Max Lucado Daily: A Holy Gift
A Holy Gift
Posted: 25 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross. I Peter 2:24
In an act that broke the heart of the Father, yet honored the holiness of heaven, sin-purging judgment flowed over the sinless Son of the ages.
And heaven gave earth her finest gift. The Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world.
“My God, my God, why did you abandon me?” Why did Christ scream those words?
So you’ll never have to.
Job 28
1 "There is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.
2 Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3 Man puts an end to the darkness;
he searches the farthest recesses
for ore in the blackest darkness.
4 Far from where people dwell he cuts a shaft,
in places forgotten by the foot of man;
far from men he dangles and sways.
5 The earth, from which food comes,
is transformed below as by fire;
6 sapphires [a] come from its rocks,
and its dust contains nuggets of gold.
7 No bird of prey knows that hidden path,
no falcon's eye has seen it.
8 Proud beasts do not set foot on it,
and no lion prowls there.
9 Man's hand assaults the flinty rock
and lays bare the roots of the mountains.
10 He tunnels through the rock;
his eyes see all its treasures.
11 He searches [b] the sources of the rivers
and brings hidden things to light.
12 "But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?
13 Man does not comprehend its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, 'It is not in me';
the sea says, 'It is not with me.'
15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed in silver.
16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or sapphires.
17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.
18 Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
19 The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold.
20 "Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds of the air.
22 Destruction [c] and Death say,
'Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.'
23 God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,
24 for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.
28 And he said to man,
'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.' "
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 15:1-8
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Declaration Of Dependence
October 26, 2010 — by Philip Yancey
Without Me you can do nothing. —John 15:5
Adults celebrate when children learn to do something on their own: get dressed, brush their teeth, tie shoelaces, ride a bike, walk to school.
As adults, we like to pay our own way, live in our own houses, make our own decisions, rely on no outside help. Faced with an unexpected challenge, we seek out “self-help” books. All the while we are systematically sealing off the heart attitude most desirable to God and most descriptive of our true state in the universe. It’s what Jesus told His disciples: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
The truth is that we live in a web of dependence, at the center of which is God, in whom all things hold together. Norwegian theologian Ole Hallesby settled on the single word helplessness as the best summary of the heart attitude that God accepts as prayer. He said, “Only he who is helpless can truly pray.”
Most parents feel a pang when the child outgrows dependence, even while knowing the growth to be healthy and normal. With God, the rules change. We never outgrow dependence, and to the extent we think we do, we delude ourselves. Prayer is our declaration of dependence upon the Lord.
Give Him each perplexing problem,
All your needs to Him make known;
Bring to Him your daily burdens—
Never carry them alone! —Adams
Pray as if your life depended upon it. It does!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 26th, 2010
What is a Missionary?
Jesus said to them again, ’. . . As the Father has sent Me, I also send you’ —John 20:21
A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.
Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . .” (Matthew 28:19).
When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Survivors to the Rescue - #6207
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Each season in the U.S. seems to bring its beauty and its unique dangers. In the spring, think tornado, for example. In the summer and fall, some of us know what the word hurricane is all about. In the mountains in winter, it's important to be aware that with that season's snowy beauty may also come the danger of deadly avalanches. Every winter, we hear about some people who lose their lives as massive chunks of snow suddenly break loose and roar down the mountain. But every once in a while, we hear about lives saved. A few years ago, the rescuers were there not long after an avalanche, and they immediately started digging for survivors. In minutes, they pulled out one skier who was not only grateful to be saved, but in remarkably good shape for what he had been through. And the news reported that after that man was rescued, he didn't just head for a warm place to recover. He joined the rescuers, working side by side with them to save other lives. And they did!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Survivors to the Rescue."
A person is saved from a deadly situation and they instinctively go back to help save someone else. That's exactly how lives are saved eternally. The rescued are supposed to turn around and be the rescuers. When they're not, they make it out, but they leave others to perish. It's not supposed to be that way.
If someone rescued you spiritually by telling you about Jesus Christ, then the eight words in our word for today from the Word of God are personal orders from God to you. Jude, verse 23, simply says, "Snatch others from the fire and save them." The implication - you got snatched from the fire, now go back and get someone else.
That was instinctive for Andrew the day he met Christ. The Bible says, "The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, 'We have found the Messiah'...and he brought him to Jesus" (John 1:41-42 ). And Simon became the great leader of the apostles. My guess is that when you first discovered the love of Jesus for yourself, you had that Andrew instinct. You knew you had found something you could not keep to yourself. You may not have done the best job of explaining Jesus at that point, but you just knew that people you cared about had to have the same chance that you had. That's how the rescue work of Jesus has gone on for 2,000 years - rescued people becoming rescuers of others.
But as time has gone by, have you become content to just find a warm spot among other people who are already headed for heaven; to believe the beliefs, give the money, be at the meetings, and live as if the reason you were rescued is to enjoy the fellowship of the others who've been rescued? No, you were rescued to rescue.
Oh, we have our excuses for our silence about our Savior. "I'm afraid, I'm inadequate, I'm imperfect, I don't know enough, I might mess it up." Well, look at who Jesus used to bring an entire Samaritan village to Him - a woman with the worst reputation in town, a woman who had just met Jesus, but she knew enough to say, "Come see a Man" (John 4:29 ). Come and check out Jesus. If Christ could use her to be His ambassador to her tribe, He can surely use you to be His ambassador to yours. They'll listen to you because you walk the same trail they do - much more than they might listen to some "professional rescuer" who's from outside their world.
Hundreds of people were rescued from the sinking Titanic by being put in lifeboats. But those same people refused to turn those lifeboats around to rescue the people who were in the lifejackets in the water, even though many lifeboats were half empty. And 328 people died because the people who had been rescued did nothing about the people who were dying. There are too many like them in the lifeboat "Jesus." Please don't be one of them.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Matthew 12, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Saved by Faith
Saved by Faith
Posted: 24 Oct 2010 11:00 PM PDT
Be a worker who is not ashamed and who uses the true teaching in the right way. 2 Timothy 2:15
Timothy never had another teacher like Paul. The world has never had another teacher like Paul. He was convinced of two facts—he was once lost but then saved. He spent a lifetime telling every person who would listen.
In the end it cost him everything. For in the end, all he had was his faith. But in the end, his faith was all he needed.
Matthew 12:24-50 (New International Version)
24But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub,[a] the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."
25Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29"Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.
30"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 31And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
33"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
The Sign of Jonah
38Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."
39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one[b] greater than Jonah is here. 42The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.
43"When an evil[c] spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."
Jesus' Mother and Brothers
46While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."[d]
48He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Acts 8:9-23
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,
10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is the divine power known as the Great Power."
11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.
12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.
15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money
19 and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
20 Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.
23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin."
Toxic Look-Alikes
October 25, 2010 — by Julie Ackerman Link
Your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness. —Acts 8:21-22
Our yard makes poison ivy happy. I learned this the hard way. Even though I was being careful, I came in contact with the plant and ended up with a nasty, itchy rash.
Poison ivy looks like many harmless plants, and it keeps company with some beautiful ones. One gardener couldn’t figure out why she got poison ivy whenever she pruned her roses. She later discovered that a poison ivy vine was taking advantage of the tender loving care she gave to her rosebush.
Some people are like toxic plants. They look harmless, and they blend in with people who, like roses, are fragrant and beautiful.
Simon the sorcerer fit this description. He followed Philip and was baptized, but then he asked to buy the ability to lay hands on people so they could receive the Holy Spirit. Peter was appalled at his request and urged him to repent (Acts 8:22).
Sometimes people use the favorable environment of a healthy church as a network for selfish purposes. Like poison ivy among roses, they cause much misery. Like Simon, anyone who does this needs to repent, and everyone else needs to avoid contact with such a person. Spiritual look-alikes appear good but their “fruit” is toxic.
A Prayer:
Help me, Lord, to be discerning and not let others
lead me astray with their falsehood. May the fruit
of my life be an example of a follower of Christ. Amen.
A false life belies a true faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 25th, 2010
Submitting to God’s Purpose
I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some —1 Corinthians 9:22
A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, “If only I were somewhere else!” All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact— “. . . Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
“I chose you . . .” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.
Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside . . . to the right or the left . . .” (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Tapestry of Your Life - #6206
Monday, October 25, 2010
There are many kinds of artists. My friend, Martha, makes her masterpieces out of thread. She lives in a tiny, sparsely-furnished house in a remote corner of the Navajo reservation. It hasn't been an easy life with eleven children and a husband who blew most of his meager income on alcohol. But she found a way to provide at least enough money for her family to eat. She wove Navajo rugs. We've had the privilege of being there when she was working on one. She had a loom in her living room where she worked for hours on end, pulling thread from one side to the other. In some ways, it doesn't look like it has much promise; there's no pattern anywhere to be seen. It was all in her mind. But there's something beautiful in her mind that only she could see as she patiently wove those threads back and forth. And when she was finished, she'd produced a masterpiece for which a tourist would pay thousands of dollars in a nearby store. Martha will only get a fraction of that, but shame on anyone who ever questioned what she was doing on that loom.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Tapestry of Your Life."
When I watched that Navajo woman weaving something beautiful from those seemingly random threads, I was looking at a picture of the ways of God, because He's the original Artist, and He only does masterpieces. He is, in a sense, the Master Weaver on the loom of your life. You can't see what He's making from the threads in front of you, but He can. And it's something beautiful - something valuable.
His working is powerfully described in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 1:11 . As you listen, take this as a guarantee about your life. Speaking of those who belong to Jesus Christ, it says, "In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will."
God is telling you that He has had a plan for your life since before there was a you. Like someone watching that Navajo mother weaving her rug, you can't see the plan. It's in the mind of the Artist. But you can be sure that He is weaving the tapestry you were made for. He's weaving it this very day - and every day.
The threads you can see right now may be dark. Some of the threads don't seem to fit. But God is still at the loom, and all this is going somewhere. He's making something in your life.
And no matter how random, even how senseless it all seems, you have this promise: "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" And He's bringing into your life those people and experiences that will help accomplish His grand design for you - to be like His Son, Jesus. The Bible says He is working everything together for you who were "predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son" (Romans 8:29 ).
Many times when I couldn't see the plan, and only what seemed tangled threads, I have found myself saying, "Father, I often don't understand You, but I always trust You." After all, would someone who gave His Son to die for you ever do you wrong? The Bible says, "He spared not His own Son, but offered Him up for us all. ill He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32 ) You can trust the weaver who's at that heavenly loom. He knows exactly what He's doing. Trust the plan, even though you can't see it. He is making your life into something very beautiful and very valuable.
Saved by Faith
Posted: 24 Oct 2010 11:00 PM PDT
Be a worker who is not ashamed and who uses the true teaching in the right way. 2 Timothy 2:15
Timothy never had another teacher like Paul. The world has never had another teacher like Paul. He was convinced of two facts—he was once lost but then saved. He spent a lifetime telling every person who would listen.
In the end it cost him everything. For in the end, all he had was his faith. But in the end, his faith was all he needed.
Matthew 12:24-50 (New International Version)
24But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub,[a] the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."
25Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29"Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.
30"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 31And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
33"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
The Sign of Jonah
38Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."
39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one[b] greater than Jonah is here. 42The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.
43"When an evil[c] spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."
