Max Lucado Daily: HE SEEMED ANYTHING BUT A KING
In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing, was a teenage girl in a smelly stable. As Mary looked into the face of the baby, her son, her Lord, his majesty— she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knew she was holding God. So this is he. And she remembered the words of the angel when he said, “His kingdom will never end!” He looked like anything but a King. His cry, though strong and healthy, was still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby.
Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter. God came near! And Luke 1:33 says, “His kingdom will never end!” May you be a part of it.
No Wonder They Call Him Savior: Experiencing the Truth of the Cross
1 Chronicles 16 The Message (MSG)
They brought the Chest of God and placed it right in the center of the tent that David had pitched for it; then they worshiped by presenting burnt offerings and peace offerings to God. When David had completed the offerings of worship, he blessed the people in the name of God. Then he passed around to every one there, men and women alike, a loaf of bread, a slice of barbecue, and a raisin cake.
4-6 Then David assigned some of the Levites to the Chest of God to lead worship—to intercede, give thanks, and praise the God of Israel. Asaph was in charge; under him were Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, who played the musical instruments. Asaph was on percussion. The priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew the trumpets before the Chest of the Covenant of God at set times through the day.
7 That was the day that David inaugurated regular worship of praise to God, led by Asaph and his company.
8-19 Thank God! Call out his Name!
Tell the whole world who he is and what he’s done!
Sing to him! Play songs for him!
Broadcast all his wonders!
Revel in his holy Name,
God-seekers, be jubilant!
Study God and his strength,
seek his presence day and night;
Remember all the wonders he performed,
the miracles and judgments that came out of his mouth.
Seed of Israel his servant!
Children of Jacob, his first choice!
He is God, our God;
wherever you go you come on his judgments and decisions.
He keeps his commitments across thousands
of generations, the covenant he commanded,
The same one he made with Abraham,
the very one he swore to Isaac;
He posted it in big block letters to Jacob,
this eternal covenant with Israel:
“I give you the land of Canaan,
this is your inheritance;
Even though you’re not much to look at,
a few straggling strangers.”
20-22 They wandered from country to country,
camped out in one kingdom after another;
But he didn’t let anyone push them around,
he stood up for them against bully-kings:
“Don’t you dare touch my anointed ones,
don’t lay a hand on my prophets.”
23-27 Sing to God, everyone and everything!
Get out his salvation news every day!
Publish his glory among the godless nations,
his wonders to all races and religions.
And why? Because God is great—well worth praising!
No god or goddess comes close in honor.
All the popular gods are stuff and nonsense,
but God made the cosmos!
Splendor and majesty flow out of him,
strength and joy fill his place.
28-29 Shout Bravo! to God, families of the peoples,
in awe of the Glory, in awe of the Strength: Bravo!
Shout Bravo! to his famous Name,
lift high an offering and enter his presence!
Stand resplendent in his robes of holiness!
30-33 God is serious business, take him seriously;
he’s put the earth in place and it’s not moving.
So let Heaven rejoice, let Earth be jubilant,
and pass the word among the nations, “God reigns!”
Let Ocean, all teeming with life, bellow,
let Field and all its creatures shake the rafters;
Then the trees in the forest will add their applause
to all who are pleased and present before God
—he’s on his way to set things right!
34-36 Give thanks to God—he is good
and his love never quits.
Say, “Save us, Savior God,
round us up and get us out of these godless places,
So we can give thanks to your holy Name,
and bask in your life of praise.”
Blessed be God, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Then everybody said, “Yes! Amen!” and “Praise God!”
37-42 David left Asaph and his coworkers with the Chest of the Covenant of God and in charge of the work of worship; they were responsible for the needs of worship around the clock. He also assigned Obed-Edom and his sixty-eight relatives to help them. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun and Hosah were in charge of the security guards. The priest Zadok and his family of priests were assigned to the Tent of God at the sacred mound at Gibeon to make sure that the services of morning and evening worship were conducted daily, complete with Whole-Burnt-Offerings offered on the Altar of Burnt Offering, as ordered in the Law of God, which was the norm for Israel. With them were Heman, Jeduthun, and others specifically named, with the job description: “Give thanks to God, for his love never quits!” Heman and Jeduthun were also well equipped with trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments for accompanying sacred songs. The sons of Jeduthun formed the security guard.
43 Arrangements completed, the people all left for home. And David went home to bless his family.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 2:25–33
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout.k He was waiting for the consolation of Israel,l and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,m 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,n
you may now dismissd your servant in peace.o
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,p
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”q
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.
Insight
Simeon (Greek, Simon) is a common name among the Jews and means “listen” or “he has heard.” Eleven men with this name are mentioned in the New Testament (Matthew 4:18; 10:4; 13:55; 26:6; 27:32; Luke 2:25; Luke 7:40; John 6:71; Acts 8:9; 9:43; 13:1).
Nothing more is known of the Simeon in Luke 2 except what is told in this passage. Simeon, Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth (the parents of John the Baptist; Luke 1:5–7), and Anna (an elderly prophetess; 2:36) constituted the righteous remnant of Jews who were “eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel” (v. 25 nlt). Luke says that “the Holy Spirit was on [Simeon]” (v. 25), a description that’s used of Old Testament prophets speaking for God (Numbers 11:25; 1 Samuel 10:6, 10; 19:20, 23). Since Anna was a prophetess and was in the temple “at that very moment” (Luke 2:36–38), scholars believe that Simeon was also a prophet.
A Christmas Visitor
Sovereign Lord, . . . you may now dismiss your servant in peace. Luke 2:29
On Christmas Eve 1944, a man known as “Old Brinker” lay dying in a prison hospital, waiting for the makeshift Christmas service led by fellow prisoners. “When does the music start?” he asked William McDougall, who was imprisoned with him in Muntok Prison in Sumatra. “Soon,” replied McDougall. “Good,” replied the dying man. “Then I’ll be able to compare them with the angels.”
Although decades earlier Brinker had moved away from his faith in God, in his dying days he confessed his sins and found peace with Him. Instead of greeting others with a sour look, he would smile, which “was quite a transformation,” said McDougall.
Brinker died peacefully after the choir of eleven emaciated prisoners sang his request, “Silent Night.” Knowing that Brinker once again followed Jesus and would be united with God in heaven, McDougall observed, “Perhaps Death had been a welcome Christmas visitor to old Brinker.”
How Brinker anticipated his death reminds me of Simeon, a holy man to whom the Holy Spirit revealed that “he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” (Luke 2:26). When Simeon saw Jesus in the temple, he exclaimed, “You may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation” (vv. 29–30).
As with Brinker, the greatest Christmas gift we can receive or share is that of saving faith in Jesus. By: Amy Boucher Pye
Reflect & Pray
Why do you think McDougall saw death as a welcome visitor for Brinker? How does Jesus bring you joy and change you?
Jesus, thank You for ushering in peace through Your death and resurrection. Help me to share Your gift of salvation with someone I know or meet.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
The Hidden Life
…your life is hidden with Christ in God. —Colossians 3:3
The Spirit of God testifies to and confirms the simple, but almighty, security of the life that “is hidden with Christ in God.” Paul continually brought this out in his New Testament letters. We talk as if living a sanctified life were the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet it is the most secure thing possible, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live without God. For one who is born again, it is easier to live in a right-standing relationship with God than it is to go wrong, provided we heed God’s warnings and “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7).
When we think of being delivered from sin, being “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), and “walk[ing] in the light,” we picture the peak of a great mountain. We see it as very high and wonderful, but we say, “Oh, I could never live up there!” However, when we do get there through God’s grace, we find it is not a mountain peak at all, but a plateau with plenty of room to live and to grow. “You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip” (Psalm 18:36).
When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. If you see Him when He says, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:27), I defy you to worry. It is virtually impossible to doubt when He is there. Every time you are in personal contact with Jesus, His words are real to you. “My peace I give to you…” (John 14:27)— a peace which brings an unconstrained confidence and covers you completely, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. “…your life is hidden with Christ in God,” and the peace of Jesus Christ that cannot be disturbed has been imparted to you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.
Disciples Indeed
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
What Linus and I Missed in the Manger - #8597
Every year, about this time, Linus comes marching on stage with his trusty blanket. And he uses a passage from the Bible to help poor ol' Charlie Brown understand "what Christmas is really all about." ..."And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in the manger." Until recently, I had no idea how loaded those words were.
Meanwhile, an angel roars in over shepherds watching their sheep and announces, "I bring you good tidings of great joy ... Today in the town of David (that's Bethlehem) a Savior has been born to you ... this will be a sign to you: you will find a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger."
I doubt that Linus - or certainly not the guy saying it right now - had a clue about the bombshell in the manger. A stunning revelation that, for all my years going over the Christmas story, I had totally missed. Now, my discovery has made this "most wonderful time of the year" even wonderfuler!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today from the Word of God about "What Linas and I Missed in the Manger."
Bethlehem was only about five miles from Jerusalem, where the great temple of God was. Where, for centuries, people would bring a spotless lamb as a sacrifice for their sin. It is widely believed that the Christmas shepherds were raising temple sheep, destined to be the blood sacrifice for the sin of the bringer.
Here's what I'm just learning after all these years. When a lamb was born, the temple shepherds would carefully examine him to see if he had any blemishes. If that lamb was without spot, they would wrap him in cloth strips called swaddling and lay Him in a stone manger filled with straw.
Suddenly, heaven announces that the newborn Messiah would be found "wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." Imagine what that may have said to them. The newborn Messiah was, in a sense, a lamb. A spotless lamb to be sacrificed.
In the northern corner of the "little town of Bethlehem," there stood a tower called in Micah 4:8, the "watchtower of the flock" - or Migdal Eder in Hebrew. It is thought to be that when a ewe of the temple flock was ready to give birth, the shepherds would carry her to the cave beneath the tower. And there, the sacred temple lambs were born.
This is where I fasten my seat belt. The angel told the shepherds that the sign by which to identify the newborn Messiah would be a swaddled baby in a manger. I've always pictured those poor herders sort of playing Christmas hide-and-seek, looking for a baby that fit that description. Wrong! The Messiah would be wrapped and mangered - just like those spotless lambs, destined for sacrifice. It's likely they went as fast as their sandals could go to Migdal Eder. To the cave where it's believed that the sacrificial lambs were born! That baby in the hay was, indeed, the Lamb. God's Lamb.
When John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the world, he didn't say, "Look! The King of kings" or "the Son of God." Here's our word for today from the Word of God in John 1:29. He said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
This is the breathtaking plan that had been in God's mind since before the world began - down to the swaddling clothes and the manger. Lambs sacrificed to graphically tell us that sin carries a penalty that can only be paid by death. Preparing the way for God's Lamb, who came to do all the dying for all the sinning of every one of us. For me. I can hardly write those words.
Listen, our website, ANewStory.com, is there at a point like this to help you know how you can experience the forgiveness and the love of this Jesus for yourself beginning today. In this Christmas season I hope you'll get there.
The Bible tells us that one day we who belong to this Jesus will join 100 million angels who are worshiping Him in heaven. And who are singing the an
them of heaven, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!" Heaven can't get over the price God's Lamb paid for us rebels against Him, and neither can I.
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Monday, December 23, 2019
1 Corinthians 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: NO ROOM IN THE INN
Some of the saddest words on earth are we don’t have room for you. Jesus knew the sounds of those words. He was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you.” And when he hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection? “We don’t have room for you in this world.”
Today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter. Every so often, he is welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise. “In my Father’s house are many rooms” (John 14:2). We make room for him in our hearts, and Jesus makes room for us in his house!
1 Corinthians 9 The Message (MSG)
And don’t tell me that I have no authority to write like this. I’m perfectly free to do this—isn’t that obvious? Haven’t I been given a job to do? Wasn’t I commissioned to this work in a face-to-face meeting with Jesus, our Master? Aren’t you yourselves proof of the good work that I’ve done for the Master? Even if no one else admits the authority of my commission, you can’t deny it. Why, my work with you is living proof of my authority!
3-7 I’m not shy in standing up to my critics. We who are on missionary assignments for God have a right to decent accommodations, and we have a right to support for us and our families. You don’t seem to have raised questions with the other apostles and our Master’s brothers and Peter in these matters. So, why me? Is it just Barnabas and I who have to go it alone and pay our own way? Are soldiers self-employed? Are gardeners forbidden to eat vegetables from their own gardens? Don’t milkmaids get to drink their fill from the pail?
8-12 I’m not just sounding off because I’m irritated. This is all written in the scriptural law. Moses wrote, “Don’t muzzle an ox to keep it from eating the grain when it’s threshing.” Do you think Moses’ primary concern was the care of farm animals? Don’t you think his concern extends to us? Of course. Farmers plow and thresh expecting something when the crop comes in. So if we have planted spiritual seed among you, is it out of line to expect a meal or two from you? Others demand plenty from you in these ways. Don’t we who have never demanded deserve even more?
12-14 But we’re not going to start demanding now what we’ve always had a perfect right to. Our decision all along has been to put up with anything rather than to get in the way or detract from the Message of Christ. All I’m concerned with right now is that you not use our decision to take advantage of others, depriving them of what is rightly theirs. You know, don’t you, that it’s always been taken for granted that those who work in the Temple live off the proceeds of the Temple, and that those who offer sacrifices at the altar eat their meals from what has been sacrificed? Along the same lines, the Master directed that those who spread the Message be supported by those who believe the Message.
15-18 Still, I want it made clear that I’ve never gotten anything out of this for myself, and that I’m not writing now to get something. I’d rather die than give anyone ammunition to discredit me or impugn my motives. If I proclaim the Message, it’s not to get something out of it for myself. I’m compelled to do it, and doomed if I don’t! If this was my own idea of just another way to make a living, I’d expect some pay. But since it’s not my idea but something solemnly entrusted to me, why would I expect to get paid? So am I getting anything out of it? Yes, as a matter of fact: the pleasure of proclaiming the Message at no cost to you. You don’t even have to pay my expenses!
19-23 Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!
24-25 You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.
26-27 I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, December 23, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 2:15–19
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.c 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.d
Insight
In Luke 2:15–19, we see several responses to God’s revelation of Himself in Jesus. The shepherds responded by believing and then acting on their urgent desire to see what God had done (v. 15). After seeing Jesus, they shared the news (v. 17), which the people responded to with amazement (v. 18). But Mary’s response is arguably deeper than all of these responses, and likely one Luke intended to be a model of faith. When Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (v. 19), she continued a long tradition of God’s people responding to His revelation by internalizing it in their hearts through ongoing pondering or meditation (see Psalm 119:11; Proverbs 3:1–3). By: Monica La Rose
A String of Yeses
Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19
One Christmas, my grandmother gave me a beautiful pearl necklace. The beautiful beads glowed about my neck until one day the string broke. Balls bounced in all directions off our home’s hardwood flooring. Crawling over the planks, I recovered each tiny orb. On their own, they were small. But oh, when strung together, those pearls made such an impression!
Sometimes my yeses to God seem so insignificant—like those individual pearls. I compare myself to Mary, the mother of Jesus who was so fantastically obedient. She said yes when she embraced God’s call for her to carry the Messiah. “‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled’” (Luke 1:38). Did she understand all that would be required of her? That an even bigger yes to relinquishing her Son on the cross loomed ahead?
After the visits of the angels and shepherds, Luke 2:19 tells us that Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Treasure means to “store up.” Ponder means to “thread together.” The phrase is repeated of Mary in Luke 2:51. She would respond with many yeses over her lifetime.
As with Mary, the key to our obedience might be a threading together of various yeses to our Father’s invitations, one at a time, until they string into the treasure of a surrendered life. By: Elisa Morgan
Reflect & Pray
What yeses do you need to say to God? How can you learn to be more obedient?
