1 Chronicles 23 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S GOODNESS

God’s goodness is a major headline in the Bible! Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”  The heart of God is unblemished. If God were only mighty, we would salute him. But since he is merciful and mighty, we can approach him. No wonder the psalmist invited, “Taste and see that the LORD is good.”

A glimpse of God’s goodness changes us. God’s unrivaled goodness undergirds everything else we can say about prayer. If he is like us, only slightly stronger, then why pray? If he grows weary, then why pray? If he has limitations, then you might as well pray to the Wizard of Oz. However if God is at once Father and Creator, holy—unlike us—and high above us, then we, at any point, are only a prayer away from help!

From God is With You Every Day

1 Chronicles 23

Duties of the Levites

When David was an old man, he appointed his son Solomon to be king over Israel. 2 David summoned all the leaders of Israel, together with the priests and Levites. 3 All the Levites who were thirty years old or older were counted, and the total came to 38,000. 4 Then David said, “From all the Levites, 24,000 will supervise the work at the Temple of the Lord. Another 6,000 will serve as officials and judges. 5 Another 4,000 will work as gatekeepers, and 4,000 will praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have made.” 6 Then David divided the Levites into divisions named after the clans descended from the three sons of Levi—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

The Gershonites
7 The Gershonite family units were defined by their lines of descent from Libni[a] and Shimei, the sons of Gershon. 8 Three of the descendants of Libni were Jehiel (the family leader), Zetham, and Joel. 9 These were the leaders of the family of Libni.

Three of the descendants of Shimei were Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. 10 Four other descendants of Shimei were Jahath, Ziza,[b] Jeush, and Beriah. 11 Jahath was the family leader, and Ziza was next. Jeush and Beriah were counted as a single family because neither had many sons.

The Kohathites
12 Four of the descendants of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

13 The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were set apart to dedicate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s presence, to serve the Lord, and to pronounce blessings in his name forever.

14 As for Moses, the man of God, his sons were included with the tribe of Levi. 15 The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer. 16 The descendants of Gershom included Shebuel, the family leader. 17 Eliezer had only one son, Rehabiah, the family leader. Rehabiah had numerous descendants.

18 The descendants of Izhar included Shelomith, the family leader.

19 The descendants of Hebron included Jeriah (the family leader), Amariah (the second), Jahaziel (the third), and Jekameam (the fourth).

20 The descendants of Uzziel included Micah (the family leader) and Isshiah (the second).

The Merarites
21 The descendants of Merari included Mahli and Mushi.

The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish. 22 Eleazar died with no sons, only daughters. His daughters married their cousins, the sons of Kish.

23 Three of the descendants of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.

24 These were the descendants of Levi by clans, the leaders of their family groups, registered carefully by name. Each had to be twenty years old or older to qualify for service in the house of the Lord. 25 For David said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, has given us peace, and he will always live in Jerusalem. 26 Now the Levites will no longer need to carry the Tabernacle and its furnishings from place to place.” 27 In accordance with David’s final instructions, all the Levites twenty years old or older were registered for service.

28 The work of the Levites was to assist the priests, the descendants of Aaron, as they served at the house of the Lord. They also took care of the courtyards and side rooms, helped perform the ceremonies of purification, and served in many other ways in the house of God. 29 They were in charge of the sacred bread that was set out on the table, the choice flour for the grain offerings, the wafers made without yeast, the cakes cooked in olive oil, and the other mixed breads. They were also responsible to check all the weights and measures. 30 And each morning and evening they stood before the Lord to sing songs of thanks and praise to him. 31 They assisted with the burnt offerings that were presented to the Lord on Sabbath days, at new moon celebrations, and at all the appointed festivals. The required number of Levites served in the Lord’s presence at all times, following all the procedures they had been given.

32 And so, under the supervision of the priests, the Levites watched over the Tabernacle and the Temple[c] and faithfully carried out their duties of service at the house of the Lord.

Footnotes:

23:7 Hebrew Ladan (also in 23:8, 9), a variant spelling of Libni; compare 6:17.
23:10 As in Greek version and Latin Vulgate (see also 23:11); Hebrew reads Zina.
23:32 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting and the sanctuary.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 24, 2016

Read: Hebrews 13:1–6

Concluding Words

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.[a] 2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! 3 Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.

4 Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,

“I will never fail you.
    I will never abandon you.”[b]
6 So we can say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper,
    so I will have no fear.
    What can mere people do to me?”[c]
Footnotes:

13:1 Greek Continue in brotherly love.
13:5 Deut 31:6, 8.
13:6 Ps 118:6.

INSIGHT:
The opening verses of Hebrews 13 are among the most practical in the New Testament. The chapter begins with a reminder that as followers of Christ we are to love one another (v. 1). The writer then challenges us to show hospitality to others (v. 2), followed by a strong call to give mercy, help, and kindness to those imprisoned and those who have been mistreated (v. 3). Verse 4 challenges us to sexual purity in marriage, while verse 5 calls believers to a contentment that can defeat covetousness. These practical statements find their culmination in the challenge to rest in the never-failing presence of God (vv. 5–6).

His Loving Presence
By Joe Stowell

Never will I leave you. Hebrews 13:5

Our hearts sank when we learned that our good friend Cindy had been diagnosed with cancer. Cindy was a vibrant person whose life blessed all who crossed her path. My wife and I rejoiced when she went into remission, but a few months later her cancer returned with a vengeance. In our minds she was too young to die. Her husband told me about her last hours. When she was weak and hardly able to talk, Cindy whispered to him, “Just be with me.” What she wanted more than anything in those dark moments was his loving presence.

The writer to the Hebrews comforted his readers by quoting Deuteronomy 31:6, where God told His people: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). In the darkest moments of life, the assurance of His loving presence gives us confidence that we are not alone. He gives us the grace to endure, the wisdom to know He is working, and the assurance that Christ can “empathize with our weaknesses” (4:15).

There is peace in the presence of God.
Together let’s embrace the blessing of His loving presence so we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid” (13:6).

Lord, thank You for the promise that You will never leave me. May the reality of Your constant supporting presence fill my heart with comfort, confidence, and courage.


During hard times, tough questions often arise such as “Where is God?” For help, read Out of the Ashes at discoveryseries.org/q0735

There is peace in the presence of God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 24, 2016
Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin

This is your hour, and the power of darkness. —Luke 22:53

Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.

Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.

