Max Lucado Daily: The State of Your Heart
The State of Your Heart
“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.” Luke 6:45, NIV
When you are offered a morsel of gossip marinated in slander, do you turn it down or pass it on? That depends on the state of your heart . . .
The state of your heart dictates whether you harbor a grudge or give grace, seek self-pity or seek Christ, drink human misery or taste God’s mercy.
Job 39
“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
2 Do you count the months till they bear?
Do you know the time they give birth?
3 They crouch down and bring forth their young;
their labor pains are ended.
4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds;
they leave and do not return.
5 “Who let the wild donkey go free?
Who untied its ropes?
6 I gave it the wasteland as its home,
the salt flats as its habitat.
7 It laughs at the commotion in the town;
it does not hear a driver’s shout.
8 It ranges the hills for its pasture
and searches for any green thing.
9 “Will the wild ox consent to serve you?
Will it stay by your manger at night?
10 Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness?
Will it till the valleys behind you?
11 Will you rely on it for its great strength?
Will you leave your heavy work to it?
12 Can you trust it to haul in your grain
and bring it to your threshing floor?
13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
though they cannot compare
with the wings and feathers of the stork.
14 She lays her eggs on the ground
and lets them warm in the sand,
15 unmindful that a foot may crush them,
that some wild animal may trample them.
16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
she cares not that her labor was in vain,
17 for God did not endow her with wisdom
or give her a share of good sense.
18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,
she laughs at horse and rider.
19 “Do you give the horse its strength
or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
20 Do you make it leap like a locust,
striking terror with its proud snorting?
21 It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,
and charges into the fray.
22 It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
it does not shy away from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against its side,
along with the flashing spear and lance.
24 In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;
it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
25 At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’
It catches the scent of battle from afar,
the shout of commanders and the battle cry.
26 “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom
and spread its wings toward the south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command
and build its nest on high?
28 It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night;
a rocky crag is its stronghold.
29 From there it looks for food;
its eyes detect it from afar.
30 Its young ones feast on blood,
and where the slain are, there it is.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 3:12-17
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Following Paul’s Example
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.
Insight
Paul the apostle had an interesting writing style. One aspect of this is seen in Ephesians 1, where verses 3-10 form one long sentence. Another element of Paul’s novel approach is found in Philippians 3:13-14. Here Paul declares, “one thing I do”; then he goes on to list not one but three things! His one thing? Forgetting the things behind, reaching to the things ahead, and pressing toward the goal of the upward call of Christ. Though marked by Paul’s unique style, the wisdom of his words regarding spiritual priorities still rings true.
Kangaroos And Emus
By Bill Crowder
Forgetting those things which are behind . . . I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 3:13-14
Two of Australia’s indigenous creatures, kangaroos and emus, have something in common—they seldom move backward. Kangaroos, because of the shape of their body and the length of their strong tail, can bounce along with forward movement, but they cannot shift easily into reverse. Emus can run fast on their strong legs, but the joints in their knees seem to make backward movement difficult. Both animals appear on Australia’s coat of arms as a symbol that the nation is to be ever moving forward and making progress.
The apostle Paul called for a similar approach to the life of faith in his letter to the Philippians: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3:13-14).
While it is wise to learn from the past, we shouldn’t live in the past. We cannot redo or undo the past, but by God’s grace we can press forward and serve God faithfully today and in the future. The life of faith is a journey forward as we become like Christ.
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.” —Oatman
I will go anywhere—provided it is forward.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 01, 2014
The Staggering Question
He said to me, ’Son of man, can these bones live?’ —Ezekiel 37:3
Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate answer— “O Lord God, You know” (Ezekiel 37:3). Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, “Oh, yes, with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I see how it can be done.”
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him. Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.
“Behold, O My people, I will open your graves . . .” (Ezekiel 37:12). When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He will only do this when His Spirit is at work in you), then you know that in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. My “grave” has been opened by God and “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). God’s Spirit continually reveals to His children what human nature is like apart from His grace.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Job 38, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: We’ve Figured it Out
Ironic isn’t it? The more we know, the less we believe! Strange, don’t you think?
We understand how storms are created. We map solar systems and transplant hearts. We measure the depths of the ocean and send signals to distant planets. We’re learning how it all works! And for some, the loss of mystery has led to the loss of majesty! The more we know, the less we believe.
But knowledge of the workings should not negate wonder. It should stir wonder! Who has more reason to worship than the astronomer who has seen the stars? Why then should we worship less? We’re more impressed with our discovery of the light switch than with the one who invented electricity. And rather than worship the Creator, we worship the creation!
No wonder there is no wonder! We think we have figured it all out!
From Grace for the Moment
Job 38
The Lord Speaks
Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31 “Can you bind the chains[b] of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[c]
or lead out the Bear[d] with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s[e] dominion over the earth?
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom[f]
or gives the rooster understanding?[g]
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?
39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 1:1-4,12-18
The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
A Rebellious Nation
2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
As White As Snow
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Your sins . . . shall be as white as snow. —Isaiah 1:18
Iwas driving my son home from school one day when snow began to fall. The cottony fluff came down steadily and quickly. Eventually, we slowed to a stop, boxed in by traffic. From inside our vehicle, we watched a transformation take place. Dark patches of soil turned white. Snow softened the sharp outlines of buildings; it coated the cars around us, and accumulated on every tree in sight.
That snowfall reminded me of a spiritual truth: Just as that snow covered everything in sight, God’s grace covers our sin. But grace doesn’t just cover sin, grace erases sin. Through the prophet Isaiah, God appealed to the Israelites, saying, “Come now, and let us reason together . . . though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isa. 1:18). When God made this promise, His children had a painful problem with sin. God compared them to a physical body plagued with “wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil” (v.6 niv).
As bad as their sin was, God was willing to extend His grace to them. As His children today, we have the same assurance. Sin may stain our lives, but when we repent and confess it, we have “the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of [God’s] grace” (Eph. 1:7).
Lord, give me courage to confess,
To bare my sinful heart to Thee;
Forgiving love You long to show
And from my sin to set me free. —D. DeHaan
The weight of sin is balanced only by the blood of Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Put God First
Jesus did not commit Himself to them . . .for He knew what was in man —John 2:24-25
Put Trust in God First. Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God.
Put God’s Will First. “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9).
A person’s obedience is to what he sees to be a need— our Lord’s obedience was to the will of His Father. The rallying cry today is, “We must get to work! The heathen are dying without God. We must go and tell them about Him.” But we must first make sure that God’s “needs” and His will in us personally are being met. Jesus said, “. . . tarry . . . until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The purpose of our Christian training is to get us into the right relationship to the “needs” of God and His will. Once God’s “needs” in us have been met, He will open the way for us to accomplish His will, meeting His “needs” elsewhere.
Put God’s Son First. “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:5).
God came as a baby, giving and entrusting Himself to me. He expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transformed by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.
Ironic isn’t it? The more we know, the less we believe! Strange, don’t you think?
We understand how storms are created. We map solar systems and transplant hearts. We measure the depths of the ocean and send signals to distant planets. We’re learning how it all works! And for some, the loss of mystery has led to the loss of majesty! The more we know, the less we believe.
But knowledge of the workings should not negate wonder. It should stir wonder! Who has more reason to worship than the astronomer who has seen the stars? Why then should we worship less? We’re more impressed with our discovery of the light switch than with the one who invented electricity. And rather than worship the Creator, we worship the creation!
No wonder there is no wonder! We think we have figured it all out!
From Grace for the Moment
Job 38
The Lord Speaks
Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31 “Can you bind the chains[b] of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[c]
or lead out the Bear[d] with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s[e] dominion over the earth?
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom[f]
or gives the rooster understanding?[g]
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?
39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 1:1-4,12-18
The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
A Rebellious Nation
2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
As White As Snow
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Your sins . . . shall be as white as snow. —Isaiah 1:18
Iwas driving my son home from school one day when snow began to fall. The cottony fluff came down steadily and quickly. Eventually, we slowed to a stop, boxed in by traffic. From inside our vehicle, we watched a transformation take place. Dark patches of soil turned white. Snow softened the sharp outlines of buildings; it coated the cars around us, and accumulated on every tree in sight.
That snowfall reminded me of a spiritual truth: Just as that snow covered everything in sight, God’s grace covers our sin. But grace doesn’t just cover sin, grace erases sin. Through the prophet Isaiah, God appealed to the Israelites, saying, “Come now, and let us reason together . . . though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isa. 1:18). When God made this promise, His children had a painful problem with sin. God compared them to a physical body plagued with “wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil” (v.6 niv).
As bad as their sin was, God was willing to extend His grace to them. As His children today, we have the same assurance. Sin may stain our lives, but when we repent and confess it, we have “the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of [God’s] grace” (Eph. 1:7).
Lord, give me courage to confess,
To bare my sinful heart to Thee;
Forgiving love You long to show
And from my sin to set me free. —D. DeHaan
The weight of sin is balanced only by the blood of Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Put God First
Jesus did not commit Himself to them . . .for He knew what was in man —John 2:24-25
Put Trust in God First. Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God.
Put God’s Will First. “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9).
A person’s obedience is to what he sees to be a need— our Lord’s obedience was to the will of His Father. The rallying cry today is, “We must get to work! The heathen are dying without God. We must go and tell them about Him.” But we must first make sure that God’s “needs” and His will in us personally are being met. Jesus said, “. . . tarry . . . until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The purpose of our Christian training is to get us into the right relationship to the “needs” of God and His will. Once God’s “needs” in us have been met, He will open the way for us to accomplish His will, meeting His “needs” elsewhere.
Put God’s Son First. “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:5).
God came as a baby, giving and entrusting Himself to me. He expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transformed by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Matthew 15:1-20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God Gives Hope
My grandmother canned her own peach preserves and stored them in an underground cellar. It was a deep hole with wooden steps and a musty smell. As a youngster, I'd climb in, close the door and see how long I could last in the darkness. Not even a slit of light entered that underground hole. I'd sit listening to my breath and heartbeats, until I couldn't take it anymore. Then I would race up the stairs and throw open the door! Light would avalanche into the cellar. What a change! Moments before I couldn't see anything-then, all of a sudden I could see everything!
Just as light poured into the cellar, God's hope pours into your world. Upon the sick, He shines the ray of healing. To the confused, He offers the light of Scripture. God gives hope! Your cup overflows with joy-with grace. Shouldn't your heart overflow with gratitude?
From Traveling Light
Matthew 15:1-20
New International Version (NIV)
That Which Defiles
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides.[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Footnotes:
Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16
Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9
Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
Matthew 15:14 Some manuscripts blind guides of the blind
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 4:10-13
Thanks for Their Gifts
10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Insight
The spiritual vitality and confidence found in the inspiring words of today’s text have sustained the faith of believers for hundreds of years. Here Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (v.13). When we read these words we also need to take into consideration their context. Paul, while unjustly incarcerated for his faith, has just received a gracious gift from the congregation in Philippi. The apostle sees a pattern of grace provision in this generous gift. He has learned to rejoice in plenty and to be thankful and satisfied in want. The reason for this is that Jesus Christ, who indwells him and who engineers life’s circumstances, provides him with the power to be resilient in whatever circumstance he must face.
Jordyn’s Journey
By Dennis Fisher
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. —Philippians 4:13
Jordyn Castor was born blind. But this doesn’t hold her back from living a full and productive life. The documentary Can You See How I See? tells her story. She excels at school and with a little help she enjoys biking and downhill skiing.
