Max Lucado Daily: God’s Doing What’s Best for Us
God is at work in each of us whether we know it or not, whether we want it or not. Lamentations 3:33 says, “He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way.” He doesn’t delight in our sufferings, but He delights in our development. It’s what Paul pointed out in Philippians 1:6, “God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure He will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.”
Don’t see your struggle as an interruption to life but as preparation for life. No one said the road would be easy or painless. But God will use this mess for something good. This trouble you are in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. God is doing what’s best for us, training us to live God’s holy best!
From You’ll Get Through This
2 Samuel 14
Joab Arranges for Absalom’s Return
Joab realized how much the king longed to see Absalom. 2 So he sent for a woman from Tekoa who had a reputation for great wisdom. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning; wear mourning clothes and don’t put on lotions.[i] Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time. 3 Then go to the king and tell him the story I am about to tell you.” Then Joab told her what to say.
4 When the woman from Tekoa approached[j] the king, she bowed with her face to the ground in deep respect and cried out, “O king! Help me!”
5 “What’s the trouble?” the king asked.
“Alas, I am a widow!” she replied. “My husband is dead. 6 My two sons had a fight out in the field. And since no one was there to stop it, one of them was killed. 7 Now the rest of the family is demanding, ‘Let us have your son. We will execute him for murdering his brother. He doesn’t deserve to inherit his family’s property.’ They want to extinguish the only coal I have left, and my husband’s name and family will disappear from the face of the earth.”
8 “Leave it to me,” the king told her. “Go home, and I’ll see to it that no one touches him.”
9 “Oh, thank you, my lord the king,” the woman from Tekoa replied. “If you are criticized for helping me, let the blame fall on me and on my father’s house, and let the king and his throne be innocent.”
10 “If anyone objects,” the king said, “bring him to me. I can assure you he will never harm you again!”
11 Then she said, “Please swear to me by the Lord your God that you won’t let anyone take vengeance against my son. I want no more bloodshed.”
“As surely as the Lord lives,” he replied, “not a hair on your son’s head will be disturbed!”
12 “Please allow me to ask one more thing of my lord the king,” she said.
“Go ahead and speak,” he responded.
13 She replied, “Why don’t you do as much for the people of God as you have promised to do for me? You have convicted yourself in making this decision, because you have refused to bring home your own banished son. 14 All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.
15 “I have come to plead with my lord the king because people have threatened me. I said to myself, ‘Perhaps the king will listen to me 16 and rescue us from those who would cut us off from the inheritance[k] God has given us. 17 Yes, my lord the king will give us peace of mind again.’ I know that you are like an angel of God in discerning good from evil. May the Lord your God be with you.”
18 “I must know one thing,” the king replied, “and tell me the truth.”
“Yes, my lord the king,” she responded.
19 “Did Joab put you up to this?”
And the woman replied, “My lord the king, how can I deny it? Nobody can hide anything from you. Yes, Joab sent me and told me what to say. 20 He did it to place the matter before you in a different light. But you are as wise as an angel of God, and you understand everything that happens among us!”
21 So the king sent for Joab and told him, “All right, go and bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 Joab bowed with his face to the ground in deep respect and said, “At last I know that I have gained your approval, my lord the king, for you have granted me this request!”
23 Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. 24 But the king gave this order: “Absalom may go to his own house, but he must never come into my presence.” So Absalom did not see the king.
Absalom Reconciled to David
25 Now Absalom was praised as the most handsome man in all Israel. He was flawless from head to foot. 26 He cut his hair only once a year, and then only because it was so heavy. When he weighed it out, it came to five pounds![l] 27 He had three sons and one daughter. His daughter’s name was Tamar, and she was very beautiful.
28 Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years, but he never got to see the king. 29 Then Absalom sent for Joab to ask him to intercede for him, but Joab refused to come. Absalom sent for him a second time, but again Joab refused to come. 30 So Absalom said to his servants, “Go and set fire to Joab’s barley field, the field next to mine.” So they set his field on fire, as Absalom had commanded.
31 Then Joab came to Absalom at his house and demanded, “Why did your servants set my field on fire?”
32 And Absalom replied, “Because I wanted you to ask the king why he brought me back from Geshur if he didn’t intend to see me. I might as well have stayed there. Let me see the king; if he finds me guilty of anything, then let him kill me.”
33 So Joab told the king what Absalom had said. Then at last David summoned Absalom, who came and bowed low before the king, and the king kissed him.
14:2 Hebrew don’t anoint yourself with oil.
14:4 As in many Hebrew manuscripts and Greek and Syriac versions; Masoretic Text reads spoke to.
14:16 Or the property; or the people.
14:26 Hebrew 200 shekels [2.3 kilograms] by the royal standard.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Read: Genesis 3:14-19
Then the Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, you are cursed
more than all animals, domestic and wild.
You will crawl on your belly,
groveling in the dust as long as you live.
15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike[a] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 Then he said to the woman,
“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,
and in pain you will give birth.
And you will desire to control your husband,
but he will rule over you.[b]”
17 And to the man he said,
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,
the ground is cursed because of you.
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.
18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you,
though you will eat of its grains.
19 By the sweat of your brow
will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
and to dust you will return.”
Footnotes:
3:15 Or bruise; also in 3:15b.
3:16 Or And though you will have desire for your husband, / he will rule over you.
INSIGHT:
After the fall, Adam and Eve were barred from the Garden of Eden by cherubim (angels). God then established a form of worship to teach the necessity of a Savior to regain access to His presence. Of the tabernacle and then the temple, God said, “I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim,” which were fashioned out of gold and stretched their wings over the mercy seat (Ex. 25:17-22). The reminder of God’s holiness and the need for sacrifice and mercy were central to Old Testament worship.
Shopping with Liam
By Tim Gustafson
He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. —Genesis 3:15
My son Liam loves to pick dandelions for his mother. To date, she hasn’t wearied of receiving them. One man’s weed is a little boy’s flower.
One day I took Liam shopping with me. As we hurried past the floral section, he pointed excitedly to an arrangement of yellow tulips. “Daddy,” he exclaimed, “you should get those dandelions for Mommy!” His advice made me laugh. It made a pretty good Facebook post on his mother’s page too. (By the way, I bought the tulips.)
Some see in weeds a reminder of Adam’s sin. By eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve brought on themselves the curse of a fallen world—relentless work, agonizing birth, and eventual death (Gen. 3:16-19).
But Liam’s youthful eyes remind me of something else. There is beauty even in weeds. The anguish of childbirth holds hope for us all. Death is ultimately defeated. The “Seed” God spoke of in Genesis 3:15 would wage war with the serpent’s offspring. That Seed is Jesus Himself, who rescued us from the curse of death (Gal. 3:16).
The world may be broken, but wonder awaits us at every turn. Even weeds remind us of the promise of redemption and a Creator who loves us.
Help us, Father, to find You even in the midst of all life’s pain and aggravations. Forgive us for so often overlooking the beauty You have planted everywhere.
Creation reminds us of the promise of redemption.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
“Acquainted With Grief”
He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Charleston-So Much Grief, So Much Grace - #7422
Part of my heart's been in Charleston, South Carolina these past few days. So has a part of America's heart. There was this hate-driven murder, of nine Christian worshipers in the church. It’s devastated the city and it’s riveted our nation. Seasoned reporters have been groping for words. They come up with words like "horrific" and "heartbreaking." But even more overwhelming than the brutal crime was the response of the families whose loved ones were murdered. "I forgive you."
News anchors have been shaking their heads. They’re trying right on-air to comprehend what the family members said to the shooter. Forgiveness being offered, even as they wept over the cherished loved ones that he had taken from them.
One CNN anchor may have said it best: he was standing outside the church, listening to the spontaneous singing of hymns, and reflecting on the stunning contrast between what I would call a horrific crime and a holy response. Here’s what he said, "There is so much grace here. Amazing grace."
A young man mercilessly executes the people he'd been with for an hour of prayer and Bible study. Leaving a survivor to be sure the world heard about it. The darkness was very dark that awful night in Emanuel AME Church.
But the Light has been so much brighter! As the world watches the stark contrast between the ugliness of hate, right next to the blazing light of supernatural love.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Charleston - So Much Grief, So Much Grace."
Our word for today from the Word of God John 1:5. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."
There’s one image I’m not going to forget. It’s these hundreds of people, packed into a sanctuary 24 hours after the murders, singing through their tears - "We shall overcome." You know what? They have already.
Through the Savior who said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" So we can be, in the Bible’s words, "more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37). We can overcome because He has. The overcoming Jesus makes possible is on vivid display in the agony - and really the triumph of Charleston.
Overcoming the power of hate with the power of forgiveness. See hate and bitterness are cancers that eat away at our soul. They’re chains that tie us to the very person who hurt us. But forgiving sets us free. It's not excusing the person or the offense. It's refusing to harbor bitterness or vengeance toward them in our heart. Leaving judgment where it belongs - with God. Because, in our hearts, we've been to the cross where Jesus was slaughtered for our sin. And as He looks at all of us whose sin nailed Him there and He cries out, "Father, forgive them!" What else can we do? As the Bible says, "forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13).
And He’s the key to overcoming the darkness inside us with the power of His cross. Anger and prejudice, and selfishness and pride, and lust and deceit. There are dark corners in every human heart. I call it "The animal inside." But, thank God, Jesus tamed that animal called sin when He allowed all of its fury to be unleashed on Him on the cross. So in the Bible’s words, "anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person...a new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
And Jesus is the key to overcoming the despair of grief with the power of hope. There was hope on display for all the world to see in Charleston. A scale where deep grief weighed heavily on one side - and hope, born from a resurrected Jesus, outweighed it on the other side.
I wonder if you’ve ever experienced the power and love of this Jesus for yourself. To carry you through the darkest valleys of your life, with resources only He can give you.
If you’ve never given your life to Him, He gave His life for you. Let this be the day you do that. Tell him, “Jesus, I’m yours.” You can chat with us about it at Chataboutjesus.com or text us at 442-244-WORD.
For our hurt, for our sin, for our broken heart - Jesus is, as no one else can be, the "anchor for the soul,” the Bible says, “firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19). Not erasing the pain and the tears. But overcoming it with something greater.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
2 Samuel 13-14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Today's Pop Quiz
Each day has a pop quiz. And some seasons are final exams. Brutal, sudden pitfalls of stress, sickness, or sadness. What is the purpose of the test? James 1:3-4 says, "For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything."
God hasn't forgotten you. Just the opposite. He has chosen to train you. The Hebrew verb for test comes from a word that means "to take a keen look at; to choose." Dismiss the notion that God does not see your struggle. On the contrary, God is fully engaged. He is the Teacher; we are the students. Trust His training. You'll get through this. He can make something good out of your mess!
From You'll Get Through This
2 Samuel 13-14
The Rape of Tamar
Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her. 2 Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and Amnon thought he could never have her.
3 But Amnon had a very crafty friend—his cousin Jonadab. He was the son of David’s brother Shimea.[a] 4 One day Jonadab said to Amnon, “What’s the trouble? Why should the son of a king look so dejected morning after morning?”
So Amnon told him, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”
5 “Well,” Jonadab said, “I’ll tell you what to do. Go back to bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, ask him to let Tamar come and prepare some food for you. Tell him you’ll feel better if she prepares it as you watch and feeds you with her own hands.”
6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. And when the king came to see him, Amnon asked him, “Please let my sister Tamar come and cook my favorite dish[b] as I watch. Then I can eat it from her own hands.” 7 So David agreed and sent Tamar to Amnon’s house to prepare some food for him.
8 When Tamar arrived at Amnon’s house, she went to the place where he was lying down so he could watch her mix some dough. Then she baked his favorite dish for him. 9 But when she set the serving tray before him, he refused to eat. “Everyone get out of here,” Amnon told his servants. So they all left.
10 Then he said to Tamar, “Now bring the food into my bedroom and feed it to me here.” So Tamar took his favorite dish to him. 11 But as she was feeding him, he grabbed her and demanded, “Come to bed with me, my darling sister.”
12 “No, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t be foolish! Don’t do this to me! Such wicked things aren’t done in Israel. 13 Where could I go in my shame? And you would be called one of the greatest fools in Israel. Please, just speak to the king about it, and he will let you marry me.”
14 But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her. 15 Then suddenly Amnon’s love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. “Get out of here!” he snarled at her.
16 “No, no!” Tamar cried. “Sending me away now is worse than what you’ve already done to me.”
But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her. 17 He shouted for his servant and demanded, “Throw this woman out, and lock the door behind her!”
18 So the servant put her out and locked the door behind her. She was wearing a long, beautiful robe,[c] as was the custom in those days for the king’s virgin daughters. 19 But now Tamar tore her robe and put ashes on her head. And then, with her face in her hands, she went away crying.
20 Her brother Absalom saw her and asked, “Is it true that Amnon has been with you? Well, my sister, keep quiet for now, since he’s your brother. Don’t you worry about it.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in her brother Absalom’s house.
21 When King David heard what had happened, he was very angry.[d] 22 And though Absalom never spoke to Amnon about this, he hated Amnon deeply because of what he had done to his sister.
