Max Lucado Daily: God Loves Humility
God loves humility. Could that be why he offers so many tips on cultivating it?
Assess yourself honestly. Romans 12:3 says, "Don't cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities."
Don't take success too seriously. Deuteronomy 8:13 warns, "When your silver and gold increase your heart will become proud." Ponder your success and count your money in a cemetery, and remember neither of the two is buried with you.
Celebrate the significance of others. Philippians 2:3 says, "In humility consider others better than yourselves."
Speak humbly. 1st Samuel 2:3 warns, "Let no arrogance come from your mouth." Don't be cocky. People aren't impressed with your opinions. In Galatians 6:14, Paul said, "The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for bragging!" So if you need to brag-brag about that!
From Traveling Light
Ezekiel 28
The Money Has Gone to Your Head
1-5 God’s Message came to me, “Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘This is what God, the Master, says:
“‘Your heart is proud,
going around saying, “I’m a god.
I sit on God’s divine throne,
ruling the sea”—
You, a mere mortal,
not even close to being a god,
A mere mortal
trying to be a god.
Look, you think you’re smarter than Daniel.
No enigmas can stump you.
Your sharp intelligence
made you world-wealthy.
You piled up gold and silver
in your banks.
You used your head well,
worked good deals, made a lot of money.
But the money has gone to your head,
swelled your head—what a big head!
6-11 “‘Therefore, God, the Master, says:
“‘Because you’re acting like a god,
pretending to be a god,
I’m giving fair warning: I’m bringing strangers down on you,
the most vicious of all nations.
They’ll pull their swords and make hash
of your reputation for knowing it all.
They’ll puncture the balloon
of your god-pretensions.
They’ll bring you down from your self-made pedestal
and bury you in the deep blue sea.
Will you protest to your assassins,
“You can’t do that! I’m a god”?
To them you’re a mere mortal.
They’re killing a man, not a god.
You’ll die like a stray dog,
killed by strangers—
Because I said so.
Decree of God, the Master.’”
11-19 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, raise a funeral song over the king of Tyre. Tell him, A Message from God, the Master:
“You had everything going for you.
You were in Eden, God’s garden.
You were dressed in splendor,
your robe studded with jewels:
Carnelian, peridot, and moonstone,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald,
all in settings of engraved gold.
A robe was prepared for you
the same day you were created.
You were the anointed cherub.
I placed you on the mountain of God.
You strolled in magnificence
among the stones of fire.
From the day of your creation
you were sheer perfection . . .
and then imperfection—evil!—was detected in you.
In much buying and selling
you turned violent, you sinned!
I threw you, disgraced, off the mountain of God.
I threw you out—you, the anointed angel-cherub.
No more strolling among the gems of fire for you!
Your beauty went to your head.
You corrupted wisdom
by using it to get worldly fame.
I threw you to the ground,
sent you sprawling before an audience of kings
and let them gloat over your demise.
By sin after sin after sin,
by your corrupt ways of doing business,
you defiled your holy places of worship.
So I set a fire around and within you.
It burned you up. I reduced you to ashes.
All anyone sees now
when they look for you is ashes,
a pitiful mound of ashes.
All who once knew you
now throw up their hands:
‘This can’t have happened!
This has happened!’”
20-23 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, confront Sidon. Preach against it. Say, ‘Message from God, the Master:
“‘Look! I’m against you, Sidon.
I intend to be known for who I truly am among you.’
They’ll know that I am God
when I set things right
and reveal my holy presence.
I’ll order an epidemic of disease there,
along with murder and mayhem in the streets.
People will drop dead right and left,
as war presses in from every side.
Then they’ll realize that I mean business,
that I am God.
24 “No longer will Israel have to put up with
their thistle-and-thorn neighbors
Who have treated them so contemptuously.
And they also will realize that I am God.”
25-26 God, the Master, says, “When I gather Israel from the peoples among whom they’ve been scattered and put my holiness on display among them with all the nations looking on, then they’ll live in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. They’ll live there in safety. They’ll build houses. They’ll plant vineyards, living in safety. Meanwhile, I’ll bring judgment on all the neighbors who have treated them with such contempt. And they’ll realize that I am God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Read: Exodus 34:1–9
1-3 God spoke to Moses: “Cut out two tablets of stone just like the originals and engrave on them the words that were on the original tablets you smashed. Be ready in the morning to climb Mount Sinai and get set to meet me on top of the mountain. Not a soul is to go with you; the whole mountain must be clear of people, even animals—not even sheep or oxen can be grazing in front of the mountain.”
4-7 So Moses cut two tablets of stone just like the originals. He got up early in the morning and climbed Mount Sinai as God had commanded him, carrying the two tablets of stone. God descended in the cloud and took up his position there beside him and called out the name, God. God passed in front of him and called out, “God, God, a God of mercy and grace, endlessly patient—so much love, so deeply true—loyal in love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. Still, he doesn’t ignore sin. He holds sons and grandsons responsible for a father’s sins to the third and even fourth generation.”
8-9 At once, Moses fell to the ground and worshiped, saying, “Please, O Master, if you see anything good in me, please Master, travel with us, hard-headed as these people are. Forgive our iniquity and sin. Own us, possess us.”
INSIGHT:
Have you been trying to see the form of God through the fog of your life? If so, you’re in good company. According to the apostle Paul, all of our present knowledge is seen “through a glass darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12 kjv). But since Jesus came, we don’t have to strain so much to believe in the goodness, justice, and compassion of the God Moses described. Now, in Jesus’s suffering and death, we can see far more clearly how God patiently loves us, allowing us to experience the consequences of sin while He Himself bears in our place the ultimate judgment that all sin deserves.
Seeing God
By Julie Ackerman Link
The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. Numbers 14:18
Caricature artists set up their easels in public places and draw pictures of people who are willing to pay a modest price for a humorous image of themselves. Their drawings amuse us because they exaggerate one or more of our physical features in a way that is recognizable but funny.
Caricatures of God, on the other hand, are not funny. Exaggerating one of His attributes presents a distorted view that people easily dismiss. Like a caricature, a distorted view of God is not taken seriously. Those who see God portrayed only as an angry and demanding judge are easily lured away by someone who emphasizes mercy. Those who see God as a kindhearted grandfather will reject that image when they need justice. Those who see God as an intellectual idea rather than a living, loving being eventually find other ideas more appealing. Those who see God as a best friend often leave Him behind when they find human friends who are more to their liking.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I worship You. You are holy, just, kind, and loving. You are God alone.
God declares Himself to be merciful and gracious, but also just in punishing the guilty (Ex. 34:6–7).
As we put our faith into action, we need to avoid portraying God as having only our favorite attributes. We must worship all of God, not just what we like.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I worship You. You are holy, just, kind, and loving. You are God alone.
God is God alone.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Having God’s “Unreasonable” Faith
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. —Matthew 6:33
When we look at these words of Jesus, we immediately find them to be the most revolutionary that human ears have ever heard. “…seek first the kingdom of God….” Even the most spiritually-minded of us argue the exact opposite, saying, “But I must live; I must make a certain amount of money; I must be clothed; I must be fed.” The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God but how we are going to take care of ourselves to live. Jesus reversed the order by telling us to get the right relationship with God first, maintaining it as the primary concern of our lives, and never to place our concern on taking care of the other things of life.
“…do not worry about your life…” (Matthew 6:25). Our Lord pointed out that from His standpoint it is absolutely unreasonable for us to be anxious, worrying about how we will live. Jesus did not say that the person who takes no thought for anything in his life is blessed— no, that person is a fool. But Jesus did teach that His disciple must make his relationship with God the dominating focus of his life, and to be cautiously carefree about everything else in comparison to that. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Don’t make food and drink the controlling factor of your life, but be focused absolutely on God.” Some people are careless about what they eat and drink, and they suffer for it; they are careless about what they wear, having no business looking the way they do; they are careless with their earthly matters, and God holds them responsible. Jesus is saying that the greatest concern of life is to place our relationship with God first, and everything else second.
It is one of the most difficult, yet critical, disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into absolute harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Ezekiel 27, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WAIT ON THE SPIRIT
Wait on the Spirit. If Peter and the apostles needed his help, don’t we? They walked with Jesus for three years, heard his preaching, and saw his miracles. They saw the body of Christ buried in the grave and raised from the dead. They witnessed his upper room appearance and heard his instruction. Had they not received the best possible training? Weren’t they ready? Yet Jesus told them to wait on the Spirit. He said in Acts 1:4-5, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised…the Holy Spirit.”
Learn to wait, to be silent, to listen for his voice. You don’t need a thing– you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene.
From More to Your Story
Ezekiel 27
Tyre, Gateway to the Sea
1-9 God’s Message came to me: “You, son of man, raise a funeral song over Tyre. Tell Tyre, gateway to the sea, merchant to the world, trader among the far-off islands, ‘This is what God, the Master, says:
“‘You boast, Tyre:
“I’m the perfect ship—stately, handsome.”
You ruled the high seas from
a real beauty, crafted to perfection.
Your planking came from
Mount Hermon junipers.
A Lebanon cedar
supplied your mast.
They made your oars
from sturdy Bashan oaks.
Cypress from Cyprus inlaid with ivory
was used for the decks.
Your sail and flag were of colorful
embroidered linen from Egypt.
Your purple deck awnings
also came from Cyprus.
Men of Sidon and Arvad pulled the oars.
Your seasoned seamen, O Tyre, were the crew.
Ship’s carpenters
were old salts from Byblos.
All the ships of the sea and their sailors
clustered around you to barter for your goods.
10-11 “‘Your army was composed of soldiers
from Paras, Lud, and Put,
Elite troops in uniformed splendor.
They put you on the map!
Your city police were imported from
Arvad, Helech, and Gammad.
They hung their shields from the city walls,
a final, perfect touch to your beauty.
12 “‘Tarshish carried on business with you because of your great wealth. They worked for you, trading in silver, iron, tin, and lead for your products.
13 “‘Greece, Tubal, and Meshech did business with you, trading slaves and bronze for your products.
14 “‘Beth-togarmah traded work horses, war horses, and mules for your products.
15 “‘The people of Rhodes did business with you. Many far-off islands traded with you in ivory and ebony.
16 “‘Edom did business with you because of all your goods. They traded for your products with agate, purple textiles, embroidered cloth, fine linen, coral, and rubies.
17 “‘Judah and Israel did business with you. They traded for your products with premium wheat, millet, honey, oil, and balm.
18 “‘Damascus, attracted by your vast array of products and well-stocked warehouses, carried on business with you, trading in wine from Helbon and wool from Zahar.
19 “‘Danites and Greeks from Uzal traded with you, using wrought iron, cinnamon, and spices.
20 “‘Dedan traded with you for saddle blankets.
21 “‘Arabia and all the Bedouin sheiks of Kedar traded lambs, rams, and goats with you.
22 “‘Traders from Sheba and Raamah in South Arabia carried on business with you in premium spices, precious stones, and gold.
23-24 “‘Haran, Canneh, and Eden from the east in Assyria and Media traded with you, bringing elegant clothes, dyed textiles, and elaborate carpets to your bazaars.
