Max Lucado Daily: A Glimpse of God's Love
People can exhaust you. And there are times when all we can do is not enough. When a spouse leaves, we cannot force him or her to stay. When a spouse abuses, we shouldn't stay. I don't for a minute minimize the challenges you face. You are tired. Angry. Disappointed. This isn't the marriage you expected or the life you wanted.
But looming in your past is a promise you made. May I urge you to do all you can to keep it? To give it one more try? Why should you? So you can understand the depth of God's love. When you love the unloving, you get a glimpse of what God does for you. When you keep the porch light on for the prodigal child, when you love the weak and the sick, you do what God does every single moment!
From Facing Your Giants
2 Kings 4
One day the wife of a man from the guild of prophets called out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead. You well know what a good man he was, devoted to God. And now the man to whom he was in debt is on his way to collect by taking my two children as slaves.”
2 Elisha said, “I wonder how I can be of help. Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Well, I do have a little oil.”
3-4 “Here’s what you do,” said Elisha. “Go up and down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from all your neighbors. And not just a few—all you can get. Then come home and lock the door behind you, you and your sons. Pour oil into each container; when each is full, set it aside.”
5-6 She did what he said. She locked the door behind her and her sons; as they brought the containers to her, she filled them. When all the jugs and bowls were full, she said to one of her sons, “Another jug, please.”
He said, “That’s it. There are no more jugs.”
Then the oil stopped.
7 She went and told the story to the man of God. He said, “Go sell the oil and make good on your debts. Live, both you and your sons, on what’s left.”
8 One day Elisha passed through Shunem. A leading lady of the town talked him into stopping for a meal. And then it became his custom: Whenever he passed through, he stopped by for a meal.
9-10 “I’m certain,” said the woman to her husband, “that this man who stops by with us all the time is a holy man of God. Why don’t we add on a small room upstairs and furnish it with a bed and desk, chair and lamp, so that when he comes by he can stay with us?”
11 And so it happened that the next time Elisha came by he went to the room and lay down for a nap.
12 Then he said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the Shunammite woman I want to see her.” He called her and she came to him.
13 Through Gehazi Elisha said, “You’ve gone far beyond the call of duty in taking care of us; what can we do for you? Do you have a request we can bring to the king or to the commander of the army?”
She replied, “Nothing. I’m secure and satisfied in my family.”
14 Elisha conferred with Gehazi: “There’s got to be something we can do for her. But what?”
Gehazi said, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is an old man.”
15 “Call her in,” said Elisha. He called her and she stood at the open door.
16 Elisha said to her, “This time next year you’re going to be nursing an infant son.”
“O my master, O Holy Man,” she said, “don’t play games with me, teasing me with such fantasies!”
17 The woman conceived. A year later, just as Elisha had said, she had a son.
18-19 The child grew up. One day he went to his father, who was working with the harvest hands, complaining, “My head, my head!”
His father ordered a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
20 The servant took him in his arms and carried him to his mother. He lay on her lap until noon and died.
21 She took him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut him in alone, and left.
22 She then called her husband, “Get me a servant and a donkey so I can go to the Holy Man; I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
23 “But why today? This isn’t a holy day—it’s neither New Moon nor Sabbath.”
She said, “Don’t ask questions; I need to go right now. Trust me.”
24-25 She went ahead and saddled the donkey, ordering her servant, “Take the lead—and go as fast as you can; I’ll tell you if you’re going too fast.” And so off she went. She came to the Holy Man at Mount Carmel.
25-26 The Holy Man, spotting her while she was still a long way off, said to his servant Gehazi, “Look out there; why, it’s the Shunammite woman! Quickly now. Ask her, ‘Is something wrong? Are you all right? Your husband? Your child?’”
She said, “Everything’s fine.”
27 But when she reached the Holy Man at the mountain, she threw herself at his feet and held tightly to him.
Gehazi came up to pull her away, but the Holy Man said, “Leave her alone—can’t you see that she’s in distress? But God hasn’t let me in on why; I’m completely in the dark.”
28 Then she spoke up: “Did I ask for a son, master? Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t tease me with false hopes’?”
29 He ordered Gehazi, “Don’t lose a minute—grab my staff and run as fast as you can. If you meet anyone, don’t even take time to greet him, and if anyone greets you, don’t even answer. Lay my staff across the boy’s face.”
30 The boy’s mother said, “As sure as God lives and you live, you’re not leaving me behind.” And so Gehazi let her take the lead, and followed behind.
31 But Gehazi arrived first and laid the staff across the boy’s face. But there was no sound—no sign of life. Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and said, “The boy hasn’t stirred.”
32-35 Elisha entered the house and found the boy stretched out on the bed dead. He went into the room and locked the door—just the two of them in the room—and prayed to God. He then got into bed with the boy and covered him with his body, mouth on mouth, eyes on eyes, hands on hands. As he was stretched out over him like that, the boy’s body became warm. Elisha got up and paced back and forth in the room. Then he went back and stretched himself upon the boy again. The boy started sneezing—seven times he sneezed!—and opened his eyes.
36 He called Gehazi and said, “Get the Shunammite woman in here!” He called her and she came in.
Elisha said, “Embrace your son!”
37 She fell at Elisha’s feet, face to the ground in reverent awe. Then she embraced her son and went out with him.
38 Elisha went back down to Gilgal. There was a famine there. While he was consulting with the guild of prophets, he told his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire and cook up some stew for the prophets.”
39-40 One of the men went out into the field to get some herbs; he came across a wild vine and picked gourds from it, filling his gunnysack. He brought them back, sliced them up, and put them in the stew, even though no one knew what kind of plant it was. The stew was then served up for the men to eat. They started to eat, and then exclaimed, “Death in the pot, O man of God! Death in the pot!” Nobody could eat it.
Elisha ordered, “Get me some meal.” Then he sprinkled it into the stew pot.
41 “Now serve it up to the men,” he said. They ate it, and it was just fine—nothing wrong with that stew!
42 One day a man arrived from Baal Shalishah. He brought the man of God twenty loaves of fresh-baked bread from the early harvest, along with a few apples from the orchard.
Elisha said, “Pass it around to the people to eat.”
43 His servant said, “For a hundred men? There’s not nearly enough!”
Elisha said, “Just go ahead and do it. God says there’s plenty.”
44 And sure enough, there was. He passed around what he had—they not only ate, but had leftovers.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, August 04, 2019
Today's Scripture:
Psalm 66:1, 8–20 (NIV)
Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
9 who has kept our soul among the living
and has not let our feet slip.
10 For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
11 You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
12 you let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will perform my vows to you,
14 that which my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
17 I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on[a] my tongue.[b]
18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
19 But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!
Insight
The psalmist writes pointedly about God’s direct role in the bad things that happened to His people (Psalm 66:10–12). This is in no way an accusation against God; rather, it’s an acknowledgment of His love. God had orchestrated those things in order to gain their attention. Without that intervention, they would have continued in their destructive behavior. But before the psalmist makes this point, he invites “all the earth” (v. 1) and “all peoples” (v. 8) to sing God’s praises. In other words, this songwriter is calling on the whole world to join him in praising the One worthy of all praise. God’s plan all along had been for His people to point all peoples to Him.
Ask the Man Who Owns One
Let me tell you what [God] has done for me. Psalm 66:16
In the early 1900s, the Packard Motor Car Company generated a slogan to entice buyers. “Ask the man who owns one” became a powerful tagline, one that contributed to the company’s reputation as manufacturing the dominant luxury vehicle in that era. What Packard seemed to understand is that personal testimony is compelling to the hearer: a friend’s satisfaction with a product is a powerful endorsement.
Sharing with others our personal experiences of God’s goodness to us also makes an impact. God invites us to declare our gratitude and joy not only to Him but also to those around us (Psalm 66:1). The psalmist eagerly shared in his song the forgiveness God granted him when he turned from his sins (vv. 18–20).
God has done amazing works in the course of history, such as parting the waters of the Red Sea (v. 6). He also does amazing work in each of our personal lives: giving us hope in the midst of suffering, giving us the Holy Spirit to understand His Word, and providing for our daily needs. When we share with others our personal experiences of God’s work in our lives, we’re giving something of much greater value than an endorsement of a particular purchase—we’re acknowledging God’s goodness and encouraging one another along the journey of life. By Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
Who can you tell about God’s work in your life? What story can you share?
God, help me declare the many wonderful ways You’ve worked in my life!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, August 04, 2019
The Brave Friendship of God
He took the twelve aside… —Luke 18:31
Oh, the bravery of God in trusting us! Do you say, “But He has been unwise to choose me, because there is nothing good in me and I have no value”? That is exactly why He chose you. As long as you think that you are of value to Him He cannot choose you, because you have purposes of your own to serve. But if you will allow Him to take you to the end of your own self-sufficiency, then He can choose you to go with Him “to Jerusalem” (Luke 18:31). And that will mean the fulfillment of purposes which He does not discuss with you.
We tend to say that because a person has natural ability, he will make a good Christian. It is not a matter of our equipment, but a matter of our poverty; not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us; not a matter of natural virtues, of strength of character, of knowledge, or of experience— all of that is of no avail in this concern. The only thing of value is being taken into the compelling purpose of God and being made His friends (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-31). God’s friendship is with people who know their poverty. He can accomplish nothing with the person who thinks that he is of use to God. As Christians we are not here for our own purpose at all— we are here for the purpose of God, and the two are not the same. We do not know what God’s compelling purpose is, but whatever happens, we must maintain our relationship with Him. We must never allow anything to damage our relationship with God, but if something does damage it, we must take the time to make it right again. The most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship. That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
Sunday, August 4, 2019
Saturday, August 3, 2019
James 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Your Nevertheless
Two types of thoughts continually vie for your attention. One says, God will help you. The other lies, God has left you. Here is the great news: you select the voice you hear! Why give ear to pea-brains when you can, with the same ear, listen to the voice of God?
I had a friend who battled the stronghold of alcohol. He tried a fresh tactic. He gave me and a few others permission to slug him if we ever saw him drinking. He was determined to hear the right voices. He succeeded; and I never slugged him.
Try something drastic. Turn a deaf ear to the old voices. Open a wide eye to the new choices. God loves to give them. He gave one to Peter. Remember "Speak-now-and-think-later Pete?" God turned impetuous Peter into the apostle Peter. And you? He'll do something similar. He will help you.
From Facing Your Giants
James 1
I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello!
2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
5-8 If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.
9-11 When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don’t ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that’s a picture of the “prosperous life.” At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.
12 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.
13-15 Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.
16-18 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.
19-21 Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
22-24 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.
26-27 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, August 03, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 19:1–10
He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Insight
Zacchaeus, as a chief tax collector, was a wealthy man (Luke 19:2). In the New Testament, tax collectors were considered to be “sinners” (v. 7) and were largely disliked by society because many of them gained their wealth by cheating others. His offer to give half his possessions to the poor and repay those he’d cheated four times what he’d taken (v. 8) demonstrated his heart had truly changed. It showed what he was willing to give up for Jesus. Christ in turn honored Zacchaeus in front of the crowd by labeling him a “son of Abraham,” declaring salvation over him and his household (v. 9). Zacchaeus was lost, but he was sought out and saved by the Son of Man (v. 10). By: Julie Schwab
For Love or Money
Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Luke 12:15
Irish poet Oscar Wilde said, “When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.” His comment was made tongue-in-cheek; he lived only to age forty-six, so he never truly was “old.” Wilde fully understood that life is not about money.
