Max Lucado Daily: None Like Him
The Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God! Our universe is God's preeminent missionary. Doesn't a painting suggest a painter? Don't stars suggest a star maker? Doesn't creation imply a creator?
Now look within you. Look at your sense of right and wrong. Who told you a moral compass exists? What is this magnetic pole that pulls the needles on the compass of your conscience if not God? Heavens above, moral code within- God did this! The wonders above you and within you testify to his existence.
But God not only made the world, he loves the world. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world! " Try that on for size! The one who formed you pulls for you. Untrumpable power stoked by unstoppable love!
From: 3:16
Psalm 119:1-88
Aleph
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart—
3 they do no wrong
but follow his ways.
4 You have laid down precepts
that are to be fully obeyed.
5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!
6 Then I would not be put to shame
when I consider all your commands.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart
as I learn your righteous laws.
8 I will obey your decrees;
do not utterly forsake me.
? Beth
9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.
? Gimel
17 Be good to your servant while I live,
that I may obey your word.
18 Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law.
19 I am a stranger on earth;
do not hide your commands from me.
20 My soul is consumed with longing
for your laws at all times.
21 You rebuke the arrogant, who are accursed,
those who stray from your commands.
22 Remove from me their scorn and contempt,
for I keep your statutes.
23 Though rulers sit together and slander me,
your servant will meditate on your decrees.
24 Your statutes are my delight;
they are my counselors.
? Daleth
25 I am laid low in the dust;
preserve my life according to your word.
26 I gave an account of my ways and you answered me;
teach me your decrees.
27 Cause me to understand the way of your precepts,
that I may meditate on your wonderful deeds.
28 My soul is weary with sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word.
29 Keep me from deceitful ways;
be gracious to me and teach me your law.
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I have set my heart on your laws.
31 I hold fast to your statutes, Lord;
do not let me be put to shame.
32 I run in the path of your commands,
for you have broadened my understanding.
? He
33 Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,
that I may follow it to the end.[b]
34 Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.
35 Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
36 Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.[c]
38 Fulfill your promise to your servant,
so that you may be feared.
39 Take away the disgrace I dread,
for your laws are good.
40 How I long for your precepts!
In your righteousness preserve my life.
? Waw
41 May your unfailing love come to me, Lord,
your salvation, according to your promise;
42 then I can answer anyone who taunts me,
for I trust in your word.
43 Never take your word of truth from my mouth,
for I have put my hope in your laws.
44 I will always obey your law,
for ever and ever.
45 I will walk about in freedom,
for I have sought out your precepts.
46 I will speak of your statutes before kings
and will not be put to shame,
47 for I delight in your commands
because I love them.
48 I reach out for your commands, which I love,
that I may meditate on your decrees.
? Zayin
49 Remember your word to your servant,
for you have given me hope.
50 My comfort in my suffering is this:
Your promise preserves my life.
51 The arrogant mock me unmercifully,
but I do not turn from your law.
52 I remember, Lord, your ancient laws,
and I find comfort in them.
53 Indignation grips me because of the wicked,
who have forsaken your law.
54 Your decrees are the theme of my song
wherever I lodge.
55 In the night, Lord, I remember your name,
that I may keep your law.
56 This has been my practice:
I obey your precepts.
? Heth
57 You are my portion, Lord;
I have promised to obey your words.
58 I have sought your face with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
59 I have considered my ways
and have turned my steps to your statutes.
60 I will hasten and not delay
to obey your commands.
61 Though the wicked bind me with ropes,
I will not forget your law.
62 At midnight I rise to give you thanks
for your righteous laws.
63 I am a friend to all who fear you,
to all who follow your precepts.
64 The earth is filled with your love, Lord;
teach me your decrees.
? Teth
65 Do good to your servant
according to your word, Lord.
66 Teach me knowledge and good judgment,
for I trust your commands.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word.
68 You are good, and what you do is good;
teach me your decrees.
69 Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies,
I keep your precepts with all my heart.
70 Their hearts are callous and unfeeling,
but I delight in your law.
71 It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.
72 The law from your mouth is more precious to me
than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.
? Yodh
73 Your hands made me and formed me;
give me understanding to learn your commands.
74 May those who fear you rejoice when they see me,
for I have put my hope in your word.
75 I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
76 May your unfailing love be my comfort,
according to your promise to your servant.
77 Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
78 May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause;
but I will meditate on your precepts.
79 May those who fear you turn to me,
those who understand your statutes.
80 May I wholeheartedly follow your decrees,
that I may not be put to shame.
? Kaph
81 My soul faints with longing for your salvation,
but I have put my hope in your word.
82 My eyes fail, looking for your promise;
I say, “When will you comfort me?”
83 Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke,
I do not forget your decrees.
84 How long must your servant wait?
When will you punish my persecutors?
85 The arrogant dig pits to trap me,
contrary to your law.
86 All your commands are trustworthy;
help me, for I am being persecuted without cause.
87 They almost wiped me from the earth,
but I have not forsaken your precepts.
88 In your unfailing love preserve my life,
that I may obey the statutes of your mouth.
Footnotes:
Psalm 119:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, the stanzas of which begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet; moreover, the verses of each stanza begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Psalm 119:33 Or follow it for its reward
Psalm 119:37 Two manuscripts of the Masoretic Text and Dead Sea Scrolls; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text life in your way
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, April 05, 2016
Read: Jeremiah 1:4-9
Jeremiah’s Call and First Visions
The Lord gave me this message:
5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.
Before you were born I set you apart
and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
6 “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”
7 The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” 9 Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said,
“Look, I have put my words in your mouth!
INSIGHT:
Today’s reading recounts God’s setting apart of Jeremiah the prophet. The Scriptures tell us that God appointed him as a prophet at a young age. His ministry would last for over 40 years and would coincide with the reigns of five kings of Judah—Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. Jeremiah is called “the weeping prophet,” and it was during his ministry that Israel’s disobedience prompted the exile and captivity by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire. Jeremiah’s ministry saw many heartbreaking things, including the forced march of Daniel and other young men from the royal families of Israel into Babylonian exile (Dan. 1:1–6). Dennis Moles
Don’t Walk Away
By Tim Gustafson
Before you were born I set you apart. Jeremiah 1:5
In 1986, John Piper nearly quit as minister of a large church. At that time he admitted in his journal: “I am so discouraged. I am so blank. I feel like there are opponents on every hand.” But Piper didn’t walk away, and God used him to lead a thriving ministry that would eventually reach far beyond his church.
Although success is a word easily misunderstood, we might call John Piper successful. But what if his ministry had never flourished?
The Father yearns for everyone to turn to Him.
God gave the prophet Jeremiah a direct call. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,” God said. “Before you were born I set you apart” (Jer. 1:5). God encouraged him not to fear his enemies, “for I am with you and will rescue you” (v. 8).
Jeremiah later lamented his commission with ironic language for a man with a prenatal calling. “Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!” (15:10).
God did protect Jeremiah, but his ministry never thrived. His people never repented. He saw them slaughtered, enslaved, and scattered. Yet despite a lifetime of discouragement and rejection, he never walked away. He knew that God didn’t call him to success but to faithfulness. He trusted the God who called him. Jeremiah’s resilient compassion shows us the heart of the Father, who yearns for everyone to turn to Him.
Do you sense a call from God? Where in your calling have you encountered discouragement? How do you define success, and how do you react to it when you experience it?
Beware of giving up too soon. Our emotions are not reliable guides. John Piper
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, April 05, 2016
His Agony and Our Access
Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples…."Stay here and watch with Me." —Matthew 26:36, 38
We can never fully comprehend Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but at least we don’t have to misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with sin. We cannot learn about Gethsemane through personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary represent something totally unique— they are the gateway into life for us.
It was not death on the cross that Jesus agonized over in Gethsemane. In fact, He stated very emphatically that He came with the purpose of dying. His concern here was that He might not get through this struggle as the Son of Man. He was confident of getting through it as the Son of God— Satan could not touch Him there. But Satan’s assault was that our Lord would come through for us on His own solely as the Son of Man. If Jesus had done that, He could not have been our Savior (see Hebrews 9:11-15). Read the record of His agony in Gethsemane in light of His earlier wilderness temptation— “…the devil…departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). In Gethsemane, Satan came back and was overthrown again. Satan’s final assault against our Lord as the Son of Man was in Gethsemane.
The agony in Gethsemane was the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is pulled back here to reveal all that it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony was the basis for the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ was a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them. Shade of His Hand, 1216 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, April 05, 2016
Beat Up But No Retreat - #7627
Look, you can't study all the time when you're in college; you need a little diversion, right? For me it was that little social action group that I put together. It's called The Vigilantes. Yeah, our social action consisted of very strategic maneuvers – otherwise known as practical jokes. One of them turned out to be very impractical, actually.
One well-known senior had just gotten engaged and we felt he was especially deserving for a special engagement, shall we say, commemoration. He was the advisor in the dorm of about forty freshmen. We were seniors. There were eight of us in our little war party and no sooner had we all gotten in the door of the dorm than we were attacked by forty wild-eyed freshmen. Someone had leaked our raid and our friend had all the freshmen ready to cream us! It was not pretty. We slithered back to our dorms, humiliated by freshmen no less!
But I couldn't leave it there! No, I went door to door in our dorm recruiting a small army in the name of "upper class honor." Pretty soon we had about sixty rowdy guys packed into a dorm lounge preparing for a return raid. The freshmen learned their humility lesson that night, and our friend finally had his engagement appropriately celebrated. Oh, we had suffered a serious setback, but we responded aggressively!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beat Up But No Retreat."
Our word today from the Word of God comes from 2 Timothy 1:7. Understand that Paul is writing this from a tiny cell in a prison in Rome. I've been in what they believe was that cell. Soon he'll be put to death for his stand for Jesus Christ. Listen to what he says, "God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." I mean, Paul has lost a lot of the people he has counted on; he's suffered all kinds of setbacks. He can't preach, he can't start any churches, his future is looking bleak. Sounds like a scenario for a retreat doesn't it? But there's not a whisper of defeat here, of self-pity, or retreat.
Maybe you find yourself in a situation somewhat like Paul's right now? Serious limitations, there's so much you need and want to do, but the money is not there, your health isn't there, the help isn't there, your hands are tied, your resources are limited, maybe gone, your obstacles are overwhelming. What's the temptation? Well, let's say when we had that night when we got whipped real bad, we just go back and nurse our wounds, give it up. No. We said, "No, we're going to respond aggressively."
On a very serious level, God is calling us here to refuse to lose even if we're beat up! Basically he's saying, "Don't get timid now! No matter how limiting your circumstances look, keep the aggressive, conquering spirit of one who belongs to King Jesus."
Paul says, "Not a spirit of timidity, but of power." Maybe you feel like a powerless victim right now, well quit focusing on you. Jesus' power isn't confined by the walls that surround you. Pray boldly, pray aggressively, go after victories as one who has the unlimited power of a risen Christ available to you. No stack of bills, no illness, no injury, no human failure can limit the power of Jesus. Then have the spirit of love, he says. Don't start turning inward because of the hard times, keep pushing out, keep looking for people who need you; for people you can love, people you can help in Jesus' name.
Then he talks about the spirit of self-discipline. Stay on course, man. Don't let your feelings or your fatigue win. I know what it feels like to be knocked down. Not just from being routed a long time ago in a college dorm. Many times since I've faced circumstances that seem to leave me powerless, but only to discover again that retreat was not God's order.
He's calling you right now against what your feelings and your environment may be telling you, to come out aggressively. You may be restricted, but you don't have to be retreating. You have power, you have love, you have self-discipline in Jesus Christ that can make you more than conquer through Him who loved us.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Monday, April 4, 2016
Psalm 118 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: ENTRYWAY INTO THE HEARTLAND
This is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life!”
When I read these words, I realize these words are to Scripture what the Mississippi River is to America—an entryway into the heartland. Any serious consideration of Christ must include them! God so loved the world.
We’d expect an anger-fueled God. One who punishes the world, forsakes the world—but loves the world? This world? And He loves us so much that he gave his. . .declarations? Rules? Dicta? Edicts? No! The mind-bending claim of John 3:16 is this: God gave his Son–his only Son. Scripture equates Jesus with God. God then, gave himself. So that whoever believes in him shall not perish!
From: 3:16 The Numbers of Hope
Psalm 118
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
“His love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say:
“His love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say:
“His love endures forever.”
5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
he brought me into a spacious place.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humans.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
11 They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my defense[c];
he has become my salvation.
15 Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
16 The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
17 I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of the righteous;
I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord
through which the righteous may enter.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.
22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
23 the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 The Lord has done it this very day;
let us rejoice today and be glad.