25 “‘The great Tarshish ships were your freighters, importing and exporting. Oh, it was big business for you, trafficking the seaways!
26-32 “‘Your sailors row mightily,
taking you into the high seas.
Then a storm out of the east
shatters your ship in the ocean deep.
Everything sinks—your rich goods and products,
sailors and crew, ship’s carpenters and soldiers,
Sink to the bottom of the sea.
Total shipwreck.
The cries of your sailors
reverberate on shore.
Sailors everywhere abandon ship.
Veteran seamen swim for dry land.
They cry out in grief,
a choir of bitter lament over you.
They smear their faces with ashes,
shave their heads,
Wear rough burlap,
wildly keening their loss.
They raise their funeral song:
“Who on the high seas is like Tyre!”
33-36 “‘As you crisscrossed the seas with your products,
you satisfied many peoples.
Your worldwide trade
made earth’s kings rich.
And now you’re battered to bits by the waves,
sunk to the bottom of the sea,
And everything you’ve bought and sold
has sunk to the bottom with you.
Everyone on shore looks on in terror.
The hair of kings stands on end,
their faces drawn and haggard!
The buyers and sellers of the world
throw up their hands:
This horror can’t happen!
Oh, this has happened!’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Read: 1 Corinthians 10:1–13
1-5 Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God’s fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. But just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased.
6-10 The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—“First the people partied, then they threw a dance.” We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with 23,000 deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.
11-12 These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
INSIGHT:
Paul tells us that some of the children of Israel gave in to idolatry, sexual immorality, and grumbling. In each case they were disciplined for their sin (Ex. 32:1–35; Num. 21:4–8). Yet the hope given us is that God has provided a way out of temptation for all who choose to take it (see Gen. 39:7–12).
Are you facing temptations today? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you resist temptation and to take the way out.
Finding the Way Out
By James Banks
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 Corinthians 10:13
There’s a street with an intriguing name in the city of Santa Barbara, California. It’s called “Salsipuedes,” which means “leave if you can.” When the street was first named, the area bordered on a marsh that sometimes flooded, and the Spanish-speaking city planners dubbed the location with a not-so-subtle warning to stay away.
God’s Word cautions us to stay away from the “wrong road” of sin and temptation: “Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way” (Prov. 4:15). But Scripture doesn’t just say “leave if you can.” It offers assurance and tells us where to turn: “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).
Lord, I praise You that You are willing to give me all the strength I need!
The promise that God will not allow us to be tempted above our ability to withstand is an encouraging reminder. When we turn to God in the moments when temptation comes, we know He is more than willing to help us stay away.
The Bible affirms that Jesus is able “to empathize with our weaknesses.” But He was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus knows the way out of every temptation. He will show us as we run to Him!
Thank You, Lord, for Your promise to be faithful to me and provide a way out whenever I face temptation. I praise You that You are willing to give me all the strength I need!
God promises to help us when we are tempted.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Taking Possession of Our Own Soul
By your patience possess your souls. —Luke 21:19
When a person is born again, there is a period of time when he does not have the same vitality in his thinking or reasoning that he previously had. We must learn to express this new life within us, which comes by forming the mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:5). Luke 21:19 means that we take possession of our souls through patience. But many of us prefer to stay at the entrance to the Christian life, instead of going on to create and build our soul in accordance with the new life God has placed within us. We fail because we are ignorant of the way God has made us, and we blame things on the devil that are actually the result of our own undisciplined natures. Just think what we could be when we are awakened to the truth!
There are certain things in life that we need not pray about— moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we won’t. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R
Wait on the Spirit. If Peter and the apostles needed his help, don’t we? They walked with Jesus for three years, heard his preaching, and saw his miracles. They saw the body of Christ buried in the grave and raised from the dead. They witnessed his upper room appearance and heard his instruction. Had they not received the best possible training? Weren’t they ready? Yet Jesus told them to wait on the Spirit. He said in Acts 1:4-5, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised…the Holy Spirit.”
Learn to wait, to be silent, to listen for his voice. You don’t need a thing– you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene.
From More to Your Story
Ezekiel 27
Tyre, Gateway to the Sea
1-9 God’s Message came to me: “You, son of man, raise a funeral song over Tyre. Tell Tyre, gateway to the sea, merchant to the world, trader among the far-off islands, ‘This is what God, the Master, says:
“‘You boast, Tyre:
“I’m the perfect ship—stately, handsome.”
You ruled the high seas from
a real beauty, crafted to perfection.
Your planking came from
Mount Hermon junipers.
A Lebanon cedar
supplied your mast.
They made your oars
from sturdy Bashan oaks.
Cypress from Cyprus inlaid with ivory
was used for the decks.
Your sail and flag were of colorful
embroidered linen from Egypt.
Your purple deck awnings
also came from Cyprus.
Men of Sidon and Arvad pulled the oars.
Your seasoned seamen, O Tyre, were the crew.
Ship’s carpenters
were old salts from Byblos.
All the ships of the sea and their sailors
clustered around you to barter for your goods.
10-11 “‘Your army was composed of soldiers
from Paras, Lud, and Put,
Elite troops in uniformed splendor.
They put you on the map!
Your city police were imported from
Arvad, Helech, and Gammad.
They hung their shields from the city walls,
a final, perfect touch to your beauty.
12 “‘Tarshish carried on business with you because of your great wealth. They worked for you, trading in silver, iron, tin, and lead for your products.
13 “‘Greece, Tubal, and Meshech did business with you, trading slaves and bronze for your products.
14 “‘Beth-togarmah traded work horses, war horses, and mules for your products.
15 “‘The people of Rhodes did business with you. Many far-off islands traded with you in ivory and ebony.
16 “‘Edom did business with you because of all your goods. They traded for your products with agate, purple textiles, embroidered cloth, fine linen, coral, and rubies.
17 “‘Judah and Israel did business with you. They traded for your products with premium wheat, millet, honey, oil, and balm.
18 “‘Damascus, attracted by your vast array of products and well-stocked warehouses, carried on business with you, trading in wine from Helbon and wool from Zahar.
19 “‘Danites and Greeks from Uzal traded with you, using wrought iron, cinnamon, and spices.
20 “‘Dedan traded with you for saddle blankets.
21 “‘Arabia and all the Bedouin sheiks of Kedar traded lambs, rams, and goats with you.
22 “‘Traders from Sheba and Raamah in South Arabia carried on business with you in premium spices, precious stones, and gold.
23-24 “‘Haran, Canneh, and Eden from the east in Assyria and Media traded with you, bringing elegant clothes, dyed textiles, and elaborate carpets to your bazaars.
25 “‘The great Tarshish ships were your freighters, importing and exporting. Oh, it was big business for you, trafficking the seaways!
26-32 “‘Your sailors row mightily,
taking you into the high seas.
Then a storm out of the east
shatters your ship in the ocean deep.
Everything sinks—your rich goods and products,
sailors and crew, ship’s carpenters and soldiers,
Sink to the bottom of the sea.
Total shipwreck.
The cries of your sailors
reverberate on shore.
Sailors everywhere abandon ship.
Veteran seamen swim for dry land.
They cry out in grief,
a choir of bitter lament over you.
They smear their faces with ashes,
shave their heads,
Wear rough burlap,
wildly keening their loss.
They raise their funeral song:
“Who on the high seas is like Tyre!”
33-36 “‘As you crisscrossed the seas with your products,
you satisfied many peoples.
Your worldwide trade
made earth’s kings rich.
And now you’re battered to bits by the waves,
sunk to the bottom of the sea,
And everything you’ve bought and sold
has sunk to the bottom with you.
Everyone on shore looks on in terror.
The hair of kings stands on end,
their faces drawn and haggard!
The buyers and sellers of the world
throw up their hands:
This horror can’t happen!
Oh, this has happened!’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Read: 1 Corinthians 10:1–13
1-5 Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God’s fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. But just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased.
6-10 The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—“First the people partied, then they threw a dance.” We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with 23,000 deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.
11-12 These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
INSIGHT:
Paul tells us that some of the children of Israel gave in to idolatry, sexual immorality, and grumbling. In each case they were disciplined for their sin (Ex. 32:1–35; Num. 21:4–8). Yet the hope given us is that God has provided a way out of temptation for all who choose to take it (see Gen. 39:7–12).
Are you facing temptations today? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you resist temptation and to take the way out.
Finding the Way Out
By James Banks
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 Corinthians 10:13
There’s a street with an intriguing name in the city of Santa Barbara, California. It’s called “Salsipuedes,” which means “leave if you can.” When the street was first named, the area bordered on a marsh that sometimes flooded, and the Spanish-speaking city planners dubbed the location with a not-so-subtle warning to stay away.
God’s Word cautions us to stay away from the “wrong road” of sin and temptation: “Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way” (Prov. 4:15). But Scripture doesn’t just say “leave if you can.” It offers assurance and tells us where to turn: “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).
Lord, I praise You that You are willing to give me all the strength I need!
The promise that God will not allow us to be tempted above our ability to withstand is an encouraging reminder. When we turn to God in the moments when temptation comes, we know He is more than willing to help us stay away.
The Bible affirms that Jesus is able “to empathize with our weaknesses.” But He was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus knows the way out of every temptation. He will show us as we run to Him!
Thank You, Lord, for Your promise to be faithful to me and provide a way out whenever I face temptation. I praise You that You are willing to give me all the strength I need!
God promises to help us when we are tempted.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Taking Possession of Our Own Soul
By your patience possess your souls. —Luke 21:19
When a person is born again, there is a period of time when he does not have the same vitality in his thinking or reasoning that he previously had. We must learn to express this new life within us, which comes by forming the mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:5). Luke 21:19 means that we take possession of our souls through patience. But many of us prefer to stay at the entrance to the Christian life, instead of going on to create and build our soul in accordance with the new life God has placed within us. We fail because we are ignorant of the way God has made us, and we blame things on the devil that are actually the result of our own undisciplined natures. Just think what we could be when we are awakened to the truth!
There are certain things in life that we need not pray about— moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we won’t. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R
Friday, May 19, 2017
1 Peter 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: LOVE ISN’T SELFISH
Forgive me for being the one to tell you, but you are infected. You’re a victim—a diseased carrier. You have a case of—brace yourself—selfishness!
Don’t believe me? Do your fingers ever wrap and close around possessions? Do fangs ever flare when you’re interrupted or irritated? Any inflammation from patting yourself on the back?
Listen to the words of James: “Whenever people are jealous or selfish, they cause trouble and do all sorts of cruel things” (James 3:16 CEV). Is it any wonder Paul writes, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves…” (Philippians 2:3-4 NASB).
Looking after your personal interests is proper life management. Doing so to the exclusion of the rest of the world is selfishness. Desire success? Fine. Just don’t hurt others in achieving it. Love isn’t selfish.
From A Love Worth Giving
1 Peter 3
Cultivate Inner Beauty
1-4 The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition.
4-6 Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands. Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him as “my dear husband.” You’ll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, unanxious and unintimidated.
7 The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God’s grace, you’re equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don’t run aground.
Suffering for Doing Good
8-12 Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
Whoever wants to embrace life
and see the day fill up with good,
Here’s what you do:
Say nothing evil or hurtful;
Snub evil and cultivate good;
run after peace for all you’re worth.
