Max Lucado Daily: RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS
In May of 2008, Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, lost their five-year-old daughter in an automobile accident. They were deluged by messages of kindness. One in particular gave Steven strength. It was from a pastor friend who’d lost his son in an auto accident. “Remember, your future with your daughter will be greater than your past with her.”
Death seems to take so much. We bury the wedding that never happened, the golden years we never knew. We bury dreams. But in heaven these dreams will come true. Acts 3:21 says that God has promised a “restoration of all things.” All things includes all relationships.
Our final home will hear no “goodbyes.” Gone forever. Let the promise change you. From sagging to seeking, from mournful to hopeful! From dwellers in the land of goodbyes to a heaven of hellos! You’ll get through this!
Hosea 3
In Time They’ll Come Back
Then God ordered me, “Start all over: Love your wife again,
your wife who’s in bed with her latest boyfriend, your
cheating wife.
Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people,
even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.”
2-3 I did it. I paid good money to get her back.
It cost me the price of a slave.
Then I told her, “From now on you’re living with me.
No more whoring, no more sleeping around.
You’re living with me and I’m living with you.”
4-5 The people of Israel are going to live a long time
stripped of security and protection,
without religion and comfort,
godless and prayerless.
But in time they’ll come back, these Israelites,
come back looking for their God and their David-King.
They’ll come back chastened to reverence
before God and his good gifts, ready for the End of the story of his love.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Revelation 1:4–7
John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”[b]
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”[c]
So shall it be! Amen.
Footnotes:
Revelation 1:4 That is, the sevenfold Spirit
Revelation 1:7 Daniel 7:13
Revelation 1:7 Zech. 12:10
Insight
John’s description of a pierced Son “coming with the clouds” (Revelation 1:7) combines two ancient prophecies to exalt the resurrected Christ as the God “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (v. 8). The first echoes the prophet Daniel who foresaw that in the last days a humanlike Son would return in the clouds and be given everlasting rule of all people and nations (Daniel 7:13–14). The second prophecy is found in the words of the prophet Zechariah who envisioned a day when the people of Jerusalem would look on “the one they have pierced, and . . . grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son” (Zechariah 12:10). John expands Zechariah’s vision beyond Israel saying that when the pierced Son is revealed in clouds of glory “all peoples on earth ‘will mourn because of him’ ” (Revelation 1:7).
Debt Eraser
[Jesus Christ] loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. Revelation 1:5
Stunned is just one word that describes the response of the crowd at the 2019 graduation ceremony at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. The commencement speaker announced that he and his family would be donating millions of dollars to erase the student debt of the entire graduating class. One student—with $100,000 in loans—was among the overwhelmed graduates who expressed their joys with tears and shouts.
Most of us have experienced indebtedness in some form—having to pay for homes, vehicles, education, medical expenses, or other things. But we’ve also known the amazing relief of a bill being stamped “PAID”!
After declaring Jesus as “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth,” John worshipfully acknowledged His debt-erasing work: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Revelation 1:5). This statement is simple but its meaning is profound. Better than the surprise announcement the Morehouse graduating class heard is the good news that the death of Jesus (the shedding of His blood on the cross) frees us from the penalty that our sinful attitudes, desires, and deeds deserve. Because that debt has been satisfied, those who believe in Jesus are forgiven and become a part of God’s kingdom family (v. 6). This good news is the best news of all! By: Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
If you haven’t received forgiveness through faith in Christ, what’s keeping you from accepting His free gift? When was the last time you worshiped and thanked God for the forgiveness and new life He’s provided?
Jesus, thank You for Your death that erased my debt; I’m eternally grateful!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin
This is your hour, and the power of darkness. —Luke 22:53
Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.
Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them.
The Place of Help
Bible in a Year: Job 1-2; Acts 7:22-43
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Radiation Rescuers - #8728
It wasn't just another news story. It was loaded with so many layers of tragedy. It was one of the worst I'd ever seen. Maybe you remember several years ago when Japan had a massage earthquake and then a massive tsunami, and then the nuclear emergency. Now, those kinds of things tend to disappear from the front page. But, I'll tell you what, this particular situation, well, it's had lasting effects for a long, long time.
Like the workers at the damaged nuclear power plants. They had to know that something bad was happening to their bodies and their futures as they kept working in that radiating place, but they continued to go in there. They also knew that lives were at stake in their efforts to try to contain the invisible killer that was leaking from those plants. And they heroically risked it all.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Radiation Rescuers."
You know, that shames me when I think of the times I've "chickened out" on my life-saving assignment because I was afraid of something bad that might happen to me. My life-saving assignment is to go in and tell other people about the Jesus who is their only hope for eternity. "Oh, but you know, I'm afraid they might not like me as much." "I might goof it up." "Maybe they'd write me off as a Jesus-freak." No. No. No, there's no danger of me losing my life, but I might lose a little personal ground. You know?"
I'm thinking about a visit I had to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial a few years ago. I was privileged to go there with a police officer who had been one of the first responders on that awful day where so many people died as that building was detonated early that morning. My friend told me about how he was one of the rescuers that ran into that building. And when they did, they knew that they were the only hope for some trapped survivors.
But I've got to tell you, they weren't without fear. As they looked at the structure above them, as my friend did, he could hear it creaking and he started thinking, "Man, this thing could come down on top of us at any moment." And so he said to his chief, "I think we're going to die here." And his chief replied, "Then it's a good day to die, and a good way to die."
You know, I drove away that day with a new sense of what it means to be a rescuer of lives that are in the balance. In one word - self-abandonment. Like some quiet heroes who were willing to go into that nuclear plant that was broken, and abandon themselves so other people could live. Or like the September 11 rescuers at Ground Zero, charging into the rubble of those fallen towers, knowing they might never come out alive. And, above all, like the only Son of God, abandoning all the glory of heaven for the blood and the brutality of a cross for me so I could live.
And here am I - and so are many of my fellow Jesus-followers - too often wimping out on delivering the only message that can save people we care about from an unthinkable eternity.
Now, our word for today from the word of God. It's in Proverbs 24:11. It commands us to "rescue those being led away to death." Jude 23 from the New Testament says, "snatch others from the fire". Boy, that's a rescue verse. "Snatch others from the fire and save them." You see what those have in common? Those are life-or-death images, which give all those who belong to the Rescuer (which would be you and me, fellow believer) a life-saving responsibility. Not just to witness, not just to tell them our beliefs; this is rescue. This is life or death.
There's something to be more afraid of all right. But something to be more afraid of than what will happen to us if we tell lost people about Jesus. What we are to be afraid of is what will happen to them if we don't.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Hosea 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Goodbye.
No one wants to say it. And death is the most difficult good-bye of all. After our church had five funerals in seven days, the sorrow took its toll on me. I chided myself, “Come on, Max, get over it. Death is a natural part of living.” Then I self-corrected. No it isn’t. Birth is; breathing is; belly laughs; big hugs and bedtime kisses are. But death? We weren’t made to say good-bye. God’s original plan had no farewell, no final breath, day, or heartbeat.
No matter how you frame it, good-bye doesn’t feel right. But God has served notice. All farewells are on the clock. He has decreed a family reunion. What a reunion it will be. Revelation 21:4 says on that day, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.” This long journey will come to an end. You’ll see Him, and you’ll see them. Isn’t this our hope?
Hosea 2
“Rename your brothers ‘God’s Somebody.’
Rename your sisters ‘All Mercy.’
Wild Weekends and Unholy Holidays
2-13 “Haul your mother into court. Accuse her!
She’s no longer my wife.
I’m no longer her husband.
Tell her to quit dressing like a whore,
displaying her breasts for sale.
If she refuses, I’ll rip off her clothes
and expose her, naked as a newborn.
I’ll turn her skin into dried-out leather,
her body into a badlands landscape,
a rack of bones in the desert.
I’ll have nothing to do with her children,
born one and all in a whorehouse.
Face it: Your mother’s been a whore,
bringing bastard children into the world.
She said, ‘I’m off to see my lovers!
