Jeremiah 51 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: UNIQUE BLESSINGS

Jesus will tailor a response to your precise need. He’s not a fast-food cook. He is an accomplished chef who prepares unique blessings for unique situations. When crowds of people came to Christ for healing, “One by one he placed his hands on them and healed them” (Luke 4:40 The Message). Jesus could have proclaimed a cloud of healing blessings to fall upon the crowd. But our Lord is not a one-size-fits-all Savior. He placed his hands on each one, individually, personally.

A precise prayer gives Christ the opportunity to remove all doubt about his love and interest. The challenge you face becomes a canvas upon which Christ can demonstrate his finest work. So offer a simple prayer and entrust your problem to Christ. Remember, friend, you are never alone.

Jeremiah 51

Hurricane Persia

 There’s more. God says more:

“Watch this:
    I’m whipping up
A death-dealing hurricane against Babylon—‘Hurricane Persia’—
    against all who live in that perverse land.
I’m sending a cleanup crew into Babylon.
    They’ll clean the place out from top to bottom.
When they get through there’ll be nothing left of her
    worth taking or talking about.
They won’t miss a thing.
    A total and final Doomsday!
Fighters will fight with everything they’ve got.
    It’s no-holds-barred.
They will spare nothing and no one.
    It’s final and wholesale destruction—the end!
Babylon littered with the wounded,
    streets piled with corpses.
It turns out that Israel and Judah
    are not widowed after all.
As their God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, I am still alive and well,
    committed to them even though
They filled their land with sin
    against Israel’s most Holy God.

6-8 “Get out of Babylon as fast as you can.
    Run for your lives! Save your necks!
Don’t linger and lose your lives to my vengeance on her
    as I pay her back for her sins.
Babylon was a fancy gold chalice
    held in my hand,
Filled with the wine of my anger
    to make the whole world drunk.
The nations drank the wine
    and they’ve all gone crazy.
Babylon herself will stagger and crash,
    senseless in a drunken stupor—tragic!
Get anointing balm for her wound.
    Maybe she can be cured.”

9 “We did our best, but she can’t be helped.
    Babylon is past fixing.
Give her up to her fate.
    Go home.
The judgment on her will be vast,
    a skyscraper-memorial of vengeance.

Your Lifeline Is Cut
10 “God has set everything right for us.
    Come! Let’s tell the good news
Back home in Zion.
    Let’s tell what our God did to set things right.

11-13 “Sharpen the arrows!
    Fill the quivers!
God has stirred up the kings of the Medes,
    infecting them with war fever: ‘Destroy Babylon!’
God’s on the warpath.
    He’s out to avenge his Temple.
Give the signal to attack Babylon’s walls.
    Station guards around the clock.
Bring in reinforcements.
    Set men in ambush.
God will do what he planned,
    what he said he’d do to the people of Babylon.
You have more water than you need,
    you have more money than you need—
But your life is over,
    your lifeline cut.”

14 God-of-the-Angel-Armies has solemnly sworn:
    “I’ll fill this place with soldiers.
They’ll swarm through here like locusts
    chanting victory songs over you.”

15-19 By his power he made earth.
    His wisdom gave shape to the world.
    He crafted the cosmos.
He thunders and rain pours down.
    He sends the clouds soaring.
He embellishes the storm with lightnings,
    launches the wind from his warehouse.
Stick-god worshipers look mighty foolish!
    god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods!
Their gods are frauds, dead sticks—
    deadwood gods, tasteless jokes.
They’re nothing but stale smoke.
    When the smoke clears, they’re gone.
But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing;
    he put the whole universe together,
With special attention to Israel.
    His name? God-of-the-Angel-Armies!

They’ll Sleep and Never Wake Up
20-23 God says, “You, Babylon, are my hammer,
    my weapon of war.
I’ll use you to smash godless nations,
    use you to knock kingdoms to bits.
I’ll use you to smash horse and rider,
    use you to smash chariot and driver.
I’ll use you to smash man and woman,
    use you to smash the old man and the boy.
I’ll use you to smash the young man and young woman,
    use you to smash shepherd and sheep.
I’ll use you to smash farmer and yoked oxen,
    use you to smash governors and senators.

24 “Judeans, you’ll see it with your own eyes. I’ll pay Babylon and all the Chaldeans back for all the evil they did in Zion.” God’s Decree.

25-26 “I’m your enemy, Babylon, Mount Destroyer,
    you ravager of the whole earth.
I’ll reach out, I’ll take you in my hand,
    and I’ll crush you till there’s no mountain left.
I’ll turn you into a gravel pit—
    no more cornerstones cut from you,
No more foundation stones quarried from you!
    Nothing left of you but gravel.” God’s Decree.

27-28 “Raise the signal in the land,
    blow the shofar-trumpet for the nations.
Consecrate the nations for holy work against her.
    Call kingdoms into service against her.
    Enlist Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a field marshal against her,
    and round up horses, locust hordes of horses!
Consecrate the nations for holy work against her—
    the king of the Medes, his leaders and people.

29-33 “The very land trembles in terror, writhes in pain,
    terrorized by my plans against Babylon,
Plans to turn the country of Babylon
    into a lifeless moonscape—a wasteland.
Babylon’s soldiers have quit fighting.
    They hide out in ruins and caves—
Cowards who’ve given up without a fight,
    exposed as cowering milksops.
Babylon’s houses are going up in flames,
    the city gates torn off their hinges.
Runner after runner comes racing in,
    each on the heels of the last,
Bringing reports to the king of Babylon
    that his city is a lost cause.
The fords of the rivers are all taken.
    Wildfire rages through the swamp grass.
Soldiers desert left and right.
    I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, said it would happen:
‘Daughter Babylon is a threshing floor
    at threshing time.
Soon, oh very soon, her harvest will come
    and then the chaff will fly!’

34-37 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
    chewed up my people and spit out the bones.
He wiped his dish clean, pushed back his chair,
    and belched—a huge gluttonous belch.
Lady Zion says,
    ‘The brutality done to me be done to Babylon!’
And Jerusalem says,
    ‘The blood spilled from me be charged to the Chaldeans!’
Then I, God, step in and say,
    ‘I’m on your side, taking up your cause.
I’m your Avenger. You’ll get your revenge.
    I’ll dry up her rivers, plug up her springs.
Babylon will be a pile of rubble,
    scavenged by stray dogs and cats,
A dumping ground for garbage,
    a godforsaken ghost town.’

38-40 “The Babylonians will be like lions and their cubs,
    ravenous, roaring for food.
I’ll fix them a meal, all right—a banquet, in fact.
    They’ll drink themselves falling-down drunk.
Dead drunk, they’ll sleep—and sleep, and sleep . . .
    and they’ll never wake up.” God’s Decree.
“I’ll haul these ‘lions’ off to the slaughterhouse
    like the lambs, rams, and goats,
    never to be heard of again.

41-48 “Babylon is finished—
    the pride of the whole earth is flat on her face.
What a comedown for Babylon,
    to end up inglorious in the sewer!
Babylon drowned in chaos,
    battered by waves of enemy soldiers.
Her towns stink with decay and rot,
    the land empty and bare and sterile.
No one lives in these towns anymore.
    Travelers give them a wide berth.
I’ll bring doom on the glutton god-Bel in Babylon.
    I’ll make him vomit up all he gulped down.
No more visitors stream into this place,
    admiring and gawking at the wonders of Babylon.
    The wonders of Babylon are no more.
Run for your lives, my dear people!
    Run, and don’t look back!
Get out of this place while you can,
    this place torched by God’s raging anger.
Don’t lose hope. Don’t ever give up
    when the rumors pour in hot and heavy.
One year it’s this, the next year it’s that—
    rumors of violence, rumors of war.
Trust me, the time is coming
    when I’ll put the no-gods of Babylon in their place.
I’ll show up the whole country as a sickening fraud,
    with dead bodies strewn all over the place.
Heaven and earth, angels and people,
    will throw a victory party over Babylon
When the avenging armies from the north
    descend on her.” God’s Decree!

Remember God in Your Long and Distant Exile
49-50 “Babylon must fall—
    compensation for the war dead in Israel.
Babylonians will be killed
    because of all that Babylonian killing.
But you exiles who have escaped a Babylonian death,
    get out! And fast!
Remember God in your long and distant exile.
    Keep Jerusalem alive in your memory.”

51 How we’ve been humiliated, taunted and abused,
    kicked around for so long that we hardly know who we are!
And we hardly know what to think—
    our old Sanctuary, God’s house, desecrated by strangers.

52-53 “I know, but trust me: The time is coming”
    —God’s Decree—
“When I will bring doom on her no-god idols,
    and all over this land her wounded will groan.
Even if Babylon climbed a ladder to the moon
    and pulled up the ladder so that no one could get to her,
That wouldn’t stop me.
    I’d make sure my avengers would reach her.”
        God’s Decree.

54-56 “But now listen! Do you hear it? A cry out of Babylon!
    An unearthly wail out of Chaldea!
God is taking his wrecking bar to Babylon.
    We’ll be hearing the last of her noise—
Death throes like the crashing of waves,
    death rattles like the roar of cataracts.
The avenging destroyer is about to enter Babylon:
    Her soldiers are taken, her weapons are trashed.
Indeed, God is a God who evens things out.
    All end up with their just deserts.

