julie Ackerman Link
Lord Jesus, show Thyself to me
In very truth and deed;
Help me to find, O Christ, in Thee,
More than my deepest need. —Clarkson
The Bible shows us a picture of who we really are.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 3, 2008
The Place of Ministry
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
He said to them, ’This kind [of unclean spirit] can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting’ —Mark 9:29
His disciples asked Him privately, ’Why could we not cast it out?’ " ( Mark 9:28 ). The answer lies in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. "This kind can come out by nothing but" concentrating on Him, and then doubling and redoubling that concentration on Him. We can remain powerless forever, as the disciples were in this situation, by trying to do God’s work without concentrating on His power, and by following instead the ideas that we draw from our own nature. We actually slander and dishonor God by our very eagerness to serve Him without knowing Him.
When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there anything between you and Jesus even now? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it as an irritation, or by going up and over it, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.
We must be able to "mount up with wings like eagles" ( Isaiah 40:31 ), but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and in the living that is done in the valley. Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" ( Philippians 4:13 ) and what he was referring to were mostly humiliating things. And yet it is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say, "No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountaintop with God." Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they really are destroy my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Father's Greatest Gift - #5670 - October 3, 2008
Category: Your Relationships
Friday, October 3, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When our kids do something crazy, my wife loves to repeat one of her favorite sayings, "The apple falls not far from the tree." I've never heard her say that when they do something good. Actually, I do get credited or blamed for a number of things as their father. Supposedly, my daughter has her father's nose, and some people think she got some writing ability from me. My sons have been accused of having my sense of humor, which is totally scary. I wish I could find out who has their father's hair; more and more of it is missing. If you're a father, your children do have a lot of you in them. I hope they've inherited what really matters from you.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Father's Greatest Gift."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Exodus 3:6. Moses is at the crossroads of his life. He is about to be directed by God to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt - it's huge. God is making this awesome personal appearance to him, and He tells Moses how to approach this holy ground. And then, in a sense, He introduces Himself to this overwhelmed servant of God. Here's what the Bible says, "Then He said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'" Now that last part of God's signature was a title He used often in Old Testament times. But what's distinctive was that God begins by telling Moses he was the God of his father.
Deep inside Moses was a buried treasure that God was opening at the burning bush - a lifetime of knowing Jehovah God. Moses had lived in pagan affluence, in a wilderness, but no matter where he went, he carried this spiritual treasure. And who put it there? His father!
But then, a lot of our attitude toward God comes from the kind of man Dad is. After all, God has asked us to call Him Father. And when we hear about God, we tend to call up our feelings about our earthly father. Sadly, those feelings are pretty painful and negative in some young people. I have often had to remind them that God is not the father you had on earth, but the father you always wished you had.
As a father, you have a lot of important roles, but none so cosmic, so eternal as planting God in your son or daughter. Our culture has this idea that the spiritual stuff is a mother's business, but that's dead wrong. God didn't introduce Himself as the God of your mother, even though she was a godly woman. In Ephesians 6:4, when God gives the New Testament instruction to raise your children in the Lord, it is introduced to fathers! The spiritual buck stops with the man!
Your child is learning how important this Heavenly Father is from your teaching or how unimportant He seems to be from your silence. Your son or daughter is learning about God from how you treat them. Is "father" forgiving or unforgiving; attentive or inattentive; affectionate or detached; pure or profane; truthful or untrustworthy; fair or arbitrary; there for you or not there for you?
What if God were to appear to your child in their moment of crisis and say, "I am the God of your father." What kind of God would they think He is? There was a five-year-old boy in a New York hospital who was dying of leukemia. One night his father was getting ready to leave, and the boy said, "Daddy, what is God like?" The father cleared his throat a couple of times and fumbled around for an answer. The little guy could tell his dad was uncomfortable, so he just said, "Daddy, that's OK. If God's like you, then I'm not afraid."
Dad, show them that kind of God. And if you can't because you don't know Him yourself, maybe it's time to make God your Father by trusting Jesus to be your Savior. If you want to know how to be sure you have that relationship, a lot of people have found help in beginning with Jesus just by going to our website. It's YoursForLife.net. Let me urge you to go there right away today as soon as you can.
And make sure daily you give your precious son or daughter more of God. Because of all a child can get from a father; that is His greatest gift of all.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 3
Radical Reconstruction
Rejoice and be glad, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven.
Matthew 5:12 (NCV)
In the Sermon on the mount,...what Jesus promises is not a gimmick to give you goose bumps nor a mental attitude that has to be pumped up at pep rallies. No, Matthew 5 describes God's radical reconstruction of the heart.
Observe the sequence. First, we recognize we are in need (we're poor in spirit). Next, we repent of our self-sufficiency (we mourn). We quit calling the shots and surrender control to God (we're meek). So grateful are we for his presence that we yearn for more of him (we hunger and thirst). As we grow closer to him, we become more like him. We forgive others (we're merciful). We change our outlook (we're pure in heart). We love others (we're peacemakers). We endure injustice (we're persecuted).
It's no casual shift of attitude. It is a demolition of the old structure and a creation of the new. The more radical the change, the greater the joy. And it's worth every effort, for this is the joy of God.
Jude 1
1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by[a] Jesus Christ:
2Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
The sin and doom of Godless men
3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4For certain men whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
5Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[c] delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
8In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. 9But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.
11Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
12These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 16These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
A call to persevere
17But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
20But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22Be merciful to those who doubt; 23snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Doxology
24To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Jeremiah 36
Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah's Scroll
1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 2 "Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. 3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin."
4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the LORD had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. 5 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, "I am restricted; I cannot go to the LORD's temple. 6 So you go to the house of the LORD on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the LORD that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7 Perhaps they will bring their petition before the LORD, and each will turn from his wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the LORD are great."
8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the LORD's temple he read the words of the LORD from the scroll.
Jeremiah 36:21-26
21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. 22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24 The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. 25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD had hidden them.
October 3, 2008
Read A Banned Book
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READ: Jeremiah 36:1-8,21-26
Write . . . all the words that I have spoken to you . . . that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. —Jeremiah 36:2-3
The American Library Association has designated this week as Banned Books Week in celebration of the freedom to read and to express one’s opinion “even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular.”
The Bible is the all-time bestselling book, but in some parts of the world it is banned because it’s considered dangerous. The Bible is dangerous, however, only to those who fear finding out that they are wrong. It’s dangerous to those who exploit the weak and the innocent, who use force to keep others enslaved in poverty and ignorance, who don’t want to give up their favorite sin, who believe that salvation can be found apart from Christ.
No one wants to be told they are wrong. No one wants to hear that their behavior is putting themselves and those they love in danger or that God’s patience will eventually wear out. Yet that was the message God told Jeremiah to write (Jer. 36:2). When His message was read to King Jehoiakim, the king cut up the scroll and threw it into the fire (v.23).
The only way to know we are right is to be willing to discover where we are wrong. Read the all-time bestselling banned book, and let it reveal to you the truth about God—and about yourself. — Julie Ackerman Link
Lord Jesus, show Thyself to me
In very truth and deed;
Help me to find, O Christ, in Thee,
More than my deepest need. —Clarkson
The Bible shows us a picture of who we really are.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 3, 2008
The Place of Ministry
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READ:
He said to them, ’This kind [of unclean spirit] can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting’ —Mark 9:29
His disciples asked Him privately, ’Why could we not cast it out?’ " ( Mark 9:28 ). The answer lies in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. "This kind can come out by nothing but" concentrating on Him, and then doubling and redoubling that concentration on Him. We can remain powerless forever, as the disciples were in this situation, by trying to do God’s work without concentrating on His power, and by following instead the ideas that we draw from our own nature. We actually slander and dishonor God by our very eagerness to serve Him without knowing Him.
When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there anything between you and Jesus even now? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it as an irritation, or by going up and over it, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.