They’ll wine and dine me,
Dress and caress me,
perfume and adorn me!’
But I’ll fix her: I’ll dump her in a field of thistles,
then lose her in a dead-end alley.
She’ll go on the hunt for her lovers
but not bring down a single one.
She’ll look high and low
but won’t find a one. Then she’ll say,
‘I’m going back to my husband, the one I started out with.
That was a better life by far than this one.’
She didn’t know that it was I all along
who wined and dined and adorned her,
That I was the one who dressed her up
in the big-city fashions and jewelry
that she wasted on wild Baal-orgies.
I’m about to bring her up short: No more wining and dining!
Silk lingerie and gowns are a thing of the past.
I’ll expose her genitals to the public.
All her fly-by-night lovers will be helpless to help her.
Party time is over. I’m calling a halt to the whole business,
her wild weekends and unholy holidays.
I’ll wreck her sumptuous gardens and ornamental fountains,
of which she bragged, ‘Whoring paid for all this!’
They will soon be dumping grounds for garbage,
feeding grounds for stray dogs and cats.
I’ll make her pay for her indulgence in promiscuous religion—
all that sensuous Baal worship
And all the promiscuous sex that went with it,
stalking her lovers, dressed to kill,
And not a thought for me.”
God’s Message!
To Start All Over Again
14-15 “And now, here’s what I’m going to do:
I’m going to start all over again.
I’m taking her back out into the wilderness
where we had our first date, and I’ll court her.
I’ll give her bouquets of roses.
I’ll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope.
She’ll respond like she did as a young girl,
those days when she was fresh out of Egypt.
16-20 “At that time”—this is God’s Message still—
“you’ll address me, ‘Dear husband!’
Never again will you address me,
‘My slave-master!’
I’ll wash your mouth out with soap,
get rid of all the dirty false-god names,
not so much as a whisper of those names again.
At the same time I’ll make a peace treaty between you
and wild animals and birds and reptiles,
And get rid of all weapons of war.
Think of it! Safe from beasts and bullies!
And then I’ll marry you for good—forever!
I’ll marry you true and proper, in love and tenderness.
Yes, I’ll marry you and neither leave you nor let you go.
You’ll know me, God, for who I really am.
21-23 “On the very same day, I’ll answer”—this is God’s Message—
“I’ll answer the sky, sky will answer earth,
Earth will answer grain and wine and olive oil,
and they’ll all answer Jezreel.
I’ll plant her in the good earth.
I’ll have mercy on No-Mercy.
I’ll say to Nobody, ‘You’re my dear Somebody,’
and he’ll say ‘You’re my God!’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Samuel 15:10–18
10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
16 “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’
Insight
Samuel was the last of the judges to rule over the Israelites. When he became old, the people rejected him and instead asked for a king to rule them so they could be like the nations around them (1 Samuel 8:5, 19–20). This request displeased Samuel (v. 6) and God, who had wanted the Israelites to be different from those around them. But God granted their request and acknowledged that the Israelites were rejecting Him, not Samuel (vv. 7–9). Samuel anointed Saul as king (ch. 9; 11:12–15); however, God eventually rejected Saul for disobedience (13:13; ch. 15). He was replaced by David, “a man after [God’s] own heart” (13:14).
Underestimating Ourselves
Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.” 1 Samuel 15:17
The young man became his team’s captain. The professional sports squad was now led by a mild-mannered kid who barely needed to shave. His first press conference was underwhelming. He kept deferring to the coach and to his teammates, and mumbled clichés about just trying to do his job. The team performed poorly that season, and by the end of it the young captain had been traded. He didn’t grasp that he’d been entrusted with the authority to lead, or maybe he never believed he could.
Due to his failures, Saul was “small in [his] own eyes” (1 Samuel 15:17)—which is a funny thing to say about a guy who’s described as being tall. He was literally head and shoulders above the rest (9:2). And yet that wasn’t how he saw himself. In fact, his actions in the chapter show him trying to win the approval of the people. He hadn’t fully grasped that God—not people—had chosen him and given him a mission.
But Saul’s mistake is a picture of every human being’s failure: we can miss that we were made in God’s image to reflect His rule, and end up misusing our authority—spreading destruction in the world. To undo this, we need to return to God: to let the Father define us by His love, to let Him fill us with the Spirit, and to let Jesus send us out into the world. By: Glenn Packiam
Reflect & Pray
What assignment has God given you that you don’t think you have the power to do? Why is it vital to have your identity based in what God says is true?
Dear Father, give me eyes to see myself as You see me, and grant me the grace to faithfully carry out the calling You’ve entrusted to me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
“Acquainted With Grief”
He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
Bible in a Year: Esther 9-10; Acts 7:1-21
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Tim Tebow's Really Bad Day - #8727
Tim Tebow's been a rather fascinating young man on the American sports scene. I remember some years ago he was playing football, and it was the Broncos/Patriots playoff game. And it actually hurt to watch that. There were no last-quarter or last-minute miracles. Tim was quarterbacking and his team lost and they lost bad. Final score...45-10! They weren't just beaten, they were crushed.
Well, so much for anybody who thought Jesus is a ticket to the Super Bowl, because Tim's relationship with Jesus was well known and publicized. You know what? They didn't even get a league championship! But without preaching - just by living it. You know, Tim got us thinking of Jesus when we think of him. And the media for a long time was all over the Tim Tebow story. But every time Tim was in the media and in the spotlight, seems he wanted to redirect the attention to Jesus.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Tim Tebow's Really Bad Day."
Yeah, I really wanted to see Tim and his Broncos pull out another stunning, odds-defying victory. They'd done it before, but for those who've tended to think that Jesus was somehow validated by winning, I'd suggest the losing did it even more. And it's shown us why belonging to Jesus is a faith that wins even when you lose. Especially when you lose.
I was anxious to see how this media-bombarded quarterback at the time would react after losing what was arguably the most important game of his career so far. Plus, it was after being the object of derisive chanting from the Patriots fans.
He talked about his opponents. He said, "They played well...you've got to give them a lot of credit." He talked about his teammates: "I just want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and thank my teammates for the effort they put forth." And he talked about the season he had, "A very special opportunity for me; something I'm very thankful for and very thankful for the opportunity to build so many great relationships with teammates and coaches."
Oh yeah, then there was losing. He said, "Any time you're getting beaten like that, you just continue to fight. Every time I step on the field, I'm going to give my whole heart regardless of the score...I need to work and improve."
I'll tell you, Zack McLeod will never forget that game. Before each game, Tim Tebow would spend some time with a child or young person who was living with a serious disability. This week it was Zack, who used to play football, but had a massive brain injury. Tim said, "It was a good day because I got to spend time with Zack McLeod and make him smile...I got to make a kid's day...and that's more important than winning a game."
Wow! Grace, encouragement, big picture perspective, humility, taking responsibility, inner peace: That's what we heard from this Jesus-follower in the wake of a crushing defeat.
There's a reason for that - one that compels every one of us to think about Jesus being, as Tebow says, "my Lord and Savior." See, when you have Jesus, you're complete. The Bible literally says in our word for today from the Word of God in Colossians 2:10, "we are complete in Him." So, with Jesus, we've got an "unloseable" identity. Whether you win or lose. Whether they're cheering or booing. When somebody loves you and when somebody drops you. When you've got a job; when you lose your job, there's money in the bank or you're broke.
Let's face it, about any belief works when you're winning. The test is when you lose. And we all do in one way or another. But when life is the worst, Jesus is at His best. The Bible says "nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39 - NLT).
I can be totally sure of Jesus in the moments when there's nothing else I can be sure of. The Bible says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19). Listen, I'm telling you all that because it would be so good for you to be safe in His love because of how far His love reached for you; to die on a cross to pay for your sin, to walk out of His grave under His own power.
You can belong today to the One who loved you enough to die for you, was powerful enough to walk out of His grave. Just tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Go to our website. There's a lot more there - ANewStory.com.
See, with Jesus you can lose it all and you will still have what matters most or Who matters most.