57 “I’ll get them drunk, the whole lot of them—
    princes, sages, governors, soldiers.
Dead drunk, they’ll sleep—and sleep and sleep . . .
    and never wake up.” The King’s Decree.
His name? God-of-the-Angel-Armies!

58 God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks:

“The city walls of Babylon—those massive walls!—
    will be flattened.
And those city gates—huge gates!—
    will be set on fire.
The harder you work at this empty life,
    the less you are.
Nothing comes of ambition like this
    but ashes.”

59 Jeremiah the prophet gave a job to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when Seraiah went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon. It was in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. Seraiah was in charge of travel arrangements.

60-62 Jeremiah had written down in a little booklet all the bad things that would come down on Babylon. He told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, read this out in public. Read, ‘You, O God, said that you would destroy this place so that nothing could live here, neither human nor animal—a wasteland to top all wastelands, an eternal nothing.’

63-64 “When you’ve finished reading the page, tie a stone to it, throw it into the River Euphrates, and watch it sink. Then say, ‘That’s how Babylon will sink to the bottom and stay there after the disaster I’m going to bring upon her.’”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, September 24, 2020

Today's Scripture & Insight:

Nehemiah 9:17, 27–31

 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,

 So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.

28 “But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.

29 “You warned them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them.’ Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen. 30 For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. 31 But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

Insight
The book of Nehemiah tells the story of the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. The Israelites had just returned to Judah after being held captive in Babylon to find that the city wall was destroyed, and they were defenseless against their enemies (1:1–4). In chapter 9, the wall had been rebuilt and the Israelites gathered and listened while their history was read. They admitted to God: “You have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly (v. 33). Despite their disobedience, God forgave them and established a new covenant with them (9:38–10:39).

Never Too Sinful
You are a forgiving God . . . abounding in love. Nehemiah 9:17

“If I touched a Bible, it would catch fire in my hands,” said my community college English professor. My heart sank. The novel we’d been reading that morning referenced a Bible verse, and when I pulled out my Bible to look it up, she noticed and commented. My professor seemed to think she was too sinful to be forgiven. Yet I wasn’t bold enough to tell her about God’s love—and that the Bible tells us we can always seek God’s forgiveness.

There’s an example of repentance and forgiveness in Nehemiah. The Israelites had been exiled because of their sin, but now they were allowed to return to Jerusalem. When they’d “settled in,” Ezra the scribe read the law to them (Nehemiah 7:73–8:3). They confessed their sins, remembering that despite their sin God “did not desert” or “abandon them” (9:17, 19). He “heard them” when they cried out; and in compassion and mercy, He was patient with them (vv. 27–31).

In a similar way, God is patient with us. He won’t abandon us if we choose to confess our sin and turn to Him. I wish I could go back and tell my professor that, no matter her past, Jesus loves her and wants her to be part of His family. He feels the same way about you and me. We can approach Him seeking forgiveness—and He will give it! By:  Julie Schwab


Reflect & Pray
Do you know someone who feels they’re too sinful for Jesus to forgive them? How does the truth that Jesus has come not for “the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17) speak to this way of thinking?

Dear Father, thank You for forgiving my sins and for Your assurance that no one is too sinful to be forgiven.

To learn more about forgiveness in the Christian life, visit ChristianUniversity.org/SF107.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 24, 2020
The “Go” of Preparation

If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. —Matthew 5:23-24

It is easy for us to imagine that we will suddenly come to a point in our lives where we are fully prepared, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished. In fact, it is a process that must be steadily maintained. It is dangerous to become settled and complacent in our present level of experience. The Christian life requires preparation and more preparation.

The sense of sacrifice in the Christian life is readily appealing to a new Christian. From a human standpoint, the one thing that attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense of the heroic, and a close examination of us by our Lord’s words suddenly puts this tide of enthusiasm to the test. “…go your way. First be reconciled to your brother….” The “go” of preparation is to allow the Word of God to examine you closely. Your sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit will detect in you is your nature that can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you. Do you have anything to hide from God? If you do, then let God search you with His light. If there is sin in your life, don’t just admit it— confess it. Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?

Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you. You were looking for some big thing to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go. But behind that tiny thing lies the stronghold of obstinacy, and you say, “I will not give up my right to myself”— the very thing that God intends you to give up if you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.
Disciples Indeed

Bible in a Year: Song of Solomon 4-5; Galatians 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 24, 2020

Satan-Proofing - #8794

Whenever we had a young grandchild come over to our house, it was almost all good news. The reason I say almost is because of the preparations we have to fly into to get ready for the arrival of like a two-year-old. Yes, I said two-year-old. That's as in "super inquisitive." (Yeah, you know.) See, our little grandchildren...they had a way of exploring and experimenting with every object within their reach. There are two kinds of things that need to quickly disappear before a young grandchild starts his little adventure at Grandma and Granddad's house. Things that can damage either the child or that he could damage. So as we would joyfully anticipate a little one being with us, we would also fly into a frenzied little exercise called baby-proofing our house.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Satan-Proofing."

It's a good idea to remove anything that our grandson could make a mess with. It's a whole lot better than cleaning up the mess or repairing the damage.

There's someone who pays regular visits to your life and mine who is not an angel like our grandkids. It's your enemy, the devil himself. He can do a lot of damage unless you anticipate his coming, look around your life, and remove the things that he could use to mess things up. It's called Satan-proofing your life.

In our word for today from the Word of God, Paul talks about playing defense against our enemy's attempts to bring us down. In 2 Corinthians 2:11, he says we take precautions "in order that Satan might not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his schemes." Okay, eyes wide open, looking around our lives for what our enemy might use to sink us, and getting it out of the way - Satan-proofing your day.

In the instance Paul is talking about here in this verse, there's an issue of a man who did a lot of damage in the church; a man Paul said they need to be sure they had forgiven. Why? Because a grudge, unforgiveness toward someone is something the devil will grab at his first opportunity and use it to poison you and everyone around you. But Paul identifies the area that needs to be dealt with in order "that Satan might not outwit us."

Here's a sentence for you to complete. It will help you defend yourself against the tactics that Satan's used over and over to bring you down. Finish this: "The devil brings me down whenever I ___________." What goes in that blank? That's what needs to go. In a sense, you're analyzing your past defeats so you can remove what your enemy has used to beat you in the past.

So, Satan-proofing your life today might mean praying for someone you've had hard feelings toward, asking God to remove your bitterness and replace it with His love. It might mean staying away from negative people who've made you negative, from friends who lead you where you should never go, or staying away from the music, or the Internet trash, or the TV shows or the movies that wear you down morally, or turning your fears or your worries totally over to God so the devil can't use them again to discourage you or depress you.

When a baby's coming, you baby-proof to avoid damage. When Satan's coming, and he will, you Satan-proof to avoid the damage he wants to do to your life. There have been enough times, haven't there, that you've left out the very things he's used over and over again, and you left them there and he used them to bring you down. You're not "unaware of his schemes."

So start fighting back so that when the devil comes prowling around your life today, he will find what he usually uses to make a mess you have put way out of his reach, because you have given it to Jesus.

Hebrews 6 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: IN EVERYTHING

Of what import is a wineless wedding? Of all the needs of people on the planet, why would bone-dry wine vats matter? Simple: it mattered to Jesus because it mattered to Mary. She presented the need to Christ. In John chapter 2, she says to him, “They have no more wine.” She knew the problem; she knew the provider. She connected the first with the second.

Now if Jesus was willing to use divine clout to solve a social faux pas, how much more willing would he be to intervene on the weightier matters of life? He wants you to know that you can take your needs—all your needs—to him. Philippians 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”  Remember, friends, you are never alone.

Hebrews 6

So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!

4-8 Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they’ve personally experienced the sheer goodness of God’s Word and the powers breaking in on us—if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can’t start over as if nothing happened. That’s impossible. Why, they’ve re-crucified Jesus! They’ve repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God’s “Well done!” But if it produces weeds and thistles, it’s more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested.

9-12 I’m sure that won’t happen to you, friends. I have better things in mind for you—salvation things! God doesn’t miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you’ve shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it. And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don’t drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them.

God Gave His Word
13-18 When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. He said, “I promise that I’ll bless you with everything I have—bless and bless and bless!” Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they’ll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can’t break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable.

18-20 We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Deuteronomy 4:3–10

You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.

5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”

Insight
To encourage the Israelites to remain faithful to Yahweh by keeping God’s laws, Moses reminded them of what happened at Baal Peor in Moab (recounted in Numbers 25:1–9 and Psalm 106:28–29) to warn from their own history that their very lives depended on obeying God’s law. As an added motivation, Moses also reminded them that they were the only nation privileged to have a personal relationship and intimate fellowship with God and were the only nation given God’s law (Deuteronomy 4:7–8). Faithful obedience to God would distinguish them as a great and wise people (vv. 6, 8–9).

God-Paved Memories
Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me. Deuteronomy 4:10

When my grown son faced a difficult situation, I reminded him about God’s constant care and provision during his dad’s year of unemployment. I recounted the times God strengthened our family and gave us peace while my mom fought and lost her battle with leukemia. Highlighting the stories of God’s faithfulness stitched into Scripture, I affirmed He was good at keeping His word. I led my son down our family’s God-paved memory lane, reminding him about the ways He remained reliable through our valley and mountaintop moments. Whether we were struggling or celebrating, God’s presence, love, and grace proved sufficient.