Absalom’s Revenge on Amnon
23 Two years later, when Absalom’s sheep were being sheared at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, Absalom invited all the king’s sons to come to a feast. 24 He went to the king and said, “My sheep-shearers are now at work. Would the king and his servants please come to celebrate the occasion with me?”
25 The king replied, “No, my son. If we all came, we would be too much of a burden on you.” Absalom pressed him, but the king would not come, though he gave Absalom his blessing.
26 “Well, then,” Absalom said, “if you can’t come, how about sending my brother Amnon with us?”
“Why Amnon?” the king asked. 27 But Absalom kept on pressing the king until he finally agreed to let all his sons attend, including Amnon. So Absalom prepared a feast fit for a king.[e]
28 Absalom told his men, “Wait until Amnon gets drunk; then at my signal, kill him! Don’t be afraid. I’m the one who has given the command. Take courage and do it!” 29 So at Absalom’s signal they murdered Amnon. Then the other sons of the king jumped on their mules and fled.
30 As they were on the way back to Jerusalem, this report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one is left alive!” 31 The king got up, tore his robe, and threw himself on the ground. His advisers also tore their clothes in horror and sorrow.
32 But just then Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimea, arrived and said, “No, don’t believe that all the king’s sons have been killed! It was only Amnon! Absalom has been plotting this ever since Amnon raped his sister Tamar. 33 No, my lord the king, your sons aren’t all dead! It was only Amnon.” 34 Meanwhile Absalom escaped.
Then the watchman on the Jerusalem wall saw a great crowd coming down the hill on the road from the west. He ran to tell the king, “I see a crowd of people coming from the Horonaim road along the side of the hill.”[f]
35 “Look!” Jonadab told the king. “There they are now! The king’s sons are coming, just as I said.”
36 They soon arrived, weeping and sobbing, and the king and all his servants wept bitterly with them. 37 And David mourned many days for his son Amnon.
Absalom fled to his grandfather, Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. 38 He stayed there in Geshur for three years. 39 And King David,[g] now reconciled to Amnon’s death, longed to be reunited with his son Absalom.[h]
Footnotes:
13:3 Hebrew Shimeah (also in 13:32), a variant spelling of Shimea; compare 1 Chr 2:13.
13:6 Or a couple of cakes; also in 13:8, 10.
13:18 Or a robe with sleeves, or an ornamented robe. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
13:21 Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version add But he did not punish his son Amnon, because he loved him, for he was his firstborn.
13:27 As in Greek and Latin versions (compare also Dead Sea Scrolls); the Hebrew text lacks this sentence.
13:34 As in Greek version; Hebrew lacks this sentence.
13:39a Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version read And the spirit of the king.
13:39b Or no longer felt a need to go out after Absalom.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 22, 2015
Read: Joshua 1:6-11
“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua’s Charge to the Israelites
10 Joshua then commanded the officers of Israel, 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people to get their provisions ready. In three days you will cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
INSIGHT:
From personal observation, Joshua knew that the Canaanites lived in strongly fortified cities (Num. 13:28-29). But God’s command was accompanied with a promise of victory: “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you” (Josh. 1:5).
The Challenge of Transition
By David C. McCasland
Be strong and very courageous. —Joshua 1:7
After former professional athlete Chris Sanders suffered a career-ending injury, he told a group of military veterans that although he had never experienced combat, “I understand the pressures of transitions.”
Whether it’s the loss of a job, the loss of a marriage, a serious illness, or a financial setback, every major change brings challenges. The former athlete told the soldiers that the key to success when you are transitioning into a new way of living is to reach out and get help.
The book of Joshua is recommended reading whenever we find ourselves in transition. After 40 years of wandering and setbacks, God’s people were poised to enter the Promised Land. Moses, their great leader, had died, and Joshua, his assistant, was in charge.
God told Joshua to “be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go” (Josh. 1:7). God’s words of direction were to be the bedrock of Joshua’s leadership in every situation.
The Lord’s charge and promise to Joshua apply to us as well: “Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (v. 9).
He is with us in every transition.
Father, I’m bringing You my trials and frustrations. You know each and every detail. Please comfort me as only You can, and provide exactly what I need for today. Help me give my unfulfilled expectations to You, trusting You’re working out a plan for me.
God remains faithful in every change.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 22, 2015
With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. —Matthew 7:2
This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26).
Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”
Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 22, 2015
Your Clever Disguise, Your Life-Saving Assignment - #7421
I used to have another radio program, in addition to this one, just to keep from getting bored. It was called "Alive!" and it was designed to reach young people and it had a pretty high energy format. A lot of that came from having a live studio audience of young people. Teenagers like to hear other teenagers, so we involved our audience in doing dramas and discussing the week's issue. They did a little cheering along the way.
One thing that was a surprise to those young people was that actually some of them ended up being the announcers for the program. Most people thought we'd have this golden-throated professional doing the announcing, "And now from Chicago...". No, no. We had young people from the audience read the opening script with music and cheering backing them up. See, when they arrived at the studio that night, they had no idea they'd ever be an announcer.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Clever Disguise, Your Life-Saving Assignment."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from I Peter 2:9. Listen to who you are: "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
Okay, whose job is it to tell the people you know about what Jesus did on the cross for them? Wait, did you hear this? "That YOU should declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light." Just like those young people in our studio audience you might say, "Well, you know, there are people who are like really good at talking about Jesus. Aren't they the ones who should be God's announcers?" Maybe you're almost intimidated by the... I don't know, I guess I call them the "professional God salesmen", the preachers, the evangelists who have all that training and they know all those verses. They say it so well, right?
But God wants everyday people to be His announcers. You know why? Because everyday people listen to everyday people. You say, "But I'm so ordinary." It's your ordinariness that will open the doors to people that no "profession announcer" could ever get to. And what is it He wants you to announce? How He brought you from darkness into light. In other words, the difference Jesus is making in your life. I call it your Hope Story. It becomes clear when you ask this very important question, "What would I be like if it weren't for Jesus?" Man, that scares me to death thinking about that with me. You are living proof of a living Savior, and I can't tell your Jesus story - nobody else can. Only you can. It's a story only you can tell. And your Lord has planted you in the middle of a group of people because He believes you are the best possible person to show Christ to those people. This will transform how you feel about going to work, going to school, living in your neighborhood, being in that club, because you're on divine assignment; placed there by Jesus to be the link between the people there and Him.
The pastor of a mega church in America was meeting one of the ladies in his church one time and he said, "What do you do?" and she said, "Well, Pastor, I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ cleverly disguised as a machine operator." I love that! She said, man this is just my clever disguise, because who does a lost machine operator most likely to listen to? Another machine operator! So, what's your clever disguise? Your job? Your school activities? Your community position? The team you're on?
I had a lady tell me not long ago, she said, "Ron, I have been in a five-year battle with cancer." But she said, "As a cancer survivor, as a cancer fighter, I have had the opportunity to tell more fellow cancer sufferers about Jesus than I could ever have imagined." Positioned by her situation to help people be in heaven with her someday.
That's your clever disguise. God knows that there are people like you who are most likely to come to Christ through a person like them. A salesperson through a salesperson. A teacher through a teacher. A mother through a mother. A student through a student. Someone in your world is most likely to come to Christ through a believer in their world who's like them. That would be you.
Each day has a pop quiz. And some seasons are final exams. Brutal, sudden pitfalls of stress, sickness, or sadness. What is the purpose of the test? James 1:3-4 says, "For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything."
God hasn't forgotten you. Just the opposite. He has chosen to train you. The Hebrew verb for test comes from a word that means "to take a keen look at; to choose." Dismiss the notion that God does not see your struggle. On the contrary, God is fully engaged. He is the Teacher; we are the students. Trust His training. You'll get through this. He can make something good out of your mess!
From You'll Get Through This
2 Samuel 13-14
The Rape of Tamar
Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her. 2 Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and Amnon thought he could never have her.
3 But Amnon had a very crafty friend—his cousin Jonadab. He was the son of David’s brother Shimea.[a] 4 One day Jonadab said to Amnon, “What’s the trouble? Why should the son of a king look so dejected morning after morning?”
So Amnon told him, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”
5 “Well,” Jonadab said, “I’ll tell you what to do. Go back to bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, ask him to let Tamar come and prepare some food for you. Tell him you’ll feel better if she prepares it as you watch and feeds you with her own hands.”
6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. And when the king came to see him, Amnon asked him, “Please let my sister Tamar come and cook my favorite dish[b] as I watch. Then I can eat it from her own hands.” 7 So David agreed and sent Tamar to Amnon’s house to prepare some food for him.
8 When Tamar arrived at Amnon’s house, she went to the place where he was lying down so he could watch her mix some dough. Then she baked his favorite dish for him. 9 But when she set the serving tray before him, he refused to eat. “Everyone get out of here,” Amnon told his servants. So they all left.
10 Then he said to Tamar, “Now bring the food into my bedroom and feed it to me here.” So Tamar took his favorite dish to him. 11 But as she was feeding him, he grabbed her and demanded, “Come to bed with me, my darling sister.”
12 “No, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t be foolish! Don’t do this to me! Such wicked things aren’t done in Israel. 13 Where could I go in my shame? And you would be called one of the greatest fools in Israel. Please, just speak to the king about it, and he will let you marry me.”
14 But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her. 15 Then suddenly Amnon’s love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. “Get out of here!” he snarled at her.
16 “No, no!” Tamar cried. “Sending me away now is worse than what you’ve already done to me.”
But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her. 17 He shouted for his servant and demanded, “Throw this woman out, and lock the door behind her!”
18 So the servant put her out and locked the door behind her. She was wearing a long, beautiful robe,[c] as was the custom in those days for the king’s virgin daughters. 19 But now Tamar tore her robe and put ashes on her head. And then, with her face in her hands, she went away crying.
20 Her brother Absalom saw her and asked, “Is it true that Amnon has been with you? Well, my sister, keep quiet for now, since he’s your brother. Don’t you worry about it.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in her brother Absalom’s house.
21 When King David heard what had happened, he was very angry.[d] 22 And though Absalom never spoke to Amnon about this, he hated Amnon deeply because of what he had done to his sister.
Absalom’s Revenge on Amnon
23 Two years later, when Absalom’s sheep were being sheared at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, Absalom invited all the king’s sons to come to a feast. 24 He went to the king and said, “My sheep-shearers are now at work. Would the king and his servants please come to celebrate the occasion with me?”
25 The king replied, “No, my son. If we all came, we would be too much of a burden on you.” Absalom pressed him, but the king would not come, though he gave Absalom his blessing.
26 “Well, then,” Absalom said, “if you can’t come, how about sending my brother Amnon with us?”
“Why Amnon?” the king asked. 27 But Absalom kept on pressing the king until he finally agreed to let all his sons attend, including Amnon. So Absalom prepared a feast fit for a king.[e]
28 Absalom told his men, “Wait until Amnon gets drunk; then at my signal, kill him! Don’t be afraid. I’m the one who has given the command. Take courage and do it!” 29 So at Absalom’s signal they murdered Amnon. Then the other sons of the king jumped on their mules and fled.
30 As they were on the way back to Jerusalem, this report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one is left alive!” 31 The king got up, tore his robe, and threw himself on the ground. His advisers also tore their clothes in horror and sorrow.
32 But just then Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimea, arrived and said, “No, don’t believe that all the king’s sons have been killed! It was only Amnon! Absalom has been plotting this ever since Amnon raped his sister Tamar. 33 No, my lord the king, your sons aren’t all dead! It was only Amnon.” 34 Meanwhile Absalom escaped.
Then the watchman on the Jerusalem wall saw a great crowd coming down the hill on the road from the west. He ran to tell the king, “I see a crowd of people coming from the Horonaim road along the side of the hill.”[f]
35 “Look!” Jonadab told the king. “There they are now! The king’s sons are coming, just as I said.”
36 They soon arrived, weeping and sobbing, and the king and all his servants wept bitterly with them. 37 And David mourned many days for his son Amnon.
Absalom fled to his grandfather, Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. 38 He stayed there in Geshur for three years. 39 And King David,[g] now reconciled to Amnon’s death, longed to be reunited with his son Absalom.[h]
Footnotes:
13:3 Hebrew Shimeah (also in 13:32), a variant spelling of Shimea; compare 1 Chr 2:13.
13:6 Or a couple of cakes; also in 13:8, 10.
13:18 Or a robe with sleeves, or an ornamented robe. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
13:21 Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version add But he did not punish his son Amnon, because he loved him, for he was his firstborn.
13:27 As in Greek and Latin versions (compare also Dead Sea Scrolls); the Hebrew text lacks this sentence.
13:34 As in Greek version; Hebrew lacks this sentence.
13:39a Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version read And the spirit of the king.
13:39b Or no longer felt a need to go out after Absalom.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 22, 2015
Read: Joshua 1:6-11
“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua’s Charge to the Israelites
10 Joshua then commanded the officers of Israel, 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people to get their provisions ready. In three days you will cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
INSIGHT:
From personal observation, Joshua knew that the Canaanites lived in strongly fortified cities (Num. 13:28-29). But God’s command was accompanied with a promise of victory: “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you” (Josh. 1:5).
