Revelation 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE DECISION OF DISCIPLESHIP - December 17, 2024

Jesus’ earthly father is a small-town carpenter who lives in Nazareth. Now why Joseph? A major part of the answer lies in his reputation, and he gives it up for Jesus. Nazareth viewed Joseph as we might view an elder, deacon, or Bible class teacher. Now what? His fiancée is blemished, tainted; he is righteous, godly. The law says stone her. Love says forgive her. And Joseph is caught in the middle.

Then comes the angel’s announcement: she carries the Son of God in her womb. But who would believe it? Joseph makes his decision. “Joseph…took to him his wife, and did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn Son” (Matthew 1:24-25 NKJV). He swapped his Torah studies for a pregnant fiancée and an illegitimate son and made the big decision of discipleship. He placed God’s plan ahead of his own.

Christmas Stories: Heartwarming Classics of Angels, a Manger, and the Birth of Hope

Revelation 16

Pouring Out the Seven Disasters

1  16 I heard a shout of command from the Temple to the Seven Angels: “Begin! Pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on earth!”

2  The first Angel stepped up and poured his bowl out on earth: Loathsome, stinking sores erupted on all who had taken the mark of the Beast and worshiped its image.

3  The second Angel poured his bowl on the sea: The sea coagulated into blood, and everything in it died.

4–7  The third Angel poured his bowl on rivers and springs: The waters turned to blood. I heard the Angel of Waters say,

Righteous you are, and your judgments are righteous,

The Is, The Was, The Holy.

They poured out the blood of saints and prophets

so you’ve given them blood to drink—

they’ve gotten what they deserve!

Just then I heard the Altar chime in,

Yes, O God, the Sovereign-Strong!

Your judgments are true and just!

8–9  The fourth Angel poured his bowl on the sun: Fire blazed from the sun and scorched men and women. Burned and blistered, they cursed God’s Name, the God behind these disasters. They refused to repent, refused to honor God.

10–11  The fifth Angel poured his bowl on the throne of the Beast: Its kingdom fell into sudden eclipse. Mad with pain, men and women bit and chewed their tongues, cursed the God-of-Heaven for their torment and sores, and refused to repent and change their ways.

12–14  The sixth Angel poured his bowl on the great Euphrates River: It dried up to nothing. The dry riverbed became a fine roadbed for the kings from the East. From the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet I saw three foul demons crawl out—they looked like frogs. These are demon spirits performing signs. They’re after the kings of the whole world to get them gathered for battle on the Great Day of God, the Sovereign-Strong.

15  “Keep watch! I come unannounced, like a thief. You’re blessed if, awake and dressed, you’re ready for me. Too bad if you’re found running through the streets, naked and ashamed.”

16  The frog-demons gathered the kings together at the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.

17–21  The seventh Angel poured his bowl into the air: From the Throne in the Temple came a shout, “Done!” followed by lightning flashes and shouts, thunder crashes and a colossal earthquake—a huge and devastating earthquake, never an earthquake like it since time began. The Great City split three ways, the cities of the nations toppled to ruin. Great Babylon had to drink the wine of God’s raging anger—God remembered to give her the cup! Every island fled and not a mountain was to be found. Hailstones weighing a ton plummeted, crushing and smashing men and women as they cursed God for the hail, the epic disaster of hail.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

by Marvin Williams

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Matthew 1:18-25

The Birth of Jesus

18–19  The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.) Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.

20–23  While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.” This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term:

Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;

They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for “God is with us”).

24–25  Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.

Today's Insights

Matthew clearly states that Mary was pregnant “before [she and Joseph] came together” (1:18). Joseph would have considered this apparent violation of their engagement to be the same as adultery, which carried the death penalty (Leviticus 20:10). That Joseph, who was “faithful to the law” (Matthew 1:19), planned to divorce Mary discreetly reveals his gracious character. Just as important, he believed what the angel told him (v. 24) and married Mary. This exposed them both to public ridicule. When Jesus later returned to “his hometown” to carry out His ministry, the people wondered, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? . . . Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” (13:54-55). But He was more than just “the carpenter’s son.” He was the Messiah.

Jesus Our Rescuer

You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21

What began as a normal cable car ride across a Pakistani valley turned into a frightful ordeal. Shortly after the ride began, two supporting cables snapped, leaving eight passengers—including school children—suspended hundreds of feet in the air. The situation sparked an arduous twelve-hour rescue operation by the Pakistani military, who used ziplines, helicopters, and more to rescue the passengers.

Those well-trained rescuers are to be commended, but their work pales in comparison to the eternal work of Jesus, whose mission was to save and rescue us from sin and death. Prior to Christ’s birth, an angel instructed Joseph to take Mary home because her pregnancy was from “the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18, 20). Joseph was also told to name his son Jesus, because He would “save his people from their sins” (v. 21). Yet, while this name was common in the first century, only this child was qualified to be the Savior (Luke 2:30-32). Christ came at the right time to seal and secure the eternal salvation of all who repent and believe in Him.

We were all trapped in the cable car of sin and death, suspended over the valley of eternal separation from God. But in His love and grace, Jesus came to rescue us and bring us safely home to our heavenly Father. Praise Him!

Reflect & Pray

What significant mission would Mary’s baby have? What does the rescue Jesus secured mean to you?

Dear Jesus, please help me to rejoice in the reality that though I once was lost, I can now be found because of Your grace.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Redemption Creates the Need It Satisfies

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness. — 1 Corinthians 2:14

The gospel of God creates a sense of needing the gospel. Paul says, “If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled”—to whom? To those who behave immorally? No—“to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4). By “unbelievers,” Paul means those who haven’t had the life of God created in them through personal redemption. As redemption creates the life of God in a human soul, it also creates the things belonging to that life, including a sense of needing the Lord. It is God who creates the need of which no human being is conscious until God manifests himself; nothing can satisfy the need but that which created the need. This is the meaning of redemption: it both creates and satisfies.

The majority of people have no sense of needing the gospel because they have morality and self–sufficiency well within their grasp. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). This is true, but God can’t give until we ask, and we won’t ask if we don’t feel a need. It isn’t that God withholds; this is simply how he has constituted things on the basis of the redemption. Through our asking, God sets a process in motion by which he creates what doesn’t exist until we ask. The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time.

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). We preach our own experiences, and people are interested, but no sense of need is awakened. But when Jesus Christ is lifted up, the Spirit of God will create a conscious need of him. Behind the preaching of the gospel is the creative redemption of God at work in people’s souls. Personal testimony is never what saves: “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63).

Amos 7-9; Revelation 8

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.

Disciples Indeed, 388 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

The Only Feedback That Matters - #9897

I remember that time when our son got a new haircut and a pretty noticeably different hair style. Not something real radical, but it was different. Needless to say, he was a little unsure of how he looked the first day after he had the makeover. At least he was used to the old style; he knew how to feel about it. We tried to reassure him. We gave him our parent's opinion about how he looked, but of course, what does our opinion matter...right?

So, he went off to school looking for feedback, and he returned all smiles that afternoon. Yeah, well guess who had liked it. Several girls - the right girls - had noticed and they had complimented him on his new hair style. It didn't matter what anybody else said, whether they liked it or not, he decided whose feedback really mattered to him. You know, that's actually a good thing to decide.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Feedback That Matters."

Now, there are a lot of choices more significant, of course, than a change of hair style. And we usually evaluate our decisions and our performance based on how well we please the audience that really matters to us. Right? My son wanted to make sure the girls liked his hair style; he decided what audience he needed to please. It's sort of like a boy who wants to know if his Dad likes what he did, or an athlete who has decided that above all else he just wants to please his coach. "What does the coach think of my performance?"