Money is temporary; it comes and it goes. So life must be about more than money and what it can buy. Jesus challenged the people of His generation—rich and poor alike—to a recalibrated value system. In Luke 12:15, Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” In our culture, where there’s an abiding focus on more and newer and better, there’s something to be said both for contentment and for perspective about how we view money and possessions.
Upon meeting Jesus, a rich young ruler went away sad because he had many possessions he didn’t want to give up (see Luke 18:18–25), but Zacchaeus the tax collector gave away much of what he’d spent his life acquiring (Luke 19:8). The difference is embracing the heart of Christ. In His grace, we can find a healthy perspective on the things we possess—so they don’t become the things that have us. By Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
What can’t you live without? Why? Is it something that lasts forever, or just for a moment?
Father, give me Your wisdom that I might keep the things of life in the right perspective—and have a value system that reflects eternity.
Listen to “God and Money” at discovertheword.org/series/god-and-money/.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, August 03, 2019
The Compelling Purpose of God
He…said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem…" —Luke 18:31
Jerusalem, in the life of our Lord, represents the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will. Jesus said, “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30). Seeking to do “the will of the Father” was the one dominating concern throughout our Lord’s life. And whatever He encountered along the way, whether joy or sorrow, success or failure, He was never deterred from that purpose. “…He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem…” (Luke 9:51).
The greatest thing for us to remember is that we go up to Jerusalem to fulfill God’s purpose, not our own. In the natural life our ambitions are our own, but in the Christian life we have no goals of our own. We talk so much today about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, and our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament the only aspect that is brought out is the compelling purpose of God. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16).
We are not taken into a conscious agreement with God’s purpose— we are taken into God’s purpose with no awareness of it at all. We have no idea what God’s goal may be; as we continue, His purpose becomes even more and more vague. God’s aim appears to have missed the mark, because we are too nearsighted to see the target at which He is aiming. At the beginning of the Christian life, we have our own ideas as to what God’s purpose is. We say, “God means for me to go over there,” and, “God has called me to do this special work.” We do what we think is right, and yet the compelling purpose of God remains upon us. The work we do is of no account when compared with the compelling purpose of God. It is simply the scaffolding surrounding His work and His plan. “He took the twelve aside…” (Luke 18:31). God takes us aside all the time. We have not yet understood all there is to know of the compelling purpose of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10. Not Knowing Whither, 867 L
Two types of thoughts continually vie for your attention. One says, God will help you. The other lies, God has left you. Here is the great news: you select the voice you hear! Why give ear to pea-brains when you can, with the same ear, listen to the voice of God?
I had a friend who battled the stronghold of alcohol. He tried a fresh tactic. He gave me and a few others permission to slug him if we ever saw him drinking. He was determined to hear the right voices. He succeeded; and I never slugged him.
Try something drastic. Turn a deaf ear to the old voices. Open a wide eye to the new choices. God loves to give them. He gave one to Peter. Remember "Speak-now-and-think-later Pete?" God turned impetuous Peter into the apostle Peter. And you? He'll do something similar. He will help you.
From Facing Your Giants
James 1
I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello!
2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
5-8 If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.
9-11 When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don’t ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that’s a picture of the “prosperous life.” At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.
12 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.
13-15 Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.
16-18 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.
19-21 Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
22-24 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.
26-27 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, August 03, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 19:1–10
He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Insight
Zacchaeus, as a chief tax collector, was a wealthy man (Luke 19:2). In the New Testament, tax collectors were considered to be “sinners” (v. 7) and were largely disliked by society because many of them gained their wealth by cheating others. His offer to give half his possessions to the poor and repay those he’d cheated four times what he’d taken (v. 8) demonstrated his heart had truly changed. It showed what he was willing to give up for Jesus. Christ in turn honored Zacchaeus in front of the crowd by labeling him a “son of Abraham,” declaring salvation over him and his household (v. 9). Zacchaeus was lost, but he was sought out and saved by the Son of Man (v. 10). By: Julie Schwab
For Love or Money
Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Luke 12:15
Irish poet Oscar Wilde said, “When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.” His comment was made tongue-in-cheek; he lived only to age forty-six, so he never truly was “old.” Wilde fully understood that life is not about money.
Money is temporary; it comes and it goes. So life must be about more than money and what it can buy. Jesus challenged the people of His generation—rich and poor alike—to a recalibrated value system. In Luke 12:15, Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” In our culture, where there’s an abiding focus on more and newer and better, there’s something to be said both for contentment and for perspective about how we view money and possessions.
Upon meeting Jesus, a rich young ruler went away sad because he had many possessions he didn’t want to give up (see Luke 18:18–25), but Zacchaeus the tax collector gave away much of what he’d spent his life acquiring (Luke 19:8). The difference is embracing the heart of Christ. In His grace, we can find a healthy perspective on the things we possess—so they don’t become the things that have us. By Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
What can’t you live without? Why? Is it something that lasts forever, or just for a moment?
Father, give me Your wisdom that I might keep the things of life in the right perspective—and have a value system that reflects eternity.
Listen to “God and Money” at discovertheword.org/series/god-and-money/.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, August 03, 2019
The Compelling Purpose of God
He…said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem…" —Luke 18:31
Jerusalem, in the life of our Lord, represents the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will. Jesus said, “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30). Seeking to do “the will of the Father” was the one dominating concern throughout our Lord’s life. And whatever He encountered along the way, whether joy or sorrow, success or failure, He was never deterred from that purpose. “…He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem…” (Luke 9:51).
The greatest thing for us to remember is that we go up to Jerusalem to fulfill God’s purpose, not our own. In the natural life our ambitions are our own, but in the Christian life we have no goals of our own. We talk so much today about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, and our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament the only aspect that is brought out is the compelling purpose of God. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16).
We are not taken into a conscious agreement with God’s purpose— we are taken into God’s purpose with no awareness of it at all. We have no idea what God’s goal may be; as we continue, His purpose becomes even more and more vague. God’s aim appears to have missed the mark, because we are too nearsighted to see the target at which He is aiming. At the beginning of the Christian life, we have our own ideas as to what God’s purpose is. We say, “God means for me to go over there,” and, “God has called me to do this special work.” We do what we think is right, and yet the compelling purpose of God remains upon us. The work we do is of no account when compared with the compelling purpose of God. It is simply the scaffolding surrounding His work and His plan. “He took the twelve aside…” (Luke 18:31). God takes us aside all the time. We have not yet understood all there is to know of the compelling purpose of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10. Not Knowing Whither, 867 L
Friday, August 2, 2019
2 Kings 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: YOUR UNIQUENESS SHOWS WHO GOD IS
The Bible says that each person is given something to do that shows who God is! (1 Corinthians 12:7 MSG). When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Look at your life. What do you consistently do well? What do you love to do? And what do others love for you to do?
So much for the excuse, I don’t have anything to offer…or… I can’t do anything. And enough of its arrogant opposite, I have to do everything! Imitate the apostle Paul who said, “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us” (2 Corinthians 10:13 NLT).
So extract your uniqueness. “Kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you!” (2 Timothy 1:6 NASB). And do so to make a big deal out of God!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
2 Kings 3
Joram son of Ahab began his rule over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. He was king for twelve years. In God’s sight he was a bad king. But he wasn’t as bad as his father and mother—to his credit he destroyed the obscene Baal stone that his father had made. But he hung on to the sinful practices of Jeroboam son of Nebat, the ones that had corrupted Israel for so long. He wasn’t about to give them up.
4-7 King Mesha of Moab raised sheep. He was forced to give the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and another 100,000 rams. When Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. So King Joram set out from Samaria and prepared Israel for war. His first move was to send a message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Would you join me and fight him?”
7-8 “I’m with you all the way,” said Jehoshaphat. “My troops are your troops, my horses are your horses. Which route shall we take?”
“Through the badlands of Edom.”
9 The king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom started out on what proved to be a looping detour. After seven days they had run out of water for both army and animals.
10 The king of Israel said, “Bad news! God has gotten us three kings out here to dump us into the hand of Moab.”
11 But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of God anywhere around through whom we can consult God?”
One of the servants of the king of Israel said, “Elisha son of Shaphat is around somewhere—the one who was Elijah’s right-hand man.”
12 Jehoshaphat said, “Good! A man we can trust!” So the three of them—the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom—went to meet him.
13 Elisha addressed the king of Israel, “What do you and I have in common? Go consult the puppet-prophets of your father and mother.”
“Never!” said the king of Israel. “It’s God who has gotten us into this fix, dumping all three of us kings into the hand of Moab.”
14-15 Elisha said, “As God-of-the-Angel-Armies lives, and before whom I stand ready to serve, if it weren’t for the respect I have for Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I wouldn’t give you the time of day. But considering—bring me a minstrel.” (When a minstrel played, the power of God came on Elisha.)
16-19 He then said, “God’s word: Dig ditches all over this valley. Here’s what will happen—you won’t hear the wind, you won’t see the rain, but this valley is going to fill up with water and your army and your animals will drink their fill. This is easy for God to do; he will also hand over Moab to you. You will ravage the country: Knock out its fortifications, level the key villages, clear-cut the orchards, clog the springs, and litter the cultivated fields with stones.”
20 In the morning—it was at the hour of morning sacrifice—the water had arrived, water pouring in from the west, from Edom, a flash flood filling the valley with water.
21-22 By this time everyone in Moab had heard that the kings had come up to make war against them. Everyone who was able to handle a sword was called into service and took a stand at the border. They were up and ready early in the morning when the sun rose over the water. From where the Moabites stood, the water reflecting the sun looked red, like blood.
23 “Blood! Look at the blood!” they said. “The kings must have fought each other—a bloody massacre! Go for the loot, Moab!”
24-25 When Moab entered the camp of Israel, the Israelites were up on their feet killing Moabites right and left, the Moabites running for their lives, Israelites relentless in pursuit—a slaughter. They leveled the towns, littered the cultivated fields with rocks, clogged the springs, and clear-cut the orchards. Only the capital, Kir Hareseth, was left intact, and that not for long; it too was surrounded and attacked with thrown and flung rocks.
26-27 When the king of Moab realized that he was fighting a losing battle, he took seven hundred swordsmen to hack a corridor past the king of Edom, but they didn’t make it. Then he took his son, his firstborn who would succeed him as king, and sacrificed him on the city wall. That set off furious anger against Israel. Israel pulled back and returned home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, August 02, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthians 4:5–7
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants[a] for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Insight
Paul’s writing style often consists of long sentences where it can be difficult to connect his initial point with his final one. In today’s passage, he writes about the blessing of God’s light shining in our hearts and states that He made that light shine (2 Corinthians 4:6). The purpose of God’s light shining is so we may see His glory in the face of Jesus. What is the light, and how does God make it shine in us? In this passage, Paul doesn’t elaborate on those specifics. In the preceding verse (v. 4), however, he says that the light is the light of the gospel. God reveals the gospel (the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus) to our hearts.