God looks on all this with approval,
listening and responding well to what he’s asked;
But he turns his back
on those who do evil things.
13-18 If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.
19-22 He went and proclaimed God’s salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment because they wouldn’t listen. You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact—saved from the water by the water. The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus’ resurrection before God with a clear conscience. Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He’s standing right alongside God, and what he says goes.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, May 19, 2017
Read: Psalm 78:1–8
An Asaph Psalm
1-4 Listen, dear friends, to God’s truth,
bend your ears to what I tell you.
I’m chewing on the morsel of a proverb;
I’ll let you in on the sweet old truths,
Stories we heard from our fathers,
counsel we learned at our mother’s knee.
We’re not keeping this to ourselves,
we’re passing it along to the next generation—
God’s fame and fortune,
the marvelous things he has done.
5-8 He planted a witness in Jacob,
set his Word firmly in Israel,
Then commanded our parents
to teach it to their children
So the next generation would know,
and all the generations to come—
Know the truth and tell the stories
so their children can trust in God,
Never forget the works of God
but keep his commands to the letter.
Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,
bullheaded and bad,
A fickle and faithless bunch
who never stayed true to God.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 78 is an “historical psalm” (a psalm full of historical facts). Other historical psalms are Psalm 105–107, 114, 135, and 136. In Psalm 78 Asaph recounts key events covering 450 years of history, reminding the Jews that God has commanded them to teach their children and children’s children about Him so that future generations will love and worship Him (vv. 5–8). In His covenant with Abraham, God said Abraham was chosen for this same purpose: “so that [Abraham] will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord” (Gen. 18:19). Deuteronomy also emphasizes that parents have been entrusted with the sacred duty and divine privilege of teaching their children about God (4:9; 6:6–9; 11:19–21).
Look for opportunities this week to talk with your children, grandchildren, or others in your life about God and His Word.
Prepare the Child
By David C. McCasland
We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. Psalm 78:4
A phrase on many parenting websites says, “Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child.” Instead of trying to remove all obstacles and pave the way for the children in our life, we should instead equip them to deal with the difficulties they encounter on the road ahead.
The psalmist wrote, “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes . . . , which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them . . . and they in turn would tell their children” (Ps. 78:4–6). The goal is that “they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands” (v. 7).
It’s a wonderful privilege to share God’s Word and His plan for our lives with the next generation.
Think of the powerful spiritual impact others had on us through what they said and how they lived. Their conversation and demonstration captured our attention and kindled a fire in us to follow Jesus just as they did.
It’s a wonderful privilege and responsibility to share God’s Word and His plan for our lives with the next generation and the generations to come. No matter what lies ahead on their road through life, we want them to be prepared and equipped to face it in the strength of the Lord.
Father in heaven, we seek Your wisdom and guidance to prepare the children we know and love to walk with You in faith.
Through conversation and demonstration, help prepare children to follow the Lord on the road ahead.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 19, 2017
Out of the Wreck I Rise
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? —Romans 8:35
God does not keep His child immune from trouble; He promises, “I will be with him in trouble…” (Psalm 91:15). It doesn’t matter how real or intense the adversities may be; nothing can ever separate him from his relationship to God. “In all these things we are more than conquerors…” (Romans 8:37). Paul was not referring here to imaginary things, but to things that are dangerously real. And he said we are “super-victors” in the midst of them, not because of our own ingenuity, nor because of our courage, but because none of them affects our essential relationship with God in Jesus Christ. I feel sorry for the Christian who doesn’t have something in the circumstances of his life that he wishes were not there.
“Shall tribulation…?” Tribulation is never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be— whether exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness— it is not able to “separate us from the love of Christ.” Never allow tribulations or the “cares of this world” to separate you from remembering that God loves you (Matthew 13:22).
“Shall…distress…?” Can God’s love continue to hold fast, even when everyone and everything around us seems to be saying that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?
“Shall…famine…?” Can we not only believe in the love of God but also be “more than conquerors,” even while we are being starved?
Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver, having deceived even Paul, or else some extraordinary thing happens to someone who holds on to the love of God when the odds are totally against him. Logic is silenced in the face of each of these things which come against him. Only one thing can account for it— the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Out of the wreck I rise” every time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is not what a man does that is of final importance, but what he is in what he does. The atmosphere produced by a man, much more than his activities, has the lasting influence. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Honeymoon Secret - #7920
We didn't have a lot of money, but who cared? We had each other. We is my wife Karen and me, and we were on our honeymoon! Now someone has defined a honeymoon as the period between "I do" and "You'd better!", but that definition doesn't work for me. Most of us married people look back with fond memories on our honeymoon. Karen and I were married in Chicago, and we drove up to Wisconsin and Michigan for our first week as man and wife. It was a lot of years ago, but it was a week I will never forget; the tandem bike rides, where I ended up doing most of the pedaling, the chili dogs and onion rings, and the smooching as our kids later called it, the horseback ride, the boat ride. But the best part of the honeymoon wasn't the sights or the activities. It was that glorious feeling that, for one week, there was nobody else on earth but Ron and Karen. We just totally focused on each other.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Honeymoon Secret."
In a way, that honeymoon sense of "just the two of us" is the secret of a lifetime of beautiful love. We didn't take my parents along. No, nor Karen's parents, no children. My boss didn't tag along in the back-seat. None of our co-workers or none of the folks at church were there to take the focus off of each other. No. Of course, life isn't a honeymoon where those people don't take significant chunks of your time and energy. But your lifetime love is in trouble when anyone else starts to come between the original honeymoon cast, "just the two of us."
Our word for today from the Word of God, Mark 10:7. "A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate." On the honeymoon, that oneness is largely unchallenged. It's clear who the #1 person on earth is supposed to be...who gets the best of me.
But then the honeymoon's over. Your mother or father want a decisive spot in your life, your boss, or your friends. And along come children, and they seem to demand just about everything you've got to give. And even God's work - which every believer should be an active part of - can become such a controlling part of your time and energy that your husband or wife barely gets even your leftovers.
What if I asked your partner to draw a picture like this - a picture with you and your spouse as close or as far apart as they feel you really are. And what if I asked them, "Are there any people or activities that make you feel pushed out? Draw them in between you and your mate." What would they put there? Who would they put there?
If there's anyone that regularly keeps you from being what you promised to be that wedding day, it's time for major priority surgery. Even your children were never meant to keep you from the time and focus that your marriage needs. In fact, the best thing you can do for your children is give them the security that comes from feeling that the love they came from is still going strong.
I still remember hugging my wife in the kitchen, suddenly feeling we were farther apart, and here was our little boy looking up at us with his big, blue eyes going, "Mommy, Daddy, can I be in the middle of your love?" That's where our kids are supposed to be.
Actually, God created marriage to be a triangle with three people involved. You and your mate connected by that line at the base of the triangle, but with a line from you and a line from him or her connecting with the apex of the triangle with God there. The One who holds you together is God. He's the glue of a marriage. He holds you together when everything else is pulling you apart.
But humanly speaking, the secret of a great lifetime love is to keep that honeymoon picture in your mind - that wonderful sense of "the two of us". If you've allowed others to come between you in the honeymoon picture, it's time to move them to being around you but never again between you. Then maybe, in a sense, the honeymoon can last a lifetime.
Forgive me for being the one to tell you, but you are infected. You’re a victim—a diseased carrier. You have a case of—brace yourself—selfishness!
Don’t believe me? Do your fingers ever wrap and close around possessions? Do fangs ever flare when you’re interrupted or irritated? Any inflammation from patting yourself on the back?
Listen to the words of James: “Whenever people are jealous or selfish, they cause trouble and do all sorts of cruel things” (James 3:16 CEV). Is it any wonder Paul writes, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves…” (Philippians 2:3-4 NASB).
Looking after your personal interests is proper life management. Doing so to the exclusion of the rest of the world is selfishness. Desire success? Fine. Just don’t hurt others in achieving it. Love isn’t selfish.
From A Love Worth Giving
1 Peter 3
Cultivate Inner Beauty
1-4 The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition.
4-6 Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands. Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him as “my dear husband.” You’ll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, unanxious and unintimidated.
7 The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God’s grace, you’re equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don’t run aground.
Suffering for Doing Good
8-12 Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
Whoever wants to embrace life
and see the day fill up with good,
Here’s what you do:
Say nothing evil or hurtful;
Snub evil and cultivate good;
run after peace for all you’re worth.
God looks on all this with approval,
listening and responding well to what he’s asked;
But he turns his back
on those who do evil things.
13-18 If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.
19-22 He went and proclaimed God’s salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment because they wouldn’t listen. You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact—saved from the water by the water. The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus’ resurrection before God with a clear conscience. Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He’s standing right alongside God, and what he says goes.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, May 19, 2017
Read: Psalm 78:1–8
An Asaph Psalm
1-4 Listen, dear friends, to God’s truth,
bend your ears to what I tell you.
I’m chewing on the morsel of a proverb;
I’ll let you in on the sweet old truths,
Stories we heard from our fathers,
counsel we learned at our mother’s knee.
We’re not keeping this to ourselves,
we’re passing it along to the next generation—
God’s fame and fortune,
the marvelous things he has done.
5-8 He planted a witness in Jacob,
set his Word firmly in Israel,
Then commanded our parents
to teach it to their children
So the next generation would know,
and all the generations to come—
Know the truth and tell the stories
so their children can trust in God,
Never forget the works of God
but keep his commands to the letter.
Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,
bullheaded and bad,
A fickle and faithless bunch
who never stayed true to God.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 78 is an “historical psalm” (a psalm full of historical facts). Other historical psalms are Psalm 105–107, 114, 135, and 136. In Psalm 78 Asaph recounts key events covering 450 years of history, reminding the Jews that God has commanded them to teach their children and children’s children about Him so that future generations will love and worship Him (vv. 5–8). In His covenant with Abraham, God said Abraham was chosen for this same purpose: “so that [Abraham] will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord” (Gen. 18:19). Deuteronomy also emphasizes that parents have been entrusted with the sacred duty and divine privilege of teaching their children about God (4:9; 6:6–9; 11:19–21).
Look for opportunities this week to talk with your children, grandchildren, or others in your life about God and His Word.
Prepare the Child
By David C. McCasland
We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. Psalm 78:4
A phrase on many parenting websites says, “Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child.” Instead of trying to remove all obstacles and pave the way for the children in our life, we should instead equip them to deal with the difficulties they encounter on the road ahead.
The psalmist wrote, “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes . . . , which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them . . . and they in turn would tell their children” (Ps. 78:4–6). The goal is that “they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands” (v. 7).
It’s a wonderful privilege to share God’s Word and His plan for our lives with the next generation.
Think of the powerful spiritual impact others had on us through what they said and how they lived. Their conversation and demonstration captured our attention and kindled a fire in us to follow Jesus just as they did.
It’s a wonderful privilege and responsibility to share God’s Word and His plan for our lives with the next generation and the generations to come. No matter what lies ahead on their road through life, we want them to be prepared and equipped to face it in the strength of the Lord.
Father in heaven, we seek Your wisdom and guidance to prepare the children we know and love to walk with You in faith.
