Max Lucado Daily: Change Your Focus and Relax
Psalm 23:2 says, "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; leads me beside the still waters." Note the two pronouns preceding the two verbs. He makes me. . .He leads me. Who is the active one? Who is in charge? The Shepherd!
We see the waves of the water rather than the Savior walking through them. We focus on our paltry provisions rather than on the One who can feed five thousand hungry people. Change your focus-and relax! While you're at it, change your schedule and rest! Life can get so loud we forget to shut it down. When David says, "He makes me lie down in green pastures," he is saying my shepherd makes me lie down in his finished work. His pasture is his gift to us. This is not the pasture you've made. It is a gift from God, and your Shepherd invites you there!
From Traveling Light
Psalm 142
A psalm[a] of David, regarding his experience in the cave. A prayer.
I cry out to the Lord;
I plead for the Lord’s mercy.
2 I pour out my complaints before him
and tell him all my troubles.
3 When I am overwhelmed,
you alone know the way I should turn.
Wherever I go,
my enemies have set traps for me.
4 I look for someone to come and help me,
but no one gives me a passing thought!
No one will help me;
no one cares a bit what happens to me.
5 Then I pray to you, O Lord.
I say, “You are my place of refuge.
You are all I really want in life.
6 Hear my cry,
for I am very low.
Rescue me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me.
7 Bring me out of prison
so I can thank you.
The godly will crowd around me,
for you are good to me.”
Footnotes:
142:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Read: Psalm 119:14,33-40 |
14 I have rejoiced in your laws
as much as in riches.
33 Teach me your decrees, O Lord;
I will keep them to the end.
34 Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions;
I will put them into practice with all my heart.
35 Make me walk along the path of your commands,
for that is where my happiness is found.
36 Give me an eagerness for your laws
rather than a love for money!
37 Turn my eyes from worthless things,
and give me life through your word.[a]
38 Reassure me of your promise,
made to those who fear you.
39 Help me abandon my shameful ways;
for your regulations are good.
40 I long to obey your commandments!
Renew my life with your goodness.
Footnotes:
119:37 Some manuscripts read in your ways.
INSIGHT: Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. Its 176 verses are presented in 22 stanzas of 8 verses each, and each stanza corresponds to the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Because it is an acrostic song, Spurgeon said it could be called “the alphabet of love,” for it unfolds God’s loving provision of wisdom for His children.
The Riches Of Obedience
By David C. McCasland
I have rejoiced in your laws as much as in riches. —Psalm 119:14 nlt
Publicly operated lotteries exist in more than 100 countries. In a recent year, lottery ticket sales totaled more than $85 billion in just the US and Canada, only part of the total sales worldwide. The lure of huge jackpots has created a mindset among many that all of life’s problems would be solved “if I won the lottery.”
There’s nothing wrong with wealth itself, but it has the power to deceive us into thinking that money is the answer to all our needs. The psalmist, expressing a different point of view, wrote: “I have rejoiced in your laws as much as in riches. . . . I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word” (Ps. 119:14,16 nlt). This concept of spiritual treasure is focused on obedience to God and walking “in the path of [His] commandments” (v.35).
What if we were more excited about following the Lord’s Word than about winning a jackpot worth millions? With the psalmist we might pray, “Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way” (vv.36-37).
The riches of obedience—true riches—belong to all who walk with the Lord.
Dear Lord, may I commit each day to standing on the unchanging truth of Your Word and to growing in my relationship with You, the only measure of success in this life and in eternity.
Success is knowing and loving God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
The Habit of Keeping a Clear Conscience
…strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. —Acts 24:16
God’s commands to us are actually given to the life of His Son in us. Consequently, to our human nature in which God’s Son has been formed (see Galatians 4:19), His commands are difficult. But they become divinely easy once we obey.
Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself to the highest standard I know, and then continually reminds me of what that standard demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward God or toward what we regard as the highest standard. This explains why conscience is different in different people. If I am in the habit of continually holding God’s standard in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The question is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I can live without any offense toward anyone. I should be living in such perfect harmony with God’s Son that the spirit of my mind is being renewed through every circumstance of life, and that I may be able to quickly “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2 ; also see Ephesians 4:23).
God always instructs us down to the last detail. Is my ear sensitive enough to hear even the softest whisper of the Spirit, so that I know what I should do? “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…” (Ephesians 4:30). He does not speak with a voice like thunder— His voice is so gentle that it is easy for us to ignore. And the only thing that keeps our conscience sensitive to Him is the habit of being open to God on the inside. When you begin to debate, stop immediately. Don’t ask, “Why can’t I do this?” You are on the wrong track. There is no debating possible once your conscience speaks. Whatever it is— drop it, and see that you keep your inner vision clear.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Carried When You Can't Make It - #7393
At one time our offices were on the third floor of an old factory building. There were a lot of stairs, and they had a pretty steep pitch. One of our team members dropped by one day with her beautiful four-month-old daughter, Katie. Mom was tired. And needless to say, the child wasn't able to climb up the stairs to the third floor on her own. Sometimes adults could barely make it. Mom needed to carry Katie in her arms the whole way. The sight of her carrying her daughter? I hate to say it was almost amusing. Mom was out of breath as she tried to recover. But not Katie! No, she was all cute and wide-eyed. She's not sweating; she's not panting. No, she's totally relaxed, totally cool. Of course she didn't have to do any of the work.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Carried When You Can't Make It."
Which leads us to our word for today from the Word of God from Deuteronomy 1:29; a wonderful passage on the relationship God the Father has with us, His kids. He says, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them." With Jesus you don't have to be afraid of anything. "The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you." And then He says, "The Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."
That's a beautiful picture! Notice I said a loving parent had come to our office carrying a child where that child could have never gone on her own. All the work was done by the parent. The child? Totally relaxed.
Let's talk about where you are right now. You may be at the end of your strength, the end of your answers, the end of your resources, the end of your money, or the end of your hope. You know what? It's time for "carry power." "As a father carries his son" God says. God has His big arms wide open right now saying, "My child, quit trying to do this on your own. You'll never make it. It's carry time. Come on!"
For some of us self-reliant, stubborn types it's hard to surrender our self-effort. We're not going to make it. God leads us through the desert where we can't survive so we'll finally surrender to being carried. So we'll finally exchange our weakness for His strength and our stress for His peace. That's the exchange that He invites us to in Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything."
But there we are huffing and puffing, trying to crawl up the stairs on our own. He said, "But in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Give the whole load to your Father. Let Him carry you. And He says, "The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
That's the lightness of Spirit, the calm in your heart. That's what I saw in little Katie when she came to the office. The one who was carrying her was doing all the work; taking all the strain. Maybe you've got something right now that Jesus needs to carry. And remember, He paid a high price so He would be available; there would be no wall between you and Him so He could carry you and carry your burden.
The hymn says, "What a friend we have in Jesus; all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."
Now, would you let Him carry what you've carried for way too long? The problem stressing you, whose problem is it to solve? Is it yours or Almighty God's? The mountain that needs to be moved? The person who needs to change? Whose job is it? How you answer those questions will be the difference between great peace or great stress.
With God, you can go to heights you cannot go to alone. Like Katie and her mother carrying her, your Heavenly Father is ready to do that for you if you'll trust His "carry power."
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Psalm 57, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: What Really Matters
A man once went to a minister for counseling.
"I've lost everything," he told the minister.
"Oh I'm so sorry to hear you've lost your faith," the minister responded.
"No," the man corrected him, "I haven't lost my faith."
"Well, then I'm sad to hear you've lost your character."
"I didn't say that," the man corrected. "I still have my character."
"I'm so sorry you've lost your salvation," said the minister.
"That's not what I said," the man objected.
"You have your faith, your character, and your salvation. Seems to me," the minister observed, "that you've lost none of the things that really matter."
You and I could pray like the Puritan. He sat down to a meal of bread and water. He bowed his head and declared, "All this and Jesus, too?" What will you gain with contentment? You may gain joy-and the faith to say, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want!"
From Traveling Light
Psalm 57
For the choir director: A psalm[a] of David, regarding the time he fled from Saul and went into the cave. To be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!”
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy!
I look to you for protection.
I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings
until the danger passes by.
2 I cry out to God Most High,[b]
to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.
3 He will send help from heaven to rescue me,
disgracing those who hound me. Interlude
My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.
4 I am surrounded by fierce lions
who greedily devour human prey—
whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,
and whose tongues cut like swords.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens!
May your glory shine over all the earth.
6 My enemies have set a trap for me.
I am weary from distress.
They have dug a deep pit in my path,
but they themselves have fallen into it. Interlude
7 My heart is confident in you, O God;
my heart is confident.
No wonder I can sing your praises!
8 Wake up, my heart!
Wake up, O lyre and harp!
I will wake the dawn with my song.
9 I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.
I will sing your praises among the nations.
10 For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.
May your glory shine over all the earth.
Footnotes:
57:Title Hebrew miktam. This may be a literary or musical term.
57:2 Hebrew Elohim-Elyon.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Read: 2 Samuel 9
David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth
One day David asked, “Is anyone in Saul’s family still alive—anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 He summoned a man named Ziba, who had been one of Saul’s servants. “Are you Ziba?” the king asked.
“Yes sir, I am,” Ziba replied.
3 The king then asked him, “Is anyone still alive from Saul’s family? If so, I want to show God’s kindness to them.”
Ziba replied, “Yes, one of Jonathan’s sons is still alive. He is crippled in both feet.”
4 “Where is he?” the king asked.
“In Lo-debar,” Ziba told him, “at the home of Makir son of Ammiel.”
5 So David sent for him and brought him from Makir’s home. 6 His name was Mephibosheth[a]; he was Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson. When he came to David, he bowed low to the ground in deep respect. David said, “Greetings, Mephibosheth.”
Mephibosheth replied, “I am your servant.”
7 “Don’t be afraid!” David said. “I intend to show kindness to you because of my promise to your father, Jonathan. I will give you all the property that once belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will eat here with me at the king’s table!”
8 Mephibosheth bowed respectfully and exclaimed, “Who is your servant, that you should show such kindness to a dead dog like me?”
9 Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and servants are to farm the land for him to produce food for your master’s household.[b] But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will eat here at my table.” (Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
11 Ziba replied, “Yes, my lord the king; I am your servant, and I will do all that you have commanded.” And from that time on, Mephibosheth ate regularly at David’s table,[c] like one of the king’s own sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. From then on, all the members of Ziba’s household were Mephibosheth’s servants. 13 And Mephibosheth, who was crippled in both feet, lived in Jerusalem and ate regularly at the king’s table.
Footnotes:
9:6 Mephibosheth is another name for Merib-baal.
9:10 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads your master’s grandson.
9:11 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads my table.
INSIGHT: Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, could have been heir to his grandfather’s (King Saul) throne and a potential threat to David’s kingship. But David promised his best friend, Jonathan (1 Sam. 20:42), that he would care for his family. In today’s passage we read how David made good on that promise (2 Sam. 9:9-13).
Where Can We Lean?
By Anne Cetas
I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake. —2 Samuel 9:7
“What a wonderful funeral!” Cindy remarked as we walked out. Helen, our friend, had died. And friend after friend celebrated her by sharing stories of her all-around fun behavior. But Helen’s life wasn’t all jokes and laughter. Her nephew spoke of her faith in Jesus and her care for others. She had taken him into her home when he was young and struggling. Now in his twenties, he said of his Aunt Helen, “She was like a mom to me. She never gave up on me in my struggles. I am sure that if it wasn’t for her, I would have lost my faith.” Wow! What an influence! Helen leaned on Jesus and wanted her nephew to trust Him too.
In the Old Testament, we read that King David took a young man named Mephibosheth into his home with the purpose of showing him kindness for the sake of his father, Jonathan (David’s friend who had died; see 2 Sam. 9:1). Years earlier, Mephibosheth had been injured when his nurse dropped him as they fled after the news that his father had been killed (4:4). He was surprised that the king would care for him; he even referred to himself as “a dead dog” (9:8). Yet the king treated him as his own son (9:11).
I’d like to be that kind of person, wouldn’t you? Someone who cares for others and helps them hang on to faith in Jesus even when life looks hopeless.
Lord, You showed the ultimate kindness by rescuing us when we were helpless in our sins. May our lives be marked by kindness so that others will see You in us.
God does most of His work for people through people.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
The Habit of Having No Habits
If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful… —2 Peter 1:8
When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it. There are times when we are aware of becoming virtuous and godly, but this awareness should only be a stage we quickly pass through as we grow spiritually. If we stop at this stage, we will develop a sense of spiritual pride. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them. Our spiritual life continually causes us to focus our attention inwardly for the determined purpose of self-examination, because each of us has some qualities we have not yet added to our lives.
Your god may be your little Christian habit— the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We say, “I can’t do that right now; this is my time alone with God.” No, this is your time alone with your habit. There is a quality that is still lacking in you. Identify your shortcoming and then look for opportunities to work into your life that missing quality.
