Max Lucado Daily: Your “Go-To” for Life
Glory Days require an ongoing trust in God’s Word! Wilderness people trust scripture just enough to escape Egypt. Canaan dwellers, on the other hand, make the Bible their “go-to” book for life! God told Joshua in Joshua 1:8 to meditate on God’s Word day and night. The literal translation reads, you shall mutter over this Torah document. It is the image of a person reciting, rehearsing, and reconsidering God’s Word over and over again.
Canaan is loud with enemy voices. The devil megaphones doubt and death into our ears. Take heed to the voice you hear. Begin with a prayer, God, please speak to my heart today as I read. Then with an open heart continue until a message hits you. Keep meditating. Great rewards come to those who do. God promised Joshua, “You will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8).
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John 20
The Resurrection
20 Early on Sunday morning,[a] while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
16 “Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 That Sunday evening[b] the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),[c] was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
Purpose of the Book
30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe[d] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.
Footnotes:
20:1 Greek On the first day of the week.
20:19 Greek In the evening of that day, the first day of the week.
20:24 Greek Thomas, who was called Didymus.
20:31 Some manuscripts read that you may believe.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, October 09, 2015
Read: Job 29:1-6; 30:1-9
ob Speaks of His Former Blessings
29 Job continued speaking:
2 “I long for the years gone by
when God took care of me,
3 when he lit up the way before me
and I walked safely through the darkness.
4 When I was in my prime,
God’s friendship was felt in my home.
5 The Almighty was still with me,
and my children were around me.
6 My steps were awash in cream,
and the rocks gushed olive oil for me.
ob Speaks of His Anguish
30 “But now I am mocked by people younger than I,
by young men whose fathers are not worthy to run with my sheepdogs.
2 A lot of good they are to me—
those worn-out wretches!
3 They are gaunt from poverty and hunger.
They claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands.
4 They pluck wild greens from among the bushes
and eat from the roots of broom trees.
5 They are driven from human society,
and people shout at them as if they were thieves.
6 So now they live in frightening ravines,
in caves and among the rocks.
7 They sound like animals howling among the bushes,
huddled together beneath the nettles.
8 They are nameless fools,
outcasts from society.
9 “And now they mock me with vulgar songs!
They taunt me!
INSIGHT:
Job’s world had been turned upside down, having lost his wealth (1:14-17), his family (1:18-19), and his health (2:7). Even as he reached an impasse with his three friends while trying to unravel the real reasons for his suffering and pain (chs. 3–31), Job was trying to come to terms with the consequences of his physical and financial losses. Spiritually, he felt that God had abandoned him (29:1-5); emotionally, he was deprived of happiness and enjoyment (29:5-6); and socially, he had lost his standing, power, respect, and honor (30:1-9). Despite his many questions, Job proclaimed his trust in the sovereign God (42:1-6). Sim Kay Tee
The Song of Our Lives
By Keila Ochoa
The Lord God is my strength and my song. —nlt Isaiah 12:2
Everyone touched by a piece of music hears it differently. The composer hears it in the chamber of his imagination. The audience hears it with their senses and emotions. The members of the orchestra hear most clearly the sound of the instruments closest to them.
In a sense, we are the members of God’s orchestra. Often we hear only the music closest to us. Because we don’t hear a balanced work, we are like Job who cried as he suffered: “Now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them” (Job 30:9).
Job recalled how princes and officials had respected him. His life was “awash in cream, and the rocks gushed olive oil for me” (29:6 nlt). But now, he had become the target of mockers. “My harp plays sad music,” he lamented (30:31 nlt). Yet there was much, much more to the symphony. Job simply couldn’t hear the whole song.
Maybe today you can hear only the sad notes of your own violin. Don’t lose heart. Every detail in your life is part of God’s composition. Or perhaps you are listening to a cheerful flute. Praise God for it and share your joy with someone else.
God’s masterpiece of redemption is the symphony we are playing, and ultimately everything will work together for His good purposes. God is the composer of our lives. His song is perfect, and we can trust Him.
Lord, help me to trust You, especially when my life seems discordant and out of tune. I thank You because I’m part of Your symphony and Your song is perfect.
Faith in God’s goodness puts a song in the heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 09, 2015
Building on the Atonement
…present…your members as instruments of righteousness to God. —Romans 6:13
I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it. If I construct my faith on my own experience, I produce the most unscriptural kind of life— an isolated life, with my eyes focused solely on my own holiness. Beware of that human holiness that is not based on the atonement of the Lord. It has no value for anything except a life of isolation— it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every kind of experience you have by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
The atonement of Jesus must be exhibited in practical, unassuming ways in my life. Every time I obey, the absolute deity of God is on my side, so that the grace of God and my natural obedience are in perfect agreement. Obedience means that I have completely placed my trust in the atonement, and my obedience is immediately met by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.
Beware of the human holiness that denies the reality of the natural life— it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the trial or test of the atonement and ask, “Where is the discernment of the atonement in this, and in that?”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 09, 2015
4 Words For the Hard Times - #7500
You'd think "teenager" is a disease instead of an age. I mean, the way parents talk about it when they suddenly have a teenager on their hands. You know, they get this apprehensive look on their face, and they say, "My daughter's about to be a teenager!" You can hear the pain in their voice; the fear. Thirteen is a tough year. Sometimes we want them to go away somewhere and come back like when they're fifteen or sixteen! Not really, we really do love them. But when kids navigate through junior high and those kind of years, parents often look at one another – my wife and I did – and say four letters which stand for four words, "T.T.S.P."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "4 Words For the Hard Times."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, and it's about T.T.S.P. What does that mean? It's pretty simple, This Too Shall Pass. I love the way the old King James says, "And it came to pass." Well, when we said that about our kids in junior high, guess what? It did! It came to pass. This, too, did pass.
Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, "Therefore, we do not lose heart." Okay, you got my attention, Paul. After all you got beat up, why did you not lose heart? "Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles..." Did you get that? Doesn't it feel like when you're going through a hard time that it's going to go on forever? He says, "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
You know, when our son was, I think eight years old, he and I went to the grocery store together. I had just gotten my allowance and he had just gotten his. And I heard him jingling his change in his pocket, and we both headed out the door shopping. I was pretty sure when I saw him in that long aisle of junk food that he was going to come out broke. Well, I did after I bought all the groceries. I said, "What did you get?" He said, "Oh, I didn't spend anything, Dad." I said, "Really? Why not?" He said, "Well, Dad, I decided it's best just to spend on what lasts." Wow!
That's what Paul's talking about here; to think about the things that are going to last, not the things that are going to pass. You're going to make bad choices if you make choices based on what's temporary. This is not always going to be here. Some other things always will be. You can't just decide based on the situation. You've got to have non-negotiables that are based upon what's eternal. Even if the storm gets pretty bumpy, you ride out the storm. You don't bale out because of the storm.
You know why? Because the storm is temporary; this too shall pass. Don't give up something permanent for something temporary. You almost always give up something permanent for something temporary when you make just "now" kinds of choices.
So, if you're facing turbulent times, ask yourself this question, "What's temporary here?" Then, "What's lasting here?" Base your decision on that. Make that the basis of all your choices – your non-negotiables. Don't look at what is temporary; look at what is eternal. T.T.S.P. – this too shall pass. It is a great clarifier when you're about to make a decision and it helps you sort out life's two lists: The things that really matter and the things that really don't. Because guess what? Those things get jumbled don't they? They clarify when you realize, "This is going to pass. This is going to be eternal."
Because of Christ, our temporary situation can be put against the vast backdrop of the eternal. So, decide on what will last forever, because the other stuff - T.T.S.P.
Friday, October 9, 2015
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Proverbs 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Click the Save Button
Do the teachings of the Bible change us? There's only one way to find out. Click the "Save" button! What great satisfaction occurs when having created a document, we reach up and press the Save button. It earns its name. We curse the little monster as it gobbles up our hard work. But once we save it, it is safe.
Are you clicking the button on Scripture? We save truth when we deliberately and consciously allow what we've heard to become part of who we are. In John 8:32 Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Free from guilt; free from anger; and free from fear.
Allow the truth of Scripture to be the authority in your life. Make it your goal to memorize it, to press the Save button. Join me at GloryDaysToday.com-let's memorize Scripture together!
Proverbs 7
Warning Against the Adulterous Woman
My son, keep my words
and store up my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and you will live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and to insight, “You are my relative.”
5 They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words.
6 At the window of my house
I looked down through the lattice.
7 I saw among the simple,
I noticed among the young men,
a youth who had no sense.
8 He was going down the street near her corner,
walking along in the direction of her house
9 at twilight, as the day was fading,
as the dark of night set in.
10 Then out came a woman to meet him,
dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.
11 (She is unruly and defiant,
her feet never stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the squares,
at every corner she lurks.)
13 She took hold of him and kissed him
and with a brazen face she said:
14 “Today I fulfilled my vows,
and I have food from my fellowship offering at home.
15 So I came out to meet you;
I looked for you and have found you!
16 I have covered my bed
with colored linens from Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning;
let’s enjoy ourselves with love!
19 My husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey.
20 He took his purse filled with money
and will not be home till full moon.”
21 With persuasive words she led him astray;
she seduced him with her smooth talk.
22 All at once he followed her
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer[c] stepping into a noose[d]
23 till an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
little knowing it will cost him his life.
24 Now then, my sons, listen to me;
pay attention to what I say.
25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways
or stray into her paths.
26 Many are the victims she has brought down;
her slain are a mighty throng.
27 Her house is a highway to the grave,
leading down to the chambers of death.
Footnotes:
Proverbs 7:22 Syriac (see also Septuagint); Hebrew fool
Proverbs 7:22 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 08, 2015
Read: 1 Peter 2:13-25
Respecting People in Authority
13 For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.
15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. 16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 17 Respect everyone, and love the family of believers.[a] Fear God, and respect the king.
Slaves
18 You who are slaves must submit to your masters with all respect.[b] Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. 19 For God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently endure unjust treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.
21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered[c] for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
22 He never sinned,
nor ever deceived anyone.[d]
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
who always judges fairly.
24 He personally carried our sins
in his body on the cross
so that we can be dead to sin
and live for what is right.
By his wounds
you are healed.
25 Once you were like sheep
who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd,
the Guardian of your souls.
Footnotes:
2:17 Greek love the brotherhood.
2:18 Or because you fear God; Greek reads in all fear.
2:21 Some manuscripts read died.
2:22 Isa 53:9.
INSIGHT:
To “follow in [Christ’s] steps” means we are called to pursue a walk of purity and honesty (vv. 21-22), a walk that is not vengeful or vindictive (v. 23), and a walk of deep trust in God the Father (v. 23). This is not only an example of how to build personal relationships, but it’s also the essence of the gospel of grace—God’s favor to those who do not deserve it. Bill Crowder
Reckless Words
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. 1 Peter 2:23
I had been driving for almost half an hour when my daughter suddenly wailed from the backseat. When I asked, “What happened?” she said her brother had grabbed her arm. He claimed he had grabbed her arm because she had pinched him. She said she pinched him because he had said something mean.
Unfortunately, this pattern, which is common between children, can show up in adult relationships too. One person offends another, and the hurt person shoots back a verbal blow. The original offender retaliates with another insult. Before long, anger and cruel words have damaged the relationship.
When we trust the Lord, we don't need to use words as weapons.
