Deuteronomy 23 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Saved to Serve

Some people feel so saved they never serve.  Some serve at the hope of being saved. Does one of these sentences describe you? Do you feel so saved that you never serve? So content in what God has done that you do nothing? The fact is, we're here to glorify God in our service.
Or is your tendency the opposite? Perhaps you always serve for fear of not being saved. You're worried there is a secret card that exists with your score written on it; and your score is not enough. Is that you? If so, know this: The blood of Jesus is enough to save you.  John 1:29 announces that Jesus is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."
The blood of Christ doesn't cover your sins, conceal your sins, postpone or diminish your sins.  It takes away your sins, once and for all! So…since you are saved, you can serve!
From He Chose the Nails

Deuteronomy 23

No eunuch is to enter the congregation of God.

2 No bastard is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children.

3-6 No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children, ever. Those nations didn’t treat you with hospitality on your travels out of Egypt, and on top of that they also hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you. God, your God, refused to listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing—how God, your God, loves you! Don’t even try to get along with them or do anything for them, ever.

7 But don’t spurn an Edomite; he’s your kin.

And don’t spurn an Egyptian; you were a foreigner in his land.

8 Children born to Edomites and Egyptians may enter the congregation of God in the third generation.

* * *

9-11 When you are camped out, at war with your enemies, be careful to keep yourself from anything ritually defiling. If one of your men has become ritually unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must go outside the camp and stay there until evening when he can wash himself, returning to the camp at sunset.

12-14 Mark out an area outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourselves. Along with your weapons have a stick with you. After you relieve yourself, dig a hole with the stick and cover your excrement. God, your God, strolls through your camp; he’s present to deliver you and give you victory over your enemies. Keep your camp holy; don’t permit anything indecent or offensive in God’s eyes.

* * *

15-16 Don’t return a runaway slave to his master; he’s come to you for refuge. Let him live wherever he wishes within the protective gates of your city. Don’t take advantage of him.

17-18 No daughter of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute; and no son of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute. And don’t bring the fee of a sacred whore or the earnings of a priest-pimp to the house of God, your God, to pay for any vow—they are both an abomination to God, your God.

19-20 Don’t charge interest to your kinsmen on any loan: not for money or food or clothing or anything else that could earn interest. You may charge foreigners interest, but you may not charge your brothers interest; that way God, your God, will bless all the work that you take up and the land that you are entering to possess.

21-23 When you make a vow to God, your God, don’t put off keeping it; God, your God, expects you to keep it and if you don’t you’re guilty. But if you don’t make a vow in the first place, there’s no sin. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Keep the vow you willingly vowed to God, your God. You promised it, so do it.

24-25 When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want until you’re full, but you may not put any in your bucket or bag. And when you walk through the ripe grain of your neighbor, you may pick the heads of grain, but you may not swing your sickle there.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, March 19, 2022

Today's Scripture
Joel 2:21–27
(NIV)

The Trees Are Bearing Fruit Again

21–24     Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate!

God has done great things.

Fear not, wild animals!

The fields and meadows are greening up.

The trees are bearing fruit again:

a bumper crop of fig trees and vines!

Children of Zion, celebrate!

Be glad in your God.

He’s giving you a teacher

to train you how to live right—

Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words

to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do.

And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain,

casks of wine and barrels of olive oil.

25–27     “I’ll make up for the years of the locust,

the great locust devastation—

Locusts savage, locusts deadly,

fierce locusts, locusts of doom,

That great locust invasion

I sent your way.

You’ll eat your fill of good food.

You’ll be full of praises to your God,

The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder.

Never again will my people be despised.

You’ll know without question

that I’m in the thick of life with Israel,

That I’m your God, yes, your God,

the one and only real God.

Never again will my people be despised.

Insight

A key concept in the book of Joel is the “day of the Lord”—a pivotal time in which God confronts evil in a dramatic way, bringing salvation to His people. In 1:13–2:17, Joel prophesies a coming “day of the Lord” that will bring a wave of locusts like a relentless army and beseeches God’s people to repent. In response to their repentance, God promises to heal and restore the land (2:18–27). The concluding portions of the book point to a more distant and even greater “day of the Lord” (v. 31). In that day, God’s presence dwells among His people in a way that’s accessible to all (v. 32), and His healing presence will renew all creation. By: Monica La Rose

Reclaiming Our Time

I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten. . . . You will have plenty to eat, until you are full.
Joel 2:25–26

My mother shared with me how she chose not to attend college so she could marry my father in the 1960s, but she always held on to her dream of becoming a home economics teacher. Three children later, though she never received a college degree, she did become a nutritionist aide for the state of Louisiana’s health system. She cooked meals to demonstrate healthier meal choices—much like a home economics teacher. As she shared her dream with me after recounting the events of her life, she proclaimed that God had indeed heard her prayers and given her the desires of her heart.

Life can be like that for us. Our plans point one way, but reality goes another way. But with God, our time and lives can be turned into beautiful displays of His compassion, love, and restoration. God told the people of Judah (Joel 2:21) that He would “repay” them for their lost or destroyed years—brought about by a “locust swarm” (v. 25). He continues to work to help us in the challenges and unfulfilled dreams we face. For we serve a Redeemer God who honors and rewards our sacrifices for Him (Matthew 19:29).

Whether we’re facing a devastating challenge or a time of unrealized dreams, may we call out to the God who restores and give Him praise. By:  Katara Patton

Reflect & Pray

What are you waiting for God to restore or redeem? How would you describe your attitude as you wait?

Mighty God, thank You for Your promises of redemption and restoration. Help me to trust in Your timing in each area of my life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 19, 2022
Abraham’s Life of Faith

He went out, not knowing where he was going. —Hebrews 11:8

In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.

Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason— a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.

The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith— a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God…” (Romans 4:3).

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed.
So Send I You

Bible in a Year: Joshua 1-3; Mark 16

Luke 6:1-26 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Salvation Is Found in Him - March 18, 2022

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The phrase, “believes in him” doesn’t digest well in our day of self-sufficient spiritual food. “Believe in yourself” is the common menu selection of our day. Try harder. Work longer. Dig deeper. Self-reliance is our goal. “In him” smacks of exclusion. Salvation comes in many forms, right?

Christ walks upriver on this topic. Salvation is found, not in self or in them, but in him. Romans 4:5 says, “To the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Our spiritual legs have no strength. Our morality has no muscle. Our good deeds cannot carry us across the finish line, but Christ can!

Luke 6:1-26

In Charge of the Sabbath

On a certain Sabbath Jesus was walking through a field of ripe grain. His disciples were pulling off heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands to get rid of the chaff, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing that, breaking a Sabbath rule?”

3-4 But Jesus stood up for them. “Have you never read what David and those with him did when they were hungry? How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? He also handed it out to his companions.”

5 Then he said, “The Son of Man is no slave to the Sabbath; he’s in charge.”

6-8 On another Sabbath he went to the meeting place and taught. There was a man there with a crippled right hand. The religion scholars and Pharisees had their eyes on Jesus to see if he would heal the man, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath violation. He knew what they were up to and spoke to the man with the crippled hand: “Get up and stand here before us.” He did.

9 Then Jesus addressed them, “Let me ask you something: What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?”

10-11 He looked around, looked each one in the eye. He said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” He held it out—it was as good as new! They were beside themselves with anger, and started plotting how they might get even with him.
The Twelve Apostles

12-16 At about that same time he climbed a mountain to pray. He was there all night in prayer before God. The next day he summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles:

Simon, whom he named Peter,

Andrew, his brother,

James,

John,

Philip,

Bartholomew,

Matthew,

Thomas,

James, son of Alphaeus,

Simon, called the Zealot,

Judas, son of James,

Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
You’re Blessed

17-21 Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke:

You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.
God’s kingdom is there for the finding.

