Max Lucado Daily: Map Out a Strategy
You cannot control the weather. You are not in charge of the economy. You can’t un-wreck the car. But you can map out a strategy. Remember, God is in this crisis. Ask God to give you two or three steps you can take today. Seek counsel from someone who has faced a similar challenge. Ask friends to pray. Reach out to a support group. Most importantly, make a plan.
You’d prefer a miracle for your crisis? You’d rather see the bread multiplied or the stormy sea turned glassy calm in a finger snap? God may do this. Then again, He may say, “I am with you. I can use this for good. Now let’s make a plan.” God’s sovereignty does not negate our responsibility. It empowers it. Don’t let the crisis paralyze you. Trust God to do what you cannot. Obey God, and do what you can.
From You’ll Get Through This
2 Samuel 23
David’s Last Words
These are the last words of David:
“David, the son of Jesse, speaks—
David, the man who was raised up so high,
David, the man anointed by the God of Jacob,
David, the sweet psalmist of Israel.[a]
2 “The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me;
his words are upon my tongue.
3 The God of Israel spoke.
The Rock of Israel said to me:
‘The one who rules righteously,
who rules in the fear of God,
4 is like the light of morning at sunrise,
like a morning without clouds,
like the gleaming of the sun
on new grass after rain.’
5 “Is it not my family God has chosen?
Yes, he has made an everlasting covenant with me.
His agreement is arranged and guaranteed in every detail.
He will ensure my safety and success.
6 But the godless are like thorns to be thrown away,
for they tear the hand that touches them.
7 One must use iron tools to chop them down;
they will be totally consumed by fire.”
David’s Mightiest Warriors
8 These are the names of David’s mightiest warriors. The first was Jashobeam the Hacmonite,[b] who was leader of the Three[c]—the three mightiest warriors among David’s men. He once used his spear to kill 800 enemy warriors in a single battle.[d]
9 Next in rank among the Three was Eleazar son of Dodai, a descendant of Ahoah. Once Eleazar and David stood together against the Philistines when the entire Israelite army had fled. 10 He killed Philistines until his hand was too tired to lift his sword, and the Lord gave him a great victory that day. The rest of the army did not return until it was time to collect the plunder!
11 Next in rank was Shammah son of Agee from Harar. One time the Philistines gathered at Lehi and attacked the Israelites in a field full of lentils. The Israelite army fled, 12 but Shammah[e] held his ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.
13 Once during the harvest, when David was at the cave of Adullam, the Philistine army was camped in the valley of Rephaim. The Three (who were among the Thirty—an elite group among David’s fighting men) went down to meet him there. 14 David was staying in the stronghold at the time, and a Philistine detachment had occupied the town of Bethlehem.
15 David remarked longingly to his men, “Oh, how I would love some of that good water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem.” 16 So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew some water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to the Lord. 17 “The Lord forbid that I should drink this!” he exclaimed. “This water is as precious as the blood of these men[f] who risked their lives to bring it to me.” So David did not drink it. These are examples of the exploits of the Three.
David’s Thirty Mighty Men
18 Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was the leader of the Thirty.[g] He once used his spear to kill 300 enemy warriors in a single battle. It was by such feats that he became as famous as the Three. 19 Abishai was the most famous of the Thirty[h] and was their commander, though he was not one of the Three.
20 There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior[i] from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions[j] of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it. 21 Once, armed only with a club, he killed an imposing Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it. 22 Deeds like these made Benaiah as famous as the Three mightiest warriors. 23 He was more honored than the other members of the Thirty, though he was not one of the Three. And David made him captain of his bodyguard.
24 Other members of the Thirty included:
Asahel, Joab’s brother;
Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem;
25 Shammah from Harod;
Elika from Harod;
26 Helez from Pelon[k];
Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa;
27 Abiezer from Anathoth;
Sibbecai[l] from Hushah;
28 Zalmon from Ahoah;
Maharai from Netophah;
29 Heled[m] son of Baanah from Netophah;
Ithai[n] son of Ribai from Gibeah (in the land of Benjamin);
30 Benaiah from Pirathon;
Hurai[o] from Nahale-gaash[p];
31 Abi-albon from Arabah;
Azmaveth from Bahurim;
32 Eliahba from Shaalbon;
the sons of Jashen;
Jonathan 33 son of Shagee[q] from Harar;
Ahiam son of Sharar from Harar;
34 Eliphelet son of Ahasbai from Maacah;
Eliam son of Ahithophel from Giloh;
35 Hezro from Carmel;
Paarai from Arba;
36 Igal son of Nathan from Zobah;
Bani from Gad;
37 Zelek from Ammon;
Naharai from Beeroth, the armor bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah;
38 Ira from Jattir;
Gareb from Jattir;
39 Uriah the Hittite.
There were thirty-seven in all.
Footnotes:
23:1 Or the favorite subject of the songs of Israel; or the favorite of the Strong One of Israel.
23:8a As in parallel text at 1 Chr 11:11; Hebrew reads Josheb-basshebeth the Tahkemonite.
23:8b As in Greek and Latin versions (see also 1 Chr 11:11); the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
23:8c As in some Greek manuscripts (see also 1 Chr 11:11); the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain, though it might be rendered the Three. It was Adino the Eznite who killed 800 men at one time.
23:12 Hebrew he.
23:17 Hebrew Shall I drink the blood of these men?
23:18 As in a few Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac version; most Hebrew manuscripts read the Three.
23:19 As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads the Three.
23:20a Or son of Jehoiada, son of Ish-hai.
23:20b Hebrew two of Ariel.
23:26 As in parallel text at 1 Chr 11:27 (see also 1 Chr 27:10); Hebrew reads from Palti.
23:27 As in some Greek manuscripts (see also 1 Chr 11:29); Hebrew reads Mebunnai.
23:29a As in some Hebrew manuscripts (see also 1 Chr 11:30); most Hebrew manuscripts read Heleb.
23:29b As in parallel text at 1 Chr 11:31; Hebrew reads Ittai.
23:30a As in some Greek manuscripts (see also 1 Chr 11:32); Hebrew reads Hiddai.
23:30b Or from the ravines of Gaash.
23:33 As in parallel text at 1 Chr 11:34; Hebrew reads Jonathan, Shammah; some Greek manuscripts read Jonathan son of Shammah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, July 13, 2015
Read: Philippians 4:1-9
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters,[a] stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work.
Words of Encouragement
2 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. 3 And I ask you, my true partner,[b] to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.
4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.[c]
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Footnotes:
4:1 Greek brothers; also in 4:8.
4:3 Or loyal Syzygus.
4:5 Greek the Lord is near.
Insight:
Paul often showed his appreciation for people who had worked with him, and he often singled out individuals for special mention in his letters (see Rom. 16; Col. 4; 2 Tim. 1:16-18; Titus 3:12-13). It is estimated that he designates some 80-90 people as his “fellow workers” in the book of Acts and in his letters. Included are fellow missionaries and interns, independent ministry associates, traveling companions, fellow prisoners, and supporters. In today’s passage, he urges two women to reconcile and lovingly acknowledges that these women, together with Clement (not mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament) and an unnamed list of fellow workers, have labored with him in spreading the gospel (vv. 2-3).
Not Saying Goodbye
By Randy Kilgore
The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. —Philippians 4:9
Francis Allen led me to Jesus, and now it was nearly time for Francis to meet Jesus face to face. I was at his home as it grew time for him to say goodbye. I wanted to say something memorable and meaningful.
For nearly an hour I stood by his bed. He laughed hard at the stories I told on myself. Then he got tired, we got serious, and he spent his energy rounding off some rough edges he still saw in my life. I listened, even as I tried to sort out how to say goodbye.
He stopped me before I got the chance. “You remember, Randy, what I’ve always told you. We have nothing to fear from the story of life because we know how it ends. I’m not afraid. You go do what I’ve taught you.” Those challenging words reminded me of what the apostle Paul said to the believers in Philippi: “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do” (Phil. 4:9).
Francis had the same twinkle in his eye this last day I saw him as he had the first day I met him. He had no fear in his heart.
So many of the words I write, stories I tell, and people I serve are touched by Francis. As we journey through life, may we remember those who have encouraged us spiritually.
Who has been your mentor? Are you mentoring others?
Live so that when people get to know you, they will want to know Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, July 13, 2015
The Price of the Vision
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord… —Isaiah 6:1
Our soul’s personal history with God is often an account of the death of our heroes. Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place, and that is when we falter, fail, and become discouraged. Let me think about this personally— when the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life? Did I become ill or disheartened? Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?
My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character. My character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed to me. Before I can say, “I saw the Lord,” there must be something in my character that conforms to the likeness of God. Until I am born again and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the perspective of my own biases. What I need is God’s surgical procedure— His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.
Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, “In all the world there is no one but You, dear God; there is no one but You.”
Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, July 13, 2015
Four Steps to Turn Your Life Around - #7436
It was sort of good news/bad news for our youngest son. But it was mostly good news. He had sensed the strong leading from the Lord to go into full-time outreach to Native Americans. That meant he would be driving those exciting, rugged reservation roads. But there was no way that was going to be possible without a four wheel drive vehicle.
The amazing good news is that the Lord miraculously gave him the vehicle he needed. The little bad news, it was a stick and our son has never driven a stick shift. He learned quickly. In all the time he drove his miracle on wheels, none of his passengers needed a neck brace after the ride. And he mastered that manual transmission pretty quickly. If there was any roughness, it was when he put it in reverse. He said "Dad, backing up is the hardest part."
Well I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Four Steps to Turn Your Life Around."
Yep, backing up is the hard part, not just "automotively" but morally. When the Lord shows you that you've been going the wrong way, it's smart to start backing up. To get out of that habit, get out of that dishonesty, that compromise, that wrong relationship, that sexual involvement. If Christ is living in your heart, He's going to begin to make you feel about that sin what He feels, and you'll know it's time to change.
God's word for this attitude of "I've got to change this" is repentance. You're tired of the guilt, you're tired of the shame, the cover up, the consequences? You're ready to start heading God's direction, but you've got to back out of that sin. Driving in moral reverse is hard, especially when you've been driving full speed ahead to sin in forward gear.
Some help from our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 7:10, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret." God talks about feeling sorry about what we've been doing. That's a good beginning; it makes you decide to shift gears. But, that's not repentance. Verse 11, "See what this Godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourself, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done." These people were taking aggressive action, not just feeling bad but taking aggressive action to get to the roots of sin and get it out of their lives and make things right. I mean, we're talking about an extreme makeover - a thorough clean up here.
Maybe you've been struggling. You're trying to back out of a sin that you know you need to leave. Let me give you some steps that can help you make that shift a little more smoothly. First, make sure you have repented specifically, bringing the specific times you sinned that sin to Jesus Christ. You don't just repent of the overall general sin. You repent of the sins.
Secondly, go back to any people who have been affected by your sin and make things right with them. This closes a circle of repentance and it actually makes it harder for you to return to that sin.
Thirdly, analyze what people and what places and what influences weakened you, pressured you into that area, and rubbed off on you. If sin is going to go, you've got to get rid of all your sin props and your sin partners. You've got to burn the bridges. Don't go near any situation where you will be tempted to go beyond the limits again.
Last of all, number four, get a mature believer who will hold you accountable, to be your faithful "checker-upper." The Bible says, "Two are better than one. If one falls down, the other can help him up."
Don't let a failure sink you. No! If you mess up, get up right away and start walking again. Passive repentance won't set you free, but active, aggressive repentance can start you down victory highway. As my son learned, backing up can be a bumpy thing initially, but you can end up going the right way if you'll learn to run in reverse. That's the only gear to use when sin is on that road ahead.
Monday, July 13, 2015
Sunday, July 12, 2015
John 6:22-40 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Your Place at God’s Table
Angry. Sullen. Accusatory. Whiny. Put them all together in one word and spell it b-i-t-t-e-r. If you put them all in one person, that person’s in the pit, the dungeon of bitterness. The dungeon calls you to enter. You can, you know. You’ve experienced enough hurt. You’ve been betrayed enough times. You can choose, like many, to chain yourself to your hurt.
Or you can choose, like some, to put away your hurts. You can choose to go to the party. You have a place there. If you’re a child of God, no one can take away your sonship. Which is precisely what the father said to his prodigal son in Luke 15. “You are always with me; all that I have is yours.”
What you have is more important than what you don’t have, and that is, your relationship with God the Father! Your place at God’s table is permanent!
from He Still Moves Stones
John 6:22-40
Jesus, the Bread of Life
The next day the crowd that had stayed on the far shore saw that the disciples had taken the only boat, and they realized Jesus had not gone with them. 23 Several boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the Lord had blessed the bread and the people had eaten. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. 25 They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. 27 But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man[a] can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”
28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”
29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”
30 They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? 31 After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[b]”
32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”
35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. 37 However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. 38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. 39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. 40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
Footnotes:
6:27 “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
6:31 Exod 16:4; Ps 78:24.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Read: Psalm 77:1-15
For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of Asaph
I cry out to God; yes, I shout.
Oh, that God would listen to me!
2 When I was in deep trouble,
I searched for the Lord.
All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,
but my soul was not comforted.
3 I think of God, and I moan,
overwhelmed with longing for his help. Interlude
4 You don’t let me sleep.
I am too distressed even to pray!
5 I think of the good old days,
long since ended,
6 when my nights were filled with joyful songs.
I search my soul and ponder the difference now.
7 Has the Lord rejected me forever?
Will he never again be kind to me?
8 Is his unfailing love gone forever?
Have his promises permanently failed?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he slammed the door on his compassion? Interlude
10 And I said, “This is my fate;
the Most High has turned his hand against me.”
11 But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
12 They are constantly in my thoughts.
I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.
13 O God, your ways are holy.
Is there any god as mighty as you?
14 You are the God of great wonders!
You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.
15 By your strong arm, you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude
Insight:
The Psalms are moving reflections on life and God. In today’s psalm Asaph shares the disappointment of feeling as though God has abandoned him. But Asaph also shows us how to change our perspective. We do this by focusing on the character and deeds of the Lord. Our circumstances may not change, but we will see them in a different way—against the backdrop of God.