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

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 24, 2016

The Choice That Changes Many Futures - #7685

Marty McFly met a strange scientist with a machine that promised interesting results – the ability to go back in time. And he did. He went, as the title of the movie about it said, "Back to the Future." He had a most amazing experience getting to know his mother and father when they were teenagers – an experience some of us might find very interesting. His dad, George McFly, was a milquetoast, bossed-around kind of guy, afraid to stand up to anybody. Marty always knew him to be that kind of a guy, until he was transported back to the night that would determine the course of the rest of his Dad's life – and his Mom's. One decision – whether or not George McFly will stand up to the bully who is attacking his girlfriend – who is to become Marty's mother – is the turning point of George's life. And Marty is there to help his Dad make the right and courageous choice. It totally changes the course of George McFly's life. He steps up, defends his girl, and neutralizes the bully who wanted her. So instead of the life Marty has known with a pretty unsuccessful, wimpy dad, he returns to his life with a strong and successful dad because of that choice. A very different life because of one decision that changed the future.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Choice That Changes Many Futures."

Some of us might wish we could somehow go back to the crossroads moments in our lives for a do-over. But that's only in the movies. What is possible is to make a choice now that will change not only your future, but the futures of many others...even people who haven't been born yet. It's a decision future generations will be very grateful you made.

The choice that changes many futures revolves around the man who made this simple but profound promise: "I am making everything new!" (Revelation 21:5). Those are the words of Jesus Christ, the man who has changed so many lives, so many families over so many years. I know I got a new dad because one day he acknowledged he had the spiritual cancer that the Bible calls sin; that he needed Jesus Christ in his life to forgive him and change him. And Jesus did change him – dramatically. I know. I lived that change. That transformed man planted seeds in me that have come up in my children, and now in my grandchildren. It all would have been so different had it not been for that day when my dad placed his life in Jesus' hands.

Psalm 102:18, our word for today from the Word of God, comments on this potential we all have to profoundly leave our mark on the future. It says: "Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord." One man or one woman who gets right with God can inject a life-changing, life-stabilizing faith into many who will come after him.

For you, for those you love, and for those who come from your life, so much depends on what you do with Jesus. The miracle begins when you recognize your need for the forgiving, life-changing work of Jesus Christ, as my dad did – the miracle made possible by Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. If there's never been a time when you've opened your life to this amazing Savior, if you've lived enough days without His love, His forgiving, His power in your life, why don't you tell Him that you want this to be the day you begin your personal relationship with Him. "Jesus, I believe only the Man who died for my sin can forgive my sin and remove my sin. So here I am, Lord, I'm Yours."

Our website is there for a day just like this in your life. To help you know how to cross over into the love of Christ and to know you belong to Him. I hope you'll pay us a visit there today. It's ANewStory.com, because that's what this will be for you – the beginning of your new story.

Every life leaves a legacy. Every life marks the lives of many others – including people you'll never meet. There is no greater legacy you can leave than a life that radiates the love and the power of Jesus Christ. It begins with you the day you begin with Him.

1 Corinthians 14:26-40, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD FIGHTS FOR YOU

Not only does God desire that you live the Promised Land life, but he fights for you so you can. This was the main point of Joshua’s victory speech in Joshua chapters 23 and 24. The Jordan River opened and the Jericho walls fell. The sun stood still, and the enemies scattered. Joshua summarized the victory by saying, “For the LORD has driven from before you great and strong nations. . .no one has been able to stand against you to this day. . .for the LORD your God is He who fights for you.”

Don’t you love that image? I picture the same for you. The enemies of your life—fears, dread, hatred, and hurt—come at you like a legion of hoodlums. Yet rather than run away, you turn and face them. You unsheathe the promise of God’s Word. And He fights for you!

From God is With You Every Day

1 Corinthians 14:26-40

A Call to Orderly Worship
26 Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.

27 No more than two or three should speak in tongues. They must speak one at a time, and someone must interpret what they say. 28 But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately.

29 Let two or three people prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said. 30 But if someone is prophesying and another person receives a revelation from the Lord, the one who is speaking must stop. 31 In this way, all who prophesy will have a turn to speak, one after the other, so that everyone will learn and be encouraged. 32 Remember that people who prophesy are in control of their spirit and can take turns. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people.[a]

34 Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. 35 If they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings.[b]

36 Or do you think God’s word originated with you Corinthians? Are you the only ones to whom it was given? 37 If you claim to be a prophet or think you are spiritual, you should recognize that what I am saying is a command from the Lord himself. 38 But if you do not recognize this, you yourself will not be recognized.[c]

39 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But be sure that everything is done properly and in order.

Footnotes:

14:33 The phrase as in all the meetings of God’s holy people could instead be joined to the beginning of 14:34.
14:35 Some manuscripts place verses 34-35 after 14:40.
14:38 Some manuscripts read If you are ignorant of this, stay in your ignorance.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 23, 2016

Read: Ephesians 6:5–9

Slaves and Masters

 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.

9 Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.

INSIGHT:
The idea of serving others as an act of worship and service to the Lord is a recurring theme in Paul’s writings. He tells the church at Colossae that “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). He also instructs the church in Corinth, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

Serving Christ
By Keila Ochoa

Obey [your earthly masters] . . . as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Ephesians 6:6

“I’m a secretary,” a friend told me. “When I tell people this, they sometimes look at me with a certain pity. But when they find out who I am secretary for, they open their eyes with admiration!” In other words, society often defines some jobs as less important than others, unless those jobs happen to relate in some way to rich or famous people.

For the child of God, however, any occupation, regardless of the earthly boss, can be held proudly because we serve the Lord Jesus.

Lord Jesus, I want to serve you in everything I do.
In Ephesians 6, Paul talks to servants and masters. He reminds both groups that we serve one Master who is in heaven. So we need to do everything with sincerity of heart, integrity, and respect because we are serving and working for Christ Himself. As the apostle Paul reminds us, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people” (Eph. 6:7).

What a privilege to serve God in everything we do, whether answering a phone or driving a car or doing housework or running a business. Let us work with a smile today, remembering that no matter what we are doing, we are serving God.

Lord Jesus, I want to serve You in everything I do. Help me, as I begin each day, to remember this.

Serving shows our love for God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 23, 2016
“Acquainted With Grief”

He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3

We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.

We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 23, 2016

Calling Daddy to Come - #7684

Our daughter was doing something she did several times a day – picking up our infant grandson. She bent over OK – but suddenly she couldn't straighten up. A sudden pain shot through her back, almost paralyzing her really. She managed to set the baby down and to lie down on the bed. The pain was almost unbearable, and she couldn't move. Daddy was at the office and the only one there to call for help was our 3-year old grandson. He picked up the phone, dialed Daddy's office, got the receptionist and gave her a simple but direct message – "Mommy got boo-boo on her back – tell Daddy to come home now!" When he was put through to Daddy he gave it to him direct - "Daddy, Mommy got boo-boo on her back – come home now!" In a matter of minutes, it was Daddy to the rescue. In a matter of days, it was Mommy back to normal.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Calling Daddy to Come".

