Thursday, March 13, 2014
Genesis 1 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Satan’s Condemnation
Satan’s condemnation brings no repentance or resolve, just regret! Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). To steal your peace, kill your dreams, and destroy your future. Satan has deputized people to peddle his poison. Friends dredge up your past. Preachers proclaim all guilt and no grace. And parents, oh, your parents. “Why can’t you grow up?” they say. “When are you going to make me proud?” they say. But your accusers will not have the last word! Jesus has acted on your behalf. Jesus Christ has risen to your defense.
Hebrews 10:22 urges “. . .let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, because we have been made free from a guilty conscience.”
Not just for our past mistakes but also for our future ones. Behold the fruit of grace: saved by God, raised by God, seated with God! Gifted, equipped, and commissioned!
From GRACE
Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 40:27-31; 41:10
Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Insight
To say the least, coping with life’s many demands can be fatiguing at times. But the reading for today uses wonderful poetic imagery to describe the buoyancy that faith can provide. The believer who depends upon the Lord can “mount up with wings like eagles” (40:31). The text also mentions the supernatural staying power and stamina that only God can provide. In contrast to the strength that youth and health provide, the person of faith can persevere long after others have given up on the race of life. Finally, Isaiah 41:10 extends a wonderful promise of protection and care through life’s threats and troubles.
Without Power
By David C. McCasland
He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. —Isaiah 40:29
In late October 2012, a hurricane-spawned superstorm struck the heavily populated northeastern US, leaving massive flooding and destruction in its wake. During the storm, more than 8 million customers lost electricity. Power outages alone caused shortages of food, fuel, and water, along with the chaos of gridlocked transportation. The howling winds and surging waters left many neighborhoods crushed, flooded, and choked with mountains of sand. Media coverage of the event reported: “Millions Without Power.”
Like a storm of nature, a personal tragedy can often leave us feeling powerless and in the dark. During such times, God’s Word assures us of His help: “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength” (Isa. 40:29).
At our lowest point, drained of emotional resources, we can place our hope in the Lord and find our strength in Him. He promises us that, for each new day, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (v.31).
God is our spiritual power source in every storm of life.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home! —Watts
It takes the storm to prove the real shelter.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 13, 2014
God’s Total Surrender to Us
For God so loved the world that He gave . . . —John 3:16
Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself.
To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us.
If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us— totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Knocking Out the Light - #7089
Thursday, March 13, 2014
It was about noon when I heard the news. Fortunately, I was safe in my office. All the power was out at Newark Airport. Now, I had used that airport so many times I could very well have been one of those poor travelers who I saw on the evening news groping their way through a totally darkened terminal. There was no electricity to the terminal for an entire day. What a mess! No lights, no computers, no baggage equipment. It was a good day to be in my office. And the reason there were no lights? A pile driver that was being used on an airport construction project somehow punched right through the main power line. With the power and lights out, it was just a very dark day.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Knocking Out the Light."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 22:31-32 , where Jesus says to Simon Peter, "Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." Okay, now here's Peter, perhaps the brightest light of the disciples. And basically Jesus is saying, "Satan wants to knock you out, man." And he wants to do that to anyone who is a light in a dark spot-like you maybe.
See, if it's dark where you work, and you're Jesus' light there if you belong to Him. And the enemy wants the light out so it's totally dark. Maybe it's dark in your school, your area, your family, but God has installed a light there-you. And Satan's trying to knock out the light. He wants to sift you as wheat, and God may be preparing you to spread the light to an even larger circle of people. Don't be surprised if you're suddenly taking a pounding from hell's pile driver. The enemy's only hope of keeping his prisoners in the dark is to knock out the light. So does this explain maybe some of what's been hitting you? You're making a difference, or you're about to. And the forces of darkness want to destroy or at least dim your light.
One wise old preacher gave a young evangelist this advice. He said, "The ferocity of Satan's attack upon you will increase in direct proportion to your potential usefulness for Jesus Christ." So the difficulties and feelings and temptations you've been dealing with lately may not mean there's anything wrong at all. In fact, there may be something wonderfully right. You're starting to make an impact for Jesus. You've attracted attention in hell. You're not wrestling with flesh and blood but against principalities and powers-spiritual forces. There's no reason to be afraid. There's no reason to be discouraged. According to Colossians 2:15 , Jesus has "disarmed the powers and authorities. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by His cross." Wow!
Remember the simple principles of winning against any attack from the dark side. Number one; depend on spiritual weapons to win spiritual battles. That means prayer and fasting. You need to recruit a team of prayer warriors to cover you now with daily prayer as you're becoming a make-a-difference person. You're a target now, and God's people praying for you will cover you with the blood of Jesus and a hedge of His protection.
Number two, regularly put on the spiritual armor of God. Read-memorize if you can-Ephesians 6:10-18 . Thirdly, don't give the devil a foothold. Remove any sin, any compromise that your enemy can use to get into your life. And number four; keep your power lines strong. Don't miss a day of being with Jesus through His Word.
Yes, Satan may desire to have you. But Jesus says, "I prayed for you." Your enemy wants the people around you to spend this life and forever like those people at the airport that day. He wants them stumbling in the dark. He has only one way to make this happen-knock out the light.
If you wander away from Jesus, they'll go there with you. You're either going to be a reason for somebody to be attracted to Jesus or say, "He doesn't really work." There's a lot riding on you keeping the light on. So stay close to the awesome power of the Lord Jesus Christ, who Himself is the light of the world.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Revelation 22 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Voices in our Head
Voices of 'failure' in our world. Voices of 'not good enough' in our head. Who is this morality patrolman who issues a citation at every stumble? Does he ever shut up? No. Because Satan never shuts up!
Revelation 12:9-10 says, "For the Accuser has been thrown down to earth, the one who accused our brothers and sisters before God day and night."
Satan is relentless, tireless. The Accuser makes a career out of accusing. But he will not have the last word. Jesus has acted on our behalf. He stooped…low enough to be spat upon, nailed, and speared. Low…low enough to be buried. And then he stood…he stood up!
Romans 8:34 promises that Christ is in the presence of God at this very moment standing up for us. We have a clean record. It's by his grace!
From GRACE
Revelation 22
New International Version (NIV)
Eden Restored
22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
John and the Angel
6 The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”
7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”
10 Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. 11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
Epilogue: Invitation and Warning
12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you[a] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
Footnotes:
Revelation 22:16 The Greek is plural.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 7:7-12
Ask, Seek, Knock
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Insight
In the reading today, we see how our Lord emphasized the importance of persistence in prayer. The actual Greek grammar might be better translated as “Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. Ask and keep on asking.” Sometimes sincere believers may believe that a sign of faith is to ask God once for a request and never repeat it. But the teachings of the New Testament do not support such a concept. In the parable of the judge and the widow who repeatedly asked him to hear her case, the idea of persistence is central (Luke 18:1-8). As is the case with Job, King David, and other biblical characters, faith is often expressed through repeated prayers and pleading.
The Golden Rule
By David H. Roper
Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. —Matthew 7:12
The concept of The Golden Rule—treat others as you would like to be treated—appears in many religions. So what makes Jesus’ version of the saying so exceptional?
Its uniqueness lies in a single word, “therefore,” that signals the generosity of our heavenly Father. Here is what Jesus said: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them” (Matt. 7:11-12 italics added).
All of us fall short of what we know to be true: We do not love others the way God loves us. Jesus lived out that admirable ethic with perfect love by living and dying for all our sins.
We have a loving, giving Father who set aside His own self-interest to reveal the full measure of His love through His Son Jesus. God’s generosity is the dynamic by which we treat others as we would like to be treated. We love and give to others because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Our heavenly Father asks us to live up to His commands, but He also gives us His power and love to carry it out. We need only to ask Him for it.
Heavenly Father, I know that I lack Your
patience and mercy and love. Please show
Your perfect love through me in some small
way today. In Your Son Jesus’ name I pray.
We have committed The Golden Rule to memory; now let us commit it to life. —E. Markham
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Total Surrender
Peter began to say to Him, ’See, we have left all and followed You’ —Mark 10:28
Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this surrender is “for My sake and the gospel’s” (10:29). It was not for the purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For example, “I’m going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” Being delivered from sin and being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your showcase so I can say, ’This is what God has done for me.’ ” Gaining heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender. Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.
Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse—”Yes, Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ’cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).
True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Volcanoes All Around - #7088
Violence in a movie theater? That's not news. I mean, there's a lot of it on the screen. But, this time, there was violence in the seats of a Florida theatre. A man actually killed a man in front of him. Shot him! Apparently because the victim was texting during the previews. Turns out he was texting daycare to check on his three-year-old daughter.
It's a disturbing reminder of a troubling reality of our time. We're surrounded by angry people who are one provocation away from an explosion. I mean, you can tell by how they're enraged about seemingly small things. You know they already had to have a very full glass for a single drop to make them spill all over everybody. Our easily-triggered and quickly-provoked anger should scare us. Because rage crushes reason and makes us blind to the expensive of consequences of our eruption.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Volcanoes All Around."
When I was in Quito, Ecuador, I was surprised to learn that the city is virtually ringed by volcanic mountains. Dormant, I hoped. The locals pointed out one in particular-Antisana. "It's 18,000 feet," they said, and I was impressed. "They believe it used to be 28,000 feet." I was curious. Turns out that it just blew its top one day. The eruption didn't really last all that long, but the damage was forever. What was lost was lost for good.
Anger's like that. Just ask the spouses, the children who bear the permanent scars from a human volcano near them. Or the countless people who are forever diminished by the angry words, names, and accusations heaped on them. Probably by someone who supposedly loves them.
The "molten lava" of rage often comes from a lot of junk we stuffed inside: wounds, disappointments and perceived injustices. I've found you have just two choices with life's bad stuff. You can let it go or you'll let it grow. Bitterness, grudges, unforgiveness; they don't stay the same size. They morph from deal-withable grassfires into uncontrollable infernos unless you deal with them when they're small.
I found this simple defusing technique in the ancient wisdom of the world's best-selling book. It says, "Do not let the sun go down while you're angry." In other words, deal with it while it's small - manageable. Talk it through. Forgive, if necessary. Get some distance. Just don't stuff it.
Our hair-trigger temper should scare us enough to seek out a place to dump the build-up of years. Someone we can pour it all out to. Someone who can help us work through it. Even to trace our rage back to those original wounds we never dealt with; wounds that became the foundation for what is now a volcanic backlog of angry "sundowns." Unconfronted anger is a ticking time bomb. It's sure to explode, carrying us to consequences we could never imagine. If we're honest, we've all got a dark side. Some of us are better at concealing it than others, but it's still a defining part of who we are.