No one wants to say it. And death is the most difficult good-bye of all. After our church had five funerals in seven days, the sorrow took its toll on me. I chided myself, “Come on, Max, get over it. Death is a natural part of living.” Then I self-corrected. No it isn’t. Birth is; breathing is; belly laughs; big hugs and bedtime kisses are. But death? We weren’t made to say good-bye. God’s original plan had no farewell, no final breath, day, or heartbeat.
No matter how you frame it, good-bye doesn’t feel right. But God has served notice. All farewells are on the clock. He has decreed a family reunion. What a reunion it will be. Revelation 21:4 says on that day, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.” This long journey will come to an end. You’ll see Him, and you’ll see them. Isn’t this our hope?
Hosea 2
“Rename your brothers ‘God’s Somebody.’
Rename your sisters ‘All Mercy.’
Wild Weekends and Unholy Holidays
2-13 “Haul your mother into court. Accuse her!
She’s no longer my wife.
I’m no longer her husband.
Tell her to quit dressing like a whore,
displaying her breasts for sale.
If she refuses, I’ll rip off her clothes
and expose her, naked as a newborn.
I’ll turn her skin into dried-out leather,
her body into a badlands landscape,
a rack of bones in the desert.
I’ll have nothing to do with her children,
born one and all in a whorehouse.
Face it: Your mother’s been a whore,
bringing bastard children into the world.
She said, ‘I’m off to see my lovers!
They’ll wine and dine me,
Dress and caress me,
perfume and adorn me!’
But I’ll fix her: I’ll dump her in a field of thistles,
then lose her in a dead-end alley.
She’ll go on the hunt for her lovers
but not bring down a single one.
She’ll look high and low
but won’t find a one. Then she’ll say,
‘I’m going back to my husband, the one I started out with.
That was a better life by far than this one.’
She didn’t know that it was I all along
who wined and dined and adorned her,
That I was the one who dressed her up
in the big-city fashions and jewelry
that she wasted on wild Baal-orgies.
I’m about to bring her up short: No more wining and dining!
Silk lingerie and gowns are a thing of the past.
I’ll expose her genitals to the public.
All her fly-by-night lovers will be helpless to help her.
Party time is over. I’m calling a halt to the whole business,
her wild weekends and unholy holidays.
I’ll wreck her sumptuous gardens and ornamental fountains,
of which she bragged, ‘Whoring paid for all this!’
They will soon be dumping grounds for garbage,
feeding grounds for stray dogs and cats.
I’ll make her pay for her indulgence in promiscuous religion—
all that sensuous Baal worship
And all the promiscuous sex that went with it,
stalking her lovers, dressed to kill,
And not a thought for me.”
God’s Message!
To Start All Over Again
14-15 “And now, here’s what I’m going to do:
I’m going to start all over again.
I’m taking her back out into the wilderness
where we had our first date, and I’ll court her.
I’ll give her bouquets of roses.
I’ll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope.
She’ll respond like she did as a young girl,
those days when she was fresh out of Egypt.
16-20 “At that time”—this is God’s Message still—
“you’ll address me, ‘Dear husband!’
Never again will you address me,
‘My slave-master!’
I’ll wash your mouth out with soap,
get rid of all the dirty false-god names,
not so much as a whisper of those names again.
At the same time I’ll make a peace treaty between you
and wild animals and birds and reptiles,
And get rid of all weapons of war.
Think of it! Safe from beasts and bullies!
And then I’ll marry you for good—forever!
I’ll marry you true and proper, in love and tenderness.
Yes, I’ll marry you and neither leave you nor let you go.
You’ll know me, God, for who I really am.
21-23 “On the very same day, I’ll answer”—this is God’s Message—
“I’ll answer the sky, sky will answer earth,
Earth will answer grain and wine and olive oil,
and they’ll all answer Jezreel.
I’ll plant her in the good earth.
I’ll have mercy on No-Mercy.
I’ll say to Nobody, ‘You’re my dear Somebody,’
and he’ll say ‘You’re my God!’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Samuel 15:10–18
10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”
16 “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’
Insight
Samuel was the last of the judges to rule over the Israelites. When he became old, the people rejected him and instead asked for a king to rule them so they could be like the nations around them (1 Samuel 8:5, 19–20). This request displeased Samuel (v. 6) and God, who had wanted the Israelites to be different from those around them. But God granted their request and acknowledged that the Israelites were rejecting Him, not Samuel (vv. 7–9). Samuel anointed Saul as king (ch. 9; 11:12–15); however, God eventually rejected Saul for disobedience (13:13; ch. 15). He was replaced by David, “a man after [God’s] own heart” (13:14).
Underestimating Ourselves
Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.” 1 Samuel 15:17
The young man became his team’s captain. The professional sports squad was now led by a mild-mannered kid who barely needed to shave. His first press conference was underwhelming. He kept deferring to the coach and to his teammates, and mumbled clichés about just trying to do his job. The team performed poorly that season, and by the end of it the young captain had been traded. He didn’t grasp that he’d been entrusted with the authority to lead, or maybe he never believed he could.
Due to his failures, Saul was “small in [his] own eyes” (1 Samuel 15:17)—which is a funny thing to say about a guy who’s described as being tall. He was literally head and shoulders above the rest (9:2). And yet that wasn’t how he saw himself. In fact, his actions in the chapter show him trying to win the approval of the people. He hadn’t fully grasped that God—not people—had chosen him and given him a mission.
But Saul’s mistake is a picture of every human being’s failure: we can miss that we were made in God’s image to reflect His rule, and end up misusing our authority—spreading destruction in the world. To undo this, we need to return to God: to let the Father define us by His love, to let Him fill us with the Spirit, and to let Jesus send us out into the world. By: Glenn Packiam
Reflect & Pray
What assignment has God given you that you don’t think you have the power to do? Why is it vital to have your identity based in what God says is true?
Dear Father, give me eyes to see myself as You see me, and grant me the grace to faithfully carry out the calling You’ve entrusted to me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
“Acquainted With Grief”
He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R
Bible in a Year: Esther 9-10; Acts 7:1-21
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Tim Tebow's Really Bad Day - #8727
Tim Tebow's been a rather fascinating young man on the American sports scene. I remember some years ago he was playing football, and it was the Broncos/Patriots playoff game. And it actually hurt to watch that. There were no last-quarter or last-minute miracles. Tim was quarterbacking and his team lost and they lost bad. Final score...45-10! They weren't just beaten, they were crushed.
Well, so much for anybody who thought Jesus is a ticket to the Super Bowl, because Tim's relationship with Jesus was well known and publicized. You know what? They didn't even get a league championship! But without preaching - just by living it. You know, Tim got us thinking of Jesus when we think of him. And the media for a long time was all over the Tim Tebow story. But every time Tim was in the media and in the spotlight, seems he wanted to redirect the attention to Jesus.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Tim Tebow's Really Bad Day."
Yeah, I really wanted to see Tim and his Broncos pull out another stunning, odds-defying victory. They'd done it before, but for those who've tended to think that Jesus was somehow validated by winning, I'd suggest the losing did it even more. And it's shown us why belonging to Jesus is a faith that wins even when you lose. Especially when you lose.
I was anxious to see how this media-bombarded quarterback at the time would react after losing what was arguably the most important game of his career so far. Plus, it was after being the object of derisive chanting from the Patriots fans.
He talked about his opponents. He said, "They played well...you've got to give them a lot of credit." He talked about his teammates: "I just want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and thank my teammates for the effort they put forth." And he talked about the season he had, "A very special opportunity for me; something I'm very thankful for and very thankful for the opportunity to build so many great relationships with teammates and coaches."
Oh yeah, then there was losing. He said, "Any time you're getting beaten like that, you just continue to fight. Every time I step on the field, I'm going to give my whole heart regardless of the score...I need to work and improve."
I'll tell you, Zack McLeod will never forget that game. Before each game, Tim Tebow would spend some time with a child or young person who was living with a serious disability. This week it was Zack, who used to play football, but had a massive brain injury. Tim said, "It was a good day because I got to spend time with Zack McLeod and make him smile...I got to make a kid's day...and that's more important than winning a game."