Although I’d like to claim this faith-strengthening strategy as my own, God designed the habit of sharing stories to inspire the future generations’ belief in Him. As the Israelites remembered all they’d seen God do in the past, He placed cobblestones of confidence down their divinely paved memory lanes.

The Israelites had witnessed God holding true to His promises as they followed Him (Deuteronomy 4:3–6). He’d always heard and answered their prayers (v. 7). Rejoicing and reminiscing with the younger generations (v. 9), the Israelites shared the holy words breathed and preserved by the one true God (v. 10).

As we tell of our great God’s majesty, mercy, and intimate love, our convictions and the faith of others can be strengthened by the confirmation of His enduring trustworthiness. By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray
Who’s invested in your spiritual growth by sharing what God has done in their lives? What creative ways can you share His faithfulness and love across generational lines?

Sovereign God, thank You for empowering me to walk with sure-footed faith that crosses generational lines.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
The Missionary’s Goal

He…said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem…" —Luke 18:31

In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him— “…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.

In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go “up to Jerusalem.”

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our “Jerusalem.” There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going “up to [our] Jerusalem.”

“…there they crucified Him…” (Luke 23:33). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, “I too go ‘up to Jerusalem.’ ”

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight.  The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L

Bible in a Year: Song of Solomon 1-3; Galatians 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
The Most Powerful Place on Earth - #8793

I told a friend that if I were to die today, I'd have no complaints because I have lived what I think is like a whole lifetime a long time ago - maybe several of them. The Lord's been very, very good to me in terms of opportunities.

I was thinking about, for example, the opportunity I've had to visit some very powerful places over the years. Some of the leaders of a youth ministry I was involved with were given a really privileged tour some years back. We were able to go inside of Cheyenne Mountain where NORAD - the North American Aerospace Defense Command is located - literally the nuclear nerve center in the United States. What a place to visit! I thought, "Man, think of the power that goes with this place!"

And then I was able to go representing this same youth ministry to a briefing at the White House with the President of the United States. I thought, "Whoa! Think of the power in this building! I'm in the White House, man!" Well, I must tell you that I recently visited a place that makes NORAD and the White House look very unimpressive. And you can go there too...right now.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Powerful Place on Earth."

Our word for today from the Word of God? We're in Genesis 18; I'll begin reading in verse 20 and to the end of the chapter. Before I do, let me give you some of the background to remind you of who Abraham is and how he tends to function with God's plans. Sometimes he exercises great faith, but it seems like so often Abraham is the man who's trying to help God do it. It's either God isn't doing it fast enough, or God isn't doing it the way Abraham thinks, and so for example, he goes and sleeps with his wife's servant Hagar at his wife's suggestion so that the son that has been promised will come through her, because he's been delayed in being sent. Now, God was going to send Isaac, but Abraham couldn't wait. No, he had to go and do it his own way.

Well, when we get to chapter 18 of Genesis, we find there's a turning point in his life. God has confided to him that Sodom is going to be destroyed, and his nephew Lot and his family are there, and he loves them. So here's what he does. Instead of running to Sodom, which would normally be Abraham's way of handling things, "I'll take care of this, God." Here's what he does. "When the Lord said the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin is so grievous, then the men turned away and went toward Sodom." Those men? Those are the angels who were coming in human form on their way to destroy it. "But Abraham remained (it says) standing before the Lord." In verse 33, after he has pleaded for Lot's life, he says, "When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left." And Abraham, amazingly, returned home. He left it there even though he cares very deeply about this.

And then in chapter 19, verse 27: "Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord." Though Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed and he could see the destruction, he knew that God had answered his prayer. You know where the most powerful place on earth is? It's the place where you stand before the Lord, between the Lord and someone you love, and you intercede for them. "Abraham stood before the Lord." It is the most powerful place on earth.

And in order to do that, you have to first see that situation through God's eyes. Abraham saw Sodom as God saw it. And when you see them God's way, you learn how to pray with new possibilities. Then you fight for those you love. That's what Abraham did in his prayer. He said, "Dear Lord, I'm contending for the lives of the people I care about." And then don't let go. He remained standing before the Lord. Depend on your prayers. He prayed for them and then he went home and went to bed.

Listen! With those you're concerned about, focus the great lasers of heaven on someone or something you care about and then let it go. Relax and trust the One to whom you've committed them.

Learn to be the man or woman who stands in the middle between God and the people you love. And you will experience this incredible peace that there is when you are standing in the most powerful place on earth.

Jeremiah 50 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WE ARE RUNNING OUT

You know, we’re running out. We’re running out of days and dates and dances. The hourglass was irreversibly flipped the day we were born, and we’ve been depleting our resources ever since. Our spending is outpacing our deposits — a fact, I think, that explains the reasoning behind miracle number one in the ministry of Jesus.

According to John chapter 2, he was at a wedding. His mother, Mary, came to Jesus with a problem: “They have no more wine” (John 2:3 NIV). Mary presented the problem. Christ was reluctant. Mary deferred. Jesus reconsidered. He commanded. The servants obeyed, and the wineless wedding was suddenly wine flush. And we’re left with this message: our diminishing supplies, no matter how insignificant, matter to heaven. Remember, friends, you are never alone.

Jeremiah 50

Get Out of Babylon as Fast as You Can

 The Message of God through the prophet Jeremiah on Babylon, land of the Chaldeans:

“Get the word out to the nations! Preach it!
    Go public with this, broadcast it far and wide:
Babylon taken, god-Bel hanging his head in shame,
    god-Marduk exposed as a fraud.
All her god-idols shuffling in shame,
    all her play-gods exposed as cheap frauds.
For a nation will come out of the north to attack her,
    reduce her cities to rubble.
Empty of life—no animals, no people—
    not a sound, not a movement, not a breath.

4-5 “In those days, at that time”—God’s Decree—
    “the people of Israel will come,
And the people of Judah with them.
    Walking and weeping, they’ll seek me, their God.
They’ll ask directions to Zion
    and set their faces toward Zion.
They’ll come and hold tight to God,
    bound in a covenant eternal they’ll never forget.

6-7 “My people were lost sheep.
    Their shepherds led them astray.
They abandoned them in the mountains
    where they wandered aimless through the hills.
They lost track of home,
    couldn’t remember where they came from.
Everyone who met them took advantage of them.
    Their enemies had no qualms:
‘Fair game,’ they said. ‘They walked out on God.
    They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.’

8-10 “But now, get out of Babylon as fast as you can.
    Be rid of that Babylonian country.
On your way. Good sheepdogs lead, but don’t you be led.
    Lead the way home!
Do you see what I’m doing?
    I’m rallying a host of nations against Babylon.
They’ll come out of the north,
    attack and take her.
Oh, they know how to fight, these armies.
    They never come home empty-handed.
Babylon is ripe for picking!
    All her plunderers will fill their bellies!” God’s Decree.

11-16 “You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn’t you?
    You lived it up, exploiting and using my people,
Frisky calves romping in lush pastures,
    wild stallions out having a good time!
Well, your mother would hardly be proud of you.
    The woman who bore you wouldn’t be pleased.
Look at what’s come of you! A nothing nation!
    Rubble and garbage and weeds!
Emptied of life by my holy anger,
    a desert of death and emptiness.
Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled,
    shaking their heads at such a comedown.
Gang up on Babylon! Pin her down!
    Throw everything you have against her.
Hold nothing back. Knock her flat.
    She’s sinned—oh, how she’s sinned, against me!
Shout battle cries from every direction.
    All the fight has gone out of her.
Her defenses have been flattened,
    her walls smashed.
‘Operation God’s Vengeance.’
    Pile on the vengeance!
Do to her as she has done.
    Give her a good dose of her own medicine!
Destroy her farms and farmers,
    ravage her fields, empty her barns.
And you captives, while the destruction rages,
    get out while the getting’s good,
    get out fast and run for home.

17 “Israel is a scattered flock,
    hunted down by lions.
The king of Assyria started the carnage.
    The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar,
Has completed the job,
    gnawing the bones clean.”

18-20 And now this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    the God of Israel, has to say:
“Just watch! I’m bringing doom on the king of Babylon and his land,
    the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria.
But Israel I’ll bring home to good pastures.
    He’ll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan,
On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead.
    He will eat to his heart’s content.
In those days and at that time”—God’s Decree—
    “they’ll look high and low for a sign of Israel’s guilt—nothing;
Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah’s sin—nothing.
    These people that I’ve saved will start out with a clean slate.

21 “Attack Merathaim, land of rebels!
    Go after Pekod, country of doom!
Hunt them down. Make a clean sweep.” God’s Decree.
    “These are my orders. Do what I tell you.

22-24 “The thunderclap of battle
    shakes the foundations!
The Hammer has been hammered,
    smashed and splintered,
Babylon pummeled
    beyond recognition.
I set out a trap and you were caught in it.
    O Babylon, you never knew what hit you,
Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap!
    That’s what you get for taking on God.