From Trash to Treasure
We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7
The trash man’s house sits atop a steep street in a poor Bogota neighborhood. Not one thing about it looks special. Yet the unassuming abode in Colombia’s capital is home to a free library of 25,000 books—discarded literature that Jose Alberto Gutierrez collected to share with poor children in his community.
Local kids crowd into the house during weekend “library hours.” Prowling through every room, each packed with books, the children recognize the humble home as more than Señor Jose’s house—it’s a priceless treasury.
The same is true for every follower of Christ. We’re made of humble clay—marred by cracks and easily broken. But we’re entrusted by God as a home for His empowering Spirit, who enables us to carry the good news of Christ into a hurting, broken world. It’s a big job for ordinary, fragile people.
“We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7), the apostle Paul told his congregation in the ancient city of Corinth. They were a cross section of people from across this region, so many might have been tempted to “go around preaching about [them]selves,” Paul said (v. 5 nlt).
Instead, Paul said, tell others about the priceless One living inside of us. It’s Him and His all-surpassing power that turns our ordinary lives into a priceless treasury.
By Patricia Raybon
Reflect & Pray
What does it mean to you that you have a treasure, the Holy Spirit, inside you? How is it comforting to know that He enables us to share the good news?
Jesus, fill up my ordinary life with the power of Your Spirit.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, August 02, 2019
The Teaching of Adversity
In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. —John 16:33
The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling…” (Psalm 91:1,10)— the place where you are at one with God.
If you are a child of God, you will certainly encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He is saying, “There is nothing for you to fear.” The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of what it means to live the life of a saint.
God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength. Are you asking God to give you life, liberty, and joy? He cannot, unless you are willing to accept the strain. And once you face the strain, you will immediately get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the first step. Then God will give you nourishment— “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life…” (Revelation 2:7). If you completely give of yourself physically, you become exhausted. But when you give of yourself spiritually, you get more strength. God never gives us strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the moment. Our temptation is to face adversities from the standpoint of our own common sense. But a saint can “be of good cheer” even when seemingly defeated by adversities, because victory is absurdly impossible to everyone, except God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, August 02, 2019
Built to Be Attached - #8495
We get our share of storms where we live, and we've got our share of trees. So, you can probably figure out the rest. After almost every storm, I make the rounds in the yard, and I get to pick up the souvenirs the storm left behind. I haul all those downed branches to my special brush pile place even if they've still got leaves on them. Look, even if I am a city boy, I know there's no use planting those branches in the ground and hoping they'll grow more leaves. In fact, those leaves they have are soon going to fall off. As soon as the branch gets separated from the tree, it starts dying.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Built to Be Attached."
Branches are built to be attached, and they start dying when they're not. Actually, believers in Jesus Christ are built to be attached to His Body which He called the church. And when they're not, they start dying.
It could be that a storm came along and you ended up disconnected from the life of the church, and you haven't really reconnected. Our word for today from the Word of God explains the importance that Jesus places on our staying connected to our spiritual family. In Hebrews 10, beginning with verse 23, He calls us to "hold unswervingly to the hope we profess." In other words, to take no detours spiritually.
Apparently, He doesn't want us to try that while being spiritual "Lone Rangers." Because He says, "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." In a church family, there's accountability to other believers, not just each of us doing what we feel is right. We see the ways that others are loving; the way others are serving Jesus and it "spurs us on," like the Bible says, to do the same thing.
So, as the passage continues, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." In other words, the closer we get to Jesus coming back, the more important it is that we stick together, partly because it's going to get harder and harder to know the right thing and do the right thing. We can help each other with that.
Obviously, God intended for following Jesus to be a team sport. But maybe you've distanced yourself from the team and you're trying to make it a solo sport. It doesn't work that way. Jesus set up His church as the place where you can worship Him with your spiritual family, where you can serve Him, where you participate in the spiritual obediences like communion and baptism, where you get to know people that you need and with people who need you.
Maybe you've been hurt by fellow believers, you're disillusioned, maybe even embittered. But you can't just stay there. You may find a different body of believers to be a part of, but not being a part of one is just not an option for a disciple who claims to be following Christ. If your eyes have been on people, or on your wounds, on the things that are wrong with a church, well then, you will tend to directly disobey our Lord and "give up the habit of meeting together."
The church isn't perfect because it's full of spiritual caterpillars who, just like you and me, are half caterpillar and on their way to becoming butterflies. But the church is what Jesus has chosen to work through on earth. He has said, "I will build My church." You can't remain a disconnected branch, no matter how bad the storm was. The church of Jesus is your spiritual home on earth. If you've been away, you know, it's time to come home.
The Bible says that each person is given something to do that shows who God is! (1 Corinthians 12:7 MSG). When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Look at your life. What do you consistently do well? What do you love to do? And what do others love for you to do?
So much for the excuse, I don’t have anything to offer…or… I can’t do anything. And enough of its arrogant opposite, I have to do everything! Imitate the apostle Paul who said, “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us” (2 Corinthians 10:13 NLT).
So extract your uniqueness. “Kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you!” (2 Timothy 1:6 NASB). And do so to make a big deal out of God!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
2 Kings 3
Joram son of Ahab began his rule over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. He was king for twelve years. In God’s sight he was a bad king. But he wasn’t as bad as his father and mother—to his credit he destroyed the obscene Baal stone that his father had made. But he hung on to the sinful practices of Jeroboam son of Nebat, the ones that had corrupted Israel for so long. He wasn’t about to give them up.
4-7 King Mesha of Moab raised sheep. He was forced to give the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and another 100,000 rams. When Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. So King Joram set out from Samaria and prepared Israel for war. His first move was to send a message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Would you join me and fight him?”
7-8 “I’m with you all the way,” said Jehoshaphat. “My troops are your troops, my horses are your horses. Which route shall we take?”
“Through the badlands of Edom.”
9 The king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom started out on what proved to be a looping detour. After seven days they had run out of water for both army and animals.
10 The king of Israel said, “Bad news! God has gotten us three kings out here to dump us into the hand of Moab.”
11 But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of God anywhere around through whom we can consult God?”
One of the servants of the king of Israel said, “Elisha son of Shaphat is around somewhere—the one who was Elijah’s right-hand man.”
12 Jehoshaphat said, “Good! A man we can trust!” So the three of them—the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom—went to meet him.
13 Elisha addressed the king of Israel, “What do you and I have in common? Go consult the puppet-prophets of your father and mother.”
“Never!” said the king of Israel. “It’s God who has gotten us into this fix, dumping all three of us kings into the hand of Moab.”
14-15 Elisha said, “As God-of-the-Angel-Armies lives, and before whom I stand ready to serve, if it weren’t for the respect I have for Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I wouldn’t give you the time of day. But considering—bring me a minstrel.” (When a minstrel played, the power of God came on Elisha.)
16-19 He then said, “God’s word: Dig ditches all over this valley. Here’s what will happen—you won’t hear the wind, you won’t see the rain, but this valley is going to fill up with water and your army and your animals will drink their fill. This is easy for God to do; he will also hand over Moab to you. You will ravage the country: Knock out its fortifications, level the key villages, clear-cut the orchards, clog the springs, and litter the cultivated fields with stones.”
20 In the morning—it was at the hour of morning sacrifice—the water had arrived, water pouring in from the west, from Edom, a flash flood filling the valley with water.
21-22 By this time everyone in Moab had heard that the kings had come up to make war against them. Everyone who was able to handle a sword was called into service and took a stand at the border. They were up and ready early in the morning when the sun rose over the water. From where the Moabites stood, the water reflecting the sun looked red, like blood.
23 “Blood! Look at the blood!” they said. “The kings must have fought each other—a bloody massacre! Go for the loot, Moab!”
24-25 When Moab entered the camp of Israel, the Israelites were up on their feet killing Moabites right and left, the Moabites running for their lives, Israelites relentless in pursuit—a slaughter. They leveled the towns, littered the cultivated fields with rocks, clogged the springs, and clear-cut the orchards. Only the capital, Kir Hareseth, was left intact, and that not for long; it too was surrounded and attacked with thrown and flung rocks.
26-27 When the king of Moab realized that he was fighting a losing battle, he took seven hundred swordsmen to hack a corridor past the king of Edom, but they didn’t make it. Then he took his son, his firstborn who would succeed him as king, and sacrificed him on the city wall. That set off furious anger against Israel. Israel pulled back and returned home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, August 02, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthians 4:5–7
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants[a] for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Insight
Paul’s writing style often consists of long sentences where it can be difficult to connect his initial point with his final one. In today’s passage, he writes about the blessing of God’s light shining in our hearts and states that He made that light shine (2 Corinthians 4:6). The purpose of God’s light shining is so we may see His glory in the face of Jesus. What is the light, and how does God make it shine in us? In this passage, Paul doesn’t elaborate on those specifics. In the preceding verse (v. 4), however, he says that the light is the light of the gospel. God reveals the gospel (the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus) to our hearts.
From Trash to Treasure
We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7
The trash man’s house sits atop a steep street in a poor Bogota neighborhood. Not one thing about it looks special. Yet the unassuming abode in Colombia’s capital is home to a free library of 25,000 books—discarded literature that Jose Alberto Gutierrez collected to share with poor children in his community.
Local kids crowd into the house during weekend “library hours.” Prowling through every room, each packed with books, the children recognize the humble home as more than Señor Jose’s house—it’s a priceless treasury.
The same is true for every follower of Christ. We’re made of humble clay—marred by cracks and easily broken. But we’re entrusted by God as a home for His empowering Spirit, who enables us to carry the good news of Christ into a hurting, broken world. It’s a big job for ordinary, fragile people.
“We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7), the apostle Paul told his congregation in the ancient city of Corinth. They were a cross section of people from across this region, so many might have been tempted to “go around preaching about [them]selves,” Paul said (v. 5 nlt).
Instead, Paul said, tell others about the priceless One living inside of us. It’s Him and His all-surpassing power that turns our ordinary lives into a priceless treasury.
By Patricia Raybon
Reflect & Pray
What does it mean to you that you have a treasure, the Holy Spirit, inside you? How is it comforting to know that He enables us to share the good news?
Jesus, fill up my ordinary life with the power of Your Spirit.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, August 02, 2019
The Teaching of Adversity
In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. —John 16:33
The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling…” (Psalm 91:1,10)— the place where you are at one with God.
If you are a child of God, you will certainly encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He is saying, “There is nothing for you to fear.” The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of what it means to live the life of a saint.
