Max Lucado Daily: The Sign on Christ's Cross
John 19:19 says, "Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews." Why is a sign placed over the head of Jesus? Could it be that this piece of wood is a picture of God's devotion? A symbol of his passion to tell the world about his Son? Pilate intended the sign to threaten and mock the Jews. But God had another purpose. Every passerby could read the sign for every passerby could read Hebrew, Latin or Greek. In the language of culture, Christ was declared King in them all!
There is no language he will not speak. Which leads us to the delightful question: What language is he speaking to you?
I'm referring to the day-to-day drama of your life. God does speak, you know. He speaks in any language we will understand.
From On Calvary's Hill
Psalm 105
Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
5 Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
6 you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,
his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
7 He is the Lord our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembers his covenant forever,
the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
10 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
11 “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion you will inherit.”
12 When they were but few in number,
few indeed, and strangers in it,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
14 He allowed no one to oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:
15 “Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”
16 He called down famine on the land
and destroyed all their supplies of food;
17 and he sent a man before them—
Joseph, sold as a slave.
18 They bruised his feet with shackles,
his neck was put in irons,
19 till what he foretold came to pass,
till the word of the Lord proved him true.
20 The king sent and released him,
the ruler of peoples set him free.
21 He made him master of his household,
ruler over all he possessed,
22 to instruct his princes as he pleased
and teach his elders wisdom.
23 Then Israel entered Egypt;
Jacob resided as a foreigner in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord made his people very fruitful;
he made them too numerous for their foes,
25 whose hearts he turned to hate his people,
to conspire against his servants.
26 He sent Moses his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them,
his wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness and made the land dark—
for had they not rebelled against his words?
29 He turned their waters into blood,
causing their fish to die.
30 Their land teemed with frogs,
which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
and gnats throughout their country.
32 He turned their rain into hail,
with lightning throughout their land;
33 he struck down their vines and fig trees
and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
grasshoppers without number;
35 they ate up every green thing in their land,
ate up the produce of their soil.
36 Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of all their manhood.
37 He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,
and from among their tribes no one faltered.
38 Egypt was glad when they left,
because dread of Israel had fallen on them.
39 He spread out a cloud as a covering,
and a fire to give light at night.
40 They asked, and he brought them quail;
he fed them well with the bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed like a river in the desert.
42 For he remembered his holy promise
given to his servant Abraham.
43 He brought out his people with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
44 he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they fell heir to what others had toiled for—
45 that they might keep his precepts
and observe his laws.
Praise the Lord.[c]
Footnotes:
Psalm 105.
Psalm 105:45 Hebrew Hallelu Yah
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Read: Colossians 3:1-11
Living the New Life
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your[a] life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.[b] 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile,[c] circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized,[d] slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
Footnotes:
3:4 Some manuscripts read our.
3:6 Some manuscripts read is coming on all who disobey him.
3:11a Greek a Greek.
3:11b Greek Barbarian, Scythian.
INSIGHT:
When a person believes in Christ, he is joined to Him in His death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3–8; Col. 2:12–13; 3:1). Paul reminds the Colossian believers that their priority—their whole outlook on life—is to consistently focus on the resurrected, ascended, and exalted Christ (3:1); to diligently strive and pursue things that are eternal (v. 2); and to continuously put to death whatever belongs to their earthly nature (vv. 3–5). Paul not only lists the practices that should no longer characterize the life of the believer, but he asks followers of Christ to embrace the virtues that should clothe God’s chosen people (vv. 12-17).
The Best Is Yet to Come
By Joe Stowell
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2
In our family, March means more than the end of winter. It means that the college basketball extravaganza called “March Madness” has arrived. As avid fans, we watch the tournament and enthusiastically root for our favorite teams. If we tune in early we get a chance to listen to the broadcasters talk about the upcoming game and to enjoy some of the pre-game drills where players shoot practice shots and warm up with teammates.
Our life on earth is like the pre-game in basketball. Life is interesting and full of promise, but it doesn’t compare to what lies ahead. Just think of the pleasure of knowing that even when life is good, the best is yet to come! Or that when we give cheerfully to those in need, it’s an investment in heavenly treasure. In times of suffering and sorrow, we can find hope as we reflect on the truth that a pain-free, tearless eternity awaits us. It’s no wonder that Paul exhorts: “Set your minds on things above” (Col. 3:2).
The future God has promised us enables us to see all of life in new dimensions. While this may be a great life, the best life is still to come. It is a wonderful privilege to live here in the light of there.
Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day; just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! Eliza E. Hewitt
For more information on our hope for heaven, check out the Discovery Series, Life to Come.
Living for the future puts today in perspective.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
The Burning Heart
Did not our heart burn within us…? —Luke 24:32
We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart— unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.
Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be. Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something that God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay forever on the “mount of transfiguration,” basking in the light of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9). But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost.
We cannot kindle when we will
The fire which in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides;
But tasks in hours of insight willed
Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The fiery furnaces are there by God’s direct permission. It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances; we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 674 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Combat Medals - #7617
Okay, word association test! Fruit salad. What did you think of? Well, it depends on whether or not you've been in the military. You see, if you haven't been in the military, you probably thought of some little pieces of apple, or melon in a bowl together. But if you've been in the military, maybe you think of something less edible than that kind of fruit salad. I heard from a Desert Storm veteran. I said, "What do you think of when I say "fruit salad"? He said, "Oh, ribbons and medals."
To the military it's all those medals - that kind of "fruit salad" matters a lot to people in the military. They are the record that all of the world can see of your achievements, your service to your country. When one of America's top military leaders committed suicide, it was believed that a controversy over his medals contributed to the tragedy. He was wearing a medal that was only supposed to be worn by those who have been in direct combat. His wartime service on a ship apparently didn't qualify according to his critics. When you've served your country, your service awards are serious business. There are some soon-to-be-issued awards that will go to some very surprising and surprised people.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Combat Medals."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Hey, God says rewards for service are coming. In fact, 1 Corinthians 3:8 says, "...each will be rewarded according to his own labor." But God's eternal medals are awarded on a basis that's very different from men's.
You see, God rewards effort, not result. "Well done good and faithful, (not good and successful) servant." In God's army, He's looking for people who are found faithful. He wants to know if you did what He had you to do with all your heart, whether it was big or small. People here may have considered you a loser because you didn't get a great result. But the One you report to for all eternity says it's your total effort that matters to Him.
So a lot of people who have been earth losers maybe are going to be heaven's winners! Maybe you say, "Well, I've never been in any real combat for the Lord. I pray for the people who are on the front lines, I support them, I volunteer to help with some little jobs in the ministry." Boy, are you in for a surprise when the medals are given out!
There is a principal drawn from an Old Testament battle situation in 1 Samuel 30:22. The men who fought with David said, "Because (these people here) did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder." Wrong! "David said, 'The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.'" You see, your part behind the scenes, seemingly unimportant, well God says you're a combat hero as much as the person who is actually out there preaching or teaching or leading. Again, some surprising and surprised people are going to be getting some incredible service awards.
There's another surprising aspect of God's medals. They are widely disproportionate to what we actually did. He says, "You have been faithful in a few things, I will make you ruler over many things." Paid off for serving Jesus faithfully is so much greater than the pay out! If you feel like giving it up right now, don't! Stay with it. It is worth it!
The important thing to remember is who you are doing these things for, who is the commanding officer? It is the Lord Christ you are serving; not the church, not the organization, not that human leader, not even the people you're trying to help. They may or may not give you the appreciation you deserve, but do it for Jesus. He will never let you down.
The service awards are coming! Work with all your heart for General Jesus and prepare yourself for a lot of exciting, eternal surprises the day that Christ gives His awards.
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Monday, March 21, 2016
Psalm 104, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Cross
The cross. Can you turn any direction without seeing one? Engraved on a ring or suspended on a chain? The cross is the universal symbol of Christianity.
An odd choice, don't you think? It's strange that a tool of torture embodies a movement of hope. Its design couldn't be simpler. One beam horizontal, the other vertical. One reaches out, like God's love. The other reaches up, as does God's holiness. One represents the width of his love; the other the height of his holiness. The cross is the intersection. The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards.
God put our sin on his Son and punished it there. Your sins have been placed on Jesus. Jesus receives the blow. And since Christ is between you and God, you don't. The sin is punished, but you are safe-safe in the shadow of the cross!
From On Calvary's Hill
Psalm 104
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers,[a]
flames of fire his servants.
5 He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.
10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.
16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.
19 He made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
21 The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
23 Then people go out to their work,
to their labor until evening.
24 How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
27 All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Footnotes:
Psalm 104:4 Or angels
Psalm 104:35 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; in the Septuagint this line stands at the beginning of
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 21, 2016
Read: Ephesians 5:1-16
Do as God would do. Much-loved children want to do as their fathers do. 2 Live with love as Christ loved you. He gave Himself for us, a gift on the altar to God which was as a sweet smell to God.
3 Do not let sex sins or anything sinful be even talked about among those who belong to Christ. Do not always want everything. 4 Do not be guilty of telling bad stories and of foolish talk. These things are not for you to do. Instead, you are to give thanks for what God has done for you. 5 Be sure of this! No person who does sex sins or who is not pure will have any part in the holy nation of Christ and of God. The same is true for the person who always wants what other people have. This becomes a god to him. 6 Do not let anyone lead you in the wrong way with foolish talk. The anger of God comes on such people because they choose to not obey Him. 7 Have nothing to do with them. 8 At one time you lived in darkness. Now you are living in the light that comes from the Lord. Live as children who have the light of the Lord in them. 9 This light gives us truth. It makes us right with God and makes us good. 10 Learn how to please the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the bad things done in darkness. Instead, show that these things are wrong. 12 It is a shame even to talk about these things done in secret. 13 All things can be seen when they are in the light. Everything that can be seen is in the light. 14 The Holy Writings say, “Wake up, you who are sleeping. Rise from the dead and Christ will give you light.”
Be Filled With the Spirit of God
15 So be careful how you live. Live as men who are wise and not foolish. 16 Make the best use of your time. These are sinful days.
INSIGHT:
One of the great things about light is that it allows us to see where we are going. As believers in Christ, we are “children of light,” and we can clearly see the way we are to walk. Those in spiritual darkness stumble and fall. It is no simple turn of phrase that following Jesus is called “walking in the light.”
Full Sun
By Julie Ackerman Link
Live as children of light.