Daddy came in answer to the cry of one of his children – who called to him on someone else's behalf. Sound familiar? When our daughter told us about our grandson's call, I thought of the word the Bible uses to describe a process like that – intercession. Our grandson had gone to his father on behalf of another person's need. That's exactly what you and I are supposed to be doing for the people we care about – interceding for them with a Heavenly Father who can do for them what we could never do.

The Old Testament leader Samuel understood what a responsibility we have to intercede for people. God's people had just said to him, "Pray to the Lord your God for your servants..." Then in 1 Samuel 12:23, our word for today from the Word of God, Samuel says, "As for me, be it far from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you."

When you step up to go to God for someone's need, you are, in essence, aiming the laser beam of heaven at that person's life, their need, and their situation. Like our son-in-law that day he got the call, our Heavenly Father takes action to do what only He can do in response to our call to heaven.

This ministry of interceding is all through the Bible – Abraham standing before the Lord, representing the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah...Moses begging God for mercy on His idolatrous people. And what was the last thing Jesus did before He was hauled away to be tried, tortured, and crucified? In John 17, He interceded for His disciples, and even for us. It's what He's doing in heaven today! "He ever lives to make intercession for us," Hebrews says. That's how important intercession is!

Most of us are so busy, so preoccupied with trying to fix things ourselves, or we're just so self-absorbed, that we don't spend much time going to the Father for the people in our world. Obviously, we just don't understand the resources of heaven that are unleashed when we go to God in interceding prayer. How much are you spending time interceding daily for your children? For your spouse? For your church leadership? For our nations leadership? For your coworkers? For your friends? Please don't "sin against the Lord" as Samuel said, by "failing to pray" for them. If we just spend as much time talking to God about their needs as we spend talking to others about it, worrying about it, scheming over it – who knows what miracles we would see!

Open up this exciting ministry frontier in your life. Take time each day to go to our "Daddy" in heaven for people you care about – "Daddy, she really needs you – please come now!"

1 Corinthians 14:1-25, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: SUFFICIENT, SUSTAINING GRACE

A thorn in the flesh. Such vivid imagery. The sharp end of a thorn pierces the soft skin of life and lodges beneath the surface. Every step is a reminder of the thorn in the flesh. The cancer in the body. The child in rehab. The red ink on the ledger. The tears in the middle of the night. “Take it away,” you’ve pleaded. Not once, twice, or even three times. But you’ve heard the same words the apostle Paul heard in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Paul is referring to sustaining grace—grace that meets us at our point of need and equips us with courage, wisdom, and strength. Sustaining grace promises not the absence of struggle but the presence of God. We’ve written checks only to see the words “insufficient funds.” Will we offer prayers only to discover insufficient strength? Never!

From God is With You Every Day

1 Corinthians 14:1-25

Tongues and Prophecy

Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy. 2 For if you have the ability to speak in tongues,[a] you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit,[b] but it will all be mysterious. 3 But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. 4 A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.

5 I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened.

6 Dear brothers and sisters,[c] if I should come to you speaking in an unknown language,[d] how would that help you? But if I bring you a revelation or some special knowledge or prophecy or teaching, that will be helpful. 7 Even lifeless instruments like the flute or the harp must play the notes clearly, or no one will recognize the melody. 8 And if the bugler doesn’t sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called to battle?

9 It’s the same for you. If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space.

10 There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning. 11 But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me. 12 And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church.

13 So anyone who speaks in tongues should pray also for the ability to interpret what has been said. 14 For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying.

15 Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit,[e] and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand. 16 For if you praise God only in the spirit, how can those who don’t understand you praise God along with you? How can they join you in giving thanks when they don’t understand what you are saying? 17 You will be giving thanks very well, but it won’t strengthen the people who hear you.

18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. 19 But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.

20 Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind. 21 It is written in the Scriptures[f]:

“I will speak to my own people
    through strange languages
    and through the lips of foreigners.
But even then, they will not listen to me,”[g]
    says the Lord.
22 So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers. 23 Even so, if unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your church meeting and hear everyone speaking in an unknown language, they will think you are crazy. 24 But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. 25 As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.”

Footnotes:

14:2a Or in unknown languages; also in 14:4, 5, 13, 14, 18, 22, 26, 27, 28, 39.
14:2b Or speaking in your spirit.
14:6a Greek brothers; also in 14:20, 26, 39.
14:6b Or in tongues; also in 14:19, 23.
14:15 Or in the Spirit; also in 14:15b, 16.
14:21a Greek in the law.
14:21b Isa 28:11-12.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Read: Mark 8:1–13

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

About this time another large crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them, 2 “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a long distance.”

4 His disciples replied, “How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?”

5 Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”

“Seven loaves,” they replied.

6 So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd. 7 A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute them.

8 They ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. 9 There were about 4,000 men in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten. 10 Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmanutha.

Pharisees Demand a Miraculous Sign
11 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with him. Testing him, they demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

12 When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.” 13 So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake.

NSIGHT:
The exact location where Jesus fed 4,000 people with only seven loaves of bread is unknown, but the fact that it was a remote site is an important detail because it indicates a lack of access to food. In this passage, as in so many others (Matt. 9:36; 14:14; 20:34), Jesus acts compassionately toward those in need. The setting of this event allowed Jesus to show His great love and affection to hungry and weary people.

A Remote Location
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt

My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Tristan da Cunha Island is famous for its isolation. It is the most remote inhabited island in the world, thanks to the 288 people who call it home. The island is located in the South Atlantic Ocean, 1,750 miles from South Africa—the nearest mainland. Anyone who might want to drop by for a visit has to travel by boat for seven days because the island has no airstrip.

Jesus and His followers were in a somewhat remote area when He produced a miraculous meal for thousands of hungry people. Before His miracle, Jesus said to His disciples, “[These people] have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way” (Mark 8:2-3). Because they were in the countryside where food was not readily available, they had to depend fully on Jesus. They had nowhere else to turn.

God can certainly meet our needs, whatever our circumstances.
Sometimes God allows us to end up in desolate places where He is our only source of help. His ability to provide for us is not necessarily linked with our circumstances. If He created the entire world out of nothing, God can certainly meet our needs—whatever our circumstances—out of the riches of His glory, in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19).

Dear God, thank You for all that You have provided through Your Son, Jesus Christ. You know what my needs are. Please reassure me of Your care and power.

We can trust God to do what we cannot do.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
The Unchanging Law of Judgment

With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. —Matthew 7:2

This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26).

Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”

Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.
Not Knowing Whither

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, June 22, 2016

The Power of the 3-Open Prayer - #7683

When my sons were playing high school football, their job was to run their body into other guys' bodies. They were linemen; they blocked. Of course, one of their great rewards for all this body slamming was when they could stop or deflect an opposing lineman – thus opening up a hole through which their teammate could run with the ball. Usually our guys were too busy holding the line to know what was happening down field – like the man who had gone through the hole they made gaining big yardage or even scoring a touchdown. And the good ball carriers knew what they had to do: spot an opening and go through it as fast as they could!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power of the 3-Open Prayer."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 2:2-4. There are four men here with a friend who needed to get to Jesus. In football terms, they did the job of the ball carrier and the blocker. They looked for an opening to get this friend to Jesus, and they actually created an opening to do it, you might say.