God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength. Are you asking God to give you life, liberty, and joy? He cannot, unless you are willing to accept the strain. And once you face the strain, you will immediately get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the first step. Then God will give you nourishment— “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life…” (Revelation 2:7). If you completely give of yourself physically, you become exhausted. But when you give of yourself spiritually, you get more strength. God never gives us strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the moment. Our temptation is to face adversities from the standpoint of our own common sense. But a saint can “be of good cheer” even when seemingly defeated by adversities, because victory is absurdly impossible to everyone, except God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, August 02, 2019
Built to Be Attached - #8495
We get our share of storms where we live, and we've got our share of trees. So, you can probably figure out the rest. After almost every storm, I make the rounds in the yard, and I get to pick up the souvenirs the storm left behind. I haul all those downed branches to my special brush pile place even if they've still got leaves on them. Look, even if I am a city boy, I know there's no use planting those branches in the ground and hoping they'll grow more leaves. In fact, those leaves they have are soon going to fall off. As soon as the branch gets separated from the tree, it starts dying.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Built to Be Attached."
Branches are built to be attached, and they start dying when they're not. Actually, believers in Jesus Christ are built to be attached to His Body which He called the church. And when they're not, they start dying.
It could be that a storm came along and you ended up disconnected from the life of the church, and you haven't really reconnected. Our word for today from the Word of God explains the importance that Jesus places on our staying connected to our spiritual family. In Hebrews 10, beginning with verse 23, He calls us to "hold unswervingly to the hope we profess." In other words, to take no detours spiritually.
Apparently, He doesn't want us to try that while being spiritual "Lone Rangers." Because He says, "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." In a church family, there's accountability to other believers, not just each of us doing what we feel is right. We see the ways that others are loving; the way others are serving Jesus and it "spurs us on," like the Bible says, to do the same thing.
So, as the passage continues, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." In other words, the closer we get to Jesus coming back, the more important it is that we stick together, partly because it's going to get harder and harder to know the right thing and do the right thing. We can help each other with that.
Obviously, God intended for following Jesus to be a team sport. But maybe you've distanced yourself from the team and you're trying to make it a solo sport. It doesn't work that way. Jesus set up His church as the place where you can worship Him with your spiritual family, where you can serve Him, where you participate in the spiritual obediences like communion and baptism, where you get to know people that you need and with people who need you.
Maybe you've been hurt by fellow believers, you're disillusioned, maybe even embittered. But you can't just stay there. You may find a different body of believers to be a part of, but not being a part of one is just not an option for a disciple who claims to be following Christ. If your eyes have been on people, or on your wounds, on the things that are wrong with a church, well then, you will tend to directly disobey our Lord and "give up the habit of meeting together."
The church isn't perfect because it's full of spiritual caterpillars who, just like you and me, are half caterpillar and on their way to becoming butterflies. But the church is what Jesus has chosen to work through on earth. He has said, "I will build My church." You can't remain a disconnected branch, no matter how bad the storm was. The church of Jesus is your spiritual home on earth. If you've been away, you know, it's time to come home.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
2 Kings 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD MADE ONE VERSION OF YOU
Da Vinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one Fifth Symphony. And God made one version of you! God custom-designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment—“to each according to each one’s unique ability” (Matthew 25:15).
“The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others” (1 Corinthians 12:7). Did the apostle Paul say, “The Spirit has given some of us. . .”? Or a few of us. . .?” No! “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.”
You don’t have to do everything! You’re not God’s solution to society, you are a solution in society. Don’t worry about the skills you don’t have. Don’t covet the strength others do have. Just extract your uniqueness—to God’s glory!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
2 Kings 2
Just before God took Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on a walk out of Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to Bethel.”
Elisha said, “Not on your life! I’m not letting you out of my sight!” So they both went to Bethel.
3 The guild of prophets at Bethel met Elisha and said, “Did you know that God is going to take your master away from you today?”
“Yes,” he said, “I know it. But keep it quiet.”
4 Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to Jericho.”
Elisha said, “Not on your life! I’m not letting you out of my sight!” So they both went to Jericho.
5 The guild of prophets at Jericho came to Elisha and said, “Did you know that God is going to take your master away from you today?”
“Yes,” he said, “I know it. But keep it quiet.”
6 Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to the Jordan.”
Elisha said, “Not on your life! I’m not letting you out of my sight!” And so the two of them went their way together.
7 Meanwhile, fifty men from the guild of prophets gathered some distance away while the two of them stood at the Jordan.
8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and hit the water with it. The river divided and the two men walked through on dry land.
9 When they reached the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you before I’m taken from you? Ask anything.”
Elisha said, “Your life repeated in my life. I want to be a holy man just like you.”
10 “That’s a hard one!” said Elijah. “But if you’re watching when I’m taken from you, you’ll get what you’ve asked for. But only if you’re watching.”
11-14 And so it happened. They were walking along and talking. Suddenly a chariot and horses of fire came between them and Elijah went up in a whirlwind to heaven. Elisha saw it all and shouted, “My father, my father! You—the chariot and cavalry of Israel!” When he could no longer see anything, he grabbed his robe and ripped it to pieces. Then he picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him, returned to the shore of the Jordan, and stood there. He took Elijah’s cloak—all that was left of Elijah!—and hit the river with it, saying, “Now where is the God of Elijah? Where is he?”
When he struck the water, the river divided and Elisha walked through.
15 The guild of prophets from Jericho saw the whole thing from where they were standing. They said, “The spirit of Elijah lives in Elisha!” They welcomed and honored him.
16 They then said, “We’re at your service. We have fifty reliable men here; let’s send them out to look for your master. Maybe God’s spirit has swept him off to some mountain or dropped him into a remote ravine.”
Elisha said, “No. Don’t send them.”
17 But they pestered him until he caved in: “Go ahead then. Send them.”
So they sent the fifty men off. For three days they looked, searching high and low. Nothing.
18 Finally, they returned to Elisha in Jericho. He told them, “So there—didn’t I tell you?”
19 One day the men of the city said to Elisha, “You can see for yourself, master, how well our city is located. But the water is polluted and nothing grows.”
20 He said, “Bring me a brand-new bowl and put some salt in it.” They brought it to him.
21-22 He then went to the spring, sprinkled the salt into it, and proclaimed, “God’s word: I’ve healed this water. It will no longer kill you or poison your land.” And sure enough, the water was healed—and remains so to this day, just as Elisha said.
23 Another time, Elisha was on his way to Bethel and some little kids came out from the town and taunted him, “What’s up, old baldhead! Out of our way, skinhead!”
24 Elisha turned, took one look at them, and cursed them in the name of God. Two bears charged out of the underbrush and knocked them about, ripping them limb from limb—forty-two children in all!
25 Elisha went on to Mount Carmel, and then returned to Samaria.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, August 01, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ephesians 3:14–21
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Insight
Ephesians 3:14–21 is an example of a biblical doxology. The word doxology comes from two Greek words: doxa (glory) and logia (saying). A doxology is a statement or saying that ascribes glory (importance, weight, significance) to God. Paul does that here in verse 20 where we read, “To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus.” Notice how the word glory is found in several other New Testament doxologies. In Romans 11:33–36, God is given glory for His wisdom and the section concludes with: “To him be the glory forever!” In 1 Timothy 1:17, God is given glory for His eternal uniqueness: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.” And in Jude 1:24–25, God’s glory is seen in His protection of His children: “To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority.”
The Bulldog and the Sprinkler
I pray that you . . . may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17, 19
Most summer mornings, a delightful drama plays out in the park behind our house. It involves a sprinkler. And a bulldog. About 6:30 or so, the sprinklers come on. Shortly thereafter, Fifi the bulldog (our family’s name for her) arrives.
Fifi’s owner lets her off her leash. The bulldog sprints with all her might to the nearest sprinkler, attacking the stream of water as it douses her face. If Fifi could eat the sprinkler, I think she would. It’s a portrait of utter exuberance, of Fifi’s seemingly infinite desire to be drenched by the liquid she can never get enough of.
There are no bulldogs in the Bible, or sprinklers. Yet, in a way, Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 reminds me of Fifi. There, Paul prays that the Ephesian believers might be filled with God’s love and “have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” He prayed that we might be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (vv. 18–19).
Still today, we’re invited to experience a God whose infinite love exceeds anything we can comprehend, that we too might be drenched, saturated, and utterly satisfied by His goodness. We’re free to plunge with abandon, relish, and delight into a relationship with the One who alone can fill our hearts and lives with love, meaning, and purpose. By Adam Holz
Reflect & Pray
How does the experience of plunging into waves at a beach symbolize the immensity of God’s love for you? What barriers do you think potentially keep you from experiencing His love?
God, thank You for Your infinite and satisfying love. Please help us to know and experience the love You have for each one of us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, August 01, 2019
Learning About His Ways
When Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples…He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. —Matthew 11:1
He comes where He commands us to leave. If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. When you obeyed and left all the consequences to God, the Lord went into your city to teach, but as long as you were disobedient, you blocked His way. Watch where you begin to debate with Him and put what you call your duty into competition with His commands. If you say, “I know that He told me to go, but my duty is here,” it simply means that you do not believe that Jesus means what He says.
He teaches where He instructs us not to teach. “Master…let us make three tabernacles…” (Luke 9:33).
Are we playing the part of an amateur providence, trying to play God’s role in the lives of others? Are we so noisy in our instruction of other people that God cannot get near them? We must learn to keep our mouths shut and our spirits alert. God wants to instruct us regarding His Son, and He wants to turn our times of prayer into mounts of transfiguration. When we become certain that God is going to work in a particular way, He will never work in that way again.
He works where He sends us to wait. “…tarry…until…” (Luke 24:49). “Wait on the Lord” and He will work (Psalm 37:34). But don’t wait sulking spiritually and feeling sorry for yourself, just because you can’t see one inch in front of you! Are we detached enough from our own spiritual fits of emotion to “wait patiently for Him”? (Psalm 37:7). Waiting is not sitting with folded hands doing nothing, but it is learning to do what we are told.
These are some of the facets of His ways that we rarely recognize.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, August 01, 2019
Self-Inflicted Scars - #8494
I arrived at our office one morning and had a little scratch on my forehead. It was pretty obvious, and most people didn't mention it. They were really nice to me. But then there are those who - like me, unfortunately - well, they hate to miss an opportunity to "bust" someone, especially me. So, of course, I heard more than once that day, "Oh, did your wife scratch you?" My poor wife took the blame. And, of course, I kiddingly went along saying, "Oh, sometimes it's the only way to keep me in line" which people thought very believable. Now here's the truth: somehow, I just managed to scratch myself in my sleep. I'm not sure what I was dreaming about. But it was all my doing.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Self-Inflicted Scars."
It's always convenient to blame someone else for something that was really your own fault isn't it? Sometimes, we even go so far as to blame God when the scars are really self-inflicted.
It's interesting to hear God's perspective on that in our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 19:3. It's a fascinating verse. Listen to it: "A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord." That's so true and so ironic. How many times have you heard someone say, "How could God let this happen? How could God do this to me?" When, in fact, they were at least in part reaping the harvest of their own mistakes…of their own decisions.
Remember, the driver is to blame for where the car ends up. Many times we blame God for where we end up, when we've been doing the driving. In fact, this may be an issue in your life right now. Maybe things have gone wrong. They're a mess. You've got some scars, and you're allowing it to come between you and your God.
Could it be that your scars are, at least in part, self-inflicted? You neglected some things that you should have been taking care of. You allowed some things that are really important to slip; to be crowded out by some things that really aren't very important.