The Bible says that “the words of the reckless pierce like swords,” and that “a harsh word stirs up anger” but “a gentle answer turns away wrath” (Prov. 12:18; 15:1). And sometimes not answering at all is the best way to deal with mean or cruel words or comments.
Before Jesus’ crucifixion, the religious authorities tried to provoke Him with their words (Matt. 27:41-43). Yet, “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate . . . . Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
Jesus’ example and the Spirit’s help offer us a way to respond to people who offend us. Trusting the Lord, we don’t need to use words as weapons.
Dear God, please give me self-control through Your Holy Spirit when I am tempted to retaliate with words.
A soft answer has often been the means of breaking a hard heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 08, 2015
Coming to Jesus
Come to Me… —Matthew 11:28
Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things about which we will not come to Jesus Christ. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words— “Come to Me….” In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, “Just as I am, I come.” As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to “Come….”
“Come to Me….” When you hear those words, you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so.
How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away thinking, “I’ve really received what I wanted this time!” And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, “Come to Me….”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.
Disciples Indeed
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 08, 2015
Transformer Trouble - #7499
I was in mid-shave one morning, all lathered up, attacking my whiskers with my razor and I heard a little "bang" down the street, and the power went out. Now fortunately I was still able to find my face in the dark; it's about where it always was. But I knew the rest of the morning was going to be very interesting. See, it wasn't just a circuit breaker. No, no, the power was out on the whole block. Well, we won't be having a toasted bagel today! No hair dryer for my wife, no lamp to read my Bible by. Why? That grey cylinder that hangs on that telephone pole down the street. We had no power because the transformer had blown!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Transformer Trouble."
I remember the day after a hurricane when I saw electric wires on the ground. They were arcing all over the place with power spitting out. Now, the problem with that morning when my face was half shaved is that there wasn't any power. Oh, it was still up there in those wires. Yeah, the power was there, and our needs were still down here, and the lights and the appliances were there, but the transformer that brought all the power to our need wasn't there. That's what happened in Jesus' home town in our word for today from the Word of God.
Matthew 13:54, "Coming to His home town, Jesus began teaching the people in their synagogue and they were amazed 'Where did this man get his wisdom and these miraculous powers?' they asked, 'Isn't this the carpenters son? Isn't his mother's name Mary and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters here with us? Where, then, did this man get all these things?' And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, 'Only in His home town, and in his own house is a prophet without honor.' And He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith."
Well, the miracle power sure was there. He'd healed and changed so many lives in many other places and those same needs were there in Nazareth. But one thing made the difference between the places where Jesus' power did make a difference and the place where He did very little. Faith, or the absence of it; total trust in Jesus as the miracle maker, the mountain mover.
See, faith is the transformer that connects all the voltage of heaven to the situation or the need in front of you. Wouldn't it be sad if it was said of you, or your family, or your ministry, or your business, "He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith." You're not expecting any. You're not believing that Jesus is going to do something powerful, so He won't.
The most unsettling thing about this power failure in Nazareth is that these are the people who knew Jesus best. Well, that's us Bible believing Christians today. The people who know Jesus best may be the people who believe Jesus for the least. Familiarity can breed lazy, limited faith. We put God in a box and this is how He always works, and He's surely going to work within those limits right now, right?
Well, this account seems to tell us that our faith determines the size of the box in which God will work. If we draw a small box within which we ask Him and believe He'll work, He apparently will stay in that box. But He promised in Ephesians 3:20 "to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine."
Now maybe you're facing some situations right now where you really need the full power of the Lord Jesus working for you. But honestly things have seemed pretty powerless recently. The power is there, the current of God flows undiminished. The need is there, but the power isn't connecting with the need. Sounds like there's trouble in the transformer. Your faith in what your Savior can do, that's what's missing.
Well, let this be the day when you open yourself up to something bolder and bigger. It might be what you ask Him for, or He may give you something equally miraculous that He knows is better than you ask for. But one way or another, the transformer of faith will bring down the voltage of heaven to light your life.
Do the teachings of the Bible change us? There's only one way to find out. Click the "Save" button! What great satisfaction occurs when having created a document, we reach up and press the Save button. It earns its name. We curse the little monster as it gobbles up our hard work. But once we save it, it is safe.
Are you clicking the button on Scripture? We save truth when we deliberately and consciously allow what we've heard to become part of who we are. In John 8:32 Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Free from guilt; free from anger; and free from fear.
Allow the truth of Scripture to be the authority in your life. Make it your goal to memorize it, to press the Save button. Join me at GloryDaysToday.com-let's memorize Scripture together!
Proverbs 7
Warning Against the Adulterous Woman
My son, keep my words
and store up my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and you will live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and to insight, “You are my relative.”
5 They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words.
6 At the window of my house
I looked down through the lattice.
7 I saw among the simple,
I noticed among the young men,
a youth who had no sense.
8 He was going down the street near her corner,
walking along in the direction of her house
9 at twilight, as the day was fading,
as the dark of night set in.
10 Then out came a woman to meet him,
dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.
11 (She is unruly and defiant,
her feet never stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the squares,
at every corner she lurks.)
13 She took hold of him and kissed him
and with a brazen face she said:
14 “Today I fulfilled my vows,
and I have food from my fellowship offering at home.
15 So I came out to meet you;
I looked for you and have found you!
16 I have covered my bed
with colored linens from Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning;
let’s enjoy ourselves with love!
19 My husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey.
20 He took his purse filled with money
and will not be home till full moon.”
21 With persuasive words she led him astray;
she seduced him with her smooth talk.
22 All at once he followed her
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer[c] stepping into a noose[d]
23 till an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
little knowing it will cost him his life.
24 Now then, my sons, listen to me;
pay attention to what I say.
25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways
or stray into her paths.
26 Many are the victims she has brought down;
her slain are a mighty throng.
27 Her house is a highway to the grave,
leading down to the chambers of death.
Footnotes:
Proverbs 7:22 Syriac (see also Septuagint); Hebrew fool
Proverbs 7:22 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 08, 2015
Read: 1 Peter 2:13-25
Respecting People in Authority
13 For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.
15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. 16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 17 Respect everyone, and love the family of believers.[a] Fear God, and respect the king.
Slaves
18 You who are slaves must submit to your masters with all respect.[b] Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. 19 For God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently endure unjust treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.
21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered[c] for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
22 He never sinned,
nor ever deceived anyone.[d]
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
who always judges fairly.
24 He personally carried our sins
in his body on the cross
so that we can be dead to sin
and live for what is right.
By his wounds
you are healed.
25 Once you were like sheep
who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd,
the Guardian of your souls.
Footnotes:
2:17 Greek love the brotherhood.
2:18 Or because you fear God; Greek reads in all fear.
2:21 Some manuscripts read died.
2:22 Isa 53:9.
INSIGHT:
To “follow in [Christ’s] steps” means we are called to pursue a walk of purity and honesty (vv. 21-22), a walk that is not vengeful or vindictive (v. 23), and a walk of deep trust in God the Father (v. 23). This is not only an example of how to build personal relationships, but it’s also the essence of the gospel of grace—God’s favor to those who do not deserve it. Bill Crowder
Reckless Words
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. 1 Peter 2:23
I had been driving for almost half an hour when my daughter suddenly wailed from the backseat. When I asked, “What happened?” she said her brother had grabbed her arm. He claimed he had grabbed her arm because she had pinched him. She said she pinched him because he had said something mean.
Unfortunately, this pattern, which is common between children, can show up in adult relationships too. One person offends another, and the hurt person shoots back a verbal blow. The original offender retaliates with another insult. Before long, anger and cruel words have damaged the relationship.
When we trust the Lord, we don't need to use words as weapons.
The Bible says that “the words of the reckless pierce like swords,” and that “a harsh word stirs up anger” but “a gentle answer turns away wrath” (Prov. 12:18; 15:1). And sometimes not answering at all is the best way to deal with mean or cruel words or comments.
Before Jesus’ crucifixion, the religious authorities tried to provoke Him with their words (Matt. 27:41-43). Yet, “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate . . . . Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
Jesus’ example and the Spirit’s help offer us a way to respond to people who offend us. Trusting the Lord, we don’t need to use words as weapons.
Dear God, please give me self-control through Your Holy Spirit when I am tempted to retaliate with words.
A soft answer has often been the means of breaking a hard heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 08, 2015
Coming to Jesus
Come to Me… —Matthew 11:28
Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things about which we will not come to Jesus Christ. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words— “Come to Me….” In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, “Just as I am, I come.” As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to “Come….”
“Come to Me….” When you hear those words, you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so.
How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away thinking, “I’ve really received what I wanted this time!” And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, “Come to Me….”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.
Disciples Indeed
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 08, 2015
Transformer Trouble - #7499
I was in mid-shave one morning, all lathered up, attacking my whiskers with my razor and I heard a little "bang" down the street, and the power went out. Now fortunately I was still able to find my face in the dark; it's about where it always was. But I knew the rest of the morning was going to be very interesting. See, it wasn't just a circuit breaker. No, no, the power was out on the whole block. Well, we won't be having a toasted bagel today! No hair dryer for my wife, no lamp to read my Bible by. Why? That grey cylinder that hangs on that telephone pole down the street. We had no power because the transformer had blown!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Transformer Trouble."
I remember the day after a hurricane when I saw electric wires on the ground. They were arcing all over the place with power spitting out. Now, the problem with that morning when my face was half shaved is that there wasn't any power. Oh, it was still up there in those wires. Yeah, the power was there, and our needs were still down here, and the lights and the appliances were there, but the transformer that brought all the power to our need wasn't there. That's what happened in Jesus' home town in our word for today from the Word of God.
Matthew 13:54, "Coming to His home town, Jesus began teaching the people in their synagogue and they were amazed 'Where did this man get his wisdom and these miraculous powers?' they asked, 'Isn't this the carpenters son? Isn't his mother's name Mary and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters here with us? Where, then, did this man get all these things?' And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, 'Only in His home town, and in his own house is a prophet without honor.' And He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith."
Well, the miracle power sure was there. He'd healed and changed so many lives in many other places and those same needs were there in Nazareth. But one thing made the difference between the places where Jesus' power did make a difference and the place where He did very little. Faith, or the absence of it; total trust in Jesus as the miracle maker, the mountain mover.
See, faith is the transformer that connects all the voltage of heaven to the situation or the need in front of you. Wouldn't it be sad if it was said of you, or your family, or your ministry, or your business, "He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith." You're not expecting any. You're not believing that Jesus is going to do something powerful, so He won't.
The most unsettling thing about this power failure in Nazareth is that these are the people who knew Jesus best. Well, that's us Bible believing Christians today. The people who know Jesus best may be the people who believe Jesus for the least. Familiarity can breed lazy, limited faith. We put God in a box and this is how He always works, and He's surely going to work within those limits right now, right?
Well, this account seems to tell us that our faith determines the size of the box in which God will work. If we draw a small box within which we ask Him and believe He'll work, He apparently will stay in that box. But He promised in Ephesians 3:20 "to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine."
Now maybe you're facing some situations right now where you really need the full power of the Lord Jesus working for you. But honestly things have seemed pretty powerless recently. The power is there, the current of God flows undiminished. The need is there, but the power isn't connecting with the need. Sounds like there's trouble in the transformer. Your faith in what your Savior can do, that's what's missing.
Well, let this be the day when you open yourself up to something bolder and bigger. It might be what you ask Him for, or He may give you something equally miraculous that He knows is better than you ask for. But one way or another, the transformer of faith will bring down the voltage of heaven to light your life.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Proverbs 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Strongholds
Does one prevailing problem stalk your life? Where does Satan have a hook in you?