Dear God, help us to respond, one yes at a time, to Your ongoing work in our lives.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, December 23, 2019
Sharing in the Atonement
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
The gospel of Jesus Christ always forces a decision of our will. Have I accepted God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ? Do I have even the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death— to be completely dead to all interest in sin, worldliness, and self? Do I long to be so closely identified with Jesus that I am of no value for anything except Him and His purposes? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can commit myself under the banner of His Cross, and that means death to sin. You must get alone with Jesus and either decide to tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you, or that at any cost you want to be identified with His death. When you act in confident faith in what our Lord did on the cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place immediately. And you will come to know through a higher knowledge that your old life was “crucified with Him” (Romans 6:6). The proof that your old life is dead, having been “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you now enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.
Every once in a while our Lord gives us a glimpse of what we would be like if it were not for Him. This is a confirmation of what He said— “…without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). That is why the underlying foundation of Christianity is personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus. We mistake the joy of our first introduction into God’s kingdom as His purpose for getting us there. Yet God’s purpose in getting us into His kingdom is that we may realize all that identification with Jesus Christ means.
SDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, December 23, 2019
One Safe Place This Christmas - #8596
Christmas Eve at our house is anything but a "Silent Night." How about "Family Circus"? Each year brings a lot of high-energy, high-decibel giving and the opening of gifts. One year, somewhere in the flying wrapping paper, was one overwhelmed two-year-old. Quietly dazed amid the happy din. There was one person who noticed. Grandma, of course.
My Karen slipped unobtrusively to the floor. Found a corner where she and our little guy were quietly working on the toy he had just opened, oblivious to the mayhem all around them. Grandma had created a safe zone in the midst of the craziness. A bewildered little boy had found one safe place. The place was a person. Someone who loved him very, very much.
That's where I've found my one safe place. Along with countless millions of others like me; someone who loves me very, very much. His love is written in blood, shed on a cross to pay for my sins against Him so I could be forgiven and be with Him in heaven forever.
For many years, He blessed me beyond words by letting me do life with a woman who so radiantly embodied His love. But, in these years for the first time in my adult life, the queen of my Christmas continues to be missing at Christmas. She went Home very suddenly. It was a day like no other. So, you know, while we're singing and reading about Jesus, she'll be with Him, face-to-face.
I got a note from a friend that captured in a sentence the heart of this family. It said, "It seemed someone so fully alive and vibrant couldn't possibly have left us." That says it all. Back when it was our first "empty chair Christmas," she was so missing. She still is. And so missed. In many ways, she was a harbor for me on my stormiest days.
Then, in an instant, I was on my own. So I guess I'm that shell-shocked little boy this Christmas. And Grandma, well once again, not here.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "One Safe Place This Christmas."
My safe place still is here on Christmas. Because in the words of Romans 8:39, our word for today from the Word of God,"nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The only love on earth that death cannot take away. I have tested this love. I have proven it in my darkest hour - that "the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and they are safe." (Proverbs 18:10) What a beautiful word "safe."
When the grief ambushes trigger the tears again, the anchor holds. When loneliness resurfaces without warning, Jesus just holds me closer. When the prospect of doing the years ahead without my baby chills my soul, He whispers, "I've got this, Ron. And I've got you."
You know, my greatest heartache this Christmas is not for me. Or even for our children and grandchildren who adored her so. They have her Jesus. No, my heart aches for so many who face great loss and brokenness without that one Safe Place. The death-conquering Savior who said, "I am leaving you with a gift - a peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be trou
bled or afraid." (John 14:27)
But I know that peace is within their reach as it has been for me. It's within your reach by pinning all their hopes on Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. What He won for us when he walked out of His grave at His empty tomb.
That's why I want you to go to our website. I've got nothing there except to tell you how to begin this relationship. That's the most important thing you'll find there. It's ANewStory.com. Please check it out.
Look, I know that for those of us who have lost someone we love last year, the years before, maybe a long time ago, there'll still be some tender - even overwhelming - moments. But someone who loves you and loves me very, very much will move in close. And in His arms I'll be safe. You'll be safe.
Some of the saddest words on earth are we don’t have room for you. Jesus knew the sounds of those words. He was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you.” And when he hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection? “We don’t have room for you in this world.”
Today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter. Every so often, he is welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise. “In my Father’s house are many rooms” (John 14:2). We make room for him in our hearts, and Jesus makes room for us in his house!
1 Corinthians 9 The Message (MSG)
And don’t tell me that I have no authority to write like this. I’m perfectly free to do this—isn’t that obvious? Haven’t I been given a job to do? Wasn’t I commissioned to this work in a face-to-face meeting with Jesus, our Master? Aren’t you yourselves proof of the good work that I’ve done for the Master? Even if no one else admits the authority of my commission, you can’t deny it. Why, my work with you is living proof of my authority!
3-7 I’m not shy in standing up to my critics. We who are on missionary assignments for God have a right to decent accommodations, and we have a right to support for us and our families. You don’t seem to have raised questions with the other apostles and our Master’s brothers and Peter in these matters. So, why me? Is it just Barnabas and I who have to go it alone and pay our own way? Are soldiers self-employed? Are gardeners forbidden to eat vegetables from their own gardens? Don’t milkmaids get to drink their fill from the pail?
8-12 I’m not just sounding off because I’m irritated. This is all written in the scriptural law. Moses wrote, “Don’t muzzle an ox to keep it from eating the grain when it’s threshing.” Do you think Moses’ primary concern was the care of farm animals? Don’t you think his concern extends to us? Of course. Farmers plow and thresh expecting something when the crop comes in. So if we have planted spiritual seed among you, is it out of line to expect a meal or two from you? Others demand plenty from you in these ways. Don’t we who have never demanded deserve even more?
12-14 But we’re not going to start demanding now what we’ve always had a perfect right to. Our decision all along has been to put up with anything rather than to get in the way or detract from the Message of Christ. All I’m concerned with right now is that you not use our decision to take advantage of others, depriving them of what is rightly theirs. You know, don’t you, that it’s always been taken for granted that those who work in the Temple live off the proceeds of the Temple, and that those who offer sacrifices at the altar eat their meals from what has been sacrificed? Along the same lines, the Master directed that those who spread the Message be supported by those who believe the Message.
15-18 Still, I want it made clear that I’ve never gotten anything out of this for myself, and that I’m not writing now to get something. I’d rather die than give anyone ammunition to discredit me or impugn my motives. If I proclaim the Message, it’s not to get something out of it for myself. I’m compelled to do it, and doomed if I don’t! If this was my own idea of just another way to make a living, I’d expect some pay. But since it’s not my idea but something solemnly entrusted to me, why would I expect to get paid? So am I getting anything out of it? Yes, as a matter of fact: the pleasure of proclaiming the Message at no cost to you. You don’t even have to pay my expenses!
19-23 Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!
24-25 You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.
26-27 I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, December 23, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 2:15–19
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.c 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.d
Insight
In Luke 2:15–19, we see several responses to God’s revelation of Himself in Jesus. The shepherds responded by believing and then acting on their urgent desire to see what God had done (v. 15). After seeing Jesus, they shared the news (v. 17), which the people responded to with amazement (v. 18). But Mary’s response is arguably deeper than all of these responses, and likely one Luke intended to be a model of faith. When Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (v. 19), she continued a long tradition of God’s people responding to His revelation by internalizing it in their hearts through ongoing pondering or meditation (see Psalm 119:11; Proverbs 3:1–3). By: Monica La Rose
A String of Yeses
Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19
One Christmas, my grandmother gave me a beautiful pearl necklace. The beautiful beads glowed about my neck until one day the string broke. Balls bounced in all directions off our home’s hardwood flooring. Crawling over the planks, I recovered each tiny orb. On their own, they were small. But oh, when strung together, those pearls made such an impression!
Sometimes my yeses to God seem so insignificant—like those individual pearls. I compare myself to Mary, the mother of Jesus who was so fantastically obedient. She said yes when she embraced God’s call for her to carry the Messiah. “‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled’” (Luke 1:38). Did she understand all that would be required of her? That an even bigger yes to relinquishing her Son on the cross loomed ahead?
After the visits of the angels and shepherds, Luke 2:19 tells us that Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Treasure means to “store up.” Ponder means to “thread together.” The phrase is repeated of Mary in Luke 2:51. She would respond with many yeses over her lifetime.
As with Mary, the key to our obedience might be a threading together of various yeses to our Father’s invitations, one at a time, until they string into the treasure of a surrendered life. By: Elisa Morgan
Reflect & Pray
What yeses do you need to say to God? How can you learn to be more obedient?
Dear God, help us to respond, one yes at a time, to Your ongoing work in our lives.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, December 23, 2019
Sharing in the Atonement
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
The gospel of Jesus Christ always forces a decision of our will. Have I accepted God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ? Do I have even the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death— to be completely dead to all interest in sin, worldliness, and self? Do I long to be so closely identified with Jesus that I am of no value for anything except Him and His purposes? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can commit myself under the banner of His Cross, and that means death to sin. You must get alone with Jesus and either decide to tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you, or that at any cost you want to be identified with His death. When you act in confident faith in what our Lord did on the cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place immediately. And you will come to know through a higher knowledge that your old life was “crucified with Him” (Romans 6:6). The proof that your old life is dead, having been “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you now enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.
Every once in a while our Lord gives us a glimpse of what we would be like if it were not for Him. This is a confirmation of what He said— “…without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). That is why the underlying foundation of Christianity is personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus. We mistake the joy of our first introduction into God’s kingdom as His purpose for getting us there. Yet God’s purpose in getting us into His kingdom is that we may realize all that identification with Jesus Christ means.
SDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, December 23, 2019
One Safe Place This Christmas - #8596
Christmas Eve at our house is anything but a "Silent Night." How about "Family Circus"? Each year brings a lot of high-energy, high-decibel giving and the opening of gifts. One year, somewhere in the flying wrapping paper, was one overwhelmed two-year-old. Quietly dazed amid the happy din. There was one person who noticed. Grandma, of course.
My Karen slipped unobtrusively to the floor. Found a corner where she and our little guy were quietly working on the toy he had just opened, oblivious to the mayhem all around them. Grandma had created a safe zone in the midst of the craziness. A bewildered little boy had found one safe place. The place was a person. Someone who loved him very, very much.
That's where I've found my one safe place. Along with countless millions of others like me; someone who loves me very, very much. His love is written in blood, shed on a cross to pay for my sins against Him so I could be forgiven and be with Him in heaven forever.
For many years, He blessed me beyond words by letting me do life with a woman who so radiantly embodied His love. But, in these years for the first time in my adult life, the queen of my Christmas continues to be missing at Christmas. She went Home very suddenly. It was a day like no other. So, you know, while we're singing and reading about Jesus, she'll be with Him, face-to-face.
I got a note from a friend that captured in a sentence the heart of this family. It said, "It seemed someone so fully alive and vibrant couldn't possibly have left us." That says it all. Back when it was our first "empty chair Christmas," she was so missing. She still is. And so missed. In many ways, she was a harbor for me on my stormiest days.
Then, in an instant, I was on my own. So I guess I'm that shell-shocked little boy this Christmas. And Grandma, well once again, not here.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "One Safe Place This Christmas."
My safe place still is here on Christmas. Because in the words of Romans 8:39, our word for today from the Word of God,"nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The only love on earth that death cannot take away. I have tested this love. I have proven it in my darkest hour - that "the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and they are safe." (Proverbs 18:10) What a beautiful word "safe."
When the grief ambushes trigger the tears again, the anchor holds. When loneliness resurfaces without warning, Jesus just holds me closer. When the prospect of doing the years ahead without my baby chills my soul, He whispers, "I've got this, Ron. And I've got you."
You know, my greatest heartache this Christmas is not for me. Or even for our children and grandchildren who adored her so. They have her Jesus. No, my heart aches for so many who face great loss and brokenness without that one Safe Place. The death-conquering Savior who said, "I am leaving you with a gift - a peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be trou
bled or afraid." (John 14:27)
But I know that peace is within their reach as it has been for me. It's within your reach by pinning all their hopes on Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. What He won for us when he walked out of His grave at His empty tomb.
That's why I want you to go to our website. I've got nothing there except to tell you how to begin this relationship. That's the most important thing you'll find there. It's ANewStory.com. Please check it out.
Look, I know that for those of us who have lost someone we love last year, the years before, maybe a long time ago, there'll still be some tender - even overwhelming - moments. But someone who loves you and loves me very, very much will move in close. And in His arms I'll be safe. You'll be safe.
Sunday, December 22, 2019
1 Chronicles 15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Anything But a King
In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what He was doing, was a teenage girl in a smelly stable. As Mary looked into the face of the baby, her son, her Lord, His majesty—she couldn’t take her eyes off Him. Somehow Mary knew she was holding God. So this is He. And she remembered the words of the angel when he said, “His kingdom will never end!”
He looked like anything but a King. His cry, though strong and healthy, was still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter. God came near! Luke 1:33 says, “His kingdom will never end!” May you be a part of it.
From In the Manger
1 Chronicles 15
After David built houses for himself in the City of David, he cleared a place for the Chest and pitched a tent for it. Then David gave orders: “No one carries the Chest of God except the Levites; God designated them and them only to carry the Chest of God and be available full time for service in the work of worship.”
3-10 David then called everyone in Israel to assemble in Jerusalem to bring up the Chest of God to its specially prepared place. David also called in the family of Aaron and the Levites. From the family of Kohath, Uriel the head with 120 relatives; from the family of Merari, Asaiah the head with 220 relatives; from the family of Gershon, Joel the head with 130 relatives; from the family of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the head with 200 relatives; from the family of Hebron, Eliel the head with 80 relatives; from the family of Uzziel, Amminadab the head with 112 relatives.
11-13 Then David called in Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab the Levites. He said, “You are responsible for the Levitical families; now consecrate yourselves, both you and your relatives, and bring up the Chest of the God of Israel to the place I have set aside for it. The first time we did this, you Levites did not carry it properly, and God exploded in anger at us because we didn’t make proper preparation and follow instructions.”
14-15 So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the Chest of the God of Israel. The Levites carried the Chest of God exactly as Moses, instructed by God, commanded—carried it with poles on their shoulders, careful not to touch it with their hands.
16 David ordered the heads of the Levites to assign their relatives to sing in the choir, accompanied by a well-equipped marching band, and fill the air with joyful sound.
17-18 The Levites assigned Heman son of Joel, and from his family, Asaph son of Berekiah, then Ethan son of Kushaiah from the family of Merari, and after them in the second rank their brothers Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel as security guards.
19-22 The members of the choir and marching band were: Heman, Asaph, and Ethan with bronze cymbals; Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah with lyres carrying the melody; Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah with harps filling in the harmony; Kenaniah, the Levite in charge of music, a very gifted musician, was music director.
23-24 Berekiah and Elkanah were porters for the Chest. The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer blew the trumpets before the Chest of God. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also porters for the Chest.
25-28 Now they were ready. David, the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands started out to get the Chest of the Covenant of God and bring it up from the house of Obed-Edom. And they went rejoicing. Because God helped the Levites, strengthening them as they carried the Chest of the Covenant of God, they paused to worship by sacrificing seven bulls and seven rams. They were all dressed in elegant linen—David, the Levites carrying the Chest, the choir and band, and Kenaniah who was directing the music. David also wore a linen prayer shawl (called an ephod). On they came, all Israel on parade bringing up the Chest of the Covenant of God, shouting and cheering, playing every kind of brass and percussion and string instrument.
29 When the Chest of the Covenant of God entered the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, was watching from a window. When she saw King David dancing ecstatically she was filled with contempt.