And maybe you're reaping some of the results of your own stubbornness, maybe your own refusal to do it God's way. God's been trying to lead you in a different direction. Maybe He's even been convicting you of a sinful attitude or action, some sinful relationship that you need to change, or a wrong way that you've been treating people. God's word to you might be Isaiah 48:18 - "If you only had paid attention to My commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea."
You know, quite often our pain is the result and the harvest of our own selfishness, our own bad choices, our own messed up priorities, our lack of integrity, maybe our hasty words, the lies we told, the things we've neglected, or the people we've neglected. This isn't a time to "rage against the Lord." No, this is the time to look in the mirror and accept the responsibility for the results of your own choices. And, for goodness sake, let this pain make its point - that God's way of getting things done is so much better.
Let today be a new beginning for you so tomorrow's harvest will be better, and not bitter. Remember, the healing of the prodigal son began when, according to the Bible, "he came to himself."
Da Vinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one Fifth Symphony. And God made one version of you! God custom-designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment—“to each according to each one’s unique ability” (Matthew 25:15).
“The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others” (1 Corinthians 12:7). Did the apostle Paul say, “The Spirit has given some of us. . .”? Or a few of us. . .?” No! “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.”
You don’t have to do everything! You’re not God’s solution to society, you are a solution in society. Don’t worry about the skills you don’t have. Don’t covet the strength others do have. Just extract your uniqueness—to God’s glory!
Read more Cure for the Common Life
2 Kings 2
Just before God took Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on a walk out of Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to Bethel.”
Elisha said, “Not on your life! I’m not letting you out of my sight!” So they both went to Bethel.
3 The guild of prophets at Bethel met Elisha and said, “Did you know that God is going to take your master away from you today?”
“Yes,” he said, “I know it. But keep it quiet.”
4 Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to Jericho.”
Elisha said, “Not on your life! I’m not letting you out of my sight!” So they both went to Jericho.
5 The guild of prophets at Jericho came to Elisha and said, “Did you know that God is going to take your master away from you today?”
“Yes,” he said, “I know it. But keep it quiet.”
6 Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to the Jordan.”
Elisha said, “Not on your life! I’m not letting you out of my sight!” And so the two of them went their way together.
7 Meanwhile, fifty men from the guild of prophets gathered some distance away while the two of them stood at the Jordan.
8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and hit the water with it. The river divided and the two men walked through on dry land.
9 When they reached the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you before I’m taken from you? Ask anything.”
Elisha said, “Your life repeated in my life. I want to be a holy man just like you.”
10 “That’s a hard one!” said Elijah. “But if you’re watching when I’m taken from you, you’ll get what you’ve asked for. But only if you’re watching.”
11-14 And so it happened. They were walking along and talking. Suddenly a chariot and horses of fire came between them and Elijah went up in a whirlwind to heaven. Elisha saw it all and shouted, “My father, my father! You—the chariot and cavalry of Israel!” When he could no longer see anything, he grabbed his robe and ripped it to pieces. Then he picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him, returned to the shore of the Jordan, and stood there. He took Elijah’s cloak—all that was left of Elijah!—and hit the river with it, saying, “Now where is the God of Elijah? Where is he?”
When he struck the water, the river divided and Elisha walked through.
15 The guild of prophets from Jericho saw the whole thing from where they were standing. They said, “The spirit of Elijah lives in Elisha!” They welcomed and honored him.
16 They then said, “We’re at your service. We have fifty reliable men here; let’s send them out to look for your master. Maybe God’s spirit has swept him off to some mountain or dropped him into a remote ravine.”
Elisha said, “No. Don’t send them.”
17 But they pestered him until he caved in: “Go ahead then. Send them.”
So they sent the fifty men off. For three days they looked, searching high and low. Nothing.
18 Finally, they returned to Elisha in Jericho. He told them, “So there—didn’t I tell you?”
19 One day the men of the city said to Elisha, “You can see for yourself, master, how well our city is located. But the water is polluted and nothing grows.”
20 He said, “Bring me a brand-new bowl and put some salt in it.” They brought it to him.
21-22 He then went to the spring, sprinkled the salt into it, and proclaimed, “God’s word: I’ve healed this water. It will no longer kill you or poison your land.” And sure enough, the water was healed—and remains so to this day, just as Elisha said.
23 Another time, Elisha was on his way to Bethel and some little kids came out from the town and taunted him, “What’s up, old baldhead! Out of our way, skinhead!”
24 Elisha turned, took one look at them, and cursed them in the name of God. Two bears charged out of the underbrush and knocked them about, ripping them limb from limb—forty-two children in all!
25 Elisha went on to Mount Carmel, and then returned to Samaria.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, August 01, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ephesians 3:14–21
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Insight
Ephesians 3:14–21 is an example of a biblical doxology. The word doxology comes from two Greek words: doxa (glory) and logia (saying). A doxology is a statement or saying that ascribes glory (importance, weight, significance) to God. Paul does that here in verse 20 where we read, “To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus.” Notice how the word glory is found in several other New Testament doxologies. In Romans 11:33–36, God is given glory for His wisdom and the section concludes with: “To him be the glory forever!” In 1 Timothy 1:17, God is given glory for His eternal uniqueness: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.” And in Jude 1:24–25, God’s glory is seen in His protection of His children: “To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority.”
The Bulldog and the Sprinkler
I pray that you . . . may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17, 19
Most summer mornings, a delightful drama plays out in the park behind our house. It involves a sprinkler. And a bulldog. About 6:30 or so, the sprinklers come on. Shortly thereafter, Fifi the bulldog (our family’s name for her) arrives.
Fifi’s owner lets her off her leash. The bulldog sprints with all her might to the nearest sprinkler, attacking the stream of water as it douses her face. If Fifi could eat the sprinkler, I think she would. It’s a portrait of utter exuberance, of Fifi’s seemingly infinite desire to be drenched by the liquid she can never get enough of.
There are no bulldogs in the Bible, or sprinklers. Yet, in a way, Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 reminds me of Fifi. There, Paul prays that the Ephesian believers might be filled with God’s love and “have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” He prayed that we might be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (vv. 18–19).
Still today, we’re invited to experience a God whose infinite love exceeds anything we can comprehend, that we too might be drenched, saturated, and utterly satisfied by His goodness. We’re free to plunge with abandon, relish, and delight into a relationship with the One who alone can fill our hearts and lives with love, meaning, and purpose. By Adam Holz
Reflect & Pray
How does the experience of plunging into waves at a beach symbolize the immensity of God’s love for you? What barriers do you think potentially keep you from experiencing His love?
God, thank You for Your infinite and satisfying love. Please help us to know and experience the love You have for each one of us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, August 01, 2019
Learning About His Ways
When Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples…He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. —Matthew 11:1
He comes where He commands us to leave. If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. When you obeyed and left all the consequences to God, the Lord went into your city to teach, but as long as you were disobedient, you blocked His way. Watch where you begin to debate with Him and put what you call your duty into competition with His commands. If you say, “I know that He told me to go, but my duty is here,” it simply means that you do not believe that Jesus means what He says.
He teaches where He instructs us not to teach. “Master…let us make three tabernacles…” (Luke 9:33).
Are we playing the part of an amateur providence, trying to play God’s role in the lives of others? Are we so noisy in our instruction of other people that God cannot get near them? We must learn to keep our mouths shut and our spirits alert. God wants to instruct us regarding His Son, and He wants to turn our times of prayer into mounts of transfiguration. When we become certain that God is going to work in a particular way, He will never work in that way again.
He works where He sends us to wait. “…tarry…until…” (Luke 24:49). “Wait on the Lord” and He will work (Psalm 37:34). But don’t wait sulking spiritually and feeling sorry for yourself, just because you can’t see one inch in front of you! Are we detached enough from our own spiritual fits of emotion to “wait patiently for Him”? (Psalm 37:7). Waiting is not sitting with folded hands doing nothing, but it is learning to do what we are told.
These are some of the facets of His ways that we rarely recognize.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, August 01, 2019
Self-Inflicted Scars - #8494
I arrived at our office one morning and had a little scratch on my forehead. It was pretty obvious, and most people didn't mention it. They were really nice to me. But then there are those who - like me, unfortunately - well, they hate to miss an opportunity to "bust" someone, especially me. So, of course, I heard more than once that day, "Oh, did your wife scratch you?" My poor wife took the blame. And, of course, I kiddingly went along saying, "Oh, sometimes it's the only way to keep me in line" which people thought very believable. Now here's the truth: somehow, I just managed to scratch myself in my sleep. I'm not sure what I was dreaming about. But it was all my doing.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Self-Inflicted Scars."
It's always convenient to blame someone else for something that was really your own fault isn't it? Sometimes, we even go so far as to blame God when the scars are really self-inflicted.
It's interesting to hear God's perspective on that in our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 19:3. It's a fascinating verse. Listen to it: "A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord." That's so true and so ironic. How many times have you heard someone say, "How could God let this happen? How could God do this to me?" When, in fact, they were at least in part reaping the harvest of their own mistakes…of their own decisions.
Remember, the driver is to blame for where the car ends up. Many times we blame God for where we end up, when we've been doing the driving. In fact, this may be an issue in your life right now. Maybe things have gone wrong. They're a mess. You've got some scars, and you're allowing it to come between you and your God.
Could it be that your scars are, at least in part, self-inflicted? You neglected some things that you should have been taking care of. You allowed some things that are really important to slip; to be crowded out by some things that really aren't very important.
And maybe you're reaping some of the results of your own stubbornness, maybe your own refusal to do it God's way. God's been trying to lead you in a different direction. Maybe He's even been convicting you of a sinful attitude or action, some sinful relationship that you need to change, or a wrong way that you've been treating people. God's word to you might be Isaiah 48:18 - "If you only had paid attention to My commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea."
You know, quite often our pain is the result and the harvest of our own selfishness, our own bad choices, our own messed up priorities, our lack of integrity, maybe our hasty words, the lies we told, the things we've neglected, or the people we've neglected. This isn't a time to "rage against the Lord." No, this is the time to look in the mirror and accept the responsibility for the results of your own choices. And, for goodness sake, let this pain make its point - that God's way of getting things done is so much better.
Let today be a new beginning for you so tomorrow's harvest will be better, and not bitter. Remember, the healing of the prodigal son began when, according to the Bible, "he came to himself."
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
2 Kings 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: CHURCH, A PLACE OF HEALING
Friends, I urge you to find a church congregation that believes in confession. Avoid a fellowship of perfect people—you probably won’t fit in. Seek one where members confess their sins and show humility, where the price of admission is simply an admission of guilt. Healing happens in a church like this.
Jesus said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:23). 1 John 1:8-10 says, “If we say we have no sin, we’re fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what’s right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done.”
Scripture doesn’t say he might, could, would, or has been known to do so. He said, he WILL cleanse us! Oh, the sweet certainty of his words.
Read more GRACE
2 Kings 1
After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel.
2 One day Ahaziah fell through the balcony railing on the rooftop of his house in Samaria and was injured. He sent messengers off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, “Am I going to recover from this accident?”
