Psalm 103, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: He Will Heal You

Are you waiting for Jesus to heal you?  Take hope from Jesus' response to the blind man in Mark 10:45-47.

"Have mercy on us, O Lord!" the blind man cried. Everyone else kept going. Jesus froze. Something caught his attention. Interrupted his journey. Raising his hand to stop the people, lifting a finger to his lips for them to be quiet. What was it? What did Jesus hear?

A prayer. An unembellished appeal for help floating on winds of faith and landing against his ear. Jesus heard the words and stopped. He still does. And he still asks, "What do you want Me to do for you?"

Before amen-comes the power of a simple prayer! And Jesus' heart went out to the blind men. He touched their eyes. Jesus moved in where others had stepped away. He healed them. At the gateway to heaven, God's children will once again be whole!

From Before Amen

Psalm 103

 O my soul, bless God.

    From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name!

O my soul, bless God,

    don’t forget a single blessing!

3-5     He forgives your sins—every one.

    He heals your diseases—every one.

    He redeems you from hell—saves your life!

    He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.

    He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.

    He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.

6-18 God makes everything come out right;

    he puts victims back on their feet.

He showed Moses how he went about his work,

    opened up his plans to all Israel.

God is sheer mercy and grace;

    not easily angered, he’s rich in love.

He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold,

    nor hold grudges forever.

He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve,

    nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.

As high as heaven is over the earth,

    so strong is his love to those who fear him.

And as far as sunrise is from sunset,

    he has separated us from our sins.

As parents feel for their children,

    God feels for those who fear him.

He knows us inside and out,

    keeps in mind that we’re made of mud.

Men and women don’t live very long;

    like wildflowers they spring up and blossom,

But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly,

    leaving nothing to show they were here.

God’s love, though, is ever and always,

    eternally present to all who fear him,

Making everything right for them and their children

    as they follow his Covenant ways

    and remember to do whatever he said.

19-22 God has set his throne in heaven;

    he rules over us all. He’s the King!

So bless God, you angels,

    ready and able to fly at his bidding,

    quick to hear and do what he says.

Bless God, all you armies of angels,

    alert to respond to whatever he wills.

Bless God, all creatures, wherever you are—

    everything and everyone made by God.

And you, O my soul, bless God!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Today's Scripture Colossians 3:12–17

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

Insight

In Colossians 3, Paul reminded his readers of their status as a people chosen by God (v. 12). Because we’re chosen, we have certain obligations that are relational in nature. Since we have a reconciled relationship to God, to whom we were once enemies (1:21), we’re to be in healthy relationship to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, Paul instructed us to put on the virtues listed as we would put on literal garments (3:12–14). The characteristics he shared are critical to establishing and maintaining healthy relationships. Our restored relationship to God should lead us to extend compassion, kindness, and patience to our fellow believers. This, however, means that we’ll necessarily need to “bear with each other” when conflicts and misunderstandings arise (v. 13). We can’t put on these virtues without love, “which binds them all together in perfect unity” (v. 14). By: Tim Gustafson

Small Kindnesses

Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

Amanda works as a visiting nurse who rotates among several nursing homes—often bringing her eleven-year-old daughter Ruby to work. For something to do, Ruby began asking residents, “If you could have any three things, what would you want?” and recording their answers in her notebook. Surprisingly, many of their wishes were for little things—Vienna sausages, chocolate pie, cheese, avocados. So Ruby set up a GoFundMe to help her provide for their simple wishes. And when she delivers the goodies, she doles out hugs. She says, “It lifts you. It really does.” 

When we show compassion and kindness like Ruby’s, we reflect our God who “is gracious and compassionate . . . and rich in love” (Psalm 145:8). That’s why the apostle Paul urged us, as God’s people, to “clothe [our]selves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). Because God has shown great compassion to us, we naturally long to share His compassion with others. And as we do so intentionally, we “clothe” ourselves in it.

Paul goes on to tell us: “over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (v. 14). And he reminds us that we are to “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (v. 17), remembering that all good things come from God. When we’re kind to others, our spirits are lifted.

By:  Alyson Kieda

Reflect & Pray

When have you been the benefactor of someone’s kindness? How can you show kindness to another?

Jesus, thank You for showing me overflowing, unlimited kindness. Help me to find joy in doing kind acts for others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Faith or Experience?

…the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. —Galatians 2:20

We should battle through our moods, feelings, and emotions into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus. We must break out of our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we exhibit by saying, “I haven’t had this experience or that experience”! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims and provides— He can present us faultless before the throne of God, inexpressibly pure, absolutely righteous, and profoundly justified. Stand in absolute adoring faith “in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” (1 Corinthians 1:30). How dare we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices!

We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus Christ— not a “prayer meeting” Jesus Christ, or a “book” Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be built on strong determined confidence in Him.

It is because of our trusting in experience that we see the steadfast impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by refusing to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure. The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R

Bible in a Year: Lamentations 1-2; Hebrews 10:1-18

Psalm 101, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  Your God-Given Prayer Strength

Before you say amen-comes the power of a simple prayer! A prayer that says, "Father I need your power in my life. I face impossible circumstances and am desperate for a miracle. Would you show me your power in my life today? God, for those who have a small view of you, help them to find comfort in the knowledge of how mighty and enormous you actually are. Thank you for sending your Son. It's in the all-powerful name of Jesus that I pray, amen."

Here's my invitation to you today! Release that prayer wimp self-image you have and discover confidence in your God-given prayer strength. Sign on at BeforeAmen.com-take the brief Prayer Strengths Assessment. It'll not only encourage you-it'll give you a simple building block for your growth in prayer!

Before Amen

Psalm 101

My theme song is God’s love and justice,

    and I’m singing it right to you, God.

I’m finding my way down the road of right living,

    but how long before you show up?

I’m doing the very best I can,

    and I’m doing it at home, where it counts.

I refuse to take a second look

    at corrupting people and degrading things.

I reject made-in-Canaan gods,

    stay clear of contamination.

The crooked in heart keep their distance;

    I refuse to shake hands with those who plan evil.

I put a gag on the gossip

    who bad-mouths his neighbor;

I can’t stand

    arrogance.

But I have my eye on salt-of-the-earth people—

    they’re the ones I want working with me;

Men and women on the straight and narrow—

    these are the ones I want at my side.

But no one who traffics in lies

    gets a job with me; I have no patience with liars.

I’ve rounded up all the wicked like cattle

    and herded them right out of the country.

I purged God’s city

    of all who make a business of evil.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Today's Scripture

Genesis 45:3–11

 Joseph spoke to his brothers: “I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?” But his brothers couldn’t say a word. They were speechless—they couldn’t believe what they were hearing and seeing.

4-8 “Come closer to me,” Joseph said to his brothers. They came closer. “I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But don’t feel badly, don’t blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives. There has been a famine in the land now for two years; the famine will continue for five more years—neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me on ahead to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance. So you see, it wasn’t you who sent me here but God. He set me in place as a father to Pharaoh, put me in charge of his personal affairs, and made me ruler of all Egypt.

9-11 “Hurry back to my father. Tell him, ‘Your son Joseph says: I’m master of all of Egypt. Come as fast as you can and join me here. I’ll give you a place to live in Goshen where you’ll be close to me—you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and anything else you can think of. I’ll take care of you there completely. There are still five more years of famine ahead; I’ll make sure all your needs are taken care of, you and everyone connected with you—you won’t want for a thing.’