Through conversation and demonstration, help prepare children to follow the Lord on the road ahead.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 19, 2017
Out of the Wreck I Rise
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? —Romans 8:35
God does not keep His child immune from trouble; He promises, “I will be with him in trouble…” (Psalm 91:15). It doesn’t matter how real or intense the adversities may be; nothing can ever separate him from his relationship to God. “In all these things we are more than conquerors…” (Romans 8:37). Paul was not referring here to imaginary things, but to things that are dangerously real. And he said we are “super-victors” in the midst of them, not because of our own ingenuity, nor because of our courage, but because none of them affects our essential relationship with God in Jesus Christ. I feel sorry for the Christian who doesn’t have something in the circumstances of his life that he wishes were not there.
“Shall tribulation…?” Tribulation is never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be— whether exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness— it is not able to “separate us from the love of Christ.” Never allow tribulations or the “cares of this world” to separate you from remembering that God loves you (Matthew 13:22).
“Shall…distress…?” Can God’s love continue to hold fast, even when everyone and everything around us seems to be saying that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?
“Shall…famine…?” Can we not only believe in the love of God but also be “more than conquerors,” even while we are being starved?
Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver, having deceived even Paul, or else some extraordinary thing happens to someone who holds on to the love of God when the odds are totally against him. Logic is silenced in the face of each of these things which come against him. Only one thing can account for it— the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Out of the wreck I rise” every time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is not what a man does that is of final importance, but what he is in what he does. The atmosphere produced by a man, much more than his activities, has the lasting influence. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Honeymoon Secret - #7920
We didn't have a lot of money, but who cared? We had each other. We is my wife Karen and me, and we were on our honeymoon! Now someone has defined a honeymoon as the period between "I do" and "You'd better!", but that definition doesn't work for me. Most of us married people look back with fond memories on our honeymoon. Karen and I were married in Chicago, and we drove up to Wisconsin and Michigan for our first week as man and wife. It was a lot of years ago, but it was a week I will never forget; the tandem bike rides, where I ended up doing most of the pedaling, the chili dogs and onion rings, and the smooching as our kids later called it, the horseback ride, the boat ride. But the best part of the honeymoon wasn't the sights or the activities. It was that glorious feeling that, for one week, there was nobody else on earth but Ron and Karen. We just totally focused on each other.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Honeymoon Secret."
In a way, that honeymoon sense of "just the two of us" is the secret of a lifetime of beautiful love. We didn't take my parents along. No, nor Karen's parents, no children. My boss didn't tag along in the back-seat. None of our co-workers or none of the folks at church were there to take the focus off of each other. No. Of course, life isn't a honeymoon where those people don't take significant chunks of your time and energy. But your lifetime love is in trouble when anyone else starts to come between the original honeymoon cast, "just the two of us."
Our word for today from the Word of God, Mark 10:7. "A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate." On the honeymoon, that oneness is largely unchallenged. It's clear who the #1 person on earth is supposed to be...who gets the best of me.
But then the honeymoon's over. Your mother or father want a decisive spot in your life, your boss, or your friends. And along come children, and they seem to demand just about everything you've got to give. And even God's work - which every believer should be an active part of - can become such a controlling part of your time and energy that your husband or wife barely gets even your leftovers.
What if I asked your partner to draw a picture like this - a picture with you and your spouse as close or as far apart as they feel you really are. And what if I asked them, "Are there any people or activities that make you feel pushed out? Draw them in between you and your mate." What would they put there? Who would they put there?
If there's anyone that regularly keeps you from being what you promised to be that wedding day, it's time for major priority surgery. Even your children were never meant to keep you from the time and focus that your marriage needs. In fact, the best thing you can do for your children is give them the security that comes from feeling that the love they came from is still going strong.
I still remember hugging my wife in the kitchen, suddenly feeling we were farther apart, and here was our little boy looking up at us with his big, blue eyes going, "Mommy, Daddy, can I be in the middle of your love?" That's where our kids are supposed to be.
Actually, God created marriage to be a triangle with three people involved. You and your mate connected by that line at the base of the triangle, but with a line from you and a line from him or her connecting with the apex of the triangle with God there. The One who holds you together is God. He's the glue of a marriage. He holds you together when everything else is pulling you apart.
But humanly speaking, the secret of a great lifetime love is to keep that honeymoon picture in your mind - that wonderful sense of "the two of us". If you've allowed others to come between you in the honeymoon picture, it's time to move them to being around you but never again between you. Then maybe, in a sense, the honeymoon can last a lifetime.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
1 Peter 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: WEARING JESUS
Paul said, “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27 NIV). We wear Jesus! And those who don’t believe in Jesus note what we do. They make decisions about Christ by watching us. When we are kind, they assume Christ is kind. When we’re gracious, they assume Christ is gracious.
But if we are brash, what will people think of our King? Our Master? No wonder Paul says, “Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should” (Colossians 4:5-6).
Common courtesy honors God and his children. “Do your best,” the Scriptures say, “to live in peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). Just do your best. You can’t control their attitude, but you can manage yours.
From A Love Worth Giving
1 Peter 2
1-3 So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.
The Stone
4-8 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent:
Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion,
a cornerstone in the place of honor.
Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation
will never have cause to regret it.
To you who trust him, he’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him,
The stone the workmen threw out
is now the chief foundation stone.
For the untrusting it’s
. . . a stone to trip over,
a boulder blocking the way.
They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.
9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
11-12 Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.
13-17 Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.
The Kind of Life He Lived
18-20 You who are servants, be good servants to your masters—not just to good masters, but also to bad ones. What counts is that you put up with it for God’s sake when you’re treated badly for no good reason. There’s no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.
21-25 This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.
He never did one thing wrong,
Not once said anything amiss.
They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Read: Zechariah 3
Fourth Vision: Joshua’s New Clothes
1-2 Next the Messenger-Angel showed me the high priest Joshua. He was standing before God’s Angel where the Accuser showed up to accuse him. Then God said to the Accuser, “I, God, rebuke you, Accuser! I rebuke you and choose Jerusalem. Surprise! Everything is going up in flames, but I reach in and pull out Jerusalem!”
3-4 Joshua, standing before the angel, was dressed in dirty clothes. The angel spoke to his attendants, “Get him out of those filthy clothes,” and then said to Joshua, “Look, I’ve stripped you of your sin and dressed you up in clean clothes.”
5 I spoke up and said, “How about a clean new turban for his head also?” And they did it—put a clean new turban on his head. Then they finished dressing him, with God’s Angel looking on.
6-7 God’s Angel then charged Joshua, “Orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: ‘If you live the way I tell you and remain obedient in my service, then you’ll make the decisions around here and oversee my affairs. And all my attendants standing here will be at your service.
8-9 “‘Careful, High Priest Joshua—both you and your friends sitting here with you, for your friends are in on this, too! Here’s what I’m doing next: I’m introducing my servant Branch. And note this: This stone that I’m placing before Joshua, a single stone with seven eyes’—Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies—‘I’ll engrave with these words: “I’ll strip this land of its filthy sin, all at once, in a single day.”
10 “‘At that time, everyone will get along with one another, with friendly visits across the fence, friendly visits on one another’s porches.’”
INSIGHT:
In today’s passage Satan is not rebuked because he has no grounds to accuse Joshua. Satan is rebuked because Joshua’s current condition (dressed in dirty clothes—symbolic of judgment and sin) was not his final condition. God changed his situation by clothing him with clean garments, symbolic of God’s righteousness.
Clothed by God
By Amy Boucher Pye
See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you. Zechariah 3:4
When my kids were toddlers, they would play outside in our sodden English garden and quickly become covered in mud and dirt. For their good and the good of my floor, I’d remove their clothes at the door and wrap them in towels before sticking them in the bath. They’d soon move from dirty to clean with the addition of soap, water, and hugs.
In a vision given to Zechariah, we see Joshua, a high priest, covered in rags that represent sin and wrongdoing (Zech. 3:3). But the Lord makes him clean, removing his filthy clothes and covering him in rich garments (3:5). The new turban and robe signify that the Lord has taken his sins from him.
Lord Jesus, through Your saving death on the cross we can find acceptance and love.
We too can receive God’s cleansing as we become free of our wrongdoing through the saving work of Jesus. As a result of His death on the cross, we can have the mud and sins that cling to us washed away as we receive the robes of God’s sons and daughters. No longer are we defined by what we’ve done wrong (whether lying, gossiping, stealing, coveting, or other), but we can claim the names God gives to those He loves—restored, renewed, cleansed, free.
Ask God to remove any filthy rags you’re wearing so you too can put on the wardrobe He has reserved for you.
Lord Jesus, through Your saving death on the cross we can find acceptance and love. May we receive this gift for Your glory.
Who can wash away my sin? Jesus!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Living Simply— Yet Focused
Look at the birds of the air….Consider the lilies of the field… —Matthew 6:26, 28
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin”— they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon— all of these simply are as well— yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Do not worry about being of use to others; simply believe on Me.” In other words, pay attention to the Source, and out of you “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). We cannot discover the source of our natural life through common sense and reasoning, and Jesus is teaching here that growth in our spiritual life comes not from focusing directly on it, but from concentrating on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually— just as “the lilies of the field.”
The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and “the lilies of the field”— simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.
If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live— yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” So Send I You, 1325 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Keeping Your Feet Moving - #7919
You may not be able to tell it over the radio, but I'm not a very big guy. Oh, I'm big inside. But outside, I'm more of like a Volkswagen than a semi. Which makes it amazing that both my sons ended up playing line in football. That's usually where they put the monsters. But we used to joke that the linemen wore their IQs on their jerseys - you know, like 75. But it was brawn more than brains they needed anyway to either hold the line while their opponents were trying to move them or to break through those gorillas on the other side of the line. There are just a few simple instructions that every coach wants every lineman to learn and live by. In fact, our guys heard this one all the time, "Keep your feet moving. No matter what." Even if it feels like you're going nowhere. Even if you're getting hammered. Even if you think it's doing no good. As long as you keep driving, as long as you keep your feet moving, you're making a difference. There is an alternative. It's called getting knocked down maybe by one of those gorillas on the other side.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Keeping Your Feet Moving."
The Divine Coach has assigned you a position to play right now. And He has a word for you today from the Word of God. Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Or in the words of a football coach to the guys on the line, "Keep your feet moving, no matter what." It's true in football. It's true in following Christ. If you stop driving, if you stand still, you're going to get knocked down and you'll stop making a difference.
It could be you've been taking some pretty hard hits lately. Don't become weary in doing good. Keep your feet moving. Maybe you feel like nothing's moving; you're not seeing much in the way of results. The good you're doing doesn't seem to be doing much good. Your Coach's word, "Keep playing your position. Keep your feet moving in God's direction. This isn't about results. It's about faithfulness at your position." That's why the commendation of Jesus is, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
I believe there was a point where you knew God was leading you in this direction...when you felt motivated to make a difference or to start living God's way. But you've been hit hard a few times, maybe thrown for a loss. Maybe things seem to have gotten worse instead of better. Or it could be that there has not been much appreciation for what you've done...or much progress. The feeling isn't there like it was at the beginning. You're tired of driving in the direction God led you. Your feet are slowing down, you're standing still. You're tempted to give up on your ministry, on your marriage, on financial freedom, on conquering the old you, or you might be tempted to give up on the miracle that you've been praying for.