3-4 God’s angel spoke to Elijah the Tishbite: “Up on your feet! Go out and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria with this word, ‘Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you’re running off to consult Baal-Zebub god of Ekron?’ Here’s a message from the God you’ve tried to bypass: ‘You’re not going to get out of that bed you’re in—you’re as good as dead already.’” Elijah delivered the message and was gone.
5 The messengers went back. The king said, “So why are you back so soon—what’s going on?”
6 They told him, “A man met us and said, ‘Turn around and go back to the king who sent you; tell him, God’s message: Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you’re running off to consult Baal-Zebub god of Ekron? You needn’t bother. You’re not going to get out of that bed you’re in—you’re as good as dead already.’”
7 The king said, “Tell me more about this man who met you and said these things to you. What was he like?”
8 “Shaggy,” they said, “and wearing a leather belt.”
He said, “That has to be Elijah the Tishbite!”
9 The king sent a captain with fifty men to Elijah. Meanwhile Elijah was sitting, big as life, on top of a hill. The captain said, “O Holy Man! King’s orders: Come down!”
10 Elijah answered the captain of the fifty, “If it’s true that I’m a ‘holy man,’ lightning strike you and your fifty men!” Out of the blue lightning struck and incinerated the captain and his fifty.
11 The king sent another captain with his fifty men, “O Holy Man! King’s orders: Come down. And right now!”
12 Elijah answered, “If it’s true that I’m a ‘holy man,’ lightning strike you and your fifty men!” Immediately a divine lightning bolt struck and incinerated the captain and his fifty.
13-14 The king then sent a third captain with his fifty men. For a third time, a captain with his fifty approached Elijah. This one fell on his knees in supplication: “O Holy Man, have respect for my life and the souls of these fifty men! Twice now lightning from out of the blue has struck and incinerated captains with their fifty men; please, I beg you, respect my life!”
15 The angel of God told Elijah, “Go ahead; and don’t be afraid.” Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
16 Elijah told him, “God’s word: Because you sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron, as if there were no God in Israel to whom you could pray, you’ll never get out of that bed alive—already you’re as good as dead.”
17 And he died, exactly as God’s word spoken by Elijah had said.
Because Ahaziah had no son, his brother Joram became the next king. The succession took place in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.
18 The rest of Ahaziah’s life is recorded in The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Acts 9:13–16
But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
Insight
Paul’s conversion story is recorded three times in the book of Acts (9:1–19; 22:3–21; 26:9–29). He also testified to it in 1 Corinthians 15:9–10; Galatians 1:11–17; Philippians 3:4–6; and 1 Timothy 1:12–17. As a sworn enemy of Christ, Paul was ever grateful that God would still save him, considering himself the least qualified and the most undeserving recipient of God’s mercy and grace (1 Timothy 1:13–14). God told Ananias that Paul was to be His “chosen instrument” to take the gospel to the gentiles (Acts 9:15). But Paul saw another reason that God used him: he was “a prime example of [God’s] great patience with even the worst sinners” (1 Timothy 1:16 NLT). God had us in mind when He saved Paul. If he, the worst of sinners, could be saved, then no one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy and love.
Who We Are
This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name. Acts 9:15
I’ll never forget the time I took my future wife to meet my family. With a twinkle in their eyes, my two elder siblings asked her, “What exactly do you see in this guy?” She smiled and assured them that by God’s grace I had grown to be the man she loved.
I loved that clever reply because it also reflects how, in Christ, the Lord sees more than our past. In Acts 9, He directed Ananias to heal Saul, a known persecutor of the church whom God had blinded. Ananias was incredulous at receiving this mission, stating that Saul had been rounding up believers in Jesus for persecution and even execution. God told Ananias not to focus on who Saul had been but on who he had become: an evangelist who would bring the good news to all the known world, including to the gentiles (those who weren’t Jews) and to kings (v. 15). Ananias saw Saul the Pharisee and persecutor, but God saw Paul the apostle and evangelist.
We can sometimes view ourselves only as we have been—with all of our failures and shortcomings. But God sees us as new creations, not who we were but who we are in Jesus and who we’re becoming through the power of the Holy Spirit. O God, teach us to view ourselves and others in this way! By Peter Chin
Reflect & Pray
How can you begin to better view yourself and others in light of who you are in Christ today? How does it encourage you to know God isn’t through growing and refining you?
Heavenly Father, help me to find my full identity in You. Allow me to humbly see others through Your eyes of grace!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Becoming Entirely His
Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. —James 1:4
Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink.
Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.
We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work….” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The fiery furnaces are there by God’s direct permission. It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances; we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 674 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
A Loving Knockout Punch - #8493
Why would a teenage girl go swimming in the ocean at night? Nobody knows. Well, we do know she was in serious trouble by the time the rescuers finally rescued her. It was nighttime; there were no lifeguards on duty. We were at Ocean City, New Jersey, and the only people who could help her were people who ran from the boardwalk, stripped off their shoes and some of their clothes to try to get in there and help her. Now, one person had the presence of mind to bring a life preserver. The girl who was drowning refused it. She actually fought off the rescuers who were battling this strong undertow, and then you heard this strange cry out there, "Hit her!" Sounds cruel but they thought that was the only way to save her. And they hit her. She did go under; she ended up unconscious. They grabbed her. They brought her in and finally rescued her. When I heard "Hit her!" I remembered what my friend Jim had told me. He was a lifeguard on the Pacific Coast for a couple of years and he described what he called a hard rescue. He said, "Ron, if they keep fighting a rescue, we go to our last resort. We knock them out." Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Loving Knockout Punch."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 1. I'll begin reading at verse 8 from the writings of the Apostle Paul. It said, "We do not want you to be uninformed about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia." Okay, now see if any of these words apply to you: "hardship," "We were under great pressure." Does that sound familiar to you at all? "Far beyond our ability to endure, so we despaired" Maybe that's where you are. He says, "we despaired even of life. Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." Maybe this sounds somewhat like a recent chapter in your life and there could be several reasons.
If you're a child of God, there might be a very major reason for the crushing pressure you felt, and that's to cure your self-reliance by making self-reliance useless. Powerless moments are the moments when we finally do what we should have been doing all along. We surrender to our Lord. Like that drowning girl, we still want to get there on our own. But we're drowning. We often can't be rescued until God gives us a loving knockout punch. It might be that the Holy Spirit has often knocked on your door and said, "Hey, I can drive. I will drive." You say, "I can handle it by myself." You've never surrendered maybe to the one who died for you.
Maybe there's never been a first time when you've given yourself to Him. Or maybe there's an area of your life you really want to keep control of. Well, God will hit you pretty hard sometimes. He loves you too much to let you go down. It's still your choice. Look, if you've never grabbed Jesus to be your personal Savior, your Rescuer from your sin and its penalty, would you do that right now? That's why you have gone through all this. It's to focus your attention on the Rescuer, who came all the way from heaven to a cross to rescue you.
Just tell him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." And you know what? I would suggest as soon as you can to get to our website. Because it is for you at a moment like this. That's why that website is there. It's called ANewStory.com. You'll find what you need to know there - to know you've been forgiven and you belong to Jesus and you're going to heaven when you die.
If you know Him personally, but you have drifted from what was once a childlike dependency to this self-powered life, He's still officially Lord - right? But at least in this one area, you're splashing and you're struggling and you're grasping to keep yourself afloat. "Listen," He's saying, "if you'll finally let go, I can do more than you could ever do with that part of your life."
Jesus has seen you struggle. He's come close to you to save you - even today through this little visit. He may have even knocked you out, not to drown you but to bring you home. And the pain you're feeling, it just could be God's loving knockout punch.
Friends, I urge you to find a church congregation that believes in confession. Avoid a fellowship of perfect people—you probably won’t fit in. Seek one where members confess their sins and show humility, where the price of admission is simply an admission of guilt. Healing happens in a church like this.
Jesus said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:23). 1 John 1:8-10 says, “If we say we have no sin, we’re fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what’s right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done.”
Scripture doesn’t say he might, could, would, or has been known to do so. He said, he WILL cleanse us! Oh, the sweet certainty of his words.
Read more GRACE
2 Kings 1
After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel.
2 One day Ahaziah fell through the balcony railing on the rooftop of his house in Samaria and was injured. He sent messengers off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, “Am I going to recover from this accident?”
3-4 God’s angel spoke to Elijah the Tishbite: “Up on your feet! Go out and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria with this word, ‘Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you’re running off to consult Baal-Zebub god of Ekron?’ Here’s a message from the God you’ve tried to bypass: ‘You’re not going to get out of that bed you’re in—you’re as good as dead already.’” Elijah delivered the message and was gone.
5 The messengers went back. The king said, “So why are you back so soon—what’s going on?”
6 They told him, “A man met us and said, ‘Turn around and go back to the king who sent you; tell him, God’s message: Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you’re running off to consult Baal-Zebub god of Ekron? You needn’t bother. You’re not going to get out of that bed you’re in—you’re as good as dead already.’”
7 The king said, “Tell me more about this man who met you and said these things to you. What was he like?”
8 “Shaggy,” they said, “and wearing a leather belt.”
He said, “That has to be Elijah the Tishbite!”
9 The king sent a captain with fifty men to Elijah. Meanwhile Elijah was sitting, big as life, on top of a hill. The captain said, “O Holy Man! King’s orders: Come down!”
10 Elijah answered the captain of the fifty, “If it’s true that I’m a ‘holy man,’ lightning strike you and your fifty men!” Out of the blue lightning struck and incinerated the captain and his fifty.
11 The king sent another captain with his fifty men, “O Holy Man! King’s orders: Come down. And right now!”
12 Elijah answered, “If it’s true that I’m a ‘holy man,’ lightning strike you and your fifty men!” Immediately a divine lightning bolt struck and incinerated the captain and his fifty.
13-14 The king then sent a third captain with his fifty men. For a third time, a captain with his fifty approached Elijah. This one fell on his knees in supplication: “O Holy Man, have respect for my life and the souls of these fifty men! Twice now lightning from out of the blue has struck and incinerated captains with their fifty men; please, I beg you, respect my life!”
15 The angel of God told Elijah, “Go ahead; and don’t be afraid.” Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
16 Elijah told him, “God’s word: Because you sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron, as if there were no God in Israel to whom you could pray, you’ll never get out of that bed alive—already you’re as good as dead.”
17 And he died, exactly as God’s word spoken by Elijah had said.
Because Ahaziah had no son, his brother Joram became the next king. The succession took place in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.
18 The rest of Ahaziah’s life is recorded in The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Acts 9:13–16
But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
Insight
Paul’s conversion story is recorded three times in the book of Acts (9:1–19; 22:3–21; 26:9–29). He also testified to it in 1 Corinthians 15:9–10; Galatians 1:11–17; Philippians 3:4–6; and 1 Timothy 1:12–17. As a sworn enemy of Christ, Paul was ever grateful that God would still save him, considering himself the least qualified and the most undeserving recipient of God’s mercy and grace (1 Timothy 1:13–14). God told Ananias that Paul was to be His “chosen instrument” to take the gospel to the gentiles (Acts 9:15). But Paul saw another reason that God used him: he was “a prime example of [God’s] great patience with even the worst sinners” (1 Timothy 1:16 NLT). God had us in mind when He saved Paul. If he, the worst of sinners, could be saved, then no one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy and love.