Ephesians 5:8
I know better, but I still keep trying. The instructions on the label are clear: “Needs full sun.” Our yard has mostly shade. It is not suitable for plants that need full sun. But I like the plant. I like its color, the shape of the leaves, the size, the scent. So I buy it, bring it home, plant it, and take really good care of it. But the plant is not happy at my house. My care and attention are not enough. It needs sunlight, which I cannot provide. I thought I could make up for lack of light by giving the plant some other kind of attention. But it doesn’t work that way. Plants need what they need.
And so do people. Although we can survive for a while in less-than-ideal conditions, we can’t thrive. In addition to our basic physical needs, we also have spiritual needs that can’t be met by any substitute.
Jesus invites us to be a part of His story.
Scripture says that believers are children of light. This means that we need to live in the full light of God’s presence to thrive (Ps. 89:15). If we try to live in darkness, we will produce nothing but “fruitless deeds” (see Eph. 5:3-4, 11). But if we are living in the light of Jesus, the Light of the world, we will produce the fruit of His light, which is good, faithful, and true.
Dear Lord, thank You for redeeming me and giving me new life. Help me to live as a child of the Light.
Children of the Light walk in His light.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 21, 2016
Identified or Simply Interested?
I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20
The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ….” He did not say, “I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ,” or, “I will really make an effort to follow Him” —but— “I have been identified with Him in His death.” Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.
“…it is no longer I who live….” My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.
“…and the life which I now live in the flesh,” not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh— the life which others can see, “I live by faith in the Son of God….” This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits— a faith that comes only from the Son of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 21, 2016
Realizing What You Cost - #7616
Passages - that's how one author described life's major points of transition where you are moving from one life-stage to another. I remember when our daughter and son-in-law were in one of those passages. They were going to have their first child.
Actually, as our daughter experienced all the morning sickness, and afternoon sickness, and evening sickness, and as she experienced the impact of pregnancy on her body, it brought about some tender moments between her and her Mom. My daughter got real soft and she said to my wife, "Mom, I don't know how to thank you." Her Mom wasn't sure what she had done to be thanked for. Actually, it was something a long time ago. Our daughter said, "Mom, I really want to thank you because I never realized what you went through for me." Well, then there was a lot of hugging.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Realizing What You Cost."
It does something to a relationship when you suddenly realize what that person has gone through for you. In fact, when it comes to life's most important relationship - a relationship with God - that realization may actually be what starts your God-relationship.
Our son-in-law once met a man on a plane, and the man told him about growing up in a Christian church, but deciding that what he heard wasn't for him. He related his years of sampling a lot of spiritual experiences and beliefs on the spirituality buffet. But none of them satisfied the yearning in his heart. Then one day he visited the church of his childhood; he saw a cross up front. He said, "You know, I had seen that cross hundreds of times. But something powerful happened that day, because I saw it again for the first time in many years. Suddenly, I was overcome with emotion as I looked at that cross and I found myself saying two words, 'For me.'"
Finally, he realized what Jesus went through was for him, and he was ready to embrace Jesus as his Savior. One Biblical writer - a man who had once bitterly opposed Christianity - writes in our word for today from the Word of God what captured his heart. It's in Galatians 2:20, "I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." There are those two words again, "for me."
I wonder, have you ever in your heart stood at the cross of Jesus, and said those two life-changing, eternity-deciding words, "For me. Jesus, what You are doing on that cross is for me." After years of hearing about the cross, knowing about the cross, it finally hits you; some of those sins Jesus died for are the sins you've done. My daughter's relationship with her mother deepened when she realized what her mother went through for her.
Your relationship with God begins when you realize what the Son of God went through for you. Remember, this is the Son of God - the One who created every galaxy, who made the tree He was dying on, who made the soldiers who nailed Him there. He chose to die there for you. The thorns jammed into His head, the spikes driven into His hands, into His feet, the spear rammed into His side - for you.
But much more, Jesus was absorbing all the guilt and all the degradation of your sin; this One who had never sinned in His life. He was taking all the eternal agony of a hell you and I deserve, cut off from His Father so you would never have to be.
Maybe this is your "for me" day. "The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me." Isn't it time you gave yourself to Him? If you want to begin this relationship with Jesus, tell Him that right now. Stand there at Jesus' cross. Look at what He went through for you.
Let me encourage you to just go to our website as soon as you can today and let me walk you through exactly how to be sure you really do belong to Him finally. It's ANewStory.com.
When you stand at that cross in your mind, you'll realize how very much God loves you and how very urgent it is that you belong to Him, and why God is never going to forget what you do with His Son.
The cross. Can you turn any direction without seeing one? Engraved on a ring or suspended on a chain? The cross is the universal symbol of Christianity.
An odd choice, don't you think? It's strange that a tool of torture embodies a movement of hope. Its design couldn't be simpler. One beam horizontal, the other vertical. One reaches out, like God's love. The other reaches up, as does God's holiness. One represents the width of his love; the other the height of his holiness. The cross is the intersection. The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards.
God put our sin on his Son and punished it there. Your sins have been placed on Jesus. Jesus receives the blow. And since Christ is between you and God, you don't. The sin is punished, but you are safe-safe in the shadow of the cross!
From On Calvary's Hill
Psalm 104
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers,[a]
flames of fire his servants.
5 He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.
10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.
16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.
19 He made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
21 The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
23 Then people go out to their work,
to their labor until evening.
24 How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
27 All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Footnotes:
Psalm 104:4 Or angels
Psalm 104:35 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; in the Septuagint this line stands at the beginning of
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 21, 2016
Read: Ephesians 5:1-16
Do as God would do. Much-loved children want to do as their fathers do. 2 Live with love as Christ loved you. He gave Himself for us, a gift on the altar to God which was as a sweet smell to God.
3 Do not let sex sins or anything sinful be even talked about among those who belong to Christ. Do not always want everything. 4 Do not be guilty of telling bad stories and of foolish talk. These things are not for you to do. Instead, you are to give thanks for what God has done for you. 5 Be sure of this! No person who does sex sins or who is not pure will have any part in the holy nation of Christ and of God. The same is true for the person who always wants what other people have. This becomes a god to him. 6 Do not let anyone lead you in the wrong way with foolish talk. The anger of God comes on such people because they choose to not obey Him. 7 Have nothing to do with them. 8 At one time you lived in darkness. Now you are living in the light that comes from the Lord. Live as children who have the light of the Lord in them. 9 This light gives us truth. It makes us right with God and makes us good. 10 Learn how to please the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the bad things done in darkness. Instead, show that these things are wrong. 12 It is a shame even to talk about these things done in secret. 13 All things can be seen when they are in the light. Everything that can be seen is in the light. 14 The Holy Writings say, “Wake up, you who are sleeping. Rise from the dead and Christ will give you light.”
Be Filled With the Spirit of God
15 So be careful how you live. Live as men who are wise and not foolish. 16 Make the best use of your time. These are sinful days.
INSIGHT:
One of the great things about light is that it allows us to see where we are going. As believers in Christ, we are “children of light,” and we can clearly see the way we are to walk. Those in spiritual darkness stumble and fall. It is no simple turn of phrase that following Jesus is called “walking in the light.”
Full Sun
By Julie Ackerman Link
Live as children of light.
Ephesians 5:8
I know better, but I still keep trying. The instructions on the label are clear: “Needs full sun.” Our yard has mostly shade. It is not suitable for plants that need full sun. But I like the plant. I like its color, the shape of the leaves, the size, the scent. So I buy it, bring it home, plant it, and take really good care of it. But the plant is not happy at my house. My care and attention are not enough. It needs sunlight, which I cannot provide. I thought I could make up for lack of light by giving the plant some other kind of attention. But it doesn’t work that way. Plants need what they need.
And so do people. Although we can survive for a while in less-than-ideal conditions, we can’t thrive. In addition to our basic physical needs, we also have spiritual needs that can’t be met by any substitute.
Jesus invites us to be a part of His story.
Scripture says that believers are children of light. This means that we need to live in the full light of God’s presence to thrive (Ps. 89:15). If we try to live in darkness, we will produce nothing but “fruitless deeds” (see Eph. 5:3-4, 11). But if we are living in the light of Jesus, the Light of the world, we will produce the fruit of His light, which is good, faithful, and true.
Dear Lord, thank You for redeeming me and giving me new life. Help me to live as a child of the Light.
Children of the Light walk in His light.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 21, 2016
Identified or Simply Interested?
I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20
The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ….” He did not say, “I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ,” or, “I will really make an effort to follow Him” —but— “I have been identified with Him in His death.” Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.
“…it is no longer I who live….” My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.
“…and the life which I now live in the flesh,” not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh— the life which others can see, “I live by faith in the Son of God….” This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits— a faith that comes only from the Son of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 21, 2016
Realizing What You Cost - #7616
Passages - that's how one author described life's major points of transition where you are moving from one life-stage to another. I remember when our daughter and son-in-law were in one of those passages. They were going to have their first child.
Actually, as our daughter experienced all the morning sickness, and afternoon sickness, and evening sickness, and as she experienced the impact of pregnancy on her body, it brought about some tender moments between her and her Mom. My daughter got real soft and she said to my wife, "Mom, I don't know how to thank you." Her Mom wasn't sure what she had done to be thanked for. Actually, it was something a long time ago. Our daughter said, "Mom, I really want to thank you because I never realized what you went through for me." Well, then there was a lot of hugging.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Realizing What You Cost."
It does something to a relationship when you suddenly realize what that person has gone through for you. In fact, when it comes to life's most important relationship - a relationship with God - that realization may actually be what starts your God-relationship.
Our son-in-law once met a man on a plane, and the man told him about growing up in a Christian church, but deciding that what he heard wasn't for him. He related his years of sampling a lot of spiritual experiences and beliefs on the spirituality buffet. But none of them satisfied the yearning in his heart. Then one day he visited the church of his childhood; he saw a cross up front. He said, "You know, I had seen that cross hundreds of times. But something powerful happened that day, because I saw it again for the first time in many years. Suddenly, I was overcome with emotion as I looked at that cross and I found myself saying two words, 'For me.'"
Finally, he realized what Jesus went through was for him, and he was ready to embrace Jesus as his Savior. One Biblical writer - a man who had once bitterly opposed Christianity - writes in our word for today from the Word of God what captured his heart. It's in Galatians 2:20, "I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." There are those two words again, "for me."