Of her sight, Jordyn says: “If I could give my blindness back, I wouldn’t do it. I think God made all of us the way we are for a reason . . . and I think my blindness is part of what I am going to do with my life.” She is now a university student majoring in computer technology. Her dream is to assist in developing new computer software that will help the blind.
How can Jordyn maintain such a positive outlook on life? As a Christ-follower, she understands that God is in control of the circumstances of life. This gives her confidence to pursue opportunities that others might not have believed possible. Certainly, Jordyn’s life illustrates this truth from Philippians: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (4:13).
No matter what our strengths or weaknesses might be, God’s providential hand can give us what we need to make a difference for Him in our world. Rely on His strength to help you as you take a step of faith.
“I will strengthen,” so take courage,
Child of God, so weak and frail;
God has said so, and it must be,
For His promise cannot fail! —Anon.
God’s call to a task includes His strength to complete it.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 30, 2014
“Yes— But . . .!”
Lord, I will follow You, but . . . —Luke 9:61
Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”
Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.
By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Salt Storage - #7145
Friday, May 30, 2014
It was the early winter of 1994 - the one the Sanitation Department of New York City would not forget for a while. Much of the East Coast got hit big time with this parade of snow and ice storms. At one point, they were coming about every other day. You take a hard freeze and frequent storms; well, it just created layers of frozen precipitation on the ground. Kind of like geological strata except slippery. Olympic skaters could have practiced on Broadway or Fifth Avenue.
Needless to say, the sand and salt trucks were working around the clock, and drivers worked such long hours they had to wear name tags when they got home because it was so late when they finally got there! But, ultimately, the slippery stuff wasn't the biggest problem. No, the real crisis was a salt shortage. Now, snow and ice are bad. But no salt on the snow and ice? Well, that's terrible. People were saying, "Hey, they ran out of salt!" Actually, one city official explained that was not the problem. He said, "There's plenty of salt. The problem is we can't get the salt from where it is to where it's needed."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Salt Storage."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 5, beginning at verse 13, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt looses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again. It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men." God goes on to describe us, then, as "the light of the world, like a city set on a hill." And then He says, "Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
If you're a follower of Jesus, there are two things you need to know that your Savior says you are. You are salt and you are light. Now, it doesn't take a lot of salt to change the environment. I mean, you don't need a pound of salt for a pound of meat, right? You don't have to have as much salt as there is ice. But in order for salt to do any good, it has to be in contact with the thing it is needed to change; on the street or on the meat. It doesn't do anything in a salt shaker or piled in a salt mountain somewhere in a big storage yard.
God's problem with getting Jesus to lost and dying people is the same as that winter emergency in New York; the salt wasn't getting where it was needed. We - who know Christ - often are not in enough meaningful contact with the people who need us most. It's as if there are these great mountains of spiritual salt in a very cold and frozen world. We salt people spend so much time in meetings with each other, doing programs for each other, having concerts with each other, serving on committees for each other, and doing books and music for each other. We're disconnected from the people who are dying without our Jesus.
Isn't it time for the salt to get out where it's needed? We need to leave the comfort of Salt Mountain and dare to risk getting involved in places where lost people are; to look at the unbelieving people around us and start building some bridges into their lives; building intentional rescue relationships. More than picketers, protestors, politickers, or promoters, God needs some of His people to just move close to some people who are not His people.
Would you dare to ask God today to lay some lost person on your heart? Maybe He already has. Ask Him, "God, go ahead and break my heart for the people within my reach who do not have You." And then invest yourself in what Jesus did. He came "to seek and to save those who are lost."
Too many people are slipping away, falling, crashing because there is no salt making a difference where they are. Please, if you know Jesus, be where you are needed the most.
My grandmother canned her own peach preserves and stored them in an underground cellar. It was a deep hole with wooden steps and a musty smell. As a youngster, I'd climb in, close the door and see how long I could last in the darkness. Not even a slit of light entered that underground hole. I'd sit listening to my breath and heartbeats, until I couldn't take it anymore. Then I would race up the stairs and throw open the door! Light would avalanche into the cellar. What a change! Moments before I couldn't see anything-then, all of a sudden I could see everything!
Just as light poured into the cellar, God's hope pours into your world. Upon the sick, He shines the ray of healing. To the confused, He offers the light of Scripture. God gives hope! Your cup overflows with joy-with grace. Shouldn't your heart overflow with gratitude?
From Traveling Light
Matthew 15:1-20
New International Version (NIV)
That Which Defiles
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides.[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Footnotes:
Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16
Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9
Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
Matthew 15:14 Some manuscripts blind guides of the blind
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 4:10-13
Thanks for Their Gifts
10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Insight
The spiritual vitality and confidence found in the inspiring words of today’s text have sustained the faith of believers for hundreds of years. Here Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (v.13). When we read these words we also need to take into consideration their context. Paul, while unjustly incarcerated for his faith, has just received a gracious gift from the congregation in Philippi. The apostle sees a pattern of grace provision in this generous gift. He has learned to rejoice in plenty and to be thankful and satisfied in want. The reason for this is that Jesus Christ, who indwells him and who engineers life’s circumstances, provides him with the power to be resilient in whatever circumstance he must face.
Jordyn’s Journey
By Dennis Fisher
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. —Philippians 4:13
Jordyn Castor was born blind. But this doesn’t hold her back from living a full and productive life. The documentary Can You See How I See? tells her story. She excels at school and with a little help she enjoys biking and downhill skiing.
Of her sight, Jordyn says: “If I could give my blindness back, I wouldn’t do it. I think God made all of us the way we are for a reason . . . and I think my blindness is part of what I am going to do with my life.” She is now a university student majoring in computer technology. Her dream is to assist in developing new computer software that will help the blind.
How can Jordyn maintain such a positive outlook on life? As a Christ-follower, she understands that God is in control of the circumstances of life. This gives her confidence to pursue opportunities that others might not have believed possible. Certainly, Jordyn’s life illustrates this truth from Philippians: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (4:13).
No matter what our strengths or weaknesses might be, God’s providential hand can give us what we need to make a difference for Him in our world. Rely on His strength to help you as you take a step of faith.
“I will strengthen,” so take courage,
Child of God, so weak and frail;
God has said so, and it must be,
For His promise cannot fail! —Anon.
God’s call to a task includes His strength to complete it.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 30, 2014
“Yes— But . . .!”
Lord, I will follow You, but . . . —Luke 9:61
Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”
Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.
By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Salt Storage - #7145
Friday, May 30, 2014
It was the early winter of 1994 - the one the Sanitation Department of New York City would not forget for a while. Much of the East Coast got hit big time with this parade of snow and ice storms. At one point, they were coming about every other day. You take a hard freeze and frequent storms; well, it just created layers of frozen precipitation on the ground. Kind of like geological strata except slippery. Olympic skaters could have practiced on Broadway or Fifth Avenue.
Needless to say, the sand and salt trucks were working around the clock, and drivers worked such long hours they had to wear name tags when they got home because it was so late when they finally got there! But, ultimately, the slippery stuff wasn't the biggest problem. No, the real crisis was a salt shortage. Now, snow and ice are bad. But no salt on the snow and ice? Well, that's terrible. People were saying, "Hey, they ran out of salt!" Actually, one city official explained that was not the problem. He said, "There's plenty of salt. The problem is we can't get the salt from where it is to where it's needed."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Salt Storage."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 5, beginning at verse 13, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt looses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again. It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men." God goes on to describe us, then, as "the light of the world, like a city set on a hill." And then He says, "Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
If you're a follower of Jesus, there are two things you need to know that your Savior says you are. You are salt and you are light. Now, it doesn't take a lot of salt to change the environment. I mean, you don't need a pound of salt for a pound of meat, right? You don't have to have as much salt as there is ice. But in order for salt to do any good, it has to be in contact with the thing it is needed to change; on the street or on the meat. It doesn't do anything in a salt shaker or piled in a salt mountain somewhere in a big storage yard.
God's problem with getting Jesus to lost and dying people is the same as that winter emergency in New York; the salt wasn't getting where it was needed. We - who know Christ - often are not in enough meaningful contact with the people who need us most. It's as if there are these great mountains of spiritual salt in a very cold and frozen world. We salt people spend so much time in meetings with each other, doing programs for each other, having concerts with each other, serving on committees for each other, and doing books and music for each other. We're disconnected from the people who are dying without our Jesus.
Isn't it time for the salt to get out where it's needed? We need to leave the comfort of Salt Mountain and dare to risk getting involved in places where lost people are; to look at the unbelieving people around us and start building some bridges into their lives; building intentional rescue relationships. More than picketers, protestors, politickers, or promoters, God needs some of His people to just move close to some people who are not His people.
Would you dare to ask God today to lay some lost person on your heart? Maybe He already has. Ask Him, "God, go ahead and break my heart for the people within my reach who do not have You." And then invest yourself in what Jesus did. He came "to seek and to save those who are lost."
Too many people are slipping away, falling, crashing because there is no salt making a difference where they are. Please, if you know Jesus, be where you are needed the most.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Job 37, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Let Him Decide
You've shared your disappointments with your neighbor, your relatives, your friends. But have you taken them to God? James 5:13 says, 'Anyone who is having troubles should pray."
Before you go anywhere else with your disappointments, go to God. Maybe you don't want to trouble Him with your hurts. "He's got famines and wars; He won't care about my little struggles," you think. Why don't you let Him decide that?
He cared enough about a wedding to provide the wine. He cared enough about Peter's tax payment to give him a coin. He cared enough about the woman at the well to give her answers. He cares about you! Your first step is to go to the right person. Go to God. Your second step is to assume the right posture. Bow before God. And-trust in Him!
Go. Bow. Trust. Worth a try-don't you think?
From Traveling Light
Job 37
“At this my heart pounds
and leaps from its place.
2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.
4 After that comes the sound of his roar;
he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back.
5 God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’
and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’
7 So that everyone he has made may know his work,
he stops all people from their labor.[f]
8 The animals take cover;
they remain in their dens.
9 The tempest comes out from its chamber,
the cold from the driving winds.
10 The breath of God produces ice,
and the broad waters become frozen.
11 He loads the clouds with moisture;
he scatters his lightning through them.
12 At his direction they swirl around
over the face of the whole earth
to do whatever he commands them.
13 He brings the clouds to punish people,
or to water his earth and show his love.
14 “Listen to this, Job;
stop and consider God’s wonders.
15 Do you know how God controls the clouds
and makes his lightning flash?
16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised,
those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?
17 You who swelter in your clothes
when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
18 can you join him in spreading out the skies,
hard as a mirror of cast bronze?
19 “Tell us what we should say to him;
we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.
20 Should he be told that I want to speak?
Would anyone ask to be swallowed up?
21 Now no one can look at the sun,
bright as it is in the skies
after the wind has swept them clean.
22 Out of the north he comes in golden splendor;
God comes in awesome majesty.
23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
24 Therefore, people revere him,
for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?[g]”
Job 37:7 Or work, / he fills all people with fear by his power
Job 37:24 Or for he does not have regard for any who think they are wise.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 4:18-22
Jesus Calls His First Disciples
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Insight
These two pairs of brothers (Peter and Andrew, James and John) were the earliest disciples to respond to Jesus’ call. Most likely, Peter, Andrew, and John had an earlier encounter with Jesus (John 1:35-42). In today’s passage, the Lord is calling them to abandon their fishing trade and to follow Him fully and permanently (Matt. 4:20,22). Later, Peter declared that they had left all to follow Jesus (19:27). These four had been partners in the fishing business (Luke 5:10). Peter, James, and John were also privileged to become the inner circle among Jesus’ 12 disciples (Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33).
