Max Lucado Daily: GOD BECAME FLESH
If you want to see people on the edge of insanity, just watch the way families treat their babies at Christmas time! The poor child has no warning! Red furry stocking cap, goofy elfish shoes that curl at the toes. And the pictures we take! Baby snoozing under the tree…Baby on Santa’s lap…Santa with wet spot on lap.
Is not Christmas the story of a baby? The moment that shaped all others? Mary’s eyes falling on the face of her just-born son. The first to whisper, So this is what God looks like! Never in mankind’s wildest imaginings did we consider that God would enter the world as an infant. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Would you like to see God? Take a look at the baby Jesus!
From Because of Bethlehem
Hosea 13
Religion Customized to Taste
1-3 God once let loose against Ephraim
a terrifying sentence against Israel:
Caught and convicted
in the lewd sex-worship of Baal—they died!
And now they’re back in the sin business again,
manufacturing god-images they can use,
Religion customized to taste. Professionals see to it:
Anything you want in a god you can get.
Can you believe it? They sacrifice live babies to these dead gods—
kill living babies and kiss golden calves!
And now there’s nothing left to these people:
hollow men, desiccated women,
Like scraps of paper blown down the street,
like smoke in a gusty wind.
4-6 “I’m still your God,
the God who saved you out of Egypt.
I’m the only real God you’ve ever known.
I’m the one and only God who delivers.
I took care of you during the wilderness hard times,
those years when you had nothing.
I took care of you, took care of all your needs,
gave you everything you needed.
You were spoiled. You thought you didn’t need me.
You forgot me.
7-12 “I’ll charge them like a lion,
like a leopard stalking in the brush.
I’ll jump them like a sow grizzly robbed of her cubs.
I’ll rip out their guts.
Coyotes will make a meal of them.
Crows will clean their bones.
I’m going to destroy you, Israel.
Who is going to stop me?
Where is your trusty king you thought would save you?
Where are all the local leaders you wanted so badly?
All these rulers you insisted on having,
demanding, ‘Give me a king! Give me leaders!’?
Well, long ago I gave you a king, but I wasn’t happy about it.
Now, fed up, I’ve gotten rid of him.
I have a detailed record of your infidelities—
Ephraim’s sin documented and stored in a safe-deposit box.
13-15 “When birth pangs signaled it was time to be born,
Ephraim was too stupid to come out of the womb.
When the passage into life opened up,
he didn’t show.
Shall I intervene and pull them into life?
Shall I snatch them from a certain death?
Who is afraid of you, Death?
Who cares about your threats, Tomb?
In the end I’m abolishing regret,
banishing sorrow,
Even though Ephraim ran wild,
the black sheep of the family.
15-16 “God’s tornado is on its way,
roaring out of the desert.
It will devastate the country,
leaving a trail of ruin and wreckage.
The cities will be gutted,
dear possessions gone for good.
Now Samaria has to face the charges
because she has rebelled against her God:
Her people will be killed, babies smashed on the rocks,
pregnant women ripped open.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
Read: Ephesians 4:1–6
To Be Mature
1-3 In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
4-6 You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.
INSIGHT:
The ancient city of Ephesus was large and diverse. In the first century, many philosophies and religions in Ephesus competed with Christianity, and this diversity presented some unique theological and ethical challenges to the Christ-followers who lived there. In his letter to the believers in Ephesus, the apostle Paul wanted to be sure they understood that peace with God could only be achieved through faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. Other ideas might sound appealing, but salvation rests exclusively in Christ. Saving faith is not about converting to a religion; it is about receiving and then living out a new life from Christ that reflects God’s love, mercy, and wisdom.
Beautiful Unity
By Marvin Williams
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:3
Seeing three large predatory animals cuddle and play together is extremely unusual. Yet this is precisely what happens daily in an animal sanctuary in Georgia. In 2001, after months of neglect and abuse, a lion, a Bengal tiger, and a black bear were rescued by Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary. “We could have separated them,” said the assistant director. “But since they came as a kind of family, we decided to keep them together.” The trio had found comfort in each other during their time of mistreatment, and, despite their differences, they live peacefully together.
Unity is a beautiful thing. But the unity Paul wrote about in his letter to the believers in Ephesus is unique. Paul encouraged the Ephesians to live up to their calling as members of one body in Christ (Eph. 4:4–5). By the power of the Holy Spirit they would be able to live in unity as they developed humility, gentleness, and patience. These attitudes also allow us to lovingly bear “with one another in love” through the common ground we have in Christ Jesus (4:2).
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:3
Despite our differences, as members of the family of God we have been reconciled to Him through the death of our Savior and reconciled to each other through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Heavenly Father, help me to grow in gentleness and patience toward others. Show me how to love others, even when we may have differences.
We keep unity by being united in the Spirit.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
Repentance
Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation… —2 Corinthians 7:10
Conviction of sin is best described in the words:
My sins, my sins, my Savior,
How sad on Thee they fall.
Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict people of sin (see John 16:8). And when the Holy Spirit stirs a person’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that person’s relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with God— “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight…” (Psalm 51:4). The wonders of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven person who is truly holy. He proves he is forgiven by being the opposite of what he was previously, by the grace of God. Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying, “I have sinned.” The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes— a reflex action caused by self-disgust.
The entrance into the kingdom of God is through the sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man’s respectable “goodness.” Then the Holy Spirit, who produces these struggles, begins the formation of the Son of God in the person’s life (see Galatians 4:19). This new life will reveal itself in conscious repentance followed by unconscious holiness, never the other way around. The foundation of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a person cannot repent when he chooses— repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for “the gift of tears.” If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried. He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
Being the Harbor In Their Hurricane - #7803
It was a crazy Christmas at our house! Everybody in our family, three generations really excited about giving gifts to the others and getting them. Well, sometimes our festivities aren't quite like "peace on earth." Such was this particular Christmas. The chatter was loud, the laughter was hearty, and the buzz was intense. Or, in the case of a two-year old grandchild, it was just confusing. My wife, who you know, finely-tuned grandma's radar, noticed that our little grandson seemed a little dazed by all this happy Christmas crossfire. So she just quietly slipped to the floor. (We didn't even notice.) She got down where he was and began working patiently with him on assembling a toy he had just opened. That precious scene had been going on for a few minutes I think before any of us even noticed in the chaos. But there was Grandma, quietly creating this island of sanity in a sea of craziness.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Being the Harbor In Their Hurricane."