Love means that there are no visible habits— that your habits are so immersed in the Lord that you practice them without realizing it. If you are consciously aware of your own holiness, you place limitations on yourself from doing certain things— things God is not restricting you from at all. This means there is a missing quality that needs to be added to your life. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there someplace where you are not at home with God? Then allow God to work through whatever that particular circumstance may be until you increase in Him, adding His qualities. Your life will then become the simple life of a child.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Your Daily God Hunt - #7392
When I was a kid, someone came up with a new idea for entertainment. No, not hieroglyphics! It's called 3-D movies. They've actually made a comeback in recent years and they might even be more popular than they were back then. Back then, we put on these cardboard sunglasses. Boy, what a fashion statement! Now they are at least plastic. And just like then, things begin walking toward the screen, and then they walk right out of the screen and they walk practically into your face. Of course, when you take those glasses off, it's just a flat old screen again. But when you have those glasses on, you see things you otherwise would never have seen.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Daily God Hunt."
People ask me, "How do you get the analogies you use in A Word With You?" Our word for today from the Word of God is actually part of the answer. Proverbs 24:32, "I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw." Now, here was King Solomon, a very wise man. He said, "I go out looking for lessons. And from what I see, I apply my heart to the things that I see around me all day." See, he got his glasses on. And when he did, he got to see the hand of God in everyday stuff.
There's a hymn called I Am His And He Is Mine. I just remember so vividly the words of the second verse. "Heaven above is deeper blue; earth below is deeper green. There's a brightness in each hue Christless eyes have never seen." See, if you know God as your Father, and you put your trust in Jesus as Savior, then you can say, "This is my Father's world." He's working all around you all the time, every day, and you can see Him. You can learn from Him if you put your glasses on each day. I call them your 4-D, 4-dimension glasses to see the God dimension, because it's working all around us.
You been moping around lately? It's probably because you've lost the perspective of David that he said makes people joyful. Psalm 118:24, "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." He made this day what it is. You say, "My boss! My family made this day, my mate made this day, my bills, my health, my to-do list makes this day what it is. I'm sorry you're stuck in the middle of your 3-dimensional world. "This is the day the Lord has made!"
So you go on a "God hunt" every day; looking for the Lord in the events of your day, the conversations of your day, your traffic jams, your delays, your surprises, your interruptions, the people, the stores. Moses saw the Lord in a desert bush. Balaam heard God's voice through his donkey. Levi met Jesus in the middle of a workday.
This is where praise comes from, in the common stuff of a day. See, if you look through your 4-D glasses, your God glasses, suddenly you've sensed God in your phone calls, your emails, your interruptions that can't be avoided, that word of encouragement somebody gives you. There's the Lord in that little child. He's speaking in that powerful storm now, in the geese flying by overhead. He's in the unanticipated help you just got in your life. You find yourself thanking God often throughout the day. Guess what? You don't complain as much.
How many times have we confined our God in our theology and our beliefs; this religious compartment of our life? But when you put on your 4-D glasses, you start to walk with your God throughout your day. You see His fingerprints on things you never saw them on before and God becomes more and more real to you. As you do that with your family, He becomes more and more real to them as you share your God-sightings.
He wants to show you all kinds of things about Him in the everyday stuff of your day. So, put on your God-tinted glasses and see in 4-D the beauty of the world your Father has made.
A man once went to a minister for counseling.
"I've lost everything," he told the minister.
"Oh I'm so sorry to hear you've lost your faith," the minister responded.
"No," the man corrected him, "I haven't lost my faith."
"Well, then I'm sad to hear you've lost your character."
"I didn't say that," the man corrected. "I still have my character."
"I'm so sorry you've lost your salvation," said the minister.
"That's not what I said," the man objected.
"You have your faith, your character, and your salvation. Seems to me," the minister observed, "that you've lost none of the things that really matter."
You and I could pray like the Puritan. He sat down to a meal of bread and water. He bowed his head and declared, "All this and Jesus, too?" What will you gain with contentment? You may gain joy-and the faith to say, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want!"
From Traveling Light
Psalm 57
For the choir director: A psalm[a] of David, regarding the time he fled from Saul and went into the cave. To be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!”
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy!
I look to you for protection.
I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings
until the danger passes by.
2 I cry out to God Most High,[b]
to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.
3 He will send help from heaven to rescue me,
disgracing those who hound me. Interlude
My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.
4 I am surrounded by fierce lions
who greedily devour human prey—
whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,
and whose tongues cut like swords.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens!
May your glory shine over all the earth.
6 My enemies have set a trap for me.
I am weary from distress.
They have dug a deep pit in my path,
but they themselves have fallen into it. Interlude
7 My heart is confident in you, O God;
my heart is confident.
No wonder I can sing your praises!
8 Wake up, my heart!
Wake up, O lyre and harp!
I will wake the dawn with my song.
9 I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.
I will sing your praises among the nations.
10 For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.
May your glory shine over all the earth.
Footnotes:
57:Title Hebrew miktam. This may be a literary or musical term.
57:2 Hebrew Elohim-Elyon.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Read: 2 Samuel 9
David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth
One day David asked, “Is anyone in Saul’s family still alive—anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 He summoned a man named Ziba, who had been one of Saul’s servants. “Are you Ziba?” the king asked.
“Yes sir, I am,” Ziba replied.
3 The king then asked him, “Is anyone still alive from Saul’s family? If so, I want to show God’s kindness to them.”
Ziba replied, “Yes, one of Jonathan’s sons is still alive. He is crippled in both feet.”
4 “Where is he?” the king asked.
“In Lo-debar,” Ziba told him, “at the home of Makir son of Ammiel.”
5 So David sent for him and brought him from Makir’s home. 6 His name was Mephibosheth[a]; he was Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson. When he came to David, he bowed low to the ground in deep respect. David said, “Greetings, Mephibosheth.”
Mephibosheth replied, “I am your servant.”
7 “Don’t be afraid!” David said. “I intend to show kindness to you because of my promise to your father, Jonathan. I will give you all the property that once belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will eat here with me at the king’s table!”
8 Mephibosheth bowed respectfully and exclaimed, “Who is your servant, that you should show such kindness to a dead dog like me?”
9 Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and servants are to farm the land for him to produce food for your master’s household.[b] But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will eat here at my table.” (Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
11 Ziba replied, “Yes, my lord the king; I am your servant, and I will do all that you have commanded.” And from that time on, Mephibosheth ate regularly at David’s table,[c] like one of the king’s own sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. From then on, all the members of Ziba’s household were Mephibosheth’s servants. 13 And Mephibosheth, who was crippled in both feet, lived in Jerusalem and ate regularly at the king’s table.
Footnotes:
9:6 Mephibosheth is another name for Merib-baal.
9:10 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads your master’s grandson.
9:11 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads my table.
INSIGHT: Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, could have been heir to his grandfather’s (King Saul) throne and a potential threat to David’s kingship. But David promised his best friend, Jonathan (1 Sam. 20:42), that he would care for his family. In today’s passage we read how David made good on that promise (2 Sam. 9:9-13).
Where Can We Lean?
By Anne Cetas
I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake. —2 Samuel 9:7
“What a wonderful funeral!” Cindy remarked as we walked out. Helen, our friend, had died. And friend after friend celebrated her by sharing stories of her all-around fun behavior. But Helen’s life wasn’t all jokes and laughter. Her nephew spoke of her faith in Jesus and her care for others. She had taken him into her home when he was young and struggling. Now in his twenties, he said of his Aunt Helen, “She was like a mom to me. She never gave up on me in my struggles. I am sure that if it wasn’t for her, I would have lost my faith.” Wow! What an influence! Helen leaned on Jesus and wanted her nephew to trust Him too.
In the Old Testament, we read that King David took a young man named Mephibosheth into his home with the purpose of showing him kindness for the sake of his father, Jonathan (David’s friend who had died; see 2 Sam. 9:1). Years earlier, Mephibosheth had been injured when his nurse dropped him as they fled after the news that his father had been killed (4:4). He was surprised that the king would care for him; he even referred to himself as “a dead dog” (9:8). Yet the king treated him as his own son (9:11).
I’d like to be that kind of person, wouldn’t you? Someone who cares for others and helps them hang on to faith in Jesus even when life looks hopeless.
Lord, You showed the ultimate kindness by rescuing us when we were helpless in our sins. May our lives be marked by kindness so that others will see You in us.
God does most of His work for people through people.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
The Habit of Having No Habits
If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful… —2 Peter 1:8
When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it. There are times when we are aware of becoming virtuous and godly, but this awareness should only be a stage we quickly pass through as we grow spiritually. If we stop at this stage, we will develop a sense of spiritual pride. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them. Our spiritual life continually causes us to focus our attention inwardly for the determined purpose of self-examination, because each of us has some qualities we have not yet added to our lives.
Your god may be your little Christian habit— the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We say, “I can’t do that right now; this is my time alone with God.” No, this is your time alone with your habit. There is a quality that is still lacking in you. Identify your shortcoming and then look for opportunities to work into your life that missing quality.
Love means that there are no visible habits— that your habits are so immersed in the Lord that you practice them without realizing it. If you are consciously aware of your own holiness, you place limitations on yourself from doing certain things— things God is not restricting you from at all. This means there is a missing quality that needs to be added to your life. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there someplace where you are not at home with God? Then allow God to work through whatever that particular circumstance may be until you increase in Him, adding His qualities. Your life will then become the simple life of a child.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Your Daily God Hunt - #7392
When I was a kid, someone came up with a new idea for entertainment. No, not hieroglyphics! It's called 3-D movies. They've actually made a comeback in recent years and they might even be more popular than they were back then. Back then, we put on these cardboard sunglasses. Boy, what a fashion statement! Now they are at least plastic. And just like then, things begin walking toward the screen, and then they walk right out of the screen and they walk practically into your face. Of course, when you take those glasses off, it's just a flat old screen again. But when you have those glasses on, you see things you otherwise would never have seen.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Daily God Hunt."
People ask me, "How do you get the analogies you use in A Word With You?" Our word for today from the Word of God is actually part of the answer. Proverbs 24:32, "I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw." Now, here was King Solomon, a very wise man. He said, "I go out looking for lessons. And from what I see, I apply my heart to the things that I see around me all day." See, he got his glasses on. And when he did, he got to see the hand of God in everyday stuff.
There's a hymn called I Am His And He Is Mine. I just remember so vividly the words of the second verse. "Heaven above is deeper blue; earth below is deeper green. There's a brightness in each hue Christless eyes have never seen." See, if you know God as your Father, and you put your trust in Jesus as Savior, then you can say, "This is my Father's world." He's working all around you all the time, every day, and you can see Him. You can learn from Him if you put your glasses on each day. I call them your 4-D, 4-dimension glasses to see the God dimension, because it's working all around us.
You been moping around lately? It's probably because you've lost the perspective of David that he said makes people joyful. Psalm 118:24, "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." He made this day what it is. You say, "My boss! My family made this day, my mate made this day, my bills, my health, my to-do list makes this day what it is. I'm sorry you're stuck in the middle of your 3-dimensional world. "This is the day the Lord has made!"
So you go on a "God hunt" every day; looking for the Lord in the events of your day, the conversations of your day, your traffic jams, your delays, your surprises, your interruptions, the people, the stores. Moses saw the Lord in a desert bush. Balaam heard God's voice through his donkey. Levi met Jesus in the middle of a workday.
This is where praise comes from, in the common stuff of a day. See, if you look through your 4-D glasses, your God glasses, suddenly you've sensed God in your phone calls, your emails, your interruptions that can't be avoided, that word of encouragement somebody gives you. There's the Lord in that little child. He's speaking in that powerful storm now, in the geese flying by overhead. He's in the unanticipated help you just got in your life. You find yourself thanking God often throughout the day. Guess what? You don't complain as much.
How many times have we confined our God in our theology and our beliefs; this religious compartment of our life? But when you put on your 4-D glasses, you start to walk with your God throughout your day. You see His fingerprints on things you never saw them on before and God becomes more and more real to you. As you do that with your family, He becomes more and more real to them as you share your God-sightings.
He wants to show you all kinds of things about Him in the everyday stuff of your day. So, put on your God-tinted glasses and see in 4-D the beauty of the world your Father has made.
Monday, May 11, 2015
Psalm 52, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Power of Love
May I meddle for a moment? What's the one thing separating you from joy? How do you fill in this blank: "I will be happy when____?" When I'm healed…when I'm promoted…when I'm married…when I'm single…when I'm rich? With your answer firmly in mind, answer this. If your dream never comes true, if the situation never changes, would you be happy? If not, then you're sleeping in the cold cell of discontent.
You need to know what you have in your Shepherd. You have a God who hears you, the power of love behind you, the Holy Spirit within you, and all of heaven ahead of you. If you have the Shepherd, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner, and an anchor for every storm. You have everything you need!