We must be able to "mount up with wings like eagles" ( Isaiah 40:31 ), but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and in the living that is done in the valley. Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" ( Philippians 4:13 ) and what he was referring to were mostly humiliating things. And yet it is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say, "No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountaintop with God." Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they really are destroy my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Father's Greatest Gift - #5670 - October 3, 2008
Category: Your Relationships
Friday, October 3, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When our kids do something crazy, my wife loves to repeat one of her favorite sayings, "The apple falls not far from the tree." I've never heard her say that when they do something good. Actually, I do get credited or blamed for a number of things as their father. Supposedly, my daughter has her father's nose, and some people think she got some writing ability from me. My sons have been accused of having my sense of humor, which is totally scary. I wish I could find out who has their father's hair; more and more of it is missing. If you're a father, your children do have a lot of you in them. I hope they've inherited what really matters from you.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Father's Greatest Gift."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Exodus 3:6. Moses is at the crossroads of his life. He is about to be directed by God to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt - it's huge. God is making this awesome personal appearance to him, and He tells Moses how to approach this holy ground. And then, in a sense, He introduces Himself to this overwhelmed servant of God. Here's what the Bible says, "Then He said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'" Now that last part of God's signature was a title He used often in Old Testament times. But what's distinctive was that God begins by telling Moses he was the God of his father.
Deep inside Moses was a buried treasure that God was opening at the burning bush - a lifetime of knowing Jehovah God. Moses had lived in pagan affluence, in a wilderness, but no matter where he went, he carried this spiritual treasure. And who put it there? His father!
But then, a lot of our attitude toward God comes from the kind of man Dad is. After all, God has asked us to call Him Father. And when we hear about God, we tend to call up our feelings about our earthly father. Sadly, those feelings are pretty painful and negative in some young people. I have often had to remind them that God is not the father you had on earth, but the father you always wished you had.
As a father, you have a lot of important roles, but none so cosmic, so eternal as planting God in your son or daughter. Our culture has this idea that the spiritual stuff is a mother's business, but that's dead wrong. God didn't introduce Himself as the God of your mother, even though she was a godly woman. In Ephesians 6:4, when God gives the New Testament instruction to raise your children in the Lord, it is introduced to fathers! The spiritual buck stops with the man!
Your child is learning how important this Heavenly Father is from your teaching or how unimportant He seems to be from your silence. Your son or daughter is learning about God from how you treat them. Is "father" forgiving or unforgiving; attentive or inattentive; affectionate or detached; pure or profane; truthful or untrustworthy; fair or arbitrary; there for you or not there for you?
What if God were to appear to your child in their moment of crisis and say, "I am the God of your father." What kind of God would they think He is? There was a five-year-old boy in a New York hospital who was dying of leukemia. One night his father was getting ready to leave, and the boy said, "Daddy, what is God like?" The father cleared his throat a couple of times and fumbled around for an answer. The little guy could tell his dad was uncomfortable, so he just said, "Daddy, that's OK. If God's like you, then I'm not afraid."
Dad, show them that kind of God. And if you can't because you don't know Him yourself, maybe it's time to make God your Father by trusting Jesus to be your Savior. If you want to know how to be sure you have that relationship, a lot of people have found help in beginning with Jesus just by going to our website. It's YoursForLife.net. Let me urge you to go there right away today as soon as you can.
And make sure daily you give your precious son or daughter more of God. Because of all a child can get from a father; that is His greatest gift of all.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
3 John 1, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 2
Reasons for Joy
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Philippians 4:4 (NKJV)
“How’s life?” someone asks. And we who’ve been resurrected from the dead say, “Well, things could be better.” Or “Couldn’t get a parking place.” Or “My parents won’t let me move to Hawaii,” Or “People won’t leave me alone so I can finish my sermon on selfishness.”…
Are you so focused on what you don’t have that you are blind to what you do?
You have a ticket to heaven no thief can take,
an eternal home no divorce can break.
Every sin of your life has been cast to the sea.
Every mistake you’ve made is nailed to the tree.
You’re blood-bought and heaven-made.
A child of God—forever saved.
So be grateful, joyful—for isn’t it true? What you don’t have is much less that what you do.
3 John 1
1The elder,
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
2Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
5Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. 6They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.
9I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. 10So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
11Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
13I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
James 4:13-17
Boasting About Tomorrow
13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
October 2, 2008
For A Limited Time
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: James 4:13-17
You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. —James 4:14
On a crisp October morning, our local newspaper featured a stunning photo of sun-drenched aspen trees whose leaves had turned autumn gold. The caption read: FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY. The irresistible invitation to take a drive through the mountains to savor the brilliant colors conveyed the urgency of doing it quickly. Autumn leaves that are golden today are often gone tomorrow.
Our opportunities to obey God’s promptings are also fleeting. James warned against an arrogance that assumes endless days will be available to carry out our good intentions. “You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. . . . Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (4:14,17).
Is there an act of kindness or encouragement that God has urged you to do for someone in His name? How long has it been since that first prompting? With so many demands on our time, the urgent tasks demand our attention while the important things can be postponed. But a time will come when even the important can no longer be done.
When we follow God’s urging with our action now, today will be golden. — David C. McCasland
If God is prompting you today
To help someone who has a need,
Don’t hesitate, the time is short;
Tomorrow is not guaranteed. —Sper
Doing what’s right today means no regrets tomorrow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 2, 2008
The Place of Humiliation
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READ:
If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us —Mark 9:22
After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him. Peter thought it would be a wonderful thing for them to remain on the mountain, but Jesus Christ took the disciples down from the mountain and into the valley, where the true meaning of the vision was explained (see Mark 9:5-6 , Mark 14-23 ).
"If you can do anything . . . ." It takes the valley of humiliation to remove the skepticism from us. Look back at your own experience and you will find that until you learned who Jesus really was, you were a skillful skeptic about His power. When you were on the mountaintop you could believe anything, but what about when you were faced with the facts of the valley? You may be able to give a testimony regarding your sanctification, but what about the thing that is a humiliation to you right now? The last time you were on the mountain with God, you saw that all the power in heaven and on earth belonged to Jesus— will you be skeptical now, simply because you are in the valley of humiliation?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Clear Direction in a Thick Fog - #5669
Thursday, October 2, 2008
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I had to make a 6:30 A.M. flight, and my dear wife was the lucky one who got to drive me to the airport. As I staggered to the car about 5:00 in the morning, I said, "Where's the sun?" Obviously, even the sun was on a later flight. But what made the drive really challenging wasn't the absence of sun, it was the presence of fog. I'm talking thick fog here, all the way to the airport. Our visibility was really limited. The traffic reporter on our news station said that it would be difficult even driving roads you knew like the back of your hand. And believe me, the road to the airport is one we know all too well. As we traveled toward the turnpike exit that leads to the airport, the fog got really thick and disorienting. We were in the right lane with almost no sense of exactly where we were, when suddenly we saw the sign - "Turnpike." That was our turn, but we were practically right on it when we realized where we were. My wife turned just in time, and I even made my plane. As we got on that ramp, she said, "It's a good thing I didn't trust my instincts. It just didn't feel like we were at this point." She only had a second to decide whether to trust her instincts or the sign. I'm glad she trusted the sign.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Clear Direction in a Thick Fog."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Isaiah 50:10-11, "Let him who walks in the dark (or drives in the fog, maybe), who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God." When you can't see where you're going, trust the Lord; go the way He's been pointing you to go, proceed on what God has said to you.
But some people unfortunately respond to the fog by trying to figure out their own way to go. Listen to the next verse, "But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze." God says, "If you want to follow your feelings, follow your instincts instead of the direction I'm pointing you in," here's the result of doing it your way. He says, "This is what you shall receive from My hand. You will lie down in torment." Ouch!
You may be going through a time right now where the fog is thick, it's dark, it's disorienting, it's confusing. In times like these, it's tempting to suddenly grab the steering wheel of your life to try to make some things happen - to get control of things. And it's in those times that we tend to make some of the biggest mistakes of our life. We can't wait for the Lord, we can't trust what His Word has told us, and we start figuring it out our own way. Which like our instincts on that foggy morning, will take us the wrong way and maybe cost us the destination we were aiming for.