Wow! Grace, encouragement, big picture perspective, humility, taking responsibility, inner peace: That's what we heard from this Jesus-follower in the wake of a crushing defeat.
There's a reason for that - one that compels every one of us to think about Jesus being, as Tebow says, "my Lord and Savior." See, when you have Jesus, you're complete. The Bible literally says in our word for today from the Word of God in Colossians 2:10, "we are complete in Him." So, with Jesus, we've got an "unloseable" identity. Whether you win or lose. Whether they're cheering or booing. When somebody loves you and when somebody drops you. When you've got a job; when you lose your job, there's money in the bank or you're broke.
Let's face it, about any belief works when you're winning. The test is when you lose. And we all do in one way or another. But when life is the worst, Jesus is at His best. The Bible says "nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39 - NLT).
I can be totally sure of Jesus in the moments when there's nothing else I can be sure of. The Bible says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19). Listen, I'm telling you all that because it would be so good for you to be safe in His love because of how far His love reached for you; to die on a cross to pay for your sin, to walk out of His grave under His own power.
You can belong today to the One who loved you enough to die for you, was powerful enough to walk out of His grave. Just tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Go to our website. There's a lot more there - ANewStory.com.
See, with Jesus you can lose it all and you will still have what matters most or Who matters most.
Monday, June 22, 2020
Hosea 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: LET’S MAKE A PLAN
You can’t control the weather, you aren’t in charge of the economy, you can’t un-wreck the car, but you can do this: you can map out a strategy. Remember, God is in this crisis. Ask Him to give you a plan, two or three steps you can take today. Seek counsel from someone who’s faced a similar challenge. Ask friends to pray. Look for resources. Reach out to a support group. Make a plan.
You’d prefer a miracle? You’d rather see the bread multiplied or the stormy sea turned into glassy calm in a finger snap? God may do this. Then again, He may tell you, “I’m with you, and I can use this for good. Now let’s make a plan.” You see, God’s sovereignty doesn’t negate our responsibility. Just the opposite—it empowers it. So trust God to do what you can’t. Obey God and do what you can. You’ll get through this.
Hosea 1
This is God’s Message to Hosea son of Beeri. It came to him during the royal reigns of Judah’s kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. This was also the time that Jeroboam son of Joash was king over Israel.
This Whole Country Has Become a Whorehouse
2 The first time God spoke to Hosea he said:
“Find a whore and marry her.
Make this whore the mother of your children.
And here’s why: This whole country
has become a whorehouse, unfaithful to me, God.”
3 Hosea did it. He picked Gomer daughter of Diblaim. She got pregnant and gave him a son.
4-5 Then God told him:
“Name him Jezreel. It won’t be long now before
I’ll make the people of Israel pay for the massacre at Jezreel.
I’m calling it quits on the kingdom of Israel.
Payday is coming! I’m going to chop Israel’s bows and arrows
into kindling in the valley of Jezreel.”
6-7 Gomer got pregnant again. This time she had a daughter. God told Hosea:
“Name this one No-Mercy. I’m fed up with Israel.
I’ve run out of mercy. There’s no more forgiveness.
Judah’s another story. I’ll continue having mercy on them.
I’ll save them. It will be their God who saves them,
Not their armaments and armies,
not their horsepower and manpower.”
8-9 After Gomer had weaned No-Mercy, she got pregnant yet again and had a son. God said:
“Name him Nobody. You’ve become nobodies to me,
and I, God, am a nobody to you.
10-11 “But down the road the population of Israel is going to explode past counting, like sand on the ocean beaches. In the very place where they were once named Nobody, they will be named God’s Somebody. Everybody in Judah and everybody in Israel will be assembled as one people. They’ll choose a single leader. There’ll be no stopping them—a great day in Jezreel!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 22, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthians 4:7–18
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”[a] Since we have that same spirit of[b] faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 4:13 Psalm 116:10 (see Septuagint)
2 Corinthians 4:13 Or Spirit-given
Insight
Paul was qualified to talk about struggle and hardship. He endured many things—blindness, slander, beatings, stoning, shipwreck, imprisonment, and ultimately execution for the sake of Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 4:8–9, Paul uses four pairs of ideas—each linked by the phrase “but not”—to express both the difficulty we may experience when we choose to follow Jesus but also the hope of our faith. “Hard pressed . . . but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Even though we may experience difficulty or persecution, nothing can touch the eternal hope we have in Christ.
Eternal Eyes
We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. 2 Corinthians 4:18
Eternal eyes, that’s what my friend Madeline prays her children and grandchildren would have. Her family has gone through a tumultuous season that ended with the death of her daughter. As the family grieves from this horrific loss, Madeline longs for them to be less and less nearsighted—consumed by the pain of this world. And to be more and more farsighted—filled with hope in our loving God.
The apostle Paul and his co-workers experienced great suffering at the hands of persecutors and even from believers who tried to discredit them. Yet, they had their eyes fixed on eternity. Paul boldly acknowledged that “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
Although they were doing God’s work, they lived with the reality of being “hard pressed on every side,” “perplexed,” “persecuted,” and “struck down” (vv. 8–9). Shouldn’t God have delivered them from these troubles? But instead of being disappointed, Paul built his hope on the “eternal glory” that supersedes momentary troubles (v. 17). He knew God’s power was at work in him and had complete assurance that “the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus” (v. 14).
When our world around us feels shaky, may we turn our eyes to God—the eternal Rock that will never be destroyed. By: Estera Pirosca Escobar
Reflect & Pray
In what do you choose to hope in spite of your difficulties? How have you experienced God’s faithfulness?
I lift my eyes to You today, O God. Give me a glimpse of the security I have in You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 22, 2020
The Unchanging Law of Judgment
With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. —Matthew 7:2
This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26).
Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”
Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.
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: Esther 6-8; Acts 6
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 22, 2020
The Coach Who Knows What He's Doing - #8726
Our sons had always dreamed of playing high school football. When they finally got to realize that dream, they got to play for one of the winningest coaches in our area. He turned what was once a team known for losing into a team that was usually in a championship series. And because I worked with the team for several years as sort of a spiritual coach, I had an opportunity to observe one of the great secrets of his success. He was a genius at knowing what position each player could play best. A lot of times they disagreed with the coach; they saw themselves as being a star at some position they really wanted. But he could size up their capabilities like no coach I'd ever seen. And invariably, the guys who thought he was wrong about the position he gave them, well, they'd end up being all-conference and all-county in that spot.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Coach Who Knows What He's Doing."
I know a coach like that. So do you, if you belong to Jesus Christ. He knows exactly where every one of His players can play best, even if they think they should be playing somewhere else.
That's actually what Jesus is trying to tell us in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 12, beginning with verse 7. "To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." In other words, if you know Jesus, He has gifted you for a position you're supposed to play - no exceptions. "Even as the body is one" he says, "and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ." Then he goes on to point out that every part of the body, every function, is needed or the rest of the body suffers. Then this bottom line in 1 Corinthians 12:18. I like this. Listen: "God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired."
Or, God, the Head Coach, has placed each player just exactly where He wants them on His team, playing the position He created them for and gifted them for. And "Hello!," you're one of those team members. God has gifted you, He's prepared you, wired you, destined you, assigned you to play the position He knows is best for you, for His cause, for His Church, and for a hurting and dying world. Maybe it's time you stopped trying to get Him to play you somewhere else. He knows what He's doing.
It's actually an insult to your Lord to covet a position that someone else has, or to compare yourself to another player on His team, or to denigrate your position as being less important than others, or to tell Him you can't play that position (or you won't), or to sit on the sidelines or to leave the game because you don't like your position; you refuse to play your position. You are depriving Team Jesus of a contribution that they need and a contribution only you can make and you were created to make.
I know that, not because of who you are but because of who Jesus is. I love Ephesians 2:10. It's what I said to each of my grandchildren the day they were born. "We are God's workmanship..." Wait, let's make it about you. "You are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works He prepared in advance for you to do." Isn't that exciting?