From Traveling Light
Psalm 52
For the choir director: A psalm[a] of David, regarding the time Doeg the Edomite said to Saul, “David has gone to see Ahimelech.”
Why do you boast about your crimes, great warrior?
Don’t you realize God’s justice continues forever?
2 All day long you plot destruction.
Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor;
you’re an expert at telling lies.
3 You love evil more than good
and lies more than truth. Interlude
4 You love to destroy others with your words,
you liar!
5 But God will strike you down once and for all.
He will pull you from your home
and uproot you from the land of the living. Interlude
6 The righteous will see it and be amazed.
They will laugh and say,
7 “Look what happens to mighty warriors
who do not trust in God.
They trust their wealth instead
and grow more and more bold in their wickedness.”
8 But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God.
I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.
9 I will praise you forever, O God,
for what you have done.
I will trust in your good name
in the presence of your faithful people.
Footnotes:
52:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, May 11, 2015
Read: 1 Timothy 1:12-20
Paul’s Gratitude for God’s Mercy
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, 13 even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. 14 Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus.
15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.
Timothy’s Responsibility
18 Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier. May they help you fight well in the Lord’s battles. 19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. 20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples. I threw them out and handed them over to Satan so they might learn not to blaspheme God.
INSIGHT: Before Paul’s conversion he put Christian believers in prison and was present for at least one murder—that of Stephen, who was stoned for preaching about Christ (Acts 7:59–8:1). Yet after his conversion Paul sums up his former life in just three words, telling Timothy that he was “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man” (1 Tim. 1:13). He then tells what God has done for him (vv. 13-17), reminding us that it is not who we were that is important; it is what God has done for us.
Tell Your Story
By Poh Fang Chia
Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim Your greatness. —Psalm 145:6 nlt
Michael Dinsmore, a former prisoner and relatively new Christian, was asked to give his testimony in a prison. After he spoke, some inmates came to him and said, “This is the most exciting meeting we’ve ever been to!” Michael was amazed that God could use his simple story.
In 1 Timothy, after Paul had charged Timothy to stay the course preaching the gospel (1:1-11), he shared his personal testimony to encourage the young man (vv.12-16). He told about God’s mercy in his own life. Paul said that he had mocked the Lord, but He changed him. In His mercy, God not only counted him faithful and gave him a job to do, but He also enabled him to do His work (v.12). Paul considered himself the worst of sinners, but God saved him (v.15).
The Lord is able! That is what Paul wanted Timothy to see, and what we need to see too. Through Paul’s testimony, we see God’s mercy. If God could use someone like Paul, He can use us. If God could save the worst of sinners, then no one is beyond His reach.
Our story of God’s work in our lives can encourage others. Let those around you know that the God of the Bible is still at work today!
Father, thank You for the salvation You offer and that no one, including me, is beyond the reach of Your mercy, grace, and transforming power. Help me share my story with others so that people can see Your love.
No one is beyond the reach of God’s love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 11, 2015
“Love One Another”
…add to your…brotherly kindness love. —2 Peter 1:5, 7
Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don’t know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26). Initially, when “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.
The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, “…love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). He is saying, “I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.” This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.
“The Lord…is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish…” (2 Peter 3:9). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God’s divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 11, 2015
My Child, My Mirror - When a Parent Looks Up - #7391
One of the more lovable guys on TV, I think, is the weatherman named Al Roker. You've seen him on The Today Show or The Weather Channel maybe in the morning, or hosting, or covering special events, or he's even got a book about his battle with losing weight.
At one point Al was quoted as saying that he weighed in at 340 pounds at 5'8". Notice I said weighed in. That was past tense. After carrying around all those pounds for a while, one day he suddenly goes out to a gym and asked them to put him on a diet and an exercise program that will radically reduce his size. He lost 140 pounds.
And what was it that suddenly got him wanting to do something about weight that he'd carried around for a long time? His young daughter came up to him one day when he had his shirt off and she made the kind of blunt, off-the-cuff observation about how he looked that only a child can make in all innocence and get away with it. Well that was it! Hello gymnasium! Goodbye fat.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "My Child, My Mirror - When a Parent Looks Up."
Our word for today from the Word of God takes us way back to nearly the beginning of the human race to a man named Enoch. Now, God has some especially complimentary things to say about Enoch. In Genesis 5:21-24, he reveals a change that took place in this man's life that could change the course of your life too.
The Bible says, "When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah." Then it says, "After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God." Now, did you notice the math here? Not just the longer life they enjoyed back then. Enoch lived the first 65 years of his life with no mention of a relationship with God.
Then suddenly he starts walking with God, and continues to have this intimate relationship with his Creator through the rest of his life. What was the catalyst that changed Enoch? The same thing that changed an overweight TV personality - his child. After he became a father, it says, is when Enoch walked with God.
There's something about having a child that makes you start thinking about yourself in ways you've never thought of yourself before. They're mirrors to us. As a dad or a mom, trying to shape this life that we've been entrusted with, knowing the dangers, the challenges, the consequences, we begin to see things we may have never seen fully before. Like our own incompleteness, our inadequacies, our baggage, our weaknesses that can now do serious damage to this vulnerable life in our hands; our own unmet needs, unanswered questions, unconquered sins.
Suddenly we consider looking up as we maybe have never have done before and saying, "Help!" Well, the good news is that God stands ready to answer our cry for help big time. In fact, He may have been waiting a long time for you to finally recognize that you are incomplete. You are inadequate and you've always been in need of what only He can do for you - a Savior.
Ultimately, our children show us the real weight we've been carrying all these years; the weight of our own self-centeredness, our unresolved issues, our dark side, our sin. We can never walk with a perfect God carrying all this. And being a mom or dad shows us like nothing else how deep our need is for this personal relationship we were made for and how much we need a rescue.
In spite of our sin, God loves us and He wants to walk with you for the rest of your life. But that walk can only begin one place - at the cross where God's one and only Son died to pay the death penalty you and I deserve. We did the sinning, but Jesus did the dying. The Bible says, "You who were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ."
Your walk with God begins when you say, "Jesus, I'm putting all my trust in You to be my Savior from my sin." If you've never done that, let this be the day you say, "Jesus, I'm yours." I'd love to tell you more about this relationship and help you make sure you belong to Jesus. Just go to our website ANewStory.com.
If you're a mom or dad, there are feet now following you wherever you walk. For their sake and for yours, be sure you're walking with God.
May I meddle for a moment? What's the one thing separating you from joy? How do you fill in this blank: "I will be happy when____?" When I'm healed…when I'm promoted…when I'm married…when I'm single…when I'm rich? With your answer firmly in mind, answer this. If your dream never comes true, if the situation never changes, would you be happy? If not, then you're sleeping in the cold cell of discontent.
You need to know what you have in your Shepherd. You have a God who hears you, the power of love behind you, the Holy Spirit within you, and all of heaven ahead of you. If you have the Shepherd, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner, and an anchor for every storm. You have everything you need!
From Traveling Light
Psalm 52
For the choir director: A psalm[a] of David, regarding the time Doeg the Edomite said to Saul, “David has gone to see Ahimelech.”
Why do you boast about your crimes, great warrior?
Don’t you realize God’s justice continues forever?
2 All day long you plot destruction.
Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor;
you’re an expert at telling lies.
3 You love evil more than good
and lies more than truth. Interlude
4 You love to destroy others with your words,
you liar!
5 But God will strike you down once and for all.
He will pull you from your home
and uproot you from the land of the living. Interlude
6 The righteous will see it and be amazed.
They will laugh and say,
7 “Look what happens to mighty warriors
who do not trust in God.
They trust their wealth instead
and grow more and more bold in their wickedness.”
8 But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God.
I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.
9 I will praise you forever, O God,
for what you have done.
I will trust in your good name
in the presence of your faithful people.
Footnotes:
52:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, May 11, 2015
Read: 1 Timothy 1:12-20
Paul’s Gratitude for God’s Mercy
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, 13 even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. 14 Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus.
15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.
Timothy’s Responsibility
18 Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier. May they help you fight well in the Lord’s battles. 19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. 20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples. I threw them out and handed them over to Satan so they might learn not to blaspheme God.
INSIGHT: Before Paul’s conversion he put Christian believers in prison and was present for at least one murder—that of Stephen, who was stoned for preaching about Christ (Acts 7:59–8:1). Yet after his conversion Paul sums up his former life in just three words, telling Timothy that he was “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man” (1 Tim. 1:13). He then tells what God has done for him (vv. 13-17), reminding us that it is not who we were that is important; it is what God has done for us.
Tell Your Story
By Poh Fang Chia
Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim Your greatness. —Psalm 145:6 nlt
Michael Dinsmore, a former prisoner and relatively new Christian, was asked to give his testimony in a prison. After he spoke, some inmates came to him and said, “This is the most exciting meeting we’ve ever been to!” Michael was amazed that God could use his simple story.
In 1 Timothy, after Paul had charged Timothy to stay the course preaching the gospel (1:1-11), he shared his personal testimony to encourage the young man (vv.12-16). He told about God’s mercy in his own life. Paul said that he had mocked the Lord, but He changed him. In His mercy, God not only counted him faithful and gave him a job to do, but He also enabled him to do His work (v.12). Paul considered himself the worst of sinners, but God saved him (v.15).
The Lord is able! That is what Paul wanted Timothy to see, and what we need to see too. Through Paul’s testimony, we see God’s mercy. If God could use someone like Paul, He can use us. If God could save the worst of sinners, then no one is beyond His reach.
Our story of God’s work in our lives can encourage others. Let those around you know that the God of the Bible is still at work today!
Father, thank You for the salvation You offer and that no one, including me, is beyond the reach of Your mercy, grace, and transforming power. Help me share my story with others so that people can see Your love.
No one is beyond the reach of God’s love.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 11, 2015
“Love One Another”
…add to your…brotherly kindness love. —2 Peter 1:5, 7
Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don’t know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26). Initially, when “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.
The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, “…love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). He is saying, “I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.” This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.
“The Lord…is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish…” (2 Peter 3:9). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God’s divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 11, 2015
My Child, My Mirror - When a Parent Looks Up - #7391
One of the more lovable guys on TV, I think, is the weatherman named Al Roker. You've seen him on The Today Show or The Weather Channel maybe in the morning, or hosting, or covering special events, or he's even got a book about his battle with losing weight.
At one point Al was quoted as saying that he weighed in at 340 pounds at 5'8". Notice I said weighed in. That was past tense. After carrying around all those pounds for a while, one day he suddenly goes out to a gym and asked them to put him on a diet and an exercise program that will radically reduce his size. He lost 140 pounds.
And what was it that suddenly got him wanting to do something about weight that he'd carried around for a long time? His young daughter came up to him one day when he had his shirt off and she made the kind of blunt, off-the-cuff observation about how he looked that only a child can make in all innocence and get away with it. Well that was it! Hello gymnasium! Goodbye fat.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "My Child, My Mirror - When a Parent Looks Up."
Our word for today from the Word of God takes us way back to nearly the beginning of the human race to a man named Enoch. Now, God has some especially complimentary things to say about Enoch. In Genesis 5:21-24, he reveals a change that took place in this man's life that could change the course of your life too.
The Bible says, "When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah." Then it says, "After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God." Now, did you notice the math here? Not just the longer life they enjoyed back then. Enoch lived the first 65 years of his life with no mention of a relationship with God.
Then suddenly he starts walking with God, and continues to have this intimate relationship with his Creator through the rest of his life. What was the catalyst that changed Enoch? The same thing that changed an overweight TV personality - his child. After he became a father, it says, is when Enoch walked with God.
There's something about having a child that makes you start thinking about yourself in ways you've never thought of yourself before. They're mirrors to us. As a dad or a mom, trying to shape this life that we've been entrusted with, knowing the dangers, the challenges, the consequences, we begin to see things we may have never seen fully before. Like our own incompleteness, our inadequacies, our baggage, our weaknesses that can now do serious damage to this vulnerable life in our hands; our own unmet needs, unanswered questions, unconquered sins.
Suddenly we consider looking up as we maybe have never have done before and saying, "Help!" Well, the good news is that God stands ready to answer our cry for help big time. In fact, He may have been waiting a long time for you to finally recognize that you are incomplete. You are inadequate and you've always been in need of what only He can do for you - a Savior.
Ultimately, our children show us the real weight we've been carrying all these years; the weight of our own self-centeredness, our unresolved issues, our dark side, our sin. We can never walk with a perfect God carrying all this. And being a mom or dad shows us like nothing else how deep our need is for this personal relationship we were made for and how much we need a rescue.
In spite of our sin, God loves us and He wants to walk with you for the rest of your life. But that walk can only begin one place - at the cross where God's one and only Son died to pay the death penalty you and I deserve. We did the sinning, but Jesus did the dying. The Bible says, "You who were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ."
