Proverbs 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Sent a Savior

Christmas cards. Punctuated promises. On this special day, can I share words from my favorite Christmas cards?

“He became like us, so we could become like Him.”

“Angels still sing and the star still beckons.”

“God has given a Son to us. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Prince of Peace.” (Is. 9:6)

And my favorite…

“If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator.

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior.”

Merry Christmas everybody!

From In the Manger

Proverbs 16

Everything with a Place and a Purpose

16 

Mortals make elaborate plans,
    but God has the last word.

2 

Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good;
    God probes for what is good.

3 

Put God in charge of your work,
    then what you’ve planned will take place.

4 

God made everything with a place and purpose;
    even the wicked are included—but for judgment.

5 

God can’t stomach arrogance or pretense;
    believe me, he’ll put those braggarts in their place.

6 

Guilt is banished through love and truth;
    Fear-of-God deflects evil.

7 

When God approves of your life,
    even your enemies will end up shaking your hand.

8 

Far better to be right and poor
    than to be wrong and rich.

9 

We plan the way we want to live,
    but only God makes us able to live it.

It Pays to Take Life Seriously

10 

A good leader motivates,
    doesn’t mislead, doesn’t exploit.

11 

God cares about honesty in the workplace;
    your business is his business.

12 

Good leaders abhor wrongdoing of all kinds;
    sound leadership has a moral foundation.

13 

Good leaders cultivate honest speech;
    they love advisors who tell them the truth.

14 

An intemperate leader wreaks havoc in lives;
    you’re smart to stay clear of someone like that.

15 

Good-tempered leaders invigorate lives;
    they’re like spring rain and sunshine.

16 

Get wisdom—it’s worth more than money;
    choose insight over income every time.

17 

The road of right living bypasses evil;
    watch your step and save your life.

18 

First pride, then the crash—
    the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.

19 

It’s better to live humbly among the poor
    than to live it up among the rich and famous.

20 

It pays to take life seriously;
    things work out when you trust in God.

21 

A wise person gets known for insight;
    gracious words add to one’s reputation.

22 

True intelligence is a spring of fresh water,
    while fools sweat it out the hard way.

23 

They make a lot of sense, these wise folks;
    whenever they speak, their reputation increases.

24 

Gracious speech is like clover honey—
    good taste to the soul, quick energy for the body.

25 

There’s a way that looks harmless enough;
    look again—it leads straight to hell.

26 

Appetite is an incentive to work;
    hunger makes you work all the harder.

27 

Mean people spread mean gossip;
    their words smart and burn.

28 

Troublemakers start fights;
    gossips break up friendships.

29 

Calloused climbers betray their very own friends;
    they’d stab their own grandmothers in the back.

30 

A shifty eye betrays an evil intention;
    a clenched jaw signals trouble ahead.

31 

Gray hair is a mark of distinction,
    the award for a God-loyal life.

32 

Moderation is better than muscle,
    self-control better than political power.

33 

Make your motions and cast your votes,
    but God has the final say.

Our Daily Bread devotional

 Today's Scripture:

Isaiah 55:6–13

6 Seekb the Lord while he may be found;c

calld on him while he is near.

7 Let the wicked forsakee their ways

and the unrighteous their thoughts.f

Let them turng to the Lord, and he will have mercyh on them,

and to our God, for he will freely pardon.i

8 “For my thoughtsj are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,”k

declares the Lord.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,l

so are my ways higher than your ways

Insight

In Isaiah 55, God invites His people to avail themselves of the salvation He offers. In verses 6–7, God calls the wicked to seek Him, saying that those who repent will find mercy and pardon. This section is connected to the next section (vv. 8–13) with the simple word for (v. 8), which signals a relationship between the two; the second section explains the first. The people can rest in the promise of deliverance and forgiveness because God’s thoughts are higher than theirs. He’s reminding them that even if they don’t understand how He’s working, they can trust Him to provide salvation to those who repent.

By: J.R. Hudberg

The Power of God’s Word

[My word] will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire.

Isaiah 55:11

On Christmas Eve 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts—Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders—became the first humans to enter lunar orbit. As they circled the moon ten times, they shared images of the moon and the Earth. During a live broadcast, they took turns reading from Genesis 1. At the fortieth anniversary celebration, Borman said, “We were told that on Christmas Eve we would have the largest audience that had ever listened to a human voice. And the only instructions that we got from NASA was to do something appropriate.” The Bible verses spoken by the Apollo 8 astronauts still plant seeds of truth into the listening hearts of people who hear the historical recording.

Through the prophet Isaiah, God says, “Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live” (Isaiah 55:3). Revealing His free offer of salvation, He invites us to turn from our sin and receive His mercy and forgiveness (vv. 6–7). He declares the divine authority of His thoughts and His actions, which are too vast for us to truly understand (vv. 8–9). Still, God gives us opportunity to share His life-transforming words of Scripture, which point to Jesus, and affirm that He is responsible for the spiritual growth of His people (vv. 10–13).

The Holy Spirit helps us share the gospel as the Father fulfills all His promises according to His perfect plan and pace.

By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

Who will you share Scripture with today? Who first shared the Bible with you?

Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the world, please give me opportunities daily to share Your wisdom.

For further study, read Knowing God through the Whole Bible.

My Utmost for His Highest By Oswald Chambers

The Hidden Life

…your life is hidden with Christ in God. —Colossians 3:3

The Spirit of God testifies to and confirms the simple, but almighty, security of the life that “is hidden with Christ in God.” Paul continually brought this out in his New Testament letters. We talk as if living a sanctified life were the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet it is the most secure thing possible, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live without God. For one who is born again, it is easier to live in a right-standing relationship with God than it is to go wrong, provided we heed God’s warnings and “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7).

When we think of being delivered from sin, being “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), and “walk[ing] in the light,” we picture the peak of a great mountain. We see it as very high and wonderful, but we say, “Oh, I could never live up there!” However, when we do get there through God’s grace, we find it is not a mountain peak at all, but a plateau with plenty of room to live and to grow. “You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip” (Psalm 18:36).

When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. If you see Him when He says, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:27), I defy you to worry. It is virtually impossible to doubt when He is there. Every time you are in personal contact with Jesus, His words are real to you. “My peace I give to you…” (John 14:27)— a peace which brings an unconstrained confidence and covers you completely, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. “…your life is hidden with Christ in God,” and the peace of Jesus Christ that cannot be disturbed has been imparted to you.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Habakkuk 1-3; Revelation 15

Acts 2:1-21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: More Than a Christmas Story

The virgin birth is more, much more, than a Christmas story. It's a story of how close Christ will come to you! The first stop on His itinerary was a womb. Where will God go to touch the world? Look deep inside Mary for an answer. Better still-look deep within yourself.

"Christ in you, the hope of glory!" the scripture says (Col. 1:27). Christ grew in Mary until He had to come out. Christ will grow in you until the same occurs. He will come out in your speech, in your actions, in your decisions. Every place you live will be a Bethlehem. And every day you live will be a Christmas. Deliver Christ into the world…your world.