Seeing Beyond Loss
By David C. McCasland
I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. —Psalm 77:10-11
Author William Zinsser described his last visit to see the house where he grew up, a place he greatly loved as a boy. When he and his wife arrived at the hill overlooking Manhasset Bay and Long Island Sound, they found that the house had been demolished. All that remained was a huge hole. Disheartened, they walked to the nearby seawall. Zinsser looked across the bay, absorbing the sights and sounds. Later, he wrote of this experience, “I was at ease and only slightly sad. The view was intact: the unique configuration of land and sea I remember so well that I still dream about it.”
The psalmist wrote of a difficult time when his soul refused to be comforted and his spirit was overwhelmed (Ps. 77:2-3). But in the midst of his trouble, he shifted his focus from his sadness to his Savior, saying, “I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord . . . Your wonders of old” (vv. 10-11).
In dealing with disappointment, we can either focus on our loss or on God Himself. The Lord invites us to look to Him and see the scope of His goodness, His presence with us, and His eternal love.
Heavenly Father, this life can be both wonderful and disappointing. We know that things are not the way they ought to be. Our disappointments cause us to turn to You, the only true hope for the world.
Share this prayer from our Facebook page with your friends. facebook.com/ourdailybread
Faith in God’s goodness keeps hope alive.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, July 12, 2015
The Spiritually Self-Seeking Church
…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… —Ephesians 4:13
Reconciliation means the restoring of the relationship between the entire human race and God, putting it back to what God designed it to be. This is what Jesus Christ did in redemption. The church ceases to be spiritual when it becomes self-seeking, only interested in the development of its own organization. The reconciliation of the human race according to His plan means realizing Him not only in our lives individually, but also in our lives collectively. Jesus Christ sent apostles and teachers for this very purpose— that the corporate Person of Christ and His church, made up of many members, might be brought into being and made known. We are not here to develop a spiritual life of our own, or to enjoy a quiet spiritual retreat. We are here to have the full realization of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of building His body.
Am I building up the body of Christ, or am I only concerned about my own personal development? The essential thing is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “…that I may know Him…” (Philippians 3:10). To fulfill God’s perfect design for me requires my total surrender— complete abandonment of myself to Him. Whenever I only want things for myself, the relationship is distorted. And I will suffer great humiliation once I come to acknowledge and understand that I have not really been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ Himself, but only concerned with knowing what He has done for me.
My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace,
Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.
Am I measuring my life by this standard or by something less?
Angry. Sullen. Accusatory. Whiny. Put them all together in one word and spell it b-i-t-t-e-r. If you put them all in one person, that person’s in the pit, the dungeon of bitterness. The dungeon calls you to enter. You can, you know. You’ve experienced enough hurt. You’ve been betrayed enough times. You can choose, like many, to chain yourself to your hurt.
Or you can choose, like some, to put away your hurts. You can choose to go to the party. You have a place there. If you’re a child of God, no one can take away your sonship. Which is precisely what the father said to his prodigal son in Luke 15. “You are always with me; all that I have is yours.”
What you have is more important than what you don’t have, and that is, your relationship with God the Father! Your place at God’s table is permanent!
from He Still Moves Stones
John 6:22-40
Jesus, the Bread of Life
The next day the crowd that had stayed on the far shore saw that the disciples had taken the only boat, and they realized Jesus had not gone with them. 23 Several boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the Lord had blessed the bread and the people had eaten. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. 25 They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. 27 But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man[a] can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”
28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”
29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”
30 They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? 31 After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[b]”
32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”
35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. 37 However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. 38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. 39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. 40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
Footnotes:
6:27 “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
6:31 Exod 16:4; Ps 78:24.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Read: Psalm 77:1-15
For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of Asaph
I cry out to God; yes, I shout.
Oh, that God would listen to me!
2 When I was in deep trouble,
I searched for the Lord.
All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,
but my soul was not comforted.
3 I think of God, and I moan,
overwhelmed with longing for his help. Interlude
4 You don’t let me sleep.
I am too distressed even to pray!
5 I think of the good old days,
long since ended,
6 when my nights were filled with joyful songs.
I search my soul and ponder the difference now.
7 Has the Lord rejected me forever?
Will he never again be kind to me?
8 Is his unfailing love gone forever?
Have his promises permanently failed?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he slammed the door on his compassion? Interlude
10 And I said, “This is my fate;
the Most High has turned his hand against me.”
11 But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
12 They are constantly in my thoughts.
I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.
13 O God, your ways are holy.
Is there any god as mighty as you?
14 You are the God of great wonders!
You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.
15 By your strong arm, you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude
Insight:
The Psalms are moving reflections on life and God. In today’s psalm Asaph shares the disappointment of feeling as though God has abandoned him. But Asaph also shows us how to change our perspective. We do this by focusing on the character and deeds of the Lord. Our circumstances may not change, but we will see them in a different way—against the backdrop of God.
Seeing Beyond Loss
By David C. McCasland
I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. —Psalm 77:10-11
Author William Zinsser described his last visit to see the house where he grew up, a place he greatly loved as a boy. When he and his wife arrived at the hill overlooking Manhasset Bay and Long Island Sound, they found that the house had been demolished. All that remained was a huge hole. Disheartened, they walked to the nearby seawall. Zinsser looked across the bay, absorbing the sights and sounds. Later, he wrote of this experience, “I was at ease and only slightly sad. The view was intact: the unique configuration of land and sea I remember so well that I still dream about it.”
The psalmist wrote of a difficult time when his soul refused to be comforted and his spirit was overwhelmed (Ps. 77:2-3). But in the midst of his trouble, he shifted his focus from his sadness to his Savior, saying, “I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord . . . Your wonders of old” (vv. 10-11).
In dealing with disappointment, we can either focus on our loss or on God Himself. The Lord invites us to look to Him and see the scope of His goodness, His presence with us, and His eternal love.
Heavenly Father, this life can be both wonderful and disappointing. We know that things are not the way they ought to be. Our disappointments cause us to turn to You, the only true hope for the world.
Share this prayer from our Facebook page with your friends. facebook.com/ourdailybread
Faith in God’s goodness keeps hope alive.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, July 12, 2015
The Spiritually Self-Seeking Church
…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… —Ephesians 4:13
Reconciliation means the restoring of the relationship between the entire human race and God, putting it back to what God designed it to be. This is what Jesus Christ did in redemption. The church ceases to be spiritual when it becomes self-seeking, only interested in the development of its own organization. The reconciliation of the human race according to His plan means realizing Him not only in our lives individually, but also in our lives collectively. Jesus Christ sent apostles and teachers for this very purpose— that the corporate Person of Christ and His church, made up of many members, might be brought into being and made known. We are not here to develop a spiritual life of our own, or to enjoy a quiet spiritual retreat. We are here to have the full realization of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of building His body.
Am I building up the body of Christ, or am I only concerned about my own personal development? The essential thing is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “…that I may know Him…” (Philippians 3:10). To fulfill God’s perfect design for me requires my total surrender— complete abandonment of myself to Him. Whenever I only want things for myself, the relationship is distorted. And I will suffer great humiliation once I come to acknowledge and understand that I have not really been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ Himself, but only concerned with knowing what He has done for me.
My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace,
Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.
Am I measuring my life by this standard or by something less?
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Psalm 18, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Judgment is God's Job
There is power in revenge. Intoxicating power. Haven't we tasted it? Haven't we been tempted to get even? As we escort the offender into the courtroom, we announce, "He hurt me!" and jurors shake their heads in disgust. "He abandoned me!" we explain, and the chambers echo with our accusation. "Guilty!" the judge snarls as he slams the gavel. "Guilty!" the jury agrees. We delight in this moment of justice. We relish this pound of flesh.
I don't mean to be cocky, but why are you doing God's work for Him? "Vengeance" is Mine," God declared. "I will repay." Proverbs 20:22 says, "Don't say, 'I'll pay you back for the wrong you did.' Wait for the Lord, and He will make things right." Judgment is God's job. To assume otherwise is to assume God can't do it. God has not asked us to settle the score or get even. Ever!
From When God Whispers Your Name
Psalm 18
For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. He sang this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul. He sang:
I love you, Lord;
you are my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
3 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and he saved me from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death entangled me;
floods of destruction swept over me.
5 The grave[a] wrapped its ropes around me;
death laid a trap in my path.
6 But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth quaked and trembled.
The foundations of the mountains shook;
they quaked because of his anger.
8 Smoke poured from his nostrils;
fierce flames leaped from his mouth.
Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
9 He opened the heavens and came down;
dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
10 Mounted on a mighty angelic being,[b] he flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.
11 He shrouded himself in darkness,
veiling his approach with dark rain clouds.
12 Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him
and rained down hail and burning coals.[c]
13 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded
amid the hail and burning coals.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies;
great bolts of lightning flashed, and they were confused.
15 Then at your command, O Lord,
at the blast of your breath,
the bottom of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.
16 He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
18 They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
but the Lord supported me.
19 He led me to a place of safety;
he rescued me because he delights in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me for doing right;
he restored me because of my innocence.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
22 I have followed all his regulations;
I have never abandoned his decrees.
23 I am blameless before God;
I have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord rewarded me for doing right.
He has seen my innocence.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to those with integrity you show integrity.
26 To the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
27 You rescue the humble,
but you humiliate the proud.
28 You light a lamp for me.
The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
29 In your strength I can crush an army;
with my God I can scale any wall.
30 God’s way is perfect.
All the Lord’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
31 For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?
32 God arms me with strength,
and he makes my way perfect.
33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
35 You have given me your shield of victory.
Your right hand supports me;
your help[d] has made me great.
36 You have made a wide path for my feet
to keep them from slipping.
37 I chased my enemies and caught them;
I did not stop until they were conquered.
38 I struck them down so they could not get up;
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You have armed me with strength for the battle;
you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
40 You placed my foot on their necks.
I have destroyed all who hated me.
41 They called for help, but no one came to their rescue.
They even cried to the Lord, but he refused to answer.
42 I ground them as fine as dust in the wind.
I swept them into the gutter like dirt.
43 You gave me victory over my accusers.
You appointed me ruler over nations;
people I don’t even know now serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they submit;
foreign nations cringe before me.
45 They all lose their courage
and come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!
May the God of my salvation be exalted!
47 He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
he subdues the nations under me
48 and rescues me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
you save me from violent opponents.
49 For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name.
50 You give great victories to your king;
you show unfailing love to your anointed,
to David and all his descendants forever.
Footnotes:
18:5 Hebrew Sheol.
18:10 Hebrew a cherub.
18:12 Or and lightning bolts; also in 18:13.
18:35 Hebrew your humility; compare 2 Sam 22:36.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Read: Isaiah 48:16-22
Come closer, and listen to this.
From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.”
And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit
have sent me with this message.
17 This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you what is good for you
and leads you along the paths you should follow.
18 Oh, that you had listened to my commands!
Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river
and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
19 Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore—
too many to count!
There would have been no need for your destruction,
or for cutting off your family name.”
20 Yet even now, be free from your captivity!
Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.[a]
Sing out this message!
Shout it to the ends of the earth!
The Lord has redeemed his servants,
the people of Israel.[b]
21 They were not thirsty
when he led them through the desert.
He divided the rock,
and water gushed out for them to drink.
22 “But there is no peace for the wicked,”
says the Lord.
Footnotes:
48:20a Or the Chaldeans.
48:20b Hebrew his servant, Jacob. See note on 14:1.
Insight:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary says of the prophet Isaiah: “He exercised the functions of his office during the reigns of Uzziah (or Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Uzziah reigned fifty-two years (810–759 bc) and Isaiah must have begun his career a few years before Uzziah's death. . . . He lived till the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, and in all likelihood outlived that monarch (who died [in] 698 bc) . . . . His first call to the prophetical office is not recorded. A second call came to him ‘in the year that King Uzziah died’ (Isa. 67:1). He exercised his ministry in a spirit of uncompromising firmness and boldness.”
Desert Places
By Julie Ackerman Link
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. —Isaiah 48:21
Dry. Dusty. Dangerous. A desert. A place where there is little water, a place hostile to life. It’s not surprising, then, that the word deserted describes a place that is uninhabited. Life there is hard. Few people choose it. But sometimes we can’t avoid it.
In Scripture, God’s people were familiar with desert life. Much of the Middle East, including Israel, is desert. But there are lush exceptions, like the Jordan Valley and areas surrounding the Sea of Galilee. God chose to “raise His family” in a place surrounded by wilderness, a place where He could make His goodness known to His children as they trusted Him for protection and daily provision (Isa. 48:17-19).
Today, most of us don’t live in literal deserts, but we often go through desert-like places. Sometimes we go as an act of obedience. Other times we find ourselves there through no conscious choice or action. When someone abandons us, or disease invades our bodies, we end up in desert-like circumstances where resources are scarce and life is hard to sustain.
But the point of going through a desert, whether literally or figuratively, is to remind us that we are dependent on God to sustain us—a lesson we need to remember even when we’re living in a place of plenty.
Are you living in a place of plenty or of need? In what ways is God sustaining you?
In every desert, God has an oasis of grace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, July 11, 2015
The Spiritually Vigorous Saint
…that I may know Him… —Philippians 3:10
A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial task. “Jesus, knowing…that He had come from God and was going to God,…took a towel…and began to wash the disciples’ feet…” (John 13:3-5).
The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is “that I may know Him…” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.
There is power in revenge. Intoxicating power. Haven't we tasted it? Haven't we been tempted to get even? As we escort the offender into the courtroom, we announce, "He hurt me!" and jurors shake their heads in disgust. "He abandoned me!" we explain, and the chambers echo with our accusation. "Guilty!" the judge snarls as he slams the gavel. "Guilty!" the jury agrees. We delight in this moment of justice. We relish this pound of flesh.