Insight

Joseph was betrayed by his jealous brothers, sold into slavery, unjustly imprisoned, and forgotten by the people he helped. But God was with him and made him the second most powerful man in Egypt (Genesis 41:39–40; Acts 7:9–10). When reconciling with his estranged brothers, Joseph acknowledged God’s sovereign plans in his life (Genesis 45:5–7). He later affirmed again that God ultimately overrules human sin for His glory and our good (50:20). The apostle Paul also acknowledged God’s sovereignty: “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). By: K. T. Sim

Both Are True

It was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 

Genesis 45:5

After three decades, Feng Lulu was reunited with her birth family. As a toddler, she was kidnapped while playing outside her house, but through the help of All-China Women’s Federation, she was finally located. Because she was so young when she was abducted, Feng Lulu doesn’t remember it. She grew up believing she’d been sold because her parents couldn’t afford to keep her, so learning the truth surfaced many questions and emotions.

When Joseph was reunited with his brothers, it’s likely he experienced some complex emotions. He’d been sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt as a young man. Despite a series of painful twists and turns, God propelled Joseph to a position of authority. When his brothers came to Egypt to buy food during a famine, they—unwittingly—sought it from him.

Joseph acknowledged that God redeemed their wrongdoing, saying He used it to “save [their] lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:7). Yet Joseph didn't redefine their hurtful actions toward him—he described them accurately as “selling [him]” (v. 5).

We sometimes try to put an overly positive spin on difficult situations, focusing on the good God brings from them without acknowledging the emotional struggle. Let’s take care not to redefine a wrong as being good simply because God redeemed it: we can look for Him to bring good from it while still recognizing the pain wrongdoing causes. Both are true.

By:  Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray

When have you experienced hardship as a result of another’s wrongdoing? How have you seen God bring good from it?

Father God, thank You for lovingly tending to my wounds.  

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, November 12, 2022

The Changed Life

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17

What understanding do you have of the salvation of your soul? The work of salvation means that in your real life things are dramatically changed. You no longer look at things in the same way. Your desires are new and the old things have lost their power to attract you. One of the tests for determining if the work of salvation in your life is genuine is— has God changed the things that really matter to you? If you still yearn for the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born from above— you are deceiving yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the change very evident in your real life and thought. And when a crisis comes, you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing change that is the very evidence that you are saved.

What difference has my salvation and sanctification made? For instance, can I stand in the light of 1 Corinthians 13 , or do I squirm and evade the issue? True salvation, worked out in me by the Holy Spirit, frees me completely. And as long as I “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7), God sees nothing to rebuke because His life is working itself into every detailed part of my being, not on the conscious level, but even deeper than my consciousness.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from. The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 51-52; Hebrews 9

John 14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HELP AT THE RIGHT TIME - November 11, 2022

When we traveled with our young daughters, I carried our plane tickets in my briefcase. When it came time to board, I’d stand between the attendant and the child. As each daughter passed, I placed a ticket in her hand. She, in turn, gave the ticket to the attendant. Each one received the ticket in the nick of time.

What I did for my daughters God does for you. He places himself between you and the need. And, at the right time, he gives you the ticket. Wasn’t this the promise he gave his disciples? “When you are arrested and judged, don’t worry ahead of time about what you should say. Say whatever is given you to say at that time, because it will not really be you speaking; it will be the Holy Spirit” (Mark 11:13 NCV).

God leads us. He will do the right thing at the right time!

John 14

The Road

 “Don’t let this rattle you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

5 Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”

6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

8 Philip said, “Master, show us the Father; then we’ll be content.”

9-10 “You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

11-14 “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.

The Spirit of Truth

15-17 “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

18-20 “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.

21 “The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said, “Master, why is it that you are about to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?”

23-24 “Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me.

25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.

28 “You’ve heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, and I’m coming back.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m on my way to the Father because the Father is the goal and purpose of my life.

29-31 “I’ve told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail.

“Get up. Let’s go. It’s time to leave here.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, November 11, 2022

Today's Scripture

Mark 7:14–23

 Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Listen now, all of you—take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it’s what you vomit—that’s the real pollution.”

17 When he was back home after being with the crowd, his disciples said, “We don’t get it. Put it in plain language.”

18-19 Jesus said, “Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t you see that what you swallow can’t contaminate you? It doesn’t enter your heart but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed.” (That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are fit to eat.)

20-23 He went on: “It’s what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution.”

Insight

In Mark 7:13–17, we encounter three groups of people. In verse 13, Jesus directed a pointed message at a narrow subset of people—the teachers of the law. Christ plainly saw the gigantic loopholes these experts had created through which they could violate the spirit of God’s law and said, “You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.” Having established His case, Jesus turned to the crowd and said within hearing of the teachers of the law, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles them” (v. 15). Beginning with verse 17, Christ’s disciples approached Him privately and asked about His teaching. He reiterated His point that what goes into the stomach isn’t what defiles a person. Mark then notes parenthetically, “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean” (v. 19).

By: Tim Gustafson

The Source

Create in me a pure heart, O God. Psalm 51:10

It was 1854, and something was killing thousands of people in London. It must be the bad air, people thought. And indeed, as unseasonable heat baked the sewage-fouled River Thames, the smell grew so bad it became known as “The Great Stink.”

But the worst problem wasn’t the air. Research by Dr. John Snow would show that contaminated water was the cause of the cholera epidemic.

We humans have long been aware of another crisis—one that stinks to high heaven. We live in a broken world—and we’re prone to misidentify the source of this problem, treating symptoms instead. Wise social programs and policies do some good, but they’re powerless to stop the root cause of society’s ills—our sinful hearts!

When Jesus said, “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them,” He wasn’t referring to physical diseases (Mark 7:15). Rather, He was diagnosing the spiritual condition of every one of us. “It is what comes out of a person that defiles them,” He said (v. 15), listing a litany of evils lurking inside us (vv. 21–22).

“Surely I was sinful at birth,” David wrote (Psalm 51:5). His lament is one we can all voice. We’re broken from the beginning. That’s why David prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God” (v. 10). Every day, we need that new heart, created by Jesus through His Spirit.

Instead of treating the symptoms, we must let Jesus purify the source.

By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray

In what ways might you be treating symptoms instead of letting Jesus clean up the source? How can you share the good news of what Jesus did for you?

Heavenly Father, guard my heart and help me be attentive to Your Spirit within me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, November 11, 2022

The Supreme Climb

He said, "Take now your son…" —Genesis 22:2

God’s command is, “Take now,” not later. It is incredible how we debate! We know something is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it immediately. If we are to climb to the height God reveals, it can never be done later— it must be done now. And the sacrifice must be worked through our will before we actually perform it.

“So Abraham rose early in the morning…and went to the place of which God had told him” (Genesis 22:3). Oh, the wonderful simplicity of Abraham! When God spoke, he did not “confer with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:16). Beware when you want to “confer with flesh and blood” or even your own thoughts, insights, or understandings— anything that is not based on your personal relationship with God. These are all things that compete with and hinder obedience to God.

Abraham did not choose what the sacrifice would be. Always guard against self-chosen service for God. Self-sacrifice may be a disease that impairs your service. If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; or even if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential will of God means a hard and difficult time for you, go through it. But never decide the place of your own martyrdom, as if to say, “I will only go to there, but no farther.” God chose the test for Abraham, and Abraham neither delayed nor protested, but steadily obeyed. If you are not living in touch with God, it is easy to blame Him or pass judgment on Him. You must go through the trial before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, because by going through the trial you learn to know God better. God is working in us to reach His highest goals until His purpose and our purpose become one.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God.  Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 50; Hebrews 8

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, November 11, 2022

THE DANGER OF YOUR "HIGHS" - #9350

Our little granddaughter, when she was little, oh what a Mickey Mouse fan! So I got her a big helium Mickey balloon. It had gone through three pretty distinct phases. First, Mickey was totally flat and folded up into a little square. Then the lady at the store gave him a shot of helium that made Mickey big and flying high. In fact, without a string to tie him down, he'd fly away and be in Bolivia. I know from past experience, though, that there's another phase. Yeah, his flying high days can't last forever. One day we knew we were going to find him all soft, mushy, and (you can picture it can't you, right?) slowly shriveling up on the floor.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Danger of Your 'Highs.'"