One teenage guy summed it up pretty well when he told me, "Ron, there's a darkness inside me that scares me." Me, too. Rage, passion, greed, self-destruction, selfishness: they're all symptoms, the Bible explains, of a much deeper cancer. Our rebellion against God. Hijackers; that's what we are. While we were "created by Him and for Him," the Bible says. It also says, "Each of us has turned to His own way" (Colossians 1:16; Isaiah 53:6).
We've left the Sun we were made for and drifted into ever-darker corners of ourselves. In our word for today from the Word of God, Romans chapter 7 beginning in verse 24, one Bible writer describes himself as a "prisoner of sin," and he cried out, "Who will rescue me?" Then the answer. "Thank God! Jesus Christ our Lord!"
The Bible reveals that Jesus turned the full wrath of the beast of sin on Himself when He absorbed all our darkness, all the hell, dying on the cross. He has beaten the monster that has always beaten me. The darkness doesn't have to win any more.
There is a Liberator, a Savior. A Savior I want you to know as I've come to know Him. I ask you to join me at our website and find there the road to begin a relationship with Him that is so transforming. Go to ANewStory.com. I hope you'll check it out today, and let this be your new beginning.
Voices of 'failure' in our world. Voices of 'not good enough' in our head. Who is this morality patrolman who issues a citation at every stumble? Does he ever shut up? No. Because Satan never shuts up!
Revelation 12:9-10 says, "For the Accuser has been thrown down to earth, the one who accused our brothers and sisters before God day and night."
Satan is relentless, tireless. The Accuser makes a career out of accusing. But he will not have the last word. Jesus has acted on our behalf. He stooped…low enough to be spat upon, nailed, and speared. Low…low enough to be buried. And then he stood…he stood up!
Romans 8:34 promises that Christ is in the presence of God at this very moment standing up for us. We have a clean record. It's by his grace!
From GRACE
Revelation 22
New International Version (NIV)
Eden Restored
22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
John and the Angel
6 The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”
7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”
10 Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. 11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
Epilogue: Invitation and Warning
12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you[a] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
Footnotes:
Revelation 22:16 The Greek is plural.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 7:7-12
Ask, Seek, Knock
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Insight
In the reading today, we see how our Lord emphasized the importance of persistence in prayer. The actual Greek grammar might be better translated as “Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. Ask and keep on asking.” Sometimes sincere believers may believe that a sign of faith is to ask God once for a request and never repeat it. But the teachings of the New Testament do not support such a concept. In the parable of the judge and the widow who repeatedly asked him to hear her case, the idea of persistence is central (Luke 18:1-8). As is the case with Job, King David, and other biblical characters, faith is often expressed through repeated prayers and pleading.
The Golden Rule
By David H. Roper
Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. —Matthew 7:12
The concept of The Golden Rule—treat others as you would like to be treated—appears in many religions. So what makes Jesus’ version of the saying so exceptional?
Its uniqueness lies in a single word, “therefore,” that signals the generosity of our heavenly Father. Here is what Jesus said: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them” (Matt. 7:11-12 italics added).
All of us fall short of what we know to be true: We do not love others the way God loves us. Jesus lived out that admirable ethic with perfect love by living and dying for all our sins.
We have a loving, giving Father who set aside His own self-interest to reveal the full measure of His love through His Son Jesus. God’s generosity is the dynamic by which we treat others as we would like to be treated. We love and give to others because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Our heavenly Father asks us to live up to His commands, but He also gives us His power and love to carry it out. We need only to ask Him for it.
Heavenly Father, I know that I lack Your
patience and mercy and love. Please show
Your perfect love through me in some small
way today. In Your Son Jesus’ name I pray.
We have committed The Golden Rule to memory; now let us commit it to life. —E. Markham
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Total Surrender
Peter began to say to Him, ’See, we have left all and followed You’ —Mark 10:28
Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this surrender is “for My sake and the gospel’s” (10:29). It was not for the purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For example, “I’m going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” Being delivered from sin and being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your showcase so I can say, ’This is what God has done for me.’ ” Gaining heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender. Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.
Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse—”Yes, Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ’cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).
True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Volcanoes All Around - #7088
Violence in a movie theater? That's not news. I mean, there's a lot of it on the screen. But, this time, there was violence in the seats of a Florida theatre. A man actually killed a man in front of him. Shot him! Apparently because the victim was texting during the previews. Turns out he was texting daycare to check on his three-year-old daughter.
It's a disturbing reminder of a troubling reality of our time. We're surrounded by angry people who are one provocation away from an explosion. I mean, you can tell by how they're enraged about seemingly small things. You know they already had to have a very full glass for a single drop to make them spill all over everybody. Our easily-triggered and quickly-provoked anger should scare us. Because rage crushes reason and makes us blind to the expensive of consequences of our eruption.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Volcanoes All Around."
When I was in Quito, Ecuador, I was surprised to learn that the city is virtually ringed by volcanic mountains. Dormant, I hoped. The locals pointed out one in particular-Antisana. "It's 18,000 feet," they said, and I was impressed. "They believe it used to be 28,000 feet." I was curious. Turns out that it just blew its top one day. The eruption didn't really last all that long, but the damage was forever. What was lost was lost for good.
Anger's like that. Just ask the spouses, the children who bear the permanent scars from a human volcano near them. Or the countless people who are forever diminished by the angry words, names, and accusations heaped on them. Probably by someone who supposedly loves them.
The "molten lava" of rage often comes from a lot of junk we stuffed inside: wounds, disappointments and perceived injustices. I've found you have just two choices with life's bad stuff. You can let it go or you'll let it grow. Bitterness, grudges, unforgiveness; they don't stay the same size. They morph from deal-withable grassfires into uncontrollable infernos unless you deal with them when they're small.
I found this simple defusing technique in the ancient wisdom of the world's best-selling book. It says, "Do not let the sun go down while you're angry." In other words, deal with it while it's small - manageable. Talk it through. Forgive, if necessary. Get some distance. Just don't stuff it.
Our hair-trigger temper should scare us enough to seek out a place to dump the build-up of years. Someone we can pour it all out to. Someone who can help us work through it. Even to trace our rage back to those original wounds we never dealt with; wounds that became the foundation for what is now a volcanic backlog of angry "sundowns." Unconfronted anger is a ticking time bomb. It's sure to explode, carrying us to consequences we could never imagine. If we're honest, we've all got a dark side. Some of us are better at concealing it than others, but it's still a defining part of who we are.
One teenage guy summed it up pretty well when he told me, "Ron, there's a darkness inside me that scares me." Me, too. Rage, passion, greed, self-destruction, selfishness: they're all symptoms, the Bible explains, of a much deeper cancer. Our rebellion against God. Hijackers; that's what we are. While we were "created by Him and for Him," the Bible says. It also says, "Each of us has turned to His own way" (Colossians 1:16; Isaiah 53:6).
We've left the Sun we were made for and drifted into ever-darker corners of ourselves. In our word for today from the Word of God, Romans chapter 7 beginning in verse 24, one Bible writer describes himself as a "prisoner of sin," and he cried out, "Who will rescue me?" Then the answer. "Thank God! Jesus Christ our Lord!"
The Bible reveals that Jesus turned the full wrath of the beast of sin on Himself when He absorbed all our darkness, all the hell, dying on the cross. He has beaten the monster that has always beaten me. The darkness doesn't have to win any more.
There is a Liberator, a Savior. A Savior I want you to know as I've come to know Him. I ask you to join me at our website and find there the road to begin a relationship with Him that is so transforming. Go to ANewStory.com. I hope you'll check it out today, and let this be your new beginning.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Malachi 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Second Chance
She was only five years old when you took the photo. Cheeks freckled by the summer sun, hair in pigtails. That was twenty years ago. Three marriages ago. A million flight miles and e-mails ago. Today she walks down the aisle on the arm of another father. You left your family bobbing in the wake of your high-speed career. Now that you have what you wanted, you don't want it at all. Oh, to have a second chance.
1 John 4:15 says, "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God."
He re-purposes bad decisions and squalid choices. Saved by grace is to be saved by Him. He placed a term limit on sin and danced a victory jig in a graveyard. God can do something with the mess of your life. Grace is what you need!
From GRACE
Malachi 4
Judgment and Covenant Renewal
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Footnotes:
Malachi 4:1 In Hebrew texts 4:1-6 is numbered 3:19-24.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: James 3:1-12
Taming the Tongue
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Insight
In today’s passage, James writes about Christian maturity. One of the characteristics of maturity is self-control, particularly control of the tongue. Fortunately, we are not responsible for developing it by willpower alone. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23).
The Silent Pen
By Randy Kilgore
The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. —James 3:18
Former US President Harry Truman had a rule: Any letters written in anger had to sit on his desk for 24 hours before they could be mailed. If at the end of that “cooling off” period, he still felt the same sentiments, he would send the letter. By the end of his life, Truman’s unmailed letters filled a large desk drawer.
How often in this age of immediate communication would even 24 minutes of wise restraint spare us embarrassment! In his epistle, James addressed a universal theme in human history when he wrote about the damage an uncontrolled tongue can bring. “No man can tame the tongue,” he wrote. “It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (3:8).
When we’re gossiping or speaking in anger, we find ourselves outside the lines of what God desires. Our tongues, our pens, and even our keyboards should more often fall silent with thanks in our hearts for the restraint God provides. All too often, when we speak we remind everyone of our brokenness as human beings.
When we want to surprise others with the difference Christ makes, we may need to look no further than restraining our tongue. Others can’t help but notice when we honor God with what we say—or don’t say.
Help me, Lord, to use my words not to
tear down others or build up my own reputation,
but to seek the good of others first, and in so doing
to serve You and Your kingdom.
Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles. —Proverbs 21:23
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Obedience to the “Heavenly Vision”
I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision —Acts 26:19
If we lose “the heavenly vision” God has given us, we alone are responsible— not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient to “the heavenly vision” is to give our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision. But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our everyday life— sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public meetings.
“Though it tarries, wait for it . . .” (Habakkuk 2:3). We cannot bring the vision to fulfillment through our own efforts, but must live under its inspiration until it fulfills itself. We try to be so practical that we forget the vision. At the very beginning we saw the vision but did not wait for it. We rushed off to do our practical work, and once the vision was fulfilled we could no longer even see it. Waiting for a vision that “tarries” is the true test of our faithfulness to God. It is at the risk of our own soul’s welfare that we get caught up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision.
Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send you out through His storm, and don’t go until He does. If you select your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an unproductive, empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you will “bear much fruit” (John 15:8).
It is essential that we live and “walk in the light” of God’s vision for us (1 John 1:7).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When Power is Abused - #7087
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
We'll put up with a lot from our politicians, but not everything. See, we really don't like it when someone in power abuses that power for personal gain, personal revenge, covering up wrongdoing, and exploiting other people.
In news just a few weeks ago, a former governor was allegedly using his position to feather his own financial nest. At least that's the accusations. And accusations have been flying about another governor who some say used his power to punish or intimidate. But accusations sometimes are all it takes to turn public opinion.
On the other hand, the press can abuse its power, right? Editing, arranging, and slanting the news to serve their view of how the world should be.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Power is Abused."
My first brush with the abuse of power was Boomer. He was our neighborhood bully. I'm not sure if his mother predestined his "bullyness" by naming him Boomer or if he just plain earned it. He was the biggest kid on the block. So he intimidated and threatened and ripped off all of us little kids, and he got away with it just because he was big. We hated it. You know, we still do...all of us.
I find it very easy to see power being abused when it's someone else, but not so much when it's me. Because, in one way or another, most of us have some kind of position that gives us some power in people's lives. I'm a husband and I have the power to elevate my wife or push her down. I'm a parent which gives me all kinds of power to make my children feel very special or very small.
I'm an employer, and that puts me in a driver's seat where I can dominate or develop people. There are men who use their power to use and abuse and diminish women. Thus exposing what small men they are. There are women who use their power to manipulate and control, thus forfeiting the tenderness and selflessness that makes a woman really beautiful.
There are parents who use the incalculable power they have to crush, to criticize, to belittle their children. Or to use a son or daughter to fulfill what they once were or what they never were and want to be and birthing a robot or a rebel in the process. There are leaders who feel position entitles them to ignore the rules and treat people as things. Thus failing as humans no matter how high they rise, and guaranteeing that one day the bill will come and be more than they can pay. Power is a trust, not a weapon, not a platform for your personal agenda, not a license to live for yourself.
In my lifetime, there have been people I had to follow only because they were in the power position. Then there have been those that I wanted to follow whether they had the position or not because of their character; leading, not using. Leaving you encouraged, not diminished. They empowered, not erased us. Forgiving, not punishing. Making other people feel important instead of acting like they were important.
That's power. Not being a control freak, which is often why we covet power; to be in control. Must be first. Must call the shots. Must get you to do what I want you to do. Must get my way. Tragically, that's put us in the danger zone with the very One who has all the power there is. That would be God. We've decided that we will take charge of a life that God created; hijacking what is His to do with it what we want instead of what He planned.
But defying God has a high price tag. In our word for today from the Word of God, Isaiah 59:2 it says, "Your sins have separated you from your God." I've felt that wall between me and God. I'll bet we all have. Living with that wall means never knowing the purpose and the love I was made for. Dying with that wall there means it will be there forever.
My power grab of my life would have cost me everything except the amazing intervention of the very God I've rebelled against. The Bible says, "He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). The One with all the power set it aside to rescue me. And when I surrendered the wheel to Him, He moved into my life with all that power that raised Him from the dead. Plus, He's bigger than any "Boomer" I'll ever face!
I want to help you begin a relationship with this Jesus. I hope you'll go to ANewStory.com to find out how. There's no reason to live one more day without the One who loves you the most.
She was only five years old when you took the photo. Cheeks freckled by the summer sun, hair in pigtails. That was twenty years ago. Three marriages ago. A million flight miles and e-mails ago. Today she walks down the aisle on the arm of another father. You left your family bobbing in the wake of your high-speed career. Now that you have what you wanted, you don't want it at all. Oh, to have a second chance.
1 John 4:15 says, "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God."
He re-purposes bad decisions and squalid choices. Saved by grace is to be saved by Him. He placed a term limit on sin and danced a victory jig in a graveyard. God can do something with the mess of your life. Grace is what you need!
From GRACE
Malachi 4
Judgment and Covenant Renewal
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Footnotes:
Malachi 4:1 In Hebrew texts 4:1-6 is numbered 3:19-24.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: James 3:1-12
Taming the Tongue
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Insight
In today’s passage, James writes about Christian maturity. One of the characteristics of maturity is self-control, particularly control of the tongue. Fortunately, we are not responsible for developing it by willpower alone. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23).
The Silent Pen
By Randy Kilgore
The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. —James 3:18
Former US President Harry Truman had a rule: Any letters written in anger had to sit on his desk for 24 hours before they could be mailed. If at the end of that “cooling off” period, he still felt the same sentiments, he would send the letter. By the end of his life, Truman’s unmailed letters filled a large desk drawer.
How often in this age of immediate communication would even 24 minutes of wise restraint spare us embarrassment! In his epistle, James addressed a universal theme in human history when he wrote about the damage an uncontrolled tongue can bring. “No man can tame the tongue,” he wrote. “It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (3:8).
When we’re gossiping or speaking in anger, we find ourselves outside the lines of what God desires. Our tongues, our pens, and even our keyboards should more often fall silent with thanks in our hearts for the restraint God provides. All too often, when we speak we remind everyone of our brokenness as human beings.
When we want to surprise others with the difference Christ makes, we may need to look no further than restraining our tongue. Others can’t help but notice when we honor God with what we say—or don’t say.
Help me, Lord, to use my words not to
tear down others or build up my own reputation,
but to seek the good of others first, and in so doing
to serve You and Your kingdom.
Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles. —Proverbs 21:23
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Obedience to the “Heavenly Vision”
I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision —Acts 26:19
If we lose “the heavenly vision” God has given us, we alone are responsible— not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient to “the heavenly vision” is to give our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision. But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our everyday life— sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public meetings.
“Though it tarries, wait for it . . .” (Habakkuk 2:3). We cannot bring the vision to fulfillment through our own efforts, but must live under its inspiration until it fulfills itself. We try to be so practical that we forget the vision. At the very beginning we saw the vision but did not wait for it. We rushed off to do our practical work, and once the vision was fulfilled we could no longer even see it. Waiting for a vision that “tarries” is the true test of our faithfulness to God. It is at the risk of our own soul’s welfare that we get caught up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision.
Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send you out through His storm, and don’t go until He does. If you select your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an unproductive, empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you will “bear much fruit” (John 15:8).
It is essential that we live and “walk in the light” of God’s vision for us (1 John 1:7).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When Power is Abused - #7087
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
We'll put up with a lot from our politicians, but not everything. See, we really don't like it when someone in power abuses that power for personal gain, personal revenge, covering up wrongdoing, and exploiting other people.
In news just a few weeks ago, a former governor was allegedly using his position to feather his own financial nest. At least that's the accusations. And accusations have been flying about another governor who some say used his power to punish or intimidate. But accusations sometimes are all it takes to turn public opinion.
On the other hand, the press can abuse its power, right? Editing, arranging, and slanting the news to serve their view of how the world should be.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Power is Abused."
My first brush with the abuse of power was Boomer. He was our neighborhood bully. I'm not sure if his mother predestined his "bullyness" by naming him Boomer or if he just plain earned it. He was the biggest kid on the block. So he intimidated and threatened and ripped off all of us little kids, and he got away with it just because he was big. We hated it. You know, we still do...all of us.
I find it very easy to see power being abused when it's someone else, but not so much when it's me. Because, in one way or another, most of us have some kind of position that gives us some power in people's lives. I'm a husband and I have the power to elevate my wife or push her down. I'm a parent which gives me all kinds of power to make my children feel very special or very small.
I'm an employer, and that puts me in a driver's seat where I can dominate or develop people. There are men who use their power to use and abuse and diminish women. Thus exposing what small men they are. There are women who use their power to manipulate and control, thus forfeiting the tenderness and selflessness that makes a woman really beautiful.
There are parents who use the incalculable power they have to crush, to criticize, to belittle their children. Or to use a son or daughter to fulfill what they once were or what they never were and want to be and birthing a robot or a rebel in the process. There are leaders who feel position entitles them to ignore the rules and treat people as things. Thus failing as humans no matter how high they rise, and guaranteeing that one day the bill will come and be more than they can pay. Power is a trust, not a weapon, not a platform for your personal agenda, not a license to live for yourself.
In my lifetime, there have been people I had to follow only because they were in the power position. Then there have been those that I wanted to follow whether they had the position or not because of their character; leading, not using. Leaving you encouraged, not diminished. They empowered, not erased us. Forgiving, not punishing. Making other people feel important instead of acting like they were important.
That's power. Not being a control freak, which is often why we covet power; to be in control. Must be first. Must call the shots. Must get you to do what I want you to do. Must get my way. Tragically, that's put us in the danger zone with the very One who has all the power there is. That would be God. We've decided that we will take charge of a life that God created; hijacking what is His to do with it what we want instead of what He planned.
But defying God has a high price tag. In our word for today from the Word of God, Isaiah 59:2 it says, "Your sins have separated you from your God." I've felt that wall between me and God. I'll bet we all have. Living with that wall means never knowing the purpose and the love I was made for. Dying with that wall there means it will be there forever.
My power grab of my life would have cost me everything except the amazing intervention of the very God I've rebelled against. The Bible says, "He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). The One with all the power set it aside to rescue me. And when I surrendered the wheel to Him, He moved into my life with all that power that raised Him from the dead. Plus, He's bigger than any "Boomer" I'll ever face!
I want to help you begin a relationship with this Jesus. I hope you'll go to ANewStory.com to find out how. There's no reason to live one more day without the One who loves you the most.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Malachi 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Christ in You
When grace happens, Christ enters. Christ in you, the hope of glory! For many years, I missed this truth. I believed all the other prepositions: Christ for me, with me, ahead of me. But I never imagined that Christ was in me.
I can't blame my deficiency on Scripture. Paul refers to the indwelling Christ 216 times. John mentions his presence 26 times. No other religion or philosophy makes such a claim. No other movement implies the living presence of its founder in his followers.
Muhammad does not indwell Muslims. Buddha does not inhabit Buddhists. Influence? Instruct? Yes. But occupy? No!
The mystery of Christianity is summarized in Colossians 1:27, "Christ is in you!" The Christian is a person in whom Christ is happening! Little by little a new image emerges! All because of God's Grace!
From GRACE
Malachi 3
“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.
Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God
13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord.
“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”
The Faithful Remnant
16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Chronicles 24:1-2,15-22
Joash Repairs the Temple
Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. 2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoiada the priest.
Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. 16 He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.