From In the Manger

Acts 2:1-21

A Sound Like a Strong Wind

When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.

5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were blown away. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;

Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,

    Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,

    Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;

Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;

Even Cretans and Arabs!

“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”

12 Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”

13 Others joked, “They’re drunk on cheap wine.”

Peter Speaks Up

14-21 That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:

“In the Last Days,” God says,

“I will pour out my Spirit

    on every kind of people:

Your sons will prophesy,

    also your daughters;

Your young men will see visions,

    your old men dream dreams.

When the time comes,

    I’ll pour out my Spirit

On those who serve me, men and women both,

    and they’ll prophesy.

I’ll set wonders in the sky above

    and signs on the earth below,

Blood and fire and billowing smoke,

    the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,

Before the Day of the Lord arrives,

    the Day tremendous and marvelous;

And whoever calls out for help

    to me, God, will be saved.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, December 23, 2022

Today's Scripture

Psalm 71:15–24

God, don’t just watch from the sidelines.

    Come on! Run to my side!

My accusers—make them lose face.

    Those out to get me—make them look

Like idiots, while I stretch out, reaching for you,

    and daily add praise to praise.

I’ll write the book on your righteousness,

    talk up your salvation all the day long,

    never run out of good things to write or say.

I come in the power of the Lord God,

    I post signs marking his right-of-way.

17-24 You got me when I was an unformed youth,

    God, and taught me everything I know.

Now I’m telling the world your wonders;

    I’ll keep at it until I’m old and gray.

God, don’t walk off and leave me

    until I get out the news

Of your strong right arm to this world,

    news of your power to the world yet to come,

Your famous and righteous

    ways, O God.

God, you’ve done it all!

    Who is quite like you?

You, who made me stare trouble in the face,

    Turn me around;

Now let me look life in the face.

    I’ve been to the bottom;

Bring me up, streaming with honors;

    turn to me, be tender to me,

And I’ll take up the lute and thank you

    to the tune of your faithfulness, God.

I’ll make music for you on a harp,

    Holy One of Israel.

When I open up in song to you,

    I let out lungsful of praise,

    my rescued life a song.

All day long I’m chanting

    about you and your righteous ways,

While those who tried to do me in

    slink off looking ashamed.

Insight

A song of age and experience, Psalm 71 is one of many psalms that are anonymous. It seems to have been written by someone who’d lived for a while, as the author cited a point in the past when he was young (vv. 5–6, 17) and is anticipating a time when he’ll be “old and gray” (v. 18). In verse 19, the writer seems to capture what he wants to pass along to the coming generation—a right relationship with the God who does great things and is utterly unique beyond all else in the universe. No wonder the psalmist closes with such lavish expressions of praise (vv. 22–24)! By: Bill Crowder

Granny Whale

My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds. Psalm 71:15

An orca whale, who researchers have named “Granny,” apparently knew the importance of her role in the life of her “grandbaby whale.” The young whale’s mother had recently died, and the orphaned whale was not yet old enough to thrive without protection and support. Granny, though in her eighties (or older), came alongside to teach him what he needed to know to survive. Granny corralled some fish for the younger whale instead of consuming them herself, so he would not only have a meal but would also learn what to eat and where to find the salmon he’d need to live.

We too have the distinct honor and joy of passing on what we know—we can share about the wonderful works and character of God with those coming after us. The aging psalmist asks God to allow him to “declare [His] power to the next generation” (Psalm 71:18). He earnestly wishes to share with others what he knows of God—His “righteous deeds” and “saving acts”—that we need to flourish (v. 15).

Even if we don’t have the gray hairs of old age (v. 18), declaring how we’ve experienced the love and faithfulness of God can benefit someone on their journey with Him. Our willingness to share that wisdom might just be what that person needs to live and thrive in Christ even in adversity (v. 20). By:  Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray

Who has nurtured your relationship with God? Who needs your wisdom today?

Dear Father, thank You for sending me wisdom through those who’ve walked ahead of me. May I do the same for others in Your power and love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, December 23, 2022

Sharing in the Atonement

God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14

The gospel of Jesus Christ always forces a decision of our will. Have I accepted God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ? Do I have even the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death— to be completely dead to all interest in sin, worldliness, and self? Do I long to be so closely identified with Jesus that I am of no value for anything except Him and His purposes? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can commit myself under the banner of His Cross, and that means death to sin. You must get alone with Jesus and either decide to tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you, or that at any cost you want to be identified with His death. When you act in confident faith in what our Lord did on the cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place immediately. And you will come to know through a higher knowledge that your old life was “crucified with Him” (Romans 6:6). The proof that your old life is dead, having been “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you now enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.

Every once in a while our Lord gives us a glimpse of what we would be like if it were not for Him. This is a confirmation of what He said— “…without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). That is why the underlying foundation of Christianity is personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus. We mistake the joy of our first introduction into God’s kingdom as His purpose for getting us there. Yet God’s purpose in getting us into His kingdom is that we may realize all that identification with Jesus Christ means.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Nahum 1-3; Revelation 14

Proverbs 15 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: THE HOPE OF GLORY - December 22, 2022

The virgin birth is much, much more than a Christmas story. It’s a story of how close Christ will come to you. The first stop on his itinerary was a womb. Where will God go to touch the world? Look deep inside Mary for an answer. Better still, look deep within yourself. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” Scripture says (Colossians 1:27).

Christ grew in Mary until he had to come out. Christ will grow in you until the same occurs. He will come out in your speech, in your actions, in your decisions. Every place you live will be a Bethlehem. Every day you live will be a Christmas. Deliver Christ into the world, your world.

Proverbs 15

God Doesn’t Miss a Thing

A gentle response defuses anger,

    but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire.

2 Knowledge flows like spring water from the wise;

    fools are leaky faucets, dripping nonsense.

3 God doesn’t miss a thing—

    he’s alert to good and evil alike.

4 Kind words heal and help;

    cutting words wound and maim.

5 Moral dropouts won’t listen to their elders;

    welcoming correction is a mark of good sense.

6 The lives of God-loyal people flourish;

    a misspent life is soon bankrupt.

7 Perceptive words spread knowledge;

    fools are hollow—there’s nothing to them.

8 God can’t stand pious poses,

    but he delights in genuine prayers.

9 A life frittered away disgusts God;

    he loves those who run straight for the finish line.

10 It’s a school of hard knocks for those who leave God’s path,

    a dead-end street for those who hate God’s rules.

11 Even hell holds no secrets from God—

    do you think he can’t read human hearts?

Life Ascends to the Heights

12 Know-it-alls don’t like being told what to do;

    they avoid the company of wise men and women.

13 A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face;

    a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day.

14 An intelligent person is always eager to take in more truth;

    fools feed on fast-food fads and fancies.

15 A miserable heart means a miserable life;

    a cheerful heart fills the day with song.

16 A simple life in the Fear-of-God

    is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches.