But on that foggy morning, there was a sign, pointing us in the right direction. It didn't feel right. It went against our natural instincts, but it was right and our feelings were wrong. Because we trusted the sign, we made it. That's what God is trying to get you to do during this dark, uncertain time. Trust Him and the direction He's already pointed you in.
He's made promises that you have to hang onto now, even when because of the fog you can't see them working. So claim the promises He gave you when it was light, refuse the compromises and the shortcuts that seem so tempting right now. Don't trust your roller coaster emotions which have lied to you and led you into mistakes so many times before.
In the words of a great old saint, "Don't doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light." His Word, His calling, His promise have not changed even though it's gotten dark. God's great plan is still at work, still right on time. Don't panic and take a detour from His best.
In that heavy fog, we got where we needed to go by trusting the sign, not our feelings. That's how you're going to come out of the fog at the place you need to be, by distrusting what your feelings are saying and trusting the clear direction of what God says.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 2
Reasons for Joy
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Philippians 4:4 (NKJV)
“How’s life?” someone asks. And we who’ve been resurrected from the dead say, “Well, things could be better.” Or “Couldn’t get a parking place.” Or “My parents won’t let me move to Hawaii,” Or “People won’t leave me alone so I can finish my sermon on selfishness.”…
Are you so focused on what you don’t have that you are blind to what you do?
You have a ticket to heaven no thief can take,
an eternal home no divorce can break.
Every sin of your life has been cast to the sea.
Every mistake you’ve made is nailed to the tree.
You’re blood-bought and heaven-made.
A child of God—forever saved.
So be grateful, joyful—for isn’t it true? What you don’t have is much less that what you do.
3 John 1
1The elder,
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
2Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
5Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. 6They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.
9I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. 10So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
11Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
13I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
James 4:13-17
Boasting About Tomorrow
13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
October 2, 2008
For A Limited Time
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: James 4:13-17
You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. —James 4:14
On a crisp October morning, our local newspaper featured a stunning photo of sun-drenched aspen trees whose leaves had turned autumn gold. The caption read: FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY. The irresistible invitation to take a drive through the mountains to savor the brilliant colors conveyed the urgency of doing it quickly. Autumn leaves that are golden today are often gone tomorrow.
Our opportunities to obey God’s promptings are also fleeting. James warned against an arrogance that assumes endless days will be available to carry out our good intentions. “You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. . . . Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (4:14,17).
Is there an act of kindness or encouragement that God has urged you to do for someone in His name? How long has it been since that first prompting? With so many demands on our time, the urgent tasks demand our attention while the important things can be postponed. But a time will come when even the important can no longer be done.
When we follow God’s urging with our action now, today will be golden. — David C. McCasland
If God is prompting you today
To help someone who has a need,
Don’t hesitate, the time is short;
Tomorrow is not guaranteed. —Sper
Doing what’s right today means no regrets tomorrow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 2, 2008
The Place of Humiliation
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READ:
If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us —Mark 9:22
After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him. Peter thought it would be a wonderful thing for them to remain on the mountain, but Jesus Christ took the disciples down from the mountain and into the valley, where the true meaning of the vision was explained (see Mark 9:5-6 , Mark 14-23 ).
"If you can do anything . . . ." It takes the valley of humiliation to remove the skepticism from us. Look back at your own experience and you will find that until you learned who Jesus really was, you were a skillful skeptic about His power. When you were on the mountaintop you could believe anything, but what about when you were faced with the facts of the valley? You may be able to give a testimony regarding your sanctification, but what about the thing that is a humiliation to you right now? The last time you were on the mountain with God, you saw that all the power in heaven and on earth belonged to Jesus— will you be skeptical now, simply because you are in the valley of humiliation?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Clear Direction in a Thick Fog - #5669
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I had to make a 6:30 A.M. flight, and my dear wife was the lucky one who got to drive me to the airport. As I staggered to the car about 5:00 in the morning, I said, "Where's the sun?" Obviously, even the sun was on a later flight. But what made the drive really challenging wasn't the absence of sun, it was the presence of fog. I'm talking thick fog here, all the way to the airport. Our visibility was really limited. The traffic reporter on our news station said that it would be difficult even driving roads you knew like the back of your hand. And believe me, the road to the airport is one we know all too well. As we traveled toward the turnpike exit that leads to the airport, the fog got really thick and disorienting. We were in the right lane with almost no sense of exactly where we were, when suddenly we saw the sign - "Turnpike." That was our turn, but we were practically right on it when we realized where we were. My wife turned just in time, and I even made my plane. As we got on that ramp, she said, "It's a good thing I didn't trust my instincts. It just didn't feel like we were at this point." She only had a second to decide whether to trust her instincts or the sign. I'm glad she trusted the sign.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Clear Direction in a Thick Fog."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Isaiah 50:10-11, "Let him who walks in the dark (or drives in the fog, maybe), who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God." When you can't see where you're going, trust the Lord; go the way He's been pointing you to go, proceed on what God has said to you.
But some people unfortunately respond to the fog by trying to figure out their own way to go. Listen to the next verse, "But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze." God says, "If you want to follow your feelings, follow your instincts instead of the direction I'm pointing you in," here's the result of doing it your way. He says, "This is what you shall receive from My hand. You will lie down in torment." Ouch!
You may be going through a time right now where the fog is thick, it's dark, it's disorienting, it's confusing. In times like these, it's tempting to suddenly grab the steering wheel of your life to try to make some things happen - to get control of things. And it's in those times that we tend to make some of the biggest mistakes of our life. We can't wait for the Lord, we can't trust what His Word has told us, and we start figuring it out our own way. Which like our instincts on that foggy morning, will take us the wrong way and maybe cost us the destination we were aiming for.
But on that foggy morning, there was a sign, pointing us in the right direction. It didn't feel right. It went against our natural instincts, but it was right and our feelings were wrong. Because we trusted the sign, we made it. That's what God is trying to get you to do during this dark, uncertain time. Trust Him and the direction He's already pointed you in.
He's made promises that you have to hang onto now, even when because of the fog you can't see them working. So claim the promises He gave you when it was light, refuse the compromises and the shortcuts that seem so tempting right now. Don't trust your roller coaster emotions which have lied to you and led you into mistakes so many times before.
In the words of a great old saint, "Don't doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light." His Word, His calling, His promise have not changed even though it's gotten dark. God's great plan is still at work, still right on time. Don't panic and take a detour from His best.
In that heavy fog, we got where we needed to go by trusting the sign, not our feelings. That's how you're going to come out of the fog at the place you need to be, by distrusting what your feelings are saying and trusting the clear direction of what God says.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
2 John 1, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 1
Your Whispering Thoughts
God, examine me and know my heart; test me and know my nervous thoughts.
Psalm 139:23 (NCV)
Imagine considering every moment as a potential time of communion with God. By the time your life is over, you will have spent six months at stoplights, eight months opening junk mail, a year and a half looking for lost stuff (double that number in my case), and a whopping five years standing in various lines.
Why don't you give these moments to God? By giving God your whispering thoughts, the common becomes uncommon. Simple phrases such as "Thank you, Father," "Be sovereign in this hour, O Lord," "You are my resting place, Jesus" can turn a commute into a pilgrimage. You needn't leave your office or kneel in your kitchen. Just pray where you are. Let the kitchen become a cathedral or the classroom a chapel. Give God your whispering thoughts.
2 John 1
1The elder,
To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth - 2because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
3Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love.
4It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
7Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. 11Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
12I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
13The children of your chosen sister send their greetings.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Proverbs 1:8-19
Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom
Warning Against Enticement
8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
9 They will be a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice you,
do not give in to them.
11 If they say, "Come along with us;
let's lie in wait for someone's blood,
let's waylay some harmless soul;
12 let's swallow them alive, like the grave, [a]
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
13 we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder;
14 throw in your lot with us,
and we will share a common purse"-
15 my son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;
16 for their feet rush into sin,
they are swift to shed blood.