When you decide to follow Jesus Christ with your life, you've decided whom you want to please. You've said by following Christ, "I've decided my bottom line is this: 'Is Jesus happy with it?'" It's as if all the significant people in your life are sitting in this circle. Just imagine them in a room and they're waiting for you to make whatever life decision you're dealing with right now. Members of your family are there, maybe your pastor is there, some of your key friends, some coworkers, maybe your boss is there, or your teachers, a professor, and Jesus is in that circle.

And then you announce the choice you've made. Whose smile are you looking for? Whose smile lets you know you did the right thing? My son decided that the approval of certain girls would determine the rightness of his hair style choice. Well, the smile you should be looking for in that circle is the smile of Jesus.

So, how do you judge whether He's pleased or not? I mean, He isn't visibly there. Well, our word for today from the Word of God - you thought we'd never get there. We just did. Colossians 3:15 says this: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." Now, the word rule there actually means be the umpire; be the deciding factor in your life. "The peace of God." See, if God is smiling, He will show His pleasure by giving you this supernatural sense of His peace deep inside; this stubborn confidence; a poise that's there even if everyone else in the circle is frowning.

Oh, you may still have doubts, but when you're alone in His presence - it's just you and Him - you'll just know that you've done the right thing. That peace, that sense of rightness, okay-ness, will be there in the midst of the confusion. Live for that green light of God's peace. Believe that peace deep down in your soul. It will stand the test of the worst of storms.

Over and over in our family, when one or the other of us has been faced with a major life choice, we've given each other the advice that sometimes we tend to forget, "Go with the peace." After all, Jesus' smile expressed through the inner peace He gives you, is the only feedback that really matters.

Ezra 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: MAKE ROOM - December 16, 2024

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

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

Christmas Stories: Heartwarming Classics of Angels, a Manger, and the Birth of Hope

Ezra 10

Ezra Takes Charge

1  10 Ezra wept, prostrate in front of The Temple of God. As he prayed and confessed, a huge number of the men, women, and children of Israel gathered around him. All the people were now weeping as if their hearts would break.

2–3  Shecaniah son of Jehiel of the family of Elam, acting as spokesman, said to Ezra: “We betrayed our God by marrying foreign wives from the people around here. But all is not lost; there is still hope for Israel. Let’s make a covenant right now with our God, agreeing to get rid of all these wives and their children, just as my master and those who honor God’s commandment are saying. It’s what The Revelation says, so let’s do it.

4  “Now get up, Ezra. Take charge—we’re behind you. Don’t back down.”

5  So Ezra stood up and had the leaders of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel solemnly swear to do what Shecaniah proposed. And they did it.

6  Then Ezra left the plaza in front of The Temple of God and went to the home of Jehohanan son of Eliashib where he stayed, still fasting from food and drink, continuing his mourning over the betrayal by the exiles.

7–8  A notice was then sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem ordering all the exiles to meet in Jerusalem. Anyone who failed to show up in three days, in compliance with the ruling of the leaders and elders, would have all his possessions confiscated and be thrown out of the congregation of the returned exiles.

9  All the men of Judah and Ben-jamin met in Jerusalem within the three days. It was the twentieth day of the ninth month. They all sat down in the plaza in front of The Temple of God. Because of the business before them, and aggravated by the buckets of rain coming down on them, they were restless, uneasy, and anxious.

10–11  Ezra the priest stood up and spoke: “You’ve broken trust. You’ve married foreign wives. You’ve piled guilt on Israel. Now make your confession to God, the God of your ancestors, and do what he wants you to do: Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from your foreign wives.”

12  The whole congregation responded with a shout, “Yes, we’ll do it—just the way you said it!”

13–14  They also said, “But look, do you see how many people there are out here? And it’s the rainy season; you can’t expect us to stand out here soaking wet until this is done—why, it will take days! A lot of us are deeply involved in this transgression. Let our leaders act on behalf of the whole congregation. Have everybody who lives in cities and who has married a foreign wife come at an appointed time, accompanied by the elders and judges of each city. We’ll keep at this until the hot anger of our God over this thing is turned away.”

15–17  Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, supported by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite, opposed this. So the exiles went ahead with the plan. Ezra the priest picked men who were family heads, each one by name. They sat down together on the first day of the tenth month to pursue the matter. By the first day of the first month they had finished dealing with every man who had married a foreign wife.

18–19  Among the families of priests, the following were found to have married foreign wives:

The family of Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. They all promised to divorce their wives and sealed it with a handshake. For their guilt they brought a ram from the flock as a Compensation-Offering.

20  The family of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.

21  The family of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah.

22  The family of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

23  From the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah—that is, Kelita—Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

24  From the singers: Eliashib.

From the temple security guards: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

25  And from the other Israelites:

The family of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malkijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malkijah, and Benaiah.

26  The family of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah.

27  The family of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza.

28  The family of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.

29  The family of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth.

30  The family of Pahath-Moab: Adna, Kelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh.

31–32  The family of Harim: Eliezer, Ishijah, Malkijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, Ben-jamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.

33  The family of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.

34–37  The family of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, Benaiah, Bedeiah, Keluhi, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu.

38–42  The family of Binnui: Shimei, Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, Macnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.

43  The family of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah.

44  All these had married foreign wives and some had also had children by them.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, December 16, 2024

by Kirsten Holmberg

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Thessalonians 5:4-11

But friends, you’re not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let’s not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let’s keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we’re creatures of Day, let’s act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.

9–11  God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we’re awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we’re alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.

Today's Insights

To encourage believers in Jesus who were suffering because of their faith, Paul reminded them of the blessed hope of His imminent return (1 Thessalonians 1:3, 10; 3:13; 4:13-17; 5:1-10). Twice, he instructed them to “encourage one another” (4:18; 5:11). The Greek word translated “encourage” (parakaleo) means “to come alongside”; “to give one the strength and courage to get up and get going again.” It’s like giving a much-needed push to a child’s swing to get it moving. The apostle John used parakletos to refer to the Holy Spirit, who comes alongside us to be our “Advocate” (John 14:26). It’s difficult to find an equivalent to this Greek word, so it’s translated in several different ways to describe the Spirit: “Helper,” “Counselor,” “Comforter,” “Companion,” or “Friend.” These are all apt descriptions of coming alongside to encourage.

Encouragement in Christ

Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

An Indiana schoolteacher suggested that her students write notes of encouragement and inspiration for their peers. Days later, when a school tragedy occurred in a different part of the country, their notes buoyed the spirits of their fellow students as they dealt with the resulting fear and pain that something could happen to them too.

Encouragement and mutual concern were also on Paul’s mind when he wrote to the believers at Thessalonica. They had lost friends, and Paul instructed them to hope in Jesus’ promised return to bring their loved ones to life again (1 Thessalonians 4:14). While they didn’t know when that would occur, he reminded them that as believers they needn’t wait in fear of God’s judgment when He returned (5:9). Instead, they could wait with confidence in their future life with Him and meanwhile “encourage one another and build each other up” (v. 11).

When we experience painful losses or senseless tragedies, it’s easy to be overcome with fear and sadness. Yet Paul’s words are helpful to us today, just as when they were written. Let’s wait in hopeful expectation that Christ will restore all things. And meanwhile, we can encourage each other—with written notes, spoken words, acts of service, or a simple hug.

Reflect & Pray

How have you been encouraged by others? How can you encourage someone today?

Risen Jesus, despite my hurts in a messed-up world, please help me to wait on You with hope and faith and to encourage those around me until You come again.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, December 16, 2024

Wrestling before God

Put on the full armor of God. . . And always keep on praying. — Ephesians 6:13,18

You have to wrestle against the things that prevent you from getting to God, and you have to wrestle in prayer for other souls. But never say that you wrestle with God in prayer; this idea is scripturally unfounded. Attempt to wrestle with God, and you will be crippled for the rest of your life.

“He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched”

(Genesis 32:25). If God comes into your life in some way you don’t like, and you try, as Jacob did, to wrestle with him, you compel God to put your hip out of joint. You should wrestle; God doesn’t want you to hobble along weakly in his ways. Just make sure you’re wrestling the right things. Be someone who wrestles before God for other souls and against those things that would keep you from him, and you will be more than a conqueror through him (Romans 8:37).

