Exodus 22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: What's More Important?

I remember receiving an invitation to speak at a church in the Midwest. I turned it down. If I had gone, I would have had the attention of a great number of people for an hour.  The opportunity to speak about Jesus to some people who didn't know Him.
Is a Tuesday evening at home with three children and a spouse more important than preaching to an audience? I decided to make a list of what I had to lose by saying no to my family one night. I would not have been there to hold Andrea when her finger got slammed in the door. I wouldn't have been there to answer Jenna's question, "Daddy what's a handicapped person?" I would have missed Jenna telling the story of Jesus on the cross during our family devotional.
There are a hundred speakers who could have addressed that crowd, but my girls just have one dad! I made the right choice.
From In the Eye of the Storm

Exodus 22

Protection of Property

[g]“Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.

2 “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.

“Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. 4 If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they must pay back double.

5 “If anyone grazes their livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in someone else’s field, the offender must make restitution from the best of their own field or vineyard.

6 “If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution.

7 “If anyone gives a neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. 8 But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges, and they must[h] determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands on the other person’s property. 9 In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost property about which somebody says, ‘This is mine,’ both parties are to bring their cases before the judges.[i] The one whom the judges declare[j] guilty must pay back double to the other.

10 “If anyone gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to their neighbor for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or is taken away while no one is looking, 11 the issue between them will be settled by the taking of an oath before the Lord that the neighbor did not lay hands on the other person’s property. The owner is to accept this, and no restitution is required. 12 But if the animal was stolen from the neighbor, restitution must be made to the owner. 13 If it was torn to pieces by a wild animal, the neighbor shall bring in the remains as evidence and shall not be required to pay for the torn animal.

14 “If anyone borrows an animal from their neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, they must make restitution. 15 But if the owner is with the animal, the borrower will not have to pay. If the animal was hired, the money paid for the hire covers the loss.
Social Responsibility

16 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. 17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.

18 “Do not allow a sorceress to live.

19 “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death.

20 “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed.[k]

21 “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.

22 “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

25 “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. 26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, 27 because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

28 “Do not blaspheme God[l] or curse the ruler of your people.

29 “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats.[m]

“You must give me the firstborn of your sons. 30 Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day.

31 “You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.

Exodus 22:1 In Hebrew texts 22:1 is numbered 21:37, and 22:2-31 is numbered 22:1-30.
Exodus 22:8 Or before God, and he will
Exodus 22:9 Or before God
Exodus 22:9 Or whom God declares
Exodus 22:20 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Read: 2 Timothy 2:1-7

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

Insight
Paul had been mentoring Timothy as he pastored a church in Ephesus. Paul instructed Timothy not only in matters of faith (2 Tim. 3:14-17), but in matters of church etiquette and order, and in practical matters of conducting himself in a manner that reflected the grace of Jesus Christ. The importance of the last of these is reflected in today’s passage (vv.3-6). But Paul didn’t simply give direction and instruction; he modeled what he encouraged. Modeling Christ to those around us is one of the ways we demonstrate that He is our leader (vv.2-3). We see this principle also in 1 Corinthians when Paul told the Corinthian church to follow his example as he followed the example of Christ (11:1).

Example That Encourages
By Albert Lee 

The story is told that in the late 1800s a group of European pastors attended D. L. Moody’s Bible conference in Massachusetts. Following their custom, they put their shoes outside their room before they slept, expecting them to be cleaned by hotel workers. When Moody saw the shoes, he mentioned the need to others because he knew their custom. But he was met with silence. Moody collected all the shoes and cleaned them himself. A friend who made an unexpected visit to his room revealed what Moody had done. The word spread, and the next few nights others took turns doing the cleaning.

Moody’s leadership style of humility inspired others to follow his example. The apostle Paul reminded Timothy to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim. 2:1-2 niv). When we remember that our strength is a result of God’s grace, that keeps us humble. Then in humility we pass on God’s truth by being an example that encourages and inspires others to follow.

Jesus Himself is our example of servanthood. He gave His very life for us.
Lord Jesus, I know little about humility.
Show me and teach me as I read about Your
example in Your Word. Give me the grace
to humble myself and serve others.
Humility is the result of knowing God and knowing yourself.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The Theology of Resting in God

Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? —Matthew 8:26

When we are afraid, the least we can do is pray to God. But our Lord has a right to expect that those who name His name have an underlying confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the ones who are reliable. Yet our trust is only in God up to a certain point, then we turn back to the elementary panic-stricken prayers of those people who do not even know God. We come to our wits’ end, showing that we don’t have even the slightest amount of confidence in Him or in His sovereign control of the world. To us He seems to be asleep, and we can see nothing but giant, breaking waves on the sea ahead of us.

“. . . O you of little faith!” What a stinging pain must have shot through the disciples as they surely thought to themselves, “We missed the mark again!” And what a sharp pain will go through us when we suddenly realize that we could have produced complete and utter joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, in spite of what we were facing.

There are times when there is no storm or crisis in our lives, and we do all that is humanly possible. But it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we rely. If we have been learning to worship God and to place our trust in Him, the crisis will reveal that we can go to the point of breaking, yet without breaking our confidence in Him.

We have been talking quite a lot about sanctification, but what will be the result in our lives? It will be expressed in our lives as a peaceful resting in God, which means a total oneness with Him. And this oneness will make us not only blameless in His sight, but also a profound joy to Him.

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The Sand Castle Syndrome - #7197

I love high tide! It's when you can see and hear the ocean at its maximum power. It just takes over everything. I distinctly remember one powerful moment at the Jersey shore during a summer visit. It happened to be high tide and I walked out on a jetty; these huge boulders. What an experience! Everything in front of me and behind me was just covered by this surging surf, but I was standing in the middle of those rocks and in the middle of that high tide. And something fascinating occurred to me, that the tide and the ocean and the storms had beat on that for centuries, but the rocks never moved.
 I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Sandcastle Syndrome."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 John chapter 2. I'll begin reading at verse 15 where the apostle says, "Do not love the world or anything in the world." And then in verse 17, "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." That just happened to be the great evangelist's and preacher's verse - D. L. Moody. And there's something about our heart that needs something that will be there forever. Actually, I think I know why. Because Ecclesiastes 3:11 in the Bible says, "God has placed eternity in the hearts of men." We need something that is always going to be there. And there isn't much that's going to last forever.
I'm thinking of sand castles, you know? I've seen kids build sand castles at the shore, and some of them are like these huge, elaborate things. But they're gone by morning, because the tide always wins. I mean, you put a lot of effort into a sand castle; it just doesn't last long. You got any sand castles you've built in your life? Maybe you've invested a lot of time and effort in it. You stand back, like an artist and go, "Look what I've got here." You thought it would last: a relationship, investments, position. High tide takes it away. Do you have a relationship that turned out to be a sand castle? You were so sure this was the one. You were so sure this was the thing that was going to satisfy your heart, and then high tide hit and took it away.
God's Word says that all earth stuff "passes away." Maybe you've been distracted by the sand castles. Maybe you've wasted a lot of energy on sand castles. See, that's a hint that we're meant to hold onto the one thing that never goes away - Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 6:19 says, speaking of Jesus, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." The rocks that are never taken away by the high tide. All of this other stuff is soon going to pass away. In fact, there's an old saying I heard a lot when I was a teenager. "Only one life, will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last."
Maybe you've gotten so busy doing things your way, that you've neglected God's way. Maybe you've been putting a lot into your house, your recreation, your romance, your career, and they're not bad things. But they've just kind of marginalized the one thing that really matters. They've marginalized Jesus.
You know, everything you've built, eternity could prove has been a sand castle, because you've missed the one thing that lasts forever - eternal life; that one anchor for a life that never goes away. And it's talked about in Romans 8:38-39 where God says, "I am convinced that neither death nor life, not angels nor demons, nor the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What have you got that time can't take away? What have you got that will last forever? Have you got that one relationship, that one love that is unloseable? If not, I would encourage you to go to our website today ANewStory.com. Meet me there and let me show you the way to this relationship that you cannot lose.
Don't settle for sand castles. Put your feet on something no tide can take away; that can stand every strong tide. Put your best efforts into what will last forever.