17 How useless to spread a net
in full view of all the birds!
18 These men lie in wait for their own blood;
they waylay only themselves!
19 Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
it takes away the lives of those who get it.
October 1, 2008
Cardboard Kids
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Proverbs 1:8-19
My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. —Proverbs 1:10
When Mike Wood began to advertise his sign company, he didn’t know how useful his work would become. Some of his signs were life-size cardboard pictures of kids, which he put close to the street.
Besides advertising his business, the signs had another effect. Motorists thought the cutouts were real children and began to drop their speed. Now Mike sells the cardboard kids to parents who want to slow down speeding drivers in their area. Mike said, “We truly hope that some of our standups help to control speeding in neighborhoods around the country.”
Parents work at protecting their children from physical danger. But there are other dangers as well. Solomon, the writer of Proverbs 1, was concerned about the people who would pose spiritual danger to his son. He warned him about those who would entice him to do evil (vv.10-14) and told him, “Do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path; for their feet run to evil” (vv.15-16).
We need to protect our children by teaching them God’s Word and training them to avoid evil influences. Busy streets are hazardous for our children, but the enticement of taking an evil path is far more dangerous. — Anne Cetas
Children are a heritage,
A gift from God above;
He asks you to protect and care
And nourish them with love. —Hess
Tomorrow’s world will be shaped by what we teach our children today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 1, 2008
The Place of Exaltation
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . Jesus took . . . them up on a high mountain apart by themselves . . . —Mark 9:2
We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18 ). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.
We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, "What’s the use of this experience?" We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Freedom No One Can Take - #5668 - October 1, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Some of the ugliest scenes from the 20th Century come from the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. And some pretty inspiring scenes come from that as well. One of the most famous accounts of those awful years was written by a Jewish psychiatrist named Victor Frankl - a survivor of the concentration camps. Frankl told of how the Jews there had almost every freedom stripped from them: they were imprisoned, they were awakened any hour of the day or night, treated like slave labor, humiliated, always facing the specter of death. But he lived to tell us about the one freedom they learned no one could take away from them - the freedom he saw in many of those who survived the horror. It's the one freedom that could make you a survivor.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Freedom No One Can Take."
Twenty centuries ago another Jewish man wrote about his suffering, from a Roman prison and the attitude that sustained him through it all. It's that one freedom that nothing can take away from you: no tragedy, no treatment by others, no divorce, no disease, no loss. It's the freedom to choose your attitude. Dr. Frankl said that that was the freedom he and others exercised in that concentration camp; a freedom beyond the reach of their Nazi guards. It was a freedom the Apostle Paul found in Jesus Christ.
He had lost all his other freedoms as a prisoner chained to a guard 24 hours a day. But the prison didn't choose his attitude. Your prison, your pain doesn't have to choose yours either. Paul chose joy. You can, too.
What's the secret of choosing joy when everything else is falling apart? From his prison, Paul gives us our word for today from the Word of God, Philippians 1:3-4, "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for you, I always pray with joy." Secret number one of choosing joy...focusing on others instead of yourself. Paul would have sunk to despair if he concentrated on his misery. Instead, he concentrated on the people he loved, praying for them, thinking about them, reaching out to them. It's one way you can choose joy, too.
And then in Philippians he says, "I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel" (Philippians 2:12). Because Paul was out of commission, many others had gone out preaching the Good News. He goes on to say, "The important thing is that...Christ is preached" (v. 18). Secret number two of choosing joy: focusing on the good that's coming out of this bad situation. Ask God for that kind of insight, to look beyond the obvious losses in your situation to the ways He's using, or can use, this situation to bring about something good.
One other way Paul shows us to choose joy in a depressing situation: focus on your Savior who's your anchor. In Philippians 3:10, he says, "I want to know Christ." Almost everything else has been taken from him, but nothing can stop Paul from pursuing his lifelong passion for knowing Jesus a little bit better every day. The fact is that when a lot of other things are taken from you, you may be able to pursue your Savior as never before, if you make that choice. So many people have discovered in hurting times that you never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you've got.
You may be in a hurting time right now and you didn't get to choose your situation. But, like the man in the concentration camp and the apostle in the prison cell, you can choose your attitude. You don't ever have to say you're doing pretty well "under the circumstances." What are you doing under those?
Being on top of your circumstances is a choice! To focus on the people you love, on the good that's coming from this situation, on the Savior you want to know better. That's why the prisoner Paul calls you in his joyful prison letter to "rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again, rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4).
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
October 1
Your Whispering Thoughts
God, examine me and know my heart; test me and know my nervous thoughts.
Psalm 139:23 (NCV)
Imagine considering every moment as a potential time of communion with God. By the time your life is over, you will have spent six months at stoplights, eight months opening junk mail, a year and a half looking for lost stuff (double that number in my case), and a whopping five years standing in various lines.
Why don't you give these moments to God? By giving God your whispering thoughts, the common becomes uncommon. Simple phrases such as "Thank you, Father," "Be sovereign in this hour, O Lord," "You are my resting place, Jesus" can turn a commute into a pilgrimage. You needn't leave your office or kneel in your kitchen. Just pray where you are. Let the kitchen become a cathedral or the classroom a chapel. Give God your whispering thoughts.
2 John 1
1The elder,
To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth - 2because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
3Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love.
4It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
7Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. 11Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
12I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
13The children of your chosen sister send their greetings.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Proverbs 1:8-19
Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom
Warning Against Enticement
8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
9 They will be a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice you,
do not give in to them.
11 If they say, "Come along with us;
let's lie in wait for someone's blood,
let's waylay some harmless soul;
12 let's swallow them alive, like the grave, [a]
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
13 we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder;
14 throw in your lot with us,
and we will share a common purse"-
15 my son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;
16 for their feet rush into sin,
they are swift to shed blood.
17 How useless to spread a net
in full view of all the birds!
18 These men lie in wait for their own blood;
they waylay only themselves!
19 Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
it takes away the lives of those who get it.
October 1, 2008
Cardboard Kids
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Proverbs 1:8-19
My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. —Proverbs 1:10
When Mike Wood began to advertise his sign company, he didn’t know how useful his work would become. Some of his signs were life-size cardboard pictures of kids, which he put close to the street.
Besides advertising his business, the signs had another effect. Motorists thought the cutouts were real children and began to drop their speed. Now Mike sells the cardboard kids to parents who want to slow down speeding drivers in their area. Mike said, “We truly hope that some of our standups help to control speeding in neighborhoods around the country.”
Parents work at protecting their children from physical danger. But there are other dangers as well. Solomon, the writer of Proverbs 1, was concerned about the people who would pose spiritual danger to his son. He warned him about those who would entice him to do evil (vv.10-14) and told him, “Do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path; for their feet run to evil” (vv.15-16).
We need to protect our children by teaching them God’s Word and training them to avoid evil influences. Busy streets are hazardous for our children, but the enticement of taking an evil path is far more dangerous. — Anne Cetas
Children are a heritage,
A gift from God above;
He asks you to protect and care
And nourish them with love. —Hess
Tomorrow’s world will be shaped by what we teach our children today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 1, 2008
The Place of Exaltation
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . Jesus took . . . them up on a high mountain apart by themselves . . . —Mark 9:2
We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18 ). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.
We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, "What’s the use of this experience?" We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Freedom No One Can Take - #5668 - October 1, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Some of the ugliest scenes from the 20th Century come from the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. And some pretty inspiring scenes come from that as well. One of the most famous accounts of those awful years was written by a Jewish psychiatrist named Victor Frankl - a survivor of the concentration camps. Frankl told of how the Jews there had almost every freedom stripped from them: they were imprisoned, they were awakened any hour of the day or night, treated like slave labor, humiliated, always facing the specter of death. But he lived to tell us about the one freedom they learned no one could take away from them - the freedom he saw in many of those who survived the horror. It's the one freedom that could make you a survivor.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Freedom No One Can Take."