The Wickedness of Joash
17 After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. 18 They abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came on Judah and Jerusalem. 19 Although the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.
20 Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’”
21 But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. 22 King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”
Insight
Joash was the youngest king to reign in Jerusalem. Because he was 7 years old when his reign began, he was in special need of guidance. In the New Testament, Paul highlights the importance of mentors when he says, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).
Make It Personal
By Dave Branon
Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. —Galatians 5:16
During my days as a teacher and coach at a Christian high school, I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with teenagers, trying to guide them to a purposeful, Christlike life—characterized by love for God and love for others. My goal was to prepare them to live for God throughout life. That would happen only as they made their faith a vital part of life through the help of the Holy Spirit. Those who didn’t follow Christ floundered after they left the influence of Christian teachers and parents.
This is demonstrated in the story of King Joash of Judah and his uncle Jehoiada. Jehoiada, a wise counselor, influenced Joash to live a God-honoring life (2 Chron. 24:11,14).
The problem was that Joash did not embrace an honorable life as his own. After Jehoiada died, King Joash “left the house of the LORD” (v.18) and began to worship in a pagan way. He turned and became so evil that he had Jehoiada’s son murdered (vv.20–22).
Having someone in our lives to guide us toward faith and Christlikeness can be good and helpful. Even better is getting to know the Lord ourselves and learning to rely on the Holy Spirit to be our guide (Gal. 5:16). That is making our faith personal.
Lord, thank You for the people in my life who
influence me toward following You. Help
me not to depend on them primarily—but to
depend on Your Holy Spirit to guide me.
The faith of others encourages; a faith of our own transforms.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 10, 2014
Being an Example of His Message
Preach the word! —2 Timothy 4:2
We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message— “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.
There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is someone who has received the call of God and is determined to use all his energy to proclaim God’s truth. God takes us beyond our own aspirations and ideas for our lives, and molds and shapes us for His purpose, just as He worked in the disciples’ lives after Pentecost. The purpose of Pentecost was not to teach the disciples something, but to make them the incarnation of what they preached so that they would literally become God’s message in the flesh. “. . . you shall be witnesses to Me . . .” (Acts 1:8).
Allow God to have complete liberty in your life when you speak. Before God’s message can liberate other people, His liberation must first be real in you. Gather your material carefully, and then allow God to “set your words on fire” for His glory.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Single Difference That Makes a Hero - #7086
Monday, March 10, 2014
Tyler's story really touched me and he showed me what makes someone a hero. In this case-an eight-year-old hero. Since he didn't have school on Martin Luther King Day, Tyler went to stay at his grandpa's trailer for the night. He wasn't the only one. Nine people slept that night in that little trailer.
Tyler woke up with a fire next to him. The blanket covering his four-year-old cousin was in flames. Tyler worked fast to get his loved ones out of that trailer. He and six of his relatives made it outside. His grandfather and uncle didn't. And his disabled grandpa needed a wheelchair to get around. Well, with Tyler's sister trying unsuccessfully to grab his hand, the little guy ran back into the house now engulfed in flames. He was not going to let his loved ones die in those flames.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Single Difference That Makes a Hero."
Tyler's body was found next to his grandfather's and his uncle's in the next room. The boy's mom said through her tears, "It looked like he had his arms around his grandpa, trying to find a way to carry him."
The superintendent of the district where Tyler was a 4th-grader summed it up pretty well. "According to emergency personnel, Tyler was the person who discovered the fire and tried to wake the eight other people in the residence at the time. In bravely and selflessly giving his own life, he was able to save the lives of six others and he is truly a hero."
At sporting events, very common in our country, we hear the word "hero" bandied around a lot. But little Tyler truly shows us what the word really means-self-abandonment. From Tyler's trailer fire to the collapsing Twin Towers of September 11 and virtually every rescue we've ever heard of, that's the difference that makes a person a life-saving hero-caring so much about not letting people die that you forget about yourself. It's not about me; it's all about the people in danger.
Not just people in a burning building but people we know. Who are today one day closer to an unthinkable eternity because they're one heartbeat away from having to pay the eternal death penalty for their sin. Which Jesus already paid! The Bible says, "The Lord Jesus gave Himself for our sins to rescue us..." (Galatians 1:4). Hanging on a cross, He paid for our sin so we can trade the hell we deserve for the heaven we could never deserve.
But somebody has to tell them they're in need of rescue; that God's only Son loves them enough to die for them, that Jesus is reaching out His hand for them, that they only have to grab Him as their only hope. In our word for today from the Word of God in Jude 23, God summons us this way: "snatch others from the fire and save them."
But sometimes we're with doomed people we know for years and we never tell them about our Jesus. They stay lost because we don't tell them the way home. And they'll be lost forever if we remain silent. It's because we're afraid; afraid they won't like us anymore, afraid of what they'll think, afraid we'll mess it up, afraid they might laugh at us or reject us. Did you notice all the fears that keep us from going in for the rescue have one thing in common? They're all about "me"; what might happen to me if I try to rescue them.
And that's where the hero difference can be the difference between heaven and hell for someone we care about. Self-abandonment; caring so much about not letting them die that you forget about yourself. Because you're more concerned about what will happen to them than what it might cost you.
I've stood by the casket of someone I never told. It's one of the most awful feelings in the world. I can't have that back. But there are people around me who still have a chance. They just need to know what Jesus did for them.
Our orders from God are so clear. "Rescue those being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11). The consequences of holding back are awful: "He will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood" (Ezekiel 3:18).
There's still time, though, if I will just forget about myself like my Savior did.
When grace happens, Christ enters. Christ in you, the hope of glory! For many years, I missed this truth. I believed all the other prepositions: Christ for me, with me, ahead of me. But I never imagined that Christ was in me.
I can't blame my deficiency on Scripture. Paul refers to the indwelling Christ 216 times. John mentions his presence 26 times. No other religion or philosophy makes such a claim. No other movement implies the living presence of its founder in his followers.
Muhammad does not indwell Muslims. Buddha does not inhabit Buddhists. Influence? Instruct? Yes. But occupy? No!
The mystery of Christianity is summarized in Colossians 1:27, "Christ is in you!" The Christian is a person in whom Christ is happening! Little by little a new image emerges! All because of God's Grace!
From GRACE
Malachi 3
“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.
Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God
13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord.
“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”
The Faithful Remnant
16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Chronicles 24:1-2,15-22
Joash Repairs the Temple
Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. 2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoiada the priest.
Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. 16 He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.
The Wickedness of Joash
17 After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. 18 They abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came on Judah and Jerusalem. 19 Although the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.
20 Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’”
21 But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. 22 King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”
Insight
Joash was the youngest king to reign in Jerusalem. Because he was 7 years old when his reign began, he was in special need of guidance. In the New Testament, Paul highlights the importance of mentors when he says, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).
Make It Personal
By Dave Branon
Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. —Galatians 5:16
During my days as a teacher and coach at a Christian high school, I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with teenagers, trying to guide them to a purposeful, Christlike life—characterized by love for God and love for others. My goal was to prepare them to live for God throughout life. That would happen only as they made their faith a vital part of life through the help of the Holy Spirit. Those who didn’t follow Christ floundered after they left the influence of Christian teachers and parents.
This is demonstrated in the story of King Joash of Judah and his uncle Jehoiada. Jehoiada, a wise counselor, influenced Joash to live a God-honoring life (2 Chron. 24:11,14).
The problem was that Joash did not embrace an honorable life as his own. After Jehoiada died, King Joash “left the house of the LORD” (v.18) and began to worship in a pagan way. He turned and became so evil that he had Jehoiada’s son murdered (vv.20–22).
Having someone in our lives to guide us toward faith and Christlikeness can be good and helpful. Even better is getting to know the Lord ourselves and learning to rely on the Holy Spirit to be our guide (Gal. 5:16). That is making our faith personal.
Lord, thank You for the people in my life who
influence me toward following You. Help
me not to depend on them primarily—but to
depend on Your Holy Spirit to guide me.
The faith of others encourages; a faith of our own transforms.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 10, 2014
Being an Example of His Message
Preach the word! —2 Timothy 4:2
We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message— “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.
There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is someone who has received the call of God and is determined to use all his energy to proclaim God’s truth. God takes us beyond our own aspirations and ideas for our lives, and molds and shapes us for His purpose, just as He worked in the disciples’ lives after Pentecost. The purpose of Pentecost was not to teach the disciples something, but to make them the incarnation of what they preached so that they would literally become God’s message in the flesh. “. . . you shall be witnesses to Me . . .” (Acts 1:8).
Allow God to have complete liberty in your life when you speak. Before God’s message can liberate other people, His liberation must first be real in you. Gather your material carefully, and then allow God to “set your words on fire” for His glory.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Single Difference That Makes a Hero - #7086
Monday, March 10, 2014
Tyler's story really touched me and he showed me what makes someone a hero. In this case-an eight-year-old hero. Since he didn't have school on Martin Luther King Day, Tyler went to stay at his grandpa's trailer for the night. He wasn't the only one. Nine people slept that night in that little trailer.
Tyler woke up with a fire next to him. The blanket covering his four-year-old cousin was in flames. Tyler worked fast to get his loved ones out of that trailer. He and six of his relatives made it outside. His grandfather and uncle didn't. And his disabled grandpa needed a wheelchair to get around. Well, with Tyler's sister trying unsuccessfully to grab his hand, the little guy ran back into the house now engulfed in flames. He was not going to let his loved ones die in those flames.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Single Difference That Makes a Hero."
Tyler's body was found next to his grandfather's and his uncle's in the next room. The boy's mom said through her tears, "It looked like he had his arms around his grandpa, trying to find a way to carry him."
The superintendent of the district where Tyler was a 4th-grader summed it up pretty well. "According to emergency personnel, Tyler was the person who discovered the fire and tried to wake the eight other people in the residence at the time. In bravely and selflessly giving his own life, he was able to save the lives of six others and he is truly a hero."
At sporting events, very common in our country, we hear the word "hero" bandied around a lot. But little Tyler truly shows us what the word really means-self-abandonment. From Tyler's trailer fire to the collapsing Twin Towers of September 11 and virtually every rescue we've ever heard of, that's the difference that makes a person a life-saving hero-caring so much about not letting people die that you forget about yourself. It's not about me; it's all about the people in danger.
Not just people in a burning building but people we know. Who are today one day closer to an unthinkable eternity because they're one heartbeat away from having to pay the eternal death penalty for their sin. Which Jesus already paid! The Bible says, "The Lord Jesus gave Himself for our sins to rescue us..." (Galatians 1:4). Hanging on a cross, He paid for our sin so we can trade the hell we deserve for the heaven we could never deserve.