That's what Grandma was for our little guy. She provided the human harbor that protected him from the storm that was blowing all around him. There are some people in your life who need a harbor like that – someone who will be for them a safe place in the middle of a life bombardment. God has put you there to be that harbor.
And He's given us a wonderful flesh-and-blood example of it in our word for today from the Word of God which begins in Acts 4:36 where a man named Joseph was renamed by the church leaders, "Joseph...whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement)." I love that. I mean, we've all been called some names we'd like to forget, but wouldn't it be great if people thought you should be called "Encouragement"?
Well, let's watch Mr. Encouragement in action. Saul, the chief persecutor of the early Christians, has just been brought miraculously to Christ. But with his reputation, man, he's radio active. No one wants to risk letting him in the door, except for Barnabas. The Bible says, "When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles" (Acts 9:26-27). He was the harbor when no one else was there for Saul.
When Gentiles, who the Jewish believers weren't very excited about, reportedly came to Christ in Antioch, guess who was there for them? Barnabas, of course. The Bible says, "He encouraged them all..." (Acts 11:23). Saul became the Apostle Paul and he and Barnabas went out as the first Christian missionaries. But they got into a major disagreement over bringing a young man named Mark along. He had washed out in a previous mission and Paul didn't want to take him along. But Barnabas, the guy who believed in second chances, took Mark with him to another ministry assignment. Wouldn't you know, later in life, Paul wrote that Mark was "helpful to me in my ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). I think that was because a guy named Barnabas kept believing in him.
Will you be the Barnabas for the people around you? While the world is going crazy and the bullets are flying, will you be the one who makes each person feel like they're the only person in the world when they're with you. You can be their island of sanity in an insane world just by giving each person your total focus; your undistracted listening. Human harbor folks like Barnabas give people the "Three Life-Changing A's": your attention, your affection, and your affirmation.
Those positive strokes will help them feel how special they really are. Not just to you, but to God. They know they can come to you and they'll be uncondemned, unjudged, and unafraid. There are few things you can do that will mean more in the midst of a storm than to pray, right then and there, with that person who's under pressure.
In the midst of the crossfire and the craziness of this very cold and very confusing world, you have so much to give, because you have found your harbor in the arms of Jesus Christ.
Be what the people around you need so desperately. Be the one place that they will know they're safe.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Hosea 12 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: NO DAY ACCIDENTAL OR INCIDENTAL
No day is accidental or incidental. No acts are random or wasted. Look at Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem. A king ordered a census. Joseph was forced to travel. Mary, as round as a ladybug, bounced on a donkey’s back. The hotel was full. The hour was late. The event was one big hassle. Yet out of the hassle, hope was born. It still is.
I don’t like hassles. But I love Christmas because it reminds us of the heart-shaping promises of Christmas. Long after the guests have left, and the carolers have gone home, and the lights have come down these promises endure: God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God. Perhaps you could use some Christmas this Christmas?
From Because of Bethlehem
Hosea 12
Ephraim, obsessed with god-fantasies,
chases ghosts and phantoms.
He tells lies nonstop,
soul-destroying lies.
Both Ephraim and Judah made deals with Assyria
and tried to get an inside track with Egypt.
God is bringing charges against Israel.
Jacob’s children are hauled into court to be punished.
In the womb, that heel, Jacob, got the best of his brother.
When he grew up, he tried to get the best of God.
But God would not be bested.
God bested him.
Brought to his knees,
Jacob wept and prayed.
God found him at Bethel.
That’s where he spoke with him.
God is God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
God-Revealed, God-Known.
6 What are you waiting for? Return to your God!
Commit yourself in love, in justice!
Wait for your God,
and don’t give up on him—ever!
7-8 The businessmen engage in wholesale fraud.
They love to rip people off!
Ephraim boasted, “Look, I’m rich!
I’ve made it big!
And look how well I’ve covered my tracks:
not a hint of fraud, not a sign of sin!”
9-11 “But not so fast! I’m God, your God!
Your God from the days in Egypt!
I’m going to put you back to living in tents,
as in the old days when you worshiped in the wilderness.
I speak through the prophets
to give clear pictures of the way things are.
Using prophets, I tell revealing stories.
I show Gilead rampant with religious scandal
and Gilgal teeming with empty-headed religion.
I expose their worship centers as
stinking piles of garbage in their gardens.”
12-14 Are you going to repeat the life of your ancestor Jacob?
He ran off guilty to Aram,
Then sold his soul to get ahead,
and made it big through treachery and deceit.
Your real identity is formed through God-sent prophets,
who led you out of Egypt and served as faithful pastors.
As it is, Ephraim has continually
and inexcusably insulted God.
Now he has to pay for his life-destroying ways.
His Master will do to him what he has done.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
Read: Psalm 141:1–4
1-2 God, come close. Come quickly!
Open your ears—it’s my voice you’re hearing!
Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising;
my raised hands are my evening prayers.
3-7 Post a guard at my mouth, God,
set a watch at the door of my lips.
Don’t let me so much as dream of evil
or thoughtlessly fall into bad company.
And these people who only do wrong—
don’t let them lure me with their sweet talk!
May the Just One set me straight,
may the Kind One correct me,
Don’t let sin anoint my head.
I’m praying hard against their evil ways!
Oh, let their leaders be pushed off a high rock cliff;
make them face the music.
Like a rock pulverized by a maul,
let their bones be scattered at the gates of hell.
INSIGHT:
One of the experiences that shaped David's life—and his psalms—was his time as a refugee from a homicidal King Saul. David had two opportunities to usher in the fulfillment of his anointing as king by killing Saul (chs. 24, 26), and both times he was encouraged to do so by some of his followers. However, he did not kill Saul but left the situation in God’s hands. It may be these instances specifically that are at the root of the words of Psalm 141. The God who gave David strength to avoid evil deeds continues to offer help to us when we are faced with temptation. When have you asked God to help you resist a temptation in your life?
Constant Kindness
By David Roper
Be kind and compassionate to one another. Ephesians 4:32
When I was a child I was an ardent reader of L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz books. I recently came across Rinkitink in Oz with all the original artwork. I laughed again at the antics of Baum's irrepressible, good-hearted King Rinkitink with his down-to-earth goodness. Young Prince Inga described him best: “His heart is kind and gentle and that is far better than being wise."
How simple and how sensible! Yet who has not wounded the heart of someone dear to us by a harsh word? By doing so, we disturb the peace and quiet of the hour and we can undo much of the good we have done toward those we love. "A small unkindness is a great offense,” said Hannah More, an 18th-century English writer.
