Max Lucado Daily: Your Place at God’s Table
Angry. Sullen. Accusatory. Whiny. Put them all together in one word and spell it b-i-t-t-e-r. If you put them all in one person, that person’s in the pit, the dungeon of bitterness. The dungeon calls you to enter. You can, you know. You’ve experienced enough hurt. You’ve been betrayed enough times. You can choose, like many, to chain yourself to your hurt.
Or you can choose, like some, to put away your hurts. You can choose to go to the party. You have a place there. If you’re a child of God, no one can take away your sonship. Which is precisely what the father said to his prodigal son in Luke 15. “You are always with me; all that I have is yours.”
What you have is more important than what you don’t have, and that is, your relationship with God the Father! Your place at God’s table is permanent!
from He Still Moves Stones
Genesis 48
Manasseh and Ephraim
Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. 2 When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty[m] appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me 4 and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’
5 “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6 Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. 7 As I was returning from Paddan,[n] to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).
8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?”
9 “They are the sons God has given me here,” Joseph said to his father.
Then Israel said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.”
10 Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.
11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.”
12 Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. 13 And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. 14 But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully,
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life to this day,
16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm
—may he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they increase greatly
on the earth.”
17 When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.” 20 He blessed them that day and said,
“In your[o] name will Israel pronounce this blessing:
‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”
So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you[p] and take you[q] back to the land of your[r] fathers. 22 And to you I give one more ridge of land[s] than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Proverbs 18:1-10
An unfriendly person pursues selfish ends
and against all sound judgment starts quarrels.
2 Fools find no pleasure in understanding
but delight in airing their own opinions.
3 When wickedness comes, so does contempt,
and with shame comes reproach.
4 The words of the mouth are deep waters,
but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.
5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked
and so deprive the innocent of justice.
6 The lips of fools bring them strife,
and their mouths invite a beating.
7 The mouths of fools are their undoing,
and their lips are a snare to their very lives.
8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
they go down to the inmost parts.
9 One who is slack in his work
is brother to one who destroys.
10 The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.
Insight
The book of Proverbs provides us with insight on everything from words to work to relationships. Interestingly, sprinkled throughout the book are sayings that don’t tell us something about life but rather about God. Yet those theological truths should not be separated from the idea of practical day-to-day living. It is as important to know that the name of the Lord is strong and provides safety (18:10) as it is to know that a fool’s mouth leads to his destruction (v.7).
The Power Of A Name
By Joe Stowell
The name of the Lord is a strong tower. —Proverbs 18:10
Nicknames are often descriptive of some noticeable aspect of a person’s character or physical attributes. Growing up, my elementary school friends brutally called me “liver lips” since at that stage of development my lips seemed disproportionately large. Needless to say, I have always been glad that the name didn’t stick.
Unlike my nickname, I love the names of God that describe His magnificent characteristics. God is so wonderfully multifaceted that He has many names that communicate His capabilities and character. To name just a few, He is:
Elohim, the God above all gods
Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides
El-Shaddai, the almighty God
Jehovah Rapha, our healer God
Jehovah Shalom, our God of peace
Jehovah Shamma, our God who is present
Jehovah Yahweh, our loving, covenant-keeping God
It’s no wonder the writer of Proverbs encourages us to remember that “the name of the Lord is a strong tower,” that in times of need God-fearing people run to it and “are safe” (Prov. 18:10). When unwelcome circumstances threaten you and you feel vulnerable, reflect on one of God’s names. Be assured—He will be faithful to His name.
Lord, remind us that Your names reveal Your
character. Help us to remember them in our times
of need and distress. Thank You for the assurance
that You are faithful to Your name.
God’s names, which describe His character, can bring comfort when we need it most.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, July 12, 2014
The Spiritually Self-Seeking Church
. . . till we all come . . . to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . . —Ephesians 4:13
Reconciliation means the restoring of the relationship between the entire human race and God, putting it back to what God designed it to be. This is what Jesus Christ did in redemption. The church ceases to be spiritual when it becomes self-seeking, only interested in the development of its own organization. The reconciliation of the human race according to His plan means realizing Him not only in our lives individually, but also in our lives collectively. Jesus Christ sent apostles and teachers for this very purpose— that the corporate Person of Christ and His church, made up of many members, might be brought into being and made known. We are not here to develop a spiritual life of our own, or to enjoy a quiet spiritual retreat. We are here to have the full realization of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of building His body.
Am I building up the body of Christ, or am I only concerned about my own personal development? The essential thing is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “. . . that I may know Him. . .” (Philippians 3:10). To fulfill God’s perfect design for me requires my total surrender— complete abandonment of myself to Him. Whenever I only want things for myself, the relationship is distorted. And I will suffer great humiliation once I come to acknowledge and understand that I have not really been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ Himself, but only concerned with knowing what He has done for me.
My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace, Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.
Am I measuring my life by this standard or by something less?
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
Genesis 47 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Judgment is God's Job
There is power in revenge. Intoxicating power. Haven't we tasted it? Haven't we been tempted to get even? As we escort the offender into the courtroom, we announce, "He hurt me!" and jurors shake their heads in disgust. "He abandoned me!" we explain, and the chambers echo with our accusation. "Guilty!" the judge snarls as he slams the gavel. "Guilty!" the jury agrees. We delight in this moment of justice. We relish this pound of flesh.
I don't mean to be cocky, but why are you doing God's work for Him? "Vengeance" is Mine," God declared. "I will repay." Proverbs 20:22 says, "Don't say, 'I'll pay you back for the wrong you did.' Wait for the Lord, and He will make things right." Judgment is God's job. To assume otherwise is to assume God can't do it. God has not asked us to settle the score or get even. Ever!
From When God Whispers Your Name
Genesis 47
Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.” 2 He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.
3 Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?”
“Your servants are shepherds,” they replied to Pharaoh, “just as our fathers were.” 4 They also said to him, “We have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants’ flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.”
5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you, 6 and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.”
7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed[i] Pharaoh, 8 Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”
9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” 10 Then Jacob blessed[j] Pharaoh and went out from his presence.
11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. 12 Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children.
Joseph and the Famine
13 There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 14 Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. 15 When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”
16 “Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.
18 When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, 21 and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,[k] from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
23 Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. 24 But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.”
25 “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”
26 So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s.
27 Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
28 Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. 29 When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.”
“I will do as you say,” he said.
31 “Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.[l]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 4:1-6,17-19
On Denying the Incarnation
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
Footnotes:
1 John 4:6 Or spirit
Insight
First John 4:2-3 is used often by Christians as a test to determine if one is demon-possessed. This ignores the context. John is warning against false prophets who deny the humanity of Christ and teach that Jesus only appeared to be human. A false teacher is one who denies that Jesus Christ is both fully man and fully God.
Paranoia In Reverse
By Philip Yancey
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. —1 John 4:18
I remember watching television news reports in 1991 as the nonviolent revolution took place in the streets of Moscow. Russians who had grown up in totalitarianism suddenly declared, “We will act as if we are free,” taking to the streets and staring down tanks. The contrast between the faces of the leaders inside and the masses outside showed who was really afraid, and who was really free.
Watching the newsreels from Red Square on Finnish television, I came up with a new definition of faith: paranoia in reverse. A truly paranoid person organizes his or her life around a common perspective of fear. Anything that happens feeds that fear.
Faith works in reverse. A faithful person organizes his or her life around a common perspective of trust, not fear. Despite the apparent chaos of the present moment, God does reign. Regardless of how I may feel, I truly matter to a God of love.
What could happen if we in God’s kingdom truly acted as if the words of the apostle John were literally true: “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). What if we really started living as if the most-repeated prayer in Christendom has actually been answered—that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven?
Far, far above thy thought
His counsel shall appear,
When fully He the work hath wrought
That caused thy needless fear. —Gerhardt
Feeding your faith helps starve your fears.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, July 11, 2014
The Spiritually Vigorous Saint
. . . that I may know Him . . . —Philippians 3:10
A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial task. “Jesus, knowing . . . that He had come from God and was going to God, . . . took a towel . . . and began to wash the disciples’ feet . . .” (John 13:3-5).
The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is “that I may know Him . . .” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, July 11, 2014
Mother's Voice is Still There - #7175
The florists have been looking forward to their recliners. They finally get to recover from their busiest day of the year. Well, you know what that is. It was Mother's Day. Hallmark is counting all their Mother's Day card money. Phone companies get pretty happy then, too. It's the busiest calling day of the year. Did you know that? Mother's Day, of course, that's over. It only lasts a day. It's over until next year. Oh, but not their marks on our life.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Mother's Voice Is Still There."
I wrote some short stories when I was a kid, and there was only one person who would listen to me read them - Mom. And as lame as those stories may have been, she watered this wannabe writer with her encouragement. And she was my #1 fan at every activity. She even laughed at my jokes, even if she didn't always get them.
I was thinking today about how our mother's voice and our mother's influence is with us for life. It reminded me of the story of a man named John Newton. That's not a really well-known name. But what he wrote is known around the world.
It's the song they play at virtually every police and fire funeral. At times, it was the song heard almost every day at Ground Zero after September 11, 2001. If people only know one hymn, it's the one John Newton wrote - Amazing Grace.
But no one would have ever - ever - picked John Newton as the writer of an immortal hymn. When his mother died when he was a boy, his seafaring dad took him to sea. That's where John learned the partying and harsh ways of a sailor. As for God, well you could forget about that. Newton's cargo was human beings. Ripped from their families and chained in the belly of some death-trap slave ship.
Until the day a violent storm threatened to sink his ship. In that moment when he knew where his only hope was, John Newton yelled into the storm, "My mother's God - God of mercy - save me!" And his mother's God did. More importantly, his mother's God became John Newton's God that day. His life was saved that day. But so was his soul. Because of that "amazing grace" that enabled him to say, "I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but
now I see."
Over the years many a son or daughter has been the subject of many a mother's prayers. But it could be they've never chosen her God to be their God until the storm. It's when we are suddenly at the mercy of something we can't control, we can't fix, that we finally say, "I'm not enough." And a mother's prayers are finally answered. She may not have lived to see it, but her prayers have followed us wherever we've gone.
John Newton picked a pretty good word to describe a life that we're running instead of the God who gave it to us - lost. I'd still be lost, wondering why I'm here, wondering where I'm going, and what would fill the hole in my heart. If it weren't for the Man who said why He came here in our word today from the Word of God recorded in the Bible in Luke 19:10, "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost." That's what Jesus was doing when He was nailed to a cross. He said those three words that change a person's life; that change a person's eternity, "Father, forgive them."
I wonder if you have ever embraced what He did on that cross for you and made the Savior your Savior; knowing that it was your sin He was intending to forgive. But He waits to come in to become your rescuer from your sin. He's come to seek you today through our being together so He could save you for now and forever.