Twenty centuries ago another Jewish man wrote about his suffering, from a Roman prison and the attitude that sustained him through it all. It's that one freedom that nothing can take away from you: no tragedy, no treatment by others, no divorce, no disease, no loss. It's the freedom to choose your attitude. Dr. Frankl said that that was the freedom he and others exercised in that concentration camp; a freedom beyond the reach of their Nazi guards. It was a freedom the Apostle Paul found in Jesus Christ.
He had lost all his other freedoms as a prisoner chained to a guard 24 hours a day. But the prison didn't choose his attitude. Your prison, your pain doesn't have to choose yours either. Paul chose joy. You can, too.
What's the secret of choosing joy when everything else is falling apart? From his prison, Paul gives us our word for today from the Word of God, Philippians 1:3-4, "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for you, I always pray with joy." Secret number one of choosing joy...focusing on others instead of yourself. Paul would have sunk to despair if he concentrated on his misery. Instead, he concentrated on the people he loved, praying for them, thinking about them, reaching out to them. It's one way you can choose joy, too.
And then in Philippians he says, "I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel" (Philippians 2:12). Because Paul was out of commission, many others had gone out preaching the Good News. He goes on to say, "The important thing is that...Christ is preached" (v. 18). Secret number two of choosing joy: focusing on the good that's coming out of this bad situation. Ask God for that kind of insight, to look beyond the obvious losses in your situation to the ways He's using, or can use, this situation to bring about something good.
One other way Paul shows us to choose joy in a depressing situation: focus on your Savior who's your anchor. In Philippians 3:10, he says, "I want to know Christ." Almost everything else has been taken from him, but nothing can stop Paul from pursuing his lifelong passion for knowing Jesus a little bit better every day. The fact is that when a lot of other things are taken from you, you may be able to pursue your Savior as never before, if you make that choice. So many people have discovered in hurting times that you never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you've got.
You may be in a hurting time right now and you didn't get to choose your situation. But, like the man in the concentration camp and the apostle in the prison cell, you can choose your attitude. You don't ever have to say you're doing pretty well "under the circumstances." What are you doing under those?
Being on top of your circumstances is a choice! To focus on the people you love, on the good that's coming from this situation, on the Savior you want to know better. That's why the prisoner Paul calls you in his joyful prison letter to "rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again, rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4).
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
1 John 5, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
September 30
A Love that Never Fails
Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)
Some of you are so thirsty for this type of love. A love that never fails. Those who should have loved you didn’t. Those who could have loved you didn’t. You were left at the hospital. Left at the altar. Left with an empty bed. Left with a broken heart. Left with your question “Does anybody love me?”
Please listen to heaven’s answer. God loves you. Personally. Powerfully. Passionately. Others have promised and failed. But God has promised and succeeded. He loves you with and unfailing love. And his love—if you will let it—can fill you and leave you with a love worth giving.
So come. Come thirsty and drink deeply.
1 John 5
Faith in the Son of God
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Concluding Remarks
13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
16If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. 17All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 19We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 John 5:6-13
6This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Concluding Remarks
13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
September 30, 2008
That You May Know
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: 1 John 5:6-13
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. —1 John 5:13
One day, while Wim was in the marketplace in the Netherlands, he struck up a conversation with a woman who remarked that you can get to heaven by doing good works.
His attempt to explain that it is by God’s grace that we are “saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8) brought a smile as the woman repeated confidently: “and . . . by doing good works.” Then another woman volunteered, “You can hope you’ll go to heaven, but you can’t be sure.” Wim’s assertion that he did know for sure was met with a muttered, “Nobody knows for sure.”
Wim then showed the woman what 1 John 5:11-13 says. He explained: “See, it doesn’t say hope there, it says know.” Unconvinced, she said, “Like you, my pastor says that we have to have faith, but you really never know whether you’ve been good enough. You may think you have, but who can be sure?”
To some, Wim’s confidence may seem incredible. But he based his words on this statement: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works” (Eph. 2:8-9).
It’s true. We can’t be good enough. We can never do enough good things. But we can be sure of heaven if we simply believe on the Lord (Acts 16:31). — Cindy Hess Kasper
We cannot earn our way to heaven
By word or work or worth;
But if we trust in Christ to save us,
Then we’ll enjoy new birth. —Branon
We are saved by God’s mercy, not by our merit—by Christ’s dying, not by our doing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 30, 2008
The Assigning of the Call
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church . . . —Colossians 1:24
We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, "Here am I! Send me" ( Isaiah 6:8 ).
This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, "If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!" But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed— you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.
I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Where the Spotlight Belongs - #5667 - September 30, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When you speak in public settings as much as I do, you learn there are two people in that auditorium you really want on your side. One is the man in charge of the sound. Without him, no one can hear you. The other is the man in charge of the spotlight, because without him, no one can see you.
After all, I'm not that big you know, and I disappear pretty easily in a crowd. In any large event, the spotlight man really is one of the unsung heroes. I mean, you don't think about him; he's invisible for the most part, but he sure makes a difference in the program...unless he forgets where the spotlight goes. Imagine the announcer says, "And now here's our host, Guy Smiley." And as the M. C. appears on stage, the spotlight man suddenly swings that light around until it's shining right on him! You can't see the man you're supposed to be looking at because the guy with the spotlight has you looking at him!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where the Spotlight Belongs."
The problem of the misplaced spotlight has happened over and over again, with the spotlight that is supposed to be shining on God and God alone. Now you may not have a union card, but if you're a Jesus-follower, you're a spotlight operator. The question is, who's the spotlight on?
King David must have struggled with that sometimes. He says in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 115:1, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the glory." It's interesting he says "not to us" twice isn't it? Almost as if he needs to hear himself say it again. "The glory is not supposed to go to us - not to us." God should always get all the credit.
Jeremiah asks this probing question - one which I need to listen to and maybe you do, too. He says in Jeremiah 45:5, "Should you then seek great things for yourself?" Then this sober warning, "Seek them not." God Himself soberly warns us, "I am the Lord. That is My name. And My glory I will not give to another." But listen, it's tempting to grab a little of the glory, isn't it? After you've made a good impression or done a good job, just to think, "Hey, aren't I something?" Then God weighs in with His reality check question from 1 Corinthians 4:7, "What do you have that you did not receive?" Or as 2 Corinthians 4:7 says in the Living Bible, "Our only power and success comes from God."
Could it be that you've been turning the light that's supposed to be illuminating Jesus on yourself? Pride has subtly started to creep in, you're making sure that folks hear about what you did, you're pushing, you're promoting yourself a little more, you're getting slightly addicted to the attention, to the applause. Without realizing it, you have reversed John's equation, "He must increase; I must decrease."
Throughout Scripture, throughout history, pride has been the subtle destroyer of people that God wanted to use. As soon as He started to use them, they forgot it was Him, not them, that any success is a gift from God, not an achievement by us. It's all about Jesus; it's nothing about you. And even though men can't usually see the pride in your heart like they can see the more outward sins, God can see it and He'll not tolerate it.
All the good things God has given you, all the good things God has done for you and through you are your spotlight to shine on the only Star there really is in this show - the Lord God himself.
If you've been turning that spotlight on yourself lately, it's time to put it back where it belongs. "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory."
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
September 30
A Love that Never Fails
Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)
Some of you are so thirsty for this type of love. A love that never fails. Those who should have loved you didn’t. Those who could have loved you didn’t. You were left at the hospital. Left at the altar. Left with an empty bed. Left with a broken heart. Left with your question “Does anybody love me?”
Please listen to heaven’s answer. God loves you. Personally. Powerfully. Passionately. Others have promised and failed. But God has promised and succeeded. He loves you with and unfailing love. And his love—if you will let it—can fill you and leave you with a love worth giving.
So come. Come thirsty and drink deeply.