Be kind and compassionate to one another. Ephesians 4:32
Here’s the good news: Anyone can become kind. We may be incapable of preaching an inspiring sermon, fielding hard questions, or evangelizing vast numbers, but we can all be kind.
How? Through prayer. It is the only way to soften our hearts. “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil [or harsh]” (Ps. 141:3–4).
In a world in which love has grown cold, a kindness that comes from the heart of God is one of the most helpful and healing things we can offer to others.
Forgive me, Lord, when I bring anger into a situation. Soften my heart and help me use my words to encourage others.
Read words from Oswald Chambers at utmost.org
The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. Oswald Chambers
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
“My Rainbow in the Cloud”
I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. —Genesis 9:13
It is the will of God that human beings should get into a right-standing relationship with Him, and His covenants are designed for this purpose. Why doesn’t God save me? He has accomplished and provided for my salvation, but I have not yet entered into a relationship with Him. Why doesn’t God do everything we ask? He has done it. The point is— will I step into that covenant relationship? All the great blessings of God are finished and complete, but they are not mine until I enter into a relationship with Him on the basis of His covenant.
Waiting for God to act is fleshly unbelief. It means that I have no faith in Him. I wait for Him to do something in me so I may trust in that. But God won’t do it, because that is not the basis of the God-and-man relationship. Man must go beyond the physical body and feelings in his covenant with God, just as God goes beyond Himself in reaching out with His covenant to man. It is a question of faith in God— a very rare thing. We only have faith in our feelings. I don’t believe God until He puts something tangible in my hand, so that I know I have it. Then I say, “Now I believe.” There is no faith exhibited in that. God says, “Look to Me, and be saved…” (Isaiah 45:22).
When I have really transacted business with God on the basis of His covenant, letting everything else go, there is no sense of personal achievement— no human ingredient in it at all. Instead, there is a complete overwhelming sense of being brought into union with God, and my life is transformed and radiates peace and joy.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
Building Now What You'll Live In Later - #7802
My wife was just a girl when her grandparents down the road started building a little farmstead to live in. Because she had expressed a desire to be a missionary someday, Granddad thought she needed to know how to do things for herself – including laying block for a building. So, she got to help lay the block for her grandparents' house. Well, in the amazing, surprising ways of God, we ended up getting to live in that house many years after it was built. I used to kid her that the crooked blocks are the ones she did!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Building Now What You'll Live In Later."
My wife could have never imagined it what she built as a girl she would one day live in! But then, aren't our lives like that? We live in tomorrow whatever we build today.
That's exactly what the Bible says in that famous statement in Galatians 6:7. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." What you're planting today, you'll be eating in the future; what you're building today, you'll be living in later on. You know, in a very real way, the life you're living right now, the things you love and the things you hate, it's the harvest of the choices you made months ago or years ago, right? Except you may not have realized at the time what the choices were that you were making or the significance of them. You were actually building your future. You were choosing a road. See, that's why it's so important to realize it now. I mean, to realize about the choices you're making at this point in your life!
What you do with your body, what you do to your body now you're going to be living with down the road. Right? The way you treat your parents, the way you treat your children, the way you treat the other people in your personal world – you'll be living with that in your relationships for a long time to come. You will reap what you sow, you'll reap the sacrifices you're making, you'll reap the appreciation you're expressing, the generosity you're showing. You'll also reap the criticism you give, the sarcasm, the meanness, the harshness, the hurting words and the neglect. Oh yeah, they'll come back to you.
The way you talk to people, the way you talk about people – I hope it's something you'll want to live with in the years to come. Your words are seed you sow, and later you'll be living with the harvest of those words – a beautiful harvest or a bitter harvest. And one thing we're all building, for better or for worse, is a reputation. You're developing a reputation right now for trustworthiness or unreliability, for honesty or deceitfulness, for moral purity or moral laxity, for consistency or inconsistency. And much of what you get in the future will be the harvest of the kind of reputation that you're building today. You really do reap what you sow.
So don't compromise just to get out of a jam, or to get a quick fix, or to cover up something, or to meet a need today in a way that you're going to regret tomorrow. Draw out the lines of the choices you're making. Where's this going to take me? Am I going to end up where I want to end up? I'll be meeting what I'm sowing today later on. So, live openly, live honestly, and live gently.
Jesus gave us great advice in Luke 14 about all decisions. He said, "First sit down and estimate the cost." So someday you'll be living in what you're building today. So, come on! Build something that will last, and build something you'll want to live in for a long time.
No day is accidental or incidental. No acts are random or wasted. Look at Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem. A king ordered a census. Joseph was forced to travel. Mary, as round as a ladybug, bounced on a donkey’s back. The hotel was full. The hour was late. The event was one big hassle. Yet out of the hassle, hope was born. It still is.
I don’t like hassles. But I love Christmas because it reminds us of the heart-shaping promises of Christmas. Long after the guests have left, and the carolers have gone home, and the lights have come down these promises endure: God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God. Perhaps you could use some Christmas this Christmas?
From Because of Bethlehem
Hosea 12
Ephraim, obsessed with god-fantasies,
chases ghosts and phantoms.
He tells lies nonstop,
soul-destroying lies.
Both Ephraim and Judah made deals with Assyria
and tried to get an inside track with Egypt.
God is bringing charges against Israel.
Jacob’s children are hauled into court to be punished.
In the womb, that heel, Jacob, got the best of his brother.
When he grew up, he tried to get the best of God.
But God would not be bested.
God bested him.
Brought to his knees,
Jacob wept and prayed.
God found him at Bethel.
That’s where he spoke with him.
God is God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
God-Revealed, God-Known.
6 What are you waiting for? Return to your God!
Commit yourself in love, in justice!
Wait for your God,
and don’t give up on him—ever!
7-8 The businessmen engage in wholesale fraud.
They love to rip people off!
Ephraim boasted, “Look, I’m rich!
I’ve made it big!
And look how well I’ve covered my tracks:
not a hint of fraud, not a sign of sin!”
9-11 “But not so fast! I’m God, your God!
Your God from the days in Egypt!
I’m going to put you back to living in tents,
as in the old days when you worshiped in the wilderness.
I speak through the prophets
to give clear pictures of the way things are.
Using prophets, I tell revealing stories.
I show Gilead rampant with religious scandal
and Gilgal teeming with empty-headed religion.
I expose their worship centers as
stinking piles of garbage in their gardens.”
12-14 Are you going to repeat the life of your ancestor Jacob?
He ran off guilty to Aram,
Then sold his soul to get ahead,
and made it big through treachery and deceit.