Do you want to know how to begin a relationship with Him? Would you go to our website and just spend a few minutes with me there? It's ANewStory.com. If you've been so blessed to have a mother who's prayed for you, that's a powerful reason to say "Thank you" and to ask her God to save you, as He has so many.
Believe me, there's no need to wait 'til the ship is coming apart.
There is power in revenge. Intoxicating power. Haven't we tasted it? Haven't we been tempted to get even? As we escort the offender into the courtroom, we announce, "He hurt me!" and jurors shake their heads in disgust. "He abandoned me!" we explain, and the chambers echo with our accusation. "Guilty!" the judge snarls as he slams the gavel. "Guilty!" the jury agrees. We delight in this moment of justice. We relish this pound of flesh.
I don't mean to be cocky, but why are you doing God's work for Him? "Vengeance" is Mine," God declared. "I will repay." Proverbs 20:22 says, "Don't say, 'I'll pay you back for the wrong you did.' Wait for the Lord, and He will make things right." Judgment is God's job. To assume otherwise is to assume God can't do it. God has not asked us to settle the score or get even. Ever!
From When God Whispers Your Name
Genesis 47
Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.” 2 He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.
3 Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?”
“Your servants are shepherds,” they replied to Pharaoh, “just as our fathers were.” 4 They also said to him, “We have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants’ flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.”
5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you, 6 and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.”
7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed[i] Pharaoh, 8 Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”
9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” 10 Then Jacob blessed[j] Pharaoh and went out from his presence.
11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. 12 Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children.
Joseph and the Famine
13 There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 14 Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. 15 When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”
16 “Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.
18 When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, 21 and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,[k] from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
23 Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. 24 But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.”
25 “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”
26 So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s.
27 Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
28 Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. 29 When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.”
“I will do as you say,” he said.
31 “Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.[l]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 4:1-6,17-19
On Denying the Incarnation
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
Footnotes:
1 John 4:6 Or spirit
Insight
First John 4:2-3 is used often by Christians as a test to determine if one is demon-possessed. This ignores the context. John is warning against false prophets who deny the humanity of Christ and teach that Jesus only appeared to be human. A false teacher is one who denies that Jesus Christ is both fully man and fully God.
Paranoia In Reverse
By Philip Yancey
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. —1 John 4:18
I remember watching television news reports in 1991 as the nonviolent revolution took place in the streets of Moscow. Russians who had grown up in totalitarianism suddenly declared, “We will act as if we are free,” taking to the streets and staring down tanks. The contrast between the faces of the leaders inside and the masses outside showed who was really afraid, and who was really free.
Watching the newsreels from Red Square on Finnish television, I came up with a new definition of faith: paranoia in reverse. A truly paranoid person organizes his or her life around a common perspective of fear. Anything that happens feeds that fear.
Faith works in reverse. A faithful person organizes his or her life around a common perspective of trust, not fear. Despite the apparent chaos of the present moment, God does reign. Regardless of how I may feel, I truly matter to a God of love.
What could happen if we in God’s kingdom truly acted as if the words of the apostle John were literally true: “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). What if we really started living as if the most-repeated prayer in Christendom has actually been answered—that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven?
Far, far above thy thought
His counsel shall appear,
When fully He the work hath wrought
That caused thy needless fear. —Gerhardt
Feeding your faith helps starve your fears.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, July 11, 2014
The Spiritually Vigorous Saint
. . . that I may know Him . . . —Philippians 3:10
A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial task. “Jesus, knowing . . . that He had come from God and was going to God, . . . took a towel . . . and began to wash the disciples’ feet . . .” (John 13:3-5).
The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is “that I may know Him . . .” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, July 11, 2014
Mother's Voice is Still There - #7175
The florists have been looking forward to their recliners. They finally get to recover from their busiest day of the year. Well, you know what that is. It was Mother's Day. Hallmark is counting all their Mother's Day card money. Phone companies get pretty happy then, too. It's the busiest calling day of the year. Did you know that? Mother's Day, of course, that's over. It only lasts a day. It's over until next year. Oh, but not their marks on our life.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Mother's Voice Is Still There."
I wrote some short stories when I was a kid, and there was only one person who would listen to me read them - Mom. And as lame as those stories may have been, she watered this wannabe writer with her encouragement. And she was my #1 fan at every activity. She even laughed at my jokes, even if she didn't always get them.
I was thinking today about how our mother's voice and our mother's influence is with us for life. It reminded me of the story of a man named John Newton. That's not a really well-known name. But what he wrote is known around the world.
It's the song they play at virtually every police and fire funeral. At times, it was the song heard almost every day at Ground Zero after September 11, 2001. If people only know one hymn, it's the one John Newton wrote - Amazing Grace.
But no one would have ever - ever - picked John Newton as the writer of an immortal hymn. When his mother died when he was a boy, his seafaring dad took him to sea. That's where John learned the partying and harsh ways of a sailor. As for God, well you could forget about that. Newton's cargo was human beings. Ripped from their families and chained in the belly of some death-trap slave ship.
Until the day a violent storm threatened to sink his ship. In that moment when he knew where his only hope was, John Newton yelled into the storm, "My mother's God - God of mercy - save me!" And his mother's God did. More importantly, his mother's God became John Newton's God that day. His life was saved that day. But so was his soul. Because of that "amazing grace" that enabled him to say, "I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but
now I see."
Over the years many a son or daughter has been the subject of many a mother's prayers. But it could be they've never chosen her God to be their God until the storm. It's when we are suddenly at the mercy of something we can't control, we can't fix, that we finally say, "I'm not enough." And a mother's prayers are finally answered. She may not have lived to see it, but her prayers have followed us wherever we've gone.
John Newton picked a pretty good word to describe a life that we're running instead of the God who gave it to us - lost. I'd still be lost, wondering why I'm here, wondering where I'm going, and what would fill the hole in my heart. If it weren't for the Man who said why He came here in our word today from the Word of God recorded in the Bible in Luke 19:10, "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost." That's what Jesus was doing when He was nailed to a cross. He said those three words that change a person's life; that change a person's eternity, "Father, forgive them."
I wonder if you have ever embraced what He did on that cross for you and made the Savior your Savior; knowing that it was your sin He was intending to forgive. But He waits to come in to become your rescuer from your sin. He's come to seek you today through our being together so He could save you for now and forever.
Do you want to know how to begin a relationship with Him? Would you go to our website and just spend a few minutes with me there? It's ANewStory.com. If you've been so blessed to have a mother who's prayed for you, that's a powerful reason to say "Thank you" and to ask her God to save you, as He has so many.
Believe me, there's no need to wait 'til the ship is coming apart.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Genesis 46 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: I Choose
It's quiet. It's early. For the next 12 hours I'll be exposed to the day's demands. It's now that I must make a choice. And so I choose-love. I will love God and what God loves.
I choose joy.
I choose peace. I will live forgiven.
I choose patience-Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I'll thank God for a moment to pray.
I choose kindness-for that's how God has treated me.
I choose goodness.
I choose faithfulness. Today I'll keep my promises. My wife will not question my love.
I choose gentleness. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.
I choose self-control. I will be impassioned only by my faith and influenced only by God.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When this day is done, I'll place my head on my pillow and rest.
From When God Whispers Your Name
Genesis 46
Jacob Goes to Egypt
So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”
5 Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. 6 So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. 7 Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.
8 These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt:
Reuben the firstborn of Jacob.
9 The sons of Reuben:
Hanok, Pallu, Hezron and Karmi.
10 The sons of Simeon:
Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.
11 The sons of Levi:
Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
12 The sons of Judah:
Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan).
The sons of Perez:
Hezron and Hamul.
13 The sons of Issachar:
Tola, Puah,[a] Jashub[b] and Shimron.
14 The sons of Zebulun:
Sered, Elon and Jahleel.
15 These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram,[c] besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all.
16 The sons of Gad:
Zephon,[d] Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi and Areli.
17 The sons of Asher:
Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah.
Their sister was Serah.
The sons of Beriah:
Heber and Malkiel.
18 These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.
19 The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel:
Joseph and Benjamin. 20 In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.[e]
21 The sons of Benjamin:
Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard.
22 These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob—fourteen in all.
23 The son of Dan:
Hushim.
24 The sons of Naphtali:
Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem.
25 These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.
26 All those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons’ wives—numbered sixty-six persons. 27 With the two sons[f] who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy[g] in all.
28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father[h] and wept for a long time.
30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”
31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Insight
The superscription for Psalm 121 is “A Song of Ascents.” This designation is actually given to the collection of psalms that includes Psalms 120–134. Called “a psalter within the psalter” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, these songs were sung by Jewish pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem for the three primary feast times of the year. The reason for calling them songs of “ascent” is that Jerusalem is the highest point in Israel, so people going to Jerusalem were always going up.
Look To The Hills
By Bill Crowder
I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. —Psalm 121:1-2
Atop Corcovado Mountain overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, stands Christ the Redeemer, one of the tallest statues of Christ in the world. Standing 30 meters tall, with arms spreading 28 meters, this sculpture weighs 635 metric tons. It can be seen day or night from almost anywhere in the city. One look to the hills brings this figure of Christ the Redeemer into view.
The New Testament tells us that Christ is not only the Redeemer, but He is also the Creator of the universe, and that Creator is in view in Psalm 121. There the psalmist challenges us to lift our eyes to the hills to see God, for our “help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (vv.1-2). He alone is sufficient to be our strength and to guide our steps as we make our way through a dangerous and troubled world.
We lift our eyes to the One who keeps us (v.3), guards us (vv.5-6), and overshadows us in the face of all types of danger. He preserves us from evil and keeps us safely in His care for all eternity (vv.7-8).
In faith, we lift our eyes to the One who is our Redeemer and Creator. He is our help and our hope and our eternal home.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home! —Watts
Christ was lifted up that He might lift us up.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, July 10, 2014
The Spiritually Lazy Saint
Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together . . . —Hebrews 10:24-25
We are all capable of being spiritually lazy saints. We want to stay off the rough roads of life, and our primary objective is to secure a peaceful retreat from the world. The ideas put forth in these verses from Hebrews 10 are those of stirring up one another and of keeping ourselves together. Both of these require initiative— our willingness to take the first step toward Christ-realization, not the initiative toward self-realization. To live a distant, withdrawn, and secluded life is diametrically opposed to spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it.
The true test of our spirituality occurs when we come up against injustice, degradation, ingratitude, and turmoil, all of which have the tendency to make us spiritually lazy. While being tested, we want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of finding a quiet retreat. We use God only for the sake of getting peace and joy. We seek only our enjoyment of Jesus Christ, not a true realization of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things we are seeking are simply effects, and yet we try to make them causes.