17 Better a bread crust shared in love

    than a slab of prime rib served in hate.

18 Hot tempers start fights;

    a calm, cool spirit keeps the peace.

19 The path of lazy people is overgrown with briers;

    the diligent walk down a smooth road.

20 Intelligent children make their parents proud;

    lazy students embarrass their parents.

21 The empty-headed treat life as a plaything;

    the perceptive grasp its meaning and make a go of it.

22 Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail;

    take good counsel and watch them succeed.

23 Congenial conversation—what a pleasure!

    The right word at the right time—beautiful!

24 Life ascends to the heights for the thoughtful—

    it’s a clean about-face from descent into hell.

25 God smashes the pretensions of the arrogant;

    he stands with those who have no standing.

26 God can’t stand evil scheming,

    but he puts words of grace and beauty on display.

27 A greedy and grasping person destroys community;

    those who refuse to exploit live and let live.

28 Prayerful answers come from God-loyal people;

    the wicked are sewers of abuse.

29 God keeps his distance from the wicked;

    he closely attends to the prayers of God-loyal people.

30 A twinkle in the eye means joy in the heart,

    and good news makes you feel fit as a fiddle.

31 Listen to good advice if you want to live well,

    an honored guest among wise men and women.

32 An undisciplined, self-willed life is puny;

    an obedient, God-willed life is spacious.

33 Fear-of-God is a school in skilled living—

    first you learn humility, then you experience glory.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Today's Scripture

2 Corinthians 1:3–11

The Rescue

3-5 All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.

6-7 When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you’re just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you’re going to make it, no doubt about it.

8-11 We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don’t want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God’s deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.

Insight

In 2 Corinthians 1:3–7, the Greek noun and verb (paraklesis and parakaleo) meaning “comfort” or “encouragement/encourage” occur ten times in only five verses! Emphasizing that God is the “Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (v. 3), Paul invites believers in Jesus to share in the suffering of those who spread the gospel (vv. 5–6) as well as the comfort and encouragement that “abounds through Christ” (v. 5). Paul confessed that it was intense suffering that taught him and his coworkers to “not rely on [themselves] but on God, who raises the dead” (v. 9). By: Monica La Rose

Bending Low

The Father of compassion and the God of all comfort . . . comforts us in all our troubles. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4

A young mom followed behind her daughter, who pedaled her tiny bike as fast as her little legs could go. But picking up more speed than she wanted, the little girl suddenly rolled off the bike and cried that her ankle hurt. Her mom quietly got down on her knees, bent down low, and kissed it to “make the pain go away.” And it worked! The little girl jumped up, climbed back on her bike, and pedaled on. Don’t you wish all our pains could go away that easily!

The apostle Paul experienced the comfort of God in his continual struggles yet kept going. He listed some of those trials in 2 Corinthians 11:23–29: floggings, beatings, stonings, sleep deprivation, hunger, concerns for all the churches. He learned intimately that God is “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (1:3) or as another version translates it: “He is the Father who gives tender love” (nirv). Much like a mom comforting her child, God bends down low to tenderly care for us in our pain.

God’s loving ways of comforting us are many and varied. He may give us a Scripture verse that encourages us to continue on, or He may have someone send a special note or prompt a friend to give us a call that touches our spirit. While the struggle may not go away, because God bends down low to help us, we can get up and pedal on. By:  Anne Cetas

Reflect & Pray

In what ways has God comforted you? How can you be a comfort to others because of that?

Father of compassion, come near to me and hold me in Your arms where I can find rest and encouragement.

For further study, read Compassion: When Jesus Asks for More than We Have .

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, December 22, 2022

The Drawing of the Father

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him… —John 6:44

When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians 1:15-16). Belief is not the result of an intellectual act, but the result of an act of my will whereby I deliberately commit myself. But will I commit, placing myself completely and absolutely on God, and be willing to act solely on what He says? If I will, I will find that I am grounded on reality as certain as God’s throne.

In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of the will. Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.

Everyone has been created with the ability to reach out beyond his own grasp. But it is God who draws me, and my relationship to Him in the first place is an inner, personal one, not an intellectual one. I come into the relationship through the miracle of God and through my own will to believe. Then I begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of the transformation in my life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.  Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1459 R

Bible in a Year: Micah 6-7; Revelation 13

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, December 22, 2022

WHERE THE BATTLE IS THIS CHRISTMAS - #9379

One of the beautiful things to see on the news at Christmastime is soldiers coming home. Boy, we've seen it over the years, and coming from sometimes war torn places in the world. But there was a Christmas not too long ago, and that was not Amy's story. I had met her at a dinner I had spoken at and she was stressed. See, she had just gotten called up to go to Afghanistan at that time. So as the Christmas displays were lighting up everything, Amy was saying goodbye to the people she loved and leaving for the battlefield. By the way, God knows that feeling.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where the Battle is This Christmas."

Yeah, Jesus knows how that feels. That's actually what the Son of God was doing that first Christmas. He actually left the safety - the glory of heaven - to come to this battlefield where we live. Imagine this: The Creator of a hundred billion galaxies, of the stars, the moon, the sun, and this planet and everyone on it. The Bible says, "Worshiped by angels." The book of Revelation tells us "He is worshiped by 10,000 times 10,000 angels." That's a hundred million angels!

Now, listen to our word for today from the Word of God in John 1:14. It says, "He became human and made His home among us." And, when He came, of course, His life began not in a palace, but in a stable and it ended on a cross. You say, "Well, poor Jesus. That's so sad that happened to Him; that He was a victim of that violence." Jesus was not a victim. He said in John 10:18, "No one takes my life from me. I lay it down myself." He said, "I am the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep." He chose to come here. He chose to let them strip him and beat him. He chose to let them mock and ridicule him, and to drive nails through his hands and feet, and to hang on that brutal cross. They couldn't do that to him without his permission! He made the men who nailed him to the cross. He made the tree they nailed him to.

But He had come here to do battle with the monster that has ruined so many things; so many things you and I care about. It's called sin. It's not breaking somebody's religious rules. Sin is the "all about me" choices that we've all made. Who hasn't?

Ultimately, we've hijacked our lives from the God who gave us our life. Where does that take us: broken relationships, broken promises, broken dreams, broken marriages, broken hearts. And Jesus won when He came and paid our death penalty on that cross.

In Isaiah 53, the Bible says this, "the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him." The punishment that made peace in my heart - peace with God possible - was upon Jesus. The sacrifice on that cross was something not just historic, not just religious, but it's deeply personal.

One of the writers of the Bible put it this way, "God loved me and gave Himself for me." He did that so you could be forgiven; so you could be with Him forever in heaven some day.

So, now guess where the battle is? It's in your soul. You can feel it. It's over whether or not you will put all your trust, and pin all your hopes on Him. And that battle can be over today if you'll just say, "Jesus, You who loved me enough to die for me; You who was powerful enough to walk out of Your grave, this Christmas I want to be Yours. I want to be forgiven. I want to know I'll be with You forever." Tell Him that now.