The life and times of a helium balloon aren't all that different from the life and times of folks like you and me. We start out flat, we open our lives to Jesus Christ, He enlarges our life, gives us some victorious seasons where we're flying high, and then often overnight, we've gone flat and we've hit the ground. It doesn't have to be that way.

If you know that cycle all too well, you need to see how the cycle worked in the life of one of God's great servants in the Bible. Elijah was one of the most powerful of God's ancient prophets. And he was flying high in God that day on Mount Carmel when he single-handedly challenged 450 prophets of the idol Baal to a spiritual showdown. It was sort of a spiritual "Gunfight at the O. K. Corral." Elijah's challenge is to see whose God will consume with fire from heaven the sacrifice that's just been laid on the altar.

Our word for today from the Word of God begins with 1 Kings 18:37 as Elijah prays in front of this army of false prophets: "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You are turning their hearts back again." The entire prayer is only 60 words, but Elijah mentions God 9 times in those 60 words. On Mt. Carmel, it is clearly all about the Lord God. And the fire falls, consuming the sacrifice and causing everybody to cry, "The Lord! He is God!"

Now fast forward to the next chapter. The king has threatened Elijah's life and in fear he runs to the desert. He sits under a tree, and in the Bible's words, "prayed that he might die." What? "'I have had enough, Lord,' he said. 'Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.' ... I have been very zealous for the Lord God ... I am the only one left'" (1 Kings 19:4-5, 10). On Mt. Carmel, it was all about God. In the desert, it was all about me. And that's the difference between flying high and falling flat. During the victory time, it's all about the Lord. But often in the aftermath of a victory, something happens that makes it suddenly all about me, and we crash.

Jesus said the devil is a thief who comes "to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10). And every time God does something good in your life, the devil is there with some cheap shot he wants to use to rob you of the joy of what God has done. He is the joy robber! Don't fall for it.

It's like you've just won the Super Bowl, you're walking off the field, and your defeated opponent says, "I'll make you pay for this." And he gives you a bloody nose. Yes, he hurt you a little, but he can't change the outcome. You still won, and nothing he can do can change the victory. So when that joy-robber comes in after the victory and tries to get you all focused on yourself, you tell him, "I know who this is, and I'm not falling for it! We won, and you can't change it!"

Life won't always be "flying high" moments like Elijah's Mt. Carmel, but you can be consistently joyful and hopeful and positive, even when some of the air goes out. Because - and the Bible says - "the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10), not the joy of your circumstances. It's your Lord who inflates you with His joy, His victory, so you don't have to lie deflated in a corner ever again!

Psalm 86, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE REALITY OF LOVE - November 10, 2022

In the summer before 8th-grade, I made friends with a guy named Larry.  He was new to town, so I encouraged him to go out for our school football team.  It was a good news/bad news scenario.  The good news?  He made the cut.  The bad news?  He won my position.  I tried to be happy for him, but it was tough.

A few weeks into the season Larry fell and broke a finger.  I remember the day he stood at my front door holding up his bandaged hand.  “Looks like you’re going to have to play,” he said.

The passage Paul wrote was a lot easier for him to write than it was for me to practice.  “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”  You want to plumb the depths of your respect and love for somebody?  Then answer the question: How do you feel when that person succeeds? And how do you feel when that person struggles?

Psalm 86

 Bend an ear, God; answer me.

    I’m one miserable wretch!

Keep me safe—haven’t I lived a good life?

    Help your servant—I’m depending on you!

You’re my God; have mercy on me.

    I count on you from morning to night.

Give your servant a happy life;

    I put myself in your hands!

You’re well-known as good and forgiving,

    bighearted to all who ask for help.

Pay attention, God, to my prayer;

    bend down and listen to my cry for help.

Every time I’m in trouble I call on you,

    confident that you’ll answer.

8-10 There’s no one quite like you among the gods, O Lord,

    and nothing to compare with your works.

All the nations you made are on their way,

    ready to give honor to you, O Lord,

Ready to put your beauty on display,

    parading your greatness,

And the great things you do—

    God, you’re the one, there’s no one but you!

11-17 Train me, God, to walk straight;

    then I’ll follow your true path.

Put me together, one heart and mind;

    then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear.

From the bottom of my heart I thank you, dear Lord;

    I’ve never kept secret what you’re up to.

You’ve always been great toward me—what love!

    You snatched me from the brink of disaster!

God, these bullies have reared their heads!

    A gang of thugs is after me—

    and they don’t care a thing about you.

But you, O God, are both tender and kind,

    not easily angered, immense in love,

    and you never, never quit.

So look me in the eye and show kindness,

    give your servant the strength to go on,

    save your dear, dear child!

Make a show of how much you love me

    so the bullies who hate me will stand there slack-jawed,

As you, God, gently and powerfully

    put me back on my feet.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Today's Scripture

Proverbs 27:6–10

The wounds from a lover are worth it;

    kisses from an enemy do you in.

7 When you’ve stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert;

    when you’re starved, you could eat a horse.

8 People who won’t settle down, wandering hither and yon,

    are like restless birds, flitting to and fro.

9 Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight,

    a sweet friendship refreshes the soul.

10 Don’t leave your friends or your parents’ friends

    and run home to your family when things get rough;

Better a nearby friend

    than a distant family.

Insight

The word friend occurs several times in the Bible. In many of the occurrences in the book of Job, Job grieves the behavior of those he once called friends (Job 12:4; 19:14). In the Psalms, David struggles over friends who’ve betrayed him (Psalms 31:11; 38:11; 41:9; 55:12–14; 109:4–5). Proverbs provides helpful words about what friendship is and isn’t. We see two of those references in today’s text (Proverbs 27:6, 10). Further sage advice from Proverbs includes: “the righteous choose their friends carefully” (12:26); “a gossip separates close friends” (16:28); and “do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered” (22:24). Perhaps the best insight is that “a friend loves at all times” (17:17). As Abraham and Moses discovered, our truest and greatest friend is God (Exodus 33:11; James 2:23). By: Alyson Kieda

Legacy of Friends

A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:17

I met him in the 1970s when I was a high school English teacher and basketball coach, and he was a tall, gangly freshman. Soon he was on my basketball team and in my classes—and a friendship was formed. This same friend, who had served with me as a fellow editor for many years, stood before me at my retirement party and shared about the legacy of our longstanding friendship.

What is it about friends connected by the love of God that encourages us and brings us closer to Jesus? The writer of Proverbs understood that friendship has two encouraging components: First, true friends give valuable advice, even if it’s not easy to give or take (27:6): “Wounds from a friend can be trusted,” the writer explains. Second, a friend who is nearby and accessible is important in times of crisis: “Better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away” (v. 10).

It’s not good for us to fly solo in life. As Solomon noted: “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 nlt). In life, we need to have friends and we need to be friends. May God help us “love one another with brotherly affection” (Romans 12:10 esv) and “carry each other’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2)—becoming the kind of friend that can encourage others and draw them closer to the love of Jesus. By:  Dave Branon

Reflect & Pray

In what sense could you be isolating yourself from others? How can you regularly connect with some strong believers in Jesus to encourage each other?

Dear God, search my heart regarding my friends. Please help me provide Christ-centered counsel to them and receive godly wisdom from them.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Fellowship in the Gospel

…fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ… —1 Thessalonians 3:2

After sanctification, it is difficult to state what your purpose in life is, because God has moved you into His purpose through the Holy Spirit. He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself, thinking, “God has called me for this and for that,” you barricade God from using you. As long as you maintain your own personal interests and ambitions, you cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests. This can only be accomplished by giving up all of your personal plans once and for all, and by allowing God to take you directly into His purpose for the world. Your understanding of your ways must also be surrendered, because they are now the ways of the Lord.