He produces spiritual champions because He knows where each player should play, including you. And remember, it's not the crowd you're playing for, or even for your other teammates. You play for your Coach. He's the one you play to please. So come on, put on your gear, take your position on the field, and play your God-given position with all your heart!
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Romans 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: He Leads
Worrying is one job you can’t farm out, but you can overcome it. There’s no better place to begin than in Psalm 23:2. “He leads me beside the still waters,” David declares. “He leads me.” God isn’t behind me, yelling, “Go!” He’s ahead of me bidding, “Come!” He’s in front, clearing the path, cutting the brush. Standing next to the rocks, He warns, “Watch your step there.”
Isn’t this what God gave the children of Israel? He promised to supply them with manna each day. But He told them to collect only one day’s supply at a time. Matthew 6:34 says, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
God is leading you! Leave tomorrow’s problems until tomorrow!
From Traveling Light
Romans 13
To Be a Responsible Citizen
Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it’s God’s order. So live responsibly as a citizen. If you’re irresponsible to the state, then you’re irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible. Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you’re trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear.
3-5 Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you’ll get on just fine, the government working to your advantage. But if you’re breaking the rules right and left, watch out. The police aren’t there just to be admired in their uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it. That’s why you must live responsibly—not just to avoid punishment but also because it’s the right way to live.
6-7 That’s also why you pay taxes—so that an orderly way of life can be maintained. Fulfill your obligations as a citizen. Pay your taxes, pay your bills, respect your leaders.
8-10 Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
11-14 But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Timothy 6:17–19
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Insight
The false teachers Paul previously warned the elders about (Acts 20:29) had infiltrated the Ephesian church, leading many believers in Jesus astray. Relationships were fractured; fellowship and worship were disrupted. Paul asked Timothy to help get the Ephesian believers back on the right track and wrote him this letter to help him in this difficult leadership task (1 Timothy 1:3). Timothy was to deal decisively with the false teachers (1:3–20; 4:1–16; 6:3–20), strengthen the leadership by appointing godly people to be elders and deacons (3:1–12), and teach the members how to relate to one another (2:1–12; 3:14–16; 5:1–6:2). In the final section of the book, Timothy confronts materialism in the church. The believers are to pursue contentment as a guard against greed (6:6–10), and he warns the rich believers not to be proud or trust in their wealth but to generously use their resources to benefit others (vv. 17–19).
The Man in Seat 2D
Be rich in good deeds, and [be] generous and willing to share. 1 Timothy 6:18
Kelsey navigated the narrow airplane aisle with her eleven-month-old daughter, Lucy, and Lucy’s oxygen machine. They were traveling to seek treatment for her baby’s chronic lung disease. Shortly after settling into their shared seat, a flight attendant approached Kelsey, saying a passenger in first class wanted to switch seats with her. With tears of gratitude streaming down her face, Kelsey made her way back up the aisle to the more spacious seat, while the benevolent stranger made his way toward hers.
Kelsey’s benefactor embodied the kind of generosity Paul encourages in his letter to Timothy. Paul told Timothy to instruct those in his care with the command to “do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share” (1 Timothy 6:18). It’s tempting, Paul says, to become arrogant and put our hope in the riches of this world. Instead, he suggests that we focus on living a life of generosity and service to others, becoming “rich” in good deeds, like the man from seat 2D on Kelsey’s flight.
Whether we find ourselves with plenty or in want, we all can experience the richness of living generously by being willing to share what we have with others. When we do, Paul says we will “take hold of the life that is truly life” (v. 19) By: Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
Who has been “generous and willing to share” with you? With whom can you share generously today?
God, please give me a generous spirit as I renew my hope in You.
Read about learning to love like Jesus at discoveryseries.org/q0208.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 21, 2020
The Ministry of the Inner Life
You are…a royal priesthood… —1 Peter 2:9
By what right have we become “a royal priesthood”? It is by the right of the atonement by the Cross of Christ that this has been accomplished. Are we prepared to purposely disregard ourselves and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simple life of a child of God. Until we get into this right and proper relationship with God, it is simply a case of our “hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” although we say, “What a wonderful victory I have!” Yet there is nothing at all in that which indicates the miracle of redemption. Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption is complete. Then don’t worry anymore about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ has said, in essence, “Pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints of God, and pray for all men.” Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus, not on the basis of this argument: “Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now.”
How long is it going to take God to free us from the unhealthy habit of thinking only about ourselves? We must get to the point of being sick to death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God might tell us about ourselves. We cannot reach and understand the depths of our own meagerness. There is only one place where we are right with God, and that is in Christ Jesus. Once we are there, we have to pour out our lives for all we are worth in this ministry of the inner life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them.
The Place of Help
Bible in a Year: Esther 3-5; Acts 5:22-42
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Isaiah 66, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: YOUR BEST WEAPON AGAINST SATAN
Satan has no recourse to your personal testimony. So your best weapon against his attacks is a good memory!
Don’t forget a single one of God’s blessings. He forgives your sins—every one. He heals your diseases—every one. He redeems you from hell—and saves your life. He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown. He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence. Create a trophy room in your heart, place a memory on the shelf. Before you face a challenge, take a quick tour of God’s accomplishments. Look at all the paychecks he’s provided, all the blessings he’s given, all the prayers he’s answered.
Imitate the shepherd boy David. Before he fought Goliath, the giant, he remembered how God had helped him kill a lion and a bear. Face your future by recalling God’s victories!
From God is With You Every Day
Isaiah 66 1-2 God’s Message:
“Heaven’s my throne,
earth is my footstool.
What sort of house could you build for me?
What holiday spot reserve for me?
I made all this! I own all this!”
God’s Decree.
“But there is something I’m looking for:
a person simple and plain,
reverently responsive to what I say.
3-4
“Your acts of worship
are acts of sin:
Your sacrificial slaughter of the ox
is no different from murdering the neighbor;
Your offerings for worship,
no different from dumping pig’s blood on the altar;
Your presentation of memorial gifts,
no different from honoring a no-god idol.
You choose self-serving worship,
you delight in self-centered worship—disgusting!
Well, I choose to expose your nonsense
and let you realize your worst fears,
Because when I invited you, you ignored me;
when I spoke to you, you brushed me off.
You did the very things I exposed as evil,
you chose what I hate.”
5
But listen to what God has to say
to you who reverently respond to his Word:
“Your own families hate you
and turn you out because of me.
They taunt you, ‘Let us see God’s glory!
If God’s so great, why aren’t you happy?’
But they’re the ones
who are going to end up shamed.”
6
Rumbles of thunder from the city!
A voice out of the Temple!
God’s voice,
handing out judgment to his enemies:
7-9
“Before she went into labor,
she had the baby.
Before the birth pangs hit,
she delivered a son.
Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?
Has anyone seen anything like this?
A country born in a day?
A nation born in a flash?
But Zion was barely in labor
when she had her babies!
Do I open the womb
and not deliver the baby?
Do I, the One who delivers babies,
shut the womb?
10-11
“Rejoice, Jerusalem,
and all who love her, celebrate!
And all you who have shed tears over her,
join in the happy singing.
You newborns can satisfy yourselves
at her nurturing breasts.
Yes, delight yourselves and drink your fill
at her ample bosom.”
12-13
God’s Message:
“I’ll pour robust well-being into her like a river,
the glory of nations like a river in flood.
You’ll nurse at her breasts,
nestle in her bosom,
and be bounced on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,
so I’ll comfort you.
You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14-16
You’ll see all this and burst with joy
—you’ll feel ten feet tall—
As it becomes apparent that God is on your side
and against his enemies.
For God arrives like wildfire
and his chariots like a tornado,
A furious outburst of anger,
a rebuke fierce and fiery.
For it’s by fire that God brings judgment,
a death sentence on the human race.
Many, oh so many,
are under God’s sentence of death:
17 “All who enter the sacred groves for initiation in those unholy rituals that climaxed in that foul and obscene meal of pigs and mice will eat together and then die together.” God’s Decree.