25 Lord, save us!
Lord, grant us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.[d]
27 The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up[e] to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Footnotes:
Psalm 118:14 Or song
Psalm 118:26 The Hebrew is plural.
Psalm 118:27 Or Bind the festal sacrifice with ropes / and take it
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, April 04, 2016
Read: James 1:1-8
Greetings from James
This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.
Greetings!
Faith and Endurance
2 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
Footnotes:
1:2 Greek brothers; also in 1:16, 19.
INSIGHT:
The epistle of James was written to a very specific audience—the twelve tribes scattered among the nations (1:1). This scattering refers to the results of the persecution of the early church in first-century Jerusalem. Following the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7) and the execution of James the brother of John (12:1–2), the church became exposed to widespread attack, forcing Jewish followers of Christ to evacuate their homeland in search of safety while taking the message of Jesus with them. This persecution, intended to wipe out the church, instead caused the message of the gospel to spread throughout the world. Bill Crowder
Wisdom and Grace
By Bill Crowder
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault. James 1:5
On April 4, 1968, American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated, leaving millions angry and disillusioned. In Indianapolis, a largely African-American crowd had gathered to hear Robert F. Kennedy speak. Many had not yet heard of Dr. King’s death, so Kennedy had to share the tragic news. He appealed for calm by acknowledging not only their pain but his own abiding grief over the murder of his brother, President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy then quoted a variation of an ancient poem by Aeschylus (526–456 bc):
In life’s darkest times, we find what we need in Him.
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
“Wisdom through the awful grace of God” is a remarkable statement. It means that God’s grace fills us with awe and gives us the opportunity to grow in wisdom during life’s most difficult moments.
James wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5). James says that this wisdom is grown in the soil of hardship (vv. 2-4), for there we not only learn from the wisdom of God, we rest in the grace of God.
Father, in the face of life’s sometimes awful circumstances, may we find Your grace to be a source of awe and wonder. Instruct us in our trials, and carry us in Your arms when we are overwhelmed.
Has the Lord led you through a crisis? Tell us about His faithfulness on Facebook.com/ourdailybread
The darkness of trials only makes God’s grace shine brighter.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 04, 2016
The Way to Permanent Faith
Indeed the hour is coming…that you will be scattered… —John 16:32
Jesus was not rebuking the disciples in this passage. Their faith was real, but it was disordered and unfocused, and was not at work in the important realities of life. The disciples were scattered to their own concerns and they had interests apart from Jesus Christ. After we have the perfect relationship with God, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life. We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we experience, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life.
“…you…will leave Me alone.” Have we been scattered and have we left Jesus alone by not seeing His providential care for us? Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God’s blessings is fundamental.
“…be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, April 04, 2016
When It's 'Love Ya!' Then 'See Ya!' - #7626
Governors' desks were vacant. Senators' offices were empty. They might as well have just put a sign on the door – "Gone to Iowa." Yep! The election season had begun a few months ago. Then they went to New Hampshire and South Carolina and on and on in the wild and crazy 2016 Presidential election year.
For a long time, the Iowa caucuses saturated cable news because that's where it all started. It was over and I was still trying to understand how it worked. But there's no doubt that the road to the White House started in the cornfields and ethanol wells of Iowa.
Every four years, cash becomes Iowa's bumper crop. Restaurants, motels, TV and radio stations, stores – they open their arms to the invading political army for months in advance. And then, in a single day, boom! They're all gone; Iowa in the rear view mirror. Next primary states, here we come!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When It's 'Love Ya!' Then 'See Ya!"
One Iowa store had some pretty funny caucus shirts back then. One said, "Is there a bale of hay I can interview you in front of?" Another one captured the cynicism of a state that knew the Iowa-fest was over when people voted, "Don't forget to wave next time you fly over."
"We love you, Iowa, and then we leave you" after they've served their political purpose, of course. That kind of "love ya as long as you can do something for me" is one thing when it comes to a state. But it's a broken heart when it's a person dumped by someone who said they loved them.
The "'til death do us part'" that changed to "I just don't love you anymore." The company you gave the best years of your life to that says one day, "We don't need you anymore." The people who cheered for you once are nowhere to be found now. The lover whose l-o-v-e seems now more like u-s-e-d. When "love ya!" turns to "see ya!" it hurts. It really hurts.
I've spent a lot of my life sharing with people the good news about love that changed my life and millions of others. Because I'm profoundly grateful that there's a love that will never betray you, never abandon you, never die on you.
It's obviously got to be bigger than any human love. But it's a love even little kids can understand. I know. Because I sang about it a lot when I was a kid – like millions of kids still do. "Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so."
Yes, it does. The Bible says in Romans 8:39, our word for today from the Word of God, "Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord"; Nothing on earth, nothing in heaven, nothing in hell, nothing in death. Jesus guaranteed this in Hebrews 13:5, I will never leave you or forsake you." And He said, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
The more love has hurt you, the harder it is to believe that. Before that "nothing can separate us," God says, "He did not spare even His own Son for us." That's when Jesus hung on a cross, to pay the death penalty for our hijacking the running of our life from God.
Today it is possible for you to embrace the love that will never let you go. You've lived this long without the love of Jesus. Don't live another day without Him if you want to begin a relationship with Him. He went to a cross to have this relationship. He walked out of His grave to prove to you He can deliver love that will last forever. Right now tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours" right there where you are.
Would you go to our website then? I've set it up in such a way that it has information there that is easy to grasp that will help you make sure you really do belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.
If Jesus was ever going to turn His back on you, it would have been when He was going through your hell on that cross. But He didn't. He went the distance for you. He will never break your heart. His was broken for you. Jesus loves you. This I know.
This is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life!”
When I read these words, I realize these words are to Scripture what the Mississippi River is to America—an entryway into the heartland. Any serious consideration of Christ must include them! God so loved the world.
We’d expect an anger-fueled God. One who punishes the world, forsakes the world—but loves the world? This world? And He loves us so much that he gave his. . .declarations? Rules? Dicta? Edicts? No! The mind-bending claim of John 3:16 is this: God gave his Son–his only Son. Scripture equates Jesus with God. God then, gave himself. So that whoever believes in him shall not perish!
From: 3:16 The Numbers of Hope
Psalm 118
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
“His love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say:
“His love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say:
“His love endures forever.”
5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
he brought me into a spacious place.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humans.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
11 They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my defense[c];
he has become my salvation.
15 Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
16 The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
17 I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of the righteous;
I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord
through which the righteous may enter.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.
22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
23 the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 The Lord has done it this very day;
let us rejoice today and be glad.
25 Lord, save us!
Lord, grant us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.[d]
27 The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up[e] to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Footnotes:
Psalm 118:14 Or song
Psalm 118:26 The Hebrew is plural.
Psalm 118:27 Or Bind the festal sacrifice with ropes / and take it
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, April 04, 2016
Read: James 1:1-8
Greetings from James
This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.
Greetings!
Faith and Endurance
2 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
Footnotes:
1:2 Greek brothers; also in 1:16, 19.
INSIGHT:
The epistle of James was written to a very specific audience—the twelve tribes scattered among the nations (1:1). This scattering refers to the results of the persecution of the early church in first-century Jerusalem. Following the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7) and the execution of James the brother of John (12:1–2), the church became exposed to widespread attack, forcing Jewish followers of Christ to evacuate their homeland in search of safety while taking the message of Jesus with them. This persecution, intended to wipe out the church, instead caused the message of the gospel to spread throughout the world. Bill Crowder
Wisdom and Grace
By Bill Crowder
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault. James 1:5
On April 4, 1968, American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated, leaving millions angry and disillusioned. In Indianapolis, a largely African-American crowd had gathered to hear Robert F. Kennedy speak. Many had not yet heard of Dr. King’s death, so Kennedy had to share the tragic news. He appealed for calm by acknowledging not only their pain but his own abiding grief over the murder of his brother, President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy then quoted a variation of an ancient poem by Aeschylus (526–456 bc):
In life’s darkest times, we find what we need in Him.
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
“Wisdom through the awful grace of God” is a remarkable statement. It means that God’s grace fills us with awe and gives us the opportunity to grow in wisdom during life’s most difficult moments.
James wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5). James says that this wisdom is grown in the soil of hardship (vv. 2-4), for there we not only learn from the wisdom of God, we rest in the grace of God.
Father, in the face of life’s sometimes awful circumstances, may we find Your grace to be a source of awe and wonder. Instruct us in our trials, and carry us in Your arms when we are overwhelmed.
Has the Lord led you through a crisis? Tell us about His faithfulness on Facebook.com/ourdailybread
The darkness of trials only makes God’s grace shine brighter.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 04, 2016
The Way to Permanent Faith
Indeed the hour is coming…that you will be scattered… —John 16:32
Jesus was not rebuking the disciples in this passage. Their faith was real, but it was disordered and unfocused, and was not at work in the important realities of life. The disciples were scattered to their own concerns and they had interests apart from Jesus Christ. After we have the perfect relationship with God, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life. We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we experience, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life.
“…you…will leave Me alone.” Have we been scattered and have we left Jesus alone by not seeing His providential care for us? Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God’s blessings is fundamental.
“…be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, April 04, 2016
When It's 'Love Ya!' Then 'See Ya!' - #7626
Governors' desks were vacant. Senators' offices were empty. They might as well have just put a sign on the door – "Gone to Iowa." Yep! The election season had begun a few months ago. Then they went to New Hampshire and South Carolina and on and on in the wild and crazy 2016 Presidential election year.
For a long time, the Iowa caucuses saturated cable news because that's where it all started. It was over and I was still trying to understand how it worked. But there's no doubt that the road to the White House started in the cornfields and ethanol wells of Iowa.
Every four years, cash becomes Iowa's bumper crop. Restaurants, motels, TV and radio stations, stores – they open their arms to the invading political army for months in advance. And then, in a single day, boom! They're all gone; Iowa in the rear view mirror. Next primary states, here we come!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When It's 'Love Ya!' Then 'See Ya!"
One Iowa store had some pretty funny caucus shirts back then. One said, "Is there a bale of hay I can interview you in front of?" Another one captured the cynicism of a state that knew the Iowa-fest was over when people voted, "Don't forget to wave next time you fly over."
"We love you, Iowa, and then we leave you" after they've served their political purpose, of course. That kind of "love ya as long as you can do something for me" is one thing when it comes to a state. But it's a broken heart when it's a person dumped by someone who said they loved them.
The "'til death do us part'" that changed to "I just don't love you anymore." The company you gave the best years of your life to that says one day, "We don't need you anymore." The people who cheered for you once are nowhere to be found now. The lover whose l-o-v-e seems now more like u-s-e-d. When "love ya!" turns to "see ya!" it hurts. It really hurts.
I've spent a lot of my life sharing with people the good news about love that changed my life and millions of others. Because I'm profoundly grateful that there's a love that will never betray you, never abandon you, never die on you.
It's obviously got to be bigger than any human love. But it's a love even little kids can understand. I know. Because I sang about it a lot when I was a kid – like millions of kids still do. "Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so."
Yes, it does. The Bible says in Romans 8:39, our word for today from the Word of God, "Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord"; Nothing on earth, nothing in heaven, nothing in hell, nothing in death. Jesus guaranteed this in Hebrews 13:5, I will never leave you or forsake you." And He said, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
The more love has hurt you, the harder it is to believe that. Before that "nothing can separate us," God says, "He did not spare even His own Son for us." That's when Jesus hung on a cross, to pay the death penalty for our hijacking the running of our life from God.
Today it is possible for you to embrace the love that will never let you go. You've lived this long without the love of Jesus. Don't live another day without Him if you want to begin a relationship with Him. He went to a cross to have this relationship. He walked out of His grave to prove to you He can deliver love that will last forever. Right now tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours" right there where you are.
Would you go to our website then? I've set it up in such a way that it has information there that is easy to grasp that will help you make sure you really do belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.
If Jesus was ever going to turn His back on you, it would have been when He was going through your hell on that cross. But He didn't. He went the distance for you. He will never break your heart. His was broken for you. Jesus loves you. This I know.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Psalm 117, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Only You and God
When I lived in Brazil I took my mom and her friend to see Iguacu Falls, the largest water falls in the world. I’d become an expert by reading an article in National Geographic magazine. Surely, I thought, my guests would appreciate their good fortune in having me as their guide.
To reach the lookout point, you must walk a winding trail that leads through a forest. I used the time to give a nature report to my mom and her friend. I caught myself speaking louder and louder. Finally I was shouting above the roar. Even my mother would rather see the splendor than hear my description. So, I shut my mouth.
There are times when to speak is to violate the moment. When silence represents the highest respect. The word for such times is reverence. The prayer for such times is “Hallowed be Thy name!” (Matthew 6:9).
from The Great House of God
Psalm 117
Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Praise him, all you people of the earth.