And as a next step, go to our website. Simply because there you'll find out you'll have information that will help you be sure you belong to Him from this day on. That website is ANewStory.com. When you open your heart to Jesus, the battle is finally over and the peace comes to your soul.

Proverbs 14 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: HIS KINGDOM WILL NEVER END - December 21, 2022

In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing, was a teenage girl in a smelly stable.

As Mary looked into the face of the baby—her son, her Lord, his majesty—she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Somehow she knew she was holding God. So this is he. And she remembered the words of the angel when he said: “His kingdom will never end.” Oh he looked like anything but a King. His cry, though strong and healthy, was still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby.

Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager, and in the presence of a carpenter. God came near! Luke 1:33 says, “His kingdom will never end.” May you be a part of it.

Proverbs 14

A Way That Leads to Hell

Lady Wisdom builds a lovely home;

    Sir Fool comes along and tears it down brick by brick.

2 An honest life shows respect for God;

    a degenerate life is a slap in his face.

3 Frivolous talk provokes a derisive smile;

    wise speech evokes nothing but respect.

4 No cattle, no crops;

    a good harvest requires a strong ox for the plow.

5 A true witness never lies;

    a false witness makes a business of it.

6 Cynics look high and low for wisdom—and never find it;

    the open-minded find it right on their doorstep!

7 Escape quickly from the company of fools;

    they’re a waste of your time, a waste of your words.

8 The wisdom of the wise keeps life on track;

    the foolishness of fools lands them in the ditch.

9 The stupid ridicule right and wrong,

    but a moral life is a favored life.

10 The person who shuns the bitter moments of friends

    will be an outsider at their celebrations.

11 Lives of careless wrongdoing are run-down shacks;

    holy living builds soaring cathedrals.

12-13 There’s a way of life that looks harmless enough;

    look again—it leads straight to hell.

Sure, those people appear to be having a good time,

    but all that laughter will end in heartbreak.

Sift and Weigh Every Word

14 A mean person gets paid back in meanness,

    a gracious person in grace.

15 The gullible believe anything they’re told;

    the prudent sift and weigh every word.

16 The wise watch their steps and avoid evil;

    fools are headstrong and reckless.

17 The hotheaded do things they’ll later regret;

    the coldhearted get the cold shoulder.

18 Foolish dreamers live in a world of illusion;

    wise realists plant their feet on the ground.

19 Eventually, evil will pay tribute to good;

    the wicked will respect God-loyal people.

20 An unlucky loser is shunned by all,

    but everyone loves a winner.

21 It’s criminal to ignore a neighbor in need,

    but compassion for the poor—what a blessing!

22 Isn’t it obvious that conspirators lose out,

    while the thoughtful win love and trust?

23 Hard work always pays off;

    mere talk puts no bread on the table.

24 The wise accumulate wisdom;

    fools get stupider by the day.

25 Souls are saved by truthful witness

    and betrayed by the spread of lies.

26 The Fear-of-God builds up confidence,

    and makes a world safe for your children.

27 The Fear-of-God is a spring of living water

    so you won’t go off drinking from poisoned wells.

28 The mark of a good leader is loyal followers;

    leadership is nothing without a following.

29 Slowness to anger makes for deep understanding;

    a quick-tempered person stockpiles stupidity.

30 A sound mind makes for a robust body,

    but runaway emotions corrode the bones.

31 You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless;

    when you’re kind to the poor, you honor God.

32 The evil of bad people leaves them out in the cold;

    the integrity of good people creates a safe place for living.

33 Lady Wisdom is at home in an understanding heart—

    fools never even get to say hello.

34 God-devotion makes a country strong;

    God-avoidance leaves people weak.

35 Diligent work gets a warm commendation;

    shiftless work earns an angry rebuke.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Today's Scripture

Revelation 5:6–10

So I looked, and there, surrounded by Throne, Animals, and Elders, was a Lamb, slaughtered but standing tall. Seven horns he had, and seven eyes, the Seven Spirits of God sent into all the earth. He came to the One Seated on the Throne and took the scroll from his right hand. The moment he took the scroll, the Four Animals and Twenty-four Elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb. Each had a harp and each had a bowl, a gold bowl filled with incense, the prayers of God’s holy people. And they sang a new song:

Worthy! Take the scroll, open its seals.

Slain! Paying in blood, you bought men and women,

Bought them back from all over the earth,

Bought them back for God.

Then you made them a Kingdom, Priests for our God,

Priest-kings to rule over the earth.

Insight

While it may surprise us that the book of Revelation explicitly mentions prayer only three times, what it says about the prayers of the saints is encouraging. The word prayers is mentioned in Revelation 5:8, 8:3, and 8:4, along with the word incense each time. “He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people. . . . The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand” (8:3–4). Aromatic incense in the Old Testament accompanied the sacrifices offered to God. The offering of fragrant incense preceded the offering of the first sacrifice of the day and followed the last offering (see Exodus 30:7–8). The priestly nature of his prayers did not escape David: “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141:2). By: Arthur Jackson

Treasured Prayer

May these words of mine . . . be near to the Lord our God day and night. 1 Kings 8:59

The Clark’s Nutcracker is an amazing bird. Every year it prepares for winter by hiding tiny caches of four or five whitebark pine seeds, as many as five hundred seeds per hour. Then, months later, it returns to uncover the seeds, even under heavy snow. A Clark’s Nutcracker may remember as many as ten thousand locations where it has hidden seeds—an astounding feat (especially when you consider the difficulty we humans can have remembering the location of our car keys or glasses).

But even this incredible act of memory pales in comparison with God’s ability to remember our prayers. He’s able to keep track of every sincere prayer and remember and respond to them even years later. In the book of Revelation, the apostle John describes “four living creatures” and “twenty-four elders” worshiping the Lord in heaven. Each one was “holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people” (5:8).

Just as incense was precious in the ancient world, our prayers are so precious to God that He keeps them before Him continually, treasured in golden bowls! Our prayers matter to God because we matter to Him, and through His undeserved kindness to us in Jesus He offers us uninhibited access (Hebrews 4:14–16). So pray boldly! And know that not a word will be forgotten or misplaced because of the amazing love of God. By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

How does it encourage you to know God never forgets your prayers? Who do you need to pray for today?

Heavenly Father, please give me the perseverance to pray faithfully and the faith to look for what You alone can do.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Experience or God’s Revealed Truth?

We have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. —1 Corinthians 2:12

My experience is not what makes redemption real— redemption is reality. Redemption has no real meaning for me until it is worked out through my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me beyond myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. If I am left only with my personal experiences, I am left with something not produced by redemption. But experiences produced by redemption prove themselves by leading me beyond myself, to the point of no longer paying any attention to experiences as the basis of reality. Instead, I see that only the reality itself produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth— Jesus Christ.