“Yes, I think it is right,” Peter said, “. . . to stir you up by reminding you . . .” (2 Peter 1:13). It is a most disturbing thing to be hit squarely in the stomach by someone being used of God to stir us up— someone who is full of spiritual activity. Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The real danger in spiritual laziness is that we do not want to be stirred up— all we want to hear about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement— He says, “Go and tell My brethren . . .” (Matthew 28:10).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Big Ears - #7174
I recently heard a story about a farmer who was suing for damages that he had incurred in an automobile accident. A truck hit his pickup truck, and
his pickup was totaled. Well, he was being cross-examined in court by the insurance company attorney who said, "Sir, the report that was taken at
the scene said you told the officer you were fine. Can you explain that?" In other words, why was he suing? And I understand the farmer said, "Me
and my old cow, Bessy, was driving down the road in my pickup truck."
Well, the attorney objected. He said, "Your Honor, wait a minute! He's not answering the question." And the judge said, "Sir, you do have to answer
the question. Would you please?" "Me and my old cow, Bessy, was driving down the road in my pickup truck." Well, now the attorney is a little more
ticked. He said, "He is evading the question, your Honor. I object! Make him answer the question."
The judge said, "Well, maybe we ought to hear everything he has to say." "Me and my..." You want to say it with me now? "Me and my old cow, Bessy,
was driving down the road in my pickup truck, when suddenly this big old semi came across the road and hit us and threw me out of the truck; landed
on the highway. Pretty soon I saw this big old officer standing over me, and I said, 'How is Bessy?' And he said, 'Well, I went over and Bessy
wasn't doing well at all, so I took out my gun and I shot her.' Then he asked me, 'Now, how are you doing?'" I guess he was fine. See, hearing the
rest of the story can make a very big difference.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Big Ears."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from James 1:19. In a way it's a big ears verse. Here's what it says, "Everyone should be quick to
listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." I remember Warren Wiersbe saying one time, "People get most of their exercise jumping to
conclusions." Well, it's true. It's like the attorney with that farmer. If you'd be silent long enough to hear the whole story, it might change
everything.
That's probably why it says in this verse that people who are quick to listen are slow to become angry. Because they get the rest of the story, and
that often makes the difference. Now, listening makes a big difference in whether or not you understand the other person. You've got to be willing
to hear their whole paragraph, not just the opening sentence and you think you know the rest of it.
A lot of times we just impatiently think, "Yeah, I know what you're going to say." But listen! Hear their heart, not just their words. I mean, this
is basic to a married couple being able to grow into oneness. Or people in a church or a business who have different viewpoints. It's essential to
listen to find some middle ground.
Listening also makes a big difference in whether or not you are listened to. Nowhere is this more important than between parents and kids. When a
parent speaks without listening, which we so often do, that parent has forfeited a lot of authority when they speak. You cut off the communication
that every parent so desperately wants. Our children need to hear our wisdom about their friends, their school work, their music, and their love
life. But they're not going to hear it if we don't win the right to be heard by listening.
And when you're sharing Jesus with someone, don't be a gospel machine gun. Listen! Find out where their need is first. Find out about their
background. One way to show a person you really care is to have big ears. It's very hard for someone to talk into a big mouth. Listen aggressively
with your eyes, with your hands. Ask that second or third question that shows you really care. "How are you doing?" "Fine." "Really? Are you
really?" You can't imagine how much your relationship could be improved by heeding this simple advice from the Word of God, "be quick to listen."
So here's the question for today. When I ask it, I want you to think about the people around you in your personal universe. Would they call me a
good listener? If you haven't been listening, tell them you're sorry you haven't and that you're asking God to help you change.
Beginning today, give the people around you that great gift of your big ears.
It's quiet. It's early. For the next 12 hours I'll be exposed to the day's demands. It's now that I must make a choice. And so I choose-love. I will love God and what God loves.
I choose joy.
I choose peace. I will live forgiven.
I choose patience-Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I'll thank God for a moment to pray.
I choose kindness-for that's how God has treated me.
I choose goodness.
I choose faithfulness. Today I'll keep my promises. My wife will not question my love.
I choose gentleness. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.
I choose self-control. I will be impassioned only by my faith and influenced only by God.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When this day is done, I'll place my head on my pillow and rest.
From When God Whispers Your Name
Genesis 46
Jacob Goes to Egypt
So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”
5 Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. 6 So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. 7 Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.
8 These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt:
Reuben the firstborn of Jacob.
9 The sons of Reuben:
Hanok, Pallu, Hezron and Karmi.
10 The sons of Simeon:
Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.
11 The sons of Levi:
Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
12 The sons of Judah:
Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan).
The sons of Perez:
Hezron and Hamul.
13 The sons of Issachar:
Tola, Puah,[a] Jashub[b] and Shimron.
14 The sons of Zebulun:
Sered, Elon and Jahleel.
15 These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram,[c] besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all.
16 The sons of Gad:
Zephon,[d] Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi and Areli.
17 The sons of Asher:
Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah.
Their sister was Serah.
The sons of Beriah:
Heber and Malkiel.
18 These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.
19 The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel:
Joseph and Benjamin. 20 In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.[e]
21 The sons of Benjamin:
Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard.
22 These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob—fourteen in all.
23 The son of Dan:
Hushim.
24 The sons of Naphtali:
Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem.
25 These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.
26 All those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons’ wives—numbered sixty-six persons. 27 With the two sons[f] who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy[g] in all.
28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father[h] and wept for a long time.
30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”
31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Insight
The superscription for Psalm 121 is “A Song of Ascents.” This designation is actually given to the collection of psalms that includes Psalms 120–134. Called “a psalter within the psalter” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, these songs were sung by Jewish pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem for the three primary feast times of the year. The reason for calling them songs of “ascent” is that Jerusalem is the highest point in Israel, so people going to Jerusalem were always going up.
Look To The Hills
By Bill Crowder
I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. —Psalm 121:1-2
Atop Corcovado Mountain overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, stands Christ the Redeemer, one of the tallest statues of Christ in the world. Standing 30 meters tall, with arms spreading 28 meters, this sculpture weighs 635 metric tons. It can be seen day or night from almost anywhere in the city. One look to the hills brings this figure of Christ the Redeemer into view.
The New Testament tells us that Christ is not only the Redeemer, but He is also the Creator of the universe, and that Creator is in view in Psalm 121. There the psalmist challenges us to lift our eyes to the hills to see God, for our “help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (vv.1-2). He alone is sufficient to be our strength and to guide our steps as we make our way through a dangerous and troubled world.
We lift our eyes to the One who keeps us (v.3), guards us (vv.5-6), and overshadows us in the face of all types of danger. He preserves us from evil and keeps us safely in His care for all eternity (vv.7-8).
In faith, we lift our eyes to the One who is our Redeemer and Creator. He is our help and our hope and our eternal home.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home! —Watts
Christ was lifted up that He might lift us up.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, July 10, 2014
The Spiritually Lazy Saint
Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together . . . —Hebrews 10:24-25
We are all capable of being spiritually lazy saints. We want to stay off the rough roads of life, and our primary objective is to secure a peaceful retreat from the world. The ideas put forth in these verses from Hebrews 10 are those of stirring up one another and of keeping ourselves together. Both of these require initiative— our willingness to take the first step toward Christ-realization, not the initiative toward self-realization. To live a distant, withdrawn, and secluded life is diametrically opposed to spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it.
The true test of our spirituality occurs when we come up against injustice, degradation, ingratitude, and turmoil, all of which have the tendency to make us spiritually lazy. While being tested, we want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of finding a quiet retreat. We use God only for the sake of getting peace and joy. We seek only our enjoyment of Jesus Christ, not a true realization of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things we are seeking are simply effects, and yet we try to make them causes.
“Yes, I think it is right,” Peter said, “. . . to stir you up by reminding you . . .” (2 Peter 1:13). It is a most disturbing thing to be hit squarely in the stomach by someone being used of God to stir us up— someone who is full of spiritual activity. Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The real danger in spiritual laziness is that we do not want to be stirred up— all we want to hear about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement— He says, “Go and tell My brethren . . .” (Matthew 28:10).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Big Ears - #7174
I recently heard a story about a farmer who was suing for damages that he had incurred in an automobile accident. A truck hit his pickup truck, and
his pickup was totaled. Well, he was being cross-examined in court by the insurance company attorney who said, "Sir, the report that was taken at
the scene said you told the officer you were fine. Can you explain that?" In other words, why was he suing? And I understand the farmer said, "Me
and my old cow, Bessy, was driving down the road in my pickup truck."
Well, the attorney objected. He said, "Your Honor, wait a minute! He's not answering the question." And the judge said, "Sir, you do have to answer
the question. Would you please?" "Me and my old cow, Bessy, was driving down the road in my pickup truck." Well, now the attorney is a little more
ticked. He said, "He is evading the question, your Honor. I object! Make him answer the question."
The judge said, "Well, maybe we ought to hear everything he has to say." "Me and my..." You want to say it with me now? "Me and my old cow, Bessy,
was driving down the road in my pickup truck, when suddenly this big old semi came across the road and hit us and threw me out of the truck; landed
on the highway. Pretty soon I saw this big old officer standing over me, and I said, 'How is Bessy?' And he said, 'Well, I went over and Bessy
wasn't doing well at all, so I took out my gun and I shot her.' Then he asked me, 'Now, how are you doing?'" I guess he was fine. See, hearing the
rest of the story can make a very big difference.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Big Ears."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from James 1:19. In a way it's a big ears verse. Here's what it says, "Everyone should be quick to
listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." I remember Warren Wiersbe saying one time, "People get most of their exercise jumping to
conclusions." Well, it's true. It's like the attorney with that farmer. If you'd be silent long enough to hear the whole story, it might change
everything.
That's probably why it says in this verse that people who are quick to listen are slow to become angry. Because they get the rest of the story, and
that often makes the difference. Now, listening makes a big difference in whether or not you understand the other person. You've got to be willing
to hear their whole paragraph, not just the opening sentence and you think you know the rest of it.
A lot of times we just impatiently think, "Yeah, I know what you're going to say." But listen! Hear their heart, not just their words. I mean, this
is basic to a married couple being able to grow into oneness. Or people in a church or a business who have different viewpoints. It's essential to
listen to find some middle ground.
Listening also makes a big difference in whether or not you are listened to. Nowhere is this more important than between parents and kids. When a
parent speaks without listening, which we so often do, that parent has forfeited a lot of authority when they speak. You cut off the communication
that every parent so desperately wants. Our children need to hear our wisdom about their friends, their school work, their music, and their love
life. But they're not going to hear it if we don't win the right to be heard by listening.
