Max Lucado Daily: Power of the Holy Spirit
Power of the Holy Spirit
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Acts 1:8, NKJV
Remember the followers’ fear at the crucifixion? They ran. Scared as cats in a dog pound . . .
But fast-forward forty days . . . Peter is preaching in the very precinct where Christ was arrested. Followers of Christ defy the enemies of Christ . . . As bold after the Resurrection as they were cowardly before it.
Explanation? A resurrected Christ and his Holy Spirit. The courage of these men and women was forged in the fire of the empty tomb.
Isaiah 27
At that time God will unsheathe his sword,
his merciless, massive, mighty sword.
He’ll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees,
the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight.
He’ll kill that old dragon
that lives in the sea.
2-5 “At that same time, a fine vineyard will appear.
There’s something to sing about!
I, God, tend it.
I keep it well-watered.
I keep careful watch over it
so that no one can damage it.
I’m not angry. I care.
Even if it gives me thistles and thornbushes,
I’ll just pull them out
and burn them up.
Let that vine cling to me for safety,
let it find a good and whole life with me,
let it hold on for a good and whole life.”
6 The days are coming when Jacob
shall put down roots,
Israel blossom and grow fresh branches,
and fill the world with its fruit.
7-11 Has God knocked them to the ground
as he knocked down those who hit them? Oh, no.
Were they killed
as their killers were killed? Again, no.
He was hard on them all right. The exile was a harsh sentence.
He blew them away on a fierce blast of wind.
But the good news is that through this experience
Jacob’s guilt was taken away.
The evidence that his sin is removed will be this:
He will tear down the alien altars,
take them apart stone by stone,
And then crush the stones into gravel
and clean out all the sex-and-religion shrines.
For there’s nothing left of that pretentious grandeur.
Nobody lives there anymore. It’s unlivable.
But animals do just fine,
browsing and bedding down.
And it’s not a bad place to get firewood.
Dry twigs and dead branches are plentiful.
It’s the leavings of a people with no sense of God.
So, the God who made them
Will have nothing to do with them.
He who formed them will turn his back on them.
12-13 At that time God will thresh
from the River Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt,
And you, people of Israel,
will be selected grain by grain.
At that same time a great trumpet will be blown,
calling home the exiles from Assyria,
Welcoming home the refugees from Egypt
to come and worship God on the holy mountain, Jerusalem.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Kings 6:8–17
Elisha Traps Blinded Arameans
8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”
9 The man of God sent word to the kingn of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” 10 So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warnedo the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
11 This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”
12 “None of us, my lord the kingp,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”
13 “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.”q 14 Then he sentr horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
16 “Don’t be afraid,”s the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are moret than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariotsu of fire all around Elisha.
Insight
Today’s passage describes the fascinating reality of a world with both a visible physical dimension and an invisible (most of the time) spiritual dimension. The servant panicked because he couldn’t see the army that surrounded them—“horses and chariots of fire all around” (2 Kings 6:17). This contrasts to Elisha’s calm response as he asked God to open the servant’s eyes. The servant’s response to his new vision isn’t recorded. The author shows the reader, without telling us specifically, what can happen when we focus on only one part of reality. When we’re afraid, we need to remember that we don’t always see how God is helping and protecting us.
Run Toward Challenge
He looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:17
Tom chased the young men who were stealing his poor friend’s bike. He didn’t have a plan. He only knew he needed to get it back. To his surprise, the three thieves looked his way, dropped the bike and backed away. Tom was both relieved and impressed with himself as he picked up the bike and turned around. That’s when he saw Jeff, his muscular friend who had been trailing close behind.
Elisha’s servant panicked when he saw his town surrounded by an enemy army. He ran to Elisha, “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” Elisha told him to relax. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then God opened the servant’s eyes, and he “saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (vv. 15–17).
You may also find yourself in some dicey situations. You may have to risk your reputation, and perhaps even your security, because you’re determined to do what’s right. You may lose sleep wondering how it will all turn out. Remember, you’re not alone. You don’t have to be stronger or smarter than the challenge before you. Jesus is with you, and His power is greater than all rivals. Today, many believers are on the front lines in the battle against the Covid-19 virus. May we pray for them and others who are running toward the challenge. Ask yourself Paul’s question, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Really, who? No one. Run toward your challenge, with God. By: Mike Wittmer
Reflect & Pray
What wakes you up at night? How can you give your worries to God?
Help me, Jesus, to truly see that You’re bigger than any problem facing me today. Thank You for Your everlasting presence!
For help, read Overcoming Worry at discoveryseries.org/q0711.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 25, 2020
“Ready in Season”
Be ready in season and out of season. —2 Timothy 4:2
Many of us suffer from the unbalanced tendency to “be ready” only “out of season.” The season does not refer to time; it refers to us. This verse says, “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season.” In other words, we should “be ready” whether we feel like it or not. If we do only what we feel inclined to do, some of us would never do anything. There are some people who are totally unemployable in the spiritual realm. They are spiritually feeble and weak, and they refuse to do anything unless they are supernaturally inspired. The proof that our relationship is right with God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not.
One of the worst traps a Christian worker can fall into is to become obsessed with his own exceptional moments of inspiration. When the Spirit of God gives you a time of inspiration and insight, you tend to say, “Now that I’ve experienced this moment, I will always be like this for God.” No, you will not, and God will make sure of that. Those times are entirely the gift of God. You cannot give them to yourself when you choose. If you say you will only be at your best for God, as during those exceptional times, you actually become an intolerable burden on Him. You will never do anything unless God keeps you consciously aware of His inspiration to you at all times. If you make a god out of your best moments, you will find that God will fade out of your life, never to return until you are obedient in the work He has placed closest to you, and until you have learned not to be obsessed with those exceptional moments He has given you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them. Biblical Psychology, 189 L
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 21-22; Luke 18:24-43
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Friday, April 24, 2020
Isaiah 26 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: PRAY SPECIFIC PRAYERS
A father was teaching his three-year-old daughter the Lord’s Prayer. She would repeat the lines after him. Finally she decided to go solo. She carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer. “Lead us not into temptation,” she prayed, “but deliver us from e-mail.” (…not a bad prayer).
God calls us to pray about everything! We tell God exactly what we want. We pray the particulars. When the wedding ran low on wine, Mary wasn’t content to say, “Help us, Jesus.” She was specific: “They have no more wine” (John 2:3). A specific prayer is a serious prayer. If I say to you, “Do you mind if I come by your house sometime?” you may not take me seriously. But if I say, “Can I come over this Friday night? I really need your advice.” Then you know my petition is sincere. When we offer specific requests, God knows the same!
Isaiah 26
At that time, this song
will be sung in the country of Judah:
We have a strong city, Salvation City,
built and fortified with salvation.
Throw wide the gates
so good and true people can enter.
People with their minds set on you,
you keep completely whole,
Steady on their feet,
because they keep at it and don’t quit.
Depend on God and keep at it
because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.
Those who lived high and mighty
he knocked off their high horse.
He used the city built on the hill
as fill for the marshes.
All the exploited and outcast peoples
build their lives on the reclaimed land.
7-10 The path of right-living people is level.
The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.
We’re in no hurry, God. We’re content to linger
in the path sign-posted with your decisions.
Who you are and what you’ve done
are all we’ll ever want.
Through the night my soul longs for you.
Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.
When your decisions are on public display,
everyone learns how to live right.
If the wicked are shown grace,
they don’t seem to get it.
In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living,
blind to the splendor of God.
11-15 You hold your hand up high, God,
but they don’t see it.
Open their eyes to what you do,
to see your zealous love for your people.
Shame them. Light a fire under them.
Get the attention of these enemies of yours.
God, order a peaceful and whole life for us
because everything we’ve done, you’ve done for us.
O God, our God, we’ve had other masters rule us,
but you’re the only Master we’ve ever known.
The dead don’t talk,
ghosts don’t walk,
Because you’ve said, “Enough—that’s all for you,”
and wiped them off the books.
But the living you make larger than life.
The more life you give, the more glory you display,
and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!
16-18 O God, they begged you for help when they were in trouble,
when your discipline was so heavy
they could barely whisper a prayer.
Like a woman having a baby,
writhing in distress, screaming her pain
as the baby is being born,
That’s how we were because of you, O God.
We were pregnant full-term.
We writhed in labor but bore no baby.
We gave birth to wind.
Nothing came of our labor.
We produced nothing living.
We couldn’t save the world.
19 But friends, your dead will live,
your corpses will get to their feet.
All you dead and buried,
wake up! Sing!
Your dew is morning dew
catching the first rays of sun,
The earth bursting with life,
giving birth to the dead.
20-21 Come, my people, go home
and shut yourselves in.
Go into seclusion for a while
until the punishing wrath is past,
Because God is sure to come from his place
to punish the wrong of the people on earth.
Earth itself will point out the bloodstains;
it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, April 24, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Romans 11:33–36
Doxology
33 Oh, the depth of the richesy of the wisdom andi knowledge of God!z
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!a
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”j b
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”k c
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.d
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Insight
Paul wasn’t the first author in the Bible to speak of God’s inscrutability—that He’s beyond comprehension (Romans 11:33–36). Two thousand years earlier, Job (believed to have lived at about the time of Abraham) asked, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7). Isaiah also acknowledged that God is beyond human understanding (Isaiah 55:8–9). But God wanted us to know Him and said, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord” (Jeremiah 24:7). Years later, John the apostle told us how we know Him: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18). To know Jesus is to know God. Jesus said, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (8:19; see also 17:3).
Divinely Aligned
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Romans 11:33
I was deeply troubled and woke in the night to pace the floor and pray. Frankly, my attitude was not one of prayerful submission to God, but one of questioning and anger. Finding no release, I sat and stared out a large window at the night sky. I was unexpectedly drawn to focus on Orion’s Belt—those three perfectly arranged stars often visible on clear nights. I knew just enough about astronomy to understand that those three stars were hundreds of light years apart.
I realized the closer I could be to those stars, the less they would appear to be aligned. Yet from my distant perspective, they looked carefully configured in the heavens. At that moment, I realized I was too close to my life to see what God sees. In His big picture, everything is in perfect alignment.
The apostle Paul, as he completes a summary of the ultimate purposes of God, breaks into a hymn of praise (Romans 11:33–36). His words lift our gaze to our sovereign God, whose ways are beyond our limited ability to understand or trace (v. 33). Yet the One who holds all things together in the heavens and on earth is intimately and lovingly involved with every detail of our lives (Matthew 6:25–34; Colossians 1:16).
Even when things seem confusing, God’s divine plans are unfolding for our good and for God’s honor and glory. By: Evan Morgan
Reflect & Pray
What questions do you long for God to answer? How can you find rest and release through faith that His perspective of our lives is in perfect alignment with His ultimate purposes?
Dear God, remind me that Your purposes and plans for my life are beyond my understanding, and help me rest in You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 24, 2020
The Warning Against Desiring Spiritual Success
Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you… —Luke 10:20
Worldliness is not the trap that most endangers us as Christian workers; nor is it sin. The trap we fall into is extravagantly desiring spiritual success; that is, success measured by, and patterned after, the form set by this religious age in which we now live. Never seek after anything other than the approval of God, and always be willing to go “outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:13). In Luke 10:20, Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, and yet this seems to be the one thing in which most of us do rejoice. We have a commercialized view— we count how many souls have been saved and sanctified, we thank God, and then we think everything is all right. Yet our work only begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation. Our work is not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace, and our work as His disciples is to disciple others’ lives until they are totally yielded to God. One life totally devoted to God is of more value to Him than one hundred lives which have been simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God, we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and those lives will be God’s testimony to us as His workers. God brings us up to a standard of life through His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that same standard in others.
Unless the worker lives a life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), he is apt to become an irritating dictator to others, instead of an active, living disciple. Many of us are dictators, dictating our desires to individuals and to groups. But Jesus never dictates to us in that way. Whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He always prefaced His words with an “if,” never with the forceful or dogmatic statement— “You must.” Discipleship carries with it an option.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 19-20; Luke 18:1-23
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 24, 2020
One Man's Blood - #8685
I saw this news story about a highly successful New York surgeon who volunteers a month every year to donate his services in needy countries. This particular summer, he'd had set up a tent clinic in the jungles of Costa Rica. In the middle of operating on a five-year-old boy, it became apparent this boy desperately needed blood. Problem: only 2% of the human race has that boy's blood type. Suddenly the doctor excused himself, only to return a few minutes later with the needed blood. It turns out that doctor is one of the 2% with that type! There, in the middle of that jungle, that boy's life could only be saved by one man's blood. Just like me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One Man's Blood."
That's a fact. This boy talking with you right now could only be saved by one man's blood. But then, that's your life, too.
Almost every religion on this planet recognizes that we're in trouble with the One who put us here, because we haven't lived up to whatever He's expected of us. And something needs to be done to pay for what we've done against Him.
Enter religion, with a list of things we need to do to get right with our Creator. Ceremonies. Sacrifices. Rituals. Good deeds to make up for our bad deeds. If you're like most of the human race, you're probably counting on your religion and the good things you do to have a happy ending with God when this life is over.
But we'd better check with God first on how to have our sin atoned for and how to get to his heaven. And here's what He says in Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." Wow! No blood, no forgiveness. No forgiveness, I carry a lifetime of my sin right into my appointment with God after my last heartbeat. And there's no way I'm getting into His heaven with my sin. No matter what religion I've practiced. No matter how many good things I've done.
Because the Bible says, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). That's spiritual death as in eternal separation from God. And there's only one way a death penalty can be paid. There's no good things you can do to pay a death penalty. No, someone has to die.
And someone did! Here's the greatest, most important news you will ever hear in your life. It's in 1 John 1:7, our word for today from the Word of God: "The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." This is what's so amazing: I did the sinning, Jesus did the dying to pay for it.
So my life could only be saved by the blood of one man. Your life can only be saved by the blood of one man--Jesus, God's sinless Son, who loved you too much to lose you. Who shed His blood on a cross to pay the price for you to have every sin of your life erased. To make it possible for you to have a personal relationship with the God of the galaxies, and for you to go to heaven when you take your last breath.
So, look, you have no more important decision to make in your life than whether or not you will pin all your hopes on Jesus or whether you will walk away from His cross unforgiven. I ask you, please, don't risk one more day without Jesus. We just don't know how much time we have to get this settled. He's alive. He walked out of His grave. He's waiting for you to tell Him you're pinning all your hopes on Him.
You ready to get this settled and know that you are right with God for now - forever? Listen, I would urge you to get to our website today and see there how to make sure you belong to Him. That site is ANewStory.com. Nothing for you to join, nothing for you to go to. It is just about you and Jesus.
This is the only chance you can be sure of. So, please, don't miss Him.
A father was teaching his three-year-old daughter the Lord’s Prayer. She would repeat the lines after him. Finally she decided to go solo. She carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer. “Lead us not into temptation,” she prayed, “but deliver us from e-mail.” (…not a bad prayer).