I wonder, have you ever in your heart stood at the cross of Jesus, and said those two life-changing, eternity-deciding words, "For me. Jesus, what You are doing on that cross is for me." After years of hearing about the cross, knowing about the cross, it finally hits you; some of those sins Jesus died for are the sins you've done. My daughter's relationship with her mother deepened when she realized what her mother went through for her.
Your relationship with God begins when you realize what the Son of God went through for you. Remember, this is the Son of God - the One who created every galaxy, who made the tree He was dying on, who made the soldiers who nailed Him there. He chose to die there for you. The thorns jammed into His head, the spikes driven into His hands, into His feet, the spear rammed into His side - for you.
But much more, Jesus was absorbing all the guilt and all the degradation of your sin; this One who had never sinned in His life. He was taking all the eternal agony of a hell you and I deserve, cut off from His Father so you would never have to be.
Maybe this is your "for me" day. "The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me." Isn't it time you gave yourself to Him? If you want to begin this relationship with Jesus, tell Him that right now. Stand there at Jesus' cross. Look at what He went through for you.
Let me encourage you to just go to our website as soon as you can today and let me walk you through exactly how to be sure you really do belong to Him finally. It's ANewStory.com.
When you stand at that cross in your mind, you'll realize how very much God loves you and how very urgent it is that you belong to Him, and why God is never going to forget what you do with His Son.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Acts 17:16-34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: He Wore Our Sin
Scripture often describes our behavior as the clothes we wear. 1 Peter 5:5 urges us to be "clothed with humility." In Psalm 109:18, David speaks of evil people who clothe themselves "with cursing." Garments can symbolize character; and like his garment, Jesus' character was uninterrupted perfection.
But when Christ was nailed to the cross, he took off his robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe… the wardrobe of indignity. Stripped before his own mother. Shamed before his family. The indignity of failure. For a few pain-filled hours, the religious leaders were victors, and Christ appeared the loser. Worst of all, he wore the indignity of sin. Scripture says, "He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree." The cloth of Christ on the cross? Sin-yours and mine. The sins of all humanity.
From On Calvary's Hill
Acts 17:16-34
Paul Preaches in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. 17 He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.
18 He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.”
19 Then they took him to the high council of the city.[a] “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. 20 “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” 21 (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)
22 So Paul, standing before the council,[b] addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.
24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man[c] he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your[d] own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.
30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.” 33 That ended Paul’s discussion with them, 34 but some joined him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the council,[e] a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Footnotes:
17:19 Or the most learned society of philosophers in the city. Greek reads the Areopagus.
17:22 Traditionally rendered standing in the middle of Mars Hill; Greek reads standing in the middle of the Areopagus.
17:26 Greek From one; other manuscripts read From one blood.
17:28 Some manuscripts read our.
17:34 Greek an Areopagite.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Read: John 1:1-14
Prologue: Christ, the Eternal Word
In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,[a]
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.[b]
6 God sent a man, John the Baptist,[c] 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
14 So the Word became human[d] and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.[e] And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
Footnotes:
1:3-4 Or and nothing that was created was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything.
1:5 Or and the darkness has not understood it.
1:6 Greek a man named John.
1:14a Greek became flesh.
1:14b Or grace and truth; also in 1:17.
INSIGHT:
Andrew (Simon Peter’s brother) and an unnamed disciple—who most scholars believe to be John, the son of Zebedee and the author of the fourth gospel—were already followers of John the Baptist when Jesus arrived in Bethany (John 1:28, 35). After John the Baptist declared Christ to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (v. 29), he nudged his two young followers to instead take their place as followers of Jesus (v. 37). A consistent feature in John’s gospel record is that he doesn’t name himself. This is one of the reasons many believe he was the disciple who joined Andrew in following Christ.
When the Water Blushed
By Tim Gustafson
In the beginning was the Word . . . . Through him all things were made. John 1:1, 3
Why did Jesus come to Earth before the invention of photography and video? Couldn’t He have reached more people if everyone could see Him? After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
“No,” says Ravi Zacharias, who asserts that a word can be worth “a thousand pictures.” As evidence, he quotes poet Richard Crashaw’s magnificent line, “The conscious water saw its Master and blushed.” In one simple line, Crashaw captures the essence of Jesus’ first miracle (John 2:1-11). Creation itself recognizes Jesus as the Creator. No mere carpenter could turn water to wine.
Another time, when Christ calmed a storm with the words, “Quiet! Be still,” His stunned disciples asked, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:39, 41). Later, Jesus told the Pharisees that if the crowd did not praise Him, “the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40). Even the rocks know who He is.
John tells us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory” (John 1:14). Out of that eyewitness experience John also wrote, “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. . . . He is the Word of life” (1 John 1:1 nlt). Like John, we can use our words to introduce others to Jesus whom wind and water obey.
Jesus, we acknowledge You as the Creator who knows and loves His creation. Yet You wait for us to invite You into every aspect of our lives. Forgive us for those times we keep You at a safe distance. Today we choose to risk knowing You more completely.
The written Word reveals the Living Word.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Friendship with God
Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…? —Genesis 18:17
The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.
The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, “Well, I don’t know, maybe this is not God’s will,” then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you prayed about— were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption
Scripture often describes our behavior as the clothes we wear. 1 Peter 5:5 urges us to be "clothed with humility." In Psalm 109:18, David speaks of evil people who clothe themselves "with cursing." Garments can symbolize character; and like his garment, Jesus' character was uninterrupted perfection.
But when Christ was nailed to the cross, he took off his robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe… the wardrobe of indignity. Stripped before his own mother. Shamed before his family. The indignity of failure. For a few pain-filled hours, the religious leaders were victors, and Christ appeared the loser. Worst of all, he wore the indignity of sin. Scripture says, "He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree." The cloth of Christ on the cross? Sin-yours and mine. The sins of all humanity.
From On Calvary's Hill
Acts 17:16-34
Paul Preaches in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. 17 He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.
18 He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.”
19 Then they took him to the high council of the city.[a] “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. 20 “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” 21 (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)
22 So Paul, standing before the council,[b] addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.
24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man[c] he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your[d] own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.
30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.” 33 That ended Paul’s discussion with them, 34 but some joined him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the council,[e] a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Footnotes:
17:19 Or the most learned society of philosophers in the city. Greek reads the Areopagus.
17:22 Traditionally rendered standing in the middle of Mars Hill; Greek reads standing in the middle of the Areopagus.
17:26 Greek From one; other manuscripts read From one blood.
17:28 Some manuscripts read our.
17:34 Greek an Areopagite.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Read: John 1:1-14
Prologue: Christ, the Eternal Word
In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,[a]
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.[b]
6 God sent a man, John the Baptist,[c] 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
14 So the Word became human[d] and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.[e] And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
Footnotes:
1:3-4 Or and nothing that was created was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything.
1:5 Or and the darkness has not understood it.
1:6 Greek a man named John.
1:14a Greek became flesh.
1:14b Or grace and truth; also in 1:17.
INSIGHT:
Andrew (Simon Peter’s brother) and an unnamed disciple—who most scholars believe to be John, the son of Zebedee and the author of the fourth gospel—were already followers of John the Baptist when Jesus arrived in Bethany (John 1:28, 35). After John the Baptist declared Christ to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (v. 29), he nudged his two young followers to instead take their place as followers of Jesus (v. 37). A consistent feature in John’s gospel record is that he doesn’t name himself. This is one of the reasons many believe he was the disciple who joined Andrew in following Christ.
When the Water Blushed
By Tim Gustafson
In the beginning was the Word . . . . Through him all things were made. John 1:1, 3
Why did Jesus come to Earth before the invention of photography and video? Couldn’t He have reached more people if everyone could see Him? After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
“No,” says Ravi Zacharias, who asserts that a word can be worth “a thousand pictures.” As evidence, he quotes poet Richard Crashaw’s magnificent line, “The conscious water saw its Master and blushed.” In one simple line, Crashaw captures the essence of Jesus’ first miracle (John 2:1-11). Creation itself recognizes Jesus as the Creator. No mere carpenter could turn water to wine.
Another time, when Christ calmed a storm with the words, “Quiet! Be still,” His stunned disciples asked, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:39, 41). Later, Jesus told the Pharisees that if the crowd did not praise Him, “the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40). Even the rocks know who He is.
John tells us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory” (John 1:14). Out of that eyewitness experience John also wrote, “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. . . . He is the Word of life” (1 John 1:1 nlt). Like John, we can use our words to introduce others to Jesus whom wind and water obey.
Jesus, we acknowledge You as the Creator who knows and loves His creation. Yet You wait for us to invite You into every aspect of our lives. Forgive us for those times we keep You at a safe distance. Today we choose to risk knowing You more completely.
The written Word reveals the Living Word.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Friendship with God
Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…? —Genesis 18:17
The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.
The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, “Well, I don’t know, maybe this is not God’s will,” then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you prayed about— were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Psalm 102 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Saved to Serve
Some people feel so saved they never serve. Some serve at the hope of being saved. Does one of these sentences describe you? Do you feel so saved that you never serve? So content in what God has done that you do nothing? The fact is, we're here to glorify God in our service.
Or is your tendency the opposite? Perhaps you always serve for fear of not being saved. You're worried there is a secret card that exists with your score written on it; and your score is not enough. Is that you? If so, know this: The blood of Jesus is enough to save you. John 1:29 announces that Jesus is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."
The blood of Christ doesn't cover your sins, conceal your sins, postpone or diminish your sins. It takes away your sins, once and for all! So…since you are saved, you can serve!
From He Chose the Nails
Psalm 102
A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.
Hear my prayer, Lord;
let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me
when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
when I call, answer me quickly.
3 For my days vanish like smoke;
my bones burn like glowing embers.
4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.
5 In my distress I groan aloud
and am reduced to skin and bones.
6 I am like a desert owl,
like an owl among the ruins.
7 I lie awake; I have become
like a bird alone on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
9 For I eat ashes as my food
and mingle my drink with tears
10 because of your great wrath,
for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like the evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.
12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;
your renown endures through all generations.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her;
the appointed time has come.
14 For her stones are dear to your servants;
her very dust moves them to pity.
15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
16 For the Lord will rebuild Zion
and appear in his glory.
17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
he will not despise their plea.
18 Let this be written for a future generation,
that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
19 “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high,
from heaven he viewed the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners
and release those condemned to death.”