The Challenge of Transition
By David C. McCasland
Be strong and very courageous. —Joshua 1:7
After former professional athlete Chris Sanders suffered a career-ending injury, he told a group of military veterans that although he had never experienced combat, “I understand the pressures of transitions.”
Whether it’s the loss of a job, the loss of a marriage, a serious illness, or a financial setback, every major change brings challenges. The former athlete told the soldiers that the key to success when you are transitioning into a new way of living is to reach out and get help.
The book of Joshua is recommended reading whenever we find ourselves in transition. After 40 years of wandering and setbacks, God’s people were poised to enter the Promised Land. Moses, their great leader, had died, and Joshua, his assistant, was in charge.
God told Joshua to “be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go” (Josh. 1:7). God’s words of direction were to be the bedrock of Joshua’s leadership in every situation.
The Lord’s charge and promise to Joshua apply to us as well: “Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (v. 9).
He is with us in every transition.
Father, I’m bringing You my trials and frustrations. You know each and every detail. Please comfort me as only You can, and provide exactly what I need for today. Help me give my unfulfilled expectations to You, trusting You’re working out a plan for me.
God remains faithful in every change.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 22, 2015
With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. —Matthew 7:2
This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26).
Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”
Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 22, 2015
Your Clever Disguise, Your Life-Saving Assignment - #7421
I used to have another radio program, in addition to this one, just to keep from getting bored. It was called "Alive!" and it was designed to reach young people and it had a pretty high energy format. A lot of that came from having a live studio audience of young people. Teenagers like to hear other teenagers, so we involved our audience in doing dramas and discussing the week's issue. They did a little cheering along the way.
One thing that was a surprise to those young people was that actually some of them ended up being the announcers for the program. Most people thought we'd have this golden-throated professional doing the announcing, "And now from Chicago...". No, no. We had young people from the audience read the opening script with music and cheering backing them up. See, when they arrived at the studio that night, they had no idea they'd ever be an announcer.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Clever Disguise, Your Life-Saving Assignment."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from I Peter 2:9. Listen to who you are: "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
Okay, whose job is it to tell the people you know about what Jesus did on the cross for them? Wait, did you hear this? "That YOU should declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light." Just like those young people in our studio audience you might say, "Well, you know, there are people who are like really good at talking about Jesus. Aren't they the ones who should be God's announcers?" Maybe you're almost intimidated by the... I don't know, I guess I call them the "professional God salesmen", the preachers, the evangelists who have all that training and they know all those verses. They say it so well, right?
But God wants everyday people to be His announcers. You know why? Because everyday people listen to everyday people. You say, "But I'm so ordinary." It's your ordinariness that will open the doors to people that no "profession announcer" could ever get to. And what is it He wants you to announce? How He brought you from darkness into light. In other words, the difference Jesus is making in your life. I call it your Hope Story. It becomes clear when you ask this very important question, "What would I be like if it weren't for Jesus?" Man, that scares me to death thinking about that with me. You are living proof of a living Savior, and I can't tell your Jesus story - nobody else can. Only you can. It's a story only you can tell. And your Lord has planted you in the middle of a group of people because He believes you are the best possible person to show Christ to those people. This will transform how you feel about going to work, going to school, living in your neighborhood, being in that club, because you're on divine assignment; placed there by Jesus to be the link between the people there and Him.
The pastor of a mega church in America was meeting one of the ladies in his church one time and he said, "What do you do?" and she said, "Well, Pastor, I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ cleverly disguised as a machine operator." I love that! She said, man this is just my clever disguise, because who does a lost machine operator most likely to listen to? Another machine operator! So, what's your clever disguise? Your job? Your school activities? Your community position? The team you're on?
I had a lady tell me not long ago, she said, "Ron, I have been in a five-year battle with cancer." But she said, "As a cancer survivor, as a cancer fighter, I have had the opportunity to tell more fellow cancer sufferers about Jesus than I could ever have imagined." Positioned by her situation to help people be in heaven with her someday.
That's your clever disguise. God knows that there are people like you who are most likely to come to Christ through a person like them. A salesperson through a salesperson. A teacher through a teacher. A mother through a mother. A student through a student. Someone in your world is most likely to come to Christ through a believer in their world who's like them. That would be you.
Sunday, June 21, 2015
John 3:16-36, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: He Leads
Worrying is one job you can’t farm out, but you can overcome it. There’s no better place to begin than in Psalm 23:2. “He leads me beside the still waters,” David declares. “He leads me.” God isn’t behind me, yelling, “Go!” He’s ahead of me bidding, “Come!” He’s in front, clearing the path, cutting the brush. Standing next to the rocks, He warns, “Watch your step there.”
Isn’t this what God gave the children of Israel? He promised to supply them with manna each day. But He told them to collect only one day’s supply at a time. Matthew 6:34 says, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
God is leading you! Leave tomorrow’s problems until tomorrow!
From Traveling Light
John 3:16-36
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.[b]”
John the Baptist Exalts Jesus
22 Then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with them there, baptizing people.
23 At this time John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to him for baptism. 24 (This was before John was thrown into prison.) 25 A debate broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew[c] over ceremonial cleansing. 26 So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.”
27 John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. 28 You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ 29 It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. 30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.
31 “He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else.[d] 32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! 33 Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. 34 For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. 36 And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”
Footnotes:
3:16 Or For God loved the world so much that he gave.
3:21 Or can see God at work in what he is doing.
3:25 Some manuscripts read some Jews.
3:31 Some manuscripts do not include and is greater than anyone else
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Read: Psalm 103:7-13
Psalm 103:7-13
He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
INSIGHT:
Commentator Adam Clarke provides this background to Psalm 103: “The inscription in the Hebrew, and in all the Versions, gives this Psalm to David; and yet many of the ancients believed it to refer to the times of the captivity, or rather to its conclusion, in which the redeemed Jews give thanks to God for their restoration. It is a Psalm of inimitable sweetness and excellence; contains the most affectionate sentiments of gratitude to God for his mercies; and the most consoling motives to continue to trust in God, and be obedient to him.”
A Loving Father
By Bill Crowder
As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. —Psalm 103:13
The parents were obviously weary from dragging their two energetic preschoolers through airports and airplanes, and now their final flight was delayed. As I watched the two boys running around the crowded gate area, I wondered how Mom and Dad were going to keep the little guys settled down for our half-hour flight into Grand Rapids. When we finally boarded, I noticed that the father and one of the sons were in the seats behind me. Then I heard the weary father say to his son, “Why don’t you let me read one of your storybooks to you.” And during the entire flight, this loving father softly and patiently read to his son, keeping him calm and focused.
In one of his psalms David declares, “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him” (Ps. 103:13). The word pities refers to showing love and compassion. This tender word gives us a picture of how deeply our heavenly Father loves His children, and it reminds us what a great gift it is to be able to look to God and cry, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15).
God longs for you to listen again to the story of His love for you when you are restless on your own journey through life. Your heavenly Father is always near, ready to encourage you with His Word.
I rejoice in Your presence and Your love for me, Lord. Today I choose joy in knowing Your love is constant and unchanging, forever fixed.
God’s great love for His child is one of His greatest gifts.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 21, 2015
The Ministry of the Inner Life
You are…a royal priesthood… —1 Peter 2:9
By what right have we become “a royal priesthood”? It is by the right of the atonement by the Cross of Christ that this has been accomplished. Are we prepared to purposely disregard ourselves and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simple life of a child of God. Until we get into this right and proper relationship with God, it is simply a case of our “hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” although we say, “What a wonderful victory I have!” Yet there is nothing at all in that which indicates the miracle of redemption. Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption is complete. Then don’t worry anymore about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ has said, in essence, “Pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints of God, and pray for all men.” Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus, not on the basis of this argument: “Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now.”
How long is it going to take God to free us from the unhealthy habit of thinking only about ourselves? We must get to the point of being sick to death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God might tell us about ourselves. We cannot reach and understand the depths of our own meagerness. There is only one place where we are right with God, and that is in Christ Jesus. Once we are there, we have to pour out our lives for all we are worth in this ministry of the inner life.
Worrying is one job you can’t farm out, but you can overcome it. There’s no better place to begin than in Psalm 23:2. “He leads me beside the still waters,” David declares. “He leads me.” God isn’t behind me, yelling, “Go!” He’s ahead of me bidding, “Come!” He’s in front, clearing the path, cutting the brush. Standing next to the rocks, He warns, “Watch your step there.”
Isn’t this what God gave the children of Israel? He promised to supply them with manna each day. But He told them to collect only one day’s supply at a time. Matthew 6:34 says, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
God is leading you! Leave tomorrow’s problems until tomorrow!
From Traveling Light
John 3:16-36
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.[b]”
John the Baptist Exalts Jesus
22 Then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with them there, baptizing people.
23 At this time John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to him for baptism. 24 (This was before John was thrown into prison.) 25 A debate broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew[c] over ceremonial cleansing. 26 So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.”
27 John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. 28 You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ 29 It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. 30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.
31 “He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else.[d] 32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! 33 Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. 34 For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. 36 And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”
Footnotes:
3:16 Or For God loved the world so much that he gave.
3:21 Or can see God at work in what he is doing.
3:25 Some manuscripts read some Jews.
3:31 Some manuscripts do not include and is greater than anyone else
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Read: Psalm 103:7-13
Psalm 103:7-13
He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
INSIGHT:
Commentator Adam Clarke provides this background to Psalm 103: “The inscription in the Hebrew, and in all the Versions, gives this Psalm to David; and yet many of the ancients believed it to refer to the times of the captivity, or rather to its conclusion, in which the redeemed Jews give thanks to God for their restoration. It is a Psalm of inimitable sweetness and excellence; contains the most affectionate sentiments of gratitude to God for his mercies; and the most consoling motives to continue to trust in God, and be obedient to him.”
A Loving Father
By Bill Crowder
As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. —Psalm 103:13
The parents were obviously weary from dragging their two energetic preschoolers through airports and airplanes, and now their final flight was delayed. As I watched the two boys running around the crowded gate area, I wondered how Mom and Dad were going to keep the little guys settled down for our half-hour flight into Grand Rapids. When we finally boarded, I noticed that the father and one of the sons were in the seats behind me. Then I heard the weary father say to his son, “Why don’t you let me read one of your storybooks to you.” And during the entire flight, this loving father softly and patiently read to his son, keeping him calm and focused.
In one of his psalms David declares, “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him” (Ps. 103:13). The word pities refers to showing love and compassion. This tender word gives us a picture of how deeply our heavenly Father loves His children, and it reminds us what a great gift it is to be able to look to God and cry, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15).
God longs for you to listen again to the story of His love for you when you are restless on your own journey through life. Your heavenly Father is always near, ready to encourage you with His Word.
I rejoice in Your presence and Your love for me, Lord. Today I choose joy in knowing Your love is constant and unchanging, forever fixed.
God’s great love for His child is one of His greatest gifts.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 21, 2015
The Ministry of the Inner Life
You are…a royal priesthood… —1 Peter 2:9
By what right have we become “a royal priesthood”? It is by the right of the atonement by the Cross of Christ that this has been accomplished. Are we prepared to purposely disregard ourselves and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simple life of a child of God. Until we get into this right and proper relationship with God, it is simply a case of our “hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” although we say, “What a wonderful victory I have!” Yet there is nothing at all in that which indicates the miracle of redemption. Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption is complete. Then don’t worry anymore about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ has said, in essence, “Pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints of God, and pray for all men.” Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus, not on the basis of this argument: “Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now.”
How long is it going to take God to free us from the unhealthy habit of thinking only about ourselves? We must get to the point of being sick to death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God might tell us about ourselves. We cannot reach and understand the depths of our own meagerness. There is only one place where we are right with God, and that is in Christ Jesus. Once we are there, we have to pour out our lives for all we are worth in this ministry of the inner life.
Friday, June 19, 2015
Psalm 51, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Succeed at Home First
Quiet heroes dot the landscape of our society. They don't make the headlines, but they do sew the hemlines and check the outlines and stand on the sidelines. You won't find their names on the Nobel Prize short list, but you'll find their names on the carpool, and Bible teacher lists. They are parents! Heroes! Their kids call them mom. Dad. And these moms and dads, more valuable than all the executives and lawmakers, quietly hold the world together.
Be numbered among them. Read books to your kids. Play ball while you can and they want you to. Make it your aim to watch every game they play, read every story they write, hear every recital in which they perform. Children spell love with four letters: T-I-M-E. Not just quality time, but hang time, downtime, anytime, all the time! Cherish the children who share your name. Succeed at home first!
From Dad Time
Psalm 51
For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Nathan the prophet came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just.[a]
5 For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb,[b]
teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins,[c] and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit[d] from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
and they will return to you.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;
then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord,
that my mouth may praise you.
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
18 Look with favor on Zion and help her;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit—
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.
Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.
Footnotes:
51:4 Greek version reads and you will win your case in court. Compare Rom 3:4.