Quest For Stolen Treasure
By Joe Stowell
[Jesus] said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” —Matthew 4:19
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the dwarfs gathered to go up against Smaug, the fierce dragon, to retrieve their stolen treasure. In spite of the dangerously frightening quest, Balin, the dwarfs’ second-in-command, expressed confidence in Thorin: “There is one I could follow. There is one I could call King.” His commitment to the mission, as dangerous as it was, was empowered by his confidence in his leader.
At the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, He gathered a group around Him that would join Him in the kingdom task of rescuing the treasure of lost souls from our enemy, Satan. When He called them, He said, “Follow Me” (Matt. 4:19). For them, following Jesus would mean a radical transition from catching fish to the enterprise of being fishers of men and women who were lost in the grip of sin. But the task would not always be easy; Jesus referred to the quest as taking up our cross to follow Him (see Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23).
How do we stay engaged in the battle to reclaim Christ’s lost treasures when it seems intimidating or awkward? By keeping our eye on our Leader. He indeed is worthy—One we can follow, the One we call King!
Lord, in the face of intimidation and fear when
seeking to engage others with the gospel, remind
me that they are Your lost treasures. I count it
a privilege to follow You into others’ lives.
Follow your Leader into the lives of those around you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Untroubled Relationship
In that day you will ask in My name . . . for the Father Himself loves you . . . —John 16:26-27
In that day you will ask in My name . . . ,” that is, in My nature. Not “You will use My name as some magic word,” but—”You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me.” “That day” is not a day in the next life, but a day meant for here and now. “. . . for the Father Himself loves you . . .”— the Father’s love is evidence that our union with Jesus is complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that our lives will be free from external difficulties and uncertainties, but that just as He knew the Father’s heart and mind, we too can be lifted by Him into heavenly places through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that He can reveal the teachings of God to us.
“. . . whatever you ask the Father in My name . . .” (John 16:23). “That day” is a day of peace and an untroubled relationship between God and His saint. Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship—”. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . .” (John 17:22).
“. . . He will give you” (John 16:23). Jesus said that because of His name God will recognize and respond to our prayers. What a great challenge and invitation—to pray in His name! Through the resurrection and ascension power of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit He has sent, we can be lifted into such a relationship. Once in that wonderful position, having been placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in Jesus’ name—in His nature. This is a gift granted to us through the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said, “. . . whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested and proved by His own statements.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Trademark - #7144
Thursday, May 29, 2014
We tend to remember people by what they are most known for. Like, if you're from an older generation, well they would know Sinatra's "Old Blue Eyes" or you might remember Bob Hope. He had a trademark song, "Thanks for the Memories." Or let's say, "Linus" what do you think of? Right, the blanket - he's known for that. That's his trademark. Of course you have a trademark too...something that the people you work with, the people you go to school with, remember about you. That's your trademark. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I know what your trademark should be, and it is so rare in our world today it's really noticeable. Didn't use to be rare, but it is now. And if you have it, you'll be noticed.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Trademark."
Our word for today from the Word of God is found in the life of the Old Testament character Nehemiah. He had been carried away in the captivity of the Jews and taken to Persia where he's now a servant. As a Jew, he had worked his way up into the Persian hierarchy. He was actually a servant to King Artaxerxes - cupbearer of the king, which meant that he sampled every meal and participated every time there was a mealtime. He was pretty close to the king. He was a man with a trademark. I think it ought to be every believer's trademark.
And we pick it up in Nehemiah 2. "In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes when wine was brought for him, I took the wine..." This is Nehemiah speaking in the first person, "...and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.'"
This little conversation, by the way, led to historic results. Nehemiah was able to talk about his burden for the walls of his city, Jerusalem, which had been torn down, and the king gave him the resources and the permission to go back and rebuild that city - the city of God - and really bring about part of the restoration of Israel in that day. It all started when the king said, "How come you're not smiling? I'm not used to seeing you like this."
You know what? Nehemiah was a man with big problems but a predictable smile. I mean, he's basically a captive. He's being treated well, but he is a captive in another country, he's been ripped away from home, he's got a tremendous burden - a problem he doesn't know how to solve in terms of the city of Jerusalem, but he's always smiling. You could always count on Nehemiah being the positive guy in the room. So, when he was down, it was an event.
How is it for you? I wonder when you are down, is that unusual? Does everybody take note? I wonder what kind of atmosphere you have around you? Well, I can tell you what. Around Nehemiah it was positive, it was radiant, it was happy. Later in this book, Nehemiah shared his secret. Here's what he said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." Not the joy of your situation. A lot of times there's no joy in the situation but the joy of the Lord.
In our world smiles have been replaced by being "cool." You just don't see many smiles. Stand along the street, in a school hallway, in an office building. There are not many smiles. But if you can relax in the great plans of God for your life and stifle the sarcasm and the negativity, your smile could become a fixture where you work like it was where Nehemiah worked.
When it's tense, and late, pressured, fatigued, and worrisome where you are, watch what your smile can do. Let the joy of the Lord light up your life. Let it be your trademark, and it will light up all those stressed out lives of all those people around you.
You've shared your disappointments with your neighbor, your relatives, your friends. But have you taken them to God? James 5:13 says, 'Anyone who is having troubles should pray."
Before you go anywhere else with your disappointments, go to God. Maybe you don't want to trouble Him with your hurts. "He's got famines and wars; He won't care about my little struggles," you think. Why don't you let Him decide that?
He cared enough about a wedding to provide the wine. He cared enough about Peter's tax payment to give him a coin. He cared enough about the woman at the well to give her answers. He cares about you! Your first step is to go to the right person. Go to God. Your second step is to assume the right posture. Bow before God. And-trust in Him!
Go. Bow. Trust. Worth a try-don't you think?
From Traveling Light
Job 37
“At this my heart pounds
and leaps from its place.
2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.
4 After that comes the sound of his roar;
he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back.
5 God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’
and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’
7 So that everyone he has made may know his work,
he stops all people from their labor.[f]
8 The animals take cover;
they remain in their dens.
9 The tempest comes out from its chamber,
the cold from the driving winds.
10 The breath of God produces ice,
and the broad waters become frozen.
11 He loads the clouds with moisture;
he scatters his lightning through them.
12 At his direction they swirl around
over the face of the whole earth
to do whatever he commands them.
13 He brings the clouds to punish people,
or to water his earth and show his love.
14 “Listen to this, Job;
stop and consider God’s wonders.
15 Do you know how God controls the clouds
and makes his lightning flash?
16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised,
those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?
17 You who swelter in your clothes
when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
18 can you join him in spreading out the skies,
hard as a mirror of cast bronze?
19 “Tell us what we should say to him;
we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.
20 Should he be told that I want to speak?
Would anyone ask to be swallowed up?
21 Now no one can look at the sun,
bright as it is in the skies
after the wind has swept them clean.
22 Out of the north he comes in golden splendor;
God comes in awesome majesty.
23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
24 Therefore, people revere him,
for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?[g]”
Job 37:7 Or work, / he fills all people with fear by his power
Job 37:24 Or for he does not have regard for any who think they are wise.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 4:18-22
Jesus Calls His First Disciples
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Insight
These two pairs of brothers (Peter and Andrew, James and John) were the earliest disciples to respond to Jesus’ call. Most likely, Peter, Andrew, and John had an earlier encounter with Jesus (John 1:35-42). In today’s passage, the Lord is calling them to abandon their fishing trade and to follow Him fully and permanently (Matt. 4:20,22). Later, Peter declared that they had left all to follow Jesus (19:27). These four had been partners in the fishing business (Luke 5:10). Peter, James, and John were also privileged to become the inner circle among Jesus’ 12 disciples (Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33).
Quest For Stolen Treasure
By Joe Stowell
[Jesus] said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” —Matthew 4:19
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the dwarfs gathered to go up against Smaug, the fierce dragon, to retrieve their stolen treasure. In spite of the dangerously frightening quest, Balin, the dwarfs’ second-in-command, expressed confidence in Thorin: “There is one I could follow. There is one I could call King.” His commitment to the mission, as dangerous as it was, was empowered by his confidence in his leader.
At the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, He gathered a group around Him that would join Him in the kingdom task of rescuing the treasure of lost souls from our enemy, Satan. When He called them, He said, “Follow Me” (Matt. 4:19). For them, following Jesus would mean a radical transition from catching fish to the enterprise of being fishers of men and women who were lost in the grip of sin. But the task would not always be easy; Jesus referred to the quest as taking up our cross to follow Him (see Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23).
How do we stay engaged in the battle to reclaim Christ’s lost treasures when it seems intimidating or awkward? By keeping our eye on our Leader. He indeed is worthy—One we can follow, the One we call King!
Lord, in the face of intimidation and fear when
seeking to engage others with the gospel, remind
me that they are Your lost treasures. I count it
a privilege to follow You into others’ lives.
Follow your Leader into the lives of those around you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Untroubled Relationship
In that day you will ask in My name . . . for the Father Himself loves you . . . —John 16:26-27
In that day you will ask in My name . . . ,” that is, in My nature. Not “You will use My name as some magic word,” but—”You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me.” “That day” is not a day in the next life, but a day meant for here and now. “. . . for the Father Himself loves you . . .”— the Father’s love is evidence that our union with Jesus is complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that our lives will be free from external difficulties and uncertainties, but that just as He knew the Father’s heart and mind, we too can be lifted by Him into heavenly places through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that He can reveal the teachings of God to us.
“. . . whatever you ask the Father in My name . . .” (John 16:23). “That day” is a day of peace and an untroubled relationship between God and His saint. Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship—”. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . .” (John 17:22).
“. . . He will give you” (John 16:23). Jesus said that because of His name God will recognize and respond to our prayers. What a great challenge and invitation—to pray in His name! Through the resurrection and ascension power of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit He has sent, we can be lifted into such a relationship. Once in that wonderful position, having been placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in Jesus’ name—in His nature. This is a gift granted to us through the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said, “. . . whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested and proved by His own statements.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Trademark - #7144
Thursday, May 29, 2014
We tend to remember people by what they are most known for. Like, if you're from an older generation, well they would know Sinatra's "Old Blue Eyes" or you might remember Bob Hope. He had a trademark song, "Thanks for the Memories." Or let's say, "Linus" what do you think of? Right, the blanket - he's known for that. That's his trademark. Of course you have a trademark too...something that the people you work with, the people you go to school with, remember about you. That's your trademark. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I know what your trademark should be, and it is so rare in our world today it's really noticeable. Didn't use to be rare, but it is now. And if you have it, you'll be noticed.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Trademark."
Our word for today from the Word of God is found in the life of the Old Testament character Nehemiah. He had been carried away in the captivity of the Jews and taken to Persia where he's now a servant. As a Jew, he had worked his way up into the Persian hierarchy. He was actually a servant to King Artaxerxes - cupbearer of the king, which meant that he sampled every meal and participated every time there was a mealtime. He was pretty close to the king. He was a man with a trademark. I think it ought to be every believer's trademark.
And we pick it up in Nehemiah 2. "In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes when wine was brought for him, I took the wine..." This is Nehemiah speaking in the first person, "...and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.'"
This little conversation, by the way, led to historic results. Nehemiah was able to talk about his burden for the walls of his city, Jerusalem, which had been torn down, and the king gave him the resources and the permission to go back and rebuild that city - the city of God - and really bring about part of the restoration of Israel in that day. It all started when the king said, "How come you're not smiling? I'm not used to seeing you like this."