Your walk with God begins when you say, "Jesus, I'm putting all my trust in You to be my Savior from my sin." If you've never done that, let this be the day you say, "Jesus, I'm yours." I'd love to tell you more about this relationship and help you make sure you belong to Jesus. Just go to our website ANewStory.com.
If you're a mom or dad, there are feet now following you wherever you walk. For their sake and for yours, be sure you're walking with God.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Luke 21:20-3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Luke 21:20-3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Worry-Slapper
Become a “worry-slapper!” Treat frets like mosquitoes!
Do you procrastinate when a bloodsucking bug lights on your skin? Do you say, “I’ll take care of that in a moment.” Of course you don’t! You give the critter the slap it deserves.
Be equally decisive with anxiety. The moment a concern surfaces, deal with it. Don’t dwell on it. Head it off before it gets the best of you.
Don’t waste an hour wondering what your boss thinks; ask her. Before you diagnose that blemish as cancer, have it examined. Instead of assuming you’ll never get out of debt, consult an expert. Be a doer—not a stewer!
In Matthew 6:32-33,. Jesus said, “Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. See the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need!”
On that you can depend and never worry!
Luke 21:20-3
“And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. 22 For those will be days of God’s vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled. 23 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people. 24 They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end.
25 “And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. 26 People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then everyone will see the Son of Man[a] coming on a cloud with power and great glory.[b] 28 So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”
29 Then he gave them this illustration: “Notice the fig tree, or any other tree. 30 When the leaves come out, you know without being told that summer is near. 31 In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that the Kingdom of God is near. 32 I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
34 “Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, 35 like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. 36 Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.”
37 Every day Jesus went to the Temple to teach, and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. 38 The crowds gathered at the Temple early each morning to hear him.
Footnotes:
21:27a “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
21:27b See Dan 7:13.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
May 08, 2015
Read: 2 Peter 3:1-13
The Day of the Lord Is Coming
This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. 2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.
3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.[a]
11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
Footnotes:
3:10 Other manuscripts read will be burned up; still others read will be found destroyed.
INSIGHT: Peter wrote to a persecuted and suffering group of Christians, which is why he highlighted the faithfulness of God. Peter wanted them to remember that the Lord would fulfill the promise of His second coming (v. 13).
All Aboard
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The Lord is . . . longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish. —2 Peter 3:9
One day when I dropped my husband off at our local train station, I watched as the conductor scanned the area for stragglers. A woman with wet hair bounded from the parking lot and up into the train. Then, a man in a dark suit strode to the platform and climbed aboard. The conductor waited patiently while several more late-comers sprinted to the tracks and boarded at the last moment.
Just as the conductor was patient with people boarding the train, God patiently waits for people to come to know Him. However, someday Jesus will return and “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:10). When this happens, or when our physical bodies die, it will be too late to establish a relationship with God.
“The Lord is . . . longsuffering toward us,” Peter says, “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (v.9). If you have delayed deciding to follow Christ, there is good news—you can still commit yourself to Him. “If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9 niv). He is calling. Will you run in His direction?
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me. —Thompson
Now is the time to choose the Lord.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 08, 2015
The Faith to Persevere
Because you have kept My command to persevere… —Revelation 3:10
Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.
God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Another Eternity Moment - #6607
May 8, 2012/15
Jonesboro. Paducah. Columbine. And then this year add Chardon, Ohio - another school shooting. You know, having spent so much of my life on high school campuses, my heart sinks every time I see these all-too-familiar scenes. Students running, crying, parents desperately seeking information, SWAT teams moving in, law enforcement briefings, shooter profiles, ambulances converging, and then those heartbreaking candlelight vigils.
And, you know, when those happen, once again for a very brief window in time, there's an eternity moment. After the Chardon shootings, one national reporter said, "These students are talking way beyond their years today." See, suddenly checking Facebook, and sweating the test, and talking about everyone's social "drama" seems so unimportant. Because, well, a brush with eternity changes everything. At least for a little while.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Another Eternity Moment."
You know, for those traumatized teenagers in a shocked and grieving town where there had been a school shooting, the eternity moment came with gunshots in the cafeteria. But we all have those moments. I mean, that narrow miss, like in traffic, or in a natural disaster when we know how close we were to no tomorrow. The sudden death of someone we didn't expect to lose, and then the unwelcome, insistent reminder of our own mortality. The ominous symptoms. The sobering news from the doctor. The medical procedure we know that we might not have come back from.
It's hard, and it's slightly unnatural, I guess, to imagine ourselves as being the obituary, being the name and the picture on that funeral home memorial card. But then comes that brush with eternity when we realize, "It could have been me."
It's not something to dwell on, but it is something to be ready for. After all, we go to a lot of effort to be ready for a job interview, a date, an exam, a vacation, a financial future, or our retirement. None of which holds a candle to eternity; that vast forever that's just beyond our final breath.
The circumstances that bring our mortality close are often painful. They're even tragic like the wrenching events of the school shooting. But those brushes with eternity can also serve to help save our soul.
A Biblical prophet warned us to "...prepare to meet your God" in our word today from the Word of God, Amos 4:12, because that's what's on the other side of our last heartbeat - our un-postponeable appointment with God. The Bible says, "Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Grade points and bank accounts and "to do" lists and earth stuff? In an instant, they're going to matter no more. All that will matter is whether we're right with God. In a moment, we're suddenly facing destination time; where I'm going to spend forever.
Surveys show that most Americans think they'll go to heaven when they die. Jesus, though, talked about "the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:14). That's not His fault. He did everything He could to clear away the curse that disqualifies all of us from God's heaven - our sin. Our arrogant control of a life that God gave us and that He was supposed to run. All those lying things, hurting things, selfish things, and dirty things, the God-ignoring things we've done. The verdict is clear: "Nothing impure will ever enter" God's heaven (Revelation 21:27).
No religion can get us in, because my sin carries an eternal death penalty, "the soul who sins will die" (Ezekiel 18:4) the Bible says. And no religion can die for me. A perfect God cannot welcome me into His perfect heaven with my sin.
And a death penalty can't be paid by being a good boy. Somebody has to die, and somebody did. Jesus did. God's one and only Son. The Bible says He's, "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). And the moment you give your heart to Jesus, every sin you've ever committed is erased from God's book forever. And what would keep you out of heaven is removed.
One day, when a church leader used a ringing alarm clock to show time running out, I put all my trust in Jesus to be my Savior from my sin. I'm not worried about eternity, and I've had several close brushes with it. There's just no fear. I put my total trust in Jesus to be my Rescuer from my sin, and I know He'll keep His promise.
It's awesome to know that because of Jesus, you're ready for eternity whenever it comes. If you're not sure you are, would you please today say, "Jesus you died for me. I give me to You." Go to our website YoursForLife.net and make sure you belong to Him.
The Bible describes "eternal life" as a gift that becomes yours at the point you take it for yourself. And this could be your day!
Become a “worry-slapper!” Treat frets like mosquitoes!
Do you procrastinate when a bloodsucking bug lights on your skin? Do you say, “I’ll take care of that in a moment.” Of course you don’t! You give the critter the slap it deserves.
Be equally decisive with anxiety. The moment a concern surfaces, deal with it. Don’t dwell on it. Head it off before it gets the best of you.
Don’t waste an hour wondering what your boss thinks; ask her. Before you diagnose that blemish as cancer, have it examined. Instead of assuming you’ll never get out of debt, consult an expert. Be a doer—not a stewer!
In Matthew 6:32-33,. Jesus said, “Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. See the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need!”
On that you can depend and never worry!
Luke 21:20-3
“And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. 22 For those will be days of God’s vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled. 23 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people. 24 They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end.
25 “And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. 26 People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then everyone will see the Son of Man[a] coming on a cloud with power and great glory.[b] 28 So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”
29 Then he gave them this illustration: “Notice the fig tree, or any other tree. 30 When the leaves come out, you know without being told that summer is near. 31 In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that the Kingdom of God is near. 32 I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
34 “Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, 35 like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. 36 Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.”
37 Every day Jesus went to the Temple to teach, and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. 38 The crowds gathered at the Temple early each morning to hear him.
Footnotes:
21:27a “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
21:27b See Dan 7:13.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
May 08, 2015
Read: 2 Peter 3:1-13
The Day of the Lord Is Coming
This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. 2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.
3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.[a]
11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
Footnotes:
3:10 Other manuscripts read will be burned up; still others read will be found destroyed.
INSIGHT: Peter wrote to a persecuted and suffering group of Christians, which is why he highlighted the faithfulness of God. Peter wanted them to remember that the Lord would fulfill the promise of His second coming (v. 13).
All Aboard
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The Lord is . . . longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish. —2 Peter 3:9
One day when I dropped my husband off at our local train station, I watched as the conductor scanned the area for stragglers. A woman with wet hair bounded from the parking lot and up into the train. Then, a man in a dark suit strode to the platform and climbed aboard. The conductor waited patiently while several more late-comers sprinted to the tracks and boarded at the last moment.
Just as the conductor was patient with people boarding the train, God patiently waits for people to come to know Him. However, someday Jesus will return and “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:10). When this happens, or when our physical bodies die, it will be too late to establish a relationship with God.
“The Lord is . . . longsuffering toward us,” Peter says, “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (v.9). If you have delayed deciding to follow Christ, there is good news—you can still commit yourself to Him. “If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9 niv). He is calling. Will you run in His direction?
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me. —Thompson
Now is the time to choose the Lord.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 08, 2015
The Faith to Persevere
Because you have kept My command to persevere… —Revelation 3:10
Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.
God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Another Eternity Moment - #6607
May 8, 2012/15
Jonesboro. Paducah. Columbine. And then this year add Chardon, Ohio - another school shooting. You know, having spent so much of my life on high school campuses, my heart sinks every time I see these all-too-familiar scenes. Students running, crying, parents desperately seeking information, SWAT teams moving in, law enforcement briefings, shooter profiles, ambulances converging, and then those heartbreaking candlelight vigils.
And, you know, when those happen, once again for a very brief window in time, there's an eternity moment. After the Chardon shootings, one national reporter said, "These students are talking way beyond their years today." See, suddenly checking Facebook, and sweating the test, and talking about everyone's social "drama" seems so unimportant. Because, well, a brush with eternity changes everything. At least for a little while.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Another Eternity Moment."
You know, for those traumatized teenagers in a shocked and grieving town where there had been a school shooting, the eternity moment came with gunshots in the cafeteria. But we all have those moments. I mean, that narrow miss, like in traffic, or in a natural disaster when we know how close we were to no tomorrow. The sudden death of someone we didn't expect to lose, and then the unwelcome, insistent reminder of our own mortality. The ominous symptoms. The sobering news from the doctor. The medical procedure we know that we might not have come back from.
It's hard, and it's slightly unnatural, I guess, to imagine ourselves as being the obituary, being the name and the picture on that funeral home memorial card. But then comes that brush with eternity when we realize, "It could have been me."
It's not something to dwell on, but it is something to be ready for. After all, we go to a lot of effort to be ready for a job interview, a date, an exam, a vacation, a financial future, or our retirement. None of which holds a candle to eternity; that vast forever that's just beyond our final breath.
The circumstances that bring our mortality close are often painful. They're even tragic like the wrenching events of the school shooting. But those brushes with eternity can also serve to help save our soul.
A Biblical prophet warned us to "...prepare to meet your God" in our word today from the Word of God, Amos 4:12, because that's what's on the other side of our last heartbeat - our un-postponeable appointment with God. The Bible says, "Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Grade points and bank accounts and "to do" lists and earth stuff? In an instant, they're going to matter no more. All that will matter is whether we're right with God. In a moment, we're suddenly facing destination time; where I'm going to spend forever.
Surveys show that most Americans think they'll go to heaven when they die. Jesus, though, talked about "the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:14). That's not His fault. He did everything He could to clear away the curse that disqualifies all of us from God's heaven - our sin. Our arrogant control of a life that God gave us and that He was supposed to run. All those lying things, hurting things, selfish things, and dirty things, the God-ignoring things we've done. The verdict is clear: "Nothing impure will ever enter" God's heaven (Revelation 21:27).
No religion can get us in, because my sin carries an eternal death penalty, "the soul who sins will die" (Ezekiel 18:4) the Bible says. And no religion can die for me. A perfect God cannot welcome me into His perfect heaven with my sin.
And a death penalty can't be paid by being a good boy. Somebody has to die, and somebody did. Jesus did. God's one and only Son. The Bible says He's, "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). And the moment you give your heart to Jesus, every sin you've ever committed is erased from God's book forever. And what would keep you out of heaven is removed.
One day, when a church leader used a ringing alarm clock to show time running out, I put all my trust in Jesus to be my Savior from my sin. I'm not worried about eternity, and I've had several close brushes with it. There's just no fear. I put my total trust in Jesus to be my Rescuer from my sin, and I know He'll keep His promise.