Wrestling before God in prayer prevails in his kingdom, so long as the one praying is complete in Christ. If you ask me to pray for you and I’m not complete, my prayer counts for nothing. But if I’m complete in him, my prayer always prevails. I have to put on the full armor of God before I pray; prayer is effective only when there is completeness.

Always distinguish between God’s order and his permissive will. God’s order is unchangeable; the things he allows by his permissive will are what we have to wrestle against. God uses his permissive will providentially to turn us into his sons and daughters. Our reaction to the things he permits is what enables us to get at his order. He asks us to meet these things head–on, not to be like jellyfish, floating along and saying, “Oh, well, it’s the Lord’s will.” Beware of drifting lazily before God instead of putting up a glorious fight so that you may lay hold of his strength.

Amos 4-6; Revelation 7

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly. 

Disciples Indeed, 393 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, December 16, 2024

Christmas - A Time for Outsiders - #9896

Well, for several years in a row our town was pretty lucky. We had a winning football team every year in high school. And every year the parents had a dinner in the team's honor, and everybody came. I mean, even people who had nothing to do with the football season suddenly showed up: the politicians, the board members, a variety of seemingly unconnected dignitaries. Oh, I'm sure they were there to honor the players.

But do you suppose they might have come for another reason? Hey, listen. We all like to be associated with winners, right? You have to ask yourself, "Who would be there if this team hadn't won a game?" Well, if you like to be associated with winners, there's something very unsettling about the Christmas Story.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Christmas - A Time for Outsiders."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 2:8-9, where we find the cast of the Christmas Story and how revealing it is concerning God's kind of people. Familiar words, "There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them."

Now, if you know much about the shepherds of that day, you might want to say, "The angel of the Lord appeared to THEM?" It's almost like there's a question mark there, "To the shepherds? They're the first ones to know?" See, these were like the lowlifes of Judea at that time. They weren't even allowed to go in the temple. They were the classic outsiders.

And it is to them God announces the birth of Christ, and He goes beyond that. In verse 20 of Luke 2, it says, "The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen." These guys turn out to be God's first ambassadors, the first evangelists. And think about the wise men; they were Gentiles. And in that Jewish culture they were considered outcasts - Gentile slime. But some of them were the first worshipers of Jesus.

It's pretty clear from the coming of Christ where His heart is, and where ours should be. Jesus goes with those that we call losers. He said in His first sermon in Luke 4, He was there for the poor, and the prisoners, and the blind, etc. It goes against our whole natural bent, though. I want to be with the power people. Jesus says, "Go to the powerless." "I want to spend time with those who make me look good." Jesus says, "Go to those who might diminish your reputation but who need you." "I want to be with those who can help me in some way, you know?" Jesus says, "Go to those who have nothing to give." Wow!

Look around you this Christmas season. Who's the outsider in your world, the reject, the left out person, the poor, the powerless, but they're within your reach? Go to some people Jesus would go to. They're all around us. From God's perspective, we're all like those shepherds - spiritually dirty, and smelly, and unattractive.

I can tell you this, Jesus knows how it feels to be an outsider. Oh yeah, He does. Yeah, the Bible says He was rejected by men. All the people who should have been there for Him ultimately seemed to abandon Him. And the Bible says, "He was a man of sorrows." And He ultimately ended up hanging alone on a cross, because He came to bring us inside the greatest love in the universe, because we were cut off from the God that loves us and the God that made us. He didn't cut himself off from us; we did it by running our own life and hijacking our life from Him and putting up a wall between us and Him.

And Jesus came here and became the ultimate outsider so we could become the ultimate insider; to be actually welcomed into the family of Almighty God. But it took Jesus' blood on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. It started in a manger, but it was what happened on that cross that tore down the wall.

And today He waits this Christmas season to welcome you into the family of God. Why don't you tell Him today, "Jesus, I love you for loving me the way you did. I am Yours beginning today." Could there be a better time to do it? Our website will help you know exactly how to begin that relationship. Please check it out - ANewStory.com.

Aren't you glad that Christmas is for losers like you and me? Let's be sure that we go to the people that Jesus came to on that first Christmas.

Ezra 9,Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Courteous Conduct

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Colossians 4:5

Those who don’t believe in Jesus—note what we do. They make decisions about Christ by watching us.

When we are kind, they assume Christ is kind. When we are gracious, they assume Christ is gracious. But when we are dishonest, what assumption will an observer make about our Master?

No wonder Paul says, “Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should” (Col. 4:5–6).

Courteous conduct honors Christ.

It also honors his children. When you surrender a parking place to someone, you honor him. When you return a borrowed book, you honor the lender. When you make an effort to greet everyone in the room, especially the ones others may have overlooked, you honor God’s children.

Let your courteous conduct honor Christ.

Ezra 9

Ezra Prays: “Look at Us … Guilty Before You”

1–2  9 After all this was done, the leaders came to me and said, “The People of Israel, priests and Levites included, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring people around here with all their vulgar obscenities—Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, Amorites. They have given some of their daughters in marriage to them and have taken some of their daughters for marriage to their sons. The holy seed is now all mixed in with these other peoples. And our leaders have led the way in this betrayal.”

3  When I heard all this, I ripped my clothes and my cape; I pulled hair from my head and out of my beard; I slumped to the ground, appalled.

4–6  Many were in fear and trembling because of what God was saying about the betrayal by the exiles. They gathered around me as I sat there in despair, waiting for the evening sacrifice. At the evening sacrifice I picked myself up from my utter devastation, and in my ripped clothes and cape fell to my knees and stretched out my hands to God, my God. And I prayed:

6–7  “My dear God, I’m so totally ashamed, I can’t bear to face you. O my God—our iniquities are piled up so high that we can’t see out; our guilt touches the skies. We’ve been stuck in a muck of guilt since the time of our ancestors until right now; we and our kings and priests, because of our sins, have been turned over to foreign kings, to killing, to captivity, to looting, and to public shame—just as you see us now.

8–9  “Now for a brief time God, our God, has allowed us, this battered band, to get a firm foothold in his holy place so that our God may brighten our eyes and lighten our burdens as we serve out this hard sentence. We were slaves; yet even as slaves, our God didn’t abandon us. He has put us in the good graces of the kings of Persia and given us the heart to build The Temple of our God, restore its ruins, and construct a defensive wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

10–12  “And now, our God, after all this what can we say for ourselves? For we have thrown your commands to the wind, the commands you gave us through your servants the prophets. They told us, ‘The land you’re taking over is a polluted land, polluted with the obscene vulgarities of the people who live there; they’ve filled it with their moral rot from one end to the other. Whatever you do, don’t give your daughters in marriage to their sons nor marry your sons to their daughters. Don’t cultivate their good opinion; don’t make over them and get them to like you so you can make a lot of money and build up a tidy estate to hand down to your children.’

13–15  “And now this, on top of all we’ve already suffered because of our evil ways and accumulated guilt, even though you, dear God, punished us far less than we deserved and even went ahead and gave us this present escape. Yet here we are, at it again, breaking your commandments by intermarrying with the people who practice all these obscenities! Are you angry to the point of wiping us out completely, without even a few stragglers, with no way out at all? You are the righteous God of Israel. We are, right now, a small band of escapees. Look at us, openly standing here, guilty before you. No one can last long like this.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, December 15, 2024

by Alyson Kieda

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Timothy 1:1-5

I, Paul, am on special assignment for Christ, carrying out God’s plan laid out in the Message of Life by Jesus. I write this to you, Timothy, the son I love so much. All the best from our God and Christ be yours!

To Be Bold with God’s Gifts

3–4  Every time I say your name in prayer—which is practically all the time—I thank God for you, the God I worship with my whole life in the tradition of my ancestors. I miss you a lot, especially when I remember that last tearful good-bye, and I look forward to a joy-packed reunion.