Your real identity is formed through God-sent prophets,
who led you out of Egypt and served as faithful pastors.
As it is, Ephraim has continually
and inexcusably insulted God.
Now he has to pay for his life-destroying ways.
His Master will do to him what he has done.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
Read: Psalm 141:1–4
1-2 God, come close. Come quickly!
Open your ears—it’s my voice you’re hearing!
Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising;
my raised hands are my evening prayers.
3-7 Post a guard at my mouth, God,
set a watch at the door of my lips.
Don’t let me so much as dream of evil
or thoughtlessly fall into bad company.
And these people who only do wrong—
don’t let them lure me with their sweet talk!
May the Just One set me straight,
may the Kind One correct me,
Don’t let sin anoint my head.
I’m praying hard against their evil ways!
Oh, let their leaders be pushed off a high rock cliff;
make them face the music.
Like a rock pulverized by a maul,
let their bones be scattered at the gates of hell.
INSIGHT:
One of the experiences that shaped David's life—and his psalms—was his time as a refugee from a homicidal King Saul. David had two opportunities to usher in the fulfillment of his anointing as king by killing Saul (chs. 24, 26), and both times he was encouraged to do so by some of his followers. However, he did not kill Saul but left the situation in God’s hands. It may be these instances specifically that are at the root of the words of Psalm 141. The God who gave David strength to avoid evil deeds continues to offer help to us when we are faced with temptation. When have you asked God to help you resist a temptation in your life?
Constant Kindness
By David Roper
Be kind and compassionate to one another. Ephesians 4:32
When I was a child I was an ardent reader of L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz books. I recently came across Rinkitink in Oz with all the original artwork. I laughed again at the antics of Baum's irrepressible, good-hearted King Rinkitink with his down-to-earth goodness. Young Prince Inga described him best: “His heart is kind and gentle and that is far better than being wise."
How simple and how sensible! Yet who has not wounded the heart of someone dear to us by a harsh word? By doing so, we disturb the peace and quiet of the hour and we can undo much of the good we have done toward those we love. "A small unkindness is a great offense,” said Hannah More, an 18th-century English writer.
Be kind and compassionate to one another. Ephesians 4:32
Here’s the good news: Anyone can become kind. We may be incapable of preaching an inspiring sermon, fielding hard questions, or evangelizing vast numbers, but we can all be kind.
How? Through prayer. It is the only way to soften our hearts. “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil [or harsh]” (Ps. 141:3–4).
In a world in which love has grown cold, a kindness that comes from the heart of God is one of the most helpful and healing things we can offer to others.
Forgive me, Lord, when I bring anger into a situation. Soften my heart and help me use my words to encourage others.
Read words from Oswald Chambers at utmost.org
The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. Oswald Chambers
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
“My Rainbow in the Cloud”
I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. —Genesis 9:13
It is the will of God that human beings should get into a right-standing relationship with Him, and His covenants are designed for this purpose. Why doesn’t God save me? He has accomplished and provided for my salvation, but I have not yet entered into a relationship with Him. Why doesn’t God do everything we ask? He has done it. The point is— will I step into that covenant relationship? All the great blessings of God are finished and complete, but they are not mine until I enter into a relationship with Him on the basis of His covenant.
Waiting for God to act is fleshly unbelief. It means that I have no faith in Him. I wait for Him to do something in me so I may trust in that. But God won’t do it, because that is not the basis of the God-and-man relationship. Man must go beyond the physical body and feelings in his covenant with God, just as God goes beyond Himself in reaching out with His covenant to man. It is a question of faith in God— a very rare thing. We only have faith in our feelings. I don’t believe God until He puts something tangible in my hand, so that I know I have it. Then I say, “Now I believe.” There is no faith exhibited in that. God says, “Look to Me, and be saved…” (Isaiah 45:22).
When I have really transacted business with God on the basis of His covenant, letting everything else go, there is no sense of personal achievement— no human ingredient in it at all. Instead, there is a complete overwhelming sense of being brought into union with God, and my life is transformed and radiates peace and joy.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
Building Now What You'll Live In Later - #7802
My wife was just a girl when her grandparents down the road started building a little farmstead to live in. Because she had expressed a desire to be a missionary someday, Granddad thought she needed to know how to do things for herself – including laying block for a building. So, she got to help lay the block for her grandparents' house. Well, in the amazing, surprising ways of God, we ended up getting to live in that house many years after it was built. I used to kid her that the crooked blocks are the ones she did!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Building Now What You'll Live In Later."
My wife could have never imagined it what she built as a girl she would one day live in! But then, aren't our lives like that? We live in tomorrow whatever we build today.
That's exactly what the Bible says in that famous statement in Galatians 6:7. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." What you're planting today, you'll be eating in the future; what you're building today, you'll be living in later on. You know, in a very real way, the life you're living right now, the things you love and the things you hate, it's the harvest of the choices you made months ago or years ago, right? Except you may not have realized at the time what the choices were that you were making or the significance of them. You were actually building your future. You were choosing a road. See, that's why it's so important to realize it now. I mean, to realize about the choices you're making at this point in your life!
What you do with your body, what you do to your body now you're going to be living with down the road. Right? The way you treat your parents, the way you treat your children, the way you treat the other people in your personal world – you'll be living with that in your relationships for a long time to come. You will reap what you sow, you'll reap the sacrifices you're making, you'll reap the appreciation you're expressing, the generosity you're showing. You'll also reap the criticism you give, the sarcasm, the meanness, the harshness, the hurting words and the neglect. Oh yeah, they'll come back to you.
The way you talk to people, the way you talk about people – I hope it's something you'll want to live with in the years to come. Your words are seed you sow, and later you'll be living with the harvest of those words – a beautiful harvest or a bitter harvest. And one thing we're all building, for better or for worse, is a reputation. You're developing a reputation right now for trustworthiness or unreliability, for honesty or deceitfulness, for moral purity or moral laxity, for consistency or inconsistency. And much of what you get in the future will be the harvest of the kind of reputation that you're building today. You really do reap what you sow.
So don't compromise just to get out of a jam, or to get a quick fix, or to cover up something, or to meet a need today in a way that you're going to regret tomorrow. Draw out the lines of the choices you're making. Where's this going to take me? Am I going to end up where I want to end up? I'll be meeting what I'm sowing today later on. So, live openly, live honestly, and live gently.
Jesus gave us great advice in Luke 14 about all decisions. He said, "First sit down and estimate the cost." So someday you'll be living in what you're building today. So, come on! Build something that will last, and build something you'll want to live in for a long time.