It's awesome to know that because of Jesus, you're ready for eternity whenever it comes. If you're not sure you are, would you please today say, "Jesus you died for me. I give me to You." Go to our website YoursForLife.net and make sure you belong to Him.
The Bible describes "eternal life" as a gift that becomes yours at the point you take it for yourself. And this could be your day!
Psalm 56, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Give Your Child to God
You’ve wept a monsoon of tears for your child, enough to summon the attention of every angel and their neighbor to your cause. But you’re not so sure anymore.
You find yourself wondering if Christ has forgotten you and your child. He hasn’t! Keep giving your child to God. In the right time, the right way, he will give your child back to you.
A quarter century ago, I gave my daughter to God. I remembered the way Abraham had placed Isaac on the altar. I made my apartment living room my altar and lifted my daughter toward heaven. I can’t raise this girl, I confessed, but You can. I give her back to you! Must have been a sight to behold, a pajama-clad father lifting his blanket-wrapped baby toward the ceiling. But something tells me one parent appreciated the gesture.
Abraham. And, of course, God!
Psalm 56
For the choir director: A psalm[a] of David, regarding the time the Philistines seized him in Gath. To be sung to the tune “Dove on Distant Oaks.”
O God, have mercy on me,
for people are hounding me.
My foes attack me all day long.
2 I am constantly hounded by those who slander me,
and many are boldly attacking me.
3 But when I am afraid,
I will put my trust in you.
4 I praise God for what he has promised.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
What can mere mortals do to me?
5 They are always twisting what I say;
they spend their days plotting to harm me.
6 They come together to spy on me—
watching my every step, eager to kill me.
7 Don’t let them get away with their wickedness;
in your anger, O God, bring them down.
8 You keep track of all my sorrows.[b]
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.
9 My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help.
This I know: God is on my side!
10 I praise God for what he has promised;
yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised.
11 I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
What can mere mortals do to me?
12 I will fulfill my vows to you, O God,
and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help.
13 For you have rescued me from death;
you have kept my feet from slipping.
So now I can walk in your presence, O God,
in your life-giving light.
Footnotes:
56:Title Hebrew miktam. This may be a literary or musical term.
56:8 Or my wanderings.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
May 10, 2015
Read: Isaiah 49:13-18
Sing for joy, O heavens!
Rejoice, O earth!
Burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on them in their suffering.
14 Yet Jerusalem[a] says, “The Lord has deserted us;
the Lord has forgotten us.”
15 “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
I would not forget you!
16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
17 Soon your descendants will come back,
and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
18 Look around you and see,
for all your children will come back to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.
Footnotes:
49:14 Hebrew Zion.
INSIGHT: Isaiah has the most messianic references of any Old Testament prophetic book, containing extraordinary prophecies of both Christ’s miraculous birth and His atoning death. Today’s reading begins a section of prophecies about the Divine Servant, highlighted by the description of His suffering in Isaiah 53. This suffering comes to the Servant from God’s own hand and ultimately finds its fulfillment at the cross where Christ bore the sins of the world.
No Need Is Too Trivial
By Joanie Yoder
As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. —Psalm 103:13
Several mothers of small children were sharing encouraging answers to prayer. Yet one woman said she felt selfish about troubling God with her personal needs. “Compared with the huge global needs God faces,” she explained, “my circumstances must seem trivial to Him.”
Moments later, her little son pinched his fingers in a door and ran screaming to his mother. She didn’t say, “How selfish of you to bother me with your throbbing fingers when I’m busy!” She showed him great compassion and tenderness.
As Psalm 103:13 reminds us, this is the response of love, both human and divine. In Isaiah 49, God said that even though a mother may forget to have compassion on her child, the Lord never forgets His children (v.15). God assured His people, “I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands” (v.16).
Such intimacy with God belongs to those who fear Him and who rely on Him rather than on themselves. As that child with throbbing fingers ran freely to his mother, so may we run to God with our daily problems.
Our compassionate God doesn’t neglect others to respond to our concerns. He has limitless time and love for each of His children. No need is too trivial for Him.
You take great delight in me, Lord, and quiet me with Your love. You rejoice over me with singing, like a mother singing a lullaby over her child. Thank You for Your tender love for me.
God holds His children in the palm of His hand.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 10, 2015
Take the Initiative
…add to your faith virtue… —2 Peter 1:5
Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must “work out” our “own salvation” which God has worked in us (Philippians 2:12). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning— to instruct yourself in the way you must go.
Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, “I will write that letter,” or “I will pay that debt”; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.
We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When Your Children Expect Too Much - #6609
May 10, 2012/15
My friend Bill was talking to me about his son's "microwave expectations" - "I want it quick!" See, Bill was in his early 50s, and his son had been married about a year at that point. And Bill said, "You know, I just can't believe it. My son and his wife want a home right now. They want to own a home immediately, they want furniture now, and they want a new car now!" Then he kind of summed it up by saying, "They want in one year what it took us 20 years to get." Well, that's fairly typical these days. The child expects a lot more than the father had.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Your Children Expect Too Much."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 9, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 57. I want you to notice here that Jesus gives very realistic expectations to anyone who is going to follow Him, unlike the Devil, who deceives you and tells you nothing about the price tag. Jesus gives it to you all up front. "As they were walking along the road, a man said to Him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.'" It's interesting here that Jesus is saying, "Listen, adjust your expectations, man! You're following someone who sleeps every night on the Mount of Olives. So don't expect a lot materially."
I had been asked to speak at a conference, and they lodged in a very nice hotel room. And I was looking out over the city lights and I'd just gotten off the phone with my wife and sort of luxuriating in the room and the nice things that it had. And all of a sudden it hit me. I said, "You know, I'm being treated so much better than my Lord ever was. "I've got a place to live, I've got a vehicle to drive, I've got clothes, I have choices of clothes, sometimes I stay in places like this."
See, our problem is that we compare what we have to what others have and then guess what? We get discontent. That's where coveting comes from. You never covet if you don't compare. You see, we're measuring by the wrong standard. How are you doing compared to what your Lord Jesus had? He said, "The servant is not better than his master." Jesus taught us to ask for daily bread. Those are biblical expectations. If He gives us more, well that's okay. Enjoy it; be very grateful for the bonuses beyond daily bread. But the problem comes when we expect more than the basics; when we demand more than the basics.
Maybe you're wrestling with discontentment right now because you've been expecting too much...more than your Lord had when He was here. Oh, you've looked around at a greedy world and you've looked at other people your age, or other people in your situation, and you're thinking, "I want what they have." Well, see, for people in the world, that's all they get. You're going to have your rich rewards forever.
Now, there's no promise of heaven on earth. Jesus said, "Expect a few years of sacrifice and then an eternity of wealth." See, you won't seek first His kingdom if you're expecting to get a lot of earth's kingdom. You can't go after both.
When our Heavenly Father gave His Son, there wasn't even an address for Him. Are you doing better than your Lord did? I think most of us are. Well, then, thank Him for that and look forward to an eternity of celebrating His riches with Him in heaven.
You’ve wept a monsoon of tears for your child, enough to summon the attention of every angel and their neighbor to your cause. But you’re not so sure anymore.
You find yourself wondering if Christ has forgotten you and your child. He hasn’t! Keep giving your child to God. In the right time, the right way, he will give your child back to you.
A quarter century ago, I gave my daughter to God. I remembered the way Abraham had placed Isaac on the altar. I made my apartment living room my altar and lifted my daughter toward heaven. I can’t raise this girl, I confessed, but You can. I give her back to you! Must have been a sight to behold, a pajama-clad father lifting his blanket-wrapped baby toward the ceiling. But something tells me one parent appreciated the gesture.
Abraham. And, of course, God!
Psalm 56
For the choir director: A psalm[a] of David, regarding the time the Philistines seized him in Gath. To be sung to the tune “Dove on Distant Oaks.”
O God, have mercy on me,
for people are hounding me.
My foes attack me all day long.
2 I am constantly hounded by those who slander me,
and many are boldly attacking me.
3 But when I am afraid,
I will put my trust in you.
4 I praise God for what he has promised.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
What can mere mortals do to me?
5 They are always twisting what I say;
they spend their days plotting to harm me.
6 They come together to spy on me—
watching my every step, eager to kill me.
7 Don’t let them get away with their wickedness;
in your anger, O God, bring them down.
8 You keep track of all my sorrows.[b]
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.
9 My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help.
This I know: God is on my side!
10 I praise God for what he has promised;
yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised.
11 I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
What can mere mortals do to me?
12 I will fulfill my vows to you, O God,
and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help.
13 For you have rescued me from death;
you have kept my feet from slipping.
So now I can walk in your presence, O God,
in your life-giving light.
Footnotes:
56:Title Hebrew miktam. This may be a literary or musical term.
56:8 Or my wanderings.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
May 10, 2015
Read: Isaiah 49:13-18
Sing for joy, O heavens!
Rejoice, O earth!
Burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on them in their suffering.
14 Yet Jerusalem[a] says, “The Lord has deserted us;
the Lord has forgotten us.”
15 “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
I would not forget you!
16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
17 Soon your descendants will come back,
and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
18 Look around you and see,
for all your children will come back to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.
Footnotes:
49:14 Hebrew Zion.
INSIGHT: Isaiah has the most messianic references of any Old Testament prophetic book, containing extraordinary prophecies of both Christ’s miraculous birth and His atoning death. Today’s reading begins a section of prophecies about the Divine Servant, highlighted by the description of His suffering in Isaiah 53. This suffering comes to the Servant from God’s own hand and ultimately finds its fulfillment at the cross where Christ bore the sins of the world.
No Need Is Too Trivial
By Joanie Yoder
As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. —Psalm 103:13
Several mothers of small children were sharing encouraging answers to prayer. Yet one woman said she felt selfish about troubling God with her personal needs. “Compared with the huge global needs God faces,” she explained, “my circumstances must seem trivial to Him.”
Moments later, her little son pinched his fingers in a door and ran screaming to his mother. She didn’t say, “How selfish of you to bother me with your throbbing fingers when I’m busy!” She showed him great compassion and tenderness.
As Psalm 103:13 reminds us, this is the response of love, both human and divine. In Isaiah 49, God said that even though a mother may forget to have compassion on her child, the Lord never forgets His children (v.15). God assured His people, “I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands” (v.16).
Such intimacy with God belongs to those who fear Him and who rely on Him rather than on themselves. As that child with throbbing fingers ran freely to his mother, so may we run to God with our daily problems.
Our compassionate God doesn’t neglect others to respond to our concerns. He has limitless time and love for each of His children. No need is too trivial for Him.
You take great delight in me, Lord, and quiet me with Your love. You rejoice over me with singing, like a mother singing a lullaby over her child. Thank You for Your tender love for me.
God holds His children in the palm of His hand.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 10, 2015
Take the Initiative
…add to your faith virtue… —2 Peter 1:5
Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must “work out” our “own salvation” which God has worked in us (Philippians 2:12). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning— to instruct yourself in the way you must go.
Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, “I will write that letter,” or “I will pay that debt”; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.
We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
When Your Children Expect Too Much - #6609
May 10, 2012/15
My friend Bill was talking to me about his son's "microwave expectations" - "I want it quick!" See, Bill was in his early 50s, and his son had been married about a year at that point. And Bill said, "You know, I just can't believe it. My son and his wife want a home right now. They want to own a home immediately, they want furniture now, and they want a new car now!" Then he kind of summed it up by saying, "They want in one year what it took us 20 years to get." Well, that's fairly typical these days. The child expects a lot more than the father had.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Your Children Expect Too Much."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 9, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 57. I want you to notice here that Jesus gives very realistic expectations to anyone who is going to follow Him, unlike the Devil, who deceives you and tells you nothing about the price tag. Jesus gives it to you all up front. "As they were walking along the road, a man said to Him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.'" It's interesting here that Jesus is saying, "Listen, adjust your expectations, man! You're following someone who sleeps every night on the Mount of Olives. So don't expect a lot materially."
I had been asked to speak at a conference, and they lodged in a very nice hotel room. And I was looking out over the city lights and I'd just gotten off the phone with my wife and sort of luxuriating in the room and the nice things that it had. And all of a sudden it hit me. I said, "You know, I'm being treated so much better than my Lord ever was. "I've got a place to live, I've got a vehicle to drive, I've got clothes, I have choices of clothes, sometimes I stay in places like this."
See, our problem is that we compare what we have to what others have and then guess what? We get discontent. That's where coveting comes from. You never covet if you don't compare. You see, we're measuring by the wrong standard. How are you doing compared to what your Lord Jesus had? He said, "The servant is not better than his master." Jesus taught us to ask for daily bread. Those are biblical expectations. If He gives us more, well that's okay. Enjoy it; be very grateful for the bonuses beyond daily bread. But the problem comes when we expect more than the basics; when we demand more than the basics.
