Psalm 82, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:NEW POWER - November 18, 2024

Suppose that for most of your life, you’ve had a heart condition. Your activities have been restricted. But then comes the transplant. You have a new heart. Within you dwells a new power. You might say, “I can’t climb stairs, I’m too weak.” Does your choice negate the presence of a new heart? Dismiss the work of the surgeon? No, it would suggest you haven’t learned to trust your new power. At some point you gotta to try those stairs.

The same is true in our walk with Christ. You have a new heart. You are not who you used to be. As a result, you can do what you could not do – you can forgive, you can love, you can live! Put your new heart to the test. You will climb the stairs, not by your strength, but by his.

Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

Psalm 82

An Asaph Psalm

1  82 God calls the judges into his courtroom,

he puts all the judges in the dock.

2–4  “Enough! You’ve corrupted justice long enough,

you’ve let the wicked get away with murder.

You’re here to defend the defenseless,

to make sure that underdogs get a fair break;

Your job is to stand up for the powerless,

and prosecute all those who exploit them.”

5  Ignorant judges! Head-in-the-sand judges!

They haven’t a clue to what’s going on.

And now everything’s falling apart,

the world’s coming unglued.

6–7  “I commissioned you judges, each one of you,

deputies of the High God,

But you’ve betrayed your commission

and now you’re stripped of your rank, busted.”

8  O God, give them their just deserts!

You’ve got the whole world in your hands!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, November 18, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

John 14:15-24

The Spirit of Truth

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Insights

Four times in John 14:15-24, Jesus emphasized that obeying Him would be proof of the disciples’ love for Him (vv. 15, 21, 23, 24). They weren’t left alone to obey Christ by their own volition and human strength. God the Father would give them “another advocate to help [them]— the Spirit of truth” (vv. 16-17). The Holy Spirit would remind them of everything Jesus had taught them (v. 26) and show them what’s right and wrong (16:8-13). To love Christ is to obey Him. As we’re “led by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:18), we’ll obey Him and “keep in step with the Spirit” (v. 25).

Obedience Is a Choice

Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. -John 14:23

Today's Devotional

Winters in the Netherlands seldom bring a lot of snow, but it can get cold enough to freeze over the canals. When my husband, Tom, was growing up there, his parents had a family rule: “Stay off the ice until it is thick enough to hold the weight of a horse.” Because horses would leave evidence of their presence behind, Tom and his buddies decided to get some manure off the road. They threw it on the thin ice and ventured out onto the surface. No harm came to them, nor were they discovered, but they knew in their hearts they’d been disobedient.

Obedience doesn’t always come naturally. The choice to obey or not to obey can spring from a sense of duty or fear of punishment. But we can also choose to obey out of love and respect for those in authority over us.

In John 14, Jesus challenged His disciples by saying, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. . . . Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching” (vv. 23-24). It’s not always an easy choice to obey, but the power of the Spirit living within us gives us the desire and ability to obey Him (vv. 15-17). With His enablement, we can continue to follow the commands of the one who loves us most—not out of fear of punishment, but out of love.

Reflect & Pray

In what ways have you been willfully disobedient? Why is it important for you to obey God even when it’s difficult or inconvenient?

Loving God, please soften my stubborn heart to listen to Your instructions. Help me to set aside my own agenda and to faithfully obey You.

For further study, read The (Impossible) Task of Following Jesus.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, November 18, 2024

Free Indeed

If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. —John 8:36

After we are born again, any selfish individuality remaining inside us will always say “I can’t” when God calls. We have to leave off our individuality and develop our personality instead. The full meaning of the word personality is a being, created by God, who has lived on this earth and formed a godly character. The majority of us are not personalities yet. We are beginning to be, but we haven’t yet rid ourselves of our individuality.

Personality never says, “I can’t.” When it comes into contact with God, it absorbs and absorbs and always wants more. This is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin and individuality keep us from him. God delivers us from sin, but we have to deliver ourselves from individuality. We do this by offering our natural life to him and by sacrificing that life, through obedience, until it’s transformed into a spiritual life.

God doesn’t pay attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual lives, but he does expect us to pay attention to it. His order is present in every facet of our natural lives, and we have to make sure that we help that order along, not stand against it, saying, “I can’t.” God won’t discipline us; he won’t bring our thoughts into captivity. We have to do it.

Don’t go to God and say, “Oh, Lord, I suffer from wandering thoughts.” Don’t suffer from wandering thoughts. Stop listening to the tyranny of your individuality and get emancipated into personality.

“If the Son sets you free . . .” Don’t substitute “Savior” for “Son.” The Savior sets us free from sin; the Son sets us free from individuality. It is what Paul means in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Paul’s individuality has been broken, and his personality is united with his Lord’s. He is “free indeed”—free from the inside out, free in the very essence of his being.

Ezekiel 8-10; Hebrews 13

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God. The decrees of God are birth and death, and in between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. 

Shade of His Hand, 1223 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Made for More - #9876

Monday, November 18, 2024

It was when the Star Wars movie "The Force Awakens" came out. It was a great story, I'm sure, in that great record crushing movie. I wasn't expecting to find a mirror reflecting the lives of so many people I've known. In the story, it's Rey's story. She's a young woman on a desolate planet, surviving by scavenging parts from a space junkyard. When she's asked, "Who are you?" she just zero-sums her life this way: "I am no one" until she discovers the truth that changes her life forever.

She's made for more. She finds that she's here for something much greater than just scavenging. She's destined for greatness as a warrior for a better world. And that's the image in the mirror of so many of us who've settled for just surviving, for just doing life, one predictable, one purposeless day at a time. Not a bad life, just an insignificant, too-small life - scavenging.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Made for More."

You know, maybe that's why a light has gone on inside millions of people when they've met a man named Jesus. He said in John 10:10 in the Bible, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." To the full, implying that we've been settling for less than full. Maybe we've been settling for empty, for less than we were created for.

I think we know that something or someone is missing. No matter how far, or not far, we may have climbed up Mount Happiness. No friendship, no scholarship, no championship, no relationship has filled the hole in our heart. They can't, because we're made for more. The "more" the Bible reveals in this statement about Jesus Christ: our word for today from the Word of God from Colossians 1:16 - "All things were created by Him and for Him."

So, I am created by Jesus, for a relationship with Jesus, just as the earth is created to revolve around the sun - its source of life. Anything less is, in reality, spiritual scavenging. It's not God's fault I've lived beneath my destiny. I, along with all my fellow humans, decided to live for me with God on the margins at best; maybe a compartment, but not my reason to live.

God had every right to let us have the life without Him that we seem to want. But He loves us too much for that. He proved it by sending His one and only Son not from "a galaxy far, far away," but from heaven to become one of us. And this takes my breath away - He sent Him to die for us; absorbing on a cross all the pain, all the penalty for all our hijacking of our life from Him.

I still can't get over it. From the day I trusted this Jesus to forgive my sin and pilot my life I've been discovering the "more." I was searching, and I finally found it. If you've never experienced the "more" of a relationship with Jesus...you know all the relationships, all the things you've been and done, have not filled that hole in your heart.

Well, with the love of Jesus and His grave-conquering power that He proved when He walked out of his grave, I've graduated from scavenging to being a warrior. He wants that for you - unleashing the force of His love in your family, and your work, and your personal world.

It doesn't have to be the way it's always been because of Jesus. But you take the initiative to begin that relationship with Him. He describes it as knocking on the door of your heart. I believe He may be in your heart, today. And if you feel that tug in your heart, would you take an action step and say, "Jesus, I am yours from this day on. I'm pinning all my hopes on You."