I don't mean to be cocky, but why are you doing God's work for Him? "Vengeance" is Mine," God declared. "I will repay." Proverbs 20:22 says, "Don't say, 'I'll pay you back for the wrong you did.' Wait for the Lord, and He will make things right." Judgment is God's job. To assume otherwise is to assume God can't do it. God has not asked us to settle the score or get even. Ever!
From When God Whispers Your Name
Psalm 18
For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. He sang this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul. He sang:
I love you, Lord;
you are my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
3 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and he saved me from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death entangled me;
floods of destruction swept over me.
5 The grave[a] wrapped its ropes around me;
death laid a trap in my path.
6 But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth quaked and trembled.
The foundations of the mountains shook;
they quaked because of his anger.
8 Smoke poured from his nostrils;
fierce flames leaped from his mouth.
Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
9 He opened the heavens and came down;
dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
10 Mounted on a mighty angelic being,[b] he flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.
11 He shrouded himself in darkness,
veiling his approach with dark rain clouds.
12 Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him
and rained down hail and burning coals.[c]
13 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded
amid the hail and burning coals.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies;
great bolts of lightning flashed, and they were confused.
15 Then at your command, O Lord,
at the blast of your breath,
the bottom of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.
16 He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
18 They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
but the Lord supported me.
19 He led me to a place of safety;
he rescued me because he delights in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me for doing right;
he restored me because of my innocence.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
22 I have followed all his regulations;
I have never abandoned his decrees.
23 I am blameless before God;
I have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord rewarded me for doing right.
He has seen my innocence.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to those with integrity you show integrity.
26 To the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
27 You rescue the humble,
but you humiliate the proud.
28 You light a lamp for me.
The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
29 In your strength I can crush an army;
with my God I can scale any wall.
30 God’s way is perfect.
All the Lord’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
31 For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?
32 God arms me with strength,
and he makes my way perfect.
33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
35 You have given me your shield of victory.
Your right hand supports me;
your help[d] has made me great.
36 You have made a wide path for my feet
to keep them from slipping.
37 I chased my enemies and caught them;
I did not stop until they were conquered.
38 I struck them down so they could not get up;
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You have armed me with strength for the battle;
you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
40 You placed my foot on their necks.
I have destroyed all who hated me.
41 They called for help, but no one came to their rescue.
They even cried to the Lord, but he refused to answer.
42 I ground them as fine as dust in the wind.
I swept them into the gutter like dirt.
43 You gave me victory over my accusers.
You appointed me ruler over nations;
people I don’t even know now serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they submit;
foreign nations cringe before me.
45 They all lose their courage
and come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!
May the God of my salvation be exalted!
47 He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
he subdues the nations under me
48 and rescues me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
you save me from violent opponents.
49 For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name.
50 You give great victories to your king;
you show unfailing love to your anointed,
to David and all his descendants forever.
Footnotes:
18:5 Hebrew Sheol.
18:10 Hebrew a cherub.
18:12 Or and lightning bolts; also in 18:13.
18:35 Hebrew your humility; compare 2 Sam 22:36.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Read: Isaiah 48:16-22
Come closer, and listen to this.
From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.”
And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit
have sent me with this message.
17 This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you what is good for you
and leads you along the paths you should follow.
18 Oh, that you had listened to my commands!
Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river
and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
19 Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore—
too many to count!
There would have been no need for your destruction,
or for cutting off your family name.”
20 Yet even now, be free from your captivity!
Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.[a]
Sing out this message!
Shout it to the ends of the earth!
The Lord has redeemed his servants,
the people of Israel.[b]
21 They were not thirsty
when he led them through the desert.
He divided the rock,
and water gushed out for them to drink.
22 “But there is no peace for the wicked,”
says the Lord.
Footnotes:
48:20a Or the Chaldeans.
48:20b Hebrew his servant, Jacob. See note on 14:1.
Insight:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary says of the prophet Isaiah: “He exercised the functions of his office during the reigns of Uzziah (or Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Uzziah reigned fifty-two years (810–759 bc) and Isaiah must have begun his career a few years before Uzziah's death. . . . He lived till the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, and in all likelihood outlived that monarch (who died [in] 698 bc) . . . . His first call to the prophetical office is not recorded. A second call came to him ‘in the year that King Uzziah died’ (Isa. 67:1). He exercised his ministry in a spirit of uncompromising firmness and boldness.”
Desert Places
By Julie Ackerman Link
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. —Isaiah 48:21
Dry. Dusty. Dangerous. A desert. A place where there is little water, a place hostile to life. It’s not surprising, then, that the word deserted describes a place that is uninhabited. Life there is hard. Few people choose it. But sometimes we can’t avoid it.
In Scripture, God’s people were familiar with desert life. Much of the Middle East, including Israel, is desert. But there are lush exceptions, like the Jordan Valley and areas surrounding the Sea of Galilee. God chose to “raise His family” in a place surrounded by wilderness, a place where He could make His goodness known to His children as they trusted Him for protection and daily provision (Isa. 48:17-19).
Today, most of us don’t live in literal deserts, but we often go through desert-like places. Sometimes we go as an act of obedience. Other times we find ourselves there through no conscious choice or action. When someone abandons us, or disease invades our bodies, we end up in desert-like circumstances where resources are scarce and life is hard to sustain.
But the point of going through a desert, whether literally or figuratively, is to remind us that we are dependent on God to sustain us—a lesson we need to remember even when we’re living in a place of plenty.
Are you living in a place of plenty or of need? In what ways is God sustaining you?
In every desert, God has an oasis of grace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, July 11, 2015
The Spiritually Vigorous Saint
…that I may know Him… —Philippians 3:10
A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial task. “Jesus, knowing…that He had come from God and was going to God,…took a towel…and began to wash the disciples’ feet…” (John 13:3-5).
The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is “that I may know Him…” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.
Friday, July 10, 2015
2 Samuel 22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God in the Crisis
Calamities can leave us off balance and confused. Consider the crisis of Joseph's generation as recorded in Genesis 47. "Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Canaan languished because of the famine." Joseph faced a calamity on a global scale. Joseph told his brothers, "God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you." Joseph began and ended his crisis with God. God preceded the famine. God would outlive the famine.
How would you describe your crisis? Do you recite your woes more naturally than you do heaven's strength? You are assuming God isn't in the crisis. He is. Even a famine was fair game for God's purpose!
From You'll Get Through This
2 Samuel 22
David’s Song of Praise
David sang this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul. 2 He sang:
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
3 my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
He is my refuge, my savior,
the one who saves me from violence.
4 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and he saved me from my enemies.
5 “The waves of death overwhelmed me;
floods of destruction swept over me.
6 The grave[j] wrapped its ropes around me;
death laid a trap in my path.
7 But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
yes, I cried to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
my cry reached his ears.
8 “Then the earth quaked and trembled.
The foundations of the heavens shook;
they quaked because of his anger.
9 Smoke poured from his nostrils;
fierce flames leaped from his mouth.
Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
10 He opened the heavens and came down;
dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
11 Mounted on a mighty angelic being,[k] he flew,
soaring[l] on the wings of the wind.
12 He shrouded himself in darkness,
veiling his approach with dense rain clouds.
13 A great brightness shone around him,
and burning coals[m] blazed forth.
14 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.
15 He shot arrows and scattered his enemies;
his lightning flashed, and they were confused.
16 Then at the command of the Lord,
at the blast of his breath,
the bottom of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.
17 “He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
18 He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
19 They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
but the Lord supported me.
20 He led me to a place of safety;
he rescued me because he delights in me.
21 The Lord rewarded me for doing right;
he restored me because of my innocence.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
23 I have followed all his regulations;
I have never abandoned his decrees.
24 I am blameless before God;
I have kept myself from sin.
25 The Lord rewarded me for doing right.
He has seen my innocence.
26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to those with integrity you show integrity.
27 To the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
28 You rescue the humble,
but your eyes watch the proud and humiliate them.
29 O Lord, you are my lamp.
The Lord lights up my darkness.
30 In your strength I can crush an army;
with my God I can scale any wall.
31 “God’s way is perfect.
All the Lord’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
32 For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?
33 God is my strong fortress,
and he makes my way perfect.
34 He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
35 He trains my hands for battle;
he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
36 You have given me your shield of victory;
your help[n] has made me great.
37 You have made a wide path for my feet
to keep them from slipping.
38 “I chased my enemies and destroyed them;
I did not stop until they were conquered.
39 I consumed them;
I struck them down so they did not get up;
they fell beneath my feet.
40 You have armed me with strength for the battle;
you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
41 You placed my foot on their necks.
I have destroyed all who hated me.
42 They looked for help, but no one came to their rescue.
They even cried to the Lord, but he refused to answer.
43 I ground them as fine as the dust of the earth;
I trampled them[o] in the gutter like dirt.
44 “You gave me victory over my accusers.
You preserved me as the ruler over nations;
people I don’t even know now serve me.
45 Foreign nations cringe before me;
as soon as they hear of me, they submit.
46 They all lose their courage
and come trembling[p] from their strongholds.
47 “The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!
May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted!
48 He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
he brings down the nations under me
49 and delivers me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
you save me from violent opponents.
50 For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name.
51 You give great victories to your king;
you show unfailing love to your anointed,
to David and all his descendants forever.”
Footnotes:
22:6 Hebrew Sheol.
22:11a Hebrew a cherub.
22:11b As in some Hebrew manuscripts (see also Ps 18:10); other Hebrew manuscripts read appearing.
22:13 Or and lightning bolts.
22:36 As in Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text reads your answering.
22:43 As in Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Ps 18:42); Masoretic Text reads I crushed and trampled them.
22:46 As in parallel text at Ps 18:45; Hebrew reads come girding themselves.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, July 10, 2015
Read: Numbers 11:4-17
Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. 5 “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. 6 But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!”
7 The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin. 8 The people would go out and gather it from the ground. They made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like pastries baked with olive oil. 9 The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night.
10 Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated. 11 And Moses said to the Lord, “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? 12 Did I give birth to them? Did I bring them into the world? Why did you tell me to carry them in my arms like a mother carries a nursing baby? How can I carry them to the land you swore to give their ancestors? 13 Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep whining to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! 15 If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!”
Moses Chooses Seventy Leaders
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather before me seventy men who are recognized as elders and leaders of Israel. Bring them to the Tabernacle[a] to stand there with you. 17 I will come down and talk to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.
Footnotes:
11:16 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
Help for a Heavy Load
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
[The men] shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. —Numbers 11:17
It’s amazing what you can haul with a bicycle. An average adult with a specialized trailer (and a bit of determination) can use a bicycle to tow up to 300 pounds at 10 mph. There’s just one problem: Hauling a heavier load means moving more slowly. A person hauling 600 pounds of work equipment or personal possessions would only be able to move at a pace of 8 miles in one hour.
Moses carried another kind of weight in the wilderness—an emotional weight that kept him at a standstill. The Israelites’ intense craving for meat instead of manna had reduced them to tears. Hearing their ongoing lament, an exasperated Moses said to God, “I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me” (Num. 11:14).
On his own, Moses lacked the resources necessary to fix the problem. God responded by telling him to select 70 men to stand with him and share his load. God told Moses, “[The men] shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone” (v. 17).
As followers of Jesus, we don’t have to handle our burdens alone either. We have Jesus Himself, who is always willing and able to help us. And He has given us brothers and sisters in Christ to share the load. When we give Him the things that weigh us down, He gives us wisdom and support in return.
Who has come alongside you? Have you thanked them?
God’s help is only a prayer away.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, July 10, 2015
The Spiritually Lazy Saint
Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together… —Hebrews 10:24-25
We are all capable of being spiritually lazy saints. We want to stay off the rough roads of life, and our primary objective is to secure a peaceful retreat from the world. The ideas put forth in these verses from Hebrews 10 are those of stirring up one another and of keeping ourselves together. Both of these require initiative— our willingness to take the first step toward Christ-realization, not the initiative toward self-realization. To live a distant, withdrawn, and secluded life is diametrically opposed to spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it.
The true test of our spirituality occurs when we come up against injustice, degradation, ingratitude, and turmoil, all of which have the tendency to make us spiritually lazy. While being tested, we want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of finding a quiet retreat. We use God only for the sake of getting peace and joy. We seek only our enjoyment of Jesus Christ, not a true realization of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things we are seeking are simply effects, and yet we try to make them causes.
“Yes, I think it is right,” Peter said, “…to stir you up by reminding you…” (2 Peter 1:13). It is a most disturbing thing to be hit squarely in the stomach by someone being used of God to stir us up— someone who is full of spiritual activity. Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The real danger in spiritual laziness is that we do not want to be stirred up— all we want to hear about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement— He says, “Go and tell My brethren…” (Matthew 28:10).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, July 10, 2015
The Tough Love of God - #7435
At first I thought I was looking at a cow from Mars. We were driving through an area of large dairy and cattle farms when I glanced over and there just inside this barbed wire fence was a cow with a big metal ring around her neck. A rod of metal was sticking up from the top of the ring and a rod sticking down from the bottom. Well my wife grew up on a farm with cows, so she was able to help me realize that this is what she called a fence crawler.
This cow - this fence crawler - was wearing this welded yoke because she had been a bad girl. A fence crawler is a cow who keeps seeing interesting things outside the fence, and so she keeps crawling out which could lead to all kinds of problems including injury and even being killed by a vehicle. So the farmer discourages going outside the fence with barbed wire and even a contraption to make it impossible to do that. I guess you could call it tough love because he cares.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Tough Love Of God."
Our word today from the Word of God comes from the Old Testament prophet Hosea 2; a very revealing statement here from God as to how He sometimes deals with the people He loves -people who are like wandering away from Him. Maybe you know someone like that. This will give you insight into how to pray in a life-changing way, or you might even be that person and this will give you some insight into some of the frustrations you're facing right now.
Here's what God says about His ancient people. He's actually comparing them and His relationship with them to a marriage relationship. He says of those who followed Him in those days and who were wandering, and He actually quotes what they're thinking, "'I will go after my lover,' she said, 'who gave me my food, my water, my wool, my linen, my oil and my drink'. Therefore, God says, 'I will block her path with thorn bushes; I will wait here so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them: she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.' She has not acknowledged that I (and this is God speaking) was the one who gave her the grain."