Here's what it says. "So many gathered (to hear Jesus) that there was no room left, not even outside the door. Some men came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven." Well, later Jesus healed him and gave him the power to walk. These four 'find an opening' men not only got their friend to Jesus, but a lot more than they could have ever imagined.

In your life, there is probably someone you would like to get to Jesus; someone who needs what only the Savior can do for them – someone you want to take to heaven with you. The stakes are a lot higher than any football game. We're talking eternity here, life or death. But like a player trying to get to the goal, you have to be determined to find an opening – to look for some natural opportunity to bring up Jesus. Most of us miss those openings because we're not consciously praying for them, looking for them, and hoping for them.

Paul gives us what I call the three-open prayer. You can't be around me too long and not heat it. It's a prayer you should be praying daily about the people you want to bring to Jesus. It's in Colossians 4:3-4, "Pray for us, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ...Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should." The three-open prayer, prayed with the name of a lost person you care about, "Lord, please open a door." That's a natural opportunity to tell him or her about You, Jesus. Secondly, "Open their heart." In other words, "Lord make them ready to hear about You." And then, "Open my mouth when You open the door." Good news here, you don't have to add to your prayer, "if it be Your will." It is.

You won't find many openings to just dump your beliefs about Jesus on your friend. What you need to do is to be ready to share the difference Jesus makes in real life for you. That's what they want to know. Not what are all the beliefs, but what does Jesus change? What is the difference He makes? What difference does having a Savior make for you in your lonely times, or your depressing times? How are you different as a parent or a husband or wife? How about when there's not enough money? How does Jesus affect meeting the challenges of being single, in facing tragedy and pain, in times of big decisions? What difference does He make at the funeral home? Those kinds of things come up all the time. Are you ready to tell how Jesus has made the difference for you in times like these? And then to move from that into how the sin-wall comes down so we could have this life-changing relationship with Jesus.

If you've got someone you want to take to heaven with you, pray for an opening to bring up Jesus, look for an opening, or like those determined friends tearing up the roof – make an opening! Then, following the blocking of the Holy Spirit of od, go through that opening with the life-saving news of a relationship with the Son of God.

1 Chronicles 22 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOOD OUT OF BAD

Before we knew God’s Story—we made a mess of our own! Can God make good out of our bad?

He did with Paul. The apostle’s words are recorded in Acts 22:6-7, “As I journeyed and came near Damascus…suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me…” What do you think the voice said?  I’m going to give you a taste of your own medicine. Prepare to meet your Maker! Did Paul expect to hear words like these? Regardless, he didn’t.

Even before he requested mercy, Paul was offered mercy. God said, “I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see…I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven.” Jesus transformed Paul, the card-carrying legalist, into a champion for mercy. Who would have thought?

From God is With You Every Day

1 Chronicles 22

Then David said, “The house of the Lord God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

Preparations for the Temple
2 So David gave orders to assemble the foreigners residing in Israel, and from among them he appointed stonecutters to prepare dressed stone for building the house of God. 3 He provided a large amount of iron to make nails for the doors of the gateways and for the fittings, and more bronze than could be weighed. 4 He also provided more cedar logs than could be counted, for the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought large numbers of them to David.

5 David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the Lord should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for it.” So David made extensive preparations before his death.

6 Then he called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God. 8 But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. 9 But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon,[g] and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. 10 He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’

11 “Now, my son, the Lord be with you, and may you have success and build the house of the Lord your God, as he said you would. 12 May the Lord give you discretion and understanding when he puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. 13 Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the Lord gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

14 “I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the Lord a hundred thousand talents[h] of gold, a million talents[i] of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them. 15 You have many workers: stonecutters, masons and carpenters, as well as those skilled in every kind of work 16 in gold and silver, bronze and iron—craftsmen beyond number. Now begin the work, and the Lord be with you.”

17 Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon. 18 He said to them, “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has he not granted you rest on every side? For he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hands, and the land is subject to the Lord and to his people. 19 Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the Lord.”

Footnotes:

1 Chronicles 22:9 Solomon sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for peace.
1 Chronicles 22:14 That is, about 3,750 tons or about 3,400 metric tons
1 Chronicles 22:14 That is, about 37,500 tons or about 34,000 metric tons

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Read: 1 Corinthians 13

Love Is the Greatest
13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages[b] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Footnotes:

13:3 Some manuscripts read sacrificed my body to be burned.
13:8 Or in tongues.
13:12 Greek see face to face.

INSIGHT:
Love has been defined as sacrificial giving of one’s time, money, or energy while expecting nothing in return. Certainly this definition is a good starting point. But today’s inspired reading explores a deeper love, one that is demonstrated through a heart yielded to God.

Learning to Love
By Poh Fang Chia

Follow the way of love. 1 Corinthians 14:1

Love does more than make “the world go round,” as an old song says. It also makes us immensely vulnerable. From time to time, we may say to ourselves: “Why love when others do not show appreciation?” or “Why love and open myself up to hurt?” But the apostle Paul gives a clear and simple reason to pursue love: “These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Follow the way of love” (1 Cor. 13:13–14:1).

“Love is an activity, the essential activity of God himself,” writes Bible commentator C. K. Barrett, “and when men love either Him or their fellow-men, they are doing (however imperfectly) what God does.” And God is pleased when we act like Him.

Help me to love others the way Jesus showed us.
To begin following the way of love, think about how you might live out the characteristics listed in 1 Corinthians 13:4–7. For example, how can I show my child the same patience God shows me? How can I show kindness and respect for my parents? What does it mean to look out for the interests of others when I am at work? When something good happens to my friend, do I rejoice with her or am I envious?

As we “follow the way of love,” we’ll find ourselves often turning to God, the source of love, and to Jesus, the greatest example of love. Only then will we gain a deeper knowledge of what true love is and find the strength to love others like God loves us.

God, thank You that You are love and that You love me so much. Help me to love others the way Jesus showed us so that the whole world will know I am Your child.

Love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
The Ministry of the Inner Life
You are…a royal priesthood… —1 Peter 2:9

By what right have we become “a royal priesthood”? It is by the right of the atonement by the Cross of Christ that this has been accomplished. Are we prepared to purposely disregard ourselves and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simple life of a child of God. Until we get into this right and proper relationship with God, it is simply a case of our “hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” although we say, “What a wonderful victory I have!” Yet there is nothing at all in that which indicates the miracle of redemption. Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption is complete. Then don’t worry anymore about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ has said, in essence, “Pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints of God, and pray for all men.” Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus, not on the basis of this argument: “Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now.”