51:6 Or from the heart; Hebrew reads in the inward parts.
51:7 Hebrew Purify me with the hyssop branch.
51:11 Or your spirit of holiness.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 15:1-10
Parable of the Lost Sheep
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
Footnotes:
15:8 Greek ten drachmas. A drachma was the equivalent of a full day’s wage.
INSIGHT:
Jesus’ association with the outcasts of society (vv. 1-2) offended the self-righteous Pharisees and religious leaders who saw themselves as the only people fit to go to heaven. Their statement that “this man receives sinners and eats with them” (v. 2) was meant to be a scathing attack on His character, but it accurately affirmed what Jesus came to do (Matt. 9:10-13). In response to this criticism, Jesus told three parables: the lost sheep (vv. 4-7), the lost coin (vv. 8-10), and the lost son (vv. 11-32). All three parables follow the same pattern: something is lost, it is found, and then there is rejoicing.
A Missing Sheep
By Anne Cetas
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. —Psalm 100:3
Laura loaded a borrowed goat and sheep into a trailer to transport them to church for a rehearsal of a live nativity. The animals head-butted and chased each other for a bit and then settled down. Laura started for the church but first had to stop for gas.
While pumping the gas, she noticed the goat standing in the parking lot! And the sheep was gone! In the commotion of getting them settled she had forgotten to lock one of the latches. Laura called the sheriff and some friends who searched frantically along a stretch of businesses, cornfields, and woods during the last daylight hours. Many were praying that she would find the borrowed animal.
The next morning Laura and a friend went out to post “Lost Sheep” flyers at local businesses. Their first stop was the gas station. A customer overheard them asking the cashier about posting a flyer and said, “I think I know where your sheep is!” The sheep had wandered to his neighbor’s farm, where he had put it in the barn for the night.
The Lord cares about lost sheep—including you and me. Jesus came from heaven to earth to show us His love and provide salvation (John 3:16). He goes to great lengths to seek and find us (Luke 19:10).
When the sheep was found, Laura nicknamed her Miracle. And God’s salvation of us is a miracle of His grace.
Heavenly Father, as we care for the things dear to us, how much more do You care for us, Your children! Thank You for answered prayer and for the miracle of Your grace.
The Good Shepherd gives His life for His sheep. John 10:11
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 20. 2015
Have You Come to “When” Yet?
The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. —Job 42:10
A pitiful, sickly, and self-centered kind of prayer and a determined effort and selfish desire to be right with God are never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is actually a sign that I am rebelling against the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I pray, “Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer— I will walk rightly before You if You will help me.” But I cannot make myself right with God; I cannot make my life perfect. I can only be right with God if I accept the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to surrender all my rights and demands, and cease from every self-effort. I must leave myself completely alone in His hands, and then I can begin to pour my life out in the priestly work of intercession. There is a great deal of prayer that comes from actual disbelief in the atonement. Jesus is not just beginning to save us— He has already saved us completely. It is an accomplished fact, and it is an insult to Him for us to ask Him to do what He has already done.
If you are not now receiving the “hundredfold” which Jesus promised (see Matthew 19:29), and not getting insight into God’s Word, then start praying for your friends— enter into the ministry of the inner life. “The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.” As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer. Whatever circumstances God may place you in, always pray immediately that His atonement may be recognized and as fully understood in the lives of others as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now, and pray for those with whom you come in contact now.
Quiet heroes dot the landscape of our society. They don't make the headlines, but they do sew the hemlines and check the outlines and stand on the sidelines. You won't find their names on the Nobel Prize short list, but you'll find their names on the carpool, and Bible teacher lists. They are parents! Heroes! Their kids call them mom. Dad. And these moms and dads, more valuable than all the executives and lawmakers, quietly hold the world together.
Be numbered among them. Read books to your kids. Play ball while you can and they want you to. Make it your aim to watch every game they play, read every story they write, hear every recital in which they perform. Children spell love with four letters: T-I-M-E. Not just quality time, but hang time, downtime, anytime, all the time! Cherish the children who share your name. Succeed at home first!
From Dad Time
Psalm 51
For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Nathan the prophet came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just.[a]
5 For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb,[b]
teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins,[c] and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit[d] from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
and they will return to you.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;
then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord,
that my mouth may praise you.
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
18 Look with favor on Zion and help her;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit—
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.
Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.
Footnotes:
51:4 Greek version reads and you will win your case in court. Compare Rom 3:4.
51:6 Or from the heart; Hebrew reads in the inward parts.
51:7 Hebrew Purify me with the hyssop branch.
51:11 Or your spirit of holiness.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 15:1-10
Parable of the Lost Sheep
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
Footnotes:
15:8 Greek ten drachmas. A drachma was the equivalent of a full day’s wage.
INSIGHT:
Jesus’ association with the outcasts of society (vv. 1-2) offended the self-righteous Pharisees and religious leaders who saw themselves as the only people fit to go to heaven. Their statement that “this man receives sinners and eats with them” (v. 2) was meant to be a scathing attack on His character, but it accurately affirmed what Jesus came to do (Matt. 9:10-13). In response to this criticism, Jesus told three parables: the lost sheep (vv. 4-7), the lost coin (vv. 8-10), and the lost son (vv. 11-32). All three parables follow the same pattern: something is lost, it is found, and then there is rejoicing.
A Missing Sheep
By Anne Cetas
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. —Psalm 100:3
Laura loaded a borrowed goat and sheep into a trailer to transport them to church for a rehearsal of a live nativity. The animals head-butted and chased each other for a bit and then settled down. Laura started for the church but first had to stop for gas.
While pumping the gas, she noticed the goat standing in the parking lot! And the sheep was gone! In the commotion of getting them settled she had forgotten to lock one of the latches. Laura called the sheriff and some friends who searched frantically along a stretch of businesses, cornfields, and woods during the last daylight hours. Many were praying that she would find the borrowed animal.
The next morning Laura and a friend went out to post “Lost Sheep” flyers at local businesses. Their first stop was the gas station. A customer overheard them asking the cashier about posting a flyer and said, “I think I know where your sheep is!” The sheep had wandered to his neighbor’s farm, where he had put it in the barn for the night.
The Lord cares about lost sheep—including you and me. Jesus came from heaven to earth to show us His love and provide salvation (John 3:16). He goes to great lengths to seek and find us (Luke 19:10).
When the sheep was found, Laura nicknamed her Miracle. And God’s salvation of us is a miracle of His grace.
Heavenly Father, as we care for the things dear to us, how much more do You care for us, Your children! Thank You for answered prayer and for the miracle of Your grace.
The Good Shepherd gives His life for His sheep. John 10:11
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 20. 2015
Have You Come to “When” Yet?
The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. —Job 42:10
A pitiful, sickly, and self-centered kind of prayer and a determined effort and selfish desire to be right with God are never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is actually a sign that I am rebelling against the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I pray, “Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer— I will walk rightly before You if You will help me.” But I cannot make myself right with God; I cannot make my life perfect. I can only be right with God if I accept the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to surrender all my rights and demands, and cease from every self-effort. I must leave myself completely alone in His hands, and then I can begin to pour my life out in the priestly work of intercession. There is a great deal of prayer that comes from actual disbelief in the atonement. Jesus is not just beginning to save us— He has already saved us completely. It is an accomplished fact, and it is an insult to Him for us to ask Him to do what He has already done.
If you are not now receiving the “hundredfold” which Jesus promised (see Matthew 19:29), and not getting insight into God’s Word, then start praying for your friends— enter into the ministry of the inner life. “The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.” As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer. Whatever circumstances God may place you in, always pray immediately that His atonement may be recognized and as fully understood in the lives of others as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now, and pray for those with whom you come in contact now.
Psalm 32 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God is Not Sometimes Sovereign
This season in which you find yourself may puzzle you, but it does not bewilder God. He can and will use it for His purpose. God is not sometimes sovereign. He is not occasionally victorious. Jeremiah 30:24 reminds us, “The Lord shall not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the thoughts and intents of His mind.”
Case in point. Joseph in prison. From an earthly viewpoint the Egyptian jail was the tragic conclusion of Joseph’s life. The devil had Joseph just where he wanted him. So did God. What Satan intended for evil, God used for testing. If you see your troubles as nothing more than isolated hassles and hurts, you will grow bitter and angry. But, if you see your troubles as tests used by God for his glory and your maturity—then even the smallest incidents take on significance!
From You’ll Get Through This
Psalm 32
A psalm[a] of David.
Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
2 Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,[b]
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
3 When I refused to confess my sin,
my body wasted away,
and I groaned all day long.
4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.
My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude
5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”
And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Interlude
6 Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time,
that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.
7 For you are my hiding place;
you protect me from trouble.
You surround me with songs of victory. Interlude
8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you.
9 Do not be like a senseless horse or mule
that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”
10 Many sorrows come to the wicked,
but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.
11 So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him!
Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!
Footnotes:
32:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
32:2 Greek version reads of sin. Compare Rom 4:8.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 19, 2015
Read: Numbers 15:37-41
Tassels on Clothing
Then the Lord said to Moses, 38 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. 39 When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. 40 The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!”
INSIGHT:
The book of Numbers is part of the opening segment of the Old Testament Scriptures. It is book four of the five-book Pentateuch, referred to in Judaism as the Torah (the Law). These books were written by Moses as a record not only of the beginning of time and life (Genesis), but also the beginning of the nation of Israel (Exodus through Deuteronomy). This book received its name because of Moses’ order to number the population of the tribes. Jewish names for the book of Numbers include “and the Lord spoke” and “in the wilderness” (both names coming from Num. 1:1).
Look at the Tassels
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them. —Numbers 15:39
Best-selling author Chaim Potok began his novel The Chosen by describing a baseball game between two Jewish teams in New York City. Reuven Malter, the book’s main character, notices that the opposing players’ uniforms have a unique accessory—four long ropelike tassels that extend below each teammate’s shirt. Reuven recognizes the tassels as a sign of strict obedience to God’s Old Testament laws.
The history of these fringes—known as tzitzit—began with a message from God. Through Moses, God told His people to create tassels containing some strands of blue thread and attach them to the four corners of their top garments (Num. 15:38). God said, “You may look upon [the tassels] and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them” (v. 39).
God’s memory device for the ancient Israelites has a parallel for us today. We can look at Christ who consistently kept the whole law in our place and obeyed His heavenly Father (John 8:29). Having received His work on our behalf, we now “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom. 13:14). Keeping our eyes on God’s Son helps us to honor our heavenly Father.
Dear Jesus, thank You for being my spiritual role model. Help me to walk in Your steps so that I can honor and obey God with the Holy Spirit’s help.
If Christ is the center of your life, you’ll always be focused on Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 19, 2015
The Service of Passionate Devotion
…do you love Me?…Tend My sheep. —John 21:16
Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.
Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 19, 2015
The Power of a Father's Smile - #7420
It's important for fathers and sons to do things together, right, like my son helping me with the yard work so we can bond, of course. I remember one day when my oldest son was probably just about five. It was a hot day. I was mowing and my son was following around after me clipping. I looked over to him and I smiled. About five minutes later he came over and yelled over the mower, "Daddy, could you please do that again?" I said, "Could I do what again, son?" He said, "Daddy, could you smile at me again? Your smile keeps me going."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power of a Father's Smile."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 6:4. Parenting instructions: "Fathers do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." God says, "Don't tear your children down. Bring them up." A father has incredible power to be either one; to make your son or daughter feel inadequate and small, never good enough, or to make your son or daughter feel competent, worthy, appreciated, and valued. It's clear which one God expects from a father, and from a mother for that matter.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, Paul is likening the lives of believers to a positive father. Here's what he says, "For we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God." Did you get the verbs there? Three words: they're the godly ways of a father; to encourage your child, comfort your child, and urge him or her to live a godly life.
How are you doing? Did I just describe most of the conversations you have with your son or daughter; you're encouraging, you're comforting, are you urging? Think about the comments, for example, made years ago by one of President Clinton's most impressive advisors, a man named Bill Galston. The news article I read back then said he was at the peak of his career when he resigned from his position. No one could believe it! Why?
Well, Bill Galston had worked hard trying to balance time with his 10-year-old son and his hugely significant job. He took his son to his White House office so they could talk while he worked. He even woke up at 6:00 in the morning so they could spend a few minutes together. But Bill was at the breaking point. He couldn't do both. His son wrote him a letter saying, "Baseball is not fun when there's no one there to applaud you."
There's just no substitute for a father. In the moments that mattered to them; the proud moments, the hurting moments, the amusing moments, the arriving home moments, the serious moments. And there are few sources more influential on earth than your approval of your son or your daughter. Could it be that there's been too much emphasis on what's wrong with your son or daughter, on what you want them to improve, on their weak points rather than majoring on the positive?
So much of the sense of security and sense of worth comes from knowing that Dad is pleased with them; that Mom is pleased with them. Just focus on the encouraging, on praising what's good about them, on noticing even a slightest improvement, on building up not tearing down, on the life that concentrates on the things that matter to them. Realize what your most important job is. Bill Galston told the President of the United States, "You can replace me. My son can't."