Some are prone to cheat. Others quick to doubt. Maybe you worry. Yes, everyone worries some - but you own the national distributorship of anxiety. Perhaps you are judgmental. Sure, everybody can be critical, but you pass more judgments than the Supreme Court.
What is that one weakness, bad habit, rotten attitude? Where does the devil have a stronghold on you? Ahh, there is the word that fits-stronghold-fortress, citadel, thick walls, tall gates. It's as if the devil has fenced in one negative attribute, one bad habit, one weakness and constructed a rampart around it. "You ain't touching this flaw," he defies to heaven and he places himself squarely between God's help and your:
-explosive temper
-fragile self-image
-voracious appetite
-distrust for authority
Seasons come and go and this Loch Ness monster still lurks in the watery lake bottom of your soul. He won't go away. He lives up to both sides of his compound name: strong enough to grip like a vice and stubborn enough to hold on. He clings like a bear trap; the harder you shake, the more it hurts.
Strongholds: old, difficult, discouraging challenges.
The term stronghold appears at least fifty times in the Bible. It commonly referred to a fortress with a difficult access (see Judges 6:2; I Sam. 23:14). When King David first saw the city of Jerusalem, it was an old, ancient, cheerless fortress inhabited by enemies. No wonder it was twice called a stronghold (see II Sam. 5:7,9).
The Apostle Paul uses the term to describe a mindset or attitude.
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds), casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6 ASV)
We do not grit our teeth and redouble our efforts. No, this is the way of the flesh. Our weapons are from God. They have divine power to demolish strongholds. Isn't that what we want? We long to see our strongholds turned into rubble, once and for all, forever and ever, kaboom!
Maybe it's time for a different strategy.
Have you asked others to help you? Everything inside you says: keep the struggle a secret. Wear a mask, hide the pain. God says just the opposite: "Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed" (James 5:16 MSG). Satan indwells the domain of shadows and secrets. God lives in the land of light and honesty. Bring your problem into the open.
I know a young couple who battled the stronghold of sexual temptation. They wanted to save sex for the honeymoon, but didn't know if they could. So, they called for help. They enlisted the support of a mentoring, understanding married couple. They put the older couple's phone number on speed dial and asked their permission to call them, regardless of the hour, when the temptation was severe. When the wall was too tall, they took the tunnel.
Maybe it is time to get drastic. I had a friend who battled the stronghold of alcohol. He tried a fresh approach. If I ever saw him drinking, he gave me, and a few choice people, permission to slug him in the nose. The wall was too tall, so he tried the tunnel.
One woman counters her anxiety by memorizing long sections of Scripture. A traveling salesman asks the hotels to remove the TV from his room so he won't be tempted. Another man grew so weary of his prejudice toward non-whites, that he moved into an ethnically diverse neighborhood, made new friends and changed his attitude.
"God's power is very great for us who believe. That power is the same as the great strength God used to raise Christ from the dead and put him at his right side in the heavenly world." (Eph. 1:19, 20 NCV).
Ask for help. Get drastic. Try a fresh approach. Who knows, you may be a prayer away from a breakthrough.
©Max Lucado, September 2015
Proverbs 6
Warnings Against Folly
My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2 you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
3 So do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—[b]
and give your neighbor no rest!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
12 A troublemaker and a villain,
who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13 who winks maliciously with his eye,
signals with his feet
and motions with his fingers,
14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart—
he always stirs up conflict.
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.
16 There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Warning Against Adultery
20 My son, keep your father’s command
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart;
fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this command is a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and correction and instruction
are the way to life,
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,
though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
and his shame will never be wiped away.
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation;
he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.
Footnotes:
Proverbs 6:3 Or Go and humble yourself,
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
Read: Job 19:1-21
Job’s Sixth Speech: A Response to Bildad
Then Job spoke again:
2 “How long will you torture me?
How long will you try to crush me with your words?
3 You have already insulted me ten times.
You should be ashamed of treating me so badly.
4 Even if I have sinned,
that is my concern, not yours.
5 You think you’re better than I am,
using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.
6 But it is God who has wronged me,
capturing me in his net.[a]
7 “I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me.
I protest, but there is no justice.
8 God has blocked my way so I cannot move.
He has plunged my path into darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished.
He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree.
11 His fury burns against me;
he counts me as an enemy.
12 His troops advance.
They build up roads to attack me.
They camp all around my tent.
13 “My relatives stay far away,
and my friends have turned against me.
14 My family is gone,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 My servants and maids consider me a stranger.
I am like a foreigner to them.
16 When I call my servant, he doesn’t come;
I have to plead with him!
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife.
I am rejected by my own family.
18 Even young children despise me.
When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me.
19 My close friends detest me.
Those I loved have turned against me.
20 I have been reduced to skin and bones
and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy,
for the hand of God has struck me.
Footnotes:
19:6 Or for I am like a city under siege.
Unclear Vision
By Anne Cetas
My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Job 42:5
My friend Meaghan is an accomplished equestrian, and I’ve been learning some interesting things about horses from her. For instance, despite having the largest eyes of all land mammals, horses have poor eyesight and can see fewer colors than humans. Because of this, they can’t always identify objects on the ground. When they see a pole, they don’t know if it’s a pole they can easily step over or a large snake that might harm them. For this reason, until they are properly trained horses are easily frightened and quick to run away.
We too may want to run from alarming circumstances. We may feel like Job who misunderstood his troubles and wished he’d never been born. Since he couldn’t see that it was Satan who was trying to break him down, he feared that the Lord, in whom he had trusted, was trying to destroy him. Overwhelmed, he cried out, “God has wronged me and drawn his net around me” (Job 19:6).
Like Job’s vision, ours is limited. We want to run away from the difficult situations that scare us. From God’s perspective, we are not alone. He understands what confuses and frightens us. He knows we are safe with Him by our side. This is our opportunity to trust His understanding rather than our own.
In what ways have you doubted God’s goodness? How have you seen Him working in your life during a difficult time?
Trusting God’s faithfulness dispels our fearfulness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
The Nature of Reconciliation
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2 Corinthians 5:21
Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.
The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son “to be sin” that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us…” and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.
A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure. The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
Someone Else's Treasure - #7498
That night our car was totaled in an accident, and thank God, we weren't. We were hit by a drunk driver, and I had no car to get around in for the month of December, which was a very busy month for the youth ministry that I worked for at that time. I received a call from a friend one day. Much to my surprise, he said, "Ron, could we lend you a car for the next few weeks while we're in Florida." This was like a huge answer to prayer. I said, "Well, bring me the oldest one you have."
Well, he drove over his brand new Cadillac Coupe Deville. Now, that's good news and bad news. The good news is, "I'm going to be driving my friend's brand new Coupe Deville. The bad news is, "I'm going to be driving my friend's brand new Coupe Deville." This car was capable of things I didn't even know cars did, and here I am for the next six weeks driving around in my good friends' brand new Cadillac. To be honest, I drove like a different person when I drove that car! I was more careful, I took it and had it washed every other day. I made sure the kids didn't eat any potato chips in there. You know, you treat something like extra special when you know it belongs to somebody else.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Someone Else's Treasure."
Our word for today from the Word of God is about being trusted with somebody else's treasure. And it comes as a quiet, almost hidden lesson out of what we normally think of as the Christmas Story. It's in Matthew 1, where our word for today from the Word of God is in verses 20 and 21. We're in that part of the story where Joseph gets the news about what has happened to his fiancé Mary, and that in fact she is going to be a virgin mother of the Son of God.
Verse 20, "After he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'"
You might think of this as good news/bad news for Joseph. Because isn't it great news for a father to be told, "You're going to have a son!"? That's like music to every dad's ears.
The down side is that he will be playing a supporting role in the life of this son that's going to be born. First of all, he's not even going to get to pick the name. God's going to do that. And then he's going to be the supporting cast. This child, basically God is saying here, is "not really yours Joseph." But then, in a sense, isn't every parent Joseph. You have, if you are a parent, in your care a child invented by God, for whom God has His own plans – a Cadillac He has entrusted to you. As Joseph was, so you are in a sense, a supporting actor to God's fathering in that child's life. Your mission is to support God's program for the children He trusted to you; not to live your life through them or to carry out your wonderful plan for their life.
So, how are you doing? Are you carrying out His plans for them and not yours? Are you accepting the gifts that God has given them and the limitations He's given them? Are you teaching God's boundaries to them? Are you bathing them in His values? Do you pray every day, "Dear Jesus, help me see this child through your eyes. Help me see what you're doing in my son or daughter's life and I want to follow you there, and I want to be a part of it."
He's given you this child to raise; He's trusted you. It is perhaps the greatest trust God can ever give a human being. You have someone else's treasure.
I think about the prayer of that grandmother that was up on the wall in her room, "Lord, I pray that on that Resurrection Day I may be able to say, 'Here am I, Lord, and the children you gave me.'" Yes, you've got somebody else's treasure.
Does one prevailing problem stalk your life? Where does Satan have a hook in you?
Some are prone to cheat. Others quick to doubt. Maybe you worry. Yes, everyone worries some - but you own the national distributorship of anxiety. Perhaps you are judgmental. Sure, everybody can be critical, but you pass more judgments than the Supreme Court.
What is that one weakness, bad habit, rotten attitude? Where does the devil have a stronghold on you? Ahh, there is the word that fits-stronghold-fortress, citadel, thick walls, tall gates. It's as if the devil has fenced in one negative attribute, one bad habit, one weakness and constructed a rampart around it. "You ain't touching this flaw," he defies to heaven and he places himself squarely between God's help and your:
-explosive temper
-fragile self-image
-voracious appetite
-distrust for authority
Seasons come and go and this Loch Ness monster still lurks in the watery lake bottom of your soul. He won't go away. He lives up to both sides of his compound name: strong enough to grip like a vice and stubborn enough to hold on. He clings like a bear trap; the harder you shake, the more it hurts.
Strongholds: old, difficult, discouraging challenges.
The term stronghold appears at least fifty times in the Bible. It commonly referred to a fortress with a difficult access (see Judges 6:2; I Sam. 23:14). When King David first saw the city of Jerusalem, it was an old, ancient, cheerless fortress inhabited by enemies. No wonder it was twice called a stronghold (see II Sam. 5:7,9).
The Apostle Paul uses the term to describe a mindset or attitude.
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds), casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6 ASV)
We do not grit our teeth and redouble our efforts. No, this is the way of the flesh. Our weapons are from God. They have divine power to demolish strongholds. Isn't that what we want? We long to see our strongholds turned into rubble, once and for all, forever and ever, kaboom!
Maybe it's time for a different strategy.
Have you asked others to help you? Everything inside you says: keep the struggle a secret. Wear a mask, hide the pain. God says just the opposite: "Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed" (James 5:16 MSG). Satan indwells the domain of shadows and secrets. God lives in the land of light and honesty. Bring your problem into the open.
I know a young couple who battled the stronghold of sexual temptation. They wanted to save sex for the honeymoon, but didn't know if they could. So, they called for help. They enlisted the support of a mentoring, understanding married couple. They put the older couple's phone number on speed dial and asked their permission to call them, regardless of the hour, when the temptation was severe. When the wall was too tall, they took the tunnel.