The Message (MSG)
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 John 3:1–3
See what great lovem the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!n And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.o 2 Dear friends,p now we are children of God,q and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,a r we shall be like him,s for we shall see him as he is.t 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves,u just as he is pure.v
Insight
A believer’s life is a father-child relationship, the most basic and embryonic of all love relationships. God loves us not because we’re worthy of His love, but simply because it’s His nature to love (Exodus 34:6–7). The apostle John simply puts it, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). Jesus taught us to talk with God who is “our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). We’re privileged and empowered by the Holy Spirit to call Him “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15–16; Galatians 4:6). This term is a name of endearment and intimacy. One writer says that God has many names but Abba Father is his favorite name for God. Calling Him “Abba, Father” authenticates our salvation, for we become children of God through Jesus (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26). Our status as His children entitles us to a spiritual inheritance as God’s heirs (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7).
The Father’s Blessing
See what great love the Father has lavished on us. 1 John 3:1
Recently, several people within our church—those who had experienced poor relationships with their fathers—asked me to stand in as a loving, father figure and offer a blessing over them. The blessing asked forgiveness for the ways a father can hurt his children by setting expectations that are too high or being distant or failing to offer tender presence and affirmation. It also pronounced delight, admiration, and abundant love. As I shared the blessing, I wept. I realized how I still needed to receive such words, and how much my children need them too.
The Scriptures repeatedly speak of God as our Father, a reality reshaping the distorted father images we might have. God, our eternal Father, has “lavished on us” perfect love, making us “children of God” (1 John 3:1). Our identity as God’s sons and daughters grounds us in an uncertain, fear-inducing world. “We are children of God,” John says, even though “what we will be has not yet been made known” (v. 2). Facing ever-present challenges, all we can truly count on is that our Father loves and provides for us and never stops. When everything is said and done, God says through the inspired words of John, we can be certain we’ll be like Him (v. 2).
In the midst of our anxieties, wounds, and failures, our good Father speaks a blessing of inexhaustible love. God insists we belong, for He’s made us His children. By: Winn Collier
Reflect & Pray
What comes to mind when you ponder the word father? How does God’s lavish love reshape the father image for you?
God, teach me more about how You are my Father. May I experience and know Your care.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, December 22, 2019
The Drawing of the Father
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him… —John 6:44
When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians 1:15-16). Belief is not the result of an intellectual act, but the result of an act of my will whereby I deliberately commit myself. But will I commit, placing myself completely and absolutely on God, and be willing to act solely on what He says? If I will, I will find that I am grounded on reality as certain as God’s throne.
In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of the will. Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.
Everyone has been created with the ability to reach out beyond his own grasp. But it is God who draws me, and my relationship to Him in the first place is an inner, personal one, not an intellectual one. I come into the relationship through the miracle of God and through my own will to believe. Then I begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of the transformation in my life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.
Not Knowing Whither
In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what He was doing, was a teenage girl in a smelly stable. As Mary looked into the face of the baby, her son, her Lord, His majesty—she couldn’t take her eyes off Him. Somehow Mary knew she was holding God. So this is He. And she remembered the words of the angel when he said, “His kingdom will never end!”
He looked like anything but a King. His cry, though strong and healthy, was still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter. God came near! Luke 1:33 says, “His kingdom will never end!” May you be a part of it.
From In the Manger
1 Chronicles 15
After David built houses for himself in the City of David, he cleared a place for the Chest and pitched a tent for it. Then David gave orders: “No one carries the Chest of God except the Levites; God designated them and them only to carry the Chest of God and be available full time for service in the work of worship.”
3-10 David then called everyone in Israel to assemble in Jerusalem to bring up the Chest of God to its specially prepared place. David also called in the family of Aaron and the Levites. From the family of Kohath, Uriel the head with 120 relatives; from the family of Merari, Asaiah the head with 220 relatives; from the family of Gershon, Joel the head with 130 relatives; from the family of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the head with 200 relatives; from the family of Hebron, Eliel the head with 80 relatives; from the family of Uzziel, Amminadab the head with 112 relatives.
11-13 Then David called in Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab the Levites. He said, “You are responsible for the Levitical families; now consecrate yourselves, both you and your relatives, and bring up the Chest of the God of Israel to the place I have set aside for it. The first time we did this, you Levites did not carry it properly, and God exploded in anger at us because we didn’t make proper preparation and follow instructions.”
14-15 So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the Chest of the God of Israel. The Levites carried the Chest of God exactly as Moses, instructed by God, commanded—carried it with poles on their shoulders, careful not to touch it with their hands.
16 David ordered the heads of the Levites to assign their relatives to sing in the choir, accompanied by a well-equipped marching band, and fill the air with joyful sound.
17-18 The Levites assigned Heman son of Joel, and from his family, Asaph son of Berekiah, then Ethan son of Kushaiah from the family of Merari, and after them in the second rank their brothers Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel as security guards.
19-22 The members of the choir and marching band were: Heman, Asaph, and Ethan with bronze cymbals; Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah with lyres carrying the melody; Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah with harps filling in the harmony; Kenaniah, the Levite in charge of music, a very gifted musician, was music director.
23-24 Berekiah and Elkanah were porters for the Chest. The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer blew the trumpets before the Chest of God. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also porters for the Chest.
25-28 Now they were ready. David, the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands started out to get the Chest of the Covenant of God and bring it up from the house of Obed-Edom. And they went rejoicing. Because God helped the Levites, strengthening them as they carried the Chest of the Covenant of God, they paused to worship by sacrificing seven bulls and seven rams. They were all dressed in elegant linen—David, the Levites carrying the Chest, the choir and band, and Kenaniah who was directing the music. David also wore a linen prayer shawl (called an ephod). On they came, all Israel on parade bringing up the Chest of the Covenant of God, shouting and cheering, playing every kind of brass and percussion and string instrument.
29 When the Chest of the Covenant of God entered the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, was watching from a window. When she saw King David dancing ecstatically she was filled with contempt.
The Message (MSG)
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 John 3:1–3
See what great lovem the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!n And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.o 2 Dear friends,p now we are children of God,q and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,a r we shall be like him,s for we shall see him as he is.t 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves,u just as he is pure.v
Insight
A believer’s life is a father-child relationship, the most basic and embryonic of all love relationships. God loves us not because we’re worthy of His love, but simply because it’s His nature to love (Exodus 34:6–7). The apostle John simply puts it, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). Jesus taught us to talk with God who is “our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). We’re privileged and empowered by the Holy Spirit to call Him “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15–16; Galatians 4:6). This term is a name of endearment and intimacy. One writer says that God has many names but Abba Father is his favorite name for God. Calling Him “Abba, Father” authenticates our salvation, for we become children of God through Jesus (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26). Our status as His children entitles us to a spiritual inheritance as God’s heirs (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7).
The Father’s Blessing
See what great love the Father has lavished on us. 1 John 3:1
Recently, several people within our church—those who had experienced poor relationships with their fathers—asked me to stand in as a loving, father figure and offer a blessing over them. The blessing asked forgiveness for the ways a father can hurt his children by setting expectations that are too high or being distant or failing to offer tender presence and affirmation. It also pronounced delight, admiration, and abundant love. As I shared the blessing, I wept. I realized how I still needed to receive such words, and how much my children need them too.
The Scriptures repeatedly speak of God as our Father, a reality reshaping the distorted father images we might have. God, our eternal Father, has “lavished on us” perfect love, making us “children of God” (1 John 3:1). Our identity as God’s sons and daughters grounds us in an uncertain, fear-inducing world. “We are children of God,” John says, even though “what we will be has not yet been made known” (v. 2). Facing ever-present challenges, all we can truly count on is that our Father loves and provides for us and never stops. When everything is said and done, God says through the inspired words of John, we can be certain we’ll be like Him (v. 2).
In the midst of our anxieties, wounds, and failures, our good Father speaks a blessing of inexhaustible love. God insists we belong, for He’s made us His children. By: Winn Collier
Reflect & Pray
What comes to mind when you ponder the word father? How does God’s lavish love reshape the father image for you?
God, teach me more about how You are my Father. May I experience and know Your care.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, December 22, 2019
The Drawing of the Father
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him… —John 6:44
When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians 1:15-16). Belief is not the result of an intellectual act, but the result of an act of my will whereby I deliberately commit myself. But will I commit, placing myself completely and absolutely on God, and be willing to act solely on what He says? If I will, I will find that I am grounded on reality as certain as God’s throne.
In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of the will. Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.
Everyone has been created with the ability to reach out beyond his own grasp. But it is God who draws me, and my relationship to Him in the first place is an inner, personal one, not an intellectual one. I come into the relationship through the miracle of God and through my own will to believe. Then I begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of the transformation in my life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.
Not Knowing Whither
Saturday, December 21, 2019
1 Chronicles 14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Received–Not Earned
What if prospective parents approached an adoption agency with these questions?
We just have a question or two before we come in and sign the adoption papers. Will he be a good child? Healthy always? Oh, and can he fix his own meals? Do his own laundry?
Can you imagine prospective parents saying that? No adoption agency would put up with it. They’d respond with Wait a minute. You don’t understand. You don’t adopt this child because of what he has; you adopt him because of what he needs. He needs a home.
The same is true with God. John 3:17 says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” He doesn’t adopt us because of what we have. He doesn’t give us His name because of our intelligence, or our wallet or good attitude. Adoption is something we receive—not something we earn!
From Grace for the Moment
1 Chronicles 14
King Hiram of Tyre sent an envoy to David, along with cedar lumber, masons, and carpenters to build him a royal palace. Then David knew for sure that God had confirmed him as king over Israel, because of the rising reputation that God was giving his kingdom for the benefit of his people Israel. David married more wives and had more children in Jerusalem. His children born in Jerusalem were Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.
8-9 The minute the Philistines heard that David had been made king over a united Israel, they went out in force to capture David. When David got the report, he marched out to confront them. On their way, the Philistines stopped off to plunder the Valley of Rephaim.
10 David prayed to God: “Is this the right time to attack the Philistines? Will you give me the victory?”
God answered, “Attack; I’ll give you the victory.”
11-12 David attacked at Baal Perazim and slaughtered them. David said, “God exploded my enemies, as water explodes from a burst pipe.” That’s how the place got its name, Baal Perazim (Baal-Explosion). The Philistines left their gods behind and David ordered that they be burned up.
13-15 And then the Philistines were back at it again, plundering in the valley. David again prayed to God. God answered, “This time don’t attack head-on; circle around and come at them out of the balsam grove. When you hear a sound like shuffling feet in the tops of the balsams, attack; God will be two steps ahead of you, slaughtering the Philistines.”
16 David did exactly as God commanded, slaughtering Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
17 David was soon famous all over the place, far and near; and God put the fear of God into the godless nations.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 2:4–14
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehemt the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to himu and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angelv of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.w I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Saviorx has been born to you; he is the Messiah,y the Lord.z 12 This will be a signa to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peaceb to those on whom his favor rests.”
Insight
Angels, God’s supernatural messengers, appear at interesting junctures in both of Luke’s writings—the gospel of Luke and Acts. Their activities surrounding the births of John and Jesus (Luke 1 and 2) are well known. Luke also noted that an angel appeared to strengthen Jesus when He was facing death (Luke 22:43). Women at Christ’s tomb saw a vision of angels who announced that He was alive (24:23). Two men in white robes in Acts 1:10–11 were likely angels. Angels were dispatched to release the apostles from prison (Acts 5:17–21); to give Philip traveling instructions (8:26); to give directions to Cornelius (10:1–8); to release Peter from prison (12:6–11); to execute judgment on a prideful ruler (12:23); and to encourage a wearied apostle Paul (27:23–26). By: Arthur Jackson
The Giver’s Delight
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:11
Remember Tickle Me Elmo? Cabbage Patch Kids? The Furby? What do they have in common? Each rank among the twenty most popular Christmas gifts of all time. Also included on the list are familiar favorites such as Monopoly, the Nintendo Game Boy, and Wii.
We all delight in giving gifts at Christmas, but that’s nothing compared to God’s delight in giving the first Christmas gift. This gift came in the form of a baby, born in a Bethlehem manger (Luke 2:7).
Despite His humble birth, the Child’s arrival was proclaimed by an angel who declared, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (vv. 10–11). Following this magnificent news, a “heavenly host” appeared, “praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests’” (vv. 13–14).
This Christmas, enjoy giving gifts to your loved ones, but never lose sight of the reason for the giving—the spectacular favor of God on His creation crystallized in the gift of His own Son to save us from our sin. We give because He gave. May we worship Him in gratitude! By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
Why is Jesus the greatest Christmas gift you ever received? How can you share this gift with others more effectively?
Father, thank You for Jesus—the greatest gift of all!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Experience or God’s Revealed Truth?
We have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. —1 Corinthians 2:12
My experience is not what makes redemption real— redemption is reality. Redemption has no real meaning for me until it is worked out through my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me beyond myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. If I am left only with my personal experiences, I am left with something not produced by redemption. But experiences produced by redemption prove themselves by leading me beyond myself, to the point of no longer paying any attention to experiences as the basis of reality. Instead, I see that only the reality itself produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth— Jesus Christ.
If you try to hold back the Holy Spirit within you, with the desire of producing more inner spiritual experiences, you will find that He will break the hold and take you again to the historic Christ. Never support an experience which does not have God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions or insights you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you place your experiences above Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? You must allow Him to be Lord over you, and pay no attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. Then there will come a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience, and you can truthfully say, “I do not care what I experience— I am sure of Him!”
Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not faith; faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. Biblical Psychology, 199 R
What if prospective parents approached an adoption agency with these questions?
We just have a question or two before we come in and sign the adoption papers. Will he be a good child? Healthy always? Oh, and can he fix his own meals? Do his own laundry?
Can you imagine prospective parents saying that? No adoption agency would put up with it. They’d respond with Wait a minute. You don’t understand. You don’t adopt this child because of what he has; you adopt him because of what he needs. He needs a home.
The same is true with God. John 3:17 says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” He doesn’t adopt us because of what we have. He doesn’t give us His name because of our intelligence, or our wallet or good attitude. Adoption is something we receive—not something we earn!
From Grace for the Moment
1 Chronicles 14
King Hiram of Tyre sent an envoy to David, along with cedar lumber, masons, and carpenters to build him a royal palace. Then David knew for sure that God had confirmed him as king over Israel, because of the rising reputation that God was giving his kingdom for the benefit of his people Israel. David married more wives and had more children in Jerusalem. His children born in Jerusalem were Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.
8-9 The minute the Philistines heard that David had been made king over a united Israel, they went out in force to capture David. When David got the report, he marched out to confront them. On their way, the Philistines stopped off to plunder the Valley of Rephaim.
10 David prayed to God: “Is this the right time to attack the Philistines? Will you give me the victory?”
God answered, “Attack; I’ll give you the victory.”
11-12 David attacked at Baal Perazim and slaughtered them. David said, “God exploded my enemies, as water explodes from a burst pipe.” That’s how the place got its name, Baal Perazim (Baal-Explosion). The Philistines left their gods behind and David ordered that they be burned up.
13-15 And then the Philistines were back at it again, plundering in the valley. David again prayed to God. God answered, “This time don’t attack head-on; circle around and come at them out of the balsam grove. When you hear a sound like shuffling feet in the tops of the balsams, attack; God will be two steps ahead of you, slaughtering the Philistines.”
16 David did exactly as God commanded, slaughtering Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
17 David was soon famous all over the place, far and near; and God put the fear of God into the godless nations.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 2:4–14
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehemt the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to himu and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angelv of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.w I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Saviorx has been born to you; he is the Messiah,y the Lord.z 12 This will be a signa to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peaceb to those on whom his favor rests.”