You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.

You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.

22-23 “Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don’t like it, I do?.?.?.?and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.
Give Away Your Life

24
But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
What you have is all you’ll ever get.

25
And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.
Your self will not satisfy you for long.

And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games.
There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.

26 “There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, March 18, 2022

Today's Scripture
Song of Songs 2:3–15
(NIV)

The Woman

3–4     As an apricot tree stands out in the forest,

my lover stands above the young men in town.

All I want is to sit in his shade,

to taste and savor his delicious love.

He took me home with him for a festive meal,

but his eyes feasted on me!

5–6     Oh! Give me something refreshing to eat—and quickly!

Apricots, raisins—anything. I’m about to faint with love!

His left hand cradles my head,

and his right arm encircles my waist!

7     Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem,

by the gazelles, yes, by all the wild deer:

Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up,

until the time is ripe—and you’re ready.

8–10     Look! Listen! There’s my lover!

Do you see him coming?

Vaulting the mountains,

leaping the hills.

My lover is like a gazelle, graceful;

like a young stag, virile.

Look at him there, on tiptoe at the gate,

all ears, all eyes—ready!

My lover has arrived

and he’s speaking to me!

The Man

10–14     Get up, my dear friend,

fair and beautiful lover—come to me!

Look around you: Winter is over;

the winter rains are over, gone!

Spring flowers are in blossom all over.

The whole world’s a choir—and singing!

Spring warblers are filling the forest

with sweet arpeggios.

Lilacs are exuberantly purple and perfumed,

and cherry trees fragrant with blossoms.

Oh, get up, dear friend,

my fair and beautiful lover—come to me!

Come, my shy and modest dove—

leave your seclusion, come out in the open.

Let me see your face,

let me hear your voice.

For your voice is soothing

and your face is ravishing.

The Woman

15     Then you must protect me from the foxes,

foxes on the prowl,

Foxes who would like nothing better

than to get into our flowering garden.

Insight

The Song of Songs is a collection of love poems that both celebrate and warn about love, particularly the physical intimacy that flows from it. Some view the book as a collection of poems that express godly desires in keeping with the way God made us at the time of our creation—desires that are met in the “two becoming one flesh” marriage relationship instituted in the garden.

But the Song may also speak about God and our relationship with Him, especially when we read it in the context of the whole Bible, where we see a frequent comparison made between our relationship with God and human marriage.

Little Foxes

Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards.
Song of Songs 2:15

A pilot couldn’t fit his tea into the cupholder, so he set it on the center console. When the plane hit turbulence, the drink spilled onto the control panel, shutting off an engine. The flight was diverted and landed safely, but when it happened again to a crew from a different airline two months later, the manufacturer realized there was a problem. The plane cost $300 million, but its cupholders were too small. This seemingly small oversight led to some harrowing moments.

Small details can wreck the grandest plans, so the man in the Song of Songs urges his lover to catch “the little foxes that ruin the vineyards” of their love (2:15). He’d seen foxes climb over walls and dig out vines in search of grapes. They were hard to catch as they darted into the vineyard then melted back into the night. But they must not be ignored.

What threatens your closest relationships? It may not be large offenses. It might be the little foxes, a small comment here or a slight there that digs at the root of your love. Minor offenses add up, and what once was a blossoming friendship or passionate marriage might be in danger of dying.

May God help us catch the little foxes! Let’s ask for and grant forgiveness as needed and nourish our vineyards in the soil of ordinary acts of thoughtfulness as God provides what we need.

Reflect & Pray

What “little foxes” are damaging one of your close relationships? What can you do to seek forgiveness and a fresh start in Christ?

Father, may Your extraordinary love flow through me in ordinary ways.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 18, 2022

Will I Bring Myself Up to This Level?

…perfecting holiness in the fear of God. —2 Corinthians 7:1

“Therefore, having these promises….” I claim God’s promises for my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows only the human perspective on them. God’s perspective is that through His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For example, do I realize that my “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not “confer with flesh and blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.

I must cleanse myself from all filthiness in my flesh and my spirit until both are in harmony with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I mentally rebellious and defiant? Am I allowing the mind of Christ to be formed in me? (see Philippians 2:5). Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived— a level of perfect submission to His Father’s will— where I pay no attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the fear of God? Is God having His way with me, and are people beginning to see God in my life more and more?

Be serious in your commitment to God and gladly leave everything else alone. Literally put God first in your life.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else.  The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 32-34; Mark 15:26-47

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 18, 2022

Your Visa and Your Passport - #9180

After terrorism on American soil became a reality, there was increased talk about students who are in the United States on temporary visas. Now, the vast majority are simply here to study in the country. I've traveled with one of those temporary visas in other countries, so I know a little bit about it. And it lets officials know that you're in their country for a specific and limited amount of time. And in my case, that's always been just fine. My passport is what tells you where my home really is. If I got knocked out and couldn't remember what country I'm from, my passport would save me. That temporary visa would only tell you where I'm visiting, not where I live.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Visa and Your Passport."

It makes no sense to build yourself this big empire in a place where you've only got a temporary visa. Right? Sadly, many of God's people are making that very mistake, and neglecting to invest seriously in the place that's really home, where their spiritual passport is from.

Paul talks about our temporary visa and our permanent passport in Philippians 2:20-21, our word for today from the Word of God. He talks about many who "live as enemies of the cross of Christ...their mind is on earthly things." Since they don't know that heaven is their eternal home that they should be destined for, Paul is saying that they live as if earth is all there is. Their passport says, "Earth." "But," Paul goes on, "our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ," who, Paul says, has the power "to bring everything under His control."

So, once you give yourself to Jesus Christ, God issues you a new passport. It says "Heaven." You can now call heaven your home forever. That's one of the amazing things about belonging to Jesus. You could actually know, right here, right now, you're going to heaven when you die. You don't have to wait 'till you die to find out where you're going to be, because you've trusted Jesus Christ to forgive and remove the only thing that could keep you out of heaven - your sin. That's what He died for.

So now you have a temporary visa that says "Earth" and a passport that says "Heaven." So why are you so bound up in building this kingdom for ourselves in a place where we're just visiting? We're so entangled with earth-stuff we neglect the things that are going to matter forever. In the Old Testament, when God wanted His people to focus on rebuilding His temple, they couldn't see the eternal for all the earth-stuff they were involved in. God says, "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house of mine remains a ruin? My house remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house" (Haggai 1:4, 9).

So here we are, citizens of eternity, mired in a place where we're only passing through. We're fascinated with what the pop culture says is exciting, we're accumulating as much earth-stuff, as many earth-toys as we can. We're plowing the best of our energies and our resources into building things that will only be important during our brief earth-visit. And meanwhile, we have relatively little left to invest in what will matter forever - building people's lives, getting the Good News about Jesus to as many people as possible, using what God has given us to take others home with us to heaven some day.

If you're a citizen of heaven and you're living mostly for earth-stuff, you'll never be fulfilled; you'll always be restless because you're just visiting here. You're building the wrong kingdom. You're spending the best of yourself on things that have little or no value where you're going to live forever. Citizens of heaven can never be satisfied by things that will not last. This isn't home!

The old hymn was right, "This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through." Don't build your kingdom in a place where you're just visiting. Remember what it says on your passport - "Heaven!"

Deuteronomy 25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Your Role Is to Trust - March 17, 2022

Some of us have written our own Bible verse from Popular Opinion, chapter one, verse one: “God helps those who help themselves.” We’ll fix ourselves, thank you. We’ll make up for our mistakes with contributions, our guilt with busyness. We’ll overcome our failures with hard work. We’ll find salvation the old-fashioned way: we’ll earn it!