Exodus 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:Great Opportunities

There's only so much sand in the hourglass. Who gets it? You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Each June I put my calendar together for the coming year. Decisions to be made. You may not stockpile your requests until June, but your situation is every bit as real. It's tug-of-war, and you're the rope. On one side are the requests for your time and energy. They call. They compliment. They're valid and good. Great opportunities to do good things. If they were evil, it'd be easy to say no. But they aren't, so it's easy to rationalize.
On the other side are the loved ones in your world. They don't ask you to consult your calendar. They don't use terms like "appointment" and "engagement" or "do lunch."They don't want you for what you can do for them; they want you for who you are. Are you making time for them?
From In the Eye of the Storm

Exodus 21

Hebrew Servants

“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

5 “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ 6 then his master must take him before the judges.[a] He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

7 “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. 8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself,[b] he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. 9 If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. 10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.
Personal Injuries

12 “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. 13 However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. 14 But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.

15 “Anyone who attacks[c] their father or mother is to be put to death.

16 “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

17 “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.

18 “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist[d] and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, 19 the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed.

20 “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, 21 but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

22 “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely[e] but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

26 “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. 27 And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.

28 “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. 29 If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death. 30 However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded. 31 This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. 32 If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels[f] of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.

33 “If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange.

35 “If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. 36 However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, August 11, 2014

Read: Mark 12:28-34

The Greatest Commandment

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”

32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Footnotes:

    Mark 12:29 Or The Lord our God is one Lord
    Mark 12:30 Deut. 6:4,5
    Mark 12:31 Lev. 19:18

Insight
In Christ’s answer to the scribe in Mark 12:29, He quotes the “Shema” from Deuteronomy 6:4 which states, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” The title “shema” is from the Hebrew word for hear. One source says this statement of the oneness of God is recited twice each day by observant Jews and is the most important part of Judaism’s prayer services.

Power Of Simplicity
By Bill Crowder 

Then one of the scribes came, and . . . asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” —Mark 12:28


Few people take time to study the US Internal Revenue Service income tax regulations—and for good reason. According to Forbes magazine, in 2013 tax codes surpassed the four million-word mark. In fact, the tax laws have become so complex that even the experts have a hard time processing all the regulations. It’s burdensome in its complexity.

The religious leaders in ancient Israel did the same thing in their relationship with God. They made it too complex with laws. The growing burden of religious regulations had increased to the point where even an expert in Moses’ law struggled to understand its core. When one such leader asked Jesus what mattered most in the Commandments, Jesus responded, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).

The law of Moses was burdensome, but faith in Christ is simple and His “burden is light” (Matt. 11:30). It’s light because God was willing to forgive us and love us. Now He enables us to love Him and our neighbor.
I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now. —Featherstone
God’s love in our heart gives us a heart for Him and others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, August 11, 2014

This Experience Must Come

Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha . . . saw him no more —2 Kings 2:11-12

It is not wrong for you to depend on your “Elijah” for as long as God gives him to you. But remember that the time will come when he must leave and will no longer be your guide and your leader, because God does not intend for him to stay. Even the thought of that causes you to say, “I cannot continue without my ’Elijah.’ ” Yet God says you must continue.

Alone at Your “Jordan” (2 Kings 2:14). The Jordan River represents the type of separation where you have no fellowship with anyone else, and where no one else can take your responsibility from you. You now have to put to the test what you learned when you were with your “Elijah.” You have been to the Jordan over and over again with Elijah, but now you are facing it alone. There is no use in saying that you cannot go— the experience is here, and you must go. If you truly want to know whether or not God is the God your faith believes Him to be, then go through your “Jordan” alone.

Alone at Your “Jericho” (2 Kings 2:15). Jericho represents the place where you have seen your “Elijah” do great things. Yet when you come alone to your “Jericho,” you have a strong reluctance to take the initiative and trust in God, wanting, instead, for someone else to take it for you. But if you remain true to what you learned while with your “Elijah,” you will receive a sign, as Elisha did, that God is with you.

Alone at Your “Bethel” (2 Kings 2:23). At your “Bethel” you will find yourself at your wits’ end but at the beginning of God’s wisdom. When you come to your wits’ end and feel inclined to panic— don’t! Stand true to God and He will bring out His truth in a way that will make your life an expression of worship. Put into practice what you learned while with your “Elijah”— use his mantle and pray (see 2 Kings 2:13-14). Make a determination to trust in God, and do not even look for Elijah anymore.

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, August 11, 2014

Undeniable Evidence - #7196

Nancy got off to a really fast start spiritually. Well, in a way she did, because it took about two years of her coming to my Campus Life Club before she finally chose Christ as her Savior. But after that she really took off. In fact, she came over to my house not long after she made her commitment and said, "Ron, could you give me an argument to convince my big sister, Linda, that this is real?" What had happened was that Nancy came home talking about Jesus, and Linda said, "Oh, right, Nancy! Last week it was a drug, next week it will be a boyfriend. This week it's Jesus. You'll get over it."
Nancy needed to know how to convince her. She needed an argument. I said, "Well, maybe I could. But I'd rather you'd do this, Nancy. Ask yourself this question, 'What change could I ask Jesus to make in me that my big sister, Linda, would have to notice?'" She said, "I've got it!"
Two weeks later she came back. I said, "Well, how did it go with the Lord and with Linda?" She said, "Oh great! I gave God the chair." Right! "I gave God the chair?" She said, "See, we've got this big, red overstuffed chair in our living room. It's right by the picture window and right in front of the TV set. And Linda and I always start by arguing over this chair...like who's going to get it. So I just said, 'Lord, help me to be unselfish about this chair.'"
Wouldn't you know it began to get Linda's attention. She said, "Nancy, what's happened to you?" Two years later these girls are like; takes them two years. Linda came to me. She said, "Ron, Nancy and I just wanted you to know I've just given my life to Christ." I said, "Oh that's awesome!" She said, "Yeah, but we've got a question. Now, who gets the chair?" That is a true story.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Undeniable Evidence."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 5:15. "People do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Notice here it doesn't say they will hear your good beliefs and praise your Father in heaven. They will see your good deeds.
Now, here's 1 Peter 2:12. It's sort of a companion verse. "Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and then glorify God on the day He visits us." These people who start out criticizing you end up praising your God. Why? It's not beliefs. It's not meetings that interest people in your Jesus. It's your changed life. It's the difference He makes.
Maybe you need to ask yourself in light of the lost people in your world, "What change could I ask Jesus to make in me that they would have to notice?" If you're concerned for a parent who doesn't know the Lord, why don't you ask yourself, "How could I give them a better son? How could I give them a better daughter?" That's what they ought to get out of me being a Christian is a better son or daughter, more time with them, more help around the house, more respect. See, that's a change a parent would notice.
Maybe you're a parent and you've got a son or daughter who doesn't know the Lord. Ask yourself, "What change could I have Jesus make in me as a mom or dad that my son or daughter would sure notice?" Who could be against something that gives them a better parent or a better child? Maybe you're an employee and you want to reach your employer. "Lord, how could I change? Make me more reliable, more on time, more conscientious; whatever they would notice; a better friend, a better neighbor. In other words, be different in the way that would matter most to the lost person you want to take to heaven with you.
For Nancy it was the chair in the living room. Listen! Give the people around you a new and improved model of you, made possible daily by a Savior named Jesus. But be new in their language. It will win you the right to introduce them to the One who's changed you. See, they can't see Jesus, but they're looking at you. So, show them in living color that life-changing difference-making power of Jesus Christ, a change that matters to them. Now that's undeniable evidence.