25-28 “I, God, opened my arsenal.
    I brought out my weapons of wrath.
The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    has a job to do in Babylon.
Come at her from all sides!
    Break into her granaries!
Shovel her into piles and burn her up.
    Leave nothing! Leave no one!
Kill all her young turks.
    Send them to their doom!
Doom to them! Yes, Doomsday!
    The clock has finally run out on them.
And here’s a surprise:
    Runaways and escapees from Babylon
Show up in Zion reporting the news of God’s vengeance,
    taking vengeance for my own Temple.

29-30 “Call in the troops against Babylon,
    anyone who can shoot straight!
Tighten the noose!
    Leave no loopholes!
Give her back as good as she gave,
    a dose of her own medicine!
Her brazen insolence is an outrage
    against God, The Holy of Israel.
And now she pays: her young strewn dead in the streets,
    her soldiers dead, silent forever.” God’s Decree.

31-32 “Do you get it, Mister Pride? I’m your enemy!”
    Decree of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Time’s run out on you:
    That’s right: It’s Doomsday.
Mister Pride will fall flat on his face.
    No one will offer him a hand.
I’ll set his towns on fire.
    The fire will spread wild through the country.”

33-34 And here’s more from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“The people of Israel are beaten down,
    the people of Judah along with them.
Their oppressors have them in a grip of steel.
    They won’t let go.
But the Rescuer is strong:
    God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Yes, I will take their side,
    I’ll come to their rescue.
I’ll soothe their land,
    but rough up the people of Babylon.

35-40 “It’s all-out war in Babylon”—God’s Decree—
    “total war against people, leaders, and the wise!
War to the death on her boasting pretenders, fools one and all!
    War to the death on her soldiers, cowards to a man!
War to the death on her hired killers, gutless wonders!
    War to the death on her banks—looted!
War to the death on her water supply—drained dry!
    A land of make-believe gods gone crazy—hobgoblins!
The place will be haunted with jackals and scorpions,
    night-owls and vampire bats.
No one will ever live there again.
    The land will reek with the stench of death.
It will join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,
    the cities I did away with.” God’s Decree.
“No one will live there again.
    No one will again draw breath in that land, ever.

41-43 “And now, watch this! People pouring
    out of the north, hordes of people,
A mob of kings stirred up
    from far-off places.
Flourishing deadly weapons,
    barbarians they are, cruel and pitiless.
Roaring and relentless, like ocean breakers,
    they come riding fierce stallions,
In battle formation, ready to fight
    you, Daughter Babylon!
Babylon’s king hears them coming.
    He goes white as a ghost, limp as a dishrag.
Terror-stricken, he doubles up in pain, helpless to fight,
    like a woman giving birth to a baby.

44 “And now watch this: Like a lion coming up
    from the thick jungle of the Jordan,
Looking for prey in the mountain pastures,
    I’ll take over and pounce.
I’ll take my pick of the flock—and who’s to stop me?
    All the so-called shepherds are helpless before me.”

45-46 So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against Babylon, the blueprint of what he’s prepared for dealing with Chaldea:

Believe it or not, the young,
    the vulnerable—mere lambs and kids—will be dragged off.
Believe it or not, the flock
    in shock, helpless to help, watches it happen.
When the shout goes up, “Babylon’s down!”
    the very earth will shudder at the sound.
    The news will be heard all over the world.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

2 Timothy 4:1–5

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Insight
Paul writes this, his last letter, knowing he’s about to die. So when he says, “I give you this charge: Preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:1–2), his exhortation carries even much more impact for Timothy. Bible scholar William Hendriksen tells us that the word for preach literally means “to proclaim before the public.” That is what Paul wants Timothy to do. Significantly, Paul has a specific warning for him, signaled by the words “the time will come” (v. 3). And what will happen at that “time”? “[People] will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (v. 3). In chapter 3, Paul had instructed Timothy to hold to the truth of the Scriptures. Now, he urges him to preach those truths regardless of their unpopularity. His directive to Timothy has not lost its relevance for us today.

A Risky Detour
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season. 2 Timothy 4:2

What a waste of time, thought Harley. Her insurance agent was insisting they meet again. Harley knew it would be yet another boring sales pitch, but she decided to make the most of it by looking for an opportunity to talk about her faith.

Noticing that the agent’s eyebrows were tattooed, she hesitantly asked why and discovered that the woman did it because she felt it would bring her luck. Harley’s question was a risky detour from a routine chat about finances, but it opened the door to a conversation about luck and faith, which gave her an opportunity to talk about why she relied on Jesus. That “wasted” hour turned out to be a divine appointment.

Jesus also took a risky detour. While traveling from Judea to Galilee, He went out of His way to speak to a Samaritan, something unthinkable for a Jew. Worse, she was an adulterous woman avoided even by other Samaritans. Yet He ended up having a conversation that led to the salvation of many (John 4:1–26, 39–42).

Are you meeting someone you don’t really want to see? Do you keep bumping into a neighbor you normally avoid? The Bible reminds us to be always ready—“in season and out of season”—to share the good news (2 Timothy 4:2). Consider taking a “risky detour.” Who knows, God may be giving you a divine opportunity to talk to someone about Him today! By:  Leslie Koh

Reflect & Pray
Whom might you meet today? How might there be an opportunity to talk about Jesus? How can you go out of your way to share the good news in a bold but loving, sensitive way?

Jesus, teach me to see the doors You’ve opened for me to share Your love, and give me the courage to tell others about You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
The Missionary’s Master and Teacher

You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am ….I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master… —John 13:13, 16

To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing less— “…for One is your Teacher, the Christ…” (Matthew 23:8).

Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.

“You call Me Teacher and Lord…”— but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God’s servant— He was His Son. “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience…” (Hebrews 5:8). If we are consciously aware that we are being mastered, that idea itself is proof that we have no master. If that is our attitude toward Jesus, we are far away from having the relationship He wants with us. He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it— a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.
The Place of Help

Bible in a Year: Ecclesiastes 10-12; Galatians 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
When the Captain Is Not On the Bridge - #8792

The Greek ferry boat was loaded with more than 500 passengers, and a lot were visitors from other countries. Suddenly, that ship plowed into a rocky outcropping, and in minutes the ferry went down two miles from shore, claiming the lives of 66 people. But you know what? It was a tragedy that never had to happen. Those rock outcroppings are clearly marked on navigational charts, and the ferry had passed by them countless times, and there's even a light atop them that's visible for seven miles. But the captain and three key crew members were not at their posts that night; they were reportedly down below watching a soccer match on television. A Greek newspaper headline proclaimed, "A blind course on autopilot." So as the ship was on a collision course, the captain was not on the bridge.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When the Captain Is Not On the Bridge."

Families can go aground the same way that Greek ferry did. Children can crash for the same reason that ship did. The people who should be at the helm are not where they should be.

If you're a Mom or Dad, it's important to look in the mirror and take inventory every once in a while. God's given you the most important command of all. You have got in your care, lives created in His image, each one a divinely designed original. And He's trusting you to give them the love, the attention, the discipline, and the spiritual direction that they need to make them all God created them to be.

But there are a lot of people and pressures that are pulling on us parents. Some of them are screaming for our attention while our children are just whispering for it. Could it be that you've become preoccupied with less important things? Actually, almost everything is a less important thing than this priceless trust from God.

The stewardship God has given us when He gave us our children is expressed in some beautiful words in our word for today from the Word of God. When you apply them to your son or daughter, they're a wonderful expression of this holy stewardship. Isaiah 8:18 simply says, "Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me." Now, there is the highest and holiest assignment a man or woman can be given!

Tragically, some of us may have left the bridge. We're preoccupied with other priorities. We may be abandoning the leadership our child needs on a daily basis - the life lessons that we explain from that day's events: the loving reinforcement of consistent boundaries, the godly discipline for going out of bounds, the daily listening we need to do just to keep up with this constantly growing and changing little person, the praying they need us to do with them in situation after situation. Are you there for all of that?

Remember, the captain of the ship that went down? He didn't commit any overt crime; his deadly mistake was one of neglect. It's what he didn't do. That's what did so much damage, and that could be what's happening in your home, with your family.

It could be that with all the pressures and all the demands on you, the priorities of your life have gotten somewhat inverted recently. It's time for you, if you're a Mom or Dad, to recommit yourself to the central, non-negotiable priority of steering your family away from the rocks and in the right direction.

Listen, you don't have to leave the bridge for very long for someone you love to crash.

Hebrews 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: IN THE MIDST OF LIFE’S MESSES

When life grows dark and stormy, does God notice? The answer, in the life-giving miracles of the gospel of John, is a resounding “yes.” Do you believe in a Jesus who has not only power, but a passionate love for the weak and wounded of the world? Do you think he cares enough to find you in the lonely waiting rooms, the rehab centers, and the convalescent homes of life?

You and I long for someone who will meet us in the midst of life’s messes. If this is your desire, take a good look at the words of John and the miracles of Christ and see if they don’t achieve their desired goal: “That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). Remember, friends, you are never alone.

Hebrews 5

Every high priest selected to represent men and women before God and offer sacrifices for their sins should be able to deal gently with their failings, since he knows what it’s like from his own experience. But that also means that he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the peoples’.

4-6 No one elects himself to this honored position. He’s called to it by God, as Aaron was. Neither did Christ presume to set himself up as high priest, but was set apart by the One who said to him, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you!” In another place God declares, “You’re a priest forever in the royal order of Melchizedek.”