Christ, in contrast, says to us, “Your role is to trust. Trust me to do what you can’t.”

By the way, you take similar steps of trust daily. You believe the chair will support you, so you set your weight on it. You trust the work of the light switch, so you flip it. You daily trust power you cannot see to do a work you cannot accomplish. Jesus invites you to do the same with him. But just him. Not another leader, not even yourself. Just Christ. Look to Jesus and believe.

Deuteronomy 25

When men have a legal dispute, let them go to court; the judges will decide between them, declaring one innocent and the other guilty. If the guilty one deserves punishment, the judge will have him lay himself down before him and lashed as many times as his crime deserves, but not more than forty. If you hit him more than forty times, you will degrade him to something less than human.

4 Don’t muzzle an ox while it is threshing.

5-6 When brothers are living together and one of them dies without having had a son, the widow of the dead brother shall not marry a stranger from outside the family; her husband’s brother is to come to her and marry her and do the brother-in-law’s duty by her. The first son that she bears shall be named after her dead husband so his name won’t die out in Israel.

7-10 But if the brother doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the leaders at the city gate and say, “My brother-in-law refuses to keep his brother’s name alive in Israel; he won’t agree to do the brother-in-law’s duty by me.” Then the leaders will call for the brother and confront him. If he stands there defiant and says, “I don’t want her,” his sister-in-law is to pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and say, “This is what happens to the man who refuses to build up the family of his brother—his name in Israel will be Family-No-Sandal.”

11-12 When two men are in a fight and the wife of the one man, trying to rescue her husband, grabs the genitals of the man hitting him, you are to cut off her hand. Show no pity.

13-16 Don’t carry around with you two weights, one heavy and the other light, and don’t keep two measures at hand, one large and the other small. Use only one weight, a true and honest weight, and one measure, a true and honest measure, so that you will live a long time on the land that God, your God, is giving you. Dishonest weights and measures are an abomination to God, your God—all this corruption in business deals!

17-19 Don’t forget what Amalek did to you on the road after you left Egypt, how he attacked you when you were tired, barely able to put one foot in front of another, mercilessly cut off your stragglers, and had no regard for God. When God, your God, gives you rest from all the enemies that surround you in the inheritance-land God, your God, is giving you to possess, you are to wipe the name of Amalek from off the Earth. Don’t forget!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, March 17, 2022

Jesus the Way to the Father

14 “Do not be worried and upset,” Jesus told them. “Believec in God and believe also in me. 2There are many rooms in my Father’s house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so.d 3And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am. 4You know the way that leads to the place where I am going.”

Insight

John 13–17 is known as the Upper Room Discourse, so named because Jesus taught it on the very night of His arrest in the “large room upstairs” where he held the Passover meal with His disciples (Mark 14:12–15). Christ said He would soon leave them—those who would abandon, betray, and disown Him (Matthew 26:31; John 13:21, 38). Yet He comforted His disciples with the assurance of heaven and the promise of His return (14:1–3), the privilege and power of prayer (vv. 12–14), the indwelling and guiding presence of the Holy Spirit (vv. 16–17; 16:5–15), and His peace and ultimate victory (16:33). Jesus tenderly spoke of heaven as “my Father’s house” (14:2). Earlier, He spoke of it as the place where God reigns (Matthew 5:34). Just before He died, He spoke of it as “paradise” (Luke 23:43), meaning “an Eden—a place of blessedness.” By: K. T. Sim

Preparing a Place for Us

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
John 14:3

Our family was planning to get a puppy, so my eleven-year-old daughter researched for months. She knew what the dog should eat and how to introduce it to our new home—among myriad other details.    

Turns out puppies do best, she told me, if they’re introduced to one room at a time. So we carefully prepared a spare bedroom. I’m sure there will still be surprises as we raise our new puppy, but my daughter’s delight-infused preparation couldn’t have been more thorough.

The way my daughter channeled her eager anticipation for a puppy into loving preparation reminded me of Christ’s longing to share life with His people and His promise to prepare a home for them. Nearing the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus urged His disciples to trust Him, saying, “You believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1). Then He promised to “prepare a place for [them] . . . that [they] also may be where [He is]” (v. 3).

The disciples would soon face trouble. But Jesus wanted them to know that He was at work to bring them home to Him.

I can’t help but delight in the careful, deliberate intent with which my daughter had prepared for our new puppy. But I can only imagine how much more our Savior is delighting in His own detailed preparation for each of His people to share eternal life with Him (v. 2). By:  Adam Holz

Reflect & Pray

How do you feel knowing that Jesus is preparing a place for you in His Father’s house? How might hanging on to that hope give you strength or courage in difficult seasons?

Jesus, thank You for going to prepare a place for me. Help me to put my hope in You fully and not to be troubled by the struggles in this life that might tempt me to take my eyes off You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 17, 2022

The Servant’s Primary Goal

We make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him. —2 Corinthians 5:9

“We make it our aim….” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor.

Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being “approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15) may result in our rejection from further service for Him. When you discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary to keep “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest…I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound?

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The Bible does not thrill; the Bible nourishes. Give time to the reading of the Bible and the recreating effect is as real as that of fresh air physically.  Disciples Indeed, 387 R

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 30-31; Mark 15:1-25

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 17, 2022

Family Flu - #9179

At our house, we call it clean juice. I think the official name is "hand sanitizer." Whatever it's called, I use it big-time for flu germs! Actually there was a flu outbreak that took place, and our hospital was overwhelmed. The next closest hospital was overwhelmed, too, by people from our town. And, boy, what did the pandemic do? Lots of clean juice.

That especially nasty flu season I'm thinking about was all over the country. In fact, in one major city, some hospitals had issued "bypass" warnings - bypass bringing any patients in here unless it's life-or-death. In another area, the hospital set up triage tents in the parking lot because their ER was so overrun with flu victims. Sounds familiar pandemic fans, huh?

Did I mention that flu was especially nasty? If someone in your family caught it, well, you could almost count on being next. Of course, that's the case with colds and lots of other contagious grungy too. Families are for sharing, right, including germs.

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

And it's not just flu germs that are for sharing. There are family germs that actually get passed from generation to generation. Moral viruses, character infections that somehow get transmitted from parent to child.

Sadly, the things that drove us crazy about our mom and dad - that maybe hurt us deeply - start popping up in us. Even though we said, "I will never be like that!" we are. And the sad part about family germs is that the infection that scars one generation passes down and scars another one.

A teenage guy complained to me one time about how he could do nine things right and one thing wrong, and his mother would just talk about the one, and she would criticize it. I asked him how his grandmother treated his mom. He had this dawning in his eyes. He said, "Wow! Like my mother treats me." Then he thought for a moment and he said, "Man, I think I'm starting to be the same way."

And so it goes. Control freaks beget control freaks. Negative produces negative, an angry parent - an angry child, who becomes an angry parent. Addictive behaviors, self-centeredness, a weakness for the opposite sex, self-pity, a wounding tongue - we hate it, and we do it.

That's not new. Even one of the writers of the Bible said: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do" (Romans 7:15). Who doesn't know that feeling? So much of the darkness is those family germs; actually, family sins. They're some of the toughest sins for us to see, and even tougher to change. In fact, if we could have changed, we would have changed by now.

That conflicted Bible writer concluded there was only one hope of a cure. He said, "Who will rescue me?" He couldn't save himself from himself. He knew it would take a rescuer. And he found it. He found Him. He said, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24)

So many of us trapped in the chains of our dark side have found a powerful game-changer from the Bible. It's our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Peter 1:18-19, "...you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers." Wow! The chain of sin and hurt can be broken by supernatural intervention. It goes on to say, "You were redeemed...with the precious blood of Christ."