1 John 5
Faith in the Son of God
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Concluding Remarks
13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
16If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. 17All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 19We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 John 5:6-13
6This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Concluding Remarks
13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
September 30, 2008
That You May Know
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: 1 John 5:6-13
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. —1 John 5:13
One day, while Wim was in the marketplace in the Netherlands, he struck up a conversation with a woman who remarked that you can get to heaven by doing good works.
His attempt to explain that it is by God’s grace that we are “saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8) brought a smile as the woman repeated confidently: “and . . . by doing good works.” Then another woman volunteered, “You can hope you’ll go to heaven, but you can’t be sure.” Wim’s assertion that he did know for sure was met with a muttered, “Nobody knows for sure.”
Wim then showed the woman what 1 John 5:11-13 says. He explained: “See, it doesn’t say hope there, it says know.” Unconvinced, she said, “Like you, my pastor says that we have to have faith, but you really never know whether you’ve been good enough. You may think you have, but who can be sure?”
To some, Wim’s confidence may seem incredible. But he based his words on this statement: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works” (Eph. 2:8-9).
It’s true. We can’t be good enough. We can never do enough good things. But we can be sure of heaven if we simply believe on the Lord (Acts 16:31). — Cindy Hess Kasper
We cannot earn our way to heaven
By word or work or worth;
But if we trust in Christ to save us,
Then we’ll enjoy new birth. —Branon
We are saved by God’s mercy, not by our merit—by Christ’s dying, not by our doing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 30, 2008
The Assigning of the Call
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church . . . —Colossians 1:24
We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, "Here am I! Send me" ( Isaiah 6:8 ).
This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, "If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!" But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed— you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.
I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Where the Spotlight Belongs - #5667 - September 30, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When you speak in public settings as much as I do, you learn there are two people in that auditorium you really want on your side. One is the man in charge of the sound. Without him, no one can hear you. The other is the man in charge of the spotlight, because without him, no one can see you.
After all, I'm not that big you know, and I disappear pretty easily in a crowd. In any large event, the spotlight man really is one of the unsung heroes. I mean, you don't think about him; he's invisible for the most part, but he sure makes a difference in the program...unless he forgets where the spotlight goes. Imagine the announcer says, "And now here's our host, Guy Smiley." And as the M. C. appears on stage, the spotlight man suddenly swings that light around until it's shining right on him! You can't see the man you're supposed to be looking at because the guy with the spotlight has you looking at him!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where the Spotlight Belongs."
The problem of the misplaced spotlight has happened over and over again, with the spotlight that is supposed to be shining on God and God alone. Now you may not have a union card, but if you're a Jesus-follower, you're a spotlight operator. The question is, who's the spotlight on?
King David must have struggled with that sometimes. He says in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 115:1, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the glory." It's interesting he says "not to us" twice isn't it? Almost as if he needs to hear himself say it again. "The glory is not supposed to go to us - not to us." God should always get all the credit.
Jeremiah asks this probing question - one which I need to listen to and maybe you do, too. He says in Jeremiah 45:5, "Should you then seek great things for yourself?" Then this sober warning, "Seek them not." God Himself soberly warns us, "I am the Lord. That is My name. And My glory I will not give to another." But listen, it's tempting to grab a little of the glory, isn't it? After you've made a good impression or done a good job, just to think, "Hey, aren't I something?" Then God weighs in with His reality check question from 1 Corinthians 4:7, "What do you have that you did not receive?" Or as 2 Corinthians 4:7 says in the Living Bible, "Our only power and success comes from God."
Could it be that you've been turning the light that's supposed to be illuminating Jesus on yourself? Pride has subtly started to creep in, you're making sure that folks hear about what you did, you're pushing, you're promoting yourself a little more, you're getting slightly addicted to the attention, to the applause. Without realizing it, you have reversed John's equation, "He must increase; I must decrease."
Throughout Scripture, throughout history, pride has been the subtle destroyer of people that God wanted to use. As soon as He started to use them, they forgot it was Him, not them, that any success is a gift from God, not an achievement by us. It's all about Jesus; it's nothing about you. And even though men can't usually see the pride in your heart like they can see the more outward sins, God can see it and He'll not tolerate it.
All the good things God has given you, all the good things God has done for you and through you are your spotlight to shine on the only Star there really is in this show - the Lord God himself.
If you've been turning that spotlight on yourself lately, it's time to put it back where it belongs. "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory."
Monday, September 29, 2008
1 John 4, daily reading and devotions
Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
September 29
A Place for the Weary
Do not lose the courage you had in the past, which has a great reward.
Hebrews 10:35 (NCV)
Is there anything more frail than a bruised reed? Look at the bruised reed at the water's edge. A once slender and tall stalk of sturdy river grass, it is now bowed and bent.
Are you a bruised reed? Was it so long ago that you stood so tall, so proud?...
Then something happened. You were bruised...
by harsh words
by a friend's anger
by a spouse's betrayal ....
The bruised reed .... Society knows what to do with you .... The world will break you off; the world will snuff you out.
But the artists of Scripture proclaim that God won't. Painted on canvas after canvas is the tender touch of a Creator who has a special place for the bruised and weary of the world. A God who is the friend of the wounded heart.
1 John 4
Test the Spirits
1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
God's Love and Ours
7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son[b] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[c] our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
James 1
1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
Trials and Temptations
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
September 29, 2008
Ask Me Now
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: James 1:1-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. —James 1:5
Whether you need a weather forecast for Singapore or driving directions to a restaurant in Chicago, the answer may be just a cell-phone call away. A California-based mobile service called AskMeNow utilizes Internet content sources to send text-message replies to queries from registered users on just about any subject. In many cases, a text-message reply may be received within minutes of submitting a question.
In a sense, the invitation to ask anything, anytime, anywhere mirrors God’s call to all who follow Jesus: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach” (James 1:5). But this is more than a mobile information service. It is our heavenly Father’s promise to provide the guidance we need, especially during trying times.
All we need is a sincere desire to follow God’s direction and faith that His way is best. Because the Lord “gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty,” we can ask in faith without doubting (vv.5-6 Phillips).
The Internet is a great place to find helpful information, but there is only one source of divine wisdom to direct our steps each day. The Father invites our sincere requests anytime, anywhere. — David C. McCasland
My Lord is ever with me
Along life’s busy way;
I trust in Him completely
For guidance day by day. —Anon.
Be smart—ask for God’s wisdom.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 29, 2008
The Awareness of the Call
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
. . . for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16
We are inclined to forget the deeply spiritual and supernatural touch of God. If you are able to tell exactly where you were when you received the call of God and can explain all about it, I question whether you have truly been called. The call of God does not come like that; it is much more supernatural. The realization of the call in a person’s life may come like a clap of thunder or it may dawn gradually. But however quickly or slowly this awareness comes, it is always accompanied with an undercurrent of the supernatural— something that is inexpressible and produces a "glow." At any moment the sudden awareness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life may break through— "I chose you . . ." ( John 15:16 ). The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. You are not called to preach the gospel because you are sanctified; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a compulsion that was placed upon him.
If you have ignored, and thereby removed, the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances. See where you have put your own ideas of service or your particular abilities ahead of the call of God. Paul said, ". . . woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!" He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to "preach the gospel" was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength.
If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn’t matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God’s purpose, He will bring not only your conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Impressive on the Outside, Nothing on the Inside - #5666 - September 29, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Monday, September 29, 2008
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Hollywood is a world of illusions. If you didn't know that already, you learn it for sure when you tour one of the major movie studios. I toured one where they have a lot of our movies and TV shows filmed, and I saw this old Western town, there was a World War II vintage French village, and a 1930s neighborhood in Chicago - some really impressive buildings. Until you open a door and go inside any of those buildings. There's nothing there. It's all just a set!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Impressive on the Outside, Nothing on the Inside."
Unfortunately, that describes more than just a Hollywood studio set. It describes a lot of people's lives. Maybe, if you're honest, it could describe yours.
Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Timothy 3:5, describes people who have "a form of godliness" (that means they look good on the outside), but they are "denying its power." Then it talks about people who are "always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth." So, the Bible says there are people with impressive exteriors, but behind the set, there's emptiness. They have religion, but no real spiritual power. Do you ever feel that way? They have education, but no real answers.
Back in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon described the great "set" that he had up in his life. He had massive wealth, fabulous entertainment, and great accomplishments. But in his own words, he described it all as "meaningless, a chasing after the wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:14). Behind an impressive set, he was feeling empty. Look, I've had a state champion high school athlete ask me, after having all his dreams come true, "Why do I feel so empty?" A couple of days later a community leader, active in his church, asked me almost the exact same question.
Maybe your life has a great set for people to see, success, friends, and a sense of humor, but you know that behind the act there's no power, there are no answers, and there is no peace even after years of wearing the right mask and saying all the right things. Clearly, behind the set, something is missing. Solomon figured out what it is. He said, "God has set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). You need something eternal, something forever to fill that hole in your heart.
What's missing is that vital relationship that you were made for. Speaking of Jesus, Colossians 1:16 says that you were "created by Him and for Him." You're missing Jesus in your heart. Even religious people can miss Him. Your Christian exterior may actually have allowed you to believe that you have Jesus when, in reality, you've never consciously given yourself to the Man who died to pay for all your sin.
If you're tired of just repainting the scenery of your life and improving the exterior, why not open the door of that set and let Jesus into the emptiness inside. If you want to begin for real, finally, your personal relationship with Him, tell Him that right now. "Jesus, I was made by you and for you, but I've lived pretty much for me. And today I turn from that. I believe you died to pay the death penalty for every wrong thing I've ever done, and today I am giving myself totally to you because you gave yourself totally for me." He's alive! He walked out of His grave. He's ready to come into your life this very day.
A lot of people have found encouragement and even the way home at our website YoursForLife.net. I'd encourage you to go there if you're at the point of saying, "I want to be sure I have this relationship with Jesus Christ. Or I'd be glad to send you my booklet Yours For Life at no cost, if you'll just call toll free 877-741-1200.
You see, Jesus is the One who goes in that hole in your heart. And He can take a life that has been just a "set" and make it a home that you can really live in.
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
September 29
A Place for the Weary
Do not lose the courage you had in the past, which has a great reward.
Hebrews 10:35 (NCV)
Is there anything more frail than a bruised reed? Look at the bruised reed at the water's edge. A once slender and tall stalk of sturdy river grass, it is now bowed and bent.
Are you a bruised reed? Was it so long ago that you stood so tall, so proud?...
Then something happened. You were bruised...
by harsh words
by a friend's anger
by a spouse's betrayal ....
The bruised reed .... Society knows what to do with you .... The world will break you off; the world will snuff you out.
But the artists of Scripture proclaim that God won't. Painted on canvas after canvas is the tender touch of a Creator who has a special place for the bruised and weary of the world. A God who is the friend of the wounded heart.
1 John 4
Test the Spirits
1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
God's Love and Ours
7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son[b] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[c] our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
James 1
1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
Trials and Temptations
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
September 29, 2008
Ask Me Now
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: James 1:1-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. —James 1:5
Whether you need a weather forecast for Singapore or driving directions to a restaurant in Chicago, the answer may be just a cell-phone call away. A California-based mobile service called AskMeNow utilizes Internet content sources to send text-message replies to queries from registered users on just about any subject. In many cases, a text-message reply may be received within minutes of submitting a question.
In a sense, the invitation to ask anything, anytime, anywhere mirrors God’s call to all who follow Jesus: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach” (James 1:5). But this is more than a mobile information service. It is our heavenly Father’s promise to provide the guidance we need, especially during trying times.
All we need is a sincere desire to follow God’s direction and faith that His way is best. Because the Lord “gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty,” we can ask in faith without doubting (vv.5-6 Phillips).
The Internet is a great place to find helpful information, but there is only one source of divine wisdom to direct our steps each day. The Father invites our sincere requests anytime, anywhere. — David C. McCasland
My Lord is ever with me
Along life’s busy way;
I trust in Him completely
For guidance day by day. —Anon.
Be smart—ask for God’s wisdom.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 29, 2008
The Awareness of the Call
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READ:
. . . for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16
We are inclined to forget the deeply spiritual and supernatural touch of God. If you are able to tell exactly where you were when you received the call of God and can explain all about it, I question whether you have truly been called. The call of God does not come like that; it is much more supernatural. The realization of the call in a person’s life may come like a clap of thunder or it may dawn gradually. But however quickly or slowly this awareness comes, it is always accompanied with an undercurrent of the supernatural— something that is inexpressible and produces a "glow." At any moment the sudden awareness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life may break through— "I chose you . . ." ( John 15:16 ). The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. You are not called to preach the gospel because you are sanctified; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a compulsion that was placed upon him.
If you have ignored, and thereby removed, the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances. See where you have put your own ideas of service or your particular abilities ahead of the call of God. Paul said, ". . . woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!" He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to "preach the gospel" was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength.
If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn’t matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God’s purpose, He will bring not only your conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Impressive on the Outside, Nothing on the Inside - #5666 - September 29, 2008
Category: Your Most Important Relationship
Monday, September 29, 2008
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Hollywood is a world of illusions. If you didn't know that already, you learn it for sure when you tour one of the major movie studios. I toured one where they have a lot of our movies and TV shows filmed, and I saw this old Western town, there was a World War II vintage French village, and a 1930s neighborhood in Chicago - some really impressive buildings. Until you open a door and go inside any of those buildings. There's nothing there. It's all just a set!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Impressive on the Outside, Nothing on the Inside."
Unfortunately, that describes more than just a Hollywood studio set. It describes a lot of people's lives. Maybe, if you're honest, it could describe yours.
Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Timothy 3:5, describes people who have "a form of godliness" (that means they look good on the outside), but they are "denying its power." Then it talks about people who are "always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth." So, the Bible says there are people with impressive exteriors, but behind the set, there's emptiness. They have religion, but no real spiritual power. Do you ever feel that way? They have education, but no real answers.
Back in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon described the great "set" that he had up in his life. He had massive wealth, fabulous entertainment, and great accomplishments. But in his own words, he described it all as "meaningless, a chasing after the wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:14). Behind an impressive set, he was feeling empty. Look, I've had a state champion high school athlete ask me, after having all his dreams come true, "Why do I feel so empty?" A couple of days later a community leader, active in his church, asked me almost the exact same question.
Maybe your life has a great set for people to see, success, friends, and a sense of humor, but you know that behind the act there's no power, there are no answers, and there is no peace even after years of wearing the right mask and saying all the right things. Clearly, behind the set, something is missing. Solomon figured out what it is. He said, "God has set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). You need something eternal, something forever to fill that hole in your heart.
What's missing is that vital relationship that you were made for. Speaking of Jesus, Colossians 1:16 says that you were "created by Him and for Him." You're missing Jesus in your heart. Even religious people can miss Him. Your Christian exterior may actually have allowed you to believe that you have Jesus when, in reality, you've never consciously given yourself to the Man who died to pay for all your sin.
If you're tired of just repainting the scenery of your life and improving the exterior, why not open the door of that set and let Jesus into the emptiness inside. If you want to begin for real, finally, your personal relationship with Him, tell Him that right now. "Jesus, I was made by you and for you, but I've lived pretty much for me. And today I turn from that. I believe you died to pay the death penalty for every wrong thing I've ever done, and today I am giving myself totally to you because you gave yourself totally for me." He's alive! He walked out of His grave. He's ready to come into your life this very day.
A lot of people have found encouragement and even the way home at our website YoursForLife.net. I'd encourage you to go there if you're at the point of saying, "I want to be sure I have this relationship with Jesus Christ. Or I'd be glad to send you my booklet Yours For Life at no cost, if you'll just call toll free 877-741-1200.