I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. I should never say, “Lord, this causes me such heartache.” To talk that way makes me a stumbling block. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. Doing this creates for me my own cozy “world within the world,” and God will not be allowed to move me from it because of my fear of being “frost-bitten.”

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be.  Conformed to His Image, 354 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 48-49; Hebrews 7

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, November 10, 2022

THE MISSING WORD IN YOUR FAITH - #9349

This might come as a surprise to you, but athletes often have egos as big as their biceps. One way I've observed that is that I used to take a lot of pictures of our local high school football team. And I would ask my youngest son, "What happens when we tell the players that we're going to show some of those pictures at an event?" And he said, "Well, instead of three people coming, about 300 come." "Why is that?" "All because they all want to see themselves on the big screen." That would happen. One of the fellows would come up to me afterwards and he'd say, "You didn't have me in any of the pictures Mr. Hutch."

Well, at the end of the season, we had a dinner for those fellows. I had a chance to share the Gospel and give them a chance to give their lives to Christ. What we would do is that they would have a chance afterwards to take a picture from the season home with them. I'd tell them that they could pick one picture and take it home with them. and I never had anyone take a picture of somebody else! Strangely enough, they always took a picture of themselves. I don't think they're that unique. I find that people never really get interested in a picture until they see themselves in it."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Missing Word In Your Faith."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 20:27-28. It's after the amazing resurrection of Jesus. He has appeared to all the disciples but Thomas. The disciples said, "We have seen the Lord!" Thomas said, "I don't believe it unless I can touch the nail marks in His hands and feet and thrust my hand into His side." Now Jesus appeared to them and Thomas is there. Here's what happened: "Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.' Thomas said to him, 'My Lord and my God!'"

You know what impresses me most in this story? The pronouns. Let's go back through it and see if I remember anything from English class. It's first person and it's possessive. It's not our; it's not your. He says, "Jesus, you are my Lord, my God." You know, it's possible to be around Jesus your whole life and never make Him yours. Maybe you've heard about Christ for years, you've sung about Him, you've talked about Him, you've prayed to Him, but there's never been a moment when you really made Jesus first person singular for you.

Listen, walk with me up that hill outside of Jerusalem called Skull Hill, and think of Jesus being on that middle cross. Have you ever looked up to Him and said the two words that make all the difference between whether you know Him or not, whether you're saved or lost, whether you'll go to heaven or hell. The two words are, "For me. Jesus, you did it for me. It's my sin you're paying for and I want You to be my Savior. I believe you were their Savior for a long time, but I want you to be my Savior."

Many years ago a man in England toured a locomotive factory, and he was very impressed by the guide who took him around. As that man extended his hand to shake hands, he noticed the guide's hand drew up on him. Apparently the guide could tell that the visitor was a little uneasy with that, and he said, "Let me explain, Sir. Some years ago I was working on the tracks and I was in an industrial accident; I drove a spike through that hand and I've never been able to open and close that hand since."

I want to know Jesus as Lord as closely as that. Those spikes were driven in those hands for you. He's reaching out today through this program to you one more time. You've heard about Him before, but you've never taken it for yourself. With all the faith you've got, today reach out to Him and say, "Jesus, today you are my Lord, you are my God."

I'd love to help you cross that line and experience His love for yourself today. That's what we do at our website. I hope you'll go there next. ANewStory.com. That's it. This could be the day that the Savior who died for the whole world becomes your personal Savior.

Psalm 72 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: LET YOUR HEART LEAD - November 9, 2022

Tears represent the heart, the spirit, and the soul of a person. To put a lock and key on your emotions is to bury part of your Christlikeness. Especially when you come to Calvary.

You can’t go to the cross with just your head and not your heart. It doesn’t work that way. Calvary is not a mental trip. It’s not an intellectual exercise. It’s not a divine calculation or a cold theological principle. It’s a heart-splitting hour of emotion.

Don’t walk away dry-eyed and unstirred. Don’t just straighten your tie and clear your throat. Don’t descend Calvary cool and collected. Please…pause. Look again. Those are nails in those hands. That’s God on that cross. And it’s us who put him there. No wonder they call him the Savior.

Psalm 72

 Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God,

    the gift of just rule to the crown prince.

May he judge your people rightly,

    be honorable to your meek and lowly.

Let the mountains give exuberant witness;

    shape the hills with the contours of right living.

Please stand up for the poor,

    help the children of the needy,

    come down hard on the cruel tyrants.

Outlast the sun, outlive the moon—

    age after age after age.

Be rainfall on cut grass,

    earth-refreshing rain showers.

Let righteousness burst into blossom

    and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.

Rule from sea to sea,

    from the River to the Rim.

9-14 Foes will fall on their knees before God,

    his enemies lick the dust.

Kings remote and legendary will pay homage,

    kings rich and resplendent will turn over their wealth.

All kings will fall down and worship,

    and godless nations sign up to serve him,

Because he rescues the poor at the first sign of need,

    the destitute who have run out of luck.

He opens a place in his heart for the down-and-out,

    he restores the wretched of the earth.

He frees them from tyranny and torture—

    when they bleed, he bleeds;

    when they die, he dies.

15-17 And live! Oh, let him live!

    Deck him out in Sheba gold.

Offer prayers unceasing to him,

    bless him from morning to night.

Fields of golden grain in the land,

    cresting the mountains in wild exuberance,

Cornucopias of praise, praises

    springing from the city like grass from the earth.

May he never be forgotten,

    his fame shine on like sunshine.

May all godless people enter his circle of blessing

    and bless the One who blessed them.

18-20 Blessed God, Israel’s God,

    the one and only wonder-working God!

Blessed always his blazing glory!

    All earth brims with his glory.

Yes and Yes and Yes.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, November 09, 2022

Today's Scripture Ephesians 5:15–17

Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.

Wake up from your sleep,

Climb out of your coffins;

Christ will show you the light!

So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!

17 Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.

Insight

To live a meaningful and purposeful life, “a life worthy of the calling” (Ephesians 4:1), Paul told believers to be careful, wise, and make “the most of every opportunity” to do good (5:15–17). Being careful is being wise, for an unwise person or a fool is both careless and reckless (Proverbs 12:15; 14:16). Careful living means living as “children of light” and striving to do “what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8, 10). In another letter, Paul said, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity” to share the gospel (Colossians 4:5). To the Galatian believers he said, “Let us not become weary in doing good . . . . As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:9–10). By: K. T. Sim

Wise or Unwise?

Understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:17

When I was ten, I brought home a cassette tape from a friend at youth group that contained the music of a contemporary Christian band. My dad, who had been raised in a Hindu home but had received salvation in Jesus, didn’t approve. He only wanted worship music played in our home. I explained it was a Christian band, but that didn’t change his mind. After a while, he suggested that I listen to the songs for a week and then decide if they brought me closer to God or pushed me further away from Him. There was some helpful wisdom in that advice.

There are things in life that are clearly right or wrong, but many times we wrestle with disputable matters (Romans 14:1–19). In deciding what to do, we can seek the wisdom found in Scripture. Paul encouraged the Ephesian believers to “be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15). Like a good parent, Paul knew that he couldn’t possibly be there or give instructions for every situation. If they were going to “[make] the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil,” they were going to have to discern for themselves and “understand what the Lord’s will is” (vv. 16–17). A life of wisdom is an invitation to pursue discernment and good decisions as God guides us even when we wrestle with what might be disputable.

By:  Glenn Packiam

Reflect & Pray

How can you determine what will be wise or foolish as you make decisions? How can you seek God’s guidance?