Who We Are
This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name. Acts 9:15
I’ll never forget the time I took my future wife to meet my family. With a twinkle in their eyes, my two elder siblings asked her, “What exactly do you see in this guy?” She smiled and assured them that by God’s grace I had grown to be the man she loved.
I loved that clever reply because it also reflects how, in Christ, the Lord sees more than our past. In Acts 9, He directed Ananias to heal Saul, a known persecutor of the church whom God had blinded. Ananias was incredulous at receiving this mission, stating that Saul had been rounding up believers in Jesus for persecution and even execution. God told Ananias not to focus on who Saul had been but on who he had become: an evangelist who would bring the good news to all the known world, including to the gentiles (those who weren’t Jews) and to kings (v. 15). Ananias saw Saul the Pharisee and persecutor, but God saw Paul the apostle and evangelist.
We can sometimes view ourselves only as we have been—with all of our failures and shortcomings. But God sees us as new creations, not who we were but who we are in Jesus and who we’re becoming through the power of the Holy Spirit. O God, teach us to view ourselves and others in this way! By Peter Chin
Reflect & Pray
How can you begin to better view yourself and others in light of who you are in Christ today? How does it encourage you to know God isn’t through growing and refining you?
Heavenly Father, help me to find my full identity in You. Allow me to humbly see others through Your eyes of grace!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Becoming Entirely His
Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. —James 1:4
Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink.
Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.
We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work….” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The fiery furnaces are there by God’s direct permission. It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances; we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 674 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
A Loving Knockout Punch - #8493
Why would a teenage girl go swimming in the ocean at night? Nobody knows. Well, we do know she was in serious trouble by the time the rescuers finally rescued her. It was nighttime; there were no lifeguards on duty. We were at Ocean City, New Jersey, and the only people who could help her were people who ran from the boardwalk, stripped off their shoes and some of their clothes to try to get in there and help her. Now, one person had the presence of mind to bring a life preserver. The girl who was drowning refused it. She actually fought off the rescuers who were battling this strong undertow, and then you heard this strange cry out there, "Hit her!" Sounds cruel but they thought that was the only way to save her. And they hit her. She did go under; she ended up unconscious. They grabbed her. They brought her in and finally rescued her. When I heard "Hit her!" I remembered what my friend Jim had told me. He was a lifeguard on the Pacific Coast for a couple of years and he described what he called a hard rescue. He said, "Ron, if they keep fighting a rescue, we go to our last resort. We knock them out." Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Loving Knockout Punch."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 1. I'll begin reading at verse 8 from the writings of the Apostle Paul. It said, "We do not want you to be uninformed about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia." Okay, now see if any of these words apply to you: "hardship," "We were under great pressure." Does that sound familiar to you at all? "Far beyond our ability to endure, so we despaired" Maybe that's where you are. He says, "we despaired even of life. Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." Maybe this sounds somewhat like a recent chapter in your life and there could be several reasons.
If you're a child of God, there might be a very major reason for the crushing pressure you felt, and that's to cure your self-reliance by making self-reliance useless. Powerless moments are the moments when we finally do what we should have been doing all along. We surrender to our Lord. Like that drowning girl, we still want to get there on our own. But we're drowning. We often can't be rescued until God gives us a loving knockout punch. It might be that the Holy Spirit has often knocked on your door and said, "Hey, I can drive. I will drive." You say, "I can handle it by myself." You've never surrendered maybe to the one who died for you.
Maybe there's never been a first time when you've given yourself to Him. Or maybe there's an area of your life you really want to keep control of. Well, God will hit you pretty hard sometimes. He loves you too much to let you go down. It's still your choice. Look, if you've never grabbed Jesus to be your personal Savior, your Rescuer from your sin and its penalty, would you do that right now? That's why you have gone through all this. It's to focus your attention on the Rescuer, who came all the way from heaven to a cross to rescue you.
Just tell him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." And you know what? I would suggest as soon as you can to get to our website. Because it is for you at a moment like this. That's why that website is there. It's called ANewStory.com. You'll find what you need to know there - to know you've been forgiven and you belong to Jesus and you're going to heaven when you die.
If you know Him personally, but you have drifted from what was once a childlike dependency to this self-powered life, He's still officially Lord - right? But at least in this one area, you're splashing and you're struggling and you're grasping to keep yourself afloat. "Listen," He's saying, "if you'll finally let go, I can do more than you could ever do with that part of your life."
Jesus has seen you struggle. He's come close to you to save you - even today through this little visit. He may have even knocked you out, not to drown you but to bring you home. And the pain you're feeling, it just could be God's loving knockout punch.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Acts 14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: NEED A SPIRITUAL MRI?
What would an X-ray—an MRI—of your soul reveal? Regrets over teenage relationships? Remorse over a poor choice? You become moody, cranky…angry or irritable. That’s understandable if you have shame lodged in your soul.
Interested in an extraction? Confess! Request a spiritual MRI. Psalm 139: 23-24 is just that:
“Search me, O God and know my heart;
try me, and know my anxieties;
see if there’s any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
We need a grace-based confession. God, I’ve done what You say is wrong. Would you wash away my guilt and make me clean again? No chant, no candle needed. Just a prayer of honest confession. Try it.
Read more GRACE
Acts 14
1-3 When they got to Iconium they went, as they always did, to the meeting place of the Jews and gave their message. The Message convinced both Jews and non-Jews—and not just a few, either. But the unbelieving Jews worked up a whispering campaign against Paul and Barnabas, sowing mistrust and suspicion in the minds of the people in the street. The two apostles were there a long time, speaking freely, openly, and confidently as they presented the clear evidence of God’s gifts, God corroborating their work with miracles and wonders.
4-7 But then there was a split in public opinion, some siding with the Jews, some with the apostles. One day, learning that both the Jews and non-Jews had been organized by their leaders to beat them up, they escaped as best they could to the next towns—Lyconia, Lystra, Derbe, and that neighborhood—but then were right back at it again, getting out the Message.
8-10 There was a man in Lystra who couldn’t walk. He sat there, crippled since the day of his birth. He heard Paul talking, and Paul, looking him in the eye, saw that he was ripe for God’s work, ready to believe. So he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “Up on your feet!” The man was up in a flash—jumped up and walked around as if he’d been walking all his life.
11-13 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they went wild, calling out in their Lyconian dialect, “The gods have come down! These men are gods!” They called Barnabas “Zeus” and Paul “Hermes” (since Paul did most of the speaking). The priest of the local Zeus shrine got up a parade—bulls and banners and people lined right up to the gates, ready for the ritual of sacrifice.
14-15 When Barnabas and Paul finally realized what was going on, they stopped them. Waving their arms, they interrupted the parade, calling out, “What do you think you’re doing! We’re not gods! We are men just like you, and we’re here to bring you the Message, to persuade you to abandon these silly god-superstitions and embrace God himself, the living God. We don’t make God; he makes us, and all of this—sky, earth, sea, and everything in them.
16-18 “In the generations before us, God let all the different nations go their own way. But even then he didn’t leave them without a clue, for he made a good creation, poured down rain and gave bumper crops. When your bellies were full and your hearts happy, there was evidence of good beyond your doing.” Talking fast and hard like this, they prevented them from carrying out the sacrifice that would have honored them as gods—but just barely.
19-20 Then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium caught up with them and turned the fickle crowd against them. They beat Paul unconscious, dragged him outside the town and left him for dead. But as the disciples gathered around him, he came to and got up. He went back into town and the next day left with Barnabas for Derbe.
21-22 After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch, putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn’t be easy: “Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times.”
23-26 Paul and Barnabas handpicked leaders in each church. After praying—their prayers intensified by fasting—they presented these new leaders to the Master to whom they had entrusted their lives. Working their way back through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia and preached in Perga. Finally, they made it to Attalia and caught a ship back to Antioch, where it had all started—launched by God’s grace and now safely home by God’s grace. A good piece of work.
27-28 On arrival, they got the church together and reported on their trip, telling in detail how God had used them to throw the door of faith wide open so people of all nations could come streaming in. Then they settled down for a long, leisurely visit with the disciples.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 85
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah
Lord, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.
4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us!
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
8 Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.
Insight
Psalm 85 begins with a reference to Jacob (v. 1). Some translations say “Israel,” since the songwriter is referring not just to the nation’s ancestral father but to his descendants as well. The psalmist’s word choice of “Jacob” is worth noting. When God’s people realized that once again they were in need of mercy, they often referred to themselves as “the house of Jacob.” As humbling as it was, the family likeness was the point. It was common knowledge that Jacob seemed to be destined to be remembered as an incurable liar and schemer until God changed his heart and renamed him Israel.
From the beginning, God Himself had taught His people to think of Him as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 50:24; Exodus 3:15; Acts 7:32). This was a way of reminding them that—then and now—their only hope was in a God good enough to forgive and change them.
Ready for Restoration
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Psalm 85:6
While stationed in Germany in the army I purchased a brand-new 1969 Volkswagen Beetle. The car was a beauty! The dark green exterior complemented the brown leatherette interior. But as the years took their toll, stuff began to happen, including an accident that ruined the running board and destroyed one of the doors. With more imagination, I could have thought, “My classic car was a perfect candidate for restoration!” And with more money, I could have pulled it off. But that didn’t happen.
Thankfully the God of perfect vision and unlimited resources doesn’t give up so easily on battered and broken people. Psalm 85 describes people who were perfect candidates for restoration and the God who is able to restore. The setting is likely after the Israelites had returned from seventy years of exile (their punishment for rebellion against God). Looking back, they were able to see His favor—including His forgiveness (vv. 1–3). They were motivated to ask God for His help (vv. 4–7) and to expect good things from Him (vv. 8–13).
Who among us doesn’t occasionally feel battered, bruised, broken? And sometimes it’s because of something we’ve done to ourselves. But because the Lord is the God of restoration and forgiveness, those who humbly come to Him are never without hope. With open arms He welcomes those who turn to Him; and those who do, find safety in His arms. By Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
Are there signs in your life that restoration is in order? What’s your response to the God of restoration?
Lord, help me not to ignore the signs that restoration is needed in my life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
The Teaching of Disillusionment
Jesus did not commit Himself to them…, for He knew what was in man. —John 2:24-25
Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly.
Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens— if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The truth is we have nothing to fear and nothing to overcome because He is all in all and we are more than conquerors through Him. The recognition of this truth is not flattering to the worker’s sense of heroics, but it is amazingly glorifying to the work of Christ. Approved Unto God, 4 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
The Wound is the Battle - #8492
If an American soldier gets wounded in combat these days, his chances for recovery just got a whole lot better than they've ever been because of the beads. Yeah. It's actually a new technology that's being used to treat wounds - combat wounds. These dissolvable beads are applied to the wound and I guess they go deeper than any previous cleansing agents have ever gone. In fact, they can even penetrate bone. One of the doctors who helped develop this new treatment made a pretty interesting observation about the battle to head off infection in a soldier's wound. Here's what he said, "The wound is the battle; the infection is the war."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Wound is the Battle."