Then He goes on to list all the good things in her life. See, this is about someone who had forgotten all the good things in her life came from a God who loves her very much. "There's something over there that will meet my need." That's what she said in this analogy. That's what we say. "God, you know, I'm just going to wander over here and check this out." Maybe it's a need for companionship or love, recognition, some material need - whatever it is we start to wander out of the fence of God's boundaries to get some need met.
We saw something we wanted but it was outside the fence. So we became one of God's fence crawlers. God's response? He said, "I'm going to put some thorn bushes in the way - a wall. You're going to chase what you're looking for, but you'll not catch it. Why? Because He loves you. He'll frustrate your attempts to meet your needs by sinning. In a sense He'll do what that farmer will do to keep his animal from going too far into the danger zone. He'll put barbed wire in your path and maybe even lay something on you that will keep you from getting away or from getting too far.
Which leads us to that life changing way to pray for someone you know who is getting away from the Lord. Pray for the thorns, the wall, an unsuccessful pursuit of sin. It's a loving prayer that asks God to frustrate that person's sin to make that wrong relationship a dead-end street; to let sin bring some corrective pain; to pray for sin to be frustrating, disappointing.
It might be Jesus' love has been pursuing you through this program. He knows why you crawled outside the fence. So do you. You thought there was something better away from Him. But it's not working. There's guilt, bad relationships, aloneness, scars. Maybe you're feeling God's barbed wire love, a little pain from your sin to keep you from a lot of pain that's down the road. This could be your day to say, "I'm going back to my Savior, because I was so much better off with Him."
Listen to your heart. That's Jesus calling you back home.
Calamities can leave us off balance and confused. Consider the crisis of Joseph's generation as recorded in Genesis 47. "Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Canaan languished because of the famine." Joseph faced a calamity on a global scale. Joseph told his brothers, "God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you." Joseph began and ended his crisis with God. God preceded the famine. God would outlive the famine.
How would you describe your crisis? Do you recite your woes more naturally than you do heaven's strength? You are assuming God isn't in the crisis. He is. Even a famine was fair game for God's purpose!
From You'll Get Through This
2 Samuel 22
David’s Song of Praise
David sang this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul. 2 He sang:
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
3 my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
He is my refuge, my savior,
the one who saves me from violence.
4 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and he saved me from my enemies.
5 “The waves of death overwhelmed me;
floods of destruction swept over me.
6 The grave[j] wrapped its ropes around me;
death laid a trap in my path.
7 But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
yes, I cried to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
my cry reached his ears.
8 “Then the earth quaked and trembled.
The foundations of the heavens shook;
they quaked because of his anger.
9 Smoke poured from his nostrils;
fierce flames leaped from his mouth.
Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
10 He opened the heavens and came down;
dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
11 Mounted on a mighty angelic being,[k] he flew,
soaring[l] on the wings of the wind.
12 He shrouded himself in darkness,
veiling his approach with dense rain clouds.
13 A great brightness shone around him,
and burning coals[m] blazed forth.
14 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.
15 He shot arrows and scattered his enemies;
his lightning flashed, and they were confused.
16 Then at the command of the Lord,
at the blast of his breath,
the bottom of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.
17 “He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
18 He rescued me from my powerful enemies,
from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
19 They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
but the Lord supported me.
20 He led me to a place of safety;
he rescued me because he delights in me.
21 The Lord rewarded me for doing right;
he restored me because of my innocence.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
23 I have followed all his regulations;
I have never abandoned his decrees.
24 I am blameless before God;
I have kept myself from sin.
25 The Lord rewarded me for doing right.
He has seen my innocence.
26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to those with integrity you show integrity.
27 To the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
28 You rescue the humble,
but your eyes watch the proud and humiliate them.
29 O Lord, you are my lamp.
The Lord lights up my darkness.
30 In your strength I can crush an army;
with my God I can scale any wall.
31 “God’s way is perfect.
All the Lord’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
32 For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?
33 God is my strong fortress,
and he makes my way perfect.
34 He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
35 He trains my hands for battle;
he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
36 You have given me your shield of victory;
your help[n] has made me great.
37 You have made a wide path for my feet
to keep them from slipping.
38 “I chased my enemies and destroyed them;
I did not stop until they were conquered.
39 I consumed them;
I struck them down so they did not get up;
they fell beneath my feet.
40 You have armed me with strength for the battle;
you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
41 You placed my foot on their necks.
I have destroyed all who hated me.
42 They looked for help, but no one came to their rescue.
They even cried to the Lord, but he refused to answer.
43 I ground them as fine as the dust of the earth;
I trampled them[o] in the gutter like dirt.
44 “You gave me victory over my accusers.
You preserved me as the ruler over nations;
people I don’t even know now serve me.
45 Foreign nations cringe before me;
as soon as they hear of me, they submit.
46 They all lose their courage
and come trembling[p] from their strongholds.
47 “The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!
May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted!
48 He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
he brings down the nations under me
49 and delivers me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
you save me from violent opponents.
50 For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name.
51 You give great victories to your king;
you show unfailing love to your anointed,
to David and all his descendants forever.”
Footnotes:
22:6 Hebrew Sheol.
22:11a Hebrew a cherub.
22:11b As in some Hebrew manuscripts (see also Ps 18:10); other Hebrew manuscripts read appearing.
22:13 Or and lightning bolts.
22:36 As in Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text reads your answering.
22:43 As in Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Ps 18:42); Masoretic Text reads I crushed and trampled them.
22:46 As in parallel text at Ps 18:45; Hebrew reads come girding themselves.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, July 10, 2015
Read: Numbers 11:4-17
Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. 5 “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. 6 But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!”
7 The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin. 8 The people would go out and gather it from the ground. They made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like pastries baked with olive oil. 9 The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night.
10 Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated. 11 And Moses said to the Lord, “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? 12 Did I give birth to them? Did I bring them into the world? Why did you tell me to carry them in my arms like a mother carries a nursing baby? How can I carry them to the land you swore to give their ancestors? 13 Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep whining to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! 15 If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!”
Moses Chooses Seventy Leaders
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather before me seventy men who are recognized as elders and leaders of Israel. Bring them to the Tabernacle[a] to stand there with you. 17 I will come down and talk to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.
Footnotes:
11:16 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
Help for a Heavy Load
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
[The men] shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. —Numbers 11:17
It’s amazing what you can haul with a bicycle. An average adult with a specialized trailer (and a bit of determination) can use a bicycle to tow up to 300 pounds at 10 mph. There’s just one problem: Hauling a heavier load means moving more slowly. A person hauling 600 pounds of work equipment or personal possessions would only be able to move at a pace of 8 miles in one hour.
Moses carried another kind of weight in the wilderness—an emotional weight that kept him at a standstill. The Israelites’ intense craving for meat instead of manna had reduced them to tears. Hearing their ongoing lament, an exasperated Moses said to God, “I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me” (Num. 11:14).
On his own, Moses lacked the resources necessary to fix the problem. God responded by telling him to select 70 men to stand with him and share his load. God told Moses, “[The men] shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone” (v. 17).
As followers of Jesus, we don’t have to handle our burdens alone either. We have Jesus Himself, who is always willing and able to help us. And He has given us brothers and sisters in Christ to share the load. When we give Him the things that weigh us down, He gives us wisdom and support in return.
Who has come alongside you? Have you thanked them?
God’s help is only a prayer away.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, July 10, 2015
The Spiritually Lazy Saint
Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together… —Hebrews 10:24-25
We are all capable of being spiritually lazy saints. We want to stay off the rough roads of life, and our primary objective is to secure a peaceful retreat from the world. The ideas put forth in these verses from Hebrews 10 are those of stirring up one another and of keeping ourselves together. Both of these require initiative— our willingness to take the first step toward Christ-realization, not the initiative toward self-realization. To live a distant, withdrawn, and secluded life is diametrically opposed to spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it.
The true test of our spirituality occurs when we come up against injustice, degradation, ingratitude, and turmoil, all of which have the tendency to make us spiritually lazy. While being tested, we want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of finding a quiet retreat. We use God only for the sake of getting peace and joy. We seek only our enjoyment of Jesus Christ, not a true realization of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things we are seeking are simply effects, and yet we try to make them causes.
“Yes, I think it is right,” Peter said, “…to stir you up by reminding you…” (2 Peter 1:13). It is a most disturbing thing to be hit squarely in the stomach by someone being used of God to stir us up— someone who is full of spiritual activity. Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The real danger in spiritual laziness is that we do not want to be stirred up— all we want to hear about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement— He says, “Go and tell My brethren…” (Matthew 28:10).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, July 10, 2015
The Tough Love of God - #7435
At first I thought I was looking at a cow from Mars. We were driving through an area of large dairy and cattle farms when I glanced over and there just inside this barbed wire fence was a cow with a big metal ring around her neck. A rod of metal was sticking up from the top of the ring and a rod sticking down from the bottom. Well my wife grew up on a farm with cows, so she was able to help me realize that this is what she called a fence crawler.
This cow - this fence crawler - was wearing this welded yoke because she had been a bad girl. A fence crawler is a cow who keeps seeing interesting things outside the fence, and so she keeps crawling out which could lead to all kinds of problems including injury and even being killed by a vehicle. So the farmer discourages going outside the fence with barbed wire and even a contraption to make it impossible to do that. I guess you could call it tough love because he cares.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Tough Love Of God."
Our word today from the Word of God comes from the Old Testament prophet Hosea 2; a very revealing statement here from God as to how He sometimes deals with the people He loves -people who are like wandering away from Him. Maybe you know someone like that. This will give you insight into how to pray in a life-changing way, or you might even be that person and this will give you some insight into some of the frustrations you're facing right now.
Here's what God says about His ancient people. He's actually comparing them and His relationship with them to a marriage relationship. He says of those who followed Him in those days and who were wandering, and He actually quotes what they're thinking, "'I will go after my lover,' she said, 'who gave me my food, my water, my wool, my linen, my oil and my drink'. Therefore, God says, 'I will block her path with thorn bushes; I will wait here so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them: she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.' She has not acknowledged that I (and this is God speaking) was the one who gave her the grain."
Then He goes on to list all the good things in her life. See, this is about someone who had forgotten all the good things in her life came from a God who loves her very much. "There's something over there that will meet my need." That's what she said in this analogy. That's what we say. "God, you know, I'm just going to wander over here and check this out." Maybe it's a need for companionship or love, recognition, some material need - whatever it is we start to wander out of the fence of God's boundaries to get some need met.
We saw something we wanted but it was outside the fence. So we became one of God's fence crawlers. God's response? He said, "I'm going to put some thorn bushes in the way - a wall. You're going to chase what you're looking for, but you'll not catch it. Why? Because He loves you. He'll frustrate your attempts to meet your needs by sinning. In a sense He'll do what that farmer will do to keep his animal from going too far into the danger zone. He'll put barbed wire in your path and maybe even lay something on you that will keep you from getting away or from getting too far.
Which leads us to that life changing way to pray for someone you know who is getting away from the Lord. Pray for the thorns, the wall, an unsuccessful pursuit of sin. It's a loving prayer that asks God to frustrate that person's sin to make that wrong relationship a dead-end street; to let sin bring some corrective pain; to pray for sin to be frustrating, disappointing.
It might be Jesus' love has been pursuing you through this program. He knows why you crawled outside the fence. So do you. You thought there was something better away from Him. But it's not working. There's guilt, bad relationships, aloneness, scars. Maybe you're feeling God's barbed wire love, a little pain from your sin to keep you from a lot of pain that's down the road. This could be your day to say, "I'm going back to my Savior, because I was so much better off with Him."
Listen to your heart. That's Jesus calling you back home.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
2 Samuel 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Our Family Reunion
The word good-bye. This word may be the challenge of your life. How does a person get through raging loneliness, strength-draining grief? The rest of the world has moved on and you ache to do the same. Take heart. God has served notice. All farewells are on the clock.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 begins, "The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God's trumpet blast! He will come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we'll be walking on air. And there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. Reassure one another with these words!"
Revelation 21:4 promises He will wipe every tear from our eyes. Isn't this our hope? God has promised a restoration of all things. All things-and that includes yours.
From You'll Get Through This
2 Samuel 21
David Avenges the Gibeonites
There was a famine during David’s reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the Lord about it. And the Lord said, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”
2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites. They were not part of Israel but were all that was left of the nation of the Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn not to kill them, but Saul, in his zeal for Israel and Judah, had tried to wipe them out. 3 David asked them, “What can I do for you? How can I make amends so that you will bless the Lord’s people again?”
4 “Well, money can’t settle this matter between us and the family of Saul,” the Gibeonites replied. “Neither can we demand the life of anyone in Israel.”
“What can I do then?” David asked. “Just tell me and I will do it for you.”
5 Then they replied, “It was Saul who planned to destroy us, to keep us from having any place at all in the territory of Israel. 6 So let seven of Saul’s sons be handed over to us, and we will execute them before the Lord at Gibeon, on the mountain of the Lord.[a]”
“All right,” the king said, “I will do it.” 7 The king spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth,[b] who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the Lord. 8 But he gave them Saul’s two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whose mother was Rizpah daughter of Aiah. He also gave them the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab,[c] the wife of Adriel son of Barzillai from Meholah. 9 The men of Gibeon executed them on the mountain before the Lord. So all seven of them died together at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10 Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the mother of two of the men, spread burlap on a rock and stayed there the entire harvest season. She prevented the scavenger birds from tearing at their bodies during the day and stopped wild animals from eating them at night. 11 When David learned what Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done, 12 he went to the people of Jabesh-gilead and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. (When the Philistines had killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, the people of Jabesh-gilead stole their bodies from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them.) 13 So David obtained the bones of Saul and Jonathan, as well as the bones of the men the Gibeonites had executed.