And along comes God today saying, "The payoff is coming. You will break through if you keep driving in this direction - even when you feel like quitting." He likens it to a farmer waiting for his harvest. There's a lot of work and investment without any visible result for a long time. And then one day, that crop appears if he doesn't give up on it. The harvest of all you've put in so far depends on one very big if, "...if, (as God says,) you do not give up." In the words of a wise old man of God, "Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light."
There's no standing still on this Jesus road. If you do, you get knocked down. There are some wonderful victories, there are some powerful breakthroughs later in the game if you keep your feet moving.
Paul said, “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27 NIV). We wear Jesus! And those who don’t believe in Jesus note what we do. They make decisions about Christ by watching us. When we are kind, they assume Christ is kind. When we’re gracious, they assume Christ is gracious.
But if we are brash, what will people think of our King? Our Master? No wonder Paul says, “Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should” (Colossians 4:5-6).
Common courtesy honors God and his children. “Do your best,” the Scriptures say, “to live in peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). Just do your best. You can’t control their attitude, but you can manage yours.
From A Love Worth Giving
1 Peter 2
1-3 So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.
The Stone
4-8 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent:
Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion,
a cornerstone in the place of honor.
Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation
will never have cause to regret it.
To you who trust him, he’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him,
The stone the workmen threw out
is now the chief foundation stone.
For the untrusting it’s
. . . a stone to trip over,
a boulder blocking the way.
They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.
9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
11-12 Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.
13-17 Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.
The Kind of Life He Lived
18-20 You who are servants, be good servants to your masters—not just to good masters, but also to bad ones. What counts is that you put up with it for God’s sake when you’re treated badly for no good reason. There’s no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.
21-25 This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.
He never did one thing wrong,
Not once said anything amiss.
They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Read: Zechariah 3
Fourth Vision: Joshua’s New Clothes
1-2 Next the Messenger-Angel showed me the high priest Joshua. He was standing before God’s Angel where the Accuser showed up to accuse him. Then God said to the Accuser, “I, God, rebuke you, Accuser! I rebuke you and choose Jerusalem. Surprise! Everything is going up in flames, but I reach in and pull out Jerusalem!”
3-4 Joshua, standing before the angel, was dressed in dirty clothes. The angel spoke to his attendants, “Get him out of those filthy clothes,” and then said to Joshua, “Look, I’ve stripped you of your sin and dressed you up in clean clothes.”
5 I spoke up and said, “How about a clean new turban for his head also?” And they did it—put a clean new turban on his head. Then they finished dressing him, with God’s Angel looking on.
6-7 God’s Angel then charged Joshua, “Orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: ‘If you live the way I tell you and remain obedient in my service, then you’ll make the decisions around here and oversee my affairs. And all my attendants standing here will be at your service.
8-9 “‘Careful, High Priest Joshua—both you and your friends sitting here with you, for your friends are in on this, too! Here’s what I’m doing next: I’m introducing my servant Branch. And note this: This stone that I’m placing before Joshua, a single stone with seven eyes’—Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies—‘I’ll engrave with these words: “I’ll strip this land of its filthy sin, all at once, in a single day.”
10 “‘At that time, everyone will get along with one another, with friendly visits across the fence, friendly visits on one another’s porches.’”
INSIGHT:
In today’s passage Satan is not rebuked because he has no grounds to accuse Joshua. Satan is rebuked because Joshua’s current condition (dressed in dirty clothes—symbolic of judgment and sin) was not his final condition. God changed his situation by clothing him with clean garments, symbolic of God’s righteousness.
Clothed by God
By Amy Boucher Pye
See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you. Zechariah 3:4
When my kids were toddlers, they would play outside in our sodden English garden and quickly become covered in mud and dirt. For their good and the good of my floor, I’d remove their clothes at the door and wrap them in towels before sticking them in the bath. They’d soon move from dirty to clean with the addition of soap, water, and hugs.
In a vision given to Zechariah, we see Joshua, a high priest, covered in rags that represent sin and wrongdoing (Zech. 3:3). But the Lord makes him clean, removing his filthy clothes and covering him in rich garments (3:5). The new turban and robe signify that the Lord has taken his sins from him.
Lord Jesus, through Your saving death on the cross we can find acceptance and love.
We too can receive God’s cleansing as we become free of our wrongdoing through the saving work of Jesus. As a result of His death on the cross, we can have the mud and sins that cling to us washed away as we receive the robes of God’s sons and daughters. No longer are we defined by what we’ve done wrong (whether lying, gossiping, stealing, coveting, or other), but we can claim the names God gives to those He loves—restored, renewed, cleansed, free.
Ask God to remove any filthy rags you’re wearing so you too can put on the wardrobe He has reserved for you.
Lord Jesus, through Your saving death on the cross we can find acceptance and love. May we receive this gift for Your glory.
Who can wash away my sin? Jesus!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Living Simply— Yet Focused
Look at the birds of the air….Consider the lilies of the field… —Matthew 6:26, 28
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin”— they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon— all of these simply are as well— yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Do not worry about being of use to others; simply believe on Me.” In other words, pay attention to the Source, and out of you “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). We cannot discover the source of our natural life through common sense and reasoning, and Jesus is teaching here that growth in our spiritual life comes not from focusing directly on it, but from concentrating on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually— just as “the lilies of the field.”
The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and “the lilies of the field”— simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.
If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live— yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are all based on a conception of importance, either our own importance, or the importance of someone else; Jesus tells us to go and teach based on the revelation of His importance. “All power is given unto Me.… Go ye therefore ….” So Send I You, 1325 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Keeping Your Feet Moving - #7919
You may not be able to tell it over the radio, but I'm not a very big guy. Oh, I'm big inside. But outside, I'm more of like a Volkswagen than a semi. Which makes it amazing that both my sons ended up playing line in football. That's usually where they put the monsters. But we used to joke that the linemen wore their IQs on their jerseys - you know, like 75. But it was brawn more than brains they needed anyway to either hold the line while their opponents were trying to move them or to break through those gorillas on the other side of the line. There are just a few simple instructions that every coach wants every lineman to learn and live by. In fact, our guys heard this one all the time, "Keep your feet moving. No matter what." Even if it feels like you're going nowhere. Even if you're getting hammered. Even if you think it's doing no good. As long as you keep driving, as long as you keep your feet moving, you're making a difference. There is an alternative. It's called getting knocked down maybe by one of those gorillas on the other side.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Keeping Your Feet Moving."
The Divine Coach has assigned you a position to play right now. And He has a word for you today from the Word of God. Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Or in the words of a football coach to the guys on the line, "Keep your feet moving, no matter what." It's true in football. It's true in following Christ. If you stop driving, if you stand still, you're going to get knocked down and you'll stop making a difference.
It could be you've been taking some pretty hard hits lately. Don't become weary in doing good. Keep your feet moving. Maybe you feel like nothing's moving; you're not seeing much in the way of results. The good you're doing doesn't seem to be doing much good. Your Coach's word, "Keep playing your position. Keep your feet moving in God's direction. This isn't about results. It's about faithfulness at your position." That's why the commendation of Jesus is, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
I believe there was a point where you knew God was leading you in this direction...when you felt motivated to make a difference or to start living God's way. But you've been hit hard a few times, maybe thrown for a loss. Maybe things seem to have gotten worse instead of better. Or it could be that there has not been much appreciation for what you've done...or much progress. The feeling isn't there like it was at the beginning. You're tired of driving in the direction God led you. Your feet are slowing down, you're standing still. You're tempted to give up on your ministry, on your marriage, on financial freedom, on conquering the old you, or you might be tempted to give up on the miracle that you've been praying for.
And along comes God today saying, "The payoff is coming. You will break through if you keep driving in this direction - even when you feel like quitting." He likens it to a farmer waiting for his harvest. There's a lot of work and investment without any visible result for a long time. And then one day, that crop appears if he doesn't give up on it. The harvest of all you've put in so far depends on one very big if, "...if, (as God says,) you do not give up." In the words of a wise old man of God, "Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light."
There's no standing still on this Jesus road. If you do, you get knocked down. There are some wonderful victories, there are some powerful breakthroughs later in the game if you keep your feet moving.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Ezekiel 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: LOVE IS NOT RUDE
When defining what love is not, the apostle Paul put rudeness on the list. “Love does not behave rudely” (1 Corinthians 13:5 NIV).
Rudeness snatches parking spaces. Rudeness mocks others. Rudeness interrupts. Christ, on the other hand, was courteous. He was patient, thoughtful, and careful to treat people with respect.
Notice that the first five letters of the word courteous spell court. In old England, to be courteous was to act in the way of the court. The family and servants of the king were expected to follow a higher standard. So are we. Are we not called to represent the King?
From A Love Worth Giving
Ezekiel 26
As the Waves of the Sea, Surging Against the Shore
1-2 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, Tyre cheered when they got the news of Jerusalem, exclaiming,
“‘Good! The gateway city is smashed!
Now all her business comes my way.
She’s in ruins
and I’m in clover.’
3-6 “Therefore, God, the Master, has this to say:
“‘I’m against you, Tyre,
and I’ll bring many nations surging against you,
as the waves of the sea surging against the shore.
They’ll smash the city walls of Tyre
and break down her towers.
I’ll wash away the soil
and leave nothing but bare rock.
She’ll be an island of bare rock in the ocean,
good for nothing but drying fishnets.
Yes, I’ve said so.’ Decree of God, the Master.
‘She’ll be loot, free pickings for the nations!
Her surrounding villages will be butchered.
Then they’ll realize that I am God.’
7-14 “God, the Master, says: Look! Out of the north I’m bringing Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king’s king, down on Tyre. He’ll come with chariots and horses and riders—a huge army. He’ll massacre your surrounding villages and lay siege to you. He’ll build siege ramps against your walls. A forest of shields will advance against you! He’ll pummel your walls with his battering rams and shatter your towers with his iron weapons. You’ll be covered with dust from his horde of horses—a thundering herd of war horses pouring through the breaches, pulling chariots. Oh, it will be an earthquake of an army and a city in shock! Horses will stampede through the streets. Your people will be slaughtered and your huge pillars strewn like matchsticks. The invaders will steal and loot—all that wealth, all that stuff! They’ll knock down your fine houses and dump the stone and timber rubble into the sea. And your parties, your famous good-time parties, will be no more. No more songs, no more lutes. I’ll reduce you to an island of bare rock, good for nothing but drying fishnets. You’ll never be rebuilt. I, God, have said so. Decree of God, the Master.
Introduced to the Terrors of Death
15 “This is the Message of God, the Master, to Tyre: Won’t the ocean islands shake at the crash of your collapse, at the groans of your wounded, at your mayhem and massacre?
16-18 “All up and down the coast, the princes will come down from their thrones, take off their royal robes and fancy clothes, and wrap themselves in sheer terror. They’ll sit on the ground, shaken to the core, horrified at you. Then they’ll begin chanting a funeral song over you:
“‘Sunk! Sunk to the bottom of the sea,
famous city on the sea!