Check out our website and make sure you belong to Him. You'll find it at ANewStory.com.

Finding Jesus. Finding your destiny. Never "settling" again.

Psalm 81, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Tiny Seed, A Tiny Deed

Do not despise…small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin. Zechariah 4:10 NLT

Against a towering giant, a brook pebble seems futile. But God used it to topple Goliath. Compared to the tithes of the wealthy, a widow’s coins seem puny. But Jesus used them to inspire us…

Moses had a staff.

David had a sling.

Samson had a jawbone.

Rahab had a string.

Mary had some ointment.

Aaron had a rod.

Dorcas had a needle.

All were used by God.

What do you have? Much more than you might think. God inhabits the tiny seed. He empowers the tiny deed. Never discount the smallness of your deeds.

Psalm 81

An Asaph Psalm

1–5  81 A song to our strong God!

a shout to the God of Jacob!

Anthems from the choir, music from the band,

sweet sounds from lute and harp,

Trumpets and trombones and horns:

it’s festival day, a feast to God!

A day decreed by God,

solemnly ordered by the God of Jacob.

He commanded Joseph to keep this day

so we’d never forget what he did in Egypt.

I hear this most gentle whisper from One

I never guessed would speak to me:

6–7  “I took the world off your shoulders,

freed you from a life of hard labor.

You called to me in your pain;

I got you out of a bad place.

I answered you from where the thunder hides,

I proved you at Meribah Fountain.

8–10  “Listen, dear ones—get this straight;

O Israel, don’t take this lightly.

Don’t take up with strange gods,

don’t worship the latest in gods.

I’m God, your God, the very God

who rescued you from doom in Egypt,

Then fed you all you could eat,

filled your hungry stomachs.

11–12  “But my people didn’t listen,

Israel paid no attention;

So I let go of the reins and told them, ‘Run!

Do it your own way!’

13–16  “Oh, dear people, will you listen to me now?

Israel, will you follow my map?

I’ll make short work of your enemies,

give your foes the back of my hand.

I’ll send the God-haters cringing like dogs,

never to be heard from again.

You’ll feast on my fresh-baked bread

spread with butter and rock-pure honey.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, November 17, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Timothy 4:6-10

You’ve been raised on the Message of the faith and have followed sound teaching. Now pass on this counsel to the followers of Jesus there, and you’ll be a good servant of Jesus. Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart. This is why we’ve thrown ourselves into this venture so totally. We’re banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers.

Today's Insights

When Paul says to Timothy, “If you point these things out . . . you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 4:6), what “things” is he referring to? The apostle opened his letter by saying, “Command certain people not to teach false doctrines” (1:3). Now he returns to that theme: “Some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (4:1). What are the “things taught by demons”? Paul elaborates: “They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods” (v. 3). Several years earlier, Paul had issued a similar warning when he asked the believers in Colossae, “Why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’ These rules . . . are based on merely human commands and teachings” (Colossians 2:20-22). Beware of false religion infringing on genuine faith.

Spiritual Fitness

Train yourself to be godly. -1 Timothy 4:7

Arthur Jackson

Tre is a regular at the fitness center and it shows. His shoulders are wide, his muscles pronounced, and his upper arms close to the size of my thighs. His physical condition prompted me to engage him in a spiritual conversation. I asked him if his commitment to physical fitness in some way mirrored a healthy relationship with God. Though we didn’t go too deep, Tre did acknowledge “God in his life.” We talked long enough for him to show me a picture of the four-hundred-pound, unfit, unhealthy version of himself. A change in his lifestyle had worked wonders physically.

In 1 Timothy 4:6-10, physical and spiritual training come into focus. “Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (vv. 7-8). One’s external fitness doesn’t change our status with God. Our spiritual fitness is a matter of the heart. It begins with a decision to believe in Jesus, through whom we receive forgiveness. From that point, training for godly living begins. This includes being “nourished on the truths of the faith and of . . . good teaching” (v. 6) and, by God’s strength, living a life that honors our heavenly Father.

Reflect & Pray

If you’ve started your journey with Jesus, how would you evaluate your spiritual health? What evidence in your life points to your spiritual fitness?

Heavenly Father, please forgive me when I focus too much on externals. Help me to attend to spiritual exercises like Bible reading, prayer, and loving and serving others.

Make a positive change to your spiritual life with this course.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, November 17, 2024

The Eternal Goal

I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son . . . I will surely bless you. —Genesis 22:16-17

Because you have done this . . .” Abraham had reached the place where he was in touch with the very nature of God. He understood the reality of God and obeyed instantly when God demanded his son.

If I want to reach the place Abraham reached—if I want to see who God is—I can only do it through obedience. Obedience is the key to developing my character.

It is my character, not God’s, which determines God’s revelation of himself to me.

’Tis because I am mean,

Thy ways so oft look mean to me.

—George MacDonald

Prompt obedience is the evidence that God’s nature is inside me. If God, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, is inside me, there’s no possibility of my questioning or refusing when he speaks, because he speaks to his own nature. When Jesus says, “Come,” I come. When he says, “Let go,” I let go. When he says, “Trust God in this matter,” I trust.

God’s promises are of no value to us until by obedience we understand his nature. We can read a certain passage of the Bible three hundred and sixty-five times without understanding it. Then all of a sudden, because we have obeyed God in some particular thing, the passage becomes clear. Our obedience has opened God’s nature to us, and we see what he means.

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God”(2 Corinthians 1:20). The “yes” must be born of obedience. When, by obedience, we say “amen” to a promise, the promise becomes ours. I never have a real God until I come face-to-face with him in Jesus Christ. Then I know that “earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25).

Ezekiel 5-7; Hebrews 12

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. 

Not Knowing Whither, 888 L

Revelation 7, bible reading and devotionals.

MaxLucado.com: Crazy Idea?

My family consisted of me, two sisters and a brother.  We were siblings because we came from the same family.  I’m sure there have been times when they did not want to call me their brother, but they didn’t have that choice.  Nor do we.  When I see someone calling God Father and Jesus Savior,  I meet a brother or a sister—regardless of the name of their church or denomination.

What would happen—I know this is a crazy thought—but what would happen if all the churches agreed, on a given day, to change their names to simply “church?”   What if reference to any denomination were removed and we were all just Christians?  Then we Christians wouldn’t be known for what divides us; instead we’d be known for what unites us—our common Father.

Crazy idea?  Perhaps.  But I think God would like it.  It was his to begin with.

“Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God.” (Rom. 15:7)

 From A Gentle Thunder

Revelation 7

The Servants of God

1  7 Immediately I saw Four Angels standing at the four corners of earth, standing steady with a firm grip on the four winds so no wind would blow on earth or sea, not even rustle a tree.

2–3  Then I saw another Angel rising from where the sun rose, carrying the seal of the Living God. He thundered to the Four Angels assigned the task of hurting earth and sea, “Don’t hurt the earth! Don’t hurt the sea! Don’t so much as hurt a tree until I’ve sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads!”

4–8  I heard the count of those who were sealed: 144,000! They were sealed out of every Tribe of Israel: 12,000 sealed from Judah, 12,000 from Reuben, 12,000 from Gad, 12,000 from Asher, 12,000 from Naphtali, 12,000 from Manasseh, 12,000 from Simeon, 12,000 from Levi, 12,000 from Issachar, 12,000 from Zebulun, 12,000 from Joseph, 12,000 sealed from Ben-jamin.

9–12  I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing:

Salvation to our God on his Throne!