14 Then the king ordered that they bury the bones in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, at the town of Zela in the land of Benjamin. After that, God ended the famine in the land.
Battles against Philistine Giants
15 Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted. 16 Ishbi-benob was a descendant of the giants[d]; his bronze spearhead weighed more than seven pounds,[e] and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him. 17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men declared, “You are not going out to battle with us again! Why risk snuffing out the light of Israel?”
18 After this, there was another battle against the Philistines at Gob. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, another descendant of the giants.
19 During another battle at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair[f] from Bethlehem killed the brother of Goliath of Gath.[g] The handle of his spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam!
20 In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge man[h] with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants. 21 But when he defied and taunted Israel, he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea.[i]
22 These four Philistines were descendants of the giants of Gath, but David and his warriors killed them.
Footnotes:
21:6 As in Greek version (see also 21:9); Hebrew reads at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.
21:7 Mephibosheth is another name for Merib-baal.
21:8 As in a few Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and Syriac version (see also 1 Sam 18:19); most Hebrew manuscripts read Michal.
21:16a Or a descendant of the Rapha; also in 21:18, 20, 22.
21:16b Hebrew 300 [shekels] [3.4 kilograms].
21:19a As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:5; Hebrew reads son of Jaare-oregim.
21:19b As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:5; Hebrew reads killed Goliath of Gath.
21:20 As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:6; Hebrew reads a Midianite.
21:21 As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:7; Hebrew reads Shimei, a variant spelling of Shimea.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, July 09, 2015
Read: Ephesians 2:4-10
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
INSIGHT:
Salvation is God’s gift and can never be earned by our good works. Paul reminds us that through Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). In today’s passage, Paul emphasizes this grace by repeating the phrase “by grace you have been saved” (2:5,8). While we are not saved by our good works, we are saved so that we can do good works (v. 10). Paul reminds us to be “fruitful in every good work” (Col. 1:10) and “zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).
Grace in Our Hearts
By Cindy Hess Kasper
Let your speech always be with grace. —Colossians 4:6
A few years ago, four-star General Peter Chiarelli (the No. 2 general in the US Army at that time) was mistaken for a waiter by a senior presidential advisor at a formal Washington dinner. As the general stood behind her in his dress uniform, the senior advisor asked him to get her a beverage. She then realized her mistake, and the general graciously eased her embarrassment by cheerfully refilling her glass and even inviting her to join his family sometime for dinner.
The word gracious comes from the word grace, and it can mean an act of kindness or courtesy, like the general’s. But it has an even deeper meaning to followers of Christ. We are recipients of the incredible free and unmerited favor—grace—that God has provided through His Son, Jesus (Eph. 2:8).
Because we have received grace, we are to show it in the way we treat others—for example, in the way we speak to them: “The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious” (Eccl. 10:12). Grace in our hearts pours out in our words and deeds (Col. 3:16-17).
Learning to extend the grace in our hearts toward others is a by-product of the life of a Spirit-filled follower of Christ Jesus—the greatest of grace-givers.
Dear heavenly Father, help me today to season my words with grace. May all that I say and do be gracious to others and pleasing to You, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
God’s grace in the heart brings out good deeds in the life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, July 09, 2015
Will You Examine Yourself?
Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the Lord…" —Joshua 24:19
Do you have even the slightest reliance on anything or anyone other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural quality within you, or on any particular set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any manner whatsoever regarding this new proposal or plan which God has placed before you? Will you examine yourself by asking these probing questions? It really is true to say, “I cannot live a holy life,” but you can decide to let Jesus Christ make you holy. “You cannot serve the Lord…”— but you can place yourself in the proper position where God’s almighty power will flow through you. Is your relationship with God sufficient for you to expect Him to exhibit His wonderful life in you?
“The people said to Joshua, ‘No, but we will serve the Lord!’ ” (Joshua 24:21). This is not an impulsive action, but a deliberate commitment. We tend to say, “But God could never have called me to this. I’m too unworthy. It can’t mean me.” It does mean you, and the more weak and feeble you are, the better. The person who is still relying and trusting in anything within himself is the last person to even come close to saying, “I will serve the Lord.”
We say, “Oh, if only I really could believe!” The question is, “Will I believe?” No wonder Jesus Christ placed such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. “He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). If we really believed that God meant what He said, just imagine what we would be like! Do I really dare to let God be to me all that He says He will be?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, July 09, 2015
How to Open Hearts to Jesus - #7434
I had the great privilege of being a part of Billy Graham's Congress on Evangelism in Amsterdam. After several days packed with challenging sessions, the 10,000 evangelists that were attending spent one entire afternoon in what was called a "Day of Witness." We were given box lunches to eat on the bus and then sent across Holland that day to do evangelism in scores of places.
I was asked to be the bus captain for the 40 or so people on my bus. When I men¬tioned those lunches to Richard, the bus driver, he was not a happy camper. He didn't seem par-ticularly sympathetic about what we were going to do. He sure wasn't going to have all those lunches on his bus. He said, "I always end up cleaning a bus full of garbage." The only way we ever got out of the parking lot that day was because I pledged to Richard I would clean the bus myself.
After we arrived at our venue and all the other delegates walked over to the plaza for the outreach, I stayed behind. I filled those trash bags as fast as I could so I could get to where the spiritual action was. It turned out the action was on the bus. Our driver, Richard, inspected the bus and he said in amazement, "It's clean. I can't believe it." Then he wanted to know in depth why we were there.
Suddenly this young man, who had greeted us with a lot of skepticism, wanted to know what made us tick. As I explained the difference between a religion and a relationship with Jesus, it seemed like his heart was opening up to that relationship. While everyone else was presenting the Gospel to crowds of shoppers, that bus became holy ground as our driver invited Jesus Christ to be his Savior. In a sense, that opportunity presented itself because of a guy who picked up his garbage!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Open Hearts to Jesus."
Somewhere in your world there are people who need to hear about your Jesus and you know that. You've thought about trying to tell them what Jesus did for them on the cross. But they don't seem to be interested, or they're off on another spiritual road that it's going to be hard to get them off of. How can you get them to care about Jesus? What can you do to help open the closed door on their heart?
Remember the bus driver and the garbage bags. Or, better yet, remember our word for today from the Word of God, 1 Corinthians 9:19. Paul said, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible." Wow! What a revolutionary strategy for getting people to heaven! If there's someone you want to win to Jesus, become their servant.
As you look at your lost neighbor or coworker, teammate, family member, fellow student, maybe a friend, ask yourself, "What needs does that person have where I could come alongside them and really be of service?" Maybe they could use your help on a project. Maybe they need practical help like taking care of their kids, helping with transportation, lending them some equipment, listening to them, being at the hospital or the funeral, or picking up the garbage. Our Dutch bus driver's heart wasn't opened by some clever approach I had to talking about Jesus. It was opened by love that did something about a need he cared about.
If you want to reach someone, find a way to serve them. You'll be demonstrating your message before you present your message. Their heart will be soft to the messenger, and hopefully to the message. You'll get close to them by getting down where they are to serve them.
Now, whether it's a bus driver with a messy bus or a neighbor with their own kind of mess, the way to their heart is to be the one with the garbage bag or whatever will serve their particular need. It's life-or-death business that those people hear about your Jesus. Their eternity depends on it. You need to serve them, as Jesus became the servant, when He gave up His life to meet our need.
Before you tell them about Jesus, why don't you show them how Jesus treats people.
The word good-bye. This word may be the challenge of your life. How does a person get through raging loneliness, strength-draining grief? The rest of the world has moved on and you ache to do the same. Take heart. God has served notice. All farewells are on the clock.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 begins, "The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God's trumpet blast! He will come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we'll be walking on air. And there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. Reassure one another with these words!"
Revelation 21:4 promises He will wipe every tear from our eyes. Isn't this our hope? God has promised a restoration of all things. All things-and that includes yours.
From You'll Get Through This
2 Samuel 21
David Avenges the Gibeonites
There was a famine during David’s reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the Lord about it. And the Lord said, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”
2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites. They were not part of Israel but were all that was left of the nation of the Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn not to kill them, but Saul, in his zeal for Israel and Judah, had tried to wipe them out. 3 David asked them, “What can I do for you? How can I make amends so that you will bless the Lord’s people again?”
4 “Well, money can’t settle this matter between us and the family of Saul,” the Gibeonites replied. “Neither can we demand the life of anyone in Israel.”
“What can I do then?” David asked. “Just tell me and I will do it for you.”
5 Then they replied, “It was Saul who planned to destroy us, to keep us from having any place at all in the territory of Israel. 6 So let seven of Saul’s sons be handed over to us, and we will execute them before the Lord at Gibeon, on the mountain of the Lord.[a]”
“All right,” the king said, “I will do it.” 7 The king spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth,[b] who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the Lord. 8 But he gave them Saul’s two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whose mother was Rizpah daughter of Aiah. He also gave them the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab,[c] the wife of Adriel son of Barzillai from Meholah. 9 The men of Gibeon executed them on the mountain before the Lord. So all seven of them died together at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10 Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the mother of two of the men, spread burlap on a rock and stayed there the entire harvest season. She prevented the scavenger birds from tearing at their bodies during the day and stopped wild animals from eating them at night. 11 When David learned what Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done, 12 he went to the people of Jabesh-gilead and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. (When the Philistines had killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, the people of Jabesh-gilead stole their bodies from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them.) 13 So David obtained the bones of Saul and Jonathan, as well as the bones of the men the Gibeonites had executed.
14 Then the king ordered that they bury the bones in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, at the town of Zela in the land of Benjamin. After that, God ended the famine in the land.
Battles against Philistine Giants
15 Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted. 16 Ishbi-benob was a descendant of the giants[d]; his bronze spearhead weighed more than seven pounds,[e] and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him. 17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men declared, “You are not going out to battle with us again! Why risk snuffing out the light of Israel?”
18 After this, there was another battle against the Philistines at Gob. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, another descendant of the giants.
19 During another battle at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair[f] from Bethlehem killed the brother of Goliath of Gath.[g] The handle of his spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam!
20 In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge man[h] with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants. 21 But when he defied and taunted Israel, he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea.[i]
22 These four Philistines were descendants of the giants of Gath, but David and his warriors killed them.
Footnotes:
21:6 As in Greek version (see also 21:9); Hebrew reads at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.
21:7 Mephibosheth is another name for Merib-baal.
21:8 As in a few Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and Syriac version (see also 1 Sam 18:19); most Hebrew manuscripts read Michal.
21:16a Or a descendant of the Rapha; also in 21:18, 20, 22.
21:16b Hebrew 300 [shekels] [3.4 kilograms].
21:19a As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:5; Hebrew reads son of Jaare-oregim.
21:19b As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:5; Hebrew reads killed Goliath of Gath.
21:20 As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:6; Hebrew reads a Midianite.
21:21 As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:7; Hebrew reads Shimei, a variant spelling of Shimea.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, July 09, 2015
Read: Ephesians 2:4-10
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
INSIGHT:
Salvation is God’s gift and can never be earned by our good works. Paul reminds us that through Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). In today’s passage, Paul emphasizes this grace by repeating the phrase “by grace you have been saved” (2:5,8). While we are not saved by our good works, we are saved so that we can do good works (v. 10). Paul reminds us to be “fruitful in every good work” (Col. 1:10) and “zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).
Grace in Our Hearts
By Cindy Hess Kasper
Let your speech always be with grace. —Colossians 4:6
A few years ago, four-star General Peter Chiarelli (the No. 2 general in the US Army at that time) was mistaken for a waiter by a senior presidential advisor at a formal Washington dinner. As the general stood behind her in his dress uniform, the senior advisor asked him to get her a beverage. She then realized her mistake, and the general graciously eased her embarrassment by cheerfully refilling her glass and even inviting her to join his family sometime for dinner.
The word gracious comes from the word grace, and it can mean an act of kindness or courtesy, like the general’s. But it has an even deeper meaning to followers of Christ. We are recipients of the incredible free and unmerited favor—grace—that God has provided through His Son, Jesus (Eph. 2:8).
Because we have received grace, we are to show it in the way we treat others—for example, in the way we speak to them: “The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious” (Eccl. 10:12). Grace in our hearts pours out in our words and deeds (Col. 3:16-17).
Learning to extend the grace in our hearts toward others is a by-product of the life of a Spirit-filled follower of Christ Jesus—the greatest of grace-givers.
Dear heavenly Father, help me today to season my words with grace. May all that I say and do be gracious to others and pleasing to You, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
God’s grace in the heart brings out good deeds in the life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, July 09, 2015
Will You Examine Yourself?
Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the Lord…" —Joshua 24:19
Do you have even the slightest reliance on anything or anyone other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural quality within you, or on any particular set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any manner whatsoever regarding this new proposal or plan which God has placed before you? Will you examine yourself by asking these probing questions? It really is true to say, “I cannot live a holy life,” but you can decide to let Jesus Christ make you holy. “You cannot serve the Lord…”— but you can place yourself in the proper position where God’s almighty power will flow through you. Is your relationship with God sufficient for you to expect Him to exhibit His wonderful life in you?
“The people said to Joshua, ‘No, but we will serve the Lord!’ ” (Joshua 24:21). This is not an impulsive action, but a deliberate commitment. We tend to say, “But God could never have called me to this. I’m too unworthy. It can’t mean me.” It does mean you, and the more weak and feeble you are, the better. The person who is still relying and trusting in anything within himself is the last person to even come close to saying, “I will serve the Lord.”
We say, “Oh, if only I really could believe!” The question is, “Will I believe?” No wonder Jesus Christ placed such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. “He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). If we really believed that God meant what He said, just imagine what we would be like! Do I really dare to let God be to me all that He says He will be?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, July 09, 2015
How to Open Hearts to Jesus - #7434
I had the great privilege of being a part of Billy Graham's Congress on Evangelism in Amsterdam. After several days packed with challenging sessions, the 10,000 evangelists that were attending spent one entire afternoon in what was called a "Day of Witness." We were given box lunches to eat on the bus and then sent across Holland that day to do evangelism in scores of places.