If you try to hold back the Holy Spirit within you, with the desire of producing more inner spiritual experiences, you will find that He will break the hold and take you again to the historic Christ. Never support an experience which does not have God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions or insights you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you place your experiences above Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? You must allow Him to be Lord over you, and pay no attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. Then there will come a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience, and you can truthfully say, “I do not care what I experience— I am sure of Him!”

Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not faith; faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come.  Shade of His Hand, 1226 L

Bible in a Year: Micah 4-5; Revelation 12

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

DON'T LET THE BUMPS FOOL YOU - #9378

Buttermilk Falls is a beautiful spot! That's what I had been told, and I was always open for a great new spot to go for a Sunday afternoon drive with the kids. So we drove out to the country and set out to discover the beauty of Buttermilk Falls. I did have to stop and ask directions a couple of times; I guess a lot of people didn't know where this great spot was.

Well, finally someone directed me down this very unlikely back road, and I said, "You mean this goes somewhere?" I want you to know it got more and more doubtful the farther we went down that road. Eventually I was driving about two miles an hour because the ruts got bigger and bigger in the road the farther we went. Pretty soon I thought I had landed on the moon. These weren't ruts; these were craters! And somebody in the car said, "Dad, this has got to be the wrong road." Well, we kept on traveling and sure enough after all those bumps, we found a very special spot that's called Buttermilk Falls. And we've been back there several times. It sure felt like we were on the wrong road, but we were right on course.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Don't Let the Bumps Fool You."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 2, beginning at verse 1, "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world and everyone went to his own town to register." What a hassle, right? "So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged in the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there the time came for the baby to be born."

Let's go back a little bit and see what's happened in Joseph's commitment to the Lord. Maybe it parallels your own right now. First of all, Joseph had a special encounter with the Lord. The angel of the Lord came to him and told him that He wanted Joseph to make some special sacrifices in order to be specially used. And Joseph said, "I'll do it. I'll take the risk. I'll risk my reputation. No one's going to believe this story about Mary and the virgin birth, but I will risk my reputation and I'll go ahead and marry this girl and I will raise this son. I'll endure the cloud that might be over our name." And he submitted his family dreams to God's plans.

Joseph obeyed the Lord and he lived happily ever after, right? Wrong. He started down that road marked God's Will, and ran into some very big bumps. New taxes all of a sudden, dangerous journey, no room in the inn. Then he's got to escape to Egypt and he can't return to his home town for two years. Was he still on the right road? Yes. Did it feel like it? Probably not.

All right, let's go to your life right now. You've started down that road that's marked God's Will, and maybe there was a time when you submitted your plans to God's plans like Joseph did. And you've been hitting bumps ever since. You say, "We must be on the wrong road." Well, those bumps are the right road. You see, now you've become the enemy's target because you're doing God's will. He didn't bother much with you before, and now you've become a divine project and God is allowing some heavy stuff to come into your life, because it will help build you into Christ-likeness. You're worth it.

I'm glad I kept driving those craters to Buttermilk Falls. The view, in fact, was beautiful! It was definitely worth it. We went back! You're on the right road, too, if you're staying faithful to your commitment. You're going to enjoy that destination once you get there. Just hang on to your Father a little tighter, and don't let those bumps fool you. And for sure, don't let them stop you.

Proverbs 13 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: MAKE ROOM - December 20, 2022

Some of the saddest words on earth are “We don’t have room for you.” Jesus knew the sounds of those words. He was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you.” And when he hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection? “We don’t have room for you in this world.”

Today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter. Every so often, he’s welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise: “In my Father’s house are many rooms” (John 14:2). We make room for him in our hearts, and Jesus makes room for us in his house.

Proverbs 13

Walk with the Wise

Intelligent children listen to their parents;

    foolish children do their own thing.

2 The good acquire a taste for helpful conversation;

    bullies push and shove their way through life.

3 Careful words make for a careful life;

    careless talk may ruin everything.

4 Indolence wants it all and gets nothing;

    the energetic have something to show for their lives.

5 A good person hates false talk;

    a bad person wallows in gibberish.

6 A God-loyal life keeps you on track;

    sin dumps the wicked in the ditch.

7 A pretentious, showy life is an empty life;

    a plain and simple life is a full life.

8 The rich can be sued for everything they have,

    but the poor are free of such threats.

9 The lives of good people are brightly lit streets;

    the lives of the wicked are dark alleys.

10 Arrogant know-it-alls stir up discord,

    but wise men and women listen to each other’s counsel.

11 Easy come, easy go,

    but steady diligence pays off.

12 Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick,

    but a sudden good break can turn life around.

13 Ignore the Word and suffer;

    honor God’s commands and grow rich.

14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,

    so, no more drinking from death-tainted wells!

15 Sound thinking makes for gracious living,

    but liars walk a rough road.

16 A commonsense person lives good sense;

    fools litter the country with silliness.

17 Irresponsible talk makes a real mess of things,

    but a reliable reporter is a healing presence.

18 Refuse discipline and end up homeless;

    embrace correction and live an honored life.

19 Souls who follow their hearts thrive;

    fools bent on evil despise matters of soul.

20 Become wise by walking with the wise;

    hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.

21 Disaster entraps sinners,

    but God-loyal people get a good life.

22 A good life gets passed on to the grandchildren;

    ill-gotten wealth ends up with good people.

23 Banks foreclose on the farms of the poor,

    or else the poor lose their shirts to crooked lawyers.

24 A refusal to correct is a refusal to love;

    love your children by disciplining them.

25 An appetite for good brings much satisfaction,

    but the belly of the wicked always wants more.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Today's Scripture

Numbers 24:15–19

Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I tell you up front when you sent your emissaries, ‘Even if Balak gave me his palace stuffed with silver and gold, I couldn’t do anything on my own, whether good or bad, that went against God’s command’? I’m leaving for home and my people, but I warn you of what this people will do to your people in the days to come.” Then he spoke his oracle-message:

15-19 Decree of Balaam son of Beor,

    decree of the man with 20/20 vision,

Decree of the man who hears godly speech,

    who knows what’s going on with the High God,

Who sees what The Strong God reveals,

    who bows in worship and sees what’s real.

I see him, but not right now,

    I perceive him, but not right here;

A star rises from Jacob

    a scepter from Israel,

Crushing the heads of Moab,

    the skulls of all the noisy windbags;

I see Edom sold off at auction,

    enemy Seir marked down at the flea market,

    while Israel walks off with the trophies.

A ruler is coming from Jacob

    who’ll destroy what’s left in the city.

Insight

The English Bible follows the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) in calling this book “Numbers,” due to its emphasis on numbering the tribes and the soldiers of Israel. The Hebrew title of Old Testament books is usually based on the opening words of the book. Here, the Hebrew title is found in the fifth Hebrew word—which means “in the desert.” Moses is almost universally regarded as the author of this book and the rest of the opening five books of the Bible as well. The Bible Knowledge Commentary suggests that Numbers was written at the conclusion of the wilderness wanderings of Israel and prior to the repetition of the law of Sinai found in Deuteronomy based on the book’s final verse (Numbers 36:13): “These are the commands and regulations the Lord gave through Moses to the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.”