God calls us to pray about everything! We tell God exactly what we want. We pray the particulars. When the wedding ran low on wine, Mary wasn’t content to say, “Help us, Jesus.” She was specific: “They have no more wine” (John 2:3). A specific prayer is a serious prayer. If I say to you, “Do you mind if I come by your house sometime?” you may not take me seriously. But if I say, “Can I come over this Friday night? I really need your advice.” Then you know my petition is sincere. When we offer specific requests, God knows the same!
Isaiah 26
At that time, this song
will be sung in the country of Judah:
We have a strong city, Salvation City,
built and fortified with salvation.
Throw wide the gates
so good and true people can enter.
People with their minds set on you,
you keep completely whole,
Steady on their feet,
because they keep at it and don’t quit.
Depend on God and keep at it
because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.
Those who lived high and mighty
he knocked off their high horse.
He used the city built on the hill
as fill for the marshes.
All the exploited and outcast peoples
build their lives on the reclaimed land.
7-10 The path of right-living people is level.
The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.
We’re in no hurry, God. We’re content to linger
in the path sign-posted with your decisions.
Who you are and what you’ve done
are all we’ll ever want.
Through the night my soul longs for you.
Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.
When your decisions are on public display,
everyone learns how to live right.
If the wicked are shown grace,
they don’t seem to get it.
In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living,
blind to the splendor of God.
11-15 You hold your hand up high, God,
but they don’t see it.
Open their eyes to what you do,
to see your zealous love for your people.
Shame them. Light a fire under them.
Get the attention of these enemies of yours.
God, order a peaceful and whole life for us
because everything we’ve done, you’ve done for us.
O God, our God, we’ve had other masters rule us,
but you’re the only Master we’ve ever known.
The dead don’t talk,
ghosts don’t walk,
Because you’ve said, “Enough—that’s all for you,”
and wiped them off the books.
But the living you make larger than life.
The more life you give, the more glory you display,
and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!
16-18 O God, they begged you for help when they were in trouble,
when your discipline was so heavy
they could barely whisper a prayer.
Like a woman having a baby,
writhing in distress, screaming her pain
as the baby is being born,
That’s how we were because of you, O God.
We were pregnant full-term.
We writhed in labor but bore no baby.
We gave birth to wind.
Nothing came of our labor.
We produced nothing living.
We couldn’t save the world.
19 But friends, your dead will live,
your corpses will get to their feet.
All you dead and buried,
wake up! Sing!
Your dew is morning dew
catching the first rays of sun,
The earth bursting with life,
giving birth to the dead.
20-21 Come, my people, go home
and shut yourselves in.
Go into seclusion for a while
until the punishing wrath is past,
Because God is sure to come from his place
to punish the wrong of the people on earth.
Earth itself will point out the bloodstains;
it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, April 24, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Romans 11:33–36
Doxology
33 Oh, the depth of the richesy of the wisdom andi knowledge of God!z
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!a
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”j b
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”k c
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.d
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Insight
Paul wasn’t the first author in the Bible to speak of God’s inscrutability—that He’s beyond comprehension (Romans 11:33–36). Two thousand years earlier, Job (believed to have lived at about the time of Abraham) asked, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7). Isaiah also acknowledged that God is beyond human understanding (Isaiah 55:8–9). But God wanted us to know Him and said, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord” (Jeremiah 24:7). Years later, John the apostle told us how we know Him: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18). To know Jesus is to know God. Jesus said, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (8:19; see also 17:3).
Divinely Aligned
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Romans 11:33
I was deeply troubled and woke in the night to pace the floor and pray. Frankly, my attitude was not one of prayerful submission to God, but one of questioning and anger. Finding no release, I sat and stared out a large window at the night sky. I was unexpectedly drawn to focus on Orion’s Belt—those three perfectly arranged stars often visible on clear nights. I knew just enough about astronomy to understand that those three stars were hundreds of light years apart.
I realized the closer I could be to those stars, the less they would appear to be aligned. Yet from my distant perspective, they looked carefully configured in the heavens. At that moment, I realized I was too close to my life to see what God sees. In His big picture, everything is in perfect alignment.
The apostle Paul, as he completes a summary of the ultimate purposes of God, breaks into a hymn of praise (Romans 11:33–36). His words lift our gaze to our sovereign God, whose ways are beyond our limited ability to understand or trace (v. 33). Yet the One who holds all things together in the heavens and on earth is intimately and lovingly involved with every detail of our lives (Matthew 6:25–34; Colossians 1:16).
Even when things seem confusing, God’s divine plans are unfolding for our good and for God’s honor and glory. By: Evan Morgan
Reflect & Pray
What questions do you long for God to answer? How can you find rest and release through faith that His perspective of our lives is in perfect alignment with His ultimate purposes?
Dear God, remind me that Your purposes and plans for my life are beyond my understanding, and help me rest in You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 24, 2020
The Warning Against Desiring Spiritual Success
Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you… —Luke 10:20
Worldliness is not the trap that most endangers us as Christian workers; nor is it sin. The trap we fall into is extravagantly desiring spiritual success; that is, success measured by, and patterned after, the form set by this religious age in which we now live. Never seek after anything other than the approval of God, and always be willing to go “outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:13). In Luke 10:20, Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, and yet this seems to be the one thing in which most of us do rejoice. We have a commercialized view— we count how many souls have been saved and sanctified, we thank God, and then we think everything is all right. Yet our work only begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation. Our work is not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace, and our work as His disciples is to disciple others’ lives until they are totally yielded to God. One life totally devoted to God is of more value to Him than one hundred lives which have been simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God, we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and those lives will be God’s testimony to us as His workers. God brings us up to a standard of life through His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that same standard in others.
Unless the worker lives a life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), he is apt to become an irritating dictator to others, instead of an active, living disciple. Many of us are dictators, dictating our desires to individuals and to groups. But Jesus never dictates to us in that way. Whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He always prefaced His words with an “if,” never with the forceful or dogmatic statement— “You must.” Discipleship carries with it an option.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 19-20; Luke 18:1-23
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 24, 2020
One Man's Blood - #8685
I saw this news story about a highly successful New York surgeon who volunteers a month every year to donate his services in needy countries. This particular summer, he'd had set up a tent clinic in the jungles of Costa Rica. In the middle of operating on a five-year-old boy, it became apparent this boy desperately needed blood. Problem: only 2% of the human race has that boy's blood type. Suddenly the doctor excused himself, only to return a few minutes later with the needed blood. It turns out that doctor is one of the 2% with that type! There, in the middle of that jungle, that boy's life could only be saved by one man's blood. Just like me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One Man's Blood."
That's a fact. This boy talking with you right now could only be saved by one man's blood. But then, that's your life, too.
Almost every religion on this planet recognizes that we're in trouble with the One who put us here, because we haven't lived up to whatever He's expected of us. And something needs to be done to pay for what we've done against Him.
Enter religion, with a list of things we need to do to get right with our Creator. Ceremonies. Sacrifices. Rituals. Good deeds to make up for our bad deeds. If you're like most of the human race, you're probably counting on your religion and the good things you do to have a happy ending with God when this life is over.
But we'd better check with God first on how to have our sin atoned for and how to get to his heaven. And here's what He says in Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." Wow! No blood, no forgiveness. No forgiveness, I carry a lifetime of my sin right into my appointment with God after my last heartbeat. And there's no way I'm getting into His heaven with my sin. No matter what religion I've practiced. No matter how many good things I've done.
Because the Bible says, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). That's spiritual death as in eternal separation from God. And there's only one way a death penalty can be paid. There's no good things you can do to pay a death penalty. No, someone has to die.
And someone did! Here's the greatest, most important news you will ever hear in your life. It's in 1 John 1:7, our word for today from the Word of God: "The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." This is what's so amazing: I did the sinning, Jesus did the dying to pay for it.
So my life could only be saved by the blood of one man. Your life can only be saved by the blood of one man--Jesus, God's sinless Son, who loved you too much to lose you. Who shed His blood on a cross to pay the price for you to have every sin of your life erased. To make it possible for you to have a personal relationship with the God of the galaxies, and for you to go to heaven when you take your last breath.
So, look, you have no more important decision to make in your life than whether or not you will pin all your hopes on Jesus or whether you will walk away from His cross unforgiven. I ask you, please, don't risk one more day without Jesus. We just don't know how much time we have to get this settled. He's alive. He walked out of His grave. He's waiting for you to tell Him you're pinning all your hopes on Him.
You ready to get this settled and know that you are right with God for now - forever? Listen, I would urge you to get to our website today and see there how to make sure you belong to Him. That site is ANewStory.com. Nothing for you to join, nothing for you to go to. It is just about you and Jesus.
This is the only chance you can be sure of. So, please, don't miss Him.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Ephesians 5:17-33, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD HEARS YOUR PRAYERS
God loves the sound of your voice—always! God never places you on hold or tells you to call again later. He doesn’t hide when you call. He hears your prayers. For that reason “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).
With this verse the apostle calls us to take action against anxiety. We tell God exactly what we want. We pray the particulars of our problems. What Jesus said to the blind man, he says to us: “What do you want me to do for you” (Luke 18:41)? One would think the answer would be obvious. When a sightless man requests Jesus’ help, isn’t it apparent what he needs? Yet Jesus wanted to hear the man articulate his specific requests. He wants the same from us. “Let your requests be made known to God!”
Ephesians 5:17-33
Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.
18-20 Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.
21 Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.
22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.
25-28 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.
29-33 No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 4:9–12
Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Insight
The author of Ecclesiastes uses practical illustrations that show the importance of companionship. Looking at verse 9, we learn that two “have a good return for their labor.” This verse points back to verse 8 which explains that it’s meaningless and miserable to toil for oneself. Not only do two have a better return, but two can help each other in multiple ways.
In the illustration of one person falling down, many commentators believe it refers to a serious fall (v. 10). In that time, it was common to dig pits and cover them to trap animals. Falling into one could cause injury and being left alone could be fatal. Additionally, roads were dangerous in the ancient Near East, and two could better defend themselves against robbers and other attacks. The author’s conclusion that “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (v. 12) emphasizes the need for companionship.
The Saddest Goose
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12
Why is there a football in the parking lot? I wondered. But as I got closer, I realized the greyish lump wasn’t a football: it was a goose—the saddest Canada goose I’d ever seen.
Geese often congregate on the lawn near my workplace in the spring and fall. But today there was only one, its neck arced back and its head tucked beneath a wing. Where are your buddies? I thought. Poor thing was all alone. It looked so lonely, I wanted to give it a hug. (Note: don’t try this.)
I’ve rarely seen a goose completely alone like my lonesome feathered friend. Geese are notably communal, flying in a V-formation to deflect the wind. They’re made to be together.
As human beings, we were created for community too (see Genesis 2:18). And in Ecclesiastes 4:10, Solomon describes how vulnerable we are when we’re alone: “Pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” There’s strength in numbers, he added, for “though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (v. 12).
This is just as true for us spiritually as it is physically. God never intended for us to “fly” alone, vulnerably isolated. We need relationships with each other for encouragement, refreshment, and growth (see also 1 Corinthians 12:21). During these extraordinary days, due to the Covid-19 virus many of us have needed to practice physical distancing to help contain the disease. But how we look forward to the time we can meet face-to-face with our local church families again!
Together, we can stand firm when life’s headwinds gust our way. Together. By: Adam R. Holz
Reflect & Pray
What kinds of circumstances tempt you to go it alone? Who do you know who could use a word of encouragement from you?
Loving God, help us to remember that You never meant us to fly solo, but together with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, help us to see and support someone in need of encouragement.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Do You Worship The Work?
We are God’s fellow workers… —1 Corinthians 3:9
Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God. This will mean that all the other boundaries of life, whether they are mental, moral, or spiritual limits, are completely free with the freedom God gives His child; that is, a worshiping child, not a wayward one. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work. He is a slave to his own limits, having no freedom of his body, mind, or spirit. Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that God’s blessing cannot rest on him.
But the opposite case is equally true– once our concentration is on God, all the limits of our life are free and under the control and mastery of God alone. There is no longer any responsibility on you for the work. The only responsibility you have is to stay in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with Him. The freedom that comes after sanctification is the freedom of a child, and the things that used to hold your life down are gone. But be careful to remember that you have been freed for only one thing– to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.
We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might…” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
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
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 16-18; Luke 17:20-37
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, April 23, 2020
The Case of the Missing Listener - #8684
The phone rang in my study. I thought my wife was asleep at the other end of the house. Even though I was really preoccupied with what I was writing, I answered the phone so it wouldn't disturb her. A guy named Mike said hello and he started explaining his special offer related to satellite TV. I wasn't interested, and I tried to tell him that. He just kept talking. I was just starting to tell him no a little more forcefully when I heard a little giggle on the phone. My wife was awake; she had picked up the extension. That's when I woke up! I hate to tell you this. I was talking to a recording. Feeling stupid now! Click.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Case of the Missing Listener."
It's no fun talking to machines. (No fun being this dumb.) It's frustrating trying to talk to someone who's not listening. That is a feeling lots of folks understand because they've been trying to talk to a human who isn't listening much more than a recorded salesman on a telemarketing call! The question is: could it be that some person or some people who you know feel un-listened to by you...unheard by you?
Jesus said one of the two great commandments was to love your neighbor as you love yourself. One way that you show that kind of unselfish love is to stop talking and listen to people as you want someone to listen to you. We want people to listen to us without interrupting, don't we? Showing respect for what we're saying. We want them to give us their undivided attention. Then to love them as we love ourselves means to give them that kind of attention.
In fact, our word for today from the Word of God leaves a follower of Jesus little choice. God tells us to listen! James 1:19 - which is probably one of the most disobeyed verses in the entire Bible - says this: "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." Too many of us seem to have slightly rearranged some of the words in that verse, "Be slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry."
What's the connection between not listening and getting angry? When we don't take time to really hear everything a person has to say, we react to the first things they say instead of waiting until we really understand what they're trying to communicate. Listeners try to hear the heart not just the words, the need that's behind the deed. People who would rather talk than listen jump on partial information, partial communication and what's on the surface. No listening, no understanding. No understanding, wrong conclusions and angry reactions.
You can see why God says in Proverbs 18:13 - "He who answers before listening - that is his folly and his shame." I wonder if the people close to you feel really heard by you? Does your wife, your husband feel really listened to and understood? Your parents? Your son? Your daughter? The people you minister with? The people you work with? Your employees? Your friends? Or are you, like that recorded phone salesman, just a talking machine most of the time? When you are, you leave a trail of people who feel lonely, excluded, misunderstood, put down; you might say you leave a trail of tears.
There are few things you can do that say you value a person more than dropping everything to hear what they're saying - not just their words, but their heart. If you can't give them your total attention now, let them know when you can and give it to them. So many misunderstandings, or arguments, or harsh words, so many wounded children, so many broken relationships, so many bleeding churches, so many broken marriages because someone just wasn't listening.