Jesus' Mother and Brothers
46While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."[d]
48He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Acts 8:9-23
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,
10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is the divine power known as the Great Power."
11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.
12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.
15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money
19 and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
20 Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.
23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin."
Toxic Look-Alikes
October 25, 2010 — by Julie Ackerman Link
Your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness. —Acts 8:21-22
Our yard makes poison ivy happy. I learned this the hard way. Even though I was being careful, I came in contact with the plant and ended up with a nasty, itchy rash.
Poison ivy looks like many harmless plants, and it keeps company with some beautiful ones. One gardener couldn’t figure out why she got poison ivy whenever she pruned her roses. She later discovered that a poison ivy vine was taking advantage of the tender loving care she gave to her rosebush.
Some people are like toxic plants. They look harmless, and they blend in with people who, like roses, are fragrant and beautiful.
Simon the sorcerer fit this description. He followed Philip and was baptized, but then he asked to buy the ability to lay hands on people so they could receive the Holy Spirit. Peter was appalled at his request and urged him to repent (Acts 8:22).
Sometimes people use the favorable environment of a healthy church as a network for selfish purposes. Like poison ivy among roses, they cause much misery. Like Simon, anyone who does this needs to repent, and everyone else needs to avoid contact with such a person. Spiritual look-alikes appear good but their “fruit” is toxic.
A Prayer:
Help me, Lord, to be discerning and not let others
lead me astray with their falsehood. May the fruit
of my life be an example of a follower of Christ. Amen.
A false life belies a true faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 25th, 2010
Submitting to God’s Purpose
I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some —1 Corinthians 9:22
A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, “If only I were somewhere else!” All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact— “. . . Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
“I chose you . . .” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.
Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside . . . to the right or the left . . .” (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Tapestry of Your Life - #6206
Monday, October 25, 2010
There are many kinds of artists. My friend, Martha, makes her masterpieces out of thread. She lives in a tiny, sparsely-furnished house in a remote corner of the Navajo reservation. It hasn't been an easy life with eleven children and a husband who blew most of his meager income on alcohol. But she found a way to provide at least enough money for her family to eat. She wove Navajo rugs. We've had the privilege of being there when she was working on one. She had a loom in her living room where she worked for hours on end, pulling thread from one side to the other. In some ways, it doesn't look like it has much promise; there's no pattern anywhere to be seen. It was all in her mind. But there's something beautiful in her mind that only she could see as she patiently wove those threads back and forth. And when she was finished, she'd produced a masterpiece for which a tourist would pay thousands of dollars in a nearby store. Martha will only get a fraction of that, but shame on anyone who ever questioned what she was doing on that loom.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Tapestry of Your Life."
When I watched that Navajo woman weaving something beautiful from those seemingly random threads, I was looking at a picture of the ways of God, because He's the original Artist, and He only does masterpieces. He is, in a sense, the Master Weaver on the loom of your life. You can't see what He's making from the threads in front of you, but He can. And it's something beautiful - something valuable.
His working is powerfully described in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 1:11 . As you listen, take this as a guarantee about your life. Speaking of those who belong to Jesus Christ, it says, "In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will."
God is telling you that He has had a plan for your life since before there was a you. Like someone watching that Navajo mother weaving her rug, you can't see the plan. It's in the mind of the Artist. But you can be sure that He is weaving the tapestry you were made for. He's weaving it this very day - and every day.
The threads you can see right now may be dark. Some of the threads don't seem to fit. But God is still at the loom, and all this is going somewhere. He's making something in your life.
And no matter how random, even how senseless it all seems, you have this promise: "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" And He's bringing into your life those people and experiences that will help accomplish His grand design for you - to be like His Son, Jesus. The Bible says He is working everything together for you who were "predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son" (Romans 8:29 ).
Many times when I couldn't see the plan, and only what seemed tangled threads, I have found myself saying, "Father, I often don't understand You, but I always trust You." After all, would someone who gave His Son to die for you ever do you wrong? The Bible says, "He spared not His own Son, but offered Him up for us all. ill He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32 ) You can trust the weaver who's at that heavenly loom. He knows exactly what He's doing. Trust the plan, even though you can't see it. He is making your life into something very beautiful and very valuable.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Job 27, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Encourage One Another
Encourage One Another
Posted: 23 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need—words that will help others become stronger. Ephesians 4:29
You have the ability, with your words, to make a person stronger. Your words are to their soul what a vitamin is to their body.
Do not withhold encouragement from the discouraged. Do not keep affirmation from the beaten down! Speak words that make people stronger. Believe in them as God has believed in you.
Job 27
1 And Job continued his discourse:
2 "As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
the Almighty, who has made me taste bitterness of soul,
3 as long as I have life within me,
the breath of God in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak wickedness,
and my tongue will utter no deceit.
5 I will never admit you are in the right;
till I die, I will not deny my integrity.
6 I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it;
my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.
7 "May my enemies be like the wicked,
my adversaries like the unjust!
8 For what hope has the godless when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?
9 Does God listen to his cry
when distress comes upon him?
10 Will he find delight in the Almighty?
Will he call upon God at all times?
11 "I will teach you about the power of God;
the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 You have all seen this yourselves.
Why then this meaningless talk?
13 "Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,
the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:
14 However many his children, their fate is the sword;
his offspring will never have enough to eat.
15 The plague will bury those who survive him,
and their widows will not weep for them.
16 Though he heaps up silver like dust
and clothes like piles of clay,
17 what he lays up the righteous will wear,
and the innocent will divide his silver.
18 The house he builds is like a moth's cocoon,
like a hut made by a watchman.
19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;
a tempest snatches him away in the night.
21 The east wind carries him off, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
22 It hurls itself against him without mercy
as he flees headlong from its power.
23 It claps its hands in derision
and hisses him out of his place.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 133
1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
Getting Along
October 24, 2010 — by Joe Stowell
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! —Psalm 133:1
I can still remember what it was like to take our family on vacation, only to have the kids in the backseat mar the joy of it all by their bickering and complaining. Who doesn’t remember the disruptive effects of “Dad, she touched me!” or “Mom, he won’t give me a turn!”
If you’ve had that kind of experience, you can imagine how God feels when His children quarrel and complain. Getting along is important to God. Jesus prayed that we would “be one” so that the world would believe He came from the Father (John 17:20-21). And to disciples who were prone to quarreling, He commanded that they love and serve one another (13:34-35; Matt. 20:20-28). It should also be noted that among the seven things God hates, He includes “one who sows discord among brethren” (Prov. 6:19).
So I’m not surprised that the psalmist tells us that when brothers dwell in unity, it’s like “the precious oil upon the head, running down on . . . the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments” (Ps. 133:1-2). In ancient times, the oil of anointing was full of fragrant spices that graced the environment wherever the anointed one went. May the unity that comes from our love and service to one another fragrantly grace our families, churches, and friendships!
When love and kindness rule our lives,
And we are seen as one,
The fragrance of our unity
Has no comparison. —Sper
Christians who get along with each other
spread the sweet aroma of Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 24th, 2010
The Proper Perspective
Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ . . . —2 Corinthians 2:14
The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.
The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him . . .” (Romans 8:37).
“We are to God the fragrance of Christ . . .” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.
Encourage One Another
Posted: 23 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need—words that will help others become stronger. Ephesians 4:29
You have the ability, with your words, to make a person stronger. Your words are to their soul what a vitamin is to their body.
Do not withhold encouragement from the discouraged. Do not keep affirmation from the beaten down! Speak words that make people stronger. Believe in them as God has believed in you.
Job 27
1 And Job continued his discourse:
2 "As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
the Almighty, who has made me taste bitterness of soul,
3 as long as I have life within me,
the breath of God in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak wickedness,
and my tongue will utter no deceit.
5 I will never admit you are in the right;
till I die, I will not deny my integrity.
6 I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it;
my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.
7 "May my enemies be like the wicked,
my adversaries like the unjust!
8 For what hope has the godless when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?
9 Does God listen to his cry
when distress comes upon him?
10 Will he find delight in the Almighty?
Will he call upon God at all times?
11 "I will teach you about the power of God;
the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 You have all seen this yourselves.
Why then this meaningless talk?
13 "Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,
the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:
14 However many his children, their fate is the sword;
his offspring will never have enough to eat.
15 The plague will bury those who survive him,
and their widows will not weep for them.
16 Though he heaps up silver like dust
and clothes like piles of clay,
17 what he lays up the righteous will wear,
and the innocent will divide his silver.
18 The house he builds is like a moth's cocoon,
like a hut made by a watchman.
19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;
a tempest snatches him away in the night.
21 The east wind carries him off, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
22 It hurls itself against him without mercy
as he flees headlong from its power.
23 It claps its hands in derision
and hisses him out of his place.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 133
1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
Getting Along
October 24, 2010 — by Joe Stowell
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! —Psalm 133:1
I can still remember what it was like to take our family on vacation, only to have the kids in the backseat mar the joy of it all by their bickering and complaining. Who doesn’t remember the disruptive effects of “Dad, she touched me!” or “Mom, he won’t give me a turn!”
If you’ve had that kind of experience, you can imagine how God feels when His children quarrel and complain. Getting along is important to God. Jesus prayed that we would “be one” so that the world would believe He came from the Father (John 17:20-21). And to disciples who were prone to quarreling, He commanded that they love and serve one another (13:34-35; Matt. 20:20-28). It should also be noted that among the seven things God hates, He includes “one who sows discord among brethren” (Prov. 6:19).
So I’m not surprised that the psalmist tells us that when brothers dwell in unity, it’s like “the precious oil upon the head, running down on . . . the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments” (Ps. 133:1-2). In ancient times, the oil of anointing was full of fragrant spices that graced the environment wherever the anointed one went. May the unity that comes from our love and service to one another fragrantly grace our families, churches, and friendships!
When love and kindness rule our lives,
And we are seen as one,
The fragrance of our unity
Has no comparison. —Sper
Christians who get along with each other
spread the sweet aroma of Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 24th, 2010
The Proper Perspective
Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ . . . —2 Corinthians 2:14
The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.
The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him . . .” (Romans 8:37).
“We are to God the fragrance of Christ . . .” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Job 26, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Live to Please God
Live to Please God
Posted: 22 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Teach me how to live to please you, because you are my God. Psalm 143:8, The Message
If God has called you to be a Martha, then serve! Remind the rest of us that there is evangelism in feeding the poor and there is worship in nursing the sick.
If God has called you to be a Mary, then worship! Remind the rest of us that we don’t have to be busy to be holy. Urge us with your example to put down our clipboards and megaphones and be quiet in worship.
Job 26
Job
1 Then Job replied:
2 "How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the arm that is feeble!
3 What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
And what great insight you have displayed!
4 Who has helped you utter these words?
And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?
5 "The dead are in deep anguish,
those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
6 Death [a] is naked before God;
Destruction [b] lies uncovered.
7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
9 He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.
10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at his rebuke.
12 By his power he churned up the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.
13 By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.
14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 7:14-24
14 Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.
15 The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?"
16 Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.
17 If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?"
20 "You are demon-possessed," the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"
21 Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all astonished.
22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath.
23 Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath?
24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."