You know what? Nehemiah was a man with big problems but a predictable smile. I mean, he's basically a captive. He's being treated well, but he is a captive in another country, he's been ripped away from home, he's got a tremendous burden - a problem he doesn't know how to solve in terms of the city of Jerusalem, but he's always smiling. You could always count on Nehemiah being the positive guy in the room. So, when he was down, it was an event.
How is it for you? I wonder when you are down, is that unusual? Does everybody take note? I wonder what kind of atmosphere you have around you? Well, I can tell you what. Around Nehemiah it was positive, it was radiant, it was happy. Later in this book, Nehemiah shared his secret. Here's what he said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." Not the joy of your situation. A lot of times there's no joy in the situation but the joy of the Lord.
In our world smiles have been replaced by being "cool." You just don't see many smiles. Stand along the street, in a school hallway, in an office building. There are not many smiles. But if you can relax in the great plans of God for your life and stifle the sarcasm and the negativity, your smile could become a fixture where you work like it was where Nehemiah worked.
When it's tense, and late, pressured, fatigued, and worrisome where you are, watch what your smile can do. Let the joy of the Lord light up your life. Let it be your trademark, and it will light up all those stressed out lives of all those people around you.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Job 36, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Sitting Duck
If you go to the grocery store on an empty stomach, you're a sitting duck! You buy everything you don't need. Doesn't matter if it's good for you, you just want to fill your tummy.
When you're lonely-you do the same, pulling stuff off the shelf, not because you need it, but because you're hungry for love. For fear of not fitting in, we take drugs. For fear of appearing small, we go into debt and buy the house. For fear of going unnoticed, we dress to impress. But all that changes when we discover God's perfect love. The perfect love that 1 John 4:18 says "casts out fear."
Loneliness. Could it be one of God's finest gifts? If a season of solitude is His way to teach you to know His love, don't you think it's worth it? So do I.
From Traveling Light
Job 36
“Bear with me a little longer and I will show you
that there is more to be said in God’s behalf.
3 I get my knowledge from afar;
I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 Be assured that my words are not false;
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.
5 “God is mighty, but despises no one;
he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive
but gives the afflicted their rights.
7 He does not take his eyes off the righteous;
he enthrones them with kings
and exalts them forever.
8 But if people are bound in chains,
held fast by cords of affliction,
9 he tells them what they have done—
that they have sinned arrogantly.
10 He makes them listen to correction
and commands them to repent of their evil.
11 If they obey and serve him,
they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity
and their years in contentment.
12 But if they do not listen,
they will perish by the sword[a]
and die without knowledge.
13 “The godless in heart harbor resentment;
even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die in their youth,
among male prostitutes of the shrines.
15 But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering;
he speaks to them in their affliction.
16 “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress
to a spacious place free from restriction,
to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.
17 But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice have taken hold of you.
18 Be careful that no one entices you by riches;
do not let a large bribe turn you aside.
19 Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts
sustain you so you would not be in distress?
20 Do not long for the night,
to drag people away from their homes.[b]
21 Beware of turning to evil,
which you seem to prefer to affliction.
22 “God is exalted in his power.
Who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has prescribed his ways for him,
or said to him, ‘You have done wrong’?
24 Remember to extol his work,
which people have praised in song.
25 All humanity has seen it;
mortals gaze on it from afar.
26 How great is God—beyond our understanding!
The number of his years is past finding out.
27 “He draws up the drops of water,
which distill as rain to the streams[c];
28 the clouds pour down their moisture
and abundant showers fall on mankind.
29 Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
how he thunders from his pavilion?
30 See how he scatters his lightning about him,
bathing the depths of the sea.
31 This is the way he governs[d] the nations
and provides food in abundance.
32 He fills his hands with lightning
and commands it to strike its mark.
33 His thunder announces the coming storm;
even the cattle make known its approach.[e]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Micah 7:8-9,18-20
Israel Will Rise
Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
9 Because I have sinned against him,
I will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
I will see his righteousness.
18 Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
19 You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
20 You will be faithful to Jacob,
and show love to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
in days long ago.
Insight
Today’s reading contains a song of victory. Israel, who has been judged for a cold heart and acts of disobedience, will one day respond gladly with obedience to God. The nation will find light in the Lord’s presence. Interestingly, the passage shares a similar spirit to Moses’ Song of the Sea: “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11).
Micah underscores that God detests those leaders who unscrupulously use their position of power to fleece the helpless and to corrupt courts of justice. But the message of hope is clear to all who repent with heartfelt sincerity and wish to return to a place of genuine obedience.
The Crash
By Randy Kilgore
He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness. —Micah 7:9
For years after the Great Depression, the stock market struggled to win back investors’ confidence. Then, in 1952, Harry Markowitz suggested that investors spread their stock holdings over several companies and industries. He developed a theory for portfolio selection that helped investors in uncertain times. In 1990, Markowitz and two others won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their theory.
Like those jittery investors, we followers of Jesus may also find ourselves frozen in fear after a “crash” in our personal lives, unsure how to pick up the pieces and move on. We might even spend our remaining lives waiting for a “Markowitz moment,” when one big idea or action can help us recover from a previous failure.
We forget that Jesus has already done that on our behalf. He covered our shame, and He set us free to fellowship with God and serve Him daily. Because He gave His life, and rose from the dead, when we “fall,” we can “arise” with Him, for “He delights in mercy” (Micah 7:8,18).
The moment we find Jesus, our eternity with Him begins. He walks alongside us so He can change us into the people we long to be and were created to be.
Father, my actions aren’t adequate to fix my
failures. Thank You for doing that through
Your Son Jesus who gave Himself for us.
Help me to look up and walk with You.
Look up from your failure, and you’ll find God standing ready to receive you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Unquestion Revelation
In that day you will ask Me nothing —John 16:23
When is “that day”? It is when the ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. “In that day” you will be one with the Father just as Jesus is, and He said, “In that day you will ask Me nothing.” Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things. Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone— you don’t seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why aren’t you?
“In that day” there may be any number of things still hidden to your understanding, but they will not come between your heart and God. “In that day you will ask Me nothing”— you will not need to ask, because you will be certain that God will reveal things in accordance with His will. The faith and peace of John 14:1 has become the real attitude of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature— that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. “In that day you will ask Me nothing.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Knowing When It's Time To Run - #7143
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Our son-in-law can only sit still for so long. When we lived back East, there was this one time when he was visiting us that he reached his limit regarding that. So he grabbed his basketball and went out to the hoop in our back yard. Now, it was a pretty primitive basketball setup. It was just several boards nailed to a tree at the back of our driveway. So, you know, very homemade, wooden backboard.
He was working up a sweat out there, shooting and dribbling. And suddenly he noticed a big bee buzzing around his head. He realized that it had come from around the hoop and the backboard. Upon closer inspection, he saw a beehive there. Not too much closer, he just looked and there it was.
Apparently, those bees were not happy about that basketball causing repeated hive-quakes, or whatever you call it. So they began to respond. My son-in-law told me what he had to do. He didn't try to ignore the bees and keep playing his game. No! He didn't try to kill the bees. He ran into the house as fast as he could. He really was smart and ran into the house. He demonstrated his intelligence.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Knowing When It's Time To Run."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Timothy 2:22. It says, "Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace." Notice, "flee the evil desires of youth." Now, lots of people have ended up in a sexual sin that they thought they would never commit. Very few people of character plan to fall into adultery or sexual sin or premarital sex or going farther than their standards and God's standards would allow them.
I once received a letter from a young listener, and she poured out her heart in it. I had begun a program talking about some of the statistics about how many young people have had pre-marital sex. And she said, "Until a month ago, I never dreamed I'd be one of those statistics." She went on to talk about how she had made a series of choices that brought her into a situation where she was vulnerable, where there was an opportunity to sin. She never wanted to, she never planned to, but she did. She was really hurting. It was a heartbreaking letter.
Now, this verse addresses how to avoid that. "Flee evil desires of youth." There are three things you can do with sexual temptation. One, you can flirt with it. That would be like if our son-in-law got on a ladder and inspected that beehive; trying to see how close he could get to it without getting stung. That would be dumb. And it's dumb when you try to do that with sexual temptation. The Bible calls sexual desire "fire in your lap." That's pretty explicit language to describe how you're only going to get burned if you flirt with it.
The second thing you can do is you can fight sexual temptation. Well, that would be like our son-in-law staying out there still shooting his baskets, just trying to swat or kill every bee. Sexual desire will almost always ultimately win unless you get away from it. It's overpowering stuff if you allow yourself to be in a situation where you can dwell on it, where you can act on it, or be around it for very long.
The third thing is what the Bible says to do. "Flee from it." Be realistic. Don't underestimate sexual temptation. Don't underestimate your ability to fall. Don't get anywhere close to it. You're never going to win morally unless you get as far from sexual temptation as possible. That girl in that letter spoke for millions who have had sex before marriage or outside their marriage vows. She said it just isn't worth it.
So get rid of any input that feeds your lust; a movie channel, a website, music, a magazine, humor, certain things on television. And avoid settings where you're alone with someone of the opposite sex for any extended time. Change what you're doing at the very first thought of anything wrong.
Hey, our son-in-law was smart. He knew you don't flirt with or you don't even fight what can really sting you. He ran! That's how you win against temptation. Believe me, too many people have already been stung.
If you go to the grocery store on an empty stomach, you're a sitting duck! You buy everything you don't need. Doesn't matter if it's good for you, you just want to fill your tummy.
When you're lonely-you do the same, pulling stuff off the shelf, not because you need it, but because you're hungry for love. For fear of not fitting in, we take drugs. For fear of appearing small, we go into debt and buy the house. For fear of going unnoticed, we dress to impress. But all that changes when we discover God's perfect love. The perfect love that 1 John 4:18 says "casts out fear."
Loneliness. Could it be one of God's finest gifts? If a season of solitude is His way to teach you to know His love, don't you think it's worth it? So do I.
From Traveling Light
Job 36
“Bear with me a little longer and I will show you
that there is more to be said in God’s behalf.
3 I get my knowledge from afar;
I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 Be assured that my words are not false;
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.
5 “God is mighty, but despises no one;
he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive
but gives the afflicted their rights.
7 He does not take his eyes off the righteous;
he enthrones them with kings
and exalts them forever.
8 But if people are bound in chains,
held fast by cords of affliction,
9 he tells them what they have done—
that they have sinned arrogantly.
10 He makes them listen to correction
and commands them to repent of their evil.
11 If they obey and serve him,
they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity
and their years in contentment.
12 But if they do not listen,
they will perish by the sword[a]
and die without knowledge.
13 “The godless in heart harbor resentment;
even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die in their youth,
among male prostitutes of the shrines.
15 But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering;
he speaks to them in their affliction.
16 “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress
to a spacious place free from restriction,
to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.
17 But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice have taken hold of you.
18 Be careful that no one entices you by riches;
do not let a large bribe turn you aside.
19 Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts
sustain you so you would not be in distress?
20 Do not long for the night,
to drag people away from their homes.[b]
21 Beware of turning to evil,
which you seem to prefer to affliction.
22 “God is exalted in his power.
Who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has prescribed his ways for him,
or said to him, ‘You have done wrong’?
24 Remember to extol his work,
which people have praised in song.
25 All humanity has seen it;
mortals gaze on it from afar.
26 How great is God—beyond our understanding!
The number of his years is past finding out.