Matthew 27:1-26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: God, Your Refuge

He has a price on his head.  No place to lay his head. But somehow he keeps his head.  He turns his focus to God and finds refuge! Refuge is a favorite word of David’s in the Psalms. But never did David use the word more poignantly than in Psalm 57—a song of David when he fled from Saul into the cave. On his face, lost in shadows and thought, nowhere to turn. But then he remembers he is not alone.  And from the recesses of the cave his voice floats:

“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me.
For my soul rests in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge.”

Make God your refuge. Not your job, your spouse, your reputation, or your retirement account. Make God your refuge! Let Him encircle you. Let Him be the foundation upon which you stand! And that foundation will support you right into eternity.

from Facing Your Giants

Matthew 27:1-26 
Judas Hangs Himself

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. 2 So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10 and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”[a]

Jesus Before Pilate
11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus[b] Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Footnotes:

Matthew 27:10 See Zech. 11:12,13; Jer. 19:1-13; 32:6-9.
Matthew 27:16 Many manuscripts do not have Jesus; also in verse 17.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
August 03, 2014

Read: Revelation 4

The Throne in Heaven

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God. 6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’[b]

who was, and is, and is to come.”

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.”
Footnotes:

Revelation 4:5 That is, the sevenfold Spirit
Revelation 4:8 Isaiah 6:3

Holy, Holy, Holy
By Julie Ackerman Link

They do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” —Revelation 4:8

“Time flies when you’re having fun.” This cliché has no basis in fact, but experience makes it seem true.

When life is pleasant, time passes all too quickly. Give me a task that I enjoy, or a person whose company I love, and time seems irrelevant.

My experience of this “reality” has given me a new understanding of the scene described in Revelation 4. In the past, when I considered the four living creatures seated around God’s throne who keep repeating the same few words, I thought, What a boring existence!

I don’t think that anymore. I think about the scenes they have witnessed with their many eyes (v.8). I consider the view they have from their position around God’s throne (v.6). I think of how amazed they are at God’s wise and loving involvement with wayward earthlings. Then I think, What better response could there be? What else is there to say but, “Holy, holy, holy”?

Is it boring to say the same words over and over? Not when you’re in the presence of the one you love. Not when you’re doing exactly what you were designed to do.

Like the four creatures, we were designed to glorify God. Our lives will never be boring if we’re focusing our attention on Him and fulfilling that purpose.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity! —Heber
A heart in tune with God can’t help but sing His praise.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, August 10, 2014

The Holy Suffering of the Saint

Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good . . . —1 Peter 4:19
Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing God’s will— even if it means you will suffer— is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. And no saint should ever dare to interfere with the lesson of suffering being taught in another saint’s life.

The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. But the people used to strengthen us are never those who sympathize with us; in fact, we are hindered by those who give us their sympathy, because sympathy only serves to weaken us. No one better understands a saint than the saint who is as close and as intimate with Jesus as possible. If we accept the sympathy of another saint, our spontaneous feeling is, “God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult.” That is why Jesus said that self-pity was of the devil (see Matthew 16:21-23). We must be merciful to God’s reputation. It is easy for us to tarnish God’s character because He never argues back; He never tries to defend or vindicate Himself. Beware of thinking that Jesus needed sympathy during His life on earth. He refused the sympathy of people because in His great wisdom He knew that no one on earth understood His purpose (see Matthew 16:23). He accepted only the sympathy of His Father and the angels (see Luke 15:10).

Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.

Exodus 18,Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: We’re Made Whole

Sin sees the world with no God in it! Where we might think of sin as slip-ups or missteps, God views sin as a godless attitude that leads to godless actions.

Isaiah 53:6 says, “All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.”  Sin proclaims, “It’s your life, right?  Pump your body with drugs, your mind with greed, your nights with pleasure.”  The godless life is a a me-dominated, childish life, a life of doing what we feel like doing, whenever we feel like doing it.

God says to love.  I choose to hate. God instructs, forgive.  I opt to get even.  God calls for self-control.  I promote self-indulgence.  This is sin.

Jesus took the punishment for that sin, and made us whole. God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong on him.

Trust his work for you, then trust His work in you.

From Come Thirsty

Exodus 18

Jethro Visits Moses

Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.

2 After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received her 3 and her two sons. One son was named Gershom,[i] for Moses said, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land”; 4 and the other was named Eliezer,[j] for he said, “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain of God. 6 Jethro had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent. 8 Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved them.

9 Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. 10 He said, “Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.” 12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.

13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

15 Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”

17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

27 Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
August 03, 2014

Read: Psalm 77:10-20

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
12 I will consider all your works
    and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
13 Your ways, God, are holy.
    What god is as great as our God?
14 You are the God who performs miracles;
    you display your power among the peoples.
15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
16 The waters saw you, God,
    the waters saw you and writhed;
    the very depths were convulsed.
17 The clouds poured down water,
    the heavens resounded with thunder;
    your arrows flashed back and forth.
18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
    your lightning lit up the world;
    the earth trembled and quaked.
19 Your path led through the sea,
    your way through the mighty waters,
    though your footprints were not seen.
20 You led your people like a flock
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Insight
In this lament psalm, Asaph writes of the sense of abandonment, the sleepless nights, the distress, and the anguish he felt when God did not respond to his cries for deliverance from his trials and suffering (vv.1-10). But then he remembered and recounted the mighty works God did for His people in the past (particularly His mighty deliverance at the exodus). When he reflected and meditated on who God is, he was assured of God’s greatness, goodness, and guidance (vv.11-20). Where God leads, He protects and provides (v.20).