But somebody has to tell them they're in need of rescue; that God's only Son loves them enough to die for them, that Jesus is reaching out His hand for them, that they only have to grab Him as their only hope. In our word for today from the Word of God in Jude 23, God summons us this way: "snatch others from the fire and save them."
But sometimes we're with doomed people we know for years and we never tell them about our Jesus. They stay lost because we don't tell them the way home. And they'll be lost forever if we remain silent. It's because we're afraid; afraid they won't like us anymore, afraid of what they'll think, afraid we'll mess it up, afraid they might laugh at us or reject us. Did you notice all the fears that keep us from going in for the rescue have one thing in common? They're all about "me"; what might happen to me if I try to rescue them.
And that's where the hero difference can be the difference between heaven and hell for someone we care about. Self-abandonment; caring so much about not letting them die that you forget about yourself. Because you're more concerned about what will happen to them than what it might cost you.
I've stood by the casket of someone I never told. It's one of the most awful feelings in the world. I can't have that back. But there are people around me who still have a chance. They just need to know what Jesus did for them.
Our orders from God are so clear. "Rescue those being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11). The consequences of holding back are awful: "He will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood" (Ezekiel 3:18).
There's still time, though, if I will just forget about myself like my Savior did.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Revelation 21 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Do Something
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6”
Healing begins when you do something. God’s help is near and always available, but it’s given to those who seek it. Healing starts when you take a step. God honors radical, risk-taking faith.
When arks are built, lives are saved. When soldiers march, Jerichos tumble.
When staffs are raised, seas still open. When a lunch is shared, thousands are fed.
And when a garment is touched by the hand of an anemic woman in Galilee—Jesus stops!
He stops and responds.
Compared to God’s part, our part is minuscule—but necessary. We don’t have to do much, but we do have to do something! Faith with no effort is not faith at all!
Write a letter. Ask forgiveness.
Call a counselor. Call a mom!
Visit a doctor. Be baptized.
Feed a hungry person.
Pray. Teach. Go.
God honors radical, risk-taking faith. And He will respond.
Revelation 21
New International Version (NIV)
A New Heaven and a New Earth
21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia[c] in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits[d] thick.[e] 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.[f] 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Footnotes:
Revelation 21:1 Isaiah 65:17
Revelation 21:4 Isaiah 25:8
Revelation 21:16 That is, about 1,400 miles or about 2,200 kilometers
Revelation 21:17 That is, about 200 feet or about 65 meters
Revelation 21:17 Or high
Revelation 21:20 The precise identification of some of these precious stones is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Peter 2:1-3,12-19
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.
13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.[a] 14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer,[b] who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
Footnotes:
2 Peter 2:13 Some manuscripts in their love feasts
2 Peter 2:15 Greek Bosor
Dressed To Deceive
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. —Matthew 7:15
Hiking in the mountains of Utah, Coty Creighton spotted a goat that didn’t look like the rest of the herd. A closer look revealed that the unusual animal was actually a man dressed as a goat. When authorities contacted the man, he described his costume as a painter’s suit covered in fleece, and he said he was testing his disguise for a hunting trip.
The hunter’s deception reminds me of Jesus’ words: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matt. 7:15). False teachers do not bear the fruit of God’s Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). Rather, they “walk according to the flesh . . . and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:10). They are bold, egotistical, and given to greed (vv.10,14). Ruled by their own desires, they exploit people by using “deceptive words” (v.3). The Bible says these wayward spiritual leaders are headed for destruction and will take many unsuspecting and undiscerning people with them (vv.1-2).
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, rather than pursuing personal gain, laid down His life for His sheep. God does not want anyone to be misled by false teaching. He wants us to be aware of those who deceive, and follow Him instead—the true Shepherd of our souls.
At the name of Jesus
Every knee shall bow,
Every tongue confess Him,
King of glory now. —Noel
Substitutes abound, but there is only one Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 09, 2014
Turning Back or Walking with Jesus?
Do you also want to go away? —John 6:67
What a penetrating question! Our Lord’s words often hit home for us when He speaks in the simplest way. In spite of the fact that we know who Jesus is, He asks, “Do you also want to go away?” We must continually maintain an adventurous attitude toward Him, despite any potential personal risk.
“From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66). They turned back from walking with Jesus; not into sin, but away from Him. Many people today are pouring their lives out and working for Jesus Christ, but are not really walking with Him. One thing God constantly requires of us is a oneness with Jesus Christ. After being set apart through sanctification, we should discipline our lives spiritually to maintain this intimate oneness. When God gives you a clear determination of His will for you, all your striving to maintain that relationship by some particular method is completely unnecessary. All that is required is to live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. Never try to live your life with God in any other way than His way. And His way means absolute devotion to Him. Showing no concern for the uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus.
Peter saw in Jesus only someone who could minister salvation to him and to the world. But our Lord wants us to be fellow laborers with Him.
In John 6:70 Jesus lovingly reminded Peter that he was chosen to go with Him. And each of us must answer this question for ourselves and no one else: “Do you also want to go away?”
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6”
Healing begins when you do something. God’s help is near and always available, but it’s given to those who seek it. Healing starts when you take a step. God honors radical, risk-taking faith.
When arks are built, lives are saved. When soldiers march, Jerichos tumble.
When staffs are raised, seas still open. When a lunch is shared, thousands are fed.
And when a garment is touched by the hand of an anemic woman in Galilee—Jesus stops!
He stops and responds.
Compared to God’s part, our part is minuscule—but necessary. We don’t have to do much, but we do have to do something! Faith with no effort is not faith at all!
Write a letter. Ask forgiveness.
Call a counselor. Call a mom!
Visit a doctor. Be baptized.
Feed a hungry person.
Pray. Teach. Go.
God honors radical, risk-taking faith. And He will respond.
Revelation 21
New International Version (NIV)
A New Heaven and a New Earth
21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia[c] in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits[d] thick.[e] 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.[f] 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Footnotes:
Revelation 21:1 Isaiah 65:17
Revelation 21:4 Isaiah 25:8
Revelation 21:16 That is, about 1,400 miles or about 2,200 kilometers
Revelation 21:17 That is, about 200 feet or about 65 meters
Revelation 21:17 Or high
Revelation 21:20 The precise identification of some of these precious stones is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Peter 2:1-3,12-19
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.
13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.[a] 14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer,[b] who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
Footnotes:
2 Peter 2:13 Some manuscripts in their love feasts
2 Peter 2:15 Greek Bosor
Dressed To Deceive
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. —Matthew 7:15
Hiking in the mountains of Utah, Coty Creighton spotted a goat that didn’t look like the rest of the herd. A closer look revealed that the unusual animal was actually a man dressed as a goat. When authorities contacted the man, he described his costume as a painter’s suit covered in fleece, and he said he was testing his disguise for a hunting trip.
The hunter’s deception reminds me of Jesus’ words: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matt. 7:15). False teachers do not bear the fruit of God’s Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). Rather, they “walk according to the flesh . . . and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:10). They are bold, egotistical, and given to greed (vv.10,14). Ruled by their own desires, they exploit people by using “deceptive words” (v.3). The Bible says these wayward spiritual leaders are headed for destruction and will take many unsuspecting and undiscerning people with them (vv.1-2).
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, rather than pursuing personal gain, laid down His life for His sheep. God does not want anyone to be misled by false teaching. He wants us to be aware of those who deceive, and follow Him instead—the true Shepherd of our souls.
At the name of Jesus
Every knee shall bow,
Every tongue confess Him,
King of glory now. —Noel
Substitutes abound, but there is only one Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 09, 2014
Turning Back or Walking with Jesus?
Do you also want to go away? —John 6:67
What a penetrating question! Our Lord’s words often hit home for us when He speaks in the simplest way. In spite of the fact that we know who Jesus is, He asks, “Do you also want to go away?” We must continually maintain an adventurous attitude toward Him, despite any potential personal risk.
“From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66). They turned back from walking with Jesus; not into sin, but away from Him. Many people today are pouring their lives out and working for Jesus Christ, but are not really walking with Him. One thing God constantly requires of us is a oneness with Jesus Christ. After being set apart through sanctification, we should discipline our lives spiritually to maintain this intimate oneness. When God gives you a clear determination of His will for you, all your striving to maintain that relationship by some particular method is completely unnecessary. All that is required is to live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. Never try to live your life with God in any other way than His way. And His way means absolute devotion to Him. Showing no concern for the uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus.
Peter saw in Jesus only someone who could minister salvation to him and to the world. But our Lord wants us to be fellow laborers with Him.
In John 6:70 Jesus lovingly reminded Peter that he was chosen to go with Him. And each of us must answer this question for ourselves and no one else: “Do you also want to go away?”
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Malachi 2 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God Never Gives Up
God’s people often forget their God, but God never forgets them. When Joseph was dropped into a pit by his own brothers, God didn’t give up. When Moses said, “Here am I, send Aaron,” God didn’t give up. When the delivered Israelites wanted Egyptian slavery instead of milk and honey, God did not give up. When Aaron was making a false god at the very moment Moses was with the true God, God did not give up.
And when human hands fastened the divine hands of Jesus to a cross with spikes, it wasn’t the soldiers who held the hands of Jesus steady. It was God, the God who never gives up on his people, who held them steady. He held them to the cross where, with holy blood, the divine hand wrote these words, “God would give up His only son before He’d ever give up on you!” (John 3:16)
from Six Hours One Frid
Malachi 2
Additional Warning to the Priests
“And now, you priests, this warning is for you. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.
3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants[b]; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. 4 And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. 5 “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.
7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”
Breaking Covenant Through Divorce
10 Do we not all have one Father[c]? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob[d]—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[e] So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”[f] says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.
Breaking Covenant Through Injustice
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”
Malachi 2:3 Or will blight your grain
Malachi 2:10 Or father
Malachi 2:12 Or 12 May the Lord remove from the tents of Jacob anyone who gives testimony in behalf of the man who does this
Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
Malachi 2:16 Or “I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “because the man who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Footnotes:
Deuteronomy 6:4 Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone
Insight
There is no record in the Bible of God speaking to anyone in any form—including dreams, oracles, or visions—from the time of Joseph to the time of Moses. When the people of Israel were led out into the wilderness, it is likely that they had little knowledge of the God who had delivered them and was leading them to a new home. The commands given through Moses were meant to reintroduce God to them and to help them to be people who would be a light to others (cf. Isa. 49:3). By keeping God’s words always in front of them (Deut. 6:6-9), they could live by those words and be transformed into people who showed God to the world.