Does your son or daughter need to hear your applause again, see your smile again? Maybe you need to make a new beginning by asking their forgiveness. Or start now to make it your daily mission to build them up, to focus on their good points, to give them all of you sometime during that day. Your son or daughter is looking your way for something only you can give them; the smile that keeps them going, because a father's smile is the most important smile in the world.
This season in which you find yourself may puzzle you, but it does not bewilder God. He can and will use it for His purpose. God is not sometimes sovereign. He is not occasionally victorious. Jeremiah 30:24 reminds us, “The Lord shall not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the thoughts and intents of His mind.”
Case in point. Joseph in prison. From an earthly viewpoint the Egyptian jail was the tragic conclusion of Joseph’s life. The devil had Joseph just where he wanted him. So did God. What Satan intended for evil, God used for testing. If you see your troubles as nothing more than isolated hassles and hurts, you will grow bitter and angry. But, if you see your troubles as tests used by God for his glory and your maturity—then even the smallest incidents take on significance!
From You’ll Get Through This
Psalm 32
A psalm[a] of David.
Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
2 Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,[b]
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
3 When I refused to confess my sin,
my body wasted away,
and I groaned all day long.
4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.
My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude
5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”
And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Interlude
6 Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time,
that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.
7 For you are my hiding place;
you protect me from trouble.
You surround me with songs of victory. Interlude
8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you.
9 Do not be like a senseless horse or mule
that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”
10 Many sorrows come to the wicked,
but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.
11 So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him!
Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!
Footnotes:
32:Title Hebrew maskil. This may be a literary or musical term.
32:2 Greek version reads of sin. Compare Rom 4:8.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 19, 2015
Read: Numbers 15:37-41
Tassels on Clothing
Then the Lord said to Moses, 38 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. 39 When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. 40 The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!”
INSIGHT:
The book of Numbers is part of the opening segment of the Old Testament Scriptures. It is book four of the five-book Pentateuch, referred to in Judaism as the Torah (the Law). These books were written by Moses as a record not only of the beginning of time and life (Genesis), but also the beginning of the nation of Israel (Exodus through Deuteronomy). This book received its name because of Moses’ order to number the population of the tribes. Jewish names for the book of Numbers include “and the Lord spoke” and “in the wilderness” (both names coming from Num. 1:1).
Look at the Tassels
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them. —Numbers 15:39
Best-selling author Chaim Potok began his novel The Chosen by describing a baseball game between two Jewish teams in New York City. Reuven Malter, the book’s main character, notices that the opposing players’ uniforms have a unique accessory—four long ropelike tassels that extend below each teammate’s shirt. Reuven recognizes the tassels as a sign of strict obedience to God’s Old Testament laws.
The history of these fringes—known as tzitzit—began with a message from God. Through Moses, God told His people to create tassels containing some strands of blue thread and attach them to the four corners of their top garments (Num. 15:38). God said, “You may look upon [the tassels] and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them” (v. 39).
God’s memory device for the ancient Israelites has a parallel for us today. We can look at Christ who consistently kept the whole law in our place and obeyed His heavenly Father (John 8:29). Having received His work on our behalf, we now “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom. 13:14). Keeping our eyes on God’s Son helps us to honor our heavenly Father.
Dear Jesus, thank You for being my spiritual role model. Help me to walk in Your steps so that I can honor and obey God with the Holy Spirit’s help.
If Christ is the center of your life, you’ll always be focused on Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 19, 2015
The Service of Passionate Devotion
…do you love Me?…Tend My sheep. —John 21:16
Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.
Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 19, 2015
The Power of a Father's Smile - #7420
It's important for fathers and sons to do things together, right, like my son helping me with the yard work so we can bond, of course. I remember one day when my oldest son was probably just about five. It was a hot day. I was mowing and my son was following around after me clipping. I looked over to him and I smiled. About five minutes later he came over and yelled over the mower, "Daddy, could you please do that again?" I said, "Could I do what again, son?" He said, "Daddy, could you smile at me again? Your smile keeps me going."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power of a Father's Smile."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 6:4. Parenting instructions: "Fathers do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." God says, "Don't tear your children down. Bring them up." A father has incredible power to be either one; to make your son or daughter feel inadequate and small, never good enough, or to make your son or daughter feel competent, worthy, appreciated, and valued. It's clear which one God expects from a father, and from a mother for that matter.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, Paul is likening the lives of believers to a positive father. Here's what he says, "For we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God." Did you get the verbs there? Three words: they're the godly ways of a father; to encourage your child, comfort your child, and urge him or her to live a godly life.
How are you doing? Did I just describe most of the conversations you have with your son or daughter; you're encouraging, you're comforting, are you urging? Think about the comments, for example, made years ago by one of President Clinton's most impressive advisors, a man named Bill Galston. The news article I read back then said he was at the peak of his career when he resigned from his position. No one could believe it! Why?
Well, Bill Galston had worked hard trying to balance time with his 10-year-old son and his hugely significant job. He took his son to his White House office so they could talk while he worked. He even woke up at 6:00 in the morning so they could spend a few minutes together. But Bill was at the breaking point. He couldn't do both. His son wrote him a letter saying, "Baseball is not fun when there's no one there to applaud you."
There's just no substitute for a father. In the moments that mattered to them; the proud moments, the hurting moments, the amusing moments, the arriving home moments, the serious moments. And there are few sources more influential on earth than your approval of your son or your daughter. Could it be that there's been too much emphasis on what's wrong with your son or daughter, on what you want them to improve, on their weak points rather than majoring on the positive?
So much of the sense of security and sense of worth comes from knowing that Dad is pleased with them; that Mom is pleased with them. Just focus on the encouraging, on praising what's good about them, on noticing even a slightest improvement, on building up not tearing down, on the life that concentrates on the things that matter to them. Realize what your most important job is. Bill Galston told the President of the United States, "You can replace me. My son can't."
Does your son or daughter need to hear your applause again, see your smile again? Maybe you need to make a new beginning by asking their forgiveness. Or start now to make it your daily mission to build them up, to focus on their good points, to give them all of you sometime during that day. Your son or daughter is looking your way for something only you can give them; the smile that keeps them going, because a father's smile is the most important smile in the world.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
John 3:1-15 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Actions Have Consequences
Actions have consequences! In the book of Genesis we read how Joseph placed his loyalty above lust when he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife. His primary concern was the preference of God when he said, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God” (Genesis 39:9)?
The lesson we learn from Joseph is surprisingly simple: Do what pleases God. Your co-workers want to include a trip to a gentleman’s club on the evening agenda. What do you do? Do what pleases God. Your date invites you to conclude the evening with drinks at his place. How should you reply? Do what pleases God.
You don’t fix a struggling marriage with an affair, a drug problem with more drugs, debt with more debt. You don’t get out of a mess by making another one. You’ll never go wrong doing what is right. Just do what pleases God.
From You’ll Get Through This
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 18, 2015
John 3:1-15
There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[a] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.[b] 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.[c] 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man[e] has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.[f]
Footnotes:
3:3 Or born from above; also in 3:7.
3:5 Or and spirit. The Greek word for Spirit can also be translated wind; see 3:8.
3:6 Greek what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
3:7 The Greek word for you is plural; also in 3:12.
3:13 Some manuscripts add who lives in heaven. “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
3:15 Or everyone who believes will have eternal life in him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Read: John 18:15-27
Peter’s First Denial
Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, so he was allowed to enter the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus. 16 Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. 17 The woman asked Peter, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples, are you?”
“No,” he said, “I am not.”
18 Because it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself.
The High Priest Questions Jesus
19 Inside, the high priest began asking Jesus about his followers and what he had been teaching them. 20 Jesus replied, “Everyone knows what I teach. I have preached regularly in the synagogues and the Temple, where the people[a] gather. I have not spoken in secret. 21 Why are you asking me this question? Ask those who heard me. They know what I said.”
22 Then one of the Temple guards standing nearby slapped Jesus across the face. “Is that the way to answer the high priest?” he demanded.
23 Jesus replied, “If I said anything wrong, you must prove it. But if I’m speaking the truth, why are you beating me?”
24 Then Annas bound Jesus and sent him to Caiaphas, the high priest.
Peter’s Second and Third Denials
25 Meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?”
He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.”
26 But one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus?” 27 Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster crowed.
Footnotes:
18:20 Greek Jewish people; also in 18:38.
INSIGHT:
The story of Peter’s denial of Christ is found in each of the four gospel records (Matt. 26; Mark 14; Luke 22; John 18). Of these records, Mark’s account bears particular interest since scholars believe it is the record of Peter’s memories of his time with Jesus. If so, then in Mark’s gospel Peter recounts the story of his denials as a personal testimony of his failure.
Failure Is Not Fatal
By Cindy Hess Kasper
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. —John 6:69
Prime Minister Winston Churchill knew how to bolster the spirits of the British people during World War II. On June 18, 1940, he told a frightened populace, “Hitler knows that he will have to break us . . . or lose the war. . . . Let us therefore brace . . . and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire [lasts] for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour!’ ”
We would all like to be remembered for our “finest hour.” Perhaps the apostle Peter’s finest hour was when he proclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:69). Sometimes, however, we let our failures define us. After Peter repeatedly denied that he knew Jesus, he went out and wept bitterly (Matt. 26:75; John 18).
Like Peter, we all fall short—in our relationships, in our struggle with sin, in our faithfulness to God. But “failure is not fatal,” as Churchill also said. Thankfully, this is true in our spiritual life. Jesus forgave the repentant Peter for his failure (John 21) and used him to preach and lead many to the Savior.
Failure is not fatal. God lovingly restores those who turn back to Him.
Dear Father, thank You for Your forgiveness. Thank You that Your mercy and grace are given freely through the shed blood of Your Son, Jesus.
When God forgives, He removes the sin and restores the soul.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 18, 2015
…Peter…walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid… —Matthew 14:29-30
The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and “walked on the water.” Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.
We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, “…why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.
If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, “Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?” Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Marriage Trouble, God Trouble - #7419
We sure take for granted our ability to make a phone call. There were some folks in Chicago's western suburbs some years ago who didn't take it for granted. Now, you've got to realize, that was in the day before cellular technology. My daughter was in college in the western suburbs of Chicago, and she was used to being able to pick up the phone and there's Mom and Dad.
We were used to being able to pick up the phone and connect with her as well. But this massive storm system had hit the Chicago area, and it wreaked all kinds of havoc. One casualty of the storm was particularly bothersome. Somehow a fire began in what was called the telephone switching station. The fact is it knocked out all the phone service to and from the area. It might be like all the cell towers being blown down. We tried to call our daughter for over a week, and every time we did, we'd get a recording, "Circuits are busy. Try again later." Well, the circuits weren't busy. They had just gone bye-bye for a long time.
The ripple effects of losing that communication were really damaging. There were businesses who had no business all of a sudden; they depended on the phone, and they actually had to lay off people. There were families out of touch, and worst of all, there were teenagers unable to call their friends! Well, it pointed out how vulnerable we were when our communication center wasn't working.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Marriage Trouble, God Trouble."
Well, the Bible describes one of life's switching stations...a center through which all kinds of communication happens and what happens when it breaks down. Our word for today from the Word of God is from Malachi 2. I'll begin reading at verse 13, "The Lord said, ‘You flood the Lord's altar with tears. You weep and wail because He no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.' You ask, ‘Why?' It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth."
We just read about people whose communication with God has broken down. Why? Well, that question is posed and the answer is given—their marriage isn't right. Broken promises, un-kept vows, neglect. And it's come between them and God. That kind of breakdown is actually suggested over in 1 Peter 3:7, where husbands are told to "...treat their wives with respect so that nothing..." get this, "...will hinder your prayers." So, there's a disturbance in the marital switching station that is blocking communication up to God. So it's hard for either mate to talk to God or hear from God.
But it's also blocking communication down from the marriage. The children, it says, are destabilized when the love they came from is threatened. They register all the disturbances of the marriage. We think the kids might be the problem, and it might be the disturbances in the marriage that they're just reflecting. Godly children come from united parents. When you've got two different drummers, you get rebels.
In a sense, your communication with your mate is that switching station through which communication up and down goes. So many relationships depend on the health of that one relationship. The health of your marriage sends out love, and it sends out blessing to everyone that you both touch. The struggle of your marriage sends out unsettling, grating vibrations to everyone you touch.
So, how's the communication center doing? Don't be surprised if the enemy's been attacking it. He knows your marriage is the center of so much that matters. Don't let him start a fire in the switching station.
Actions have consequences! In the book of Genesis we read how Joseph placed his loyalty above lust when he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife. His primary concern was the preference of God when he said, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God” (Genesis 39:9)?
The lesson we learn from Joseph is surprisingly simple: Do what pleases God. Your co-workers want to include a trip to a gentleman’s club on the evening agenda. What do you do? Do what pleases God. Your date invites you to conclude the evening with drinks at his place. How should you reply? Do what pleases God.
You don’t fix a struggling marriage with an affair, a drug problem with more drugs, debt with more debt. You don’t get out of a mess by making another one. You’ll never go wrong doing what is right. Just do what pleases God.