How long is it going to take God to free us from the unhealthy habit of thinking only about ourselves? We must get to the point of being sick to death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God might tell us about ourselves. We cannot reach and understand the depths of our own meagerness. There is only one place where we are right with God, and that is in Christ Jesus. Once we are there, we have to pour out our lives for all we are worth in this ministry of the inner life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Your Long Lifetime Search - #7682

If you happen to watch the Discovery Channel on cable TV, you can end up seeing some real "reality TV" – including some pretty unusual fare. How about this one, "The Search for the Giant Squid"? No, that is not an adventure flick – it was a documentary about one scientist's quest to film what no one had ever filmed – the giant squid. For the whole hour, the viewer follows this man's almost lifelong pursuit. You watch as the likely target area is identified -- as an expensive expedition follows clues that seem to be leading to this elusive prey—the giant squid. But at the end, you find out you got sucked into an expedition that ultimately failed to find what it was looking for.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Long Lifetime Search."

It's disappointing – a long search, an expensive search, that ends up not finding what it was looking for. For many of us, that could be our life story. Maybe yours.

It could be that you've been on your quest since you were a teenager. You've been through a lot of relationships since then - sampled a lot of experiences - maybe enjoyed a few achievements along the way - even found a pretty respectable status quo. But you still haven't found what you hoped you would find by now. In spite of all the places you've looked, you still can't honestly answer the million dollar question, "Why am I here?" You still haven't found what will give you the love you need and fill that hole in your heart.

At the peak of her fortune and fame, Chris Evert had 146 tennis championships behind her and she was married to the man she loved, but she said this: "We get into a rut. We play tennis, we go to a movie, we watch TV, but I keep saying, 'John, there has to be more.'" Maybe you know that feeling. The good news is: there is more. Much more.

In John 4:13-14, which is our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus is talking with a woman who has been searching for a long time. In her case, her search has taken her into a series of unfulfilling relationships with men. Since they meet at a well where they have each come for a drink, Jesus puts his diagnosis of her restlessness in these words: "Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become a spring of water, welling up to eternal life."

Jesus says that all our earth-sources of love and meaning are wells we have to keep going back to for more – and they never satisfy for long. But what He offers is a relationship with Him that puts the source inside us where it can't be touched, where it will never leave us thirsty again. Those words "thirsty again" may vividly describe how you have felt after you've gotten everything that you thought would satisfy the hole in your heart...but you're "thirsty again."

That "eternal life" Jesus promises did not come cheap. We're searching because we're away from our Creator – not by His choice, it's ours. We've done our life our way, not His way. And the only way that wall between Him and us could come down was for Jesus to pay for the sinning you and I did – by dying on the cross for them.

Today, Jesus – the One you were made by and made for – is offering to be the end of your search. He's what you've been looking for your whole life – that search ends at His cross. You can tell Him right where you are – "Jesus, I'm tired of looking and I'm tired of not finding. You're right – I've blown it with God. But I believe You died to bring me to Him. I am Yours beginning today."

That wonderful relationship begins, for you, a whole new story. Which, by the way, is the address of our website - ANewStory.com. I would urge you to go there as soon as you can today. Find there the information that will help you anchor this new relationship with Jesus Christ.

You're so very close to the answers you've been searching for so long. His name is Jesus. Don't live another empty day without Him.

1 Chronicles 21 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: YOUR BEST WEAPON AGAINST SATAN

Satan has no recourse to your personal testimony. So your best weapon against his attacks is a good memory!

Don’t forget a single one of God’s blessings. He forgives your sins—every one.  He heals your diseases—every one. He redeems you from hell—and saves your life. He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown. He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence. Create a trophy room in your heart, place a memory on the shelf. Before you face a challenge, take a quick tour of God’s accomplishments. Look at all the paychecks he’s provided, all the blessings he’s given, all the prayers he’s answered.

Imitate the shepherd boy David. Before he fought Goliath, the giant, he remembered how God had helped him kill a lion and a bear. Face your future by recalling God’s victories!

From God is With You Every Day

1 Chronicles 21
David Counts the Fighting Men

 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.”

3 But Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

4 The king’s word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem. 5 Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.

6 But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king’s command was repulsive to him. 7 This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.

8 Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”

9 The Lord said to Gad, David’s seer, 10 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’”

11 So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: 12 three years of famine, three months of being swept away[c] before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

13 David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

14 So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. 15 And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the Lord saw it and relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah[d] the Jebusite.

16 David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.

17 David said to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd,[e] have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Lord my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people.”

David Builds an Altar
18 Then the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the Lord.

20 While Araunah was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel; his four sons who were with him hid themselves. 21 Then David approached, and when Araunah looked and saw him, he left the threshing floor and bowed down before David with his face to the ground.

22 David said to him, “Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price.”

23 Araunah said to David, “Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this.”

24 But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”

25 So David paid Araunah six hundred shekels[f] of gold for the site. 26 David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.

27 Then the Lord spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. 28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. 29 The tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. 30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

Footnotes:

1 Chronicles 21:12 Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate (see also 2 Samuel 24:13) of fleeing
1 Chronicles 21:15 Hebrew Ornan, a variant of Araunah; also in verses 18-28
1 Chronicles 21:17 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text (see 2 Samuel 24:17 and note); Masoretic Text does not have the shepherd.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 20, 2016

Read: Psalm 68:7–10,19–20

O God, when you led your people out from Egypt,
    when you marched through the dry wasteland, Interlude
8 the earth trembled, and the heavens poured down rain
    before you, the God of Sinai,
    before God, the God of Israel.
9 You sent abundant rain, O God,
    to refresh the weary land.
10 There your people finally settled,
    and with a bountiful harvest, O God,
    you provided for your needy people.

Psalm 68:19-20New Living Translation (NLT)

19 Praise the Lord; praise God our savior!
    For each day he carries us in his arms. Interlude
20 Our God is a God who saves!
    The Sovereign Lord rescues us from death.

INSIGHT:
Psalm 68 is written from the historical context of the Hebrew worshipers. The psalmist declares the awesome power of God by calling Him the “One of Sinai” and the “God of Israel” (v. 8). By doing this he reminds the Hebrews of God’s faithfulness. Who is this God who goes out before the people? (v. 7). He is the God of Israel who spoke to Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron saying, “Let my people go” (Ex. 5:1), and He is the One of Sinai who gave them the Ten Commandments (Ex. 19–20). The psalmist reminds Israel that the God who heard their cries in Egypt still hears, and the One who provided in the desert still provides.