First Impressions
October 23, 2010 — by Bill Crowder
Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. —John 7:24
A while back, Our Daily Bread published an article I wrote about a young woman who wore a T-shirt that said, “Love Is for Losers.” In it, I commented on what a sad message that was, and I wrote about the hurt this motto represented.
To my surprise, one of our readers gave that message a completely different slant. She sent a note informing me that her daughter and her daughter’s friends—all tennis players—wear shirts with that slogan. In tennis, a “love” score is zero. If your score in a game is “love,” you lose—so in tennis, love really is for losers. That mom’s note gave me a new perspective on that saying.
This incident reminded me how easy it is to make wrong first judgments. Based on incomplete or inaccurate information, we can jump to wrong conclusions and make poor value judgments about people and situations. And that can cause great hurt to others.
Speaking to people who had misjudged Him, Jesus warned, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). We need to be careful that our judgments are backed up by the right information (the truth) and the right attitude (the compassion of Christ). Try this motto: “Righteous judgment is for winners.”
Don’t judge too quickly what you see;
Treat lightly first impression;
Misunderstandings multiply
Without right information. —Sper
A snap judgment has a way of becoming unfastened.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 23Rd, 2010
Nothing of the Old Life!
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new —2 Corinthians 5:17
Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind . . . is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.
Live to Please God
Posted: 22 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Teach me how to live to please you, because you are my God. Psalm 143:8, The Message
If God has called you to be a Martha, then serve! Remind the rest of us that there is evangelism in feeding the poor and there is worship in nursing the sick.
If God has called you to be a Mary, then worship! Remind the rest of us that we don’t have to be busy to be holy. Urge us with your example to put down our clipboards and megaphones and be quiet in worship.
Job 26
Job
1 Then Job replied:
2 "How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the arm that is feeble!
3 What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
And what great insight you have displayed!
4 Who has helped you utter these words?
And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?
5 "The dead are in deep anguish,
those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
6 Death [a] is naked before God;
Destruction [b] lies uncovered.
7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
9 He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.
10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at his rebuke.
12 By his power he churned up the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.
13 By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.
14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 7:14-24
14 Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.
15 The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?"
16 Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.
17 If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?"
20 "You are demon-possessed," the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"
21 Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all astonished.
22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath.
23 Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath?
24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."
First Impressions
October 23, 2010 — by Bill Crowder
Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. —John 7:24
A while back, Our Daily Bread published an article I wrote about a young woman who wore a T-shirt that said, “Love Is for Losers.” In it, I commented on what a sad message that was, and I wrote about the hurt this motto represented.
To my surprise, one of our readers gave that message a completely different slant. She sent a note informing me that her daughter and her daughter’s friends—all tennis players—wear shirts with that slogan. In tennis, a “love” score is zero. If your score in a game is “love,” you lose—so in tennis, love really is for losers. That mom’s note gave me a new perspective on that saying.
This incident reminded me how easy it is to make wrong first judgments. Based on incomplete or inaccurate information, we can jump to wrong conclusions and make poor value judgments about people and situations. And that can cause great hurt to others.
Speaking to people who had misjudged Him, Jesus warned, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). We need to be careful that our judgments are backed up by the right information (the truth) and the right attitude (the compassion of Christ). Try this motto: “Righteous judgment is for winners.”
Don’t judge too quickly what you see;
Treat lightly first impression;
Misunderstandings multiply
Without right information. —Sper
A snap judgment has a way of becoming unfastened.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 23Rd, 2010
Nothing of the Old Life!
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new —2 Corinthians 5:17
Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind . . . is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Job 25, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: The Big Choice
The Big Choice
Posted: 21 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. Psalm 119:30, NIV
Think about it. There are many things in life we can’t choose. We can’t, for example, choose the weather. We can’t control the economy. We can’t choose whether or not we are born with a big nose or blue eyes or a lot of hair ... but we can choose where we spend eternity.
The big choice, God leaves to us.
Job 25
Bildad
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 "Dominion and awe belong to God;
he establishes order in the heights of heaven.
3 Can his forces be numbered?
Upon whom does his light not rise?
4 How then can a man be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?
5 If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his eyes,
6 how much less man, who is but a maggot—
a son of man, who is only a worm!"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 65:17–66:2
17 "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
20 "Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.
23 They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the Lord.
Learning From The Redwoods
October 22, 2010 — by Mart De Haan
As the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people. —Isaiah 65:22
North America’s Pacific Coast Redwoods are some of the biggest trees in the world. The tallest on record, Hyperion, soars 379 feet into the air.
During a visit to California’s Muir Woods National Park, I was surprised and overwhelmed by the enormity of those redwoods. Trees as tall as a 30- story building seemed to press me into the forest floor while drawing my thoughts upward.
The memory of what I felt at the base of some of the tallest and oldest trees in the world has left me with lingering thoughts about their origin. Those redwoods, like the family tree of our own humanity, are rooted in a Creator who is infinitely and eternally greater than His creation.
The prophet Isaiah caught a glimpse of this God. In a vision that mingled the wonders of a Messianic kingdom with the promise of a new heaven and earth, he describes One who makes the skies His throne and the earth His footstool (Isa. 66:1).
Yet Isaiah saw something even more overwhelming. He saw a great God who wants His people to “be glad and rejoice forever in what I create” (65:18). In response, let’s bow before Him in humble adoration (66:2).
How glorious to think ahead
Of blessings yet to be,
Of help from God while life shall last—
Then joys eternally! —Branon
God’s work of creating is done;
our work of praising has only begun.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 22nd, 2010
The Witness of the Spirit
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit . . . —Romans 8:16
We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him—we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.
Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself—He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28 , “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden . . . .” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).
The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Your Permanent in a World of Temporary - #6205
Friday, October 22, 2010
October is beautiful in many parts of the U.S. It's fall; it's the time, as I told my kids, that the angels come out at night and paint the leaves red and yellow and orange. Pray for my kids. Forget the angel part. The trees really do put on a fantastic show of color in the fall, and spring isn't bad either. After the gray and brown, or even barren of winter, I love that fresh green of spring's new life. But in between fall and spring, there's this long stretch where the trees are basically colored "dead." Well, not all the trees. There's life all year long; there's green all year long. They don't lose their color, however dead and barren the rest of the world around them may be. They're evergreens!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Permanent in a World of Temporary."
It's not just trees that turn color in our lives - it happens to relationships, too. A relationship that was once blooming beautifully, giving color to our life, starts to turn, to lose its color, to wither, even to die. Sooner or later, every "I love you" seems to include a "goodbye." Some relationships die with a whimper; some with a bang; some slowly, some suddenly; some, not by choice, but by death.
My first realization of that was a night my parents left me alone in our Chicago apartment to go to a funeral. They were gone longer than they had predicted, and that's when I heard the wail of sirens nearby. Well, I have to tell you, a young boy's fears kicked in at that point and I thought, "My parents are late. There's a siren. Maybe they were killed in an accident." They weren't, but that was when I first realized that what you love you can lose. And ultimately, I have buried both my mom and my dad and plenty of other people (some old, some very young) who would never have chosen to leave. Often what hurts even more is the loves that do choose to leave us. Like winter's leaves; they wither and blow away.
What we need is an evergreen relationship - one that cannot be touched by desertion, by divorce, by distance, by death. There is such a relationship, but only one. In order to be our evergreen, it's going to have to be a love that will never turn on us and never die on us. That love is celebrated in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:38-39 . These words literally have the power to lead you to the one anchor relationship your heart has always yearned for.
Here's what it says. "Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." There it is - evergreen love. It's God's love, found in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Here's why God's love is the love you can't lose. Even though we were made for that love, we're missing that love because we've chosen to take our life into our own hands instead of putting it in God's hands. We've chosen "my way" over God's way in thousands of situations throughout our life. And the Bible says, "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2 ). That separation could only be bridged one way; a way that seems unthinkable. That God's Son, the only One without any sin of His own, would come to earth and do what only He could do - do the dying for our sinning against Him. Pay the penalty so the sin could be erased so we could experience the love that our sin has cost us.
And today, the Man who loved you enough to die for you has come looking for you to offer you a life, and an eternity, filled with His evergreen love. But it can't be a one-way love affair. You have to respond to His love by placing your life in His hands and turning your back on the sin that cost Him His life. Your love response might be just three words, "Jesus, I'm Yours." If you want to pursue that love relationship with Him, I want to invite you to check out our website today. It's yoursforlife.net. Or you can call 866-473-2829.
God Himself has said that once you open up to His love, "nothing in all creation will be able to separate" you.
The Big Choice
Posted: 21 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. Psalm 119:30, NIV
Think about it. There are many things in life we can’t choose. We can’t, for example, choose the weather. We can’t control the economy. We can’t choose whether or not we are born with a big nose or blue eyes or a lot of hair ... but we can choose where we spend eternity.
The big choice, God leaves to us.
Job 25
Bildad
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 "Dominion and awe belong to God;
he establishes order in the heights of heaven.
3 Can his forces be numbered?
Upon whom does his light not rise?
4 How then can a man be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?
5 If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his eyes,
6 how much less man, who is but a maggot—
a son of man, who is only a worm!"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 65:17–66:2
17 "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
20 "Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.
23 They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the Lord.
Learning From The Redwoods
October 22, 2010 — by Mart De Haan
As the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people. —Isaiah 65:22
North America’s Pacific Coast Redwoods are some of the biggest trees in the world. The tallest on record, Hyperion, soars 379 feet into the air.
During a visit to California’s Muir Woods National Park, I was surprised and overwhelmed by the enormity of those redwoods. Trees as tall as a 30- story building seemed to press me into the forest floor while drawing my thoughts upward.
The memory of what I felt at the base of some of the tallest and oldest trees in the world has left me with lingering thoughts about their origin. Those redwoods, like the family tree of our own humanity, are rooted in a Creator who is infinitely and eternally greater than His creation.
The prophet Isaiah caught a glimpse of this God. In a vision that mingled the wonders of a Messianic kingdom with the promise of a new heaven and earth, he describes One who makes the skies His throne and the earth His footstool (Isa. 66:1).
Yet Isaiah saw something even more overwhelming. He saw a great God who wants His people to “be glad and rejoice forever in what I create” (65:18). In response, let’s bow before Him in humble adoration (66:2).
How glorious to think ahead
Of blessings yet to be,
Of help from God while life shall last—
Then joys eternally! —Branon
God’s work of creating is done;
our work of praising has only begun.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 22nd, 2010
The Witness of the Spirit
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit . . . —Romans 8:16
We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him—we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.
Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself—He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28 , “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden . . . .” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).
The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Your Permanent in a World of Temporary - #6205
Friday, October 22, 2010
October is beautiful in many parts of the U.S. It's fall; it's the time, as I told my kids, that the angels come out at night and paint the leaves red and yellow and orange. Pray for my kids. Forget the angel part. The trees really do put on a fantastic show of color in the fall, and spring isn't bad either. After the gray and brown, or even barren of winter, I love that fresh green of spring's new life. But in between fall and spring, there's this long stretch where the trees are basically colored "dead." Well, not all the trees. There's life all year long; there's green all year long. They don't lose their color, however dead and barren the rest of the world around them may be. They're evergreens!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Permanent in a World of Temporary."