7-10 While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God’s Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity and having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him.

Re-Crucifying Jesus
11-14 I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, September 21, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

John 16:25–33

 “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

31 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. 32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Insight
John 14–16 is Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse, His final extended teaching time with His disciples before going to the cross. In today’s verses (16:25–33), Jesus concludes His message by paralleling its beginning. In 16:28, Jesus says He’s leaving this world and going to the Father, which echoes 14:2–3 where He says He’s going to the Father’s house. In John 16:32, He says they’ll scatter to their own homes, leaving Him alone. But in John 14:3 He assures them that there’s a place in the Father’s house for them—an infinitely better home! Finally, in 14:1, Jesus begins by encouraging them not to allow their hearts to be troubled by His departure, while in 16:33 He assures them they can have peace because of His coming victory. In this way, the message concludes by closing the loop on the ideas that opened it.

Making Peace with Trouble
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33

We were almost home when I noticed it: the needle of our car’s temperature gauge was rocketing up. As we pulled in, I killed the engine and hopped out. Smoke wafted from the hood. The engine sizzled like bacon. I backed the car up a few feet and found a puddle beneath: oil. Instantly, I knew what had happened: The head gasket had blown.

I groaned. We’d just sunk money into other expensive repairs. Why can’t things just work? I grumbled bitterly. Why can’t things just stop breaking?

Can you relate? Sometimes we avert one crisis, solve one problem, pay off one big bill, only to face another. Sometimes those troubles are much bigger than an engine self-destructing: an unexpected diagnosis, an untimely death, a terrible loss.

In those moments, we yearn for a world less broken, less full of trouble. That world, Jesus promised, is coming. But not yet: “In this world you will have trouble,” He reminded His disciples in John 16. “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (v. 33). Jesus spoke in that chapter about grave troubles, such as persecution for your faith. But such trouble, He taught, would never have the last word for those who hope in Him.

Troubles small and large may dog our days. But Jesus’ promise of a better tomorrow with Him encourages us not to let our troubles define our lives today. By:  Adam R. Holz

Reflect & Pray
What does it look like for you to surrender your troubles to God? What might you use as a prompt to remind yourself to offer up your anxieties to Him throughout the day?

Father, troubles never seem far away. But when they’re close, You’re even closer. Please help me to cling to You in trust today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, September 21, 2020
The Missionary’s Predestined Purpose

Now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant… —Isaiah 49:5

The first thing that happens after we recognize our election by God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our preconceived ideas, our narrow-minded thinking, and all of our other allegiances— we are turned solely into servants of God’s own purpose. The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted the human race onto another course, but it has not altered God’s purpose to the slightest degree. And when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interests of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in John 3:16— “For God so loved the world….”

We must continually keep our soul open to the fact of God’s creative purpose, and never confuse or cloud it with our own intentions. If we do, God will have to force our intentions aside no matter how much it may hurt. A missionary is created for the purpose of being God’s servant, one in whom God is glorified. Once we realize that it is through the salvation of Jesus Christ that we are made perfectly fit for the purpose of God, we will understand why Jesus Christ is so strict and relentless in His demands. He demands absolute righteousness from His servants, because He has put into them the very nature of God.

Beware lest you forget God’s purpose for your life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

When we no longer seek God for His blessings, we have time to seek Him for Himself.  The Moral Foundations of Life, 728 L

Bible in a Year: Ecclesiastes 7-9; 2 Corinthians 13

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, September 21, 2020
The Most Tragic Choice - #8791

Four boys in a house on fire; that's what happened to my friend's nephews. Thankfully, the Fire Department got the call early and they were there in minutes. It was clear there was no way they could go into that blaze to bring the boys out. But all four of them were huddled around a second floor window, which meant they could be saved. So, the firefighters quickly prepared to catch the boys. They yelled to them to jump into the waiting net below. The oldest boy jumped; he was safe. A second boy, then a third brother jumped to their rescue below. Their ten-year-old brother was the last one left at the upstairs window. He hesitated. Again and again the firefighters were begging him to jump. Every time, he refused..every time. Sadly, it cost him his life.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Tragic Choice."

That is a heartbreaking story. It's a tragedy when someone dies because there was no one there to rescue them. It's an even greater tragedy when someone dies because they refused the rescuer who could have saved them.

That's a tragedy that has been repeated countless times to people who Jesus came to rescue from an eternity without Him. People who had a chance (maybe many chances) to jump into the saving arms of Jesus, but they never did. Actually, God bringing us together today is another opportunity for you to choose life. When will it be too late to do that? Only God knows.

In some ways, the more religious you are, the more times you've heard about what Jesus did on the cross, the greater danger you're in. Because you may not even realize that you're in a burning house. Good people, religious people tend to live in the false security that they're okay because they know a lot about Jesus. They're trying to do things that Jesus likes. But that ignores what it is that keeps a person out of heaven - their sin - all the wrong things you've ever done in your life. They are, in God's courtroom, a capital crime, punishable by eternal death. No one with sin can possibly live in the presence of a sinless God, and sin must be paid for to be forgiven.

And that fire of God's judgment on our self-willed, self-run life burns closer and closer every day we live. But God loves us so much that He acted dramatically to save us from the very punishment we deserve. He sent His only Son to bear that punishment in our place. When Jesus was butchered and cut off from God on that awful cross, it was all the sins of my life He was paying for, and all of yours. Your only hope of rescue is to jump into the strong, waiting arms of Jesus and pinning all your hopes on Him. When have you done that? If you don't know you did, you probably didn't.

So God asks this sobering question in Hebrews 2:3, our word for today from the Word of God, "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" That's how most people miss heaven. They don't out-and-out reject what Jesus did. They just ignore His rescue; either not caring or mistakenly thinking that they'll make it out somehow. They won't. Only Jesus can save you.

And He's calling to you today right now in your heart. He's saying, "When I went to that cross, I did all that for you to rescue you from your sin. While there's time, jump into my arms." He's never dropped anyone who's ever trusted Him. He's never lost anyone who trusted Him to save them. But you have to make your move; He made his on a cross.

I'm just grateful that a lot of people have found our website a place where they can make sure that they are in Jesus' arms and belong to Him. I'd love to help you do that. Just go to ANewStory.com today. I want you to know today that you are safe in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jesus, your Rescuer, He's waiting right now with open arms. He's not only your best hope. He's your only hope. Let Him save you while there's time.

Jeremiah 29, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Behind Bars

In 1965 Howard Rutledge parachuted into North Vietnam and spent the next several years in a prison in Hanoi, locked in a filthy cell breathing stale, rotten air trying to keep his sanity. Few of us will ever face the conditions of a POW camp.
Yet, to one degree or another, we all spend time behind bars. After half-a-century of marriage, my friend's wife began to lose her memory.  A young mother called, just diagnosed with Lupus. Why would God permit such imprisonment?  To what purpose?  Jeremiah 30:24 promises, "The Lord will not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the intents of His mind."
This season in which you find yourself may puzzle you, but it doesn't bewilder God.  He will use it for His purpose. Please be reminded…You will get through this!
From You'll Get Through This

Jeremiah 29

Plans to Give You the Future You Hope For

This is the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to what was left of the elders among the exiles, to the priests and prophets and all the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken to Babylon from Jerusalem, including King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, the government leaders, and all the skilled laborers and craftsmen.

3 The letter was carried by Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The letter said:

4 This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel’s God, to all the exiles I’ve taken from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5 “Build houses and make yourselves at home.

“Put in gardens and eat what grows in that country.

6 “Marry and have children. Encourage your children to marry and have children so that you’ll thrive in that country and not waste away.

7 “Make yourselves at home there and work for the country’s welfare.

“Pray for Babylon’s well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you.”

8-9 Yes. Believe it or not, this is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel’s God: “Don’t let all those so-called preachers and know-it-alls who are all over the place there take you in with their lies. Don’t pay any attention to the fantasies they keep coming up with to please you. They’re a bunch of liars preaching lies—and claiming I sent them! I never sent them, believe me.” God’s Decree!

10-11 This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

12 “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.

13-14 “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.

“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.

“I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

15-19 “But for right now, because you’ve taken up with these newfangled prophets who set themselves up as ‘Babylonian specialists,’ spreading the word ‘God sent them just for us!’ God is setting the record straight: As for the king still sitting on David’s throne and all the people left in Jerusalem who didn’t go into exile with you, they’re facing bad times. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says, ‘Watch this! Catastrophe is on the way: war, hunger, disease! They’re a barrel of rotten apples. I’ll rid the country of them through war and hunger and disease. The whole world is going to hold its nose at the smell, shut its eyes at the horrible sight. They’ll end up in slum ghettos because they wouldn’t listen to a thing I said when I sent my servant-prophets preaching tirelessly and urgently. No, they wouldn’t listen to a word I said.’” God’s Decree.

20-23 “And you—you exiles whom I sent out of Jerusalem to Babylon—listen to God’s Message to you. As far as Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah are concerned, the ‘Babylonian specialists’ who are preaching lies in my name, I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will kill them while you watch. The exiles from Judah will take what they see at the execution and use it as a curse: ‘God fry you to a crisp like the king of Babylon fried Zedekiah and Ahab in the fire!’ Those two men, sex predators and prophet-impostors, got what they deserved. They pulled every woman they got their hands on into bed—their neighbors’ wives, no less—and preached lies claiming it was my Message. I never sent those men. I’ve never had anything to do with them.” God’s Decree.