And when you're sharing Jesus with someone, don't be a gospel machine gun. Listen! Find out where their need is first. Find out about their
background. One way to show a person you really care is to have big ears. It's very hard for someone to talk into a big mouth. Listen aggressively
with your eyes, with your hands. Ask that second or third question that shows you really care. "How are you doing?" "Fine." "Really? Are you
really?" You can't imagine how much your relationship could be improved by heeding this simple advice from the Word of God, "be quick to listen."
So here's the question for today. When I ask it, I want you to think about the people around you in your personal universe. Would they call me a
good listener? If you haven't been listening, tell them you're sorry you haven't and that you're asking God to help you change.
Beginning today, give the people around you that great gift of your big ears.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Matthew 22:23-46, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Definition of Greed
Jesus had a definition for greed. He called it the practice of measuring life by possessions! Greed equates a person's worth with a person's purse. You got a lot equals you are a lot. You got a little equals you are little. The consequence of such a philosophy is predictable. If you are the sum of what you own, then by all means own it all. No price is too high. No payment is too much. But God's foremost rule of finance is that we own nothing. We are managers, not owners. Stewards, not landlords. Maintenance people, not proprietors.
Our money is not ours, it is His. It's not as if God kept the future a secret. One glance at a cemetery should remind us that everyone dies. The Bible says, "The Lord owns the world and everything in it-the heavens, even the highest heavens, are his!" (Psalm 24:1). This includes our money.
From When God Whispers Your Name
Matthew 22:23-46
Marriage at the Resurrection
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[a]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[b] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Whose Son Is the Messiah?
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’[d]
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Footnotes:
Matthew 22:32 Exodus 3:6
Matthew 22:37 Deut. 6:5
Matthew 22:39 Lev. 19:18
Matthew 22:44 Psalm 110
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Job 38:1-11
The Lord Speaks
“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’?
Footnotes:
Job 38:7 Hebrew the sons of God
Insight
Our familiarity with the story of Job may cause us to overlook some of the significant aspects of his story. It is important to notice the unity of the book of Job. The wisdom, power, and control that God asks Job to consider in chapters 38–41 is the same wisdom, power, and control we read about in the opening chapters when God allows Satan to turn Job’s life upside down and inside out. We should not disconnect God’s wisdom seen in the world around us from the wisdom with which He works in our lives.
Asking Different Questions
By Dave Branon
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? —Job 38:4
When tragedy strikes, questions follow. Our loss of a loved one may lead us to ask God any number of pointed questions: “Why did You let this happen?” “Whose fault was this?” “Don’t You care about my pain?” Believe me, as the grieving father of a teenager who died tragically I have asked these very questions.
The book of Job records the questions Job asks as he sits down with friends to lament his suffering. He had lost his family as well as his health and possessions. At one point, he asks, “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter of soul?” (3:20). Later, he asks, “What strength do I have, that I should hope?” (6:11). And, “Does it seem good to You that You should oppress?” (10:3). Many have stood near a headstone placed too early and asked similar questions.
But when you read all the way to the end of the book, you get a surprise. When God responds to Job (chs. 38–41), He does it in an unexpected way. He turns the tables and asks Job questions—different questions that show His wisdom and sovereignty. Questions about His magnificent creation—the earth, stars, and sea. And the questions all point to this: God is sovereign. God is all-powerful. God is love. And God knows what He is doing.
We comprehend Him not,
Yet earth and heaven tell,
God sits as sovereign on the throne,
And ruleth all things well. —Gerhardt
Our greatest comfort in sorrow is to know that God is in control.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Will You Examine Yourself?
Joshua said to the people, ’You cannot serve the Lord . . .’ —Joshua 24:19
Do you have even the slightest reliance on anything or anyone other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural quality within you, or on any particular set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any manner whatsoever regarding this new proposal or plan which God has placed before you? Will you examine yourself by asking these probing questions? It really is true to say, “I cannot live a holy life,” but you can decide to let Jesus Christ make you holy. “You cannot serve the Lord . . .”— but you can place yourself in the proper position where God’s almighty power will flow through you. Is your relationship with God sufficient for you to expect Him to exhibit His wonderful life in you?
“The people said to Joshua, ’No, but we will serve the Lord!” (Joshua 24:21). This is not an impulsive action, but a deliberate commitment. We tend to say, “But God could never have called me to this. I’m too unworthy. It can’t mean me.” It does mean you, and the more weak and feeble you are, the better. The person who is still relying and trusting in anything within himself is the last person to even come close to saying, “I will serve the Lord.”
We say, “Oh, if only I really could believe!” The question is, “Will I believe?” No wonder Jesus Christ placed such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. “He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). If we really believed that God meant what He said, just imagine what we would be like! Do I really dare to let God be to me all that He says He will be?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Breaking the "Gimme" Barrier - #7173
It is just an unforgettable experience to visit the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Everywhere you go in Haiti there are children. Their
needs are tremendous, and they're doing what they've got to do to try to meet some of those needs.
Now, they don't speak English, they speak French or Creole. But they do know a few words of English. The children that we met did know at least
three words, and they used them over and over again. Swarms of children would surround us, assuming that we were Americans and so we were rich. And
each one was saying those three words which almost came out as one, "Gimme money! Gimme money!" And they'd ask you over and over again. Now, there
are some American kids who seem to have a similar vocabulary, limited as well when they communicate with their parents. It's very hard to build a
relationship on that.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Breaking the 'Gimme' Barrier."
Which brings us to our word for today from the Word of God which comes from Matthew chapter 6, beginning at verse 9, where Jesus says, "This, then,
is how you should pray." He goes on to take us beyond what is our usual approach to prayer, which is not unlike those kids in Haiti, "Gimme money.
Give me what I need." Jesus shows us how to pray beyond 'gimme'.
I think you're familiar with the prayer. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil." I wonder if when God sees us coming He is saying, "Here he comes again with another 'gimme'. (Whatever it is.)" "Gimme me this; gimme me
that. Sure wish he/she knew how to say something else."
Maybe that's what a parent feels when most of what they hear from their son or their daughter is 'gimmes'. Jesus suggests a way to talk to God that
breaks the 'gimme' barrier and opens the way to a real prayer relationship. And I think we could boil it down to what I call five sentences for
heaven. I suggest to new believers that they actually write a letter to God beginning with these sentences.
Sentence number one for a real relationship is praying, "I love you." For He says, "Our Father in heaven" that affectionate term God has asked us to
call Him. Why don't you just start out saying, "Lord, I love You." And spend a little time just loving your Lord and telling Him some reasons you
do.
Then He talks about "hallowed be Your name" as He reflects on all that God is and all that God has done. There's a sense of being awed by God and
all He's done for them. Here's the second sentence, "Thank you for..." Review the last 24 hours and thank the Lord for some specific things He's
done. Then thirdly, He says, "forgive us our debts." How about this, "Lord, I'm sorry for..."
See, the Bible says if you cherish sin in your heart the Lord will not hear you. Every time we pray we need to take out the garbage, confess our sin
and say, "Lord, I am so sorry for these ways that I have displeased or hurt You."
And the fourth one is where we always like to get to, "Give us today our daily bread." Please, that's where you say, "Please." You make your
requests. And you make them specific requests like daily bread. You are able to focus this awesome God on your personal need.
And then, finally, "Lord, I promise..." "Don't lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." In other words, "I want to live pure. I
promise You, Lord, this is how I'm going to live today." And notice it says, "Give us today." This is a daily, updated every day prayer. "Today I
love You because_____. "Today I thank You because _____." "Today I'm sorry because _____." "Today, Lord, I need_____." "Today, I promise _____."
It's a beautiful way to pray, as you would expect from any model Jesus would give.
It's a great way to build a relationship with God beyond chasing a Father with endless "gimme" gimmes. This is prayer that takes you beyond just the
pockets of your Father to your Father's heart. Isn't that where you really want to be?
Jesus had a definition for greed. He called it the practice of measuring life by possessions! Greed equates a person's worth with a person's purse. You got a lot equals you are a lot. You got a little equals you are little. The consequence of such a philosophy is predictable. If you are the sum of what you own, then by all means own it all. No price is too high. No payment is too much. But God's foremost rule of finance is that we own nothing. We are managers, not owners. Stewards, not landlords. Maintenance people, not proprietors.
Our money is not ours, it is His. It's not as if God kept the future a secret. One glance at a cemetery should remind us that everyone dies. The Bible says, "The Lord owns the world and everything in it-the heavens, even the highest heavens, are his!" (Psalm 24:1). This includes our money.
From When God Whispers Your Name
Matthew 22:23-46
Marriage at the Resurrection
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[a]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[b] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Whose Son Is the Messiah?
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’[d]
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Footnotes:
Matthew 22:32 Exodus 3:6
Matthew 22:37 Deut. 6:5
Matthew 22:39 Lev. 19:18
Matthew 22:44 Psalm 110
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Job 38:1-11
The Lord Speaks
“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’?
Footnotes:
Job 38:7 Hebrew the sons of God
Insight
Our familiarity with the story of Job may cause us to overlook some of the significant aspects of his story. It is important to notice the unity of the book of Job. The wisdom, power, and control that God asks Job to consider in chapters 38–41 is the same wisdom, power, and control we read about in the opening chapters when God allows Satan to turn Job’s life upside down and inside out. We should not disconnect God’s wisdom seen in the world around us from the wisdom with which He works in our lives.
Asking Different Questions
By Dave Branon
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? —Job 38:4
When tragedy strikes, questions follow. Our loss of a loved one may lead us to ask God any number of pointed questions: “Why did You let this happen?” “Whose fault was this?” “Don’t You care about my pain?” Believe me, as the grieving father of a teenager who died tragically I have asked these very questions.
The book of Job records the questions Job asks as he sits down with friends to lament his suffering. He had lost his family as well as his health and possessions. At one point, he asks, “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter of soul?” (3:20). Later, he asks, “What strength do I have, that I should hope?” (6:11). And, “Does it seem good to You that You should oppress?” (10:3). Many have stood near a headstone placed too early and asked similar questions.
But when you read all the way to the end of the book, you get a surprise. When God responds to Job (chs. 38–41), He does it in an unexpected way. He turns the tables and asks Job questions—different questions that show His wisdom and sovereignty. Questions about His magnificent creation—the earth, stars, and sea. And the questions all point to this: God is sovereign. God is all-powerful. God is love. And God knows what He is doing.
We comprehend Him not,
Yet earth and heaven tell,
God sits as sovereign on the throne,
And ruleth all things well. —Gerhardt
Our greatest comfort in sorrow is to know that God is in control.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Will You Examine Yourself?