Learn more about the documents that make up the Old and New Testaments. By: Bill Crowder

No Cursing

A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. Numbers 24:17

William Shakespeare was a master of the insult, a “quality” that actor Barry Kraft adeptly leverages with his Shakespeare Insult Generator. The clever book consists of obscure insults drawn from Shakespeare’s plays. For instance, you might disparage someone by saying, “Thou thrasonical, logger-headed rampallian”—which is so much more creative than saying, “You brag a lot and you’re not very smart, you scoundrel!”

Kraft’s light-hearted book is in good fun. But an ancient king of Moab tried to pay a mysterious prophet not merely to insult the Israelites but to outright curse them. “Come and put a curse on these people,” King Balak told Balaam (Numbers 22:6). Instead, Balaam enraged the king by blessing the Hebrew people—multiple times (24:10). One of his blessings included this prophecy: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near” (24:17). Clearly the individual in view is not yet on the scene, but just who is Balaam talking about? The next line holds a clue. “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel” (v. 17). The “star” would one day lead wise men to the promised Child (Matthew 2:1–2).

An ancient Mesopotamian prophet who knew nothing of Messiah pointed the world to a future sign declaring His arrival. From an unlikely source came not cursing, but blessing.  By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray

How does Numbers 24 help you see the Christmas story differently? How might it change the way you act when you encounter people opposing the work of God?

God, please give me eyes to see Your hand at work in all things.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

The Right Kind of Help

And I, if I am lifted up…will draw all peoples to Myself. —John 12:32

Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery.

When you find yourself face to face with a person who is spiritually lost, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that person can get to God in any other way, then the Cross of Christ is unnecessary. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. The theme of the world’s religion today is to serve in a pleasant, non-confrontational manner.

But our only priority must be to present Jesus Christ crucified— to lift Him up all the time (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). Every belief that is not firmly rooted in the Cross of Christ will lead people astray. If the worker himself believes in Jesus Christ and is trusting in the reality of redemption, his words will be compelling to others. What is extremely important is for the worker’s simple relationship with Jesus Christ to be strong and growing. His usefulness to God depends on that, and that alone.

The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us. We must also be sharply intent on sensing those Scripture passages that will drive the truth home, and then not be afraid to apply them.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labour along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought—“I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray. So Send I You, 1325 L

Bible in a Year: Micah 1-3; Revelation 11

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

CHRISTMAS AND YOUR COMFORT ZONE - #9377

The lion is supposed to be the king of beasts. If there was a king of birds, I think it would have to be the eagle. I remember one point in our Native American ministry when we had arrived on this reservation. And as we were praying and preparing for our outreach there, someone pointed up toward the sky and said, "Look!" It was an eagle, soaring above our heads. We all felt as if God had sent that majestic bird to virtually affirm His care for us. It's hard not to be inspired watching an eagle soar. But if it were up to baby eagles, they probably never would. They love the softness of the eagle nest - until one day, when they're out walking around the nest, and Mother Eagle starts pulling the fur and the foliage out of the nest, leaving a bed of exposed sticks and stones. Suddenly, that comfy little nest isn't so comfy anymore. At that point, Mamma Eagle manages to get that eaglet out of the nest, onto her back, and into the sky. I'm sure that eaglet can't imagine just hanging out there in the sky all by himself, but that's what he was born for. He wasn't made for staying in a cozy nest, and neither are you. He was made to touch the sky, and so are you.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Christmas and Your Comfort Zone."

There never would have been that first Christmas if some of the key players hadn't had their nest stirred up; if they hadn't left the comfy for the risky. The eagle thing happened to Mary in our word for today from the Word of God, Luke 1:30. "The angel said to her ... 'You have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus.' ... 'How will this be?' Mary asked the angel, 'since I am a virgin?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you."

Now, slip into Mary's skin for a minute. She's engaged to be married to a wonderful guy, Joseph. She has the reputation in town for being a good girl - a virgin. Suddenly, in the eyes of her fiancée, her family, her church, she will be pregnant without explanation. In one amazing moment, Mary's nest is suddenly very uncomfortable.

In essence, God is asking her to move out of her comfort zone, climb on His back, and go out and touch the sky. He wants to do amazing things through her, but she'll have to leave the safety of the status quo for it to happen. Just like that baby eagle, you can never learn to fly if you stay in the nest.

Mary's response in verse 38, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." Personal security, personal comfort will not decide this. She will fly wherever her Lord is ready to take her whatever the cost. And that flight will give her life a significance, an altitude, she could never have dreamed of just staying where she was. Joseph was asked to do the same thing - to risk his reputation, his own plans for the future, to go ahead and marry his mysteriously pregnant fiancée.

Both Mary and Joseph were blasted out of their comfort zones to be the ones through whom Christ would come to the world. It's still that way today. This Christmas season, God's been stirring up your nest; asking you to do something in obedience to Him that is not comfortable, that doesn't look safe. He's leading you to move beyond what's comfortable financially, geographically, relationally, maybe to release something you've been disobediently holding onto for a long time, or to finally drop a sinful part of you that you've never surrendered to Him.

Christmas is when God's Son left the most comfortable place in the universe to come to the pain and the danger of this planet; to leave heaven, to go to a cross, to ultimately soar where no one has ever soared.

Christmas would be a wonderful time for you to follow your Leader, wouldn't it? To finally abandon the safety and the predictability of the nest you've been in and let Him take you into bold new territory. Just like that baby eagle - just like the human father and mother of Jesus - you have to leave the comfortable spot to be what you were born to be.

Acts 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WHEN HE CALLS YOUR NAME - December 19, 2022

John 1:14 says, “The Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.”

He lived among us. He donned the costliest of robes, a human body. He became a friend of the sinner and a brother of the poor. He touched their sores and felt their tears and paid for their mistakes. And to all of us frightened ones, he shared the same message: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me…I will come again and receive you to Myself” (John 14:1).

And how do we respond? Some pretend he doesn’t exist. Others hear him, but don’t believe him. But then, a few decide to give it a try. And when he calls your name, be ready. Look up. He will reach down and take you home…when Christ comes!

Acts 1

To the Ends of the World

 Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but “must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon.”

6 When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?”

7-8 He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”

9-11 These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared—in white robes! They said, “You Galileans!—why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly—and mysteriously—as he left.”

Returning to Jerusalem

12-13 So they left the mountain called Olives and returned to Jerusalem. It was a little over half a mile. They went to the upper room they had been using as a meeting place:

Peter,

John,

James,

Andrew,

Philip,

Thomas,

Bartholomew,

Matthew,

James, son of Alphaeus,

Simon the Zealot,

Judas, son of James.

14 They agreed they were in this for good, completely together in prayer, the women included. Also Jesus’ mother, Mary, and his brothers.