I was asked to be the bus captain for the 40 or so people on my bus. When I men¬tioned those lunches to Richard, the bus driver, he was not a happy camper. He didn't seem par-ticularly sympathetic about what we were going to do. He sure wasn't going to have all those lunches on his bus. He said, "I always end up cleaning a bus full of garbage." The only way we ever got out of the parking lot that day was because I pledged to Richard I would clean the bus myself.
After we arrived at our venue and all the other delegates walked over to the plaza for the outreach, I stayed behind. I filled those trash bags as fast as I could so I could get to where the spiritual action was. It turned out the action was on the bus. Our driver, Richard, inspected the bus and he said in amazement, "It's clean. I can't believe it." Then he wanted to know in depth why we were there.
Suddenly this young man, who had greeted us with a lot of skepticism, wanted to know what made us tick. As I explained the difference between a religion and a relationship with Jesus, it seemed like his heart was opening up to that relationship. While everyone else was presenting the Gospel to crowds of shoppers, that bus became holy ground as our driver invited Jesus Christ to be his Savior. In a sense, that opportunity presented itself because of a guy who picked up his garbage!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Open Hearts to Jesus."
Somewhere in your world there are people who need to hear about your Jesus and you know that. You've thought about trying to tell them what Jesus did for them on the cross. But they don't seem to be interested, or they're off on another spiritual road that it's going to be hard to get them off of. How can you get them to care about Jesus? What can you do to help open the closed door on their heart?
Remember the bus driver and the garbage bags. Or, better yet, remember our word for today from the Word of God, 1 Corinthians 9:19. Paul said, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible." Wow! What a revolutionary strategy for getting people to heaven! If there's someone you want to win to Jesus, become their servant.
As you look at your lost neighbor or coworker, teammate, family member, fellow student, maybe a friend, ask yourself, "What needs does that person have where I could come alongside them and really be of service?" Maybe they could use your help on a project. Maybe they need practical help like taking care of their kids, helping with transportation, lending them some equipment, listening to them, being at the hospital or the funeral, or picking up the garbage. Our Dutch bus driver's heart wasn't opened by some clever approach I had to talking about Jesus. It was opened by love that did something about a need he cared about.
If you want to reach someone, find a way to serve them. You'll be demonstrating your message before you present your message. Their heart will be soft to the messenger, and hopefully to the message. You'll get close to them by getting down where they are to serve them.
Now, whether it's a bus driver with a messy bus or a neighbor with their own kind of mess, the way to their heart is to be the one with the garbage bag or whatever will serve their particular need. It's life-or-death business that those people hear about your Jesus. Their eternity depends on it. You need to serve them, as Jesus became the servant, when He gave up His life to meet our need.
Before you tell them about Jesus, why don't you show them how Jesus treats people.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
John 6:1-21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Process of Healing
Colossians 3:13 says, "As Christ forgave you, so you also must do." Really, God? Begin the process of healing. How? Well, keep no list of wrongs. Pray for your antagonists rather than plot against them. Hate the wrong without hating the wrongdoers. Turn your attention away from what they did to you to what Christ did for you. Outrageous as it may seem, Jesus died for them, too. If He thinks they are worth forgiving, they are.
Does that make forgiveness easy? No. Quick? Seldom. Painless? Forgiveness vacillates. It has fits and starts, good days and bad. Anger intermingled with love. Irregular mercy. We make progress only to make a wrong turn. Step forward and fall back. But it's okay. As long as you're trying to forgive, you are forgiving. It is when you no longer try that bitterness sets in. Keep trying. Keep forgiving.
From You'll Get Through This
John 6:1-21
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. 3 Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. 4 (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) 5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” 6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money[a] to feed them!”
8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. 12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
14 When the people saw him[b] do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!”[c] 15 When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.
Jesus Walks on Water
16 That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. 17 But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. 18 Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. 19 They had rowed three or four miles[d] when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, 20 but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here![e]” 21 Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!
Footnotes:
6:7 Greek Two hundred denarii would not be enough. A denarius was equivalent to a laborer’s full day’s wage.
6:14a Some manuscripts read Jesus.
6:14b See Deut 18:15, 18; Mal 4:5-6.
6:19 Greek 25 or 30 stadia [4.6 or 5.5 kilometers].
6:20 Or The ‘I am’ is here; Greek reads I am. See Exod 3:14.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
Read: Judges 6:11–16
Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”
13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”
14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”
15 “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”
16 The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”
INSIGHT:
Today’s text provides some insight into how we should view situations for which we feel inadequate. Gideon did not feel prepared to go into battle against the Midianites who were oppressing Israel. Responding to Gideon’s understandable concern, God sent the angel of the Lord to encourage him. He said that Gideon should “go in the strength” he had (Judg. 6:14 niv), but he also said, “I will be with you” (v. 16). When God calls us to take on a difficult task, we can rely on His strength and power to help us accomplish it.
Ordinary People
By Poh Fang Chia
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. —2 Corinthians 4:7
Gideon was an ordinary person. His story, recorded in Judges 6, inspires me. He was a farmer, and a timid one at that. When God called him to deliver Israel from the Midianites, Gideon’s initial response was “How can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judg. 6:15). God promised that He would be with Gideon and that he would be able to accomplish what he had been asked to do (v. 16). Gideon’s obedience brought victory to Israel, and he is listed as one of the great heroes of faith (Heb. 11:32).
Many other individuals played a significant part in this plan to save the Israelites from a strong enemy force. God provided Gideon with 300 men, valiant heroes all, to win the battle. We are not told their names, but their bravery and obedience are recorded in the Scriptures (Judg. 7:5-23).
Today, God is still calling ordinary people to do His work and assuring us that He will be with us as we do. Because we are ordinary people being used by God, it’s obvious that the power comes from God and not from us.
Lord, I am just an ordinary person, but You are an all-powerful God. I want to serve You. Please show me how and give me the strength.
God uses ordinary people to carry out His extraordinary plan.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
Will To Be Faithful
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
A Parent's Best Classroom - #7433
There's nothing quite as boring as listening to information you've heard before, presented the same way you've heard it presented before. Since I used to fly quite a bit, I heard the flight attendant's announcements many, many times. To be honest, I got to the point where I didn't pay a lot of attention, because it was so predictable…usually.
There was this one flight - we had a flight attendant who kept throwing in humorous surprises and fresh ways of saying things, everyone was listening to him. For example he said, "Now, we're preparing for landing and you need to put your seats in the upright, most uncomfortable position." See, they never say that! I thought that was good! We all laughed. And then I liked the part where he said, "The captain has turned on the seat belt sign, which is an indication he has finally found the airport." I love it! It sounds unpredictable. This man knew something about communication. If you have important information to communicate, don't be so predictable.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Parent's Best Classroom."
God has given moms and dads some really important announcements for them to make to their children. He actually talks about them in Deuteronomy 6, and I'll begin reading at verse 5, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Then impress them on your children."
Well, we try to do that. If you're a Christian parent, I'm sure you try to impress the ways of God; the teachings of God; the boundaries of God on your children. But sometimes our children respond with the same kind of, well, disinterest that I did to those predictable airline announcements. "Yeah, here we go again!" They know what you're going to say before you say it. So maybe it isn't enough that we teach our children about the Lord. We need to do it in ways and in places where it's not so predictable, so maybe we'll have their full attention.
In the rest of Deuteronomy 6:7, Moses tells how to do that, "Talk about them (that's God's commandments) when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up." See, sometimes we get immune to hearing Biblical truths the way they've always been presented; in places we always hear them. We've got like practiced responses to a sermon, or to family devotions, or to Christian meetings. We know what to expect. We know how we're supposed to act. It's predictable.
But there's something disarming about God-talk in the middle of everyday activity-the classroom of everyday life: when we're walking, riding; getting ready for bed at night. See, the best place for your son, or daughter, or grandchild to see God at work might be on the baseball field. Or on the way to the store with you, suddenly some question comes up that gives you a teachable moment. Grab that! Maybe it's debriefing their day over a Big Mac, or maybe it's in those more mellow bedtime moments, riding along with you all the places you chauffeur them. That's the classroom of everyday life, the best place to learn about the God that I hope, as the Bible says, "you love with all your heart."
Don't just depend on formal settings to get the job done; not when you want to introduce God to your child. They may shut down for the formal announcements. But look for God together in the ordinary, the relaxed, the casual, the everyday. As a parent, you have the blessed responsibility of passing on God's announcements to kids that He has trusted to you. Make sure those announcements aren't just true. Make sure they're interesting.
I think if I had not begun a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by the time I had kids, I would have been driven into His arms. Because so much they need me to be I couldn't be for them; too much selfishness, too much anger, too much hurting, too much "me". And I've found as a Dad in Jesus, a Savior who keeps His promise, "If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old is gone. A new life has begun." All my failures, all my mistakes, all my sins forgiven, and the power to finally be the parent I want to be.
If you feel like, "Man, I am not what my kids need; I don't know how to get there." Jesus is that answer. I would encourage you to check out a relationship with Him today, parent to parent. And there are a couple of ways you can do that. You could go to our website ANewStory.com. Or you can text us at 442-244-WORD.
You know, Jesus comes into you, He comes into your family and things will never be the same.
Colossians 3:13 says, "As Christ forgave you, so you also must do." Really, God? Begin the process of healing. How? Well, keep no list of wrongs. Pray for your antagonists rather than plot against them. Hate the wrong without hating the wrongdoers. Turn your attention away from what they did to you to what Christ did for you. Outrageous as it may seem, Jesus died for them, too. If He thinks they are worth forgiving, they are.
Does that make forgiveness easy? No. Quick? Seldom. Painless? Forgiveness vacillates. It has fits and starts, good days and bad. Anger intermingled with love. Irregular mercy. We make progress only to make a wrong turn. Step forward and fall back. But it's okay. As long as you're trying to forgive, you are forgiving. It is when you no longer try that bitterness sets in. Keep trying. Keep forgiving.
From You'll Get Through This
John 6:1-21
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. 3 Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. 4 (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) 5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” 6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money[a] to feed them!”
8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. 12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
14 When the people saw him[b] do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!”[c] 15 When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.
Jesus Walks on Water
16 That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. 17 But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. 18 Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. 19 They had rowed three or four miles[d] when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, 20 but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here![e]” 21 Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!
Footnotes:
6:7 Greek Two hundred denarii would not be enough. A denarius was equivalent to a laborer’s full day’s wage.
6:14a Some manuscripts read Jesus.
6:14b See Deut 18:15, 18; Mal 4:5-6.
6:19 Greek 25 or 30 stadia [4.6 or 5.5 kilometers].
6:20 Or The ‘I am’ is here; Greek reads I am. See Exod 3:14.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
Read: Judges 6:11–16
Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”
13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”
14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”
15 “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”
16 The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”
INSIGHT:
Today’s text provides some insight into how we should view situations for which we feel inadequate. Gideon did not feel prepared to go into battle against the Midianites who were oppressing Israel. Responding to Gideon’s understandable concern, God sent the angel of the Lord to encourage him. He said that Gideon should “go in the strength” he had (Judg. 6:14 niv), but he also said, “I will be with you” (v. 16). When God calls us to take on a difficult task, we can rely on His strength and power to help us accomplish it.
Ordinary People
By Poh Fang Chia
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. —2 Corinthians 4:7
Gideon was an ordinary person. His story, recorded in Judges 6, inspires me. He was a farmer, and a timid one at that. When God called him to deliver Israel from the Midianites, Gideon’s initial response was “How can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judg. 6:15). God promised that He would be with Gideon and that he would be able to accomplish what he had been asked to do (v. 16). Gideon’s obedience brought victory to Israel, and he is listed as one of the great heroes of faith (Heb. 11:32).
Many other individuals played a significant part in this plan to save the Israelites from a strong enemy force. God provided Gideon with 300 men, valiant heroes all, to win the battle. We are not told their names, but their bravery and obedience are recorded in the Scriptures (Judg. 7:5-23).
Today, God is still calling ordinary people to do His work and assuring us that He will be with us as we do. Because we are ordinary people being used by God, it’s obvious that the power comes from God and not from us.
Lord, I am just an ordinary person, but You are an all-powerful God. I want to serve You. Please show me how and give me the strength.
God uses ordinary people to carry out His extraordinary plan.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
Will To Be Faithful
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
A Parent's Best Classroom - #7433
There's nothing quite as boring as listening to information you've heard before, presented the same way you've heard it presented before. Since I used to fly quite a bit, I heard the flight attendant's announcements many, many times. To be honest, I got to the point where I didn't pay a lot of attention, because it was so predictable…usually.
There was this one flight - we had a flight attendant who kept throwing in humorous surprises and fresh ways of saying things, everyone was listening to him. For example he said, "Now, we're preparing for landing and you need to put your seats in the upright, most uncomfortable position." See, they never say that! I thought that was good! We all laughed. And then I liked the part where he said, "The captain has turned on the seat belt sign, which is an indication he has finally found the airport." I love it! It sounds unpredictable. This man knew something about communication. If you have important information to communicate, don't be so predictable.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Parent's Best Classroom."
God has given moms and dads some really important announcements for them to make to their children. He actually talks about them in Deuteronomy 6, and I'll begin reading at verse 5, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Then impress them on your children."
Well, we try to do that. If you're a Christian parent, I'm sure you try to impress the ways of God; the teachings of God; the boundaries of God on your children. But sometimes our children respond with the same kind of, well, disinterest that I did to those predictable airline announcements. "Yeah, here we go again!" They know what you're going to say before you say it. So maybe it isn't enough that we teach our children about the Lord. We need to do it in ways and in places where it's not so predictable, so maybe we'll have their full attention.
In the rest of Deuteronomy 6:7, Moses tells how to do that, "Talk about them (that's God's commandments) when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up." See, sometimes we get immune to hearing Biblical truths the way they've always been presented; in places we always hear them. We've got like practiced responses to a sermon, or to family devotions, or to Christian meetings. We know what to expect. We know how we're supposed to act. It's predictable.