5–7  That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you!

Today's Insights

In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul describes the way in which faith in Jesus is received, nurtured, and passed on within families: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice.” Though no one is saved by the faith of their parents, being part of a family of believers in Christ provides a biblical foundation. Exposing children to the truths of the Bible and the character of God picks up on the Jewish tradition found in the Shema (an important Old Testament prayer found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9): “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments . . . are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (vv. 4-7).

A Grandma’s Faith

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and . . . now lives in you. 2 Timothy 1:5

We were seated around the dinner table when my nine-year-old grandson said with a smile, “I’m just like Grandma. I love to read!” His words brought joy to my heart. I thought back to the year before when he’d been sick and stayed home from school. After he took a long nap, we sat together side by side reading. I was happy to be passing along the legacy of loving books that I’d received from my mother.

But that’s not the most important legacy I want to pass on to my grandchildren. I pray the legacy of faith I received from my parents and sought to pass on to my children will also help my grandchildren in their journey toward faith.

Timothy had the legacy of a godly mother and grandmother—and a spiritual mentor, the apostle Paul. The apostle wrote, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5).

We may think our lives haven’t been positive enough to be a good example for others. Maybe the legacy passed down to us wasn’t a good one. But it’s never too late to build a legacy of faith into our children, grandchildren, or any child’s life. Through God’s help, we plant seeds of faith. He’s the one who makes faith grow (1 Corinthians 3:6-9).

Reflect & Pray

What kind of spiritual inheritance did you receive? How can you build a legacy of faith?

Heavenly Father, thank You for bringing me to You. Please help me to be a godly example to others.

For further study, read Walk with Me: Traveling with Jesus and Others on Life’s Road.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, December 15, 2024

Approved unto God

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. — 2 Timothy 2:15

What we need today isn’t a new gospel; it’s men and women who can restate the gospel of the Son of God in terms that will reach the very heart of people’s problems. There’s nothing easy or automatic about becoming such a man or woman. If you wish to become a worker who, as Paul puts it, “correctly handles the word of truth,” you must “do your best”—that is, make a serious effort.

If you can’t clearly express your thoughts on a truth God has given you, struggle until you can. Otherwise, you’ll be unable to pass it on, and someone will be poorer for it all the days of his life. But when you put serious effort into reexpressing some truth of God for yourself, God will use that expression for someone else. Go through the winepress where God’s grapes are crushed, struggle to get at the expression you need, and a time will come when that expression will be the very wine of strength to another. If instead you say, “I’m not going to struggle to express this truth for myself; I’ll borrow what I say,” the expression will be not only of no use to you but of no use to anyone. Try to restate to yourself what you implicitly feel to be God’s truth, and you will give God a chance to pass it on to someone else through you.

Always make a practice of challenging your mind to think out what it accepts easily. Our position is not truly ours until we make it ours by suffering. The author who benefits you isn’t the one who tells you something you didn’t know before; it’s the one who gives expression to the truth that has been struggling for utterance inside you.

Amos 1-3; Revelation 6

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Christianity is not consistency to conscience or to convictions; Christianity is being true to Jesus Christ. 

Biblical Ethics, 111 L

Ezra 8, bible reading and daily devotionals.

Max Lucado Daily: God’s Offer to be Adopted

When the doctor handed Max Lucado to Jack Lucado, my dad had no exit option. He couldn’t give me back to the doctor and ask for a better looking or smarter son. The hospital made him take me home!

If you were adopted, however, your parents chose you.  Surprise pregnancies happen.  But surprise adoptions?  I’ve never heard of one.  Your parents wanted you in their family. You object.  “Oh, but if they could have seen the rest of my life, they might have changed their minds.” My point exactly!

God saw our entire lives from beginning to end, birth to hearse, and in spite of what he saw, he was still convinced to adopt us into his own family, bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. To accept God’s grace is to accept God’s offer to be adopted into his family. It really is this simple!

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.   I Peter 2:9?

From GRACE

 These are the family heads and those who signed up to go up with me from Babylon in the reign of Artaxerxes the king:

From the family of Phinehas: Gershom

Family of Ithamar: Daniel

Family of David: Hattush

Family of Shecaniah

Family of Parosh: Zechariah, and with him 150 men signed up

Family of Pahath-Moab: Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and 200 men

Family of Zattu: Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and 300 men

Family of Adin: Ebed son of Jonathan, and 50 men

Family of Elam: Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and 70 men

Family of Shephatiah: Zebadiah son of Michael, and 80 men

Family of Joab: Obadiah son of Jehiel, and 218 men

Family of Bani: Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and 160 men

Family of Bebai: Zechariah son of Bebai, and 28 men

Family of Azgad: Johanan son of Hakkatan, and 110 men

Family of Adonikam (bringing up the rear): their names were Eliphelet, Jeuel, Shemaiah, and 60 men

Family of Bigvai: Uthai and Zaccur, and 70 men.

15–17  I gathered them together at the canal that runs to Ahava. We camped there three days. I looked them over and found that they were all laymen and priests but no Levites. So I sent for the leaders Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, and for the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan. I then sent them to Iddo, who is head of the town of Casiphia, and told them what to say to Iddo and his relatives who lived there in Casiphia: “Send us ministers for The Temple of God.”

18–20  Well, the generous hand of our God was on us, and they brought back to us a wise man from the family of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel. His name was Sherebiah. With sons and brothers they numbered eighteen. They also brought Hashabiah and Jeshaiah of the family of Merari, with brothers and their sons, another twenty. And then there were 220 temple servants, descendants of the temple servants that David and the princes had assigned to help the Levites in their work. They were all signed up by name.

21–22  I proclaimed a fast there beside the Ahava Canal, a fast to humble ourselves before our God and pray for wise guidance for our journey—all our people and possessions. I was embarrassed to ask the king for a cavalry bodyguard to protect us from bandits on the road. We had just told the king, “Our God lovingly looks after all those who seek him, but turns away in disgust from those who leave him.”

23  So we fasted and prayed about these concerns. And he listened.

24–27  Then I picked twelve of the leading priests—Sherebiah and Hashabiah with ten of their brothers. I weighed out for them the silver, the gold, the vessels, and the offerings for The Temple of our God that the king, his advisors, and all the Israelites had given:

25 tons of silver

100 vessels of silver valued at three and three-quarter tons of gold

20 gold bowls weighing eighteen and a half pounds

2 vessels of bright red copper, as valuable as gold.

28–29  I said to them, “You are holy to God and these vessels are holy. The silver and gold are Freewill-Offerings to the God of your ancestors. Guard them with your lives until you’re able to weigh them out in a secure place in The Temple of our God for the priests and Levites and family heads who are in charge in Jerusalem.”

30  The priests and Levites took charge of all that had been weighed out to them, and prepared to deliver it to Jerusalem to The Temple of our God.

31  We left the Ahava Canal on the twelfth day of the first month to travel to Jerusalem. God was with us all the way and kept us safe from bandits and highwaymen.

32–34  We arrived in Jerusalem and waited there three days. On the fourth day the silver and gold and vessels were weighed out in The Temple of our God into the hands of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. Eleazar son of Phinehas was there with him, also the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. Everything was counted and weighed and the totals recorded.

35  When they arrived, the exiles, now returned from captivity, offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings to the God of Israel:

12 bulls, representing all Israel

96 rams

77 lambs

12 he-goats as an Absolution-Offering.

All of this was sacrificed as a Whole-Burnt-Offering to God.

36  They also delivered the king’s orders to the king’s provincial administration assigned to the land beyond the Euphrates. They, in turn, gave their support to the people and The Temple of God.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, December 14, 2024

by Winn Collier

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Song of Songs 8:6-7

The Woman

6–8  Hang my locket around your neck,

wear my ring on your finger.

Love is invincible facing danger and death.