Joshua said to the people, ’You cannot serve the Lord . . .’ —Joshua 24:19
Do you have even the slightest reliance on anything or anyone other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural quality within you, or on any particular set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any manner whatsoever regarding this new proposal or plan which God has placed before you? Will you examine yourself by asking these probing questions? It really is true to say, “I cannot live a holy life,” but you can decide to let Jesus Christ make you holy. “You cannot serve the Lord . . .”— but you can place yourself in the proper position where God’s almighty power will flow through you. Is your relationship with God sufficient for you to expect Him to exhibit His wonderful life in you?
“The people said to Joshua, ’No, but we will serve the Lord!” (Joshua 24:21). This is not an impulsive action, but a deliberate commitment. We tend to say, “But God could never have called me to this. I’m too unworthy. It can’t mean me.” It does mean you, and the more weak and feeble you are, the better. The person who is still relying and trusting in anything within himself is the last person to even come close to saying, “I will serve the Lord.”
We say, “Oh, if only I really could believe!” The question is, “Will I believe?” No wonder Jesus Christ placed such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. “He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). If we really believed that God meant what He said, just imagine what we would be like! Do I really dare to let God be to me all that He says He will be?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Breaking the "Gimme" Barrier - #7173
It is just an unforgettable experience to visit the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Everywhere you go in Haiti there are children. Their
needs are tremendous, and they're doing what they've got to do to try to meet some of those needs.
Now, they don't speak English, they speak French or Creole. But they do know a few words of English. The children that we met did know at least
three words, and they used them over and over again. Swarms of children would surround us, assuming that we were Americans and so we were rich. And
each one was saying those three words which almost came out as one, "Gimme money! Gimme money!" And they'd ask you over and over again. Now, there
are some American kids who seem to have a similar vocabulary, limited as well when they communicate with their parents. It's very hard to build a
relationship on that.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Breaking the 'Gimme' Barrier."
Which brings us to our word for today from the Word of God which comes from Matthew chapter 6, beginning at verse 9, where Jesus says, "This, then,
is how you should pray." He goes on to take us beyond what is our usual approach to prayer, which is not unlike those kids in Haiti, "Gimme money.
Give me what I need." Jesus shows us how to pray beyond 'gimme'.
I think you're familiar with the prayer. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil." I wonder if when God sees us coming He is saying, "Here he comes again with another 'gimme'. (Whatever it is.)" "Gimme me this; gimme me
that. Sure wish he/she knew how to say something else."
Maybe that's what a parent feels when most of what they hear from their son or their daughter is 'gimmes'. Jesus suggests a way to talk to God that
breaks the 'gimme' barrier and opens the way to a real prayer relationship. And I think we could boil it down to what I call five sentences for
heaven. I suggest to new believers that they actually write a letter to God beginning with these sentences.
Sentence number one for a real relationship is praying, "I love you." For He says, "Our Father in heaven" that affectionate term God has asked us to
call Him. Why don't you just start out saying, "Lord, I love You." And spend a little time just loving your Lord and telling Him some reasons you
do.
Then He talks about "hallowed be Your name" as He reflects on all that God is and all that God has done. There's a sense of being awed by God and
all He's done for them. Here's the second sentence, "Thank you for..." Review the last 24 hours and thank the Lord for some specific things He's
done. Then thirdly, He says, "forgive us our debts." How about this, "Lord, I'm sorry for..."
See, the Bible says if you cherish sin in your heart the Lord will not hear you. Every time we pray we need to take out the garbage, confess our sin
and say, "Lord, I am so sorry for these ways that I have displeased or hurt You."
And the fourth one is where we always like to get to, "Give us today our daily bread." Please, that's where you say, "Please." You make your
requests. And you make them specific requests like daily bread. You are able to focus this awesome God on your personal need.
And then, finally, "Lord, I promise..." "Don't lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." In other words, "I want to live pure. I
promise You, Lord, this is how I'm going to live today." And notice it says, "Give us today." This is a daily, updated every day prayer. "Today I
love You because_____. "Today I thank You because _____." "Today I'm sorry because _____." "Today, Lord, I need_____." "Today, I promise _____."
It's a beautiful way to pray, as you would expect from any model Jesus would give.
It's a great way to build a relationship with God beyond chasing a Father with endless "gimme" gimmes. This is prayer that takes you beyond just the
pockets of your Father to your Father's heart. Isn't that where you really want to be?
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Genesis 45, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God's Grace
I've never been surprised by God's judgment, but I'm still stunned by His grace! God's judgment has never been a problem for me. Lightning bolts on Sodom…fire on Gomorrah… good job, God! Discipline is easy for me to swallow; it's logical to assimilate.
But God's grace? Anything but. Peter denied Christ before he preached Christ. The thief on the cross was hell-bent and hung out to die one minute, then heaven-bound and smiling the next. I challenge you to find one story in the Bible of a person who came to God seeking grace and did not find it. I dare you. God gives a lot more grace than we would ever imagine.
We could do the same. I'm not for watering down the truth or compromising the Gospel. One thing is for sure. When we get to heaven, we'll be surprised at some of the folks we see. And some of them will be surprised when they see us.
From When God Whispers Your Name
Genesis 45
Joseph Makes Himself Known
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.
3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.[b]
8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’
12 “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”
14 Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.
16 When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan, 18 and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.’
19 “You are also directed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. 20 Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.’”
21 So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. 22 To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels[c] of silver and five sets of clothes. 23 And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!”
25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Genesis 45:7 Or save you as a great band of survivors
Genesis 45:22 That is, about 7 1/2 pounds or about 3.5 kilograms
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 4:6-9
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Insight
Jesus taught us not to worry, because we can entrust our needs to our heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us deeply (Matt. 6:25-34; 7:9-11; 1 Peter 5:7). In Philippians 4, Paul follows Jesus’ example and encourages us to replace our anxieties with expectant trust and grateful prayer. The “peace of God” (v.7) is not a psychological state of mind but an inner calm or tranquility. This peace comes from a confident trust in God who answers prayers (v.6), from a disciplined spiritual perspective, and from a deliberate practice of Christian virtues (v.9). Those who entrust themselves to God will not only experience the peace of God (v.7), but “the God of peace” Himself will be with them (v.9).
Uncertain Times
By Poh Fang Chia
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:7
During a major economic downturn several years ago, many people lost their jobs. Sadly, my brother-in-law was one of them. Writing to me about their situation, my sister shared that although there were uncertainties, they had peace because they knew that God would care for them.
Believers in Jesus can have peace in the midst of uncertainties because we have the assurance that our heavenly Father loves His children and cares for our needs (Matt. 6:25-34). We can bring all our concerns to Him with an attitude of thankfulness, trusting Him to meet our needs and give us peace (Phil. 4:6-7).
“The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,” writes the apostle Paul, “will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (v.7). To say the peace of God surpasses all understanding reveals that we can’t explain it, but we can experience it as He guards our hearts and minds.
Our peace comes from the confidence that the Lord loves us and He is in control. He alone provides the comfort that settles our nerves, fills our minds with hope, and allows us to relax even in the midst of changes and challenges.
Heavenly Father, You are all-wise, all-powerful, and
all-loving. In the midst of uncertainties, help me to
rest in the certainty of who You are. I thank You
that Your peace will guard my heart. I place my trust in You.
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. —Isaiah 26:3
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Will To Be Faithful
. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . —Joshua 24:15
A person’s will is embodied in the actions of the whole person. I cannot give up my will— I must exercise it, putting it into action. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God’s Spirit. When God gives me a vision of truth, there is never a question of what He will do, but only of what I will do. The Lord has been placing in front of each of us some big proposals and plans. The best thing to do is to remember what you did before when you were touched by God. Recall the moment when you were saved, or first recognized Jesus, or realized some truth. It was easy then to yield your allegiance to God. Immediately recall those moments each time the Spirit of God brings some new proposal before you.
“. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. . . .” Your choice must be a deliberate determination— it is not something into which you will automatically drift. And everything else in your life will be held in temporary suspension until you make a decision. The proposal is between you and God— do not “confer with flesh and blood” about it (Galatians 1:16). With every new proposal, the people around us seem to become more and more isolated, and that is where the tension develops. God allows the opinion of His other saints to matter to you, and yet you become less and less certain that others really understand the step you are taking. You have no business trying to find out where God is leading— the only thing God will explain to you is Himself.
Openly declare to Him, “I will be faithful.” But remember that as soon as you choose to be faithful to Jesus Christ, “You are witnesses against yourselves . . .” (Joshua 24:22). Don’t consult with other Christians, but simply and freely declare before Him, “I will serve You.” Will to be faithful— and give other people credit for being faithful too.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Three Ways Any Captain Can Sink His Ship - #7172
It was absolutely awful. I can remember the images of that Korean ferry just rolling into the sea with all those passengers disappearing with it beneath the waves. A lot of them were teenagers. It was heartbreaking to look at all those loved ones on the dock, grieving inconsolably over children who would never come home again. What was outrageous was that the captain was one of the first to abandon ship. They charged him with negligence of duty and abandoning people in need. Sadly, there are a lot of captains that can be charged with those crimes.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Three Ways Any Captain Can Sink His Ship."
See, I'm talking about being the captain of your family. The ship starts to drift...the crew gets confused...the vessel is in danger of a fatal turn when Dad keeps "abandoning ship."
When the cruise ship Costa Concordia shipwrecked off the coast of Italy, again it was the captain who was charged. A maritime lawyer said at that time: "The captain is the master of the vessel. Every crew member looks to the captain for guidance and leadership. It's the captain's responsibility to know the waters and avoid coming close to any shoals and reefs."
Sad to say, I've sometimes gotten too busy to know the waters that our family ship was navigating; when this captain was "below decks" at a critical point. We know there's a devastating epidemic of fatherlessness in families these days. But it isn't just dads who are physically absent. You can be emotionally absent, and that may be even more damaging; around your family but not with your family. There, but not really there. "Abandoning people in need."
A daughter, missing her father's love, ends up looking for that love in all the wrong places. A son who can't get his father's approval or attention, growing angrier by the day. A wife who's left to run things alone. In many ways, the ferry disaster mirrors the family disaster caused by a "captain's" three tragic mistakes.
Number one - leaving the wheel. It appears that the ferry captain left the ship in the hands of a third mate at a decisive turning point. How many of us husbands have forfeited leadership when the going got rough, when finances were turbulent, when discipline was needed, when hard choices had to be made? Criminal negligence.
Our word for today from the Word of God, Proverbs 27:23-24. Here's what they say: "Be sure you know the condition of your flocks. (May I say your family.) Give careful attention to your herds. For riches do not endure forever and a crown is not secure for all generations." Translation: Take care of it or risk losing it all.
There's a second way a captain can sink his family ship - looking out for me. Apparently, that ferry captain was so concerned about himself that he left his passengers to fend for themselves. "Me first" while those he was responsible for were going down.