Monday, December 5, 2016
Hosea 11 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: GOD WITH US
In Matthew 1:23, God called himself, “Immanuel”—which means, God with us! Not just God made us; not just God thinks about us; not just God above us; but God with us. God– where we are! He breathed our air and walked this earth. God. . .with. . .us!
Bethlehem was just the beginning. Jesus has promised a repeat performance: Bethlehem, Act 2. No silent night this time, however. The skies will open, trumpets will blast, and a new kingdom will begin. He will empty the tombs and melt the winter of death. Death, you die! Life, you reign! The manger dares us to believe the best is yet to be. I love Christmas because it reminds us how God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God!
From Because of Bethlehem
Hosea 11
Israel Played at Religion with Toy Gods
“When Israel was only a child, I loved him.
I called out, ‘My son!’—called him out of Egypt.
But when others called him,
he ran off and left me.
He worshiped the popular sex gods,
he played at religion with toy gods.
Still, I stuck with him. I led Ephraim.
I rescued him from human bondage,
But he never acknowledged my help,
never admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon,
That I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek,
that I bent down to feed him.
Now he wants to go back to Egypt or go over to Assyria—
anything but return to me!
That’s why his cities are unsafe—the murder rate skyrockets
and every plan to improve things falls to pieces.
My people are hell-bent on leaving me.
They pray to god Baal for help.
He doesn’t lift a finger to help them.
But how can I give up on you, Ephraim?
How can I turn you loose, Israel?
How can I leave you to be ruined like Admah,
devastated like luckless Zeboim?
I can’t bear to even think such thoughts.
My insides churn in protest.
And so I’m not going to act on my anger.
I’m not going to destroy Ephraim.
And why? Because I am God and not a human.
I’m The Holy One and I’m here—in your very midst.
10-12 “The people will end up following God.
I will roar like a lion—
Oh, how I’ll roar!
My frightened children will come running from the west.
Like frightened birds they’ll come from Egypt,
from Assyria like scared doves.
I’ll move them back into their homes.”
God’s Word!
Soul-Destroying Lies
Ephraim tells lies right and left.
Not a word of Israel can be trusted.
Judah, meanwhile, is no better,
addicted to cheap gods.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, December 05, 2016
Read: John 8:12–20
You’re Missing God in All This
12 Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.”
13 The Pharisees objected, “All we have is your word on this. We need more than this to go on.”
14-18 Jesus replied, “You’re right that you only have my word. But you can depend on it being true. I know where I’ve come from and where I go next. You don’t know where I’m from or where I’m headed. You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don’t make judgments like that. But even if I did, my judgment would be true because I wouldn’t make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father. That fulfills the conditions set down in God’s Law: that you can count on the testimony of two witnesses. And that is what you have: You have my word and you have the word of the Father who sent me.”
19 They said, “Where is this so-called Father of yours?”
Jesus said, “You’re looking right at me and you don’t see me. How do you expect to see the Father? If you knew me, you would at the same time know the Father.”
20 He gave this speech in the Treasury while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him because his time wasn’t yet up.
INSIGHT:
The gospel records fall into two categories: the Synoptic gospels and the gospel of John. The “Synoptics” (which means “with a common view”) are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Although they offer varying details to help them tell the story of Jesus in a unique way, they still have a common perspective because they often tell the same stories. John’s gospel is very distinct from the synoptics, with 92 percent unique material. One distinctive of John’s gospel is the emphasis on the themes of light and truth. John expresses the reality that Jesus is the embodiment of truth and light.
Christmas Lights
By C. P. Hia
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John 8:12
Each year for several weeks around Christmas, Singapore’s tourist belt, Orchard Road, is transformed into a wonderland of lights and colors. This light-up is designed to attract tourists to spend their money at the many stores along the street during this “golden month of business.” Shoppers come to enjoy the festivities, listen to choirs sing familiar Christmas carols, and watch performers entertain.
The first Christmas “light-up” ever was not created by electrical cables, glitter, and neon lights but by “the glory of the Lord [that] shone around” (Luke 2:9). No tourists saw it, just a few simple shepherds out in their field. And it was followed by an unexpected rendition of “Glory to God in the Highest” by an angelic choir (v. 14).
Lord, help me this Christmas to reflect the light of Your presence and goodness to others.
The shepherds went to Bethlehem to see if what the angels said was true (v. 15). After they had confirmed it, they could not keep to themselves what they had heard and seen. “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child” (v. 17).
Many of us have heard the Christmas story often. This Christmas, why not share the good news with others that Christ—“the light of the world”—has come (John 8:12).
Lord, help me this Christmas to reflect the light of Your presence and goodness to others.
Read more of the Christmas story in God of the Stable at discoveryseries.org/hp145.
The gift of God’s love in us can bring light to any darkness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, December 05, 2016
“The Temple of the Holy Spirit”
…only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you. —Genesis 41:40
I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not “set aside the grace of God”— make it ineffective (Galatians 2:21). The grace of God is absolute and limitless, and the work of salvation through Jesus is complete and finished forever. I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me. To “work out [my] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) means that I am responsible for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and boldly. “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Every Christian can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the responsibility to rule over all “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” including our thoughts and desires (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to do them.
Paul said, “I beseech you…that you present your bodies a living sacrifice…” (Romans 12:1). What I must decide is whether or not I will agree with my Lord and Master that my body will indeed be His temple. Once I agree, all the rules, regulations, and requirements of the law concerning the body are summed up for me in this revealed truth-my body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit.”
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, 565 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, December 05, 2016
The Hand That Keeps You Safe - #7801
"I don't wanna go." When our boys were little, that was sometimes what they'd tell me when we were out in the woods where it was like totally dark and a little scary. Well, not for me. I mean for them, of course. But I would reach for their hand and their little hand would instinctively reach up my way when we hit a dark stretch, and they'd grab on tight. Now the strangest thing happened. Once they had their father's hand, their feet started moving. They could go where they otherwise would never think about going as long as they had my hand.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Hand That Keeps You Safe."
At the other end of life's spectrum from little boys was where my wife's grandfather was. He was 94. He was unable to remember very much, including my wife – his granddaughter. She called him one day and she said, "Hi, Granddad." She, of course, told him her name, and she said, "I love you." He wasn't very happy about it. He said, "I don't know who this is." Some strange woman was calling and saying she loved him! What is this? Well, she reminded her Granddad of his only son and that she was his daughter. "I don't know you." Finally she just said, "Well, Granddad, remember this. Jesus loves you." To which he replied, "Now Him I know!" Isn't that interesting? After 94 years, not much that he could remember, but there was one person whose love and whose presence he was still aware of – Jesus.