2 For his unfailing love for us is powerful;
the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, April 03, 2016
Read: Exodus 31:1-11
Craftsmen: Bezalel and Oholiab
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Look, I have specifically chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. 4 He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze. 5 He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft!
6 “And I have personally appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to be his assistant. Moreover, I have given special skill to all the gifted craftsmen so they can make all the things I have commanded you to make:
7 the Tabernacle;[a]
the Ark of the Covenant;[b]
the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement;
all the furnishings of the Tabernacle;
8 the table and its utensils;
the pure gold lampstand with all its accessories;
the incense altar;
9 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils;
the washbasin with its stand;
10 the beautifully stitched garments—the sacred garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons to wear as they minister as priests;
11 the anointing oil;
the fragrant incense for the Holy Place.
The craftsmen must make everything as I have commanded you.”
Footnotes:
31:7a Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
31:7b Hebrew the Ark of the Testimony.
INSIGHT:
The tabernacle was to function as God’s dwelling place where the Israelites could come before His presence (Ex. 25:8). It was built according to God’s blueprint. He especially appointed two craftsmen—Bezalel and Oholiab (31:1–6)—and gave them the ability to lead the work and teach others (35:30–35). God spoke of a special empowering of Bezalel: God “filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills” (31:3). God also provided the skilled workers needed to build the tabernacle and gave each of them the ability to make everything exactly as He wanted it made (vv. 6,11; 36:1). Sim Kay Tee
The Blacksmith and the King
By Randy Kilgore
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians 3:23
In 1878, when Scotsman Alexander Mackay arrived in what is now Uganda to serve as a missionary, he first set up a blacksmith forge among a tribe ruled by King Mutesa. Villagers gathered around this stranger who worked with his hands, puzzled because everyone “knew” that work was for women. At that time, men in Uganda never worked with their hands. They raided other villages to capture slaves, selling them to outsiders. Yet here was this foreign man at work forging farming tools.
Mackay’s work ethic and life resulted in relationships with the villagers and gained him an audience with the king. Mackay challenged King Mutesa to end the slave trade, and he did.
God calls us to know Him more fully—and He will show us how to serve Him
In Scripture, we read of Bezalel and Oholiab, who were chosen and gifted by God to work with their hands designing the tent of meeting and all its furnishings for worship (Ex. 31:1-11). Like Mackay, they honored and served God with their talent and labor.
We tend to categorize our work as either church work or secular. In truth, there is no distinction. God designs each of us in ways that make our contributions to the kingdom unique and meaningful. Even when we have little choice in where or how we work, God calls us to know Him more fully—and He will show us how to serve Him—right now.
Father, grant me an awareness of my place in Your work. Help me to see You at work in the people and places where I spend my time.
God will show us how to serve Him—wherever we are.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 03, 2016
“If You Had Known!”
If you had known…in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. —Luke 19:42
Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly and the city was stirred to its very foundations, but a strange god was there– the pride of the Pharisees. It was a god that seemed religious and upright, but Jesus compared it to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).
What is it that blinds you to the peace of God “in this your day”? Do you have a strange god– not a disgusting monster but perhaps an unholy nature that controls your life? More than once God has brought me face to face with a strange god in my life, and I knew that I should have given it up, but I didn’t do it. I got through the crisis “by the skin of my teeth,” only to find myself still under the control of that strange god. I am blind to the very things that make for my own peace. It is a shocking thing that we can be in the exact place where the Spirit of God should be having His completely unhindered way with us, and yet we only make matters worse, increasing our blame in God’s eyes.
“If you had known….” God’s words here cut directly to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind them. These words imply responsibility for our own faults. God holds us accountable for what we refuse to see or are unable to see because of our sin. And “now they are hidden from your eyes” because you have never completely yielded your nature to Him. Oh, the deep, unending sadness for what might have been! God never again opens the doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut– doors which had no need to be shut. Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
When I lived in Brazil I took my mom and her friend to see Iguacu Falls, the largest water falls in the world. I’d become an expert by reading an article in National Geographic magazine. Surely, I thought, my guests would appreciate their good fortune in having me as their guide.
To reach the lookout point, you must walk a winding trail that leads through a forest. I used the time to give a nature report to my mom and her friend. I caught myself speaking louder and louder. Finally I was shouting above the roar. Even my mother would rather see the splendor than hear my description. So, I shut my mouth.
There are times when to speak is to violate the moment. When silence represents the highest respect. The word for such times is reverence. The prayer for such times is “Hallowed be Thy name!” (Matthew 6:9).
from The Great House of God
Psalm 117
Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Praise him, all you people of the earth.
2 For his unfailing love for us is powerful;
the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, April 03, 2016
Read: Exodus 31:1-11
Craftsmen: Bezalel and Oholiab
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Look, I have specifically chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. 4 He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze. 5 He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft!
6 “And I have personally appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to be his assistant. Moreover, I have given special skill to all the gifted craftsmen so they can make all the things I have commanded you to make:
7 the Tabernacle;[a]
the Ark of the Covenant;[b]
the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement;
all the furnishings of the Tabernacle;
8 the table and its utensils;
the pure gold lampstand with all its accessories;
the incense altar;
9 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils;
the washbasin with its stand;
10 the beautifully stitched garments—the sacred garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons to wear as they minister as priests;
11 the anointing oil;
the fragrant incense for the Holy Place.
The craftsmen must make everything as I have commanded you.”
Footnotes:
31:7a Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
31:7b Hebrew the Ark of the Testimony.
INSIGHT:
The tabernacle was to function as God’s dwelling place where the Israelites could come before His presence (Ex. 25:8). It was built according to God’s blueprint. He especially appointed two craftsmen—Bezalel and Oholiab (31:1–6)—and gave them the ability to lead the work and teach others (35:30–35). God spoke of a special empowering of Bezalel: God “filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills” (31:3). God also provided the skilled workers needed to build the tabernacle and gave each of them the ability to make everything exactly as He wanted it made (vv. 6,11; 36:1). Sim Kay Tee
The Blacksmith and the King
By Randy Kilgore
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians 3:23
In 1878, when Scotsman Alexander Mackay arrived in what is now Uganda to serve as a missionary, he first set up a blacksmith forge among a tribe ruled by King Mutesa. Villagers gathered around this stranger who worked with his hands, puzzled because everyone “knew” that work was for women. At that time, men in Uganda never worked with their hands. They raided other villages to capture slaves, selling them to outsiders. Yet here was this foreign man at work forging farming tools.
Mackay’s work ethic and life resulted in relationships with the villagers and gained him an audience with the king. Mackay challenged King Mutesa to end the slave trade, and he did.
God calls us to know Him more fully—and He will show us how to serve Him
In Scripture, we read of Bezalel and Oholiab, who were chosen and gifted by God to work with their hands designing the tent of meeting and all its furnishings for worship (Ex. 31:1-11). Like Mackay, they honored and served God with their talent and labor.
We tend to categorize our work as either church work or secular. In truth, there is no distinction. God designs each of us in ways that make our contributions to the kingdom unique and meaningful. Even when we have little choice in where or how we work, God calls us to know Him more fully—and He will show us how to serve Him—right now.
Father, grant me an awareness of my place in Your work. Help me to see You at work in the people and places where I spend my time.
God will show us how to serve Him—wherever we are.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 03, 2016
“If You Had Known!”
If you had known…in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. —Luke 19:42
Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly and the city was stirred to its very foundations, but a strange god was there– the pride of the Pharisees. It was a god that seemed religious and upright, but Jesus compared it to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).
What is it that blinds you to the peace of God “in this your day”? Do you have a strange god– not a disgusting monster but perhaps an unholy nature that controls your life? More than once God has brought me face to face with a strange god in my life, and I knew that I should have given it up, but I didn’t do it. I got through the crisis “by the skin of my teeth,” only to find myself still under the control of that strange god. I am blind to the very things that make for my own peace. It is a shocking thing that we can be in the exact place where the Spirit of God should be having His completely unhindered way with us, and yet we only make matters worse, increasing our blame in God’s eyes.
“If you had known….” God’s words here cut directly to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind them. These words imply responsibility for our own faults. God holds us accountable for what we refuse to see or are unable to see because of our sin. And “now they are hidden from your eyes” because you have never completely yielded your nature to Him. Oh, the deep, unending sadness for what might have been! God never again opens the doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut– doors which had no need to be shut. Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
Saturday, April 2, 2016
Psalm 116, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Calvary
Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers shove the carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts his hammer to strike it!
Couldn't Jesus have stopped him? With a flex of bicep, a clench of the fist, he could've resisted. But the moment isn't aborted. Why? Why didn't Jesus resist? As the soldier pressed his arm, Jesus saw a nail-yes. The soldier's hand-yes. But he saw something else. A long list of our lusts and lies and greedy moments and prodigal years. A list of our sins. He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you. And he couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you. He chose the nails!
From On Calvary's Hill
Psalm 116
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Lord, save me!”
5 The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
6 The Lord protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.
8 For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I trusted in the Lord when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11 in my alarm I said,
“Everyone is a liar.”
12 What shall I return to the Lord
for all his goodness to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful servants.
16 Truly I am your servant, Lord;
I serve you just as my mother did;
you have freed me from my chains.
17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord—
in your midst, Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord.[a]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, April 02, 2016
Read: Proverbs 3:1-18
Trusting in the Lord
My child,[a] never forget the things I have taught you.
Store my commands in your heart.
2 If you do this, you will live many years,
and your life will be satisfying.
3 Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!
Tie them around your neck as a reminder.
Write them deep within your heart.
4 Then you will find favor with both God and people,
and you will earn a good reputation.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.
Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 Then you will have healing for your body
and strength for your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth
and with the best part of everything you produce.
10 Then he will fill your barns with grain,
and your vats will overflow with good wine.
11 My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline,
and don’t be upset when he corrects you.
12 For the Lord corrects those he loves,
just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.[b]
13 Joyful is the person who finds wisdom,
the one who gains understanding.
14 For wisdom is more profitable than silver,
and her wages are better than gold.
15 Wisdom is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 She offers you long life in her right hand,
and riches and honor in her left.
17 She will guide you down delightful paths;
all her ways are satisfying.
18 Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
happy are those who hold her tightly.
Footnotes:
3:1 Hebrew My son; also in 3:11, 21.
3:12 Greek version reads loves, / and he punishes those he accepts as his children. Compare Heb 12:6.
INSIGHT:
The Hebrew word translated “teaching” in Proverbs 3:1 is torah. Torah is most often translated “law” in the Old Testament, but it can also be translated “instruction” or “guidance.” The father in Proverbs 3 is not just advising his son to obey rules. He is urging him to internalize loving and helpful instructions: “Do not forget my teaching [instruction, guidance], but keep my commands in your heart.” Dennis Moles
Too Close
By David McCasland
In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:6
I grew up in Oklahoma where severe weather is common from early spring through the end of summer. I recall one evening when the sky boiled with dark clouds, the TV weather forecaster warned of an approaching tornado, and the electricity went out. Very quickly, my parents, my sister, and I climbed down the wooden ladder into the storm cellar behind our house where we stayed until the storm passed by.
Today “storm chasing” has become a hobby for many people and a profitable business for others. The goal is to get as close as possible to a tornado without being harmed. Many storm chasers are skilled forecasters with accurate information, but I won’t sign up for a tornado tour anytime soon.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5)
In moral and spiritual areas of my life, however, I can foolishly pursue dangerous things God tells me to avoid because of His love for me, all the time believing I won’t be harmed. A wiser approach is to read the book of Proverbs, which contains many positive ways to elude these snares of life.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding,” Solomon wrote. “In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:5-6).
Our Lord is the master of the adventure of living, and following His wisdom leads us to fullness of life.
Father, Your wisdom leads us along the path of life. Help us to follow Your guidance today.
How can you trust the Lord today?
Share with us at www.odb.org
Every temptation is an occasion to trust God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 02, 2016
The Glory That’s Unsurpassed
…the Lord Jesus…has sent me that you may receive your sight… —Acts 9:17
When Paul received his sight, he also received spiritual insight into the Person of Jesus Christ. His entire life and preaching from that point on were totally consumed with nothing but Jesus Christ— “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Paul never again allowed anything to attract and hold the attention of his mind and soul except the face of Jesus Christ.
We must learn to maintain a strong degree of character in our lives, even to the level that has been revealed in our vision of Jesus Christ.
The lasting characteristic of a spiritual man is the ability to understand correctly the meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life, and the ability to explain the purposes of God to others. The overruling passion of his life is Jesus Christ. Whenever you see this quality in a person, you get the feeling that he is truly a man after God’s own heart (see Acts 13:22).