But there's something disarming about God-talk in the middle of everyday activity-the classroom of everyday life: when we're walking, riding; getting ready for bed at night. See, the best place for your son, or daughter, or grandchild to see God at work might be on the baseball field. Or on the way to the store with you, suddenly some question comes up that gives you a teachable moment. Grab that! Maybe it's debriefing their day over a Big Mac, or maybe it's in those more mellow bedtime moments, riding along with you all the places you chauffeur them. That's the classroom of everyday life, the best place to learn about the God that I hope, as the Bible says, "you love with all your heart."
Don't just depend on formal settings to get the job done; not when you want to introduce God to your child. They may shut down for the formal announcements. But look for God together in the ordinary, the relaxed, the casual, the everyday. As a parent, you have the blessed responsibility of passing on God's announcements to kids that He has trusted to you. Make sure those announcements aren't just true. Make sure they're interesting.
I think if I had not begun a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by the time I had kids, I would have been driven into His arms. Because so much they need me to be I couldn't be for them; too much selfishness, too much anger, too much hurting, too much "me". And I've found as a Dad in Jesus, a Savior who keeps His promise, "If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old is gone. A new life has begun." All my failures, all my mistakes, all my sins forgiven, and the power to finally be the parent I want to be.
If you feel like, "Man, I am not what my kids need; I don't know how to get there." Jesus is that answer. I would encourage you to check out a relationship with Him today, parent to parent. And there are a couple of ways you can do that. You could go to our website ANewStory.com. Or you can text us at 442-244-WORD.
You know, Jesus comes into you, He comes into your family and things will never be the same.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Psalm 70, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Forgiveness: Stay the Course
Vengeance is God's. He will repay-whether ultimately on the Day of Judgment or intermediately in this life. God can discipline your abusive boss. He can bring your ex to his knees or to her senses. Forgiveness doesn't diminish justice; it just entrusts it to God. He guarantees the right retribution. The God of justice has the precise prescription. Forgive your enemies? Ah, that's where you and I come in.
"Do not let the sun go down on your anger," Paul wrote, "and do not give the devil an opportunity" (Ephesians 4:26-27). Don't give the devil territory or ground. Bitterness invites him to occupy a space in your heart, to rent a room. Believe me, he will move in and stink up the place! When it comes to forgiveness, all of us are beginners. Stay the course!
From You'll Get Through This
Psalm 70
O God, hurry to take me out of trouble. O Lord, hurry to help me! 2 Let those who want to kill me be ashamed and brought low. Let those who want to hurt me be turned away in shame. 3 Let those who say, “O, O!” be turned back because of their shame.
4 Let all who look for You be full of joy and be glad in You. And let those who love Your saving power always say, “Let God be honored.” 5 But I am poor and in need. Hurry to me, O God! You are my help and the One Who takes me out of trouble. O Lord, do not wait.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Read: Job 16:1-5
Job Talks
Then Job answered, 2 “I have heard many such things. All of you bring trouble instead of comfort. 3 Is there no end to your words that are full of wind? What is your problem that you keep on talking? 4 I also could speak like you, if I were in your place. I could put words together against you, and shake my head at you. 5 I could give you strength with my mouth. I could speak words of comfort and make your pain less.
INSIGHT:
The story of how Job wrestled with tragedy and how he struggled to understand God’s role in the apparent injustices of life is well known. Job and his three friends (Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite) engage in a series of debates to try to come to terms with life’s great heartaches. In Job 16, Job responds to more charges from Eliphaz who says Job’s suffering is punishment for wickedness (see 15:17-35). The issues of suffering and injustice do not always find resolution in this life, regardless of our attempts to explain them away. In the end, the wise response is to say that “the secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deut. 29:29), for some things are just not revealed to us.
The Slow Walk
By Tim Gustafson
I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever. —John 14:16
Caleb was sick. Really sick! Diagnosed with a nervous system disease, the 5-year-old suffered from temporary paralysis. His anxious parents prayed. And waited. Slowly, Caleb began to recover. Months later, when doctors cleared him to attend school, all Caleb could manage was a slow, unsteady walk.
One day his dad visited him at school. He watched his son haltingly descend the steps to the playground. And then he saw Caleb’s young friend Tyler come alongside him. For the entire recess, as the other kids raced and romped and played, Tyler slowly walked the playground with his frail friend.
Job must have ached for a friend like Tyler. Instead, he had three friends who were certain he was guilty. “Who ever perished, being innocent?” asked Eliphaz (Job 4:7). Such accusations prompted Job to bitterly declare, “Miserable comforters are you all!” (16:2).
How unlike Jesus. On the eve of His crucifixion He took time to comfort His disciples. He promised them the Holy Spirit, who would be with them forever (John 14:16), and assured them, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (v. 18). Then, just before He returned to His Father, He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
The One who died for us also walks with us, step by painstaking step.
Father, we tend to say too much to our hurting friends. Help us choose our words wisely. Teach us to walk slowly with those in pain, as You walk patiently with us.
Sometimes the best way to be like Jesus is to sit quietly with a hurting friend.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
All Efforts of Worth and Excellence Are Difficult
Enter by the narrow gate….Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life…. —Matthew 7:13-14
If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in— it stirs us up to overcome. Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory?
God saves people by His sovereign grace through the atonement of Jesus, and “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). But we have to “work out” that salvation in our everyday, practical living (Philippians 2:12). If we will only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we will find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then when a crisis does come we will find that our own nature, as well as the grace of God, will stand by us.
Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also something that requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of sonship. God’s grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life. And it is always necessary for us to make an effort to live a life of worth and excellence.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
How to Hear God - #7432
I went out shooting, yes, as in a gun, with a friend of mine a while back, and I got a high caliber scare! The report of one volley of gunfire was so loud it literally made me deaf for a little while. I mean it was just temporary, just a few minutes, but I'll tell you it was all the deafness I ever want to experience. It is not a pleasant prospect to imagine hearing no children's laughter, no tender words, no music, no birds singing, and I had a new understanding of the tragedy of deafness. There's one kind, though, that isn't a tragedy. It's a triumph.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Hear God."
Our word for today from the Word of God; we're in Psalm 46, and you'll find it to be a very familiar phrase out of the Bible I think. David has said that God is our "Help in trouble," and then it goes on and talks about, "We won't fear though the earth gives away," (Wow!) "or the mountains fall into the heart of the sea." That's pretty tough times. "Though the waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." He's talking about the times when everything's in upheaval. And following on the heels of all this turbulence he says in Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."
If you've ever done much formal Bible study you might have run into a biblical scholar named William Barclay, who wrote some commentaries that have some, you know, sometimes helpful information. I certainly don't agree with everything that he wrote by any means, but there was a lot in there that really brought some scriptures to life. I've reached into my library and pulled out his volume on whatever book of the Bible that I'm studying.
I learned that he was really quite a powerful preacher until he began to lose his hearing. When he was almost completely deaf, instead of losing hope, he consecrated this new life of deafness to the Lord and he immersed himself in a world where he could hear, he said, only one voice - the voice of God. And in that environment he said it opened him up to whole new understandings.
You know, it's God's intention that we actually have times of planned deafness where we're deaf to every other voice but God's. We're wired by God, our Creator, to need regular time where we hear no voice but His. Jesus often did that in the midst of the most demanding responsibilities any man ever had. Now, that requires privacy; you've got to find a place where it's just you and Him. It requires time, because it takes a little while to silence all the other chatter inside so you can only hear one voice. And maybe that's why it's even good to do it in the morning to try to get a jump on the day before you look at any emails, before you turn on the television, before you check the news. Maybe even before anybody else is up. It's just me and you God time.
And this requires consistency, because practice makes perfect. And you need to do it like building one day on the next day on the next day. Emily Dickenson, the poet, said, "The world is too much with us." Do you ever feel like that?
Let me ask you, "When is your time to hear that only one voice - the voice from heaven?" When you turn off your cell phone, your iPod, the television, the computer, even those closest to you and you get in touch with heaven. You know what happens? Some things that looked really big look a lot smaller, and you experience like a shower for your soul that washes off the stresses of the pressure cooker living we're all doing. But it won't happen unless you plan it.
Make it a non-negotiable of your schedule. Plan it so you are deaf to earth for a while so you can hear from heaven.
Vengeance is God's. He will repay-whether ultimately on the Day of Judgment or intermediately in this life. God can discipline your abusive boss. He can bring your ex to his knees or to her senses. Forgiveness doesn't diminish justice; it just entrusts it to God. He guarantees the right retribution. The God of justice has the precise prescription. Forgive your enemies? Ah, that's where you and I come in.
"Do not let the sun go down on your anger," Paul wrote, "and do not give the devil an opportunity" (Ephesians 4:26-27). Don't give the devil territory or ground. Bitterness invites him to occupy a space in your heart, to rent a room. Believe me, he will move in and stink up the place! When it comes to forgiveness, all of us are beginners. Stay the course!
From You'll Get Through This
Psalm 70
O God, hurry to take me out of trouble. O Lord, hurry to help me! 2 Let those who want to kill me be ashamed and brought low. Let those who want to hurt me be turned away in shame. 3 Let those who say, “O, O!” be turned back because of their shame.
4 Let all who look for You be full of joy and be glad in You. And let those who love Your saving power always say, “Let God be honored.” 5 But I am poor and in need. Hurry to me, O God! You are my help and the One Who takes me out of trouble. O Lord, do not wait.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Read: Job 16:1-5
Job Talks
Then Job answered, 2 “I have heard many such things. All of you bring trouble instead of comfort. 3 Is there no end to your words that are full of wind? What is your problem that you keep on talking? 4 I also could speak like you, if I were in your place. I could put words together against you, and shake my head at you. 5 I could give you strength with my mouth. I could speak words of comfort and make your pain less.
INSIGHT:
The story of how Job wrestled with tragedy and how he struggled to understand God’s role in the apparent injustices of life is well known. Job and his three friends (Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite) engage in a series of debates to try to come to terms with life’s great heartaches. In Job 16, Job responds to more charges from Eliphaz who says Job’s suffering is punishment for wickedness (see 15:17-35). The issues of suffering and injustice do not always find resolution in this life, regardless of our attempts to explain them away. In the end, the wise response is to say that “the secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deut. 29:29), for some things are just not revealed to us.
The Slow Walk
By Tim Gustafson
I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever. —John 14:16
Caleb was sick. Really sick! Diagnosed with a nervous system disease, the 5-year-old suffered from temporary paralysis. His anxious parents prayed. And waited. Slowly, Caleb began to recover. Months later, when doctors cleared him to attend school, all Caleb could manage was a slow, unsteady walk.
One day his dad visited him at school. He watched his son haltingly descend the steps to the playground. And then he saw Caleb’s young friend Tyler come alongside him. For the entire recess, as the other kids raced and romped and played, Tyler slowly walked the playground with his frail friend.
Job must have ached for a friend like Tyler. Instead, he had three friends who were certain he was guilty. “Who ever perished, being innocent?” asked Eliphaz (Job 4:7). Such accusations prompted Job to bitterly declare, “Miserable comforters are you all!” (16:2).
How unlike Jesus. On the eve of His crucifixion He took time to comfort His disciples. He promised them the Holy Spirit, who would be with them forever (John 14:16), and assured them, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (v. 18). Then, just before He returned to His Father, He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
The One who died for us also walks with us, step by painstaking step.
Father, we tend to say too much to our hurting friends. Help us choose our words wisely. Teach us to walk slowly with those in pain, as You walk patiently with us.
Sometimes the best way to be like Jesus is to sit quietly with a hurting friend.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
All Efforts of Worth and Excellence Are Difficult
Enter by the narrow gate….Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life…. —Matthew 7:13-14
If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in— it stirs us up to overcome. Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory?
God saves people by His sovereign grace through the atonement of Jesus, and “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). But we have to “work out” that salvation in our everyday, practical living (Philippians 2:12). If we will only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we will find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then when a crisis does come we will find that our own nature, as well as the grace of God, will stand by us.
Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also something that requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of sonship. God’s grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life. And it is always necessary for us to make an effort to live a life of worth and excellence.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
How to Hear God - #7432
I went out shooting, yes, as in a gun, with a friend of mine a while back, and I got a high caliber scare! The report of one volley of gunfire was so loud it literally made me deaf for a little while. I mean it was just temporary, just a few minutes, but I'll tell you it was all the deafness I ever want to experience. It is not a pleasant prospect to imagine hearing no children's laughter, no tender words, no music, no birds singing, and I had a new understanding of the tragedy of deafness. There's one kind, though, that isn't a tragedy. It's a triumph.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Hear God."
Our word for today from the Word of God; we're in Psalm 46, and you'll find it to be a very familiar phrase out of the Bible I think. David has said that God is our "Help in trouble," and then it goes on and talks about, "We won't fear though the earth gives away," (Wow!) "or the mountains fall into the heart of the sea." That's pretty tough times. "Though the waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." He's talking about the times when everything's in upheaval. And following on the heels of all this turbulence he says in Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."
If you've ever done much formal Bible study you might have run into a biblical scholar named William Barclay, who wrote some commentaries that have some, you know, sometimes helpful information. I certainly don't agree with everything that he wrote by any means, but there was a lot in there that really brought some scriptures to life. I've reached into my library and pulled out his volume on whatever book of the Bible that I'm studying.
I learned that he was really quite a powerful preacher until he began to lose his hearing. When he was almost completely deaf, instead of losing hope, he consecrated this new life of deafness to the Lord and he immersed himself in a world where he could hear, he said, only one voice - the voice of God. And in that environment he said it opened him up to whole new understandings.
You know, it's God's intention that we actually have times of planned deafness where we're deaf to every other voice but God's. We're wired by God, our Creator, to need regular time where we hear no voice but His. Jesus often did that in the midst of the most demanding responsibilities any man ever had. Now, that requires privacy; you've got to find a place where it's just you and Him. It requires time, because it takes a little while to silence all the other chatter inside so you can only hear one voice. And maybe that's why it's even good to do it in the morning to try to get a jump on the day before you look at any emails, before you turn on the television, before you check the news. Maybe even before anybody else is up. It's just me and you God time.