Insight
Angels, God’s supernatural messengers, appear at interesting junctures in both of Luke’s writings—the gospel of Luke and Acts. Their activities surrounding the births of John and Jesus (Luke 1 and 2) are well known. Luke also noted that an angel appeared to strengthen Jesus when He was facing death (Luke 22:43). Women at Christ’s tomb saw a vision of angels who announced that He was alive (24:23). Two men in white robes in Acts 1:10–11 were likely angels. Angels were dispatched to release the apostles from prison (Acts 5:17–21); to give Philip traveling instructions (8:26); to give directions to Cornelius (10:1–8); to release Peter from prison (12:6–11); to execute judgment on a prideful ruler (12:23); and to encourage a wearied apostle Paul (27:23–26). By: Arthur Jackson
The Giver’s Delight
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:11
Remember Tickle Me Elmo? Cabbage Patch Kids? The Furby? What do they have in common? Each rank among the twenty most popular Christmas gifts of all time. Also included on the list are familiar favorites such as Monopoly, the Nintendo Game Boy, and Wii.
We all delight in giving gifts at Christmas, but that’s nothing compared to God’s delight in giving the first Christmas gift. This gift came in the form of a baby, born in a Bethlehem manger (Luke 2:7).
Despite His humble birth, the Child’s arrival was proclaimed by an angel who declared, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (vv. 10–11). Following this magnificent news, a “heavenly host” appeared, “praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests’” (vv. 13–14).
This Christmas, enjoy giving gifts to your loved ones, but never lose sight of the reason for the giving—the spectacular favor of God on His creation crystallized in the gift of His own Son to save us from our sin. We give because He gave. May we worship Him in gratitude! By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
Why is Jesus the greatest Christmas gift you ever received? How can you share this gift with others more effectively?
Father, thank You for Jesus—the greatest gift of all!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Experience or God’s Revealed Truth?
We have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. —1 Corinthians 2:12
My experience is not what makes redemption real— redemption is reality. Redemption has no real meaning for me until it is worked out through my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me beyond myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. If I am left only with my personal experiences, I am left with something not produced by redemption. But experiences produced by redemption prove themselves by leading me beyond myself, to the point of no longer paying any attention to experiences as the basis of reality. Instead, I see that only the reality itself produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth— Jesus Christ.
If you try to hold back the Holy Spirit within you, with the desire of producing more inner spiritual experiences, you will find that He will break the hold and take you again to the historic Christ. Never support an experience which does not have God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions or insights you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you place your experiences above Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? You must allow Him to be Lord over you, and pay no attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. Then there will come a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience, and you can truthfully say, “I do not care what I experience— I am sure of Him!”
Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not faith; faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. Biblical Psychology, 199 R
Friday, December 20, 2019
1 Chronicles 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: ON WHICH SIDE ARE YOU?
(simulated news broadcast) “No question, the Nazarene will be executed! They’ve got the Galilean in custody—our sources tell us one of his own men turned him in… film at 11:00.”
A few weep. A few smile. A few walk up the hill to see the spectacle. The immensity of Jesus’ execution makes it impossible to ignore. See the women arguing on the street corner? The countless pilgrims entering Jerusalem for the Passover? They’ll go home with a spellbinding story of the teacher who was raised from the dead.
Everyone is choosing a side. You can’t be neutral on an issue like this one. And today, two thousands years later, the same is true. A choice is demanded. No fence sitting is permitted. The cross, in its absurd splendor, won’t allow that. On which side are you?
1 Chronicles 13
13 1-14 David consulted with all of his leaders, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds. Then David addressed the entire assembly of Israel, “If it seems right to you, and it is God’s will, let’s invite all our relatives wherever they are throughout Israel, along with their relatives, including their priests and Levites from their cities and surrounding pastures, to join us. And let’s bring the Chest of our God back—the Chest that was out of sight, out of mind during the days of Saul.” The entire assembly of Israel agreed—everybody agreed that it was the right thing to do. So David gathered all Israel together, from Egypt’s Pond of Horus in the southwest to the Pass of Hamath in the northeast, to go and get the Chest of God from Kiriath Jearim. Then David and all Israel went to Baalah (Kiriath Jearim) in Judah to bring back the Chest of God, the “Cherubim-Throne-of-God,” where God’s Name is invoked. They moved the Chest of God on a brand-new cart from the house of Abinadab with Uzzah and Ahio in charge. In procession with the Chest of God, David and all Israel worshiped exuberantly in song and dance, with a marching band of all kinds of instruments. When they were at the threshing floor of Kidon, the oxen stumbled and Uzzah grabbed the Chest to keep it from falling off. God erupted in anger against Uzzah and killed him because he grabbed the Chest. He died on the spot—in the presence of God. David lost his temper, angry because God exploded against Uzzah; the place is still called Perez Uzzah (Exploded Uzzah). David was terrified of God that day; he said, “How can I possibly continue this parade with the Chest of God?” So David called off the parade of the Chest to the City of David; instead he stored it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The Chest of God was in storage in the house of Obed-Edom for three months. God blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything around him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, December 20, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Nehemiah 6:1–9
Further Opposition to the Rebuilding
6 When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah,r Geshems the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates—2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villagesa on the plain of Ono.t”
But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
5 Then, the fifth time, Sanballatu sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter 6 in which was written:
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshemb v says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king 7 and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”
8 I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”
9 They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
Insight
Nehemiah recognized that his enemies were seeking to “harm” him (Nehemiah 6:2). When their attempts at “diplomacy” failed, they tried to bait him with false accusations made in an unsealed letter (v. 5). An unsealed letter could be read by anyone and was likely used to spread the rumor that Nehemiah was really plotting to become king. Nehemiah refuted the charge (v. 8) and turned to God in prayer (v. 9).
To learn more about the time of Nehemiah, visit christianuniversity.org/OT128-07. By: Tim Gustafson
Failure Is Impossible
This work had been done with the help of our God. Nehemiah 6:16
“Failure is impossible!” These words were spoken by Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906), known for her immovable stance on women’s rights in the US. Though she faced constant criticism and later an arrest, trial, and guilty verdict for voting illegally, Anthony vowed to never give up the fight to gain women the right to vote, believing her cause was just. Though she didn’t live to see the fruit of her labor, her declaration proved true. In 1920, the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution gave women the right to vote.
Failure wasn’t an option for Nehemiah either, mainly because he had a Powerful Helper: God. After asking Him to bless his cause—rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem—Nehemiah and those who had returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon worked to make that happen. The wall was needed to keep the people safe from enemies. But opposition to the cause came in the form of deception and threats. Nehemiah refused to let opposition deter him. He informed those who opposed the work, “I am carrying on a great project” (Nehemiah 6:3). After that, he prayed, “Now strengthen my hands” (v. 9). Thanks to perseverance, the work was completed (v. 15).
God gave Nehemiah the strength to persevere in the face of opposition. Is there a task for which you’re tempted to give up? Ask God to provide whatever you need to keep going. By: Linda Washington
Reflect & Pray
How do you normally handle opposition? What cause are you willing to fight for, no matter how tough the opposition?
Precious God, I need Your help to keep going with the work You’ve given me to do, no matter what the cost may be.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, December 20, 2019
The Right Kind of Help
And I, if I am lifted up…will draw all peoples to Myself. —John 12:32
Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery.
When you find yourself face to face with a person who is spiritually lost, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that person can get to God in any other way, then the Cross of Christ is unnecessary. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. The theme of the world’s religion today is to serve in a pleasant, non-confrontational manner.
But our only priority must be to present Jesus Christ crucified— to lift Him up all the time (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). Every belief that is not firmly rooted in the Cross of Christ will lead people astray. If the worker himself believes in Jesus Christ and is trusting in the reality of redemption, his words will be compelling to others. What is extremely important is for the worker’s simple relationship with Jesus Christ to be strong and growing. His usefulness to God depends on that, and that alone.
The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us. We must also be sharply intent on sensing those Scripture passages that will drive the truth home, and then not be afraid to apply them.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
No one could have had a more sensitive love in human relationship than Jesus; and yet He says there are times when love to father and mother must be hatred in comparison to our love for Him. So Send I You, 1301 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, December 20, 2019
The Empty Chair at Christmas - #8595
That Christmas is going to be a tough Christmas for my friend Rob - his first Christmas without the love of His life. Yeah, I know about that feeling. She actually had died just a few weeks before - Rob's wife had. Like a lot of people whose Christmas joy is bittersweet. I've lost the love of my life. Well, I know where she is; I didn't lose her. She's in heaven. And you know what? There are other times it was a very close call; three times I almost lost her. And God gave her back to me those times. But Christmas makes us think about the loves that we've lost doesn't it? Which, by the way, could lead us to the greatest love of all.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Empty Chair at Christmas."
The loves we've lost are a powerful reminder of the one love we need most; the love the Bible speaks about in Romans 8:38-39, our welcomed word for today from the Word of God. It says, "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, or anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Oh, man, that's powerful! There's a love that can't be taken away by death, by anything in heaven, by anything in hell, by anything happening right now, by anything that will happen, by your highs or by your lows. And just in case anything got missed, "anything else in all creation." This would sound too good to be true except its God who's promising it. A love you cannot lose - God's love.
We were made for God's love, but we've all missed God's love because we've lived our way instead of His way. And no other love has been able to fill His place in our life. It's not God's fault that we're living outside a deep, daily experience of His love. He didn't leave us. We've walked away with Him. We wanted to do our life the way we wanted, and we're lost. We're out of the orbit we were created for.
We are away from the One whose love we were made for. That's why life has been an endless search for what would fill the hole in our hearts. How could anyone or anything that earth has ever fill the place in our soul that was made for God alone? And how can rebels like you and me - people who have over and over chosen our way instead of His way - ever get back to the God we were made for?
Those Bible verses said the love of God is "in Christ Jesus our Lord." Enter Christmas. Enter the Son of God on a mission
to bring us back. A mission for which He will give His life - held by three nails to a bloody cross. There Jesus absorbed everything you and I deserve for our sin. And that sacrifice for you has cleared the way for you to have God's love for yourself from the moment you put your life in Jesus' hands. My friend Rob, who I talked about at the beginning, has lost the second greatest love of his life, but not the greatest. He, like me, held safely in the strong hands - the unloseable love of his Savior, Jesus Christ. And that anchor holds!
You don't have to live one more day without this love if you'll put your life where it's belonged all along - in Jesus' hands. Tell Him, "Jesus, I've looked for a long time for a love that only You can give - the love that took you to a cross for my sins, and I'm done running my life, Jesus. I'm Yours now."
His hand is reaching out for your hand. He won't grab your hand. He won't force you to come. You need to reach out and grab the nail-scarred hand of Jesus. If you want more information about how to belong to Him and be sure you do, I hope you'll get to our website right away today. It's ANewStory.com. That's why it's there.
The love that Jesus is offering you is the only love on earth that is terror-proof, divorce-proof, death-proof, and that love can be yours this very day.
(simulated news broadcast) “No question, the Nazarene will be executed! They’ve got the Galilean in custody—our sources tell us one of his own men turned him in… film at 11:00.”
A few weep. A few smile. A few walk up the hill to see the spectacle. The immensity of Jesus’ execution makes it impossible to ignore. See the women arguing on the street corner? The countless pilgrims entering Jerusalem for the Passover? They’ll go home with a spellbinding story of the teacher who was raised from the dead.
Everyone is choosing a side. You can’t be neutral on an issue like this one. And today, two thousands years later, the same is true. A choice is demanded. No fence sitting is permitted. The cross, in its absurd splendor, won’t allow that. On which side are you?
1 Chronicles 13
13 1-14 David consulted with all of his leaders, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds. Then David addressed the entire assembly of Israel, “If it seems right to you, and it is God’s will, let’s invite all our relatives wherever they are throughout Israel, along with their relatives, including their priests and Levites from their cities and surrounding pastures, to join us. And let’s bring the Chest of our God back—the Chest that was out of sight, out of mind during the days of Saul.” The entire assembly of Israel agreed—everybody agreed that it was the right thing to do. So David gathered all Israel together, from Egypt’s Pond of Horus in the southwest to the Pass of Hamath in the northeast, to go and get the Chest of God from Kiriath Jearim. Then David and all Israel went to Baalah (Kiriath Jearim) in Judah to bring back the Chest of God, the “Cherubim-Throne-of-God,” where God’s Name is invoked. They moved the Chest of God on a brand-new cart from the house of Abinadab with Uzzah and Ahio in charge. In procession with the Chest of God, David and all Israel worshiped exuberantly in song and dance, with a marching band of all kinds of instruments. When they were at the threshing floor of Kidon, the oxen stumbled and Uzzah grabbed the Chest to keep it from falling off. God erupted in anger against Uzzah and killed him because he grabbed the Chest. He died on the spot—in the presence of God. David lost his temper, angry because God exploded against Uzzah; the place is still called Perez Uzzah (Exploded Uzzah). David was terrified of God that day; he said, “How can I possibly continue this parade with the Chest of God?” So David called off the parade of the Chest to the City of David; instead he stored it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The Chest of God was in storage in the house of Obed-Edom for three months. God blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything around him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, December 20, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Nehemiah 6:1–9
Further Opposition to the Rebuilding
6 When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah,r Geshems the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates—2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villagesa on the plain of Ono.t”
But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
5 Then, the fifth time, Sanballatu sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter 6 in which was written:
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshemb v says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king 7 and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”
8 I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”
9 They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
Insight
Nehemiah recognized that his enemies were seeking to “harm” him (Nehemiah 6:2). When their attempts at “diplomacy” failed, they tried to bait him with false accusations made in an unsealed letter (v. 5). An unsealed letter could be read by anyone and was likely used to spread the rumor that Nehemiah was really plotting to become king. Nehemiah refuted the charge (v. 8) and turned to God in prayer (v. 9).
To learn more about the time of Nehemiah, visit christianuniversity.org/OT128-07. By: Tim Gustafson
Failure Is Impossible
This work had been done with the help of our God. Nehemiah 6:16
“Failure is impossible!” These words were spoken by Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906), known for her immovable stance on women’s rights in the US. Though she faced constant criticism and later an arrest, trial, and guilty verdict for voting illegally, Anthony vowed to never give up the fight to gain women the right to vote, believing her cause was just. Though she didn’t live to see the fruit of her labor, her declaration proved true. In 1920, the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution gave women the right to vote.
Failure wasn’t an option for Nehemiah either, mainly because he had a Powerful Helper: God. After asking Him to bless his cause—rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem—Nehemiah and those who had returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon worked to make that happen. The wall was needed to keep the people safe from enemies. But opposition to the cause came in the form of deception and threats. Nehemiah refused to let opposition deter him. He informed those who opposed the work, “I am carrying on a great project” (Nehemiah 6:3). After that, he prayed, “Now strengthen my hands” (v. 9). Thanks to perseverance, the work was completed (v. 15).
God gave Nehemiah the strength to persevere in the face of opposition. Is there a task for which you’re tempted to give up? Ask God to provide whatever you need to keep going. By: Linda Washington
Reflect & Pray
How do you normally handle opposition? What cause are you willing to fight for, no matter how tough the opposition?
Precious God, I need Your help to keep going with the work You’ve given me to do, no matter what the cost may be.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, December 20, 2019
The Right Kind of Help
And I, if I am lifted up…will draw all peoples to Myself. —John 12:32
Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery.
When you find yourself face to face with a person who is spiritually lost, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that person can get to God in any other way, then the Cross of Christ is unnecessary. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. The theme of the world’s religion today is to serve in a pleasant, non-confrontational manner.