Never allow anything to divert you from your insight into Jesus Christ. It is the true test of whether you are spiritual or not. To be unspiritual means that other things have a growing fascination for you.
Since mine eyes have looked on Jesus,
I’ve lost sight of all beside,
So enchained my spirit’s vision,
Gazing on the Crucified.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.
Biblical Psychology
Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as the soldiers shove the carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts his hammer to strike it!
Couldn't Jesus have stopped him? With a flex of bicep, a clench of the fist, he could've resisted. But the moment isn't aborted. Why? Why didn't Jesus resist? As the soldier pressed his arm, Jesus saw a nail-yes. The soldier's hand-yes. But he saw something else. A long list of our lusts and lies and greedy moments and prodigal years. A list of our sins. He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you. And he couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you. He chose the nails!
From On Calvary's Hill
Psalm 116
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Lord, save me!”
5 The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
6 The Lord protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.
8 For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I trusted in the Lord when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11 in my alarm I said,
“Everyone is a liar.”
12 What shall I return to the Lord
for all his goodness to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful servants.
16 Truly I am your servant, Lord;
I serve you just as my mother did;
you have freed me from my chains.
17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord—
in your midst, Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord.[a]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, April 02, 2016
Read: Proverbs 3:1-18
Trusting in the Lord
My child,[a] never forget the things I have taught you.
Store my commands in your heart.
2 If you do this, you will live many years,
and your life will be satisfying.
3 Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!
Tie them around your neck as a reminder.
Write them deep within your heart.
4 Then you will find favor with both God and people,
and you will earn a good reputation.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.
Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 Then you will have healing for your body
and strength for your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth
and with the best part of everything you produce.
10 Then he will fill your barns with grain,
and your vats will overflow with good wine.
11 My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline,
and don’t be upset when he corrects you.
12 For the Lord corrects those he loves,
just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.[b]
13 Joyful is the person who finds wisdom,
the one who gains understanding.
14 For wisdom is more profitable than silver,
and her wages are better than gold.
15 Wisdom is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 She offers you long life in her right hand,
and riches and honor in her left.
17 She will guide you down delightful paths;
all her ways are satisfying.
18 Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
happy are those who hold her tightly.
Footnotes:
3:1 Hebrew My son; also in 3:11, 21.
3:12 Greek version reads loves, / and he punishes those he accepts as his children. Compare Heb 12:6.
INSIGHT:
The Hebrew word translated “teaching” in Proverbs 3:1 is torah. Torah is most often translated “law” in the Old Testament, but it can also be translated “instruction” or “guidance.” The father in Proverbs 3 is not just advising his son to obey rules. He is urging him to internalize loving and helpful instructions: “Do not forget my teaching [instruction, guidance], but keep my commands in your heart.” Dennis Moles
Too Close
By David McCasland
In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:6
I grew up in Oklahoma where severe weather is common from early spring through the end of summer. I recall one evening when the sky boiled with dark clouds, the TV weather forecaster warned of an approaching tornado, and the electricity went out. Very quickly, my parents, my sister, and I climbed down the wooden ladder into the storm cellar behind our house where we stayed until the storm passed by.
Today “storm chasing” has become a hobby for many people and a profitable business for others. The goal is to get as close as possible to a tornado without being harmed. Many storm chasers are skilled forecasters with accurate information, but I won’t sign up for a tornado tour anytime soon.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5)
In moral and spiritual areas of my life, however, I can foolishly pursue dangerous things God tells me to avoid because of His love for me, all the time believing I won’t be harmed. A wiser approach is to read the book of Proverbs, which contains many positive ways to elude these snares of life.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding,” Solomon wrote. “In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:5-6).
Our Lord is the master of the adventure of living, and following His wisdom leads us to fullness of life.
Father, Your wisdom leads us along the path of life. Help us to follow Your guidance today.
How can you trust the Lord today?
Share with us at www.odb.org
Every temptation is an occasion to trust God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 02, 2016
The Glory That’s Unsurpassed
…the Lord Jesus…has sent me that you may receive your sight… —Acts 9:17
When Paul received his sight, he also received spiritual insight into the Person of Jesus Christ. His entire life and preaching from that point on were totally consumed with nothing but Jesus Christ— “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Paul never again allowed anything to attract and hold the attention of his mind and soul except the face of Jesus Christ.
We must learn to maintain a strong degree of character in our lives, even to the level that has been revealed in our vision of Jesus Christ.
The lasting characteristic of a spiritual man is the ability to understand correctly the meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life, and the ability to explain the purposes of God to others. The overruling passion of his life is Jesus Christ. Whenever you see this quality in a person, you get the feeling that he is truly a man after God’s own heart (see Acts 13:22).
Never allow anything to divert you from your insight into Jesus Christ. It is the true test of whether you are spiritual or not. To be unspiritual means that other things have a growing fascination for you.
Since mine eyes have looked on Jesus,
I’ve lost sight of all beside,
So enchained my spirit’s vision,
Gazing on the Crucified.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.
Biblical Psychology
Friday, April 1, 2016
1 Thessalonians 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: BORN AGAIN
Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).” Born again? You must be kidding! Put life in reverse? We can’t be born again.
Oh, but wouldn’t we like to? A try-again. A reload. How can this be? Jesus answers in John 3:16—the hope diamond of the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. A twenty-six word parade of hope!
If you know nothing of the Bible—start here. If you know everything about the Bible—return here! He loves. He gave. We believe. We live! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” John 3:16.
From: 3:16 The Numbers of Hope
1 Thessalonians 4
Live to Please God
Finally, dear brothers and sisters,[a] we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. 2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body[b] and live in holiness and honor— 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. 6 Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife,[c] for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. 7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. 8 Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9 But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other,[d] for God himself has taught you to love one another. 10 Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers[e] throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.
11 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. 12 Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.
The Hope of the Resurrection
13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died[f] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.[g] 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died[h] will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.
Footnotes:
4:1 Greek brothers; also in 4:10, 13.
4:4 Or will know how to take a wife for himself; or will learn to live with his own wife; Greek reads will know how to possess his own vessel.
4:6 Greek Never harm or cheat a brother in this matter.
4:9 Greek about brotherly love.
4:10 Greek the brothers.
4:13 Greek those who have fallen asleep; also in 4:14.
4:15 Greek those who have fallen asleep.
4:16 Greek the dead in Christ.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, April 01, 2016
Read: Psalm 100
A psalm of thanksgiving.
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.[a]
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
Footnotes:
100:3 As in an alternate reading in the Masoretic Text; the other alternate and some ancient versions read and not we ourselves.
INSIGHT:
Bible scholar J. J. S. Perowne says this about the purpose of Psalm 100: “If we are right in regarding Psalms 93–99 as forming one continuous series, one great prophetic oratorio, whose title is ‘Jehovah is King,’ and through which there runs the same great idea, this Psalm may be regarded as the doxology which closes the strain. We find lingering in it notes of the same great harmony. It breathes the same gladness; it is filled with the same hope, that all nations shall bow down before Jehovah, and confess that he is God.” Psalm 100 expresses this great desire—that the world that is separated from God might know Him and His greatness. Bill Crowder
The Gallery of God
By Dave Branon
The Lord is good and his love endures forever. Psalm 100:5
Psalm 100 is like a work of art that helps us celebrate our unseen God. While the focus of our worship is beyond view, His people make Him known.
Imagine the artist with brush and palette working the colorful words of this psalm onto a canvas. What emerges before our eyes is a world—“all the earth”—shouting for joy to the Lord (v. 1). Joy. Because it is the delight of our God to redeem us from death. “For the joy that was set before Him,” Jesus endured the cross (Heb. 12:2 nkjv).
Our heavenly Father’s heart is pleased when His people worship Him.
As our eyes move across the canvas we see an all-world choir of countless members singing “with gladness” and “joyful songs” (Ps. 100:2). Our heavenly Father’s heart is pleased when His people worship Him for who He is and what He has done.
Then we see images of ourselves, fashioned from dust in the hands of our Creator, and led like sheep into green pastures (v. 3). We, His people, have a loving Shepherd.
Finally, we see God’s great and glorious dwelling place—and the gates through which His rescued people enter His unseen presence, while giving Him thanks and praise (v. 4).
What a picture, inspired by our God. Our good, loving, and faithful God. No wonder it will take forever to enjoy His greatness!
Great God of heaven, thank You for life, for joy, for protection, and for promising us a future with You forever. Help us to live with thoughts of Your greatness always on our hearts and minds.
Nothing is more awesome than to know God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 01, 2016
Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?
It is Christ…who also makes intercession for us….the Spirit…makes intercession for the saints… —Romans 8:34, 27
Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors– that Christ “always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25), and that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.
Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.
Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 01, 2016
Why Your World is Getting Rocked - #7625
Our grandson loves to take home souvenirs from visits to our house: Rocks, shiny rocks, colorful rocks. So why not a rock tumbler for him for Christmas? Today, it's running full speed ahead tumbling rocks. For three weeks! For goodness sake, how long does it take to turn a blah rock into a beautiful rock anyway?
His mom explained that the mineral magic takes three different week-long processes. Clean them and remove the rough edges. Then attack them with this sandy grit to start shining them. Finally, another week of bombardment just to make them beautiful.
As I'm listening to all this, I'm thinking, "You know, this sounds familiar. I think I've lived this. Knocked around. Blasted. Spinning in life's 'rock tumbler.'" I actually see in my grandson's spinning rocks some of the meaning in my rocky times.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Your World is Getting Rocked."
Because God rocks my world to get my attention. Yeah, that's what He does, using turbulence to remove some rough edges, some hard knocks that get rid of accumulated dirt, abrasive times that end up bringing out something beautiful.
Never a process I enjoy (if those tumbling rocks could only talk...). But a result that I'll appreciate for the rest of my life. If, when I get the pain, I get the point. Like the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:14, "When times are good, be happy, but when times are bad, consider."
The times of upheaval have made me ask questions that I never would ask otherwise. About life's two lists; the things that really matter and the things that really don't. The push and the pull of my life? Well, they tend to jumble those lists until I'm getting hammered.
That's when I start asking, "What really matters and what really doesn't?" Years ago, a crisis in a loved one's health shook me to the core. Result? I reexamined my priorities and I realized anew the treasure that person is. Trouble has also forced me to ask, "What's the problem here?" Until I realize it's me and I face sin that I've managed to ignore.
God is in the business of making us "rough rocks" into the polished stones that we're meant to be. And it often takes a rugged process to produce that beautiful result. Romans 5:4, our word for today from the Word of God in the New Living says, "Problems and trials...develop strength of character" If I'd never hurt, I would have never developed compassion. If pain hadn't broken me open, I'd never have let God in to touch the deepest corners of my soul.
As Job, who is the poster child for unbearable suffering, said to God after his ordeal: "My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You" (Job 42:5). It's in the depths of the valley that we experience God's love and God's power as never before. Psalm 34:18,"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted"
Bible folks love to quote Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose." The next verse defines "His purpose." That we "be conformed to the likeness of His Son." God sends, God allows only what will make me more like Jesus if I pursue His purpose in my pain.
For a boy's rough rocks – for God's "rough rocks" to become polished stones takes time and takes turbulence. And the harder the rock, the longer it needs to keep spinning. I get that. I may not enjoy the ride in the "rock tumbler" of God, but you know what? I'm going to love the result.
Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).” Born again? You must be kidding! Put life in reverse? We can’t be born again.
Oh, but wouldn’t we like to? A try-again. A reload. How can this be? Jesus answers in John 3:16—the hope diamond of the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. A twenty-six word parade of hope!
If you know nothing of the Bible—start here. If you know everything about the Bible—return here! He loves. He gave. We believe. We live! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” John 3:16.
From: 3:16 The Numbers of Hope
1 Thessalonians 4
Live to Please God
Finally, dear brothers and sisters,[a] we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. 2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body[b] and live in holiness and honor— 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. 6 Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife,[c] for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. 7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. 8 Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9 But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other,[d] for God himself has taught you to love one another. 10 Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers[e] throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.
11 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. 12 Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.
The Hope of the Resurrection
13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died[f] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.[g] 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died[h] will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.
Footnotes:
4:1 Greek brothers; also in 4:10, 13.
4:4 Or will know how to take a wife for himself; or will learn to live with his own wife; Greek reads will know how to possess his own vessel.
4:6 Greek Never harm or cheat a brother in this matter.
4:9 Greek about brotherly love.
4:10 Greek the brothers.
4:13 Greek those who have fallen asleep; also in 4:14.
4:15 Greek those who have fallen asleep.
4:16 Greek the dead in Christ.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, April 01, 2016
Read: Psalm 100
A psalm of thanksgiving.