Finding God’s Pathway
By David C. McCasland

Your way was in the sea, Your path in the great waters. —Psalm 77:19

The Channel Tunnel opened on May 6, 1994, nearly two centuries after it was first proposed in 1802 by Napoleon’s engineer, Albert Mathieu. Today the 31-mile passage beneath the English Channel allows thousands of people, cars, and trucks to travel by train each day between England and France. For centuries, people had sailed across the Channel until this surprising new way to go under it was completed.

God planned an unexpected route for His people too—one we read about in Exodus 14:10-22. Faced with certain death, either from Pharaoh’s army or by drowning, the Israelites were near panic. But God parted the Red Sea and they walked through on dry land. Years later, the psalm writer Asaph used this event as evidence of God’s mighty power, “Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there! You led Your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds” (Ps. 77:19-20 nlt).

God can create roads where we see only obstacles. When the way ahead of us seems uncertain, it’s good to remember what God has done in the past. He specializes in pathways in any circumstance—pathways that point us to His love and power.

Thank You, God, for the miraculous ways
You have worked in the past. Help me to
remember Your power and faithfulness when
I can see only trouble and difficulty.
The God who created a way for our salvation can certainly see us through our daily trials.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, August 09, 2014

Prayer in the Father’s Hearing

Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ’Father, I thank You that You have heard Me’ —John 11:41
When the Son of God prays, He is mindful and consciously aware of only His Father. God always hears the prayers of His Son, and if the Son of God has been formed in me (see Galatians 4:19) the Father will always hear my prayers. But I must see to it that the Son of God is exhibited in my human flesh. “. . . your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . . ” (1 Corinthians 6:19), that is, your body is the Bethlehem of God’s Son. Is the Son of God being given His opportunity to work in me? Is the direct simplicity of His life being worked out in me exactly as it was worked out in His life while here on earth? When I come into contact with the everyday occurrences of life as an ordinary human being, is the prayer of God’s eternal Son to His Father being prayed in me? Jesus says, “In that day you will ask in My name . . .” (John 16:26). What day does He mean? He is referring to the day when the Holy Spirit has come to me and made me one with my Lord.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ being abundantly satisfied by your life, or are you exhibiting a walk of spiritual pride before Him? Never let your common sense become so prominent and forceful that it pushes the Son of God to one side. Common sense is a gift that God gave to our human nature— but common sense is not the gift of His Son. Supernatural sense is the gift of His Son, and we should never put our common sense on the throne. The Son always recognizes and identifies with the Father, but common sense has never yet done so and never will. Our ordinary abilities will never worship God unless they are transformed by the indwelling Son of God. We must make sure that our human flesh is kept in perfect submission to Him, allowing Him to work through it moment by moment. Are we living at such a level of human dependence upon Jesus Christ that His life is being exhibited moment by moment in us?

Exodus 17, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: Jesus Taps at Your Door

Jesus says in Revelation 3:20, "Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."
The world rams at your door but Jesus taps at your door. The voices scream for your allegiance but Jesus softly and tenderly requests it. Which voice do you hear? There is never a time that Jesus is not speaking. There's never a room so dark that the ever-present, ever-pursuing, relentlessly tender Father is not there, tapping gently on the doors of our hearts-waiting to be invited in.
Few hear His voice. Fewer still open the door. But never interpret your numbness as His absence. He says, "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).  "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). Never.
From In the Eye of the Storm

Exodus 17

Water From the Rock

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah[e] and Meribah[f] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
The Amalekites Defeated

8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.”

15 Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. 16 He said, “Because hands were lifted up against[g] the throne of the Lord,[h] the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, August 08, 2014

Read: Genesis 6:11-22

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[b] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[c] high all around.[d] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Footnotes:

    Genesis 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
    Genesis 6:15 That is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high
    Genesis 6:16 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
    Genesis 6:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.


The Upright Thumb
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt 

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. —Genesis 6:8

According to an African fable, four fingers and a thumb lived together on a hand. They were inseparable friends. One day, they noticed a gold ring lying next to them and conspired to take it. The thumb said it would be wrong to steal the ring, but the four fingers called him a self-righteous coward and refused to be his friend. That was just fine with the thumb; he wanted nothing to do with their mischief. This is why, the legend goes, the thumb still stands separate from the other fingers.

This tale reminds me that at times we may feel we’re standing alone when wrongdoing surrounds us. In Noah’s day, the earth was filled with violence; every thought in every heart was “evil continually” (Gen. 6:5,11). Yet “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (v.8). Fully devoted to God, Noah obeyed Him and built the ark. The Lord, in His grace, spared him and his family.

We too have been shown God’s grace through His Son Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. We have every reason to bring Him honor and stand strong for Him in our daily lives. He is always near, even abiding in us, so we never really stand alone. His “ears are open to [our] cry” (Ps. 34:15).
They show their colors when they stand
For what is true and right;
And those who venture all on God
Are pleasing in His sight. —D. DeHaan
It’s easy to stand with a crowd; it takes courage to stand alone.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, August 08, 2014

Prayer in the Father’s Honor

. . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God —Luke 1:35

If the Son of God has been born into my human flesh, then am I allowing His holy innocence, simplicity, and oneness with the Father the opportunity to exhibit itself in me? What was true of the Virgin Mary in the history of the Son of God’s birth on earth is true of every saint. God’s Son is born into me through the direct act of God; then I as His child must exercise the right of a child— the right of always being face to face with my Father through prayer. Do I find myself continually saying in amazement to the commonsense part of my life, “Why did you want me to turn here or to go over there? ’Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ ” (Luke 2:49). Whatever our circumstances may be, that holy, innocent, and eternal Child must be in contact with His Father.

Am I simple enough to identify myself with my Lord in this way? Is He having His wonderful way with me? Is God’s will being fulfilled in that His Son has been formed in me (see Galatians 4:19), or have I carefully pushed Him to one side? Oh, the noisy outcry of today! Why does everyone seem to be crying out so loudly? People today are crying out for the Son of God to be put to death. There is no room here for God’s Son right now— no room for quiet, holy fellowship and oneness with the Father.

Is the Son of God praying in me, bringing honor to the Father, or am I dictating my demands to Him? Is He ministering in me as He did in the time of His manhood here on earth? Is God’s Son in me going through His passion, suffering so that His own purposes might be fulfilled? The more a person knows of the inner life of God’s most mature saints, the more he sees what God’s purpose really is: to “. . . fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . .” (Colossians 1:24). And when we think of what it takes to “fill up,” there is always something yet to be done.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, August 08, 2014