Salvation to the Lamb!

All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals—fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing:

Oh, Yes!

The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving,

The honor and power and strength,

To our God forever and ever and ever!

Oh, Yes!

13–14  Just then one of the Elders addressed me: “Who are these dressed in white robes, and where did they come from?” Taken aback, I said, “O Sir, I have no idea—but you must know.”

14–17  Then he told me, “These are those who come from the great tribulation, and they’ve washed their robes, scrubbed them clean in the blood of the Lamb. That’s why they’re standing before God’s Throne. They serve him day and night in his Temple. The One on the Throne will pitch his tent there for them: no more hunger, no more thirst, no more scorching heat. The Lamb on the Throne will shepherd them, will lead them to spring waters of Life. And God will wipe every last tear from their eyes.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, November 16, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Samuel 17:17-26, 32

 One day, Jesse told David his son, “Take this sack of cracked wheat and these ten loaves of bread and run them down to your brothers in the camp. And take these ten wedges of cheese to the captain of their division. Check in on your brothers to see whether they are getting along all right, and let me know how they’re doing—Saul and your brothers, and all the Israelites in their war with the Philistines in the Oak Valley.”

20–23  David was up at the crack of dawn and, having arranged for someone to tend his flock, took the food and was on his way just as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the army was moving into battle formation, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines moved into position, facing each other, battle-ready. David left his bundles of food in the care of a sentry, ran to the troops who were deployed, and greeted his brothers. While they were talking together, the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, stepped out from the front lines of the Philistines, and gave his usual challenge. David heard him.

24–25  The Israelites, to a man, fell back the moment they saw the giant—totally frightened. The talk among the troops was, “Have you ever seen anything like this, this man openly and defiantly challenging Israel? The man who kills the giant will have it made. The king will give him a huge reward, offer his daughter as a bride, and give his entire family a free ride.”

Five Smooth Stones

26  David, who was talking to the men standing around him, asked, “What’s in it for the man who kills that Philistine and gets rid of this ugly blot on Israel’s honor? Who does he think he is, anyway, this uncircumcised Philistine, taunting the armies of God-Alive?”

32  “Master,” said David, “don’t give up hope. I’m ready to go and fight this Philistine.”

Today's Insights

The Israelites and the Philistines agreed that their battle was to be decided by two representative warriors (1 Samuel 17:8-11). Goliath was a fearsome Philistine champion, nine feet nine inches tall and heavily armored (vv. 4-7). He dwarfed Saul, who “was a head taller than anyone else” in Israel (9:2), possibly six feet tall. For forty days, no Israelites answered Goliath’s challenge (17:16) until David was providentially sent to the battlefront on a food run for his three brothers (vv. 17-19). With no military experience or armor, David slayed Goliath with a sling and a stone in the name of the God of Israel (vv. 45-50).

Delivering Help

Your servant will go and fight him. -1 Samuel 17:32

Today's Devotional

When Heather’s job took her to Tim’s house to deliver his take-out meal, he asked her to help him untie the knot in the food bag. Tim had suffered a stroke a few years prior and no longer had the ability to untie the knot himself. Heather cheerfully obliged. Throughout the rest of her day, Heather’s thoughts returned to Tim frequently and she was inspired to assemble a care package for him. When Tim later found the hot cocoa and red blanket she’d left at his door with an encouraging note, he was moved to tears.

Heather’s delivery became much more significant than she originally anticipated. The same was true when Jesse sent his young son David to supply his brothers with food when the Israelites “drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines” (1 Samuel 17:2). When David arrived with the bread and cheese, he learned Goliath had been instilling fear in God’s people with his daily taunting (vv. 8-10, 16, 24). David was incensed by Goliath’s defiance of “the armies of the living God” (v. 26) and was moved to respond, saying to King Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him” (v. 32).

God sometimes uses the circumstances of our daily lives to put us in places where He wants to use us. Let’s keep our eyes (and hearts!) open to see where and how He might want us to serve someone. By Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray

When has God supplied your needs through another person? How might He want to use you today in the life of another?

Father, please open my eyes to see where You might use me today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Still Human!

Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31

The great marvel of the incarnation slips into ordinary childhood. The great marvel of the transfiguration vanishes into the demon-possessed valley. The great glory of the resurrection descends into breakfast on the seashore. The flow of these events is not an anticlimax; it is a great revelation of God.

We have the tendency to look for marvels in our experience. We mistake a sense of the heroic for being heroes. It’s one thing to go boldly through a crisis and another to go through every day glorifying God when there’s no limelight and no one to impress. If we don’t want halos about our heads, we at least want someone to say, “What a wonderful man of prayer he is! What a devoted woman of God she is!” If we were rightly related to Jesus Christ, we’d have reached the sublime height where no one even thinks of noticing us. All they’d notice in our presence is the power of God, coming through us all the time.

It takes the almighty God incarnate in us to enable us to do menial duties to his glory. It takes God’s Spirit inside us to make us so absolutely, humanly his that we are utterly unnoticeable. The test of the life of a saint is not success; it’s living faithfully in human life as it actually is. We tend to hold up success in Christian work as the goal. The goal is to manifest the glory of God, to live the life hid with Christ in God in human conditions. Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited.

Ezekiel 3-4; Hebrews 11:20-40

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus.

We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.

Psalm 80, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: FROM THE INSIDE OUT - November 15, 2024

My dog Molly eats scraps out of the trash, licking dirty plates in the dishwasher. What kind of behavior is that? Dog behavior. Molly’s problem isn’t a Molly problem—it’s a dog problem. So here’s my idea: I want to deposit in her a kernel of human character. As it grows, will she not change?

You think the plan is crazy? It probably is. Yet what I’d like to do with Molly, God does with us. He changes our nature from the inside out. He doesn’t send us to obedience school to learn new habits; he deposits a new heart. A new heart! His heart, within us.

Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

Psalm 80

An Asaph Psalm

1–2  80 Listen, Shepherd, Israel’s Shepherd—

get all your Joseph sheep together.

Throw beams of light

from your dazzling throne

So Ephraim, Ben-jamin, and Manasseh

can see where they’re going.

Get out of bed—you’ve slept long enough!

Come on the run before it’s too late.

3  God, come back!

Smile your blessing smile:

That will be our salvation.

4–6  God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

how long will you smolder like a sleeping volcano

while your people call for fire and brimstone?

You put us on a diet of tears,

bucket after bucket of salty tears to drink.

You make us look ridiculous to our friends;

our enemies poke fun day after day.

7  God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back!

Smile your blessing smile:

That will be our salvation.

8–18  Remember how you brought a young vine from Egypt,

cleared out the brambles and briers

and planted your very own vineyard?

You prepared the good earth,

you planted her roots deep;

the vineyard filled the land.

Your vine soared high and shaded the mountains,

even dwarfing the giant cedars.

Your vine ranged west to the Sea,

east to the River.

So why do you no longer protect your vine?

Trespassers pick its grapes at will;

Wild pigs crash through and crush it,

and the mice nibble away at what’s left.

God-of-the-Angel-Armies, turn our way!

Take a good look at what’s happened

and attend to this vine.

Care for what you once tenderly planted—

the vine you raised from a shoot.

And those who dared to set it on fire—

give them a look that will kill!

Then take the hand of your once-favorite child,

the child you raised to adulthood.

We will never turn our back on you;

breathe life into our lungs so we can shout your name!