21 So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem
22 when the peoples and the kingdoms
assemble to worship the Lord.
23 In the course of my life[b] he broke my strength;
he cut short my days.
24 So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
your years go on through all generations.
25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
and they will be discarded.
27 But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.
28 The children of your servants will live in your presence;
their descendants will be established before you.”
Footnotes:
Psalm 102:1 In Hebrew texts 102:1-28 is numbered 102:2-29.
Psalm 102:23 Or By his power
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Read: Philippians 1:27-30
Live as Citizens of Heaven
Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. 28 Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. 29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. 30 We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.
INSIGHT:
The apostle Paul was concerned that believers in the Roman colony of Philippi live exemplary and holy lives. He prayed for their spiritual growth and maturity (Phil. 1:9–11) and exhorted them to “conduct [themselves] in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (v. 27). This was a constant reminder and refrain in Paul’s letters (Eph. 4:1; Col. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:12). The life “worthy of the gospel of Christ” is characterized by steadfastness, unity, harmony, humility, and a willingness to suffer. Suffering for Christ is a gift and a privilege for the believer (Acts 5:41; Phil. 1:29; 1 Peter 2:21; 3:14; 4:16).
Ignore No More
By Dave Branon
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. Psalm 19:8
I don’t know how these people find me, but I keep getting more and more flyers in the mail from folks asking me to show up at their events so they can teach me about retirement benefits. It started several years ago when I began getting invitations to join an organization that works on behalf of retirees. These reminders all serve to say: “You’re getting older. Get ready!”
I have ignored them all along, but soon enough I’m going to have to break down and go to one of their meetings. I really should be taking action on their suggestions.
The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. (Psalm 19:8)
Sometimes I hear a similar reminder in the wisdom of Scripture. We know that what the passage says is true about us, but we are just not ready to respond. Maybe it’s a passage like Romans 14:13 that says, “Let us stop passing judgment on one another.” Or the reminder in 2 Corinthians 9:6, which tells us, “Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” Or this reminder in Philippians 1: “Stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened” (vv. 27-28).
As we read God’s Word, we get vital reminders. Let’s take these seriously as from the heart of the Father who knows what honors Him and is best for us.
Thank You, Lord, for Your gentle reminders. We know that the things You tell us to do in Your Word are for our good and for Your glory. Help us to step up and do the things that bring honor to Your name.
Holiness is simply Christ in us fulfilling the will and commands of the Father.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Abraham’s Life of Faith
He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason— a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith— a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God…” (Romans 4:3).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R
Some people feel so saved they never serve. Some serve at the hope of being saved. Does one of these sentences describe you? Do you feel so saved that you never serve? So content in what God has done that you do nothing? The fact is, we're here to glorify God in our service.
Or is your tendency the opposite? Perhaps you always serve for fear of not being saved. You're worried there is a secret card that exists with your score written on it; and your score is not enough. Is that you? If so, know this: The blood of Jesus is enough to save you. John 1:29 announces that Jesus is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."
The blood of Christ doesn't cover your sins, conceal your sins, postpone or diminish your sins. It takes away your sins, once and for all! So…since you are saved, you can serve!
From He Chose the Nails
Psalm 102
A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.
Hear my prayer, Lord;
let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me
when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
when I call, answer me quickly.
3 For my days vanish like smoke;
my bones burn like glowing embers.
4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.
5 In my distress I groan aloud
and am reduced to skin and bones.
6 I am like a desert owl,
like an owl among the ruins.
7 I lie awake; I have become
like a bird alone on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
9 For I eat ashes as my food
and mingle my drink with tears
10 because of your great wrath,
for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like the evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.
12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;
your renown endures through all generations.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her;
the appointed time has come.
14 For her stones are dear to your servants;
her very dust moves them to pity.
15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
16 For the Lord will rebuild Zion
and appear in his glory.
17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
he will not despise their plea.
18 Let this be written for a future generation,
that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
19 “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high,
from heaven he viewed the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners
and release those condemned to death.”
21 So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem
22 when the peoples and the kingdoms
assemble to worship the Lord.
23 In the course of my life[b] he broke my strength;
he cut short my days.
24 So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
your years go on through all generations.
25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
and they will be discarded.
27 But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.
28 The children of your servants will live in your presence;
their descendants will be established before you.”
Footnotes:
Psalm 102:1 In Hebrew texts 102:1-28 is numbered 102:2-29.
Psalm 102:23 Or By his power
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Read: Philippians 1:27-30
Live as Citizens of Heaven
Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. 28 Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. 29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. 30 We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.
INSIGHT:
The apostle Paul was concerned that believers in the Roman colony of Philippi live exemplary and holy lives. He prayed for their spiritual growth and maturity (Phil. 1:9–11) and exhorted them to “conduct [themselves] in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (v. 27). This was a constant reminder and refrain in Paul’s letters (Eph. 4:1; Col. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:12). The life “worthy of the gospel of Christ” is characterized by steadfastness, unity, harmony, humility, and a willingness to suffer. Suffering for Christ is a gift and a privilege for the believer (Acts 5:41; Phil. 1:29; 1 Peter 2:21; 3:14; 4:16).
Ignore No More
By Dave Branon
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. Psalm 19:8
I don’t know how these people find me, but I keep getting more and more flyers in the mail from folks asking me to show up at their events so they can teach me about retirement benefits. It started several years ago when I began getting invitations to join an organization that works on behalf of retirees. These reminders all serve to say: “You’re getting older. Get ready!”
I have ignored them all along, but soon enough I’m going to have to break down and go to one of their meetings. I really should be taking action on their suggestions.
The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. (Psalm 19:8)
Sometimes I hear a similar reminder in the wisdom of Scripture. We know that what the passage says is true about us, but we are just not ready to respond. Maybe it’s a passage like Romans 14:13 that says, “Let us stop passing judgment on one another.” Or the reminder in 2 Corinthians 9:6, which tells us, “Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” Or this reminder in Philippians 1: “Stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened” (vv. 27-28).
As we read God’s Word, we get vital reminders. Let’s take these seriously as from the heart of the Father who knows what honors Him and is best for us.
Thank You, Lord, for Your gentle reminders. We know that the things You tell us to do in Your Word are for our good and for Your glory. Help us to step up and do the things that bring honor to Your name.
Holiness is simply Christ in us fulfilling the will and commands of the Father.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Abraham’s Life of Faith
He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8
In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason— a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith— a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God…” (Romans 4:3).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R
Friday, March 18, 2016
Psalm 100, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: No Secrets
God has kept no secrets about this life. He has told us that we will experience trouble. Disease will afflict bodies. Divorce will break hearts. Death will make widows and devastation will destroy countries. We shouldn't expect any less.
Yet just because the devil shows up and cackles, we needn't panic. Jesus says in John 16:33, "In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." He speaks of an accomplished deed. "I HAVE overcome the world." It's finished. The battle is over.
Be alert but don't be alarmed. Satan is loosed for a season, but the season is oh, so brief. The devil knows this and Revelation 12:12 reminds us, "he is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short." Just a few more turns in the road, and his end will come! And we will have a new beginning.
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[b];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Footnotes:
Psalm 100:3 Or and not we ourselves
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 18, 2016
Read: Genesis 39:1-12
Joseph in Potiphar’s House
When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
2 The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. 3 Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did. 4 This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned. 5 From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished. 6 So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!
Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, 7 and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.
8 But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. 9 No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”
10 She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. 11 One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work. 12 She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.
When to Walk Away
By Lawrence Darmani
God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13
When my father became a Christian in his old age, he fascinated me with his plan for overcoming temptation. Sometimes he just walked away! For example, whenever a disagreement between him and a neighbor began to degenerate into a quarrel, my father just walked away for a time rather than be tempted to advance the quarrel.
One day he met with some friends who ordered pito (a locally brewed alcoholic beer). My father had formerly struggled with alcohol and had decided he was better off without it. So he simply stood up, said his goodbyes, and left the gathering of old friends for another day.
God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
In Genesis, we read how Potiphar’s wife tempted Joseph. He immediately recognized that giving in would cause him to “sin against God,” so he fled (Gen. 39:9-12).
Temptation knocks often at our door. Sometimes it comes from our own desires, other times through the situations and people we encounter. As Paul told the Corinthians, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.” But he also wrote, “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
The “way out” may include removing the objects of temptation or fleeing from them. Our best course of action may be to simply walk away.
Lord, please give me the wisdom and strength to know when to walk away from situations and people that tempt me to do wrong.
Every temptation is an opportunity to flee to God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 18, 2016
Will I Bring Myself Up to This Level?
…perfecting holiness in the fear of God. —2 Corinthians 7:1
“Therefore, having these promises….” I claim God’s promises for my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows only the human perspective on them. God’s perspective is that through His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For example, do I realize that my “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not “confer with flesh and blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.
I must cleanse myself from all filthiness in my flesh and my spirit until both are in harmony with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I mentally rebellious and defiant? Am I allowing the mind of Christ to be formed in me? (see Philippians 2:5). Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived— a level of perfect submission to His Father’s will— where I pay no attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the fear of God? Is God having His way with me, and are people beginning to see God in my life more and more?
Be serious in your commitment to God and gladly leave everything else alone. Literally put God first in your life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 18, 2016
Your Plans...HIS Plans - #7615
It had been a long ministry weekend in Chicago, and as I settled into my seat on the airplane. I was looking forward to being back home in New Jersey. The going home part of the trip is always the best part. I was quite surprised, needless to say, when the pilot addressed the passengers and said, "Some of you folks may have noticed we've been going north for a while." Now, you don't have to be a geography whiz to know New Jersey is not north of Chicago. We should have been flying east all the time! Great, we've got a rookie navigator.
The pilot went on to explain, "It looks like we're going to have to land in Detroit." Just what we had all been hoping for – a visit to Detroit on the way to New Jersey! And then came the explanation, "We seem to have developed a problem with our hydraulic system and we need to land at the nearest airport." Whoa! Detroit was starting to sound better all the time. Actually, we were greeted by a welcoming party of emergency vehicles as soon as we touched down in Detroit, and thankfully we were all right! That pilot sure changed what I'd planned for that day. I'm glad he did. It was for my good!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Plans...HIS Plans."
Our word for today from the Word of God, Mark 1:16-18, "As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and His brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed Him." They started their day as fishermen and they ended their day as disciples. What a day!