27 “He draws up the drops of water,
which distill as rain to the streams[c];
28 the clouds pour down their moisture
and abundant showers fall on mankind.
29 Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
how he thunders from his pavilion?
30 See how he scatters his lightning about him,
bathing the depths of the sea.
31 This is the way he governs[d] the nations
and provides food in abundance.
32 He fills his hands with lightning
and commands it to strike its mark.
33 His thunder announces the coming storm;
even the cattle make known its approach.[e]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Micah 7:8-9,18-20
Israel Will Rise
Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
9 Because I have sinned against him,
I will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
I will see his righteousness.
18 Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
19 You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
20 You will be faithful to Jacob,
and show love to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
in days long ago.
Insight
Today’s reading contains a song of victory. Israel, who has been judged for a cold heart and acts of disobedience, will one day respond gladly with obedience to God. The nation will find light in the Lord’s presence. Interestingly, the passage shares a similar spirit to Moses’ Song of the Sea: “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11).
Micah underscores that God detests those leaders who unscrupulously use their position of power to fleece the helpless and to corrupt courts of justice. But the message of hope is clear to all who repent with heartfelt sincerity and wish to return to a place of genuine obedience.
The Crash
By Randy Kilgore
He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness. —Micah 7:9
For years after the Great Depression, the stock market struggled to win back investors’ confidence. Then, in 1952, Harry Markowitz suggested that investors spread their stock holdings over several companies and industries. He developed a theory for portfolio selection that helped investors in uncertain times. In 1990, Markowitz and two others won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their theory.
Like those jittery investors, we followers of Jesus may also find ourselves frozen in fear after a “crash” in our personal lives, unsure how to pick up the pieces and move on. We might even spend our remaining lives waiting for a “Markowitz moment,” when one big idea or action can help us recover from a previous failure.
We forget that Jesus has already done that on our behalf. He covered our shame, and He set us free to fellowship with God and serve Him daily. Because He gave His life, and rose from the dead, when we “fall,” we can “arise” with Him, for “He delights in mercy” (Micah 7:8,18).
The moment we find Jesus, our eternity with Him begins. He walks alongside us so He can change us into the people we long to be and were created to be.
Father, my actions aren’t adequate to fix my
failures. Thank You for doing that through
Your Son Jesus who gave Himself for us.
Help me to look up and walk with You.
Look up from your failure, and you’ll find God standing ready to receive you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Unquestion Revelation
In that day you will ask Me nothing —John 16:23
When is “that day”? It is when the ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. “In that day” you will be one with the Father just as Jesus is, and He said, “In that day you will ask Me nothing.” Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things. Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone— you don’t seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why aren’t you?
“In that day” there may be any number of things still hidden to your understanding, but they will not come between your heart and God. “In that day you will ask Me nothing”— you will not need to ask, because you will be certain that God will reveal things in accordance with His will. The faith and peace of John 14:1 has become the real attitude of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature— that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. “In that day you will ask Me nothing.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Knowing When It's Time To Run - #7143
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Our son-in-law can only sit still for so long. When we lived back East, there was this one time when he was visiting us that he reached his limit regarding that. So he grabbed his basketball and went out to the hoop in our back yard. Now, it was a pretty primitive basketball setup. It was just several boards nailed to a tree at the back of our driveway. So, you know, very homemade, wooden backboard.
He was working up a sweat out there, shooting and dribbling. And suddenly he noticed a big bee buzzing around his head. He realized that it had come from around the hoop and the backboard. Upon closer inspection, he saw a beehive there. Not too much closer, he just looked and there it was.
Apparently, those bees were not happy about that basketball causing repeated hive-quakes, or whatever you call it. So they began to respond. My son-in-law told me what he had to do. He didn't try to ignore the bees and keep playing his game. No! He didn't try to kill the bees. He ran into the house as fast as he could. He really was smart and ran into the house. He demonstrated his intelligence.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Knowing When It's Time To Run."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Timothy 2:22. It says, "Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace." Notice, "flee the evil desires of youth." Now, lots of people have ended up in a sexual sin that they thought they would never commit. Very few people of character plan to fall into adultery or sexual sin or premarital sex or going farther than their standards and God's standards would allow them.
I once received a letter from a young listener, and she poured out her heart in it. I had begun a program talking about some of the statistics about how many young people have had pre-marital sex. And she said, "Until a month ago, I never dreamed I'd be one of those statistics." She went on to talk about how she had made a series of choices that brought her into a situation where she was vulnerable, where there was an opportunity to sin. She never wanted to, she never planned to, but she did. She was really hurting. It was a heartbreaking letter.
Now, this verse addresses how to avoid that. "Flee evil desires of youth." There are three things you can do with sexual temptation. One, you can flirt with it. That would be like if our son-in-law got on a ladder and inspected that beehive; trying to see how close he could get to it without getting stung. That would be dumb. And it's dumb when you try to do that with sexual temptation. The Bible calls sexual desire "fire in your lap." That's pretty explicit language to describe how you're only going to get burned if you flirt with it.
The second thing you can do is you can fight sexual temptation. Well, that would be like our son-in-law staying out there still shooting his baskets, just trying to swat or kill every bee. Sexual desire will almost always ultimately win unless you get away from it. It's overpowering stuff if you allow yourself to be in a situation where you can dwell on it, where you can act on it, or be around it for very long.
The third thing is what the Bible says to do. "Flee from it." Be realistic. Don't underestimate sexual temptation. Don't underestimate your ability to fall. Don't get anywhere close to it. You're never going to win morally unless you get as far from sexual temptation as possible. That girl in that letter spoke for millions who have had sex before marriage or outside their marriage vows. She said it just isn't worth it.
So get rid of any input that feeds your lust; a movie channel, a website, music, a magazine, humor, certain things on television. And avoid settings where you're alone with someone of the opposite sex for any extended time. Change what you're doing at the very first thought of anything wrong.
Hey, our son-in-law was smart. He knew you don't flirt with or you don't even fight what can really sting you. He ran! That's how you win against temptation. Believe me, too many people have already been stung.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Matthew 14:22-36 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Looking Unto Jesus
The writer of Hebrews urges us to "run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Heart disease runs in our family, so I run each morning. And as I'm running, my body is groaning. Things hurt. And as things hurt, I've learned I have options. Go home. Meditate on my hurts until I start imagining I'm having chest pains-or-I can keep running and watch the sun come up. I have a front-row seat to watch God's world go from dark to golden. Guess what? The same happens to my attitude.
Wasn't that the counsel of the Hebrew epistle…"Looking unto Jesus?" Philippians 4:6 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God."
Now-what were you looking at?
From Traveling Light
Matthew 14:22-36
New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Walks on the Water
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 10:1-10
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
10 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Insight
At the time of Jesus, Jewish shepherds kept their flocks in communal sheepfolds—normally stone-walled enclosures. These sheepfolds would house many flocks overnight. In the morning, the shepherd was allowed to enter the sheepfold. As he walked and called among the mixed flocks, only his own sheep would respond to him. Hearing and recognizing the shepherd’s voice, his sheep would follow him out of the sheepfold to the pasture.
Blessed Forgetfulness
By Julie Ackerman Link
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved. —John 10:9
My office is downstairs, but I make frequent trips upstairs to various rooms in my house for one thing or another. Unfortunately, by the time I get upstairs I often forget what I was planning to do when I got there. Researcher Gabriel Radvansky has come up with an explanation for this phenomenon. He proposes that a doorway serves as an “event boundary.”
After conducting three different experiments, he theorized that a doorway signals the brain that the information held in memory can be filed away—but it’s frustrating when I’m standing there trying to remember why I came upstairs. However, forgetfulness can be a blessing. When I shut the door to our bedroom at night and settle down to sleep, it’s a blessing to forget the worries of the day.
When I think of the fact that Jesus called Himself “the door” (John 10:7,9), I gain a new appreciation for this metaphor. When sheep enter the pen, they enter a safe place protected from thieves and predators. For believers, the Great Shepherd is the door between us and our enemies. Once we enter the sheepfold, we can “forget” all dangers and threats. We can enjoy divine forgetfulness and rest in the protection of the Great Shepherd.
Thank You, Father, for the peace of mind
that comes from knowing You are standing
watch over the events of our lives. Help us
to rest securely in Your protection.
Christ is the door that keeps us in and keeps the dangers out.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The Life To Know Him
. . . tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high —Luke 24:49
The disciples had to tarry, staying in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). The statement in John 7:39 — “. . . for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified”— does not pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given; the Lord is glorified— our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness.
The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Once our Lord was glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth that He is here. The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord.
It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ— it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not make you think of time or eternity— it is one amazing glorious now. “This is eternal life, that they may know You . . .” (John 17:3). Begin to know Him now, and never finish.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Choice and the Child in You - #7142
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
I'm pretty sure a woman wrote that famous rhyme "The only difference between men and boys is the size of their toys." Actually, I think there's a little boy that does live inside of most men. Look, we're all grown up now, but we've got this little five-year-old kid in us. Come on. And, by the way, I think there's a little girl who lives inside of most women.
It doesn't come out too often, but it comes out at certain times like when it snows. There's just this urge to throw a snowball. Or when you go to an amusement park with your kids. Oh yeah, and Christmas. Christmas! That brings out the child inside. I think that the more adult responsibilities we get and the more sophisticated we become, the harder it is for that little boy or that little girl to get out. But you need that kid!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Choice and the Child in You."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 18, beginning at verse 2. Jesus was conducting a very memorable object lesson, and it says this: "He called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said: (Now, He's talking to all these sophisticated adults.) 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'" Well obviously Jesus is saying here, "You've got to become childlike." Not childish. But you've got to become childlike again if you're going to get eternal life. Wow!
I was talking to a man who struck me as a very serious fellow, and I said, "Hey, listen, there's a child in all of us." I said, "You know, if the little boy in you ever dies, you might as well. It's pretty much over when the kid goes away." Well, spiritually, Jesus might agree with that. Keep that child inside of you alive, because you need it to get to heaven.
What's He saying here? That you've got to be like a little child to get to heaven? Well, the Bible says "Without faith it is impossible to please God." And in John 1:12, the Bible says, "To all those who received Him, to as many as believed in His name, He gave the right to become the children of God." In other words, if you put all your trust in Jesus, you get into God's family. It's not religion, it's not giving, and it's not correct doctrine. You trust Jesus and what He did when He died for you.
See, the older we get the harder that is. But how about with a child? Well, a child gets hurt, runs to the parent and trusts the parent's treatment. A little child has a question, they ask Mommy or Daddy. A little child is scared? Look to Mom and Dad. The older we get, the more we do for ourselves and the less we put our hope in our parents.
That's okay in our families here on earth. But let's talk about God's family, because that's a sure way to miss God. Maybe you've gotten pretty far on your own and you pride yourself. You're self-reliant. You say, "Hey, I can handle it." Well, you can't handle the gap between you and God. Every culture in the world knows there's something between us and God. And I believe your own heart tells you that.
The Bible confirms that in Isaiah 59:2, "Your sin has separated you from your God." Romans 3:10 says, "There's no one righteous, no not one." Not compared to a perfect God, of course. But Romans 5:6 says, "When we were totally powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." Now, maybe you're a believer and you've even told that to others. But you could have missed the one thing that will give you that relationship with God. You have never surrendered yourself to Him and fallen on your knees at the cross where Jesus died for you and said, "Lord, I am powerless." And like a little child, putting all their trust in the parent who can do it for them what they can never do for themselves, you say, "I give myself to You. I put my total trust in You, Jesus, what You died to give me. You're all I've got. You're my only hope."