19  God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back!

Smile your blessing smile:

That will be our salvation.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, November 15, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

This commandment that I’m commanding you today isn’t too much for you, it’s not out of your reach. It’s not on a high mountain—you don’t have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it. And it’s not across the ocean—you don’t have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. No. The word is right here and now—as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!

15  Look at what I’ve done for you today: I’ve placed in front of you

Life and Good

Death and Evil.

16  And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.

17–18  But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won’t last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

19–20  I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Today's Insights

The generation that stood on the threshold of the promised land wasn’t present at Mount Sinai when the mountain shook and God called Israel to be His covenant people. The giving of the law, which showed how the Israelites were to relate to God and one another, had been given to an earlier generation (Exodus 19-20). So before entering the land, Moses repeated the law so that the new generation could likewise learn what God had revealed. That second giving of the law is the book of Deuteronomy, which means “second law.”

Today's Devotional

Choosing Life

Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. -Deuteronomy 30:19

Nathan grew up in a Christ-believing household, but he started to stray from his childhood faith as a college student into things like drinking and partying. “God brought me back to Himself when I didn’t deserve it,” he said. In time, Nathan spent a summer sharing Jesus with strangers on the streets of major US cities, and is now completing a residency in youth ministry at his church. Nathan’s goal is to help young people avoid wasting time not living for Christ.

Like Nathan, the Israelite leader Moses had a heart for the next generation. Knowing he would soon relinquish leadership, Moses delivered God’s good regulations to the people and then lists the results of either obedience or disobedience: blessing and life for obedience, cursing and death for disobedience. “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live,” he told them, “for the Lord is your life” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). Moses urged them to love God, “listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him” (v. 20).

Choosing sin brings consequences. But when we surrender our lives to God again, He’ll surely have mercy (vv. 2-3) and restore us (v. 4). This promise was fulfilled throughout the people of Israel’s history, but also by Jesus’ final work on the cross to bring us into fellowship with God. We too have a choice today and are free to choose life.

Reflect & Pray

In what area of your life is it most difficult to follow God’s way? How can you encourage the next generation to choose life?

Dear Jesus, thank You for making a way to bring me back into fellowship with You. -Karen Pimpo

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, November 15, 2024

What Is That to You?

When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered . . . “What is that to you? You must follow me.” —John 21:21-22

One of the most difficult lessons we ever learn is that we must not interfere in other people’s lives. It takes us a long time to learn this lesson. We stubbornly refuse to realize the danger of playing the amateur providence by interfering with God’s plans for others. We see someone suffering, and we say, “That person will not suffer. I’ll make sure of it.” In order to prevent their suffering, we raise a hand against God’s permissive will. How does God answer? He says, “What is that to you? You must follow me.”

If you are stagnating spiritually, your own interference may be the cause. Never allow spiritual stagnation to continue unchecked. Get into God’s presence and find out why you’re stuck. You may find that it’s because you have inserted yourself into someone else’s business, proposing things that you had no right to propose, advising where you had no right to advise. Remember that if it’s ever necessary for you to give advice, you must lean on God’s nature inside you. God himself will advise through the direct understanding of his Spirit. Your part is to be so rightly related to God that his discernment comes through you all the time for the blessing of another soul.

Most of us live on the borders of consciousness—consciously serving, consciously devoted to God. This is immature; it is not the real life yet. The real, mature life is the life of the child, a life which is never conscious. When we live as children of God, we are so abandoned to our Father that the consciousness of being used by him never enters in. If we are still conscious of being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, we have another stage to reach.Ultimately, all consciousness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us will be eliminated. A saint is never consciously a saint; a saint is consciously dependent on God.

Ezekiel 1-2; Hebrews 11:1-19

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.

The Place of Help

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, November 15, 2024

When Your Pain is Your Friend - #9875

Now, if I said I was going to give you the great secrets of hitting a baseball, I don't think you're going to go right out and try them. You're going to be skeptical, and you should be. But if one of the game's greatest hitters were to tell you the secret of hitting a baseball, well now you should pay attention.

Pete Rose actually was one of those, and he was once interviewed for an article in Sports Illustrated, and I like the title. It was called Good Wood. And he said that he liked a heat-treated bat. Now, I didn't realize this, but he said that you put the bat through an intense heat and that the heat would seal the pores and it actually made the bat hit harder. Well, it worked for him! I guess it's true, heat-treated bats hit harder. Well, you know something? So do heat-treated people.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Your Pain is Your Friend."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is found in Romans 5:3-4, and it talks about, well, heat treating. Here we go. "We, also, rejoice in our sufferings because we know suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope." Those are curious words. "We rejoice in our suffering?" This doesn't mean that Christian suffering feels any better than non-Christian suffering. It doesn't. It feels about the same, whether you're a Christian or not. But if you're a believer, pain is just as painful, unemployment is just as demoralizing, and pressure is just as stressful.

But you rejoice, not because it feels better, you rejoice because in Christ, pain has a point. A minus can be made into a plus. Suffering can be made into perseverance, character and hope. Just ask Pete Rose's bat. He said that heat heals up the holes in the bat and makes it more solid. Well, could it be that the heat that you're undergoing right now is heat-treating you and the holes in your life are being healed up by it and you're becoming more solid because of it? The heat you're feeling is not to burn you up, even though it feels like you might not make it through it. It's to make you strong; to build into you great perseverance, great character, great hope.

Right now you are in a position to learn more about the resources of God than any person who's in a comfortable setting. Sure you'd like to be comfortable again. I hope you will be. Sure you'd like this insecurity, this pain to pass. But right now you have a chance to know the resources, and the power, and the grace of God more deeply than you and those around you perhaps have ever known. You are learning, or you can learn, how to wait, how to overcome, how to really, urgently, desperately pray.

Perhaps you're being forced to close up some of the holes in your life; weaknesses, unconfessed sin, broken relationships that have been called to your attention by this hard time. Things you might not have given attention to any other way. And you can, because of the fire, be forced to deal with the weaknesses that you might otherwise still tolerate. And when you do, you have added a new kind of strength.

The fire turns spiritual wimps into spiritual warriors. So, rejoice as you see what you are becoming or can become through heat-treating, and only through heat-treating. You are becoming a heavy hitter in the hands of Almighty God.

Be encouraged! You're becoming good wood.

Psalm 79, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE SERPENT IS CRUSHED - November 14, 2024

Satan can disturb us, but he cannot defeat us. The head of the serpent is crushed.

I saw a literal picture of this in a prairie ditch. A petroleum company was hiring strong backs and weak minds to lay a pipeline. Since I qualified, much of a high school summer was spent shoveling in a shoulder-high West Texas trough. One afternoon the digging machine dislodged more than dirt. “Snake!” shouted the foreman. We popped out of that hole faster than a jack-in-the-box. One worked launched his shovel and beheaded the rattler.

That scene is a parable of where we are in life. In Revelation 20 verse 2 (NCV), John calls Satan, “that old snake who is the devil.” Has he not been decapitated? Not with a shovel, but with a cross.

Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

Psalm 79

An Asaph Psalm

1–4  79 God! Barbarians have broken into your home,

violated your holy temple,

left Jerusalem a pile of rubble!

They’ve served up the corpses of your servants

as carrion food for birds of prey,

Threw the bones of your holy people

out to the wild animals to gnaw on.

They dumped out their blood

like buckets of water.

All around Jerusalem, their bodies

were left to rot, unburied.

We’re nothing but a joke to our neighbors,

graffiti scrawled on the city walls.

5–7  How long do we have to put up with this, God?

Do you have it in for us for good?

Will your smoldering rage never cool down?