Transforming Power
By Dennis Fisher
These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. —Deuteronomy 6:6
These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. —Deuteronomy 6:6
Many people love to play games that test their knowledge. Recently, a colleague and I were testing a Bible-knowledge game. Since we were seated in an open area of our office, those nearby could hear our conversation. Soon questions ranging from Noah’s ark to the woman at the well were being answered by those within earshot of us. It was a delight to hear various staff members volunteering responses to Bible questions.
A knowledge of the Bible is important, but God desires us to be saturated with His Word and to internalize it so we can grow in our relationship with Him. The Holy Spirit uses the Word to make us more like Christ (Eph. 4:20-24). Consider these benefits of internalizing the Bible: joy and rejoicing (Jer. 15:16); spiritual success (Josh. 1:8); a tool in spiritual warfare (Matt. 4:1-11); correction (2 Tim. 3:15-16); light for our path (Ps. 119:105); wisdom with problem solving (Prov. 1:1-2); and stimulating faith (Rom. 10:17).
Learning about the Bible just to increase our knowledge can lead to spiritual pride (1 Cor. 8:1). But allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us by the Word helps us navigate through life’s twists and turns and respond in love to God and to each other.
My hunger for the truth He satisfies;
Upon the Word, the Living Bread, I feed:
No parching thirst I know, because His grace,
A pool of endless depth, supplies my need. —Sanders
Many books can inform, but only the Bible can transform.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 08, 2014
The Surrendered Life
I have been crucified with Christ . . . —Galatians 2:20
To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all our claims of even being worthy of God’s consideration.
Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?
We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them.
If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you.
God’s people often forget their God, but God never forgets them. When Joseph was dropped into a pit by his own brothers, God didn’t give up. When Moses said, “Here am I, send Aaron,” God didn’t give up. When the delivered Israelites wanted Egyptian slavery instead of milk and honey, God did not give up. When Aaron was making a false god at the very moment Moses was with the true God, God did not give up.
And when human hands fastened the divine hands of Jesus to a cross with spikes, it wasn’t the soldiers who held the hands of Jesus steady. It was God, the God who never gives up on his people, who held them steady. He held them to the cross where, with holy blood, the divine hand wrote these words, “God would give up His only son before He’d ever give up on you!” (John 3:16)
from Six Hours One Frid
Malachi 2
Additional Warning to the Priests
“And now, you priests, this warning is for you. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.
3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants[b]; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. 4 And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. 5 “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.
7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”
Breaking Covenant Through Divorce
10 Do we not all have one Father[c]? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob[d]—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[e] So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”[f] says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.
Breaking Covenant Through Injustice
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”
Malachi 2:3 Or will blight your grain
Malachi 2:10 Or father
Malachi 2:12 Or 12 May the Lord remove from the tents of Jacob anyone who gives testimony in behalf of the man who does this
Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
Malachi 2:16 Or “I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “because the man who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Footnotes:
Deuteronomy 6:4 Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone
Insight
There is no record in the Bible of God speaking to anyone in any form—including dreams, oracles, or visions—from the time of Joseph to the time of Moses. When the people of Israel were led out into the wilderness, it is likely that they had little knowledge of the God who had delivered them and was leading them to a new home. The commands given through Moses were meant to reintroduce God to them and to help them to be people who would be a light to others (cf. Isa. 49:3). By keeping God’s words always in front of them (Deut. 6:6-9), they could live by those words and be transformed into people who showed God to the world.
Transforming Power
By Dennis Fisher
These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. —Deuteronomy 6:6
These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. —Deuteronomy 6:6
Many people love to play games that test their knowledge. Recently, a colleague and I were testing a Bible-knowledge game. Since we were seated in an open area of our office, those nearby could hear our conversation. Soon questions ranging from Noah’s ark to the woman at the well were being answered by those within earshot of us. It was a delight to hear various staff members volunteering responses to Bible questions.
A knowledge of the Bible is important, but God desires us to be saturated with His Word and to internalize it so we can grow in our relationship with Him. The Holy Spirit uses the Word to make us more like Christ (Eph. 4:20-24). Consider these benefits of internalizing the Bible: joy and rejoicing (Jer. 15:16); spiritual success (Josh. 1:8); a tool in spiritual warfare (Matt. 4:1-11); correction (2 Tim. 3:15-16); light for our path (Ps. 119:105); wisdom with problem solving (Prov. 1:1-2); and stimulating faith (Rom. 10:17).
Learning about the Bible just to increase our knowledge can lead to spiritual pride (1 Cor. 8:1). But allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us by the Word helps us navigate through life’s twists and turns and respond in love to God and to each other.
My hunger for the truth He satisfies;
Upon the Word, the Living Bread, I feed:
No parching thirst I know, because His grace,
A pool of endless depth, supplies my need. —Sanders
Many books can inform, but only the Bible can transform.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 08, 2014
The Surrendered Life
I have been crucified with Christ . . . —Galatians 2:20
To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all our claims of even being worthy of God’s consideration.
Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?
We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them.
If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Malachi 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God as Heart Surgeon
Grace is God as heart surgeon! Grace is God cracking open your chest, removing your heart, poisoned as it is with pride and pain, and replacing it with his own.
God's dream isn't just to get you into heaven, but to get heaven into you. Grace lives because Jesus does, works because he works, and matters because he matters. To be saved by grace is to be saved by Jesus-not by an idea, doctrine, creed, or church membership, but by Jesus himself, who will sweep into heaven anyone who so much as gives him the nod. Grace won't be stage-managed. I have no tips on how to get grace. Truth is, we don't get grace. But it can sure get us.
If you wonder whether God can do something with the mess of your life, then grace is what you need! Make certain it happens to you!
From GRACE
Malachi 1
A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.[a]
Israel Doubts God’s Love
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices
6 “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.
“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “By offering defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
9 “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.
12 “But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ 13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty.
“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.
Malachi 1:1 Malachi means my messenger.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 8:19-27
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[a] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Footnotes:
Romans 8:21 Or subjected it in hope. 21 For
Insight
Today’s passage is filled with hope and comfort. Though Paul describes the deep suffering and groaning of both humanity and creation, his emphasis is on the nearness of our God and His affectionate care for His creation. Paul encourages readers in Rome—and us—with the thought that God knows us so well that His Spirit prays for us, translating our weak words into prayers according to the will of the Father (vv.26-27).
Not Lost In Translation
By Bill Crowder
[The Spirit] makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. —Romans 8:27
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to teach the Bible to many people around the world. Because I can speak only English, I often work with interpreters who can take the words of my heart and translate them into the language of the people. Effective communication is directly dependent upon the skill of these translators. Whether it is Inawaty in Indonesia, Annie in Malaysia, or Jean in Brazil, they ensure that the meaning of my words is clearly expressed.
This work of translation resembles one facet of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of God’s people. In our times of prayer, we don’t always know how we should pray (Rom. 8:26), and verse 27 encourages us, saying, “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” When we go to our heavenly Father in prayer, the Holy Spirit comes to our aid by translating our prayers according to God’s good purposes for our lives.
What a provision! Not only does God desire for us to share our hearts with Him, He even provides us with the greatest interpreter to help us as we pray. We can be sure that our prayers will never get lost in translation.
Thank You, Father, for the provision of Your Spirit.
I’m grateful that when I pray I can rest in Your help
to make my prayers what they need to be. Teach me
to lean on His perfect understanding of Your desires.
The participation of the Spirit assures that my prayers line up with God’s purposes.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 07, 2014
The Source of Abundant Joy
In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us —Romans 8:37
Paul was speaking here of the things that might seem likely to separate a saint from the love of God. But the remarkable thing is that nothing can come between the love of God and a saint. The things Paul mentioned in this passage can and do disrupt the close fellowship of our soul with God and separate our natural life from Him. But none of them is able to come between the love of God and the soul of a saint on the spiritual level. The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. Paul said this is the reason that “in all these things we are more than conquerors.” We are super-victors with a joy that comes from experiencing the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us.
Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let’s apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against— tribulation, suffering, and persecution— are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. “We are more than conquerors through Him” “in all these things”; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 7:4).
The undiminished radiance, which is the result of abundant joy, is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can change. And the experiences of life, whether they are everyday events or terrifying ones, are powerless to “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Taking Attendance - #7085
Friday, March 7, 2014
Playing his first high school football game - that was our son's dream since first grade! And the day finally came! His first freshman game was an away game. And let me tell you, at freshman games the parental attendance was underwhelming to say the least.
Well, my wife and I are huddled up in the bleachers with a few others, and finally the team comes in with their mix-and-match freshman uniforms. Of course, we're looking only for the #76. We couldn't keep our eyes off of him. And he, of course, was all business, looking appropriately macho, staring straight ahead, game face. He wasn't about to be needing Mom and Dad...no way.
But he couldn't resist a glance. In just this quick moment he glanced from under that helmet into the stands, and our eyes met, and then he was quickly back at the field. No smile and no wave. I just knew our son had to know we were there. Our presence was very noticeable and very important to us and to him.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Taking Attendance."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Deuteronomy 6:5-7. We're going to find some very practical advice for how to be there for our kids. See, throughout their growing years, children are constantly checking the stands to see that Mom and Dad are there when it counts, especially for the five golden moments in your son or daughter's day.
This passage also gives us insights from God, who is the only perfect Father, into how we can communicate love and truth and be involved with our kids. It's in the process of everyday life. I call it the classroom of everyday life. Here's what He says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." See how practical this is? He says, "I want you to be there in everyday life." And that's got to happen at home.
In my book, "Five Needs Your Child Must Have Met at Home", we talk about these five golden moments; times when they are taking attendance; when they're checking to see if Mom or Dad are there.
Number one is their wake up time; when they are first waking up. They need a parent who is gentle, affectionate, welcoming them to a new day. Second is the send off, when they're leaving for their day. Race horses, children, race cars, Olympic athletes? They want to run a good race, they need a good start. And for that to be possible, a parent needs to be there at breakfast if at all possible. My wife would always pray with the kids and launch them with these happy words, "Have a nice day with Jesus." I can hear her doing it now.
The third one is when they need instruction, and that's when they're coming in. If your work schedule will possibly allow it, your presence when a child gets home is an important time of life building. Some days they'll be ready to talk about the good news or the bad. And then a little TV or play or computer or homework, or whatever and you need to be there. Your job is to be there and listen to their day without judgment and just be available.