Our Own Ground Zero - #7195

I'll tell you, even the hard-core reporters were having a hard time talking about it. Apparently, that Ground Zero Museum where the Twin Towers once stood is one powerful experience. As you walk in, you hear the last "I love you" messages people sent from the towers or from the doomed planes. It's a heart-rending walk through this nation's darkest hour I guess, and the heroism and hope that lit up that darkness.
Like the man President Obama spoke about at the dedication service. After the wingtip of a hijacked plane sliced through the 78th floor, a group of people were huddling together in the Elevator Sky Lobby, waiting for help. Then they heard the voice. "I found the stairs - follow me!" It was Welles Crowther, a 24-year-old equities trader, whose trademark was the red bandanna he had carried in his pocket since he was a boy.
With a woman on his back and a red bandanna in his hand, he led the group to a stairwell. He gave one woman a fire extinguisher, told the group to stay together and go on down the stairs, and they made it out. But Welles didn't go with them. No, he went back upstairs to help others.
That's when another woman, badly injured, saw this man with a red bandanna over his nose and mouth, running across the lobby. He led them to an obscure staircase and then went back for others. Then the tower came down. They found Welles Crowther's body six months later. His red bandanna is on display in the museum.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Our Own Ground Zero."
His father was there at the dedication, and his words actually touched a pretty deep chord in me. He said, "I don't think for a moment he was thinking about his own safety. He was thinking about the lives of all those people. Welles' last hour was his legacy."
Just like my hero. His last hour was on a cross where He bled out His life to save people who otherwise would have died. I'm one of them. All of us whose sins were paid for on that day are His legacy. The Bible tells us in Revelation 1:5, that "Jesus loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood." And then in our word for today from the Word of God, in Galatians 1:4 it says, "He gave himself to rescue us".
Jesus came where I was one day and He said, "Hey, I have the way out. Follow Me." Following Him saved my life and my soul. Me and the millions who've accepted His invitation, "Follow Me."
There's one stop in the Ground Zero Museum that is reportedly one of the most moving. I know I'd be spending some time there. It's that cross. The construction worker who found those girders in the shape of a cross said, "My one goal was to find someone alive. I didn't. But I found the cross." The rubble cavern where it was found came to be known as "God's House" to those hope-starved workers at Ground Zero.
It was a Ground Zero chaplain who brought the hope found there right into my hope-hungry life and yours. He said, "When the ground is shaking all around you, find your cross at your Ground Zero." I did. It's the ground that never moves. It's the Love I'll never lose. It's the only safe place for now, forever - Jesus. Who you find when you go to the cross where He died for you and say, "Jesus, this is for me."
If you never have, I invite you to find your way to the safe place, and I would love to help you do that at our website ANewStory.com. Would you go straight there as soon as you can today? Meet me there - ANewStory.com. And be welcomed into the safety of the arms of the Son of God, who died for you.

Exodus 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Need to Call Home?

The plane arrived late and folks were mad. I got off the plane with a cramp in my leg, an empty stomach, a bad attitude and three more hours of travel to go. I skipped lunch and called home. Denalyn answered.  She's always glad when I call. We made no decisions. We solved no problems. We just talked and I felt better. I can handle being a pilgrim as long as I know that I can call home whenever I want.
Maybe that's the rationale behind Matthew 14:19. "Taking the five loaves and two fish, Jesus gave thanks." Jesus was surrounded by people who wanted food and disciples who wanted a break.  He needed a minute with someone who would understand. He needed to call home. Maybe you should call home, too.  God will be glad when you do-but not half as glad as you will be!
From In the Eye of the Storm

Exodus 16

Manna and Quail

The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” 8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”

9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”

10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.

11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer[a] for each person you have in your tent.’”

17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

19 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers[b] for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you[c] refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

31 The people of Israel called the bread manna.[d] It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”

33 So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.”

34 As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved. 35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

36 (An omer is one-tenth of an ephah.)

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, August 07, 2014

Read: Ephesians 4:1-12

Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it[a] says:

“When he ascended on high,
    he took many captives
    and gave gifts to his people.”[b]

9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions[c]? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
Footnotes:

    Ephesians 4:8 Or God
    Ephesians 4:8 Psalm 68:18
    Ephesians 4:9 Or the depths of the earth

Insight
Paul never gives instruction without reminding readers of the reason for it. Today’s encouragement to bear with one another (Eph. 4:2) is rooted in the necessity of recognizing that the Spirit unites us in one calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God (vv.3-6). We are to be patient with others so that the body of Christ may be edified (vv.2,12).

Difficult People
By Dennis Fisher 

Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called . . . bearing with one another in love. —Ephesians 4:1-2



In the book God in the Dock, author C. S. Lewis describes the kind of people we have trouble getting along with. Selfishness, anger, jealousy, or other quirks often sabotage our relationship with them. We sometimes think, Life would be much easier if we didn’t have to contend with such difficult people.

Lewis then turns the tables on us by pointing out that these frustrations are what God has to endure with each of us every day. He writes: “You are just that sort of person. You also have a fatal flaw in your character. All the hopes and plans of others have again and again shipwrecked on your character just as your hopes and plans have shipwrecked on theirs.” This self-awareness should motivate us to try to show the same patience and acceptance to others that God shows to us daily.

In Ephesians, Paul exhorts us to arm ourselves relationally “with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love” (4:2). The one who is patient is better able to deal with a difficult person without becoming provoked to anger and retaliation. Instead, he or she is able to endure, exhibiting grace in spite of upsetting behavior.

Are there difficult people in your life? Ask God to show His love through you.
Some people can be difficult to love,
And so we do not even try to care;
But God says, “Love them just as I’ve loved you—
You’ll bring Me glory as My love you share.” —Cetas
See others as God sees you.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, August 07, 2014

Prayer in the Father’s House

. . . they found Him in the temple . . . . And He said to them, ’. . . Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ —Luke 2:46, 49

Our Lord’s childhood was not immaturity waiting to grow into manhood— His childhood is an eternal fact. Am I a holy, innocent child of God as a result of my identification with my Lord and Savior? Do I look at my life as being in my Father’s house? Is the Son of God living in His Father’s house within me?

The only abiding reality is God Himself, and His order comes to me moment by moment. Am I continually in touch with the reality of God, or do I pray only when things have gone wrong— when there is some disturbance in my life? I must learn to identify myself closely with my Lord in ways of holy fellowship and oneness that some of us have not yet even begun to learn. “. . . I must be about My Father’s business”— and I must learn to live every moment of my life in my Father’s house.

Think about your own circumstances. Are you so closely identified with the Lord’s life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that everything comes from His hands? Is the eternal Child in you living in His Father’s house? Is the grace of His ministering life being worked out through you in your home, your business, and in your circle of friends? Have you been wondering why you are going through certain circumstances? In fact, it is not that you have to go through them. It is because of your relationship with the Son of God who comes, through the providential will of His Father, into your life. You must allow Him to have His way with you, staying in perfect oneness with Him.

The life of your Lord is to become your vital, simple life, and the way He worked and lived among people while here on earth must be the way He works and lives in you.