The moral diseases handed down through generations can be cured. But only one way - a blood cure. But not our blood - Jesus' blood. Freely given when He died on the cross to pay for every sin of our life and to rob it of its power to poison our lives any longer or the lives of the people we love. Talk about hope! When you've got Jesus, you can face that infectious darkness and say, "It stops here!" And replace a legacy of hurt with hope.

When you belong to Jesus, things no longer have to be like they've always been. He's a Life-Changer. You want a relationship with Him that can do this? How He can change your life? Visit our website. It's ANewStory.com. Because when you get to Jesus' cross, there's hope there.

Deuteronomy 24 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Whoever - March 16, 2022

Whoever—God’s wonderful word of welcome. We lose much in life—jobs and chances, we lose at love. We lose youth and idealism. We lose much, but we never lose our place on God’s “whoever” list.

I love to hear my wife say “whoever.” Sometimes it’s my favorite fragrance wafting from the kitchen: strawberry cake! I follow the smell like a bird dog follows a trail. Yet I’ve learned to still my fork until Denalyn gives clearance. “Who’s it for?” I ask. She might say, “For a friend. Max, don’t touch it!” Or she might throw open the door of delight and say, “Whoever!” And since I qualify as a “whoever,” I say “yes.”

I hope you will too. Not to the cake, but to God. No status too low. No hour too late. No place too far. However. Whenever. Wherever. Whoever includes you…forever.

Deuteronomy 24

 If a man marries a woman and then it happens that he no longer likes her because he has found something wrong with her, he may give her divorce papers, put them in her hand, and send her off. After she leaves, if she becomes another man’s wife and he also comes to hate her and this second husband also gives her divorce papers, puts them in her hand, and sends her off, or if he should die, then the first husband who divorced her can’t marry her again. She has made herself ritually unclean, and her remarriage would be an abomination in the Presence of God and defile the land with sin, this land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.

5 When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army or be given any business or work duties. He gets one year off simply to be at home making his wife happy.

6 Don’t seize a handmill or an upper millstone as collateral for a loan. You’d be seizing someone’s very life.

7 If a man is caught kidnapping one of his kinsmen, someone of the People of Israel, to enslave or sell him, the kidnapper must die. Purge that evil from among you.

8-9 Warning! If a serious skin disease breaks out, follow exactly the rules set down by the Levitical priests. Follow them precisely as I commanded them. Don’t forget what God, your God, did to Miriam on your way out of Egypt.

10-13 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, don’t enter his house to claim his pledge. Wait outside. Let the man to whom you made the pledge bring the pledge to you outside. And if he is destitute, don’t use his cloak as a bedroll; return it to him at nightfall so that he can sleep in his cloak and bless you. In the sight of God, your God, that will be viewed as a righteous act.

14-15 Don’t abuse a laborer who is destitute and needy, whether he is a fellow Israelite or foreigner living in your land and in your city. Pay him at the end of each workday; he’s living from hand to mouth and needs it now. If you hold back his pay, he’ll protest to God and you’ll have sin on your books.

16 Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents. Each person shall be put to death for his own sin.

17-18 Make sure foreigners and orphans get their just rights. Don’t take the cloak of a widow as security for a loan. Don’t ever forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.

19-22 When you harvest your grain and forget a sheaf back in the field, don’t go back and get it; leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that God, your God, will bless you in all your work. When you shake the olives off your trees, don’t go back over the branches and strip them bare—what’s left is for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. And when you cut the grapes in your vineyard, don’t take every last grape—leave a few for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t ever forget that you were a slave in Egypt. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Today's Scripture
Ezra 4:1–5
,
24
(NIV)

The Building Stopped: Cease Rebuilding in That City

1–2     4 Old enemies of Judah and Ben-jamin heard that the exiles were building The Temple of the God of Israel. They came to Zerubbabel and the family heads and said, “We’ll help you build. We worship your God the same as you. We’ve been offering sacrifices to him since Esar-haddon king of Assyria brought us here.”

3     Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the family heads of Israel said to them, “Nothing doing. Building The Temple of our God is not the same thing to you as to us. We alone will build for the God of Israel. We’re the ones King Cyrus of Persia commanded to do it.”

4–5     So these people started beating down the morale of the people of Judah, harassing them as they built. They even hired propagandists to sap their resolve. They kept this up for about fifteen years, throughout the lifetime of Cyrus king of Persia and on into the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Dariusv king of Persia.

 
Insight

The books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are considered the “post-exilic” narratives of the Old Testament. The previous narratives found in the books of Kings and Chronicles described the conditions that led to the people of Judah being given over to the discipline of exile in Babylon. Now, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther pick up the story, describing the events following the conclusion of Judah’s seventy years in captivity. As such, they present three different pictures with three different priorities. In Ezra, the theme is the rebuilding of the broken-down temple that Nebuchadnezzar had left in ruins upon defeating and sacking Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s focus was reestablishing the security of the returning exiles by rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. The book of Esther gives a view of what was happening among those Jews who’d remained behind in the land of their captivity. Each book describes circumstances filled with challenges and struggles. By: Bill Crowder

Thanks, but No Thanks

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
2 Corinthians 6:14

A Christian school for autistic children in India received a big donation from a corporation. After checking that there were no strings attached, they accepted the money. But later, the corporation requested to be represented on the school board. The school director returned the money. She refused to allow the values of the school to be compromised. She said, “It’s more important to do God’s work in God’s way.”

There are many reasons to decline help, and this is one of them. In the Bible we see another. When the exiled Jews returned to Jerusalem, King Cyrus commissioned them to rebuild the temple (Ezra 3). When their neighbors said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God” (4:2), the leaders of Israel declined. They concluded that by accepting the offer of help, the integrity of the temple rebuilding project might have been compromised and idolatry could have crept into their community since their neighbors also worshiped idols. The Israelites made the right decision, as their “neighbors” then did all they could to discourage the building.

With the help of the Holy Spirit and the counsel of wise believers in Jesus, we can develop discernment. We can also be confident to say no to friendly offers that may hide subtle spiritual dangers because God’s work done in His way will never lack His provision. By:  Poh Fang Chia

Reflect & Pray

What are the dangers of joining hands with those who would bring a conflict of interest to God’s work? How can you develop discernment?

Loving Father, You know my need. Help me to be wise and discerning in knowing when to partner with others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 16, 2022

The Master Will Judge

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ… —2 Corinthians 5:10

Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.

“If we walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. Biblical Psychology, 199 R

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 28-29; Mark 14:54-72

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
D-Day's Battle Cry for Us - #9178

Most Americans weren't around on that D-Day of course. And even though we weren't, we should be very glad they succeeded when they hit those Normandy beaches. They stopped one of the most powerful threats to freedom in history. Of course it was Nazi Germany.

Steven Spielberg used his cinematic genius to help this generation get a little taste of what that victory cost. It was in the movie "Saving Private Ryan," and it carried a very strong "R" rating because there were brutal D-Day violence scenes it portrayed. I'll tell you this: Hollywood has no rating for how awful it really was.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "D-Day's Battle Cry For Us."

The heroism of the Allied troops who waded ashore that day just defies words. They knew what they were headed for. A beach laced with deadly landmines. Nazi sharpshooters and artillery on the sheer cliffs above them, positioned to just mow them down as they hit the beach.

But they still charged into the face of the enemy for a cause greater than themselves. They were some of the greatest of the Greatest Generation. In the words of President Reagan on an earlier D-Day anniversary, "We are all the children of their sacrifice."

But now, years later, I've been profoundly challenged in my personal faith by their sacrifice. Actually, in the words of a correspondent who watched those warriors charge the beach, he said, "Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the disregard of it."