If you’re going to be angry, be angry

with the pagans who care nothing about you,

or your rival kingdoms who ignore you.

They’re the ones who ruined Jacob,

who wrecked and looted the place where he lived.

8–10  Don’t blame us for the sins of our parents.

Hurry up and help us; we’re at the end of our rope.

You’re famous for helping; God, give us a break.

Your reputation is on the line.

Pull us out of this mess, forgive us our sins—

do what you’re famous for doing!

Don’t let the heathen get by with their sneers:

“Where’s your God? Is he out to lunch?”

Go public and show the godless world

that they can’t kill your servants and get by with it.

11–13  Give groaning prisoners a hearing;

pardon those on death row from their doom—you can do it!

Give our jeering neighbors what they’ve got coming to them;

let their God-taunts boomerang and knock them flat.

Then we, your people, the ones you love and care for,

will thank you over and over and over.

We’ll tell everyone we meet

how wonderful you are, how praiseworthy you are!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, November 14, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Luke 18:1-8

The Story of the Persistent Widow

1–3  18 Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’

4–5  “He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding.’ ”

6–8  Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”

Today's Insights

The point of Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:1-8 is to emphasize the importance of being persistent in prayer. God isn’t like an unjust judge who gives in to our prayers out of sheer exasperation. In Greek, the phrase translated as “this widow keeps bothering me” (v. 5) is perhaps more literally translated as “she causes me trouble.” The picture painted here is one of persistence that interrupts the life and routines of another. It isn’t simply the idea of going to see this judge once a day; rather, the woman wouldn’t give the judge a moment’s peace. Her persistent request for justice interfered with his life. While our prayers don’t “interrupt” or “bother” God, Christ seems to be suggesting that we’re to steadfastly bring our requests to God. Because of our persistence and His character (vv. 6-8), He’ll take notice and respond.

Persist in Praying

They should always pray and not give up. -Luke 18:1

Mila, a baking assistant, felt too helpless to defend herself when her supervisor accused her of pilfering some raisin bread. The unfounded assertion and corresponding salary deduction were just two of many wrongful actions from her supervisor. “God, please help,” Mila prayed each day. “It’s so hard working under her, but I need this job.”

Jesus tells of a widow who also felt helpless and “sought justice against [her] adversary” (Luke 18:3). She turned to someone with the authority to resolve her case—a judge. Despite knowing that the judge was unjust, she persisted in approaching him.

The judge’s eventual response (vv. 4-5) is infinitely different from that of our heavenly Father, who quickly responds with love and help. If persistence could cause an unjust judge to take up a widow’s case, how much more can and will God, who is the just Judge, do for us (vv. 7-8)? We can trust Him “to bring about justice for his chosen ones” (v. 7) and being persistent in praying is one way of showing our trust. We persist because we have faith that God will respond in perfect wisdom to our situation.

Eventually, Mila’s supervisor resigned after other employees complained about her behavior. As we walk in obedience to God, let’s persist in praying, knowing the power of our prayers lies in the one who hears and helps us.

Reflect & Pray

When have you felt like giving up on praying? How can you reflect on God’s character as you pray?

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Discovering Divine Designs

As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey. —Genesis 24:27

We have to be so one with God that we do not need to continually ask for his guidance. Sanctification means that we have been made God’s children, and the natural life of a child is obedience—until the child wishes to be disobedient. The instant we are disobedient, we get a warning; a kind of intuitive jolt alerts us. In the spiritual domain, this jolt comes from the Spirit of God. When he checks us, we have to stop at once and be renewed in the spirit of our mind so that we may discern God’s will.

If we have been born again of the Spirit, we do not dictate to God where he should guide us. We simply know that “the Lord has led” us on our journey. When we look back, we see the presence of an amazing design, a design which, because we’ve been born of God, we credit entirely to him.

Anyone can see God in exceptional things, but it requires spiritual discipline to see him in every detail. If we have this discipline, we’re ready to discover divine designs everywhere. What appears random and haphazard to most people is to us nothing less than God’s appointed order.

Beware of making a fetish of consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are following Jesus Christ, you’ll probably find yourself doing things you swore you’d never do, because there was never a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord. But he was never inconsistent to his Father. The one consistency of the disciple is loyalty not to a conviction or a principle but to the divine life. It is the divine life which continually makes more and more discoveries about the divine mind. It’s easier to be a fanatic than a faithful soul, because there is something amazingly humbling—particularly to our religious conceit—about being loyal to God.

Lamentations 3-5; Hebrews 10:19-39

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”

The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Holding Onto Your Child In The Storm - #987

Kissimmee, Florida is right in the middle of some of Florida's most exciting tourist attractions. So, it's usually associated with happy times. But in February of 1998 the headlines were about tragedy in Kissimmee; 38 people killed in the deadliest tornado outbreak in the state's history up to that time. In its lead front page story, USA Today told about one couple who cowered in horror. And it said, "The wind sucked like a vacuum cleaner, pulling their five-year-old daughter, Elissa, away. Her Dad said, 'She was horizontal, and my wife was holding onto her legs. There was all this glass and everything started to disappear, all the furniture, and the insides of the walls. If my wife had let go of Elissa, we wouldn't have been able to find her." USA Today said, "But Judy's grip held. And in a few moments, the tornado had passed and Elissa was safe in her arms." Wow!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Holding Onto Your Child In The Storm."

If you're a parent, you may know that feeling because there are unusually stormy times right now in which to raise a son or daughter. And sometimes you feel like all that's swirling around them threatens to take them away. There may be days when you feel like you're hanging on for dear life.

Our word for today from the Word of God, though it isn't addressed specifically to parents, is a great parent scripture. 2 Timothy 1:7 says this, "God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." God doesn't want your parent-heart to be a fearful heart. In fact, He has made this strong promise to parents in Isaiah 54:13, "All your children will be taught of the Lord; and great will be the peace of your children."

You can keep your child from being torn away by the storm. Take time to casually debrief each day with them; helping them interpret what they have experienced that day. Give them boundaries, but with positive reasons - not just boundaries. Focus on today - not the problems of yesterday or the prospects of tomorrow. Make your home an island of sanity in an otherwise insane world, where when they close that door, they know they're safe, not on another battlefield. And each new day, give that child back to the God who gave you that child in the first place.

The ultimate secret of holding onto your child in the storm is - in a sense - letting go of your child. After the writer talks about having a spirit of power and love instead of a spirit of fear, he tells how that's possible with so much at stake. Speaking of his personal relationship with Jesus he says, "I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what (or who) I have entrusted to Him" (2 Timothy 1:12).

There is a relationship that provides a life-anchor - for anyone, but especially for parents raising children in stormy times. If you have begun that personal love-relationship with Jesus, you can commit your precious child to Him and He'll hang onto them as you never could.

But first Jesus has to be hanging onto you. There is nothing like being a parent to make you aware of your need for help, for the power to change, of your limitations, your need for forgiveness and for inner healing. And Jesus is a Mom's Savior, a Dad's Savior. He died on the cross to pay for all the sinning you and I have ever done, to tear down the wall between God and us and to open up all of God's love and power to you as a Mom or Dad.

If you've never put your personal trust in Jesus Christ to be your Savior, don't wait another day for your sake; for the sake of the child you love. Our website is there to help you get this settled. It's ANewStory.com.

In a world that is so dangerous and confusing, it isn't easy to keep your child from being taken away by the storm. But you can hang onto your son or daughter if you have the Son of God hanging onto you.