Power of the seas,
you and your people,
Intimidating everyone
who lived in your shadows.
But now the islands are shaking
at the sound of your crash,
Ocean islands in tremors
from the impact of your fall.’
19-21 “The Message of God, the Master: ‘When I turn you into a wasted city, a city empty of people, a ghost town, and when I bring up the great ocean deeps and cover you, then I’ll push you down among those who go to the grave, the long, long dead. I’ll make you live there, in the grave in old ruins, with the buried dead. You’ll never see the land of the living again. I’ll introduce you to the terrors of death and that’ll be the end of you. They’ll send out search parties for you, but you’ll never be found. Decree of God, the Master.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Read: Daniel 6:19–28
At daybreak the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. As he approached the den, he called out anxiously, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve so loyally, saved you from the lions?”
21-22 “O king, live forever!” said Daniel. “My God sent his angel, who closed the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. I’ve been found innocent before God and also before you, O king. I’ve done nothing to harm you.”
23 When the king heard these words, he was happy. He ordered Daniel taken up out of the den. When he was hauled up, there wasn’t a scratch on him. He had trusted his God.
24 Then the king commanded that the conspirators who had informed on Daniel be thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. Before they hit the floor, the lions had them in their jaws, tearing them to pieces.
25-27 King Darius published this proclamation to every race, color, and creed on earth:
Peace to you! Abundant peace!
I decree that Daniel’s God shall be worshiped and feared in all parts of my kingdom.
He is the living God, world without end. His kingdom never falls.
His rule continues eternally.
He is a savior and rescuer.
He performs astonishing miracles in heaven and on earth.
He saved Daniel from the power of the lions.
28 From then on, Daniel was treated well during the reign of Darius, and also in the following reign of Cyrus the Persian.
INSIGHT:
Daniel’s brave faith has inspired countless generations. Not only was his deliverance rightly perceived by the pagan king as a miracle, but it also resulted in a public declaration of the incomparable greatness of Yahweh. Do you need courage to face a trial today? By faith commit it to our faithful God.
Living With Lions
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
He is the living God and He endures forever. Daniel 6:26
When I visited a museum in Chicago, I saw one of the original Striding Lions of Babylon. It was a large mural-type image of a winged lion with a ferocious expression. Symbolizing Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love and war, the lion was an example of 120 similar lions that would have lined a Babylonian pathway during the years of 604–562 bc.
Historians say that after the Babylonians defeated Jerusalem, the Hebrew captives would have seen these lions during their time in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. Historians also say it’s likely that some of the Israelites would have believed Ishtar had defeated the God of Israel.
Dear God, give me the strength to continue to trust in You when I am discouraged.
Daniel, one of the Hebrew captives, did not share the doubts that might have troubled some of his fellow Israelites. His view of God and his commitment to God stayed steady. He prayed three times a day—with his windows open—even when he knew it would mean entering a den of lions. After God rescued Daniel from the hungry animals, King Darius said, “[Daniel’s God] is the living God and he endures forever . . . . He rescues and he saves” (Dan. 6:26–27). Daniel’s faithfulness allowed him to influence Babylonian leaders.
Staying faithful to God despite pressure and discouragement can inspire other people to give Him glory.
Dear God, give me the strength to continue to trust in You when I am discouraged. Help me to experience Your never-ending love and stay close to Your side.
Faithfulness to God inspires others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
His Ascension and Our Access
It came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. —Luke 24:51
We have no experiences in our lives that correspond to the events in our Lord’s life after the transfiguration. From that moment forward His life was altogether substitutionary. Up to the time of the transfiguration, He had exhibited the normal, perfect life of a man. But from the transfiguration forward— Gethsemane, the Cross, the resurrection— everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to anyone, and by His ascension our Lord entered heaven, keeping the door open for humanity.
The transfiguration was completed on the Mount of Ascension. If Jesus had gone to heaven directly from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone. He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the mountain to identify Himself with fallen humanity.
The ascension is the complete fulfillment of the transfiguration. Our Lord returned to His original glory, but not simply as the Son of God— He returned to His father as the Son of Man as well. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God because of the ascension of the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ deliberately limited His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. But now they are His in absolute, full power. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ now has all the power at the throne of God. From His ascension forward He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Holding Eternity In Your Hands - #7918
He was one of the outstanding place kickers in the National Football League, and he actually helping his team win some memorable games with his field goal accuracy. But he had a spiritual hole in his heart. As he tells his story-which he did before tens of thousands of people at a Billy Graham Mission - it was a sudden, debilitating disease that got his attention. He began to be aware how desperately he needed the God who could do what he could never do. He points to the man who was his ball - holder as the one who really showed him Jesus. Of course, when that football is snapped to the holder for that field goal attempt, it's the sure hands of the ball holder that the kicker depends on completely. But this former star, now a highly visible ambassador for Christ in his community, tells insightfully how much his Christian teammate really meant in his life. He explains it this way: "He wasn't just holding the football in his hands, he was holding my eternal future in his hands!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Holding Eternity In Your Hands."
If you're on Jesus' team, that's the position you're playing for people around you whether you realize it or not. You are, in a sense, holding their eternity in your hands, because you know Jesus and they don't. And if you don't tell them, they probably never will. Which means they have no hope of this life ever making sense, and no hope of heaven when they die.
Many of us just don't realize the amazing position God has given us; a position that gives you the possibility of your life mattering forever and ever. That position is spelled out in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, which is our word for today from the Word of God. It says, "God...reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (that's bringing together someone Jesus died for with the Man who died for them). It says "that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are, therefore, Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."
So that's why you are where you are. That's why you're doing what you do. That's why you know who you know. You are there to take those folks in one hand and Jesus in the other hand and bring them together! How are you doing? It's as if we're saying, "Jesus couldn't be here in person, but He put me here to tell you about Him." Your message isn't about your religion compared to their religion. No, it's about life's most important relationship! It's a message of reconciliation! A relationship we were created to have, but a relationship we don't have because we've run our own life.
A relationship, though, that we can have because of what Jesus did, and it's a relationship you must choose. It's that simple: a relationship you were created for that you don't have, that you can have, and that you must choose. That's life-or-death information...eternal life-or-death.
It isn't so much that Jesus is asking you to go out on some witnessing raid of people you don't know. He wants you to do what you already do every day for eternity, by trying to take some of the people you're with all the time to heaven with you. You go to where you go every day on an eternity mission.
You may think there's someone more qualified, but you're the one who's there, and you are there by God's divine assignment. He picked you for them. Don't miss the mission He put you there for! Jesus has placed you in the middle of some people whose eternity depends on them knowing Him, and you - in a sense - are holding eternity in your hands!
When defining what love is not, the apostle Paul put rudeness on the list. “Love does not behave rudely” (1 Corinthians 13:5 NIV).
Rudeness snatches parking spaces. Rudeness mocks others. Rudeness interrupts. Christ, on the other hand, was courteous. He was patient, thoughtful, and careful to treat people with respect.
Notice that the first five letters of the word courteous spell court. In old England, to be courteous was to act in the way of the court. The family and servants of the king were expected to follow a higher standard. So are we. Are we not called to represent the King?
From A Love Worth Giving
Ezekiel 26
As the Waves of the Sea, Surging Against the Shore
1-2 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, Tyre cheered when they got the news of Jerusalem, exclaiming,
“‘Good! The gateway city is smashed!
Now all her business comes my way.
She’s in ruins
and I’m in clover.’
3-6 “Therefore, God, the Master, has this to say:
“‘I’m against you, Tyre,
and I’ll bring many nations surging against you,
as the waves of the sea surging against the shore.
They’ll smash the city walls of Tyre
and break down her towers.
I’ll wash away the soil
and leave nothing but bare rock.
She’ll be an island of bare rock in the ocean,
good for nothing but drying fishnets.
Yes, I’ve said so.’ Decree of God, the Master.
‘She’ll be loot, free pickings for the nations!
Her surrounding villages will be butchered.
Then they’ll realize that I am God.’
7-14 “God, the Master, says: Look! Out of the north I’m bringing Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king’s king, down on Tyre. He’ll come with chariots and horses and riders—a huge army. He’ll massacre your surrounding villages and lay siege to you. He’ll build siege ramps against your walls. A forest of shields will advance against you! He’ll pummel your walls with his battering rams and shatter your towers with his iron weapons. You’ll be covered with dust from his horde of horses—a thundering herd of war horses pouring through the breaches, pulling chariots. Oh, it will be an earthquake of an army and a city in shock! Horses will stampede through the streets. Your people will be slaughtered and your huge pillars strewn like matchsticks. The invaders will steal and loot—all that wealth, all that stuff! They’ll knock down your fine houses and dump the stone and timber rubble into the sea. And your parties, your famous good-time parties, will be no more. No more songs, no more lutes. I’ll reduce you to an island of bare rock, good for nothing but drying fishnets. You’ll never be rebuilt. I, God, have said so. Decree of God, the Master.
Introduced to the Terrors of Death
15 “This is the Message of God, the Master, to Tyre: Won’t the ocean islands shake at the crash of your collapse, at the groans of your wounded, at your mayhem and massacre?
16-18 “All up and down the coast, the princes will come down from their thrones, take off their royal robes and fancy clothes, and wrap themselves in sheer terror. They’ll sit on the ground, shaken to the core, horrified at you. Then they’ll begin chanting a funeral song over you:
“‘Sunk! Sunk to the bottom of the sea,
famous city on the sea!
Power of the seas,
you and your people,
Intimidating everyone
who lived in your shadows.
But now the islands are shaking
at the sound of your crash,
Ocean islands in tremors
from the impact of your fall.’
19-21 “The Message of God, the Master: ‘When I turn you into a wasted city, a city empty of people, a ghost town, and when I bring up the great ocean deeps and cover you, then I’ll push you down among those who go to the grave, the long, long dead. I’ll make you live there, in the grave in old ruins, with the buried dead. You’ll never see the land of the living again. I’ll introduce you to the terrors of death and that’ll be the end of you. They’ll send out search parties for you, but you’ll never be found. Decree of God, the Master.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Read: Daniel 6:19–28
At daybreak the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. As he approached the den, he called out anxiously, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve so loyally, saved you from the lions?”
21-22 “O king, live forever!” said Daniel. “My God sent his angel, who closed the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. I’ve been found innocent before God and also before you, O king. I’ve done nothing to harm you.”
23 When the king heard these words, he was happy. He ordered Daniel taken up out of the den. When he was hauled up, there wasn’t a scratch on him. He had trusted his God.
24 Then the king commanded that the conspirators who had informed on Daniel be thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. Before they hit the floor, the lions had them in their jaws, tearing them to pieces.
25-27 King Darius published this proclamation to every race, color, and creed on earth:
Peace to you! Abundant peace!
I decree that Daniel’s God shall be worshiped and feared in all parts of my kingdom.
He is the living God, world without end. His kingdom never falls.
His rule continues eternally.
He is a savior and rescuer.
He performs astonishing miracles in heaven and on earth.
He saved Daniel from the power of the lions.
28 From then on, Daniel was treated well during the reign of Darius, and also in the following reign of Cyrus the Persian.