Maybe it is time to get drastic. I had a friend who battled the stronghold of alcohol. He tried a fresh approach. If I ever saw him drinking, he gave me, and a few choice people, permission to slug him in the nose. The wall was too tall, so he tried the tunnel.
One woman counters her anxiety by memorizing long sections of Scripture. A traveling salesman asks the hotels to remove the TV from his room so he won't be tempted. Another man grew so weary of his prejudice toward non-whites, that he moved into an ethnically diverse neighborhood, made new friends and changed his attitude.
"God's power is very great for us who believe. That power is the same as the great strength God used to raise Christ from the dead and put him at his right side in the heavenly world." (Eph. 1:19, 20 NCV).
Ask for help. Get drastic. Try a fresh approach. Who knows, you may be a prayer away from a breakthrough.
©Max Lucado, September 2015
Proverbs 6
Warnings Against Folly
My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2 you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
3 So do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—[b]
and give your neighbor no rest!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
12 A troublemaker and a villain,
who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13 who winks maliciously with his eye,
signals with his feet
and motions with his fingers,
14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart—
he always stirs up conflict.
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.
16 There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Warning Against Adultery
20 My son, keep your father’s command
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart;
fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this command is a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and correction and instruction
are the way to life,
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,
though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
and his shame will never be wiped away.
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation;
he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.
Footnotes:
Proverbs 6:3 Or Go and humble yourself,
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
Read: Job 19:1-21
Job’s Sixth Speech: A Response to Bildad
Then Job spoke again:
2 “How long will you torture me?
How long will you try to crush me with your words?
3 You have already insulted me ten times.
You should be ashamed of treating me so badly.
4 Even if I have sinned,
that is my concern, not yours.
5 You think you’re better than I am,
using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.
6 But it is God who has wronged me,
capturing me in his net.[a]
7 “I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me.
I protest, but there is no justice.
8 God has blocked my way so I cannot move.
He has plunged my path into darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished.
He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree.
11 His fury burns against me;
he counts me as an enemy.
12 His troops advance.
They build up roads to attack me.
They camp all around my tent.
13 “My relatives stay far away,
and my friends have turned against me.
14 My family is gone,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 My servants and maids consider me a stranger.
I am like a foreigner to them.
16 When I call my servant, he doesn’t come;
I have to plead with him!
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife.
I am rejected by my own family.
18 Even young children despise me.
When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me.
19 My close friends detest me.
Those I loved have turned against me.
20 I have been reduced to skin and bones
and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy,
for the hand of God has struck me.
Footnotes:
19:6 Or for I am like a city under siege.
Unclear Vision
By Anne Cetas
My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Job 42:5
My friend Meaghan is an accomplished equestrian, and I’ve been learning some interesting things about horses from her. For instance, despite having the largest eyes of all land mammals, horses have poor eyesight and can see fewer colors than humans. Because of this, they can’t always identify objects on the ground. When they see a pole, they don’t know if it’s a pole they can easily step over or a large snake that might harm them. For this reason, until they are properly trained horses are easily frightened and quick to run away.
We too may want to run from alarming circumstances. We may feel like Job who misunderstood his troubles and wished he’d never been born. Since he couldn’t see that it was Satan who was trying to break him down, he feared that the Lord, in whom he had trusted, was trying to destroy him. Overwhelmed, he cried out, “God has wronged me and drawn his net around me” (Job 19:6).
Like Job’s vision, ours is limited. We want to run away from the difficult situations that scare us. From God’s perspective, we are not alone. He understands what confuses and frightens us. He knows we are safe with Him by our side. This is our opportunity to trust His understanding rather than our own.
In what ways have you doubted God’s goodness? How have you seen Him working in your life during a difficult time?
Trusting God’s faithfulness dispels our fearfulness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
The Nature of Reconciliation
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2 Corinthians 5:21
Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.
The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son “to be sin” that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us…” and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.
A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure. The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
Someone Else's Treasure - #7498
That night our car was totaled in an accident, and thank God, we weren't. We were hit by a drunk driver, and I had no car to get around in for the month of December, which was a very busy month for the youth ministry that I worked for at that time. I received a call from a friend one day. Much to my surprise, he said, "Ron, could we lend you a car for the next few weeks while we're in Florida." This was like a huge answer to prayer. I said, "Well, bring me the oldest one you have."
Well, he drove over his brand new Cadillac Coupe Deville. Now, that's good news and bad news. The good news is, "I'm going to be driving my friend's brand new Coupe Deville. The bad news is, "I'm going to be driving my friend's brand new Coupe Deville." This car was capable of things I didn't even know cars did, and here I am for the next six weeks driving around in my good friends' brand new Cadillac. To be honest, I drove like a different person when I drove that car! I was more careful, I took it and had it washed every other day. I made sure the kids didn't eat any potato chips in there. You know, you treat something like extra special when you know it belongs to somebody else.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Someone Else's Treasure."
Our word for today from the Word of God is about being trusted with somebody else's treasure. And it comes as a quiet, almost hidden lesson out of what we normally think of as the Christmas Story. It's in Matthew 1, where our word for today from the Word of God is in verses 20 and 21. We're in that part of the story where Joseph gets the news about what has happened to his fiancé Mary, and that in fact she is going to be a virgin mother of the Son of God.
Verse 20, "After he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'"
You might think of this as good news/bad news for Joseph. Because isn't it great news for a father to be told, "You're going to have a son!"? That's like music to every dad's ears.
The down side is that he will be playing a supporting role in the life of this son that's going to be born. First of all, he's not even going to get to pick the name. God's going to do that. And then he's going to be the supporting cast. This child, basically God is saying here, is "not really yours Joseph." But then, in a sense, isn't every parent Joseph. You have, if you are a parent, in your care a child invented by God, for whom God has His own plans – a Cadillac He has entrusted to you. As Joseph was, so you are in a sense, a supporting actor to God's fathering in that child's life. Your mission is to support God's program for the children He trusted to you; not to live your life through them or to carry out your wonderful plan for their life.
So, how are you doing? Are you carrying out His plans for them and not yours? Are you accepting the gifts that God has given them and the limitations He's given them? Are you teaching God's boundaries to them? Are you bathing them in His values? Do you pray every day, "Dear Jesus, help me see this child through your eyes. Help me see what you're doing in my son or daughter's life and I want to follow you there, and I want to be a part of it."
He's given you this child to raise; He's trusted you. It is perhaps the greatest trust God can ever give a human being. You have someone else's treasure.
I think about the prayer of that grandmother that was up on the wall in her room, "Lord, I pray that on that Resurrection Day I may be able to say, 'Here am I, Lord, and the children you gave me.'" Yes, you've got somebody else's treasure.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Proverbs 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: From Glory to Glory
Do you sense a disconnect between the promises of the Bible and the reality of your life? Jesus offers abundant joy, yet you live with oppressive grief. Romans 8:37 promises we are more than conquerors-yet you are commonly conquered by temptations or weaknesses. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 you can live from glory to glory. The deed to your new life is already signed. From dry land to the Promised Land; from manna to feasts.
Joshua 21:43-45 says, "So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it." You can personalize that promise! You can realize your Glory Days! I invite you to join me in a Glory Days Scripture Memory Challenge and take to heart Joshua 21: 43-45. Let's memorize these verses together at GloryDaysToday.com!
Proverbs 5
Avoid Immoral Women
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
listen carefully to my wise counsel.
2 Then you will show discernment,
and your lips will express what you’ve learned.
3 For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey,
and her mouth is smoother than oil.
4 But in the end she is as bitter as poison,
as dangerous as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.[a]
6 For she cares nothing about the path to life.
She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me.
Never stray from what I am about to say:
8 Stay away from her!
Don’t go near the door of her house!
9 If you do, you will lose your honor
and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved.
10 Strangers will consume your wealth,
and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
11 In the end you will groan in anguish
when disease consumes your body.
12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!
If only I had not ignored all the warnings!
13 Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers?
Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors?
14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin,
and now I must face public disgrace.”
15 Drink water from your own well—
share your love only with your wife.[b]
16 Why spill the water of your springs in the streets,
having sex with just anyone?[c]
17 You should reserve it for yourselves.
Never share it with strangers.
18 Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you.
Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 She is a loving deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts satisfy you always.
May you always be captivated by her love.
20 Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral woman,
or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous woman?
21 For the Lord sees clearly what a man does,
examining every path he takes.
22 An evil man is held captive by his own sins;
they are ropes that catch and hold him.
23 He will die for lack of self-control;
he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
Footnotes:
5:5 Hebrew to Sheol.
5:15 Hebrew Drink water from your own cistern, / flowing water from your own well.
5:16 Hebrew Why spill your springs in the streets, / your streams in the city squares?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
Read: John 15:10-20
When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
The World’s Hatred
18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. 20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.
INSIGHT:
Jesus used the words servants and friends to show the level of intimacy and the great privileges and responsibilities believers have with Him (v. 15). A true friend is “one in spirit” with you (see 1 Sam. 18:1) and would sacrifice his life for you (John 15:13). A friend of Jesus does whatever He commands (v. 14), but “a friend of the world” is an enemy of God (James 4:4). Sim Kay Tee
Playing with Fire
By Dennis Fisher
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. . . . And I too will love them and show myself to them. John 14:21
When I was a young boy, my mom warned me that I should never play with fire. Yet one day I decided to see what would happen if I did. Taking a book of matches and some paper, I went out into the backyard to experiment. With heart beating fast, I knelt on the ground, struck the match, and set the paper aflame.
Suddenly I saw my mother approaching. Not wanting to get caught, I put my legs over the flames to hide what I was doing. But Mom shouted, “Denny, move your legs! There’s a fire underneath them!” Fortunately, I moved my legs quickly enough and was not burned. I realized then that my mother’s rule about not playing with fire was not to spoil my fun but because of her concern to keep me safe.
God always has our best interests at heart.
Sometimes we don’t understand the reasons behind God’s commands. We may even think He is a cosmic killjoy, setting up rules and regulations to keep us from enjoying ourselves. But God asks us to obey Him because He has our best interests at heart. As we obey, we “remain in his love” and are filled with joy (John 15:10-11).
So when God warns us not to sin, He does it for our own good. He really wants to protect us from “playing with fire” and getting burned.
Dear heavenly Father, may Your Holy Spirit empower us to obey Your Word. We thank You for the protection Your precepts provide and the love and joy we find in obeying You.
God gives us loving warnings in His Word to protect us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
The Nature of Regeneration
When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me… —Galatians 1:15-16
If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature— His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.
The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God— “…until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, “Blessed are you…” (Matthew 5:11). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.
Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
Moving Past Your Fear - #7497
Michelle and Tara - they were the darlings of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Michelle Kwan was favored to leave Nagano with the coveted gold medal for women's figure skating. Fifteen-year-old Tara Lipinski was widely expected to win the silver as the second greatest female skater in the world. But, to the surprise of most of the world, Tara skated to the gold as the youngest skating gold medalist in Olympic history up to that time. Michelle Kwan went home with the silver. One morning afterwards, one commentator said of Tara Lipinski, "She was too young, too immature, too unrefined. It wasn't her turn. The reason Tara Lipinski couldn't win the gold medal is the reason it hangs around her neck today: She was a kid."
The writer went on to observe that while Michelle Kwan stayed with her parents in her room most of the time before her performance, young Tara was marching in the Opening Ceremony, mingling with the other athletes, cheering for her team at other events, even playing video games and football. And then, he said, "It was time to skate the long program. There was no fear. No nerves." Michelle actually talked about being, in her words, "more cautious." But for the gold medalist - they called it "no fear."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Moving Past Your Fear."