Maybe you're wrestling with discontentment right now because you've been expecting too much...more than your Lord had when He was here. Oh, you've looked around at a greedy world and you've looked at other people your age, or other people in your situation, and you're thinking, "I want what they have." Well, see, for people in the world, that's all they get. You're going to have your rich rewards forever.
Now, there's no promise of heaven on earth. Jesus said, "Expect a few years of sacrifice and then an eternity of wealth." See, you won't seek first His kingdom if you're expecting to get a lot of earth's kingdom. You can't go after both.
When our Heavenly Father gave His Son, there wasn't even an address for Him. Are you doing better than your Lord did? I think most of us are. Well, then, thank Him for that and look forward to an eternity of celebrating His riches with Him in heaven.
1 Samuel 22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Loaded With Fears
I don’t care how tough you are. You may be a Navy SEAL. Doesn’t matter. Every parent melts the moment he or she feels the full force of parenthood!
How did I get myself into this? My moment came in the midnight quiet of an apartment in downtown Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, as I held a human being—my daughter—in my arms.
The semi-truck of parenting comes loaded with fears. Will we have enough money? Enough answers? Enough education? It’s enough to keep a parent awake at night.
God has a heart for parents! Are we surprised? After all, God himself is a father. What parental emotion has he not felt? But because of his great love for us, Romans says, “he did not spare his own son but gave him for us all. So with Jesus, God will surely give us all things!”
ALL THINGS—must include courage and hope!
1 Samuel 22
David at the Cave of Adullam
So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and all his other relatives joined him there. 2 Then others began coming—men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented—until David was the captain of about 400 men.
3 Later David went to Mizpeh in Moab, where he asked the king, “Please allow my father and mother to live here with you until I know what God is going to do for me.” 4 So David’s parents stayed in Moab with the king during the entire time David was living in his stronghold.
5 One day the prophet Gad told David, “Leave the stronghold and return to the land of Judah.” So David went to the forest of Hereth.
6 The news of his arrival in Judah soon reached Saul. At the time, the king was sitting beneath the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, holding his spear and surrounded by his officers.
7 “Listen here, you men of Benjamin!” Saul shouted to his officers when he heard the news. “Has that son of Jesse promised every one of you fields and vineyards? Has he promised to make you all generals and captains in his army?[a] 8 Is that why you have conspired against me? For not one of you told me when my own son made a solemn pact with the son of Jesse. You’re not even sorry for me. Think of it! My own son—encouraging him to kill me, as he is trying to do this very day!”
9 Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing there with Saul’s men, spoke up. “When I was at Nob,” he said, “I saw the son of Jesse talking to the priest, Ahimelech son of Ahitub. 10 Ahimelech consulted the Lord for him. Then he gave him food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
The Slaughter of the Priests
11 King Saul immediately sent for Ahimelech and all his family, who served as priests at Nob. 12 When they arrived, Saul shouted at him, “Listen to me, you son of Ahitub!”
“What is it, my king?” Ahimelech asked.
13 “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me?” Saul demanded. “Why did you give him food and a sword? Why have you consulted God for him? Why have you encouraged him to kill me, as he is trying to do this very day?”
14 “But sir,” Ahimelech replied, “is anyone among all your servants as faithful as David, your son-in-law? Why, he is the captain of your bodyguard and a highly honored member of your household! 15 This was certainly not the first time I had consulted God for him! May the king not accuse me and my family in this matter, for I knew nothing at all of any plot against you.”
16 “You will surely die, Ahimelech, along with your entire family!” the king shouted. 17 And he ordered his bodyguards, “Kill these priests of the Lord, for they are allies and conspirators with David! They knew he was running away from me, but they didn’t tell me!” But Saul’s men refused to kill the Lord’s priests.
18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You do it.” So Doeg the Edomite turned on them and killed them that day, eighty-five priests in all, still wearing their priestly garments. 19 Then he went to Nob, the town of the priests, and killed the priests’ families—men and women, children and babies—and all the cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats.
20 Only Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David. 21 When he told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord, 22 David exclaimed, “I knew it! When I saw Doeg the Edomite there that day, I knew he was sure to tell Saul. Now I have caused the death of all your father’s family. 23 Stay here with me, and don’t be afraid. I will protect you with my own life, for the same person wants to kill us both.”
Footnotes:
22:7 Hebrew commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
May 09, 2015
Read: Titus 3:1-8
Do What Is Good
Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. 2 They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone.
3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But—
When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.[a] 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.
8 This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone.
Footnotes:
3:5 Greek He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
INSIGHT: Twice Paul asked his protégé Titus to remind believers to always be ready to do good works (vv. 1,8). Although we are saved by God’s mercy and grace and not by what we do (vv. 4-7), our works are the evidence of our faith. Paul taught in Ephesians 2:8-10: “God saved you by his grace . . . . Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done. . . . He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (NLT).
Remind The People
By Dave Branon |
Remind the believers to . . . show true humility to everyone. —Titus 3:1–2 nlt
In a typical week, many of us receive a number of emails reminding us of appointments or upcoming events or requests to pray for someone. All of them are needed reminders.
When Paul wrote his “papyrus mail” to Titus, he ended his note by saying, “Remind the believers . . .” (3:1 nlt). We can assume from Paul’s word choice that he had already written about these things. But they were of such importance to the people in the church that he repeated them so they wouldn’t forget.
Notice what Paul didn’t want them to miss. He reminded the people— living under the oppressive Roman rule—“to be subject to rulers and authorities” (v.1). It was important to be known for obedience; for doing what is good; for not slandering; for being peaceful and considerate; and for humility rather than for complaining. Their behavior was to showcase the change made in their lives by following Christ (vv.3-5).
How could they—and we—do that? “The Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us . . . through Jesus Christ” enables us to “devote [ourselves] to doing what is good” (vv.5-6,8 niv). It is through Jesus’ great gift of salvation that we are equipped to influence our world for good. That’s a reminder we all need.
Lord, remind us how important it is that we obey You and treat others the way we want to be treated. Remind us that Your salvation enables us to live as lights in a dark world.
A Christian’s life is a window through which others can see Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 09, 2015
Reaching Beyond Our Grasp
Where there is no revelation [or prophetic vision], the people cast off restraint… —Proverbs 29:18
There is a difference between holding on to a principle and having a vision. A principle does not come from moral inspiration, but a vision does. People who are totally consumed with idealistic principles rarely do anything. A person’s own idea of God and His attributes may actually be used to justify and rationalize his deliberate neglect of his duty. Jonah tried to excuse his disobedience by saying to God, “…I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm” (Jonah 4:2). I too may have the right idea of God and His attributes, but that may be the very reason why I do not do my duty. But wherever there is vision, there is also a life of honesty and integrity, because the vision gives me the moral incentive.
Our own idealistic principles may actually lull us into ruin. Examine yourself spiritually to see if you have vision, or only principles.
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what’s a heaven for?
“Where there is no revelation [or prophetic vision]….” Once we lose sight of God, we begin to be reckless. We cast off certain restraints from activities we know are wrong. We set prayer aside as well and cease having God’s vision in the little things of life. We simply begin to act on our own initiative. If we are eating only out of our own hand, and doing things solely on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on a downward path. We have lost the vision. Is our attitude today an attitude that flows from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done before? Is there a freshness and a vitality in our spiritual outlook?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Cleared For Takeoff - #6608
May 9, 2012/15
We were sitting on the runway at O'Hare Airport for a long time, in an airplane that is. I thought we were on our way when we left the gate. I said to myself "Okay, in a couple of minutes we'll be in the air and on our way." And then they routed us across the backside of O'Hare, and I saw some lovely storage facilities by the way. But, we finally we ended up in a long, long line of aircraft. I've got a little problem with impatience, but I sure don't want the pilot to have that problem. See, he knows that you do not take off until you get clearance from the tower...no matter how long that means you have to wait.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Cleared For Takeoff."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Genesis 27. It's a pretty powerful lesson in faith and patience from the life of Rebecca, Isaac's wife. Maybe you remember that God had promised that the younger son, Jacob, would actually end up with the blessing rather than the usual thing, which would be that his older brother, Esau, would get it. Unfortunately, it looked like Isaac was dying and he hadn't given the blessing to Jacob. And Rebecca kind of panics and says, "Oh boy, I'd better do something about this to make sure that my favorite son here gets the blessing. God said he should."
Now, she has no clearance from the tower to do this. God didn't tell her to do it; she doesn't even talk to Him about it. She just takes off. And she has this scheme where he will wear various hairy things on his arms and try to smell like the outdoors so he'll feel like his brother and smell like his brother, who's a hunter, and he'll just lie about who he is. And you know what? Isaac can't see very well. He does deceive his father and he gets the blessing. So, do they win? They lose.
Listen to the expensive result beginning in Genesis 27:41, "Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, 'The days of mourning for my father are near, and then I will kill my brother Jacob.'" Then it goes on to say as Rebecca now counsels Jacob, "Now, then, my son, do what I say. Flee to my brother Laban. Stay with him for a while until your brother's fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him (you think that's going to happen?), I'll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?" And in a sense that's exactly what happened. She didn't see Jacob for 14 years; her relationship was broken with Esau. Oh, by the way, Isaac didn't die; he lived 20 more years!
All of this agony happened in this family because Rebecca couldn't wait for God to do it His way. Oh, she knew Jacob should have the blessing, but it just wasn't happening fast enough. Does that sound familiar at all? You thought God was going to act by now, but you're still waiting. The temptation is to panic and say, "Oh, man! It's now or never!" Now, you don't have a "go" from the Lord, but you're still starting to take off.
You know, if a pilot does that without the person who can see all the other aircraft, who can see all the implications of taking off right now, he's going to be flying into disaster. If the child of God does that, he's flying into disaster. Ask God for the patience to wait on the runway. And remember that old wisdom, "Don't doubt in the darkness, or shall I say in the waiting room, what God has told you in the light."
Avoid the heartache that comes from taking off without clearance from the flight controller of your life.
Psalm 34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Let God Be Enough
There’s never enough, it seems.
Not enough time, luck, credit, wisdom, intelligence. So we worry. But worry doesn’t work!
Jesus said, “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? You can dedicated a decade of anxious thoughts to the brevity of life and not extend it by one minute. Worry accomplishes nothing.”
Jesus doesn’t condemn legitimate concern for responsibilities. It’s the continuous mind-set of worry that dismisses God’s presence. It subtracts God from the future, faces uncertainties with no faith, and tallies up the challenges of the day without entering God into the equation.
Jesus said, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe you have received it, and it will be yours!”
Let God be enough!
Psalm 34
A psalm of David, regarding the time he pretended to be insane in front of Abimelech, who sent him away.
I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
2 I will boast only in the Lord;
let all who are helpless take heart.
3 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
let us exalt his name together.
4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
He freed me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
6 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
he saved me from all my troubles.
7 For the angel of the Lord is a guard;
he surrounds and defends all who fear him.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
9 Fear the Lord, you his godly people,
for those who fear him will have all they need.
10 Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,
but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, and listen to me,
and I will teach you to fear the Lord.
12 Does anyone want to live a life
that is long and prosperous?
13 Then keep your tongue from speaking evil
and your lips from telling lies!
14 Turn away from evil and do good.
Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
15 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right;
his ears are open to their cries for help.
16 But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil;
he will erase their memory from the earth.
17 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
19 The righteous person faces many troubles,
but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.
20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous;
not one of them is broken!
21 Calamity will surely destroy the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be punished.
22 But the Lord will redeem those who serve him.
No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
Footnotes:
34 This psalm is a Hebrew acrostic poem; each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
May 07, 2015
Read: Luke 18:1-8
Parable of the Persistent Widow
One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2 “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man[a] returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
Footnotes:
18:8 “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
INSIGHT: Parables have often been defined as “earthly stories with heavenly meanings.” Usually taken from the everyday things of life, they contain memorable truths encased in ordinary illustrations. One of the primary features of Luke’s gospel is its emphasis on the teachings of Jesus through parables. Luke records 27 of Jesus’ parables, more than any other gospel account. These include the good Samaritan (ch. 10), the mustard seed (ch. 13), and the prodigal son (ch. 15). Matthew contains 22 parables, while Mark includes only 9. Interestingly, John’s gospel contains no parables at all.
The Squeaky Wheel
By Lawrence Darmani
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. —James 5:16 niv
“The squeaky wheel gets the oil” is a popular proverb. As a child I rode my bicycle for long distances between home and school, and the squeaky sounds of the wheels drew my attention to the need to lubricate them.
In Luke 18, the widow’s persistent request to the judge for justice against her adversary made her sound like a “squeaky wheel” until she got the result she needed. Luke explains that Jesus told this story to teach us the need to pray continually and not to give up, even if it appears that the answer to our prayer is delayed (vv.1-5).