Passion laughs at the terrors of hell.

The fire of love stops at nothing—

it sweeps everything before it.

Flood waters can’t drown love,

torrents of rain can’t put it out.

Love can’t be bought, love can’t be sold—

it’s not to be found in the marketplace.

Today's Insights

The Song of Songs, or Song of Solomon, has long mystified Bible students—particularly in terms of how we’re to understand its inclusion in the Scriptures. This sense of mystery has led to a variety of interpretations. Three main views are held regarding the purpose of the Song. One interpretation holds that it’s a metaphor describing God’s love for Israel and His care for her as His chosen people. Second, it’s historically been viewed by many Bible teachers to be a “type” (representative picture) of Christ and the church, perhaps even anticipating Paul’s expressions of Christ’s love for the church in Ephesians 5. Finally, it’s seen by some modern scholars as a celebration of intimate love between husband and wife.

Love as Strong as Death

For love is as strong as death. Song of Songs 8:6

If you were to stroll along the old brick wall stretching between the Protestant and Catholic graveyards in Roermond, Netherlands, you’d discover a curious sight. On each side, flush against the wall stands two identical towering headstones: one for a Protestant husband and one for his Catholic wife. Cultural rules during the nineteenth century required they be buried in separate cemeteries. They wouldn’t accept their fate, however. Their unusual headstones are high enough to reach above the fenced obstruction so that at the top there’s only about a foot or two of air separating them. Atop each, a sculptured arm reaches out to the other, each clasping the other’s hand. The couple refused to be separated, even in death.   

The Song of Songs explains love’s power. “Love is as strong as death,” Solomon says, “its jealousy unyielding as the grave” (8:6). True love is powerful, ferocious. “It burns like blazing fire” (v. 6). True love never surrenders, won’t be silenced, and can’t be destroyed. “Many waters cannot quench love,” writes Solomon. “Rivers cannot sweep it away” (v. 7).

“God is love” (1 John 4:16). Our strongest love is only a fractured reflection of His ferocious love for us. He’s the ultimate source of any love that’s genuine, any love that holds fast.

Reflect & Pray

How have you been experiencing God’s strong love? How has He revealed His strong love for you?  

Dear God, I need Your love that’s stronger than death, stronger than evil, stronger than my failings. Thank You for Your powerful love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, December 14, 2024

The Great Life

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. — John 14:1

Whenever we become confused by something in our personal experience, we’re in danger of blaming God. But God isn’t in the wrong; we are. Confusion means there is some perversity in our thinking or behavior that we refuse to give up. The instant we do give the thing up, everything becomes as clear as daylight. But as long as we’re trying to serve two separate ends—our own and God’s—we’ll meet with perplexity. Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on him. Once we have this attitude, we’ll find that nothing is easier than living the saintly life. Difficulty comes when we try to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit and use it for our ends.

“My peace I give you.” Whenever you obey God, he always responds by giving you the seal of his peace—the witness of an unfathomable peace, the supernatural peace of Jesus. Whenever peace fails to arrive, wait until it does or find out the reason why it doesn’t. If you act on impulse or in a burst of heroism, the peace of Jesus will not witness to you. You’ll have no confidence in God, and nothing will seem simple, because the spirit of simplicity is born of the Holy Spirit, not of your own decisions.

Questions and perplexities arise whenever I cease to obey. When I’m obeying, problems never come between me and God. Any problem that arises serves only to keep my mind awake and amazed at his revelation. When I’m walking in obedience and I encounter problems (and I will encounter many), it only increases my ecstatic delight, because I know that my Father knows, and that I’m going to get to watch and see how he unravels what appears to be an impossible situation.

Joel 1-3; Revelation 5

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. 

Disciples Indeed, 386 R

Revelation 15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WHERE JOSEPH STOOD - December 13, 2024

On the night when Jesus was born, I wonder if Joseph prayed, “Father, this all seems so bizarre. The angel you sent? Any chance you could send another?”

You’ve stood where Joseph stood. Each of us knows what it’s like to search the night for a light. Not outside a stable, but perhaps outside an emergency room or the manicured grass of a cemetery. We’ve asked our questions. We’ve wondered why God does what he does. If you’re asking what Joseph asked, let me urge you to do what Joseph did: obey. He didn’t let his confusion disrupt his obedience.

What about you? You have a choice: to obey or disobey. Because Joseph obeyed, God used him to change the world. Can he do the same with you? Will you be that kind of person? Will you serve, even when you don’t understand?

In the Manger

Revelation 15

The Song of Moses, the Song of the Lamb

1  15 I saw another Sign in Heaven, huge and breathtaking: seven Angels with seven disasters. These are the final disasters, the wrap-up of God’s wrath.

2–4  I saw something like a sea made of glass, the glass all shot through with fire. Carrying harps of God, triumphant over the Beast, its image, and the number of its name, the saved ones stood on the sea of glass. They sang the Song of Moses, servant of God; they sang the Song of the Lamb:

Mighty your acts and marvelous,

O God, the Sovereign-Strong!

Righteous your ways and true,

King of the nations!

Who can fail to fear you, God,

give glory to your Name?

Because you and you only are holy,

all nations will come and worship you,

because they see your judgments are right.

5–8  Then I saw the doors of the Temple, the Tent of Witness in Heaven, open wide. The Seven Angels carrying the seven disasters came out of the Temple. They were dressed in clean, bright linen and wore gold vests. One of the Four Animals handed the Seven Angels seven gold bowls, brimming with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. Smoke from God’s glory and power poured out of the Temple. No one was permitted to enter the Temple until the seven disasters of the Seven Angels were finished.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, December 13, 2024

by Patricia Raybon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Daniel 6:19-27

At daybreak the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. As he approached the den, he called out anxiously, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve so loyally, saved you from the lions?”

21–22  “O king, live forever!” said Daniel. “My God sent his angel, who closed the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. I’ve been found innocent before God and also before you, O king. I’ve done nothing to harm you.”

23  When the king heard these words, he was happy. He ordered Daniel taken up out of the den. When he was hauled up, there wasn’t a scratch on him. He had trusted his God.

24  Then the king commanded that the conspirators who had informed on Daniel be thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. Before they hit the floor, the lions had them in their jaws, tearing them to pieces.

25–27  King Darius published this proclamation to every race, color, and creed on earth:

Peace to you! Abundant peace!

I decree that Daniel’s God shall be worshiped and feared in all parts of my kingdom.

He is the living God, world without end. His kingdom never falls.

His rule continues eternally.

He is a savior and rescuer.

He performs astonishing miracles in heaven and on earth.

He saved Daniel from the power of the lions.

Today's Insights

Scripture doesn’t give any details about what Daniel’s time was like when he was surrounded by the lions in their den. But we’re told what the king’s night was like: “The king . . . spent the night without eating . . . . And he could not sleep” (Daniel 6:18). The next morning, the king declared, “I issue a decree that . . . people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. ‘For he is the living God and he endures forever’ ” (v. 26). The focus is on the movement of God in the heart of the pagan king rather than on his faithful servant.

God’s Keeping Presence

He is the living God . . . . He rescues and he saves. Daniel 6:26-27

Looking at my high school yearbook, my grandchildren marveled at outdated hairstyles, clothing, and “old-fashioned” cars in the photos. I saw something different—first the smiles of longtime buddies, some still friends. More than that, however, I saw the keeping power of God. His gentle presence surrounded me in a school where I struggled to fit in. His keeping goodness watched over me—a kindness He grants to all who seek Him.

Daniel knew of God’s keeping presence. In his exile in Babylon, he prayed in “his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem” (Daniel 6:10) despite the king’s decree not to do so (vv. 7-9). From his prayerful vantage point, Daniel would remember God whose keeping presence sustained him—hearing and answering his prayers. Thus, God would hear, answer, and sustain him again.