From You’ll Get Through This
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 18, 2015
John 3:1-15
There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[a] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.[b] 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.[c] 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man[e] has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.[f]
Footnotes:
3:3 Or born from above; also in 3:7.
3:5 Or and spirit. The Greek word for Spirit can also be translated wind; see 3:8.
3:6 Greek what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
3:7 The Greek word for you is plural; also in 3:12.
3:13 Some manuscripts add who lives in heaven. “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
3:15 Or everyone who believes will have eternal life in him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Read: John 18:15-27
Peter’s First Denial
Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, so he was allowed to enter the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus. 16 Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. 17 The woman asked Peter, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples, are you?”
“No,” he said, “I am not.”
18 Because it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself.
The High Priest Questions Jesus
19 Inside, the high priest began asking Jesus about his followers and what he had been teaching them. 20 Jesus replied, “Everyone knows what I teach. I have preached regularly in the synagogues and the Temple, where the people[a] gather. I have not spoken in secret. 21 Why are you asking me this question? Ask those who heard me. They know what I said.”
22 Then one of the Temple guards standing nearby slapped Jesus across the face. “Is that the way to answer the high priest?” he demanded.
23 Jesus replied, “If I said anything wrong, you must prove it. But if I’m speaking the truth, why are you beating me?”
24 Then Annas bound Jesus and sent him to Caiaphas, the high priest.
Peter’s Second and Third Denials
25 Meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?”
He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.”
26 But one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus?” 27 Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster crowed.
Footnotes:
18:20 Greek Jewish people; also in 18:38.
INSIGHT:
The story of Peter’s denial of Christ is found in each of the four gospel records (Matt. 26; Mark 14; Luke 22; John 18). Of these records, Mark’s account bears particular interest since scholars believe it is the record of Peter’s memories of his time with Jesus. If so, then in Mark’s gospel Peter recounts the story of his denials as a personal testimony of his failure.
Failure Is Not Fatal
By Cindy Hess Kasper
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. —John 6:69
Prime Minister Winston Churchill knew how to bolster the spirits of the British people during World War II. On June 18, 1940, he told a frightened populace, “Hitler knows that he will have to break us . . . or lose the war. . . . Let us therefore brace . . . and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire [lasts] for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour!’ ”
We would all like to be remembered for our “finest hour.” Perhaps the apostle Peter’s finest hour was when he proclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:69). Sometimes, however, we let our failures define us. After Peter repeatedly denied that he knew Jesus, he went out and wept bitterly (Matt. 26:75; John 18).
Like Peter, we all fall short—in our relationships, in our struggle with sin, in our faithfulness to God. But “failure is not fatal,” as Churchill also said. Thankfully, this is true in our spiritual life. Jesus forgave the repentant Peter for his failure (John 21) and used him to preach and lead many to the Savior.
Failure is not fatal. God lovingly restores those who turn back to Him.
Dear Father, thank You for Your forgiveness. Thank You that Your mercy and grace are given freely through the shed blood of Your Son, Jesus.
When God forgives, He removes the sin and restores the soul.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 18, 2015
…Peter…walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid… —Matthew 14:29-30
The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and “walked on the water.” Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.
We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, “…why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.
If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, “Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?” Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Marriage Trouble, God Trouble - #7419
We sure take for granted our ability to make a phone call. There were some folks in Chicago's western suburbs some years ago who didn't take it for granted. Now, you've got to realize, that was in the day before cellular technology. My daughter was in college in the western suburbs of Chicago, and she was used to being able to pick up the phone and there's Mom and Dad.
We were used to being able to pick up the phone and connect with her as well. But this massive storm system had hit the Chicago area, and it wreaked all kinds of havoc. One casualty of the storm was particularly bothersome. Somehow a fire began in what was called the telephone switching station. The fact is it knocked out all the phone service to and from the area. It might be like all the cell towers being blown down. We tried to call our daughter for over a week, and every time we did, we'd get a recording, "Circuits are busy. Try again later." Well, the circuits weren't busy. They had just gone bye-bye for a long time.
The ripple effects of losing that communication were really damaging. There were businesses who had no business all of a sudden; they depended on the phone, and they actually had to lay off people. There were families out of touch, and worst of all, there were teenagers unable to call their friends! Well, it pointed out how vulnerable we were when our communication center wasn't working.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Marriage Trouble, God Trouble."
Well, the Bible describes one of life's switching stations...a center through which all kinds of communication happens and what happens when it breaks down. Our word for today from the Word of God is from Malachi 2. I'll begin reading at verse 13, "The Lord said, ‘You flood the Lord's altar with tears. You weep and wail because He no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.' You ask, ‘Why?' It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth."
We just read about people whose communication with God has broken down. Why? Well, that question is posed and the answer is given—their marriage isn't right. Broken promises, un-kept vows, neglect. And it's come between them and God. That kind of breakdown is actually suggested over in 1 Peter 3:7, where husbands are told to "...treat their wives with respect so that nothing..." get this, "...will hinder your prayers." So, there's a disturbance in the marital switching station that is blocking communication up to God. So it's hard for either mate to talk to God or hear from God.
But it's also blocking communication down from the marriage. The children, it says, are destabilized when the love they came from is threatened. They register all the disturbances of the marriage. We think the kids might be the problem, and it might be the disturbances in the marriage that they're just reflecting. Godly children come from united parents. When you've got two different drummers, you get rebels.
In a sense, your communication with your mate is that switching station through which communication up and down goes. So many relationships depend on the health of that one relationship. The health of your marriage sends out love, and it sends out blessing to everyone that you both touch. The struggle of your marriage sends out unsettling, grating vibrations to everyone you touch.
So, how's the communication center doing? Don't be surprised if the enemy's been attacking it. He knows your marriage is the center of so much that matters. Don't let him start a fire in the switching station.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
2 Samuel 12 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Do What Pleases God
Years ago a friend gave me this counsel: Make a list of all the lives you would affect by your sexual immorality. I did. The list includes Denalyn, my three daughters, my sons-in-law, and my grandchild. Every so often, I reread it. And the list reminds me that one act of carnality is a poor exchange for a lifetime of lost legacy.
Dads, would you intentionally break the arm of your child? Of course not. Such an action would violate every fiber of your moral being. Yet if you engage in sexual activity outside your marriage, you’ll bring much more pain into the life of your child than would a broken bone.
In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul asked the rhetorical question: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?”
Actions have consequences. So what do you do? Do what pleases God!
From You’ll Get Through This
2 Samuel 12
Nathan Rebukes David
So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. 2 The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. 3 The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. 4 One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.”
5 David was furious. “As surely as the Lord lives,” he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! 6 He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. 9 Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. 10 From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.
11 “This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. 12 You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”
David Confesses His Guilt
13 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. 14 Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord[h] by doing this, your child will die.”
15 After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife. 16 David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. 17 The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused.
18 Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. “He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,” they said. “What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?”
19 When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions,[i] and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.
21 His advisers were amazed. “We don’t understand you,” they told him. “While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.”
22 David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.”
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and David[j] named him Solomon. The Lord loved the child 25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet that they should name him Jedidiah (which means “beloved of the Lord”), as the Lord had commanded.[k]
David Captures Rabbah
26 Meanwhile, Joab was fighting against Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, and he captured the royal fortifications.[l] 27 Joab sent messengers to tell David, “I have fought against Rabbah and captured its water supply.[m] 28 Now bring the rest of the army and capture the city. Otherwise, I will capture it and get credit for the victory.”
29 So David gathered the rest of the army and went to Rabbah, and he fought against it and captured it. 30 David removed the crown from the king’s head,[n] and it was placed on his own head. The crown was made of gold and set with gems, and it weighed seventy-five pounds.[o] David took a vast amount of plunder from the city. 31 He also made slaves of the people of Rabbah and forced them to labor with[p] saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and to work in the brick kilns.[q] That is how he dealt with the people of all the Ammonite towns. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.
Footnotes:
12:14 As in Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text reads the enemies of the Lord.
12:20 Hebrew anointed himself.
12:24 Hebrew he; an alternate Hebrew reading and some Hebrew manuscripts read she.
12:25 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads because of the Lord.
12:26 Or the royal city.
12:27 Or captured the city of water.
12:30a Or from the head of Milcom (as in Greek version). Milcom, also called Molech, was the god of the Ammonites.
12:30b Hebrew 1 talent [34 kilograms].
12:31a Hebrew He also brought out the people [of Rabbah] and put them under.
12:31b Hebrew and he made them pass through the brick kilns.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Read: Proverbs 10:18-21; 12:17-19
Hiding hatred makes you a liar;
slandering others makes you a fool.
19 Too much talk leads to sin.
Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.
20 The words of the godly are like sterling silver;
the heart of a fool is worthless.
21 The words of the godly encourage many,
but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense.
Proverbs 12:17-19New Living Translation (NLT)
17 An honest witness tells the truth;
a false witness tells lies.
18 Some people make cutting remarks,
but the words of the wise bring healing.
19 Truthful words stand the test of time,
but lies are soon exposed.
INSIGHT:
Proverbs warns us of the consequences of our words (Prov. 10:20-21; 12:13,18; 13:3; 16:24,27-28; 18:7; 22:5; 25:11-12). Wrong words are likened to a powerful fire (16:27) and weapons of war (12:18; 25:18; 26:18). A wise person is one who is restrained and judicious in his speech. Interestingly, we are reminded that if we keep silent, we will never say the wrong thing (10:19) and we will even be thought to be wise (17:28).
Wise Words
By Dave Branon
The tongue of the wise brings healing. —Proverbs 12:18 NIV
What is the strongest muscle in the human body? Some say it’s the tongue, but it’s hard to determine which muscle is the most powerful because muscles don’t work alone.
But we do know that the tongue is strong. For a small muscle, it can do a lot of damage. This active little muscular organ that helps us eat, swallow, taste, and begin digestion has a tendency to also assist us in saying things we shouldn’t. The tongue is guilty of flattery, cursing, lying, boasting, and harming others. And that’s just the short list.
It sounds like a pretty dangerous muscle, doesn’t it? But here’s the good thing: It doesn’t have to be that way. When we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, our tongues can be turned to great good. We can speak of God’s righteousness (Ps. 35:28) and justice (37:30). We can speak truth (15:2), show love (1 John 3:18), and confess sin (1 John 1:9).
The writer of Proverbs 12:18 spells out one of the best uses of the tongue: “The tongue of the wise brings healing” (niv). Imagine how we could glorify the One who made our tongues when He helps us use it to bring healing—not harm—to everyone we talk to.
Please guard each word we say so we reflect You and Your love. Help our tongues speak words of healing and not harm.
Encourage one another and build each other up. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 niv
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Beware of Criticizing Others
Judge not, that you be not judged. —Matthew 7:1
Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.
There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Discouragement and Your Dirty Window - #7418
I was in Arizona taking the opportunity to spend a little time with my son and our daughter-in-law. And since I'm the early riser of our family, they showed me where all the breakfast food was.
Now, breakfast isn't breakfast without a bagel or an English muffin, right? Well, they had some. So I popped a bagel into their aging toaster oven. And after rounding up the rest of my breakfast, I looked through the oven window to see how my bagel was doing, and I quickly opened the door to save it from burning, only to find out it was nowhere near done. I repeated that exercise two or three times. You know why? The window on that toaster oven had gotten clouded and murky over the years. So everything you looked at through that window looked darker than it really was.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Discouragement and Your Dirty Window."
Jonah - remember him? He was a man of God with a dark window. God had called him to go preach to the most ungodly city of his day, Nineveh. And Jonah took a ship the other way to Tarshish and ended up paying for his disobedience in the belly of a great fish.
He gets his second chance to do what God wants him to do in our word for today from the Word of God, Jonah 3:1, "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. ‘Go to that great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.'" And so he does. It's a message of God's judgment if they don't repent. Here's the result: "The Ninevites believed God. When God saw how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened."
Great news, huh? Not if you're looking at the Ninevites through Jonah's window. No! Chapter 4, verse 1, "Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry." He goes on to tell the Lord, "Listen, I want to check out, man! I'm sick of this." But the Lord answered him with, "Have you any right to be angry?"
What's going on here? Well, God is doing a great and mighty work and Jonah's missing the whole thing. Why? Because he's looking at it through a dark window. He had written off the Ninevites as hopeless sinners that should only get one thing - judgment. And when they finally did the right thing, Jonah couldn't even see it. That is the dark window syndrome.
Maybe you've been looking at some person or some situation through your dirty window. Life is so discouraging, it's so depressing, it's so negative when you're seeing everything through a window of anger, or jealousy, or self-pity, or pessimism. Even when God's doing something good, you may not be able to see it because you've gotten used to seeing only what's wrong.
Maybe there's a relationship in your life right now that's strained, at least partly because you've made up your mind about that person and you interpret everything they do, even the good things, even personal growth in them through your perspective. You can't accept the good. They don't even have a chance to change. It could be a child you've struggled with and they're always the problem child to you, or your mate, a spiritual leader in your life, a friend, maybe a coworker. This is just wrong! It doesn't leave any room for the activity of God in their life. There's only room for bad news. It's pre-judging and it's just wrong.