Dear Jesus, cultivate a heart of wisdom in me. Enable me to live my life in a way that will always draw me closer to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, November 09, 2022

Sacred Service

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ… —Colossians 1:24

The Christian worker has to be a sacred “go-between.” He must be so closely identified with his Lord and the reality of His redemption that Christ can continually bring His creating life through him. I am not referring to the strength of one individual’s personality being superimposed on another, but the real presence of Christ coming through every aspect of the worker’s life. When we preach the historical facts of the life and death of our Lord as they are conveyed in the New Testament, our words are made sacred. God uses these words, on the basis of His redemption, to create something in those who listen which otherwise could never have been created. If we simply preach the effects of redemption in the human life instead of the revealed, divine truth regarding Jesus Himself, the result is not new birth in those who listen. The result is a refined religious lifestyle, and the Spirit of God cannot witness to it because such preaching is in a realm other than His. We must make sure that we are living in such harmony with God that as we proclaim His truth He can create in others those things which He alone can do.

When we say, “What a wonderful personality, what a fascinating person, and what wonderful insight!” then what opportunity does the gospel of God have through all of that? It cannot get through, because the attraction is to the messenger and not the message. If a person attracts through his personality, that becomes his appeal. If, however, he is identified with the Lord Himself, then the appeal becomes what Jesus Christ can do. The danger is to glory in men, yet Jesus says we are to lift up only Him (see John 12:32).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 664 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 46-47; Hebrews 6

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, November 09, 2022

TIME TO CHOOSE YOUR SIDE - #9348

Okay, I admit I'm a history guy. I stop at President's houses and all these places like that. My poor kids have gone on more tours of places: Revolutionary War, Civil War. And, of course we're going to stop and see that. We'd just come back from a vacation that had included a tour of a Civil War battlefield and we had our appropriate souvenirs. That night there was actually a revealing addition to my wife's and my room! On her side there was a gray hat, on my side there was a blue hat. We were just goofing! But guess who grew up in the south, and guess who grew up in the north. But I'll tell you what. Back in those days, as in many battles throughout history, the color of your uniform made you the other guy's target.

There's a story about one soldier during the Civil War who tried his own unique method of staying safe. He decided he'd wear a blue coat and gray pants. One small problem: he got shot at on both ends.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Time to Choose Your Side."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 19:38 - a man who had to make that choice. We're going to look at an amazing day in the life of this man who in a sense literally tried to wear two opposing uniforms.

Joseph of Arimathea - the scene is right after the death of Jesus, and it says, "Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilot for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate's permission he came and took the body away." We know now, and we'll know for all history that Joseph said, "I want Jesus buried in my tomb." But, see, this is a man who wore the uniform of Jesus in his heart but who operated in surroundings and with people where Jesus wasn't respected. And that could cost him a lot for people in his circle to know of his allegiance to Jesus! So on the outside he wore the uniform of his environment, blending in, but on the inside, he had his Jesus uniform. This sound a little familiar at all?

Is there a place where you cover up your Jesus uniform because it might cost you to show it, like at your job, or in school, with a particular group of people, at the gym, with certain associates, with your family, on social media? Well, the problem is when you don't choose your uniform, you just get pressure from both sides. You haven't declared the Jesus difference in your life to the unbelievers around you so they continue to expect you to be like them. Meanwhile, you have a Christian world that knows your Jesus side and expects you to live like you belong to Him! When you don't choose, you've got pressure from both sides.

Well, be encouraged with what happened to Joseph. Suddenly he blew his cover, he went public, he acted as if he didn't care who knew he belonged to Jesus. What happened here? The cross happened. Joseph must have seen what Jesus suffered that day and he couldn't deny his Savior anymore. Like Joseph, maybe it's time for you to say, "Jesus, if you could hang on a cross and die publicly for me, unashamed, I can live publicly for you."

It was after an event where we had challenged Christian young people to be a Jesus ambassador to their friends. A young 12-year-old girl surprised her mom; I guess it was the next day. She'd had Jesus shirts but she only wore them to Christian places, but the morning after this rally she appeared ready for school wearing one of her Jesus shirts and her Mom was kind of taken aback. She said, "You're wearing that to school?" And her daughter replied, "Mom, today I am going to start making a difference."

Well, it's not necessarily about wearing a Christian shirt or handing out Christian literature. But it is about making a firm decision to choose your uniform once and for all. To belong to Jesus and not care who knows it. To bring up your relationship with Him whenever there's an opportunity; to seek opportunities to tell people about that relationship.

Here's God's charge to you in Ephesians 6:13, "Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" Well, if you've tried maybe serving two masters haven't you done that long enough? You've postponed choosing your uniform long enough. Jesus stood for you, and He didn't care what it cost. It's time you did that for Him.

Psalm 68, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HOW ARE WE SAVED? - November 8, 2022

If we’re saved by good works, we don’t need God. Weekly reminders of do’s and don’ts will get us to heaven. If we’re saved by suffering, we certainly don’t need God. If we’re saved by doctrine then, for heaven’s sake, let’s study! But be careful, student. For if you’re saved by having exact doctrine, then one mistake could be fatal.

That goes for those who believe we’re made right with God through deeds. I hope the temptation is never greater than the strength. If it is, a bad fall could be a bad omen. And those who think we’re saved by suffering, take caution as well, for you never know how much suffering is required.

It took Paul decades to discover what he wrote in only one sentence. Romans 3:28, “A person is made right with God through faith.” Not through good works, suffering, or study. Just faith.

Psalm 68

Up with God!

    Down with his enemies!

        Adversaries, run for the hills!

Gone like a puff of smoke,

    like a blob of wax in the fire—

        one look at God and the wicked vanish.

When the righteous see God in action

    they’ll laugh, they’ll sing,

        they’ll laugh and sing for joy.

Sing hymns to God;

    all heaven, sing out;

        clear the way for the coming of Cloud-Rider.

Enjoy God,

    cheer when you see him!

5-6 Father of orphans,

    champion of widows,

        is God in his holy house.

God makes homes for the homeless,

    leads prisoners to freedom,

        but leaves rebels to rot in hell.

7-10 God, when you took the lead with your people,

    when you marched out into the wild,

Earth shook, sky broke out in a sweat;

    God was on the march.

Even Sinai trembled at the sight of God on the move,

    at the sight of Israel’s God.

You pour out rain in buckets, O God;

    thorn and cactus become an oasis

For your people to camp in and enjoy.

    You set them up in business;

    they went from rags to riches.

11-14 The Lord gave the word;

    thousands called out the good news:

“Kings of the armies

    are on the run, on the run!”

While housewives, safe and sound back home,

    divide up the plunder,

    the plunder of Canaanite silver and gold.

On that day that Shaddai scattered the kings,

    snow fell on Black Mountain.

15-16 You huge mountains, Bashan mountains,

    mighty mountains, dragon mountains.

All you mountains not chosen,

    sulk now, and feel sorry for yourselves,

For this is the mountain God has chosen to live on;

    he’ll rule from this mountain forever.

17-18 The chariots of God, twice ten thousand,

    and thousands more besides,

The Lord in the lead, riding down Sinai—

    straight to the Holy Place!

You climbed to the High Place, captives in tow,

    your arms full of plunder from rebels,

And now you sit there in state,

    God, sovereign God!

19-23 Blessed be the Lord—

    day after day he carries us along.

He’s our Savior, our God, oh yes!

    He’s God-for-us, he’s God-who-saves-us.

Lord God knows all

    death’s ins and outs.

What’s more, he made heads roll,

    split the skulls of the enemy

As he marched out of heaven,

    saying, “I tied up the Dragon in knots,

    put a muzzle on the Deep Blue Sea.”

You can wade through your enemies’ blood,

    and your dogs taste of your enemies from your boots.

24-31 See God on parade

    to the sanctuary, my God,

    my King on the march!

Singers out front, the band behind,

    maidens in the middle with castanets.

The whole choir blesses God.

    Like a fountain of praise, Israel blesses God.