Replacing Judas

15-17 During this time, Peter stood up in the company—there were about 120 of them in the room at the time—and said, “Friends, long ago the Holy Spirit spoke through David regarding Judas, who became the guide to those who arrested Jesus. That Scripture had to be fulfilled, and now has been. Judas was one of us and had his assigned place in this ministry.

18-20 “As you know, he took the evil bribe money and bought a small farm. There he came to a bad end, rupturing his belly and spilling his guts. Everybody in Jerusalem knows this by now; they call the place Murder Meadow. It’s exactly what we find written in the Psalms:

Let his farm become haunted

So no one can ever live there.

“And also what was written later:

Let someone else take over his post.

21-22 “Judas must now be replaced. The replacement must come from the company of men who stayed together with us from the time Jesus was baptized by John up to the day of his ascension, designated along with us as a witness to his resurrection.”

23-26 They nominated two: Joseph Barsabbas, nicknamed Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, O God, know every one of us inside and out. Make plain which of these two men you choose to take the place in this ministry and leadership that Judas threw away in order to go his own way.” They then drew straws. Matthias won and was counted in with the eleven apostles.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, December 19, 2022

Today's Scripture

Isaiah 7:1–9

A Virgin Will Bear a Son

During the time that Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel attacked Jerusalem, but the attack sputtered out. When the Davidic government learned that Aram had joined forces with Ephraim (that is, Israel), Ahaz and his people were badly shaken. They shook like trees in the wind.

3-6 Then God told Isaiah, “Go and meet Ahaz. Take your son Shear-jashub (A-Remnant-Will-Return) with you. Meet him south of the city at the end of the aqueduct where it empties into the upper pool on the road to the public laundry. Tell him, Listen, calm down. Don’t be afraid. And don’t panic over these two burnt-out cases, Rezin of Aram and the son of Remaliah. They talk big but there’s nothing to them. Aram, along with Ephraim’s son of Remaliah, have plotted to do you harm. They’ve conspired against you, saying, ‘Let’s go to war against Judah, dismember it, take it for ourselves, and set the son of Tabeel up as a puppet king over it.’

7-9 But God, the Master, says,

“It won’t happen.

    Nothing will come of it

Because the capital of Aram is Damascus

    and the king of Damascus is a mere man, Rezin.

As for Ephraim, in sixty-five years

    it will be rubble, nothing left of it.

The capital of Ephraim is Samaria,

    and the king of Samaria is the mere son of Remaliah.

If you don’t take your stand in faith,

    you won’t have a leg to stand on.”

Insight

A theme in Isaiah 7–39 is the vital importance of Israel trusting God instead of the other nations. Isaiah emphasized that God is “angry with all nations” (34:2); trusting in them is doomed to result in destruction. In contrast, Isaiah 35 describes the flourishing promised for those who, trusting God, walk on the “Way of Holiness” (v. 8). Isaiah invited his listeners to “strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come . . . to save you’ ” (vv. 3–4). 

By: Monica La Rose

Standing Firm by Faith

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. Isaiah 7:9

Nokia became the world’s best-selling mobile phone company in 1998 and saw profits rise to nearly four billion dollars in 1999. But by 2011, sales were diminishing and soon the failing phone brand was acquired by Microsoft. One factor in Nokia’s mobile division failure was a fear-based work culture that led to disastrous decisions. Managers were reluctant to tell the truth about the Nokia phone’s inferior operating system and other design problems for fear of being fired.

King Ahaz of Judah and his people were fearful—“shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind” (Isaiah 7:2). They knew that the kings of Israel and Aram (Syria) had allied, and their combined armies were marching to Judah to take it over (vv. 5–6). Although God used Isaiah to encourage Ahaz by telling him his enemies’ hostile plans would “not happen” (v. 7), the foolish leader fearfully chose to ally with Assyria and submit to the superpower’s king (2 Kings 16:7–8). He didn’t trust in God, who declared, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all” (Isaiah 7:9).

The writer of Hebrews helps us consider what it looks like to stand firm in faith today: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (10:23). May we press on and not “shrink back” (v. 39) as the Holy Spirit empowers us to trust in Jesus.

By:  Tom Felten

Reflect & Pray

When have you experienced a challenge to your faith? How has God encouraged you to stand firm?

Father, please help me stand firm as You provide the faith I need.

Learn more about walking faithfully with God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, December 19, 2022

The Focus Of Our Message

I did not come to bring peace but a sword. —Matthew 10:34

Never be sympathetic with a person whose situation causes you to conclude that God is dealing harshly with him. God can be more tender than we can conceive, and every once in a while He gives us the opportunity to deal firmly with someone so that He may be viewed as the tender One. If a person cannot go to God, it is because he has something secret which he does not intend to give up— he may admit his sin, but would no more give up that thing than he could fly under his own power. It is impossible to deal sympathetically with people like that. We must reach down deep in their lives to the root of the problem, which will cause hostility and resentment toward the message. People want the blessing of God, but they can’t stand something that pierces right through to the heart of the matter.

If you are sensitive to God’s way, your message as His servant will be merciless and insistent, cutting to the very root. Otherwise, there will be no healing. We must drive the message home so forcefully that a person cannot possibly hide, but must apply its truth. Deal with people where they are, until they begin to realize their true need. Then hold high the standard of Jesus for their lives. Their response may be, “We can never be that.” Then drive it home with, “Jesus Christ says you must.” “But how can we be?” “You can’t, unless you have a new Spirit” (see Luke 11:13).

There must be a sense of need created before your message is of any use. Thousands of people in this world profess to be happy without God. But if we could be truly happy and moral without Jesus, then why did He come? He came because that kind of happiness and peace is only superficial. Jesus Christ came to “bring…a sword” through every kind of peace that is not based on a personal relationship with Himself.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Jonah 1-4; Revelation 10

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, December 19, 2022

THE GIFT YOU DON'T WANT TO RUIN - #9376

Our friend told us that their youngest child, Ralphie, was like "Mr. Christmas" at their house. Very early every Christmas morning, he was everyone's alarm clock to get up and get going on those presents. That's what made this one Christmas so strange. Two weeks earlier, Ralphie was doing a little exploring in the closets while his parents were gone, and he found where they had hidden their presents! He couldn't resist. He opened this one bag and saw the major gift they had bought for him. Well, then came Christmas. Everyone slept later than they ever had on a Christmas morning because Ralphie didn't get up! Everyone was waiting impatiently around the Christmas tree, so Dad called up the stairs, "Ralphie, are you coming?" "Yeah," Ralphie replied. All the other kids were psyched as they opened their gifts. Not Ralphie. He opened his with little emotion, sort of a halfhearted thanks. Dad took him aside and said, "Ralphie, are you sick, man? You're always like Mr. Christmas around here!" And Ralphie explained why his "joy to the world" had gone. "Dad, the problem is I opened my gift early, and I ruined Christmas."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Gift You Don't Want to Ruin."