That hits me personally. Because there have been so many times when fear has stopped me from doing the right thing, even the life-saving thing. That is the central mission of my faith; the one that caused Jesus to charge onto our "beach" to set us free. Knowing He would die brutally for that Cause. "Jesus, we are all the children of Your sacrifice."

His mission, He said, was to "seek and save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). Lost because we've defied the God who made us. We've become our own god, running the life He's supposed to run. In the Bible's words, "Each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6), leaving us with this awful eternal death sentence. Which Jesus shed His holy blood to pay so we wouldn't have to. I know that. But the people around me have no idea that what Jesus did on the cross was for them. This is life-or-death information! I've got it. They need to hear it.

Then why don't I tell them? Why do so many of my fellow Jesus-followers choke on this life-saving Good News? Fear of what they'll think of me, of them rejecting me, of me messing it up. Do you know all the fears have one thing in common? They're all about me. What will happen to me if I "go in for the rescue?"

Back to D-Day. "Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the disregard of it." Sure, you're afraid. But you refuse to let your fear decide what you will do. Because of what's at stake. The greater Cause - someone's eternity. That's what I should be afraid of. What's going to happen to them if I don't risk to rescue them, if I let my fear decide what I do. God underscores how urgent our mission is when He says in Jude 23, "Snatch others from the fire and save them."

Even the heroic Apostle Paul had battles with fear, believe it or not. It's in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 2, beginning with verse 2. "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and with much trembling." This is the great Apostle Paul. "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with the demonstration of the Spirit's power."

See, he didn't let his fear decide, even though he was afraid. He still told them about Jesus Christ and Him crucified, because spiritual rescue wasn't about him. It's not about me. It's a demonstration of the Spirit's power. Hallelujah! I don't go in alone! The Hero of eternity's D-Day at the cross goes in with me.

Deuteronomy 23 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Measure Yourself by the Cross - March 15, 2022

Do a simple exercise with me. Measure your life against just these four standards from the Ten Commandments. “You must not steal.” Have you ever stolen anything? A paper clip? A parking space? You thief. “You must not lie.” Those who say they haven’t just did. “You must not commit adultery.” Jesus said if you look at a woman with lust, you’ve committed adultery in your heart (Matthew 5:28 NIV). “You must not murder.” Before you claim innocence, Jesus said, “Anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder” (Matthew 5:22 MSG).

Jesus made his position clear. “Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14 NCV). So where does that leave us? Well it leaves us drawing hope from 1 Corinthians 15:3: Christ died for our sins. In place of, on behalf of! So don’t measure yourself by keeping commandments. Measure yourself by the cross.

Deuteronomy 23

No eunuch is to enter the congregation of God.

2 No bastard is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children.

3-6 No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children, ever. Those nations didn’t treat you with hospitality on your travels out of Egypt, and on top of that they also hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you. God, your God, refused to listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing—how God, your God, loves you! Don’t even try to get along with them or do anything for them, ever.

7 But don’t spurn an Edomite; he’s your kin.

And don’t spurn an Egyptian; you were a foreigner in his land.

8 Children born to Edomites and Egyptians may enter the congregation of God in the third generation.

* * *

9-11 When you are camped out, at war with your enemies, be careful to keep yourself from anything ritually defiling. If one of your men has become ritually unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must go outside the camp and stay there until evening when he can wash himself, returning to the camp at sunset.

12-14 Mark out an area outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourselves. Along with your weapons have a stick with you. After you relieve yourself, dig a hole with the stick and cover your excrement. God, your God, strolls through your camp; he’s present to deliver you and give you victory over your enemies. Keep your camp holy; don’t permit anything indecent or offensive in God’s eyes.

* * *

15-16 Don’t return a runaway slave to his master; he’s come to you for refuge. Let him live wherever he wishes within the protective gates of your city. Don’t take advantage of him.

17-18 No daughter of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute; and no son of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute. And don’t bring the fee of a sacred whore or the earnings of a priest-pimp to the house of God, your God, to pay for any vow—they are both an abomination to God, your God.

19-20 Don’t charge interest to your kinsmen on any loan: not for money or food or clothing or anything else that could earn interest. You may charge foreigners interest, but you may not charge your brothers interest; that way God, your God, will bless all the work that you take up and the land that you are entering to possess.

21-23 When you make a vow to God, your God, don’t put off keeping it; God, your God, expects you to keep it and if you don’t you’re guilty. But if you don’t make a vow in the first place, there’s no sin. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Keep the vow you willingly vowed to God, your God. You promised it, so do it.

24-25 When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want until you’re full, but you may not put any in your bucket or bag. And when you walk through the ripe grain of your neighbor, you may pick the heads of grain, but you may not swing your sickle there.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Today's Scripture
Matthew 5:13–16
(NIV)

Salt and Light

13     “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

14–16     “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

Insight

In the ancient world, with no refrigeration, salt’s most common use was to preserve food and keep it from spoiling. When Jesus said His followers were “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), He was calling them to stand as obstacles to the inevitable corruption in society.

Salt in Jesus’ day was often impure—coming from salt marshes where many impurities corrupted the important mineral. When those impurities dominated the salt used in preservation, the salt failed to do its job and the meat would spoil. Jesus’ challenge to His listeners was to avoid the very impurities they were tasked with preventing in the world around them.

Christ’s description of His faithful followers in the Sermon on the Mount challenges even believers today to live counter–culturally, staving off corruption in the world and living a life of purity and faith.

No Formula Needed

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16

When Jen was young, her well-intentioned Sunday school teacher instructed the class in evangelism training, which included memorizing a series of verses and a formula for sharing the gospel. She and a friend nervously tried this out on another friend, fearful they’d forget an important verse or step. Jen doesn’t “remember if the evening ended in conversion [but guesses] it did not.” The approach seemed to be more about the formula than the person.

Now, years later, Jen and her husband are modeling for their own children a love for God and sharing their faith in a more inviting way. They understand the importance of teaching their children about God, the Bible, and a personal relationship with Jesus, but they’re doing so through a living, daily example of a love for God and the Scriptures. They’re demonstrating what it means to be the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:14) and to reach out to others through kindness and hospitable words. Jen says, “We cannot impart words of life to others if we don’t possess them ourselves.” As she and her husband show kindness in their own lifestyle, they’re preparing their children “to invite others into their faith.”

We don’t need a formula to lead others to Jesus—what matters most is that a love for God compels and shines through us. As we live in and share His love, God draws others to know Him too. By:  Alyson Kieda

Reflect & Pray

How have you shared the good news with another? What was the result? What are some other ways you could share about Jesus?

Dear God, I want others to experience the loving relationship I have with You. Help me in my walk and talk to draw others to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 15, 2022

The Discipline of Dismay

As they followed they were afraid. —Mark 10:32

At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. But now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar— “Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed” (Mark 10:32).

There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple’s heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set “like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and I can no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant.

Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings could experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don’t know Him. We don’t recognize even one characteristic of His life, and we don’t know how to begin to follow Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him.

The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 50:10-11). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

No one could have had a more sensitive love in human relationship than Jesus; and yet He says there are times when love to father and mother must be hatred in comparison to our love for Him.   So Send I You, 1301 L

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 26-27; Mark 14:27-53

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 15, 2022

The Day After The End of The World - #9177

They call it the Mayan prophecy. Yeah, it was a few years ago. If people had been right about it, you wouldn't be listening to me right now. It was December 21, 2012. Yeah, they said years ago that was the day everybody was talking about as the predicted "end of the world." I'm guessing it didn't happen.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Day After the End of the World."