Look—little Benjamin’s out

    front and leading

Princes of Judah in their royal robes,

    princes of Zebulun, princes of Naphtali.

Parade your power, O God,

    the power, O God, that made us what we are.

Your temple, High God, is Jerusalem;

    kings bring gifts to you.

Rebuke that old crocodile, Egypt,

    with her herd of wild bulls and calves,

Rapacious in her lust for silver,

    crushing peoples, spoiling for a fight.

Let Egyptian traders bring blue cloth

    and Cush come running to God, her hands outstretched.

32-34 Sing, O kings of the earth!

    Sing praises to the Lord!

There he is: Sky-Rider,

    striding the ancient skies.

Listen—he’s calling in thunder,

    rumbling, rolling thunder.

Call out “Bravo!” to God,

    the High God of Israel.

His splendor and strength

    rise huge as thunderheads.

35 A terrible beauty, O God,

    streams from your sanctuary.

It’s Israel’s strong God! He gives

    power and might to his people!

O you, his people—bless God!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, November 08, 2022

Today's Scripture

Leviticus 19:15–18

“Don’t pervert justice. Don’t show favoritism to either the poor or the great. Judge on the basis of what is right.

16 “Don’t spread gossip and rumors.

“Don’t just stand by when your neighbor’s life is in danger. I am God.

17 “Don’t secretly hate your neighbor. If you have something against him, get it out into the open; otherwise you are an accomplice in his guilt.

18 “Don’t seek revenge or carry a grudge against any of your people.

“Love your neighbor as yourself. I am God.

Insight

Bible commentator Gordon J. Wenham points out how easy it may be for modern readers to miss the connection between verses 15 and 16 of Leviticus 19. A key concept here is neighbor. In the community life of Israel, legal proceedings didn’t take place at distant seats of judgment; they occurred within the community, often in the same neighborhood. Hence, gossip, slander, or jumping to conclusions about a person you knew well and who faced legal proceedings could be a very real temptation. This naturally leads in to verse 17, in which the people are exhorted not to harbor grudges against a “fellow Israelite” but rather to take disputes to them openly, even before such a conflict requires legal intervention. And this, in turn, leads to the well-known command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 18).

By: Tim Gustafson

Loving Our Neighbors

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19:18

In the days of self-isolation and lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic, words by Martin Luther King Jr. in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” rang true. Speaking about injustice, he remarked how he couldn’t sit idly in one city and not be concerned about what happens in another. “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,” he said, “tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects us all indirectly.” 

Likewise, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted our connectedness as around the world cities and countries closed to stop the spread of the virus. What affected one city could soon affect another.

Many centuries ago, God instructed His people how to show concern for others. Through Moses, He gave the Israelites the law to guide them and help them live together. He told them to “not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life” (Leviticus 19:16); and to not seek revenge or bear a grudge against others, but to “love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 18). God knew that communities would start to unravel if people didn’t look out for others, valuing their lives as much as they did their own.

We too can embrace the wisdom of God’s instructions. As we go about our daily activities, we can remember how interconnected we are with others as we ask Him how to love and serve them well.

By:  Amy Boucher Pye

Reflect & Pray

Why do you think Jesus echoed God’s law when He told the religious leaders to love their neighbors as themselves? How could you put this instruction into action today?

Loving Creator, help me to share Your love and grace today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, November 08, 2022

The Unrivaled Power of Prayer

We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. —Romans 8:26

We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; and we know what it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.

“He,” the Holy Spirit in you, “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27). And God searches your heart, not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the Holy Spirit is.

The Spirit of God uses the nature of the believer as a temple in which to offer His prayers of intercession. “…your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…” (1 Corinthians 6:19). When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, “…He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple” (Mark 11:16). The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience. Jesus ruthlessly cast out everyone who bought and sold in the temple, and said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer…. But you have made it a ‘den of thieves’ ” (Mark 11:17).

Have we come to realize that our “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a “temple of the Holy Spirit.” He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we don’t know, but we must pay careful attention to and guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

An intellectual conception of God may be found in a bad vicious character. The knowledge and vision of God is dependent entirely on a pure heart. Character determines the revelation of God to the individual. The pure in heart see God. Biblical Ethics, 125 R

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 43-45; Hebrews 5

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, November 08, 2022

THE DARKNESS IN OUR HEARTS - #9347

I've been to South Africa several times. I love those accents, but not when they're talking about an inspirational sports icon killing his girlfriend. You may remember some years ago there was a lot of fog about what exactly happened, but what we do know is that South Africa's Olympic hero admittedly shot his girlfriend four times. Now, he said accidentally and the police said on purpose.

Well, it's all the more disturbing because he was such an overcomer; a double-amputee, running on carbon-fiber blades, competing as an Olympic runner. He made history. He inspired people around the world. And then suddenly he was facing first degree murder charges. It was an extreme example. But there's been a growing list of fallen sports heroes we continue to hear about. One observer said, "It seems like it's almost one a month these days."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Darkness In Our Hearts."

Let's see, the world's greatest biker says he did it with dope, the world's greatest golfer admitted that he cheated on his wife, Hall of Fame-bound baseball stars were derailed by the discovery that those biceps were really built with steroids. It feels like pedestals are anchored in quicksand, because our heroes, no matter what their field, keep falling off their pedestal and into the mud.

It's not just athletes. Sometimes it's an influential politician, or maybe a respected business leader, even a gifted preacher or musician. You start to wonder, "Who's next?" What makes us put someone on that pedestal is that they do something really well. But, see, there's also character - "what you are when no one's around," or "what you are in the dark." That's real gold medal stuff.

Personally, I've decided that pedestals are a bad idea anyway; either putting someone on one or wanting to be on one yourself. None of us should be too enamored with compliments, or awards, or the "wins" we get. From God's viewpoint - and what should be our viewpoint - it's your character, not your performance that makes you truly great. You can get some awesome headlines and have an awful heart.

The Bible says that "man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). And in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Chronicles 16:9, the Bible says, "The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." Those who will "medal" in heaven (that's as in gold medal) are those Jesus is going to greet with, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" (Matthew 25:21). Not "good and successful" - "good and faithful." The true hero is the person who is a hero outside and inside. The closer you get to them, the better they look.

What matters most is not what the folks who know the "platform me" think. It's the people who know me best - who see you unplugged, when there's no one to impress. Do they say, "Yup, he's the same guy all the time"? Or, when I'm "doing what I do," are they asking, "Where did that great guy suddenly come from?" Or, "if they only knew what he's really like..."

An EKG reveals that someone who's the picture of health on the outside may have a deadly heart condition on the inside. Which, according to the Bible, we all do. The Bible says, "The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9 ). That's why I need a Savior. That's why you need a Savior. Not just a religion about a Savior. All that can do is make me look healthy on the outside. I need the Master Heart Surgeon. The Bible says that "He alone can cleanse you from all your impurities." And it says He can "give you a new heart" (Ezekiel 36:26). In fact, the sin-cancer is so horrific it took blood to cure it - Jesus' blood, shed on the cross.

He makes unheralded people into authentic heroes because they have a heart like His. You're blessed if you know one. You're more blessed if you are one. You'll leave a Jesus-trail wherever you go. If you're ready for that heart transplant that only Jesus can do; a new beginning, forgiving all of your failures, and giving you the ability to be a Jesus-person in your family, at work and in all your relationships, open your heart today. Say, "Jesus, I'm yours"

We'd love to show you how to do that. And that's why our website's there. It's ANewStory.com. And let today be the day your new story begins.

John 13:21-38, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: JESUS, HE UNDERSTANDS YOU - November 7, 2022

Don’t be afraid. God even knows how many hairs are on your head.

Why did Jesus grow weary in Samaria, disturbed in Nazareth, and angry in the Temple? Why was he sleepy in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, sad at the tomb of Lazarus, and hungry in the wilderness? Why?