Revelation 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOUR GROOM - November 13, 2024

A diving accident left Joni Eareckson paralyzed. Her handicap didn’t keep her from marrying Ken Tada, but it almost kept her from the joy of the wedding. While waiting to go down the aisle, she discovered across her beautiful wedding dress a big, black grease mark courtesy of her chair. The bouquet of daisies on her lap slid off center, her paralyzed hands unable to rearrange them. She felt far from a picture-perfect bride.

But as she looked down the aisle, she saw her groom. She says, “Grease stains? Flowers out of place? Who cares! The love in Ken’s eyes washed it all away. That’s what changed me.” She forgot about herself. Everything changes when you look at your groom!

Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

Revelation 6

Unsealing the Scroll

1–2  6 I watched while the Lamb ripped off the first of the seven seals. I heard one of the Animals roar, “Come out!” I looked—I saw a white horse. Its rider carried a bow and was given a victory garland. He rode off victorious, conquering right and left.

3–4  When the Lamb ripped off the second seal, I heard the second Animal cry, “Come out!” Another horse appeared, this one red. Its rider was off to take peace from the earth, setting people at each other’s throats, killing one another. He was given a huge sword.

5–6  When he ripped off the third seal, I heard the third Animal cry, “Come out!” I looked. A black horse this time. Its rider carried a set of scales in his hand. I heard a message (it seemed to issue from the Four Animals): “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, or three quarts of barley, but all the oil and wine you want.”

7–8  When he ripped off the fourth seal, I heard the fourth Animal cry, “Come out!” I looked. A colorless horse, sickly pale. Its rider was Death, and Hell was close on its heels. They were given power to destroy a fourth of the earth by war, famine, disease, and wild beasts.

9–11  When he ripped off the fifth seal, I saw the souls of those killed because they had held firm in their witness to the Word of God. They were gathered under the Altar, and cried out in loud prayers, “How long, Strong God, Holy and True? How long before you step in and avenge our murders?” Then each martyr was given a white robe and told to sit back and wait until the full number of martyrs was filled from among their servant companions and friends in the faith.

12–17  I watched while he ripped off the sixth seal: a bone-jarring earthquake, sun turned black as ink, moon all bloody, stars falling out of the sky like figs shaken from a tree in a high wind, sky snapped shut like a book, islands and mountains sliding this way and that. And then pandemonium, everyone and his dog running for cover—kings, princes, generals, rich and strong, along with every commoner, slave or free. They hid in mountain caves and rocky dens, calling out to mountains and rocks, “Refuge! Hide us from the One Seated on the Throne and the wrath of the Lamb! The great Day of their wrath has come—who can stand it?”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Proverbs 11:16-25

A woman of gentle grace gets respect,

but men of rough violence grab for loot.

A God-Shaped Life

17  When you’re kind to others, you help yourself;

when you’re cruel to others, you hurt yourself.

18  Bad work gets paid with a bad check;

good work gets solid pay.

19  Take your stand with God’s loyal community and live,

or chase after phantoms of evil and die.

20  God can’t stand deceivers,

but oh how he relishes integrity.

21  Count on this: The wicked won’t get off scot-free,

and God’s loyal people will triumph.

22  Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout

is a beautiful face on an empty head.

23  The desires of good people lead straight to the best,

but wicked ambition ends in angry frustration.

24  The world of the generous gets larger and larger;

the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

25  The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed;

those who help others are helped.

Today's Insights

Proverbs 11 contrasts the righteous, those in alignment with God’s ways, with the wicked who choose evil and cruelty. This chapter emphasizes that wickedness and evil are self-destructive: “The wicked are brought down by their own wickedness” (v. 5); “the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires” (v. 6); “the cruel bring ruin on themselves” (v. 17). The principle that living as God intended results in flourishing is at the heart of the book of Proverbs. Other portions of Scripture like Job and Ecclesiastes nuance the picture to recognize that often the righteous suffer greatly even as the wicked seem to flourish. But Proverbs emphasizes that pursuing evil is shortsighted and self-destructive. Following God’s ways, however, leads to deep joy and abundance. Proverbs 11:19 puts it this way: “Truly the righteous attain life, but whoever pursues evil finds death.”

Unmeasured Kindness

By James Banks

Two friends were shopping for a laptop in an electronics store when they ran into basketball great Shaquille O’Neal. Aware that O’Neal recently suffered the loss of his sister and a former teammate, they empathetically offered their condolences. After the two men returned to their shopping, Shaq approached them and told them to pick out the nicest laptop they could find. He then bought it for them, simply because they saw him as a person going through a difficult time and was moved by their kindness.

Millennia before that encounter, Solomon wrote, “Those who are kind benefit themselves” (Proverbs 11:17). When we consider others’ needs and do what we can to help and encourage them, we’re rewarded ourselves. It may not be with a laptop or material things, but God has ways of blessing us that this world can’t measure. As Solomon explained just one verse earlier in the same chapter, “A kindhearted woman gains honor, but ruthless men gain only wealth” (v. 16). There are gifts from God that are worth far more than money, and He measures them generously in His perfect wisdom and way.

Kindness and generosity are part of God’s character, and He loves to see them expressed in our own hearts and lives. Solomon summed up the matter well: “Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed” (v. 25).

Reflect & Pray

How has God shown kindness to you? In what ways can you show His love to others today?

Dear God, I love Your kindness. Please help me to become more like You so that I may share Your love in practical ways.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Faith and Experience

I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. — Galatians 2:20

We have to battle through our moods into absolute devotion to Jesus Christ, to get out of the hole of our own experience into abandoned devotion to him. Think about what the New Testament says about Jesus Christ, and then think about the trifling, inadequate faith many of us have. The New Testament says that Jesus Christ can present us faultless before the throne of God, unutterably pure, absolutely rectified, and profoundly justified. It says that he has “become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Yet we base our faith not in him but in our experiences. We complain that this or that hasn’t happened to us, and we talk about all the difficult things we’ve done on his behalf. How can we talk of making sacrifices for the Son of God? He has saved us from hell and perdition, and we talk about making sacrifices!

We have to continually move beyond our experiences into faith in Jesus Christ. We have to seek the New Testament Jesus Christ—not a prayer meeting Jesus Christ or a book Jesus Christ, but the Jesus Christ who is God incarnate, the Christ whose majesty so overwhelms us that we fall at his feet as if dead (Revelation 1:17). Our faith must be not in our experience but in the One from whom our experience springs. We can never directly experience Jesus Christ nor even hold him within the compass of our hearts, but we can build our faith in strong, emphatic confidence in him.

No wonder the Holy Spirit has such a rugged impatience with unbelief. He knows that all our fears are wicked, and that we fear because we won’t nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives in him should be psalms of irrepressible, triumphant belief.

Lamentations 1-2; Hebrews 10:1-18

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

Biblical Ethics, 125 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

The People Who Need You Are Outside the Building - #9873

It's amazing how quickly you can get 300 college men to change their plans on a moment's notice. It happened several times when I was in school. Oh, it's late at night; we're all up in our rooms studying, sleeping, or goofing off, and we're certainly not planning to go out. Yet, within a matter of minutes all three hundred men are out of their rooms and out of the dorm. It's amazing what one fire bell can do, huh? Oh, there was no fire, just an occasional fire drill. But the call summoned us from whatever we were buried in, brought us out of our rooms, and out into the night.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The People Who Need You Are Outside the Building."

Now, you can't read the book of Acts without marveling at the explosive impact of those first Christians. They saw thousands come to Christ. And they saw people coming to Christ daily. They made such an impact it spread across the world and twenty centuries, and guess what? They had the same Savior we have, and the same Holy Spirit living in them! So what happened? Well, let's look at one of those keys to life-changing, city-changing, world-changing Christianity.