But our only priority must be to present Jesus Christ crucified— to lift Him up all the time (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). Every belief that is not firmly rooted in the Cross of Christ will lead people astray. If the worker himself believes in Jesus Christ and is trusting in the reality of redemption, his words will be compelling to others. What is extremely important is for the worker’s simple relationship with Jesus Christ to be strong and growing. His usefulness to God depends on that, and that alone.
The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us. We must also be sharply intent on sensing those Scripture passages that will drive the truth home, and then not be afraid to apply them.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
No one could have had a more sensitive love in human relationship than Jesus; and yet He says there are times when love to father and mother must be hatred in comparison to our love for Him. So Send I You, 1301 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, December 20, 2019
The Empty Chair at Christmas - #8595
That Christmas is going to be a tough Christmas for my friend Rob - his first Christmas without the love of His life. Yeah, I know about that feeling. She actually had died just a few weeks before - Rob's wife had. Like a lot of people whose Christmas joy is bittersweet. I've lost the love of my life. Well, I know where she is; I didn't lose her. She's in heaven. And you know what? There are other times it was a very close call; three times I almost lost her. And God gave her back to me those times. But Christmas makes us think about the loves that we've lost doesn't it? Which, by the way, could lead us to the greatest love of all.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Empty Chair at Christmas."
The loves we've lost are a powerful reminder of the one love we need most; the love the Bible speaks about in Romans 8:38-39, our welcomed word for today from the Word of God. It says, "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, or anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Oh, man, that's powerful! There's a love that can't be taken away by death, by anything in heaven, by anything in hell, by anything happening right now, by anything that will happen, by your highs or by your lows. And just in case anything got missed, "anything else in all creation." This would sound too good to be true except its God who's promising it. A love you cannot lose - God's love.
We were made for God's love, but we've all missed God's love because we've lived our way instead of His way. And no other love has been able to fill His place in our life. It's not God's fault that we're living outside a deep, daily experience of His love. He didn't leave us. We've walked away with Him. We wanted to do our life the way we wanted, and we're lost. We're out of the orbit we were created for.
We are away from the One whose love we were made for. That's why life has been an endless search for what would fill the hole in our hearts. How could anyone or anything that earth has ever fill the place in our soul that was made for God alone? And how can rebels like you and me - people who have over and over chosen our way instead of His way - ever get back to the God we were made for?
Those Bible verses said the love of God is "in Christ Jesus our Lord." Enter Christmas. Enter the Son of God on a mission
to bring us back. A mission for which He will give His life - held by three nails to a bloody cross. There Jesus absorbed everything you and I deserve for our sin. And that sacrifice for you has cleared the way for you to have God's love for yourself from the moment you put your life in Jesus' hands. My friend Rob, who I talked about at the beginning, has lost the second greatest love of his life, but not the greatest. He, like me, held safely in the strong hands - the unloseable love of his Savior, Jesus Christ. And that anchor holds!
You don't have to live one more day without this love if you'll put your life where it's belonged all along - in Jesus' hands. Tell Him, "Jesus, I've looked for a long time for a love that only You can give - the love that took you to a cross for my sins, and I'm done running my life, Jesus. I'm Yours now."
His hand is reaching out for your hand. He won't grab your hand. He won't force you to come. You need to reach out and grab the nail-scarred hand of Jesus. If you want more information about how to belong to Him and be sure you do, I hope you'll get to our website right away today. It's ANewStory.com. That's why it's there.
The love that Jesus is offering you is the only love on earth that is terror-proof, divorce-proof, death-proof, and that love can be yours this very day.
Thursday, December 19, 2019
1 Corinthians 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: DON’T QUIT TOO SOON
Our human tendency is to quit too soon. To stop before we cross the finish line! It shows up in the smallest of things– a partly mowed lawn, a half-read book, or abandoned diet. Or it shows up in life’s most painful areas like a cold faith; a wrecked marriage; an un-evangelized world.
Am I touching some painful sores? If I am, I want to encourage you to remember Jesus’ determination on the cross. Did he ever want to quit? You bet. That’s why his words are so splendid. “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
What was finished? The history-long plan of redeeming man was finished. The message of God to man was finished. The sacrifice had been made. It was over. It’s a cry of completion. A cry of fulfillment. Thank you Lord Jesus, for teaching us to remain, to endure, and in the end—to finish!
1 Corinthians 8
1-3 The question keeps coming up regarding meat that has been offered up to an idol: Should you attend meals where such meat is served, or not? We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.
4-6 Some people say, quite rightly, that idols have no actual existence, that there’s nothing to them, that there is no God other than our one God, that no matter how many of these so-called gods are named and worshiped they still don’t add up to anything but a tall story. They say—again, quite rightly—that there is only one God the Father, that everything comes from him, and that he wants us to live for him. Also, they say that there is only one Master—Jesus the Messiah—and that everything is for his sake, including us. Yes. It’s true.
7 In strict logic, then, nothing happened to the meat when it was offered up to an idol. It’s just like any other meat. I know that, and you know that. But knowing isn’t everything. If it becomes everything, some people end up as know-it-alls who treat others as know-nothings. Real knowledge isn’t that insensitive.
We need to be sensitive to the fact that we’re not all at the same level of understanding in this. Some of you have spent your entire lives eating “idol meat,” and are sure that there’s something bad in the meat that then becomes something bad inside of you. An imagination and conscience shaped under those conditions isn’t going to change overnight.
8-9 But fortunately God doesn’t grade us on our diet. We’re neither commended when we clean our plate nor reprimanded when we just can’t stomach it. But God does care when you use your freedom carelessly in a way that leads a fellow believer still vulnerable to those old associations to be thrown off track.
10 For instance, say you flaunt your freedom by going to a banquet thrown in honor of idols, where the main course is meat sacrificed to idols. Isn’t there great danger if someone still struggling over this issue, someone who looks up to you as knowledgeable and mature, sees you go into that banquet? The danger is that he will become terribly confused—maybe even to the point of getting mixed up himself in what his conscience tells him is wrong.
11-13 Christ gave up his life for that person. Wouldn’t you at least be willing to give up going to dinner for him—because, as you say, it doesn’t really make any difference? But it does make a difference if you hurt your friend terribly, risking his eternal ruin! When you hurt your friend, you hurt Christ. A free meal here and there isn’t worth it at the cost of even one of these “weak ones.” So, never go to these idol-tainted meals if there’s any chance it will trip up one of your brothers or sisters.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthian
Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.x On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity,y as those sent from God.z
3 Are we beginning to commend ourselvesa again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendationb to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.c 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,d not on tablets of stonee but on tablets of human hearts.f
4 Such confidenceg we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselvesh to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.i 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenantj—not of the letterk but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.l
Insight
Letters of recommendation to introduce and give approval or authority to someone were common in the ancient world (see Ezra 7:11–26; Nehemiah 2:7–8; Acts 18:27; Romans 16:1–2; 1 Corinthians 16:3; Colossians 4:10; 3 John 1:9). Since Paul didn’t have any such letters, his opponents said he wasn’t a true apostle. Arguing that he didn’t need an introductory or authorization letter from anyone, Paul said that the Corinthians themselves, as believers in Christ, eloquently proved and authenticated his status as an apostle (2 Corinthians 3:1–3). Paul had made this point earlier: “Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus our Lord with my own eyes? Isn’t it because of my work that you belong to the Lord? Even if others think I am not an apostle, I certainly am to you. You yourselves are proof that I am the Lord’s apostle” (1 Corinthians 9:1–2 nlt).
Written on the Heart
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 2 Corinthians 3:2
As a professor, I’m often asked by students to write letters of recommendation for them—for leadership positions, study-abroad programs, graduate schools, and even jobs. In each letter, I have a chance to praise the student’s character and qualifications.
When Christians traveled in the ancient world, they often carried with them similar “letters of commendation” from their churches. Such a letter ensured that the traveling brother or sister would be welcomed hospitably.
The apostle Paul didn’t need a letter of recommendation when he spoke to the church in Corinth—they knew him. In his second letter to that church, Paul wrote that he preached the gospel out of sincerity, not for personal gain (2 Corinthians 2:17). But then he wondered if his readers would think that in defending his motives in preaching, he was trying to write a letter of recommendation for himself.
He didn’t need such a letter, he said, because the people in the church in Corinth were themselves like letters of recommendation. The visible work of Christ in their lives was like a letter “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God” (3:3). Their lives testified to the true gospel Paul had preached to them—their lives were letters of reference that could be “known and read by everyone” (3:2). As we follow Jesus, this becomes true of us too—our lives tell the story of the goodness of the gospel. By: Amy Peterson
Reflect & Pray
When people read the “letter” of your life, what do they see of Jesus? Who are the teachers who have left their imprint on you?
Jesus, I want others to see You in my life. May I decrease and You increase.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 19, 2019
The Focus Of Our Message
I did not come to bring peace but a sword. —Matthew 10:34
Never be sympathetic with a person whose situation causes you to conclude that God is dealing harshly with him. God can be more tender than we can conceive, and every once in a while He gives us the opportunity to deal firmly with someone so that He may be viewed as the tender One. If a person cannot go to God, it is because he has something secret which he does not intend to give up— he may admit his sin, but would no more give up that thing than he could fly under his own power. It is impossible to deal sympathetically with people like that. We must reach down deep in their lives to the root of the problem, which will cause hostility and resentment toward the message. People want the blessing of God, but they can’t stand something that pierces right through to the heart of the matter.
If you are sensitive to God’s way, your message as His servant will be merciless and insistent, cutting to the very root. Otherwise, there will be no healing. We must drive the message home so forcefully that a person cannot possibly hide, but must apply its truth. Deal with people where they are, until they begin to realize their true need. Then hold high the standard of Jesus for their lives. Their response may be, “We can never be that.” Then drive it home with, “Jesus Christ says you must.” “But how can we be?” “You can’t, unless you have a new Spirit” (see Luke 11:13).
There must be a sense of need created before your message is of any use. Thousands of people in this world profess to be happy without God. But if we could be truly happy and moral without Jesus, then why did He come? He came because that kind of happiness and peace is only superficial. Jesus Christ came to “bring…a sword” through every kind of peace that is not based on a personal relationship with Himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from. The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Feather Swords - #8594
Our whole family was with us that one Christmas, and I walked into the family room and saw our cute little two-year-old granddaughter with a sword in her hand. Sounds shocking, I know. But before you begin to question the parental competence of our children, I should tell you that it was a kind of sword I'd never seen before. The "blade" was made entirely of feathers. It turns out that back then on her favorite children's TV show there was this happy pirate who carried one of these feather swords. We tried the sword on me - it doesn't hurt. It tickles. I'd hate to be in any kind of a real battle with it. It's a little difficult to be intimidating as you're waving your feather sword!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Feather Swords."
You would never think of using a wimpy feather sword in a real battle. Right? But unfortunately, that's what we use all too often to fight the battles that really matter - God's battles. The battle for what's right. The battle for lost lives. The battle to make our family or our ministry spiritual winners. We might be fighting the right battles, but are we using the right weapons? You can't push back the darkness or win spiritual battles with feather swords.
There's a powerful formula for victory in our word for today from the Word of God in Zechariah 4:6. It tells us what not to depend on and what to depend on. "This is the word of the Lord ... 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." The human weapons that humans tend to depend on are feather swords when it comes to spiritual causes. We live in a world that is, in the Bible's words, "under the control of the evil one" (1 John 5:19). And earth-weapons and earth-strategies are powerless against the spiritual forces we have to defeat.
So Paul concludes that "we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). So what are some of these "weapons of the world" that turn out to be feather swords when you fight the spiritual darkness that's our real enemy?
You can start with the six powerless P's that we love to use to get God's work done: promotion, planning, persuasion, politics, personalities, and programs. Spiritually powerless - feather swords unless they are empowered by the one "P" that really does have power, and that is prayer. Prayer as in the kind that cries out to God and expresses our deep and total dependency on Him and not on our methods. We're doing it "by His Spirit" when we lay down all our human methods and make prayer our primary method of getting things done. God may choose to use some of those methods, but only if they are totally surrendered to Him, empowered by Him, and not what we trust in.
We tend to trust in finances, in management, in plans, in rich or powerful people, in our communication or persuasion, just like the rest of this godless world does. But God wants us to depend on Him and Him alone. We "make it happen" people look at a situation and say, "Well, I've got to do something!" Let the main thing you do be to consult God and do only the things He wants done. Sometimes, He'll lead you to some action steps. Other times He'll lead you to do what He tol
d the Israelites to do at the Red Sea, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:14). Remember, God can do in a day what men couldn't do in 50 years!
Feather swords? They're nice toys, but they'll never win real battles. God's weapons send the very armies of hell running for cover. So quit depending on your feather sword and trust completely in the mighty arm of the Lord, because as David said before Goliath, "the battle is the Lord's" (1 Samuel 17:47).
Our human tendency is to quit too soon. To stop before we cross the finish line! It shows up in the smallest of things– a partly mowed lawn, a half-read book, or abandoned diet. Or it shows up in life’s most painful areas like a cold faith; a wrecked marriage; an un-evangelized world.
Am I touching some painful sores? If I am, I want to encourage you to remember Jesus’ determination on the cross. Did he ever want to quit? You bet. That’s why his words are so splendid. “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
What was finished? The history-long plan of redeeming man was finished. The message of God to man was finished. The sacrifice had been made. It was over. It’s a cry of completion. A cry of fulfillment. Thank you Lord Jesus, for teaching us to remain, to endure, and in the end—to finish!
1 Corinthians 8
1-3 The question keeps coming up regarding meat that has been offered up to an idol: Should you attend meals where such meat is served, or not? We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.
4-6 Some people say, quite rightly, that idols have no actual existence, that there’s nothing to them, that there is no God other than our one God, that no matter how many of these so-called gods are named and worshiped they still don’t add up to anything but a tall story. They say—again, quite rightly—that there is only one God the Father, that everything comes from him, and that he wants us to live for him. Also, they say that there is only one Master—Jesus the Messiah—and that everything is for his sake, including us. Yes. It’s true.
7 In strict logic, then, nothing happened to the meat when it was offered up to an idol. It’s just like any other meat. I know that, and you know that. But knowing isn’t everything. If it becomes everything, some people end up as know-it-alls who treat others as know-nothings. Real knowledge isn’t that insensitive.
We need to be sensitive to the fact that we’re not all at the same level of understanding in this. Some of you have spent your entire lives eating “idol meat,” and are sure that there’s something bad in the meat that then becomes something bad inside of you. An imagination and conscience shaped under those conditions isn’t going to change overnight.
8-9 But fortunately God doesn’t grade us on our diet. We’re neither commended when we clean our plate nor reprimanded when we just can’t stomach it. But God does care when you use your freedom carelessly in a way that leads a fellow believer still vulnerable to those old associations to be thrown off track.
10 For instance, say you flaunt your freedom by going to a banquet thrown in honor of idols, where the main course is meat sacrificed to idols. Isn’t there great danger if someone still struggling over this issue, someone who looks up to you as knowledgeable and mature, sees you go into that banquet? The danger is that he will become terribly confused—maybe even to the point of getting mixed up himself in what his conscience tells him is wrong.