Why did he endure all these feelings? Because he knew you’d feel them too. He knew you’d be weary, disturbed, and angry. He knew you’d be sleepy, grief-stricken, and hungry.

He knew you’d face pain. If not the pain of the body, the pain of the soul—pain too sharp for any drug. He knew you’d face thirst.  If not a thirst for water, at least a thirst for truth, and the truth we glean from the image of a thirsty Christ is—he understands. And because he understands, we can come to him!

John 13:21-38

 After he said these things, Jesus became visibly upset, and then he told them why. “One of you is going to betray me.”

22-25 The disciples looked around at one another, wondering who on earth he was talking about. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved dearly, was reclining against him, his head on his shoulder. Peter motioned to him to ask who Jesus might be talking about. So, being the closest, he said, “Master, who?”

26-27 Jesus said, “The one to whom I give this crust of bread after I’ve dipped it.” Then he dipped the crust and gave it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. As soon as the bread was in his hand, Satan entered him.

“What you must do,” said Jesus, “do. Do it and get it over with.”

28-29 No one around the supper table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas was their treasurer, Jesus was telling him to buy what they needed for the Feast, or that he should give something to the poor.

30 Judas, with the piece of bread, left. It was night.

A New Command

31-32 When he had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is seen for who he is, and God seen for who he is in him. The moment God is seen in him, God’s glory will be on display. In glorifying him, he himself is glorified—glory all around!

33 “Children, I am with you for only a short time longer. You are going to look high and low for me. But just as I told the Jews, I’m telling you: ‘Where I go, you are not able to come.’

34-35 “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

36 Simon Peter asked, “Master, just where are you going?”

Jesus answered, “You can’t now follow me where I’m going. You will follow later.”

37 “Master,” said Peter, “why can’t I follow now? I’ll lay down my life for you!”

38 “Really? You’ll lay down your life for me? The truth is that before the rooster crows, you’ll deny me three times.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, November 07, 2022

Today's Scripture

Ecclesiastes 2:17–25

I hate life. As far as I can see, what happens on earth is a bad business. It’s smoke—and spitting into the wind.

18-19 And I hated everything I’d accomplished and accumulated on this earth. I can’t take it with me—no, I have to leave it to whoever comes after me. Whether they’re worthy or worthless—and who’s to tell?—they’ll take over the earthly results of my intense thinking and hard work. Smoke.

20-23 That’s when I called it quits, gave up on anything that could be hoped for on this earth. What’s the point of working your fingers to the bone if you hand over what you worked for to someone who never lifted a finger for it? Smoke, that’s what it is. A bad business from start to finish. So what do you get from a life of hard labor? Pain and grief from dawn to dusk. Never a decent night’s rest. Nothing but smoke.

24-26 The best you can do with your life is have a good time and get by the best you can. The way I see it, that’s it—divine fate. Whether we feast or fast, it’s up to God. God may give wisdom and knowledge and joy to his favorites, but sinners are assigned a life of hard labor, and end up turning their wages over to God’s favorites. Nothing but smoke—and spitting into the wind.

Insight

Ecclesiastes has been described as “perhaps the most perplexing and confusing book of the Bible to the average reader” (The New Unger’s Bible Handbook), but it also includes musings and lessons that help us to sharpen our perspective as to what really matters in life. The phrase under the sun is used nearly thirty times and describes life in an imperfect, complex world in which life’s anomalies are many. Another repeated word is meaningless (or vanity), which is used more than thirty-five times. This term expresses frustration. At the same time, this Wisdom book encourages perspective beyond the horizontal plane of our limited vision and helps us to see that the best posture for earth-dwellers is to “fear God and keep his commandments” (12:13). By: Arthur Jackson

Thankful for Monday

A person can do nothing better than to . . . find satisfaction in their own toil. Ecclesiastes 2:24

I used to dread Mondays. Sometimes, when I got off the train to head to a previous job, I’d sit at the station for a while, trying to delay reaching the building, if only for a few minutes. My heart would beat fast as I worried over meeting the deadlines and managing the moods of a temperamental boss.

For some of us, it can be especially difficult to start another dreary workweek. We may be feeling overwhelmed or underappreciated in our job. King Solomon described the toil of work when he wrote: “What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain” (Ecclesiastes 2:22–23).

While the wise king didn’t give us a cure-all for making work less stressful or more rewarding, he did offer us a change in perspective. No matter how difficult our work is, he encourages us to “find satisfaction” in it with God’s help (v. 24). Perhaps it will come as the Holy Spirit enables us to display Christlike character. Or as we hear from someone who’s been blessed through our service. Or as we remember the wisdom God provided to deal with a difficult situation. Though our work may be difficult, our faithful God is there with us. His presence and power can light up even gloomy days. With His help, we can be thankful for Monday. By:  Poh Fang Chia

Reflect & Pray

What gives you the Monday blues? How will you lean on God’s help to find satisfaction in your work today?

Faithful God, help me to see the good You’re enabling me to accomplish through my work today!

For further study, read How Can I Find Satisfaction in My Work?

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, November 07, 2022

The Undetected Sacredness of Circumstances

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God… —Romans 8:28

The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Never put yourself in front of your circumstances and say, “I’m going to be my own providence here; I will watch this closely, or protect myself from that.” All your circumstances are in the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural or unique. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints.

Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being vague and unsure, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession— utilizing the circumstances in which I find myself and the people who surround me. I must keep my conscious life as a sacred place for the Holy Spirit. Then as I lift different ones to God through prayer, the Holy Spirit intercedes for them.

Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions can never be yours, “…but the Spirit Himself makes intercession” in each of our lives (Romans 8:26). And without that intercession, the lives of others would be left in poverty and in ruin.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1449 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 40-42; Hebrews 4

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

WHAT CAN LIFT YOUR SADNESS - #9346

We live in one of the mountainous regions of America. And, you know, mountains are beautiful once you can see them. In areas like this, you can start quite a few mornings with fog and mist. Sometimes it just obscures the mountains in the distance, and sometimes I can't even see the neighbor's yard. If you're the kind of person who lets the weather determine your mood, you could feel pretty "blah" on those foggy days. But there's something you can always be sure of when it's foggy. It's not going to be there all that long. Because even though you cannot see the sun, you know it's shining out there. It's burning off that fog until you can see the beauty around you again.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Can Lift Your Sadness."

Amy's a good friend of our family, and one on whom a heavy fog has descended in recent days, not unlike you, maybe. It's been very sad. It's been a very hurting time. Amy and her husband have been joyfully expecting their first child. They were even talking about names they wanted for a boy or a girl. Until they got the heartbreaking news from the obstetrician that the baby had stopped growing and their baby was gone. What followed was a long two weeks of waiting for the baby to pass; grappling with the numbing reality that their child's life had ended before they even got to meet him or her. The fog was thick, the sky was pretty dark, and the beautiful view was really hard to see.

I asked Amy what stages she had gone through since they received the news. She told me, of course, that there was at first a deep sadness. Then the sadness was mixed with confusion - just trying to sort out the "why's" and the "what if's." But Amy touched me very deeply with what she told me next. She said, "But then I reached a point where God helped me to start praising Him, even if I didn't understand Him." Then she smiled and she said, "When I started praising Him, most of the sadness lifted." The fog had lifted.

That was a secret discovered by the man who has epitomized human suffering for centuries - Job, the man who lost his health, his children, and his fortune. Somehow, he finds some peace as he says in Job 1:21, our word for today from the Word of God, "'The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.' In all this, Job did not sin," the Bible says, "by charging God with wrongdoing." Job would agree with the peace that Amy found, "I don't always understand You, Lord, but I always trust You."