“They won’t get away with a thing. I’ve witnessed it all.”

24-26 And this is the Message for Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: You took it on yourself to send letters to all the people in Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and the company of priests. In your letter you told Zephaniah that God set you up as priest replacing priest Jehoiadah. He’s put you in charge of God’s Temple and made you responsible for locking up any crazy fellow off the street who takes it into his head to be a prophet.

27-28 “So why haven’t you done anything about muzzling Jeremiah of Anathoth, who’s going around posing as a prophet? He’s gone so far as to write to us in Babylon, ‘It’s going to be a long exile, so build houses and make yourselves at home. Plant gardens and prepare Babylonian recipes.’”

29 The priest Zephaniah read that letter to the prophet Jeremiah.

30-32 Then God told Jeremiah, “Send this Message to the exiles. Tell them what God says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Shemaiah is preaching lies to you. I didn’t send him. He is seducing you into believing lies. So this is God’s verdict: I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. He’s going to end up with nothing and no one. No one from his family will be around to see any of the good that I am going to do for my people because he has preached rebellion against me.” God’s Decree.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, September 20, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Exodus 23:1–3

Laws of Justice and Mercy

“Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.

2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, 3 and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.

Insight
God gave the Ten Commandments as guidelines for daily living so that His people could live faithful and holy lives. Commandments 1–4 (Exodus 20:1–11) teach us to love God, which Jesus said is “the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:38). Commandments 5–10 (Exodus 20:12–17) teach us “to love [our] neighbor as [ourselves]” (Matthew 22:39). After giving the Ten Commandments, Moses laid down various stipulations that if followed would enable the Israelites to love their neighbors (Exodus 21:1–23:9). Because “the Lord is righteous, [and] he loves justice” (Psalm 11:7), Moses commanded them to “follow justice and justice alone” (Deuteronomy 16:20). Love for neighbors means justice for all. Exodus 23:1–9 is an application of the ninth commandment: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” (20:16). This commandment ensured impartial justice for everyone. False accusation, malicious testimony, slander, and withholding justice because of external pressure, favoritism, or bribery all contribute to the perversion of true justice and denial of neighborly love.

Stopping Rumors
Do not spread false reports. Exodus 23:1

After Charles Simeon (1759–1836) was named the minister of Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge, England, he faced years of opposition. As most in the congregation had wanted the associate minister to be appointed rather than Simeon, they spread rumors about him and rejected his ministry—even at times locking him out of the church. But Simeon, who desired to be filled by God’s Spirit, sought to cope with the gossip by creating some principles to live by. One was never to believe rumors unless they were absolutely true and another was “always to believe, that if the other side were heard, a very different account would be given of the matter.”

In this practice, Simeon followed God’s instructions to His people to cease the gossip and malicious talk He knew would erode their love for each other. One of God’s Ten Commandments reflects His desire for them to live truthfully: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Another instruction in Exodus reinforces this commandment: “Do not spread false reports” (23:1).

Think of how different the world would be if each of us never spread rumors and false reports and if we stopped them the moment we heard them. May we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us speak the truth in love as we use our words to bring glory to God. By:  Amy Boucher Pye
Reflect & Pray
What has helped you when you’ve faced opposition? How do you react when you hear gossip?

Jesus, help me to speak Your truth in love. Give me words that bring peace, grace, and encouragement.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, September 20, 2020
The Divine Commandment of Life
…be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. —Matthew 5:48

Our Lord’s exhortation to us in Matthew 5:38-48 is to be generous in our behavior toward everyone. Beware of living according to your natural affections in your spiritual life. Everyone has natural affections— some people we like and others we don’t like. Yet we must never let those likes and dislikes rule our Christian life. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7), even those toward whom we have no affection.

The example our Lord gave us here is not that of a good person, or even of a good Christian, but of God Himself. “…be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In other words, simply show to the other person what God has shown to you. And God will give you plenty of real life opportunities to prove whether or not you are “perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not just good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian’s life is that the supernatural becomes natural in him as a result of the grace of God, and the experience of this becomes evident in the practical, everyday details of life, not in times of intimate fellowship with God. And when we come in contact with things that create confusion and a flurry of activity, we find to our own amazement that we have the power to stay wonderfully poised even in the center of it all.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest. Disciples Indeed, 395 L

Bible in a Year: Ecclesiastes 4-6; 2 Corinthians 12

Jeremiah 28, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Peace with God

As a monk and his apprentice walked back to the abbey, the younger man was unusually quiet. But when asked if anything was wrong the student responded, "What business is it of yours?" When the abbey came in sight, the monk asked, "Tell me my son. What troubles your soul?" "I've sinned greatly," he sobbed. I'm not worthy to enter the abbey at your side." The teacher putting his arm around the student said, "We'll enter the abbey together. And together we'll confess your sin. No one but God will know which of the two of us fell."
Doesn't that describe what God has done for us? When we kept our silence, we withdrew from him. But our confession of faults alters our perception. Romans 5:1 says, "Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God." God is no longer a foe, but a friend!

From In the Grip of Grace

Jeremiah 28

From a Wooden to an Iron Yoke

Later that same year (it was in the fifth month of King Zedekiah’s fourth year) Hananiah son of Azzur, a prophet from Gibeon, confronted Jeremiah in the Temple of God in front of the priests and all the people who were there. Hananiah said:

2-4 “This Message is straight from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: ‘I will most certainly break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Before two years are out I’ll have all the furnishings of God’s Temple back here, all the things that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon plundered and hauled off to Babylon. I’ll also bring back Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the exiles who were taken off to Babylon.’ God’s Decree. ‘Yes, I will break the king of Babylon’s yoke. You’ll no longer be in harness to him.’”

5-9 Prophet Jeremiah stood up to prophet Hananiah in front of the priests and all the people who were in God’s Temple that day. Prophet Jeremiah said, “Wonderful! Would that it were true—that God would validate your preaching by bringing the Temple furnishings and all the exiles back from Babylon. But listen to me, listen closely. Listen to what I tell both you and all the people here today: The old prophets, the ones before our time, preached judgment against many countries and kingdoms, warning of war and disaster and plague. So any prophet who preaches that everything is just fine and there’s nothing to worry about stands out like a sore thumb. We’ll wait and see. If it happens, it happens—and then we’ll know that God sent him.”

10-11 At that, Hananiah grabbed the yoke from Jeremiah’s shoulders and smashed it. And then he addressed the people: “This is God’s Message: In just this way I will smash the yoke of the king of Babylon and get him off the neck of all the nations—and within two years.” Jeremiah walked out.

12-14 Later, sometime after Hananiah had smashed the yoke from off his shoulders, Jeremiah received this Message from God: “Go back to Hananiah and tell him, ‘This is God’s Message: You smashed the wooden yoke-bars; now you’ve got iron yoke-bars. This is a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel’s own God: I’ve put an iron yoke on all these nations. They’re harnessed to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. They’ll do just what he tells them. Why, I’m even putting him in charge of the wild animals.’”

15-16 So prophet Jeremiah told prophet Hananiah, “Hold it, Hananiah! God never sent you. You’ve talked the whole country into believing a pack of lies! And so God says, ‘You claim to be sent? I’ll send you all right—right off the face of the earth! Before the year is out, you’ll be dead because you fomented sedition against God.’”

17 Prophet Hananiah died that very year, in the seventh month.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Acts 3:2–8, 16

Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

Insight
The word faith or one of its variants (faithful, faithfulness) appears in the New International Version 458 times in the Old and New Testaments. Faith is described as what is necessary to believe in and please God. It’s the underlying factor behind what some of the most well-known characters in the Bible were able to do (see Hebrews 11).

Today’s passage credits the healing of the lame man to faith in Jesus (Acts 3:16). But whose faith? Was it the healed man who believed in Jesus and had faith? Possibly, for it did require some faith to stand up when Peter took his hand. But it more likely refers to the faith of Peter. The pronouncement of healing and the confidence to take the lame man’s hand demonstrate that Peter, the healer, had faith in the power of Jesus’ name—the Messiah—to perform the miracle.

In Focus
By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. Acts 3:16

Author Mark Twain suggested that whatever we look at in life—and how we see it—can influence our next steps, even our destiny. As Twain said, “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”

Peter too spoke of vision when he replied to a lame beggar, a man whom he and John encountered at the busy temple gate called Beautiful (Acts 3:2). As the man asked them for money, Peter and John looked directly at the man. “Then Peter said, ‘Look at us!’ ” (v. 4).

Why did he say that? As Christ’s ambassador, Peter likely wanted the beggar to stop looking at his own limitations—yes, even to stop looking at his need for money. As he looked at the apostles, he would see the reality of having faith in God.

As Peter told him, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (v. 6). Then Peter “helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk” and give praise (vv. 7–8).

What happened? The man had faith in God (v. 16). As evangelist Charles Spurgeon urged, “Keep your eye simply on Him.” When we do, we don’t see obstacles. We see God, the One who makes our way clear. By:  Patricia Raybon

Reflect & Pray
What are you focused on instead of God? With refocused faith, what could you see in Him for your life?