INSIGHT:
Daniel’s brave faith has inspired countless generations. Not only was his deliverance rightly perceived by the pagan king as a miracle, but it also resulted in a public declaration of the incomparable greatness of Yahweh. Do you need courage to face a trial today? By faith commit it to our faithful God.
Living With Lions
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
He is the living God and He endures forever. Daniel 6:26
When I visited a museum in Chicago, I saw one of the original Striding Lions of Babylon. It was a large mural-type image of a winged lion with a ferocious expression. Symbolizing Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love and war, the lion was an example of 120 similar lions that would have lined a Babylonian pathway during the years of 604–562 bc.
 |
| Striding Lions of Babylon |
Historians say that after the Babylonians defeated Jerusalem, the Hebrew captives would have seen these lions during their time in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. Historians also say it’s likely that some of the Israelites would have believed Ishtar had defeated the God of Israel.
Dear God, give me the strength to continue to trust in You when I am discouraged.
Daniel, one of the Hebrew captives, did not share the doubts that might have troubled some of his fellow Israelites. His view of God and his commitment to God stayed steady. He prayed three times a day—with his windows open—even when he knew it would mean entering a den of lions. After God rescued Daniel from the hungry animals, King Darius said, “[Daniel’s God] is the living God and he endures forever . . . . He rescues and he saves” (Dan. 6:26–27). Daniel’s faithfulness allowed him to influence Babylonian leaders.
Staying faithful to God despite pressure and discouragement can inspire other people to give Him glory.
Dear God, give me the strength to continue to trust in You when I am discouraged. Help me to experience Your never-ending love and stay close to Your side.
Faithfulness to God inspires others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
His Ascension and Our Access
It came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. —Luke 24:51
We have no experiences in our lives that correspond to the events in our Lord’s life after the transfiguration. From that moment forward His life was altogether substitutionary. Up to the time of the transfiguration, He had exhibited the normal, perfect life of a man. But from the transfiguration forward— Gethsemane, the Cross, the resurrection— everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to anyone, and by His ascension our Lord entered heaven, keeping the door open for humanity.
The transfiguration was completed on the Mount of Ascension. If Jesus had gone to heaven directly from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone. He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the mountain to identify Himself with fallen humanity.
The ascension is the complete fulfillment of the transfiguration. Our Lord returned to His original glory, but not simply as the Son of God— He returned to His father as the Son of Man as well. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God because of the ascension of the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ deliberately limited His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. But now they are His in absolute, full power. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ now has all the power at the throne of God. From His ascension forward He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Holding Eternity In Your Hands - #7918
He was one of the outstanding place kickers in the National Football League, and he actually helping his team win some memorable games with his field goal accuracy. But he had a spiritual hole in his heart. As he tells his story-which he did before tens of thousands of people at a Billy Graham Mission - it was a sudden, debilitating disease that got his attention. He began to be aware how desperately he needed the God who could do what he could never do. He points to the man who was his ball - holder as the one who really showed him Jesus. Of course, when that football is snapped to the holder for that field goal attempt, it's the sure hands of the ball holder that the kicker depends on completely. But this former star, now a highly visible ambassador for Christ in his community, tells insightfully how much his Christian teammate really meant in his life. He explains it this way: "He wasn't just holding the football in his hands, he was holding my eternal future in his hands!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Holding Eternity In Your Hands."
If you're on Jesus' team, that's the position you're playing for people around you whether you realize it or not. You are, in a sense, holding their eternity in your hands, because you know Jesus and they don't. And if you don't tell them, they probably never will. Which means they have no hope of this life ever making sense, and no hope of heaven when they die.
Many of us just don't realize the amazing position God has given us; a position that gives you the possibility of your life mattering forever and ever. That position is spelled out in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, which is our word for today from the Word of God. It says, "God...reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (that's bringing together someone Jesus died for with the Man who died for them). It says "that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are, therefore, Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."
So that's why you are where you are. That's why you're doing what you do. That's why you know who you know. You are there to take those folks in one hand and Jesus in the other hand and bring them together! How are you doing? It's as if we're saying, "Jesus couldn't be here in person, but He put me here to tell you about Him." Your message isn't about your religion compared to their religion. No, it's about life's most important relationship! It's a message of reconciliation! A relationship we were created to have, but a relationship we don't have because we've run our own life.
A relationship, though, that we can have because of what Jesus did, and it's a relationship you must choose. It's that simple: a relationship you were created for that you don't have, that you can have, and that you must choose. That's life-or-death information...eternal life-or-death.
It isn't so much that Jesus is asking you to go out on some witnessing raid of people you don't know. He wants you to do what you already do every day for eternity, by trying to take some of the people you're with all the time to heaven with you. You go to where you go every day on an eternity mission.
You may think there's someone more qualified, but you're the one who's there, and you are there by God's divine assignment. He picked you for them. Don't miss the mission He put you there for! Jesus has placed you in the middle of some people whose eternity depends on them knowing Him, and you - in a sense - are holding eternity in your hands!
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Ezekiel 25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: REGARDING OTHERS AS MORE IMPORTANT
When Paul writes, “consider others better than yourselves” he uses a verb that means “to calculate,” “to reckon” (Philippians 2:3 NIV). To consider others better than yourself, is not to say you have no place; it is to say that you know your place.
Scripture says: “Don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you” (Romans 12:3 Phillips).
Make people a priority. Accept your part in his plan. Be quick to share applause. And most of all, regard others as more important than yourself. Think of it this way: If I think you are more important than I am, and you think I am more important than you are—then in the end we all feel important, but no one acts important! Hmmm. Do you think that’s what God had in mind?
From A Love Worth Giving
Ezekiel 25
Acts of Vengeance
1-5 God’s Message came to me:
“Son of man, face Ammon and preach against the people: Listen to the Message of God, the Master. This is what God has to say: Because you cheered when my Sanctuary was desecrated and the land of Judah was devastated and the people of Israel were taken into exile, I’m giving you over to the people of the east. They’ll move in and make themselves at home, eating the food right off your tables and drinking your milk. I’ll turn your capital, Rabbah, into pasture for camels and all your villages into corrals for flocks. Then you’ll realize that I am God.
6-7 “God, the Master, says, Because you clapped and cheered, venting all your malicious contempt against the land of Israel, I’ll step in and hand you out as loot—first come, first served. I’ll cross you off the roster of nations. There’ll be nothing left of you. And you’ll realize that I am God.”
8-11 “God, the Master, says: Because Moab said, ‘Look, Judah’s nothing special,’ I’ll lay wide open the flank of Moab by exposing its lovely frontier villages to attack: Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. I’ll lump Moab in with Ammon and give them to the people of the east for the taking. Ammon won’t be heard from again. I’ll punish Moab severely. And they’ll realize that I am God.”
12-14 “God, the Master, says: Because Edom reacted against the people of Judah in spiteful revenge and was so criminally vengeful against them, therefore I, God, the Master, will oppose Edom and kill the lot of them, people and animals both. I’ll waste it—corpses stretched from Teman to Dedan. I’ll use my people Israel to bring my vengeance down on Edom. My wrath will fuel their action. And they’ll realize it’s my vengeance. Decree of God the Master.”
15-17 “God, the Master, says: Because the Philistines were so spitefully vengeful—all those centuries of stored-up malice!—and did their best to destroy Judah, therefore I, God, the Master, will oppose the Philistines and cut down the Cretans and anybody else left along the seacoast. Huge acts of vengeance, massive punishments! When I bring vengeance, they’ll realize that I am God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Read: Genesis 14:17–24
17-20 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom came out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh, the King’s Valley. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine—he was priest of The High God—and blessed him:
Blessed be Abram by The High God,
Creator of Heaven and Earth.
And blessed be The High God,
who handed your enemies over to you.
Abram gave him a tenth of all the recovered plunder.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me back the people but keep all the plunder for yourself.”
22-24 But Abram told the king of Sodom, “I swear to God, The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, this solemn oath, that I’ll take nothing from you, not so much as a thread or a shoestring. I’m not going to have you go around saying, ‘I made Abram rich.’ Nothing for me other than what the young men ate and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; they’re to get their share of the plunder.”
INSIGHT:
A benediction is a prayer that asks for God’s blessing. In this passage, Melchizedek, priest-king of Jerusalem, blessed Abraham with a benediction, attributing Abraham’s victory to the power of God (vv. 19–20). In many churches the pastor often closes the worship service by reciting the words of Numbers 6:24–26 as a prayer of blessing, assuring the congregation of God’s presence, pardon, protection, and peace. The biblical writers underscored this privilege of blessing others when throughout their letters they sprinkled prayers of blessing upon their readers (see Rom. 15:13; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Thess. 3:11–13; 2 Thess. 2:16–17; Heb. 13:20–21; Jude 1:24–25).
This week, why not use one of the biblical benedictions as a prayer of blessing for a loved one.
Being a True Friend
By David H. Roper |
Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. Genesis 14:18
Poet Samuel Foss wrote, “Let me live by the side of the road and be a friend to man” (“The House by the Side of the Road”). That’s what I want to be—a friend of people. I want to stand by the way, waiting for weary travelers. To look for those who have been battered and wronged by others, who carry the burden of a wounded and disillusioned heart. To nourish and refresh them with an encouraging word and send them on their way. I may not be able to “fix” them or their problems, but I can leave them with a blessing.
Melchizedek, both the king of Salem and a priest, blessed Abram when he was returning weary from battle (Gen. 14). A “blessing” is more than a polite response to a sneeze. We bless others when we bring them to the One who is the source of blessing. Melchizedek blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth” (v. 19).
Jesus, teach us to be a friend of people as You are with us.
We can bless others by praying with them; we can take them with us to the throne of grace to find help in time of need (Heb. 4:16). We may not be able to change their circumstances, but we can show them God. That’s what a true friend does.
Jesus, teach us to be a friend of people as You are with us. Give us eyes to see others and their needs and to take the time to listen. Help us to take them to You, the source of life.
A big part of loving is listening.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision
…you may be partakers of the divine nature… —2 Peter 1:4
We are made “partakers of the divine nature,” receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God’s provision for us. We say, however, “Oh, I can’t afford it.” One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us off without a penny! We think it is a sign of true humility to say at the end of the day, “Well, I just barely got by today, but it was a severe struggle.” And yet all of Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will reach to the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him. Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges— always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.
Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, “All my springs are in You” (Psalm 87:7). If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you…may have an abundance…” (2 Corinthians 9:8)— then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. Disciples Indeed, 386 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
The Wounds Behind the Mask - #7917
I think we all do it at times. We walk past a store window, and we look at more than the merchandise. We look at our own reflection, or we glance in every convenient mirror. "How am I doing?" "How am I looking?" It's just natural - checking yourself out, want to impress, want to look good. It's natural to talk up our wins, our good stuff. And then I read these show-stopping words in the Bible. They challenge our whole image-driven "How do I look" way of living. Actually I think I understand these words now in a way I could not have only months ago.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Wounds Behind the Mask."
Which brings us to our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 11:30: "If I must boast," Paul said, "I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am."
Excuse me? I want to tell you about how weak I am?