And then the fourth golden moment is to debrief them. Maybe it's right after you welcome them home and it needs to be brief. But they need to be able to see the teachable moments and what can be learned from the experiences of that day. That's the best teaching of all, and to celebrate what the good things were that day and to evaluate the hard things of that day.
And finally, they need a happy ending. The day needs to end well. They may need to hear you say, "Thank you" or "I'm sorry" or "I love you."
Send them off with the Lord on their mind. Let them go to sleep thinking about their Father in heaven instead of monsters in the closet. Golden moments: five points in a child's life to build your relationship on. Look, you're not going to make all five every day, but do as many as you can as often as you can.
The years when our kids are taking attendance don't last long. Let's make sure we're there for the moments that really count. Your son or daughter is checking the stands to see if you are really there.
Grace is God as heart surgeon! Grace is God cracking open your chest, removing your heart, poisoned as it is with pride and pain, and replacing it with his own.
God's dream isn't just to get you into heaven, but to get heaven into you. Grace lives because Jesus does, works because he works, and matters because he matters. To be saved by grace is to be saved by Jesus-not by an idea, doctrine, creed, or church membership, but by Jesus himself, who will sweep into heaven anyone who so much as gives him the nod. Grace won't be stage-managed. I have no tips on how to get grace. Truth is, we don't get grace. But it can sure get us.
If you wonder whether God can do something with the mess of your life, then grace is what you need! Make certain it happens to you!
From GRACE
Malachi 1
A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.[a]
Israel Doubts God’s Love
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices
6 “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.
“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “By offering defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
9 “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.
12 “But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ 13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty.
“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.
Malachi 1:1 Malachi means my messenger.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Romans 8:19-27
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[a] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Footnotes:
Romans 8:21 Or subjected it in hope. 21 For
Insight
Today’s passage is filled with hope and comfort. Though Paul describes the deep suffering and groaning of both humanity and creation, his emphasis is on the nearness of our God and His affectionate care for His creation. Paul encourages readers in Rome—and us—with the thought that God knows us so well that His Spirit prays for us, translating our weak words into prayers according to the will of the Father (vv.26-27).
Not Lost In Translation
By Bill Crowder
[The Spirit] makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. —Romans 8:27
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to teach the Bible to many people around the world. Because I can speak only English, I often work with interpreters who can take the words of my heart and translate them into the language of the people. Effective communication is directly dependent upon the skill of these translators. Whether it is Inawaty in Indonesia, Annie in Malaysia, or Jean in Brazil, they ensure that the meaning of my words is clearly expressed.
This work of translation resembles one facet of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of God’s people. In our times of prayer, we don’t always know how we should pray (Rom. 8:26), and verse 27 encourages us, saying, “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” When we go to our heavenly Father in prayer, the Holy Spirit comes to our aid by translating our prayers according to God’s good purposes for our lives.
What a provision! Not only does God desire for us to share our hearts with Him, He even provides us with the greatest interpreter to help us as we pray. We can be sure that our prayers will never get lost in translation.
Thank You, Father, for the provision of Your Spirit.
I’m grateful that when I pray I can rest in Your help
to make my prayers what they need to be. Teach me
to lean on His perfect understanding of Your desires.
The participation of the Spirit assures that my prayers line up with God’s purposes.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 07, 2014
The Source of Abundant Joy
In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us —Romans 8:37
Paul was speaking here of the things that might seem likely to separate a saint from the love of God. But the remarkable thing is that nothing can come between the love of God and a saint. The things Paul mentioned in this passage can and do disrupt the close fellowship of our soul with God and separate our natural life from Him. But none of them is able to come between the love of God and the soul of a saint on the spiritual level. The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. Paul said this is the reason that “in all these things we are more than conquerors.” We are super-victors with a joy that comes from experiencing the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us.
Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let’s apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against— tribulation, suffering, and persecution— are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. “We are more than conquerors through Him” “in all these things”; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 7:4).
The undiminished radiance, which is the result of abundant joy, is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can change. And the experiences of life, whether they are everyday events or terrifying ones, are powerless to “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Taking Attendance - #7085
Friday, March 7, 2014
Playing his first high school football game - that was our son's dream since first grade! And the day finally came! His first freshman game was an away game. And let me tell you, at freshman games the parental attendance was underwhelming to say the least.
Well, my wife and I are huddled up in the bleachers with a few others, and finally the team comes in with their mix-and-match freshman uniforms. Of course, we're looking only for the #76. We couldn't keep our eyes off of him. And he, of course, was all business, looking appropriately macho, staring straight ahead, game face. He wasn't about to be needing Mom and Dad...no way.
But he couldn't resist a glance. In just this quick moment he glanced from under that helmet into the stands, and our eyes met, and then he was quickly back at the field. No smile and no wave. I just knew our son had to know we were there. Our presence was very noticeable and very important to us and to him.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Taking Attendance."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Deuteronomy 6:5-7. We're going to find some very practical advice for how to be there for our kids. See, throughout their growing years, children are constantly checking the stands to see that Mom and Dad are there when it counts, especially for the five golden moments in your son or daughter's day.
This passage also gives us insights from God, who is the only perfect Father, into how we can communicate love and truth and be involved with our kids. It's in the process of everyday life. I call it the classroom of everyday life. Here's what He says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." See how practical this is? He says, "I want you to be there in everyday life." And that's got to happen at home.
In my book, "Five Needs Your Child Must Have Met at Home", we talk about these five golden moments; times when they are taking attendance; when they're checking to see if Mom or Dad are there.
Number one is their wake up time; when they are first waking up. They need a parent who is gentle, affectionate, welcoming them to a new day. Second is the send off, when they're leaving for their day. Race horses, children, race cars, Olympic athletes? They want to run a good race, they need a good start. And for that to be possible, a parent needs to be there at breakfast if at all possible. My wife would always pray with the kids and launch them with these happy words, "Have a nice day with Jesus." I can hear her doing it now.
The third one is when they need instruction, and that's when they're coming in. If your work schedule will possibly allow it, your presence when a child gets home is an important time of life building. Some days they'll be ready to talk about the good news or the bad. And then a little TV or play or computer or homework, or whatever and you need to be there. Your job is to be there and listen to their day without judgment and just be available.
And then the fourth golden moment is to debrief them. Maybe it's right after you welcome them home and it needs to be brief. But they need to be able to see the teachable moments and what can be learned from the experiences of that day. That's the best teaching of all, and to celebrate what the good things were that day and to evaluate the hard things of that day.
And finally, they need a happy ending. The day needs to end well. They may need to hear you say, "Thank you" or "I'm sorry" or "I love you."
Send them off with the Lord on their mind. Let them go to sleep thinking about their Father in heaven instead of monsters in the closet. Golden moments: five points in a child's life to build your relationship on. Look, you're not going to make all five every day, but do as many as you can as often as you can.
The years when our kids are taking attendance don't last long. Let's make sure we're there for the moments that really count. Your son or daughter is checking the stands to see if you are really there.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Revelation 20 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God's Best Idea
Your dad makes you come to church, but he can't make you listen. At least that's what you've always muttered to yourself. But this morning you listen because he speaks of a God who loves prodigals, and you feel like the worst sort of one. You can't keep the pregnancy a secret much longer. Soon your parents will know. The preacher will know. He says God already knows. You wonder what God thinks!
Grace is God's best idea. Rather than tell us to change, he creates the change. Do we clean up so he can accept us? No, he accepts us and begins cleaning us up. What a difference this makes.
Can't forgive your past? Christ can, and he is on the move, aggressively budging you from graceless to grace-shaped living. Forgiven people forgiving people. Deep sighs of relief.
Grace is everything Jesus!
From GRACE
Revelation 20
New International Version (NIV)
The Thousand Years
20 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They[a] had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
The Judgment of Satan
7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The Judgment of the Dead
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Footnotes:
Revelation 20:4 Or God; I also saw those who
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 30:1-5,18-19
Woe to the Obstinate Nation
30 “Woe to the obstinate children,”
declares the Lord,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,
heaping sin upon sin;
2 who go down to Egypt
without consulting me;
who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection,
to Egypt’s shade for refuge.
3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame,
Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.
4 Though they have officials in Zoan
and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5 everyone will be put to shame
because of a people useless to them,
who bring neither help nor advantage,
but only shame and disgrace.”
Insight
In Isaiah’s prophecy in today’s text, we see the great heart of patience our God has toward us even in our worst moments (see 2 Peter 3:15). In verse 18, Isaiah says that the Lord waits “that He may be gracious” to those who fail. His exalted position is one from which He exercises mercy on our behalf. Isaiah issues the challenge that we also are to wait upon Him, for He alone can bring justice into our broken world.
Boo!
By Julie Ackerman Link
[God] will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. —Isaiah 30:19
One of the early games that many parents play with their children involves a fake scare. Dad hides his face behind his hands and suddenly reveals himself while saying, “Boo!” The child giggles at this silliness.
Being frightened is a fun game until the day when the child experiences a real scare. Then it’s no laughing matter. The first real scare often involves separation from a parent. The child wanders away innocently, moving from one attraction to another. But as soon as she realizes she is lost, she panics and lets out a loud cry of alarm. The parent immediately comes running to reassure the child that she is not alone.
As we get older, our fake scares become sophisticated—scary books, movies, amusement park rides. Being scared is so invigorating that we may begin taking bigger risks for bigger thrills.
But when a real scare comes, we may realize that we, like the ancient Israelites (Isa. 30), have wandered from the One who loves and cares for us. Recognizing that we are in danger, we panic. Our call for help does not require sophisticated words or a well-reasoned defense, just a desperate cry.
Like a loving parent, God responds quickly for He longs to have us live in the protection of His love where we need never be afraid.
Trusting God’s faithfulness helps dispel our fearfulness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 06, 2014
Taking the Next Step
. . . in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses —2 Corinthians 6:4
When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life, and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty to Him. It takes much more of the grace of God, and a much greater awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to preach the gospel.
Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by bringing the next step down into flesh-and-blood reality and by working it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ inJohn 13:1-17 .
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Grandfather's Three Big Ideas for Justin Bieber - #7084
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Justin Bieber's been in the headlines an awful lot. Not so much for hit records any more, but for a lot of the trouble that he's gotten into. Well, I'm a grandfather, and so I thought there are some things I might like to write to him. It might go something like this: "I've got six grandsons, Justin. I can't believe it! One is almost your age.
So when I read about your troubles with the law, saw you in a jail jumpsuit, my grandfather's heart was sad. I know you've gotten it all from people. I mean, you've gotten affection, you've got attack, you've got sympathetic people, snarky people. I know you've been blessed with a tsunami of success. I mean, who knew when you were shooting those little YouTube videos, who could have imagined all the massive hits you'd have and all the fans going crazy over you?