In Job 2:10, he asks, "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" And in chapter 13, verse 15, Job says, "Though He slay me, yet I will I hope in Him." That is stubborn faith that still believes that the sun is shining even when you can't see it because of the fog; the kind of faith that looks for things to praise God for at a time when it hurts so bad.

The dark times never leave you the same place in your relationship with God. Either you turn to Him or you turn from Him. When you let your pain turn you from Him, you've just abandoned your only possible source of hope, and healing, and recovery.

But praise acknowledges a sun that is shining even when the fog is the heaviest. If this is a dark time, don't deepen your sadness by ignoring the Lord, or abandoning the Lord, or turning on the Lord. This is a time to throw yourself on His goodness; a time to ask Him for the grace to praise Him for all that He still is, all that He has done, and all that He is going to do. Amy said it, "Praise lifts the sadness." It dispels the fog.

Psalm 65, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Strength in Prayer

Jesus prayed! He would even disappear for an entire night of prayer. I’m thinking of one night in particular. The day began with the news of the death of John the Baptist. Grief-stricken, Jesus sought to retreat with His disciples, yet spent the day teaching and healing people who followed him. When it was discovered the crowd had no food, Jesus multiplied bread out of a basket and fed the entire multitude. In the span of a few hours, he battled sorrow, stress, demands and needs. He deserved to rest. Yet when evening came, he told the crowd to leave and the disciples to board their boat.

Mark 6:46 tells us, “He went up into the hills by himself to pray.” Lord, teach us to pray like that! To find strength in prayer. Teach us to experience a heart connection with God instead of settling for a prayer wish list for God!

From Before Amen

Psalm 65

Silence is praise to you,

    Zion-dwelling God,

And also obedience.

    You hear the prayer in it all.

2-8 We all arrive at your doorstep sooner

    or later, loaded with guilt,

Our sins too much for us—

    but you get rid of them once and for all.

Blessed are the chosen! Blessed the guest

    at home in your place!

We expect our fill of good things

    in your house, your heavenly manse.

All your salvation wonders

    are on display in your trophy room.

Earth-Tamer, Ocean-Pourer,

    Mountain-Maker, Hill-Dresser,

Muzzler of sea storm and wave crash,

    of mobs in noisy riot—

Far and wide they’ll come to a stop,

    they’ll stare in awe, in wonder.

Dawn and dusk take turns

    calling, “Come and worship.”

9-13 Oh, visit the earth,

    ask her to join the dance!

Deck her out in spring showers,

    fill the God-River with living water.

Paint the wheat fields golden.

    Creation was made for this!

Drench the plowed fields,

    soak the dirt clods

With rainfall as harrow and rake

    bring her to blossom and fruit.

Snow-crown the peaks with splendor,

    scatter rose petals down your paths,

All through the wild meadows, rose petals.

    Set the hills to dancing,

Dress the canyon walls with live sheep,

    a drape of flax across the valleys.

Let them shout, and shout, and shout!

    Oh, oh, let them sing!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, November 06, 2022

Today's Scripture

Jeremiah 19:3–6, 14–15

“Say, ‘Listen to God’s Word, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem! This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel. I’m about to bring doom crashing down on this place. Oh, and will ears ever ring! Doom—because they’ve walked off and left me, and made this place strange by worshiping strange gods, gods never heard of by them, their parents, or the old kings of Judah. Doom—because they have massacred innocent people. Doom—because they’ve built altars to that no-god Baal, and burned their own children alive in the fire as offerings to Baal, an atrocity I never ordered, never so much as hinted at!

6-9 “‘And so it’s payday, and soon’—God’s Decree!—‘this place will no longer be known as Topheth or Valley of Ben-hinnom, but Massacre Meadows. I’m canceling all the plans Judah and Jerusalem had for this place, and I’ll have them killed by their enemies. I’ll stack their dead bodies to be eaten by carrion crows and wild dogs. I’ll turn this city into such a museum of atrocities that anyone coming near will be shocked speechless by the savage brutality. The people will turn into cannibals. Dehumanized by the pressure of the enemy siege, they’ll eat their own children! Yes, they’ll eat one another, family and friends alike.’

Then Jeremiah left Topheth, where God had sent him to preach the sermon, and took his stand in the court of God’s Temple and said to the people, “This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies to you: ‘Warning! Danger! I’m bringing down on this city and all the surrounding towns the doom that I have pronounced. They’re set in their ways and won’t budge. They refuse to do a thing I say.’”

Insight

The first time Jeremiah warned of the atrocities of Topheth, or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, was in Jeremiah 7:30–34. Topheth was the city’s rubbish dump and graveyard where garbage and the dead were burned. Here, the Israelites burned incense to idols and burned their children as sacrifices (19:4–5). God would use the Babylonians to discipline them (5:15–17; 6:22–23). It would be renamed the Valley of Slaughter because the destruction of Jerusalem would fill this valley “until there is no more room” to bury the dead (7:32). In Greek, this Valley of Hinnom is known as “Gehenna”; Jesus compared hell (Gehenna) to the fire that burns continuously in that valley (Matthew 5:22, 29–30; 18:9; 23:33). The Valley of Hinnom or Gehenna is synonymous with hell, the place of eternal punishment.

By: K. T. Sim

Hope from Gehenna

Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place. Jeremiah 19:3

In 1979, archaeologist Gabriel Barkay unearthed two small silver scrolls. It took years to delicately unroll the metal scrolls, and each was found to contain a Hebrew etching of the blessing from Numbers 6:24–26, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Scholars date the scrolls to the seventh century bc. They’re the oldest known bits of Scripture in the world.

Equally interesting is where they were found. Barkay was digging in a cave in the Valley of Hinnom, the very place where the prophet Jeremiah told the people of Judah that God would slaughter them for sacrificing their children (Jeremiah 19:4–6). This valley was the site of such wickedness that Jesus used the word “Gehenna” (a Greek form of the Hebrew name for the “Valley of Hinnom”) as a picture of hell (Matthew 23:33).

On this spot, about the time Jeremiah was announcing God’s judgment on his nation, someone was etching His future blessing onto silver scrolls. It wouldn’t happen in their lifetime, but one day—on the other side of the Babylonian invasion—God would turn His face toward His people and give them peace.

The lesson for us is clear. Even if we deserve what we have coming, we can cling to God’s promise. His heart always yearns for His people. By:  Mike Wittmer

Reflect & Pray

What discipline from God have you deserved? How might you accept His discipline and cling to His promise of salvation?  

Father, I confess my sin and the judgment I deserve and cling to Your promise to forgive and restore.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, November 06, 2022

Intimate Theology

Do you believe this? —John 11:26

Martha believed in the power available to Jesus Christ; she believed that if He had been there He could have healed her brother; she also believed that Jesus had a special intimacy with God, and that whatever He asked of God, God would do. But— she needed a closer personal intimacy with Jesus. Martha’s theology had its fulfillment in the future. But Jesus continued to attract and draw her in until her belief became an intimate possession. It then slowly emerged into a personal inheritance— “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ…” (John 11:27).

Is the Lord dealing with you in the same way? Is Jesus teaching you to have a personal intimacy with Himself? Allow Him to drive His question home to you— “Do you believe this?” Are you facing an area of doubt in your life? Have you come, like Martha, to a crossroads of overwhelming circumstances where your theology is about to become a very personal belief? This happens only when a personal problem brings the awareness of our personal need.

To believe is to commit. In the area of intellectual learning I commit myself mentally, and reject anything not related to that belief. In the realm of personal belief I commit myself morally to my convictions and refuse to compromise. But in intimate personal belief I commit myself spiritually to Jesus Christ and make a determination to be dominated by Him alone.

Then, when I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and He says to me, “Do you believe this?” I find that faith is as natural as breathing. And I am staggered when I think how foolish I have been in not trusting Him earlier.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Disciples Indeed

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 37-39; Hebrews 3