It's not just trees that turn color in our lives - it happens to relationships, too. A relationship that was once blooming beautifully, giving color to our life, starts to turn, to lose its color, to wither, even to die. Sooner or later, every "I love you" seems to include a "goodbye." Some relationships die with a whimper; some with a bang; some slowly, some suddenly; some, not by choice, but by death.
My first realization of that was a night my parents left me alone in our Chicago apartment to go to a funeral. They were gone longer than they had predicted, and that's when I heard the wail of sirens nearby. Well, I have to tell you, a young boy's fears kicked in at that point and I thought, "My parents are late. There's a siren. Maybe they were killed in an accident." They weren't, but that was when I first realized that what you love you can lose. And ultimately, I have buried both my mom and my dad and plenty of other people (some old, some very young) who would never have chosen to leave. Often what hurts even more is the loves that do choose to leave us. Like winter's leaves; they wither and blow away.
What we need is an evergreen relationship - one that cannot be touched by desertion, by divorce, by distance, by death. There is such a relationship, but only one. In order to be our evergreen, it's going to have to be a love that will never turn on us and never die on us. That love is celebrated in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:38-39 . These words literally have the power to lead you to the one anchor relationship your heart has always yearned for.
Here's what it says. "Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." There it is - evergreen love. It's God's love, found in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Here's why God's love is the love you can't lose. Even though we were made for that love, we're missing that love because we've chosen to take our life into our own hands instead of putting it in God's hands. We've chosen "my way" over God's way in thousands of situations throughout our life. And the Bible says, "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2 ). That separation could only be bridged one way; a way that seems unthinkable. That God's Son, the only One without any sin of His own, would come to earth and do what only He could do - do the dying for our sinning against Him. Pay the penalty so the sin could be erased so we could experience the love that our sin has cost us.
And today, the Man who loved you enough to die for you has come looking for you to offer you a life, and an eternity, filled with His evergreen love. But it can't be a one-way love affair. You have to respond to His love by placing your life in His hands and turning your back on the sin that cost Him His life. Your love response might be just three words, "Jesus, I'm Yours." If you want to pursue that love relationship with Him, I want to invite you to check out our website today. It's yoursforlife.net. Or you can call 866-473-2829.
God Himself has said that once you open up to His love, "nothing in all creation will be able to separate" you.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Matthew 12, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: You are Unique
You are Unique
Posted: 20 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Each of us is an original. Galatians 5:26, The Message
There are certain things you can do that no one else can. Perhaps it is parenting, or constructing houses, or encouraging the discouraged. There are things that only you can do, and you are alive to do them.
In the great orchestra we call life, you have an instrument and a song, and you owe it to God to play them both sublimely.
Matthew 12
Lord of the Sabbath
1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that one[a] greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'[b] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
9Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
11He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
13Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
God's Chosen Servant
15Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, 16warning them not to tell who he was. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18"Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
20A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
21In his name the nations will put their hope."[c]
Jesus and Beelzebub
22Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Proverbs 18:9-12
9 One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.
12 Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
Safe Room
October 21, 2010 — by Marvin Williams
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. —Proverbs 18:10
In some homes, owners have built safe rooms—special places where they can go for protection should someone break into the house.
In Proverbs 18:10, Solomon reminded God’s people that God is their “safe room” and that they could find total security in Him.
In verses 10 and 11, he described two types of security to which some people run: the name of the Lord and wealth. The name or character of God is described as a “strong tower.” As a captured city might take refuge in a fortified tower, so the righteous could run to the Lord and find complete safety.
On the other hand, the wealthy imagined their riches as a high point of safety. Solomon sought to tell his readers that money might give a sense of security but it would be a false security that could lead to laziness, pride, and destruction. Yet people who are humble and find their complete security in the unchanging and holy character of God will find true safety.
Wealth may not be your particular “safe room.” You might tend to run instead to something or someone else when adversity comes. But we all need to learn to depend daily on the Lord and find a high point of safety in the safe room of His name.
It’s often easier to trust
In what our eyes can see,
But God asks us to look to Him
For our security. —Sper
The name of the Lord is our safe room.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 21st, 2010
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . . —Jude 20
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
All The Good Stuff You're Missing - #6204
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Many years ago, one of the 20th Century's great Christian leaders, Peter Deyneka, was immigrating to America on a long Atlantic voyage with only a few coins in his pocket. When he got hungry, he reached into this little bag he'd brought with him to eat the same thing every meal - a few dry crusts of bread and some water. He was pretty hungry when his ship finally docked in New York; not to mention pretty sick of bread crusts. That's when he realized something that he'd wished he had understood at the beginning of the voyage - three full meals a day had been included in his fare. They were all included in his ticket!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "All The Good Stuff You're Missing."
That young traveler had been living at a much lower level than he needed to live! He had no idea all the good things he had gotten when he got his ticket. When God looks at His children, sailing through life, He sees a lot of us living the same way - under-living. Not realizing how we could be living and all the good stuff we got when we opened our lives to Jesus Christ.
Biblical passages like Ephesians 3 , beginning with verse 12, our word for today from the Word of God, spell out what's included in your ticket. Paul writes: "In Him (that's in Jesus) and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence...I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being (okay, so there's supernatural inner strength that comes when Jesus comes in)...I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power...to know this love that surpasses knowledge" (you got this indescribable love and security when you got Jesus). He goes on to say, "that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Imagine all the resources of God Himself downloadable by you - His wisdom for your questions, His power for your difficulties, His love for your lonely times, His peace for your troubled times. We don't have to live like these stressed out, strung out, weighed down people we often are! Dry bread crusts when we've got all the resources of God at our disposal!
Those resources are accessed through serious prayer. And we under-live because we under-pray. We over-worry and overwork and get overwhelmed because we under-pray. I mean really pray. One model of prayer that moves heaven to your need is found in Acts 4 , where the apostles have been threatened by the same Jewish leaders who engineered the death of Jesus. The apostle's response? They gather the believers together and raise "their voices together in prayer to God. 'Sovereign Lord,' they said, 'You made the heaven and the earth and the sea.'"
They go on to celebrate the fact that all that's happening is under God's sovereign power and will. Finally, after focusing only on the greatness of their God, they ask Him for boldness and supernatural power. The place where they prayed was shaken, the Holy Spirit showed up big-time, and they told everybody about Jesus.
And there's the pattern for aiming all of God's power at your situation; at your need. First, focus on your big, big God, not your big, big problem. Then, trust Him for the big, big things you need. But always put your praise before your please, your worship before your request. When you take a little time to celebrate the awesomeness of the God you belong to, the God you're trusting in, you start to access all those great resources that came with your ticket. You don't have to live the way you have been living! You've got so much to draw on since the day you let Jesus in! Don't wait until you reach your heavenly destination to realize how you could have been living all along!
You are Unique
Posted: 20 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Each of us is an original. Galatians 5:26, The Message
There are certain things you can do that no one else can. Perhaps it is parenting, or constructing houses, or encouraging the discouraged. There are things that only you can do, and you are alive to do them.
In the great orchestra we call life, you have an instrument and a song, and you owe it to God to play them both sublimely.
Matthew 12
Lord of the Sabbath
1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that one[a] greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'[b] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
9Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
11He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
13Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
God's Chosen Servant
15Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, 16warning them not to tell who he was. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18"Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
20A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
21In his name the nations will put their hope."[c]
Jesus and Beelzebub
22Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Proverbs 18:9-12
9 One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.
12 Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
Safe Room
October 21, 2010 — by Marvin Williams
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. —Proverbs 18:10
In some homes, owners have built safe rooms—special places where they can go for protection should someone break into the house.
In Proverbs 18:10, Solomon reminded God’s people that God is their “safe room” and that they could find total security in Him.
In verses 10 and 11, he described two types of security to which some people run: the name of the Lord and wealth. The name or character of God is described as a “strong tower.” As a captured city might take refuge in a fortified tower, so the righteous could run to the Lord and find complete safety.
On the other hand, the wealthy imagined their riches as a high point of safety. Solomon sought to tell his readers that money might give a sense of security but it would be a false security that could lead to laziness, pride, and destruction. Yet people who are humble and find their complete security in the unchanging and holy character of God will find true safety.
Wealth may not be your particular “safe room.” You might tend to run instead to something or someone else when adversity comes. But we all need to learn to depend daily on the Lord and find a high point of safety in the safe room of His name.
It’s often easier to trust
In what our eyes can see,
But God asks us to look to Him
For our security. —Sper
The name of the Lord is our safe room.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 21st, 2010
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . . —Jude 20
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
All The Good Stuff You're Missing - #6204
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Many years ago, one of the 20th Century's great Christian leaders, Peter Deyneka, was immigrating to America on a long Atlantic voyage with only a few coins in his pocket. When he got hungry, he reached into this little bag he'd brought with him to eat the same thing every meal - a few dry crusts of bread and some water. He was pretty hungry when his ship finally docked in New York; not to mention pretty sick of bread crusts. That's when he realized something that he'd wished he had understood at the beginning of the voyage - three full meals a day had been included in his fare. They were all included in his ticket!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "All The Good Stuff You're Missing."
That young traveler had been living at a much lower level than he needed to live! He had no idea all the good things he had gotten when he got his ticket. When God looks at His children, sailing through life, He sees a lot of us living the same way - under-living. Not realizing how we could be living and all the good stuff we got when we opened our lives to Jesus Christ.
Biblical passages like Ephesians 3 , beginning with verse 12, our word for today from the Word of God, spell out what's included in your ticket. Paul writes: "In Him (that's in Jesus) and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence...I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being (okay, so there's supernatural inner strength that comes when Jesus comes in)...I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power...to know this love that surpasses knowledge" (you got this indescribable love and security when you got Jesus). He goes on to say, "that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Imagine all the resources of God Himself downloadable by you - His wisdom for your questions, His power for your difficulties, His love for your lonely times, His peace for your troubled times. We don't have to live like these stressed out, strung out, weighed down people we often are! Dry bread crusts when we've got all the resources of God at our disposal!
Those resources are accessed through serious prayer. And we under-live because we under-pray. We over-worry and overwork and get overwhelmed because we under-pray. I mean really pray. One model of prayer that moves heaven to your need is found in Acts 4 , where the apostles have been threatened by the same Jewish leaders who engineered the death of Jesus. The apostle's response? They gather the believers together and raise "their voices together in prayer to God. 'Sovereign Lord,' they said, 'You made the heaven and the earth and the sea.'"
They go on to celebrate the fact that all that's happening is under God's sovereign power and will. Finally, after focusing only on the greatness of their God, they ask Him for boldness and supernatural power. The place where they prayed was shaken, the Holy Spirit showed up big-time, and they told everybody about Jesus.
And there's the pattern for aiming all of God's power at your situation; at your need. First, focus on your big, big God, not your big, big problem. Then, trust Him for the big, big things you need. But always put your praise before your please, your worship before your request. When you take a little time to celebrate the awesomeness of the God you belong to, the God you're trusting in, you start to access all those great resources that came with your ticket. You don't have to live the way you have been living! You've got so much to draw on since the day you let Jesus in! Don't wait until you reach your heavenly destination to realize how you could have been living all along!
Matthew 11, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: You are Unique
You are Unique
Posted: 20 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Each of us is an original. Galatians 5:26, The Message
There are certain things you can do that no one else can. Perhaps it is parenting, or constructing houses, or encouraging the discouraged. There are things that only you can do, and you are alive to do them.