Now, if you can skate without fear, you can really enjoy what you're doing. As young Tara Lipinski said, "I let myself have fun." Fear costs you your confidence. And it might even cost you winning at what you have to do.
Our Word for today from the Word of God, 2 Timothy 1:7, "God did not give us a spirit of timidity (or, as many versions say, a spirit of fear), but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." Under control, powerful, loving - that's how you can be if you can skate, work, live without fear; not having to respond to all the pressure, not being so concerned about failing...being tentative or trying too hard because you're afraid. Fear isn't from God. In fact, David said, "I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears" (Psalm 34:4).
Right now you may be skating in an arena or in an event that, quite honestly, is making you feel afraid. Maybe it's parenting - the fear of failing with your child, the fears of what they might do or what might be done to them in a world like ours. Or you might be facing an assignment or a challenge that has its share of fear in it. It could be medical or financial or relational. But for most of us, there's an arena we have to perform in that makes us afraid. And, so often, it is the fear that makes the very thing we're afraid of happen.
When you look at all the times Jesus reprimanded His disciples for being full of fear instead of full of faith, you begin to see two mistakes that make us paralyzed or limited by fear. First, focusing on ourselves: How am I performing, what are those people going to think of me, my limitations, my inadequacies? All about me. Secondly, focusing on the situation: How big it is, how hard it is, the dangers, the "coulds," the "mights," the "what if's," the scary possibilities.
Remember God doesn't give us the spirit of fear. He gives us the spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. All the things we need to skate with championship form. So faith, which is the opposite of fear, comes not from focusing on myself or on my situation, but on my Savior! If I consciously fill up my mind with Him, the fear will start melting into faith. Why? Because I know nothing is going to happen that my God cannot handle, that my God has not approved, and that my God will not prepare me for and equip me for. Yes, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).
So as you skate in the arena God has assigned to you, don't think about yourself, don't think about the situation. Think about your Savior! Fear will paralyze you. It'll make you tense; it'll make you make mistakes. But focusing on your Lord will enable you to skate relaxed, with confidence, and yes, maybe even having some fun.
Do you sense a disconnect between the promises of the Bible and the reality of your life? Jesus offers abundant joy, yet you live with oppressive grief. Romans 8:37 promises we are more than conquerors-yet you are commonly conquered by temptations or weaknesses. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 you can live from glory to glory. The deed to your new life is already signed. From dry land to the Promised Land; from manna to feasts.
Joshua 21:43-45 says, "So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it." You can personalize that promise! You can realize your Glory Days! I invite you to join me in a Glory Days Scripture Memory Challenge and take to heart Joshua 21: 43-45. Let's memorize these verses together at GloryDaysToday.com!
Proverbs 5
Avoid Immoral Women
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
listen carefully to my wise counsel.
2 Then you will show discernment,
and your lips will express what you’ve learned.
3 For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey,
and her mouth is smoother than oil.
4 But in the end she is as bitter as poison,
as dangerous as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.[a]
6 For she cares nothing about the path to life.
She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me.
Never stray from what I am about to say:
8 Stay away from her!
Don’t go near the door of her house!
9 If you do, you will lose your honor
and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved.
10 Strangers will consume your wealth,
and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
11 In the end you will groan in anguish
when disease consumes your body.
12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!
If only I had not ignored all the warnings!
13 Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers?
Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors?
14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin,
and now I must face public disgrace.”
15 Drink water from your own well—
share your love only with your wife.[b]
16 Why spill the water of your springs in the streets,
having sex with just anyone?[c]
17 You should reserve it for yourselves.
Never share it with strangers.
18 Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you.
Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 She is a loving deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts satisfy you always.
May you always be captivated by her love.
20 Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral woman,
or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous woman?
21 For the Lord sees clearly what a man does,
examining every path he takes.
22 An evil man is held captive by his own sins;
they are ropes that catch and hold him.
23 He will die for lack of self-control;
he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
Footnotes:
5:5 Hebrew to Sheol.
5:15 Hebrew Drink water from your own cistern, / flowing water from your own well.
5:16 Hebrew Why spill your springs in the streets, / your streams in the city squares?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
Read: John 15:10-20
When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
The World’s Hatred
18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. 20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.
INSIGHT:
Jesus used the words servants and friends to show the level of intimacy and the great privileges and responsibilities believers have with Him (v. 15). A true friend is “one in spirit” with you (see 1 Sam. 18:1) and would sacrifice his life for you (John 15:13). A friend of Jesus does whatever He commands (v. 14), but “a friend of the world” is an enemy of God (James 4:4). Sim Kay Tee
Playing with Fire
By Dennis Fisher
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. . . . And I too will love them and show myself to them. John 14:21
When I was a young boy, my mom warned me that I should never play with fire. Yet one day I decided to see what would happen if I did. Taking a book of matches and some paper, I went out into the backyard to experiment. With heart beating fast, I knelt on the ground, struck the match, and set the paper aflame.
Suddenly I saw my mother approaching. Not wanting to get caught, I put my legs over the flames to hide what I was doing. But Mom shouted, “Denny, move your legs! There’s a fire underneath them!” Fortunately, I moved my legs quickly enough and was not burned. I realized then that my mother’s rule about not playing with fire was not to spoil my fun but because of her concern to keep me safe.
God always has our best interests at heart.
Sometimes we don’t understand the reasons behind God’s commands. We may even think He is a cosmic killjoy, setting up rules and regulations to keep us from enjoying ourselves. But God asks us to obey Him because He has our best interests at heart. As we obey, we “remain in his love” and are filled with joy (John 15:10-11).
So when God warns us not to sin, He does it for our own good. He really wants to protect us from “playing with fire” and getting burned.
Dear heavenly Father, may Your Holy Spirit empower us to obey Your Word. We thank You for the protection Your precepts provide and the love and joy we find in obeying You.
God gives us loving warnings in His Word to protect us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
The Nature of Regeneration
When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me… —Galatians 1:15-16
If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature— His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.
The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God— “…until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, “Blessed are you…” (Matthew 5:11). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.
Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
Moving Past Your Fear - #7497
Michelle and Tara - they were the darlings of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Michelle Kwan was favored to leave Nagano with the coveted gold medal for women's figure skating. Fifteen-year-old Tara Lipinski was widely expected to win the silver as the second greatest female skater in the world. But, to the surprise of most of the world, Tara skated to the gold as the youngest skating gold medalist in Olympic history up to that time. Michelle Kwan went home with the silver. One morning afterwards, one commentator said of Tara Lipinski, "She was too young, too immature, too unrefined. It wasn't her turn. The reason Tara Lipinski couldn't win the gold medal is the reason it hangs around her neck today: She was a kid."
The writer went on to observe that while Michelle Kwan stayed with her parents in her room most of the time before her performance, young Tara was marching in the Opening Ceremony, mingling with the other athletes, cheering for her team at other events, even playing video games and football. And then, he said, "It was time to skate the long program. There was no fear. No nerves." Michelle actually talked about being, in her words, "more cautious." But for the gold medalist - they called it "no fear."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Moving Past Your Fear."
Now, if you can skate without fear, you can really enjoy what you're doing. As young Tara Lipinski said, "I let myself have fun." Fear costs you your confidence. And it might even cost you winning at what you have to do.
Our Word for today from the Word of God, 2 Timothy 1:7, "God did not give us a spirit of timidity (or, as many versions say, a spirit of fear), but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." Under control, powerful, loving - that's how you can be if you can skate, work, live without fear; not having to respond to all the pressure, not being so concerned about failing...being tentative or trying too hard because you're afraid. Fear isn't from God. In fact, David said, "I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears" (Psalm 34:4).
Right now you may be skating in an arena or in an event that, quite honestly, is making you feel afraid. Maybe it's parenting - the fear of failing with your child, the fears of what they might do or what might be done to them in a world like ours. Or you might be facing an assignment or a challenge that has its share of fear in it. It could be medical or financial or relational. But for most of us, there's an arena we have to perform in that makes us afraid. And, so often, it is the fear that makes the very thing we're afraid of happen.
When you look at all the times Jesus reprimanded His disciples for being full of fear instead of full of faith, you begin to see two mistakes that make us paralyzed or limited by fear. First, focusing on ourselves: How am I performing, what are those people going to think of me, my limitations, my inadequacies? All about me. Secondly, focusing on the situation: How big it is, how hard it is, the dangers, the "coulds," the "mights," the "what if's," the scary possibilities.
Remember God doesn't give us the spirit of fear. He gives us the spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. All the things we need to skate with championship form. So faith, which is the opposite of fear, comes not from focusing on myself or on my situation, but on my Savior! If I consciously fill up my mind with Him, the fear will start melting into faith. Why? Because I know nothing is going to happen that my God cannot handle, that my God has not approved, and that my God will not prepare me for and equip me for. Yes, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).
So as you skate in the arena God has assigned to you, don't think about yourself, don't think about the situation. Think about your Savior! Fear will paralyze you. It'll make you tense; it'll make you make mistakes. But focusing on your Lord will enable you to skate relaxed, with confidence, and yes, maybe even having some fun.
Monday, October 5, 2015
John 19:23-42, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Life God Has Given You
In the schoolroom of ancient societies Israel was the kid with the black eye, bullied and beat up. Except for the Glory Days of Israel-seven years between the difficult days of Exodus and the dark days of the judges. Seven years in which the Jordan River opened up and the Jericho walls fell down. Joshua 21:43-45 are verses I invite you to memorize in our Glory Days Scripture Memory Challenge this week.
"So the Lord gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side just as He had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of the Lord's good promises to Israel failed. Every one was fulfilled."
From Glory Days
Facing God
The Hebrews did what God commanded-and God protected them. Joshua 5:1 says, "So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites. . .and all the kings of the Canaanites. . . heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan. . .their heart melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the children of Israel."
Devotion prompted divine protection. Don't face Satan by facing Satan. Face Satan by facing God. Don't give Old Scratch the time of day. Colossians 2:15 says, "God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless."
Satan is a fallen angel whose time is short. Don't let him mess with your glory days. Neutralize him. Join me at GloryDaysToday.com to remember what God has done!
John 19:23-42
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice[a] for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.”[b] So that is what they did.
25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.
The Death of Jesus
28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.”[c] 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.
31 It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was the Passover). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. 34 One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. 35 (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.[d]) 36 These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[e] 37 and “They will look on the one they pierced.”[f]
The Burial of Jesus
38 Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. 39 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds[g] of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. 40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. 41 The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. 42 And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover[h] and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Footnotes:
19:24a Greek cast lots.
19:24b Ps 22:18.
19:28 See Pss 22:15; 69:21.
19:35 Some manuscripts read that you also may believe.
19:36 Exod 12:46; Num 9:12; Ps 34:20.
19:37 Zech 12:10.
19:39 Greek 100 litras [32.7 kilograms].
19:42 Greek because of the Jewish day of preparation.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 05, 2015
Read: Psalm 39:4-13
“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered—
how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
at best, each of us is but a breath.” Interlude
6 We are merely moving shadows,
and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
We heap up wealth,
not knowing who will spend it.
7 And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?
My only hope is in you.
8 Rescue me from my rebellion.
Do not let fools mock me.
9 I am silent before you; I won’t say a word,
for my punishment is from you.
10 But please stop striking me!
I am exhausted by the blows from your hand.