Yet, despite the new law, Daniel would still seek God’s presence regardless of what might happen to him. And so he prayed just as he had done so many times before (v. 10). While in the lions’ den, an angel of the Lord kept Daniel safe as his faithful God rescued him (v. 22).

Looking to our past during present trials may help us recall God’s faithfulness. As even King Darius said of God, “He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth” (v. 27). God was good then, and He’s good now. His presence will keep you.

Reflect & Pray

What past trial tested you? How did God kindly sustain you?

Looking back, dear Father, I see Your kind sustaining presence. Thank You for keeping me now too.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, December 13, 2024

What to Pray For

Jesus told his disciples… that they should always pray and not give up. — Luke 18:1

You cannot intercede in prayer for others if you don’t believe in the reality of the redemption. If you intercede without believing, you’ll wind up turning intercession into pointless sympathy. Sympathy never leads people to God; it only makes them more content to stay out of touch with him.

In proper intercession, you bring the person or circumstance that’s weighing on your mind before God until you are moved by God’s attitude toward that person or circumstance. Paul gave the model for intercession when he wrote, “I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24). This is why there are so few intercessors. Most of us, when we intercede, try to put ourselves in the place of the person for whom we pray. Never! We must try to put ourselves in God’s place.

As a worker for God, be careful to keep pace with him as he communicates things to you that require your intercession. If you seek to know more than he wants you to know, you won’t be able to pray because the condition of humanity is so crushing that you will be crushed and unable to get through to his reality.

Our work involves coming into contact with God about everything. We shirk this duty when we pursue busywork instead of intercession, even busywork for God’s ministry. Many of us will do tasks that can be easily checked off a list, but we won’t intercede. Yet intercession is the one thing which, spiritually speaking, has no pitfalls, because it keeps our relationship with God completely open.

The thing to watch for in intercession is that no soul is blocked because of us. Every individual soul must get into contact with the life of God. Think of the number of souls God has brought across our path that we have dropped by failing to intercede! When we intercede on the ground of the redemption, God creates something he can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.

Hosea 12-14; Revelation 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Awe is the condition of a man’s spirit realizing Who God is and what He has done for him personally. Our Lord emphasizes the attitude of a child; no attitude can express such solemn awe and familiarity as that of a child. 

Not Knowing Whither, 882 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, December 13, 2024

Sandal Security - #9895

My car started this morning. You say, "Big deal." Well, it is - it starts every morning no matter how cold it is or how wet it is. That's especially good when you realize the old girl's got, you know, something like 150,000 miles on her. I don't have nearly that many miles on me, and I'm having increasing trouble starting in the morning myself. Actually, all our cars have been like that since we began in the ministry many years ago, and they just keep working. And I don't credit the automobile company with it; I credit the manufacturer - no, THE manufacturer.

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

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Deuteronomy 29:5. God is speaking through Moses and reflecting on the 40 years that He kept the Israelites in the wilderness. Seemingly there's going to be no place where they're going to be able to get what they need. There aren't too many resources out there in the wilderness. But He says, "During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out nor did the sandals on your feet..." "...and your car kept starting." (No, no... I added that part. That's the Hutchcraft translation.)

Jewish sandals! The sandals didn't wear out on your feet. This is another insight into your Heavenly Father who is called Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides. See, God has so many creative ways to meet the needs of His kids. He seldom does it the same way twice. Sometimes it's manna from Heaven. The supply comes in a form you've never even known before. Sometimes it's water from a rock. "Where are we going to get water, Moses?" Wait! Water doesn't come from rocks. Oh, really?

Sometimes God supplies for you through a totally unexpected source. Sometimes He sends the ravens, like He did for Elijah, as He sent them every morning and evening with his food. Surprising deliverers of His supply will be the ones who sometimes bring it to you. They just weren't even on your radar. Who would have guessed it would have come from them? And you know what? God usually does it on a daily bread basis; just what you need for that day. Sometimes He does loaves and fish; he makes a little go farther than you ever dreamed it could. But He always keeps His promise in Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd" - say it with me - "I shall not want."

Sometimes there's a different kind of supply miracle. He simply makes things last, like those Jewish sandals. Our repairman said that about our washing machine. He said, "This thing should not be alive." But it was still going - there's those Jewish sandals, sandal security.

Now, God could have had it rain sandals if He wanted it to, but instead He just preserved one pair, and they're walking every day for 40 years in those sandals in the wilderness. See, we get in a rut of looking for manna all the time, and God may want to do it through some miracle like that. We miss those miracles of things that just last because they're not as dramatic. Well, take care of what God gives you, and pray for His preserving miracles as well as His delivering miracles. Let God do it in any creative way He wants, and live knowing that you always, always will have what you need.

His Word in Philippians 4:19 is, "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Look around you. I'll bet somewhere God is meeting your need through a miracle of manna right now; just a miraculous, out-of-nowhere provision. But I'll bet somewhere you've got the modern equivalent of those Jewish sandals. Either way, every need is supplied. You're living hand-to-mouth; His hand to your mouth. Wow! Talk about security!

Esther 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: OUT ON A LIMB - December 12, 2024

After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18 NKJV).

Joseph was perched firmly on his branch in the tree. Predictable and solid, Joseph had no intention of leaving it. That is, until he was told to go out on a limb. “Conceived by the Holy Spirit? Come on! Who will believe me?” Pride told him not to do it, but God told him to do it.

Have you been called to got out a limb for God? I have a feeling you can relate to Joseph. One foot in your will and one foot in his. His or yours? Disrupting, isn’t it? You can bet it won’t be easy. Limb-climbing has never been. Ask Joseph. Or better yet, ask Jesus! He knows better than anyone the cost of hanging on a tree.

In the Manger

Esther 10

King Xerxes imposed taxes from one end of his empire to the other. For the rest of it, King Xerxes’ extensive accomplishments, along with a detailed account of the brilliance of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, that’s all written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia.

3  Mordecai the Jew ranked second in command to King Xerxes. He was popular among the Jews and greatly respected by them. He worked hard for the good of his people; he cared for the peace and prosperity of his race.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, December 12, 2024

by Mike Wittmer

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Luke 2:1-7

The Birth of Jesus

1–5  2 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

6–7  While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

Today's Insights

Many of us have heard that Jesus was born in a stable, largely due to the translation of the Greek word katalyma as “inn” in Luke 2:7 in some versions. This, combined with the detail that Jesus was placed in a “manger,” has led many to assume Mary and Joseph were turned away from an inn and found refuge in a stable. But katalyma is better translated “guest room.” In ancient Near East peasant homes, there would often be a space reserved for guests separated from the area of the home where animals would also stay. Joseph went to Bethlehem to stay with family during the census (v. 4). But because there wasn’t enough room in the guest area of the house, Mary gave birth in the area of the home that had an animal manger (v. 7), an ideal shape for cradling a newborn.

Room for Jesus

She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2:7

I loved my weekend in New Orleans—happening upon a parade in the French Quarter, visiting the National World War II Museum, and trying grilled oysters. But as I fell asleep in my friend’s spare room, I missed my wife and kids. I enjoy opportunities to preach in other cities, but I most enjoy being home.

One aspect of Jesus’ life that’s sometimes overlooked is how many of His most important events happened on the road. The Son of God entered our world in Bethlehem, an incalculable distance from His heavenly home and far from His family’s hometown of Nazareth. Bethlehem was overflowing with extended family in town for the census, so Luke says there wasn’t even a spare katalyma, or “guest room,” available (Luke 2:7).

What was missing at Jesus’ birth did show up at His death. As Jesus led His disciples into Jerusalem, He told Peter and John to prepare for their Passover meal. They should follow a pitcher-carrying man to his home and ask the owner for the katalyma—the guest room where Christ and His disciples could eat the Last Supper (22:10-12). There, in borrowed space, Jesus instituted what is now called Communion, which foreshadowed His looming crucifixion (vv. 17-20).