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.[a]
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
Footnotes:
100:3 As in an alternate reading in the Masoretic Text; the other alternate and some ancient versions read and not we ourselves.
INSIGHT:
Bible scholar J. J. S. Perowne says this about the purpose of Psalm 100: “If we are right in regarding Psalms 93–99 as forming one continuous series, one great prophetic oratorio, whose title is ‘Jehovah is King,’ and through which there runs the same great idea, this Psalm may be regarded as the doxology which closes the strain. We find lingering in it notes of the same great harmony. It breathes the same gladness; it is filled with the same hope, that all nations shall bow down before Jehovah, and confess that he is God.” Psalm 100 expresses this great desire—that the world that is separated from God might know Him and His greatness. Bill Crowder
The Gallery of God
By Dave Branon
The Lord is good and his love endures forever. Psalm 100:5
Psalm 100 is like a work of art that helps us celebrate our unseen God. While the focus of our worship is beyond view, His people make Him known.
Imagine the artist with brush and palette working the colorful words of this psalm onto a canvas. What emerges before our eyes is a world—“all the earth”—shouting for joy to the Lord (v. 1). Joy. Because it is the delight of our God to redeem us from death. “For the joy that was set before Him,” Jesus endured the cross (Heb. 12:2 nkjv).
Our heavenly Father’s heart is pleased when His people worship Him.
As our eyes move across the canvas we see an all-world choir of countless members singing “with gladness” and “joyful songs” (Ps. 100:2). Our heavenly Father’s heart is pleased when His people worship Him for who He is and what He has done.
Then we see images of ourselves, fashioned from dust in the hands of our Creator, and led like sheep into green pastures (v. 3). We, His people, have a loving Shepherd.
Finally, we see God’s great and glorious dwelling place—and the gates through which His rescued people enter His unseen presence, while giving Him thanks and praise (v. 4).
What a picture, inspired by our God. Our good, loving, and faithful God. No wonder it will take forever to enjoy His greatness!
Great God of heaven, thank You for life, for joy, for protection, and for promising us a future with You forever. Help us to live with thoughts of Your greatness always on our hearts and minds.
Nothing is more awesome than to know God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, April 01, 2016
Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?
It is Christ…who also makes intercession for us….the Spirit…makes intercession for the saints… —Romans 8:34, 27
Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors– that Christ “always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25), and that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.
Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.
Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, April 01, 2016
Why Your World is Getting Rocked - #7625
Our grandson loves to take home souvenirs from visits to our house: Rocks, shiny rocks, colorful rocks. So why not a rock tumbler for him for Christmas? Today, it's running full speed ahead tumbling rocks. For three weeks! For goodness sake, how long does it take to turn a blah rock into a beautiful rock anyway?
His mom explained that the mineral magic takes three different week-long processes. Clean them and remove the rough edges. Then attack them with this sandy grit to start shining them. Finally, another week of bombardment just to make them beautiful.
As I'm listening to all this, I'm thinking, "You know, this sounds familiar. I think I've lived this. Knocked around. Blasted. Spinning in life's 'rock tumbler.'" I actually see in my grandson's spinning rocks some of the meaning in my rocky times.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Your World is Getting Rocked."
Because God rocks my world to get my attention. Yeah, that's what He does, using turbulence to remove some rough edges, some hard knocks that get rid of accumulated dirt, abrasive times that end up bringing out something beautiful.
Never a process I enjoy (if those tumbling rocks could only talk...). But a result that I'll appreciate for the rest of my life. If, when I get the pain, I get the point. Like the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:14, "When times are good, be happy, but when times are bad, consider."
The times of upheaval have made me ask questions that I never would ask otherwise. About life's two lists; the things that really matter and the things that really don't. The push and the pull of my life? Well, they tend to jumble those lists until I'm getting hammered.
That's when I start asking, "What really matters and what really doesn't?" Years ago, a crisis in a loved one's health shook me to the core. Result? I reexamined my priorities and I realized anew the treasure that person is. Trouble has also forced me to ask, "What's the problem here?" Until I realize it's me and I face sin that I've managed to ignore.
God is in the business of making us "rough rocks" into the polished stones that we're meant to be. And it often takes a rugged process to produce that beautiful result. Romans 5:4, our word for today from the Word of God in the New Living says, "Problems and trials...develop strength of character" If I'd never hurt, I would have never developed compassion. If pain hadn't broken me open, I'd never have let God in to touch the deepest corners of my soul.
As Job, who is the poster child for unbearable suffering, said to God after his ordeal: "My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You" (Job 42:5). It's in the depths of the valley that we experience God's love and God's power as never before. Psalm 34:18,"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted"
Bible folks love to quote Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose." The next verse defines "His purpose." That we "be conformed to the likeness of His Son." God sends, God allows only what will make me more like Jesus if I pursue His purpose in my pain.
For a boy's rough rocks – for God's "rough rocks" to become polished stones takes time and takes turbulence. And the harder the rock, the longer it needs to keep spinning. I get that. I may not enjoy the ride in the "rock tumbler" of God, but you know what? I'm going to love the result.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
1 Thessalonians 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Be Ready
The Bible says, "The Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness." (John.1:14)
The operative word here being among. He donned the costliest of robes, a human body. He took a common name-Jesus-and made it holy. He could have lived over us or away from us. But he didn't. He lived among us!
And to us all he shared the same message, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. . .I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am" (John. 14:1,3).
Live with an ear for the trumpet and an eye for the clouds. And when he calls your name, be ready. You will look up, and he will reach down and take you home. . . when Christ comes!
From When Christ Comes
1 Thessalonians 3
So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.
Timothy’s Encouraging Report
6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Read: Mark 2:13-17
Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew)
Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.
15 Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) 16 But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees[a] saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?[b]”
17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
Footnotes:
2:16a Greek the scribes of the Pharisees.
2:16b Greek with tax collectors and sinners?
INSIGHT:
Mark 2:13–17 and Luke 5:27–32 both tell the story of Jesus calling a man named Levi to be His disciple. It appears that Levi was employed by Herod Antipas to collect tolls (travel taxes) from those outside of his territory who passed through Capernaum. There is almost universal agreement that the Levi in Mark 2 and Luke 5 is the apostle Matthew, since Matthew is identified as a tax collector and his own calling mirrors the calling of Levi (Matt. 9:9-12). After Levi started his new life as an apostle, he was called by his Greek name—Matthew—which means “gift of God.”
Follow Me
By Marvin Williams
It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Mark 2:17
Health clubs offer many different programs for those who want to lose weight and stay healthy. One fitness center caters only to those who want to lose at least 50 pounds and develop a healthy lifestyle. One member says that she quit her previous fitness club because she felt the slim and fit people were staring at her and judging her out-of-shape body. She now works out 5 days a week and is achieving healthy weight loss in a positive and welcoming environment.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to call the spiritually unfit to follow Him. Levi was one such person. Jesus saw him sitting in his tax collector’s booth and said, “Follow me” (Mark 2:14). His words captured Levi’s heart, and he followed Jesus. Tax collectors were often greedy and dishonest in their dealings and were considered religiously unclean. When the religious leaders saw Jesus having dinner at Levi’s house with other tax collectors, they asked, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (2:16). Jesus replied, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (2:17).
Jesus came to save sinners, which includes all of us.
Jesus came to save sinners, which includes all of us. He loves us, welcomes us into His presence, and calls us to follow Him. As we walk with Him, we grow more and more spiritually fit.
Read Acts 9:10-19 and see how one man obeyed God and welcomed someone who was considered spiritually unfit. What were the results? How can you reach out to those who need the Savior? How can you help your church become a more welcoming place for the spiritually unfit?
Jesus’ arms of welcome are always open.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Heedfulness or Hypocrisy in Ourselves?
If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. —1 John 5:16
If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other people are failing, and then we take our discernment and turn it into comments of ridicule and criticism, instead of turning it into intercession on their behalf. God reveals this truth about others to us not through the sharpness of our minds but through the direct penetration of His Spirit. If we are not attentive, we will be completely unaware of the source of the discernment God has given us, becoming critical of others and forgetting that God says, “…he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” Be careful that you don’t become a hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right with God before you worship Him yourself.
One of the most subtle and illusive burdens God ever places on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning others. He gives us discernment so that we may accept the responsibility for those souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them (see Philippians 2:5). We should intercede in accordance with what God says He will give us, namely, “life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” It is not that we are able to bring God into contact with our minds, but that we awaken ourselves to the point where God is able to convey His mind to us regarding the people for whom we intercede.
Can Jesus Christ see the agony of His soul in us? He can’t unless we are so closely identified with Him that we have His view concerning the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ will be completely and overwhelmingly satisfied with us as intercessors.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Crashproof Peace - #7624
I was on a flight several years ago and my neighbor was one of the flight attendants. For whatever reason we ended up talking about plane crashes. Imagine that! One that came to mind in particular was a tragic crash off the coast of Nova Scotia back in 1998.
Since the passengers and the crew knew about the plane's critical situation for a while, we talked about how it must have felt to be anticipating that crash for half an hour. And I couldn't help but reflect on two occasions when the plane I was in had pretty close calls: one where we had serious hydraulic problems, and another where my plane had blown a tire on takeoff. On those occasions we knew about the problem for a while, and we had some time to think about the possibilities.
On one of those flights, I was seated next to a sweet little grandmother who was very scared. Fortunately I was able to be some comfort to her. In fact, I even got her to laugh a little. After we landed with a wounded plane but safe passengers, she said, "How could you stay so calm during a time like this?" I said, "I guess it's because my peace isn't from what's going on around me. It's from inside where nothing can touch it." Or, as I told my flight attendant neighbor, "The peace passed the test."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Crashproof Peace."
I was doubly grateful in those airline emergencies because, well, my plane didn't crash and neither did my peace. Living in the kind of turbulent, unpredictable, even painful world you and I do, our hearts need a source of peace that's unshakable, no matter what. When that grandmother asked me how I could have peace when we could have been facing a crash, I said, "It's because my peace isn't anchored to what's happening around me. It's anchored to my love-relationship with Jesus Christ, which nothing can touch!"
Now that's a peace you may need right now. Our word for today from the Word of God talks about how to have that kind of stability when everything else in our life is up for grabs. It's in Hebrews 6:19. It begins by saying, "We have this hope..." Which hope? Well, the verses around it are talking about the hope we have because Jesus opened a way for us to go right to the heart of God. It says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." Man, I love that!
"As an anchor for the soul." Sounds pretty good doesn't it? See, while the storm is blowing the ship of our life back and forth, an anchor is there that never moves, that keeps us from being blown away. It may be that there's been plenty of turbulence lately for you, and maybe there's heavy weather coming. Maybe you've already seen some things or even some people that you were counting on blown away. The word "peace" so describes what your heart needs right now – something unloseable.
That's what Jesus promised those who belong to Him. He said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you" (John 14:27). It was that peace that never failed me when I was anticipating a possible plane crash, when my precious wife almost died from hepatitis, when we lost a baby, when my Dad died. It was this peace of Jesus I just saw in my dear friends whose teenage son was killed recently in a traffic accident. They told me of the deepest pain of their lives, and the most amazing sense of well-being that they had ever experienced.
Only Jesus could do that, and He wants to do it for you. He gave His life to give you the peace that you need most of all – peace with God. We have this wall between us and our Creator, made from all the sins of our life. But Jesus died to pay the death penalty for our sins so the wall could come down. So you and I could finally trade our hell for His heaven, and our restlessness and our pain for His peace.
Do you want that? Do you want to know you belong to Him? Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website and let me walk you through there how to be sure you belong to Him – AnewStory.com.
When you open up to the peace of Jesus Christ, you have found the anchor for your soul, and no storm, no crash can touch it.
The Bible says, "The Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness." (John.1:14)
The operative word here being among. He donned the costliest of robes, a human body. He took a common name-Jesus-and made it holy. He could have lived over us or away from us. But he didn't. He lived among us!
And to us all he shared the same message, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. . .I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am" (John. 14:1,3).
Live with an ear for the trumpet and an eye for the clouds. And when he calls your name, be ready. You will look up, and he will reach down and take you home. . . when Christ comes!
From When Christ Comes
1 Thessalonians 3
So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.
Timothy’s Encouraging Report
6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Read: Mark 2:13-17
Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew)
Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.
15 Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) 16 But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees[a] saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?[b]”
17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
Footnotes:
2:16a Greek the scribes of the Pharisees.
2:16b Greek with tax collectors and sinners?
INSIGHT:
Mark 2:13–17 and Luke 5:27–32 both tell the story of Jesus calling a man named Levi to be His disciple. It appears that Levi was employed by Herod Antipas to collect tolls (travel taxes) from those outside of his territory who passed through Capernaum. There is almost universal agreement that the Levi in Mark 2 and Luke 5 is the apostle Matthew, since Matthew is identified as a tax collector and his own calling mirrors the calling of Levi (Matt. 9:9-12). After Levi started his new life as an apostle, he was called by his Greek name—Matthew—which means “gift of God.”