11-13 Christ gave up his life for that person. Wouldn’t you at least be willing to give up going to dinner for him—because, as you say, it doesn’t really make any difference? But it does make a difference if you hurt your friend terribly, risking his eternal ruin! When you hurt your friend, you hurt Christ. A free meal here and there isn’t worth it at the cost of even one of these “weak ones.” So, never go to these idol-tainted meals if there’s any chance it will trip up one of your brothers or sisters.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthian
Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.x On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity,y as those sent from God.z
3 Are we beginning to commend ourselvesa again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendationb to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.c 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,d not on tablets of stonee but on tablets of human hearts.f
4 Such confidenceg we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselvesh to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.i 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenantj—not of the letterk but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.l
Insight
Letters of recommendation to introduce and give approval or authority to someone were common in the ancient world (see Ezra 7:11–26; Nehemiah 2:7–8; Acts 18:27; Romans 16:1–2; 1 Corinthians 16:3; Colossians 4:10; 3 John 1:9). Since Paul didn’t have any such letters, his opponents said he wasn’t a true apostle. Arguing that he didn’t need an introductory or authorization letter from anyone, Paul said that the Corinthians themselves, as believers in Christ, eloquently proved and authenticated his status as an apostle (2 Corinthians 3:1–3). Paul had made this point earlier: “Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus our Lord with my own eyes? Isn’t it because of my work that you belong to the Lord? Even if others think I am not an apostle, I certainly am to you. You yourselves are proof that I am the Lord’s apostle” (1 Corinthians 9:1–2 nlt).
Written on the Heart
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 2 Corinthians 3:2
As a professor, I’m often asked by students to write letters of recommendation for them—for leadership positions, study-abroad programs, graduate schools, and even jobs. In each letter, I have a chance to praise the student’s character and qualifications.
When Christians traveled in the ancient world, they often carried with them similar “letters of commendation” from their churches. Such a letter ensured that the traveling brother or sister would be welcomed hospitably.
The apostle Paul didn’t need a letter of recommendation when he spoke to the church in Corinth—they knew him. In his second letter to that church, Paul wrote that he preached the gospel out of sincerity, not for personal gain (2 Corinthians 2:17). But then he wondered if his readers would think that in defending his motives in preaching, he was trying to write a letter of recommendation for himself.
He didn’t need such a letter, he said, because the people in the church in Corinth were themselves like letters of recommendation. The visible work of Christ in their lives was like a letter “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God” (3:3). Their lives testified to the true gospel Paul had preached to them—their lives were letters of reference that could be “known and read by everyone” (3:2). As we follow Jesus, this becomes true of us too—our lives tell the story of the goodness of the gospel. By: Amy Peterson
Reflect & Pray
When people read the “letter” of your life, what do they see of Jesus? Who are the teachers who have left their imprint on you?
Jesus, I want others to see You in my life. May I decrease and You increase.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 19, 2019
The Focus Of Our Message
I did not come to bring peace but a sword. —Matthew 10:34
Never be sympathetic with a person whose situation causes you to conclude that God is dealing harshly with him. God can be more tender than we can conceive, and every once in a while He gives us the opportunity to deal firmly with someone so that He may be viewed as the tender One. If a person cannot go to God, it is because he has something secret which he does not intend to give up— he may admit his sin, but would no more give up that thing than he could fly under his own power. It is impossible to deal sympathetically with people like that. We must reach down deep in their lives to the root of the problem, which will cause hostility and resentment toward the message. People want the blessing of God, but they can’t stand something that pierces right through to the heart of the matter.
If you are sensitive to God’s way, your message as His servant will be merciless and insistent, cutting to the very root. Otherwise, there will be no healing. We must drive the message home so forcefully that a person cannot possibly hide, but must apply its truth. Deal with people where they are, until they begin to realize their true need. Then hold high the standard of Jesus for their lives. Their response may be, “We can never be that.” Then drive it home with, “Jesus Christ says you must.” “But how can we be?” “You can’t, unless you have a new Spirit” (see Luke 11:13).
There must be a sense of need created before your message is of any use. Thousands of people in this world profess to be happy without God. But if we could be truly happy and moral without Jesus, then why did He come? He came because that kind of happiness and peace is only superficial. Jesus Christ came to “bring…a sword” through every kind of peace that is not based on a personal relationship with Himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from. The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Feather Swords - #8594
Our whole family was with us that one Christmas, and I walked into the family room and saw our cute little two-year-old granddaughter with a sword in her hand. Sounds shocking, I know. But before you begin to question the parental competence of our children, I should tell you that it was a kind of sword I'd never seen before. The "blade" was made entirely of feathers. It turns out that back then on her favorite children's TV show there was this happy pirate who carried one of these feather swords. We tried the sword on me - it doesn't hurt. It tickles. I'd hate to be in any kind of a real battle with it. It's a little difficult to be intimidating as you're waving your feather sword!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Feather Swords."
You would never think of using a wimpy feather sword in a real battle. Right? But unfortunately, that's what we use all too often to fight the battles that really matter - God's battles. The battle for what's right. The battle for lost lives. The battle to make our family or our ministry spiritual winners. We might be fighting the right battles, but are we using the right weapons? You can't push back the darkness or win spiritual battles with feather swords.
There's a powerful formula for victory in our word for today from the Word of God in Zechariah 4:6. It tells us what not to depend on and what to depend on. "This is the word of the Lord ... 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." The human weapons that humans tend to depend on are feather swords when it comes to spiritual causes. We live in a world that is, in the Bible's words, "under the control of the evil one" (1 John 5:19). And earth-weapons and earth-strategies are powerless against the spiritual forces we have to defeat.
So Paul concludes that "we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). So what are some of these "weapons of the world" that turn out to be feather swords when you fight the spiritual darkness that's our real enemy?
You can start with the six powerless P's that we love to use to get God's work done: promotion, planning, persuasion, politics, personalities, and programs. Spiritually powerless - feather swords unless they are empowered by the one "P" that really does have power, and that is prayer. Prayer as in the kind that cries out to God and expresses our deep and total dependency on Him and not on our methods. We're doing it "by His Spirit" when we lay down all our human methods and make prayer our primary method of getting things done. God may choose to use some of those methods, but only if they are totally surrendered to Him, empowered by Him, and not what we trust in.
We tend to trust in finances, in management, in plans, in rich or powerful people, in our communication or persuasion, just like the rest of this godless world does. But God wants us to depend on Him and Him alone. We "make it happen" people look at a situation and say, "Well, I've got to do something!" Let the main thing you do be to consult God and do only the things He wants done. Sometimes, He'll lead you to some action steps. Other times He'll lead you to do what He tol
d the Israelites to do at the Red Sea, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:14). Remember, God can do in a day what men couldn't do in 50 years!
Feather swords? They're nice toys, but they'll never win real battles. God's weapons send the very armies of hell running for cover. So quit depending on your feather sword and trust completely in the mighty arm of the Lord, because as David said before Goliath, "the battle is the Lord's" (1 Samuel 17:47).
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
1 Chronicles 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: JESUS UNDERSTANDS
Who will love me? I feel so old. Unloved. Unwanted. Abandoned. I just want to cry and sleep forever… It’s a cry. Can you hear it? The divorced. The abandoned child. A one-night stand. A silent phone. Cries of loneliness.
The most gut-wrenching cry of loneliness in history didn’t come from a widow or a patient. It came from a hill, from a cross, from a Messiah. “My God, my God,” Jesus screamed. “Why did you abandon me?” (Matthew 27:46).
I think of all the people who cast despairing eyes toward the dark heavens and cry, “Why?” And I imagine Him listening. I picture His eyes misting and a pierced hand brushing away a tear. He may offer no answer, he may solve no dilemma. But he who also was once alone—understands!
1 Chronicles 12
These are the men who joined David in Ziklag; it was during the time he was banished by Saul the son of Kish; they were among the Mighty Men, good fighters. They were armed with bows and could sling stones and shoot arrows either right- or left-handed. They hailed from Saul’s tribe, Benjamin.
3-7 The first was Ahiezer; then Joash son of Shemaah the Gibeathite; Jeziel and Pelet the sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu the Anathothite; Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a Mighty Man among the Thirty, a leader of the Thirty; Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad the Gederathite; Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah the Haruphite; Elkanah; Isshiah; Azarel; Joezer; Jashobeam; the Korahites; and Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor.
8-15 There were some Gadites there who had defected to David at his wilderness fortress; they were seasoned and eager fighters who knew how to handle shield and spear. They were wild in appearance, like lions, but as agile as gazelles racing across the hills. Ezer was the first, then Obadiah, Eliab, Mishmannah, Jeremiah, Attai, Eliel, Johanan, Elzabad, Jeremiah, and Macbannai—eleven of them. These Gadites were the cream of the crop—any one of them was worth a hundred lesser men, and the best of them were worth a thousand. They were the ones who crossed the Jordan when it was at flood stage in the first month, and put everyone in the lowlands to flight, both east and west.
16-17 There were also men from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah who joined David in his wilderness fortress. When David went out to meet them, this is what he said: “If you have come in peace and to help me, you are most welcome to join this company; but if you have come to betray me to my enemies, innocent as I am, the God of our ancestors will see through you and bring judgment on you.”
18 Just then Amasai chief of the Thirty, moved by God’s Spirit, said,
We’re on your side, O David,
We’re committed, O son of Jesse;
All is well, yes, all is well with you,
And all’s well with whoever helps you.
Yes, for your God has helped and does help you.
So David took them on and assigned them a place under the chiefs of the raiders.
19 Some from the tribe of Manasseh also defected to David when he started out with the Philistines to go to war against Saul. In the end, they didn’t actually fight because the Philistine leaders, after talking it over, sent them home, saying, “We can’t trust them with our lives—they’ll betray us to their master Saul.”
20-22 The men from Manasseh who defected to David at Ziklag were Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, all leaders among the families of Manasseh. They helped David in his raids against the desert bandits; they were all stalwart fighters and good leaders among his raiders. Hardly a day went by without men showing up to help—it wasn’t long before his band seemed as large as God’s own army!
23-37 Here are the statistics on the battle-seasoned warriors who came down from the north to David at Hebron to hand over Saul’s kingdom, in accord with God’s word: from Judah, carrying shield and spear, 6,800 battle-ready; from Simeon, 7,100 stalwart fighters; from Levi, 4,600, which included Jehoiada leader of the family of Aaron, bringing 3,700 men and the young and stalwart Zadok with twenty-two leaders from his family; from Benjamin, Saul’s family, 3,000, most of whom had stuck it out with Saul until now; from Ephraim, 20,800, fierce fighters and famous in their hometowns; from the half-tribe of Manasseh, 18,000 elected to come and make David king; from Issachar, men who understood both the times and Israel’s duties, 200 leaders with their families; from Zebulun, 50,000 well-equipped veteran warriors, unswervingly loyal; from Naphtali, 1,000 chiefs leading 37,000 men heavily armed; from Dan, 28,600 battle-ready men; from Asher, 40,000 veterans, battle-ready; and from East of Jordan, men from Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, heavily armed, 120,000.
38-40 All these soldiers came to David at Hebron, ready to fight if necessary; they were both united and determined to make David king over all Israel. And everyone else in Israel was of the same mind—“Make David king!” They were with David for three days of feasting celebration, with food and drink supplied by their families. Neighbors ranging from as far north as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali arrived with donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen loaded down with food for the party: flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, oil, cattle, and sheep—joy in Israel!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 102:11–13, 18–28
My days are like the evening shadow;x
I withery away like grass.
12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;z
your renown enduresa through all generations.b
13 You will arisec and have compassiond on Zion,
for it is timee to show favorf to her;
the appointed timeg has come.
Let this be writtenm for a future generation,
that a people not yet createdn may praise the Lord:
19 “The Lord looked downo from his sanctuary on high,
from heaven he viewed the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisonersp
and release those condemned to death.”
21 So the name of the Lord will be declaredq in Zion
and his praiser in Jerusalem
22 when the peoples and the kingdoms
assemble to worships the Lord.
23 In the course of my lifeb he broke my strength;
he cut short my days.t
24 So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
your years go onu through all generations.
25 In the beginningv you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavensw are the work of your hands.x
26 They will perish,y but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
and they will be discarded.
27 But you remain the same,z
and your years will never end.a
28 The children of your servantsb will live in your presence;
their descendantsc will be established before you.”
Insight
Psalm 102 is a prayer written by an unnamed individual. The psalm is broken into stanzas and reflects the author crying out to God (vv. 1–2), describes the situation of distress (vv. 3–11), acknowledges that God hears his cries (vv. 12–17), declares the future praise of the Lord (vv. 18–22), and concludes with a summary (vv. 22–28). The psalm doesn’t contain any specific reference to repentance, but it later became one of seven penitential (confession) psalms (Pss. 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143) used in the early church. By: Julie Schwab
Walk in the Present with God
The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you. Psalm 102:28
In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote: “Almost certainly God is not in time. His life does not consist of moments one following another . . . . Ten-thirty—and every other moment from the beginning of the world—is always present for Him.” Still, waiting seasons often feel endless. But as we learn to trust God, the eternal Maker of time, we can accept the reality that our fragile existence is secure in His hands.
The psalmist, lamenting in Psalm 102, admits his days are as fleeting as “the evening shadow” and withering grass, while God “endures through all generations” (vv. 11–12). The writer, weary from suffering, proclaims that God sits “enthroned forever” (v. 12). He affirms that God’s power and consistent compassion reach beyond his personal space (vv. 13–18). Even in his despair (vv. 19–24), the psalmist turns his focus on the power of God as Creator (v. 25). Though His creations will perish, He will remain the same for eternity (vv. 26–27).
When time seems to be standing still or dragging on, it’s tempting to accuse God of being late or non-responsive. We can grow impatient and frustrated with remaining still. We can forget He’s chosen every single cobblestone on the path He’s planned for us. But He never leaves us to fend for ourselves. As we live by faith in the presence of God, we can walk in the present with God. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
How can acknowledging God as the Maker of time help you trust Him when His timing doesn’t meet your preference? How can living in the present give you peace?
Loving God, please teach us to be present in life, refusing to worry about tomorrow as You affirm Your constant presence.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Test of Faithfulness
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God… —Romans 8:28
It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.
Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.
The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
The Gift God's Preparing Where You Can't See - #8593
Like most families, Christmastime for us has always been a season of secrets, mysteries and anticipation. And sometimes even a little frustration. Like the year my wife and I decided to build a dollhouse for our daughter and then another year we built a general store for our son. We closed off the basement and we set up our workshop. That sign on the basement door said, "Closed - Christmas Workshop." But, of course, the kids could hear all the construction sounds downstairs, it was driving them nuts! They begged us to tell them what we were working on. But that, of course, would have ruined everything. Even though it left them wondering, we were building something really nice for them. They just couldn't see it until it was done.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Gift God's Preparing Where You Can't See."
That scenario could be going on in your life right now. Your Father is building something really good for you, but He can't let you see it yet. It's not ready. You're not ready. It's not time. And not knowing what He's up to may be causing you some frustration and some anxiety.
Maybe you could find a little encouragement in a brief visit to the Christmas Story. It's in our word for today from the Word of God. We'll go to a young woman named Mary who's been told God is up to something big in her life; a young woman who right now has a lot more questions than answers. The angel has just announced that she is about to be pregnant by a miracle of Almighty God, and that baby she will bear will be called "the Son of the Most High."
When Mary asks how this can be in light of the fact that she's a virgin, the Bible says, "The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you...Nothing is impossible with God.' 'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered. 'May it be to me as you have said'" (Luke 1:38). Then later, her cousin Elizabeth says to her, "Blessed is she who has believed what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished" (Luke 1:45).
Okay, God is making something wonderful. But before Mary will be able to see what God is doing, she's got some major hassles to deal with. Who's going to believe she's pregnant without committing a sexual sin? What's going to happen to her reputation? What's going to happen to her upcoming marriage? She risks losing Joseph, the man she loves. She's going to have to make a grueling 90-mile journey to Bethlehem in her ninth month. There won't even be a room where she can have her baby. He'll be born in the filth of a stable. Lots of questions, lots of bumps in the road. When she finally sees what God has been building, of course it's going to be incredible.
When you finally see what God is putting together behind closed doors for you, you're going to be forever grateful. You're going to love it. But for now, you may hear the hammering, but you won't be able to see what He's working on. Will you, as David said, "Wait patiently on the Lord"? You can't see who, you can't see what, you can't see when, but you know your Father loves you and you know He
only "works all things together for good" (Romans 8:28).