Heavenly Father, when my eyes wander from You, focus my gaze on Your unlimited power.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Are You Going on With Jesus?
You are those who have continued with Me in My trials. —Luke 22:28

It is true that Jesus Christ is with us through our temptations, but are we going on with Him through His temptations? Many of us turn back from going on with Jesus from the very moment we have an experience of what He can do. Watch when God changes your circumstances to see whether you are going on with Jesus, or siding with the world, the flesh, and the devil. We wear His name, but are we going on with Him? “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66).

The temptations of Jesus continued throughout His earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. Are we going on with Jesus in the life we are living right now?

We have the idea that we ought to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings around us. May it never be! It is God who engineers our circumstances, and whatever they may be we must see that we face them while continually abiding with Him in His temptations. They are His temptations, not temptations to us, but temptations to the life of the Son of God in us. Jesus Christ’s honor is at stake in our bodily lives. Are we remaining faithful to the Son of God in everything that attacks His life in us?

Are you going on with Jesus? The way goes through Gethsemane, through the city gate, and on “outside the camp” (Hebrews 13:13). The way is lonely and goes on until there is no longer even a trace of a footprint to follow— but only the voice saying, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R

Bible in a Year: Ecclesiastes 1-3; 2 Corinthians 11:16-33

Jeremiah 27, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: SOMEONE CARES

My book, You Are Never Alone, is a child of the quarantine. I completed it during the days of the coronavirus. Covid-19 was unknown to most, but that’s all changed. This crisis exacerbated an already rampant epidemic of isolation and depression. One study found that loneliness is as dangerous to one’s health as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. It can lead to dementia or Alzheimer’s, heart disease, a weakened immune system, and a shorter life span.

Administrators of one of the largest hospitals in America cite loneliness as a major reason for overcrowded emergency rooms. Patients want to know that someone cares. Don’t we all? The apostle John wanted us to know that Someone cares. He wanted us to believe, to set our weight fully upon the strength of his loving God. Remember friends, you are never alone.

Jeremiah 27

Harness Yourselves Up to the Yoke

Early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, Jeremiah received this Message from God: “Make a harness and a yoke and then harness yourself up. Send a message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Send it through their ambassadors who have come to Jerusalem to see Zedekiah king of Judah. Give them this charge to take back to their masters: ‘This is a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel. Tell your masters:

5-8 “‘I’m the one who made the earth, man and woman, and all the animals in the world. I did it on my own without asking anyone’s help and I hand it out to whomever I will. Here and now I give all these lands over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have made even the wild animals subject to him. All nations will be under him, then his son, and then his grandson. Then his country’s time will be up and the tables will be turned: Babylon will be the underdog servant. But until then, any nation or kingdom that won’t submit to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon must take the yoke of the king of Babylon and harness up. I’ll punish that nation with war and starvation and disease until I’ve got them where I want them.

9-11 “‘So don’t for a minute listen to all your prophets and spiritualists and fortunetellers, who claim to know the future and who tell you not to give in to the king of Babylon. They’re handing you a line of lies, barefaced lies, that will end up putting you in exile far from home. I myself will drive you out of your lands, and that’ll be the end of you. But the nation that accepts the yoke of the king of Babylon and does what he says, I’ll let that nation stay right where it is, minding its own business.’”

12-15 Then I gave this same message to Zedekiah king of Judah: “Harness yourself up to the yoke of the king of Babylon. Serve him and his people. Live a long life! Why choose to get killed or starve to death or get sick and die, which is what God has threatened to any nation that won’t throw its lot in with Babylon? Don’t listen to the prophets who are telling you not to submit to the king of Babylon. They’re telling you lies, preaching lies. God’s Word on this is, ‘I didn’t send those prophets, but they keep preaching lies, claiming I sent them. If you listen to them, I’ll end up driving you out of here and that will be the end of you, both you and the lying prophets.’”

16-22 And finally I spoke to the priests and the people at large: “This is God’s Message: Don’t listen to the preaching of the prophets who keep telling you, ‘Trust us: The furnishings, plundered from God’s Temple, are going to be returned from Babylon any day now.’ That’s a lie. Don’t listen to them. Submit to the king of Babylon and live a long life. Why do something that will destroy this city and leave it a heap of rubble? If they are real prophets and have a Message from God, let them come to God-of-the-Angel-Armies in prayer so that the furnishings that are still left in God’s Temple, the king’s palace, and Jerusalem aren’t also lost to Babylon. That’s because God-of-the-Angel-Armies has already spoken about the Temple furnishings that remain—the pillars, the great bronze basin, the stands, and all the other bowls and chalices that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take when he took Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim off to Babylonian exile along with all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. He said that the furnishings left behind in the Temple of God and in the royal palace and in Jerusalem will be taken off to Babylon and stay there until, in God’s words, ‘I take the matter up again and bring them back where they belong.’”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, September 18, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Leviticus 19:9–18

“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.

11 “‘Do not steal.

“‘Do not lie.

“‘Do not deceive one another.

12 “‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.

13 “‘Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

“‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.

14 “‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord.

15 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.

“‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.

17 “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.

18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Insight
Bible scholars refer to Leviticus 17–26 as the “Holiness Code,” so called because of the emphasis on the holy conduct of those among whom God’s presence dwelt. The previous chapters of Leviticus concern sacrificial offerings (1–7), priestly preparation and ritual (8–10), instructions regarding things clean and unclean (11–15), and the Day of Atonement (16). The remaining chapters stress holiness within the family and society, in sexual relationships, in economic dealings, and more.

To be holy is to be set apart and to live—by the power of the Spirit—according to the principles found in the Scriptures. In the New Testament, Peter called believers in Jesus to holiness using the words found in Leviticus 11:44 and 19:2: “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15–16).

Fixing Elevators
Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:18

Sarah has a rare condition that causes her joints to dislocate, making her reliant on an electric wheelchair to get around. On her way to a meeting recently, Sarah rode her wheelchair to the train station but found the elevator broken. Again. With no way of getting to the platform, she was told to take a taxi to another station forty minutes away. The taxi was called but never arrived. Sarah gave up and went home.

Unfortunately, this is a regular occurrence for Sarah. Broken elevators stop her from boarding trains, forgotten ramps leave her unable to get off them. Sometimes Sarah is treated as a nuisance by railway staff for needing assistance. She’s often close to tears.

Out of the many biblical laws governing human relationships, “love your neighbor as yourself” is key (Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:8–10). And while this love stops us from lying, stealing, and abusing others (Leviticus 19:11, 14), it also changes how we work. Employees must be treated fairly (v. 13), and we should all be generous to the poor (vv. 9–10). In Sarah’s case, those who fix elevators and drag out ramps aren’t doing inconsequential tasks but offering important service to others.

If we treat work as just a means to a wage or other personal benefit, we will soon treat others as annoyances. But if we treat our jobs as opportunities to love, then the most everyday task becomes a holy enterprise. By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray
Why do you think we can become annoyed at someone needing extra assistance? How can you turn your job into a channel of love today?

Father, a job is never just a job to You but an opportunity to love You and serve others. Help me to see my work as an opportunity to benefit others today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 18, 2020
His Temptation and Ours

We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. —Hebrews 4:15

Until we are born again, the only kind of temptation we understand is the kind mentioned in James 1:14, “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” But through regeneration we are lifted into another realm where there are other temptations to face, namely, the kind of temptations our Lord faced. The temptations of Jesus had no appeal to us as unbelievers because they were not at home in our human nature. Our Lord’s temptations and ours are in different realms until we are born again and become His brothers. The temptations of Jesus are not those of a mere man, but the temptations of God as Man. Through regeneration, the Son of God is formed in us (see Galatians 4:19), and in our physical life He has the same setting that He had on earth. Satan does not tempt us just to make us do wrong things— he tempts us to make us lose what God has put into us through regeneration, namely, the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come to us on the premise of tempting us to sin, but on the premise of shifting our point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil.

Temptation means a test of the possessions held within the inner, spiritual part of our being by a power outside us and foreign to us. This makes the temptation of our Lord explainable. After Jesus’ baptism, having accepted His mission of being the One “who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) He “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Matthew 4:1) and into the testing devices of the devil. Yet He did not become weary or exhausted. He went through the temptation “without sin,” and He retained all the possessions of His spiritual nature completely intact.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R

Bible in a Year: Proverbs 30-31; 2 Corinthians 11:1-15

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 18, 2020
How to Never Get Lost - #8790

A dear friend of this ministry donated the car he was about to trade in. It was a whole lot more car than I was used to driving, and it was a wonderful gift. It was pretty much fully loaded. One of its nice features was a compass that was mounted on the rear view mirror. At any given moment, it was showing an "N" for north, or an "S" for south...you get the idea. Now, why is that such a big deal? You don't know my sense of direction. Did I say "sense"? That compass is a real boon. I have no excuse now for not knowing where I'm going. Just consult the compass, right?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Never Get Lost."

If you belong to Jesus Christ, I have great news for you. You don't ever have to be lost when it comes to knowing the right direction. God is in the business of providing a compass for all His children so they can know on a daily basis the right way to go.