Mark 2:14, another incident that took place after that, "As (Jesus) walked along, He saw Levi...sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow me,' Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him." He would become Matthew, of course. Here's a man with a successful business position, in his office, a Jewish man, collecting money for the Roman government – great position! He wakes up a tax collector; he goes to bed a disciple.
In both cases and many others like them, Jesus changes people's plans like my pilot that day. He had the right to change our direction, and even though it didn't seem like a good idea at first, it later proved to be the very best thing for us. Peter and Levi could never have dreamed how significant their lives were about to become because they trusted Jesus enough to obey when He came to change their plans.
Have you pretty well laid out your course: your plans for your education, your career, financial security, your family, and retirement? And what about your relationship plans, goals for your ministry, plans for where you want to live, and suddenly you're hearing the voice of Jesus saying, "Follow me. This way." and we're talking a change of direction. Don't be afraid of taking that seemingly risky obedience. There's actually no such thing as a risky obedience. There is only a risky disobedience.
The One who gave you your life, who gave His life for you, is leading you into a change that He's been quietly preparing you for over a long time. He's actually moving you more and more into what you were born to be. Perhaps God wants to talk to you through verses that helped thrust my wife and me in the very ministry we're in right now.
Isaiah 43:18-19 changed our future. "Forget the former things;" God says, "do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." The Pilot is changing direction. It's not what you had planned; it's better than what you had planned.
You have nothing to fear when Jesus calls you to change your plans. Nothing, that is, except disobedience.
God has kept no secrets about this life. He has told us that we will experience trouble. Disease will afflict bodies. Divorce will break hearts. Death will make widows and devastation will destroy countries. We shouldn't expect any less.
Yet just because the devil shows up and cackles, we needn't panic. Jesus says in John 16:33, "In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." He speaks of an accomplished deed. "I HAVE overcome the world." It's finished. The battle is over.
Be alert but don't be alarmed. Satan is loosed for a season, but the season is oh, so brief. The devil knows this and Revelation 12:12 reminds us, "he is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short." Just a few more turns in the road, and his end will come! And we will have a new beginning.
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[b];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Footnotes:
Psalm 100:3 Or and not we ourselves
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 18, 2016
Read: Genesis 39:1-12
Joseph in Potiphar’s House
When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
2 The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. 3 Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did. 4 This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned. 5 From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished. 6 So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!
Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, 7 and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.
8 But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. 9 No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”
10 She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. 11 One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work. 12 She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.
When to Walk Away
By Lawrence Darmani
God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13
When my father became a Christian in his old age, he fascinated me with his plan for overcoming temptation. Sometimes he just walked away! For example, whenever a disagreement between him and a neighbor began to degenerate into a quarrel, my father just walked away for a time rather than be tempted to advance the quarrel.
One day he met with some friends who ordered pito (a locally brewed alcoholic beer). My father had formerly struggled with alcohol and had decided he was better off without it. So he simply stood up, said his goodbyes, and left the gathering of old friends for another day.
God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
In Genesis, we read how Potiphar’s wife tempted Joseph. He immediately recognized that giving in would cause him to “sin against God,” so he fled (Gen. 39:9-12).
Temptation knocks often at our door. Sometimes it comes from our own desires, other times through the situations and people we encounter. As Paul told the Corinthians, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.” But he also wrote, “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
The “way out” may include removing the objects of temptation or fleeing from them. Our best course of action may be to simply walk away.
Lord, please give me the wisdom and strength to know when to walk away from situations and people that tempt me to do wrong.
Every temptation is an opportunity to flee to God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 18, 2016
Will I Bring Myself Up to This Level?
…perfecting holiness in the fear of God. —2 Corinthians 7:1
“Therefore, having these promises….” I claim God’s promises for my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows only the human perspective on them. God’s perspective is that through His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For example, do I realize that my “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not “confer with flesh and blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.
I must cleanse myself from all filthiness in my flesh and my spirit until both are in harmony with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I mentally rebellious and defiant? Am I allowing the mind of Christ to be formed in me? (see Philippians 2:5). Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived— a level of perfect submission to His Father’s will— where I pay no attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the fear of God? Is God having His way with me, and are people beginning to see God in my life more and more?
Be serious in your commitment to God and gladly leave everything else alone. Literally put God first in your life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 18, 2016
Your Plans...HIS Plans - #7615
It had been a long ministry weekend in Chicago, and as I settled into my seat on the airplane. I was looking forward to being back home in New Jersey. The going home part of the trip is always the best part. I was quite surprised, needless to say, when the pilot addressed the passengers and said, "Some of you folks may have noticed we've been going north for a while." Now, you don't have to be a geography whiz to know New Jersey is not north of Chicago. We should have been flying east all the time! Great, we've got a rookie navigator.
The pilot went on to explain, "It looks like we're going to have to land in Detroit." Just what we had all been hoping for – a visit to Detroit on the way to New Jersey! And then came the explanation, "We seem to have developed a problem with our hydraulic system and we need to land at the nearest airport." Whoa! Detroit was starting to sound better all the time. Actually, we were greeted by a welcoming party of emergency vehicles as soon as we touched down in Detroit, and thankfully we were all right! That pilot sure changed what I'd planned for that day. I'm glad he did. It was for my good!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Plans...HIS Plans."
Our word for today from the Word of God, Mark 1:16-18, "As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and His brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed Him." They started their day as fishermen and they ended their day as disciples. What a day!
Mark 2:14, another incident that took place after that, "As (Jesus) walked along, He saw Levi...sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow me,' Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him." He would become Matthew, of course. Here's a man with a successful business position, in his office, a Jewish man, collecting money for the Roman government – great position! He wakes up a tax collector; he goes to bed a disciple.
In both cases and many others like them, Jesus changes people's plans like my pilot that day. He had the right to change our direction, and even though it didn't seem like a good idea at first, it later proved to be the very best thing for us. Peter and Levi could never have dreamed how significant their lives were about to become because they trusted Jesus enough to obey when He came to change their plans.
Have you pretty well laid out your course: your plans for your education, your career, financial security, your family, and retirement? And what about your relationship plans, goals for your ministry, plans for where you want to live, and suddenly you're hearing the voice of Jesus saying, "Follow me. This way." and we're talking a change of direction. Don't be afraid of taking that seemingly risky obedience. There's actually no such thing as a risky obedience. There is only a risky disobedience.
The One who gave you your life, who gave His life for you, is leading you into a change that He's been quietly preparing you for over a long time. He's actually moving you more and more into what you were born to be. Perhaps God wants to talk to you through verses that helped thrust my wife and me in the very ministry we're in right now.
Isaiah 43:18-19 changed our future. "Forget the former things;" God says, "do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." The Pilot is changing direction. It's not what you had planned; it's better than what you had planned.
You have nothing to fear when Jesus calls you to change your plans. Nothing, that is, except disobedience.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Psalm 99, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Jesus is Praying for You
While we wait for Christ's return, we can be encouraged because Jesus is praying for us! As recorded in Luke 22:31, Jesus says, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to test all of you as a farmer sifts his wheat." Loose translation- Satan is gonna slap your faith like a farmer slaps wheat on the threshing floor!
You would expect Jesus' next words to be, So get out of town! But Jesus shows no panic. In verse 32, He says, "I have prayed that you will not lose your faith. Help your brothers be stronger when you come back to me."
Everything changes when Jesus prays for us. The devil may land a punch or two, but he never wins the fight. Jesus protected Peter, and Jesus is protecting you.
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 99
The Lord reigns,
let the nations tremble;
he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
let the earth shake.
2 Great is the Lord in Zion;
he is exalted over all the nations.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name—
he is holy.
4 The King is mighty, he loves justice—
you have established equity;
in Jacob you have done
what is just and right.
5 Exalt the Lord our God
and worship at his footstool;
he is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel was among those who called on his name;
they called on the Lord
and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.
8 Lord our God,
you answered them;
you were to Israel a forgiving God,
though you punished their misdeeds.[a]
9 Exalt the Lord our God
and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy.
Footnotes:
Psalm 99:8 Or God, / an avenger of the wrongs done to them
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Read: Deuteronomy 30:11-20
The Choice of Life or Death
“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. 12 It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ 13 It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ 14 No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.
15 “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. 16 For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.
17 “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This[a] is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Footnotes:
30:20 Or He.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage begins with a beautiful statement of how intimately God wants us to know Him. He has not given us commandments that are “too difficult” or “beyond our reach” (Deut. 30:11). This passage ends with the reason His commands are “very near” (v. 14)—that we may love and obey God and enjoy life in Him (v. 20).
Positive Repetition
By Poh Fang Chia
I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him. Deuteronomy 30:16
A journalist had a quirky habit of not using blue pens. So when his colleague asked him if he needed anything from the store, he asked for some pens. “But not blue pens,” he said. “I don’t want blue pens. I don’t like blue. Blue is too heavy. So please purchase 12 ballpoint pens for me—anything but blue!” The next day his colleague passed him the pens—and they were all blue. When asked to explain, he said, “You kept saying ‘blue, blue.’ That’s the word that left the deepest impression!” The journalist’s use of repetition had an effect, but not the one he desired.
Moses, the lawgiver of Israel, also used repetition in his requests to his people. More than 30 times he urged his people to remain true to the law of their God. Yet the result was the opposite of what he asked for. He told them that obedience would lead them to life and prosperity, but disobedience would lead to destruction (Deut. 30:15-18).
When we love God, we want to walk in His ways not because we fear the consequences but because it is our joy to please the One we love. That’s a good word to remember.
Dear Lord, as we read Your inspired story, may Your Spirit be our teacher. Help us to walk the path of obedience as we hear the voice of Your heart.
Love for God will cause you to live for God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 17, 2016
The Servant’s Primary Goal
We make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him. —2 Corinthians 5:9
“We make it our aim….” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor.
Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being “approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15) may result in our rejection from further service for Him. When you discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary to keep “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest…I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 17, 2016
What Keeps Christians Together - and Apart - #7614
There are not too many TV shows you remember decades later. But I still remember a TV documentary that was filmed during the Vietnam War. It was called "Same Mud, Same Blood." The correspondent traveled with this infantry company that was made up mostly of white soldiers from the Deep South and a few others who were African American. But the unit was commanded by an African American sergeant.
We're talking about a time when America was convulsing with civil rights conflicts. But the documentary told the amazing story of how a company that started out with huge racial walls between them became molded into this group of guys who would die for each other. After all, they were "same mud, same blood". There was something about being in a war together that brought people close together who might otherwise have never had anything in common.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Keeps Christians Together – and Apart."