Mary showed us how to respond in times like these, a marvelous five-word response you might call the ultimate Christmas spirit. Here are those words, "I am the Lord's servant." "Do whatever You think is best, Lord."
You know, when you do that, you can relax in the anticipation that when you finally see what your Father is building for you, you're going to love it!
Who will love me? I feel so old. Unloved. Unwanted. Abandoned. I just want to cry and sleep forever… It’s a cry. Can you hear it? The divorced. The abandoned child. A one-night stand. A silent phone. Cries of loneliness.
The most gut-wrenching cry of loneliness in history didn’t come from a widow or a patient. It came from a hill, from a cross, from a Messiah. “My God, my God,” Jesus screamed. “Why did you abandon me?” (Matthew 27:46).
I think of all the people who cast despairing eyes toward the dark heavens and cry, “Why?” And I imagine Him listening. I picture His eyes misting and a pierced hand brushing away a tear. He may offer no answer, he may solve no dilemma. But he who also was once alone—understands!
1 Chronicles 12
These are the men who joined David in Ziklag; it was during the time he was banished by Saul the son of Kish; they were among the Mighty Men, good fighters. They were armed with bows and could sling stones and shoot arrows either right- or left-handed. They hailed from Saul’s tribe, Benjamin.
3-7 The first was Ahiezer; then Joash son of Shemaah the Gibeathite; Jeziel and Pelet the sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu the Anathothite; Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a Mighty Man among the Thirty, a leader of the Thirty; Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad the Gederathite; Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah the Haruphite; Elkanah; Isshiah; Azarel; Joezer; Jashobeam; the Korahites; and Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor.
8-15 There were some Gadites there who had defected to David at his wilderness fortress; they were seasoned and eager fighters who knew how to handle shield and spear. They were wild in appearance, like lions, but as agile as gazelles racing across the hills. Ezer was the first, then Obadiah, Eliab, Mishmannah, Jeremiah, Attai, Eliel, Johanan, Elzabad, Jeremiah, and Macbannai—eleven of them. These Gadites were the cream of the crop—any one of them was worth a hundred lesser men, and the best of them were worth a thousand. They were the ones who crossed the Jordan when it was at flood stage in the first month, and put everyone in the lowlands to flight, both east and west.
16-17 There were also men from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah who joined David in his wilderness fortress. When David went out to meet them, this is what he said: “If you have come in peace and to help me, you are most welcome to join this company; but if you have come to betray me to my enemies, innocent as I am, the God of our ancestors will see through you and bring judgment on you.”
18 Just then Amasai chief of the Thirty, moved by God’s Spirit, said,
We’re on your side, O David,
We’re committed, O son of Jesse;
All is well, yes, all is well with you,
And all’s well with whoever helps you.
Yes, for your God has helped and does help you.
So David took them on and assigned them a place under the chiefs of the raiders.
19 Some from the tribe of Manasseh also defected to David when he started out with the Philistines to go to war against Saul. In the end, they didn’t actually fight because the Philistine leaders, after talking it over, sent them home, saying, “We can’t trust them with our lives—they’ll betray us to their master Saul.”
20-22 The men from Manasseh who defected to David at Ziklag were Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, all leaders among the families of Manasseh. They helped David in his raids against the desert bandits; they were all stalwart fighters and good leaders among his raiders. Hardly a day went by without men showing up to help—it wasn’t long before his band seemed as large as God’s own army!
23-37 Here are the statistics on the battle-seasoned warriors who came down from the north to David at Hebron to hand over Saul’s kingdom, in accord with God’s word: from Judah, carrying shield and spear, 6,800 battle-ready; from Simeon, 7,100 stalwart fighters; from Levi, 4,600, which included Jehoiada leader of the family of Aaron, bringing 3,700 men and the young and stalwart Zadok with twenty-two leaders from his family; from Benjamin, Saul’s family, 3,000, most of whom had stuck it out with Saul until now; from Ephraim, 20,800, fierce fighters and famous in their hometowns; from the half-tribe of Manasseh, 18,000 elected to come and make David king; from Issachar, men who understood both the times and Israel’s duties, 200 leaders with their families; from Zebulun, 50,000 well-equipped veteran warriors, unswervingly loyal; from Naphtali, 1,000 chiefs leading 37,000 men heavily armed; from Dan, 28,600 battle-ready men; from Asher, 40,000 veterans, battle-ready; and from East of Jordan, men from Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, heavily armed, 120,000.
38-40 All these soldiers came to David at Hebron, ready to fight if necessary; they were both united and determined to make David king over all Israel. And everyone else in Israel was of the same mind—“Make David king!” They were with David for three days of feasting celebration, with food and drink supplied by their families. Neighbors ranging from as far north as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali arrived with donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen loaded down with food for the party: flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, oil, cattle, and sheep—joy in Israel!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 102:11–13, 18–28
My days are like the evening shadow;x
I withery away like grass.
12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;z
your renown enduresa through all generations.b
13 You will arisec and have compassiond on Zion,
for it is timee to show favorf to her;
the appointed timeg has come.
Let this be writtenm for a future generation,
that a people not yet createdn may praise the Lord:
19 “The Lord looked downo from his sanctuary on high,
from heaven he viewed the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisonersp
and release those condemned to death.”
21 So the name of the Lord will be declaredq in Zion
and his praiser in Jerusalem
22 when the peoples and the kingdoms
assemble to worships the Lord.
23 In the course of my lifeb he broke my strength;
he cut short my days.t
24 So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
your years go onu through all generations.
25 In the beginningv you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavensw are the work of your hands.x
26 They will perish,y but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
and they will be discarded.
27 But you remain the same,z
and your years will never end.a
28 The children of your servantsb will live in your presence;
their descendantsc will be established before you.”
Insight
Psalm 102 is a prayer written by an unnamed individual. The psalm is broken into stanzas and reflects the author crying out to God (vv. 1–2), describes the situation of distress (vv. 3–11), acknowledges that God hears his cries (vv. 12–17), declares the future praise of the Lord (vv. 18–22), and concludes with a summary (vv. 22–28). The psalm doesn’t contain any specific reference to repentance, but it later became one of seven penitential (confession) psalms (Pss. 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143) used in the early church. By: Julie Schwab
Walk in the Present with God
The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you. Psalm 102:28
In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote: “Almost certainly God is not in time. His life does not consist of moments one following another . . . . Ten-thirty—and every other moment from the beginning of the world—is always present for Him.” Still, waiting seasons often feel endless. But as we learn to trust God, the eternal Maker of time, we can accept the reality that our fragile existence is secure in His hands.
The psalmist, lamenting in Psalm 102, admits his days are as fleeting as “the evening shadow” and withering grass, while God “endures through all generations” (vv. 11–12). The writer, weary from suffering, proclaims that God sits “enthroned forever” (v. 12). He affirms that God’s power and consistent compassion reach beyond his personal space (vv. 13–18). Even in his despair (vv. 19–24), the psalmist turns his focus on the power of God as Creator (v. 25). Though His creations will perish, He will remain the same for eternity (vv. 26–27).
When time seems to be standing still or dragging on, it’s tempting to accuse God of being late or non-responsive. We can grow impatient and frustrated with remaining still. We can forget He’s chosen every single cobblestone on the path He’s planned for us. But He never leaves us to fend for ourselves. As we live by faith in the presence of God, we can walk in the present with God. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
How can acknowledging God as the Maker of time help you trust Him when His timing doesn’t meet your preference? How can living in the present give you peace?
Loving God, please teach us to be present in life, refusing to worry about tomorrow as You affirm Your constant presence.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Test of Faithfulness
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God… —Romans 8:28
It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.
Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.
The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it. Not Knowing Whither, 900 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
The Gift God's Preparing Where You Can't See - #8593
Like most families, Christmastime for us has always been a season of secrets, mysteries and anticipation. And sometimes even a little frustration. Like the year my wife and I decided to build a dollhouse for our daughter and then another year we built a general store for our son. We closed off the basement and we set up our workshop. That sign on the basement door said, "Closed - Christmas Workshop." But, of course, the kids could hear all the construction sounds downstairs, it was driving them nuts! They begged us to tell them what we were working on. But that, of course, would have ruined everything. Even though it left them wondering, we were building something really nice for them. They just couldn't see it until it was done.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Gift God's Preparing Where You Can't See."
That scenario could be going on in your life right now. Your Father is building something really good for you, but He can't let you see it yet. It's not ready. You're not ready. It's not time. And not knowing what He's up to may be causing you some frustration and some anxiety.
Maybe you could find a little encouragement in a brief visit to the Christmas Story. It's in our word for today from the Word of God. We'll go to a young woman named Mary who's been told God is up to something big in her life; a young woman who right now has a lot more questions than answers. The angel has just announced that she is about to be pregnant by a miracle of Almighty God, and that baby she will bear will be called "the Son of the Most High."
When Mary asks how this can be in light of the fact that she's a virgin, the Bible says, "The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you...Nothing is impossible with God.' 'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered. 'May it be to me as you have said'" (Luke 1:38). Then later, her cousin Elizabeth says to her, "Blessed is she who has believed what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished" (Luke 1:45).
Okay, God is making something wonderful. But before Mary will be able to see what God is doing, she's got some major hassles to deal with. Who's going to believe she's pregnant without committing a sexual sin? What's going to happen to her reputation? What's going to happen to her upcoming marriage? She risks losing Joseph, the man she loves. She's going to have to make a grueling 90-mile journey to Bethlehem in her ninth month. There won't even be a room where she can have her baby. He'll be born in the filth of a stable. Lots of questions, lots of bumps in the road. When she finally sees what God has been building, of course it's going to be incredible.
When you finally see what God is putting together behind closed doors for you, you're going to be forever grateful. You're going to love it. But for now, you may hear the hammering, but you won't be able to see what He's working on. Will you, as David said, "Wait patiently on the Lord"? You can't see who, you can't see what, you can't see when, but you know your Father loves you and you know He
only "works all things together for good" (Romans 8:28).
Mary showed us how to respond in times like these, a marvelous five-word response you might call the ultimate Christmas spirit. Here are those words, "I am the Lord's servant." "Do whatever You think is best, Lord."
You know, when you do that, you can relax in the anticipation that when you finally see what your Father is building for you, you're going to love it!
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
1 Chronicles 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: OUR VALUES ARE A MESS
Have you noticed? We say you’re valuable if you’re pretty. We say you’re valuable if you produce. If you can slam-dunk a basketball or snag a pop fly. Appearance and performance. Pretty tough system, isn’t it? Where does that leave the ugly or uneducated? The aged or the disabled? The unborn child? Please understand, this is man’s system. It’s not God’s.
If there was anything Jesus wanted everyone to understand it was this– a person is worth something simply because he is a person. That’s why Jesus treated people like He did. Jesus’ love doesn’t depend on what we do for him. Your value is inborn. Period. I know I don’t deserve a love like that. None of us do. When you get right down to it, any contribution we make is pretty puny. No wonder they call Him the Savior!
1 Chronicles 11
Then all Israel assembled before David at Hebron. “Look at us,” they said. “We’re your very flesh and blood. In the past, yes, even while Saul was king, you were the real leader of Israel. God told you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel; you are to be the ruler of my people Israel.’” When all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, David made a covenant with them in the presence of God at Hebron. Then they anointed David king over Israel exactly as God had commanded through Samuel.
4-6 David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (it was the old Jebus, where the Jebusites lived). The citizens of Jebus told David, “No trespassing—you can’t come here.” David came on anyway and captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David. David had said, “The first person to kill a Jebusite will be commander-in-chief.” Joab son of Zeruiah was the first; and he became the chief.
7-9 David took up residence in the fortress city; that’s how it got its name, “City of David.” David fortified the city all the way around, both the outer bulwarks (the Millo) and the outside wall. Joab rebuilt the city gates. David’s stride became longer, his embrace larger—yes, God-of-the-Angel-Armies was with him!
10-11 These are the chiefs of David’s Mighty Men, the ones who linked arms with him as he took up his kingship, with all Israel joining in, helping him become king in just the way God had spoken regarding Israel. The list of David’s Mighty Men:
Jashobeam son of Hacmoni was chief of the Thirty. Singlehandedly he killed three hundred men, killed them all in one skirmish.
12-14 Next was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite, one of the Big Three of the Mighty Men. He was with David at Pas Dammim, where the Philistines had mustered their troops for battle. It was an area where there was a field of barley. The army started to flee from the Philistines and then took its stand right in that field—and turned the tide! They slaughtered the Philistines, God helping them—a huge victory.
15-19 The Big Three from the Thirty made a rocky descent to David at the Cave of Adullam while a company of Philistines was camped in the Valley of Rephaim. David was holed up in the Cave while the Philistines were prepared for battle at Bethlehem. David had a sudden craving: “What I wouldn’t give for a drink of water from the well in Bethlehem, the one at the gate!” The Three penetrated the Philistine camp, drew water from the well at the Bethlehem gate, shouldered it, and brought it to David. And then David wouldn’t drink it! He poured it out as a sacred offering to God, saying, “I’d rather be damned by God than drink this! It would be like drinking the lifeblood of these men—they risked their lives to bring it.” So he refused to drink it. These are the kinds of things that the Big Three of the Mighty Men did.
20-21 Abishai brother of Joab was the chief of the Thirty. Singlehandedly he fought three hundred men, and killed the lot, but he never made it into the circle of the Three. He was highly honored by the Thirty—he was their chief—still, he didn’t measure up to the Three.
22-25 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a Mighty Man from Kabzeel with many exploits to his credit: he killed two famous Moabites; he climbed down into a pit and killed a lion on a snowy day; and he killed an Egyptian, a giant seven and a half feet tall. The Egyptian had a spear like a ship’s boom but Benaiah went at him with a mere club, tore the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with it. These are some of the things Benaiah son of Jehoiada did. But he was never included with the Three. He was highly honored among the Thirty, but didn’t measure up to the Three. David put him in charge of his personal bodyguard.
26-47 The Mighty Men of the military were Asahel brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem, Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite, Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite, Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the Benjaminite, Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hurai from the ravines of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan son of Shagee the Hararite, Ahiam son of Sacar the Haranite, Eliphal son of Ur, Hepher the Mekerathite, Ahijah the Pelonite, Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai son of Ezbai, Joel brother of Nathan, Mibhar son of Hagri, Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armor bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah, Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, Uriah the Hittite, Zabad son of Ahlai, Adina son of Shiza the Reubenite, the Reubenite chief of the Thirty, Hanan son of Maacah, Joshaphat the Mithnite, Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite, Jediael son of Shimri, Joha the Tizite his brother, Eliel the Mahavite, Jeribai and Joshaviah the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite, Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 18:30–36
As for God, his way is perfect:y
The Lord’s word is flawless;z
he shieldsa all who take refugeb in him.
31 For who is God besides the Lord?c
And who is the Rockd except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strengthe
and keeps my way secure.f
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;g
he causes me to stand on the heights.h
34 He trains my hands for battle;i
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You make your saving help my shield,
and your right hand sustainsj me;
your help has made me great.
36 You provide a broad pathk for my feet,
so that my ankles do not give way.l
Insight
Because of David’s success and popularity (1 Samuel 17; 18:15–16), the insanely jealous King Saul tried to kill him (18:10–11). On the run for his life, David sought refuge in the mountains and caves (22:1; 23:26; 24:2). But David was mindful that it was God who delivered, protected, and kept him safe. Out of his experience as a fugitive, David wrote Psalm 18 (which also appears in 2 Samuel 22) as a thanksgiving song, therefore the long superscription: “Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” David used seven metaphors in this psalm to describe God: rock, fortress, deliverer, refuge, shield, horn of salvation, and stronghold (v. 2)—all pictures of protection, security, deliverance, and safety.