You see, Jesus is the One who goes in that hole in your heart. And He can take a life that has been just a "set" and make it a home that you can really live in.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
1 John 3, daily reading and devotions
Receive God’s Hope, by Max Lucado
Sunday, September 28, 2008
“Come near to God and God will come near to you.”
James 4:8
Your toughest challenge is nothing more than bobby pins and rubber bands to God. Bobby pins and rubber bands?
My older sister used to give them to me when I was a child. I would ride my tricycle up and down the sidewalk, pretending that the bobby pins were keys and my trike was a truck. But one day I lost the “keys.” Crisis! What was I going to do? My search yielded nothing but tears and fear. But when I confessed my mistake to my sister, she just smiled. Being a decade older, she had a better perspective.
God has a better perspective as well. With all due respect, our severest struggles are, in his view, nothing worse than lost bobby pins and rubber bands. He is not confounded, confused, or discouraged.
Receive his hope, won’t you? Receive it because you need it. Receive it so you can share it.
1 John 3
1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,[a]we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
4Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. 9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
Love one another
11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 116
1 I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave [a] came upon me;
I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD :
"O LORD, save me!"
5 The LORD is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
6 The LORD protects the simplehearted;
when I was in great need, he saved me.
7 Be at rest once more, O my soul,
for the LORD has been good to you.
8 For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.
10 I believed; therefore [b] I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."
11 And in my dismay I said,
"All men are liars."
12 How can I repay the LORD
for all his goodness to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.
16 O LORD, truly I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant [c] ;
you have freed me from my chains.
17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD—
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD. [d]
September 28, 2008
Showing Up
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 116
Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. —Psalm 116:2
Leonardo da Vinci spent 10 years drawing ears, elbows, hands, and other parts of the body in many different aspects. Then one day he set aside the exercises and painted what he saw. Likewise, athletes and musicians never become great without regular practice.
For years I resisted a regular routine of prayer, believing that communication with God should be spontaneous and free. But I found that I needed the discipline of regularity to make possible those exceptional times of free communication with God. Eventually I learned that spontaneity often flows from discipline.
The writer Nancy Mairs says she attends church in the same spirit she goes to her desk every morning to write, so that if an idea comes she’ll be there to receive it. I approach prayer the same way. I keep on whether it feels like I am profiting or not. I show up in hopes of getting to know God better, perhaps hearing from Him in ways accessible only through solitude.
The English word meditate derives from a Latin word that means “to rehearse.” Often my prayers seem like a kind of rehearsal. I go over basic notes (the Lord’s Prayer), practice familiar pieces (the Psalms), and try out a few new tunes. Mainly, I show up. — Philip Yancey
Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant’s lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach
The Majesty on high. —Montgomery
Prayer is an intimate conversation with our God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 28, 2008
The "Go" of Unconditional Identification
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Jesus . . . said to him, ’One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor . . . and come, take up the cross, and follow Me’ —Mark 10:21
The rich young ruler had the controlling passion to be perfect. When he saw Jesus Christ, he wanted to be like Him. Our Lord never places anyone’s personal holiness above everything else when He calls a disciple. Jesus’ primary consideration is my absolute annihilation of my right to myself and my identification with Him, which means having a relationship with Him in which there are no other relationships. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation or sanctification, but deals solely with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. Very few of us truly know what is meant by the absolute "go" of unconditional identification with, and abandonment and surrender to, Jesus.
"Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him . . ." ( Mark 10:21 ). This look of Jesus will require breaking your heart away forever from allegiance to any other person or thing. Has Jesus ever looked in this way at you? This look of Jesus transforms, penetrates, and captivates. Where you are soft and pliable with God is where the Lord has looked at you. If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on having your own way, and always certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, then there are whole areas of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.
"One thing you lack . . . ." From Jesus Christ’s perspective, oneness with Him, with nothing between, is the only good thing.
". . . sell whatever you have . . . ." I must humble myself until I am merely a living person. I must essentially renounce possessions of all kinds, not for salvation (for only one thing saves a person and that is absolute reliance in faith upon Jesus Christ), but to follow Jesus. ". . . come. . . and follow Me." And the road is the way He went.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
“Come near to God and God will come near to you.”
James 4:8
Your toughest challenge is nothing more than bobby pins and rubber bands to God. Bobby pins and rubber bands?
My older sister used to give them to me when I was a child. I would ride my tricycle up and down the sidewalk, pretending that the bobby pins were keys and my trike was a truck. But one day I lost the “keys.” Crisis! What was I going to do? My search yielded nothing but tears and fear. But when I confessed my mistake to my sister, she just smiled. Being a decade older, she had a better perspective.
God has a better perspective as well. With all due respect, our severest struggles are, in his view, nothing worse than lost bobby pins and rubber bands. He is not confounded, confused, or discouraged.
Receive his hope, won’t you? Receive it because you need it. Receive it so you can share it.
1 John 3
1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,[a]we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
4Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. 9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
Love one another
11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 116
1 I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave [a] came upon me;
I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD :
"O LORD, save me!"
5 The LORD is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
6 The LORD protects the simplehearted;
when I was in great need, he saved me.
7 Be at rest once more, O my soul,
for the LORD has been good to you.
8 For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.
10 I believed; therefore [b] I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."
11 And in my dismay I said,
"All men are liars."
12 How can I repay the LORD
for all his goodness to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.
16 O LORD, truly I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant [c] ;
you have freed me from my chains.
17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD—
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD. [d]
September 28, 2008
Showing Up
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 116
Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. —Psalm 116:2
Leonardo da Vinci spent 10 years drawing ears, elbows, hands, and other parts of the body in many different aspects. Then one day he set aside the exercises and painted what he saw. Likewise, athletes and musicians never become great without regular practice.
For years I resisted a regular routine of prayer, believing that communication with God should be spontaneous and free. But I found that I needed the discipline of regularity to make possible those exceptional times of free communication with God. Eventually I learned that spontaneity often flows from discipline.
The writer Nancy Mairs says she attends church in the same spirit she goes to her desk every morning to write, so that if an idea comes she’ll be there to receive it. I approach prayer the same way. I keep on whether it feels like I am profiting or not. I show up in hopes of getting to know God better, perhaps hearing from Him in ways accessible only through solitude.
The English word meditate derives from a Latin word that means “to rehearse.” Often my prayers seem like a kind of rehearsal. I go over basic notes (the Lord’s Prayer), practice familiar pieces (the Psalms), and try out a few new tunes. Mainly, I show up. — Philip Yancey
Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant’s lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach
The Majesty on high. —Montgomery
Prayer is an intimate conversation with our God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 28, 2008
The "Go" of Unconditional Identification
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Jesus . . . said to him, ’One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor . . . and come, take up the cross, and follow Me’ —Mark 10:21
The rich young ruler had the controlling passion to be perfect. When he saw Jesus Christ, he wanted to be like Him. Our Lord never places anyone’s personal holiness above everything else when He calls a disciple. Jesus’ primary consideration is my absolute annihilation of my right to myself and my identification with Him, which means having a relationship with Him in which there are no other relationships. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation or sanctification, but deals solely with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. Very few of us truly know what is meant by the absolute "go" of unconditional identification with, and abandonment and surrender to, Jesus.
"Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him . . ." ( Mark 10:21 ). This look of Jesus will require breaking your heart away forever from allegiance to any other person or thing. Has Jesus ever looked in this way at you? This look of Jesus transforms, penetrates, and captivates. Where you are soft and pliable with God is where the Lord has looked at you. If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on having your own way, and always certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, then there are whole areas of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.
"One thing you lack . . . ." From Jesus Christ’s perspective, oneness with Him, with nothing between, is the only good thing.
". . . sell whatever you have . . . ." I must humble myself until I am merely a living person. I must essentially renounce possessions of all kinds, not for salvation (for only one thing saves a person and that is absolute reliance in faith upon Jesus Christ), but to follow Jesus. ". . . come. . . and follow Me." And the road is the way He went.
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