Mission glue – that's what held that racially mixed, potentially racially divided group of soldiers together. They had a life-or-death mission that brought them together and kept them together. So do we; those of us who belong to Jesus Christ. But take away our focus on that mission, and we're back to the little things that divide us.
We can see that portrayed in our word for today from the Word of God in Philippians 4:2-3. Paul is writing about a controversy that was ripping up the church in Philippi because two women named Euodia and Syntyche, women who had been with him in many battles for the Lord were now fighting with each other. He said, "I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellows, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the Gospel...whose names are in the Book of Life."
Here were two women who had once been close together, going out on spiritual combat missions with Sergeant Paul. Their differences didn't matter when they were all focused on the spiritually dying people whose lives they were fighting for in the cause of the Gospel. But somewhere along the way, they lost their focus on their eternal rescue mission. They started to focus on each other, and they fell apart. Do you know how many churches have fallen apart that way? How many ministries? How many Christian relationships?
It just seems like so many Christians have forgotten our mission – the people who don't yet know our Jesus, who have never had a day with a Savior, who have no hope for eternity without Him. Our focus is supposed to be outward on the lost, not inward on ourselves. When we've got our hearts and our lives full of rescuing dying people, our differences are suddenly nowhere near as important as the mission and we come together! We become an answer to our Savior's prayer for us on the eve of His crucifixion – "Lord, may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me" (John 17:23).
But when we stray from our life-or-death mission, we start turning on each other, focusing on trivial things, and getting aggravated with our differences. We fall apart because suddenly what's really big has ended up being small to us – and what's really small, ends up looking really big.
As Paul once pleaded with former warriors in the battle to come together, I believe Jesus is pleading with us to get our eyes off each other and on the people who are dying without Him all around us. It is no one other than Satan who distracts us from our rescue mission so he can keep his prisoners. It's our mission that forces us to come together, to fight our common enemy, to fight for our common Savior.
We're same blood, remember? The blood of the Son of God!
While we wait for Christ's return, we can be encouraged because Jesus is praying for us! As recorded in Luke 22:31, Jesus says, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to test all of you as a farmer sifts his wheat." Loose translation- Satan is gonna slap your faith like a farmer slaps wheat on the threshing floor!
You would expect Jesus' next words to be, So get out of town! But Jesus shows no panic. In verse 32, He says, "I have prayed that you will not lose your faith. Help your brothers be stronger when you come back to me."
Everything changes when Jesus prays for us. The devil may land a punch or two, but he never wins the fight. Jesus protected Peter, and Jesus is protecting you.
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 99
The Lord reigns,
let the nations tremble;
he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
let the earth shake.
2 Great is the Lord in Zion;
he is exalted over all the nations.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name—
he is holy.
4 The King is mighty, he loves justice—
you have established equity;
in Jacob you have done
what is just and right.
5 Exalt the Lord our God
and worship at his footstool;
he is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel was among those who called on his name;
they called on the Lord
and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.
8 Lord our God,
you answered them;
you were to Israel a forgiving God,
though you punished their misdeeds.[a]
9 Exalt the Lord our God
and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy.
Footnotes:
Psalm 99:8 Or God, / an avenger of the wrongs done to them
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Read: Deuteronomy 30:11-20
The Choice of Life or Death
“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. 12 It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ 13 It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ 14 No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.
15 “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. 16 For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.
17 “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This[a] is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Footnotes:
30:20 Or He.
INSIGHT:
Today’s passage begins with a beautiful statement of how intimately God wants us to know Him. He has not given us commandments that are “too difficult” or “beyond our reach” (Deut. 30:11). This passage ends with the reason His commands are “very near” (v. 14)—that we may love and obey God and enjoy life in Him (v. 20).
Positive Repetition
By Poh Fang Chia
I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him. Deuteronomy 30:16
A journalist had a quirky habit of not using blue pens. So when his colleague asked him if he needed anything from the store, he asked for some pens. “But not blue pens,” he said. “I don’t want blue pens. I don’t like blue. Blue is too heavy. So please purchase 12 ballpoint pens for me—anything but blue!” The next day his colleague passed him the pens—and they were all blue. When asked to explain, he said, “You kept saying ‘blue, blue.’ That’s the word that left the deepest impression!” The journalist’s use of repetition had an effect, but not the one he desired.
Moses, the lawgiver of Israel, also used repetition in his requests to his people. More than 30 times he urged his people to remain true to the law of their God. Yet the result was the opposite of what he asked for. He told them that obedience would lead them to life and prosperity, but disobedience would lead to destruction (Deut. 30:15-18).
When we love God, we want to walk in His ways not because we fear the consequences but because it is our joy to please the One we love. That’s a good word to remember.
Dear Lord, as we read Your inspired story, may Your Spirit be our teacher. Help us to walk the path of obedience as we hear the voice of Your heart.
Love for God will cause you to live for God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 17, 2016
The Servant’s Primary Goal
We make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him. —2 Corinthians 5:9
“We make it our aim….” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor.
Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being “approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15) may result in our rejection from further service for Him. When you discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary to keep “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest…I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 17, 2016
What Keeps Christians Together - and Apart - #7614
There are not too many TV shows you remember decades later. But I still remember a TV documentary that was filmed during the Vietnam War. It was called "Same Mud, Same Blood." The correspondent traveled with this infantry company that was made up mostly of white soldiers from the Deep South and a few others who were African American. But the unit was commanded by an African American sergeant.
We're talking about a time when America was convulsing with civil rights conflicts. But the documentary told the amazing story of how a company that started out with huge racial walls between them became molded into this group of guys who would die for each other. After all, they were "same mud, same blood". There was something about being in a war together that brought people close together who might otherwise have never had anything in common.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Keeps Christians Together – and Apart."
Mission glue – that's what held that racially mixed, potentially racially divided group of soldiers together. They had a life-or-death mission that brought them together and kept them together. So do we; those of us who belong to Jesus Christ. But take away our focus on that mission, and we're back to the little things that divide us.
We can see that portrayed in our word for today from the Word of God in Philippians 4:2-3. Paul is writing about a controversy that was ripping up the church in Philippi because two women named Euodia and Syntyche, women who had been with him in many battles for the Lord were now fighting with each other. He said, "I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellows, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the Gospel...whose names are in the Book of Life."
Here were two women who had once been close together, going out on spiritual combat missions with Sergeant Paul. Their differences didn't matter when they were all focused on the spiritually dying people whose lives they were fighting for in the cause of the Gospel. But somewhere along the way, they lost their focus on their eternal rescue mission. They started to focus on each other, and they fell apart. Do you know how many churches have fallen apart that way? How many ministries? How many Christian relationships?
It just seems like so many Christians have forgotten our mission – the people who don't yet know our Jesus, who have never had a day with a Savior, who have no hope for eternity without Him. Our focus is supposed to be outward on the lost, not inward on ourselves. When we've got our hearts and our lives full of rescuing dying people, our differences are suddenly nowhere near as important as the mission and we come together! We become an answer to our Savior's prayer for us on the eve of His crucifixion – "Lord, may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me" (John 17:23).
But when we stray from our life-or-death mission, we start turning on each other, focusing on trivial things, and getting aggravated with our differences. We fall apart because suddenly what's really big has ended up being small to us – and what's really small, ends up looking really big.
As Paul once pleaded with former warriors in the battle to come together, I believe Jesus is pleading with us to get our eyes off each other and on the people who are dying without Him all around us. It is no one other than Satan who distracts us from our rescue mission so he can keep his prisoners. It's our mission that forces us to come together, to fight our common enemy, to fight for our common Savior.
We're same blood, remember? The blood of the Son of God!
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Psalm 98 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Heaven Will Be Sin Free
What prevents us from being rightly related to God? It is sin! And since heaven promises a right relationship with God, what's missing in heaven? You got it-Sin. Heaven will be sin-free. Both death and sin will be things of the past.
Can you imagine a world minus sin? Have you done anything recently because of sin? At the very least, you've complained. You've worried. You've grumbled. Hoarded when you should have shared. Second-guessed and covered up. But you won't do that in heaven. Sin has sired a thousand heartaches and broken a million promises. Your addiction can be traced back to sin. Your mistrust can be traced back to sin. Bigotry, robbery, adultery-all because of sin.
But in heaven, all of this will end. So. . .can you imagine a world without sin? If so, you can imagine heaven!
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 98
A psalm.
Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The Lord has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
9 let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Read: Matthew 6:25-34
“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Footnotes:
6:33 Some manuscripts do not include of God.
INSIGHT:
The Sermon on the Mount is all about the life of those who are part of God’s kingdom. One of the characteristics of our heavenly Father is that He is our great provider—a fact that Jesus emphasizes in today’s text. He describes the extent to which the Father goes to provide for His children. But what is most important is that this provision is not in response to our obedience or because we deserve it—it is because of our value to God (Matt. 6:26).
Deeply Loved
By Randy Kilgore
Your heavenly Father feeds [the birds of the air]. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26
Years ago I had an office in Boston that looked out on the Granary Burying Ground where many prominent American heroes are buried. There one can find the gravestones for John Hancock and Samuel Adams, two signers of the Declaration of Independence, and just a few feet beyond that is Paul Revere’s marker.
But no one really knows where in this burial ground each body is buried because the stones have been moved many times—sometimes to make the grounds more picturesque and other times so lawn mowers could fit between them. And while the Granary features approximately 2,300 markers, closer to 5,000 people are buried there! Even in death, it seems, some people are not fully known.
There may be times when we feel as if we are like those unmarked residents of the Granary, unknown and unseen. Loneliness can make us feel unseen by others—and maybe even by God. But we must remind ourselves that even though we may feel forgotten by our Creator God, we are not. God not only made us in His image (Gen. 1:26-27), but He also values each of us individually and sent His Son to save us (John 3:16).
Even in our darkest hours, we can rest in the knowledge we are never alone, for our loving God is with us.
Thank You, Lord, that You never leave me alone and that You know all about me. Make me aware of Your presence so I may share that comfort with others who are feeling alone too.