Lord of the . . . Nails?
It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. Psalm 18:32
I was getting into my car when the glint caught my eye: a nail, embedded in my rear tire’s sidewall. I listened for the telltale whistle of air. Thankfully, the hole was plugged—at least for the moment.
As I drove to a tire store, I wondered: How long has that nail been there? Days? Weeks? How long have I been protected from a threat I didn’t even know existed?
We can sometimes live under the illusion that we’re in control. But that nail reminded me we’re not.
But when life feels out of control and unstable, we have a God whose reliability we can trust. In Psalm 18, David praises God for watching over him (vv. 34–35). David confesses, “It is God who arms me with strength. . . . You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way” (vv. 32, 36). In this poem of praise, David celebrates God’s sustaining presence (v. 35).
I personally don’t march into combat like David; I even go out of my way not to take unnecessary risks. Still, my life is often chaotic.
But I can rest in the knowledge that, though God doesn’t promise us protection from all of life’s difficulties, He always knows where I am. He knows where I’m going and what I’ll encounter. And He’s the Lord of it all—even the “nails” of our lives. By: Adam Holz
Reflect & Pray
When has God protected you from something that you didn’t even know about? How did He watch over your way or help you stay clear of that threat?
Father, help us to remember daily that You know every step we take. Help us to trust in Your provision for every potential problem or sudden setback we face today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Redemption— Creating the Need it Satisfies
The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him… —1 Corinthians 2:14
The gospel of God creates the sense of need for the gospel. Is the gospel hidden to those who are servants already? No, Paul said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe…” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The majority of people think of themselves as being completely moral, and have no sense of need for the gospel. It is God who creates this sense of need in a human being, but that person remains totally unaware of his need until God makes Himself evident. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you…” (Matthew 7:7). But God cannot give until a man asks. It is not that He wants to withhold something from us, but that is the plan He has established for the way of redemption. Through our asking, God puts His process in motion, creating something in us that was nonexistent until we asked. The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time. And as redemption creates the life of God in us, it also creates the things which belong to that life. The only thing that can possibly satisfy the need is what created the need. This is the meaning of redemption— it creates and it satisfies.
Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32). When we preach our own experiences, people may be interested, but it awakens no real sense of need. But once Jesus Christ is “lifted up,” the Spirit of God creates an awareness of the need for Him. The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the truth of redemption. “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
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
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
When You Realize You're Lost - #8592
You may have noticed firstborn children are usually known for their independence, which can sometimes get them in trouble. When our daughter was four years old, we were on a family shopping trip to the local grocery store. Her little brother was riding in the cart and our daughter was walking ahead of Mom and me and the cart. At a moment when we were looking at the corn flakes or something, she wandered off and into another aisle. To this day she still remembers the panic of realizing she did not know where she was or where we were. She told me, "The aisle looked so long, the shelves looked so high, and I didn't recognize anybody." Suddenly, our little girl realized she was lost.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You Realize You're Lost."
Our daughter never meant to get separated from her parents, but suddenly she was lost. Maybe you've never meant to get separated from your Heavenly Father, but you are. And you're realizing that you're lost.
Jesus said we're like sheep. And I don't think a sheep wakes up one day and says, "I'm tired of the shepherd. I think I'll just run away from Him." Sheep don't run away, they wander away. Just a little off the shepherd's path to check out that tuft of grass, then up that hill, then over the hill, until suddenly the sheep says, "Hey! Where's my shepherd?"
Maybe that's your story. You never meant to get this far from God. But one wandering step at a time, you've ended up farther from your Lord than you ever thought you'd get, maybe doing things you never thought you would do - trying to get other things to meet needs in you that Jesus once met. And those other things aren't working.
So how do you get back? The same way the prodigal son got back to his father. Jesus described it this way, "He set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth...he had spent everything." So he ended up feeding pigs - not exactly his dream when he left his father. Now he's covered with shame and pig slop.
Jesus says in Luke 15, beginning with verse 17, our word for today from the Word of God, "he came to his senses. He said...'I will set out and go back to my father and I will say to him: 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.'...So he got up and he went to his father."
You wandered away from Jesus, but you can't wander back. You have to decide that this is your last day away from home. This is the day you're getting up and you're going home to your Father. A lot of things might be holding you back: your shame over what you've done, which God is ready to trade for His forgiveness today; your fear of failing, which God is ready to replace with His strength; or your unwillingness to let go of your idols, wondering if you can do without them now. You've forgotten that the cost of not following Jesus is far greater than the cost of following Him. You've lived that one haven't you?
It's never going to be easier to start back home to Jesus than it is today. Every day you wait, the ropes that are holding you get tighter and tighter. Every day you wait, your heart's getting harder. You've been lost long enough. Listen, it's time to come home to Jesus. And you may have never even begun a relationship with Him. Well, this is the day you can go to the one who was meant to be your Heavenly Father and be born into his family.
There's information about how to be sure you've begun that relationship at our website ANewStory.com. This could be the beginning of your new story today. I hope you'll go there to get that information.
Your Heavenly Father is waiting right now to welcome you home with arms wide open. He's been waiting for you. Don't waste another day. This could be your personal Homecoming Day!
Have you noticed? We say you’re valuable if you’re pretty. We say you’re valuable if you produce. If you can slam-dunk a basketball or snag a pop fly. Appearance and performance. Pretty tough system, isn’t it? Where does that leave the ugly or uneducated? The aged or the disabled? The unborn child? Please understand, this is man’s system. It’s not God’s.
If there was anything Jesus wanted everyone to understand it was this– a person is worth something simply because he is a person. That’s why Jesus treated people like He did. Jesus’ love doesn’t depend on what we do for him. Your value is inborn. Period. I know I don’t deserve a love like that. None of us do. When you get right down to it, any contribution we make is pretty puny. No wonder they call Him the Savior!
1 Chronicles 11
Then all Israel assembled before David at Hebron. “Look at us,” they said. “We’re your very flesh and blood. In the past, yes, even while Saul was king, you were the real leader of Israel. God told you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel; you are to be the ruler of my people Israel.’” When all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, David made a covenant with them in the presence of God at Hebron. Then they anointed David king over Israel exactly as God had commanded through Samuel.
4-6 David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (it was the old Jebus, where the Jebusites lived). The citizens of Jebus told David, “No trespassing—you can’t come here.” David came on anyway and captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David. David had said, “The first person to kill a Jebusite will be commander-in-chief.” Joab son of Zeruiah was the first; and he became the chief.
7-9 David took up residence in the fortress city; that’s how it got its name, “City of David.” David fortified the city all the way around, both the outer bulwarks (the Millo) and the outside wall. Joab rebuilt the city gates. David’s stride became longer, his embrace larger—yes, God-of-the-Angel-Armies was with him!
10-11 These are the chiefs of David’s Mighty Men, the ones who linked arms with him as he took up his kingship, with all Israel joining in, helping him become king in just the way God had spoken regarding Israel. The list of David’s Mighty Men:
Jashobeam son of Hacmoni was chief of the Thirty. Singlehandedly he killed three hundred men, killed them all in one skirmish.
12-14 Next was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite, one of the Big Three of the Mighty Men. He was with David at Pas Dammim, where the Philistines had mustered their troops for battle. It was an area where there was a field of barley. The army started to flee from the Philistines and then took its stand right in that field—and turned the tide! They slaughtered the Philistines, God helping them—a huge victory.
15-19 The Big Three from the Thirty made a rocky descent to David at the Cave of Adullam while a company of Philistines was camped in the Valley of Rephaim. David was holed up in the Cave while the Philistines were prepared for battle at Bethlehem. David had a sudden craving: “What I wouldn’t give for a drink of water from the well in Bethlehem, the one at the gate!” The Three penetrated the Philistine camp, drew water from the well at the Bethlehem gate, shouldered it, and brought it to David. And then David wouldn’t drink it! He poured it out as a sacred offering to God, saying, “I’d rather be damned by God than drink this! It would be like drinking the lifeblood of these men—they risked their lives to bring it.” So he refused to drink it. These are the kinds of things that the Big Three of the Mighty Men did.
20-21 Abishai brother of Joab was the chief of the Thirty. Singlehandedly he fought three hundred men, and killed the lot, but he never made it into the circle of the Three. He was highly honored by the Thirty—he was their chief—still, he didn’t measure up to the Three.
22-25 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a Mighty Man from Kabzeel with many exploits to his credit: he killed two famous Moabites; he climbed down into a pit and killed a lion on a snowy day; and he killed an Egyptian, a giant seven and a half feet tall. The Egyptian had a spear like a ship’s boom but Benaiah went at him with a mere club, tore the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with it. These are some of the things Benaiah son of Jehoiada did. But he was never included with the Three. He was highly honored among the Thirty, but didn’t measure up to the Three. David put him in charge of his personal bodyguard.
26-47 The Mighty Men of the military were Asahel brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem, Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite, Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite, Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the Benjaminite, Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hurai from the ravines of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan son of Shagee the Hararite, Ahiam son of Sacar the Haranite, Eliphal son of Ur, Hepher the Mekerathite, Ahijah the Pelonite, Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai son of Ezbai, Joel brother of Nathan, Mibhar son of Hagri, Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armor bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah, Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, Uriah the Hittite, Zabad son of Ahlai, Adina son of Shiza the Reubenite, the Reubenite chief of the Thirty, Hanan son of Maacah, Joshaphat the Mithnite, Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite, Jediael son of Shimri, Joha the Tizite his brother, Eliel the Mahavite, Jeribai and Joshaviah the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite, Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 18:30–36
As for God, his way is perfect:y
The Lord’s word is flawless;z
he shieldsa all who take refugeb in him.
31 For who is God besides the Lord?c
And who is the Rockd except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strengthe
and keeps my way secure.f
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;g
he causes me to stand on the heights.h
34 He trains my hands for battle;i
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You make your saving help my shield,
and your right hand sustainsj me;
your help has made me great.
36 You provide a broad pathk for my feet,
so that my ankles do not give way.l
Insight
Because of David’s success and popularity (1 Samuel 17; 18:15–16), the insanely jealous King Saul tried to kill him (18:10–11). On the run for his life, David sought refuge in the mountains and caves (22:1; 23:26; 24:2). But David was mindful that it was God who delivered, protected, and kept him safe. Out of his experience as a fugitive, David wrote Psalm 18 (which also appears in 2 Samuel 22) as a thanksgiving song, therefore the long superscription: “Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” David used seven metaphors in this psalm to describe God: rock, fortress, deliverer, refuge, shield, horn of salvation, and stronghold (v. 2)—all pictures of protection, security, deliverance, and safety.
Lord of the . . . Nails?
It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. Psalm 18:32
I was getting into my car when the glint caught my eye: a nail, embedded in my rear tire’s sidewall. I listened for the telltale whistle of air. Thankfully, the hole was plugged—at least for the moment.
As I drove to a tire store, I wondered: How long has that nail been there? Days? Weeks? How long have I been protected from a threat I didn’t even know existed?
We can sometimes live under the illusion that we’re in control. But that nail reminded me we’re not.
But when life feels out of control and unstable, we have a God whose reliability we can trust. In Psalm 18, David praises God for watching over him (vv. 34–35). David confesses, “It is God who arms me with strength. . . . You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way” (vv. 32, 36). In this poem of praise, David celebrates God’s sustaining presence (v. 35).
I personally don’t march into combat like David; I even go out of my way not to take unnecessary risks. Still, my life is often chaotic.
But I can rest in the knowledge that, though God doesn’t promise us protection from all of life’s difficulties, He always knows where I am. He knows where I’m going and what I’ll encounter. And He’s the Lord of it all—even the “nails” of our lives. By: Adam Holz
Reflect & Pray
When has God protected you from something that you didn’t even know about? How did He watch over your way or help you stay clear of that threat?
Father, help us to remember daily that You know every step we take. Help us to trust in Your provision for every potential problem or sudden setback we face today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Redemption— Creating the Need it Satisfies
The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him… —1 Corinthians 2:14
The gospel of God creates the sense of need for the gospel. Is the gospel hidden to those who are servants already? No, Paul said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe…” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The majority of people think of themselves as being completely moral, and have no sense of need for the gospel. It is God who creates this sense of need in a human being, but that person remains totally unaware of his need until God makes Himself evident. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you…” (Matthew 7:7). But God cannot give until a man asks. It is not that He wants to withhold something from us, but that is the plan He has established for the way of redemption. Through our asking, God puts His process in motion, creating something in us that was nonexistent until we asked. The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time. And as redemption creates the life of God in us, it also creates the things which belong to that life. The only thing that can possibly satisfy the need is what created the need. This is the meaning of redemption— it creates and it satisfies.
Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32). When we preach our own experiences, people may be interested, but it awakens no real sense of need. But once Jesus Christ is “lifted up,” the Spirit of God creates an awareness of the need for Him. The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the truth of redemption. “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
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
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
When You Realize You're Lost - #8592
You may have noticed firstborn children are usually known for their independence, which can sometimes get them in trouble. When our daughter was four years old, we were on a family shopping trip to the local grocery store. Her little brother was riding in the cart and our daughter was walking ahead of Mom and me and the cart. At a moment when we were looking at the corn flakes or something, she wandered off and into another aisle. To this day she still remembers the panic of realizing she did not know where she was or where we were. She told me, "The aisle looked so long, the shelves looked so high, and I didn't recognize anybody." Suddenly, our little girl realized she was lost.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You Realize You're Lost."
Our daughter never meant to get separated from her parents, but suddenly she was lost. Maybe you've never meant to get separated from your Heavenly Father, but you are. And you're realizing that you're lost.
Jesus said we're like sheep. And I don't think a sheep wakes up one day and says, "I'm tired of the shepherd. I think I'll just run away from Him." Sheep don't run away, they wander away. Just a little off the shepherd's path to check out that tuft of grass, then up that hill, then over the hill, until suddenly the sheep says, "Hey! Where's my shepherd?"
Maybe that's your story. You never meant to get this far from God. But one wandering step at a time, you've ended up farther from your Lord than you ever thought you'd get, maybe doing things you never thought you would do - trying to get other things to meet needs in you that Jesus once met. And those other things aren't working.
So how do you get back? The same way the prodigal son got back to his father. Jesus described it this way, "He set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth...he had spent everything." So he ended up feeding pigs - not exactly his dream when he left his father. Now he's covered with shame and pig slop.
Jesus says in Luke 15, beginning with verse 17, our word for today from the Word of God, "he came to his senses. He said...'I will set out and go back to my father and I will say to him: 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.'...So he got up and he went to his father."
You wandered away from Jesus, but you can't wander back. You have to decide that this is your last day away from home. This is the day you're getting up and you're going home to your Father. A lot of things might be holding you back: your shame over what you've done, which God is ready to trade for His forgiveness today; your fear of failing, which God is ready to replace with His strength; or your unwillingness to let go of your idols, wondering if you can do without them now. You've forgotten that the cost of not following Jesus is far greater than the cost of following Him. You've lived that one haven't you?
It's never going to be easier to start back home to Jesus than it is today. Every day you wait, the ropes that are holding you get tighter and tighter. Every day you wait, your heart's getting harder. You've been lost long enough. Listen, it's time to come home to Jesus. And you may have never even begun a relationship with Him. Well, this is the day you can go to the one who was meant to be your Heavenly Father and be born into his family.
There's information about how to be sure you've begun that relationship at our website ANewStory.com. This could be the beginning of your new story today. I hope you'll go there to get that information.
Your Heavenly Father is waiting right now to welcome you home with arms wide open. He's been waiting for you. Don't waste another day. This could be your personal Homecoming Day!
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