You can do something about it by really listening before you speak; by asking a person, "How do you feel?" before you ever say what you have to say. It's Christ-like love in action. It's listening love.
God loves the sound of your voice—always! God never places you on hold or tells you to call again later. He doesn’t hide when you call. He hears your prayers. For that reason “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).
With this verse the apostle calls us to take action against anxiety. We tell God exactly what we want. We pray the particulars of our problems. What Jesus said to the blind man, he says to us: “What do you want me to do for you” (Luke 18:41)? One would think the answer would be obvious. When a sightless man requests Jesus’ help, isn’t it apparent what he needs? Yet Jesus wanted to hear the man articulate his specific requests. He wants the same from us. “Let your requests be made known to God!”
Ephesians 5:17-33
Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.
18-20 Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.
21 Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.
22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.
25-28 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.
29-33 No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 4:9–12
Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Insight
The author of Ecclesiastes uses practical illustrations that show the importance of companionship. Looking at verse 9, we learn that two “have a good return for their labor.” This verse points back to verse 8 which explains that it’s meaningless and miserable to toil for oneself. Not only do two have a better return, but two can help each other in multiple ways.
In the illustration of one person falling down, many commentators believe it refers to a serious fall (v. 10). In that time, it was common to dig pits and cover them to trap animals. Falling into one could cause injury and being left alone could be fatal. Additionally, roads were dangerous in the ancient Near East, and two could better defend themselves against robbers and other attacks. The author’s conclusion that “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (v. 12) emphasizes the need for companionship.
The Saddest Goose
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12
Why is there a football in the parking lot? I wondered. But as I got closer, I realized the greyish lump wasn’t a football: it was a goose—the saddest Canada goose I’d ever seen.
Geese often congregate on the lawn near my workplace in the spring and fall. But today there was only one, its neck arced back and its head tucked beneath a wing. Where are your buddies? I thought. Poor thing was all alone. It looked so lonely, I wanted to give it a hug. (Note: don’t try this.)
I’ve rarely seen a goose completely alone like my lonesome feathered friend. Geese are notably communal, flying in a V-formation to deflect the wind. They’re made to be together.
As human beings, we were created for community too (see Genesis 2:18). And in Ecclesiastes 4:10, Solomon describes how vulnerable we are when we’re alone: “Pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” There’s strength in numbers, he added, for “though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (v. 12).
This is just as true for us spiritually as it is physically. God never intended for us to “fly” alone, vulnerably isolated. We need relationships with each other for encouragement, refreshment, and growth (see also 1 Corinthians 12:21). During these extraordinary days, due to the Covid-19 virus many of us have needed to practice physical distancing to help contain the disease. But how we look forward to the time we can meet face-to-face with our local church families again!
Together, we can stand firm when life’s headwinds gust our way. Together. By: Adam R. Holz
Reflect & Pray
What kinds of circumstances tempt you to go it alone? Who do you know who could use a word of encouragement from you?
Loving God, help us to remember that You never meant us to fly solo, but together with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, help us to see and support someone in need of encouragement.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Do You Worship The Work?
We are God’s fellow workers… —1 Corinthians 3:9
Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God. This will mean that all the other boundaries of life, whether they are mental, moral, or spiritual limits, are completely free with the freedom God gives His child; that is, a worshiping child, not a wayward one. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work. He is a slave to his own limits, having no freedom of his body, mind, or spirit. Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that God’s blessing cannot rest on him.
But the opposite case is equally true– once our concentration is on God, all the limits of our life are free and under the control and mastery of God alone. There is no longer any responsibility on you for the work. The only responsibility you have is to stay in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with Him. The freedom that comes after sanctification is the freedom of a child, and the things that used to hold your life down are gone. But be careful to remember that you have been freed for only one thing– to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.
We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might…” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
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
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 16-18; Luke 17:20-37
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, April 23, 2020
The Case of the Missing Listener - #8684
The phone rang in my study. I thought my wife was asleep at the other end of the house. Even though I was really preoccupied with what I was writing, I answered the phone so it wouldn't disturb her. A guy named Mike said hello and he started explaining his special offer related to satellite TV. I wasn't interested, and I tried to tell him that. He just kept talking. I was just starting to tell him no a little more forcefully when I heard a little giggle on the phone. My wife was awake; she had picked up the extension. That's when I woke up! I hate to tell you this. I was talking to a recording. Feeling stupid now! Click.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Case of the Missing Listener."
It's no fun talking to machines. (No fun being this dumb.) It's frustrating trying to talk to someone who's not listening. That is a feeling lots of folks understand because they've been trying to talk to a human who isn't listening much more than a recorded salesman on a telemarketing call! The question is: could it be that some person or some people who you know feel un-listened to by you...unheard by you?
Jesus said one of the two great commandments was to love your neighbor as you love yourself. One way that you show that kind of unselfish love is to stop talking and listen to people as you want someone to listen to you. We want people to listen to us without interrupting, don't we? Showing respect for what we're saying. We want them to give us their undivided attention. Then to love them as we love ourselves means to give them that kind of attention.
In fact, our word for today from the Word of God leaves a follower of Jesus little choice. God tells us to listen! James 1:19 - which is probably one of the most disobeyed verses in the entire Bible - says this: "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." Too many of us seem to have slightly rearranged some of the words in that verse, "Be slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry."
What's the connection between not listening and getting angry? When we don't take time to really hear everything a person has to say, we react to the first things they say instead of waiting until we really understand what they're trying to communicate. Listeners try to hear the heart not just the words, the need that's behind the deed. People who would rather talk than listen jump on partial information, partial communication and what's on the surface. No listening, no understanding. No understanding, wrong conclusions and angry reactions.
You can see why God says in Proverbs 18:13 - "He who answers before listening - that is his folly and his shame." I wonder if the people close to you feel really heard by you? Does your wife, your husband feel really listened to and understood? Your parents? Your son? Your daughter? The people you minister with? The people you work with? Your employees? Your friends? Or are you, like that recorded phone salesman, just a talking machine most of the time? When you are, you leave a trail of people who feel lonely, excluded, misunderstood, put down; you might say you leave a trail of tears.
There are few things you can do that say you value a person more than dropping everything to hear what they're saying - not just their words, but their heart. If you can't give them your total attention now, let them know when you can and give it to them. So many misunderstandings, or arguments, or harsh words, so many wounded children, so many broken relationships, so many bleeding churches, so many broken marriages because someone just wasn't listening.
You can do something about it by really listening before you speak; by asking a person, "How do you feel?" before you ever say what you have to say. It's Christ-like love in action. It's listening love.
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Isaiah 25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: ASK YOUR FATHER FOR HELP
In his fine book, The Dance of Hope, Bill Frey remembers the day he tried to pull a stump out of the Georgia dirt. One of his chores as a twelve-year-old was to search for stumps of pine trees that had been cut down and chop them into kindling. But there was one root system he just couldn’t pull out of the ground. He was still struggling when his father came over to watch.
“I think I see your problem,” the dad said. “What’s that?” the son asked. “You’re not using all your strength.” Bill exploded and told him how hard he’d been working. “No,” the dad said, “You’re not using all your strength.” When Bill cooled down he asked what his father meant, and the dad said, “You haven’t asked me to help you.” You don’t have to do it alone, friend. Present the challenge to your Father, and ask for help. Will he solve the issue? Yes, he will.
Isaiah 25
God, you are my God.
I celebrate you. I praise you.
You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders,
well-thought-out plans, solid and sure.
Here you’ve reduced the city to rubble,
the strong city to a pile of stones.
The enemy Big City is a non-city,
never to be a city again.
Superpowers will see it and honor you,
brutal oppressors bow in worshipful reverence.
They’ll see that you take care of the poor,
that you take care of poor people in trouble,
Provide a warm, dry place in bad weather,
provide a cool place when it’s hot.
Brutal oppressors are like a winter blizzard
and vicious foreigners like high noon in the desert.
But you, shelter from the storm and shade from the sun,
shut the mouths of the big-mouthed bullies.
6-8 But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will throw a feast for all the people of the world,
A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines,
a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts.
And here on this mountain, God will banish
the pall of doom hanging over all peoples,
The shadow of doom darkening all nations.
Yes, he’ll banish death forever.
And God will wipe the tears from every face.
He’ll remove every sign of disgrace
From his people, wherever they are.
Yes! God says so!
9-10 Also at that time, people will say,
“Look at what’s happened! This is our God!
We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!
This God, the one we waited for!
Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.
God’s hand rests on this mountain!”
10-12 As for the Moabites, they’ll be treated like refuse,
waste shoveled into a cesspool.
Thrash away as they will,
like swimmers trying to stay afloat,
They’ll sink in the sewage.
Their pride will pull them under.
Their famous fortifications will crumble to nothing,
those mighty walls reduced to dust.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 104:10–18, 24–26
He makes springss pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
11 They give watert to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeysu quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the skyv nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.w
13 He waters the mountainsx from his upper chambers;y
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.z
14 He makes grass growa for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth foodb from the earth:
15 winec that gladdens human hearts,
oild to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustainse their hearts.
16 The trees of the Lordf are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanong that he planted.
17 There the birdsh make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;i
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.j
How many are your works,u Lord!
In wisdom you madev them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.w
25 There is the sea,x vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.y
26 There the shipsz go to and fro,
and Leviathan,a which you formed to frolicb there.
Insight
Though the psalmist in Psalm 104 makes reference to various creatures in the earth, sky, and sea, only one creature is referenced using its proper name—Leviathan (v. 26). This is one of five times that Leviathan is mentioned in Scripture (see also Job 3:8; 41:1–34; Psalm 74:14; Isaiah 27:1). Who or what was Leviathan? All biblical references are in poetic passages, and Leviathan is cast in both literal and figurative roles. In Psalm 104, Leviathan is a sea creature: “There is the sea . . . and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there” (vv. 25–26). Similarly, in Job 41 Leviathan is depicted as a large, intimidating sea animal (vv. 31–34). On the other hand, references like Psalm 74:14 and Isaiah 27:1 figuratively depict Leviathan as being a threat to God’s people and being marked for overthrow by the Almighty.
A World of Provision
There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number. Psalm 104:25
It’s 2 a.m. when Nadia, a farmer of sea cucumbers, walks into a roped-off pen in the ocean shallows near her Madagascar village to harvest her “crop.” The early hour doesn’t bother her. “Life was very hard before I started farming,” she says. “I didn’t have any source of income.” Now, as a member of a marine-protection program called Velondriake, meaning “to live with the sea,” Nadia sees her income growing and stabilizing. “We thank God that this project appeared,” she adds.
It appeared in large part because God’s creation provided what their project needs—a natural supply of sea life. In praise of our providing God, the psalmist wrote, “He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate” (Psalm 104:14). As well, “there is the sea . . . teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small” (v. 25).
It’s a wonder, indeed, how God’s wondrous creation also provides for us. The humble sea cucumber, for example, helps form a healthy marine food chain. Careful harvesting of sea cucumbers, in turn, grants Nadia and her neighbors a living wage.
Nothing is random in God’s creation. He uses it all for His glory and our good. Thus, “I will sing to the Lord all my life,” says the psalmist (v. 33). We too can praise Him today as we ponder all that He provides. By: Patricia Raybon
Reflect & Pray
In what ways does God provide for you through His creation? How can you thank Him for that today?
O Creator God, we’re humbled by Your vast creation and all the ways You provide for our needs.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
The Light That Never Fails
We all, with unveiled face, beholding…the glory of the Lord… —2 Corinthians 3:18
A servant of God must stand so very much alone that he never realizes he is alone. In the early stages of the Christian life, disappointments will come— people who used to be lights will flicker out, and those who used to stand with us will turn away. We have to get so used to it that we will not even realize we are standing alone. Paul said, “…no one stood with me, but all forsook me….But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me…” (2 Timothy 4:16-17). We must build our faith not on fading lights but on the Light that never fails. When “important” individuals go away we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, so that only one thing is left for us to do— to look into the face of God for ourselves.
Allow nothing to keep you from looking with strong determination into the face of God regarding yourself and your doctrine. And every time you preach make sure you look God in the face about the message first, then the glory will remain through all of it. A Christian servant is one who perpetually looks into the face of God and then goes forth to talk to others. The ministry of Christ is characterized by an abiding glory of which the servant is totally unaware— “…Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him” (Exodus 34:29).
We are never called on to display our doubts openly or to express the hidden joys and delights of our life with God. The secret of the servant’s life is that he stays in tune with God all the time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 14-15; Luke 17:1-19
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Why Your World's Being Shaken - #8683
You learn a lot about eagles when you spend time with Native Americans. Like how their babies learn to fly. When Mama builds their nest, she lays a foundation of rocks and sticks - then covers it with leaves and feathers and foliage. And the baby eaglets love hanging out there.
Until one day Mama starts pulling all that soft stuff out of the nest. Oh, it's not comfy anymore. Why? Because she wants those little eagles to learn to fly! Which requires getting them out of the nest. Which requires messing with the nest, making it not comfortable. But fear not, junior eagles! This isn't a bad thing. You weren't made to stay in a comfy little nest. You were born to fly! Uh...so were you!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Your World's Being Shaken"
Right now, everybody's nest is being shaken! By what I call the coronaquake - the fiercely contagious virus that has caused our schools to close, the stock market to tank, major world events to be cancelled, the economy to explode, futures to be rewritten...basically, it's just rocked our world - or our nest - as never before.
Which leads us to our word for today from the Word of God in Deuteronomy 32, beginning with verse 10. God's referring to His people here simply as "him." But this isn't about just one guy - it's about God's people. For me, it's really shed light on the bigger picture behind all these life-changing events we're trying to navigate.
"He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye." Okay, cool. You and I are being shielded, cared for, and guarded by the Most High God in the middle of all this mayhem.
Now here's where it gets really interesting. "Like an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft...He made him ride on the heights of the land."
Let's look at all the shaking things going on in our lives right now through this Biblical lens. God is using it to disturb the comfort and complacency of our status quo - so we'll take some steps we'd never otherwise take... Not so we'll crash, but so we'll finally fulfill our destiny and touch the sky! Which we might never do if He didn't "stir up the nest."
So, here's a peek behind the curtain at the life-enlarging ways of God. God shakes us up to wake us up to take us up higher than we've ever flown before!
Proverbs 19:21 says: "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." All those plans we had - they're somewhere between doubtful to devastated, right? But not the Lord's purpose in all of this. His purposes are untouched and unhindered by all the upheaval in our world right now.
But sometimes He needs to hit the brakes hard to get our attention and turn our hearts totally - even desperately to Him. So, what might some of His purposes be?
To bring us closer together
To prune things we really don't need in our life
To expose our idols - the things in our life that have become more important than Him
To rearrange our priorities - so the things that really matter become our focus
To open hearts to Jesus.