There's a pretty dramatic example of that in our word for today from the Word of God in Numbers 9:15. It says, "On the day the tabernacle...was set up, the cloud covered it...and at night it looked like fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from the tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord's command the Israelites set out, and at His command they encamped...whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out."

That's a great picture, and here it is. Two important guidelines for God's children today from this example of how He led His children yesterday. First, God guides us in ways that we won't miss Him. We can miss Him if we're not following closely, but we can always know the direction He wants us to go. In this case, there was this massive cloud that His children couldn't miss. When it's dark, you can't see a cloud very well, so God lit it up with fire at night; again, so they could not miss if He was moving or where He was moving. By the way, notice that the darker it is, the brighter God's direction is.

Now how does God lead us today? How can we see the pillar of cloud? Where's His compass? Let me suggest three factors that God uses to give clear direction to those who are really seeking it. First, He'll use a timely verse. As you pray for direction, God just will light up a verse or verses in His Word that seem as if they were written just for you, just for this situation. You know what the Bible says,"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." The lantern of God's Word doesn't show you the whole picture, usually just the next step. I've learned, "You take a step, then you see a step. Then you take a step, then you see a step." Secondly, God directs us through defining circumstances as He did Paul in Acts 16. It says God's Spirit closed the door to one mission field and opened the door to another.

Thirdly, the "pillar" comes in the form of an inner compulsion - the kind Paul talked about in Acts 20:20, "I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing..." He didn't know what awaited Him, but the magnet of God was pulling Him to Jerusalem. God's Spirit often leads us with this strong inner pull that seems to say, "I can't not do this!"

So God guides us in ways we won't miss Him. There's a Part 2 to this equation. Our job is to move only and always as He does. Just like those Old Testament believers. No matter how long the cloud stood still, they did not let their impatience with the status quo make them run ahead of God. Conversely, no matter how quickly or how often the cloud moved, they didn't get so settled into the status quo that they refused to move when God was moving.

This very day, God's wanting to show you the way to go with His pillar of cloud. Your Holy Spirit compass can keep you from ever getting lost. Listen to God's promise, "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go" (Isaiah 48:17).

Hebrews 4 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S GOT THIS

John recorded a montage of miracles that proclaimed, “God’s got this.” Think it’s up to you and you ain’t much? Hogwash! You’re stronger than you think because God is nearer than you know. Jesus touched wounds. He spoke words of hope. Blessings were bestowed. There was a message in his miracles: “I am here, and I care.”

Had Jesus wanted just to make a case for his divinity, he could have materialized a flock of birds out of thin air or caused trees to uproot and float away. He could have turned creeks into waterfalls or rocks into bumblebees. Such deeds would have demonstrated his power. But he wanted us to see more. Jesus wanted to show us that there is a miracle-working God who loves, who cares, and who comes to our aid. Do we not need this message today? Call out to him, won’t you? Remember, friends, you are never alone.

Hebrews 4

When the Promises Are Mixed with Faith

For as long, then, as that promise of resting in him pulls us on to God’s goal for us, we need to be careful that we’re not disqualified. We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises didn’t do them a bit of good because they didn’t receive the promises with faith. If we believe, though, we’ll experience that state of resting. But not if we don’t have faith. Remember that God said,

Exasperated, I vowed,
    “They’ll never get where they’re going,
    never be able to sit down and rest.”

3-7 God made that vow, even though he’d finished his part before the foundation of the world. Somewhere it’s written, “God rested the seventh day, having completed his work,” but in this other text he says, “They’ll never be able to sit down and rest.” So this promise has not yet been fulfilled. Those earlier ones never did get to the place of rest because they were disobedient. God keeps renewing the promise and setting the date as today, just as he did in David’s psalm, centuries later than the original invitation:

Today, please listen,
    don’t turn a deaf ear . . .

8-11 And so this is still a live promise. It wasn’t canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn’t keep renewing the appointment for “today.” The promise of “arrival” and “rest” is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we’ll surely rest with God. So let’s keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience.

12-13 God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.

The High Priest Who Cried Out in Pain
14-16 Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Genesis 3:1–7

The Fall

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Insight
Genesis doesn’t identify the serpent in the garden of Eden as Satan. Only when the last book of the New Testament foresees a world engulfed in the violence of deception do the Scriptures directly link the dragon, the serpent, the devil, and Satan (Revelation 12:9; 20:2). In between there are hints. Along the way the voice of the enemy shows up in unexpected places. The hiss of accusing envy shows up in God’s meetings with His angels (Job 1:6–12). Nowhere, however, is there reason for more wonder than in John 3:14–15 where Jesus uses the imagery of the serpent to picture His own saving work. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

Don’t Be Deceived
[The devil] is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44

The spotted lanternfly is a pretty insect with speckled outer wings and a splotch of bright red on its inner wings that flashes when it flies. But its beauty is a bit deceptive. This insect, first seen in the US in 2014, is considered invasive to North America, which means it has the potential to harm the environment and economy. The lanternfly will “eat the innards of practically any woody plant,” which includes cherry and other fruit trees, and leaves a sticky goo that leads to mold—killing trees outright or leaving them with little energy to grow fruit.

In the story of Adam and Eve, we learn of a different kind of menace. The serpent, Satan, deceived the couple into disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit so they would “be like God” (Genesis 3:1–7). But why listen to a serpent? Did his words alone entice Eve, or was there also something attractive about him? Scripture hints at Satan being created beautiful (Ezekiel 28:12). Yet Satan fell by the same temptation he used to entice Eve: “I will make myself like [God]” (Isaiah 14:14; Ezekiel 28:9).

Any beauty Satan now has is used to deceive (Genesis 3:1; John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:14). Just as he fell, he seeks to pull others down—or keep them from growing. But we have someone far more powerful on our side! We can run to Jesus, our beautiful Savior. By:  Alyson Kieda

Reflect & Pray
When have you been deceived by a person or group’s seemingly attractive idea? What helps you to recognize deception?

Dear God, help me to weigh what I see and hear by the truths of the gospel. Thank You for triumphing over evil through the cross.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Is There Good in Temptation?

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man… —1 Corinthians 10:13

The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.

A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.

Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal— it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.

Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else— what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations— He sustains us in the midst of them (see Hebrews 2:18 and Hebrews 4:15-16).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion.  The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L

Bible in a Year: Proverbs 27-29; 2 Corinthians 10

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Fatal Refusal - #8789

It might happen to a community once in a lifetime, or maybe even just once in a century. But sometimes there are those disasters that define and redefine a town for years to come. The Johnstown, PA, flood would be one of the most famous historic examples. You've probably never heard of the flood that swept into my wife's hometown years ago, but it was a major defining event for that town. She was a teenager when, with just a brief warning from upstream, the local creek burst out of its banks into this massive flash flood. While there was major damage done to the community, thankfully, only a few lives were lost. They actually were some older folks who lived on the south side of town. Rescuers actually came by their creek-side house before that wall of water hit. They offered them a place in the lifeboat. They refused to get in. They said, "Hey, we've lived here a long time, we've seen a lot. We've been fine this far. We'll be fine this time." They weren't. They died in that flood.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fatal Refusal."

It is a deadly mistake to refuse to get in a lifeboat - especially when it comes to being rescued from an eternity that none of us wants. Tragically, a whole lot of people are saying to Jesus, "No thanks, Jesus. I don't think I'm going to need You. After all, I've gotten this far without You. I've been fine up to here. I'll take my chances without You." Strong people, self-reliant people, doing things for yourself, proudly refusing to put your trust in Jesus, and according to the Bible, doomed. Because this one you can't do for yourself.

I have no right to say this unless God says it, because He is the final word on heaven and hell. And He couldn't make Himself clearer than He does in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, our word for today from the Word of God. It's about the flood, it's about the lifeboat called Jesus, and it's about the choice that determines your destiny. The Bible says, "The Lord Jesus will punish those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power."

When that flood hit my wife's hometown, those folks who died didn't have to die. Provision had been made for them to live, to escape what was coming. But they wouldn't get in the lifeboat. On a cross, with nails driven through His hands and feet and a spear wound in His side, God's only Son, Jesus, died to pay for every wrong thing you and I have ever done. And we've lived long enough to have a long list of times we've done things our way instead of God's way. But Jesus paid for every one of them. So the only people who will pay for their own sin are those who refused to trust the One who already paid for their sin.

So, God doesn't send anyone to hell. We send ourselves by refusing to get in the lifeboat that He provided at the cost of His own life. It's a mistake I beg you not to make. You may have accomplished a lot in your life. You may be religious and respected. You may have done just about everything by yourself, but there's no way you can get your sins forgiven by yourself. No way you can remove what will keep you out of heaven. Only Jesus can do that. And His lifeboat is making one more pass by you right now, and He's asking you to get in. Some time will be the last time.

If you've never given yourself to the man who gave His life for you, please abandon the pride and the excuses that have kept you from Him. Tell Him, "Jesus, the battle's over. I'm Yours."

If you want to be sure you belong to Jesus as your Rescuer from your sin, let me invite you to spend a few minutes at our website today. I've tried to put it there in a way that you can either read and watch, or whatever - listen to a simple explanation of how to be sure you've begun your relationship with Him and that your sins are forgiven. That website is ANewStory.com.

Look, one more time, the lifeboat's within your reach. God's judgment is coming. Please, please get in while there's time.