And all the choices you'd have because you could do and have anything you want. That's a pretty heavy backpack for a 19-year-old guy to carry. With all the people slamming you and all the people sweet-talking you, I thought you might be ready for a couple of big ideas from a grandfather's heart."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, by the way, and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Grandfather's Three Big Ideas for Justin Bieber."
Back to the letter: "Justin, let's say we're taking a slow walk on a long beach. Here's what I'd want to tell you... Big Idea #1 - You are choosing a road, not just something to do.
One time I was driving from northern Arizona, straight south to Phoenix to see my little grandson in the hospital. When I got to Flagstaff, I picked a ramp. Two hours later, I wasn't seeing Phoenix; I was seeing signs for California! Little did I know when I got on that ramp I was choosing a road that would take me where I did not want to go.
Life has a lot of "ramps" like that: deciding to hook up with someone, picking friends to hang out with, partying like you want because, 'Hey, I'm young, I want to have some fun! What's wrong with that? Trying stuff that helps you feel good or forget feeling bad.'
What we don't realize until it's too late, like 'why am I in California?' is that we're choosing a road we'll be on for a long time. And if it's the wrong road, we're going to end up where we never meant to go; like in a courtoom, in rehab, or just looking in a mirror and saying, 'What happened to you, man?' I don't want that to happen to you.
Jesus actually said these words, and it would be a word for today from the Word of God. It's in Matthew 7:13-14. 'Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road.' Hey, that's a good one; an easy one to be on. '...that leads to destruction.' Oh! '...and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.' It's the destination that matters most isn't it?
Here's Big Idea #2 - The calculator's always running. Temptation says, 'Hey, forget the consequences.' Reality says, 'The bill is gonna come, man.' Or, as the Bible says in Galatians 6:7, 'Whatever you sow, you will reap.' The harvest may not come immediately, but it's gonna come. We may not see it. We may not feel it. But that calculator is always running, and it's adding up the bill we're going to get.
Big Idea #3 - You're made for more. When millions of people are freaking out over you, it's easy to start believing you're the "sun" and everyone else is the "planets" who revolve around me. That's not how it's supposed to be. You've probably already discovered that a world that's only as big as "me" is a world that's too small to live in. Yeah, being a celebrity may allow you to act like you're bigger than the rules and more important than everyone else. But it ain't so. "Me" living leaves you lonely, empty and hurting. As the old saying goes, 'laughing on the outside, crying on the inside.'
No, man, you're made for more. You've been blessed with a lot. You're 19 and you've got so much influence. So whatever road you're on, other people follow you there. If it's a road to a 'make a difference' life, you'll lead other people there. If it's a road that goes over a cliff, they'll crash with you.
I read somewhere that you recently added a tattoo of Jesus on your calf, I think. If you want a hint of the "more" you were made for, take a look at that picture. He showed us how to really live. The Bible says, 'All things were created by Him and for Him.' We're made to revolve around Him, not to have everybody revolve around us. And He died for you, man, and He rose from the grave to prove that He can conquer everything in your life.
If you want that love and that power, you just tell Him, 'Jesus, I'm Yours.' I would love to meet you at our website and help you begin that relationship with Him. Just go to ANewStory.com. It's crossroads time; a lot riding on which road you choose.
My favorite poet, said: 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the road less traveled. And that has made all the difference.' I pray you'll choose that road, because I like happy endings."
Your dad makes you come to church, but he can't make you listen. At least that's what you've always muttered to yourself. But this morning you listen because he speaks of a God who loves prodigals, and you feel like the worst sort of one. You can't keep the pregnancy a secret much longer. Soon your parents will know. The preacher will know. He says God already knows. You wonder what God thinks!
Grace is God's best idea. Rather than tell us to change, he creates the change. Do we clean up so he can accept us? No, he accepts us and begins cleaning us up. What a difference this makes.
Can't forgive your past? Christ can, and he is on the move, aggressively budging you from graceless to grace-shaped living. Forgiven people forgiving people. Deep sighs of relief.
Grace is everything Jesus!
From GRACE
Revelation 20
New International Version (NIV)
The Thousand Years
20 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They[a] had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
The Judgment of Satan
7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The Judgment of the Dead
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Footnotes:
Revelation 20:4 Or God; I also saw those who
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 30:1-5,18-19
Woe to the Obstinate Nation
30 “Woe to the obstinate children,”
declares the Lord,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,
heaping sin upon sin;
2 who go down to Egypt
without consulting me;
who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection,
to Egypt’s shade for refuge.
3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame,
Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.
4 Though they have officials in Zoan
and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5 everyone will be put to shame
because of a people useless to them,
who bring neither help nor advantage,
but only shame and disgrace.”
Insight
In Isaiah’s prophecy in today’s text, we see the great heart of patience our God has toward us even in our worst moments (see 2 Peter 3:15). In verse 18, Isaiah says that the Lord waits “that He may be gracious” to those who fail. His exalted position is one from which He exercises mercy on our behalf. Isaiah issues the challenge that we also are to wait upon Him, for He alone can bring justice into our broken world.
Boo!
By Julie Ackerman Link
[God] will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. —Isaiah 30:19
One of the early games that many parents play with their children involves a fake scare. Dad hides his face behind his hands and suddenly reveals himself while saying, “Boo!” The child giggles at this silliness.
Being frightened is a fun game until the day when the child experiences a real scare. Then it’s no laughing matter. The first real scare often involves separation from a parent. The child wanders away innocently, moving from one attraction to another. But as soon as she realizes she is lost, she panics and lets out a loud cry of alarm. The parent immediately comes running to reassure the child that she is not alone.
As we get older, our fake scares become sophisticated—scary books, movies, amusement park rides. Being scared is so invigorating that we may begin taking bigger risks for bigger thrills.
But when a real scare comes, we may realize that we, like the ancient Israelites (Isa. 30), have wandered from the One who loves and cares for us. Recognizing that we are in danger, we panic. Our call for help does not require sophisticated words or a well-reasoned defense, just a desperate cry.
Like a loving parent, God responds quickly for He longs to have us live in the protection of His love where we need never be afraid.
Trusting God’s faithfulness helps dispel our fearfulness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 06, 2014
Taking the Next Step
. . . in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses —2 Corinthians 6:4
When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life, and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty to Him. It takes much more of the grace of God, and a much greater awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to preach the gospel.
Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by bringing the next step down into flesh-and-blood reality and by working it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ inJohn 13:1-17 .
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Grandfather's Three Big Ideas for Justin Bieber - #7084
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Justin Bieber's been in the headlines an awful lot. Not so much for hit records any more, but for a lot of the trouble that he's gotten into. Well, I'm a grandfather, and so I thought there are some things I might like to write to him. It might go something like this: "I've got six grandsons, Justin. I can't believe it! One is almost your age.
So when I read about your troubles with the law, saw you in a jail jumpsuit, my grandfather's heart was sad. I know you've gotten it all from people. I mean, you've gotten affection, you've got attack, you've got sympathetic people, snarky people. I know you've been blessed with a tsunami of success. I mean, who knew when you were shooting those little YouTube videos, who could have imagined all the massive hits you'd have and all the fans going crazy over you?
And all the choices you'd have because you could do and have anything you want. That's a pretty heavy backpack for a 19-year-old guy to carry. With all the people slamming you and all the people sweet-talking you, I thought you might be ready for a couple of big ideas from a grandfather's heart."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, by the way, and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Grandfather's Three Big Ideas for Justin Bieber."
Back to the letter: "Justin, let's say we're taking a slow walk on a long beach. Here's what I'd want to tell you... Big Idea #1 - You are choosing a road, not just something to do.
One time I was driving from northern Arizona, straight south to Phoenix to see my little grandson in the hospital. When I got to Flagstaff, I picked a ramp. Two hours later, I wasn't seeing Phoenix; I was seeing signs for California! Little did I know when I got on that ramp I was choosing a road that would take me where I did not want to go.
Life has a lot of "ramps" like that: deciding to hook up with someone, picking friends to hang out with, partying like you want because, 'Hey, I'm young, I want to have some fun! What's wrong with that? Trying stuff that helps you feel good or forget feeling bad.'
What we don't realize until it's too late, like 'why am I in California?' is that we're choosing a road we'll be on for a long time. And if it's the wrong road, we're going to end up where we never meant to go; like in a courtoom, in rehab, or just looking in a mirror and saying, 'What happened to you, man?' I don't want that to happen to you.
Jesus actually said these words, and it would be a word for today from the Word of God. It's in Matthew 7:13-14. 'Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road.' Hey, that's a good one; an easy one to be on. '...that leads to destruction.' Oh! '...and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.' It's the destination that matters most isn't it?
Here's Big Idea #2 - The calculator's always running. Temptation says, 'Hey, forget the consequences.' Reality says, 'The bill is gonna come, man.' Or, as the Bible says in Galatians 6:7, 'Whatever you sow, you will reap.' The harvest may not come immediately, but it's gonna come. We may not see it. We may not feel it. But that calculator is always running, and it's adding up the bill we're going to get.
Big Idea #3 - You're made for more. When millions of people are freaking out over you, it's easy to start believing you're the "sun" and everyone else is the "planets" who revolve around me. That's not how it's supposed to be. You've probably already discovered that a world that's only as big as "me" is a world that's too small to live in. Yeah, being a celebrity may allow you to act like you're bigger than the rules and more important than everyone else. But it ain't so. "Me" living leaves you lonely, empty and hurting. As the old saying goes, 'laughing on the outside, crying on the inside.'
No, man, you're made for more. You've been blessed with a lot. You're 19 and you've got so much influence. So whatever road you're on, other people follow you there. If it's a road to a 'make a difference' life, you'll lead other people there. If it's a road that goes over a cliff, they'll crash with you.
I read somewhere that you recently added a tattoo of Jesus on your calf, I think. If you want a hint of the "more" you were made for, take a look at that picture. He showed us how to really live. The Bible says, 'All things were created by Him and for Him.' We're made to revolve around Him, not to have everybody revolve around us. And He died for you, man, and He rose from the grave to prove that He can conquer everything in your life.
If you want that love and that power, you just tell Him, 'Jesus, I'm Yours.' I would love to meet you at our website and help you begin that relationship with Him. Just go to ANewStory.com. It's crossroads time; a lot riding on which road you choose.
My favorite poet, said: 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the road less traveled. And that has made all the difference.' I pray you'll choose that road, because I like happy endings."
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