Maybe that's what He's doing in your life. Suddenly your security isn't secure. Your "go to's" have gotten up and gone. Your heart is fearful and searching. You need an anchor that no storm can move. That's Jesus. Who loved you enough to die for your sin. Who's powerful enough to walk out of His grave. He's waiting for you to open the door of your heart and let Him come in today.
If you want to finally put your life in the only truly safe hands there are, tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." And check out our website - ANewStory.com - to find the information there that will help you be sure you belong to Him. Check it out today!
You have nothing to fear from your future when Jesus takes the wheel!
In his fine book, The Dance of Hope, Bill Frey remembers the day he tried to pull a stump out of the Georgia dirt. One of his chores as a twelve-year-old was to search for stumps of pine trees that had been cut down and chop them into kindling. But there was one root system he just couldn’t pull out of the ground. He was still struggling when his father came over to watch.
“I think I see your problem,” the dad said. “What’s that?” the son asked. “You’re not using all your strength.” Bill exploded and told him how hard he’d been working. “No,” the dad said, “You’re not using all your strength.” When Bill cooled down he asked what his father meant, and the dad said, “You haven’t asked me to help you.” You don’t have to do it alone, friend. Present the challenge to your Father, and ask for help. Will he solve the issue? Yes, he will.
Isaiah 25
God, you are my God.
I celebrate you. I praise you.
You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders,
well-thought-out plans, solid and sure.
Here you’ve reduced the city to rubble,
the strong city to a pile of stones.
The enemy Big City is a non-city,
never to be a city again.
Superpowers will see it and honor you,
brutal oppressors bow in worshipful reverence.
They’ll see that you take care of the poor,
that you take care of poor people in trouble,
Provide a warm, dry place in bad weather,
provide a cool place when it’s hot.
Brutal oppressors are like a winter blizzard
and vicious foreigners like high noon in the desert.
But you, shelter from the storm and shade from the sun,
shut the mouths of the big-mouthed bullies.
6-8 But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will throw a feast for all the people of the world,
A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines,
a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts.
And here on this mountain, God will banish
the pall of doom hanging over all peoples,
The shadow of doom darkening all nations.
Yes, he’ll banish death forever.
And God will wipe the tears from every face.
He’ll remove every sign of disgrace
From his people, wherever they are.
Yes! God says so!
9-10 Also at that time, people will say,
“Look at what’s happened! This is our God!
We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!
This God, the one we waited for!
Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.
God’s hand rests on this mountain!”
10-12 As for the Moabites, they’ll be treated like refuse,
waste shoveled into a cesspool.
Thrash away as they will,
like swimmers trying to stay afloat,
They’ll sink in the sewage.
Their pride will pull them under.
Their famous fortifications will crumble to nothing,
those mighty walls reduced to dust.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 104:10–18, 24–26
He makes springss pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
11 They give watert to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeysu quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the skyv nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.w
13 He waters the mountainsx from his upper chambers;y
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.z
14 He makes grass growa for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth foodb from the earth:
15 winec that gladdens human hearts,
oild to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustainse their hearts.
16 The trees of the Lordf are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanong that he planted.
17 There the birdsh make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;i
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.j
How many are your works,u Lord!
In wisdom you madev them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.w
25 There is the sea,x vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.y
26 There the shipsz go to and fro,
and Leviathan,a which you formed to frolicb there.
Insight
Though the psalmist in Psalm 104 makes reference to various creatures in the earth, sky, and sea, only one creature is referenced using its proper name—Leviathan (v. 26). This is one of five times that Leviathan is mentioned in Scripture (see also Job 3:8; 41:1–34; Psalm 74:14; Isaiah 27:1). Who or what was Leviathan? All biblical references are in poetic passages, and Leviathan is cast in both literal and figurative roles. In Psalm 104, Leviathan is a sea creature: “There is the sea . . . and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there” (vv. 25–26). Similarly, in Job 41 Leviathan is depicted as a large, intimidating sea animal (vv. 31–34). On the other hand, references like Psalm 74:14 and Isaiah 27:1 figuratively depict Leviathan as being a threat to God’s people and being marked for overthrow by the Almighty.
A World of Provision
There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number. Psalm 104:25
It’s 2 a.m. when Nadia, a farmer of sea cucumbers, walks into a roped-off pen in the ocean shallows near her Madagascar village to harvest her “crop.” The early hour doesn’t bother her. “Life was very hard before I started farming,” she says. “I didn’t have any source of income.” Now, as a member of a marine-protection program called Velondriake, meaning “to live with the sea,” Nadia sees her income growing and stabilizing. “We thank God that this project appeared,” she adds.
It appeared in large part because God’s creation provided what their project needs—a natural supply of sea life. In praise of our providing God, the psalmist wrote, “He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate” (Psalm 104:14). As well, “there is the sea . . . teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small” (v. 25).
It’s a wonder, indeed, how God’s wondrous creation also provides for us. The humble sea cucumber, for example, helps form a healthy marine food chain. Careful harvesting of sea cucumbers, in turn, grants Nadia and her neighbors a living wage.
Nothing is random in God’s creation. He uses it all for His glory and our good. Thus, “I will sing to the Lord all my life,” says the psalmist (v. 33). We too can praise Him today as we ponder all that He provides. By: Patricia Raybon
Reflect & Pray
In what ways does God provide for you through His creation? How can you thank Him for that today?
O Creator God, we’re humbled by Your vast creation and all the ways You provide for our needs.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
The Light That Never Fails
We all, with unveiled face, beholding…the glory of the Lord… —2 Corinthians 3:18
A servant of God must stand so very much alone that he never realizes he is alone. In the early stages of the Christian life, disappointments will come— people who used to be lights will flicker out, and those who used to stand with us will turn away. We have to get so used to it that we will not even realize we are standing alone. Paul said, “…no one stood with me, but all forsook me….But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me…” (2 Timothy 4:16-17). We must build our faith not on fading lights but on the Light that never fails. When “important” individuals go away we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, so that only one thing is left for us to do— to look into the face of God for ourselves.
Allow nothing to keep you from looking with strong determination into the face of God regarding yourself and your doctrine. And every time you preach make sure you look God in the face about the message first, then the glory will remain through all of it. A Christian servant is one who perpetually looks into the face of God and then goes forth to talk to others. The ministry of Christ is characterized by an abiding glory of which the servant is totally unaware— “…Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him” (Exodus 34:29).
We are never called on to display our doubts openly or to express the hidden joys and delights of our life with God. The secret of the servant’s life is that he stays in tune with God all the time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 14-15; Luke 17:1-19
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Why Your World's Being Shaken - #8683
You learn a lot about eagles when you spend time with Native Americans. Like how their babies learn to fly. When Mama builds their nest, she lays a foundation of rocks and sticks - then covers it with leaves and feathers and foliage. And the baby eaglets love hanging out there.
Until one day Mama starts pulling all that soft stuff out of the nest. Oh, it's not comfy anymore. Why? Because she wants those little eagles to learn to fly! Which requires getting them out of the nest. Which requires messing with the nest, making it not comfortable. But fear not, junior eagles! This isn't a bad thing. You weren't made to stay in a comfy little nest. You were born to fly! Uh...so were you!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Your World's Being Shaken"
Right now, everybody's nest is being shaken! By what I call the coronaquake - the fiercely contagious virus that has caused our schools to close, the stock market to tank, major world events to be cancelled, the economy to explode, futures to be rewritten...basically, it's just rocked our world - or our nest - as never before.
Which leads us to our word for today from the Word of God in Deuteronomy 32, beginning with verse 10. God's referring to His people here simply as "him." But this isn't about just one guy - it's about God's people. For me, it's really shed light on the bigger picture behind all these life-changing events we're trying to navigate.
"He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye." Okay, cool. You and I are being shielded, cared for, and guarded by the Most High God in the middle of all this mayhem.
Now here's where it gets really interesting. "Like an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft...He made him ride on the heights of the land."
Let's look at all the shaking things going on in our lives right now through this Biblical lens. God is using it to disturb the comfort and complacency of our status quo - so we'll take some steps we'd never otherwise take... Not so we'll crash, but so we'll finally fulfill our destiny and touch the sky! Which we might never do if He didn't "stir up the nest."
So, here's a peek behind the curtain at the life-enlarging ways of God. God shakes us up to wake us up to take us up higher than we've ever flown before!
Proverbs 19:21 says: "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." All those plans we had - they're somewhere between doubtful to devastated, right? But not the Lord's purpose in all of this. His purposes are untouched and unhindered by all the upheaval in our world right now.
But sometimes He needs to hit the brakes hard to get our attention and turn our hearts totally - even desperately to Him. So, what might some of His purposes be?
To bring us closer together
To prune things we really don't need in our life
To expose our idols - the things in our life that have become more important than Him
To rearrange our priorities - so the things that really matter become our focus
To open hearts to Jesus.
Maybe that's what He's doing in your life. Suddenly your security isn't secure. Your "go to's" have gotten up and gone. Your heart is fearful and searching. You need an anchor that no storm can move. That's Jesus. Who loved you enough to die for your sin. Who's powerful enough to walk out of His grave. He's waiting for you to open the door of your heart and let Him come in today.
If you want to finally put your life in the only truly safe hands there are, tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." And check out our website - ANewStory.com - to find the information there that will help you be sure you belong to Him. Check it out today!
You have nothing to fear from your future when Jesus takes the wheel!
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Isaiah 24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: START WITH JESUS
We can calmly take our concerns to God because he is as near as our next breath! This was the reassuring message from the miracle of the bread and the fish. In an event crafted to speak to the anxious heart, Jesus told his disciples to do the impossible: feed five thousand people.
Now you aren’t facing five thousand hungry bellies, but you are facing a deadline in two days, a loved one in need of a cure. On one hand you have a problem. On the other you have a limited quantity of wisdom, patience, or time. Typically you’d get anxious. You’d tell God, “You’ve given me too much to handle.” This time, instead of focusing on what you don’t have, start with Jesus. Start with his wealth, his resources, and his strength. Before you lash out in fear, look up in faith. Turn to your Heavenly Father for help.
Isaiah 24
Danger ahead! God’s about to ravish the earth
and leave it in ruins,
Rip everything out by the roots
and send everyone scurrying:
priests and laypeople alike,
owners and workers alike,
celebrities and nobodies alike,
buyers and sellers alike,
bankers and beggars alike,
the haves and have-nots alike.
The landscape will be a moonscape,
totally wasted.
And why? Because God says so.
He’s issued the orders.
4 The earth turns gaunt and gray,
the world silent and sad,
sky and land lifeless, colorless.
5-13 Earth is polluted by its very own people,
who have broken its laws,
Disrupted its order,
violated the sacred and eternal covenant.
Therefore a curse, like a cancer,
ravages the earth.
Its people pay the price of their sacrilege.
They dwindle away, dying out one by one.
No more wine, no more vineyards,
no more songs or singers.
The laughter of castanets is gone,
the shouts of celebrants, gone,
the laughter of fiddles, gone.
No more parties with toasts of champagne.
Serious drinkers gag on their drinks.
The chaotic cities are unlivable. Anarchy reigns.
Every house is boarded up, condemned.
People riot in the streets for wine,
but the good times are gone forever—
no more joy for this old world.
The city is dead and deserted,
bulldozed into piles of rubble.
That’s the way it will be on this earth.
This is the fate of all nations:
An olive tree shaken clean of its olives,
a grapevine picked clean of its grapes.
14-16 But there are some who will break into glad song.
Out of the west they’ll shout of God’s majesty.
Yes, from the east God’s glory will ascend.
Every island of the sea
Will broadcast God’s fame,
the fame of the God of Israel.
From the four winds and the seven seas we hear the singing:
“All praise to the Righteous One!”
16-20 But I said, “That’s all well and good for somebody,
but all I can see is doom, doom, and more doom.”
All of them at one another’s throats,
yes, all of them at one another’s throats.
Terror and pits and booby traps
are everywhere, whoever you are.
If you run from the terror,
you’ll fall into the pit.
If you climb out of the pit,
you’ll get caught in the trap.
Chaos pours out of the skies.
The foundations of earth are crumbling.
Earth is smashed to pieces,
earth is ripped to shreds,
earth is wobbling out of control,
Earth staggers like a drunk,
sways like a shack in a high wind.
Its piled-up sins are too much for it.
It collapses and won’t get up again.
21-23 That’s when God will call on the carpet
rebel powers in the skies and
Rebel kings on earth.
They’ll be rounded up like prisoners in a jail,
Corralled and locked up in a jail,
and then sentenced and put to hard labor.
Shamefaced moon will cower, humiliated,
red-faced sun will skulk, disgraced,
Because God-of-the-Angel-Armies will take over,
ruling from Mount Zion and Jerusalem,
Splendid and glorious
before all his leaders.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Romans 5:6–11
You see, at just the right time,s when we were still powerless,t Christ died for the ungodly.u 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.v
9 Since we have now been justifiedw by his blood,x how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrathy through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies,z we were reconcileda to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!b 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Insight
Reconciliation restores those who’ve been alienated. Paul uses the word reconcile more than any other New Testament author, often multiple times in a passage; for example, he uses it three times in Romans 5:10–11. He also uses it in Romans 11:15, 2 Corinthians 5:18–19, and 1 Corinthians 7:11 (related to human reconciliation).
Today’s passage highlights the necessity of Jesus’ death for our reconciliation to God. But that isn’t the end. Our reconciliation through His death leads to our salvation through His life. Paul writes, “How much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:10). Notice that there are two different tenses used: we have been reconciled and we shall be saved. Paul says that both the death of Jesus and His resurrected life are necessary to our salvation.
Friends Again
How much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5:10
A mother and her young daughter are sitting in church one day. During the service, opportunity is given for people to publicly receive God’s forgiveness. Every time someone walks forward to do so, the little girl begins to clap. “I’m so sorry,” the mother later tells the church leader. “I explained to my daughter that repentance makes us friends with God again, and she just wanted to cheer for everyone.”
Simplified for a child’s mind, the mother’s words were a good explanation of the gospel. Once God’s enemies, we have been reconciled to Him through Christ’s death and resurrection (Romans 5:9–10). Now we’re indeed God’s friends. Since we were the ones to break the friendship (v. 8), repentance is our part in completing the restoration process. And the little girl’s response couldn’t have been more appropriate. Since all heaven claps when just one person repents (Luke 15:10), she was unknowingly echoing its applause.
Jesus described His reconciling work in similar terms. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). As a result of this sacrificial act of friendship toward us, we can now be friends with Him. “I no longer call you servants . . . . Instead, I have called you friends” (15:15).
Once God’s enemies, we are now God’s friends. It’s an overwhelming thought. And one worth clapping about. By: Sheridan Voysey
Reflect & Pray
How often do you describe your relationship with God as one of friendship? In practical terms, how is your friendship with Him going today?