What was amazing was that a prophecy supposedly made by an ancient Indian tribe centuries ago (and actually a lot of scholars claim there was not even such a prediction), but it was taken so seriously by so many people. It was all over social media; people all over the place were talking about it. It was even all the buzz at our grandson's middle school.

This fascination with the end of the world - that's not anything new. History's full of dates, come and gone, set by would-be doomsday prophets. Good thing we're not living in Old Testament times. One wrong prediction proved you were a false prophet, and you got stoned to death.

There seems to be this strange sense, somewhere in our soul, that this world has an expiration date. And that sense is right. Because one day - on the day and in the way of God's choosing - the world as we know it will be done. God - the One who rules the future - says this in His book, "The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar...and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare....That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat" (2 Peter 3:10-12). Wow!

So, yes, one day this world as we know it will end. But you won't. No matter how or when this world ends. What matters for us is not when the planet's time runs out; it's when our time runs out. We're created in God's image, so we're creatures of eternity. Oh, our bodies are made to wear out (let's face it, they give us plenty of reminders of that!) - but our souls...oh, they're made to go on forever.

Whatever guesses people may float about what happens to our souls, only God knows. And in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, He says it's one of two destinations. One where, "He will be glorified in His holy people...and marveled at among all those who believed." And the other is where people will be "shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power."

See, the destination isn't decided then. No, it's decided now, based on what we do with God's Son, Jesus, because of what He did for us. When He, according to the Bible, "carried our sins in His body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). God says, "Nothing impure will ever enter" heaven (Revelation 21:27). So we can't go there with our sins of a lifetime. And only Jesus can forgive them, because only Jesus died for them.

The Bible says, "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." You know, at Christmas time, if you leave someone's Christmas gift unopened under the tree, don't blame them if you never get to enjoy it. They paid the price for it. You've got to reach out and make that gift yours. That's Just like what Jesus did for us on the cross. He paid the price, the awful price. See, we deserve the hell - the penalty for our sin. But you've got to reach out and make His gift yours.

End of the world? Not such a big deal. End of my time in this world? A very big deal. Next stop - appointment with Almighty God. There's nothing to fear about the end of life - about meeting God there - when you know every sin of your life has been forgiven by the One who died for them - His Son, Jesus.

You could get that settled even today. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours. I'm pinning all my hopes on You." Go to our website and get the whole story. In fact, it's called ANewStory.com. You'll be ready for eternity whenever and however it comes.

Luke 6:1-26 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The Only One and Only - March 14, 2022

Jesus invites, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest…let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28).

Do yourself a favor. Underscore, underline, and accept this invitation. Jesus says let me teach you how to handle long Mondays and cranky in-laws. Let me teach you why people fight and death comes and forgiveness counts. We need answers. Jesus offers them.

But can we trust him? Only one way to know. Seek him out. Lift up your eyes, set your sights on Jesus. No passing glances or occasional glimpses. Search the crowded streets and shadow-casting roofs until you spot his face, then set your sights on him. You’ll find the only One and Only!

Luke 6:1-26

In Charge of the Sabbath

On a certain Sabbath Jesus was walking through a field of ripe grain. His disciples were pulling off heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands to get rid of the chaff, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing that, breaking a Sabbath rule?”

3-4 But Jesus stood up for them. “Have you never read what David and those with him did when they were hungry? How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? He also handed it out to his companions.”

5 Then he said, “The Son of Man is no slave to the Sabbath; he’s in charge.”

6-8 On another Sabbath he went to the meeting place and taught. There was a man there with a crippled right hand. The religion scholars and Pharisees had their eyes on Jesus to see if he would heal the man, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath violation. He knew what they were up to and spoke to the man with the crippled hand: “Get up and stand here before us.” He did.

9 Then Jesus addressed them, “Let me ask you something: What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?”

10-11 He looked around, looked each one in the eye. He said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” He held it out—it was as good as new! They were beside themselves with anger, and started plotting how they might get even with him.
The Twelve Apostles

12-16 At about that same time he climbed a mountain to pray. He was there all night in prayer before God. The next day he summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles:

Simon, whom he named Peter,

Andrew, his brother,

James,

John,

Philip,

Bartholomew,

Matthew,

Thomas,

James, son of Alphaeus,

Simon, called the Zealot,

Judas, son of James,

Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
You’re Blessed

17-21 Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke:

You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.
God’s kingdom is there for the finding.

You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.

You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.

22-23 “Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don’t like it, I do?.?.?.?and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.
Give Away Your Life

24
But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
What you have is all you’ll ever get.

25
And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.
Your self will not satisfy you for long.

And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games.
There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.

26 “There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, March 14, 2022

Today's Scripture
Micah 6:1–8
(NIV)

What God Is Looking For

1–2     6 Listen now, listen to God:

“Take your stand in court.

If you have a complaint, tell the mountains;

make your case to the hills.

And now, Mountains, hear God’s case;

listen, Jury Earth—

For I am bringing charges against my people.

I am building a case against Israel.

3–5     “Dear people, how have I done you wrong?

Have I burdened you, worn you out? Answer!

I delivered you from a bad life in Egypt;

I paid a good price to get you out of slavery.

I sent Moses to lead you—

and Aaron and Miriam to boot!

Remember what Balak king of Moab tried to pull,

and how Balaam son of Beor turned the tables on him.

Remember all those stories about Shittim and Gilgal.

Keep all God’s salvation stories fresh and present.”

6–7     How can I stand up before God

and show proper respect to the high God?

Should I bring an armload of offerings

topped off with yearling calves?

Would God be impressed with thousands of rams,

with buckets and barrels of olive oil?

Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child,

my precious baby, to cancel my sin?

8     But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,

what God is looking for in men and women.

It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,

be compassionate and loyal in your love,

And don’t take yourself too seriously—

take God seriously.

Insight

God used Micah to challenge those who were robust in their religious expressions but deficient in righteousness and justice in day-to-day life. Jesus also rebuked the proponents of hollow religion in His day. His rebuke of the religious leaders just days before He was crucified included the words found in Matthew 23:23. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” Christ’s words echoed those of Micah 6:8 and Micah’s contemporary Isaiah found in Isaiah 1:12–17. Justice matters to Jesus. By: Arthur Jackson

Justice and Jesus

What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

Caesar Augustus (63 bc–ad 14), the first emperor of Rome, wanted to be known as a law-and-order ruler. Even though he built his empire on the back of slave labor, military conquest, and financial bribery, he restored a measure of legal due process and gave his citizens Iustitia, a goddess our justice system today refers to as Lady Justice. He also called for a census that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for the birth of a long-awaited ruler whose greatness would reach to the ends of the earth (Micah 5:2–4).   

What neither Augustus nor the rest of the world could have anticipated is how a far greater King would live and die to show what real justice looks like. Centuries earlier, in the prophet Micah’s day, the people of God had once again lapsed into a culture of lies, violence, and “ill-gotten treasures” (6:10–12). God’s dearly loved nation had lost sight of Him. He longed for them to show their world what it meant to do right by each other and walk humbly with Him (v. 8).

It took a Servant King to personify the kind of justice that hurting, forgotten, and helpless people long for. It took the fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy in Jesus to see right relationships established between God and people, and person-to-person. This would come not in the outward enforcement of Caesar-like law-and-order, but in the freedom of the mercy, goodness, and spirit of our servant King Jesus. By:  Mart DeHaan

Reflect & Pray

What does it mean to you to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God? How do you see this lived out in the life of Jesus?

Father, in the name of Jesus, please help me do right by others and everyone You bring into my life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 14, 2022
Yielding

…you are that one’s slaves whom you obey… —Romans 6:16

The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.

If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “…He has anointed Me…to proclaim liberty to the captives…” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).