We love home, but if we travel with the Spirit of Jesus, even a guest room can be a place of communion with Him.

Reflect & Pray

Where have your most meaningful moments occurred and what made them memorable? When you’re on the road, how might you make the most of your temporary stay for Christ?

Dear Jesus, friend of the traveler far from home, please help me to remember You’re always with me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, December 12, 2024

Personality

. . . that they may be one as we are one. — John 17:22

Personality is that unique, incalculable thing we mean when we speak of ourselves as distinct from everyone else. Our personality is always too big for us to grasp. An island in the sea may be easily explored, but think how amazed we are when we realize that it’s only the top of a great mountain, most of which lies hidden beneath the waves. The tip of the island represents our conscious personality; we know nothing about the larger part underneath; consequently, there are upheavals from below that we can’t account for. We can’t comprehend ourselves at all. We begin by thinking we can, but eventually we realize that the only one who understands us is our creator.

Personality is the characteristic of the spiritual man or woman; individuality is the characteristic of the natural man or woman. Our Lord can never be defined in terms of individuality and independence but only in terms of personality: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Personality merges, and you only reach your real identity when you are merged with another person. When love, or the Spirit of God, strikes you, you are transformed. You no longer insist on your separate individuality. Our Lord never mentioned a person’s separate, isolated identity. He spoke of all people in terms of their ability to be merged: “… that they may be one as we are one.”

If you relinquish your right to yourself to God, the real, true nature of your personality will immediately answer to him. Jesus Christ sets the personality free, and individuality is transfigured. The transfiguring element is love—personal devotion to Jesus. Love is the outpouring of one personality in fellowship with another.

Hosea 9-11; Revelation 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

The Place of Help

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, December 12, 2024

Broken at Christmas - #9894

Having had two teenage boys who loved football, there was one Christmas gift that was a sure hit - a new leather football. And seeing how it was a rare 60-degree Christmas morning, do you think we were going to just sit around the Christmas tree and admire that ball? No! They went right outside and did what you're supposed to do with a football.

So here we were - the three men of the house - running quickly out of the house, out into the middle of the street, passing that football back and forth. See, I went back for a long one; the pass was right to me! And I caught it! Right on the end of my little finger, like the Christmas klutz. The emergency room? Yeah, that's not where you want to spend a chunk of your Christmas, but that's where I was with a special souvenir of that Christmas - a broken finger.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Broken at Christmas."

Hey, take it from me; it is no fun having something broken during Christmas. Especially if what's broken is a relationship you really care about, or your family is broken, or your heart is broken. All the "joy to the world" around you just seems to make the hurt even worse. And often the Christmas season brings painful reminders of the things that have hurt us the most.

You need to know that the One whose birthday we're celebrating knows about what's broken and He knows how much it hurts. He cares about that pain, He cares about your loneliness, and He really understands. Remember, this Jesus who came that first Christmas was, in the words of the Bible, a "man of sorrows and familiar with suffering" (Isaiah 53:3). He was misunderstood, He was abandoned, He was betrayed, falsely accused, and put to death.

So while everyone around you may be celebrating and totally unaware of how you're hurting, you've got to know that Jesus is moving close to you today, and He wants to do something very powerful for you this Christmas. That's why I think He's led me to talk about this today. His Word says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18).

In Isaiah 61:1, our word for today from the Word of God, the Son of God says, "The Lord has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted." He really is the fixer of broken hearts, and broken lives, and broken people. Because He came to do something about what's at the root of all our brokenness. There's a reason we use each other, hurt each other, and let each other down. Something's very wrong in our world; something's very wrong in us. It goes back to our living with our back to the God who put us here. We simply aren't living as we were made to live, which is God's way. We have this deadly disease of "me" called sin. It's ignored God over and over again. And sin is a killer of everything beautiful - everything that matters.

In fact, sin killed Jesus. He absorbed our death penalty for our sin to remove that wall between us and the God whose love we need so desperately. And the broken things in your life are a painful reminder of your deep heart need for a love and a security that you can't lose. Only God can give you that.

So the body of Jesus was broken to repair the broken relationship between you and God, so He can move in and fix and forgive what's broken inside you. In fact, this very day, the one who came on Christmas is coming to you, offering you this opportunity for Him to come into your life with His love. But you have to open the door to let Him in.

And this could be the day that happens, the day you finally experience what it is to belong to the one who loved you enough to die for you and then was powerful enough to conquer death. Just tell Him right where you are, "Jesus, I've lived without you long enough. You died for me. I can trust you. I'm yours." And please go check out our website today - ANewStory.com. It will help you know that you really belong to Him.

What a Christmas this could be. What a new beginning! Being broken can actually drive you into the loving arms of Jesus Christ where you can finally be whole.

Esther 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: IN A MOMENT - December 11, 2024

It all happened in a moment, a most remarkable moment. God became a man! Heaven opened herself and placed her most precious one in a human womb.

Jesus came, not as a flash of light or as an unapproachable conqueror, but as one whose first cries were heard by a peasant girl and a sleepy carpenter. The hands that first held him were un-manicured, calloused, and dirty. For thirty-three years he would feel everything you and I have ever felt. Weak and weary and afraid of failure. His feelings got hurt.

To think of Jesus in such a light seems almost irreverent. There’s something about keeping him divine that keeps him distant and predictable. But don’t do it. For heaven’s sake, don’t! Let him be as human as he intended to be. For only if we let him in can he pull us out.

In the Manger

Esther 9

 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the king’s order came into effect. This was the very day that the enemies of the Jews had planned to overpower them, but the tables were now turned: the Jews overpowered those who hated them! The Jews had gathered in the cities throughout King Xerxes’ provinces to lay hands on those who were seeking their ruin. Not one man was able to stand up against them—fear made cowards of them all. What’s more, all the government officials, satraps, governors—everyone who worked for the king—actually helped the Jews because of Mordecai; they were afraid of him. Mordecai by now was a power in the palace. As Mordecai became more and more powerful, his reputation had grown in all the provinces.

5–9  So the Jews finished off all their enemies with the sword, slaughtering them right and left, and did as they pleased to those who hated them. In the palace complex of Susa the Jews massacred five hundred men. They also killed the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the archenemy of the Jews:

Parshandatha Dalphon

Aspatha Poratha

Adalia Aridatha

 Parmashta Arisai

Aridai Vaizatha

10–12  But they took no plunder. That day, when it was all over, the number of those killed in the palace complex was given to the king. The king told Queen Esther, “In the palace complex alone here in Susa the Jews have killed five hundred men, plus Haman’s ten sons. Think of the killing that must have been done in the rest of the provinces! What else do you want? Name it and it’s yours. Your wish is my command.”

13  “If it please the king,” Queen Esther responded, “give the Jews of Susa permission to extend the terms of the order another day. And have the bodies of Haman’s ten sons hanged in public display on the gallows.”

14  The king commanded it: The order was extended; the bodies of Haman’s ten sons were publicly hanged.

15  The Jews in Susa went at it again. On the fourteenth day of Adar they killed another three hundred men in Susa. But again they took no plunder.

16–19  Meanwhile in the rest of the king’s provinces, the Jews had organized and defended themselves, freeing themselves from oppression. On the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, they killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them but did not take any plunder. The next day, the fourteenth, they took it easy and celebrated with much food and laughter. But in Susa, since the Jews had banded together on both the thirteenth and fourteenth days, they made the fifteenth their holiday for laughing and feasting. (This accounts for why Jews living out in the country in the rural villages remember the fourteenth day of Adar for celebration, their day for parties and the exchange of gifts.)

20–22  Mordecai wrote all this down and sent copies to all the Jews in all King Xerxes’ provinces, regardless of distance, calling for an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar as the occasion when Jews got relief from their enemies, the month in which their sorrow turned to joy, mourning somersaulted into a holiday for parties and fun and laughter, the sending and receiving of presents and of giving gifts to the poor.