Have you ever done that? This might be your time. This could change everything: your life and your eternity. You say, "Ron, I don't know how to do that." I want to encourage you to go to our website as soon as you can today and let me meet you there and we'll work together on that. It's ANewStory.com.
Maybe you've tried to know God with a smart, sophisticated, self-trusting, adult reasoning. You can't get to heaven that way. The kids sing it "Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so." It's time to say, "I'm not going to be able to walk to heaven on my own, Lord. Please carry me."
The writer of Hebrews urges us to "run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Heart disease runs in our family, so I run each morning. And as I'm running, my body is groaning. Things hurt. And as things hurt, I've learned I have options. Go home. Meditate on my hurts until I start imagining I'm having chest pains-or-I can keep running and watch the sun come up. I have a front-row seat to watch God's world go from dark to golden. Guess what? The same happens to my attitude.
Wasn't that the counsel of the Hebrew epistle…"Looking unto Jesus?" Philippians 4:6 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God."
Now-what were you looking at?
From Traveling Light
Matthew 14:22-36
New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Walks on the Water
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 10:1-10
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
10 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Insight
At the time of Jesus, Jewish shepherds kept their flocks in communal sheepfolds—normally stone-walled enclosures. These sheepfolds would house many flocks overnight. In the morning, the shepherd was allowed to enter the sheepfold. As he walked and called among the mixed flocks, only his own sheep would respond to him. Hearing and recognizing the shepherd’s voice, his sheep would follow him out of the sheepfold to the pasture.
Blessed Forgetfulness
By Julie Ackerman Link
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved. —John 10:9
My office is downstairs, but I make frequent trips upstairs to various rooms in my house for one thing or another. Unfortunately, by the time I get upstairs I often forget what I was planning to do when I got there. Researcher Gabriel Radvansky has come up with an explanation for this phenomenon. He proposes that a doorway serves as an “event boundary.”
After conducting three different experiments, he theorized that a doorway signals the brain that the information held in memory can be filed away—but it’s frustrating when I’m standing there trying to remember why I came upstairs. However, forgetfulness can be a blessing. When I shut the door to our bedroom at night and settle down to sleep, it’s a blessing to forget the worries of the day.
When I think of the fact that Jesus called Himself “the door” (John 10:7,9), I gain a new appreciation for this metaphor. When sheep enter the pen, they enter a safe place protected from thieves and predators. For believers, the Great Shepherd is the door between us and our enemies. Once we enter the sheepfold, we can “forget” all dangers and threats. We can enjoy divine forgetfulness and rest in the protection of the Great Shepherd.
Thank You, Father, for the peace of mind
that comes from knowing You are standing
watch over the events of our lives. Help us
to rest securely in Your protection.
Christ is the door that keeps us in and keeps the dangers out.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The Life To Know Him
. . . tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high —Luke 24:49
The disciples had to tarry, staying in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). The statement in John 7:39 — “. . . for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified”— does not pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given; the Lord is glorified— our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness.
The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Once our Lord was glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth that He is here. The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord.
It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ— it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not make you think of time or eternity— it is one amazing glorious now. “This is eternal life, that they may know You . . .” (John 17:3). Begin to know Him now, and never finish.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Choice and the Child in You - #7142
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
I'm pretty sure a woman wrote that famous rhyme "The only difference between men and boys is the size of their toys." Actually, I think there's a little boy that does live inside of most men. Look, we're all grown up now, but we've got this little five-year-old kid in us. Come on. And, by the way, I think there's a little girl who lives inside of most women.
It doesn't come out too often, but it comes out at certain times like when it snows. There's just this urge to throw a snowball. Or when you go to an amusement park with your kids. Oh yeah, and Christmas. Christmas! That brings out the child inside. I think that the more adult responsibilities we get and the more sophisticated we become, the harder it is for that little boy or that little girl to get out. But you need that kid!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Choice and the Child in You."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 18, beginning at verse 2. Jesus was conducting a very memorable object lesson, and it says this: "He called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said: (Now, He's talking to all these sophisticated adults.) 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'" Well obviously Jesus is saying here, "You've got to become childlike." Not childish. But you've got to become childlike again if you're going to get eternal life. Wow!
I was talking to a man who struck me as a very serious fellow, and I said, "Hey, listen, there's a child in all of us." I said, "You know, if the little boy in you ever dies, you might as well. It's pretty much over when the kid goes away." Well, spiritually, Jesus might agree with that. Keep that child inside of you alive, because you need it to get to heaven.
What's He saying here? That you've got to be like a little child to get to heaven? Well, the Bible says "Without faith it is impossible to please God." And in John 1:12, the Bible says, "To all those who received Him, to as many as believed in His name, He gave the right to become the children of God." In other words, if you put all your trust in Jesus, you get into God's family. It's not religion, it's not giving, and it's not correct doctrine. You trust Jesus and what He did when He died for you.
See, the older we get the harder that is. But how about with a child? Well, a child gets hurt, runs to the parent and trusts the parent's treatment. A little child has a question, they ask Mommy or Daddy. A little child is scared? Look to Mom and Dad. The older we get, the more we do for ourselves and the less we put our hope in our parents.
That's okay in our families here on earth. But let's talk about God's family, because that's a sure way to miss God. Maybe you've gotten pretty far on your own and you pride yourself. You're self-reliant. You say, "Hey, I can handle it." Well, you can't handle the gap between you and God. Every culture in the world knows there's something between us and God. And I believe your own heart tells you that.
The Bible confirms that in Isaiah 59:2, "Your sin has separated you from your God." Romans 3:10 says, "There's no one righteous, no not one." Not compared to a perfect God, of course. But Romans 5:6 says, "When we were totally powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." Now, maybe you're a believer and you've even told that to others. But you could have missed the one thing that will give you that relationship with God. You have never surrendered yourself to Him and fallen on your knees at the cross where Jesus died for you and said, "Lord, I am powerless." And like a little child, putting all their trust in the parent who can do it for them what they can never do for themselves, you say, "I give myself to You. I put my total trust in You, Jesus, what You died to give me. You're all I've got. You're my only hope."
Have you ever done that? This might be your time. This could change everything: your life and your eternity. You say, "Ron, I don't know how to do that." I want to encourage you to go to our website as soon as you can today and let me meet you there and we'll work together on that. It's ANewStory.com.
Maybe you've tried to know God with a smart, sophisticated, self-trusting, adult reasoning. You can't get to heaven that way. The kids sing it "Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so." It's time to say, "I'm not going to be able to walk to heaven on my own, Lord. Please carry me."
Monday, May 26, 2014
Job 35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: He Knows What You Need
How did Jesus endure the terror of the crucifixion? He went first to the Father with his fears. He modeled the words of Psalm 56:3, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.”
Do the same with yours! And be specific. Jesus was. “Take this cup,” He prayed. Give God the number of the flight. Tell Him the length of the speech. Share the details of the job transfer. He has plenty of time. He also has plenty of compassion. He won’t tell you to “buck up” or “get tough.” He has been where you are. He knows how you feel. And He knows what you need.
That’s why we punctuate our prayers as Jesus did. “If you are willing. . .” Was God willing? Yes and no. He didn’t take away the cross, but he took away the fear. Who’s to say He won’t do the same for you?
From Traveling Light
Job 35
Then Elihu said:
2 “Do you think this is just?
You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’
3 Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,[b]
and what do I gain by not sinning?’
4 “I would like to reply to you
and to your friends with you.
5 Look up at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds so high above you.
6 If you sin, how does that affect him?
If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,
and your righteousness only other people.
9 “People cry out under a load of oppression;
they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than he teaches[c] the beasts of the earth
and makes us wiser than[d] the birds in the sky?’
12 He does not answer when people cry out
because of the arrogance of the wicked.
13 Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;
the Almighty pays no attention to it.
14 How much less, then, will he listen
when you say that you do not see him,
that your case is before him
and you must wait for him,
15 and further, that his anger never punishes
and he does not take the least notice of wickedness.[e]
16 So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;
without knowledge he multiplies words.”
Job 35:3 Or you
Job 35:11 Or night, / 11 who teaches us by
Job 35:11 Or us wise by
Job 35:15 Symmachus, Theodotion and Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Corinthians 1:3-11
Praise to the God of All Comfort
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 1:8 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 8:1; 13:11.
Insight
So often we ask why God allows a hurtful experience to come our way. Today’s reading provides us with at least one very plausible reason for the pain. We are comforted in our afflictions so that we might comfort others in theirs (v.4). Hearing of the faithfulness of God in trials uplifts others who suffer.
A Call To Comfort
By David C. McCasland
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. —2 Corinthians 1:3
In their book Dear Mrs. Kennedy, Jay Mulvaney and Paul De Angelis note that during the weeks following the assassination of US President John Kennedy, his widow, Jacqueline, received nearly one million letters from people in every part of the world. Some came from heads of state, celebrities, and close friends. Others were sent by ordinary people who addressed them to “Madame Kennedy, Washington” and “Mrs. President, America.” All wrote to express their grief and sympathy for her great loss.
When people suffer and we long to help, it’s good to recall Paul’s word-picture of “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” as “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). Our heavenly Father is the ultimate source of every tender mercy, kind word, and helpful act that brings encouragement and healing. Bible scholar W. E. Vine says that paraklesis—the Greek word translated “comfort”—means “a calling to one’s side.” The words comfort and consolation appear repeatedly in today’s Bible reading as a reminder that the Lord holds us close and invites us to cling to Him.
As the Lord wraps His loving arms around us, we are able to embrace others “with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (v.4).
Father, thank You for letting us share with You
our worries and cares. We’re grateful that You
stand beside us to comfort and guide. Help us
to console others as You look out for Your own.
God comforts us so that we can comfort others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 26, 2014
Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught
Pray without ceasing . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:17
Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing . . .”— maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.
Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, “. . . everyone who asks receives . . .” (Matthew 7:8). Yet we say, “But . . . , but . . . .” God answers prayer in the best way— not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?
The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
God's A's - #7141
Monday, May 26, 2014
The day grades come out - that's usually an exciting day in most homes. There are a few kids who come home proudly waving their A's and B's. There are more kids who take their time coming home that day. They hope no one remembers. And then there are some kids who just don't come home at all that day. Of course there are the inevitable discussions about, "Why did you get this grade?" And, "Are you doing your best?" And, "What happens next?" And, "Well, you know what we're going to have to do, don't you?" And then we hear a list of very creative excuses as to why the grades are what they are. The problem is, I'm not sure we're always grading the right things. But I am sure that God does.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's A's."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 4 , and I'm going to read verse 2. "Now it is required to those who have been given a trust..." Let's stop for a minute. That's all of us; we've been trusted with gifts and influence and opportunities. It says, "...those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." Did you notice what it doesn't say? It does not say, "You must prove successful."
Now, the western idea is to grade the result. That's how we are in the western world. We grade whatever the result is. It's the bottom line that counts, right, whatever it takes to get to the bottom line? What are your final grades? Did you win the game or not? Are you a winner? Did you get the award? Did we make a profit? Did you get the prize? In our estimation, winning is always based on the result, but not with God.
No, God says, "I'm looking at faithful." In fact we're told that when we stand before Jesus, the words He will say to those He calls a success are, (And if you know them, say them with me.) "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many." Not, "Well done good and successful servant."