I'm sorry, but that hits a little too close to home for some of us. Consumed with our personal pursuits, our work, recreation, sports, hobby, toys; effectively oblivious to the leadership that we're abandoning.
And then a third way that any captain can sink his ship is providing no guidance. There are dangerous passages. There are rocks to avoid. There are crises requiring direction. And a husband - a father - cannot be AWOL when a steady hand at the wheel is needed. Along with a wise, reassuring guide when the water is rising.
I have to confess this to you. I don't know how in the world to be a dad today without the power of Jesus Christ to change the man that I am, and give me the love of Christ and the power of Christ, and the insight of Christ. If I didn't have Jesus as my Savior, being a dad would have driven me to my knees to find Him. Being a dad is when you find out you're not enough by yourself. You're not in control. You're not in charge. You need a Savior.
Today if you're a dad, and maybe the ship is not going the right direction, let this be the day your family gets a new dad, as you turn that dad over to Jesus Christ. If you'll go to our website, I'd love to meet you there and talk about it. It's ANewStory.com.
I've never been surprised by God's judgment, but I'm still stunned by His grace! God's judgment has never been a problem for me. Lightning bolts on Sodom…fire on Gomorrah… good job, God! Discipline is easy for me to swallow; it's logical to assimilate.
But God's grace? Anything but. Peter denied Christ before he preached Christ. The thief on the cross was hell-bent and hung out to die one minute, then heaven-bound and smiling the next. I challenge you to find one story in the Bible of a person who came to God seeking grace and did not find it. I dare you. God gives a lot more grace than we would ever imagine.
We could do the same. I'm not for watering down the truth or compromising the Gospel. One thing is for sure. When we get to heaven, we'll be surprised at some of the folks we see. And some of them will be surprised when they see us.
From When God Whispers Your Name
Genesis 45
Joseph Makes Himself Known
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.
3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.[b]
8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’
12 “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”
14 Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.
16 When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan, 18 and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.’
19 “You are also directed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. 20 Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.’”
21 So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. 22 To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels[c] of silver and five sets of clothes. 23 And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!”
25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Genesis 45:7 Or save you as a great band of survivors
Genesis 45:22 That is, about 7 1/2 pounds or about 3.5 kilograms
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 4:6-9
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Insight
Jesus taught us not to worry, because we can entrust our needs to our heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us deeply (Matt. 6:25-34; 7:9-11; 1 Peter 5:7). In Philippians 4, Paul follows Jesus’ example and encourages us to replace our anxieties with expectant trust and grateful prayer. The “peace of God” (v.7) is not a psychological state of mind but an inner calm or tranquility. This peace comes from a confident trust in God who answers prayers (v.6), from a disciplined spiritual perspective, and from a deliberate practice of Christian virtues (v.9). Those who entrust themselves to God will not only experience the peace of God (v.7), but “the God of peace” Himself will be with them (v.9).
Uncertain Times
By Poh Fang Chia
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:7
During a major economic downturn several years ago, many people lost their jobs. Sadly, my brother-in-law was one of them. Writing to me about their situation, my sister shared that although there were uncertainties, they had peace because they knew that God would care for them.
Believers in Jesus can have peace in the midst of uncertainties because we have the assurance that our heavenly Father loves His children and cares for our needs (Matt. 6:25-34). We can bring all our concerns to Him with an attitude of thankfulness, trusting Him to meet our needs and give us peace (Phil. 4:6-7).
“The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,” writes the apostle Paul, “will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (v.7). To say the peace of God surpasses all understanding reveals that we can’t explain it, but we can experience it as He guards our hearts and minds.
Our peace comes from the confidence that the Lord loves us and He is in control. He alone provides the comfort that settles our nerves, fills our minds with hope, and allows us to relax even in the midst of changes and challenges.
Heavenly Father, You are all-wise, all-powerful, and
all-loving. In the midst of uncertainties, help me to
rest in the certainty of who You are. I thank You
that Your peace will guard my heart. I place my trust in You.
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. —Isaiah 26:3
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Will To Be Faithful
. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . —Joshua 24:15
A person’s will is embodied in the actions of the whole person. I cannot give up my will— I must exercise it, putting it into action. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God’s Spirit. When God gives me a vision of truth, there is never a question of what He will do, but only of what I will do. The Lord has been placing in front of each of us some big proposals and plans. The best thing to do is to remember what you did before when you were touched by God. Recall the moment when you were saved, or first recognized Jesus, or realized some truth. It was easy then to yield your allegiance to God. Immediately recall those moments each time the Spirit of God brings some new proposal before you.
“. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. . . .” Your choice must be a deliberate determination— it is not something into which you will automatically drift. And everything else in your life will be held in temporary suspension until you make a decision. The proposal is between you and God— do not “confer with flesh and blood” about it (Galatians 1:16). With every new proposal, the people around us seem to become more and more isolated, and that is where the tension develops. God allows the opinion of His other saints to matter to you, and yet you become less and less certain that others really understand the step you are taking. You have no business trying to find out where God is leading— the only thing God will explain to you is Himself.
Openly declare to Him, “I will be faithful.” But remember that as soon as you choose to be faithful to Jesus Christ, “You are witnesses against yourselves . . .” (Joshua 24:22). Don’t consult with other Christians, but simply and freely declare before Him, “I will serve You.” Will to be faithful— and give other people credit for being faithful too.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Three Ways Any Captain Can Sink His Ship - #7172
It was absolutely awful. I can remember the images of that Korean ferry just rolling into the sea with all those passengers disappearing with it beneath the waves. A lot of them were teenagers. It was heartbreaking to look at all those loved ones on the dock, grieving inconsolably over children who would never come home again. What was outrageous was that the captain was one of the first to abandon ship. They charged him with negligence of duty and abandoning people in need. Sadly, there are a lot of captains that can be charged with those crimes.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Three Ways Any Captain Can Sink His Ship."
See, I'm talking about being the captain of your family. The ship starts to drift...the crew gets confused...the vessel is in danger of a fatal turn when Dad keeps "abandoning ship."
When the cruise ship Costa Concordia shipwrecked off the coast of Italy, again it was the captain who was charged. A maritime lawyer said at that time: "The captain is the master of the vessel. Every crew member looks to the captain for guidance and leadership. It's the captain's responsibility to know the waters and avoid coming close to any shoals and reefs."
Sad to say, I've sometimes gotten too busy to know the waters that our family ship was navigating; when this captain was "below decks" at a critical point. We know there's a devastating epidemic of fatherlessness in families these days. But it isn't just dads who are physically absent. You can be emotionally absent, and that may be even more damaging; around your family but not with your family. There, but not really there. "Abandoning people in need."
A daughter, missing her father's love, ends up looking for that love in all the wrong places. A son who can't get his father's approval or attention, growing angrier by the day. A wife who's left to run things alone. In many ways, the ferry disaster mirrors the family disaster caused by a "captain's" three tragic mistakes.
Number one - leaving the wheel. It appears that the ferry captain left the ship in the hands of a third mate at a decisive turning point. How many of us husbands have forfeited leadership when the going got rough, when finances were turbulent, when discipline was needed, when hard choices had to be made? Criminal negligence.
Our word for today from the Word of God, Proverbs 27:23-24. Here's what they say: "Be sure you know the condition of your flocks. (May I say your family.) Give careful attention to your herds. For riches do not endure forever and a crown is not secure for all generations." Translation: Take care of it or risk losing it all.
There's a second way a captain can sink his family ship - looking out for me. Apparently, that ferry captain was so concerned about himself that he left his passengers to fend for themselves. "Me first" while those he was responsible for were going down.
I'm sorry, but that hits a little too close to home for some of us. Consumed with our personal pursuits, our work, recreation, sports, hobby, toys; effectively oblivious to the leadership that we're abandoning.
And then a third way that any captain can sink his ship is providing no guidance. There are dangerous passages. There are rocks to avoid. There are crises requiring direction. And a husband - a father - cannot be AWOL when a steady hand at the wheel is needed. Along with a wise, reassuring guide when the water is rising.
I have to confess this to you. I don't know how in the world to be a dad today without the power of Jesus Christ to change the man that I am, and give me the love of Christ and the power of Christ, and the insight of Christ. If I didn't have Jesus as my Savior, being a dad would have driven me to my knees to find Him. Being a dad is when you find out you're not enough by yourself. You're not in control. You're not in charge. You need a Savior.
Today if you're a dad, and maybe the ship is not going the right direction, let this be the day your family gets a new dad, as you turn that dad over to Jesus Christ. If you'll go to our website, I'd love to meet you there and talk about it. It's ANewStory.com.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Genesis 44, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Keep it Brief
I believe in brevity. And since you've given me a minute of your time, I shouldn't take more than my share. Over the years I've collected some "brief" statements of truth. Share them when you can. But if you do…keep it brief!
Pray all the time. If necessary, use words.
God forgets the past. Imitate Him.
Greed I've often regretted. Generosity-never.
In buying a gift for your wife, practicality can be more expensive than extravagance.
Here's another: Don't ask God to do what you want. Ask God to do what is right.
You'll give up on yourself before God will.
Flattery is fancy dishonesty.
You'll regret opening your mouth. You'll rarely regret keeping it shut.
And I'll close with this one: To see sin without grace is despair. To see grace without sin is arrogance. To see them in tandem is conversion!
From When God Whispers Your Name
Genesis 44
A Silver Cup in a Sack
Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack. 2 Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said.
3 As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. 4 They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? 5 Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.’”
6 When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. 7 But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! 8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? 9 If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”
10 “Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.”
11 Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. 12 Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.
14 Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What is this you have done? Don’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?”
16 “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.”
17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.”
18 Then Judah went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 20 And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’
21 “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’ 22 And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’ 23 But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ 24 When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.
25 “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’ 26 But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’
27 “Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. 29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.’
30 “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life, 31 sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow. 32 Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’
33 “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. 34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 9:1-6
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5 If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.
Insight
Luke records that Jesus gave the disciples “power and authority” (9:1). He does not relate the specific situations the disciples faced or the people’s reaction to these 12 new miracle workers who were suddenly working in Israel. Instead, Luke simply found it important to record, “So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere” (v.6). Luke’s emphasis was on Jesus. He was the one who gave His disciples the authority. It’s important to remember that power and authority are always His to give.
The Jaws Of Death
By Marvin Williams
They departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. —Luke 9:6
Lauren Kornacki is glad she took that summer CPR class, but she probably never thought she would have to use it so soon and on someone she loves. Her father was repairing his car when the jack slipped and the car fell on him. Lauren, a 22-year-old, reportedly heroically lifted the 3,300-pound car enough to pull him from underneath! Then she kept him alive with CPR until the paramedics arrived.