God is certainly not an unjust judge who must be harassed before He responds to us. He is our loving Father who cares about us and hears us when we cry to Him. Regular, persistent prayer draws us closer to Him. It may feel like we are a squeaky wheel, but the Lord welcomes our prayer and encourages us to approach Him with our cries. He hears us and will come to our aid in ways that we may not expect.
As Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:5-8, constant prayer does not require long periods of “vain repetitions.” Rather, as we bring our needs before God “day and night” (Luke 18:7) and walk with the One who already knows our needs, we learn to trust God and wait patiently for His response.
For Further Study
To read more about prayer, check out the online booklet Why God Doesn’t Answer Me at www.discoveryseries.org/hp112
Don’t give up—God hears you when you pray!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 07, 2015
Building For Eternity
Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it… —Luke 14:28
Our Lord was not referring here to a cost which we have to count, but to a cost which He has already counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, the unfathomable agony He experienced in Gethsemane, and the assault upon Him at Calvary— the central point upon which all of time and eternity turn. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. In the final analysis, people are not going to laugh at Him and say, “This man began to build and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:30).
The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple ” (Luke 14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion— those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Don't Ever Get Used to the Smell - #6606
May 7, 2012
Years ago I had some friends who lived near a heavy industrial area where the mills filled the air with a shall we say very distinctive aroma; well, actually, smell would be a better word for it. It was sort of a sulfur-like, rotten eggs type of odor. When you first went there, you would sniff and you'd go, "What is that?" And the people who lived there would say, "What's what?" See, they'd lived around the stink so long, it didn't even register any more. Well, you know, there are some smells you should never get used to.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Don't Ever Get Used to the Smell."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the prophet Ezekiel. He is receiving his instructions from the Lord in the form of a vision, and here's what it says in chapter 9, verse 2. "With the six men, I saw one clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar. Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side, and said to him, 'Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.'"
Okay, God is saying here, "I'm looking for some people who don't gloss over the sin around them; people who grieve over sin." Well, they were hard to find then; they're hard to find now. Those kind of people were special then, and they're special now. People who don't get so used to being in the middle of sin that they don't notice the smell any more.
Chances are that you come in daily contact with a lot of sinful garbage; lying that's considered just to be smart business, an acceptance of adultery, a flippant attitude toward sexual purity. Like the two guys sitting next to me at the pizza place recently. One very casually said to the other one, and pardon my bluntness, but this is the way he stated it, "So, did he get laid yet?" See, that's casual about something God calls sacred. It's a flippant "who cares" approach to a sacred act of love, created by God for a lifetime bond. Well, how does that make you feel?
See, we're around it so much sometimes it doesn't break our heart any more, but it breaks God's heart all the time, and He's looking for people whose heart it can break. We hear people treat God's name, Jesus' name, like dirt. Jesus, the name at which every knee will bow. There are attitudes that amount to nothing less than idol worship, and we're no longer bothered by it: living for money, living for a guy or a girl, living for your music, living for the next party, living for your children. It's time we prayed, "God, give me back my sense of spiritual smell."
Unless we get with God daily and see what He sees, feels what He feels, we will be worn down, we're going to be eroded until, honestly, sin really doesn't look that bad. Imagine telling a drunk driving joke to a man who kept saying, "Please, I don't think it's funny." You say, "What is your problem?" "Because a drunk driver killed my son."
See, that's how God feels about the sin that we take so lightly. It killed His Son. You want to see what sin looks like? It's God's Son hanging by nails from a tree. Ask God to make you wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil rather than being intrigued by it.
Sin stinks! It's the rotting odor of death, no matter how glamorously it is perfumed. So, don't get used to the smell.
There’s never enough, it seems.
Not enough time, luck, credit, wisdom, intelligence. So we worry. But worry doesn’t work!
Jesus said, “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? You can dedicated a decade of anxious thoughts to the brevity of life and not extend it by one minute. Worry accomplishes nothing.”
Jesus doesn’t condemn legitimate concern for responsibilities. It’s the continuous mind-set of worry that dismisses God’s presence. It subtracts God from the future, faces uncertainties with no faith, and tallies up the challenges of the day without entering God into the equation.
Jesus said, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe you have received it, and it will be yours!”
Let God be enough!
Psalm 34
A psalm of David, regarding the time he pretended to be insane in front of Abimelech, who sent him away.
I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
2 I will boast only in the Lord;
let all who are helpless take heart.
3 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
let us exalt his name together.
4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
He freed me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
6 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
he saved me from all my troubles.
7 For the angel of the Lord is a guard;
he surrounds and defends all who fear him.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
9 Fear the Lord, you his godly people,
for those who fear him will have all they need.
10 Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,
but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, and listen to me,
and I will teach you to fear the Lord.
12 Does anyone want to live a life
that is long and prosperous?
13 Then keep your tongue from speaking evil
and your lips from telling lies!
14 Turn away from evil and do good.
Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
15 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right;
his ears are open to their cries for help.
16 But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil;
he will erase their memory from the earth.
17 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
19 The righteous person faces many troubles,
but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.
20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous;
not one of them is broken!
21 Calamity will surely destroy the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be punished.
22 But the Lord will redeem those who serve him.
No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
Footnotes:
34 This psalm is a Hebrew acrostic poem; each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
May 07, 2015
Read: Luke 18:1-8
Parable of the Persistent Widow
One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2 “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man[a] returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
Footnotes:
18:8 “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
INSIGHT: Parables have often been defined as “earthly stories with heavenly meanings.” Usually taken from the everyday things of life, they contain memorable truths encased in ordinary illustrations. One of the primary features of Luke’s gospel is its emphasis on the teachings of Jesus through parables. Luke records 27 of Jesus’ parables, more than any other gospel account. These include the good Samaritan (ch. 10), the mustard seed (ch. 13), and the prodigal son (ch. 15). Matthew contains 22 parables, while Mark includes only 9. Interestingly, John’s gospel contains no parables at all.
The Squeaky Wheel
By Lawrence Darmani
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. —James 5:16 niv
“The squeaky wheel gets the oil” is a popular proverb. As a child I rode my bicycle for long distances between home and school, and the squeaky sounds of the wheels drew my attention to the need to lubricate them.
In Luke 18, the widow’s persistent request to the judge for justice against her adversary made her sound like a “squeaky wheel” until she got the result she needed. Luke explains that Jesus told this story to teach us the need to pray continually and not to give up, even if it appears that the answer to our prayer is delayed (vv.1-5).
God is certainly not an unjust judge who must be harassed before He responds to us. He is our loving Father who cares about us and hears us when we cry to Him. Regular, persistent prayer draws us closer to Him. It may feel like we are a squeaky wheel, but the Lord welcomes our prayer and encourages us to approach Him with our cries. He hears us and will come to our aid in ways that we may not expect.
As Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:5-8, constant prayer does not require long periods of “vain repetitions.” Rather, as we bring our needs before God “day and night” (Luke 18:7) and walk with the One who already knows our needs, we learn to trust God and wait patiently for His response.
For Further Study
To read more about prayer, check out the online booklet Why God Doesn’t Answer Me at www.discoveryseries.org/hp112
Don’t give up—God hears you when you pray!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 07, 2015
Building For Eternity
Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it… —Luke 14:28
Our Lord was not referring here to a cost which we have to count, but to a cost which He has already counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, the unfathomable agony He experienced in Gethsemane, and the assault upon Him at Calvary— the central point upon which all of time and eternity turn. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. In the final analysis, people are not going to laugh at Him and say, “This man began to build and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:30).
The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple ” (Luke 14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion— those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Don't Ever Get Used to the Smell - #6606
May 7, 2012
Years ago I had some friends who lived near a heavy industrial area where the mills filled the air with a shall we say very distinctive aroma; well, actually, smell would be a better word for it. It was sort of a sulfur-like, rotten eggs type of odor. When you first went there, you would sniff and you'd go, "What is that?" And the people who lived there would say, "What's what?" See, they'd lived around the stink so long, it didn't even register any more. Well, you know, there are some smells you should never get used to.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Don't Ever Get Used to the Smell."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the prophet Ezekiel. He is receiving his instructions from the Lord in the form of a vision, and here's what it says in chapter 9, verse 2. "With the six men, I saw one clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar. Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side, and said to him, 'Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.'"
Okay, God is saying here, "I'm looking for some people who don't gloss over the sin around them; people who grieve over sin." Well, they were hard to find then; they're hard to find now. Those kind of people were special then, and they're special now. People who don't get so used to being in the middle of sin that they don't notice the smell any more.
Chances are that you come in daily contact with a lot of sinful garbage; lying that's considered just to be smart business, an acceptance of adultery, a flippant attitude toward sexual purity. Like the two guys sitting next to me at the pizza place recently. One very casually said to the other one, and pardon my bluntness, but this is the way he stated it, "So, did he get laid yet?" See, that's casual about something God calls sacred. It's a flippant "who cares" approach to a sacred act of love, created by God for a lifetime bond. Well, how does that make you feel?
See, we're around it so much sometimes it doesn't break our heart any more, but it breaks God's heart all the time, and He's looking for people whose heart it can break. We hear people treat God's name, Jesus' name, like dirt. Jesus, the name at which every knee will bow. There are attitudes that amount to nothing less than idol worship, and we're no longer bothered by it: living for money, living for a guy or a girl, living for your music, living for the next party, living for your children. It's time we prayed, "God, give me back my sense of spiritual smell."
Unless we get with God daily and see what He sees, feels what He feels, we will be worn down, we're going to be eroded until, honestly, sin really doesn't look that bad. Imagine telling a drunk driving joke to a man who kept saying, "Please, I don't think it's funny." You say, "What is your problem?" "Because a drunk driver killed my son."
See, that's how God feels about the sin that we take so lightly. It killed His Son. You want to see what sin looks like? It's God's Son hanging by nails from a tree. Ask God to make you wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil rather than being intrigued by it.
Sin stinks! It's the rotting odor of death, no matter how glamorously it is perfumed. So, don't get used to the smell.
1 Samuel 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Lord is My Shepherd
We humans want to do things our way. Forget the easy way. Forget the common way. Forget the best way. Forget God's way. We want to do things our way! And according to Isaiah 53:6 that is exactly our problem. "We all have wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way."
You wouldn't think sheep would be obstinate. Of all God's animals, the sheep is the least able to take care of himself. David said, "The Lord is my shepherd." We wonder…couldn't David have thought of a better metaphor? Sheep are dumb. Why didn't he choose something other than sheep? How about, "The Lord is my King and I am his ambassador?" Everyone stops when the ambassador speaks. But who notices when God's sheep show up? Only one person notices. The shepherd. And that is precisely David's point!
From Traveling Light
1 Samuel 21
David Runs from Saul
[g]David went to the town of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he saw him. “Why are you alone?” he asked. “Why is no one with you?”
2 “The king has sent me on a private matter,” David said. “He told me not to tell anyone why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later. 3 Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”
4 “We don’t have any regular bread,” the priest replied. “But there is the holy bread, which you can have if your young men have not slept with any women recently.”
5 “Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women when we are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!”
6 Since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the Lord in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread.
7 Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the Lord.[h]
8 David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword? The king’s business was so urgent that I didn’t even have time to grab a weapon!”
9 “I only have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah,” the priest replied. “It is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. Take that if you want it, for there is nothing else here.”
“There is nothing like it!” David replied. “Give it to me!”
10 So David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath. 11 But the officers of Achish were unhappy about his being there. “Isn’t this David, the king of the land?” they asked. “Isn’t he the one the people honor with dances, singing,
‘Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12 David heard these comments and was very afraid of what King Achish of Gath might do to him. 13 So he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard.
14 Finally, King Achish said to his men, “Must you bring me a madman? 15 We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?”
21:1 Verses 21:1-15 are numbered 21:2-16 in Hebrew text.
21:7 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Read: Psalm 119:65-80
Teth
You have done many good things for me, Lord,
just as you promised.
66 I believe in your commands;
now teach me good judgment and knowledge.
67 I used to wander off until you disciplined me;
but now I closely follow your word.
68 You are good and do only good;
teach me your decrees.
69 Arrogant people smear me with lies,
but in truth I obey your commandments with all my heart.
70 Their hearts are dull and stupid,
but I delight in your instructions.
71 My suffering was good for me,
for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.
72 Your instructions are more valuable to me
than millions in gold and silver.
Yodh
73 You made me; you created me.
Now give me the sense to follow your commands.
74 May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy,
for I have put my hope in your word.
75 I know, O Lord, that your regulations are fair;
you disciplined me because I needed it.
76 Now let your unfailing love comfort me,
just as you promised me, your servant.
77 Surround me with your tender mercies so I may live,
for your instructions are my delight.
78 Bring disgrace upon the arrogant people who lied about me;
meanwhile, I will concentrate on your commandments.
79 Let me be united with all who fear you,
with those who know your laws.
80 May I be blameless in keeping your decrees;
then I will never be ashamed.