Hoo-ah!
By David Roper

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation! Selah. Psalm 68:19 nkjv

The US Army's expression "hoo-ah" is a guttural response barked when troops voice approval. Its original meaning is lost to history, but some say it is derived from an old acronym HUA—Heard, Understood, and Acknowledged. I first heard the word in basic training.

Many years later it found its way into my vocabulary again when I began to meet on Wednesday mornings with a group of men to study the Scriptures. One morning one of the men—a former member of the 82nd Airborne Division—was reading one of the psalms and came to the notation selah that occurs throughout the psalms. Instead of reading “selah,” however, he growled hoo-ah, and that became our word for selah ever after.

Every single morning God loads us up on His shoulders and carries us through the day.
No one knows for certain what selah actually means. Some say it is only a musical notation. It often appears after a truth that calls for a deep-seated, emotional response. In that sense hoo-ah works for me.

This morning I read Psalm 68:19: "Blessed be the Lord, who daily [day to day] loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation! Selah" (nkjv).

Imagine that! Every single morning God loads us up on His shoulders and carries us through the day. He is our salvation. Thus safe and secure in Him, we’ve no cause for worry or for fear. “Hoo-ah!” I say.

Day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear.  Lina Sandell Berg

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Oswald Chambers

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 20, 2016
Have You Come to “When” Yet?

The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. —Job 42:10

A pitiful, sickly, and self-centered kind of prayer and a determined effort and selfish desire to be right with God are never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is actually a sign that I am rebelling against the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I pray, “Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer— I will walk rightly before You if You will help me.” But I cannot make myself right with God; I cannot make my life perfect. I can only be right with God if I accept the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to surrender all my rights and demands, and cease from every self-effort. I must leave myself completely alone in His hands, and then I can begin to pour my life out in the priestly work of intercession. There is a great deal of prayer that comes from actual disbelief in the atonement. Jesus is not just beginning to save us— He has already saved us completely. It is an accomplished fact, and it is an insult to Him for us to ask Him to do what He has already done.

If you are not now receiving the “hundredfold” which Jesus promised (see Matthew 19:29), and not getting insight into God’s Word, then start praying for your friends— enter into the ministry of the inner life. “The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.” As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer. Whatever circumstances God may place you in, always pray immediately that His atonement may be recognized and as fully understood in the lives of others as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now, and pray for those with whom you come in contact now.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. Disciples Indeed, 386 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 20, 2016

When You're Careless About Clean - #7681

Our girl was always a wonderful daughter and now she's become a wonderful mother. She's incredibly conscientious, attentive, loving - sounds like her father talking, huh? When our grandson was a baby she was pretty careful about what our he ate, about baby proofing everything, about always having him ride in his infant seat - oh, and about cleanliness. Oh yeah, hand sanitizer! That stuff that's called Purell - that antibacterial liquid that works without water. But it's not just Mom and baby who are required to use the sanitizer--oh, no-- any of us who was planning to hold him...especially in those early months when germs can do so much damage. It almost became a joke in our family...you reach for the baby and you will be intercepted by a bottle of Purell! Our daughter understood a very basic principle of staying healthy-if you want to avoid problems, keep your hands clean!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Careless About Clean."

We all need to be reminded to keep our hands clean - it's basic to staying healthy. And no one cares more about your being clean than your Father - your Heavenly Father. Listen to His strong words to us in our word for today from the Word of God, Isaiah 52:11, "...Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord"

God wants us to be as concerned about spiritual cleanliness as the mother of a young baby is about physical cleanliness. He says, "Don't handle holy things with dirty hands - or hearts or minds." Holy things like the work of God...like that position you have serving Him...like raising a child. In a way, all of us who belong to Jesus are among those who "carry the vessels of the Lord". We're all representing our holy Savior - who died so we could be clean people in a dirty world.

Which is why He's very hurt and very unhappy that you've gotten a little careless about being really clean. You may, in fact, be silently, imperceptibly infecting something holy with your uncleanness - like your marriage, your family, your ministry, your service for Christ, or your witness for Christ. God has said, "Touch no unclean thing", and maybe you know you have been touching something a child of God should never touch. God says, "Come out from it and be pure ", but you've been getting into something that Jesus calls out-of-bounds.

If you're going to handle holy things - and most of us believers do - then you have to stay unpolluted by what you watch, what you listen to, what you read, what you laugh at, who you're with, negative attitudes, self-serving motives. It could be that your Lord is actually trying to speak to you right now about some compromises that are slowly accumulating spiritual dirt, spiritual germs. He says in James 4:7-8, "...Resist the devil...come near to God... Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded" Now, if God's been seeming farther away lately, if your heart seems to be getting colder, and if your faith seems less powerful - could it be you've been trying to handle the holy with unholy hands?

Physically - and spiritually - when you get careless about cleanliness, you get sick. If you want to avoid problems, it's important to keep your hands clean. And today your Heavenly Father may be holding out His spiritual sanitizer and reaching your direction saying, "Please, get clean before you touch what I love."

1 Chronicles 20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God is Not Sometimes Sovereign

This season in which you find yourself may puzzle you, but it does not bewilder God. He can and will use it for His purpose. God is not sometimes sovereign. He is not occasionally victorious. Jeremiah 30:24 reminds us, “The Lord shall not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the thoughts and intents of His mind.”

Case in point. Joseph in prison. From an earthly viewpoint the Egyptian jail was the tragic conclusion of Joseph’s life. The devil had Joseph just where he wanted him. So did God. What Satan intended for evil, God used for testing. If you see your troubles as nothing more than isolated hassles and hurts, you will grow bitter and angry. But, if you see your troubles as tests used by God for his glory and your maturity—then even the smallest incidents take on significance!

From You’ll Get Through This

1 Chronicles 20

The Capture of Rabbah

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites and went to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and left it in ruins. 2 David took the crown from the head of their king[a]—its weight was found to be a talent[b] of gold, and it was set with precious stones—and it was placed on David’s head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city 3 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes. David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

War With the Philistines
4 In the course of time, war broke out with the Philistines, at Gezer. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaites, and the Philistines were subjugated.

5 In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.

6 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.

8 These were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.

Footnotes:

1 Chronicles 20:2 Or of Milkom, that is, Molek
1 Chronicles 20:2 That is, about 75 pounds or about 34 kilograms


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, June 19, 2016

Read: Romans 8:12–17

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,[a] you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature,[b] you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children[c] of God.

15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.[d] Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”[e] 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Footnotes:

8:12 Greek brothers; also in 8:29.
8:13 Greek deeds of the body.
8:14 Greek sons; also in 8:19.
8:15a Greek you received a spirit of sonship.
8:15b Abba is an Aramaic term for “father.”