Far greater than Lauren’s rescue of her father from the jaws of death is Jesus’ rescue of us from the clutches of sin by His death and resurrection. When Jesus sent the 12 disciples to carry out His work, He gave them the assignment to preach the good news of God’s desire to rescue people (Luke 9:1-6). They would not carry this out in their own strength, but Jesus would lift the heavy burden of people’s sin as they taught about Him. Their preaching and healing in Jesus’ power and authority proved that Jesus had actually brought God’s rule to earth.
Many today are trapped under the weight of sin, but our great God can rescue us from underneath those burdens and then send us into the world to tell others that He can set them free.
Thinking It Over
Do you know someone who is trapped under the
burden of sin and needs Jesus’ rescue? In what
practical ways can you be an active agent of Jesus’ love?
Those who’ve been rescued from sin are best able to help in the rescue of others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, July 07, 2014
All Efforts of Worth and Excellence Are Difficult
Enter by the narrow gate . . . . Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life . . . —Matthew 7:13-14
If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in—it stirs us up to overcome. Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest—our best for His glory?
God saves people by His sovereign grace through the atonement of Jesus, and “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). But we have to “work out” that salvation in our everyday, practical living (Philippians 2:12). If we will only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we will find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then when a crisis does come we will find that our own nature, as well as the grace of God, will stand by us.
Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also something that requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of sonship. God’s grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life. And it is always necessary for us to make an effort to live a life of worth and excellence.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, July 07, 2014
Hitting "Enter" - #7171
I've come a long way for a technically challenged person; from never having used a computer to using one of them quite a bit each day. I don't understand all about it, but I know how to use it.
Some lessons I've learned the hard way: Like typing in part of a book or a magazine article or notes of some kind, and then typing in a password to save it with, and then making one fatal mistake. See, apparently you have to hit this little key that says Enter or you won't be seeing that material again. Just because the information appears on the screen doesn't mean you've got it. You have to save it by pressing this Enter command.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hitting 'Enter.'"
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from James 1, beginning at verse 22. God says, "Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does."
Now, these verses are about people who read and hear the Bible a lot. Is that you? Oh, it appears on their mental screen often, but it's people who don't really have it. They read it and then it disappears. See, just hearing and knowing the Word of God does not a Christian make. Just because it's appeared on your screen doesn't make it yours. You've got to hit Enter.
Well, how do you do that? The passage talks about not forgetting what you've read. First of all you have to memorize it. With the pressure that you're under in your life, you've got to know it isn't enough to just have God's Words in your Bible. They've got to be in your heart so you can bring them up on your screen when the pressure's on. You need for Scripture to be a part of your personality, your intuitive responses. That happens when you memorize a promise or a challenge and then you enter it as yours.
I think you are also better able to remember when you write it down. Have you tried keeping a Jesus Journal with your Bible? It's the greatest thing I've ever done in terms of my growth in Christ. After you've read, then you write what God has said to you in your own words and then you write what you're going to do differently that day as a result of what He said. See, you're processing it; you're saving it when you write it. God's words become yours when you use them. During the day, tell someone else the words God has spoken to you. That enters it too. And most of all, you enter the truths of God when you apply what appeared on your Bible screen. In other words you ask yourself, "Lord, what can I apply today to something I'm going to face today?" And then that means that that day you do something that is a specific obedience to what you read in God's Word that morning.
Have you ever wondered how you could have heard so much Bible in your life and still be so far from your spiritual goals? Maybe it's because you've forgotten to press Enter. God's words enter your life forever when you memorize it, when you write it down, when you tell somebody else about it, and when you specifically apply it to your life.
You know, our churches are filled with people who have heard God's Word about what Christ did on the cross, coming out of His grave, our need to pin all our hopes on Jesus and make Him not just the Savior but our personal Savior. And yet those people will not be in heaven, because they knew all about Jesus but they never pressed Enter. They never opened the door of their heart to Jesus and have that saving faith transaction with Him.
If you're not sure you have, I want to invite you to check out our website and let me meet you there to help you know how to begin a relationship with Him for sure. It's ANewStory.com. Take it from someone who has lost information that he couldn't afford to lose. When the message is important, which it always is when it comes from God, make sure you've entered it into your life.
I believe in brevity. And since you've given me a minute of your time, I shouldn't take more than my share. Over the years I've collected some "brief" statements of truth. Share them when you can. But if you do…keep it brief!
Pray all the time. If necessary, use words.
God forgets the past. Imitate Him.
Greed I've often regretted. Generosity-never.
In buying a gift for your wife, practicality can be more expensive than extravagance.
Here's another: Don't ask God to do what you want. Ask God to do what is right.
You'll give up on yourself before God will.
Flattery is fancy dishonesty.
You'll regret opening your mouth. You'll rarely regret keeping it shut.
And I'll close with this one: To see sin without grace is despair. To see grace without sin is arrogance. To see them in tandem is conversion!
From When God Whispers Your Name
Genesis 44
A Silver Cup in a Sack
Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack. 2 Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said.
3 As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. 4 They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? 5 Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.’”
6 When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. 7 But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! 8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? 9 If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”
10 “Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.”
11 Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. 12 Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.
14 Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What is this you have done? Don’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?”
16 “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.”
17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.”
18 Then Judah went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 20 And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’
21 “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’ 22 And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’ 23 But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ 24 When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.
25 “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’ 26 But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’
27 “Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. 29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.’
30 “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life, 31 sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow. 32 Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’
33 “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. 34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 9:1-6
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5 If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.
Insight
Luke records that Jesus gave the disciples “power and authority” (9:1). He does not relate the specific situations the disciples faced or the people’s reaction to these 12 new miracle workers who were suddenly working in Israel. Instead, Luke simply found it important to record, “So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere” (v.6). Luke’s emphasis was on Jesus. He was the one who gave His disciples the authority. It’s important to remember that power and authority are always His to give.
The Jaws Of Death
By Marvin Williams
They departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. —Luke 9:6
Lauren Kornacki is glad she took that summer CPR class, but she probably never thought she would have to use it so soon and on someone she loves. Her father was repairing his car when the jack slipped and the car fell on him. Lauren, a 22-year-old, reportedly heroically lifted the 3,300-pound car enough to pull him from underneath! Then she kept him alive with CPR until the paramedics arrived.
Far greater than Lauren’s rescue of her father from the jaws of death is Jesus’ rescue of us from the clutches of sin by His death and resurrection. When Jesus sent the 12 disciples to carry out His work, He gave them the assignment to preach the good news of God’s desire to rescue people (Luke 9:1-6). They would not carry this out in their own strength, but Jesus would lift the heavy burden of people’s sin as they taught about Him. Their preaching and healing in Jesus’ power and authority proved that Jesus had actually brought God’s rule to earth.
Many today are trapped under the weight of sin, but our great God can rescue us from underneath those burdens and then send us into the world to tell others that He can set them free.
Thinking It Over
Do you know someone who is trapped under the
burden of sin and needs Jesus’ rescue? In what
practical ways can you be an active agent of Jesus’ love?
Those who’ve been rescued from sin are best able to help in the rescue of others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, July 07, 2014
All Efforts of Worth and Excellence Are Difficult
Enter by the narrow gate . . . . Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life . . . —Matthew 7:13-14
If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in—it stirs us up to overcome. Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest—our best for His glory?
God saves people by His sovereign grace through the atonement of Jesus, and “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). But we have to “work out” that salvation in our everyday, practical living (Philippians 2:12). If we will only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we will find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then when a crisis does come we will find that our own nature, as well as the grace of God, will stand by us.
Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also something that requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of sonship. God’s grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life. And it is always necessary for us to make an effort to live a life of worth and excellence.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, July 07, 2014
Hitting "Enter" - #7171
I've come a long way for a technically challenged person; from never having used a computer to using one of them quite a bit each day. I don't understand all about it, but I know how to use it.
Some lessons I've learned the hard way: Like typing in part of a book or a magazine article or notes of some kind, and then typing in a password to save it with, and then making one fatal mistake. See, apparently you have to hit this little key that says Enter or you won't be seeing that material again. Just because the information appears on the screen doesn't mean you've got it. You have to save it by pressing this Enter command.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hitting 'Enter.'"
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from James 1, beginning at verse 22. God says, "Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does."
Now, these verses are about people who read and hear the Bible a lot. Is that you? Oh, it appears on their mental screen often, but it's people who don't really have it. They read it and then it disappears. See, just hearing and knowing the Word of God does not a Christian make. Just because it's appeared on your screen doesn't make it yours. You've got to hit Enter.
Well, how do you do that? The passage talks about not forgetting what you've read. First of all you have to memorize it. With the pressure that you're under in your life, you've got to know it isn't enough to just have God's Words in your Bible. They've got to be in your heart so you can bring them up on your screen when the pressure's on. You need for Scripture to be a part of your personality, your intuitive responses. That happens when you memorize a promise or a challenge and then you enter it as yours.
I think you are also better able to remember when you write it down. Have you tried keeping a Jesus Journal with your Bible? It's the greatest thing I've ever done in terms of my growth in Christ. After you've read, then you write what God has said to you in your own words and then you write what you're going to do differently that day as a result of what He said. See, you're processing it; you're saving it when you write it. God's words become yours when you use them. During the day, tell someone else the words God has spoken to you. That enters it too. And most of all, you enter the truths of God when you apply what appeared on your Bible screen. In other words you ask yourself, "Lord, what can I apply today to something I'm going to face today?" And then that means that that day you do something that is a specific obedience to what you read in God's Word that morning.
Have you ever wondered how you could have heard so much Bible in your life and still be so far from your spiritual goals? Maybe it's because you've forgotten to press Enter. God's words enter your life forever when you memorize it, when you write it down, when you tell somebody else about it, and when you specifically apply it to your life.
You know, our churches are filled with people who have heard God's Word about what Christ did on the cross, coming out of His grave, our need to pin all our hopes on Jesus and make Him not just the Savior but our personal Savior. And yet those people will not be in heaven, because they knew all about Jesus but they never pressed Enter. They never opened the door of their heart to Jesus and have that saving faith transaction with Him.
If you're not sure you have, I want to invite you to check out our website and let me meet you there to help you know how to begin a relationship with Him for sure. It's ANewStory.com. Take it from someone who has lost information that he couldn't afford to lose. When the message is important, which it always is when it comes from God, make sure you've entered it into your life.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Genesis 43, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Something to Complain About
If you look hard enough and long enough, you’ll find something to complain about!
Adam and Eve did. Surrounded by all they needed, they set their eyes on the one thing they couldn’t have.
The followers of Moses did. They could’ve focused on the miracles, but instead they focused on their problems.
What are you looking at? The one fruit you can’t eat? Or the million you can? The manna or the misery?