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, August 07, 2014

The Container Hang-up - #7194

There's one sure way to gather a crowd at our house. In fact it just happened last night. You just walk slowly through the house with a flat, white, large, square box - "Pizza!" And you will get that Pied Piper feeling. We've noticed that these pizza boxes all say the same thing. I don't know if you've noticed that. You can go to 10 different pizza places, and they all seem to have the same slogan. "You've tried the rest; now try the best." Somebody's got to be wrong about that.
Anyway, I'm surprised we ever noticed anything on the box, because the pizza box doesn't matter. We attack that box to get what's inside! I mean, who spends time admiring the box? It's what's inside that makes it so interesting.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Container Hang-up."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Peter 3. I'm going to begin reading at verse 3, and it talks about what really matters in a woman. Both men and women need to know this. "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment. Instead it should be that of your inner self; that unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
God says here that what really matters is the inner self of a women, not her outward adornment. And then Proverbs 31 talks about a woman who is praised by her children, fully trusted by her husband, admired by all those around. It doesn't get much better than that. It's the woman I think every woman would want to be, and here's what's really valuable about her. It tells us that in Proverbs 31:10, "A wife of noble character who can find?" What's the secret? Her noble character.
Proverbs 31:30, "Charm is deceptive. Beauty is fleeting (Like our pizza box.) But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." It's her relationship with her Lord. Again, the stuff that's going on - on the inside. There's not much here about the container is there? What makes her valuable is the contents inside the container.
This is a pretty radical idea in a world where a women's worth is usually measured by her figure and her face. Women look at a model in a fashion magazine and they compare themselves. They look at this beautiful woman and they go, "I don't look like that." Guess what? Neither does she. She's been worked on for hours by the finest hairdressers, they've got special lighting. Then they pick one photo out of 150, air brush that one. Yeah, that woman doesn't really exist.
Both men and women have bought the lie that the pizza box is what matters instead of the pizza. (If you know what I mean.) We can't stop the world around us from being all superficial. But as followers of Jesus, we can do better. Women who don't feel they measure up physically usually tend to withdraw or become negative or bitter. They give up on themselves. They get discouraged. They get desperate and settle for something they should never settle for. They actually end up killing the beauty inside that really matters because they're so focused on what they feel they don't have on the outside.
God's Word teaches us that our body is just an earth suit; a soul carrier. And while we cannot choose to be physically beautiful, you can choose to be beautiful on the inside. Not every woman can be gorgeous, but any woman can be radiant.
The Bible says to go for that inner glow; that inward beauty; to be a woman who makes other people feel important, who promotes others rather than herself, who develops this joyful, daily walk with Jesus Christ. It's time that God's men and women go after the royal radiance that a princess of God can have. That's what makes a woman a friend worth knowing and a partner worth loving for a lifetime. Don't chase what you want to marry. Be what you want to marry.
Just ask any pizza lover in our house. (That would be everybody.) The box is only important for a minute and then it gets thrown away. For you, it is what's inside that really counts.

1 Timothy 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WE ARE NOT ALONE - August 6, 2024

Jesus doesn’t want us to think of the Holy Spirit as an it or a thing. The Spirit is a person. According to one study only four people in ten believe that the Spirit is a divine person. The rest of those surveyed either don’t have an opinion or choose to believe the Spirit is more like a power surge than a divine being who empowers and teaches us.

Can you join me in a pledge? “I hereby resolve never to call the Holy Spirit an it.” The Spirit is a person.  And Jesus calls him the Paraclete. Now translators land on different, yet similar, translations for this Greek word: “Comforter,” “Counselor,” “Advocate,” “Intercessor.” But the central message is the same: we are not alone.

1 Timothy 6

 Whoever is a slave must make the best of it, giving respect to his

master so that outsiders don’t blame God and our teaching for his behavior. Slaves with Christian masters all the more so—their masters are really their beloved brothers!

The Lust for Money

2–5  These are the things I want you to teach and preach. If you have leaders there who teach otherwise, who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors. Eventually there’s an epidemic of backstabbing, and truth is but a distant memory. They think religion is a way to make a fast buck.

6–8  A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough.

9–10  But if it’s only money these leaders are after, they’ll self-destruct in no time. Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.

Running Hard

11–12  But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.

13–16  I’m charging you before the life-giving God and before Christ, who took his stand before Pontius Pilate and didn’t give an inch: Keep this command to the letter, and don’t slack off. Our Master, Jesus Christ, is on his way. He’ll show up right on time, his arrival guaranteed by the Blessed and Undisputed Ruler, High King, High God. He’s the only one death can’t touch, his light so bright no one can get close. He’s never been seen by human eyes—human eyes can’t take him in! Honor to him, and eternal rule! Oh, yes.

17–19  Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.

20–21  And oh, my dear Timothy, guard the treasure you were given! Guard it with your life. Avoid the talk-show religion and the practiced confusion of the so-called experts. People caught up in a lot of talk can miss the whole point of faith.

Overwhelming grace keep you!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, August 06, 2024

Today's Scripture

Job 1:6-12, 20-22

The First Test: Family and Fortune

6–7  One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan, who was the Designated Accuser, came along with them. God singled out Satan and said, “What have you been up to?”

Satan answered God, “Going here and there, checking things out on earth.”

8  God said to Satan, “Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil.”

9–10  Satan retorted, “So do you think Job does all that out of the sheer goodness of his heart? Why, no one ever had it so good! You pamper him like a pet, make sure nothing bad ever happens to him or his family or his possessions, bless everything he does—he can’t lose!

11  “But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away everything that is his? He’d curse you right to your face, that’s what.”

12  God replied, “We’ll see. Go ahead—do what you want with all that is his. Just don’t hurt him.” Then Satan left the presence of God.

20  Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshiped:

21  Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

naked I’ll return to the womb of the earth.

God gives, God takes.

God’s name be ever blessed.

22  Not once through all this did Job sin; not once did he blame God.

Insight

The word we translate as Satan in Hebrew means “accuser” or “adversary.” The role he plays in the narrative of Job is peculiar: he challenges the superiority of Yahweh by accusing God Himself. If people worship God only because He’s good to them, Satan asks, then is He really worthy (Job 1:9-11)?

Job’s faithfulness in the midst of trial demonstrated that God’s people do worship Him in both good and bad times and thus silenced the accuser. But Job also learned his own lesson: no one—angelic or human—can tell Him what He must do. God is worthy of His people’s faithfulness regardless of what we might experience in life. By: Jed Ostoich

God Is in Control

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. Job 1:21

Carol couldn’t understand why it was happening all at once. As if work wasn’t bad enough, her daughter fractured her foot in school, and she herself came down with a severe infection. What did I do to deserve this? Carol wondered. All she could do was ask God for strength.

Job didn’t know why calamity had hit him so hard either—pain and loss far greater than what Carol experienced. There’s no indication he was aware of the cosmic battle for his soul. Satan wanted to test Job’s faith, claiming he’d turn from God if he lost everything (Job 1:6-12). When disaster struck, Job’s friends insisted he was being punished for his sins. That wasn’t why, but he must have wondered, Why me? What he didn’t know was that God had allowed it to happen.

Job’s story offers a powerful lesson about suffering and about faith. We may try to discover the reason behind our pain, but perhaps there’s a bigger story behind the scenes that we won’t understand in our lifetime.

Like Job, we can hold on to what we do know: God is in full control. It’s not an easy thing to say, but in the midst of his pain, Job kept looking to God and trusting in His sovereignty: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (v. 21). May we too keep trusting in God no matter what happens—and even when we don’t understand. By:  Leslie Koh

Reflect & Pray

What challenges are you facing? Which promises of God give you strength to keep going?

Dear Father, I don’t understand why some of life’s challenges happen to me. But I choose to trust You.

For further study, read In the Grip of God’s Love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, August 06, 2024

The Cross in Prayer

In that day you will ask in my name. — John 16:26

We are too much given to thinking of the cross as something we have to get through, imagining it simply as the gateway to our salvation. We have to realize that we get through the cross only to get into it. The cross should stand for one thing only: complete and absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our identification with the Lord is realized most strongly in prayer. Jesus said, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). Then why ask? So that you “may be one” as the Father and Son are one (John 17:22–23). Prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God.