23  And they did it. What started then became a tradition, continuing the practice of what Mordecai had written to them.

24–26  Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the archenemy of all Jews, had schemed to destroy all Jews. He had cast the pur (the lot) to throw them into a panic and destroy them. But when Queen Esther intervened with the king, he gave written orders that the evil scheme that Haman had worked out should boomerang back on his own head. He and his sons were hanged on the gallows. That’s why these days are called “Purim,” from the word pur or “lot.”

26–28  Therefore, because of everything written in this letter and because of all that they had been through, the Jews agreed to continue. It became a tradition for them, their children, and all future converts to remember these two days every year on the specified dates set down in the letter. These days are to be remembered and kept by every single generation, every last family, every province and city. These days of Purim must never be neglected among the Jews; the memory of them must never die out among their descendants.

29–32  Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, backed Mordecai the Jew, using her full queenly authority in this second Purim letter to endorse and ratify what he wrote. Calming and reassuring letters went out to all the Jews throughout the 127 provinces of Xerxes’ kingdom to fix these days of Purim their assigned place on the calendar, dates set by Mordecai the Jew—what they had agreed to for themselves and their descendants regarding their fasting and mourning. Esther’s word confirmed the tradition of Purim and was written in the book.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

by Patricia Raybon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Jeremiah 29:10-14

This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

12  “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.

13–14  “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.

“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.

“I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

Today's Insights

Seventy years is a long time, but the faithful prophet Daniel lived to see the promise of God made through Jeremiah come true. Reading the book of Jeremiah’s prophecies, Daniel realized that the time for returning to Jerusalem was drawing close, and so he prayed that God would remember His promise and redeem His people (Daniel 9:1-3). God’s response was to give Daniel a picture of what He planned to do with and through His people in the future.

But God hadn’t forgotten His promise either. In the first year of his reign, the new Persian king, Cyrus, began returning the exiled Jews to their homeland (2 Chronicles 36:22-23). Daniel, who’d left for Babylon as a teenager (Daniel 1:6-7), was now an old man. He’d served wicked kings and not-so-wicked kings. Through it all, God protected him and the Jewish people, and the elderly prophet saw his prayer answered as God’s people returned home.

God Will Answer

You will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. Jeremiah 29:12

When Pastor Timothy wears his preacher collar while traveling, he often gets stopped by strangers. “Pray for me, please,” people in the airport say when they see the clerical band atop his simple dark suit. On a recent flight, a woman knelt by his seat when she noticed him, pleading: “Are you a pastor? Would you pray for me?” And Pastor Timothy prayed.

A passage in Jeremiah sheds light on why we perceive that God hears and answers prayer: God cares! He assured His beloved but sinful, exiled people, “ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you’ ” (29:11). God anticipated a time when they would return to Him. “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me,” He said, “and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (vv. 12-13).

The prophet learned this and more about prayer while confined to prison. God assured him, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (33:3).

Jesus also urges us to pray. “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him,” He said (Matthew 6:8). So “ask,” “seek,” and “knock” in prayer (7:7). Every petition we make draws us closer to the one who answers. We don’t have to be a stranger to God in prayer. He knows us and wants to hear from us. We can take our concerns to Him right now.

Reflect & Pray

How often do you pray? What will you say to God today?

Your care and knowledge of me inspire my prayers, dear God. Thank You for answering.

Discover the joys and depth of prayer.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Individuality

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves. — Matthew 16:24

There’s a difference between individuality and personality. Individuality is the husk of the personal life; it separates and isolates and must stand alone. Personality is something that can be merged and blended. Individuality is God’s natural covering for the personal life, but individuality must go so that the personal life can emerge and be brought into fellowship with God. Individuality is the characteristic of the child, and rightly so. But as we age, if we mistake individuality for personality, we will remain isolated. Individuality counterfeits personality in the same way that lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for himself; individuality debases human nature for itself.

The hallmarks of individuality are independence and selfassertiveness. Continually asserting our individuality is what hinders our spiritual life more than anything else. If you say, “I can’t believe,” it’s because individuality is incapable of believing. Personality can’t help but believe. The Holy Spirit makes the difference clear. When the Holy Spirit is at work inside you, he pushes you to the margins of your individuality, forcing you to a crisis. Either you say “I won’t” or you surrender, breaking the shell of your individuality and letting your personal life emerge.

When the Holy Spirit brings this crisis, he always narrows it down to one issue: “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,… first go and be reconciled” (Matthew 5:23–24). The thing inside you that refuses to be reconciled is your individuality. God wants to bring you into union with him, but he can’t if you’re unwilling to give up your right to yourself. When Jesus says that those who want to be his disciples “must deny themselves,” he means that they must give up their independent right to themselves. Only then will the real life have a chance to grow.

Hosea 5-8; Revelation 2

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

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

So Send I You, 1325 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Breaking God's Heart - #9893

Fettuccini Alfredo! It's that great Italian dish that has buttered noodles served in a rich, creamy sauce. Unfortunately, it's not recommended as health food. It's more like "heart attack on a plate." Maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but the fact is that a lot of foods do contribute to the slow shutdown of the valves that happen to carry the blood and oxygen into your heart. I love what one commercial called it - blood sludge. Medical people refer to the hardening of the arteries - the process in which foods that are high in cholesterol and fat start building up these hard deposits in your arteries. If this hardening in your heart is allowed to continue long enough, it's no laughing matter. It can threaten your life.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Breaking God's Heart."

Hearts can harden physically and hearts can harden spiritually. It can become really dangerous in the heart of any man or woman who is trying to make a difference for Jesus Christ. It was Jesus' heart that motivated all He did - a heart that the Bible says was "moved with compassion when He saw the multitudes." He was deeply moved. He saw them, the Bible says, as "threatened and helpless sheep without a shepherd." He wept over His city Jerusalem because they wouldn't come to Him and the life He wanted to give them. Paul was a model for all of us who want to serve Christ when he revealed what drove him to suffer incredible pain and to sacrifice so much to tell people about Jesus. It's our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5:14, "Christ's love compels us."

I was once told about a pastor in one of America's major cities. Often, he wouldn't come into the service until a few minutes before his message. But this one particular Sunday, it came time for the sermon and the pastor wasn't on the platform. A couple of church leaders went to check his office, and there he was looking out over the endless rows of apartments and houses that jammed their depressed neighborhood. And he was weeping. One of the men who had come looking for him said gently, "Pastor, I understand, you're weeping because of the great needs all around us, aren't you?" "No," the pastor told him, "I'm weeping because it doesn't move me like it used to."

That is cause for weeping. This servant of God realized that something had happened to his heart. Like a person with hardening of the arteries, his heart had started to close up - to harden. Maybe yours is, too. Like that physical hardening, it happens slowly and imperceptibly, but the longer it goes unchecked, the more dangerous it becomes.

Most of us start serving the Lord with a healthy heart. We're moved by the lostness of people who don't have a Savior. We realize the life-or-death importance of getting to them with the message about Jesus. Heaven and hell are at stake. And we come into the Lord's work with a heart that's soft toward the pain and suffering and the dysfunction that sin is causing in lives all around us. We ask the Lord to use us to make a difference whatever it takes.

But for some of us, that healthy heart started to harden somewhere along the way with all the pressures, the politics, the drama, the disillusionments, the programs, the conflicts. We can no longer say that it is this burning love of Christ for the lost and the hurting that drives us. What once was a passion has become a profession. What once was a deep affair of the heart has become an exercise of our head and our busy hands. And the joy, the fire is going out...or gone.

But the One who gave you that original piece of His heart wants to give it to you again if you'll recognize the crisis of your closing heart and tell your Master that you want His life-changing heart surgery - to open up what the deposits of the years have closed, and to give you a new heart, throbbing with His love, with His passion and with His tears for the lost. Without that, there ultimately is no life.

Go to the Master Heart Surgeon today and tell Him you want a heart like His.