God, thank You for loving me when I was still Your enemy. I repent of everything that disappoints You and celebrate being Your friend.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Don’t Hurt the Lord
Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? —John 14:9
Our Lord must be repeatedly astounded at us— astounded at how “un-simple” we are. It is our own opinions that make us dense and slow to understand, but when we are simple we are never dense; we have discernment all the time. Philip expected the future revelation of a tremendous mystery, but not in Jesus, the Person he thought he already knew. The mystery of God is not in what is going to be— it is now, though we look for it to be revealed in the future in some overwhelming, momentous event. We have no reluctance to obey Jesus, but it is highly probable that we are hurting Him by what we ask— “Lord, show us the Father…” (John 14:8). His response immediately comes back to us as He says, “Can’t you see Him? He is always right here or He is nowhere to be found.” We look for God to exhibit Himself to His children, but God only exhibits Himself in His children. And while others see the evidence, the child of God does not. We want to be fully aware of what God is doing in us, but we cannot have complete awareness and expect to remain reasonable or balanced in our expectations of Him. If all we are asking God to give us is experiences, and the awareness of those experiences is blocking our way, we hurt the Lord. The very questions we ask hurt Jesus, because they are not the questions of a child.
“Let not your heart be troubled…” (14:1, 27). Am I then hurting Jesus by allowing my heart to be troubled? If I believe in Jesus and His attributes, am I living up to my belief? Am I allowing anything to disturb my heart, or am I allowing any questions to come in which are unsound or unbalanced? I have to get to the point of the absolute and unquestionable relationship that takes everything exactly as it comes from Him. God never guides us at some time in the future, but always here and now. Realize that the Lord is here now, and the freedom you receive is immediate.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 12-13; Luke 16
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
When God's Moving Too Slow - #8682
There's this two-lane highway that's a main link between communities. And when they had to close one lane for a short-term road project, it created some delays for all of us tremendously patient people. It was one of those projects where one flagger stops the traffic in one lane while another flagger allows the traffic for the other lane to proceed. All day long, open your lane, close your lane, open your lane, close your lane. They had a car with a "pilot car" sign on it that led the proceeding traffic to the end of the one-lane area. Then the pilot of the pilot car (How you doing with all this?) got to turn around and drive back with the traffic following him from the other side. That's got to be exciting work! One lady apparently was short on patience that day. Oh, she waited until her lane was open and the pilot car came. She happened to be the first in line, but her patience ended as soon as she started to follow the pilot car. She decided to floor it and pass the pilot car. Bad idea! She crashed right into their heavy equipment.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When God's Moving Too Slow."
Running ahead of the one you're supposed to be following can lead to a crash. Just ask Moses. He ran ahead of the Pilot - Jehovah God - and the results were not happy. We need to look at his mistake because there's got to be someone listening who's in the process of repeating that mistake. I can save you, I think, a lot of hurt and heartache if you'll look for yourself in our word for today from the Word of God.
Acts 7, beginning with verse 23, unfolds the story from a New Testament perspective. Moses' people, the Jews, had been slaves to the Egyptian Pharaohs for many years. God had miraculously spared Moses as a baby and arranged for him to be raised in Pharaoh's court. The story picks up there. "When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites." That day he witnessed a Jewish worker being mistreated by an Egyptian master. And the Bible says, "He went to his defense ... by killing the Egyptian."
The Bible goes on to explain, "Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not." Ultimately, Moses had to flee to a remote wilderness where he spent the next 40 years, until it was God's time for him to deliver his people. What had been so wrong 40 years before, was so right when it was God's plan and God's time.
Moses had the right idea. He was supposed to deliver his people, but he couldn't wait for God to do it His way. How many times have I made that mistake? How many times have you? Like Moses, we get impatient and we run ahead of the "pilot car" - the leading of our Lord. And like Moses, the results a crash.
There's something you've been waiting for God to do; to give you that person, that job, some financial relief, some love, some work for Him. And it's not happening. You're going to help God a little bit. You're going to figure out your own way to meet the need, to get it done now. You're tempted to pass Him because He's moving too slowly. Don't. You'll ruin it by trying to rush it. You'll get the bill for your impatience instead of the will of God.
There may be nothing that has cost more people God's best than impatience. We move so fast, we push so hard, we push right past God. He will, as He promised, make everything beautiful "in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And it's not time yet.
If you're tired of waiting and you're revving your engine, ready to pass God's "pilot car," get your foot off the accelerator. You're about to ruin the beautiful thing God's putting together by running ahead of Him.
Making something happen sooner is definitely not worth the pain. Waiting for God to do it His way, in His time, is definitely worth the wait.
We can calmly take our concerns to God because he is as near as our next breath! This was the reassuring message from the miracle of the bread and the fish. In an event crafted to speak to the anxious heart, Jesus told his disciples to do the impossible: feed five thousand people.
Now you aren’t facing five thousand hungry bellies, but you are facing a deadline in two days, a loved one in need of a cure. On one hand you have a problem. On the other you have a limited quantity of wisdom, patience, or time. Typically you’d get anxious. You’d tell God, “You’ve given me too much to handle.” This time, instead of focusing on what you don’t have, start with Jesus. Start with his wealth, his resources, and his strength. Before you lash out in fear, look up in faith. Turn to your Heavenly Father for help.
Isaiah 24
Danger ahead! God’s about to ravish the earth
and leave it in ruins,
Rip everything out by the roots
and send everyone scurrying:
priests and laypeople alike,
owners and workers alike,
celebrities and nobodies alike,
buyers and sellers alike,
bankers and beggars alike,
the haves and have-nots alike.
The landscape will be a moonscape,
totally wasted.
And why? Because God says so.
He’s issued the orders.
4 The earth turns gaunt and gray,
the world silent and sad,
sky and land lifeless, colorless.
5-13 Earth is polluted by its very own people,
who have broken its laws,
Disrupted its order,
violated the sacred and eternal covenant.
Therefore a curse, like a cancer,
ravages the earth.
Its people pay the price of their sacrilege.
They dwindle away, dying out one by one.
No more wine, no more vineyards,
no more songs or singers.
The laughter of castanets is gone,
the shouts of celebrants, gone,
the laughter of fiddles, gone.
No more parties with toasts of champagne.
Serious drinkers gag on their drinks.
The chaotic cities are unlivable. Anarchy reigns.
Every house is boarded up, condemned.
People riot in the streets for wine,
but the good times are gone forever—
no more joy for this old world.
The city is dead and deserted,
bulldozed into piles of rubble.
That’s the way it will be on this earth.
This is the fate of all nations:
An olive tree shaken clean of its olives,
a grapevine picked clean of its grapes.
14-16 But there are some who will break into glad song.
Out of the west they’ll shout of God’s majesty.
Yes, from the east God’s glory will ascend.
Every island of the sea
Will broadcast God’s fame,
the fame of the God of Israel.
From the four winds and the seven seas we hear the singing:
“All praise to the Righteous One!”
16-20 But I said, “That’s all well and good for somebody,
but all I can see is doom, doom, and more doom.”
All of them at one another’s throats,
yes, all of them at one another’s throats.
Terror and pits and booby traps
are everywhere, whoever you are.
If you run from the terror,
you’ll fall into the pit.
If you climb out of the pit,
you’ll get caught in the trap.
Chaos pours out of the skies.
The foundations of earth are crumbling.
Earth is smashed to pieces,
earth is ripped to shreds,
earth is wobbling out of control,
Earth staggers like a drunk,
sways like a shack in a high wind.
Its piled-up sins are too much for it.
It collapses and won’t get up again.
21-23 That’s when God will call on the carpet
rebel powers in the skies and
Rebel kings on earth.
They’ll be rounded up like prisoners in a jail,
Corralled and locked up in a jail,
and then sentenced and put to hard labor.
Shamefaced moon will cower, humiliated,
red-faced sun will skulk, disgraced,
Because God-of-the-Angel-Armies will take over,
ruling from Mount Zion and Jerusalem,
Splendid and glorious
before all his leaders.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Romans 5:6–11
You see, at just the right time,s when we were still powerless,t Christ died for the ungodly.u 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.v
9 Since we have now been justifiedw by his blood,x how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrathy through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies,z we were reconcileda to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!b 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Insight
Reconciliation restores those who’ve been alienated. Paul uses the word reconcile more than any other New Testament author, often multiple times in a passage; for example, he uses it three times in Romans 5:10–11. He also uses it in Romans 11:15, 2 Corinthians 5:18–19, and 1 Corinthians 7:11 (related to human reconciliation).
Today’s passage highlights the necessity of Jesus’ death for our reconciliation to God. But that isn’t the end. Our reconciliation through His death leads to our salvation through His life. Paul writes, “How much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:10). Notice that there are two different tenses used: we have been reconciled and we shall be saved. Paul says that both the death of Jesus and His resurrected life are necessary to our salvation.
Friends Again
How much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5:10
A mother and her young daughter are sitting in church one day. During the service, opportunity is given for people to publicly receive God’s forgiveness. Every time someone walks forward to do so, the little girl begins to clap. “I’m so sorry,” the mother later tells the church leader. “I explained to my daughter that repentance makes us friends with God again, and she just wanted to cheer for everyone.”
Simplified for a child’s mind, the mother’s words were a good explanation of the gospel. Once God’s enemies, we have been reconciled to Him through Christ’s death and resurrection (Romans 5:9–10). Now we’re indeed God’s friends. Since we were the ones to break the friendship (v. 8), repentance is our part in completing the restoration process. And the little girl’s response couldn’t have been more appropriate. Since all heaven claps when just one person repents (Luke 15:10), she was unknowingly echoing its applause.
Jesus described His reconciling work in similar terms. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). As a result of this sacrificial act of friendship toward us, we can now be friends with Him. “I no longer call you servants . . . . Instead, I have called you friends” (15:15).
Once God’s enemies, we are now God’s friends. It’s an overwhelming thought. And one worth clapping about. By: Sheridan Voysey
Reflect & Pray
How often do you describe your relationship with God as one of friendship? In practical terms, how is your friendship with Him going today?
God, thank You for loving me when I was still Your enemy. I repent of everything that disappoints You and celebrate being Your friend.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Don’t Hurt the Lord
Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? —John 14:9
Our Lord must be repeatedly astounded at us— astounded at how “un-simple” we are. It is our own opinions that make us dense and slow to understand, but when we are simple we are never dense; we have discernment all the time. Philip expected the future revelation of a tremendous mystery, but not in Jesus, the Person he thought he already knew. The mystery of God is not in what is going to be— it is now, though we look for it to be revealed in the future in some overwhelming, momentous event. We have no reluctance to obey Jesus, but it is highly probable that we are hurting Him by what we ask— “Lord, show us the Father…” (John 14:8). His response immediately comes back to us as He says, “Can’t you see Him? He is always right here or He is nowhere to be found.” We look for God to exhibit Himself to His children, but God only exhibits Himself in His children. And while others see the evidence, the child of God does not. We want to be fully aware of what God is doing in us, but we cannot have complete awareness and expect to remain reasonable or balanced in our expectations of Him. If all we are asking God to give us is experiences, and the awareness of those experiences is blocking our way, we hurt the Lord. The very questions we ask hurt Jesus, because they are not the questions of a child.
“Let not your heart be troubled…” (14:1, 27). Am I then hurting Jesus by allowing my heart to be troubled? If I believe in Jesus and His attributes, am I living up to my belief? Am I allowing anything to disturb my heart, or am I allowing any questions to come in which are unsound or unbalanced? I have to get to the point of the absolute and unquestionable relationship that takes everything exactly as it comes from Him. God never guides us at some time in the future, but always here and now. Realize that the Lord is here now, and the freedom you receive is immediate.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come. Shade of His Hand, 1226 L
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 12-13; Luke 16
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
When God's Moving Too Slow - #8682
There's this two-lane highway that's a main link between communities. And when they had to close one lane for a short-term road project, it created some delays for all of us tremendously patient people. It was one of those projects where one flagger stops the traffic in one lane while another flagger allows the traffic for the other lane to proceed. All day long, open your lane, close your lane, open your lane, close your lane. They had a car with a "pilot car" sign on it that led the proceeding traffic to the end of the one-lane area. Then the pilot of the pilot car (How you doing with all this?) got to turn around and drive back with the traffic following him from the other side. That's got to be exciting work! One lady apparently was short on patience that day. Oh, she waited until her lane was open and the pilot car came. She happened to be the first in line, but her patience ended as soon as she started to follow the pilot car. She decided to floor it and pass the pilot car. Bad idea! She crashed right into their heavy equipment.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When God's Moving Too Slow."
Running ahead of the one you're supposed to be following can lead to a crash. Just ask Moses. He ran ahead of the Pilot - Jehovah God - and the results were not happy. We need to look at his mistake because there's got to be someone listening who's in the process of repeating that mistake. I can save you, I think, a lot of hurt and heartache if you'll look for yourself in our word for today from the Word of God.
Acts 7, beginning with verse 23, unfolds the story from a New Testament perspective. Moses' people, the Jews, had been slaves to the Egyptian Pharaohs for many years. God had miraculously spared Moses as a baby and arranged for him to be raised in Pharaoh's court. The story picks up there. "When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites." That day he witnessed a Jewish worker being mistreated by an Egyptian master. And the Bible says, "He went to his defense ... by killing the Egyptian."
The Bible goes on to explain, "Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not." Ultimately, Moses had to flee to a remote wilderness where he spent the next 40 years, until it was God's time for him to deliver his people. What had been so wrong 40 years before, was so right when it was God's plan and God's time.
Moses had the right idea. He was supposed to deliver his people, but he couldn't wait for God to do it His way. How many times have I made that mistake? How many times have you? Like Moses, we get impatient and we run ahead of the "pilot car" - the leading of our Lord. And like Moses, the results a crash.
There's something you've been waiting for God to do; to give you that person, that job, some financial relief, some love, some work for Him. And it's not happening. You're going to help God a little bit. You're going to figure out your own way to meet the need, to get it done now. You're tempted to pass Him because He's moving too slowly. Don't. You'll ruin it by trying to rush it. You'll get the bill for your impatience instead of the will of God.
There may be nothing that has cost more people God's best than impatience. We move so fast, we push so hard, we push right past God. He will, as He promised, make everything beautiful "in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And it's not time yet.
If you're tired of waiting and you're revving your engine, ready to pass God's "pilot car," get your foot off the accelerator. You're about to ruin the beautiful thing God's putting together by running ahead of Him.
Making something happen sooner is definitely not worth the pain. Waiting for God to do it His way, in His time, is definitely worth the wait.
Monday, April 20, 2020
Isaiah 23, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: AS NEAR AS OUR NEXT BREATH
God repeatedly pledges his presence to his people. To Abram, God said, “Do not be afraid. . .I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15:1). God told Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). In the ultimate declaration of communion, God called himself Immanuel, which means, God with us. He became flesh. He became sin. He defeated the grave. He is still with us. In the form of his Spirit, he comforts, teaches, and convicts.