In the great orchestra we call life, you have an instrument and a song, and you owe it to God to play them both sublimely.
Matthew 12
Lord of the Sabbath
1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that one[a] greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'[b] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
9Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
11He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
13Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
God's Chosen Servant
15Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, 16warning them not to tell who he was. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18"Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
20A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
21In his name the nations will put their hope."[c]
Jesus and Beelzebub
22Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Proverbs 18:9-12
9 One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.
12 Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
Safe Room
October 21, 2010 — by Marvin Williams
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. —Proverbs 18:10
In some homes, owners have built safe rooms—special places where they can go for protection should someone break into the house.
In Proverbs 18:10, Solomon reminded God’s people that God is their “safe room” and that they could find total security in Him.
In verses 10 and 11, he described two types of security to which some people run: the name of the Lord and wealth. The name or character of God is described as a “strong tower.” As a captured city might take refuge in a fortified tower, so the righteous could run to the Lord and find complete safety.
On the other hand, the wealthy imagined their riches as a high point of safety. Solomon sought to tell his readers that money might give a sense of security but it would be a false security that could lead to laziness, pride, and destruction. Yet people who are humble and find their complete security in the unchanging and holy character of God will find true safety.
Wealth may not be your particular “safe room.” You might tend to run instead to something or someone else when adversity comes. But we all need to learn to depend daily on the Lord and find a high point of safety in the safe room of His name.
It’s often easier to trust
In what our eyes can see,
But God asks us to look to Him
For our security. —Sper
The name of the Lord is our safe room.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 21st, 2010
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . . —Jude 20
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
All The Good Stuff You're Missing - #6204
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Many years ago, one of the 20th Century's great Christian leaders, Peter Deyneka, was immigrating to America on a long Atlantic voyage with only a few coins in his pocket. When he got hungry, he reached into this little bag he'd brought with him to eat the same thing every meal - a few dry crusts of bread and some water. He was pretty hungry when his ship finally docked in New York; not to mention pretty sick of bread crusts. That's when he realized something that he'd wished he had understood at the beginning of the voyage - three full meals a day had been included in his fare. They were all included in his ticket!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "All The Good Stuff You're Missing."
That young traveler had been living at a much lower level than he needed to live! He had no idea all the good things he had gotten when he got his ticket. When God looks at His children, sailing through life, He sees a lot of us living the same way - under-living. Not realizing how we could be living and all the good stuff we got when we opened our lives to Jesus Christ.
Biblical passages like Ephesians 3 , beginning with verse 12, our word for today from the Word of God, spell out what's included in your ticket. Paul writes: "In Him (that's in Jesus) and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence...I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being (okay, so there's supernatural inner strength that comes when Jesus comes in)...I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power...to know this love that surpasses knowledge" (you got this indescribable love and security when you got Jesus). He goes on to say, "that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Imagine all the resources of God Himself downloadable by you - His wisdom for your questions, His power for your difficulties, His love for your lonely times, His peace for your troubled times. We don't have to live like these stressed out, strung out, weighed down people we often are! Dry bread crusts when we've got all the resources of God at our disposal!
Those resources are accessed through serious prayer. And we under-live because we under-pray. We over-worry and overwork and get overwhelmed because we under-pray. I mean really pray. One model of prayer that moves heaven to your need is found in Acts 4 , where the apostles have been threatened by the same Jewish leaders who engineered the death of Jesus. The apostle's response? They gather the believers together and raise "their voices together in prayer to God. 'Sovereign Lord,' they said, 'You made the heaven and the earth and the sea.'"
They go on to celebrate the fact that all that's happening is under God's sovereign power and will. Finally, after focusing only on the greatness of their God, they ask Him for boldness and supernatural power. The place where they prayed was shaken, the Holy Spirit showed up big-time, and they told everybody about Jesus.
And there's the pattern for aiming all of God's power at your situation; at your need. First, focus on your big, big God, not your big, big problem. Then, trust Him for the big, big things you need. But always put your praise before your please, your worship before your request. When you take a little time to celebrate the awesomeness of the God you belong to, the God you're trusting in, you start to access all those great resources that came with your ticket. You don't have to live the way you have been living! You've got so much to draw on since the day you let Jesus in! Don't wait until you reach your heavenly destination to realize how you could have been living all along!
You are Unique
Posted: 20 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Each of us is an original. Galatians 5:26, The Message
There are certain things you can do that no one else can. Perhaps it is parenting, or constructing houses, or encouraging the discouraged. There are things that only you can do, and you are alive to do them.
In the great orchestra we call life, you have an instrument and a song, and you owe it to God to play them both sublimely.
Matthew 12
Lord of the Sabbath
1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that one[a] greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'[b] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
9Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
11He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
13Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
God's Chosen Servant
15Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, 16warning them not to tell who he was. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18"Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
20A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
21In his name the nations will put their hope."[c]
Jesus and Beelzebub
22Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Proverbs 18:9-12
9 One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
11 The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.
12 Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
Safe Room
October 21, 2010 — by Marvin Williams
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. —Proverbs 18:10
In some homes, owners have built safe rooms—special places where they can go for protection should someone break into the house.
In Proverbs 18:10, Solomon reminded God’s people that God is their “safe room” and that they could find total security in Him.
In verses 10 and 11, he described two types of security to which some people run: the name of the Lord and wealth. The name or character of God is described as a “strong tower.” As a captured city might take refuge in a fortified tower, so the righteous could run to the Lord and find complete safety.
On the other hand, the wealthy imagined their riches as a high point of safety. Solomon sought to tell his readers that money might give a sense of security but it would be a false security that could lead to laziness, pride, and destruction. Yet people who are humble and find their complete security in the unchanging and holy character of God will find true safety.
Wealth may not be your particular “safe room.” You might tend to run instead to something or someone else when adversity comes. But we all need to learn to depend daily on the Lord and find a high point of safety in the safe room of His name.
It’s often easier to trust
In what our eyes can see,
But God asks us to look to Him
For our security. —Sper
The name of the Lord is our safe room.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 21st, 2010
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . . —Jude 20
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
All The Good Stuff You're Missing - #6204
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Many years ago, one of the 20th Century's great Christian leaders, Peter Deyneka, was immigrating to America on a long Atlantic voyage with only a few coins in his pocket. When he got hungry, he reached into this little bag he'd brought with him to eat the same thing every meal - a few dry crusts of bread and some water. He was pretty hungry when his ship finally docked in New York; not to mention pretty sick of bread crusts. That's when he realized something that he'd wished he had understood at the beginning of the voyage - three full meals a day had been included in his fare. They were all included in his ticket!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "All The Good Stuff You're Missing."
That young traveler had been living at a much lower level than he needed to live! He had no idea all the good things he had gotten when he got his ticket. When God looks at His children, sailing through life, He sees a lot of us living the same way - under-living. Not realizing how we could be living and all the good stuff we got when we opened our lives to Jesus Christ.
Biblical passages like Ephesians 3 , beginning with verse 12, our word for today from the Word of God, spell out what's included in your ticket. Paul writes: "In Him (that's in Jesus) and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence...I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being (okay, so there's supernatural inner strength that comes when Jesus comes in)...I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power...to know this love that surpasses knowledge" (you got this indescribable love and security when you got Jesus). He goes on to say, "that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Imagine all the resources of God Himself downloadable by you - His wisdom for your questions, His power for your difficulties, His love for your lonely times, His peace for your troubled times. We don't have to live like these stressed out, strung out, weighed down people we often are! Dry bread crusts when we've got all the resources of God at our disposal!
Those resources are accessed through serious prayer. And we under-live because we under-pray. We over-worry and overwork and get overwhelmed because we under-pray. I mean really pray. One model of prayer that moves heaven to your need is found in Acts 4 , where the apostles have been threatened by the same Jewish leaders who engineered the death of Jesus. The apostle's response? They gather the believers together and raise "their voices together in prayer to God. 'Sovereign Lord,' they said, 'You made the heaven and the earth and the sea.'"
They go on to celebrate the fact that all that's happening is under God's sovereign power and will. Finally, after focusing only on the greatness of their God, they ask Him for boldness and supernatural power. The place where they prayed was shaken, the Holy Spirit showed up big-time, and they told everybody about Jesus.
And there's the pattern for aiming all of God's power at your situation; at your need. First, focus on your big, big God, not your big, big problem. Then, trust Him for the big, big things you need. But always put your praise before your please, your worship before your request. When you take a little time to celebrate the awesomeness of the God you belong to, the God you're trusting in, you start to access all those great resources that came with your ticket. You don't have to live the way you have been living! You've got so much to draw on since the day you let Jesus in! Don't wait until you reach your heavenly destination to realize how you could have been living all along!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Job 24, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Holiness
Holiness
Posted: 19 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
God, examine me and know my heart…Lead me on the road to everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24
You don’t have to be like the world to have an impact on the world. You don’t have to be like the crowd to change the crowd. You don’t have to lower yourself down to their level to lift them up to your level. Holiness doesn’t seek to be odd. Holiness seeks to be like God.
Job 24
1 "Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
2 Men move boundary stones;
they pasture flocks they have stolen.
3 They drive away the orphan's donkey
and take the widow's ox in pledge.
4 They thrust the needy from the path
and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
5 Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go about their labor of foraging food;
the wasteland provides food for their children.
6 They gather fodder in the fields
and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
8 They are drenched by mountain rains
and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces [c] ;
they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.
But God charges no one with wrongdoing.
13 "There are those who rebel against the light,
who do not know its ways
or stay in its paths.
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up
and kills the poor and needy;
in the night he steals forth like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;
he thinks, 'No eye will see me,'
and he keeps his face concealed.
16 In the dark, men break into houses,
but by day they shut themselves in;
they want nothing to do with the light.
17 For all of them, deep darkness is their morning [d] ;
they make friends with the terrors of darkness. [e]
18 "Yet they are foam on the surface of the water;
their portion of the land is cursed,
so that no one goes to the vineyards.
19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,
so the grave [f] snatches away those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them,
the worm feasts on them;
evil men are no longer remembered
but are broken like a tree.
21 They prey on the barren and childless woman,
and to the widow show no kindness.
22 But God drags away the mighty by his power;
though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security,
but his eyes are on their ways.
24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are cut off like heads of grain.
25 "If this is not so, who can prove me false
and reduce my words to nothing?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Corinthians 2:1-9
1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.
2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,
5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
Wisdom From the Spirit
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"--
Well-Chosen Words
October 20, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
[I] did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. —1 Corinthians 2:1
When I was a kid, I learned a big word that was fun to pronounce: “antidisestablishmentarianism.” What a mouthful! I recently took the time to look it up. The dictionary defines it as “the doctrine or political position that opposes the withdrawal of state recognition of an established church.” The definition is almost as difficult as the term itself. Neither I nor my school friends knew what it meant. But using the big word made me look knowledgeable.
When the apostle Paul ministered to people, he didn’t try to impress others. In his letter to the Corinthians, he wrote: “When I came to you, [I] did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God” (1 Cor. 2:1). “Excellence of speech” is the translation of Greek words meaning “high-sounding words” or “pompous speech.” This implies using words to exalt self instead of to instruct others. Paul was a brilliant scholar who expressed the deep things of God in Scripture. Yet he did not use lofty language to elevate his self-importance.