I know that every time I looked through that dark window everything looked darker than it really was. Maybe you've been making that same mistake with someone around you. Instead of writing them off, or trying to fix them, why don't you clean your window? I'll bet things will look better.
Jesus made a promise. He said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Something amazing happens when you take what Jesus did on the cross for you, allow Him to take down the wall between you and God and ask Him to come into your life to be your Savior from your sin. It's like the lights go on! And suddenly everything that has looked so dark, now you can see through the eyes of God himself.
The Bible puts it this way, "If anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. The old is gone; the new life has begun." Truly life looks different when Jesus is driving that life. If you have never surrendered to Him and given Him the wheel, let this be the day that He turns on the lights in your, what may have been too dark soul. You tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours. Based on what you did for me on the cross."
Visit our website and find out how to be sure you belong to Him - ANewStory.com. This is the day when the lights come on in your heart.
Years ago a friend gave me this counsel: Make a list of all the lives you would affect by your sexual immorality. I did. The list includes Denalyn, my three daughters, my sons-in-law, and my grandchild. Every so often, I reread it. And the list reminds me that one act of carnality is a poor exchange for a lifetime of lost legacy.
Dads, would you intentionally break the arm of your child? Of course not. Such an action would violate every fiber of your moral being. Yet if you engage in sexual activity outside your marriage, you’ll bring much more pain into the life of your child than would a broken bone.
In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul asked the rhetorical question: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?”
Actions have consequences. So what do you do? Do what pleases God!
From You’ll Get Through This
2 Samuel 12
Nathan Rebukes David
So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. 2 The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. 3 The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. 4 One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.”
5 David was furious. “As surely as the Lord lives,” he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! 6 He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. 9 Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. 10 From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.
11 “This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. 12 You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”
David Confesses His Guilt
13 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. 14 Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord[h] by doing this, your child will die.”
15 After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife. 16 David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. 17 The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused.
18 Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. “He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,” they said. “What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?”
19 When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions,[i] and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.
21 His advisers were amazed. “We don’t understand you,” they told him. “While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.”
22 David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.”
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and David[j] named him Solomon. The Lord loved the child 25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet that they should name him Jedidiah (which means “beloved of the Lord”), as the Lord had commanded.[k]
David Captures Rabbah
26 Meanwhile, Joab was fighting against Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, and he captured the royal fortifications.[l] 27 Joab sent messengers to tell David, “I have fought against Rabbah and captured its water supply.[m] 28 Now bring the rest of the army and capture the city. Otherwise, I will capture it and get credit for the victory.”
29 So David gathered the rest of the army and went to Rabbah, and he fought against it and captured it. 30 David removed the crown from the king’s head,[n] and it was placed on his own head. The crown was made of gold and set with gems, and it weighed seventy-five pounds.[o] David took a vast amount of plunder from the city. 31 He also made slaves of the people of Rabbah and forced them to labor with[p] saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and to work in the brick kilns.[q] That is how he dealt with the people of all the Ammonite towns. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.
Footnotes:
12:14 As in Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text reads the enemies of the Lord.
12:20 Hebrew anointed himself.
12:24 Hebrew he; an alternate Hebrew reading and some Hebrew manuscripts read she.
12:25 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads because of the Lord.
12:26 Or the royal city.
12:27 Or captured the city of water.
12:30a Or from the head of Milcom (as in Greek version). Milcom, also called Molech, was the god of the Ammonites.
12:30b Hebrew 1 talent [34 kilograms].
12:31a Hebrew He also brought out the people [of Rabbah] and put them under.
12:31b Hebrew and he made them pass through the brick kilns.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Read: Proverbs 10:18-21; 12:17-19
Hiding hatred makes you a liar;
slandering others makes you a fool.
19 Too much talk leads to sin.
Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.
20 The words of the godly are like sterling silver;
the heart of a fool is worthless.
21 The words of the godly encourage many,
but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense.
Proverbs 12:17-19New Living Translation (NLT)
17 An honest witness tells the truth;
a false witness tells lies.
18 Some people make cutting remarks,
but the words of the wise bring healing.
19 Truthful words stand the test of time,
but lies are soon exposed.
INSIGHT:
Proverbs warns us of the consequences of our words (Prov. 10:20-21; 12:13,18; 13:3; 16:24,27-28; 18:7; 22:5; 25:11-12). Wrong words are likened to a powerful fire (16:27) and weapons of war (12:18; 25:18; 26:18). A wise person is one who is restrained and judicious in his speech. Interestingly, we are reminded that if we keep silent, we will never say the wrong thing (10:19) and we will even be thought to be wise (17:28).
Wise Words
By Dave Branon
The tongue of the wise brings healing. —Proverbs 12:18 NIV
What is the strongest muscle in the human body? Some say it’s the tongue, but it’s hard to determine which muscle is the most powerful because muscles don’t work alone.
But we do know that the tongue is strong. For a small muscle, it can do a lot of damage. This active little muscular organ that helps us eat, swallow, taste, and begin digestion has a tendency to also assist us in saying things we shouldn’t. The tongue is guilty of flattery, cursing, lying, boasting, and harming others. And that’s just the short list.
It sounds like a pretty dangerous muscle, doesn’t it? But here’s the good thing: It doesn’t have to be that way. When we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, our tongues can be turned to great good. We can speak of God’s righteousness (Ps. 35:28) and justice (37:30). We can speak truth (15:2), show love (1 John 3:18), and confess sin (1 John 1:9).
The writer of Proverbs 12:18 spells out one of the best uses of the tongue: “The tongue of the wise brings healing” (niv). Imagine how we could glorify the One who made our tongues when He helps us use it to bring healing—not harm—to everyone we talk to.
Please guard each word we say so we reflect You and Your love. Help our tongues speak words of healing and not harm.
Encourage one another and build each other up. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 niv
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Beware of Criticizing Others
Judge not, that you be not judged. —Matthew 7:1
Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.
There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Discouragement and Your Dirty Window - #7418
I was in Arizona taking the opportunity to spend a little time with my son and our daughter-in-law. And since I'm the early riser of our family, they showed me where all the breakfast food was.
Now, breakfast isn't breakfast without a bagel or an English muffin, right? Well, they had some. So I popped a bagel into their aging toaster oven. And after rounding up the rest of my breakfast, I looked through the oven window to see how my bagel was doing, and I quickly opened the door to save it from burning, only to find out it was nowhere near done. I repeated that exercise two or three times. You know why? The window on that toaster oven had gotten clouded and murky over the years. So everything you looked at through that window looked darker than it really was.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Discouragement and Your Dirty Window."
Jonah - remember him? He was a man of God with a dark window. God had called him to go preach to the most ungodly city of his day, Nineveh. And Jonah took a ship the other way to Tarshish and ended up paying for his disobedience in the belly of a great fish.
He gets his second chance to do what God wants him to do in our word for today from the Word of God, Jonah 3:1, "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. ‘Go to that great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.'" And so he does. It's a message of God's judgment if they don't repent. Here's the result: "The Ninevites believed God. When God saw how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened."
Great news, huh? Not if you're looking at the Ninevites through Jonah's window. No! Chapter 4, verse 1, "Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry." He goes on to tell the Lord, "Listen, I want to check out, man! I'm sick of this." But the Lord answered him with, "Have you any right to be angry?"
What's going on here? Well, God is doing a great and mighty work and Jonah's missing the whole thing. Why? Because he's looking at it through a dark window. He had written off the Ninevites as hopeless sinners that should only get one thing - judgment. And when they finally did the right thing, Jonah couldn't even see it. That is the dark window syndrome.
Maybe you've been looking at some person or some situation through your dirty window. Life is so discouraging, it's so depressing, it's so negative when you're seeing everything through a window of anger, or jealousy, or self-pity, or pessimism. Even when God's doing something good, you may not be able to see it because you've gotten used to seeing only what's wrong.
Maybe there's a relationship in your life right now that's strained, at least partly because you've made up your mind about that person and you interpret everything they do, even the good things, even personal growth in them through your perspective. You can't accept the good. They don't even have a chance to change. It could be a child you've struggled with and they're always the problem child to you, or your mate, a spiritual leader in your life, a friend, maybe a coworker. This is just wrong! It doesn't leave any room for the activity of God in their life. There's only room for bad news. It's pre-judging and it's just wrong.
I know that every time I looked through that dark window everything looked darker than it really was. Maybe you've been making that same mistake with someone around you. Instead of writing them off, or trying to fix them, why don't you clean your window? I'll bet things will look better.
Jesus made a promise. He said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Something amazing happens when you take what Jesus did on the cross for you, allow Him to take down the wall between you and God and ask Him to come into your life to be your Savior from your sin. It's like the lights go on! And suddenly everything that has looked so dark, now you can see through the eyes of God himself.
The Bible puts it this way, "If anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. The old is gone; the new life has begun." Truly life looks different when Jesus is driving that life. If you have never surrendered to Him and given Him the wheel, let this be the day that He turns on the lights in your, what may have been too dark soul. You tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours. Based on what you did for me on the cross."
Visit our website and find out how to be sure you belong to Him - ANewStory.com. This is the day when the lights come on in your heart.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
2 Samuel 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Quarry the Deep Qualities of God
Don’t equate the presence of God with a good mood or a pleasant temperament. God is near whether you are happy or not. But do quarry from your Bible a list of the deep qualities of God, and press them to your heart. My list reads like this:
He is still sovereign. He still knows my name.
Angels still respond to His call.
God is still faithful. He is not caught off guard.
He uses everything for His glory and my ultimate good.
Lay hold of the unchanging character of God. Pray your pain out. Pound the table. Even Jesus offered up prayers with what Hebrews 5:7 describes as “loud cries and tears.” Your family may be gone. Your supporters may have left. But God has not budged! His promise still stands: “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go” (Gen. 28:15).
From You’ll Get Through This
2 Samuel 11
David and Bathsheba
In the spring of the year,[d] when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
2 Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. 3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. 5 Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”
6 Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing. 8 Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax.[e]” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace. 9 But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.
10 When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?”
11 Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents,[f] and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.”
12 “Well, stay here today,” David told him, “and tomorrow you may return to the army.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 Then David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. But even then he couldn’t get Uriah to go home to his wife. Again he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.
David Arranges for Uriah’s Death
14 So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver. 15 The letter instructed Joab, “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.” 16 So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting. 17 And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.
18 Then Joab sent a battle report to David. 19 He told his messenger, “Report all the news of the battle to the king. 20 But he might get angry and ask, ‘Why did the troops go so close to the city? Didn’t they know there would be shooting from the walls? 21 Wasn’t Abimelech son of Gideon[g] killed at Thebez by a woman who threw a millstone down on him from the wall? Why would you get so close to the wall?’ Then tell him, ‘Uriah the Hittite was killed, too.’”
22 So the messenger went to Jerusalem and gave a complete report to David. 23 “The enemy came out against us in the open fields,” he said. “And as we chased them back to the city gate, 24 the archers on the wall shot arrows at us. Some of the king’s men were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.”
25 “Well, tell Joab not to be discouraged,” David said. “The sword devours this one today and that one tomorrow! Fight harder next time, and conquer the city!”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the Lord was displeased with what David had done.
11:1 Hebrew At the turn of the year. The first day of the year in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in March or April.
11:8 Hebrew and wash your feet, an expression that may also have a connotation of ritualistic washing.
11:11 Or at Succoth.
11:21 Hebrew son of Jerub-besheth. Jerub-besheth is a variation on the name Jerub-baal, which is another name for Gideon; see Judg 6:32.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Read: Hebrews 6:13-20
God’s Promises Bring Hope
For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:
14 “I will certainly bless you,
and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”[a]
15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.
16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. 17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. 18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. 20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Footnotes:
6:14 Gen 22:17.
INSIGHT:
The book of Hebrews is a book of comparisons between the Old Testament and the person of Christ. Throughout the book, the author makes comparisons between what is good and what is better: Jesus is better than the prophets and angels (ch. 1), better than Moses (ch. 3), better than the priesthood (chs. 4–8), and better than the sacrificial system (chs. 9–10). The greatness of Jesus is our hope and our anchor, an anchor that Hebrews reminds us is “both sure and steadfast” (6:19).
Our Anchor
By Marvin Williams
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. —Hebrews 6:19
After Estella Pyfrom retired from teaching, she bought a bus, decked it out with computers and desks, and now drives the “Brilliant Bus” through Palm Beach County, Florida, providing a place for at-risk children to do their homework and learn technology. Estella is providing stability and hope to children who might be tempted to throw away their dream for a better tomorrow.
In the first century, an avalanche of suffering and discouragement threatened the Christian community. The author of Hebrews wrote to convince these followers of Christ not to throw away their confidence in their future hope (2:1). Their hope—a faith in God for salvation and entrance into heaven—was found in the person and sacrifice of Christ. When Jesus entered heaven after His resurrection, He secured their hope for the future (6:19-20). Like an anchor dropped at sea, preventing a ship from drifting away, Jesus’ death, resurrection, and return to heaven brought assurance and stability to the believers’ lives. This hope for the future cannot and will not be shaken loose.