Listen, that's not a religion. That's a relationship so real that it's there for you through every conceivable stage of life. For my wife, it was real when she used to walk that dark stretch of road from her house to the school bus as a little girl. They lived way back in the woods, and that last stretch was beyond where she could see Mommy, or the neighbor, or anyone. Knowing those trees could be hiding the bears and the mountain lions that she knew were in their area, she would just start to sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me."
This Jesus – this Savior – is literally the hand you never outgrow. The hand that is there for you as my hand was there for my boys in those dark and uncertain places. Here's our word for today from the Word of God. It's the familiar words of the 23rd Psalm. They're a description of a personal relationship with God that I hope you have, or if you don't, that you'll begin it.
These are the words my own father wanted me to read to him the day he was going into that heart surgery from which he would never recover. Here are the words, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want...Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Which, by the way, sounds like a 94-year-old grandfather I knew, and my father facing life-or-death surgery, and a frightened little five-year-old girl on the dark stretch.). Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me."
This deep, personal, unloseable relationship with Jesus Christ is what I pray you will begin. It's the relationship your heart has always hungry for. This is the Savior who'll be with you through the turbulence of being a teenager, the pressures of parenting, the lonely moments of being single, the darkness of depression, the struggle of disease, or divorce, or disaster, or facing death.
The hand of Jesus I think maybe is reaching to you right now. If you'll look closely you'll see nail prints in that hand. They're there because of the price He paid to tear down the wall between you and God. His brutal death on the cross was to pay the death penalty for your sins and mine. Now He waits to forgive you; to be the one constant in your life and in your eternity no matter what changes.
Don't you want to grab that hand of Jesus to be your own personal Savior, your lifetime friend? Tell Him today, "Jesus, I give my life to the One who gave His life for me. I've been running it. You run it from now on. Jesus, I'm Yours."
Experience that love for yourself today. Let me invite you to go to our website. It's there to help you be sure you have begun your relationship with Jesus and to show you how. It's ANewStory.com. I hope you'll go there right away today.
You know, for an elderly grandfather, for a very sick father, for a frightened little girl, for you, the same never-leave-you person is Jesus. His hand is reaching. Won't you grab it? I'll tell you, He'll never, never let go.
In Matthew 1:23, God called himself, “Immanuel”—which means, God with us! Not just God made us; not just God thinks about us; not just God above us; but God with us. God– where we are! He breathed our air and walked this earth. God. . .with. . .us!
Bethlehem was just the beginning. Jesus has promised a repeat performance: Bethlehem, Act 2. No silent night this time, however. The skies will open, trumpets will blast, and a new kingdom will begin. He will empty the tombs and melt the winter of death. Death, you die! Life, you reign! The manger dares us to believe the best is yet to be. I love Christmas because it reminds us how God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God!
From Because of Bethlehem
Hosea 11
Israel Played at Religion with Toy Gods
“When Israel was only a child, I loved him.
I called out, ‘My son!’—called him out of Egypt.
But when others called him,
he ran off and left me.
He worshiped the popular sex gods,
he played at religion with toy gods.
Still, I stuck with him. I led Ephraim.
I rescued him from human bondage,
But he never acknowledged my help,
never admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon,
That I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek,
that I bent down to feed him.
Now he wants to go back to Egypt or go over to Assyria—
anything but return to me!
That’s why his cities are unsafe—the murder rate skyrockets
and every plan to improve things falls to pieces.
My people are hell-bent on leaving me.
They pray to god Baal for help.
He doesn’t lift a finger to help them.
But how can I give up on you, Ephraim?
How can I turn you loose, Israel?
How can I leave you to be ruined like Admah,
devastated like luckless Zeboim?
I can’t bear to even think such thoughts.
My insides churn in protest.
And so I’m not going to act on my anger.
I’m not going to destroy Ephraim.
And why? Because I am God and not a human.
I’m The Holy One and I’m here—in your very midst.
10-12 “The people will end up following God.
I will roar like a lion—
Oh, how I’ll roar!
My frightened children will come running from the west.
Like frightened birds they’ll come from Egypt,
from Assyria like scared doves.
I’ll move them back into their homes.”
God’s Word!
Soul-Destroying Lies
Ephraim tells lies right and left.
Not a word of Israel can be trusted.
Judah, meanwhile, is no better,
addicted to cheap gods.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, December 05, 2016
Read: John 8:12–20
You’re Missing God in All This
12 Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.”
13 The Pharisees objected, “All we have is your word on this. We need more than this to go on.”
14-18 Jesus replied, “You’re right that you only have my word. But you can depend on it being true. I know where I’ve come from and where I go next. You don’t know where I’m from or where I’m headed. You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don’t make judgments like that. But even if I did, my judgment would be true because I wouldn’t make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father. That fulfills the conditions set down in God’s Law: that you can count on the testimony of two witnesses. And that is what you have: You have my word and you have the word of the Father who sent me.”
19 They said, “Where is this so-called Father of yours?”
Jesus said, “You’re looking right at me and you don’t see me. How do you expect to see the Father? If you knew me, you would at the same time know the Father.”
20 He gave this speech in the Treasury while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him because his time wasn’t yet up.
INSIGHT:
The gospel records fall into two categories: the Synoptic gospels and the gospel of John. The “Synoptics” (which means “with a common view”) are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Although they offer varying details to help them tell the story of Jesus in a unique way, they still have a common perspective because they often tell the same stories. John’s gospel is very distinct from the synoptics, with 92 percent unique material. One distinctive of John’s gospel is the emphasis on the themes of light and truth. John expresses the reality that Jesus is the embodiment of truth and light.
Christmas Lights
By C. P. Hia
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John 8:12
Each year for several weeks around Christmas, Singapore’s tourist belt, Orchard Road, is transformed into a wonderland of lights and colors. This light-up is designed to attract tourists to spend their money at the many stores along the street during this “golden month of business.” Shoppers come to enjoy the festivities, listen to choirs sing familiar Christmas carols, and watch performers entertain.
The first Christmas “light-up” ever was not created by electrical cables, glitter, and neon lights but by “the glory of the Lord [that] shone around” (Luke 2:9). No tourists saw it, just a few simple shepherds out in their field. And it was followed by an unexpected rendition of “Glory to God in the Highest” by an angelic choir (v. 14).
Lord, help me this Christmas to reflect the light of Your presence and goodness to others.