Winning in God's estimation is based on the effort, not the result. Did you do all that you could do? Did you do it with all your heart? Did you treat people lovingly in the process? Did you do it in a way that Jesus would be proud of and not ashamed of? Have you hung in there when you felt like quitting? Have you gone back into the ring for another round when you were beaten and bruised? That's success - whether you won, whether you got the championship or not.
Now, if that's what God looks for, shouldn't we? I mean, let our kids know, let each other know that our expectations have to do with doing your best, not being the best-doing your best. Now, God's kids, because they are princes and princesses in His kingdom should always aim for excellence. But the ultimate issue is 100% effort; being that "count-on-able" person, faithful in your witness for Christ, faithful in your service to Christ. God's surprising heroes!
It's very possible that the world might even consider you a loser. But surprise! Wow! God thinks you are a champion, because His A's are for faithfulness, not success.
How did Jesus endure the terror of the crucifixion? He went first to the Father with his fears. He modeled the words of Psalm 56:3, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.”
Do the same with yours! And be specific. Jesus was. “Take this cup,” He prayed. Give God the number of the flight. Tell Him the length of the speech. Share the details of the job transfer. He has plenty of time. He also has plenty of compassion. He won’t tell you to “buck up” or “get tough.” He has been where you are. He knows how you feel. And He knows what you need.
That’s why we punctuate our prayers as Jesus did. “If you are willing. . .” Was God willing? Yes and no. He didn’t take away the cross, but he took away the fear. Who’s to say He won’t do the same for you?
From Traveling Light
Job 35
Then Elihu said:
2 “Do you think this is just?
You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’
3 Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,[b]
and what do I gain by not sinning?’
4 “I would like to reply to you
and to your friends with you.
5 Look up at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds so high above you.
6 If you sin, how does that affect him?
If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,
and your righteousness only other people.
9 “People cry out under a load of oppression;
they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than he teaches[c] the beasts of the earth
and makes us wiser than[d] the birds in the sky?’
12 He does not answer when people cry out
because of the arrogance of the wicked.
13 Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;
the Almighty pays no attention to it.
14 How much less, then, will he listen
when you say that you do not see him,
that your case is before him
and you must wait for him,
15 and further, that his anger never punishes
and he does not take the least notice of wickedness.[e]
16 So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;
without knowledge he multiplies words.”
Job 35:3 Or you
Job 35:11 Or night, / 11 who teaches us by
Job 35:11 Or us wise by
Job 35:15 Symmachus, Theodotion and Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Corinthians 1:3-11
Praise to the God of All Comfort
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 1:8 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 8:1; 13:11.
Insight
So often we ask why God allows a hurtful experience to come our way. Today’s reading provides us with at least one very plausible reason for the pain. We are comforted in our afflictions so that we might comfort others in theirs (v.4). Hearing of the faithfulness of God in trials uplifts others who suffer.
A Call To Comfort
By David C. McCasland
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. —2 Corinthians 1:3
In their book Dear Mrs. Kennedy, Jay Mulvaney and Paul De Angelis note that during the weeks following the assassination of US President John Kennedy, his widow, Jacqueline, received nearly one million letters from people in every part of the world. Some came from heads of state, celebrities, and close friends. Others were sent by ordinary people who addressed them to “Madame Kennedy, Washington” and “Mrs. President, America.” All wrote to express their grief and sympathy for her great loss.
When people suffer and we long to help, it’s good to recall Paul’s word-picture of “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” as “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). Our heavenly Father is the ultimate source of every tender mercy, kind word, and helpful act that brings encouragement and healing. Bible scholar W. E. Vine says that paraklesis—the Greek word translated “comfort”—means “a calling to one’s side.” The words comfort and consolation appear repeatedly in today’s Bible reading as a reminder that the Lord holds us close and invites us to cling to Him.
As the Lord wraps His loving arms around us, we are able to embrace others “with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (v.4).
Father, thank You for letting us share with You
our worries and cares. We’re grateful that You
stand beside us to comfort and guide. Help us
to console others as You look out for Your own.
God comforts us so that we can comfort others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 26, 2014
Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught
Pray without ceasing . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:17
Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing . . .”— maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.
Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, “. . . everyone who asks receives . . .” (Matthew 7:8). Yet we say, “But . . . , but . . . .” God answers prayer in the best way— not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?
The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
God's A's - #7141
Monday, May 26, 2014
The day grades come out - that's usually an exciting day in most homes. There are a few kids who come home proudly waving their A's and B's. There are more kids who take their time coming home that day. They hope no one remembers. And then there are some kids who just don't come home at all that day. Of course there are the inevitable discussions about, "Why did you get this grade?" And, "Are you doing your best?" And, "What happens next?" And, "Well, you know what we're going to have to do, don't you?" And then we hear a list of very creative excuses as to why the grades are what they are. The problem is, I'm not sure we're always grading the right things. But I am sure that God does.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's A's."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 4 , and I'm going to read verse 2. "Now it is required to those who have been given a trust..." Let's stop for a minute. That's all of us; we've been trusted with gifts and influence and opportunities. It says, "...those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." Did you notice what it doesn't say? It does not say, "You must prove successful."
Now, the western idea is to grade the result. That's how we are in the western world. We grade whatever the result is. It's the bottom line that counts, right, whatever it takes to get to the bottom line? What are your final grades? Did you win the game or not? Are you a winner? Did you get the award? Did we make a profit? Did you get the prize? In our estimation, winning is always based on the result, but not with God.
No, God says, "I'm looking at faithful." In fact we're told that when we stand before Jesus, the words He will say to those He calls a success are, (And if you know them, say them with me.) "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many." Not, "Well done good and successful servant."
Winning in God's estimation is based on the effort, not the result. Did you do all that you could do? Did you do it with all your heart? Did you treat people lovingly in the process? Did you do it in a way that Jesus would be proud of and not ashamed of? Have you hung in there when you felt like quitting? Have you gone back into the ring for another round when you were beaten and bruised? That's success - whether you won, whether you got the championship or not.
Now, if that's what God looks for, shouldn't we? I mean, let our kids know, let each other know that our expectations have to do with doing your best, not being the best-doing your best. Now, God's kids, because they are princes and princesses in His kingdom should always aim for excellence. But the ultimate issue is 100% effort; being that "count-on-able" person, faithful in your witness for Christ, faithful in your service to Christ. God's surprising heroes!
It's very possible that the world might even consider you a loser. But surprise! Wow! God thinks you are a champion, because His A's are for faithfulness, not success.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Job 34 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Follow Me
“‘Follow Me,’” [Jesus] told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.” Matthew 2:9, NIV
You gotta wonder what Jesus saw in Matthew . . .
Whatever it was, it must’ve been something. Matthew heard the call and never went back. He spent the rest of his life convincing folks that the carpenter was the King. Jesus gave the call and never took it back. He spent his life dying for people like Matthew, convincing a lot of us that if he had a place for Matthew, he just might have a place for us.
Job 34
Then Elihu said:
2 “Hear my words, you wise men;
listen to me, you men of learning.
3 For the ear tests words
as the tongue tastes food.
4 Let us discern for ourselves what is right;
let us learn together what is good.
5 “Job says, ‘I am innocent,
but God denies me justice.
6 Although I am right,
I am considered a liar;
although I am guiltless,
his arrow inflicts an incurable wound.’
7 Is there anyone like Job,
who drinks scorn like water?
8 He keeps company with evildoers;
he associates with the wicked.
9 For he says, ‘There is no profit
in trying to please God.’
10 “So listen to me, you men of understanding.
Far be it from God to do evil,
from the Almighty to do wrong.
11 He repays everyone for what they have done;
he brings on them what their conduct deserves.
12 It is unthinkable that God would do wrong,
that the Almighty would pervert justice.
13 Who appointed him over the earth?
Who put him in charge of the whole world?
14 If it were his intention
and he withdrew his spirit[a] and breath,
15 all humanity would perish together
and mankind would return to the dust.
16 “If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
17 Can someone who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn the just and mighty One?
18 Is he not the One who says to kings, ‘You are worthless,’
and to nobles, ‘You are wicked,’
19 who shows no partiality to princes
and does not favor the rich over the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?
20 They die in an instant, in the middle of the night;
the people are shaken and they pass away;
the mighty are removed without human hand.
21 “His eyes are on the ways of mortals;
he sees their every step.
22 There is no deep shadow, no utter darkness,
where evildoers can hide.
23 God has no need to examine people further,
that they should come before him for judgment.
24 Without inquiry he shatters the mighty
and sets up others in their place.
25 Because he takes note of their deeds,
he overthrows them in the night and they are crushed.
26 He punishes them for their wickedness
where everyone can see them,
27 because they turned from following him
and had no regard for any of his ways.
28 They caused the cry of the poor to come before him,
so that he heard the cry of the needy.
29 But if he remains silent, who can condemn him?
If he hides his face, who can see him?
Yet he is over individual and nation alike,
30 to keep the godless from ruling,
from laying snares for the people.
31 “Suppose someone says to God,
‘I am guilty but will offend no more.
32 Teach me what I cannot see;
if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.’
33 Should God then reward you on your terms,
when you refuse to repent?
You must decide, not I;
so tell me what you know.
34 “Men of understanding declare,
wise men who hear me say to me,
35 ‘Job speaks without knowledge;
his words lack insight.’
36 Oh, that Job might be tested to the utmost
for answering like a wicked man!
37 To his sin he adds rebellion;
scornfully he claps his hands among us
and multiplies his words against God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Mark 6:30-36
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
Insight
When Jesus asked His disciples to go to a deserted place and rest (Mark 6:31), He was telling them to do something that He had often done with them. Jesus had withdrawn with His disciples to the sea (2:13; 3:7) or up on the mountain (3:13). Jesus was also in the habit of withdrawing from the crowds to a solitary place to rest and to spend time talking with His Father (Matt. 14:13,23; 26:36; Mark 1:35; 6:46; Luke 4:42; 6:12; John 6:15). “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16).
Pace Yourself
By Dennis Fisher
Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. —Mark 6:31
Not long ago I developed a physical problem. My left shoulder and arm were aching, I had a painful rash on my forearm and thumb, and I struggled daily with fatigue. When I finally went to the doctor, I learned that I had a case of shingles. The doctor put me on antiviral medication and said it would take several weeks for the disease to run its course.
Because of this illness, I had to force myself into a new routine. A short nap in the morning and one in the afternoon were necessary to give me the strength to be productive. Until I recovered, I had to learn to pace myself.
At one point when Jesus sent His representatives out to teach in His name, they were so excited with all they were doing that they neglected to take time to eat and rest properly. When they returned, Christ told them: “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).
Everyone needs rest, and if we go too long without it, we will suffer physically and emotionally. We also will be unable to carry out our responsibilities as well as we should. Is the Lord encouraging you to “come aside . . . and rest a while”? Sometimes a few more rest stops with Him may be necessary.
I come aside from the world of strife,
With its burdens, trials, and the cares of life
To a beautiful, quiet, restful place
Where I commune with my Jesus face to face. —Brandt
To avoid a breakdown, take a break for rest and prayer.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, May 25, 2014
The Good or The Best?
If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left —Genesis 13:9
As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you. These things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God make your choice for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider, if you were not living the life of faith. But if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and allow God to make your choice for you. This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice.
Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.
Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, “. . . walk before Me. . .” (Genesis 17:1).
“‘Follow Me,’” [Jesus] told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.” Matthew 2:9, NIV
You gotta wonder what Jesus saw in Matthew . . .