Don’t assume God is watching from a distance. Isolation creates a downward cycle of fret. Choose instead to be the person who clutches the presence of God with both hands. We can calmly take our concerns to God because he is as near as our next breath. And because the Lord is near, we can be anxious for nothing.
Isaiah 23
Wail, ships of Tarshish,
your strong seaports all in ruins!
When the ships returned from Cyprus,
they saw the destruction.
Hold your tongue, you who live on the seacoast,
merchants of Sidon.
Your people sailed the deep seas,
buying and selling,
Making money on wheat from Shihor,
grown along the Nile—
multinational broker in grains!
Hang your head in shame, Sidon. The Sea speaks up,
the powerhouse of the ocean says,
“I’ve never had labor pains, never had a baby,
never reared children to adulthood,
Never gave life, never worked with life.
It was all numbers, dead numbers, profit and loss.”
5 When Egypt gets the report on Tyre,
what wailing! what wringing of hands!
6-12 Visit Tarshish, you who live on the seacoast.
Take a good, long look and wail—yes, cry buckets of tears!
Is this the city you remember as energetic and alive,
bustling with activity, this historic old city,
Expanding throughout the globe,
buying and selling all over the world?
And who is behind the collapse of Tyre,
the Tyre that controlled the world markets?
Tyre’s merchants were the business tycoons.
Tyre’s traders called all the shots.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies ordered the crash
to show the sordid backside of pride
and puncture the inflated reputations.
Sail for home, O ships of Tarshish.
There are no docks left in this harbor.
God reached out to the sea and sea traders,
threw the sea kingdoms into turmoil.
God ordered the destruction
of the seacoast cities, the centers of commerce.
God said, “There’s nothing left here to be proud of,
bankrupt and bereft Sidon.
Do you want to make a new start in Cyprus?
Don’t count on it. Nothing there will work out for you either.”
13 Look at what happened to Babylon: There’s nothing left of it. Assyria turned it into a desert, into a refuge for wild dogs and stray cats. They brought in their big siege engines, tore down the buildings, and left nothing behind but rubble.
14 Wail, ships of Tarshish,
your strong seaports all in ruins!
15-16 For the next seventy years, a king’s lifetime, Tyre will be forgotten. At the end of the seventy years, Tyre will stage a comeback, but it will be the comeback of a worn-out whore, as in the song:
“Take a harp, circle the city,
unremembered whore.
Sing your old songs, your many old songs.
Maybe someone will remember.”
17-18 At the end of the seventy years, God will look in on Tyre. She’ll go back to her old whoring trade, selling herself to the highest bidder, doing anything with anyone—promiscuous with all the kingdoms of earth—for a fee. But everything she gets, all the money she takes in, will be turned over to God. It will not be put in banks. Her profits will be put to the use of God-Aware, God-Serving-People, providing plenty of food and the best of clothing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, April 20, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 42:1–5
As the deerf pants for streams of water,g
so my soul pantsh for you, my God.
2 My soul thirstsi for God, for the living God.j
When can I gok and meet with God?
3 My tearsl have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”m
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:n
how I used to go to the house of Godo
under the protection of the Mighty Oned
with shouts of joyp and praiseq
among the festive throng.r
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?s
Why so disturbedt within me?
Put your hope in God,u
for I will yet praisev him,
my Saviorw and my God.
Insight
Psalms 42 and 43 fit together seamlessly and may have been written as one song. The concluding verse of Psalm 43 mirrors Psalm 42 verses 5 and 11. In these psalms we gain a window into the human spirit as it engages in profound emotional struggle. The author copes with his personal crisis by first acknowledging his desperate need of God. Then he outlines his problem. He’s in a dark place (42:3) and so he recalls better days (v. 4). Aware of God’s unfailing goodness to him in the past, he challenges himself: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? . . . Put your hope in God” (vv. 5, 11; 43:5). Yet questions linger (42:9; 43:2). In our spiritual struggles, our emotions must be acknowledged. It’s healthy to be completely honest before God, and it’s vital to keep our focus on Him in our emotional anguish.
The Singing Revolution
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:5
What does it take to ignite a revolution? Guns? Bombs? Guerrilla warfare? In late-1980s Estonia, it took songs. After the people had lived under the burden of Soviet occupation for decades, a movement began with the singing of a series of patriotic songs. These songs birthed the “Singing Revolution,” which played a key role in restoring Estonian independence in 1991.
“This was a non-violent revolution that overthrew a very violent occupation,” says a website describing the movement. “But singing had always been a major unifying force for Estonians while they endured fifty years of Soviet rule.”
Music can also play a significant part in helping us through our own hard times. I wonder if that’s why we so readily identify with the psalms. It was in a dark night of the soul that the psalmist sang, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5). It was in a season of deep disillusionment that Asaph, the worship leader, reminded himself, “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart” (73:1).
In our own challenging times, may we join the psalmists with a singing revolution for our hearts. Such a revolution overwhelms the personal tyranny of despair and confusion with faith-fueled confidence in God’s great love and faithfulness. By: Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
How do you respond when life is overwhelming? What songs bring you the most comfort and why?
Father, I thank You that Your mercies are new every morning and Your faithfulness is great. Empower me to sing the song of Your great love—even when I must sing it through my tears.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 20, 2020
Can a Saint Falsely Accuse God?
All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen… —2 Corinthians 1:20
Jesus’ parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25:14-30 was a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacities. This parable has nothing to do with natural gifts and abilities, but relates to the gift of the Holy Spirit as He was first given at Pentecost. We must never measure our spiritual capacity on the basis of our education or our intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured on the basis of the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, we will falsely accuse Him as the servant falsely accused his master when he said, “You expect more of me than you gave me the power to do. You demand too much of me, and I cannot stand true to you here where you have placed me.” When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, “I can’t.” Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us.
The servant justified himself, while condemning his lord on every point, as if to say, “Your demand on me is way out of proportion to what you gave to me.” Have we been falsely accusing God by daring to worry after He has said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”? (Matthew 6:33). Worrying means exactly what this servant implied— “I know your intent is to leave me unprotected and vulnerable.” A person who is lazy in the natural realm is always critical, saying, “I haven’t had a decent chance,” and someone who is lazy in the spiritual realm is critical of God. Lazy people always strike out at others in an independent way.
Never forget that our capacity and capability in spiritual matters is measured by, and based on, the promises of God. Is God able to fulfill His promises? Our answer depends on whether or not we have received the Holy Spirit.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 9-11; Luke 15:11-32
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, April 20, 2020
The Pressure, The Pain, and The Prescription - #8681
A cold is no big deal, unless it decides to expand its coverage from your nose to your ears. And even then it's no big deal unless you're coming down from 30,000 feet up in a commercial airliner. This is not a medical news bulletin - it's my personal testimony. I could feel a little something in my ears before I took off, but I didn't have any idea how the altitude ups and downs of my flight were going to totally block my ears and cause me some nasty pain on the way down. The poor lady next to me was telling me some of her heartaches and I kept yawning just to keep my head from exploding. And as my ears got more and more clogged, it was like somebody had turned down the volume knob on what she was saying. She must have thought I was a really great listener. Well, it was a painful afternoon, but the changing pressure in that plane let me know that I had a problem and it drove me to do what I usually try to avoid, go to the doctor. I'm glad I did - he really helped me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Pressure, The Pain, and The Prescription."
Increased pressure actually showed me an infection I really needed to deal with. You know, pressure has a way of exposing a lot of problems that need attention. Maybe the words "increasing pressure" describe your "flight" right now, pressure that's causing some significant pain. It could be that the pressure and the pain is in your marriage or maybe your work. Or for you, the squeeze might be financial or it could be something in an important relationship, but the stress is building. And you don't like what the pressure is doing to you. And, like the pressure I experienced on that flight, there is pain. Could it be there's a purpose in what's happening to get you to the Doctor?
Our word for today from the Word of God; it's in Psalm 32:1 and following. The great Jewish King David was having a painful flight, and he was feeling the pressure. But it's getting him to face some things he might otherwise not have faced. These words from his personal diary start out with what he learned from this hurting time. He says, "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered."
Now it was the pain and pressure that got him to the point of spiritual and emotional freedom. Here is what he says, "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand" - He's talking to God - "was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer."
Wait a minute! You know some of those feelings - like there's this heavy hand on you, extended times of sadness. There's a stress that's draining you, maybe even physical symptoms. My pain and my pressure on that flight exposed a deeper problem and it led me to healing. David's pain and pressure exposed his spiritual need and it led him to healing. You might be at that same threshold. Now David's had a happy ending, one which may be exactly where you will find your happy ending. He says, "Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord' - and You forgave the guilt of my sin."
God sometimes actually lets the pressure build so we will finally deal with what is really wrong inside us - the sin that we've never taken care of. David went to the Soul Doctor and came away a man who was forgiven and clean. That could happen to you - that same liberation - if you'll finally let go of your pride and go to the Forgiving Place. It's that cross where Jesus loved you so much that He died for all the sins you've ever committed. When He said, "Father, forgive them" on that cross, He was forgiving you.
If you'll put your total trust in Jesus Christ to be your Savior from your sin, you will be clean. All this pressure and all this pain has been to let you know there's something wrong deep down inside, the deadly infection of sin that only Jesus can cure. This could be your time to finally be forgiven. Don't you want that? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
I hope you'll go to our website, because I've really set it up to help you be sure that you've begun a relationship with Jesus. It's called ANewStory.com. Would you go there?
In this most painful and stressful time, you are suddenly on the edge of the healing that your soul has always needed, because you are face-to-face with Dr. Jesus.
God repeatedly pledges his presence to his people. To Abram, God said, “Do not be afraid. . .I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15:1). God told Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). In the ultimate declaration of communion, God called himself Immanuel, which means, God with us. He became flesh. He became sin. He defeated the grave. He is still with us. In the form of his Spirit, he comforts, teaches, and convicts.
Don’t assume God is watching from a distance. Isolation creates a downward cycle of fret. Choose instead to be the person who clutches the presence of God with both hands. We can calmly take our concerns to God because he is as near as our next breath. And because the Lord is near, we can be anxious for nothing.
Isaiah 23
Wail, ships of Tarshish,
your strong seaports all in ruins!
When the ships returned from Cyprus,
they saw the destruction.
Hold your tongue, you who live on the seacoast,
merchants of Sidon.
Your people sailed the deep seas,
buying and selling,
Making money on wheat from Shihor,
grown along the Nile—
multinational broker in grains!
Hang your head in shame, Sidon. The Sea speaks up,
the powerhouse of the ocean says,
“I’ve never had labor pains, never had a baby,
never reared children to adulthood,
Never gave life, never worked with life.
It was all numbers, dead numbers, profit and loss.”
5 When Egypt gets the report on Tyre,
what wailing! what wringing of hands!
6-12 Visit Tarshish, you who live on the seacoast.
Take a good, long look and wail—yes, cry buckets of tears!
Is this the city you remember as energetic and alive,
bustling with activity, this historic old city,
Expanding throughout the globe,
buying and selling all over the world?
And who is behind the collapse of Tyre,
the Tyre that controlled the world markets?
Tyre’s merchants were the business tycoons.
Tyre’s traders called all the shots.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies ordered the crash
to show the sordid backside of pride
and puncture the inflated reputations.
Sail for home, O ships of Tarshish.
There are no docks left in this harbor.
God reached out to the sea and sea traders,
threw the sea kingdoms into turmoil.
God ordered the destruction
of the seacoast cities, the centers of commerce.
God said, “There’s nothing left here to be proud of,
bankrupt and bereft Sidon.
Do you want to make a new start in Cyprus?
Don’t count on it. Nothing there will work out for you either.”
13 Look at what happened to Babylon: There’s nothing left of it. Assyria turned it into a desert, into a refuge for wild dogs and stray cats. They brought in their big siege engines, tore down the buildings, and left nothing behind but rubble.
14 Wail, ships of Tarshish,
your strong seaports all in ruins!
15-16 For the next seventy years, a king’s lifetime, Tyre will be forgotten. At the end of the seventy years, Tyre will stage a comeback, but it will be the comeback of a worn-out whore, as in the song:
“Take a harp, circle the city,
unremembered whore.
Sing your old songs, your many old songs.
Maybe someone will remember.”
17-18 At the end of the seventy years, God will look in on Tyre. She’ll go back to her old whoring trade, selling herself to the highest bidder, doing anything with anyone—promiscuous with all the kingdoms of earth—for a fee. But everything she gets, all the money she takes in, will be turned over to God. It will not be put in banks. Her profits will be put to the use of God-Aware, God-Serving-People, providing plenty of food and the best of clothing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, April 20, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 42:1–5
As the deerf pants for streams of water,g
so my soul pantsh for you, my God.
2 My soul thirstsi for God, for the living God.j
When can I gok and meet with God?
3 My tearsl have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”m
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:n
how I used to go to the house of Godo
under the protection of the Mighty Oned
with shouts of joyp and praiseq
among the festive throng.r
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?s
Why so disturbedt within me?
Put your hope in God,u
for I will yet praisev him,
my Saviorw and my God.
Insight
Psalms 42 and 43 fit together seamlessly and may have been written as one song. The concluding verse of Psalm 43 mirrors Psalm 42 verses 5 and 11. In these psalms we gain a window into the human spirit as it engages in profound emotional struggle. The author copes with his personal crisis by first acknowledging his desperate need of God. Then he outlines his problem. He’s in a dark place (42:3) and so he recalls better days (v. 4). Aware of God’s unfailing goodness to him in the past, he challenges himself: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? . . . Put your hope in God” (vv. 5, 11; 43:5). Yet questions linger (42:9; 43:2). In our spiritual struggles, our emotions must be acknowledged. It’s healthy to be completely honest before God, and it’s vital to keep our focus on Him in our emotional anguish.
The Singing Revolution
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:5
What does it take to ignite a revolution? Guns? Bombs? Guerrilla warfare? In late-1980s Estonia, it took songs. After the people had lived under the burden of Soviet occupation for decades, a movement began with the singing of a series of patriotic songs. These songs birthed the “Singing Revolution,” which played a key role in restoring Estonian independence in 1991.
“This was a non-violent revolution that overthrew a very violent occupation,” says a website describing the movement. “But singing had always been a major unifying force for Estonians while they endured fifty years of Soviet rule.”
Music can also play a significant part in helping us through our own hard times. I wonder if that’s why we so readily identify with the psalms. It was in a dark night of the soul that the psalmist sang, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5). It was in a season of deep disillusionment that Asaph, the worship leader, reminded himself, “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart” (73:1).
In our own challenging times, may we join the psalmists with a singing revolution for our hearts. Such a revolution overwhelms the personal tyranny of despair and confusion with faith-fueled confidence in God’s great love and faithfulness. By: Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
How do you respond when life is overwhelming? What songs bring you the most comfort and why?