The shepherds went to Bethlehem to see if what the angels said was true (v. 15). After they had confirmed it, they could not keep to themselves what they had heard and seen. “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child” (v. 17).
Many of us have heard the Christmas story often. This Christmas, why not share the good news with others that Christ—“the light of the world”—has come (John 8:12).
Lord, help me this Christmas to reflect the light of Your presence and goodness to others.
Read more of the Christmas story in God of the Stable at discoveryseries.org/hp145.
The gift of God’s love in us can bring light to any darkness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, December 05, 2016
“The Temple of the Holy Spirit”
…only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you. —Genesis 41:40
I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not “set aside the grace of God”— make it ineffective (Galatians 2:21). The grace of God is absolute and limitless, and the work of salvation through Jesus is complete and finished forever. I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me. To “work out [my] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) means that I am responsible for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and boldly. “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Every Christian can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the responsibility to rule over all “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” including our thoughts and desires (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to do them.
Paul said, “I beseech you…that you present your bodies a living sacrifice…” (Romans 12:1). What I must decide is whether or not I will agree with my Lord and Master that my body will indeed be His temple. Once I agree, all the rules, regulations, and requirements of the law concerning the body are summed up for me in this revealed truth-my body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit.”
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, 565 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, December 05, 2016
The Hand That Keeps You Safe - #7801
"I don't wanna go." When our boys were little, that was sometimes what they'd tell me when we were out in the woods where it was like totally dark and a little scary. Well, not for me. I mean for them, of course. But I would reach for their hand and their little hand would instinctively reach up my way when we hit a dark stretch, and they'd grab on tight. Now the strangest thing happened. Once they had their father's hand, their feet started moving. They could go where they otherwise would never think about going as long as they had my hand.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Hand That Keeps You Safe."
At the other end of life's spectrum from little boys was where my wife's grandfather was. He was 94. He was unable to remember very much, including my wife – his granddaughter. She called him one day and she said, "Hi, Granddad." She, of course, told him her name, and she said, "I love you." He wasn't very happy about it. He said, "I don't know who this is." Some strange woman was calling and saying she loved him! What is this? Well, she reminded her Granddad of his only son and that she was his daughter. "I don't know you." Finally she just said, "Well, Granddad, remember this. Jesus loves you." To which he replied, "Now Him I know!" Isn't that interesting? After 94 years, not much that he could remember, but there was one person whose love and whose presence he was still aware of – Jesus.
Listen, that's not a religion. That's a relationship so real that it's there for you through every conceivable stage of life. For my wife, it was real when she used to walk that dark stretch of road from her house to the school bus as a little girl. They lived way back in the woods, and that last stretch was beyond where she could see Mommy, or the neighbor, or anyone. Knowing those trees could be hiding the bears and the mountain lions that she knew were in their area, she would just start to sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me."
This Jesus – this Savior – is literally the hand you never outgrow. The hand that is there for you as my hand was there for my boys in those dark and uncertain places. Here's our word for today from the Word of God. It's the familiar words of the 23rd Psalm. They're a description of a personal relationship with God that I hope you have, or if you don't, that you'll begin it.
These are the words my own father wanted me to read to him the day he was going into that heart surgery from which he would never recover. Here are the words, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want...Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Which, by the way, sounds like a 94-year-old grandfather I knew, and my father facing life-or-death surgery, and a frightened little five-year-old girl on the dark stretch.). Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me."
This deep, personal, unloseable relationship with Jesus Christ is what I pray you will begin. It's the relationship your heart has always hungry for. This is the Savior who'll be with you through the turbulence of being a teenager, the pressures of parenting, the lonely moments of being single, the darkness of depression, the struggle of disease, or divorce, or disaster, or facing death.
The hand of Jesus I think maybe is reaching to you right now. If you'll look closely you'll see nail prints in that hand. They're there because of the price He paid to tear down the wall between you and God. His brutal death on the cross was to pay the death penalty for your sins and mine. Now He waits to forgive you; to be the one constant in your life and in your eternity no matter what changes.
Don't you want to grab that hand of Jesus to be your own personal Savior, your lifetime friend? Tell Him today, "Jesus, I give my life to the One who gave His life for me. I've been running it. You run it from now on. Jesus, I'm Yours."
Experience that love for yourself today. Let me invite you to go to our website. It's there to help you be sure you have begun your relationship with Jesus and to show you how. It's ANewStory.com. I hope you'll go there right away today.
You know, for an elderly grandfather, for a very sick father, for a frightened little girl, for you, the same never-leave-you person is Jesus. His hand is reaching. Won't you grab it? I'll tell you, He'll never, never let go.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Hosea 10 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God’s Thoughts
God’s thoughts are not our thoughts—we aren’t even in the same neighborhood! Psalm 92:5 sets the standard! “Lord you have done such great things! How deep are your thoughts!”
When we’re thinking preserve the body, God is thinking save the soul. When we dream of a pay raise God dreams of raising the dead. We avoid pain and seek peace while God uses pain to bring peace. I’m going to live before I die, we resolve. But God instructs, Die so you can live. We love what rusts but God loves what endures. We rejoice at our successes but God rejoices at our confessions.
We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, “Be like him!” God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and a torn side and says, “Be like Christ!”
From Grace for the Moment
Hosea 10
You Thought You Could Do It All on Your Own
Israel was once a lush vine,
bountiful in grapes.
The more lavish the harvest,
the more promiscuous the worship.
The more money they got,
the more they squandered on gods-in-their-own-image.
Their sweet smiles are sheer lies.
They’re guilty as sin.
God will smash their worship shrines,
pulverize their god-images.
3-4 They go around saying,
“Who needs a king?
We couldn’t care less about God,
so why bother with a king?
What difference would he make?”
They talk big,
lie through their teeth,
make deals.
But their high-sounding words
turn out to be empty words, litter in the gutters.
5-6 The people of Samaria travel over to Crime City
to worship the golden calf-god.
They go all out, prancing and hollering,
taken in by their showmen priests.
They act so important around the calf-god,
but are oblivious to the sham, the shame.
They have plans to take it to Assyria,
present it as a gift to the great king.
And so Ephraim makes a fool of himself,
disgraces Israel with his stupid idols.
7-8 Samaria is history. Its king
is a dead branch floating down the river.
Israel’s favorite sin centers
will all be torn down.
Thistles and crabgrass
will decorate their ruined altars.
Then they’ll say to the mountains, “Bury us!”