Poor Ralphie! He opened his gift before he should have and he ruined Christmas. It's that kind of heartache that God' is trying to protect us from when He tells us to wait to open one of the most beautiful gifts He's given us - the gift of our sexual love to the person we love enough to spend our life with. He tells us to wait for marriage, to keep it inside marriage, not to keep us from enjoying it, but to keep us from ruining it.

Your wedding night and all your nights of married love, are meant to be the "Christmas" when you open your gift from one person and only one person. That's where the passion, the fulfillment, the excitement comes from; an exclusive gift that you've saved for only one person...the person you love enough to spend your life with. Anything you do with anyone else costs you the excitement of that exclusivity.

In our word for today from the Word of God, He gives us a clear blueprint for sex and love at its best. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, He says, "It is God's will that you should be sanctified (that means 'kept special'); that you should avoid sexual immorality (that's sex outside the divine fence of marriage); that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable." Now, notice the two-step action plan for not ruining your gift.

First, you avoid every wrong use of sex. Don't allow yourself to get in situations or to the point where you might be tempted to give it away. Avoid it. Don't flirt with it.

Secondly, control your body; don't let it control you. Not letting your passions start running fast and then suddenly trying to throw on the brakes. Control the desires that could carry you over the edge of an irreversible sexual mistake.

See, God really cares about what you do with your love. He cares that you experience all the love He's planned for you; most of all, His love. It's very possible that in our society and our world today you've given away sexually what never should have been given. But you did, and now what?

God has two hope-giving words for you: "clean" and "renewed." The Bible says, "The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) The sin you're most ashamed of, even the sin you think He won't forgive, was paid for when Jesus died on the cross. The day you bring your sin to Him and trust Him to be your Forgiver, your Savior, He erases every sin you've ever done from God's Book. And what you've done before doesn't have to matter anymore. He begins to renew your emotional and spiritual purity.

Don't let your sin keep you from Jesus. Let it drive you to Him. You want to know Him in this kind of love relationship? Tell Him that today. And if you'd like to be sure just how to get started with Jesus and every sin of your life forgiven, I invite you to go to our website, where we explain exactly how that can happen for you today. That's ANewStory.com.

God wants you to have His very best. And when you give Him your life, you get love without strings. And you get love without regrets.

Proverbs 12 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Sacred Delight

Scripture says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor. 8:9)

No man had more reason to be miserable than Jesus—yet no one was more joyful. He was ridiculed. Those who didn’t ridicule Him, wanted favors. He was accused of a crime he had never committed. Witnesses were hired to lie. They crucified him. He left as He came—penniless.

He should have been miserable and bitter. But He wasn’t. He was joyful! He possessed a joy that possessed Him. I call it a sacred delight. Sacred because it’s not of the earth, delight because it is just that: the joy of God. And it is within reach—in the person of Jesus. He offers it to you, my friend…a sacred delight!

From In the Manger

Proverbs 12

If You Love Learning

If you love learning, you love the discipline that goes with it—

    how shortsighted to refuse correction!

2 A good person basks in the delight of God,

    and he wants nothing to do with devious schemers.

3 You can’t find firm footing in a swamp,

    but life rooted in God stands firm.

4 A hearty wife invigorates her husband,

    but a frigid woman is cancer in the bones.

5 The thinking of principled people makes for justice;

    the plots of degenerates corrupt.

6 The words of the wicked kill;

    the speech of the upright saves.

7 Wicked people fall to pieces—there’s nothing to them;

    the homes of good people hold together.

8 A person who talks sense is honored;

    airheads are held in contempt.

9 Better to be ordinary and work for a living

    than act important and starve in the process.

10 Good people are good to their animals;

    the “good-hearted” bad people kick and abuse them.

11 The one who stays on the job has food on the table;

    the witless chase whims and fancies.

12 What the wicked construct finally falls into ruin,

    while the roots of the righteous give life, and more life.

Wise People Take Advice

13 The gossip of bad people gets them in trouble;

    the conversation of good people keeps them out of it.

14 Well-spoken words bring satisfaction;

    well-done work has its own reward.

15 Fools are headstrong and do what they like;

    wise people take advice.

16 Fools have short fuses and explode all too quickly;

    the prudent quietly shrug off insults.

17 Truthful witness by a good person clears the air,

    but liars lay down a smoke screen of deceit.

18 Rash language cuts and maims,

    but there is healing in the words of the wise.

19 Truth lasts;

    lies are here today, gone tomorrow.

20 Evil scheming distorts the schemer;

    peace-planning brings joy to the planner.

21 No evil can overwhelm a good person,

    but the wicked have their hands full of it.

22 God can’t stomach liars;

    he loves the company of those who keep their word.

23 Prudent people don’t flaunt their knowledge;

    talkative fools broadcast their silliness.

24 The diligent find freedom in their work;

    the lazy are oppressed by work.

25 Worry weighs us down;

    a cheerful word picks us up.

26 A good person survives misfortune,

    but a wicked life invites disaster.

27 A lazy life is an empty life,

    but “early to rise” gets the job done.

28 Good men and women travel right into life;

    sin’s detours take you straight to hell.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, December 18, 2022

Today's Scripture

Romans 8:1–10

The Solution Is Life on God’s Terms

8 1-2 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

3-4 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.

The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.

9-11 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!

Insight

In Romans 7, Paul wrote of the law or principle of sin he saw at work (v. 21), and asked, “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (v. 24). The emphatic answer comes in the next verse: “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25). The powerful chapter of Romans 8 builds on that happy solution to our problem by encouraging us to live in the strength of the Spirit (vv. 2–4). The chapter closes with Paul’s emphatic declaration of the scope of God’s love for us (vv. 31–39).  By: Tim Gustafson

The Miracle of Christmas

[God sent] his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. Romans 8:3

At a garage sale, I found a nativity set in a beat-up cardboard box. As I picked up the baby Jesus, I noticed the finely sculpted details of the infant’s body. This newborn wasn’t cocooned in a blanket with closed eyes—he was awake and partially unwrapped with outstretched arms, open hands, and fingers extended. “I’m here!” he seemed to say.

The figurine illustrated the miracle of Christmas—that God sent His Son to earth in a human body. As Jesus’ infant body matured, His little hands played with toys, eventually held the Torah, and then fashioned furniture before His ministry began. His feet, once plump and perfect at birth, grew to carry Him from place to place to teach and heal. At the end of His life, these human hands and feet would be pierced with nails to hold His body on the cross.

“In that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins,” Romans 8:3 (nlt) says. If we accept Jesus’ sacrifice as payment for all our wrongs and submit our lives to Him, we’ll find relief from sin’s bondage. Because the Son of God was born to us as a real, wiggling, kicking infant, there’s a way to have peace with God and the assurance of an eternity with Him.

By:  Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Reflect & Pray

What’s the difference between celebrating Jesus at Christmas and celebrating the season of Christmas?

Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to earth as a human baby to free me from the bondage of sin and death.

For further study, read The God Who Is with Us.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, December 18, 2022

Test of Faithfulness

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

It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.

Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.

The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L

Bible in a Year: Obadiah; Revelation 9