INSIGHT: Psalm 119 speaks of the priority and sufficiency of God’s Word in the daily life of the believer. Here the psalmist admitted that he had strayed, but having been disciplined by God, he now resolved to “keep [His] Word” (v. 67).
The School Of Pain
By Dennis Fisher |
I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. —Psalm 119:75
In his book The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis observes that “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Suffering often helps us to redirect our focus. It shifts our thinking from immediate circumstances so we can listen to God concerning His work in our lives. Life as usual is replaced by a spiritual schoolroom.
In the Old Testament, we read how the psalmist maintained a teachable heart even during painful circumstances. He accepted them as orchestrated by God, and in submission he prayed, “In faithfulness You have afflicted me” (Ps. 119:75). Isaiah the prophet viewed suffering as a refining process: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction” (Isa. 48:10). And Job, despite his laments, learned about the sovereignty and greatness of God through his troubles (Job 40–42).
We are not alone in our experience of pain. God Himself took on human form and suffered greatly: “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). The One with nail-scarred hands is near. He will comfort us and teach us in our suffering.
Dear Lord, life is so hard sometimes. I confess that I don’t always see Your purpose in my trials. Help me to trust You, and teach me to become the person that You desire me to be.
We learn the lesson of trust in the school of trial.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Liberty and the Standards of Jesus
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free… —Galatians 5:1
A spiritually-minded person will never come to you with the demand— “Believe this and that”; a spiritually-minded person will demand that you align your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One whom the Bible reveals (see John 5:39-40). We are called to present liberty for the conscience of others, not to bring them liberty for their thoughts and opinions. And if we ourselves are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty— the liberty that comes from realizing the absolute control and authority of Jesus Christ.
Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke, and His alone; and always be careful never to place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one true liberty— the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.
Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you— with patience and with gentleness. But never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, “Go…and make disciples…” (Matthew 28:19), not, “Make converts to your own thoughts and opinions.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
How to Test Spiritual Leadership - #7388
I think there's like an art to shopping for produce. You can't just grab the first apple or tomato you see. You have to learn to squeeze the lettuce. My wife taught me how to do that. You have to learn how to check for holes and dents in apples and peaches; you don't just take the first one off the pile. You have to check to see how yellow those bananas are, or how green, or how black. There are ways to tell whether a vegetable is one you should buy. Now it's much tougher to shop for a spiritual leader you can trust. But there is a way to tell.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Test Spiritual Leadership."
It's getting tougher and tougher to know which spiritual leaders you can trust. Look, we're living in a time when a lot of Christian heroes have let us down, right? People who say spiritual things, lead spiritual causes, give spiritual counsel, and then all of a sudden something happens that exposes their hypocrisy. In a way, it kind of makes a lot of us hold back and wonder who can we trust?
Well, we're not supposed to have our eyes on man. The Bible makes that clear. And yet, God does give His people leadership; He does raise up teachers. There are authentic spiritual leaders. He does want us to be able to get His teachings and see His love coming through people, but so many have let us down. How can you tell whether a pastor is a leader from God or a person who's doing his own thing in God's name?
Well, there's one person that Jesus really held up as a model leader. It was John the Baptist. He said, "There has been no greater man born among women." Now I cannot think of a stronger endorsement than that. Jesus said John the Baptist was the real deal; a real spiritual leader. And out of the life of John, we get one test for a pastor, a Christian musician, a TV or radio personality, a youth leader.
John 3:30, here's John's statement. Speaking of Jesus, he said, "He must become greater; I must become less." The King James Version says, "He must increase; I must decrease." You know how to test a spiritual leader? Well, one of the tests is this: Does he leave you thinking more about him or more about Jesus? Where is the spotlight? More about his organization, his goals, his ministry, his programs, or more about Jesus? An authentic man or woman of God, like John the Baptist, puts himself or herself in the background. The leader doing his own thing is heavy on sentences that have "I", "me", "mine" in them.
Is this the only test? No, but it's a pretty good start. If you're in leadership, measure yourself that way. Who is getting the spotlight, you the leader or the Savior? The real spiritual leaders, the ones you can trust, are the ones who put Jesus in the spotlight and make you think about Him and forget about them.
Years ago I read about a man who maybe a hundred years ago had lived in the countryside in England. He traveled to London and wrote to his wife and said, "Honey, today I went to two of the great churches of London. This morning I heard Dr. Cartwright and he is a great preacher. Tonight I went to Metropolitan Tabernacle and I heard Mr. Charles Spurgeon." He said, "Mr. Spurgeon has a great Savior."
Do you want them to remember a great you or do you leave them thinking about a great Savior? Maybe you've been burned by Christians, by a Christian leader. Don't let them cause you to miss Jesus in the midst of it all. Jesus said, "Follow Me."
If you've never begun a relationship with Him, please don't let Christians or Christian leaders, or Christianity keep you from Christ. I hope you'll say today, "Jesus, you loved me enough to die for me. I'm yours." You can go to ANewStory.com to get the rest of the story.
If you see a leader who leaves you thinking about Jesus, in the crowded spiritual supermarket that you and I shop in, you'll know that's one you can buy.
We humans want to do things our way. Forget the easy way. Forget the common way. Forget the best way. Forget God's way. We want to do things our way! And according to Isaiah 53:6 that is exactly our problem. "We all have wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way."
You wouldn't think sheep would be obstinate. Of all God's animals, the sheep is the least able to take care of himself. David said, "The Lord is my shepherd." We wonder…couldn't David have thought of a better metaphor? Sheep are dumb. Why didn't he choose something other than sheep? How about, "The Lord is my King and I am his ambassador?" Everyone stops when the ambassador speaks. But who notices when God's sheep show up? Only one person notices. The shepherd. And that is precisely David's point!
From Traveling Light
1 Samuel 21
David Runs from Saul
[g]David went to the town of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he saw him. “Why are you alone?” he asked. “Why is no one with you?”
2 “The king has sent me on a private matter,” David said. “He told me not to tell anyone why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later. 3 Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”
4 “We don’t have any regular bread,” the priest replied. “But there is the holy bread, which you can have if your young men have not slept with any women recently.”
5 “Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women when we are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!”
6 Since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the Lord in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread.
7 Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the Lord.[h]
8 David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword? The king’s business was so urgent that I didn’t even have time to grab a weapon!”
9 “I only have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah,” the priest replied. “It is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. Take that if you want it, for there is nothing else here.”
“There is nothing like it!” David replied. “Give it to me!”
10 So David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath. 11 But the officers of Achish were unhappy about his being there. “Isn’t this David, the king of the land?” they asked. “Isn’t he the one the people honor with dances, singing,
‘Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12 David heard these comments and was very afraid of what King Achish of Gath might do to him. 13 So he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard.
14 Finally, King Achish said to his men, “Must you bring me a madman? 15 We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?”
21:1 Verses 21:1-15 are numbered 21:2-16 in Hebrew text.
21:7 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Read: Psalm 119:65-80
Teth
You have done many good things for me, Lord,
just as you promised.
66 I believe in your commands;
now teach me good judgment and knowledge.
67 I used to wander off until you disciplined me;
but now I closely follow your word.
68 You are good and do only good;
teach me your decrees.
69 Arrogant people smear me with lies,
but in truth I obey your commandments with all my heart.
70 Their hearts are dull and stupid,
but I delight in your instructions.
71 My suffering was good for me,
for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.
72 Your instructions are more valuable to me
than millions in gold and silver.
Yodh
73 You made me; you created me.
Now give me the sense to follow your commands.
74 May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy,
for I have put my hope in your word.
75 I know, O Lord, that your regulations are fair;
you disciplined me because I needed it.
76 Now let your unfailing love comfort me,
just as you promised me, your servant.
77 Surround me with your tender mercies so I may live,
for your instructions are my delight.
78 Bring disgrace upon the arrogant people who lied about me;
meanwhile, I will concentrate on your commandments.
79 Let me be united with all who fear you,
with those who know your laws.
80 May I be blameless in keeping your decrees;
then I will never be ashamed.
INSIGHT: Psalm 119 speaks of the priority and sufficiency of God’s Word in the daily life of the believer. Here the psalmist admitted that he had strayed, but having been disciplined by God, he now resolved to “keep [His] Word” (v. 67).
The School Of Pain
By Dennis Fisher |
I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. —Psalm 119:75
In his book The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis observes that “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Suffering often helps us to redirect our focus. It shifts our thinking from immediate circumstances so we can listen to God concerning His work in our lives. Life as usual is replaced by a spiritual schoolroom.
In the Old Testament, we read how the psalmist maintained a teachable heart even during painful circumstances. He accepted them as orchestrated by God, and in submission he prayed, “In faithfulness You have afflicted me” (Ps. 119:75). Isaiah the prophet viewed suffering as a refining process: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction” (Isa. 48:10). And Job, despite his laments, learned about the sovereignty and greatness of God through his troubles (Job 40–42).
We are not alone in our experience of pain. God Himself took on human form and suffered greatly: “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). The One with nail-scarred hands is near. He will comfort us and teach us in our suffering.
Dear Lord, life is so hard sometimes. I confess that I don’t always see Your purpose in my trials. Help me to trust You, and teach me to become the person that You desire me to be.
We learn the lesson of trust in the school of trial.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Liberty and the Standards of Jesus
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free… —Galatians 5:1
A spiritually-minded person will never come to you with the demand— “Believe this and that”; a spiritually-minded person will demand that you align your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One whom the Bible reveals (see John 5:39-40). We are called to present liberty for the conscience of others, not to bring them liberty for their thoughts and opinions. And if we ourselves are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty— the liberty that comes from realizing the absolute control and authority of Jesus Christ.
Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke, and His alone; and always be careful never to place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one true liberty— the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.
Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you— with patience and with gentleness. But never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, “Go…and make disciples…” (Matthew 28:19), not, “Make converts to your own thoughts and opinions.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
How to Test Spiritual Leadership - #7388
I think there's like an art to shopping for produce. You can't just grab the first apple or tomato you see. You have to learn to squeeze the lettuce. My wife taught me how to do that. You have to learn how to check for holes and dents in apples and peaches; you don't just take the first one off the pile. You have to check to see how yellow those bananas are, or how green, or how black. There are ways to tell whether a vegetable is one you should buy. Now it's much tougher to shop for a spiritual leader you can trust. But there is a way to tell.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Test Spiritual Leadership."
It's getting tougher and tougher to know which spiritual leaders you can trust. Look, we're living in a time when a lot of Christian heroes have let us down, right? People who say spiritual things, lead spiritual causes, give spiritual counsel, and then all of a sudden something happens that exposes their hypocrisy. In a way, it kind of makes a lot of us hold back and wonder who can we trust?
Well, we're not supposed to have our eyes on man. The Bible makes that clear. And yet, God does give His people leadership; He does raise up teachers. There are authentic spiritual leaders. He does want us to be able to get His teachings and see His love coming through people, but so many have let us down. How can you tell whether a pastor is a leader from God or a person who's doing his own thing in God's name?
Well, there's one person that Jesus really held up as a model leader. It was John the Baptist. He said, "There has been no greater man born among women." Now I cannot think of a stronger endorsement than that. Jesus said John the Baptist was the real deal; a real spiritual leader. And out of the life of John, we get one test for a pastor, a Christian musician, a TV or radio personality, a youth leader.
John 3:30, here's John's statement. Speaking of Jesus, he said, "He must become greater; I must become less." The King James Version says, "He must increase; I must decrease." You know how to test a spiritual leader? Well, one of the tests is this: Does he leave you thinking more about him or more about Jesus? Where is the spotlight? More about his organization, his goals, his ministry, his programs, or more about Jesus? An authentic man or woman of God, like John the Baptist, puts himself or herself in the background. The leader doing his own thing is heavy on sentences that have "I", "me", "mine" in them.
Is this the only test? No, but it's a pretty good start. If you're in leadership, measure yourself that way. Who is getting the spotlight, you the leader or the Savior? The real spiritual leaders, the ones you can trust, are the ones who put Jesus in the spotlight and make you think about Him and forget about them.
Years ago I read about a man who maybe a hundred years ago had lived in the countryside in England. He traveled to London and wrote to his wife and said, "Honey, today I went to two of the great churches of London. This morning I heard Dr. Cartwright and he is a great preacher. Tonight I went to Metropolitan Tabernacle and I heard Mr. Charles Spurgeon." He said, "Mr. Spurgeon has a great Savior."
Do you want them to remember a great you or do you leave them thinking about a great Savior? Maybe you've been burned by Christians, by a Christian leader. Don't let them cause you to miss Jesus in the midst of it all. Jesus said, "Follow Me."
If you've never begun a relationship with Him, please don't let Christians or Christian leaders, or Christianity keep you from Christ. I hope you'll say today, "Jesus, you loved me enough to die for me. I'm yours." You can go to ANewStory.com to get the rest of the story.
If you see a leader who leaves you thinking about Jesus, in the crowded spiritual supermarket that you and I shop in, you'll know that's one you can buy.
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