INSIGHT:
The Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ and is the source of our spiritual life (Rom. 8:9–14). He is the seal and guarantee (Eph. 1:13–14) that we are God’s children (Rom. 8:15–16; Gal. 4:5). As His children, we have a duty to the Father not to live according to the sinful nature (Rom. 8:12) but to “put to death the misdeeds of the body” (v. 13; Col. 3:5–11). We are to be “led by the Spirit of God” (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:16–18) and to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). In the Spirit's power, God’s children display the characteristics of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (vv. 22–23).

Abba, Father
By Tim Gustafson

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5

The scene belonged on a funny Father’s Day card. As a dad muscled a lawn mower ahead of him with one hand, he expertly towed a child’s wagon behind him with the other. In the wagon sat his three-year-old daughter, delighted at the noisy tour of their yard. This might not be the safest choice, but who says men can’t multitask?

If you had a good dad, a scene like that can invoke fantastic memories. But for many, “Dad” is an incomplete concept. Where are we to turn if our fathers are gone, or if they fail us, or even if they wound us?

Help me live a life that pleases You.
King David certainly had his shortcomings as a father, but he understood the paternal nature of God. “A father to the fatherless,” he wrote, “a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families” (Ps. 68:5–6). The apostle Paul expanded on that idea: “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.” Then, using the Aramaic word for father—a term young children would use for their dad—Paul added, “By him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’ ” (Rom. 8:15). This is the same word Jesus used when He prayed in anguish to His Father the night He was betrayed (Mark 14:36).

What a privilege to come to God using the same intimate term for “father” that Jesus used! Our Abba Father welcomes into His family anyone who will turn to Him.

Heavenly Father, I want to be part of Your family. I believe that Your only Son Jesus died for my sins. Please forgive me and help me live a life that pleases You.

A good father reflects the love of the heavenly Father.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 19, 2016
The Service of Passionate Devotion

…do you love Me?…Tend My sheep. —John 21:16

Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.

Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

For the past three hundred years men have been pointing out how similar Jesus Christ’s teachings are to other good teachings. We have to remember that Christianity, if it is not a supernatural miracle, is a sham.  The Highest Good, 548 L

1 Corinthians 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Actions Have Consequences

Actions have consequences! In the book of Genesis we read how Joseph placed his loyalty above lust when he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife. His primary concern was the preference of God when he said, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God” (Genesis 39:9)?

The lesson we learn from Joseph is surprisingly simple: Do what pleases God. Your co-workers want to include a trip to a gentleman’s club on the evening agenda. What do you do? Do what pleases God. Your date invites you to conclude the evening with drinks at his place. How should you reply? Do what pleases God.

You don’t fix a struggling marriage with an affair, a drug problem with more drugs, debt with more debt. You don’t get out of a mess by making another one. You’ll never go wrong doing what is right. Just do what pleases God.

From You’ll Get Through This

1 Corinthians 13
Love Is the Greatest

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages[b] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Footnotes:
13:3 Some manuscripts read sacrificed my body to be burned.
13:8 Or in tongues.
13:12 Greek see face to face.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, June 18, 2016

Read: 1 John 5:1–13

Faith in the Son of God

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ[a] has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 2 We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. 3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. 5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

6 And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross[b]—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony. 7 So we have these three witnesses[c]— 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree. 9 Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son. 10 All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.

11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

Conclusion
13 I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.

Footnotes:

5:1 Or the Messiah.
5:6 Greek This is he who came by water and blood.
5:7 A few very late manuscripts add in heaven—the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And we have three witnesses on earth.

INSIGHT:
There is an interesting connection between being born of God, keeping His commands, and overcoming the world. If we are children of God, then we will keep His commandments, and this is how we overcome the world. This suggests that the world is against God’s commands and that to be born of God is to be separate from the world.


Defeat or Victory?

By David McCasland

Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4

Each year on June 18 the great Battle of Waterloo is recalled in what is now Belgium. On that day in 1815, Napoleon’s French army was defeated by a multinational force commanded by the Duke of Wellington. Since then, the phrase “to meet your Waterloo” has come to mean “to be defeated by someone who is too strong for you or by a problem that is too difficult for you.”

When it comes to our spiritual lives, some people feel that ultimate failure is inevitable and it’s only a matter of time until each of us will “meet our Waterloo.” But John refuted that pessimistic view when he wrote to followers of Jesus: “Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Enable us to overcome the world through faith and obedience to You.
John weaves this theme of spiritual victory throughout his first letter as he urges us not to love the things this world offers, which will soon fade away (2:15–17). Instead, we are to love and please God, “And this is what he promised us—eternal life” (v. 25).

While we may have ups and downs in life, and even some battles that feel like defeats, the ultimate victory is ours in Christ as we trust in His power.

Lord Jesus, Your ultimate victory in this fallen world is assured, and You ask us to share in it each day of our lives. By Your grace, enable us to overcome the world through faith and obedience to You.

When it comes to problems, the way out is to trust God on the way through.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, June 18, 2016

Keep Recognizing Jesus

…Peter…walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid… —Matthew 14:29-30


The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and “walked on the water.” Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.

We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, “…why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.

If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, “Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?” Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption

1 Chronicles 19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: PRAY—FIRST AND MOST

Let’s pray—first! Traveling to help the hungry? Be sure to bathe your mission in prayer. Weary of a world of racism and division? So is God. And he would love to talk with you about it.

Let’s pray—most! Did God call us to preach without ceasing? Or teach without ceasing? Or have committee meetings without ceasing? Or sing without ceasing? No, but he did call us to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17).

Did Jesus declare…my house shall be called a house of study? Fellowship? Music? A house of activities? No, but he did say “My house will be called a house of prayer” (Mark 11:17).  Jesus said, “When two of you get together on anything and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action” (Matthew 18:19).

So, Pray! Pray first and pray most!

From God is With You Every Day

1 Chronicles 19
David Defeats the Ammonites

In the course of time, Nahash king of the Ammonites died, and his son succeeded him as king. 2 David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.

When David’s envoys came to Hanun in the land of the Ammonites to express sympathy to him, 3 the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending envoys to you to express sympathy? Haven’t his envoys come to you only to explore and spy out the country and overthrow it?” 4 So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved them, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.

5 When someone came and told David about the men, he sent messengers to meet them, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.”

6 When the Ammonites realized that they had become obnoxious to David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents[e] of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Aram Naharaim,[f] Aram Maakah and Zobah. 7 They hired thirty-two thousand chariots and charioteers, as well as the king of Maakah with his troops, who came and camped near Medeba, while the Ammonites were mustered from their towns and moved out for battle.

8 On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. 9 The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city, while the kings who had come were by themselves in the open country.

10 Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. 11 He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother, and they were deployed against the Ammonites. 12 Joab said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to rescue me; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will rescue you. 13 Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.”

14 Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. 15 When the Ammonites realized that the Arameans were fleeing, they too fled before his brother Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab went back to Jerusalem.