When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

It is impossible to read too much, but always keep before you why you read. Remember that “the need to receive, recognize, and rely on the Holy Spirit” is before all else. Approved Unto God, 11 L

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 23-25; Mark 14:1-26

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 14, 2022
How to Get the Rest of the Story - #9176

Paul Harvey was probably one of the most distinctive voices in American radio. His lively newscasts and his unique delivery gave him a special niche in the lives of millions of listeners. But he did more than news. He is also known for the true stories that he told, often from American history. But he didn't let you know what the surprising subject of the story was until the end. There's a trademark phrase that accompanied Paul Harvey's great stories. He concluded it this way: "And that's the rest of the story."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Get the Rest of the Story."

You didn't really have the whole picture until Paul Harvey gave you the real story; the rest of the story. There are so many times in our lives when we have decisions to make and we wish we had the rest of the story - like the whole picture. Every day we have to make choices based on what we can see, knowing that there's so much we don't know and so much we don't see.

But there's someone who knows the rest of the story, and who's willing and able to guide you in your decisions. He's promised it in James 1:5, our word for today from the Word of God. God says, "If any of you lacks wisdom (man, that's me many times a day!) he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given him." What an awesome promise from God, that if I go to Him in faith, asking for His wisdom regarding this person or this situation, or this decision, I can download God's perspective and He knows the whole story!

Solomon really models for us the way to be much smarter than we are. In 1 Kings 3, he has just become the king of Israel, following in the gigantic footsteps of his father, King David. His subjects have no idea how scared he feels; how inadequate he feels... much like we often do as parents, or leaders, as a people helper, as a teacher.

So Solomon goes to God, who has all the answers, all the resources he doesn't have. Solomon says: "Now, O Lord my God, You have made your servant king... But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people You have chosen... So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong" (1 Kings 3:7-9). The Bible goes on to say that God made Solomon the wisest man of his time; a leader who was sought by other leaders who traveled many, many miles to see him.

Here's what Solomon shows us as the steps to getting God's wisdom. First, you humbly admit your ignorance and your powerlessness even if you're number one where you are. Secondly, you acknowledge, as Solomon did, that everything and everyone in this situation is God's. "I'm Your servant," He said, "these are "Your people." Thirdly, desperately seek His wisdom. When you do, God will give you breakthrough insight into that situation, into that person. He will add to what you know all He knows and guide your heart to wise, "no regrets" conclusions.

But you have to, as James says, "ask God." We're so often entangled, trying to figure things out; we're so overwhelmed by trying to decide, we neglect to go to God humbly for His wisdom. He's promised He'll give it if we ask in faith, believing He will give it to you.

What a gift from God - His wisdom, the God given ability to look at a person or a situation through His all-knowing eyes. Is it any wonder that Solomon said, "Though it cost you all you have, get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7).

Deuteronomy 22 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  Jesus Chose the Nails

God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, cannot be read. The words can't be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins are hidden. Those at the top are hidden by His hand; those down the list are covered by His blood. Your sins are blotted out by Jesus. The Bible says He has forgiven you all your sins. He has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross.
He knew the source of those sins was you, and since He couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you, Jesus Himself chose the nails. The hand is the hand of God. The nail is the nail of God. And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you!
From He Chose the Nails

Deuteronomy 22

If you see your kinsman’s ox or sheep wandering off loose, don’t look the other way as if you didn’t see it. Return it promptly. If your fellow Israelite is not close by or you don’t know whose it is, take the animal home with you and take care of it until your fellow asks about it. Then return it to him. Do the same if it’s his donkey or a piece of clothing or anything else your fellow Israelite loses. Don’t look the other way as if you didn’t see it.

4 If you see your fellow’s donkey or ox injured along the road, don’t look the other way. Help him get it up and on its way.

5 A woman must not wear a man’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing. This kind of thing is an abomination to God, your God.

6-7 When you come across a bird’s nest alongside the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, don’t take the mother with the young. You may take the babies, but let the mother go so that you will live a good and long life.

8 When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof to make it safe so that someone doesn’t fall off and die and your family become responsible for the death.

9 Don’t plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard. If you do, you will forfeit what you’ve sown, the total production of the vineyard.

10 Don’t plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

11 Don’t wear clothes of mixed fabrics, wool and linen together.

12 Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you use to cover yourself.

13-19 If a man marries a woman, sleeps with her, and then turns on her, calling her loose, giving her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I slept with her I discovered she wasn’t a virgin,” then the father and mother of the girl are to take her with the proof of her virginity to the town leaders at the gate. The father is to tell the leaders, “I gave my daughter to this man as wife and he turned on her, rejecting her. And now he has slanderously accused her, claiming that she wasn’t a virgin. But look at this, here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” And then he is to spread out her bloodstained wedding garment before the leaders for their examination. The town leaders then are to take the husband, whip him, fine him a hundred pieces of silver, and give it to the father of the girl. The man gave a virgin girl of Israel a bad name. He has to keep her as his wife and can never divorce her.

20-21 But if it turns out that the accusation is true and there is no evidence of the girl’s virginity, the men of the town are to take her to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death. She acted disgracefully in Israel. She lived like a whore while still in her parents’ home. Purge the evil from among you.

22 If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both must die. Purge that evil from Israel.

23-24 If a man comes upon a virgin in town, a girl who is engaged to another man, and sleeps with her, take both of them to the town gate and stone them until they die—the girl because she didn’t yell out for help in the town and the man because he raped her, violating the fiancée of his neighbor. You must purge the evil from among you.

25-27 But if it was out in the country that the man found the engaged girl and grabbed and raped her, only the man is to die, the man who raped her. Don’t do anything to the girl; she did nothing wrong. This is similar to the case of a man who comes across his neighbor out in the country and murders him; when the engaged girl yelled out for help, there was no one around to hear or help her.

28-29 When a man comes upon a virgin who has never been engaged and grabs and rapes her and they are found out, the man who raped her has to give her father fifty pieces of silver. He has to marry her because he took advantage of her. And he can never divorce her.

30 A man may not marry his father’s ex-wife—that would violate his father’s rights.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, March 13, 2022

Today's Scripture
Colossians 3:12–15
(NIV)

You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13*Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. 14And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. 15The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful.

Insight

Nearly every epistle in the Bible mentions that we who believe in Jesus were “chosen” or “called” by God. Some people believe that if God does the choosing, we have no role to play. Yet the apostles dedicated their lives to sharing the good news of Jesus with the world. They knew that our privileged position brings a tremendous obligation.

A crucial way we share this good news is by living a different kind of life. In Colossians 3:5–9, Paul wrote about the things we must get rid of: sexual impurity, rage, malice, slander, lying, and the like (Colossians 3:5–9). Now, as God’s “chosen people” (v. 12), we’re to “clothe” ourselves in a completely different lifestyle—one marked by Christlike qualities. When we react to life’s irritations and injustices with the grace and peace of the Spirit of Jesus, the world will see the difference. By: Tim Gustafson

Warts and All

Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13

Oliver Cromwell, known as the “Protector of England,” was a military commander in the seventeenth century. It was common practice during those days for people of importance to have their portraits painted. And it wasn’t unusual for an artist to avoid depicting the less attractive aspects of a person’s face. Cromwell, however, wanted nothing to do with a likeness that would flatter him. He cautioned the artist, “You must paint me just as I am—warts and all—or I won’t pay you.”

Apparently, the artist complied. The finished portrait of Cromwell displays a couple of prominent facial warts that in the present day would surely be filtered or airbrushed before being posted on social media.

The expression “warts and all” has come to mean that people should be accepted just as they are—with all their annoying faults, attitudes, and issues. In some cases, we feel that’s too difficult a task. Yet, when we take a hard inward look, we might find some pretty unattractive aspects of our own character.