We are important because God loves us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
The Master Will Judge
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ… —2 Corinthians 5:10
Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10. Not Knowing Whither, 867 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
No Pit Stops - #7613
For several years, we had a Latin American outreach base in Mexico where our Latin American version of a youth broadcast was recorded. My limited Spanish didn't get me very far in Mexico. I mean, how much meaningful communication can you have when all you know are words like grande and mucho? "You look grande today." Well, the Director of our Latin American Ministry at the time was a wonderful translator and he was my best hope of communicating while I was there. Needless to say, I always lit up when someone was fluent in English there. I could converse unassisted!
In the course of talking with one bilingual, Mexican gentleman, I learned he was involved with automobile racing in that country, sort of the Mexican NASCAR. When I asked him if they have anything like America's Indianapolis 500, he told me they didn't do long distance races like that. They can't. Then I asked him about the pressure of repairing a race car during one of those pit stops, and he informed me that they don't have pit stops. They don't stop. See, they can't go as far as cars that do.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Pit Stops."
Cars cannot run indefinitely without stopping to be serviced. Hello! Neither can people. So God builds in pit stops. Our word for today from the Word of God, the familiar words of Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." Notice what kind of things our Shepherd leads us to. "He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul."
God leads us along paths where we will lie down. You have to stop, of course, to lie down. And the reason for stopping is to restore your soul. Sounds remarkably like cars in long, demanding races. They occasionally leave the race for some servicing – for a pit stop. It's interesting that in Mexico, where they apparently don't stop, they can't finish a long-distance race. Well, neither can you. That's how God created you.
Maybe you're really caught up in your race right now, and God's Sabbath principle is out the window. He has built pit stops into our creation. But you've been running so hard and so fast lately, that you keep saying, "I can't stop now. I'll pull over later. I've got to keep driving." And the longer you go without rest, the crankier you become, more impatient, more prone to errors in judgment, less creative, more mechanical, and you're less caring. You weren't made to run like this. Eventually, you'll burn up or burn out if you keep driving without stopping.
If you're consistently running without stopping, you are running right past your Shepherd, whose will for you includes regular rest and regular restoring. There's nothing noble about running yourself to death. In fact, there's something very wrong with it. If you don't choose to lie down, the Shepherd may literally "make" you lie down. If you don't get your Sabbaths, maybe one day they will come and get you. And you'll be able to run a much longer race if you take time for pit stops. Without those stops, you may be able to run real hard, but not nearly as long as those who stop.
Maybe you're addicted to your own adrenaline right now, to your own momentum. You need to stop for God's love; for God's servicing. You need regular refills of time with Him, of His perspective on what you're doing, of His refocusing you on the people you love, and of His wonderful restoring. But He won't chase you around the track with an oil can. No, He'll service you when you stop.
It's time to, as God commanded us, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). In your day, in your week, in your month, take time for a pit stop. It's stopping that ultimately keeps you running.
What prevents us from being rightly related to God? It is sin! And since heaven promises a right relationship with God, what's missing in heaven? You got it-Sin. Heaven will be sin-free. Both death and sin will be things of the past.
Can you imagine a world minus sin? Have you done anything recently because of sin? At the very least, you've complained. You've worried. You've grumbled. Hoarded when you should have shared. Second-guessed and covered up. But you won't do that in heaven. Sin has sired a thousand heartaches and broken a million promises. Your addiction can be traced back to sin. Your mistrust can be traced back to sin. Bigotry, robbery, adultery-all because of sin.
But in heaven, all of this will end. So. . .can you imagine a world without sin? If so, you can imagine heaven!
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 98
A psalm.
Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The Lord has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
9 let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Read: Matthew 6:25-34
“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Footnotes:
6:33 Some manuscripts do not include of God.
INSIGHT:
The Sermon on the Mount is all about the life of those who are part of God’s kingdom. One of the characteristics of our heavenly Father is that He is our great provider—a fact that Jesus emphasizes in today’s text. He describes the extent to which the Father goes to provide for His children. But what is most important is that this provision is not in response to our obedience or because we deserve it—it is because of our value to God (Matt. 6:26).
Deeply Loved
By Randy Kilgore
Your heavenly Father feeds [the birds of the air]. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26
Years ago I had an office in Boston that looked out on the Granary Burying Ground where many prominent American heroes are buried. There one can find the gravestones for John Hancock and Samuel Adams, two signers of the Declaration of Independence, and just a few feet beyond that is Paul Revere’s marker.
But no one really knows where in this burial ground each body is buried because the stones have been moved many times—sometimes to make the grounds more picturesque and other times so lawn mowers could fit between them. And while the Granary features approximately 2,300 markers, closer to 5,000 people are buried there! Even in death, it seems, some people are not fully known.
There may be times when we feel as if we are like those unmarked residents of the Granary, unknown and unseen. Loneliness can make us feel unseen by others—and maybe even by God. But we must remind ourselves that even though we may feel forgotten by our Creator God, we are not. God not only made us in His image (Gen. 1:26-27), but He also values each of us individually and sent His Son to save us (John 3:16).
Even in our darkest hours, we can rest in the knowledge we are never alone, for our loving God is with us.
Thank You, Lord, that You never leave me alone and that You know all about me. Make me aware of Your presence so I may share that comfort with others who are feeling alone too.
We are important because God loves us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
The Master Will Judge
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ… —2 Corinthians 5:10
Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10. Not Knowing Whither, 867 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
No Pit Stops - #7613
For several years, we had a Latin American outreach base in Mexico where our Latin American version of a youth broadcast was recorded. My limited Spanish didn't get me very far in Mexico. I mean, how much meaningful communication can you have when all you know are words like grande and mucho? "You look grande today." Well, the Director of our Latin American Ministry at the time was a wonderful translator and he was my best hope of communicating while I was there. Needless to say, I always lit up when someone was fluent in English there. I could converse unassisted!
In the course of talking with one bilingual, Mexican gentleman, I learned he was involved with automobile racing in that country, sort of the Mexican NASCAR. When I asked him if they have anything like America's Indianapolis 500, he told me they didn't do long distance races like that. They can't. Then I asked him about the pressure of repairing a race car during one of those pit stops, and he informed me that they don't have pit stops. They don't stop. See, they can't go as far as cars that do.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Pit Stops."
Cars cannot run indefinitely without stopping to be serviced. Hello! Neither can people. So God builds in pit stops. Our word for today from the Word of God, the familiar words of Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." Notice what kind of things our Shepherd leads us to. "He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul."
God leads us along paths where we will lie down. You have to stop, of course, to lie down. And the reason for stopping is to restore your soul. Sounds remarkably like cars in long, demanding races. They occasionally leave the race for some servicing – for a pit stop. It's interesting that in Mexico, where they apparently don't stop, they can't finish a long-distance race. Well, neither can you. That's how God created you.
Maybe you're really caught up in your race right now, and God's Sabbath principle is out the window. He has built pit stops into our creation. But you've been running so hard and so fast lately, that you keep saying, "I can't stop now. I'll pull over later. I've got to keep driving." And the longer you go without rest, the crankier you become, more impatient, more prone to errors in judgment, less creative, more mechanical, and you're less caring. You weren't made to run like this. Eventually, you'll burn up or burn out if you keep driving without stopping.
If you're consistently running without stopping, you are running right past your Shepherd, whose will for you includes regular rest and regular restoring. There's nothing noble about running yourself to death. In fact, there's something very wrong with it. If you don't choose to lie down, the Shepherd may literally "make" you lie down. If you don't get your Sabbaths, maybe one day they will come and get you. And you'll be able to run a much longer race if you take time for pit stops. Without those stops, you may be able to run real hard, but not nearly as long as those who stop.
Maybe you're addicted to your own adrenaline right now, to your own momentum. You need to stop for God's love; for God's servicing. You need regular refills of time with Him, of His perspective on what you're doing, of His refocusing you on the people you love, and of His wonderful restoring. But He won't chase you around the track with an oil can. No, He'll service you when you stop.
It's time to, as God commanded us, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). In your day, in your week, in your month, take time for a pit stop. It's stopping that ultimately keeps you running.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Psalm 97, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Crown of Righteousness
We are frail creatures. We are not made of steel, we're made from dust. And this life is not crowned with life, it is crowned with death. The next life, however, is different!
In Revelation 2:10, Jesus urged the Christians in Smyrna to "be faithful, even if you have to die, and I will give you the crown of life." You will also receive the crown of righteousness.
Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have done my best in the race, I have run the full distance, and I have kept the faith. And now there is waiting for me, the victory prize of being put right with God, which the Lord. . .will give me on that Day and not only to me, but to all those who wait with love for him to appear."
Set your heart on that day. Crowned with life. Crowned with righteousness. Forever!
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 97
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes on every side.
4 His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all peoples see his glory.
7 All who worship images are put to shame,
those who boast in idols—
worship him, all you gods!
8 Zion hears and rejoices
and the villages of Judah are glad
because of your judgments, Lord.
9 For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil,
for he guards the lives of his faithful ones
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light shines[b] on the righteous
and joy on the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous,
and praise his holy name.
Footnotes:
Psalm 97:11 One Hebrew manuscript and ancient versions (see also 112:4); most Hebrew manuscripts Light is sown
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Read: Psalm 146:1-10
Psalm 146
Praise the Lord!
Let all that I am praise the Lord.
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.
3 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
there is no help for you there.
4 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
and all their plans die with them.
5 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel[a] as their helper,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
6 He made heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
He keeps every promise forever.
7 He gives justice to the oppressed
and food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
The Lord loves the godly.
9 The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
He cares for the orphans and widows,
but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
10 The Lord will reign forever.
He will be your God, O Jerusalem,[b] throughout the generations.
Praise the Lord!
Footnotes:
146:5 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 44:4.
146:10 Hebrew Zion.
INSIGHT:
In today’s psalm, the psalmist responds in grateful worship as he reflects on the greatness and grace of God. He invites us to trust the Lord, to look to Him for help, and to place our hope in Him. He is the omnipotent, eternal God, the Creator who is forever faithful (vv. 5–6), just, benevolent, gracious, compassionate, and loving (vv. 7–9). The psalmist’s message is a simple one: Trust in God, not in man, for only those who trust God can be truly blessed.
Looking Up
By David McCasland
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. Psalm 146:8
An article in the Surgical Technology International journal says that looking down at a smart phone with your head bent forward is the equivalent of having a 60-pound weight on your neck. When we consider that millions of people around the world spend an average of 2-4 hours daily reading and texting, the resulting damage to neck and spine becomes a growing health concern.