Our word for today from the Word of God, Acts 4:31, it says, "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the Apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all" If you compare this chapter with chapter 2, it says in just three verses, they were together, together, together. Three times it says that. See, these people had a life or death message to deliver. They realized the urgency and the enormity of getting the Gospel out to an area that was unreached, and they knew they had to work on it together.

C. S. Lewis suggested that Christianity is like this big house. And I'm going to borrow from his example and add to it a little. Everybody enters the house through the same long hallway. In that corridor you've got the cross and the empty tomb. We all went there to get our sins forgiven, and that's how we came to Christ. Now, off the hall are a lot of little rooms. Not long after we come in the center corridor we find that we like one of those rooms and we go in it, and we stay there like college students on a busy night of studying.

In one of the rooms off the central corridor they're sprinkling people to baptize them, in another room they're dunking them, in another room they're speaking in tongues, in another room they're talking about people who speak in tongues. You know, in our rooms, we spend a lot of time on our group's distinctive features; the things that make us, us; things that tend to divide us from the folks in the other rooms. Meanwhile, just outside the front door thousands are dying without Christ!

There is one call that has the power to do what the fire alarm did in our dorm that night and summoned us from our individual rooms to go out together. It is the call of Jesus to seek and save those who are lost. They need to be brought to the center corridor that we all claim, to get to the cross to have their sins forgiven, and the empty tomb to meet their living Savior. While we've been busy building our Christian subcultures we've lost our culture. One third of Americans say they've had no religious training. Most of the people around you know almost nothing about our Book or our Savior. Could it be because we've lost one of the most powerful words of the early church - together?

This is a time for ordinary believers to look out the window and see the urgency and the enormity of reaching the lost out there and to begin to pull people out of their little rooms, out of their denominational and doctrinal silos, to join in urgent prayer together for the lost, and to make aggressive plans to work together to reach them.

The Lord is sounding the alarm! If we hear His cry for harvest workers, we'll be out of our little room and pulling others out of theirs to rescue the people who are dying just outside the front door.

Psalm 78, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: NORMAL DISCIPLESHIP - November 12, 2024

You don’t have to be weird to follow Jesus. You don’t have to stop liking your friends to follow him – just the opposite!

Sometime ago I was part of a foursome for golf that included two preachers, a church leader, and a guy who wasn’t a Christ follower. The thought of four hours with all of us didn’t appeal to him. His best friend, a Christ follower—and his boss—insisted, so he agreed. I’m happy to report that on the ninth hole he said, “I’m so glad you guys are normal.” I think he meant this: “I’m glad you didn’t get in my face or club me with a King James driver. Thanks for laughing at my jokes and telling a few yourself.”

We didn’t lower standards, but neither did we saddle a high horse. Discipleship is sometimes defined by being normal.

Nextdoor Savior: Near Enough to Touch, Strong Enough to Trust

Psalm 78

An Asaph Psalm

1–4  78 Listen, dear friends, to God’s truth,

bend your ears to what I tell you.

I’m chewing on the morsel of a proverb;

I’ll let you in on the sweet old truths,

Stories we heard from our fathers,

counsel we learned at our mother’s knee.

We’re not keeping this to ourselves,

we’re passing it along to the next generation—

God’s fame and fortune,

the marvelous things he has done.

5–8  He planted a witness in Jacob,

set his Word firmly in Israel,

Then commanded our parents

to teach it to their children

So the next generation would know,

and all the generations to come—

Know the truth and tell the stories

so their children can trust in God,

Never forget the works of God

but keep his commands to the letter.

Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,

bullheaded and bad,

A fickle and faithless bunch

who never stayed true to God.

9–16  The Ephraimites, armed to the teeth,

ran off when the battle began.

They were cowards to God’s Covenant,

refused to walk by his Word.

They forgot what he had done—

marvels he’d done right before their eyes.

He performed miracles in plain sight of their parents

in Egypt, out on the fields of Zoan.

He split the Sea and they walked right through it;

he piled the waters to the right and the left.

He led them by day with a cloud,

led them all the night long with a fiery torch.

He split rocks in the wilderness,

gave them all they could drink from underground springs;

He made creeks flow out from sheer rock,

and water pour out like a river.

17–20  All they did was sin even more,

rebel in the desert against the High God.

They tried to get their own way with God,

clamored for favors, for special attention.

They whined like spoiled children,

“Why can’t God give us a decent meal in this desert?

Sure, he struck the rock and the water flowed,

creeks cascaded from the rock.

But how about some fresh-baked bread?

How about a nice cut of meat?”

21–31  When God heard that, he was furious—

his anger flared against Jacob,

he lost his temper with Israel.

It was clear they didn’t believe God,

had no intention of trusting in his help.

But God helped them anyway, commanded the clouds

and gave orders that opened the gates of heaven.

He rained down showers of manna to eat,

he gave them the Bread of Heaven.

They ate the bread of the mighty angels;

he sent them all the food they could eat.

He let East Wind break loose from the skies,

gave a strong push to South Wind.

This time it was birds that rained down—

succulent birds, an abundance of birds.

He aimed them right for the center of their camp;

all round their tents there were birds.

They ate and had their fill;

he handed them everything they craved on a platter.

But their greed knew no bounds;

they stuffed their mouths with more and more.

Finally, God was fed up, his anger erupted—

he cut down their brightest and best,

he laid low Israel’s finest young men.

32–37  And—can you believe it?—they kept right on sinning;

all those wonders and they still wouldn’t believe!

So their lives dribbled off to nothing—

nothing to show for their lives but a ghost town.

When he cut them down, they came running for help;

they turned and pled for mercy.

They gave witness that God was their rock,

that High God was their redeemer,

But they didn’t mean a word of it;

they lied through their teeth the whole time.

They could not have cared less about him,

wanted nothing to do with his Covenant.

38–55  And God? Compassionate!

Forgave the sin! Didn’t destroy!

Over and over he reined in his anger,

restrained his considerable wrath.

He knew what they were made of;

he knew there wasn’t much to them,

How often in the desert they had spurned him,

tried his patience in those wilderness years.

Time and again they pushed him to the limit,

provoked Israel’s Holy God.

How quickly they forgot what he’d done,

forgot their day of rescue from the enemy,

When he did miracles in Egypt,

wonders on the plain of Zoan.

He turned the River and its streams to blood—

not a drop of water fit to drink.

He sent flies, which ate them alive,

and frogs, which bedeviled them.

He turned their harvest over to caterpillars,

everything they had worked for to the locusts.

He flattened their grapevines with hail;

a killing frost ruined their orchards.

He pounded their cattle with hail,

let thunderbolts loose on their herds.

His anger flared,

a wild firestorm of havoc,

An advance guard of disease-carrying angels

to clear the ground, preparing the way before him.

He didn’t spare those people,

he let the plague rage through their lives.

He killed all the Egyptian firstborns,

lusty infants, offspring of Ham’s virility.

Then he led his people out like sheep,

took his flock safely through the wilderness.

He took good care of them; they had nothing to fear.

The Sea took care of their enemies for good.

He brought them into his holy land,

this mountain he claimed for his own.

He scattered everyone who got in their way;

he staked out an inheritance for them—

the tribes of Israel all had their own places.

56–64  But they kept on giving him a hard time,

rebelled against God, the High God,

refused to do anything he told them.