We’re grateful that God forgives our “warts.” And in Colossians 3, we’re taught to extend grace to others. The apostle Paul encourages us to be more patient, kind, and compassionate—even to those who aren’t easy to love. He urges us to have a forgiving spirit because of the way God forgives us (vv. 12–13). By His example, we’re taught to love others the way God loves us—warts and all. By:  Cindy Hess Kasper

Reflect & Pray

What faults do you find in others that are hard to accept or forgive? How can you follow God’s example in the way you interact with others?

Loving God, show me my shortcomings or flaws that detract from letting others know who You are. Help me to be more patient and to love and forgive as You do.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, March 13, 2022

God’s Total Surrender to Us

For God so loved the world that He gave… —John 3:16

Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself.

To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us.

If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us— totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them.
The Place of Help

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 20-22; Mark 13:21-37

Deuteronomy 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Voices in our Head

Voices of 'failure' in our world.  Voices of 'not good enough' in our head. Who is this morality patrolman who issues a citation at every stumble?  Does he ever shut up?   No. Because Satan never shuts up!
Revelation 12:9-10 says, "For the Accuser has been thrown down to earth, the one who accused our brothers and sisters before God day and night."
Satan is relentless, tireless.  The Accuser makes a career out of accusing. But he will not have the last word.  Jesus has acted on our behalf.  He stooped…low enough to be spat upon, nailed, and speared.  Low…low enough to be buried. And then he stood…he stood up!
Romans 8:34 promises that Christ is in the presence of God at this very moment standing up for us. We have a clean record. It's by his grace!
From GRACE

Deuteronomy 21

If a dead body is found on the ground, this ground that God, your God, has given you, lying out in the open, and no one knows who killed him, your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the body to the nearest cities. The leaders and judges of the city that is nearest the corpse will then take a heifer that has never been used for work, never had a yoke on it. The leaders will take the heifer to a valley with a stream, a valley that has never been plowed or planted, and there break the neck of the heifer. The Levitical priests will then step up. God has chosen them to serve him in these matters by settling legal disputes and violent crimes and by pronouncing blessings in God’s name. Finally, all the leaders of that town that is nearest the body will wash their hands over the heifer that had its neck broken at the stream and say, “We didn’t kill this man and we didn’t see who did it. Purify your people Israel whom you redeemed, O God. Clear your people Israel from any guilt in this murder.”

8-9 That will clear them from any responsibility in the murder. By following these procedures you will have absolved yourselves of any part in the murder because you will have done what is right in God’s sight.

* * *

10-14 When you go to war against your enemies and God, your God, gives you victory and you take prisoners, and then you notice among the prisoners of war a good-looking woman whom you find attractive and would like to marry, this is what you do: Take her home; have her trim her hair, cut her nails, and discard the clothes she was wearing when captured. She is then to stay in your home for a full month, mourning her father and mother. Then you may go to bed with her as husband and wife. If it turns out you don’t like her, you must let her go and live wherever she wishes. But you can’t sell her or use her as a slave since you’ve humiliated her.

* * *

15-17 When a man has two wives, one loved and the other hated, and they both give him sons, but the firstborn is from the hated wife, at the time he divides the inheritance with his sons he must not treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, cutting out the son of the hated wife, who is the actual firstborn. No, he must acknowledge the inheritance rights of the real firstborn, the son of the hated wife, by giving him a double share of the inheritance: that son is the first proof of his virility; the rights of the firstborn belong to him.

* * *

18-20 When a man has a stubborn son, a real rebel who won’t do a thing his mother and father tell him, and even though they discipline him he still won’t obey, his father and mother shall forcibly bring him before the leaders at the city gate and say to the city fathers, “This son of ours is a stubborn rebel; he won’t listen to a thing we say. He’s a glutton and a drunk.”

21 Then all the men of the town are to throw rocks at him until he’s dead. You will have purged the evil pollution from among you. All Israel will hear what’s happened and be in awe.

* * *

22-23 When a man has committed a capital crime, been given the death sentence, executed and hung from a tree, don’t leave his dead body hanging overnight from the tree. Give him a decent burial that same day so that you don’t desecrate your God-given land—a hanged man is an insult to God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, March 12, 2022

Today's Scripture
Zephaniah 3:9–17
(NIV)

God Is in Charge at the Center

9–13     “In the end I will turn things around for the people.

I’ll give them a language undistorted, unpolluted,

Words to address God in worship

and, united, to serve me with their shoulders to the wheel.

They’ll come from beyond the Ethiopian rivers,

they’ll come praying—

All my scattered, exiled people

will come home with offerings for worship.

You’ll no longer have to be ashamed

of all those acts of rebellion.

I’ll have gotten rid of your arrogant leaders.

No more pious strutting on my holy hill!

I’ll leave a core of people among you

who are poor in spirit—

What’s left of Israel that’s really Israel.

They’ll make their home in God.

This core holy people

will not do wrong.

They won’t lie,

won’t use words to flatter or seduce.

Content with who they are and where they are,

unanxious, they’ll live at peace.”

14–15     So sing, Daughter Zion!

Raise the rafters, Israel!

Daughter Jerusalem,

be happy! celebrate!

God has reversed his judgments against you

and sent your enemies off chasing their tails.

From now on, God is Israel’s king,

in charge at the center.

There’s nothing to fear from evil

ever again!

God Is Present Among You

16–17     Jerusalem will be told:

“Don’t be afraid.

Dear Zion,

don’t despair.

Your God is present among you,

a strong Warrior there to save you.

Happy to have you back, he’ll calm you with his love

and delight you with his songs.

Insight

Zephaniah 1:1 is unusual because it provides a more extended biographical background than we normally find in the Old Testament prophets. It says, “The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.” Two things are noteworthy here. First, Zephaniah was a direct descendant of one of Judah’s greatest kings—Hezekiah—giving him royal heritage. Second, Zephaniah ministered during the reign of Josiah, who, in his sweeping religious reforms, reinstituted the feast of Passover. By: Bill Crowder

Love Song

He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

It’s a quiet riverside park on a Saturday afternoon. Joggers pass by, fishing rods whirl, seagulls fight over fish and chip wrappers, and my wife and I sit watching the couple. They are maybe in their late forties and are speaking a language unknown to us. She sits gazing into his eyes while he, without a hint of self-consciousness, sings to her a love song in his own tongue, carried on the breeze for us all to hear.

This delightful act got me thinking about the book of Zephaniah. At first you might wonder why. In Zephaniah’s day, God’s people had become corrupt by bowing to false gods (1:4–5), and Israel’s prophets and priests were now arrogant and profane (3:4). For much of the book, Zephaniah declares God’s coming judgment on not just Israel but all the nations of the earth (v. 8).

Yet Zephaniah foresees something else. Out of that dark day will emerge a people who wholeheartedly love God (vv. 9–13). To these people God will be like a bridegroom who delights in His beloved: “In his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (v. 17).

Creator, Father, Warrior, Judge. Scripture uses many titles for God. But how many of us see God as a Singer with a love song for us on His lips?

By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray

How do you normally picture God—as Creator, Father, Warrior, or something else? How might your life change if you were to think of God as Lover, and yourself as His beloved?

Great Singer, I delight in Your singing over me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, March 12, 2022

Total Surrender

Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." —Mark 10:28

Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this surrender is “for My sake and the gospel’s” (Mark 10:29). It was not for the purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For example, “I’m going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” Being delivered from sin and being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don’t want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your showcase so I can say, ‘This is what God has done for me.’ ” Gaining heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender. Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.

Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse— “Yes, Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ‘cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).

True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.

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: Deuteronomy 17-19; Mark 13:1-20