11 When you discipline us for our sins,
you consume like a moth what is precious to us.
Each of us is but a breath. Interlude
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord!
Listen to my cries for help!
Don’t ignore my tears.
For I am your guest—
a traveler passing through,
as my ancestors were before me.
13 Leave me alone so I can smile again
before I am gone and exist no more.
INSIGHT:
One reason the Psalms are loved by so many is that they often capture the real emotion of people facing real situations. It gives many of us comfort to know that we are not alone in our struggles and reactions to life. In today’s psalm, David comments on the brevity of life and has an understandable reaction. When we look back on our lives, many of us lament our mistakes and wasted efforts. But David reminds us that in the face of all our sins, it is God who remains our hope. No matter how much of a mess we have made of our lives, it is never too much of a mess for God to redeem. J.R. Hudberg
Seconds Count
By David McCasland
Show me, Lord, my life’s end. Psalm 39:4
At the age of 59 my friend Bob Boardman wrote, “If the 70 years of a normal life span were squeezed into a single 24-hour day, it would now be 8:30 in the evening in my life. . . . Time is slipping by so rapidly.”
The difficulty in admitting that our time on earth is limited inspired the creation of “Tikker”—a wristwatch that tells you what time it is, calculates your estimated normal life span, and displays a running countdown of your remaining time. It is advertised as the watch “that counts down your life, just so you can make every second count.”
In Psalm 39, David grappled with the brevity of his life, saying, “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is” (v. 4). He described his life span as no longer than the width of his hand, as only a moment to God, and merely a breath (v. 5). David concluded, “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you” (v. 7).
The clock is ticking. Now is the time to seek God’s power to help us become the people He wants us to be. Finding hope in our eternal God gives meaning for our lives today.
In what ways am I wasting time? In what ways am I making my days count? In what areas do I need to make changes?
The time to live for Jesus is now.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 05, 2015
The Nature of Degeneration
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light…” (John 3:19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 05, 2015
When Every Day's the Same - #7496
Now I don't do movie reviews, and I sure don't recommend movies. But there is one they keep showing on TV over and over again, because it's got a lot of laughs in it. It's called "Ground Hog Day" with Bill Murray. If you saw it, you know the plot. He's this not very nice TV weatherman who goes to Punxsutawney, PA to broadcast that American tradition that comes from there. We're supposed to be able to predict whether or not there will be six more weeks of winter weather based on whether or not the ground hog sees his shadow on February 2nd.
Anyway, the weatherman, who has a serious attitude problem, wakes up at 6:00 a.m. the next day, only to experience exactly the same events he did the day before. And every new morning, the clock radio goes off at 6:00 a.m. and awakens him to the same old song, "I Got You, Babe" by Sonny and Cher. And day after day, he sees the same people; he experiences the same relationships, the same places, the same rhythm - even down to the guy in the diner dropping a plate the same time each day. It becomes very frustrating - experiencing the same day over and over again.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Every Day's the Same."
The plot of the movie obviously is fantasy. The plight of having the same day over and over again is reality for a lot of people. In some ways, it might describe how your life feels right now. Life has taken on this monotonous sameness - a predictability. It seems like no matter what happens, or who happens, you have the feeling of "been there, done that." Maybe your life seems to be suffering from a meaning deficit.
Actually, life was never meant to be monotonous. After all, your life was given to you by a God who creates blazing sunsets and fall colors, people with fingerprints that are like no one else who has ever been born, galaxies, comets and supernovas. Now would a Creator with that kind of creativity create us to have days that all seem the same? The only reason life would be like that is if we are, in reality, trying to live without our Creator.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, steps into our hunger for something more meaningful and more colorful when He gives us our word for today from the Word of God in John 10:10. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Now obviously, Jesus isn't talking about life in the sense of eating, breathing, and existing. We already have that kind of life. He's talking about life that's fulfilling, challenging, and satisfying - life to the full.
We don't have life like that because we don't have the Life-Giver. According to God's Book, the Bible, you and I have, in fact, taken our life out of our Creator's hands and put it in our own. In the Bible that's called sin. In God's words we are, "without hope and without God" (Ephesians 2:12).
It all seems so empty. Everyone seems as trapped in meaninglessness as you do. There seems to be no hope. Until you let Jesus Christ reconnect you to the God you have sinned against. Jesus died on that cross to pay for the sin that separates you from God. And when you put your trust in Him to take down the wall between you and God, He starts to infuse your days with a sense of meaning and destiny which you were created for. Each day you're discovering a little more of who you were born to be.
While your environment may be pretty much the same every day, your INvironment - what's in you - is experiencing ever new experiences of God's love, God's joy, God making a difference in your life, God making a difference through your life.
Maybe you've never begun this relationship that is what you were made for. In the Bible's words, you were "created by Him and for Him" but you've not really had Him in the leadership of your life. You can trust Him. He loved you enough to die for you. He'll change things you can't change because He was powerful enough to walk out of His grave and He's ready to walk into your life on your invitation. You say, 'Jesus, beginning today I am Yours. I trade the life I've been running for the life You died to give me right now."
If you want to do that, we would love to be there for you. Text us, would you, at 442-244-WORD. Or you can go to our website ANewStory.com.
Your life was never meant to be this small. There is something so much bigger - days where you are finally experiencing the One you were created by, and the One you were created for.
In the schoolroom of ancient societies Israel was the kid with the black eye, bullied and beat up. Except for the Glory Days of Israel-seven years between the difficult days of Exodus and the dark days of the judges. Seven years in which the Jordan River opened up and the Jericho walls fell down. Joshua 21:43-45 are verses I invite you to memorize in our Glory Days Scripture Memory Challenge this week.
"So the Lord gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side just as He had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of the Lord's good promises to Israel failed. Every one was fulfilled."
From Glory Days
Facing God
The Hebrews did what God commanded-and God protected them. Joshua 5:1 says, "So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites. . .and all the kings of the Canaanites. . . heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan. . .their heart melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the children of Israel."
Devotion prompted divine protection. Don't face Satan by facing Satan. Face Satan by facing God. Don't give Old Scratch the time of day. Colossians 2:15 says, "God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless."
Satan is a fallen angel whose time is short. Don't let him mess with your glory days. Neutralize him. Join me at GloryDaysToday.com to remember what God has done!
John 19:23-42
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice[a] for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.”[b] So that is what they did.
25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.
The Death of Jesus
28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.”[c] 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.
31 It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was the Passover). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. 34 One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. 35 (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.[d]) 36 These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[e] 37 and “They will look on the one they pierced.”[f]
The Burial of Jesus
38 Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. 39 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds[g] of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. 40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. 41 The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. 42 And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover[h] and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Footnotes:
19:24a Greek cast lots.
19:24b Ps 22:18.
19:28 See Pss 22:15; 69:21.
19:35 Some manuscripts read that you also may believe.
19:36 Exod 12:46; Num 9:12; Ps 34:20.
19:37 Zech 12:10.
19:39 Greek 100 litras [32.7 kilograms].
19:42 Greek because of the Jewish day of preparation.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 05, 2015
Read: Psalm 39:4-13
“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered—
how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
at best, each of us is but a breath.” Interlude
6 We are merely moving shadows,
and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
We heap up wealth,
not knowing who will spend it.
7 And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?
My only hope is in you.
8 Rescue me from my rebellion.
Do not let fools mock me.
9 I am silent before you; I won’t say a word,
for my punishment is from you.
10 But please stop striking me!
I am exhausted by the blows from your hand.
11 When you discipline us for our sins,
you consume like a moth what is precious to us.
Each of us is but a breath. Interlude
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord!
Listen to my cries for help!
Don’t ignore my tears.
For I am your guest—
a traveler passing through,
as my ancestors were before me.
13 Leave me alone so I can smile again
before I am gone and exist no more.
INSIGHT:
One reason the Psalms are loved by so many is that they often capture the real emotion of people facing real situations. It gives many of us comfort to know that we are not alone in our struggles and reactions to life. In today’s psalm, David comments on the brevity of life and has an understandable reaction. When we look back on our lives, many of us lament our mistakes and wasted efforts. But David reminds us that in the face of all our sins, it is God who remains our hope. No matter how much of a mess we have made of our lives, it is never too much of a mess for God to redeem. J.R. Hudberg
Seconds Count
By David McCasland
Show me, Lord, my life’s end. Psalm 39:4
At the age of 59 my friend Bob Boardman wrote, “If the 70 years of a normal life span were squeezed into a single 24-hour day, it would now be 8:30 in the evening in my life. . . . Time is slipping by so rapidly.”
The difficulty in admitting that our time on earth is limited inspired the creation of “Tikker”—a wristwatch that tells you what time it is, calculates your estimated normal life span, and displays a running countdown of your remaining time. It is advertised as the watch “that counts down your life, just so you can make every second count.”
In Psalm 39, David grappled with the brevity of his life, saying, “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is” (v. 4). He described his life span as no longer than the width of his hand, as only a moment to God, and merely a breath (v. 5). David concluded, “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you” (v. 7).
The clock is ticking. Now is the time to seek God’s power to help us become the people He wants us to be. Finding hope in our eternal God gives meaning for our lives today.
In what ways am I wasting time? In what ways am I making my days count? In what areas do I need to make changes?
The time to live for Jesus is now.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 05, 2015
The Nature of Degeneration
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light…” (John 3:19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 05, 2015
When Every Day's the Same - #7496
Now I don't do movie reviews, and I sure don't recommend movies. But there is one they keep showing on TV over and over again, because it's got a lot of laughs in it. It's called "Ground Hog Day" with Bill Murray. If you saw it, you know the plot. He's this not very nice TV weatherman who goes to Punxsutawney, PA to broadcast that American tradition that comes from there. We're supposed to be able to predict whether or not there will be six more weeks of winter weather based on whether or not the ground hog sees his shadow on February 2nd.
Anyway, the weatherman, who has a serious attitude problem, wakes up at 6:00 a.m. the next day, only to experience exactly the same events he did the day before. And every new morning, the clock radio goes off at 6:00 a.m. and awakens him to the same old song, "I Got You, Babe" by Sonny and Cher. And day after day, he sees the same people; he experiences the same relationships, the same places, the same rhythm - even down to the guy in the diner dropping a plate the same time each day. It becomes very frustrating - experiencing the same day over and over again.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Every Day's the Same."
The plot of the movie obviously is fantasy. The plight of having the same day over and over again is reality for a lot of people. In some ways, it might describe how your life feels right now. Life has taken on this monotonous sameness - a predictability. It seems like no matter what happens, or who happens, you have the feeling of "been there, done that." Maybe your life seems to be suffering from a meaning deficit.
Actually, life was never meant to be monotonous. After all, your life was given to you by a God who creates blazing sunsets and fall colors, people with fingerprints that are like no one else who has ever been born, galaxies, comets and supernovas. Now would a Creator with that kind of creativity create us to have days that all seem the same? The only reason life would be like that is if we are, in reality, trying to live without our Creator.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, steps into our hunger for something more meaningful and more colorful when He gives us our word for today from the Word of God in John 10:10. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Now obviously, Jesus isn't talking about life in the sense of eating, breathing, and existing. We already have that kind of life. He's talking about life that's fulfilling, challenging, and satisfying - life to the full.
We don't have life like that because we don't have the Life-Giver. According to God's Book, the Bible, you and I have, in fact, taken our life out of our Creator's hands and put it in our own. In the Bible that's called sin. In God's words we are, "without hope and without God" (Ephesians 2:12).