These startling words were written by a man named Paul, the man who exploded the Gospel of Jesus across the world; who wrote half the books of the New Testament. But here's this giant saying, "You need to know how weak I am." Earlier, this apparently fearless apostle confesses, "I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling" (1 Corinthians 2:3). I think I'd do my everything I could to cover that up!
He even refers to his crippling disability this way: "I will boast about my weaknesses" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Why? Well, he says because they made room for God's power to be unleashed and displayed in his life. I think I'm fairly normal in this "want to look good" game. We church folks are especially good at it. No matter how we're hurting, struggling, we're "fine." When, honestly, we're faking.
But I'm learning there's something beautiful about being broken. Not pleasant, but beautiful. Because when you're willing to be honest about your battles, your pain, some beautiful things happen. You give other people permission to be real. You open closed hearts with your transparency. You draw people to you. And, if you're a Jesus-follower, you draw them to your Jesus. Because they need to know He's for broken people. Messed up people. Like me. Like them.
Right after Jesus took my Karen to heaven last spring, I had a decision to make. Would I just spout the "Christian talking points," or would I be honest about how wounded and how bleeding I am? I chose – as I'm choosing now – to honestly represent the stark realities of a devastating loss. And then to give equally honest testimony to the decisive difference the hope and the presence of Jesus are making.
Because my Jesus conquered death – and because my baby loved and lived for Him – I now she's doing awesome now and that I will see her again. I've been transparent about the ferocity of the storm, and I'm equally transparent when I say with conviction, "The anchor holds."
I'm convinced that those who are secure in Jesus should be able to be the most transparent people of all. Being willing to tell a son or daughter, a husband or wife, "I was wrong. I need your forgiveness." That's how healing begins - un-stuffing the painful past that we've concealed. It's defined us for too long.
Letting people in means we can be free and maybe others can be, too. Telling how Jesus has changed you, not in safe generalities, but explaining specifically what kind of "lost" you really were. That's when you become living proof of a living Savior. Letting the folks at church know that you fight some very real battles, not just displaying your medals all the time. Your openness might just be the truth that sets them free.
The Bible says God stands ready to "give a crown of beauty for ashes" (Isaiah 61:3). When we allow our "ashes" to offer hope and healing to others, our brokenness becomes something beautiful.
I'm forever grateful that Jesus didn't live to look good. No, the Bible says "His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man...He was pierced for our transgressions...crushed...led like a lamb to the slaughter" (Isaiah 52, 53).
If He had said, "No cross," there would have been no hope. There would have been no heaven for me. Brokenness heals. Brokenness liberates. Brokenness saves.
When Paul writes, “consider others better than yourselves” he uses a verb that means “to calculate,” “to reckon” (Philippians 2:3 NIV). To consider others better than yourself, is not to say you have no place; it is to say that you know your place.
Scripture says: “Don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you” (Romans 12:3 Phillips).
Make people a priority. Accept your part in his plan. Be quick to share applause. And most of all, regard others as more important than yourself. Think of it this way: If I think you are more important than I am, and you think I am more important than you are—then in the end we all feel important, but no one acts important! Hmmm. Do you think that’s what God had in mind?
From A Love Worth Giving
Ezekiel 25
Acts of Vengeance
1-5 God’s Message came to me:
“Son of man, face Ammon and preach against the people: Listen to the Message of God, the Master. This is what God has to say: Because you cheered when my Sanctuary was desecrated and the land of Judah was devastated and the people of Israel were taken into exile, I’m giving you over to the people of the east. They’ll move in and make themselves at home, eating the food right off your tables and drinking your milk. I’ll turn your capital, Rabbah, into pasture for camels and all your villages into corrals for flocks. Then you’ll realize that I am God.
6-7 “God, the Master, says, Because you clapped and cheered, venting all your malicious contempt against the land of Israel, I’ll step in and hand you out as loot—first come, first served. I’ll cross you off the roster of nations. There’ll be nothing left of you. And you’ll realize that I am God.”
8-11 “God, the Master, says: Because Moab said, ‘Look, Judah’s nothing special,’ I’ll lay wide open the flank of Moab by exposing its lovely frontier villages to attack: Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. I’ll lump Moab in with Ammon and give them to the people of the east for the taking. Ammon won’t be heard from again. I’ll punish Moab severely. And they’ll realize that I am God.”
12-14 “God, the Master, says: Because Edom reacted against the people of Judah in spiteful revenge and was so criminally vengeful against them, therefore I, God, the Master, will oppose Edom and kill the lot of them, people and animals both. I’ll waste it—corpses stretched from Teman to Dedan. I’ll use my people Israel to bring my vengeance down on Edom. My wrath will fuel their action. And they’ll realize it’s my vengeance. Decree of God the Master.”
15-17 “God, the Master, says: Because the Philistines were so spitefully vengeful—all those centuries of stored-up malice!—and did their best to destroy Judah, therefore I, God, the Master, will oppose the Philistines and cut down the Cretans and anybody else left along the seacoast. Huge acts of vengeance, massive punishments! When I bring vengeance, they’ll realize that I am God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Read: Genesis 14:17–24
17-20 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom came out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh, the King’s Valley. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine—he was priest of The High God—and blessed him:
Blessed be Abram by The High God,
Creator of Heaven and Earth.
And blessed be The High God,
who handed your enemies over to you.
Abram gave him a tenth of all the recovered plunder.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me back the people but keep all the plunder for yourself.”
22-24 But Abram told the king of Sodom, “I swear to God, The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, this solemn oath, that I’ll take nothing from you, not so much as a thread or a shoestring. I’m not going to have you go around saying, ‘I made Abram rich.’ Nothing for me other than what the young men ate and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; they’re to get their share of the plunder.”
INSIGHT:
A benediction is a prayer that asks for God’s blessing. In this passage, Melchizedek, priest-king of Jerusalem, blessed Abraham with a benediction, attributing Abraham’s victory to the power of God (vv. 19–20). In many churches the pastor often closes the worship service by reciting the words of Numbers 6:24–26 as a prayer of blessing, assuring the congregation of God’s presence, pardon, protection, and peace. The biblical writers underscored this privilege of blessing others when throughout their letters they sprinkled prayers of blessing upon their readers (see Rom. 15:13; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Thess. 3:11–13; 2 Thess. 2:16–17; Heb. 13:20–21; Jude 1:24–25).
This week, why not use one of the biblical benedictions as a prayer of blessing for a loved one.
Being a True Friend
By David H. Roper |
Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. Genesis 14:18
Poet Samuel Foss wrote, “Let me live by the side of the road and be a friend to man” (“The House by the Side of the Road”). That’s what I want to be—a friend of people. I want to stand by the way, waiting for weary travelers. To look for those who have been battered and wronged by others, who carry the burden of a wounded and disillusioned heart. To nourish and refresh them with an encouraging word and send them on their way. I may not be able to “fix” them or their problems, but I can leave them with a blessing.
Melchizedek, both the king of Salem and a priest, blessed Abram when he was returning weary from battle (Gen. 14). A “blessing” is more than a polite response to a sneeze. We bless others when we bring them to the One who is the source of blessing. Melchizedek blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth” (v. 19).
Jesus, teach us to be a friend of people as You are with us.
We can bless others by praying with them; we can take them with us to the throne of grace to find help in time of need (Heb. 4:16). We may not be able to change their circumstances, but we can show them God. That’s what a true friend does.
Jesus, teach us to be a friend of people as You are with us. Give us eyes to see others and their needs and to take the time to listen. Help us to take them to You, the source of life.
A big part of loving is listening.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision
…you may be partakers of the divine nature… —2 Peter 1:4
We are made “partakers of the divine nature,” receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God’s provision for us. We say, however, “Oh, I can’t afford it.” One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us off without a penny! We think it is a sign of true humility to say at the end of the day, “Well, I just barely got by today, but it was a severe struggle.” And yet all of Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will reach to the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him. Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges— always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.
Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, “All my springs are in You” (Psalm 87:7). If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you…may have an abundance…” (2 Corinthians 9:8)— then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. Disciples Indeed, 386 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
The Wounds Behind the Mask - #7917
I think we all do it at times. We walk past a store window, and we look at more than the merchandise. We look at our own reflection, or we glance in every convenient mirror. "How am I doing?" "How am I looking?" It's just natural - checking yourself out, want to impress, want to look good. It's natural to talk up our wins, our good stuff. And then I read these show-stopping words in the Bible. They challenge our whole image-driven "How do I look" way of living. Actually I think I understand these words now in a way I could not have only months ago.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Wounds Behind the Mask."
Which brings us to our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 11:30: "If I must boast," Paul said, "I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am."
Excuse me? I want to tell you about how weak I am?
These startling words were written by a man named Paul, the man who exploded the Gospel of Jesus across the world; who wrote half the books of the New Testament. But here's this giant saying, "You need to know how weak I am." Earlier, this apparently fearless apostle confesses, "I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling" (1 Corinthians 2:3). I think I'd do my everything I could to cover that up!
He even refers to his crippling disability this way: "I will boast about my weaknesses" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Why? Well, he says because they made room for God's power to be unleashed and displayed in his life. I think I'm fairly normal in this "want to look good" game. We church folks are especially good at it. No matter how we're hurting, struggling, we're "fine." When, honestly, we're faking.
But I'm learning there's something beautiful about being broken. Not pleasant, but beautiful. Because when you're willing to be honest about your battles, your pain, some beautiful things happen. You give other people permission to be real. You open closed hearts with your transparency. You draw people to you. And, if you're a Jesus-follower, you draw them to your Jesus. Because they need to know He's for broken people. Messed up people. Like me. Like them.
Right after Jesus took my Karen to heaven last spring, I had a decision to make. Would I just spout the "Christian talking points," or would I be honest about how wounded and how bleeding I am? I chose – as I'm choosing now – to honestly represent the stark realities of a devastating loss. And then to give equally honest testimony to the decisive difference the hope and the presence of Jesus are making.
Because my Jesus conquered death – and because my baby loved and lived for Him – I now she's doing awesome now and that I will see her again. I've been transparent about the ferocity of the storm, and I'm equally transparent when I say with conviction, "The anchor holds."
I'm convinced that those who are secure in Jesus should be able to be the most transparent people of all. Being willing to tell a son or daughter, a husband or wife, "I was wrong. I need your forgiveness." That's how healing begins - un-stuffing the painful past that we've concealed. It's defined us for too long.
Letting people in means we can be free and maybe others can be, too. Telling how Jesus has changed you, not in safe generalities, but explaining specifically what kind of "lost" you really were. That's when you become living proof of a living Savior. Letting the folks at church know that you fight some very real battles, not just displaying your medals all the time. Your openness might just be the truth that sets them free.
The Bible says God stands ready to "give a crown of beauty for ashes" (Isaiah 61:3). When we allow our "ashes" to offer hope and healing to others, our brokenness becomes something beautiful.
I'm forever grateful that Jesus didn't live to look good. No, the Bible says "His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man...He was pierced for our transgressions...crushed...led like a lamb to the slaughter" (Isaiah 52, 53).
If He had said, "No cross," there would have been no hope. There would have been no heaven for me. Brokenness heals. Brokenness liberates. Brokenness saves.
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