As we grow in our understanding of God’s Word, let’s follow Paul’s example and guard against parading knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Instead, let’s use well-chosen words that build up and encourage others.
The words we speak may indicate
A heart that’s filled with pride;
But godly self-control displays
The Spirit’s work inside. —Sper
It’s not the words we know that show wisdom,
but how and when we use them.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 20th, 2010
Is God’s Will My Will?
This is the will of God, your sanctification . . . —1 Thessalonians 4:3
Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not. Recognize your need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus will become real in you.
All that Jesus made possible becomes mine through the free and loving gift of God on the basis of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound, humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness). It is a holiness based on agonizing repentance, a sense of inexpressible shame and degradation, and also on the amazing realization that the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him (see Romans 5:8). He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul said that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is accomplished only through the magnificent atonement of Christ. Never confuse the effect with the cause. The effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me because of the atonement through the Cross of Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How a Father Builds A Son - #6203
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
I guess it's in the testosterone. Guys are just wired to build something; a business, a church, furniture, home improvement projects. Some men build a team, some build financial security for their family, and some just build a name for themselves. Even I've felt motivated to build a few things, I'm the ultimate un-handyman. There was the little tree house - well, more like a tree platform - but the kids enjoyed it. The dollhouse for our daughter. The miniature barn for our son. There's a reason that God put this building thing in guys. Some of us have a really big project to build!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How a Father Builds A Son."
When God trusts a man with a son, He is putting in his hands probably the most important building project of his life. If a man builds a mighty empire or a billion dollar enterprise and loses his son, can we call his life a true success? A boy will decide what the word "man" means based on the first one he knows and the one he knows best - his dad. A boy will likely decide what God is like, and whether or not he wants anything to do with Him, based on how his dad treats him...because God has introduced Himself to us as our Heavenly Father.
How a man treats the women in his life; what he thinks really matters...what he thinks really doesn't matter, he'll get that from copying the biggest man in his life - his dad. And how many boys have grown up into men who are never sure they were good enough, always insecure, and always feeling like they've got something to prove, because the main man in his shaping years failed to make him feel loved and confident and valuable? Building a son - now that takes a real man. Tearing one down - that's not much of a man at all.
There's a revealing picture of how a father builds a son in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 3:16-17 . Jesus, God's Son, is about to launch into the earthly ministry that His Father sent Him to earth for. His first public act is to be baptized by John the Baptist. It's there that we get an incredible glimpse behind the veil at the awesome relationship between God the Father and God the Son. The Bible tells us: "As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water... And a voice from heaven said, 'This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.'"
Here's the Father affirming His approval of His Son - a vote of confidence that must have meant a lot to Jesus as He headed out into battle. It's a demonstration of the power of a father's praise at the highest possible level. It's what your son desperately needs from you, Dad. 1 Thessalonians 2:12 describes in three action words how a father should treat his children: "encouraging, comforting and urging." The question is, Dad, how do you try to motivate your children; especially your boy? With shame? With silence? By giving love when they perform and withdrawing love when they don't? By never letting them know where they really stand? That's not building a boy. That's dismantling a boy.
He needs your praise - frequently. He needs the kind of focused time with you that says to him, "I like you, son. I want to be with you." Your son needs your undivided attention when he's talking so he learns that what he says is important to you, just because he's saying it. And often your son needs to hear your compliments, your pleasure, your pride in him. You can give him the courage that he'll need to lead, to say no to the pressure, to attempt great things, to treat other people like they're important.
You build a son by building up your son, by often helping him see the awesome thing God did when He created that boy. Even God the Father launched His Son into life with His public approval. How can you do any less for the son He's given you?
Holiness
Posted: 19 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
God, examine me and know my heart…Lead me on the road to everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24
You don’t have to be like the world to have an impact on the world. You don’t have to be like the crowd to change the crowd. You don’t have to lower yourself down to their level to lift them up to your level. Holiness doesn’t seek to be odd. Holiness seeks to be like God.
Job 24
1 "Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
2 Men move boundary stones;
they pasture flocks they have stolen.
3 They drive away the orphan's donkey
and take the widow's ox in pledge.
4 They thrust the needy from the path
and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
5 Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go about their labor of foraging food;
the wasteland provides food for their children.
6 They gather fodder in the fields
and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
8 They are drenched by mountain rains
and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces [c] ;
they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.
But God charges no one with wrongdoing.
13 "There are those who rebel against the light,
who do not know its ways
or stay in its paths.
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up
and kills the poor and needy;
in the night he steals forth like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;
he thinks, 'No eye will see me,'
and he keeps his face concealed.
16 In the dark, men break into houses,
but by day they shut themselves in;
they want nothing to do with the light.
17 For all of them, deep darkness is their morning [d] ;
they make friends with the terrors of darkness. [e]
18 "Yet they are foam on the surface of the water;
their portion of the land is cursed,
so that no one goes to the vineyards.
19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,
so the grave [f] snatches away those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them,
the worm feasts on them;
evil men are no longer remembered
but are broken like a tree.
21 They prey on the barren and childless woman,
and to the widow show no kindness.
22 But God drags away the mighty by his power;
though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security,
but his eyes are on their ways.
24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are cut off like heads of grain.
25 "If this is not so, who can prove me false
and reduce my words to nothing?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Corinthians 2:1-9
1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.
2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,
5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
Wisdom From the Spirit
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"--
Well-Chosen Words
October 20, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
[I] did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. —1 Corinthians 2:1
When I was a kid, I learned a big word that was fun to pronounce: “antidisestablishmentarianism.” What a mouthful! I recently took the time to look it up. The dictionary defines it as “the doctrine or political position that opposes the withdrawal of state recognition of an established church.” The definition is almost as difficult as the term itself. Neither I nor my school friends knew what it meant. But using the big word made me look knowledgeable.
When the apostle Paul ministered to people, he didn’t try to impress others. In his letter to the Corinthians, he wrote: “When I came to you, [I] did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God” (1 Cor. 2:1). “Excellence of speech” is the translation of Greek words meaning “high-sounding words” or “pompous speech.” This implies using words to exalt self instead of to instruct others. Paul was a brilliant scholar who expressed the deep things of God in Scripture. Yet he did not use lofty language to elevate his self-importance.
As we grow in our understanding of God’s Word, let’s follow Paul’s example and guard against parading knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Instead, let’s use well-chosen words that build up and encourage others.
The words we speak may indicate
A heart that’s filled with pride;
But godly self-control displays
The Spirit’s work inside. —Sper
It’s not the words we know that show wisdom,
but how and when we use them.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 20th, 2010
Is God’s Will My Will?
This is the will of God, your sanctification . . . —1 Thessalonians 4:3
Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not. Recognize your need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus will become real in you.
All that Jesus made possible becomes mine through the free and loving gift of God on the basis of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound, humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness). It is a holiness based on agonizing repentance, a sense of inexpressible shame and degradation, and also on the amazing realization that the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him (see Romans 5:8). He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul said that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is accomplished only through the magnificent atonement of Christ. Never confuse the effect with the cause. The effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me because of the atonement through the Cross of Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How a Father Builds A Son - #6203
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
I guess it's in the testosterone. Guys are just wired to build something; a business, a church, furniture, home improvement projects. Some men build a team, some build financial security for their family, and some just build a name for themselves. Even I've felt motivated to build a few things, I'm the ultimate un-handyman. There was the little tree house - well, more like a tree platform - but the kids enjoyed it. The dollhouse for our daughter. The miniature barn for our son. There's a reason that God put this building thing in guys. Some of us have a really big project to build!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How a Father Builds A Son."
When God trusts a man with a son, He is putting in his hands probably the most important building project of his life. If a man builds a mighty empire or a billion dollar enterprise and loses his son, can we call his life a true success? A boy will decide what the word "man" means based on the first one he knows and the one he knows best - his dad. A boy will likely decide what God is like, and whether or not he wants anything to do with Him, based on how his dad treats him...because God has introduced Himself to us as our Heavenly Father.
How a man treats the women in his life; what he thinks really matters...what he thinks really doesn't matter, he'll get that from copying the biggest man in his life - his dad. And how many boys have grown up into men who are never sure they were good enough, always insecure, and always feeling like they've got something to prove, because the main man in his shaping years failed to make him feel loved and confident and valuable? Building a son - now that takes a real man. Tearing one down - that's not much of a man at all.
There's a revealing picture of how a father builds a son in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 3:16-17 . Jesus, God's Son, is about to launch into the earthly ministry that His Father sent Him to earth for. His first public act is to be baptized by John the Baptist. It's there that we get an incredible glimpse behind the veil at the awesome relationship between God the Father and God the Son. The Bible tells us: "As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water... And a voice from heaven said, 'This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.'"
Here's the Father affirming His approval of His Son - a vote of confidence that must have meant a lot to Jesus as He headed out into battle. It's a demonstration of the power of a father's praise at the highest possible level. It's what your son desperately needs from you, Dad. 1 Thessalonians 2:12 describes in three action words how a father should treat his children: "encouraging, comforting and urging." The question is, Dad, how do you try to motivate your children; especially your boy? With shame? With silence? By giving love when they perform and withdrawing love when they don't? By never letting them know where they really stand? That's not building a boy. That's dismantling a boy.
He needs your praise - frequently. He needs the kind of focused time with you that says to him, "I like you, son. I want to be with you." Your son needs your undivided attention when he's talking so he learns that what he says is important to you, just because he's saying it. And often your son needs to hear your compliments, your pleasure, your pride in him. You can give him the courage that he'll need to lead, to say no to the pressure, to attempt great things, to treat other people like they're important.
You build a son by building up your son, by often helping him see the awesome thing God did when He created that boy. Even God the Father launched His Son into life with His public approval. How can you do any less for the son He's given you?
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Job 23, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: The Holy One
The Holy One
Posted: 18 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
I am the Holy One, and I am among you. Hosea 11:9
You can claim courage from God’s promises. May I give you a few examples?
When you are confused: “‘I know what I am planning for you’ says the Lord. ‘I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you’” (Jeremiah 29:11).
On those nights when you wonder where God is: “I am the Holy One, and I am among you” (Hosea 11:9).
Job 23
Job
1 Then Job replied:
2 "Even today my complaint is bitter;
his hand [a] is heavy in spite of [b] my groaning.
3 If only I knew where to find him;
if only I could go to his dwelling!
4 I would state my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would find out what he would answer me,
and consider what he would say.
6 Would he oppose me with great power?
No, he would not press charges against me.
7 There an upright man could present his case before him,
and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
8 "But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
11 My feet have closely followed his steps;
I have kept to his way without turning aside.
12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
13 "But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?
He does whatever he pleases.
14 He carries out his decree against me,
and many such plans he still has in store.
15 That is why I am terrified before him;
when I think of all this, I fear him.
16 God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me.
17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
by the thick darkness that covers my face.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 58:6-12
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Hoarding Or Helping?
October 19, 2010 — by David C. McCasland
If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness. —Isaiah 58:10
In August 1914, when Britain entered World War I, Oswald Chambers was 40 years old with a wife and a 1-year-old daughter. It wasn’t long before men were joining the army at the rate of 30,000 a day, people were asked to sell their automobiles and farm horses to the government, and lists of the dead and wounded began appearing in daily newspapers. The nation faced economic uncertainty and peril.