Father, I thank You that Your mercies are new every morning and Your faithfulness is great. Empower me to sing the song of Your great love—even when I must sing it through my tears.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 20, 2020
Can a Saint Falsely Accuse God?
All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen… —2 Corinthians 1:20
Jesus’ parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25:14-30 was a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacities. This parable has nothing to do with natural gifts and abilities, but relates to the gift of the Holy Spirit as He was first given at Pentecost. We must never measure our spiritual capacity on the basis of our education or our intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured on the basis of the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, we will falsely accuse Him as the servant falsely accused his master when he said, “You expect more of me than you gave me the power to do. You demand too much of me, and I cannot stand true to you here where you have placed me.” When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, “I can’t.” Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us.
The servant justified himself, while condemning his lord on every point, as if to say, “Your demand on me is way out of proportion to what you gave to me.” Have we been falsely accusing God by daring to worry after He has said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”? (Matthew 6:33). Worrying means exactly what this servant implied— “I know your intent is to leave me unprotected and vulnerable.” A person who is lazy in the natural realm is always critical, saying, “I haven’t had a decent chance,” and someone who is lazy in the spiritual realm is critical of God. Lazy people always strike out at others in an independent way.
Never forget that our capacity and capability in spiritual matters is measured by, and based on, the promises of God. Is God able to fulfill His promises? Our answer depends on whether or not we have received the Holy Spirit.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 9-11; Luke 15:11-32
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, April 20, 2020
The Pressure, The Pain, and The Prescription - #8681
A cold is no big deal, unless it decides to expand its coverage from your nose to your ears. And even then it's no big deal unless you're coming down from 30,000 feet up in a commercial airliner. This is not a medical news bulletin - it's my personal testimony. I could feel a little something in my ears before I took off, but I didn't have any idea how the altitude ups and downs of my flight were going to totally block my ears and cause me some nasty pain on the way down. The poor lady next to me was telling me some of her heartaches and I kept yawning just to keep my head from exploding. And as my ears got more and more clogged, it was like somebody had turned down the volume knob on what she was saying. She must have thought I was a really great listener. Well, it was a painful afternoon, but the changing pressure in that plane let me know that I had a problem and it drove me to do what I usually try to avoid, go to the doctor. I'm glad I did - he really helped me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Pressure, The Pain, and The Prescription."
Increased pressure actually showed me an infection I really needed to deal with. You know, pressure has a way of exposing a lot of problems that need attention. Maybe the words "increasing pressure" describe your "flight" right now, pressure that's causing some significant pain. It could be that the pressure and the pain is in your marriage or maybe your work. Or for you, the squeeze might be financial or it could be something in an important relationship, but the stress is building. And you don't like what the pressure is doing to you. And, like the pressure I experienced on that flight, there is pain. Could it be there's a purpose in what's happening to get you to the Doctor?
Our word for today from the Word of God; it's in Psalm 32:1 and following. The great Jewish King David was having a painful flight, and he was feeling the pressure. But it's getting him to face some things he might otherwise not have faced. These words from his personal diary start out with what he learned from this hurting time. He says, "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered."
Now it was the pain and pressure that got him to the point of spiritual and emotional freedom. Here is what he says, "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand" - He's talking to God - "was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer."
Wait a minute! You know some of those feelings - like there's this heavy hand on you, extended times of sadness. There's a stress that's draining you, maybe even physical symptoms. My pain and my pressure on that flight exposed a deeper problem and it led me to healing. David's pain and pressure exposed his spiritual need and it led him to healing. You might be at that same threshold. Now David's had a happy ending, one which may be exactly where you will find your happy ending. He says, "Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord' - and You forgave the guilt of my sin."
God sometimes actually lets the pressure build so we will finally deal with what is really wrong inside us - the sin that we've never taken care of. David went to the Soul Doctor and came away a man who was forgiven and clean. That could happen to you - that same liberation - if you'll finally let go of your pride and go to the Forgiving Place. It's that cross where Jesus loved you so much that He died for all the sins you've ever committed. When He said, "Father, forgive them" on that cross, He was forgiving you.
If you'll put your total trust in Jesus Christ to be your Savior from your sin, you will be clean. All this pressure and all this pain has been to let you know there's something wrong deep down inside, the deadly infection of sin that only Jesus can cure. This could be your time to finally be forgiven. Don't you want that? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
I hope you'll go to our website, because I've really set it up to help you be sure that you've begun a relationship with Jesus. It's called ANewStory.com. Would you go there?
In this most painful and stressful time, you are suddenly on the edge of the healing that your soul has always needed, because you are face-to-face with Dr. Jesus.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Ephesians 5:1-16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Resentment
Resentment is a prison. When you’ve put someone in your jail cell of hatred, you are stuck guarding the door. If you’re out to settle a score, you are never going to rest. How can you? For one thing, your enemy may never pay up.
As much as you think you deserve an apology, your debtor may not agree. The racist may never repent. The chauvinist may never change. As justified as you are in your quest for vengeance, you may never get a penny’s worth of justice. And if you do, will it be enough?
You see, resentment is a prison. Jesus doesn’t question the reality of your wounds. He just doubts whether resentment is going to heal you. What are you going to do? Spend your life guarding the prison jail cell? Or entrust your wounds to Jesus?
from The Great House of God
Ephesians 5:1-16
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
3-4 Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect.
5 You can be sure that using people or religion or things just for what you can get out of them—the usual variations on idolatry—will get you nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God.
6-7 Don’t let yourselves get taken in by religious smooth talk. God gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing to do with him. Don’t even hang around people like that.
8-10 You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.
11-16 Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.
Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Jeremiah 23:16–22
This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Do not listeni to what the prophets are prophesying to you;
they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visionsj from their own minds,
not from the mouthk of the Lord.
17 They keep sayingl to those who despise me,
‘The Lord says: You will have peace.’m
And to all who follow the stubbornnessn of their hearts
they say, ‘No harmo will come to you.’
18 But which of them has stood in the councilp of the Lord
to see or to hear his word?
Who has listened and heard his word?
19 See, the stormq of the Lord
will burst out in wrath,
a whirlwindr swirling down
on the heads of the wicked.
20 The angers of the Lord will not turn backt
until he fully accomplishes
the purposes of his heart.
In days to come
you will understand it clearly.
21 I did not sendu these prophets,
yet they have run with their message;
I did not speak to them,
yet they have prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council,v
they would have proclaimedw my words to my people
and would have turnedx them from their evil ways
and from their evil deeds.
Insight
In Jeremiah 23, God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah against the “shepherds” (kings and priests, vv. 1–2) and prophets (vv. 9–40) for their continued disobedience and for leading the people astray. The shepherds were called to be godly leaders who guided and protected; instead, they’d destroyed and scattered “the sheep of [God’s] pasture” (v. 1). And rather than speaking God’s truths, the prophets “prophesied by Baal and led [God’s] people Israel astray” (v. 13). They “live[d] a lie” and strengthened “the hands of evildoers” so that they didn’t turn back “from their wickedness” (v. 14). God warned the people not to listen to the false prophets who weren’t speaking for God and offered only “false hopes” (v. 16). Because of their refusal to listen, Judah would be exiled at the hands of the Babylonians. Yet God wouldn’t forsake them forever (vv. 3–8).
The Forecaster’s Mistake
Let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. Jeremiah 23:28
At noon on September 21, 1938, a young meteorologist warned the U.S. Weather Bureau of two fronts forcing a hurricane northward toward New England. But the chief of forecasting scoffed at Charles Pierce’s prediction. Surely a tropical storm wouldn’t strike so far north.
Two hours later, the 1938 New England Hurricane made landfall on Long Island. By 4:00 p.m. it had reached New England, tossing ships onto land as homes crumbled into the sea. More than six hundred people died. Had the victims received Pierce’s warning—based on solid data and his detailed maps—they likely would have survived.
The concept of knowing whose word to heed has precedent in Scripture. In Jeremiah’s day, God warned His people against false prophets. “Do not listen [to them],” He said. “They fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:16). God said of them, “If they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people” (v. 22).
“False prophets” are still with us. “Experts” dispense advice while ignoring God altogether or twisting His words to suit their purposes. But through His Word and Spirit, God has given us what we need to begin to discern the false from the true. As we gauge everything by the truth of His Word, our own words and lives will increasingly reflect that truth to others. By: Tim Gustafson
Reflect & Pray
What’s the standard I use when I decide whether something is true? What in my attitude needs to change toward those who disagree with me?
God, so many claim to speak for You these days. Help us learn what You really have to say. Make us sensitive to Your Spirit, not the spirit of this world.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Beware of the Least Likely Temptation
Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom. —1 Kings 2:28
Joab withstood the greatest test of his life, remaining absolutely loyal to David by not turning to follow after the fascinating and ambitious Absalom. Yet toward the end of his life he turned to follow after the weak and cowardly Adonijah. Always remain alert to the fact that where one person has turned back is exactly where anyone may be tempted to turn back (see 1 Corinthians 10:11-13). You may have just victoriously gone through a great crisis, but now be alert about the things that may appear to be the least likely to tempt you. Beware of thinking that the areas of your life where you have experienced victory in the past are now the least likely to cause you to stumble and fall.
We are apt to say, “It is not at all likely that having been through the greatest crisis of my life I would now turn back to the things of the world.” Do not try to predict where the temptation will come; it is the least likely thing that is the real danger. It is in the aftermath of a great spiritual event that the least likely things begin to have an effect. They may not be forceful and dominant, but they are there. And if you are not careful to be forewarned, they will trip you. You have remained true to God under great and intense trials— now beware of the undercurrent. Do not be abnormally examining your inner self, looking forward with dread, but stay alert; keep your memory sharp before God. Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness, because that is where the least likely temptations will be effective in sapping strength. The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones.
“…kept by the power of God…”— that is the only safety. (1 Peter 1:5).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 664 L
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 6-8; Luke 15:1-10
Resentment is a prison. When you’ve put someone in your jail cell of hatred, you are stuck guarding the door. If you’re out to settle a score, you are never going to rest. How can you? For one thing, your enemy may never pay up.
As much as you think you deserve an apology, your debtor may not agree. The racist may never repent. The chauvinist may never change. As justified as you are in your quest for vengeance, you may never get a penny’s worth of justice. And if you do, will it be enough?
You see, resentment is a prison. Jesus doesn’t question the reality of your wounds. He just doubts whether resentment is going to heal you. What are you going to do? Spend your life guarding the prison jail cell? Or entrust your wounds to Jesus?
from The Great House of God
Ephesians 5:1-16
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
3-4 Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect.
5 You can be sure that using people or religion or things just for what you can get out of them—the usual variations on idolatry—will get you nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God.
6-7 Don’t let yourselves get taken in by religious smooth talk. God gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing to do with him. Don’t even hang around people like that.
8-10 You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.
11-16 Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.
Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Jeremiah 23:16–22
This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Do not listeni to what the prophets are prophesying to you;
they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visionsj from their own minds,
not from the mouthk of the Lord.
17 They keep sayingl to those who despise me,
‘The Lord says: You will have peace.’m
And to all who follow the stubbornnessn of their hearts
they say, ‘No harmo will come to you.’
18 But which of them has stood in the councilp of the Lord
to see or to hear his word?
Who has listened and heard his word?
19 See, the stormq of the Lord
will burst out in wrath,
a whirlwindr swirling down
on the heads of the wicked.
20 The angers of the Lord will not turn backt
until he fully accomplishes
the purposes of his heart.
In days to come
you will understand it clearly.
21 I did not sendu these prophets,
yet they have run with their message;
I did not speak to them,
yet they have prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council,v
they would have proclaimedw my words to my people
and would have turnedx them from their evil ways
and from their evil deeds.
Insight
In Jeremiah 23, God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah against the “shepherds” (kings and priests, vv. 1–2) and prophets (vv. 9–40) for their continued disobedience and for leading the people astray. The shepherds were called to be godly leaders who guided and protected; instead, they’d destroyed and scattered “the sheep of [God’s] pasture” (v. 1). And rather than speaking God’s truths, the prophets “prophesied by Baal and led [God’s] people Israel astray” (v. 13). They “live[d] a lie” and strengthened “the hands of evildoers” so that they didn’t turn back “from their wickedness” (v. 14). God warned the people not to listen to the false prophets who weren’t speaking for God and offered only “false hopes” (v. 16). Because of their refusal to listen, Judah would be exiled at the hands of the Babylonians. Yet God wouldn’t forsake them forever (vv. 3–8).
The Forecaster’s Mistake
Let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. Jeremiah 23:28
At noon on September 21, 1938, a young meteorologist warned the U.S. Weather Bureau of two fronts forcing a hurricane northward toward New England. But the chief of forecasting scoffed at Charles Pierce’s prediction. Surely a tropical storm wouldn’t strike so far north.
Two hours later, the 1938 New England Hurricane made landfall on Long Island. By 4:00 p.m. it had reached New England, tossing ships onto land as homes crumbled into the sea. More than six hundred people died. Had the victims received Pierce’s warning—based on solid data and his detailed maps—they likely would have survived.
The concept of knowing whose word to heed has precedent in Scripture. In Jeremiah’s day, God warned His people against false prophets. “Do not listen [to them],” He said. “They fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:16). God said of them, “If they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people” (v. 22).
“False prophets” are still with us. “Experts” dispense advice while ignoring God altogether or twisting His words to suit their purposes. But through His Word and Spirit, God has given us what we need to begin to discern the false from the true. As we gauge everything by the truth of His Word, our own words and lives will increasingly reflect that truth to others. By: Tim Gustafson
Reflect & Pray
What’s the standard I use when I decide whether something is true? What in my attitude needs to change toward those who disagree with me?
God, so many claim to speak for You these days. Help us learn what You really have to say. Make us sensitive to Your Spirit, not the spirit of this world.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Beware of the Least Likely Temptation
Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom. —1 Kings 2:28
Joab withstood the greatest test of his life, remaining absolutely loyal to David by not turning to follow after the fascinating and ambitious Absalom. Yet toward the end of his life he turned to follow after the weak and cowardly Adonijah. Always remain alert to the fact that where one person has turned back is exactly where anyone may be tempted to turn back (see 1 Corinthians 10:11-13). You may have just victoriously gone through a great crisis, but now be alert about the things that may appear to be the least likely to tempt you. Beware of thinking that the areas of your life where you have experienced victory in the past are now the least likely to cause you to stumble and fall.
We are apt to say, “It is not at all likely that having been through the greatest crisis of my life I would now turn back to the things of the world.” Do not try to predict where the temptation will come; it is the least likely thing that is the real danger. It is in the aftermath of a great spiritual event that the least likely things begin to have an effect. They may not be forceful and dominant, but they are there. And if you are not careful to be forewarned, they will trip you. You have remained true to God under great and intense trials— now beware of the undercurrent. Do not be abnormally examining your inner self, looking forward with dread, but stay alert; keep your memory sharp before God. Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness, because that is where the least likely temptations will be effective in sapping strength. The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones.