If we think of prayer not as a oneness with God but rather as a way to get answers or blessings, we think wrongly. When we go to God for answers, we are bound to get irritated, because although God always responds, it isn’t always in the way we want. When a prayer seems to go unanswered, we must be careful not to blame someone else; that is a snare of Satan. If we look to God, we will find that there’s a reason which is a deep instruction for us, not for anyone else. We will see that our refusal to identify ourselves with our Lord in prayer is what has led to our irritation. We must remember that we are not here to prove that God answers prayer; we are here to be living monuments of his grace.

Have you, by the power of the cross, reached such oneness and intimacy with God that the only explanation for your life of prayer is Jesus Christ’s life of prayer? “In that day you will ask in my name.” You will be so identified with your Lord that there will be no distinction between his life and yours.

Psalms 70-71; Romans 8:22-39

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Civilization is based on principles which imply that the passing moment is permanent. The only permanent thing is God, and if I put anything else as permanent, I become atheistic. I must build only on God (John 14:6).

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, August 06, 2024

Always Enough Grace - #9802

Over the years, when our kids were growing up and at home, they didn't carry a wallet full of money. And they did need some money along the way. They had to buy their lunch at school. They had to buy clothes when they outgrew them or wore them out; which happened frequently. They had to pay admission prices when they went to special attractions. They needed spending money for trips and vacations, and for cards and gifts.

But you know, they didn't worry much about having the money even though they didn't carry much with them or really have much. See, experience taught them that when they needed it, they had it from their Father. Now, of course, as they got older they went and earned it, and they could come up with their own. But in the days when they couldn't come up with it themselves, Dad was there. Maybe they didn't have the money in their pocket for next month's lunches, but they always had money for that days' lunch. Not only is that the way their Father operated, it's the way your Father operates too.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Always Enough Grace."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 12, and I'll begin at verse 7. Let me say that I believe these are very special words for people who are going through a storm right now. And maybe you are; maybe everything is just, like, up for grabs. Or maybe you are going through a desert right now where there just doesn't seem to be anything there for you. Well, listen to these words from the Word of God.

Paul says, "There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me."

You know, in these verses are the Christian answer to suffering and hardship in two words. Now, I can't buy a theology that says there won't be suffering and hardship in the life of a committed believer, because there was no one more committed than Paul, and look at his suffering that wouldn't leave him. But here is God's two-word answer to the storm, the desert, the pain you're in right now. Listen to these words, "Grace sufficient." Man, that lifts the load so much!

If you've got twenty pounds of grief, He's going to give you twenty pounds of grace. If you've got 100 pounds of grief, He's going to give you 100 pounds of grace. I've experienced it. You will never have more grief than grace. Do you get a year's supply of grace; a month's supply; some for next week? No. Just like my kids, you get what you need for today.

Deuteronomy 33:25 says, "Your strength will equal your days." Not your weeks, not your months, not your years - your days. That's why the child of God has nothing to fear. Your Father will always see that you have what you need. Maybe you're trying to run ahead of Him. You say, "Well, how am I going to handle it if my situation gets worse, or if I lose my job? Or maybe the business will go under, or my health will get worse. What if I lose this person I love?" There's something you're afraid of right now, and God's answer is, "Grace sufficient." You don't have it now because you don't need it now. You have enough for today's grief, for today's challenge, for today's need. No more, no less.

So, take your assignment from God in 24-hour chunks. Count on enough grace for each day. My kids knew that their Father would see that they had what they needed that day. God's kids know their Father is much better than that.

Listen to your Lord's loving answer today to the cry of your hurting, anxious heart. Grace sufficient!

Ezekiel 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: DON’T NEGLECT THE HOLY SPIRIT - August 5, 2024

Some time ago I realized my car’s gas tank was nearly empty. I spotted a convenience store and parked next to a pump. I placed the nozzle in my tank, and swiped my card, and began filling up my car. I then went into the store and bought a soda. I chatted with the store clerk. I went back to my car and washed the windshield. I was barely back on the road when I happened to look at my gas gauge. It was on empty! Knowing my attention span, I probably forgot to squeeze the lever.

I did everything except the one thing I needed to do. Have you done the same? Have you neglected the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God longs to give you his great power. Challenges come with life, but they need not define your life. Help is here.

Ezekiel 13

People Who Love Listening to Lies

1–2  13 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, preach against the prophets of Israel who are making things up out of their own heads and calling it ‘prophesying.’

2–6  “Preach to them the real thing. Tell them, ‘Listen to God’s Message!’ God, the Master, pronounces doom on the empty-headed prophets who do their own thing and know nothing of what’s going on! Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals scavenging through the ruins. They haven’t lifted a finger to repair the defenses of the city and have risked nothing to help Israel stand on God’s Day of Judgment. All they do is fantasize comforting illusions and preach lying sermons. They say ‘God says …’ when God hasn’t so much as breathed in their direction. And yet they stand around thinking that something they said is going to happen.

7–9  “Haven’t you fantasized sheer nonsense? Aren’t your sermons tissues of lies, saying ‘God says …’ when I’ve done nothing of the kind? Therefore—and this is the Message of God, the Master, remember—I’m dead set against prophets who substitute illusions for visions and use sermons to tell lies. I’m going to ban them from the council of my people, remove them from membership in Israel, and outlaw them from the land of Israel. Then you’ll realize that I am God, the Master.

10–12  “The fact is that they’ve lied to my people. They’ve said, ‘No problem; everything’s just fine,’ when things are not at all fine. When people build a wall, they’re right behind them slapping on whitewash. Tell those who are slapping on the whitewash, ‘When a torrent of rain comes and the hailstones crash down and the hurricane sweeps in and the wall collapses, what’s the good of the whitewash that you slapped on so liberally, making it look so good?’

13–14  “And that’s exactly what will happen. I, God, the Master, say so: ‘I’ll let the hurricane of my wrath loose, a torrent of my hailstone-anger. I’ll make that wall you’ve slapped with whitewash collapse. I’ll level it to the ground so that only the foundation stones will be left. And in the ruin you’ll all die. You’ll realize then that I am God.

15–16  “ ‘I’ll dump my wrath on that wall, all of it, and on those who plastered it with whitewash. I will say to them, There is no wall, and those who did such a good job of whitewashing it wasted their time, those prophets of Israel who preached to Jerusalem and announced all their visions telling us things were just fine when they weren’t at all fine. Decree of God, the Master.’

17–19  “And the women prophets—son of man, take your stand against the women prophets who make up stuff out of their own minds. Oppose them. Say ‘Doom’ to the women who sew magic bracelets and head scarves to suit every taste, devices to trap souls. Say, ‘Will you kill the souls of my people, use living souls to make yourselves rich and popular? You have profaned me among my people just to get ahead yourselves, used me to make yourselves look good—killing souls who should never have died and coddling souls who shouldn’t live. You’ve lied to people who love listening to lies.’

20–21  “Therefore God says, ‘I am against all the devices and techniques you use to hunt down souls. I’ll rip them out of your hands. I’ll free the souls you’re trying to catch. I’ll rip your magic bracelets and scarves to shreds and deliver my people from your influence so they’ll no longer be victimized by you. That’s how you’ll come to realize that I am God.