A month into the war, Chambers spoke of the spiritual challenge facing followers of Christ: “We must take heed that in the present calamities, when war and devastation and heart-break are abroad in the world, we do not shut ourselves up in a world of our own and ignore the demand made on us by our Lord and our fellowmen for the service of intercessory prayer and hospitality and care.”
God’s call to His people rings true in every age: “If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday” (Isa. 58:10).
Fear causes us to grasp what we have; faith in God opens our hands and hearts to others. We walk in His light when we help others, not hoard for ourselves.
Give me a heart sympathetic and tender—
Jesus, like Thine, Jesus, like Thine—
Touched by the needs that are surging around me,
And filled with compassion divine. —Anon.
As Christ’s love grows in us, His love flows from us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 19th, 2010
The Unheeded Secret
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world —John 18:36
The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation . . . . For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives to be seen by others, while it is the innermost, personal area that reveals the power of a person’s life.
We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord’s life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.
It is not the practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College— its entire strength lies in the fact that here you are immersed in the truths of God to soak in them before Him. You have no idea of where or how God is going to engineer your future circumstances, and no knowledge of what stress and strain is going to be placed on you either at home or abroad. And if you waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God’s redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Very Different Children of the Very Same Father - #6202
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
You know what a busy day is. But here's busy! The scene: the maternity ward in a South Carolina hospital. In one 24-hour stretch recently, they had five sets of twins born! Did you ever see nurses on roller skates? Did you ever see women in a maternity ward taking numbers? One obstetrician actually met himself coming out of the delivery room! It must have been pandemonium! Five moms, ten deliveries, and five totally bewildered fathers! But sometimes the arrival of just one set of twins can make for an amazing night in the maternity ward. Like the birth of Alicia and Jasmin in a Queensland, Australia, hospital not too long ago. Mom is from a Jamaican-English background, and Dad is German. As for the twins: one is black, the other one is white. I was looking at a picture of them. They're calling it a million-to-one medical miracle.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Very Different Children of the Same Father."
That's what those twin girls are. As they grow older, people will look at them and notice how different they are. But the difference is literally only skin deep. They are the daughters of the same father; from the same blood.
And that's who we are, those of us who belong to Jesus Christ, different in some "skin deep" ways, but the children of the same Heavenly Father; born the same way - from the same blood. The blood of Jesus shed for us so we could be born into the family of Almighty God. Or, as it says in our word for today from the Word of God, Galatians 3 , beginning with verse 26, "You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus...There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus" (NLT).
Where we let our differences come between us, our Father is not pleased. Think about your own relationships, your prejudices - the categories you put people in. Look around your school, your community, your church. Are there walls and chasms between some of God's children, who are all carrying the same spiritual DNA?
It may be that racial differences are separating children of the same Father, or social differences, the money we make, the clothes we wear, the education we have, the way we talk.
We can let denominational or doctrinal differences come between people who are united by the same blood - Jesus' blood. Sometimes we spend 90 percent of our time on the ten percent that divides us instead of coming together around the 90 percent that God's Bible-grounded children agree on.
Meanwhile, our divisions are giving lost people just another reason to ignore our Jesus. They look at us and say, "Hey, when you guys can get together, come and talk to me." It's time we started to act like what we really are: children of the same Father, born into the same family, sharing the same spiritual DNA, rescued at the same old rugged cross, spending eternity together in the same heaven. Isn't it time we made an effort to try to worship together, to learn from each others' unique perspective, to start praying together for a mighty move of God in our area, to reach out to a community that will sit up and take notice when we work together?
We can do it. We must do it because, as the Bible says, "He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier." How? "We have been brought near through the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13-14 ). No, we may not look alike on the outside. But our differences are ultimately skin deep. Our Father looks at His very different kids and says, "You're both My children. You're both My blood." Why don't we treat each other like that?
The Holy One
Posted: 18 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
I am the Holy One, and I am among you. Hosea 11:9
You can claim courage from God’s promises. May I give you a few examples?
When you are confused: “‘I know what I am planning for you’ says the Lord. ‘I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you’” (Jeremiah 29:11).
On those nights when you wonder where God is: “I am the Holy One, and I am among you” (Hosea 11:9).
Job 23
Job
1 Then Job replied:
2 "Even today my complaint is bitter;
his hand [a] is heavy in spite of [b] my groaning.
3 If only I knew where to find him;
if only I could go to his dwelling!
4 I would state my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would find out what he would answer me,
and consider what he would say.
6 Would he oppose me with great power?
No, he would not press charges against me.
7 There an upright man could present his case before him,
and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
8 "But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
11 My feet have closely followed his steps;
I have kept to his way without turning aside.
12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
13 "But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?
He does whatever he pleases.
14 He carries out his decree against me,
and many such plans he still has in store.
15 That is why I am terrified before him;
when I think of all this, I fear him.
16 God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me.
17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
by the thick darkness that covers my face.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 58:6-12
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Hoarding Or Helping?
October 19, 2010 — by David C. McCasland
If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness. —Isaiah 58:10
In August 1914, when Britain entered World War I, Oswald Chambers was 40 years old with a wife and a 1-year-old daughter. It wasn’t long before men were joining the army at the rate of 30,000 a day, people were asked to sell their automobiles and farm horses to the government, and lists of the dead and wounded began appearing in daily newspapers. The nation faced economic uncertainty and peril.
A month into the war, Chambers spoke of the spiritual challenge facing followers of Christ: “We must take heed that in the present calamities, when war and devastation and heart-break are abroad in the world, we do not shut ourselves up in a world of our own and ignore the demand made on us by our Lord and our fellowmen for the service of intercessory prayer and hospitality and care.”
God’s call to His people rings true in every age: “If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday” (Isa. 58:10).
Fear causes us to grasp what we have; faith in God opens our hands and hearts to others. We walk in His light when we help others, not hoard for ourselves.
Give me a heart sympathetic and tender—
Jesus, like Thine, Jesus, like Thine—
Touched by the needs that are surging around me,
And filled with compassion divine. —Anon.
As Christ’s love grows in us, His love flows from us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 19th, 2010
The Unheeded Secret
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world —John 18:36
The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation . . . . For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives to be seen by others, while it is the innermost, personal area that reveals the power of a person’s life.
We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord’s life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.
It is not the practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College— its entire strength lies in the fact that here you are immersed in the truths of God to soak in them before Him. You have no idea of where or how God is going to engineer your future circumstances, and no knowledge of what stress and strain is going to be placed on you either at home or abroad. And if you waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God’s redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Very Different Children of the Very Same Father - #6202
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
You know what a busy day is. But here's busy! The scene: the maternity ward in a South Carolina hospital. In one 24-hour stretch recently, they had five sets of twins born! Did you ever see nurses on roller skates? Did you ever see women in a maternity ward taking numbers? One obstetrician actually met himself coming out of the delivery room! It must have been pandemonium! Five moms, ten deliveries, and five totally bewildered fathers! But sometimes the arrival of just one set of twins can make for an amazing night in the maternity ward. Like the birth of Alicia and Jasmin in a Queensland, Australia, hospital not too long ago. Mom is from a Jamaican-English background, and Dad is German. As for the twins: one is black, the other one is white. I was looking at a picture of them. They're calling it a million-to-one medical miracle.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Very Different Children of the Same Father."
That's what those twin girls are. As they grow older, people will look at them and notice how different they are. But the difference is literally only skin deep. They are the daughters of the same father; from the same blood.
And that's who we are, those of us who belong to Jesus Christ, different in some "skin deep" ways, but the children of the same Heavenly Father; born the same way - from the same blood. The blood of Jesus shed for us so we could be born into the family of Almighty God. Or, as it says in our word for today from the Word of God, Galatians 3 , beginning with verse 26, "You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus...There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus" (NLT).
Where we let our differences come between us, our Father is not pleased. Think about your own relationships, your prejudices - the categories you put people in. Look around your school, your community, your church. Are there walls and chasms between some of God's children, who are all carrying the same spiritual DNA?
It may be that racial differences are separating children of the same Father, or social differences, the money we make, the clothes we wear, the education we have, the way we talk.
We can let denominational or doctrinal differences come between people who are united by the same blood - Jesus' blood. Sometimes we spend 90 percent of our time on the ten percent that divides us instead of coming together around the 90 percent that God's Bible-grounded children agree on.
Meanwhile, our divisions are giving lost people just another reason to ignore our Jesus. They look at us and say, "Hey, when you guys can get together, come and talk to me." It's time we started to act like what we really are: children of the same Father, born into the same family, sharing the same spiritual DNA, rescued at the same old rugged cross, spending eternity together in the same heaven. Isn't it time we made an effort to try to worship together, to learn from each others' unique perspective, to start praying together for a mighty move of God in our area, to reach out to a community that will sit up and take notice when we work together?
We can do it. We must do it because, as the Bible says, "He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier." How? "We have been brought near through the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13-14 ). No, we may not look alike on the outside. But our differences are ultimately skin deep. Our Father looks at His very different kids and says, "You're both My children. You're both My blood." Why don't we treat each other like that?
Monday, October 18, 2010
Job 22, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Posted: 17 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Come to me, ... and you will find rest for your lives. Matthew 11:28-29
Come to me…
The people came… They brought him the burdens of their existence, and he gave them not religion, not doctrine, not systems, but rest.
They found anchor points for their storm-tossed souls. And they found that Jesus was the only man to walk God’s earth who claimed to have an answer for man’s burdens.
“Come to me.”
Job 22
Eliphaz
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 "Can a man be of benefit to God?
Can even a wise man benefit him?
3 What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
What would he gain if your ways were blameless?
4 "Is it for your piety that he rebukes you
and brings charges against you?
5 Is not your wickedness great?
Are not your sins endless?
6 You demanded security from your brothers for no reason;
you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.
7 You gave no water to the weary
and you withheld food from the hungry,
8 though you were a powerful man, owning land—
an honored man, living on it.
9 And you sent widows away empty-handed
and broke the strength of the fatherless.
10 That is why snares are all around you,
why sudden peril terrifies you,
11 why it is so dark you cannot see,
and why a flood of water covers you.
12 "Is not God in the heights of heaven?
And see how lofty are the highest stars!
13 Yet you say, 'What does God know?
Does he judge through such darkness?
14 Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us
as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.'
15 Will you keep to the old path
that evil men have trod?
16 They were carried off before their time,
their foundations washed away by a flood.
17 They said to God, 'Leave us alone!
What can the Almighty do to us?'
18 Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,
so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.
19 "The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;
the innocent mock them, saying,
20 'Surely our foes are destroyed,
and fire devours their wealth.'
21 "Submit to God and be at peace with him;
in this way prosperity will come to you.
22 Accept instruction from his mouth
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
If you remove wickedness far from your tent
24 and assign your nuggets to the dust,
your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold,
the choicest silver for you.
26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
and will lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows.
28 What you decide on will be done,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 When men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!'
then he will save the downcast.
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ephesians 4:7-13
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
8 This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."
9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?
10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Still Going
October 18, 2010 — by Dave Branon
Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. —Colossians 3:23
The Energizer Bunny can’t top the Service Partners of RBC Ministries. RBC, the publishers of Our Daily Bread, has a volunteer program called Service Partners that gives people the opportunity to donate their skills and time—helping us accomplish our mission “to make the life-changing wisdom of the Bible understandable and accessible to all.”