“…kept by the power of God…”— that is the only safety. (1 Peter 1:5).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 664 L
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 6-8; Luke 15:1-10
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Isaiah 22 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Six Hours, One Friday
Six hours, one Friday. Mundane to the casual observer. A shepherd with his sheep, a housewife with her thoughts, a doctor with his patients. But to a handful of awestruck witnesses, the most maddening of miracles is occurring. God is on a cross. The creator of the universe is being executed.
It is no normal six hours. It is no normal Friday. Far worse than the breaking of his body is the shredding of his heart. And now his own father is beginning to turn his back on him, leaving him alone. What do you do with that day in history? What do you do with its claims? They were the most critical hours in history.
Nails didn't hold God to a cross. Love did. The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint!
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21).
From Six Hours One Friday
Isaiah 22
A Message concerning the Valley of Vision:
What’s going on here anyway?
All this partying and noisemaking,
Shouting and cheering in the streets,
the city noisy with celebrations!
You have no brave soldiers to honor,
no combat heroes to be proud of.
Your leaders were all cowards,
captured without even lifting a sword,
A country of cowards
captured escaping the battle.
4-8 In the midst of the shouting, I said, “Let me alone.
Let me grieve by myself.
Don’t tell me it’s going to be all right.
These people are doomed. It’s not all right.”
For the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
is bringing a day noisy with mobs of people,
Jostling and stampeding in the Valley of Vision,
knocking down walls
and hollering to the mountains, “Attack! Attack!”
Old enemies Elam and Kir arrive armed to the teeth—
weapons and chariots and cavalry.
Your fine valleys are noisy with war,
chariots and cavalry charging this way and that.
God has left Judah exposed and defenseless.
8-11 You assessed your defenses that Day, inspected your arsenal of weapons in the Forest Armory. You found the weak places in the city walls that needed repair. You secured the water supply at the Lower Pool. You took an inventory of the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some to get bricks to fortify the city wall. You built a large cistern to ensure plenty of water.
You looked and looked and looked, but you never looked to him who gave you this city, never once consulted the One who has long had plans for this city.
12-13 The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
called out on that Day,
Called for a day of repentant tears,
called you to dress in somber clothes of mourning.
But what do you do? You throw a party!
Eating and drinking and dancing in the streets!
You barbecue bulls and sheep, and throw a huge feast—
slabs of meat, kegs of beer.
“Seize the day! Eat and drink!
Tomorrow we die!”
14 God-of-the-Angel-Armies whispered to me his verdict on this frivolity: “You’ll pay for this outrage until the day you die.” The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, says so.
15-19 The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, spoke: “Come. Go to this steward, Shebna, who is in charge of all the king’s affairs, and tell him: What’s going on here? You’re an outsider here and yet you act like you own the place, make a big, fancy tomb for yourself where everyone can see it, making sure everyone will think you’re important. God is about to sack you, to throw you to the dogs. He’ll grab you by the hair, swing you round and round dizzyingly, and then let you go, sailing through the air like a ball, until you’re out of sight. Where you’ll land, nobody knows. And there you’ll die, and all the stuff you’ve collected heaped on your grave. You’ve disgraced your master’s house! You’re fired—and good riddance!
20-24 “On that Day I’ll replace Shebna. I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I’ll dress him in your robe. I’ll put your belt on him. I’ll give him your authority. He’ll be a father-leader to Jerusalem and the government of Judah. I’ll give him the key of the Davidic heritage. He’ll have the run of the place—open any door and keep it open, lock any door and keep it locked. I’ll pound him like a nail into a solid wall. He’ll secure the Davidic tradition. Everything will hang on him—not only the fate of Davidic descendants but also the detailed daily operations of the house, including cups and cutlery.
25 “And then the Day will come,” says God-of-the-Angel-Armies, “when that nail will come loose and fall out, break loose from that solid wall—and everything hanging on it will go with it.” That’s what will happen. God says so.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 46
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth.b A song.
1 God is our refugem and strength,n
an ever-presento helpp in trouble.q
2 Therefore we will not fear,r though the earth give ways
and the mountains fallt into the heart of the sea,u
3 though its waters roarv and foamw
and the mountains quakex with their surging.c
4 There is a rivery whose streamsz make glad the city of God,a
the holy place where the Most Highb dwells.c
5 God is within her,d she will not fall;e
God will helpf her at break of day.
6 Nationsg are in uproar,h kingdomsi fall;
he lifts his voice,j the earth melts.k
7 The Lord Almightyl is with us;m
the God of Jacobn is our fortress.o
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,p
the desolationsq he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes warsr cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bows and shatters the spear;
he burns the shieldsd with fire.t
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;u
I will be exaltedv among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacobw is our fortress.
Insight
Given the dire language of its introduction, this psalm was likely written during a significant crisis. But which crisis? Many scholars believe it occurred during the reign of Hezekiah when the Assyrian army had surrounded Jerusalem. The situation looked dismal for God’s people, but the city had two advantages the Assyrians knew nothing of. Hezekiah had protected the spring of Gihon, located outside the city, by tunneling through stone to the water source. Then he concealed the spring. This life-giving spring may be the inspiration for the line, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God” (Psalm 46:4). Most important, however, the psalmist knew the ultimate source of the city’s safety. Jerusalem enjoyed the presence of the one true God. His miraculous intervention on behalf of the city meant they had only to be still and await His deliverance. He’s the life-sustaining Spring.
Being Cared For
The Lord Almighty is with us. Psalm 46:11
Debbie, the owner of a housecleaning service, was always searching for more clients to build up her business. On one call she talked with a woman whose response was, “I won’t be able to afford that now; I’m undergoing cancer treatment.” Right then Debbie decided that “no woman undergoing cancer treatment would ever be turned away. They would even be offered a free housecleaning service.” So in 2005 she started a nonprofit organization where companies donated their cleaning services to women battling cancer. One such woman felt a rush of confidence when she came home to a clean house. She said, “For the first time, I actually believed I could beat cancer.”
A feeling of being cared for and supported can help sustain us when we’re facing a challenge. An awareness of God’s presence and support can especially bring hope to encourage our spirit. Psalm 46, a favorite of many people going through trials, reminds us: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” and “Be still, and know that I am God; . . . I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us” (vv. 1, 10–11).
Reminding ourselves of God’s promises and His presence with us can be a means to help renew our hearts and give us the courage and confidence to go through hard times. By: Anne Cetas
Reflect & Pray
For what trials are you depending on God for strength? What Bible verses help you?
I’m grateful, God, for Your presence and Your promises. May I live out an attitude of confidence in You and Your ability to sustain me.
To learn more about why life can sometimes feel unfair, visit bit.ly/2YeZilB.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Readiness
God called to him….And he said, "Here I am." —Exodus 3:4
When God speaks, many of us are like people in a fog, and we give no answer. Moses’ reply to God revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready. Readiness means having a right relationship to God and having the knowledge of where we are. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something sensational will be coming our way, and when it does come we are quick to cry out, “Here I am.” Whenever we sense that Jesus Christ is rising up to take authority over some great task, we are there, but we are not ready for some obscure duty.
Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest thing or the largest thing— it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God’s plans may be, we are there and ready. Whenever any duty presents itself, we hear God’s voice as our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with the total readiness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us just as His Father did with Him. He can put us wherever He wants, in pleasant duties or in menial ones, because our union with Him is the same as His union with the Father. “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22).
Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready— he is ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready once God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the person who is ready, and it is on fire with the presence of God Himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 3-5; Luke 14:25-35
Six hours, one Friday. Mundane to the casual observer. A shepherd with his sheep, a housewife with her thoughts, a doctor with his patients. But to a handful of awestruck witnesses, the most maddening of miracles is occurring. God is on a cross. The creator of the universe is being executed.
It is no normal six hours. It is no normal Friday. Far worse than the breaking of his body is the shredding of his heart. And now his own father is beginning to turn his back on him, leaving him alone. What do you do with that day in history? What do you do with its claims? They were the most critical hours in history.
Nails didn't hold God to a cross. Love did. The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint!
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21).
From Six Hours One Friday
Isaiah 22
A Message concerning the Valley of Vision:
What’s going on here anyway?
All this partying and noisemaking,
Shouting and cheering in the streets,
the city noisy with celebrations!
You have no brave soldiers to honor,
no combat heroes to be proud of.
Your leaders were all cowards,
captured without even lifting a sword,
A country of cowards
captured escaping the battle.
4-8 In the midst of the shouting, I said, “Let me alone.
Let me grieve by myself.
Don’t tell me it’s going to be all right.
These people are doomed. It’s not all right.”
For the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
is bringing a day noisy with mobs of people,
Jostling and stampeding in the Valley of Vision,
knocking down walls
and hollering to the mountains, “Attack! Attack!”
Old enemies Elam and Kir arrive armed to the teeth—
weapons and chariots and cavalry.
Your fine valleys are noisy with war,
chariots and cavalry charging this way and that.
God has left Judah exposed and defenseless.
8-11 You assessed your defenses that Day, inspected your arsenal of weapons in the Forest Armory. You found the weak places in the city walls that needed repair. You secured the water supply at the Lower Pool. You took an inventory of the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some to get bricks to fortify the city wall. You built a large cistern to ensure plenty of water.
You looked and looked and looked, but you never looked to him who gave you this city, never once consulted the One who has long had plans for this city.
12-13 The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
called out on that Day,
Called for a day of repentant tears,
called you to dress in somber clothes of mourning.
But what do you do? You throw a party!
Eating and drinking and dancing in the streets!
You barbecue bulls and sheep, and throw a huge feast—
slabs of meat, kegs of beer.
“Seize the day! Eat and drink!
Tomorrow we die!”
14 God-of-the-Angel-Armies whispered to me his verdict on this frivolity: “You’ll pay for this outrage until the day you die.” The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, says so.
15-19 The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, spoke: “Come. Go to this steward, Shebna, who is in charge of all the king’s affairs, and tell him: What’s going on here? You’re an outsider here and yet you act like you own the place, make a big, fancy tomb for yourself where everyone can see it, making sure everyone will think you’re important. God is about to sack you, to throw you to the dogs. He’ll grab you by the hair, swing you round and round dizzyingly, and then let you go, sailing through the air like a ball, until you’re out of sight. Where you’ll land, nobody knows. And there you’ll die, and all the stuff you’ve collected heaped on your grave. You’ve disgraced your master’s house! You’re fired—and good riddance!
20-24 “On that Day I’ll replace Shebna. I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I’ll dress him in your robe. I’ll put your belt on him. I’ll give him your authority. He’ll be a father-leader to Jerusalem and the government of Judah. I’ll give him the key of the Davidic heritage. He’ll have the run of the place—open any door and keep it open, lock any door and keep it locked. I’ll pound him like a nail into a solid wall. He’ll secure the Davidic tradition. Everything will hang on him—not only the fate of Davidic descendants but also the detailed daily operations of the house, including cups and cutlery.
25 “And then the Day will come,” says God-of-the-Angel-Armies, “when that nail will come loose and fall out, break loose from that solid wall—and everything hanging on it will go with it.” That’s what will happen. God says so.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 46
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth.b A song.
1 God is our refugem and strength,n
an ever-presento helpp in trouble.q
2 Therefore we will not fear,r though the earth give ways
and the mountains fallt into the heart of the sea,u
3 though its waters roarv and foamw
and the mountains quakex with their surging.c
4 There is a rivery whose streamsz make glad the city of God,a
the holy place where the Most Highb dwells.c
5 God is within her,d she will not fall;e
God will helpf her at break of day.
6 Nationsg are in uproar,h kingdomsi fall;
he lifts his voice,j the earth melts.k
7 The Lord Almightyl is with us;m
the God of Jacobn is our fortress.o
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,p
the desolationsq he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes warsr cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bows and shatters the spear;
he burns the shieldsd with fire.t
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;u
I will be exaltedv among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacobw is our fortress.
Insight
Given the dire language of its introduction, this psalm was likely written during a significant crisis. But which crisis? Many scholars believe it occurred during the reign of Hezekiah when the Assyrian army had surrounded Jerusalem. The situation looked dismal for God’s people, but the city had two advantages the Assyrians knew nothing of. Hezekiah had protected the spring of Gihon, located outside the city, by tunneling through stone to the water source. Then he concealed the spring. This life-giving spring may be the inspiration for the line, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God” (Psalm 46:4). Most important, however, the psalmist knew the ultimate source of the city’s safety. Jerusalem enjoyed the presence of the one true God. His miraculous intervention on behalf of the city meant they had only to be still and await His deliverance. He’s the life-sustaining Spring.
Being Cared For
The Lord Almighty is with us. Psalm 46:11
Debbie, the owner of a housecleaning service, was always searching for more clients to build up her business. On one call she talked with a woman whose response was, “I won’t be able to afford that now; I’m undergoing cancer treatment.” Right then Debbie decided that “no woman undergoing cancer treatment would ever be turned away. They would even be offered a free housecleaning service.” So in 2005 she started a nonprofit organization where companies donated their cleaning services to women battling cancer. One such woman felt a rush of confidence when she came home to a clean house. She said, “For the first time, I actually believed I could beat cancer.”
A feeling of being cared for and supported can help sustain us when we’re facing a challenge. An awareness of God’s presence and support can especially bring hope to encourage our spirit. Psalm 46, a favorite of many people going through trials, reminds us: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” and “Be still, and know that I am God; . . . I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us” (vv. 1, 10–11).
Reminding ourselves of God’s promises and His presence with us can be a means to help renew our hearts and give us the courage and confidence to go through hard times. By: Anne Cetas
Reflect & Pray
For what trials are you depending on God for strength? What Bible verses help you?
I’m grateful, God, for Your presence and Your promises. May I live out an attitude of confidence in You and Your ability to sustain me.
To learn more about why life can sometimes feel unfair, visit bit.ly/2YeZilB.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Readiness
God called to him….And he said, "Here I am." —Exodus 3:4
When God speaks, many of us are like people in a fog, and we give no answer. Moses’ reply to God revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready. Readiness means having a right relationship to God and having the knowledge of where we are. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something sensational will be coming our way, and when it does come we are quick to cry out, “Here I am.” Whenever we sense that Jesus Christ is rising up to take authority over some great task, we are there, but we are not ready for some obscure duty.
Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest thing or the largest thing— it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God’s plans may be, we are there and ready. Whenever any duty presents itself, we hear God’s voice as our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with the total readiness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us just as His Father did with Him. He can put us wherever He wants, in pleasant duties or in menial ones, because our union with Him is the same as His union with the Father. “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22).
Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready— he is ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready once God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the person who is ready, and it is on fire with the presence of God Himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 3-5; Luke 14:25-35
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