Whatever it was, it must’ve been something. Matthew heard the call and never went back. He spent the rest of his life convincing folks that the carpenter was the King. Jesus gave the call and never took it back. He spent his life dying for people like Matthew, convincing a lot of us that if he had a place for Matthew, he just might have a place for us.
Job 34
Then Elihu said:
2 “Hear my words, you wise men;
listen to me, you men of learning.
3 For the ear tests words
as the tongue tastes food.
4 Let us discern for ourselves what is right;
let us learn together what is good.
5 “Job says, ‘I am innocent,
but God denies me justice.
6 Although I am right,
I am considered a liar;
although I am guiltless,
his arrow inflicts an incurable wound.’
7 Is there anyone like Job,
who drinks scorn like water?
8 He keeps company with evildoers;
he associates with the wicked.
9 For he says, ‘There is no profit
in trying to please God.’
10 “So listen to me, you men of understanding.
Far be it from God to do evil,
from the Almighty to do wrong.
11 He repays everyone for what they have done;
he brings on them what their conduct deserves.
12 It is unthinkable that God would do wrong,
that the Almighty would pervert justice.
13 Who appointed him over the earth?
Who put him in charge of the whole world?
14 If it were his intention
and he withdrew his spirit[a] and breath,
15 all humanity would perish together
and mankind would return to the dust.
16 “If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
17 Can someone who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn the just and mighty One?
18 Is he not the One who says to kings, ‘You are worthless,’
and to nobles, ‘You are wicked,’
19 who shows no partiality to princes
and does not favor the rich over the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?
20 They die in an instant, in the middle of the night;
the people are shaken and they pass away;
the mighty are removed without human hand.
21 “His eyes are on the ways of mortals;
he sees their every step.
22 There is no deep shadow, no utter darkness,
where evildoers can hide.
23 God has no need to examine people further,
that they should come before him for judgment.
24 Without inquiry he shatters the mighty
and sets up others in their place.
25 Because he takes note of their deeds,
he overthrows them in the night and they are crushed.
26 He punishes them for their wickedness
where everyone can see them,
27 because they turned from following him
and had no regard for any of his ways.
28 They caused the cry of the poor to come before him,
so that he heard the cry of the needy.
29 But if he remains silent, who can condemn him?
If he hides his face, who can see him?
Yet he is over individual and nation alike,
30 to keep the godless from ruling,
from laying snares for the people.
31 “Suppose someone says to God,
‘I am guilty but will offend no more.
32 Teach me what I cannot see;
if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.’
33 Should God then reward you on your terms,
when you refuse to repent?
You must decide, not I;
so tell me what you know.
34 “Men of understanding declare,
wise men who hear me say to me,
35 ‘Job speaks without knowledge;
his words lack insight.’
36 Oh, that Job might be tested to the utmost
for answering like a wicked man!
37 To his sin he adds rebellion;
scornfully he claps his hands among us
and multiplies his words against God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Mark 6:30-36
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
Insight
When Jesus asked His disciples to go to a deserted place and rest (Mark 6:31), He was telling them to do something that He had often done with them. Jesus had withdrawn with His disciples to the sea (2:13; 3:7) or up on the mountain (3:13). Jesus was also in the habit of withdrawing from the crowds to a solitary place to rest and to spend time talking with His Father (Matt. 14:13,23; 26:36; Mark 1:35; 6:46; Luke 4:42; 6:12; John 6:15). “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16).
Pace Yourself
By Dennis Fisher
Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. —Mark 6:31
Not long ago I developed a physical problem. My left shoulder and arm were aching, I had a painful rash on my forearm and thumb, and I struggled daily with fatigue. When I finally went to the doctor, I learned that I had a case of shingles. The doctor put me on antiviral medication and said it would take several weeks for the disease to run its course.
Because of this illness, I had to force myself into a new routine. A short nap in the morning and one in the afternoon were necessary to give me the strength to be productive. Until I recovered, I had to learn to pace myself.
At one point when Jesus sent His representatives out to teach in His name, they were so excited with all they were doing that they neglected to take time to eat and rest properly. When they returned, Christ told them: “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).
Everyone needs rest, and if we go too long without it, we will suffer physically and emotionally. We also will be unable to carry out our responsibilities as well as we should. Is the Lord encouraging you to “come aside . . . and rest a while”? Sometimes a few more rest stops with Him may be necessary.
I come aside from the world of strife,
With its burdens, trials, and the cares of life
To a beautiful, quiet, restful place
Where I commune with my Jesus face to face. —Brandt
To avoid a breakdown, take a break for rest and prayer.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, May 25, 2014
The Good or The Best?
If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left —Genesis 13:9
As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you. These things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God make your choice for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider, if you were not living the life of faith. But if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and allow God to make your choice for you. This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice.
Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.
Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, “. . . walk before Me. . .” (Genesis 17:1).
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Matthew 14:1-21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: At Once, Man and God
Christ—at once, man and God. Colossians 2:9 says, “For in Christ there is all of God in a human body.” Jesus was not a godlike man, nor a manlike God. He was God-man. What do we do with such a person? One thing is certain, we can’t ignore Him. He is the single most significant person who ever lived. Forget MVP; He is the entire league. The head of the parade? Hardly. No one else shares the street.
Dismiss Him? We can’t. Resist Him? Equally difficult.
Don’t we need a God-man Savior? A just-God Jesus could make us but not understand us. A just-man Jesus could love us but never save us. But a God-man Jesus? Near enough to touch. Strong enough to trust. A Savior found by millions to be irresistible.
As the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:8, nothing compares to “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
from Next Door Savior
Matthew 14:1-21
New International Version (NIV)
John the Baptist Beheaded
14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, 2 and he said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
3 Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet.
6 On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much 7 that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[d] (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Footnotes:
Matthew 1:18 Or The origin of Jesus the Messiah was like this
Matthew 1:19 Or was a righteous man and
Matthew 1:21 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves.
Matthew 1:23 Isaiah 7:14
Insight
In his book Miracles, C. S. Lewis answers the argument against the virgin birth that suggests first-century people did not understand natural law. To this, Lewis responds that the whole motive for Joseph considering breaking the engagement was that he understood where babies come from (v.19). It took an angel in a dream to point to the supernatural source of Mary’s conception. First-century people, like believers today, understood that for a virgin to give birth would require a miracle.
An Appropriate Name
By Bill Crowder
You shall call His name Jesus. —Matthew 1:21
The name of the southeastern Asian nation of Indonesia is formed by combining two Greek words which together mean “island.” That name is appropriate because Indonesia is made up of more than 17,500 islands spanning nearly 750,000 square miles. Indonesia—an appropriate name for a nation of islands.
In the Bible, we find that people were often given names—sometimes at birth, sometimes later—that made a statement about them or their character. Barnabas, whose name means “son of encouragement,” continually encouraged those he encountered. Jacob, whose name means “schemer,” repeatedly manipulated people and situations for his own selfish ends.
And no one has ever been more appropriately named than Jesus. When the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph about Mary’s soon-to-be-born Son, he told Joseph, “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
Jesus means “the Lord saves” and defines both who Jesus is and why He came. He was also called Immanuel, which means “God with us” (1:23). His name reveals our eternal hope!
How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear. —Newton
The name of Jesus is at the heart of our faith and our hope.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, May 24, 2014
The Delight of Despair
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead —Revelation 1:17
It may be that, like the apostle John, you know Jesus Christ intimately. Yet when He suddenly appears to you with totally unfamiliar characteristics, the only thing you can do is fall “at His feet as dead.” There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awesomeness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair. You experience this joy in hopelessness, realizing that if you are ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God.
“He laid His right hand on me . . .” (Revelation 1:17). In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, and the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27), full of support, provision, comfort, and strength. And once His touch comes, nothing at all can throw you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory, the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, saying, “Do not be afraid” (Revelation 1:17). His tenderness is inexpressibly sweet. Do I know Him like that?
Take a look at some of the things that cause despair. There is despair which has no delight, no limits whatsoever, and no hope of anything brighter. But the delight of despair comes when “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells . . .” (Romans 7:18). I delight in knowing that there is something in me which must fall prostrate before God when He reveals Himself to me, and also in knowing that if I am ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I recognize the limits of what is humanly possible, allowing Him to do the impossible.
Christ—at once, man and God. Colossians 2:9 says, “For in Christ there is all of God in a human body.” Jesus was not a godlike man, nor a manlike God. He was God-man. What do we do with such a person? One thing is certain, we can’t ignore Him. He is the single most significant person who ever lived. Forget MVP; He is the entire league. The head of the parade? Hardly. No one else shares the street.
Dismiss Him? We can’t. Resist Him? Equally difficult.
Don’t we need a God-man Savior? A just-God Jesus could make us but not understand us. A just-man Jesus could love us but never save us. But a God-man Jesus? Near enough to touch. Strong enough to trust. A Savior found by millions to be irresistible.
As the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:8, nothing compares to “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
from Next Door Savior
Matthew 14:1-21
New International Version (NIV)
John the Baptist Beheaded
14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, 2 and he said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
3 Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet.
6 On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much 7 that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[d] (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Footnotes:
Matthew 1:18 Or The origin of Jesus the Messiah was like this
Matthew 1:19 Or was a righteous man and
Matthew 1:21 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves.
Matthew 1:23 Isaiah 7:14
Insight
In his book Miracles, C. S. Lewis answers the argument against the virgin birth that suggests first-century people did not understand natural law. To this, Lewis responds that the whole motive for Joseph considering breaking the engagement was that he understood where babies come from (v.19). It took an angel in a dream to point to the supernatural source of Mary’s conception. First-century people, like believers today, understood that for a virgin to give birth would require a miracle.
An Appropriate Name
By Bill Crowder
You shall call His name Jesus. —Matthew 1:21
The name of the southeastern Asian nation of Indonesia is formed by combining two Greek words which together mean “island.” That name is appropriate because Indonesia is made up of more than 17,500 islands spanning nearly 750,000 square miles. Indonesia—an appropriate name for a nation of islands.
In the Bible, we find that people were often given names—sometimes at birth, sometimes later—that made a statement about them or their character. Barnabas, whose name means “son of encouragement,” continually encouraged those he encountered. Jacob, whose name means “schemer,” repeatedly manipulated people and situations for his own selfish ends.
And no one has ever been more appropriately named than Jesus. When the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph about Mary’s soon-to-be-born Son, he told Joseph, “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
Jesus means “the Lord saves” and defines both who Jesus is and why He came. He was also called Immanuel, which means “God with us” (1:23). His name reveals our eternal hope!
How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear. —Newton
The name of Jesus is at the heart of our faith and our hope.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, May 24, 2014
The Delight of Despair
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead —Revelation 1:17
It may be that, like the apostle John, you know Jesus Christ intimately. Yet when He suddenly appears to you with totally unfamiliar characteristics, the only thing you can do is fall “at His feet as dead.” There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awesomeness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair. You experience this joy in hopelessness, realizing that if you are ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God.
“He laid His right hand on me . . .” (Revelation 1:17). In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, and the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27), full of support, provision, comfort, and strength. And once His touch comes, nothing at all can throw you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory, the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, saying, “Do not be afraid” (Revelation 1:17). His tenderness is inexpressibly sweet. Do I know Him like that?
Take a look at some of the things that cause despair. There is despair which has no delight, no limits whatsoever, and no hope of anything brighter. But the delight of despair comes when “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells . . .” (Romans 7:18). I delight in knowing that there is something in me which must fall prostrate before God when He reveals Himself to me, and also in knowing that if I am ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I recognize the limits of what is humanly possible, allowing Him to do the impossible.
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