It all seems so empty. Everyone seems as trapped in meaninglessness as you do. There seems to be no hope. Until you let Jesus Christ reconnect you to the God you have sinned against. Jesus died on that cross to pay for the sin that separates you from God. And when you put your trust in Him to take down the wall between you and God, He starts to infuse your days with a sense of meaning and destiny which you were created for. Each day you're discovering a little more of who you were born to be.
While your environment may be pretty much the same every day, your INvironment - what's in you - is experiencing ever new experiences of God's love, God's joy, God making a difference in your life, God making a difference through your life.
Maybe you've never begun this relationship that is what you were made for. In the Bible's words, you were "created by Him and for Him" but you've not really had Him in the leadership of your life. You can trust Him. He loved you enough to die for you. He'll change things you can't change because He was powerful enough to walk out of His grave and He's ready to walk into your life on your invitation. You say, 'Jesus, beginning today I am Yours. I trade the life I've been running for the life You died to give me right now."
If you want to do that, we would love to be there for you. Text us, would you, at 442-244-WORD. Or you can go to our website ANewStory.com.
Your life was never meant to be this small. There is something so much bigger - days where you are finally experiencing the One you were created by, and the One you were created for.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Proverbs 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Definitive Answer
At some point, we all stand at an intersection and ask this question: Is God good when the outcome is not?
The definitive answer to the goodness of God comes in the person of Jesus Christ. He's the only picture of God ever taken. He pressed his fingers into the sore of the leper. He inclined his ear to the cry of the hungry. He didn't retreat at the sight of pain. Just the opposite. Cruel accusations of jealous men? Jesus knows their sting.
Is it possible that the wonder of heaven will make the most difficult life a good bargain? This was Paul's opinion. He said, "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:17)
Your pain won't last forever, my friend, but you will. Whatever we go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us! You'll get through this! God is good even when the outcome is different. Hang onto this promise!
From You'll Get Through This
Proverbs 4
A Father’s Wise Advice
My children,[f] listen when your father corrects you.
Pay attention and learn good judgment,
2 for I am giving you good guidance.
Don’t turn away from my instructions.
3 For I, too, was once my father’s son,
tenderly loved as my mother’s only child.
4 My father taught me,
“Take my words to heart.
Follow my commands, and you will live.
5 Get wisdom; develop good judgment.
Don’t forget my words or turn away from them.
6 Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you.
Love her, and she will guard you.
7 Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do!
And whatever else you do, develop good judgment.
8 If you prize wisdom, she will make you great.
Embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will place a lovely wreath on your head;
she will present you with a beautiful crown.”
10 My child,[g] listen to me and do as I say,
and you will have a long, good life.
11 I will teach you wisdom’s ways
and lead you in straight paths.
12 When you walk, you won’t be held back;
when you run, you won’t stumble.
13 Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.
Guard them, for they are the key to life.
14 Don’t do as the wicked do,
and don’t follow the path of evildoers.
15 Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.
Turn away and keep moving.
16 For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.
They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.
17 They eat the food of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence!
18 The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.
19 But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.
They have no idea what they are stumbling over.
20 My child, pay attention to what I say.
Listen carefully to my words.
21 Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
22 for they bring life to those who find them,
and healing to their whole body.
23 Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
24 Avoid all perverse talk;
stay away from corrupt speech.
25 Look straight ahead,
and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
26 Mark out a straight path for your feet;
stay on the safe path.
27 Don’t get sidetracked;
keep your feet from following evil.
Footnotes:
4:1 Hebrew My sons.
4:10 Hebrew My son; also in 4:20.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 04, 2015
Read: 1 Kings 18:1,41-45
The Contest on Mount Carmel
Later on, in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain!”
1 Kings 18:41-45
Elijah Prays for Rain
41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!”
42 So Ahab went to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees.
43 Then he said to his servant, “Go and look out toward the sea.”
The servant went and looked, then returned to Elijah and said, “I didn’t see anything.”
Seven times Elijah told him to go and look. 44 Finally the seventh time, his servant told him, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.”
Then Elijah shouted, “Hurry to Ahab and tell him, ‘Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you!’”
45 And soon the sky was black with clouds. A heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm, and Ahab left quickly for Jezreel.
INSIGHT:
The Old Testament prophet Elijah was a man whose name mirrored his mission and message. Sent by God to a generation that had embraced Baal as their god, Elijah, whose name means “Jehovah is my God,” was sent to remind them of the God of their fathers. Along the way, Elijah experienced evidence of God’s greatness through the miraculous provision of food at Kerith and Zarephath, the resurrection of a widow’s young son, and the supernatural demonstration of His power on Mount Carmel as fire fell from heaven (1 Kings 17–18). All these miracles bore witness to the reality that Jehovah is God. Bill Crowder
Miracle Rain
By Poh Fang Chia
I am God, and there is no other. Isaiah 46:9
Life is hard for the villagers who live on a hilly terrain in the Yunnan Province of China. Their main source of food is corn and rice. But in May 2012 a severe drought hit the region and the crops withered. Everyone was worried, and many superstitious practices were carried out as the people attempted to end the drought. When nothing worked, people started blaming the five Christians in the village for offending the spirits of the ancestors.
These five believers gathered to pray. Before long, the sky darkened and thunder was heard. A heavy downpour started and lasted the whole afternoon and night. The crops were saved! While most of the villagers did not believe God sent the rain, others did and desired to find out more about Him and Jesus.
In 1 Kings 17 and 18 we read of a severe drought in Israel. But in this case, we are told, it was a result of God’s judgment on His people (17:1). They had begun to worship Baal, the god of the Canaanites, believing that this deity could send the rain for their crops. Then God, through His prophet Elijah, showed that He is the one true God who determines when rain falls.
Our all-powerful God desires to hear our prayers and answer our pleas. And though we do not always understand His timing or His purposes, God always responds with His best for our lives.
In what ways have you seen God answer prayer in the past? What needs do you have to bring before Him today? What do you want to thank Him for?
Share your comments at odb.org.
Through prayer, we draw upon the power of the infinite God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 04, 2015
The Vision and The Reality
…to those who are…called to be saints… —1 Corinthians 1:2
Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.
There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Our little “I am” always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation— “I AM WHO I AM…has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
At some point, we all stand at an intersection and ask this question: Is God good when the outcome is not?
The definitive answer to the goodness of God comes in the person of Jesus Christ. He's the only picture of God ever taken. He pressed his fingers into the sore of the leper. He inclined his ear to the cry of the hungry. He didn't retreat at the sight of pain. Just the opposite. Cruel accusations of jealous men? Jesus knows their sting.
Is it possible that the wonder of heaven will make the most difficult life a good bargain? This was Paul's opinion. He said, "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:17)
Your pain won't last forever, my friend, but you will. Whatever we go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us! You'll get through this! God is good even when the outcome is different. Hang onto this promise!
From You'll Get Through This
Proverbs 4
A Father’s Wise Advice
My children,[f] listen when your father corrects you.
Pay attention and learn good judgment,
2 for I am giving you good guidance.
Don’t turn away from my instructions.
3 For I, too, was once my father’s son,
tenderly loved as my mother’s only child.
4 My father taught me,
“Take my words to heart.
Follow my commands, and you will live.
5 Get wisdom; develop good judgment.
Don’t forget my words or turn away from them.
6 Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you.
Love her, and she will guard you.
7 Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do!
And whatever else you do, develop good judgment.
8 If you prize wisdom, she will make you great.
Embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will place a lovely wreath on your head;
she will present you with a beautiful crown.”
10 My child,[g] listen to me and do as I say,
and you will have a long, good life.
11 I will teach you wisdom’s ways
and lead you in straight paths.
12 When you walk, you won’t be held back;
when you run, you won’t stumble.
13 Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.
Guard them, for they are the key to life.
14 Don’t do as the wicked do,
and don’t follow the path of evildoers.
15 Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.
Turn away and keep moving.
16 For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.
They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.
17 They eat the food of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence!
18 The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.
19 But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.
They have no idea what they are stumbling over.
20 My child, pay attention to what I say.
Listen carefully to my words.
21 Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
22 for they bring life to those who find them,
and healing to their whole body.
23 Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
24 Avoid all perverse talk;
stay away from corrupt speech.
25 Look straight ahead,
and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
26 Mark out a straight path for your feet;
stay on the safe path.
27 Don’t get sidetracked;
keep your feet from following evil.
Footnotes:
4:1 Hebrew My sons.
4:10 Hebrew My son; also in 4:20.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 04, 2015
Read: 1 Kings 18:1,41-45
The Contest on Mount Carmel
Later on, in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain!”
1 Kings 18:41-45
Elijah Prays for Rain
41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!”
42 So Ahab went to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees.
43 Then he said to his servant, “Go and look out toward the sea.”
The servant went and looked, then returned to Elijah and said, “I didn’t see anything.”
Seven times Elijah told him to go and look. 44 Finally the seventh time, his servant told him, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.”
Then Elijah shouted, “Hurry to Ahab and tell him, ‘Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you!’”
45 And soon the sky was black with clouds. A heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm, and Ahab left quickly for Jezreel.
INSIGHT:
The Old Testament prophet Elijah was a man whose name mirrored his mission and message. Sent by God to a generation that had embraced Baal as their god, Elijah, whose name means “Jehovah is my God,” was sent to remind them of the God of their fathers. Along the way, Elijah experienced evidence of God’s greatness through the miraculous provision of food at Kerith and Zarephath, the resurrection of a widow’s young son, and the supernatural demonstration of His power on Mount Carmel as fire fell from heaven (1 Kings 17–18). All these miracles bore witness to the reality that Jehovah is God. Bill Crowder
Miracle Rain
By Poh Fang Chia
I am God, and there is no other. Isaiah 46:9
Life is hard for the villagers who live on a hilly terrain in the Yunnan Province of China. Their main source of food is corn and rice. But in May 2012 a severe drought hit the region and the crops withered. Everyone was worried, and many superstitious practices were carried out as the people attempted to end the drought. When nothing worked, people started blaming the five Christians in the village for offending the spirits of the ancestors.
These five believers gathered to pray. Before long, the sky darkened and thunder was heard. A heavy downpour started and lasted the whole afternoon and night. The crops were saved! While most of the villagers did not believe God sent the rain, others did and desired to find out more about Him and Jesus.
In 1 Kings 17 and 18 we read of a severe drought in Israel. But in this case, we are told, it was a result of God’s judgment on His people (17:1). They had begun to worship Baal, the god of the Canaanites, believing that this deity could send the rain for their crops. Then God, through His prophet Elijah, showed that He is the one true God who determines when rain falls.
Our all-powerful God desires to hear our prayers and answer our pleas. And though we do not always understand His timing or His purposes, God always responds with His best for our lives.
In what ways have you seen God answer prayer in the past? What needs do you have to bring before Him today? What do you want to thank Him for?
Share your comments at odb.org.
Through prayer, we draw upon the power of the infinite God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 04, 2015
The Vision and The Reality
…to those who are…called to be saints… —1 Corinthians 1:2
Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.
There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Our little “I am” always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation— “I AM WHO I AM…has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Proverbs 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Prayer Guidance
When I pray, I think of a thousand things I need to do. I forget the one thing I set out to do: pray! Can you relate? But wouldn't we all like to pray. . More? Better? Deeper? Stronger? With more fire, faith, or fervency?