Some of the Service Partners are well past retirement age. Despite the aches, pains, and limitations of advancing age, they show up regularly and serve cheerfully at a variety of tasks. In 2009, they completed 100,000 hours in service since the program’s inception. They just keep going and going—not unlike the famous pink bunny.
Their example is a reminder that there is no “use by” date on our earthly lives. Scripture doesn’t designate a retirement age for believers. But there is an end product for our service—one unrelated to age. In describing the results of the efforts of “pastors and teachers,” Paul says their purpose is to equip “the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12). And that “work of ministry,” which is the job of all believers, can lead to “the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (v.13). This task should “keep us going” for the rest of our lives.
Start where you are in serving the Lord,
Claim His sure promise and trust in His Word;
God simply asks you to do what you can—
He’ll use your efforts to further His plan. —Anon.
Young or old—God can use you if you’re willing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 18th, 2010
The Key to the Missionary’s Devotion
. . . they went forth for His name’s sake . . . —3 John 7
Our Lord told us how our love for Him is to exhibit itself when He asked, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:17). And then He said, “Feed My sheep.” In effect, He said, “Identify yourself with My interests in other people,” not, “Identify Me with your interests in other people.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 shows us the characteristics of this love— it is actually the love of God expressing itself. The true test of my love for Jesus is a very practical one, and all the rest is sentimental talk.
Faithfulness to Jesus Christ is the supernatural work of redemption that has been performed in me by the Holy Spirit— “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit . . .” (Romans 5:5). And it is that love in me that effectively works through me and comes in contact with everyone I meet. I remain faithful to His name, even though the commonsense view of my life may seemingly deny that, and may appear to be declaring that He has no more power than the morning mist.
The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. External detachment is often an actual indication of a secret, growing, inner attachment to the things we stay away from externally.
The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
So Rich, So Needy - #6201
Monday, October 18, 2010
A close friend of ours was in China recently on family business. In the process, he had a wonderful opportunity to worship with some Chinese believers in a Sunday church service. It was a not-to-be-forgotten experience. They pointed him to something he didn't know existed in China - a Christian bookstore. It was the only one in this large city, and it's hard to find, and it's stuffed into this very small space on the fourth floor of a nondescript building - but it's a Christian bookstore in China. Our friend commented in an e-mail about the small number of Christian books that were available there in Chinese. In addition to books, they also had a small selection of Christian bookmarks and refrigerator magnets with verses or inspirational thoughts on them. There was one fridge magnet that our friend absolutely could not, and cannot, get out of his mind. Here in the midst of this great city in this great land where Christians have paid such a price to follow Jesus was a magnet that simply said, "Pray for America." The only comment our friend had was this: "How humbling." I guess.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "So Rich, So Needy."
If you're an American Christian, you probably think of China as a place we need to pray for - and it is. But in China, apparently they think they need to pray for us, and indeed they do. Their faith is passionate there; ours is often so casual so powerless. What for Chinese believers is a passion is for too many of us a profession, a bunch of religious activities or a religious business. We have so much, and yet in terms of spiritual power and passion, we seem to have so little. They have so little and yet, in many ways, they have so much. I'm glad and I'm humbled that they're praying for us.
If you're an American Christian, I hope you're praying for us, too. It's hard to read the description of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3 and not see us American believers in these words: "You are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm ... I am about to spit you out of My mouth. You say, 'I am rich' ... but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." We live amid the greatest spiritual wealth in the history of the Christian church. We've got Christian everything: books, videos, conferences, seminars, websites, celebrities, buildings. And yet with the largest Christian subculture in the history of the Church, we've lost our culture for Christ. And we are the "12:48 People" who live under the judgment of our Master's words in Luke 12:48 , "To whom much is given, much is required."
So, the call of 2 Chronicles 7:14 , our word for today from the Word of God, must be a call to you and me. "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." The destiny of a nation depends on what God's people do. Not the politicians, not the secular humanists or the abortionists. As we go, so goes our nation. And we need to be going to our knees for ourselves, repenting of our proud self-reliance; abandoning the faith we have in programs and depending on prayer instead; seeking to know God - to touch His face - not just to know more about God; and to admit our compromises and our sin and abandon it.
From there, we have to realize the responsibility we each have as a Christian from the strongest, richest, most resourced Church in our world. For God has always judged the true righteousness of His people by their love and commitment to three groups of people: the poor, the victims, and the lost. Is that what we're about? Is that what you're about? Somewhere in China today, they're praying for us. Let's be part of the answer to their prayers!
Come to Jesus
Posted: 17 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Come to me, ... and you will find rest for your lives. Matthew 11:28-29
Come to me…
The people came… They brought him the burdens of their existence, and he gave them not religion, not doctrine, not systems, but rest.
They found anchor points for their storm-tossed souls. And they found that Jesus was the only man to walk God’s earth who claimed to have an answer for man’s burdens.
“Come to me.”
Job 22
Eliphaz
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 "Can a man be of benefit to God?
Can even a wise man benefit him?
3 What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
What would he gain if your ways were blameless?
4 "Is it for your piety that he rebukes you
and brings charges against you?
5 Is not your wickedness great?
Are not your sins endless?
6 You demanded security from your brothers for no reason;
you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.
7 You gave no water to the weary
and you withheld food from the hungry,
8 though you were a powerful man, owning land—
an honored man, living on it.
9 And you sent widows away empty-handed
and broke the strength of the fatherless.
10 That is why snares are all around you,
why sudden peril terrifies you,
11 why it is so dark you cannot see,
and why a flood of water covers you.
12 "Is not God in the heights of heaven?
And see how lofty are the highest stars!
13 Yet you say, 'What does God know?
Does he judge through such darkness?
14 Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us
as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.'
15 Will you keep to the old path
that evil men have trod?
16 They were carried off before their time,
their foundations washed away by a flood.
17 They said to God, 'Leave us alone!
What can the Almighty do to us?'
18 Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,
so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.
19 "The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;
the innocent mock them, saying,
20 'Surely our foes are destroyed,
and fire devours their wealth.'
21 "Submit to God and be at peace with him;
in this way prosperity will come to you.
22 Accept instruction from his mouth
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
If you remove wickedness far from your tent
24 and assign your nuggets to the dust,
your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold,
the choicest silver for you.
26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
and will lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows.
28 What you decide on will be done,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 When men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!'
then he will save the downcast.
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ephesians 4:7-13
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
8 This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."
9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?
10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Still Going
October 18, 2010 — by Dave Branon
Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. —Colossians 3:23
The Energizer Bunny can’t top the Service Partners of RBC Ministries. RBC, the publishers of Our Daily Bread, has a volunteer program called Service Partners that gives people the opportunity to donate their skills and time—helping us accomplish our mission “to make the life-changing wisdom of the Bible understandable and accessible to all.”
Some of the Service Partners are well past retirement age. Despite the aches, pains, and limitations of advancing age, they show up regularly and serve cheerfully at a variety of tasks. In 2009, they completed 100,000 hours in service since the program’s inception. They just keep going and going—not unlike the famous pink bunny.
Their example is a reminder that there is no “use by” date on our earthly lives. Scripture doesn’t designate a retirement age for believers. But there is an end product for our service—one unrelated to age. In describing the results of the efforts of “pastors and teachers,” Paul says their purpose is to equip “the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12). And that “work of ministry,” which is the job of all believers, can lead to “the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (v.13). This task should “keep us going” for the rest of our lives.
Start where you are in serving the Lord,
Claim His sure promise and trust in His Word;
God simply asks you to do what you can—
He’ll use your efforts to further His plan. —Anon.
Young or old—God can use you if you’re willing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 18th, 2010
The Key to the Missionary’s Devotion
. . . they went forth for His name’s sake . . . —3 John 7
Our Lord told us how our love for Him is to exhibit itself when He asked, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:17). And then He said, “Feed My sheep.” In effect, He said, “Identify yourself with My interests in other people,” not, “Identify Me with your interests in other people.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 shows us the characteristics of this love— it is actually the love of God expressing itself. The true test of my love for Jesus is a very practical one, and all the rest is sentimental talk.
Faithfulness to Jesus Christ is the supernatural work of redemption that has been performed in me by the Holy Spirit— “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit . . .” (Romans 5:5). And it is that love in me that effectively works through me and comes in contact with everyone I meet. I remain faithful to His name, even though the commonsense view of my life may seemingly deny that, and may appear to be declaring that He has no more power than the morning mist.
The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. External detachment is often an actual indication of a secret, growing, inner attachment to the things we stay away from externally.
The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
So Rich, So Needy - #6201
Monday, October 18, 2010
A close friend of ours was in China recently on family business. In the process, he had a wonderful opportunity to worship with some Chinese believers in a Sunday church service. It was a not-to-be-forgotten experience. They pointed him to something he didn't know existed in China - a Christian bookstore. It was the only one in this large city, and it's hard to find, and it's stuffed into this very small space on the fourth floor of a nondescript building - but it's a Christian bookstore in China. Our friend commented in an e-mail about the small number of Christian books that were available there in Chinese. In addition to books, they also had a small selection of Christian bookmarks and refrigerator magnets with verses or inspirational thoughts on them. There was one fridge magnet that our friend absolutely could not, and cannot, get out of his mind. Here in the midst of this great city in this great land where Christians have paid such a price to follow Jesus was a magnet that simply said, "Pray for America." The only comment our friend had was this: "How humbling." I guess.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "So Rich, So Needy."
If you're an American Christian, you probably think of China as a place we need to pray for - and it is. But in China, apparently they think they need to pray for us, and indeed they do. Their faith is passionate there; ours is often so casual so powerless. What for Chinese believers is a passion is for too many of us a profession, a bunch of religious activities or a religious business. We have so much, and yet in terms of spiritual power and passion, we seem to have so little. They have so little and yet, in many ways, they have so much. I'm glad and I'm humbled that they're praying for us.
If you're an American Christian, I hope you're praying for us, too. It's hard to read the description of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3 and not see us American believers in these words: "You are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm ... I am about to spit you out of My mouth. You say, 'I am rich' ... but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." We live amid the greatest spiritual wealth in the history of the Christian church. We've got Christian everything: books, videos, conferences, seminars, websites, celebrities, buildings. And yet with the largest Christian subculture in the history of the Church, we've lost our culture for Christ. And we are the "12:48 People" who live under the judgment of our Master's words in Luke 12:48 , "To whom much is given, much is required."
So, the call of 2 Chronicles 7:14 , our word for today from the Word of God, must be a call to you and me. "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." The destiny of a nation depends on what God's people do. Not the politicians, not the secular humanists or the abortionists. As we go, so goes our nation. And we need to be going to our knees for ourselves, repenting of our proud self-reliance; abandoning the faith we have in programs and depending on prayer instead; seeking to know God - to touch His face - not just to know more about God; and to admit our compromises and our sin and abandon it.
From there, we have to realize the responsibility we each have as a Christian from the strongest, richest, most resourced Church in our world. For God has always judged the true righteousness of His people by their love and commitment to three groups of people: the poor, the victims, and the lost. Is that what we're about? Is that what you're about? Somewhere in China today, they're praying for us. Let's be part of the answer to their prayers!
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