18-21 “I know everything they’ve ever done or thought. I’m going to come and then gather everyone—all nations, all languages. They’ll come and see my glory. I’ll set up a station at the center. I’ll send the survivors of judgment all over the world: Spain and Africa, Turkey and Greece, and the far-off islands that have never heard of me, who know nothing of what I’ve done nor who I am. I’ll send them out as missionaries to preach my glory among the nations. They’ll return with all your long-lost brothers and sisters from all over the world. They’ll bring them back and offer them in living worship to God. They’ll bring them on horses and wagons and carts, on mules and camels, straight to my holy mountain Jerusalem,” says God. “They’ll present them just as Israelites present their offerings in a ceremonial vessel in the Temple of God. I’ll even take some of them and make them priests and Levites,” says God.
22-23
“For just as the new heavens and new earth
that I am making will stand firm before me”
—God’s Decree—
“So will your children
and your reputation stand firm.
Month after month and week by week,
everyone will come to worship me,” God says.
24
“And then they’ll go out and look at what happened
to those who rebelled against me. Corpses!
Maggots endlessly eating away on them,
an endless supply of fuel for fires.
Everyone who sees what’s happened
and smells the stench retches.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 15:1-10
Parable of the Lost Sheep
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
Footnotes:
15:8 Greek ten drachmas. A drachma was the equivalent of a full day’s wage.
INSIGHT:
Jesus’ association with the outcasts of society (vv. 1-2) offended the self-righteous Pharisees and religious leaders who saw themselves as the only people fit to go to heaven. Their statement that “this man receives sinners and eats with them” (v. 2) was meant to be a scathing attack on His character, but it accurately affirmed what Jesus came to do (Matt. 9:10-13). In response to this criticism, Jesus told three parables: the lost sheep (vv. 4-7), the lost coin (vv. 8-10), and the lost son (vv. 11-32). All three parables follow the same pattern: something is lost, it is found, and then there is rejoicing.
A Missing Sheep
By Anne Cetas
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. —Psalm 100:3
Laura loaded a borrowed goat and sheep into a trailer to transport them to church for a rehearsal of a live nativity. The animals head-butted and chased each other for a bit and then settled down. Laura started for the church but first had to stop for gas.
While pumping the gas, she noticed the goat standing in the parking lot! And the sheep was gone! In the commotion of getting them settled she had forgotten to lock one of the latches. Laura called the sheriff and some friends who searched frantically along a stretch of businesses, cornfields, and woods during the last daylight hours. Many were praying that she would find the borrowed animal.
The next morning Laura and a friend went out to post “Lost Sheep” flyers at local businesses. Their first stop was the gas station. A customer overheard them asking the cashier about posting a flyer and said, “I think I know where your sheep is!” The sheep had wandered to his neighbor’s farm, where he had put it in the barn for the night.
The Lord cares about lost sheep—including you and me. Jesus came from heaven to earth to show us His love and provide salvation (John 3:16). He goes to great lengths to seek and find us (Luke 19:10).
When the sheep was found, Laura nicknamed her Miracle. And God’s salvation of us is a miracle of His grace.
Heavenly Father, as we care for the things dear to us, how much more do You care for us, Your children! Thank You for answered prayer and for the miracle of Your grace.
The Good Shepherd gives His life for His sheep. John 10:11
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 20. 2015
Have You Come to “When” Yet?
The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. —Job 42:10
A pitiful, sickly, and self-centered kind of prayer and a determined effort and selfish desire to be right with God are never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is actually a sign that I am rebelling against the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I pray, “Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer— I will walk rightly before You if You will help me.” But I cannot make myself right with God; I cannot make my life perfect. I can only be right with God if I accept the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to surrender all my rights and demands, and cease from every self-effort. I must leave myself completely alone in His hands, and then I can begin to pour my life out in the priestly work of intercession. There is a great deal of prayer that comes from actual disbelief in the atonement. Jesus is not just beginning to save us— He has already saved us completely. It is an accomplished fact, and it is an insult to Him for us to ask Him to do what He has already done.
If you are not now receiving the “hundredfold” which Jesus promised (see Matthew 19:29), and not getting insight into God’s Word, then start praying for your friends— enter into the ministry of the inner life. “The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.” As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer. Whatever circumstances God may place you in, always pray immediately that His atonement may be recognized and as fully understood in the lives of others as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now, and pray for those with whom you come in contact now.
Friday, June 19, 2020
Isaiah 65, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD IS IN THIS CRISIS
Do you recite your woes more naturally than you do heaven’s strength? No wonder life’s tough. You’re assuming God isn’t in this crisis.
Isabel spent her first three and a half years in a Nicaraguan orphanage. As with all orphans, her odds of adoption diminished with time. And then the door slammed on her finger! Why would God permit this innocent girl to feel even more pain? Might He be calling the attention of Ryan Schnoke sitting in the playroom nearby? He and his wife had been trying to adopt a child for months. Ryan walked over, picked her up, and comforted her. Several months later, Ryan and Christina were close to giving up, and Ryan remembered Isabel. Little Isabel is growing up now in a happy, healthy home.
A finger in the door? God doesn’t manufacture pain, but He certainly puts it to use. Your crisis? You’ll get through this!
Isaiah 65
The People Who Bothered to Reach Out to God
“I’ve made myself available
to those who haven’t bothered to ask.
I’m here, ready to be found
by those who haven’t bothered to look.
I kept saying ‘I’m here, I’m right here’
to a nation that ignored me.
I reached out day after day
to a people who turned their backs on me,
People who make wrong turns,
who insist on doing things their own way.
They get on my nerves,
are rude to my face day after day,
Make up their own kitchen religion,
a potluck religious stew.
They spend the night in tombs
to get messages from the dead,
Eat forbidden foods
and drink a witch’s brew of potions and charms.
They say, ‘Keep your distance.
Don’t touch me. I’m holier than thou.’
These people gag me.
I can’t stand their stench.
Look at this! Their sins are all written out—
I have the list before me.
I’m not putting up with this any longer.
I’ll pay them the wages
They have coming for their sins.
And for the sins of their parents lumped in,
a bonus.” God says so.
“Because they’ve practiced their blasphemous worship,
mocking me at their hillside shrines,
I’ll let loose the consequences
and pay them in full for their actions.”
8-10 God’s Message:
“But just as one bad apple doesn’t ruin the whole bushel,
there are still plenty of good apples left.
So I’ll preserve those in Israel who obey me.
I won’t destroy the whole nation.
I’ll bring out my true children from Jacob
and the heirs of my mountains from Judah.
My chosen will inherit the land,
my servants will move in.
The lush valley of Sharon in the west
will be a pasture for flocks,
And in the east, the valley of Achor,
a place for herds to graze.
These will be for the people
who bothered to reach out to me, who wanted me in their lives,
who actually bothered to look for me.
11-12 “But you who abandon me, your God,
who forget the holy mountains,
Who hold dinners for Lady Luck
and throw cocktail parties for Sir Fate,
Well, you asked for it. Fate it will be:
your destiny, Death.
For when I invited you, you ignored me;
when I spoke to you, you brushed me off.
You did the very things I exposed as evil;
you chose what I hate.”
13-16 Therefore, this is the Message from the Master, God:
“My servants will eat,
and you’ll go hungry;
My servants will drink,
and you’ll go thirsty;
My servants will rejoice,
and you’ll hang your heads.
My servants will laugh from full hearts,
and you’ll cry out heartbroken,
yes, wail from crushed spirits.
Your legacy to my chosen
will be your name reduced to a cussword.
I, God, will put you to death
and give a new name to my servants.
Then whoever prays a blessing in the land
will use my faithful name for the blessing,
And whoever takes an oath in the land
will use my faithful name for the oath,
Because the earlier troubles are gone and forgotten,
banished far from my sight.
New Heavens and a New Earth
17-25 “Pay close attention now:
I’m creating new heavens and a new earth.
All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain
are things of the past, to be forgotten.
Look ahead with joy.