16 After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they sent messengers and had Arameans brought from beyond the Euphrates River, with Shophak the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.

17 When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel and crossed the Jordan; he advanced against them and formed his battle lines opposite them. David formed his lines to meet the Arameans in battle, and they fought against him. 18 But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also killed Shophak the commander of their army.

19 When the vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace with David and became subject to him.

So the Arameans were not willing to help the Ammonites anymore.

Footnotes:
1 Chronicles 19:6 That is, about 38 tons or about 34 metric tons
1 Chronicles 19:6 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 17, 2016

Read: Nehemiah 8:1–8

 all the people assembled with a unified purpose at the square just inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had given for Israel to obey.

2 So on October 8[a] Ezra the priest brought the Book of the Law before the assembly, which included the men and women and all the children old enough to understand. 3 He faced the square just inside the Water Gate from early morning until noon and read aloud to everyone who could understand. All the people listened closely to the Book of the Law.

4 Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform that had been made for the occasion. To his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah. To his left stood Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. 5 Ezra stood on the platform in full view of all the people. When they saw him open the book, they all rose to their feet.

6 Then Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people chanted, “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—then instructed the people in the Law while everyone remained in their places. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people understand each passage.

Footnotes:

8:2 Hebrew on the first day of the seventh month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was October 8, 445 B.c.; also see note on 1:1.

INSIGHT:
Nehemiah was the “cupbearer to the king” (Neh. 1:11), a position of great trust and influence in ancient cultures. The cupbearer was responsible to serve wine at the king’s table and would be positioned at the king’s side as an advisor during times of deliberation. Since ancient monarchs were often assassinated by poison, the cupbearer was sometimes required to taste the wine before serving. The person who handled the king’s cup was important and needed to be trustworthy.

Marathon Reading
By Dave Branon

They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read. Nehemiah 8:8

When the sun came up on the first day of the seventh month in 444 bc, Ezra started reading the law of Moses (what we know as the first five books of the Bible). Standing on a platform in front of the people in Jerusalem, he read it straight through for the next six hours.

Men, women, and children had gathered at the entrance to the city known as the Water Gate to observe the Festival of Trumpets—one of the feasts prescribed for them by God. As they listened, four reactions stand out.

Lord, thank You for this amazing book we call the Bible.
They stood up in reverence for the Book of the Law (Neh. 8:5). They praised God by lifting their hands and saying “Amen.” They bowed down in humble worship (v. 6). Then they listened carefully as the Scriptures were both read and explained to them (v. 8). What an amazing day as the book that “the Lord had commanded for Israel” (v. 1) was read aloud inside Jerusalem’s newly rebuilt walls!

Ezra’s marathon reading session can remind us that God’s words to us are still meant to be a source of praise, worship, and learning. When we open the Bible and learn more about Christ, let’s praise God, worship Him, and seek to discover what He is saying to us now.

Lord, thank You for this amazing book we call the Bible. Thank You for inspiring its creation by the writers You chose to pen its words. Thank You for preserving this book through the ages so we can learn Your people’s story and the good news of Your love.

The goal of Bible study is not just learning but living.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 17, 2016
Beware of Criticizing Others
Judge not, that you be not judged. —Matthew 7:1

Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.

There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10.  Not Knowing Whither, 867 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 17, 2016

Good News for Dad - #7680

I enjoy reading my newspaper. My kids enjoyed crashing through my newspaper to sit on my lap. Nowadays, it's getting harder to bother your father while he's checking out the news. You'd have to jump on his iPhone.

Anyway, I could relate when I heard about this little guy who kept interrupting his dad while he was reading his voluminous Sunday paper. For a while, Dad was able to buy a little time by saying "pretty soon, Son." But eventually, Son wasn't buying it.

So, deeply immersed in the sports section, his father had a sudden brainstorm. There just happened to be a full page ad that showed a map of the whole world. Resourceful Dad tore it into lots of little puzzle pieces. "Here, Scotty - why don't you put this puzzle together? As soon as you're finished, I promise we'll go out and play ball." Scotty eagerly hit the floor with his ragged pieces of the world.

It was just about two minutes later when he came knocking again on his father's newspaper. "I'm done, Daddy." "What? With all those pieces? How did you ever put the whole world together that fast?" The boy's answer blew his dad away. "It was easy, Daddy. There was a picture of a man on the other side!" Score one for the kid. But then came the clincher: "And when you put the man together right, the world goes together just fine!"

This Father's Day season, a lot of dads will get celebrated - maybe even pampered a little, if they're lucky. But beneath the "World's Greatest Dad" shirts and the "You rock, Dad!" cards, a lot of fathers realize an uncomfortable secret. "I'm not the man I should be." I know this man needs some "putting together right."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Good News for Dad."

Being a dad exposes a lot of baggage you might have been able to ignore before. Our children see behind closed doors the real us that few outside ever see. Our kids are our mirror. And sometimes we don't like what we see. Like those things that our parents did that we said we'd never do - and we're doing them. We see - reflected in our children - our weaknesses, our failures, our selfishness, and our baggage. One dad told me, "I look out the window at my precious eight-year-old daughter in the yard - and I think, 'I just can't be what she needs me to be.'"

Every father who's honest with himself knows the feelings that are expressed so bluntly by one of the writers of the Bible. He said, "What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Then he cries out in a desperate desire to change: "Who will rescue me?" That's in Romans 7:15, 24.

That's what all of us fathers need - if we'll be honest about the darkness we've got in us. We need a rescuer. That Bible writer found Him. The answer to his "who will rescue me?" is to the point - "Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

That's right! Jesus came here to tame the monster of sin that first poisons us, and then progressively poisons everyone we love. I might not have thought it was so bad when I was the only one being hurt by my sin. But now it scars the people I love the most. I want to change - but if I could have changed, I would have. Like every dad, I really do need the Rescuer.

Truth is, a man needs Jesus to be the man he needs to be. That his wife needs him to be. That his children really need him to be. And when a man surrenders himself to Jesus, He unleashes the same power that raised Him from the dead to change a man from the inside out.

The Bible promises in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." Jesus can beat the sin in a man because He died on the cross to pay for every sin of our life. The selfish things and hurting things - He'll forgive every one of them! Then that son or daughter God gave you gets a gift that will change them, too. They get a new dad, with Jesus in his life.

Because when Jesus puts the man together right, the world of his family will go together just fine.

Dad, are you ready to get started with Jesus? Tell Him that right now, with Him driving, not you anymore. Go to our website, and let me show you exactly the steps to take to make sure you belong to Him. Go to ANewStory.com

When God wanted to rescue us, He came to us as a man. The 12 people who were the original "Team Jesus" were all men - real men. For 2,000 years, men have found in the God-man, Jesus Christ, the power to love, to change, and to be forgiven. But it starts with a choice. Jesus, you're driving, I'm not.