It is also easy to become spiritually bowed down by the burdens of life. How often we find ourselves discouraged by the problems we face and the needs of those we love. The psalmist understood this weight of concern yet saw hope as he wrote about “the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—[who] remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous” (Ps. 146:6-8).
We can walk through each day knowing that "the LORD reigns forever!"
When we consider God’s care, His great power, and His loving heart, we can begin to look up and praise Him. We can walk through each day knowing that “the Lord reigns forever . . . for all generations” (v. 10).
He lifts us up when we are bowed down. Praise the Lord!
O Lord, lift our eyes to see Your power and love today so we can raise our heads and our hearts in grateful praise to You.
Faith in God’s goodness puts a song in your heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
The Discipline of Dismay
As they followed they were afraid. —Mark 10:32
At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. But now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar— “Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed” (Mark 10:32).
There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple’s heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set “like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and I can no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant.
Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings could experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don’t know Him. We don’t recognize even one characteristic of His life, and we don’t know how to begin to follow Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him.
The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 50:10-11). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” We all have faith in good principles, in good management, in good common sense, but who amongst us has faith in Jesus Christ? Physical courage is grand, moral courage is grander, but the man who trusts Jesus Christ in the face of the terrific problems of life is worth a whole crowd of heroes. The Highest Good, 544 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Choices Without Regrets - #7612
I don't know how long Presidential candidates have had campaign songs, but I'll bet George Washington even had one! Now, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's was pretty famous, as it represented the Great Depression "Happy Days Are Here Again." Bill Clinton had a song for his 1992 campaign. In fact, he reached back to 1977 for his song "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow." They used it so much people wanted to sing, "Please Stop Singing About Tomorrow." Now I don't know how you felt about the candidate, and I don't even know if you liked the song...but it's not a bad theme for your campaign!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Choices Without Regrets."
Our word for today from the Word of God takes a look at somebody who did, with painful results. Esau was the oldest son of Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob was his younger brother. Jacob wanted the birthright. But it was Esau's to receive because he was born first, and that meant he received double inheritance. He'd run the family when his father died. What a privilege! And he gets to do that just because he was born first. But it wasn't going to happen that way.
Genesis 25:29 - "When Jacob was cooking some stew one day Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, "'Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!' Jacob replied, 'First sell me your birthright.' 'Look, I'm about to die,' Esau said. 'What good is the birthright to me?' But Jacob said, 'Swear to me first.' So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread, and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised (or didn't think much about) his birthright."
Esau made a choice, a terrible choice here based solely on what would meet his need right now. Man, I want to scream at the Bible, "Esau, don't do it! This is a terrible deal." Guess what? His need was met, but he had that need again the next morning, and he sacrificed his tomorrows for it.
In fact, in Hebrews 12:16-17 we find out what happened later in life. "See that no one is...like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward...when he wanted to inherit this blessing he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind though he sought the blessing with tears." A lifetime of regret because of what he did to meet one need one day.
See, God wants you to make "no regrets" choices. That means you don't make Esau's mistake: meet a need; lose a treasure. The need will return as soon as the pot of stew wears off, but the treasure you paid for it could be gone forever. You could be on the edge of that kind of short term decision right now. You really want to be married and not alone anymore, and you're about to marry the wrong person to meet the need. And that will lead you to the loneliest lonely of all.
Maybe the pot of stew solution is in your finances, a way that will take care of the immediate need, but cost you so much later on. Maybe it's tempting right now to just compromise your integrity a little, or your reputation to get something you want, or to keep something you don't want to lose. But is it worth the scars that will be there long after this moment is gone? It could be that your needs are drawing you toward a sexual sin before marriage or outside of your marriage. The bill will last a whole lot longer than the thrill.
God knows how good that pot of stew is looking to you right now and how you're minimizing what you're going to lose. And guess what? He brought us together today to intervene before you lose a birthright; something with lifetime value. This is a loving voice from Jesus saying, "Please don't do this; it will cost you too much." There is no need so important that it is worth losing a lifetime treasure to meet it. Please, don't stop thinking about tomorrow.
We are frail creatures. We are not made of steel, we're made from dust. And this life is not crowned with life, it is crowned with death. The next life, however, is different!
In Revelation 2:10, Jesus urged the Christians in Smyrna to "be faithful, even if you have to die, and I will give you the crown of life." You will also receive the crown of righteousness.
Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have done my best in the race, I have run the full distance, and I have kept the faith. And now there is waiting for me, the victory prize of being put right with God, which the Lord. . .will give me on that Day and not only to me, but to all those who wait with love for him to appear."
Set your heart on that day. Crowned with life. Crowned with righteousness. Forever!
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 97
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes on every side.
4 His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all peoples see his glory.
7 All who worship images are put to shame,
those who boast in idols—
worship him, all you gods!
8 Zion hears and rejoices
and the villages of Judah are glad
because of your judgments, Lord.
9 For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil,
for he guards the lives of his faithful ones
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light shines[b] on the righteous
and joy on the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous,
and praise his holy name.
Footnotes:
Psalm 97:11 One Hebrew manuscript and ancient versions (see also 112:4); most Hebrew manuscripts Light is sown
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Read: Psalm 146:1-10
Psalm 146
Praise the Lord!
Let all that I am praise the Lord.
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.
3 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
there is no help for you there.
4 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
and all their plans die with them.
5 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel[a] as their helper,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
6 He made heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
He keeps every promise forever.
7 He gives justice to the oppressed
and food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
The Lord loves the godly.
9 The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
He cares for the orphans and widows,
but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
10 The Lord will reign forever.
He will be your God, O Jerusalem,[b] throughout the generations.
Praise the Lord!
Footnotes:
146:5 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 44:4.
146:10 Hebrew Zion.
INSIGHT:
In today’s psalm, the psalmist responds in grateful worship as he reflects on the greatness and grace of God. He invites us to trust the Lord, to look to Him for help, and to place our hope in Him. He is the omnipotent, eternal God, the Creator who is forever faithful (vv. 5–6), just, benevolent, gracious, compassionate, and loving (vv. 7–9). The psalmist’s message is a simple one: Trust in God, not in man, for only those who trust God can be truly blessed.
Looking Up
By David McCasland
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. Psalm 146:8
An article in the Surgical Technology International journal says that looking down at a smart phone with your head bent forward is the equivalent of having a 60-pound weight on your neck. When we consider that millions of people around the world spend an average of 2-4 hours daily reading and texting, the resulting damage to neck and spine becomes a growing health concern.
It is also easy to become spiritually bowed down by the burdens of life. How often we find ourselves discouraged by the problems we face and the needs of those we love. The psalmist understood this weight of concern yet saw hope as he wrote about “the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—[who] remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous” (Ps. 146:6-8).
We can walk through each day knowing that "the LORD reigns forever!"
When we consider God’s care, His great power, and His loving heart, we can begin to look up and praise Him. We can walk through each day knowing that “the Lord reigns forever . . . for all generations” (v. 10).
He lifts us up when we are bowed down. Praise the Lord!
O Lord, lift our eyes to see Your power and love today so we can raise our heads and our hearts in grateful praise to You.
Faith in God’s goodness puts a song in your heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
The Discipline of Dismay
As they followed they were afraid. —Mark 10:32
At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. But now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar— “Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed” (Mark 10:32).
There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple’s heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set “like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and I can no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant.
Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings could experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don’t know Him. We don’t recognize even one characteristic of His life, and we don’t know how to begin to follow Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him.
The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 50:10-11). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” We all have faith in good principles, in good management, in good common sense, but who amongst us has faith in Jesus Christ? Physical courage is grand, moral courage is grander, but the man who trusts Jesus Christ in the face of the terrific problems of life is worth a whole crowd of heroes. The Highest Good, 544 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Choices Without Regrets - #7612
I don't know how long Presidential candidates have had campaign songs, but I'll bet George Washington even had one! Now, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's was pretty famous, as it represented the Great Depression "Happy Days Are Here Again." Bill Clinton had a song for his 1992 campaign. In fact, he reached back to 1977 for his song "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow." They used it so much people wanted to sing, "Please Stop Singing About Tomorrow." Now I don't know how you felt about the candidate, and I don't even know if you liked the song...but it's not a bad theme for your campaign!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Choices Without Regrets."
Our word for today from the Word of God takes a look at somebody who did, with painful results. Esau was the oldest son of Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob was his younger brother. Jacob wanted the birthright. But it was Esau's to receive because he was born first, and that meant he received double inheritance. He'd run the family when his father died. What a privilege! And he gets to do that just because he was born first. But it wasn't going to happen that way.
Genesis 25:29 - "When Jacob was cooking some stew one day Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, "'Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!' Jacob replied, 'First sell me your birthright.' 'Look, I'm about to die,' Esau said. 'What good is the birthright to me?' But Jacob said, 'Swear to me first.' So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread, and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised (or didn't think much about) his birthright."
Esau made a choice, a terrible choice here based solely on what would meet his need right now. Man, I want to scream at the Bible, "Esau, don't do it! This is a terrible deal." Guess what? His need was met, but he had that need again the next morning, and he sacrificed his tomorrows for it.
In fact, in Hebrews 12:16-17 we find out what happened later in life. "See that no one is...like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward...when he wanted to inherit this blessing he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind though he sought the blessing with tears." A lifetime of regret because of what he did to meet one need one day.
See, God wants you to make "no regrets" choices. That means you don't make Esau's mistake: meet a need; lose a treasure. The need will return as soon as the pot of stew wears off, but the treasure you paid for it could be gone forever. You could be on the edge of that kind of short term decision right now. You really want to be married and not alone anymore, and you're about to marry the wrong person to meet the need. And that will lead you to the loneliest lonely of all.
Maybe the pot of stew solution is in your finances, a way that will take care of the immediate need, but cost you so much later on. Maybe it's tempting right now to just compromise your integrity a little, or your reputation to get something you want, or to keep something you don't want to lose. But is it worth the scars that will be there long after this moment is gone? It could be that your needs are drawing you toward a sexual sin before marriage or outside of your marriage. The bill will last a whole lot longer than the thrill.
God knows how good that pot of stew is looking to you right now and how you're minimizing what you're going to lose. And guess what? He brought us together today to intervene before you lose a birthright; something with lifetime value. This is a loving voice from Jesus saying, "Please don't do this; it will cost you too much." There is no need so important that it is worth losing a lifetime treasure to meet it. Please, don't stop thinking about tomorrow.
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