Anticipate what I’m creating:
I’ll create Jerusalem as sheer joy,
create my people as pure delight.
I’ll take joy in Jerusalem,
take delight in my people:
No more sounds of weeping in the city,
no cries of anguish;
No more babies dying in the cradle,
or old people who don’t enjoy a full lifetime;
One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal—
anything less will seem like a cheat.
They’ll build houses
and move in.
They’ll plant fields
and eat what they grow.
No more building a house
that some outsider takes over,
No more planting fields
that some enemy confiscates,
For my people will be as long-lived as trees,
my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work.
They won’t work and have nothing come of it,
they won’t have children snatched out from under them.
For they themselves are plantings blessed by God,
with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed.
Before they call out, I’ll answer.
Before they’ve finished speaking, I’ll have heard.
Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow,
lion and ox eat straw from the same trough,
but snakes—they’ll get a diet of dirt!
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
anywhere on my Holy Mountain,” says God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 19, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 10:7–11
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Footnotes:
John 10:9 Or kept safe
Insight
At the time of Jesus, shepherds used two kinds of enclosures for their sheep. In the villages, shepherds often kept their sheep in communal stone-walled and gated sheep pens guarded by gatekeepers. Out in the fields, sheepfolds were often makeshift enclosures made of stones, and the shepherd would guard his sheep by sleeping across a narrow opening in front. In John 10, Jesus uses the picture of a shepherd and his sheep to assure us of His personal protection. He says He’s “the gate for the sheep” (vv. 7, 9) who “lays down his life for the sheep” (vv. 11, 15). A communal sheepfold would have included many flocks. But as the shepherd called among the mixed flocks, only his own sheep would respond to him. Recognizing the shepherd’s voice, his sheep would draw near to him and follow him out of the sheepfold to the pasture (vv. 3–5).
Life to the Full
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. John 10:10–11
Seventeenth-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes famously wrote that human life in its natural state is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Hobbes argued that our instincts tend toward war in a bid to attain dominance over others; thus the establishment of government would be necessary to maintain law and order.
The bleak view of humanity sounds like the state of affairs that Jesus described when He said, “All who have come before me are thieves and robbers” (John 10:8). But Jesus offers hope in the midst of despair. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” but then the good news: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (v. 10).
Psalm 23 paints a refreshing portrait of the life our Shepherd gives us. In Him, we “lack nothing” (v. 1) and are refreshed (v. 3). He leads us down the right paths of His perfect will, so that even when we face dark times, we need not be afraid; for He is present to comfort us (vv. 3–4). He causes us to triumph in the face of adversity and overwhelms us with blessings (v. 5). His goodness and love follow us every day, and we have the privilege of His presence forever (v. 6).
May we answer the Shepherd’s call and experience the full, abundant life He came to give us. By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
How would you describe the life that Jesus came to give? How can you share this life with others?
Jesus, You’re the source of true life, abundant and full. Help me seek my fulfillment only in You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 19, 2020
The Service of Passionate Devotion
…do you love Me?…Tend My sheep. —John 21:16
Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.
Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Awe is the condition of a man’s spirit realizing Who God is and what He has done for him personally. Our Lord emphasizes the attitude of a child; no attitude can express such solemn awe and familiarity as that of a child. Not Knowing Whither, 882 L
Bible in a Year: Nehemiah 12-13; Acts 4:23-37
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 19, 2020
Finding Your Father - #8725
Our friend - we'll call her Diane - shocked her family years ago when she announced at the age of 17 that she was pregnant. Even with some folks urging her to have an abortion, she made the choice to have that child - a son. When her son was seven, Diane met a guy we'll call Gary, and she knew they were falling in love. So, with some fear and trembling, she told him about her son. Gary said, "Let's go meet him." And Diane's boy took to Gary immediately. Diane and Gary got married, and the boy grew up with a wonderful relationship with Gary. But something happened when he turned 17 - this unexplainable rebellion that ultimately made him decide to go live with his biological father. A few months later, he returned to the home he'd grown up in. He'd made a powerful discovery in those intervening months. He said to Gary, "You're the one I walk like, you're the one I talk like, and I do things the way you taught me. You are my father!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Finding Your Father."
In that emotional, unforgettable moment, a young man decided who his father really was, and who would be the anchor for his identity as a son. It might be someone listening today needs to make a choice like that about the One the Bible calls the "father to the fatherless" (Psalm 68:5). There's a reason that God chose, out of all the names He could have asked us to call Him, He chose the name "Heavenly Father."
In my lifetime, I've known many people who have come from a really rugged background, sometimes a fatherless background, either because they never knew their father or they had one that never acted like one. I've known people who have come from a background where they never really felt like they belonged and they still feel that way. Maybe one of those is you.
I have to tell you that so many people who have lived emotionally unanchored and painful lives have found something amazing when they found Jesus Christ: they found the Father that their heart had yearned for so long. There's so much hope for hurting people in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 10:14. It says, "But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; You consider to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless."
But like that young man who made the choice that Gary was his father, you have to come to the place where you make that deliberate choice about the God who made you; about Jesus Christ, who loved you enough to come all the way from His throne in heaven to an old rugged cross to die to get you back. Nobody can love you like He does. But you have to decide that you'll no longer define yourself as "the victim," that you will no longer define yourself by some other relationship that can never be what you really need. And maybe you will, from this day forward say, "I know who I am. I belong to Jesus Christ. I am totally His, for now and forever!"
That's coming home to the identity you were made for. You've been away, trying to get other people and other things to do for you what only Jesus can do. Let this be the day that you come home to Him and say, "Jesus, you died for me. I'm Yours." Look, this would be the best possible day. Don't wait another day to begin that anchor relationship with Jesus Christ.
A good place to start is simply to stop where you are as soon as you can and say, "Jesus, I've run my own life. I'm done doing that. You were meant to run it. I turn from that, and I believe that You love me so much You died the death penalty for every wrong thing I have ever done, and you walked out of your grave. I want you to walk into my life. I'm Yours from this day on."
You know, from that moment, you have a relationship and a love you will never ever lose. I think you'll find some things that will help you get started in this relationship if you go visit our website as soon as you can today. That site is ANewStory.com.
Let Him be the one you follow, and live with that sense of security that belongs only to those who belong to Jesus Christ.
Do you recite your woes more naturally than you do heaven’s strength? No wonder life’s tough. You’re assuming God isn’t in this crisis.
Isabel spent her first three and a half years in a Nicaraguan orphanage. As with all orphans, her odds of adoption diminished with time. And then the door slammed on her finger! Why would God permit this innocent girl to feel even more pain? Might He be calling the attention of Ryan Schnoke sitting in the playroom nearby? He and his wife had been trying to adopt a child for months. Ryan walked over, picked her up, and comforted her. Several months later, Ryan and Christina were close to giving up, and Ryan remembered Isabel. Little Isabel is growing up now in a happy, healthy home.
A finger in the door? God doesn’t manufacture pain, but He certainly puts it to use. Your crisis? You’ll get through this!
Isaiah 65
The People Who Bothered to Reach Out to God
“I’ve made myself available
to those who haven’t bothered to ask.
I’m here, ready to be found
by those who haven’t bothered to look.
I kept saying ‘I’m here, I’m right here’
to a nation that ignored me.
I reached out day after day
to a people who turned their backs on me,
People who make wrong turns,
who insist on doing things their own way.
They get on my nerves,
are rude to my face day after day,
Make up their own kitchen religion,
a potluck religious stew.
They spend the night in tombs
to get messages from the dead,
Eat forbidden foods
and drink a witch’s brew of potions and charms.
They say, ‘Keep your distance.
Don’t touch me. I’m holier than thou.’
These people gag me.
I can’t stand their stench.
Look at this! Their sins are all written out—
I have the list before me.
I’m not putting up with this any longer.
I’ll pay them the wages
They have coming for their sins.
And for the sins of their parents lumped in,
a bonus.” God says so.
“Because they’ve practiced their blasphemous worship,
mocking me at their hillside shrines,
I’ll let loose the consequences
and pay them in full for their actions.”