Follow Me
By Marvin Williams
It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Mark 2:17
Health clubs offer many different programs for those who want to lose weight and stay healthy. One fitness center caters only to those who want to lose at least 50 pounds and develop a healthy lifestyle. One member says that she quit her previous fitness club because she felt the slim and fit people were staring at her and judging her out-of-shape body. She now works out 5 days a week and is achieving healthy weight loss in a positive and welcoming environment.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to call the spiritually unfit to follow Him. Levi was one such person. Jesus saw him sitting in his tax collector’s booth and said, “Follow me” (Mark 2:14). His words captured Levi’s heart, and he followed Jesus. Tax collectors were often greedy and dishonest in their dealings and were considered religiously unclean. When the religious leaders saw Jesus having dinner at Levi’s house with other tax collectors, they asked, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (2:16). Jesus replied, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (2:17).
Jesus came to save sinners, which includes all of us.
Jesus came to save sinners, which includes all of us. He loves us, welcomes us into His presence, and calls us to follow Him. As we walk with Him, we grow more and more spiritually fit.
Read Acts 9:10-19 and see how one man obeyed God and welcomed someone who was considered spiritually unfit. What were the results? How can you reach out to those who need the Savior? How can you help your church become a more welcoming place for the spiritually unfit?
Jesus’ arms of welcome are always open.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Heedfulness or Hypocrisy in Ourselves?
If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. —1 John 5:16
If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other people are failing, and then we take our discernment and turn it into comments of ridicule and criticism, instead of turning it into intercession on their behalf. God reveals this truth about others to us not through the sharpness of our minds but through the direct penetration of His Spirit. If we are not attentive, we will be completely unaware of the source of the discernment God has given us, becoming critical of others and forgetting that God says, “…he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” Be careful that you don’t become a hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right with God before you worship Him yourself.
One of the most subtle and illusive burdens God ever places on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning others. He gives us discernment so that we may accept the responsibility for those souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them (see Philippians 2:5). We should intercede in accordance with what God says He will give us, namely, “life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” It is not that we are able to bring God into contact with our minds, but that we awaken ourselves to the point where God is able to convey His mind to us regarding the people for whom we intercede.
Can Jesus Christ see the agony of His soul in us? He can’t unless we are so closely identified with Him that we have His view concerning the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ will be completely and overwhelmingly satisfied with us as intercessors.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Crashproof Peace - #7624
I was on a flight several years ago and my neighbor was one of the flight attendants. For whatever reason we ended up talking about plane crashes. Imagine that! One that came to mind in particular was a tragic crash off the coast of Nova Scotia back in 1998.
Since the passengers and the crew knew about the plane's critical situation for a while, we talked about how it must have felt to be anticipating that crash for half an hour. And I couldn't help but reflect on two occasions when the plane I was in had pretty close calls: one where we had serious hydraulic problems, and another where my plane had blown a tire on takeoff. On those occasions we knew about the problem for a while, and we had some time to think about the possibilities.
On one of those flights, I was seated next to a sweet little grandmother who was very scared. Fortunately I was able to be some comfort to her. In fact, I even got her to laugh a little. After we landed with a wounded plane but safe passengers, she said, "How could you stay so calm during a time like this?" I said, "I guess it's because my peace isn't from what's going on around me. It's from inside where nothing can touch it." Or, as I told my flight attendant neighbor, "The peace passed the test."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Crashproof Peace."
I was doubly grateful in those airline emergencies because, well, my plane didn't crash and neither did my peace. Living in the kind of turbulent, unpredictable, even painful world you and I do, our hearts need a source of peace that's unshakable, no matter what. When that grandmother asked me how I could have peace when we could have been facing a crash, I said, "It's because my peace isn't anchored to what's happening around me. It's anchored to my love-relationship with Jesus Christ, which nothing can touch!"
Now that's a peace you may need right now. Our word for today from the Word of God talks about how to have that kind of stability when everything else in our life is up for grabs. It's in Hebrews 6:19. It begins by saying, "We have this hope..." Which hope? Well, the verses around it are talking about the hope we have because Jesus opened a way for us to go right to the heart of God. It says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." Man, I love that!
"As an anchor for the soul." Sounds pretty good doesn't it? See, while the storm is blowing the ship of our life back and forth, an anchor is there that never moves, that keeps us from being blown away. It may be that there's been plenty of turbulence lately for you, and maybe there's heavy weather coming. Maybe you've already seen some things or even some people that you were counting on blown away. The word "peace" so describes what your heart needs right now – something unloseable.
That's what Jesus promised those who belong to Him. He said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you" (John 14:27). It was that peace that never failed me when I was anticipating a possible plane crash, when my precious wife almost died from hepatitis, when we lost a baby, when my Dad died. It was this peace of Jesus I just saw in my dear friends whose teenage son was killed recently in a traffic accident. They told me of the deepest pain of their lives, and the most amazing sense of well-being that they had ever experienced.
Only Jesus could do that, and He wants to do it for you. He gave His life to give you the peace that you need most of all – peace with God. We have this wall between us and our Creator, made from all the sins of our life. But Jesus died to pay the death penalty for our sins so the wall could come down. So you and I could finally trade our hell for His heaven, and our restlessness and our pain for His peace.
Do you want that? Do you want to know you belong to Him? Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website and let me walk you through there how to be sure you belong to Him – AnewStory.com.
When you open up to the peace of Jesus Christ, you have found the anchor for your soul, and no storm, no crash can touch it.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Psalm 115, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Remember What You're Worth
Remember what you are worth! The Bible says, "You were bought…not with something that ruins like gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ. . ." (1 Peter 1:18).
Ever feel like you have nothing? Just look at the gifts he has given you. His Holy Spirit to dwell in you, his church to encourage you, and his Word to guide you. You have been chosen by Christ. He has claimed you as his beloved. You are spoken for; engaged; set apart; called out… a holy bride!
Be obsessed with your wedding date. Be intolerant of memory lapses. Write yourself notes. Do whatever you need to do to "aim at what is in heaven. . .to think about only the things in heaven" (Colossians 3:1-20). You are engaged to Royalty-and your prince is coming to take you home!
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 115
Not to us, Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
2 Why do the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.
9 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us:
He will bless his people Israel,
he will bless the house of Aaron,
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord—
small and great alike.
14 May the Lord cause you to flourish,
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
16 The highest heavens belong to the Lord,
but the earth he has given to mankind.
17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
those who go down to the place of silence;
18 it is we who extol the Lord,
both now and forevermore.
Praise the Lord.[b]
Footnotes:
Psalm 115:18 Hebrew Hallelu Yah
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Read: Acts 9:1-19
Saul’s Conversion
Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.[a] So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
10 Now there was a believer[b] in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord!” he replied.
11 The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. 12 I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
13 “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers[c] in Jerusalem! 14 And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”
15 But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. 16 And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
17 So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul stayed with the believers[d] in Damascus for a few days.
Footnotes:
9:1 Greek disciples.
9:10 Greek disciple; also in 9:26, 36.
9:13 Greek God’s holy people; also in 9:32, 41.
9:19 Greek disciples; also in 9:26, 38.
Surprised by Grace
By Anne Cetas
I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace. Ephesians 3:7
A woman from Grand Rapids, Michigan, fell asleep on the couch after her husband had gone to bed. An intruder sneaked in through the sliding door, which the couple had forgotten to lock, and crept through the house. He entered the bedroom where the husband was sleeping and picked up the television set. The sleeping man woke up, saw a figure standing there, and whispered, "Honey, come to bed." The burglar panicked, put down the TV, grabbed a stack of money from the dresser, and ran out.
The thief was in for a big surprise! The money turned out to be a stack of Christian pamphlets with a likeness of a $20 bill on one side and an explanation of the love and forgiveness God offers to people on the other side. Instead of the cash he expected, the intruder got the story of God’s love for him.
God’s gift of grace shows us His love and forgiveness.
I wonder what Saul expected when he realized it was Jesus appearing to him on the road to Damascus, since he had been persecuting and even killing Jesus’ followers? (Acts 9:1-9). Saul, later called Paul, must have been surprised by God’s grace toward him, which he called “a gift”: “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power” (Eph. 3:7).
Have you been surprised by God’s gift of grace in your life as He shows you His love and forgiveness?
Lord, Your grace is amazing to me. I’m grateful that in spite of my sinfulness, You offer Your love to me.
Never measure God’s unlimited power by your limited expectations.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
He…wondered that there was no intercessor… —Isaiah 59:16
The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work— work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Holding Onto Your Child In The Storm - #7623
Kissimmee, Florida is right in the middle of some of Florida's most exciting tourist attractions. So, it's usually associated with happy times. But in February of 1998 the headlines were about tragedy in Kissimmee; 38 people killed in the deadliest tornado outbreak in the state's history up to that time. In its lead front page story, USA Today told about one couple who cowered in horror. And it said, "As the house they had saved ten years to buy literally broke apart around them." Then it got worse. "The garage door," the story said, "blew open and tore away. The door into the kitchen opened, and the wind sucked like a vacuum cleaner, pulling their five-year-old daughter, Elissa, away. Her Dad said, 'She was horizontal, and my wife was holding onto her legs. There was all this glass and everything started to disappear, all the furniture, and the insides of the walls. If my wife had let go of Elissa, we wouldn't have been able to find her.'" USA Today said, "But Judy's grip held. And in a few moments, the tornado had passed and Elissa was safe in her arms." Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Holding Onto Your Child In The Storm."
If you're a parent, you may know that feeling because there are unusually stormy times right now in which to be raising a son or daughter. And sometimes you feel like all that's swirling around them threatens to take them away. There are so many mistakes they can make; so many mistakes we can make. There may be days when you feel like you're hanging on for dear life.
Our word for today from the Word of God, though it isn't addressed specifically to parents, is a great parent scripture. 2 Timothy 1:7 says this, "God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." God doesn't want your parent-heart to be a fearful heart. In fact, He has made this strong promise to parents in Isaiah 54:13, "All your children will be taught of the Lord; and great will be the peace of your children."
You can keep your child from being torn away by the storm. Take time to casually debrief each day with them; helping them interpret what they have experienced that day. Give them boundaries, but with positive reasons-not just boundaries. Focus on today-not the problems of yesterday or the prospects of tomorrow. Make your home an island of sanity in an otherwise insane world, where when they close that door, they know they're safe, not on another battlefield. And each new day give that child back to the God who gave you that child in the first place.
The ultimate secret of holding onto your child in the storm is - in a sense - letting go of your child. After the writer talked about having a spirit of power and love instead of a spirit of fear, he tells how that's possible with so much at stake. Speaking of his personal relationship with Jesus he says, "I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what (or who) I have entrusted to Him" (2 Timothy 1:12).
There is a relationship that provides a life-anchor-for anyone, but especially for parents raising children in stormy times. If you have begun that personal love-relationship with Jesus, you can commit your precious child to Him and He'll hang onto them as you never could.
But first Jesus has to be hanging onto you. There is nothing like being a parent to make you aware of your need for help, for the power to change, for forgiveness and for inner healing. And Jesus is a Mom's Savior, a Dad's Savior. He died on the cross to pay for all the sinning you and I have ever done, to tear down the wall between God and us and to open up all of God's love and all God's power to you as a Mom or Dad.
If you've never put your personal trust in Jesus Christ to be your Savior, don't wait another day for your sake; for the sake of the child you love. Look, our website is there just to help you know you belong to Him and to know how. Go to ANewStory.com, would you today?
In a world that is so dangerous and so confusing, it isn't easy to keep your child from being taken away by the storm. But you can hang onto your son or daughter if you have the Son of God hanging onto you.
Remember what you are worth! The Bible says, "You were bought…not with something that ruins like gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ. . ." (1 Peter 1:18).
Ever feel like you have nothing? Just look at the gifts he has given you. His Holy Spirit to dwell in you, his church to encourage you, and his Word to guide you. You have been chosen by Christ. He has claimed you as his beloved. You are spoken for; engaged; set apart; called out… a holy bride!
Be obsessed with your wedding date. Be intolerant of memory lapses. Write yourself notes. Do whatever you need to do to "aim at what is in heaven. . .to think about only the things in heaven" (Colossians 3:1-20). You are engaged to Royalty-and your prince is coming to take you home!
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 115
Not to us, Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
2 Why do the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.
9 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us:
He will bless his people Israel,
he will bless the house of Aaron,
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord—
small and great alike.