Yet we have kids to feed, bills to pay, deadlines to meet. We want to pray, but when? We want to pray, but why? We have our doubts about prayer, our checkered history of unmet expectations, unanswered questions. We aren't the first. The sign-up for Prayer 101 contains familiar names: John, James, Andrew, and Peter. The first followers of Jesus needed prayer guidance.
So here's my challenge to you! Sign on at BeforeAmen.com. It will encourage you and give you a building block for your growth in prayer. Then get ready to change your life forever!
Proverbs 3
Trusting in the Lord
My child,[c] never forget the things I have taught you.
Store my commands in your heart.
2 If you do this, you will live many years,
and your life will be satisfying.
3 Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!
Tie them around your neck as a reminder.
Write them deep within your heart.
4 Then you will find favor with both God and people,
and you will earn a good reputation.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.
Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 Then you will have healing for your body
and strength for your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth
and with the best part of everything you produce.
10 Then he will fill your barns with grain,
and your vats will overflow with good wine.
11 My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline,
and don’t be upset when he corrects you.
12 For the Lord corrects those he loves,
just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.[d]
13 Joyful is the person who finds wisdom,
the one who gains understanding.
14 For wisdom is more profitable than silver,
and her wages are better than gold.
15 Wisdom is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 She offers you long life in her right hand,
and riches and honor in her left.
17 She will guide you down delightful paths;
all her ways are satisfying.
18 Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
happy are those who hold her tightly.
19 By wisdom the Lord founded the earth;
by understanding he created the heavens.
20 By his knowledge the deep fountains of the earth burst forth,
and the dew settles beneath the night sky.
21 My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment.
Hang on to them,
22 for they will refresh your soul.
They are like jewels on a necklace.
23 They keep you safe on your way,
and your feet will not stumble.
24 You can go to bed without fear;
you will lie down and sleep soundly.
25 You need not be afraid of sudden disaster
or the destruction that comes upon the wicked,
26 for the Lord is your security.
He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.
27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it
when it’s in your power to help them.
28 If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say,
“Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.”
29 Don’t plot harm against your neighbor,
for those who live nearby trust you.
30 Don’t pick a fight without reason,
when no one has done you harm.
31 Don’t envy violent people
or copy their ways.
32 Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord,
but he offers his friendship to the godly.
33 The Lord curses the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the upright.
34 The Lord mocks the mockers
but is gracious to the humble.[e]
35 The wise inherit honor,
but fools are put to shame!
Footnotes:
3:1 Hebrew My son; also in 3:11, 21.
3:12 Greek version reads loves, / and he punishes those he accepts as his children. Compare Heb 12:6.
3:34 Greek version reads The Lord opposes the proud / but gives grace to the humble. Compare Jas 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, October 03, 2015
Read: Luke 23:33-43
When they came to a place called The Skull,[a] they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”[b] And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.[c]
35 The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” 36 The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. 37 They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Footnotes:
23:33 Sometimes rendered Calvary, which comes from the Latin word for “skull.”
23:34a This sentence is not included in many ancient manuscripts.
23:34b Greek by casting lots. See Ps 22:18.
INSIGHT:
According to Mark 15:25, Jesus was crucified at 9:00 in the morning. While on the cross, Jesus spoke three times before noon: He prayed for forgiveness for His enemies (Luke 23:34), He entrusted His mother into the care of John (John 19:26-27), and He granted salvation to the believing criminal (Luke 23:43). Beginning at noon, and for the next three hours, darkness engulfed the whole land, “for the sun stopped shining” (vv. 44-45). This period was largely marked by silence. Then just before He died at 3:00 in the afternoon, Jesus spoke four more times, revealing the anguish of His soul as He bore our sins and proclaiming the completion of the work of salvation (Matt. 27:46; Luke 23:46; John 19:28,30). Sim Kay Tee
Better Than Waking Up
By Mart DeHaan
Today you will be with me in paradise. Luke 23:43
Have you ever felt that your life was ruined as a result of having done something embarrassing, shameful, or even criminal—only to wake up and realize it was just a dream? But what if it wasn’t just a nightmare? What if the situation was all too real—either for yourself or someone you love?
This is the situation confronted in George MacDonald’s 19th-century novel The Curate’s Awakening. It’s the story of a parish minister who discovers that he’s been speaking for a God he’s not even sure he believes in. Later, he is called to the bedside of a young man who is losing his mind and dying, haunted by a murder he has committed.
God's #forgiveness is as real as the price Jesus paid for our rescue.
In the heart-rending struggle that follows, the minister discovers what we all need to see. The relief of waking up from a bad dream is nothing compared to waking to the reality of God’s forgiveness, which we once thought was too good to be true.
Where will we find the mercy we need? It is found in Jesus, who, from His own cross said to a dying criminal who turned to Him for help, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Father in heaven, please help us to believe that our forgiveness is as real as the price You paid for our rescue.
For further study, read The Forgiveness of God at discoveryseries.org/q0602
We are saved by God’s mercy, not by our merit.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 03, 2015
The Place of Ministry
He said to them, "This kind [of unclean spirit] can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." —Mark 9:29
“His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ ” (Mark 9:28). The answer lies in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “This kind can come out by nothing but” concentrating on Him, and then doubling and redoubling that concentration on Him. We can remain powerless forever, as the disciples were in this situation, by trying to do God’s work without concentrating on His power, and by following instead the ideas that we draw from our own nature. We actually slander and dishonor God by our very eagerness to serve Him without knowing Him.
When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there anything between you and Jesus even now? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it as an irritation, or by going up and over it, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.
We must be able to “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31), but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and in the living that is done in the valley. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and what he was referring to were mostly humiliating things. And yet it is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say, “No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountaintop with God.” Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they really are destroy my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
When I pray, I think of a thousand things I need to do. I forget the one thing I set out to do: pray! Can you relate? But wouldn't we all like to pray. . More? Better? Deeper? Stronger? With more fire, faith, or fervency?
Yet we have kids to feed, bills to pay, deadlines to meet. We want to pray, but when? We want to pray, but why? We have our doubts about prayer, our checkered history of unmet expectations, unanswered questions. We aren't the first. The sign-up for Prayer 101 contains familiar names: John, James, Andrew, and Peter. The first followers of Jesus needed prayer guidance.
So here's my challenge to you! Sign on at BeforeAmen.com. It will encourage you and give you a building block for your growth in prayer. Then get ready to change your life forever!
Proverbs 3
Trusting in the Lord
My child,[c] never forget the things I have taught you.
Store my commands in your heart.
2 If you do this, you will live many years,
and your life will be satisfying.
3 Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!
Tie them around your neck as a reminder.
Write them deep within your heart.
4 Then you will find favor with both God and people,
and you will earn a good reputation.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.
Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 Then you will have healing for your body
and strength for your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth
and with the best part of everything you produce.
10 Then he will fill your barns with grain,
and your vats will overflow with good wine.
11 My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline,
and don’t be upset when he corrects you.
12 For the Lord corrects those he loves,
just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.[d]
13 Joyful is the person who finds wisdom,
the one who gains understanding.
14 For wisdom is more profitable than silver,
and her wages are better than gold.
15 Wisdom is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 She offers you long life in her right hand,
and riches and honor in her left.
17 She will guide you down delightful paths;
all her ways are satisfying.
18 Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
happy are those who hold her tightly.
19 By wisdom the Lord founded the earth;
by understanding he created the heavens.
20 By his knowledge the deep fountains of the earth burst forth,
and the dew settles beneath the night sky.
21 My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment.
Hang on to them,
22 for they will refresh your soul.
They are like jewels on a necklace.
23 They keep you safe on your way,
and your feet will not stumble.
24 You can go to bed without fear;
you will lie down and sleep soundly.
25 You need not be afraid of sudden disaster
or the destruction that comes upon the wicked,
26 for the Lord is your security.
He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.
27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it
when it’s in your power to help them.
28 If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say,
“Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.”
29 Don’t plot harm against your neighbor,
for those who live nearby trust you.
30 Don’t pick a fight without reason,
when no one has done you harm.
31 Don’t envy violent people
or copy their ways.
32 Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord,
but he offers his friendship to the godly.
33 The Lord curses the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the upright.
34 The Lord mocks the mockers
but is gracious to the humble.[e]
35 The wise inherit honor,
but fools are put to shame!
Footnotes:
3:1 Hebrew My son; also in 3:11, 21.
3:12 Greek version reads loves, / and he punishes those he accepts as his children. Compare Heb 12:6.
3:34 Greek version reads The Lord opposes the proud / but gives grace to the humble. Compare Jas 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, October 03, 2015
Read: Luke 23:33-43
When they came to a place called The Skull,[a] they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”[b] And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.[c]
35 The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” 36 The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. 37 They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Footnotes:
23:33 Sometimes rendered Calvary, which comes from the Latin word for “skull.”
23:34a This sentence is not included in many ancient manuscripts.
23:34b Greek by casting lots. See Ps 22:18.
INSIGHT:
According to Mark 15:25, Jesus was crucified at 9:00 in the morning. While on the cross, Jesus spoke three times before noon: He prayed for forgiveness for His enemies (Luke 23:34), He entrusted His mother into the care of John (John 19:26-27), and He granted salvation to the believing criminal (Luke 23:43). Beginning at noon, and for the next three hours, darkness engulfed the whole land, “for the sun stopped shining” (vv. 44-45). This period was largely marked by silence. Then just before He died at 3:00 in the afternoon, Jesus spoke four more times, revealing the anguish of His soul as He bore our sins and proclaiming the completion of the work of salvation (Matt. 27:46; Luke 23:46; John 19:28,30). Sim Kay Tee
Better Than Waking Up
By Mart DeHaan
Today you will be with me in paradise. Luke 23:43
Have you ever felt that your life was ruined as a result of having done something embarrassing, shameful, or even criminal—only to wake up and realize it was just a dream? But what if it wasn’t just a nightmare? What if the situation was all too real—either for yourself or someone you love?
This is the situation confronted in George MacDonald’s 19th-century novel The Curate’s Awakening. It’s the story of a parish minister who discovers that he’s been speaking for a God he’s not even sure he believes in. Later, he is called to the bedside of a young man who is losing his mind and dying, haunted by a murder he has committed.
God's #forgiveness is as real as the price Jesus paid for our rescue.
In the heart-rending struggle that follows, the minister discovers what we all need to see. The relief of waking up from a bad dream is nothing compared to waking to the reality of God’s forgiveness, which we once thought was too good to be true.
Where will we find the mercy we need? It is found in Jesus, who, from His own cross said to a dying criminal who turned to Him for help, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Father in heaven, please help us to believe that our forgiveness is as real as the price You paid for our rescue.
For further study, read The Forgiveness of God at discoveryseries.org/q0602
We are saved by God’s mercy, not by our merit.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 03, 2015
The Place of Ministry
He said to them, "This kind [of unclean spirit] can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." —Mark 9:29
“His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ ” (Mark 9:28). The answer lies in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “This kind can come out by nothing but” concentrating on Him, and then doubling and redoubling that concentration on Him. We can remain powerless forever, as the disciples were in this situation, by trying to do God’s work without concentrating on His power, and by following instead the ideas that we draw from our own nature. We actually slander and dishonor God by our very eagerness to serve Him without knowing Him.
When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there anything between you and Jesus even now? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it as an irritation, or by going up and over it, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.
We must be able to “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31), but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and in the living that is done in the valley. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and what he was referring to were mostly humiliating things. And yet it is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say, “No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountaintop with God.” Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they really are destroy my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
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