Philippians 4:8 says “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, lovely, of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.”
Even the garden of Eden looks gray to some. But it needn’t to you. Jesus who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus! Give every day a chance!
From Great Day Every Day
Genesis 43
The Second Journey to Egypt
Now the famine was still severe in the land. 2 So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”
3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”
6 Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”
7 They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”
8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. 9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. 10 As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.”
11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. 14 And may God Almighty[a] grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
15 So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.”
17 The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph’s house. 18 Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.”
19 So they went up to Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. 20 “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food. 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. 22 We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.”
23 “It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
24 The steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. 25 They prepared their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat there.
26 When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. 27 He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?”
28 They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him.
29 As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there.
31 After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.”
32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. 33 The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. 34 When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s. So they feasted and drank freely with him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Jeremiah 6:13-20
“From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
14 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.
15 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
16 This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 I appointed watchmen over you and said,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
18 Therefore hear, you nations;
you who are witnesses,
observe what will happen to them.
19 Hear, you earth:
I am bringing disaster on this people,
the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not listened to my words
and have rejected my law.
20 What do I care about incense from Sheba
or sweet calamus from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
your sacrifices do not please me.”
Insight
Jeremiah, often called the “weeping prophet,” brought a depressing message to Israel: “Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people” (6:19). God would bring the consequences of Israel’s choices on them. Calamity was coming (v.15) because Israel had forgotten the path given in the past (v.16). Yet Jeremiah also offered words of hope: One day God would bring “the remnant” back to Israel and raise up a “Branch of righteousness” (23:3-8).
Not A Hitching Post
By David C. McCasland
Ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. —Jeremiah 6:16
You may have heard the saying, “The past is supposed to be a guidepost, not a hitching post.” It’s easy to become tied to memories of “the good old days” instead of using our experiences to find direction for the road ahead. We are all susceptible to the paralyzing effects of nostalgia—a longing for what used to be.
Jeremiah was a priest from a small town near Jerusalem when God called him to be “a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). He was given the very difficult job of pronouncing God’s judgment primarily on the people of Judah, who had turned away from the Lord. Jeremiah made it clear that he was delivering God’s message, not his own (7:1-2).
The Lord said, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it’” (6:16).
God urged His people to look back so they could move ahead. The purpose of considering the ancient paths was to find “the good way” marked by God’s faithfulness, His forgiveness, and His forward call.
God can teach us from our past that the best road is the one we walk with Him.
Though I know not what awaits me—
What the future has in store,
Yet I know that God is faithful,
For I’ve proved Him oft before. —Anon.
God’s guidance in the past gives courage for the future.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, July 06, 2014
Visions Become Reality
The parched ground shall become a pool . . . —Isaiah 35:7
We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.
Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.
God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.
The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.
If you look hard enough and long enough, you’ll find something to complain about!
Adam and Eve did. Surrounded by all they needed, they set their eyes on the one thing they couldn’t have.
The followers of Moses did. They could’ve focused on the miracles, but instead they focused on their problems.
What are you looking at? The one fruit you can’t eat? Or the million you can? The manna or the misery?
Philippians 4:8 says “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, lovely, of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.”
Even the garden of Eden looks gray to some. But it needn’t to you. Jesus who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus! Give every day a chance!
From Great Day Every Day
Genesis 43
The Second Journey to Egypt
Now the famine was still severe in the land. 2 So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”
3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”
6 Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”
7 They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”
8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. 9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. 10 As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.”
11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. 14 And may God Almighty[a] grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
15 So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.”
17 The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph’s house. 18 Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.”
19 So they went up to Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. 20 “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food. 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. 22 We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.”
23 “It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
24 The steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. 25 They prepared their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat there.
26 When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. 27 He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?”
28 They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him.
29 As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there.
31 After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.”
32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. 33 The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. 34 When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s. So they feasted and drank freely with him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Jeremiah 6:13-20
“From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
14 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.
15 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
16 This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 I appointed watchmen over you and said,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
18 Therefore hear, you nations;
you who are witnesses,
observe what will happen to them.
19 Hear, you earth:
I am bringing disaster on this people,
the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not listened to my words
and have rejected my law.
20 What do I care about incense from Sheba
or sweet calamus from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
your sacrifices do not please me.”
Insight
Jeremiah, often called the “weeping prophet,” brought a depressing message to Israel: “Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people” (6:19). God would bring the consequences of Israel’s choices on them. Calamity was coming (v.15) because Israel had forgotten the path given in the past (v.16). Yet Jeremiah also offered words of hope: One day God would bring “the remnant” back to Israel and raise up a “Branch of righteousness” (23:3-8).
Not A Hitching Post
By David C. McCasland
Ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. —Jeremiah 6:16
You may have heard the saying, “The past is supposed to be a guidepost, not a hitching post.” It’s easy to become tied to memories of “the good old days” instead of using our experiences to find direction for the road ahead. We are all susceptible to the paralyzing effects of nostalgia—a longing for what used to be.
Jeremiah was a priest from a small town near Jerusalem when God called him to be “a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). He was given the very difficult job of pronouncing God’s judgment primarily on the people of Judah, who had turned away from the Lord. Jeremiah made it clear that he was delivering God’s message, not his own (7:1-2).
The Lord said, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it’” (6:16).
God urged His people to look back so they could move ahead. The purpose of considering the ancient paths was to find “the good way” marked by God’s faithfulness, His forgiveness, and His forward call.
God can teach us from our past that the best road is the one we walk with Him.
Though I know not what awaits me—
What the future has in store,
Yet I know that God is faithful,
For I’ve proved Him oft before. —Anon.
God’s guidance in the past gives courage for the future.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, July 06, 2014
Visions Become Reality
The parched ground shall become a pool . . . —Isaiah 35:7
We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.
Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.
God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.
The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Matthew 22:1-22 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: He Cares About You
Maybe you don’t want to trouble God with your hurts. After all, “He’s got famines and pestilence and wars. He won’t care about my little struggles,” you think. Why don’t you let Him decide that?
Jesus cared enough about a wedding to provide the wine. He cared enough about the woman at the well to give her answers. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “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. Luke 18:7 reminds us, “God will always give what is right to His people who cry to Him night and day, and He will not be slow to answer them.”
Listen to the prayer in Psalm 25:1-2: “Lord, I give myself to You, my God. I trust You.” So, go…bow…and trust. It’s worth a try, don’t you think?
from Traveling Light
Matthew 22:1-22
New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Footnotes:
Matthew 22:17 A special tax levied on subject peoples, not on Roman citizens
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Peter 3:10-18
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.[a]
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Footnotes:
2 Peter 3:10 Some manuscripts be burned up
2 Peter 3:12 Or as you wait eagerly for the day of God to come
Insight
The exhortation to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord” is the end goal of every believer (2 Peter 3:18; cf. John 17:3; Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:10; 3:10; 1 John 5:20). God wants us to grow and not to remain spiritual infants (1 Peter 2:2).
The Growth Chart
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. —2 Peter 3:18
If my family ever moves from the house where we live now, I want to unhinge the pantry door and take it with me! That door is special because it shows how my children have grown over the years. Every few months, my husband and I place our children against the door and pencil a mark just above their heads. According to our growth chart, my daughter shot up 4 inches in just 1 year!
While my children grow physically as a natural part of life, there’s another kind of growth that happens with some effort—our spiritual growth in Christlikeness. Peter encouraged believers to “grow in the grace and knowledge” of Jesus (2 Peter 3:18). He said that maturing in our faith prepares us for Christ’s return. The apostle wanted Jesus to come back and find believers living in peace and righteousness (v.14). Peter viewed spiritual growth as a defense against teaching that incorrectly interprets God’s Word and leads people astray (vv.16-17).
Even when we feel discouraged and disconnected from God, we can remember that He will help us advance in our faith by making us more like His Son. His Word assures us that “He who has begun a good work in [us] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).
Dear God, I invite Your Holy Spirit
to mold me into the person You want me to be.
Empower me to keep reaching for
the holiness I see in Jesus.
Spiritual growth requires the solid food of God’s Word.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, July 05, 2014
Don’t Plan Without God
Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass —Psalm 37:5
Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him— that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.
In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our “spiritual face” before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.
Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? “Love . . . thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.
Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:1). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command— “Let not. . . .” To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.
Maybe you don’t want to trouble God with your hurts. After all, “He’s got famines and pestilence and wars. He won’t care about my little struggles,” you think. Why don’t you let Him decide that?
Jesus cared enough about a wedding to provide the wine. He cared enough about the woman at the well to give her answers. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “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. Luke 18:7 reminds us, “God will always give what is right to His people who cry to Him night and day, and He will not be slow to answer them.”
Listen to the prayer in Psalm 25:1-2: “Lord, I give myself to You, my God. I trust You.” So, go…bow…and trust. It’s worth a try, don’t you think?
from Traveling Light
Matthew 22:1-22
New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Footnotes:
Matthew 22:17 A special tax levied on subject peoples, not on Roman citizens
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 2 Peter 3:10-18
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.[a]
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Footnotes:
2 Peter 3:10 Some manuscripts be burned up
2 Peter 3:12 Or as you wait eagerly for the day of God to come
Insight
The exhortation to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord” is the end goal of every believer (2 Peter 3:18; cf. John 17:3; Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:10; 3:10; 1 John 5:20). God wants us to grow and not to remain spiritual infants (1 Peter 2:2).
The Growth Chart
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. —2 Peter 3:18
If my family ever moves from the house where we live now, I want to unhinge the pantry door and take it with me! That door is special because it shows how my children have grown over the years. Every few months, my husband and I place our children against the door and pencil a mark just above their heads. According to our growth chart, my daughter shot up 4 inches in just 1 year!
While my children grow physically as a natural part of life, there’s another kind of growth that happens with some effort—our spiritual growth in Christlikeness. Peter encouraged believers to “grow in the grace and knowledge” of Jesus (2 Peter 3:18). He said that maturing in our faith prepares us for Christ’s return. The apostle wanted Jesus to come back and find believers living in peace and righteousness (v.14). Peter viewed spiritual growth as a defense against teaching that incorrectly interprets God’s Word and leads people astray (vv.16-17).
Even when we feel discouraged and disconnected from God, we can remember that He will help us advance in our faith by making us more like His Son. His Word assures us that “He who has begun a good work in [us] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).
Dear God, I invite Your Holy Spirit
to mold me into the person You want me to be.
Empower me to keep reaching for
the holiness I see in Jesus.
Spiritual growth requires the solid food of God’s Word.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, July 05, 2014
Don’t Plan Without God
Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass —Psalm 37:5
Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him— that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.
In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our “spiritual face” before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.
Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? “Love . . . thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.
Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:1). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command— “Let not. . . .” To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.
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