Jesus anchors our souls, so that we will not drift away from our hope in God.
Jesus, in the face of all kinds of trouble and uncertainty, help me to have a confident expectation that is grounded in Your unfailing love for me.
Our hope is anchored in Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
“Will You Lay Down Your Life?”
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends….I have called you friends… —John 15:13, 15
Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said to the Lord, “I will lay down my life for Your sake,” and he meant it (John 13:37). He had a magnificent sense of the heroic. For us to be incapable of making this same statement Peter made would be a bad thing— our sense of duty is only fully realized through our sense of heroism. Has the Lord ever asked you, “Will you lay down your life for My sake?” (John 13:38). It is much easier to die than to lay down your life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling of God. We are not made for the bright-shining moments of life, but we have to walk in the light of them in our everyday ways. There was only one bright-shining moment in the life of Jesus, and that was on the Mount of Transfiguration. It was there that He emptied Himself of His glory for the second time, and then came down into the demon-possessed valley (seeMark 9:1-29). For thirty-three years Jesus laid down His life to do the will of His Father. “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). Yet it is contrary to our human nature to do so.
If I am a friend of Jesus, I must deliberately and carefully lay down my life for Him. It is a difficult thing to do, and thank God that it is. Salvation is easy for us, because it cost God so much. But the exhibiting of salvation in my life is difficult. God saves a person, fills him with the Holy Spirit, and then says, in effect, “Now you work it out in your life, and be faithful to Me, even though the nature of everything around you is to cause you to be unfaithful.” And Jesus says to us, “…I have called you friends….” Remain faithful to your Friend, and remember that His honor is at stake in your bodily life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
How To Avoid Getting Spiritually "Nuked" - #7417
In my little world, "nuke" is just a word that describes what happens to my leftovers when I put them in the microwave. But when I was doing a week of outreach on an Air Force base, nuke meant something far more lethal, like nuclear missile. This particular base was home to scores of missiles that had been part of the front lines of our nation's defense for years. They were kept in underground silos surrounded by very high tech security systems. And it was my privilege to be taken on a visit to one of the launch control centers. Each one of these control centers was responsible for ten missiles.
At the time I was there the center was manned by two airmen who were on 24-hour shifts that they called alerts. And they showed me the systems that monitor virtually every movement every minute for their ten missile sites. In fact, these security systems were so finely tuned that a plastic bag blowing across the prairie could trigger it. Frankly, I guess I was encouraged to see crews like that on full alert. I mean, what they're responsible for required full alert.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Avoid Getting Spiritually Nuked."
I was recently reading the Bible's account of the first human ever born, Cain. See, Adam and Eve were directly created by God, but Cain was literally the first person totally like us. And what happened in the life of that firstborn human has so much to teach all of us who have been born since Cain.
Like this for example, our word for today from the Word of God, Genesis 4:7. "If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you. You must master it." Well, history shows that Cain didn't listen. He did not obey. He did not go on "full alert" against the sin of his own anger and his own bitterness. He didn't master it, so it proceeded to master him and the firstborn of humankind becomes the first murderer of the human race, killing his own brother. Sad story; tragic story.
It always is when we do not heed God's warning to master the sin that is crouching at the door and waiting to have us. The U.S. defenses were developed in light of a clear sense of our security; recognizing the threat, developing a system and being on full alert twenty-four hours a day against it.
Now, the threat to you and me is a predator called sin. And you probably know all too well which sin or sins are always crouching at your door, always trying to take over,
whether it's anger, lust, worry, selfishness, pride, that habit or that persistent temptation.
The call of God is to go on full alert against that sin; stopping its intrusion while it is small before it becomes a full-scale sin invasion of your heart, your mind and your life. Notice what God didn't say to our great, great, great, great, however many times Great Grandfather Cain. He didn't say, "You must coexist with your sin." Or even, "You must fight your sin, you must tolerate, you must excuse your sin." No, "You must master your sin." Get control of what is trying to get control of you.
And here's the question: Have you been too passive in your struggle against the sin that's always around your door or have you given up? God's calling us to master it. How? By daily surrendering that area to Jesus; by setting your alarms to go off at the first invasion of that sin. Stop it then and by eliminating whatever influence strengthens the pull of that sin. Live on the promise of Romans 6:14, "Sin shall not be your master." Put the name of your sin in there and claim it as your future.
I saw in a missile command center what to do when you're facing a formidable enemy. Go on full alert against it. Go on full alert against the sin that's warring against you. It's time to beat what's been beating you too long and that's going to be by living on full alert against it.
Don’t equate the presence of God with a good mood or a pleasant temperament. God is near whether you are happy or not. But do quarry from your Bible a list of the deep qualities of God, and press them to your heart. My list reads like this:
He is still sovereign. He still knows my name.
Angels still respond to His call.
God is still faithful. He is not caught off guard.
He uses everything for His glory and my ultimate good.
Lay hold of the unchanging character of God. Pray your pain out. Pound the table. Even Jesus offered up prayers with what Hebrews 5:7 describes as “loud cries and tears.” Your family may be gone. Your supporters may have left. But God has not budged! His promise still stands: “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go” (Gen. 28:15).
From You’ll Get Through This
2 Samuel 11
David and Bathsheba
In the spring of the year,[d] when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
2 Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. 3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. 5 Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”
6 Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing. 8 Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax.[e]” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace. 9 But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.
10 When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?”
11 Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents,[f] and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.”
12 “Well, stay here today,” David told him, “and tomorrow you may return to the army.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 Then David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. But even then he couldn’t get Uriah to go home to his wife. Again he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.
David Arranges for Uriah’s Death
14 So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver. 15 The letter instructed Joab, “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.” 16 So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting. 17 And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.
18 Then Joab sent a battle report to David. 19 He told his messenger, “Report all the news of the battle to the king. 20 But he might get angry and ask, ‘Why did the troops go so close to the city? Didn’t they know there would be shooting from the walls? 21 Wasn’t Abimelech son of Gideon[g] killed at Thebez by a woman who threw a millstone down on him from the wall? Why would you get so close to the wall?’ Then tell him, ‘Uriah the Hittite was killed, too.’”
22 So the messenger went to Jerusalem and gave a complete report to David. 23 “The enemy came out against us in the open fields,” he said. “And as we chased them back to the city gate, 24 the archers on the wall shot arrows at us. Some of the king’s men were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.”
25 “Well, tell Joab not to be discouraged,” David said. “The sword devours this one today and that one tomorrow! Fight harder next time, and conquer the city!”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the Lord was displeased with what David had done.
11:1 Hebrew At the turn of the year. The first day of the year in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in March or April.
11:8 Hebrew and wash your feet, an expression that may also have a connotation of ritualistic washing.
11:11 Or at Succoth.
11:21 Hebrew son of Jerub-besheth. Jerub-besheth is a variation on the name Jerub-baal, which is another name for Gideon; see Judg 6:32.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Read: Hebrews 6:13-20
God’s Promises Bring Hope
For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:
14 “I will certainly bless you,
and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”[a]
15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.
16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. 17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. 18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. 20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Footnotes:
6:14 Gen 22:17.
INSIGHT:
The book of Hebrews is a book of comparisons between the Old Testament and the person of Christ. Throughout the book, the author makes comparisons between what is good and what is better: Jesus is better than the prophets and angels (ch. 1), better than Moses (ch. 3), better than the priesthood (chs. 4–8), and better than the sacrificial system (chs. 9–10). The greatness of Jesus is our hope and our anchor, an anchor that Hebrews reminds us is “both sure and steadfast” (6:19).
Our Anchor
By Marvin Williams
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. —Hebrews 6:19
After Estella Pyfrom retired from teaching, she bought a bus, decked it out with computers and desks, and now drives the “Brilliant Bus” through Palm Beach County, Florida, providing a place for at-risk children to do their homework and learn technology. Estella is providing stability and hope to children who might be tempted to throw away their dream for a better tomorrow.
In the first century, an avalanche of suffering and discouragement threatened the Christian community. The author of Hebrews wrote to convince these followers of Christ not to throw away their confidence in their future hope (2:1). Their hope—a faith in God for salvation and entrance into heaven—was found in the person and sacrifice of Christ. When Jesus entered heaven after His resurrection, He secured their hope for the future (6:19-20). Like an anchor dropped at sea, preventing a ship from drifting away, Jesus’ death, resurrection, and return to heaven brought assurance and stability to the believers’ lives. This hope for the future cannot and will not be shaken loose.
Jesus anchors our souls, so that we will not drift away from our hope in God.
Jesus, in the face of all kinds of trouble and uncertainty, help me to have a confident expectation that is grounded in Your unfailing love for me.
Our hope is anchored in Jesus.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
“Will You Lay Down Your Life?”
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends….I have called you friends… —John 15:13, 15
Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said to the Lord, “I will lay down my life for Your sake,” and he meant it (John 13:37). He had a magnificent sense of the heroic. For us to be incapable of making this same statement Peter made would be a bad thing— our sense of duty is only fully realized through our sense of heroism. Has the Lord ever asked you, “Will you lay down your life for My sake?” (John 13:38). It is much easier to die than to lay down your life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling of God. We are not made for the bright-shining moments of life, but we have to walk in the light of them in our everyday ways. There was only one bright-shining moment in the life of Jesus, and that was on the Mount of Transfiguration. It was there that He emptied Himself of His glory for the second time, and then came down into the demon-possessed valley (seeMark 9:1-29). For thirty-three years Jesus laid down His life to do the will of His Father. “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). Yet it is contrary to our human nature to do so.
If I am a friend of Jesus, I must deliberately and carefully lay down my life for Him. It is a difficult thing to do, and thank God that it is. Salvation is easy for us, because it cost God so much. But the exhibiting of salvation in my life is difficult. God saves a person, fills him with the Holy Spirit, and then says, in effect, “Now you work it out in your life, and be faithful to Me, even though the nature of everything around you is to cause you to be unfaithful.” And Jesus says to us, “…I have called you friends….” Remain faithful to your Friend, and remember that His honor is at stake in your bodily life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
How To Avoid Getting Spiritually "Nuked" - #7417
In my little world, "nuke" is just a word that describes what happens to my leftovers when I put them in the microwave. But when I was doing a week of outreach on an Air Force base, nuke meant something far more lethal, like nuclear missile. This particular base was home to scores of missiles that had been part of the front lines of our nation's defense for years. They were kept in underground silos surrounded by very high tech security systems. And it was my privilege to be taken on a visit to one of the launch control centers. Each one of these control centers was responsible for ten missiles.
At the time I was there the center was manned by two airmen who were on 24-hour shifts that they called alerts. And they showed me the systems that monitor virtually every movement every minute for their ten missile sites. In fact, these security systems were so finely tuned that a plastic bag blowing across the prairie could trigger it. Frankly, I guess I was encouraged to see crews like that on full alert. I mean, what they're responsible for required full alert.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Avoid Getting Spiritually Nuked."
I was recently reading the Bible's account of the first human ever born, Cain. See, Adam and Eve were directly created by God, but Cain was literally the first person totally like us. And what happened in the life of that firstborn human has so much to teach all of us who have been born since Cain.
Like this for example, our word for today from the Word of God, Genesis 4:7. "If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you. You must master it." Well, history shows that Cain didn't listen. He did not obey. He did not go on "full alert" against the sin of his own anger and his own bitterness. He didn't master it, so it proceeded to master him and the firstborn of humankind becomes the first murderer of the human race, killing his own brother. Sad story; tragic story.
It always is when we do not heed God's warning to master the sin that is crouching at the door and waiting to have us. The U.S. defenses were developed in light of a clear sense of our security; recognizing the threat, developing a system and being on full alert twenty-four hours a day against it.
Now, the threat to you and me is a predator called sin. And you probably know all too well which sin or sins are always crouching at your door, always trying to take over,
whether it's anger, lust, worry, selfishness, pride, that habit or that persistent temptation.
The call of God is to go on full alert against that sin; stopping its intrusion while it is small before it becomes a full-scale sin invasion of your heart, your mind and your life. Notice what God didn't say to our great, great, great, great, however many times Great Grandfather Cain. He didn't say, "You must coexist with your sin." Or even, "You must fight your sin, you must tolerate, you must excuse your sin." No, "You must master your sin." Get control of what is trying to get control of you.
And here's the question: Have you been too passive in your struggle against the sin that's always around your door or have you given up? God's calling us to master it. How? By daily surrendering that area to Jesus; by setting your alarms to go off at the first invasion of that sin. Stop it then and by eliminating whatever influence strengthens the pull of that sin. Live on the promise of Romans 6:14, "Sin shall not be your master." Put the name of your sin in there and claim it as your future.
I saw in a missile command center what to do when you're facing a formidable enemy. Go on full alert against it. Go on full alert against the sin that's warring against you. It's time to beat what's been beating you too long and that's going to be by living on full alert against it.
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