If you can win the battle by cleansing the wound right away, then you can win the war by heading off the infection. It's a strategy more of us should be using to prevent the kind of spiritual infection that poisons your joy, your peace, and your closeness to God. The wound is any point in your life where sin has been able to get in - it's that first detour from what you know is right. The infection is the widespread loss of spiritual health and power that damages so much that we care about, and it can be prevented by a prompt cleansing - a cleansing that goes deep...and there is such a cleansing.
God talks about it in 1 John 1:7-9. It's our word for today from the Word of God. It could be the very thing you need right now to heal your heart and restore you to the spiritual health that you once enjoyed. God says, "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Man, what a promise this is! Total cleansing and total restoring if you confess that sin, which means calling it what God calls it.
You might say, "Well, not after what I've done. You don't know how awful it is." No, but God knows. And He's the One who said, "The blood of Jesus...purifies us from all sin." That includes whatever you've done, no matter how deep and no matter how frequent the sin. The cleansing agent is "the blood of Jesus" it says. The blood that He shed on the cross as the payment for every wrong thing we have ever done. Because, in the Bible's words, "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22). What no ritual can do, no religion could do, no church, Jesus can do because the shedding of His blood paid for every sin.
But to head off spiritual infection, you need to treat that sin-wound promptly. Don't let your sins pile up, unconfessed, uncleansed. As soon as you realize you've blown it, deal with it immediately, call it sin and then bring it to the cross of Jesus. And just because you've fallen down doesn't mean you have to stay down and start some cycle of repeated sin. I know Satan may be telling you, "Hey, you blew it, man! It's over." That's a lie. Jesus died so you could get forgiven, get right up, and keep on walking! This very day you may need to bring some of your recent junk under the blood of Jesus which, remember, "purifies us from all sin."
And look, maybe you've never given your life to this One who gave His life for you and for your sin. Let this be the day that you trust Him to be your Rescuer, your Savior from your sin - the only One who can forgive it because He's the only One who paid for it. Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
You want to begin a relationship with Him? What you need to know about beginning that is at our website. And it's well named - ANewStory.com. I hope you'll check that out. Maybe your new beginning starts there.
Jesus paid the ultimate price so the wound of our sin need never become an eternally fatal infection. Today, you could experience that wonderful feeling of being clean and going to bed tonight forgiven.
What would an X-ray—an MRI—of your soul reveal? Regrets over teenage relationships? Remorse over a poor choice? You become moody, cranky…angry or irritable. That’s understandable if you have shame lodged in your soul.
Interested in an extraction? Confess! Request a spiritual MRI. Psalm 139: 23-24 is just that:
“Search me, O God and know my heart;
try me, and know my anxieties;
see if there’s any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
We need a grace-based confession. God, I’ve done what You say is wrong. Would you wash away my guilt and make me clean again? No chant, no candle needed. Just a prayer of honest confession. Try it.
Read more GRACE
Acts 14
1-3 When they got to Iconium they went, as they always did, to the meeting place of the Jews and gave their message. The Message convinced both Jews and non-Jews—and not just a few, either. But the unbelieving Jews worked up a whispering campaign against Paul and Barnabas, sowing mistrust and suspicion in the minds of the people in the street. The two apostles were there a long time, speaking freely, openly, and confidently as they presented the clear evidence of God’s gifts, God corroborating their work with miracles and wonders.
4-7 But then there was a split in public opinion, some siding with the Jews, some with the apostles. One day, learning that both the Jews and non-Jews had been organized by their leaders to beat them up, they escaped as best they could to the next towns—Lyconia, Lystra, Derbe, and that neighborhood—but then were right back at it again, getting out the Message.
8-10 There was a man in Lystra who couldn’t walk. He sat there, crippled since the day of his birth. He heard Paul talking, and Paul, looking him in the eye, saw that he was ripe for God’s work, ready to believe. So he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “Up on your feet!” The man was up in a flash—jumped up and walked around as if he’d been walking all his life.
11-13 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they went wild, calling out in their Lyconian dialect, “The gods have come down! These men are gods!” They called Barnabas “Zeus” and Paul “Hermes” (since Paul did most of the speaking). The priest of the local Zeus shrine got up a parade—bulls and banners and people lined right up to the gates, ready for the ritual of sacrifice.
14-15 When Barnabas and Paul finally realized what was going on, they stopped them. Waving their arms, they interrupted the parade, calling out, “What do you think you’re doing! We’re not gods! We are men just like you, and we’re here to bring you the Message, to persuade you to abandon these silly god-superstitions and embrace God himself, the living God. We don’t make God; he makes us, and all of this—sky, earth, sea, and everything in them.
16-18 “In the generations before us, God let all the different nations go their own way. But even then he didn’t leave them without a clue, for he made a good creation, poured down rain and gave bumper crops. When your bellies were full and your hearts happy, there was evidence of good beyond your doing.” Talking fast and hard like this, they prevented them from carrying out the sacrifice that would have honored them as gods—but just barely.
19-20 Then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium caught up with them and turned the fickle crowd against them. They beat Paul unconscious, dragged him outside the town and left him for dead. But as the disciples gathered around him, he came to and got up. He went back into town and the next day left with Barnabas for Derbe.
21-22 After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch, putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn’t be easy: “Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times.”
23-26 Paul and Barnabas handpicked leaders in each church. After praying—their prayers intensified by fasting—they presented these new leaders to the Master to whom they had entrusted their lives. Working their way back through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia and preached in Perga. Finally, they made it to Attalia and caught a ship back to Antioch, where it had all started—launched by God’s grace and now safely home by God’s grace. A good piece of work.
27-28 On arrival, they got the church together and reported on their trip, telling in detail how God had used them to throw the door of faith wide open so people of all nations could come streaming in. Then they settled down for a long, leisurely visit with the disciples.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 85
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah
Lord, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.
4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us!
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
8 Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.
Insight
Psalm 85 begins with a reference to Jacob (v. 1). Some translations say “Israel,” since the songwriter is referring not just to the nation’s ancestral father but to his descendants as well. The psalmist’s word choice of “Jacob” is worth noting. When God’s people realized that once again they were in need of mercy, they often referred to themselves as “the house of Jacob.” As humbling as it was, the family likeness was the point. It was common knowledge that Jacob seemed to be destined to be remembered as an incurable liar and schemer until God changed his heart and renamed him Israel.
From the beginning, God Himself had taught His people to think of Him as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 50:24; Exodus 3:15; Acts 7:32). This was a way of reminding them that—then and now—their only hope was in a God good enough to forgive and change them.
Ready for Restoration
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Psalm 85:6
While stationed in Germany in the army I purchased a brand-new 1969 Volkswagen Beetle. The car was a beauty! The dark green exterior complemented the brown leatherette interior. But as the years took their toll, stuff began to happen, including an accident that ruined the running board and destroyed one of the doors. With more imagination, I could have thought, “My classic car was a perfect candidate for restoration!” And with more money, I could have pulled it off. But that didn’t happen.
Thankfully the God of perfect vision and unlimited resources doesn’t give up so easily on battered and broken people. Psalm 85 describes people who were perfect candidates for restoration and the God who is able to restore. The setting is likely after the Israelites had returned from seventy years of exile (their punishment for rebellion against God). Looking back, they were able to see His favor—including His forgiveness (vv. 1–3). They were motivated to ask God for His help (vv. 4–7) and to expect good things from Him (vv. 8–13).
Who among us doesn’t occasionally feel battered, bruised, broken? And sometimes it’s because of something we’ve done to ourselves. But because the Lord is the God of restoration and forgiveness, those who humbly come to Him are never without hope. With open arms He welcomes those who turn to Him; and those who do, find safety in His arms. By Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
Are there signs in your life that restoration is in order? What’s your response to the God of restoration?
Lord, help me not to ignore the signs that restoration is needed in my life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
The Teaching of Disillusionment
Jesus did not commit Himself to them…, for He knew what was in man. —John 2:24-25
Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly.
Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens— if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The truth is we have nothing to fear and nothing to overcome because He is all in all and we are more than conquerors through Him. The recognition of this truth is not flattering to the worker’s sense of heroics, but it is amazingly glorifying to the work of Christ. Approved Unto God, 4 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
The Wound is the Battle - #8492
If an American soldier gets wounded in combat these days, his chances for recovery just got a whole lot better than they've ever been because of the beads. Yeah. It's actually a new technology that's being used to treat wounds - combat wounds. These dissolvable beads are applied to the wound and I guess they go deeper than any previous cleansing agents have ever gone. In fact, they can even penetrate bone. One of the doctors who helped develop this new treatment made a pretty interesting observation about the battle to head off infection in a soldier's wound. Here's what he said, "The wound is the battle; the infection is the war."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Wound is the Battle."
If you can win the battle by cleansing the wound right away, then you can win the war by heading off the infection. It's a strategy more of us should be using to prevent the kind of spiritual infection that poisons your joy, your peace, and your closeness to God. The wound is any point in your life where sin has been able to get in - it's that first detour from what you know is right. The infection is the widespread loss of spiritual health and power that damages so much that we care about, and it can be prevented by a prompt cleansing - a cleansing that goes deep...and there is such a cleansing.
God talks about it in 1 John 1:7-9. It's our word for today from the Word of God. It could be the very thing you need right now to heal your heart and restore you to the spiritual health that you once enjoyed. God says, "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Man, what a promise this is! Total cleansing and total restoring if you confess that sin, which means calling it what God calls it.
You might say, "Well, not after what I've done. You don't know how awful it is." No, but God knows. And He's the One who said, "The blood of Jesus...purifies us from all sin." That includes whatever you've done, no matter how deep and no matter how frequent the sin. The cleansing agent is "the blood of Jesus" it says. The blood that He shed on the cross as the payment for every wrong thing we have ever done. Because, in the Bible's words, "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22). What no ritual can do, no religion could do, no church, Jesus can do because the shedding of His blood paid for every sin.
But to head off spiritual infection, you need to treat that sin-wound promptly. Don't let your sins pile up, unconfessed, uncleansed. As soon as you realize you've blown it, deal with it immediately, call it sin and then bring it to the cross of Jesus. And just because you've fallen down doesn't mean you have to stay down and start some cycle of repeated sin. I know Satan may be telling you, "Hey, you blew it, man! It's over." That's a lie. Jesus died so you could get forgiven, get right up, and keep on walking! This very day you may need to bring some of your recent junk under the blood of Jesus which, remember, "purifies us from all sin."
And look, maybe you've never given your life to this One who gave His life for you and for your sin. Let this be the day that you trust Him to be your Rescuer, your Savior from your sin - the only One who can forgive it because He's the only One who paid for it. Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
You want to begin a relationship with Him? What you need to know about beginning that is at our website. And it's well named - ANewStory.com. I hope you'll check that out. Maybe your new beginning starts there.
Jesus paid the ultimate price so the wound of our sin need never become an eternally fatal infection. Today, you could experience that wonderful feeling of being clean and going to bed tonight forgiven.
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