14 May the Lord cause you to flourish,
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
16 The highest heavens belong to the Lord,
but the earth he has given to mankind.
17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
those who go down to the place of silence;
18 it is we who extol the Lord,
both now and forevermore.
Praise the Lord.[b]
Footnotes:
Psalm 115:18 Hebrew Hallelu Yah
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Read: Acts 9:1-19
Saul’s Conversion
Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.[a] So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
10 Now there was a believer[b] in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord!” he replied.
11 The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. 12 I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
13 “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers[c] in Jerusalem! 14 And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”
15 But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. 16 And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
17 So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul stayed with the believers[d] in Damascus for a few days.
Footnotes:
9:1 Greek disciples.
9:10 Greek disciple; also in 9:26, 36.
9:13 Greek God’s holy people; also in 9:32, 41.
9:19 Greek disciples; also in 9:26, 38.
Surprised by Grace
By Anne Cetas
I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace. Ephesians 3:7
A woman from Grand Rapids, Michigan, fell asleep on the couch after her husband had gone to bed. An intruder sneaked in through the sliding door, which the couple had forgotten to lock, and crept through the house. He entered the bedroom where the husband was sleeping and picked up the television set. The sleeping man woke up, saw a figure standing there, and whispered, "Honey, come to bed." The burglar panicked, put down the TV, grabbed a stack of money from the dresser, and ran out.
The thief was in for a big surprise! The money turned out to be a stack of Christian pamphlets with a likeness of a $20 bill on one side and an explanation of the love and forgiveness God offers to people on the other side. Instead of the cash he expected, the intruder got the story of God’s love for him.
God’s gift of grace shows us His love and forgiveness.
I wonder what Saul expected when he realized it was Jesus appearing to him on the road to Damascus, since he had been persecuting and even killing Jesus’ followers? (Acts 9:1-9). Saul, later called Paul, must have been surprised by God’s grace toward him, which he called “a gift”: “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power” (Eph. 3:7).
Have you been surprised by God’s gift of grace in your life as He shows you His love and forgiveness?
Lord, Your grace is amazing to me. I’m grateful that in spite of my sinfulness, You offer Your love to me.
Never measure God’s unlimited power by your limited expectations.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
He…wondered that there was no intercessor… —Isaiah 59:16
The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work— work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Holding Onto Your Child In The Storm - #7623
Kissimmee, Florida is right in the middle of some of Florida's most exciting tourist attractions. So, it's usually associated with happy times. But in February of 1998 the headlines were about tragedy in Kissimmee; 38 people killed in the deadliest tornado outbreak in the state's history up to that time. In its lead front page story, USA Today told about one couple who cowered in horror. And it said, "As the house they had saved ten years to buy literally broke apart around them." Then it got worse. "The garage door," the story said, "blew open and tore away. The door into the kitchen opened, and the wind sucked like a vacuum cleaner, pulling their five-year-old daughter, Elissa, away. Her Dad said, 'She was horizontal, and my wife was holding onto her legs. There was all this glass and everything started to disappear, all the furniture, and the insides of the walls. If my wife had let go of Elissa, we wouldn't have been able to find her.'" USA Today said, "But Judy's grip held. And in a few moments, the tornado had passed and Elissa was safe in her arms." Wow!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Holding Onto Your Child In The Storm."
If you're a parent, you may know that feeling because there are unusually stormy times right now in which to be raising a son or daughter. And sometimes you feel like all that's swirling around them threatens to take them away. There are so many mistakes they can make; so many mistakes we can make. There may be days when you feel like you're hanging on for dear life.
Our word for today from the Word of God, though it isn't addressed specifically to parents, is a great parent scripture. 2 Timothy 1:7 says this, "God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." God doesn't want your parent-heart to be a fearful heart. In fact, He has made this strong promise to parents in Isaiah 54:13, "All your children will be taught of the Lord; and great will be the peace of your children."
You can keep your child from being torn away by the storm. Take time to casually debrief each day with them; helping them interpret what they have experienced that day. Give them boundaries, but with positive reasons-not just boundaries. Focus on today-not the problems of yesterday or the prospects of tomorrow. Make your home an island of sanity in an otherwise insane world, where when they close that door, they know they're safe, not on another battlefield. And each new day give that child back to the God who gave you that child in the first place.
The ultimate secret of holding onto your child in the storm is - in a sense - letting go of your child. After the writer talked about having a spirit of power and love instead of a spirit of fear, he tells how that's possible with so much at stake. Speaking of his personal relationship with Jesus he says, "I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what (or who) I have entrusted to Him" (2 Timothy 1:12).
There is a relationship that provides a life-anchor-for anyone, but especially for parents raising children in stormy times. If you have begun that personal love-relationship with Jesus, you can commit your precious child to Him and He'll hang onto them as you never could.
But first Jesus has to be hanging onto you. There is nothing like being a parent to make you aware of your need for help, for the power to change, for forgiveness and for inner healing. And Jesus is a Mom's Savior, a Dad's Savior. He died on the cross to pay for all the sinning you and I have ever done, to tear down the wall between God and us and to open up all of God's love and all God's power to you as a Mom or Dad.
If you've never put your personal trust in Jesus Christ to be your Savior, don't wait another day for your sake; for the sake of the child you love. Look, our website is there just to help you know you belong to Him and to know how. Go to ANewStory.com, would you today?
In a world that is so dangerous and so confusing, it isn't easy to keep your child from being taken away by the storm. But you can hang onto your son or daughter if you have the Son of God hanging onto you.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Psalm 114, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: What Makes the Difference?
I once shared a class with a girl who got engaged. I don't remember much about the class except the hour was early and the teacher was dull. I don't even remember the girl's name. I do remember that she didn't stand out in the crowd. She was shy and not very confident.
One day, however, her hair changed and her outfit changed. Even her voice changed. She spoke with confidence. What made the difference? Simple. A young man she loved looked her squarely in the eye and said, "Come and spend forever with me." He proposed to her. His love for her convinced her she was worth loving.
God's love can do the same. It can change us! The Bible says, "God has loved you with an everlasting love; He has drawn you with loving-kindness" (Jeremiah 31:3).
Jesus can live without us-but He doesn't want to!
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 114
When Israel came out of Egypt,
Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled,
the Jordan turned back;
4 the mountains leaped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 Why was it, sea, that you fled?
Why, Jordan, did you turn back?
6 Why, mountains, did you leap like rams,
you hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turned the rock into a pool,
the hard rock into springs of water.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Read: Judges 7:1-8
Gideon Defeats the Midianites
So Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon) and his army got up early and went as far as the spring of Harod. The armies of Midian were camped north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. 3 Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain[a] and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.
4 But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.” 5 When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.” 6 Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.
7 The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.” 8 So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them home. But he kept the 300 men with him.
The Midianite camp was in the valley just below Gideon.
Footnotes:
7:3 Hebrew may leave Mount Gilead. The identity of Mount Gilead is uncertain in this context. It is perhaps used here as another name for Mount Gilboa.
INSIGHT:
Gideon’s life clearly illustrates God’s strength and man’s frailty. God used Gideon to accomplish a great military victory and through him brought 40 years of peace to Israel (Judg. 6–7). But this story also teaches us about the danger of pride. The circumstances surrounding Israel’s victory over Midian clearly show that God, not Gideon, was responsible for Israel’s success. Yet Gideon’s pride led him to accept gold and to erect a monument in his own honor that would later become an object of worship and a snare to him and his family (8:22–27).
God of My Strength
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
I will strengthen you and help you. Isaiah 41:10
No one could have mistaken the ancient Babylonian soldiers for gentlemen. They were ruthless, resilient, and vicious, and they attacked other nations the way an eagle overtakes its prey. Not only were they powerful, they were prideful as well. They practically worshiped their own combat abilities. In fact, the Bible says that their “strength [was] their god” (Hab. 1:11).
God did not want this kind of self-reliance to infect Israel’s forces as they prepared to battle the Midianites. So He told Gideon, Israel’s army commander, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me’ ” (Judg. 7:2). As a result, Gideon discharged anyone who was fearful. Twenty-two thousand men hightailed it home, while 10,000 fighters stayed. God continued to downsize the army until only 300 men remained (vv. 3-7).
I will strengthen you and help you. (Isaiah 41:10)
Having fewer troops meant that Israel was dramatically outnumbered—their enemies, who populated a nearby valley, were as “thick as locusts” (v. 12). Despite this, God gave Gideon’s forces victory.
At times, God may allow our resources to dwindle so that we rely on His strength to keep going. Our needs showcase His power, but He is the One who says, “I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10).
Dear God, I am thankful for Your strength. You carry me when I am weak. Help me to give You the credit for every victory in life.
God wants us to depend on His strength, not our own.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Our Lord’s Surprise Visits
You also be ready… —Luke 12:40
A Christian worker’s greatest need is a readiness to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience has been. This battle is not against sin, difficulties, or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in our service to Jesus Christ that we are not ready to face Jesus Himself at every turn. The greatest need is not facing our beliefs or doctrines, or even facing the question of whether or not we are of any use to Him, but the need is to face Him.
Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This sense of expectation will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious. In other words, we must stop using religion as if it were some kind of a lofty lifestyle— we must be spiritually real.
If you are avoiding the call of the religious thinking of today’s world, and instead are “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2), setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts, you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer. But when He suddenly appears in the work of the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he blocks your sight of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. Conformed to His Image, 354 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Hope for Your Unanswered Prayer - #7622
Denise moved to New Jersey to join our ministry team from Florida. Hello, climate shock! Now she grew up in Detroit, so winter wasn't exactly a new idea to her. But her last years in Florida showed her there was another way to live, like not having winter. It was in the early days of April when she came into a team meeting with this big smile on her face because of something she had seen over the weekend – a robin.
You're probably saying, "Didn't I see him in Batman." Not that kind! The bird; the kind that you see when spring is coming! She told us, "I really don't like winter. I never have. But all those years in those winters in Michigan, I looked for one great sign of hope that winter was almost over – that first robin!" Well, she's back to winters again, and that old excitement about what that first robin means!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hope for Your Unanswered Prayer."
Maybe the word "winter" could describe what you've been experiencing lately, no matter what the thermometer says. It's been a cold time, a long time, a slowed down time, a dark, hard time. You might be encouraged by what happened to the prophet Elijah in our word for today from the Word of God which is in 1 Kings 18. For him, it wasn't a winter, it was a drought. For three years the land of Israel had been under the judgment of God and there had not been a drop of rain.
It was just after Elijah's incredible showdown with 450 false prophets. "And Elijah said to King Ahab, 'Go eat and drink for there is the sound of a heavy rain.' So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah...bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees." He was talking to God about sending rain and the sky was cloudless. It had been cloudless for three years.
"'Go and look toward the sea,' he told his servant and he went up and looked 'There is nothing there,' he said." Maybe like you, Elijah is looking for an answer that so far isn't coming. But don't give up. "Seven times Elijah said, ‘Go back.' The seventh time the servant reported, 'A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea.'" Not much, but a small sign. Like Denise's robin. It's not exactly 60 and 70 degree days but it's a small sign that they're going to come.
"So Elijah said, 'Go and tell Ahab, Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'" Now, that's a statement of faith based on only a little evidence of a change. It sure didn't look like there was any rush to beat a rainstorm. But, like so many who received a miracle in the Bible, you start to live as if the miracle is coming before it does. God loves to respond to that kind of faith.
The Bible says, "Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off." Or, to put it in the context of your winter, it may only be one robin, but it's time to start living like God's spring is coming! He wants to encourage you today. Don't give up! Don't retreat! Don't stop believing that He is going to do something amazing.
God will often reward your faith with an early sign of what He is eventually going to do. So don't focus on the drought, focus on that one small cloud that comes before the rainstorm. Don't focus on the winter; focus on that one small robin that encourages you that spring will ultimately replace this long, cold season.
Look for the early signs of God's working. It's not the whole spring yet, but it's His encouragement to you that it is not going to be cold forever!
I once shared a class with a girl who got engaged. I don't remember much about the class except the hour was early and the teacher was dull. I don't even remember the girl's name. I do remember that she didn't stand out in the crowd. She was shy and not very confident.
One day, however, her hair changed and her outfit changed. Even her voice changed. She spoke with confidence. What made the difference? Simple. A young man she loved looked her squarely in the eye and said, "Come and spend forever with me." He proposed to her. His love for her convinced her she was worth loving.
God's love can do the same. It can change us! The Bible says, "God has loved you with an everlasting love; He has drawn you with loving-kindness" (Jeremiah 31:3).
Jesus can live without us-but He doesn't want to!
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 114
When Israel came out of Egypt,
Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled,
the Jordan turned back;
4 the mountains leaped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 Why was it, sea, that you fled?
Why, Jordan, did you turn back?