And this requires consistency, because practice makes perfect. And you need to do it like building one day on the next day on the next day. Emily Dickenson, the poet, said, "The world is too much with us." Do you ever feel like that?
Let me ask you, "When is your time to hear that only one voice - the voice from heaven?" When you turn off your cell phone, your iPod, the television, the computer, even those closest to you and you get in touch with heaven. You know what happens? Some things that looked really big look a lot smaller, and you experience like a shower for your soul that washes off the stresses of the pressure cooker living we're all doing. But it won't happen unless you plan it.
Make it a non-negotiable of your schedule. Plan it so you are deaf to earth for a while so you can hear from heaven.
Monday, July 6, 2015
Psalm 64, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God Never Gives Up
God moves us forward by healing our past! Can he really? Can God heal this ancient hurt in my heart? Of course He can. In fact, God cares more about justice than we do. Paul reminds us in Romans 12:17-19, "Never pay back evil for evil. . .never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for He has said that He will repay those who deserve it."
We fear the evildoer will slip into the night, unknown and unpunished. Escape to Fiji and sip mai tais on the beach. Not to worry. Scripture says, "God will repay," not "God might repay." God will execute justice on behalf of truth and fairness.
Unlike us, God never gives up on a person. Never. Long after we've moved on, God is still there, probing the conscience, stirring conviction, always orchestrating redemption. Fix your enemies? That's God's job.
From You'll Get Through This
Psalm 64
For the choir director: A psalm of David.
O God, listen to my complaint.
Protect my life from my enemies’ threats.
2 Hide me from the plots of this evil mob,
from this gang of wrongdoers.
3 They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim their bitter words like arrows.
4 They shoot from ambush at the innocent,
attacking suddenly and fearlessly.
5 They encourage each other to do evil
and plan how to set their traps in secret.
“Who will ever notice?” they ask.
6 As they plot their crimes, they say,
“We have devised the perfect plan!”
Yes, the human heart and mind are cunning.
7 But God himself will shoot them with his arrows,
suddenly striking them down.
8 Their own tongues will ruin them,
and all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
9 Then everyone will be afraid;
they will proclaim the mighty acts of God
and realize all the amazing things he does.
10 The godly will rejoice in the Lord
and find shelter in him.
And those who do what is right
will praise him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, July 06, 2015
Read: Psalm 91:1-8
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
3 For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
4 He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
7 Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
8 Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 91 celebrates the safety and security of those who trust in God. The psalmist warns of danger from insidious schemes of men, uninvited troubles, physical attacks, sickness, and disasters. But the Lord protects those who trust in Him. This psalm does not promise immunity from danger, but security in the midst of it. Various metaphors are used to describe the safety of the Lord including “the secret place of the Most High,” “the shadow of the Almighty,” a “refuge,” and a “fortress” (vv. 1-2). He will “cover [us] with His feathers,” “under His wings” we take refuge (v. 4), and “His faithful promises are [our] armor and protection” (v. 4 nlt).
Darkness and Light
By Bill Crowder |
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, . . . nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness. —Psalm 91:5-6
When I was a boy, I delivered newspapers to about 140 homes on two streets that were connected by a cemetery. Since I delivered a morning newspaper, I had to be out at 3:00 a.m. walking through that cemetery in the darkness. Sometimes I would be so frightened that I would actually run! I was afraid until I was standing safely under a streetlight on the other side. The scary darkness was dispelled by the light.
The psalmist understood the connection between fear and darkness, but he also knew that God is greater than those fears. He wrote, “You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness” (Ps. 91:5-6). Neither terrors of night nor evil in the darkness need to drive us to fear. We have a God who sent His Son, the Light of the World (John 8:12).
In the light of God’s love and grace and truth, we can find courage, help, and strength to live for Him.
Lord, I come to You, the Light of the World. I want You to bring Your light into the darkness of my fears.
For help in overcoming worry, read discoveryseries.org/q0711
You need not fear the darkness if you are walking with the Light of the World.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, July 06, 2015
Visions Becoming Reality
The parched ground shall become a pool… —Isaiah 35:7
We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.
Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.
God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.
The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, July 06, 2015
The Band and the Master - #7431
We had three kids. They were all in the junior high band at different times over a seven year period of time. So I got to go to seven straight years of junior high band concerts. I enjoyed watching our kids develop musically, but I cannot say it was a memorable music experience. Fortunately, they stuck to pieces that were at their level. But what if they had attempted, say Beethoven, the musical genius.
Just imagine you didn't know much about Beethoven and I invited you to come to one of these band concerts with me? "Hey, they're performing a Beethoven symphony. I know you're going to be impressed with Beethoven's ability!" Now, it's after the concert and I say, "Well, what did you think of Beethoven?" Your response? "Uh, not impressed." "Well, I know there were a lot of squeaks and squawks and instruments missing. But please, please don't judge Beethoven based on the way they played his music. He's a genius. They just don't play his music real well."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Band and the Master."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 1:16-17; two words here that instantly eliminate a lot of confusion and most of the reasons for not giving yourself to Jesus Christ. Here's what it says, "Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, and He saw Simon and his brother, Andrew, casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow Me' Jesus said. At once they left their nets and followed Him."
Not long after that it records in Mark 2:14, that He came up to Levi, who was a tax collector, and He came to his tax collector's booth and said, "Follow Me." He just kept saying that to people, "Follow Me." In other words Jesus is saying, "I am the issue." That's why one of Christianity's most brilliant minds, the Apostle Paul, said in 1 Corinthians 2:2, "I was determined when I was among you to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." He's saying, "This is all about Jesus and Him dying on the cross for you."
See, so many people's objections to Jesus are because, well, honestly Christians you might say don't play His music very well. "People are hypocrites! I've seen those Christians." Really? Was Jesus a hypocrite? "Well, the church is only after money!" Was Jesus only after money? See, the only reason for not being a follower of Jesus is because of a problem you have with Jesus. It's never been about Christianity. It's never been about Christians. It's all about Jesus. If you don't like the inconsistencies in Christianity, neither do I. Neither does Jesus. But that's no reason to put off the Son of God.
Maybe you've been burned by Christianity or Christians somewhere along the way. But it wasn't Jesus who did that. As a bumper sticker says, "Christians aren't perfect, but they're forgiven." Like the junior high band playing the music of Beethoven. We don't always play His music very well, but we're practicing and trying to sound more like Him. But don't reject the Savior who died in your place for your sin because of something that His imperfect followers have done.
When you take your last breath and your heart beats for the last time, it's going to be Jesus you're face to face with. And all that's going to matter is how you responded to His life-changing, life-giving invitation, "Follow Me."
Don't you want to be sure you belong to Him? No one else can get you to heaven, because no one else paid for the sin that will keep you out of heaven. No one else has the power to give you eternal life, because no one else walked out of His grave under His own power except the Savior, Jesus. He's ready to walk into your life.
If you want that to happen for you today and experience this Jesus for yourself, why don't you go to our website ANewStory.com. Or if you want to talk with someone about what it means to follow Christ, text us at 442-244-WORD.
He created you. He opened the way to God by loving you enough to die in your place for your sins. He loves you very, very much. He's been waiting a long time for you. How many more times are there going to be? I don't know. The only guarantee you've got is today.
I know the band isn't perfect, but the Master, Jesus? You can totally trust Him. Haven't you been in the darkness long enough?
God moves us forward by healing our past! Can he really? Can God heal this ancient hurt in my heart? Of course He can. In fact, God cares more about justice than we do. Paul reminds us in Romans 12:17-19, "Never pay back evil for evil. . .never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for He has said that He will repay those who deserve it."
We fear the evildoer will slip into the night, unknown and unpunished. Escape to Fiji and sip mai tais on the beach. Not to worry. Scripture says, "God will repay," not "God might repay." God will execute justice on behalf of truth and fairness.
Unlike us, God never gives up on a person. Never. Long after we've moved on, God is still there, probing the conscience, stirring conviction, always orchestrating redemption. Fix your enemies? That's God's job.
From You'll Get Through This
Psalm 64
For the choir director: A psalm of David.
O God, listen to my complaint.
Protect my life from my enemies’ threats.
2 Hide me from the plots of this evil mob,
from this gang of wrongdoers.
3 They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim their bitter words like arrows.
4 They shoot from ambush at the innocent,
attacking suddenly and fearlessly.
5 They encourage each other to do evil
and plan how to set their traps in secret.
“Who will ever notice?” they ask.
6 As they plot their crimes, they say,
“We have devised the perfect plan!”
Yes, the human heart and mind are cunning.
7 But God himself will shoot them with his arrows,
suddenly striking them down.
8 Their own tongues will ruin them,
and all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
9 Then everyone will be afraid;
they will proclaim the mighty acts of God
and realize all the amazing things he does.
10 The godly will rejoice in the Lord
and find shelter in him.
And those who do what is right
will praise him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, July 06, 2015
Read: Psalm 91:1-8
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
3 For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
4 He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
7 Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
8 Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 91 celebrates the safety and security of those who trust in God. The psalmist warns of danger from insidious schemes of men, uninvited troubles, physical attacks, sickness, and disasters. But the Lord protects those who trust in Him. This psalm does not promise immunity from danger, but security in the midst of it. Various metaphors are used to describe the safety of the Lord including “the secret place of the Most High,” “the shadow of the Almighty,” a “refuge,” and a “fortress” (vv. 1-2). He will “cover [us] with His feathers,” “under His wings” we take refuge (v. 4), and “His faithful promises are [our] armor and protection” (v. 4 nlt).
Darkness and Light
By Bill Crowder |
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, . . . nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness. —Psalm 91:5-6
When I was a boy, I delivered newspapers to about 140 homes on two streets that were connected by a cemetery. Since I delivered a morning newspaper, I had to be out at 3:00 a.m. walking through that cemetery in the darkness. Sometimes I would be so frightened that I would actually run! I was afraid until I was standing safely under a streetlight on the other side. The scary darkness was dispelled by the light.
The psalmist understood the connection between fear and darkness, but he also knew that God is greater than those fears. He wrote, “You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness” (Ps. 91:5-6). Neither terrors of night nor evil in the darkness need to drive us to fear. We have a God who sent His Son, the Light of the World (John 8:12).
In the light of God’s love and grace and truth, we can find courage, help, and strength to live for Him.
Lord, I come to You, the Light of the World. I want You to bring Your light into the darkness of my fears.
For help in overcoming worry, read discoveryseries.org/q0711
You need not fear the darkness if you are walking with the Light of the World.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, July 06, 2015
Visions Becoming Reality
The parched ground shall become a pool… —Isaiah 35:7
We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.
Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.
God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.
The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, July 06, 2015
The Band and the Master - #7431
We had three kids. They were all in the junior high band at different times over a seven year period of time. So I got to go to seven straight years of junior high band concerts. I enjoyed watching our kids develop musically, but I cannot say it was a memorable music experience. Fortunately, they stuck to pieces that were at their level. But what if they had attempted, say Beethoven, the musical genius.
Just imagine you didn't know much about Beethoven and I invited you to come to one of these band concerts with me? "Hey, they're performing a Beethoven symphony. I know you're going to be impressed with Beethoven's ability!" Now, it's after the concert and I say, "Well, what did you think of Beethoven?" Your response? "Uh, not impressed." "Well, I know there were a lot of squeaks and squawks and instruments missing. But please, please don't judge Beethoven based on the way they played his music. He's a genius. They just don't play his music real well."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Band and the Master."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 1:16-17; two words here that instantly eliminate a lot of confusion and most of the reasons for not giving yourself to Jesus Christ. Here's what it says, "Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, and He saw Simon and his brother, Andrew, casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow Me' Jesus said. At once they left their nets and followed Him."
Not long after that it records in Mark 2:14, that He came up to Levi, who was a tax collector, and He came to his tax collector's booth and said, "Follow Me." He just kept saying that to people, "Follow Me." In other words Jesus is saying, "I am the issue." That's why one of Christianity's most brilliant minds, the Apostle Paul, said in 1 Corinthians 2:2, "I was determined when I was among you to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." He's saying, "This is all about Jesus and Him dying on the cross for you."
See, so many people's objections to Jesus are because, well, honestly Christians you might say don't play His music very well. "People are hypocrites! I've seen those Christians." Really? Was Jesus a hypocrite? "Well, the church is only after money!" Was Jesus only after money? See, the only reason for not being a follower of Jesus is because of a problem you have with Jesus. It's never been about Christianity. It's never been about Christians. It's all about Jesus. If you don't like the inconsistencies in Christianity, neither do I. Neither does Jesus. But that's no reason to put off the Son of God.
Maybe you've been burned by Christianity or Christians somewhere along the way. But it wasn't Jesus who did that. As a bumper sticker says, "Christians aren't perfect, but they're forgiven." Like the junior high band playing the music of Beethoven. We don't always play His music very well, but we're practicing and trying to sound more like Him. But don't reject the Savior who died in your place for your sin because of something that His imperfect followers have done.
When you take your last breath and your heart beats for the last time, it's going to be Jesus you're face to face with. And all that's going to matter is how you responded to His life-changing, life-giving invitation, "Follow Me."
Don't you want to be sure you belong to Him? No one else can get you to heaven, because no one else paid for the sin that will keep you out of heaven. No one else has the power to give you eternal life, because no one else walked out of His grave under His own power except the Savior, Jesus. He's ready to walk into your life.
If you want that to happen for you today and experience this Jesus for yourself, why don't you go to our website ANewStory.com. Or if you want to talk with someone about what it means to follow Christ, text us at 442-244-WORD.
He created you. He opened the way to God by loving you enough to die in your place for your sins. He loves you very, very much. He's been waiting a long time for you. How many more times are there going to be? I don't know. The only guarantee you've got is today.
I know the band isn't perfect, but the Master, Jesus? You can totally trust Him. Haven't you been in the darkness long enough?
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