8-10 God’s Message:
“But just as one bad apple doesn’t ruin the whole bushel,
there are still plenty of good apples left.
So I’ll preserve those in Israel who obey me.
I won’t destroy the whole nation.
I’ll bring out my true children from Jacob
and the heirs of my mountains from Judah.
My chosen will inherit the land,
my servants will move in.
The lush valley of Sharon in the west
will be a pasture for flocks,
And in the east, the valley of Achor,
a place for herds to graze.
These will be for the people
who bothered to reach out to me, who wanted me in their lives,
who actually bothered to look for me.
11-12 “But you who abandon me, your God,
who forget the holy mountains,
Who hold dinners for Lady Luck
and throw cocktail parties for Sir Fate,
Well, you asked for it. Fate it will be:
your destiny, Death.
For when I invited you, you ignored me;
when I spoke to you, you brushed me off.
You did the very things I exposed as evil;
you chose what I hate.”
13-16 Therefore, this is the Message from the Master, God:
“My servants will eat,
and you’ll go hungry;
My servants will drink,
and you’ll go thirsty;
My servants will rejoice,
and you’ll hang your heads.
My servants will laugh from full hearts,
and you’ll cry out heartbroken,
yes, wail from crushed spirits.
Your legacy to my chosen
will be your name reduced to a cussword.
I, God, will put you to death
and give a new name to my servants.
Then whoever prays a blessing in the land
will use my faithful name for the blessing,
And whoever takes an oath in the land
will use my faithful name for the oath,
Because the earlier troubles are gone and forgotten,
banished far from my sight.
New Heavens and a New Earth
17-25 “Pay close attention now:
I’m creating new heavens and a new earth.
All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain
are things of the past, to be forgotten.
Look ahead with joy.
Anticipate what I’m creating:
I’ll create Jerusalem as sheer joy,
create my people as pure delight.
I’ll take joy in Jerusalem,
take delight in my people:
No more sounds of weeping in the city,
no cries of anguish;
No more babies dying in the cradle,
or old people who don’t enjoy a full lifetime;
One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal—
anything less will seem like a cheat.
They’ll build houses
and move in.
They’ll plant fields
and eat what they grow.
No more building a house
that some outsider takes over,
No more planting fields
that some enemy confiscates,
For my people will be as long-lived as trees,
my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work.
They won’t work and have nothing come of it,
they won’t have children snatched out from under them.
For they themselves are plantings blessed by God,
with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed.
Before they call out, I’ll answer.
Before they’ve finished speaking, I’ll have heard.
Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow,
lion and ox eat straw from the same trough,
but snakes—they’ll get a diet of dirt!
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
anywhere on my Holy Mountain,” says God.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 19, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
John 10:7–11
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Footnotes:
John 10:9 Or kept safe
Insight
At the time of Jesus, shepherds used two kinds of enclosures for their sheep. In the villages, shepherds often kept their sheep in communal stone-walled and gated sheep pens guarded by gatekeepers. Out in the fields, sheepfolds were often makeshift enclosures made of stones, and the shepherd would guard his sheep by sleeping across a narrow opening in front. In John 10, Jesus uses the picture of a shepherd and his sheep to assure us of His personal protection. He says He’s “the gate for the sheep” (vv. 7, 9) who “lays down his life for the sheep” (vv. 11, 15). A communal sheepfold would have included many flocks. But as the shepherd called among the mixed flocks, only his own sheep would respond to him. Recognizing the shepherd’s voice, his sheep would draw near to him and follow him out of the sheepfold to the pasture (vv. 3–5).
Life to the Full
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. John 10:10–11
Seventeenth-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes famously wrote that human life in its natural state is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Hobbes argued that our instincts tend toward war in a bid to attain dominance over others; thus the establishment of government would be necessary to maintain law and order.
The bleak view of humanity sounds like the state of affairs that Jesus described when He said, “All who have come before me are thieves and robbers” (John 10:8). But Jesus offers hope in the midst of despair. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” but then the good news: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (v. 10).
Psalm 23 paints a refreshing portrait of the life our Shepherd gives us. In Him, we “lack nothing” (v. 1) and are refreshed (v. 3). He leads us down the right paths of His perfect will, so that even when we face dark times, we need not be afraid; for He is present to comfort us (vv. 3–4). He causes us to triumph in the face of adversity and overwhelms us with blessings (v. 5). His goodness and love follow us every day, and we have the privilege of His presence forever (v. 6).
May we answer the Shepherd’s call and experience the full, abundant life He came to give us. By: Remi Oyedele
Reflect & Pray
How would you describe the life that Jesus came to give? How can you share this life with others?
Jesus, You’re the source of true life, abundant and full. Help me seek my fulfillment only in You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 19, 2020
The Service of Passionate Devotion
…do you love Me?…Tend My sheep. —John 21:16
Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.
Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Awe is the condition of a man’s spirit realizing Who God is and what He has done for him personally. Our Lord emphasizes the attitude of a child; no attitude can express such solemn awe and familiarity as that of a child. Not Knowing Whither, 882 L
Bible in a Year: Nehemiah 12-13; Acts 4:23-37
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 19, 2020
Finding Your Father - #8725
Our friend - we'll call her Diane - shocked her family years ago when she announced at the age of 17 that she was pregnant. Even with some folks urging her to have an abortion, she made the choice to have that child - a son. When her son was seven, Diane met a guy we'll call Gary, and she knew they were falling in love. So, with some fear and trembling, she told him about her son. Gary said, "Let's go meet him." And Diane's boy took to Gary immediately. Diane and Gary got married, and the boy grew up with a wonderful relationship with Gary. But something happened when he turned 17 - this unexplainable rebellion that ultimately made him decide to go live with his biological father. A few months later, he returned to the home he'd grown up in. He'd made a powerful discovery in those intervening months. He said to Gary, "You're the one I walk like, you're the one I talk like, and I do things the way you taught me. You are my father!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Finding Your Father."
In that emotional, unforgettable moment, a young man decided who his father really was, and who would be the anchor for his identity as a son. It might be someone listening today needs to make a choice like that about the One the Bible calls the "father to the fatherless" (Psalm 68:5). There's a reason that God chose, out of all the names He could have asked us to call Him, He chose the name "Heavenly Father."
In my lifetime, I've known many people who have come from a really rugged background, sometimes a fatherless background, either because they never knew their father or they had one that never acted like one. I've known people who have come from a background where they never really felt like they belonged and they still feel that way. Maybe one of those is you.
I have to tell you that so many people who have lived emotionally unanchored and painful lives have found something amazing when they found Jesus Christ: they found the Father that their heart had yearned for so long. There's so much hope for hurting people in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 10:14. It says, "But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; You consider to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless."
But like that young man who made the choice that Gary was his father, you have to come to the place where you make that deliberate choice about the God who made you; about Jesus Christ, who loved you enough to come all the way from His throne in heaven to an old rugged cross to die to get you back. Nobody can love you like He does. But you have to decide that you'll no longer define yourself as "the victim," that you will no longer define yourself by some other relationship that can never be what you really need. And maybe you will, from this day forward say, "I know who I am. I belong to Jesus Christ. I am totally His, for now and forever!"
That's coming home to the identity you were made for. You've been away, trying to get other people and other things to do for you what only Jesus can do. Let this be the day that you come home to Him and say, "Jesus, you died for me. I'm Yours." Look, this would be the best possible day. Don't wait another day to begin that anchor relationship with Jesus Christ.
A good place to start is simply to stop where you are as soon as you can and say, "Jesus, I've run my own life. I'm done doing that. You were meant to run it. I turn from that, and I believe that You love me so much You died the death penalty for every wrong thing I have ever done, and you walked out of your grave. I want you to walk into my life. I'm Yours from this day on."
You know, from that moment, you have a relationship and a love you will never ever lose. I think you'll find some things that will help you get started in this relationship if you go visit our website as soon as you can today. That site is ANewStory.com.
Let Him be the one you follow, and live with that sense of security that belongs only to those who belong to Jesus Christ.
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