6 Why, mountains, did you leap like rams,
you hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turned the rock into a pool,
the hard rock into springs of water.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Read: Judges 7:1-8
Gideon Defeats the Midianites
So Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon) and his army got up early and went as far as the spring of Harod. The armies of Midian were camped north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. 3 Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain[a] and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.
4 But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.” 5 When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.” 6 Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.
7 The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.” 8 So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them home. But he kept the 300 men with him.
The Midianite camp was in the valley just below Gideon.
Footnotes:
7:3 Hebrew may leave Mount Gilead. The identity of Mount Gilead is uncertain in this context. It is perhaps used here as another name for Mount Gilboa.
INSIGHT:
Gideon’s life clearly illustrates God’s strength and man’s frailty. God used Gideon to accomplish a great military victory and through him brought 40 years of peace to Israel (Judg. 6–7). But this story also teaches us about the danger of pride. The circumstances surrounding Israel’s victory over Midian clearly show that God, not Gideon, was responsible for Israel’s success. Yet Gideon’s pride led him to accept gold and to erect a monument in his own honor that would later become an object of worship and a snare to him and his family (8:22–27).
God of My Strength
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
I will strengthen you and help you. Isaiah 41:10
No one could have mistaken the ancient Babylonian soldiers for gentlemen. They were ruthless, resilient, and vicious, and they attacked other nations the way an eagle overtakes its prey. Not only were they powerful, they were prideful as well. They practically worshiped their own combat abilities. In fact, the Bible says that their “strength [was] their god” (Hab. 1:11).
God did not want this kind of self-reliance to infect Israel’s forces as they prepared to battle the Midianites. So He told Gideon, Israel’s army commander, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me’ ” (Judg. 7:2). As a result, Gideon discharged anyone who was fearful. Twenty-two thousand men hightailed it home, while 10,000 fighters stayed. God continued to downsize the army until only 300 men remained (vv. 3-7).
I will strengthen you and help you. (Isaiah 41:10)
Having fewer troops meant that Israel was dramatically outnumbered—their enemies, who populated a nearby valley, were as “thick as locusts” (v. 12). Despite this, God gave Gideon’s forces victory.
At times, God may allow our resources to dwindle so that we rely on His strength to keep going. Our needs showcase His power, but He is the One who says, “I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10).
Dear God, I am thankful for Your strength. You carry me when I am weak. Help me to give You the credit for every victory in life.
God wants us to depend on His strength, not our own.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Our Lord’s Surprise Visits
You also be ready… —Luke 12:40
A Christian worker’s greatest need is a readiness to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience has been. This battle is not against sin, difficulties, or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in our service to Jesus Christ that we are not ready to face Jesus Himself at every turn. The greatest need is not facing our beliefs or doctrines, or even facing the question of whether or not we are of any use to Him, but the need is to face Him.
Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This sense of expectation will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious. In other words, we must stop using religion as if it were some kind of a lofty lifestyle— we must be spiritually real.
If you are avoiding the call of the religious thinking of today’s world, and instead are “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2), setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts, you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer. But when He suddenly appears in the work of the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he blocks your sight of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. Conformed to His Image, 354 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Hope for Your Unanswered Prayer - #7622
Denise moved to New Jersey to join our ministry team from Florida. Hello, climate shock! Now she grew up in Detroit, so winter wasn't exactly a new idea to her. But her last years in Florida showed her there was another way to live, like not having winter. It was in the early days of April when she came into a team meeting with this big smile on her face because of something she had seen over the weekend – a robin.
You're probably saying, "Didn't I see him in Batman." Not that kind! The bird; the kind that you see when spring is coming! She told us, "I really don't like winter. I never have. But all those years in those winters in Michigan, I looked for one great sign of hope that winter was almost over – that first robin!" Well, she's back to winters again, and that old excitement about what that first robin means!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hope for Your Unanswered Prayer."
Maybe the word "winter" could describe what you've been experiencing lately, no matter what the thermometer says. It's been a cold time, a long time, a slowed down time, a dark, hard time. You might be encouraged by what happened to the prophet Elijah in our word for today from the Word of God which is in 1 Kings 18. For him, it wasn't a winter, it was a drought. For three years the land of Israel had been under the judgment of God and there had not been a drop of rain.
It was just after Elijah's incredible showdown with 450 false prophets. "And Elijah said to King Ahab, 'Go eat and drink for there is the sound of a heavy rain.' So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah...bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees." He was talking to God about sending rain and the sky was cloudless. It had been cloudless for three years.
"'Go and look toward the sea,' he told his servant and he went up and looked 'There is nothing there,' he said." Maybe like you, Elijah is looking for an answer that so far isn't coming. But don't give up. "Seven times Elijah said, ‘Go back.' The seventh time the servant reported, 'A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea.'" Not much, but a small sign. Like Denise's robin. It's not exactly 60 and 70 degree days but it's a small sign that they're going to come.
"So Elijah said, 'Go and tell Ahab, Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'" Now, that's a statement of faith based on only a little evidence of a change. It sure didn't look like there was any rush to beat a rainstorm. But, like so many who received a miracle in the Bible, you start to live as if the miracle is coming before it does. God loves to respond to that kind of faith.
The Bible says, "Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off." Or, to put it in the context of your winter, it may only be one robin, but it's time to start living like God's spring is coming! He wants to encourage you today. Don't give up! Don't retreat! Don't stop believing that He is going to do something amazing.
God will often reward your faith with an early sign of what He is eventually going to do. So don't focus on the drought, focus on that one small cloud that comes before the rainstorm. Don't focus on the winter; focus on that one small robin that encourages you that spring will ultimately replace this long, cold season.
Look for the early signs of God's working. It's not the whole spring yet, but it's His encouragement to you that it is not going to be cold forever!
Monday, March 28, 2016
Psalm 113 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: A Tabulated List of Grace
A couple who resorted to do-it-yourself marriage counseling resolved to list each other's faults and then read them aloud. The wife gave her list and he read: You snore; you eat in bed; the list continued. When the husband gave her his list, she smiled. He'd written his grievances, but next to each he'd written- I forgive this. The result was a tabulated list of grace.
Imagine you are before the judgment seat of Christ. The book is opened and the reading begins-each sin, each deceit, each occasion of greed. But as soon as the infraction is read, grace is proclaimed. Jesus says, I forgive this. Registered forgiveness! No humiliation! No shame! Because in heaven you will be in your sinless state-happy to let God do in heaven what he did on earth. He will be honored in your weakness!
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 113
Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise the Lord, you his servants;
praise the name of the Lord.
2 Let the name of the Lord be praised,
both now and forevermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,
6 who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
8 he seats them with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He settles the childless woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.
Footnotes:
Psalm 113:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 9
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 28, 2016
Read: Luke 24:13-35
The Walk to Emmaus
That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. 16 But God kept them from recognizing him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”
They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. 18 Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.”
19 “What things?” Jesus asked.
“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. 20 But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. 21 We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.
22 “Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. 23 They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! 24 Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”
25 Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. 26 Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” 27 Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, 29 but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. 30 As they sat down to eat,[b] he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. 31 Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!
32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” 33 And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, 34 who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.[c]”
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
35 Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread.
Footnotes:
24:13 Greek 60 stadia [11.1 kilometers].
24:30 Or As they reclined.
24:34 Greek Simon.
INSIGHT:
Jesus’s actions in today’s reading opened eyes to the truth of who He is. The road-to-Emmaus encounter in Luke 24 points back to the Last Supper and forward to the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:24–26. “ ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me. . . . This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
Surprised!
By David McCasland
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Luke 24:31
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610), an Italian artist, was known for his fiery temperament and unconventional technique. He used ordinary working people as models for his saints and was able to make viewers of his paintings feel they were a part of the scene. The Supper at Emmaus shows an innkeeper standing while Jesus and two of His followers are seated at a table when they recognize Him as the risen Lord (Luke 24:31). One disciple is pushing himself to a standing position while the other’s arms are outstretched and his hands open in astonishment.
 |
| Supper at Emmaus, 1601 |
Oswald Chambers said, “Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical connections. The only way a worker can keep true to God is by being ready for the Lord’s surprise visits.”
Whatever road we are on today, may we be ready for Jesus to make Himself known to us in new and surprising ways.
Lord Jesus, open our eyes to see You, the risen Christ, alongside us and at work in the circumstances of our lives today.
To find the Lord Jesus Christ we must be willing to seek Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 28, 2016
Isn’t There Some Misunderstanding?
"Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to Him, "…are You going there again?" —John 11:7-8
Just because I don’t understand what Jesus Christ says, I have no right to determine that He must be mistaken in what He says. That is a dangerous view, and it is never right to think that my obedience to God’s directive will bring dishonor to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonor is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honor ahead of what He is plainly guiding me to do is never right, even though it may come from a real desire to prevent Him from being put to an open shame. I know when the instructions have come from God because of their quiet persistence. But when I begin to weigh the pros and cons, and doubt and debate enter into my mind, I am bringing in an element that is not of God. This will only result in my concluding that His instructions to me were not right. Many of us are faithful to our ideas about Jesus Christ, but how many of us are faithful to Jesus Himself? Faithfulness to Jesus means that I must step out even when and where I can’t see anything (see Matthew 14:29). But faithfulness to my own ideas means that I first clear the way mentally. Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.
Are you debating whether you should take a step of faith in Jesus, or whether you should wait until you can clearly see how to do what He has asked? Simply obey Him with unrestrained joy. When He tells you something and you begin to debate, it is because you have a misunderstanding of what honors Him and what doesn’t. Are you faithful to Jesus, or faithful to your ideas about Him? Are you faithful to what He says, or are you trying to compromise His words with thoughts that never came from Him? “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves. The Place of Help, 1051 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 28, 2016
No Diagnosis, No Relief - #7621
My farm girl has a high tolerance for pain. "I know," you say, "she's married to you." No, I mean physical pain. She seldom complains and I often don't know she's hurting. There was a season in her life when she was in constant pain for about eight years. It would flare up in different parts of her body, sometimes becoming almost paralyzing and unbearable. A lot of remedies and treatments took their turn trying to help her get better but actually nothing worked; the flare-ups continued...until something happened. With a big smile on her face, she said, "I am pain-free for the first time in eight years." And she was so grateful. What happened? Our family doctor went to work diagnosing the problem and he concluded it was fibromyalgia. And once our doctor diagnosed what the real problem was, we could start working on some real relief!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Diagnosis, No Relief."
It may be that you've been experiencing some painful symptoms in your life recently. I'm talking like emotionally, not necessarily physically. There have been too many blowups, too many dark times, too much loneliness, more and more stress, less and less peace. Maybe there has been a lot of pain because of a divorce or struggles with your child, or a parent. Like my wife with her physical pain, you're experiencing some painful, disturbing symptoms. And so far, no treatment, no pain reliever has really taken away the pain.
It's time to bring in the Specialist, the One who can get beyond the symptoms and give you the diagnosis of the underlying problem. That would be your Creator. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 3 where God talks about some ugly symptoms. People, it says, whose "tongues practice deceit," whose "mouths are full of cursing and bitterness," it says "their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways." There's this dark side of us that lies and hurts people and basically is out of control. Here's a phrase that might sum up a lot of your life, "And the way of peace they do not know."
Then comes the diagnosis of what's behind so much of the pain in our lives. "There is no one righteous, not even one...all have turned away...there is no fear of God before their eyes." And then, the sobering bottom line, Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." You're in there, I'm in there, we're "all" in there. Our symptom might be loneliness or depression or guilt or darkness inside, but the disease is the cancer called sin. We've done our life our way instead of God's way so we're cut off from the "glory" of His love, His help, and His peace. Just like my wife with her years of physical pain, your symptoms won't start clearing up until you treat the disease that's causing them.
But God doesn't just diagnose the disease, He provides the cure. In verse 24: "We are justified (made right with God) freely by God's grace through the redemption (the rescue!) that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood." In plain language, we had no hope of our sin-cancer being cured, but God, the very One we sinned against, sacrificed His one and only Son to pay the death penalty for our sin. The cure involves blood – the blood Jesus poured out when He died to remove the guilt and the hell of your sin.
That blood-bought cure becomes your cure when you put all your trust in Jesus to forgive every sin you've ever done. He's ready to begin that healing right now if you're ready to begin a trust relationship with Him as your personal Savior. You can tell Him that right now. A real life on earth and eternal life when you die. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours."
Go to our website today. I've got some things there that I've written just to help you walk right into this relationship with Jesus Christ and know you've got it. Go to ANewStory.com.
After all this pain, God has diagnosed the disease that caused so much of it. And He has paid the ultimate price for you to be spiritually healed. Now He stands ready to do for you what only He can do if you just ask Him to.
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