22–23  “ ‘Because you’ve confounded and confused good people, unsuspecting and innocent people, with your lies, and because you’ve made it easy for others to persist in evil so that it wouldn’t even dawn on them to turn to me so I could save them, as of now you’re finished. No more delusion-mongering from you, no more sermonic lies. I’m going to rescue my people from your clutches. And you’ll realize that I am God.’ ”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, August 05, 2024

Today's Scripture

Romans 12:9-18

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

11–13  Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

14–16  Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

17–19  Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody.

Insight

As a rule, Paul’s letters to churches (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians) are written in two major sections. The first section is more doctrinal, teaching his readers about the faith we have in Jesus. The second section is practical, revealing wise guidance for how we live out that faith. One teacher put it this way: the first section is about what we believe, and the second section is about how we behave. In Romans, arguably Paul’s most heavily theological letter, we find this pattern exemplified. In Romans 1-11, we’re taught what it means that salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus. In chapters 12-16, he explains how those beliefs impact our conduct, with some attention to how our faith impacts our relationships. As you read Paul’s New Testament church letters, look for this pattern and see how the apostle crafted his message under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Learn more about Paul’s letters to churches.

By: Bill Crowder

Reflecting Christ’s Character

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18

Two faces at the table stood out—one contorted by bitter anger, the other twisted in emotional pain. A reunion of old friends had just erupted into shouting, with one woman berating another for her beliefs. The contention continued until the first woman stomped out of the restaurant, leaving the other shaken and humiliated.

Are we really living in a time when a difference of opinion can’t be tolerated? Just because two people can’t agree doesn’t mean that either is evil. Speech that’s harsh or unyielding is never persuasive, and strong views shouldn’t overcome decency or compassion.

Romans 12 is a great guide for how to “honor one another,” and “live in harmony” with other people (vv. 10, 16). Jesus indicated that an identifying characteristic for believers in Him is the love we have for each other (John 13:35). While pride and anger can easily derail us, they’re in direct contrast to the love God wants us to show to others.

It’s a challenge not to blame others when we lose control of our emotions, but the words “as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” show us that the responsibility for living a life that reflects Christ’s character can’t be shifted to anyone else (Romans 12:18). It lies with each one of us who bears His name. By:  Cindy Hess Kasper

Reflect & Pray

What words of other people trigger anger or resentment in you? How can you turn a bad situation into a peaceful one?

Loving God, please help me to show Your love through what I say and do and whenever possible to live at peace with others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, August 05, 2024

The Baffling Call of God

Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.” . . . The disciples did not understand. — Luke 18:31,34

God called Jesus Christ to what seemed like unmitigated disaster. Jesus Christ called his disciples to see him put to death; he led them to the place where their hearts were broken and baffled. Jesus Christ’s life was an absolute failure from every viewpoint but God’s. But what seemed like failure to the world was a tremendous triumph to God, because God’s purpose is never humanity’s.

The baffling call of God comes in our lives, too. The call of God can never be stated outright. It is like the call of the sea. No one hears the call of the sea but those who have the nature of the sea within them. Similarly, no one hears the call of God but those who have God dwelling within them by the power of his Holy Spirit.

It cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to; he calls us to enter into a relationship with him for his own purpose. The test is to believe that, though we cannot understand him, God knows what he is doing. Nothing happens by chance, only by his decree.

When we are in communion with God and recognize that he is taking us up into his purpose, we will stop trying to find out what his purpose is. This gets simpler as we go on in Christian life, because we begin to see that behind everything lies the great compelling of God.

“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends.” A Christian is one who trusts the wits and wisdom of God. If instead we trust our own wits and wisdom, if we go off pursuing our own ends, we will destroy the simplicity and the leisureliness which ought to characterize our lives as children of God.

Psalms 68-69; Romans 8:1-21

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

“When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” We all have faith in good principles, in good management, in good common sense, but who amongst us has faith in Jesus Christ? Physical courage is grand, moral courage is grander, but the man who trusts Jesus Christ in the face of the terrific problems of life is worth a whole crowd of heroes.

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, August 05, 2024

When Your Life is Too Small - #9801

There's nothing in nature I love to see more than an eagle soaring majestically through the sky. That's why I enjoy the story of the farmer who once found a little eaglet all alone in the woods. And since the little bird was struggling to survive, the farmer decided to take the eaglet back to his farm to raise him. The problem was the only birds he had on his farm were chickens, and that's who the eaglet was raised with. So, as the chickens walked around looking down and pecking on the ground for chicken feed, the eaglet learned to live the same way. Now poking around for chicken feed looks okay on a chicken – no way for an eagle to live.

So when the farmer felt the eagle was big and strong enough to survive on his own, he took him out to the back forty to help him learn to fly. Twice he tried to launch that great bird by throwing him skyward, and twice the eagle flopped to the ground and, you guessed it, started poking around for more chicken feed. The farmer had one last idea. He set the eagle on the highest fence post he had. And that's when it happened. The eagle looked up for the first time and he saw the sky. He saw the sun. And suddenly, this great cry came from his mouth, he spread those broad wings, and he took off from that fence post. At first, he just flew in small circles over the farmer's head, but then he took off for the sky, soaring toward the sun. He's an eagle! He's not born to poke around in the chicken feed. He's born to fly. So are you.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Your Life is Too Small."

Maybe these words would basically describe how you would size up your life these days: "It's not bad; it's just not enough." Things are going okay. Nothing's melting down. But you're inexplicably, incurably restless. There's never enough love. There's never enough fulfillment, never enough peace. Something's missing.

It could be that you're surviving, but not really living like you were designed to live. You might say you're poking around in the chicken feed like everyone else around you. But you were created for something much bigger, much higher, and your soul knows that. It's like this voice inside of you that goes, "You're made for more." And you'll never be complete; you'll never have peace until you live where you were created to live.

Your real worth, your real identity is spelled out in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 2:10 where it says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." God says you were made by Him, you were made for Him and for a purpose and plan that is bigger than anything you could ever find with you running your life.

And that's why our lives are too small to satisfy us. Because we are running our own lives. The Bible calls that sin. The Bible also says, "God has placed eternity in the hearts of men." You were born to fly, but without Jesus in your heart, you're looking down, living on chicken feed. Sin has grounded us.

And that's why you need to be, as the Bible says, "in Christ Jesus." God's Son went all the way to a cross to die for the sinning that you and I have done. He wanted you to be forgiven. He wanted you to be in the arms of the God who made you, so you don't have to waste one more day outside the awesome plan you were made for. God's wanting to enlarge your life beyond anything you could have ever dreamed.

But maybe you've never really asked this Jesus, who loves you more than anyone, to come in and begin, in your life, this life-changing relationship. Let this be the day you turn it around. You want to begin this relationship? Tell Jesus you're putting your total trust in Him right now to remove the sin that's keeping you from Him.

Our website's all about beginning that relationship, this would be a great time for you to check it out - ANewStory.com.

You're destined for the sky; you're meant for heaven, for bigger things. It's time to look toward the Son - S-O-N - the Son of God who loved you enough to die for you.