They were worse, if that’s possible, than their parents:

traitors—crooked as a corkscrew.

Their pagan orgies provoked God’s anger,

their obscene idolatries broke his heart.

When God heard their carryings-on, he was furious;

he posted a huge No over Israel.

He walked off and left Shiloh empty,

abandoned the shrine where he had met with Israel.

He let his pride and joy go to the dogs,

turned his back on the pride of his life.

He turned them loose on fields of battle;

angry, he let them fend for themselves.

Their young men went to war and never came back;

their young women waited in vain.

Their priests were massacred,

and their widows never shed a tear.

65–72  Suddenly the Lord was up on his feet

like someone roused from deep sleep,

shouting like a drunken warrior.

He hit his enemies hard, sent them running,

yelping, not daring to look back.

He disqualified Joseph as leader,

told Ephraim he didn’t have what it takes,

And chose the Tribe of Judah instead,

Mount Zion, which he loves so much.

He built his sanctuary there, resplendent,

solid and lasting as the earth itself.

Then he chose David, his servant,

hand-picked him from his work in the sheep pens.

One day he was caring for the ewes and their lambs,

the next day God had him shepherding Jacob,

his people Israel, his prize possession.

His good heart made him a good shepherd;

he guided the people wisely and well.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Today's Scripture

2 Corinthians 8:1-7

The Offering

1–4  8 Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.

5–7  This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives. That’s what prompted us to ask Titus to bring the relief offering to your attention, so that what was so well begun could be finished up. You do so well in so many things—you trust God, you’re articulate, you’re insightful, you’re passionate, you love us—now, do your best in this, too.

Insight

 

The churches of Macedonia (in northern Greece) were established during Paul’s second missionary journey and resulted from his response to a nighttime vision from God. A man begged him to “come over to Macedonia and help [them]” (Acts 16:9). Paul had just circumcised and recruited Timothy to help him in his missionary work (vv. 1-3). The apostle and his companions Silas and Timothy immediately left Troas and headed via ship to Macedonia to spread the gospel there. The first to be baptized in the Macedonian town of Philippi were Lydia and her household (vv. 12-15). Later, during Paul’s third missionary journey when he hoped to gather funds to help the poor believers in Jerusalem, the Macedonian church wholeheartedly and voluntarily contributed (2 Corinthians 8:1). Despite a “very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” and “they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability” (vv. 2-3).   By: Alyson Kieda

A Handful of Rice

In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 2 Corinthians 8:2

The state of Mizoram in northeast India is slowly climbing out of poverty. Despite their lack of income, since the gospel first came to this area, believers in Jesus have practiced a local tradition called “handful of rice.” Those preparing meals each day set aside a handful of uncooked rice and give it to the church. Mizoram churches, poor by the world’s standard, have given millions to missions and sent missionaries around the world. Many in their home state have come to Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul describes a similarly challenged church. Believers in Macedonia were poor, but that didn’t keep them from giving joyfully and abundantly (vv. 1-2). They saw their giving as a privilege and gave “even beyond their ability” (v. 3) to partner with Paul. They understood they were merely stewards of God’s resources. Giving was a way to show their trust in Him, who provides for all our needs.

Paul used the Macedonians to encourage the Corinthians to have the same approach to giving. The Corinthians excelled “in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in . . . love.” Now they needed to “excel in this grace of giving” (v. 7).

Like the Macedonians and the believers in Mizoram, we too can reflect our Father’s generosity by giving generously out of what we have. By:  Matt Lucas

Reflect & Pray

Where have you witnessed sacrificial giving? How can you give generously in response to God’s generous giving to you?

Father, I pray for the Mizoram church as they continue to give generously to Your work. 

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

The Transfigured Life

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. — 2 Corinthians 5:17

What is your idea of salvation? The experience of salvation means that in your life things have actually been changed. When you are saved, you no longer look at things as you used to. Your desires are new. The things which used to rule you have lost their power.

A key question in this experience is, Has God changed the things that matter? If you still long for old things, it’s absurd to talk about being born from above. When you are born again, the Spirit of God manifests a change in your mind and life. Afterward, when a crisis arises, you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you caused this difference; you know beyond a doubt that it was the Spirit of God. This complete and amazing change is the evidence that you are a saved soul.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud” (1 Corinthians 13:4). What difference has salvation and sanctification made in me? Can I walk tall in the light of 1 Corinthians 13, or do I have to shuffle? The salvation that is worked out in me by the Holy Spirit emancipates me entirely. As long as I walk in the light as God is in the light, he sees nothing to censure, because his life is working through every aspect of my own—not only those aspects I am conscious of but also those that lie deeper than my consciousness.

Jeremiah 51-52; Hebrews 9

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

The Real Disease - Beyond Your Symptoms - #9872

My farm girl had a high tolerance for pain. "I know," you say, "she married you." No, I mean physical pain. She seldom complained and I often didn't know she was hurting. There was a season in her life when she was in constant pain for about eight years. A lot of remedies and treatments took their turn trying to help her but actually nothing worked; the flare-ups continued...until something happened. With a big smile on her face, she said, "I am pain-free for the first time in eight years." And she was so grateful. What happened? Our family doctor went to work diagnosing the problem and he concluded it was fibromyalgia. And once our doctor diagnosed what the real problem was, we could start working on some real relief!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Real Disease - Beyond Your Symptoms."

It may be that you've been experiencing some painful symptoms in your life recently. I'm talking emotionally, not necessarily physically. There have been too many blowups, too many dark times, too much loneliness, more and more stress, less and less peace. Like my wife with her physical pain, you're experiencing some painful, disturbing symptoms. And so far, no treatment, no pain reliever has really taken away the pain.

It's time to bring in the Specialist, the One who can get beyond the symptoms and give you the diagnosis of the underlying problem. That would be your Creator. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 3 where God talks about some ugly symptoms. People, it says, whose "tongues practice deceit," whose "mouths are full of cursing and bitterness," it says "their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways." There's this dark side of us that lies and hurts people and basically is out of control. Here's a phrase that might sum up a lot of your life, "And the way of peace they do not know."

Then comes the diagnosis of what's behind so much of the pain in our lives. "There is no one righteous, not even one...all have turned away...there is no fear of God before their eyes." And then, the sobering bottom line, Romans 3:23 - "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." You're in there, I'm in there, we're "all" in there. Our symptom might be loneliness or depression or guilt or darkness inside, but the disease is the cancer called sin. We've done our life our way instead of God's way so we're cut off from the "glory" of His love, His help, and His peace. Just like my wife with her years of physical pain, your symptoms won't start clearing up until you treat the disease that's causing them.

But God doesn't just diagnose the disease, He provides the cure. In verse 24: "We are justified (made right with God) freely by God's grace through the redemption (the rescue!) that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood." In plain language, we had no hope of our sin-cancer being cured, but God, the very One we sinned against, sacrificed His one and only Son to pay the death penalty for our sin. The cure involves blood - the blood Jesus poured out when He died to remove the guilt and the hell of your sin and mine.

That blood cure becomes your cure when you put all your trust in Jesus to forgive every sin you've ever done. He's ready to begin that healing right now if you're ready to begin a trust relationship with Him as your personal Savior. You can tell Him that right now. A real life on earth and eternal life when you die. That's real life. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours."

Go to our website. There are some things there that I've written just to help you walk right into this relationship with Him. Go to ANewStory.com.

After all this pain, God has diagnosed the disease that caused so much of it. And He has paid the ultimate price for you to be spiritually healed. Today He stands ready to do for you what only He can do. Just ask Him to.