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9-10 You got your start in sin at Gibeah—
that ancient, unspeakable, shocking sin—
And you’ve been at it ever since.
And Gibeah will mark the end of it
in a war to end all the sinning.
I’ll come to teach them a lesson.
Nations will gang up on them,
Making them learn the hard way
the sum of Gibeah plus Gibeah.
11-15 Ephraim was a trained heifer
that loved to thresh.
Passing by and seeing her strong, sleek neck,
I wanted to harness Ephraim,
Put Ephraim to work in the fields—
Judah plowing, Jacob harrowing:
Sow righteousness,
reap love.
It’s time to till the ready earth,
it’s time to dig in with God,
Until he arrives
with righteousness ripe for harvest.
But instead you plowed wicked ways,
reaped a crop of evil and ate a salad of lies.
You thought you could do it all on your own,
flush with weapons and manpower.
But the volcano of war will erupt among your people.
All your defense posts will be leveled
As viciously as king Shalman
leveled the town of Beth-arba,
When mothers and their babies
were smashed on the rocks.
That’s what’s ahead for you, you so-called people of God,
because of your off-the-charts evil.
Some morning you’re going to wake up
and find Israel, king and kingdom, a blank—nothing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, December 04, 2016
Read: Psalm 119:161–168
I’ve been slandered unmercifully by the politicians,
but my awe at your words keeps me stable.
I’m ecstatic over what you say,
like one who strikes it rich.
I hate lies—can’t stand them!—
but I love what you have revealed.
Seven times each day I stop and shout praises
for the way you keep everything running right.
For those who love what you reveal, everything fits—
no stumbling around in the dark for them.
I wait expectantly for your salvation;
God, I do what you tell me.
My soul guards and keeps all your instructions—
oh, how much I love them!
I follow your directions, abide by your counsel;
my life’s an open book before you.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. It uses eight different Hebrew words (each of them found between nineteen and twenty-five times in the chapter) related to God’s “law”—God’s written Word. Often Psalm 119 describes God’s Word as being more precious than gold (see vv. 72, 127). If God’s Word is your most treasured possession, how is that reflected in your life? Have you considered memorizing verses that stand out in your mind as you hear them proclaimed, sung, or read? How might you plan during this annual season to incorporate more of Scripture’s joyful message into your life?
The Treasure in Tomb 7
By Keila Ochoa
I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil. Psalm 119:162
In 1932, Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Caso discovered Tomb 7 at Monte Alban, Oaxaca. He found more than four hundred artifacts, including hundreds of pieces of pre-Hispanic jewelry he called “The Treasure of Monte Alban.” It is one of the major finds of Mexican archaeology. One can only imagine Caso’s excitement as he held a jade cup in its purest form.
Centuries earlier, the psalmist wrote of a treasure more valuable than gold or rock crystal. He said, “I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil” (Ps. 119:162). In Psalm 119, the writer knew how valuable God’s instructions and promises are to our lives, so he compared them to the great treasure that comes in hand with the victory of a conqueror.
God’s Word is a valuable possession and a guide to life.
Caso’s name is remembered today because of his discovery in Tomb 7. We can enjoy it if we visit a museum in Oaxaca. However, the psalmist’s treasure is at our fingertips. Day by day we can dig into the Scriptures and find diamonds of promises, rubies of hope, and emeralds of wisdom. But by far the greatest thing we find is the person whom the book points to: Jesus Himself. After all, He is the Author of the book.
Let us seek diligently with the confidence that this is the treasure that will enrich us. As the psalmist said, “Your laws are my treasure; they are my heart’s delight” (v. 111 nlt).
Father, I want to value the Scriptures as a treasure. Help me enjoy Your Word every day.
God’s Word is a valuable possession and a guide to life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, December 04, 2016
The Law of Opposition
To him who overcomes… —Revelation 2:7
Life without war is impossible in the natural or the supernatural realm. It is a fact that there is a continuing struggle in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual areas of life.
Health is the balance between the physical parts of my body and all the things and forces surrounding me. To maintain good health I must have sufficient internal strength to fight off the things that are external. Everything outside my physical life is designed to cause my death. The very elements that sustain me while I am alive work to decay and disintegrate my body once it is dead. If I have enough inner strength to fight, I help to produce the balance needed for health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a strong and active mental life, I have to fight. This struggle produces the mental balance called thought.
Morally it is the same. Anything that does not strengthen me morally is the enemy of virtue within me. Whether I overcome, thereby producing virtue, depends on the level of moral excellence in my life. But we must fight to be moral. Morality does not happen by accident; moral virtue is acquired.
And spiritually it is also the same. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation…” (John 16:33). This means that anything which is not spiritual leads to my downfall. Jesus went on to say, “…but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.
Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R
God’s thoughts are not our thoughts—we aren’t even in the same neighborhood! Psalm 92:5 sets the standard! “Lord you have done such great things! How deep are your thoughts!”
When we’re thinking preserve the body, God is thinking save the soul. When we dream of a pay raise God dreams of raising the dead. We avoid pain and seek peace while God uses pain to bring peace. I’m going to live before I die, we resolve. But God instructs, Die so you can live. We love what rusts but God loves what endures. We rejoice at our successes but God rejoices at our confessions.
We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, “Be like him!” God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and a torn side and says, “Be like Christ!”
From Grace for the Moment
Hosea 10
You Thought You Could Do It All on Your Own
Israel was once a lush vine,
bountiful in grapes.
The more lavish the harvest,
the more promiscuous the worship.
The more money they got,
the more they squandered on gods-in-their-own-image.
Their sweet smiles are sheer lies.
They’re guilty as sin.
God will smash their worship shrines,
pulverize their god-images.
3-4 They go around saying,
“Who needs a king?
We couldn’t care less about God,
so why bother with a king?
What difference would he make?”
They talk big,
lie through their teeth,
make deals.
But their high-sounding words
turn out to be empty words, litter in the gutters.
5-6 The people of Samaria travel over to Crime City
to worship the golden calf-god.
They go all out, prancing and hollering,
taken in by their showmen priests.
They act so important around the calf-god,
but are oblivious to the sham, the shame.
They have plans to take it to Assyria,
present it as a gift to the great king.
And so Ephraim makes a fool of himself,
disgraces Israel with his stupid idols.
7-8 Samaria is history. Its king
is a dead branch floating down the river.
Israel’s favorite sin centers
will all be torn down.
Thistles and crabgrass
will decorate their ruined altars.
Then they’ll say to the mountains, “Bury us!”
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9-10 You got your start in sin at Gibeah—
that ancient, unspeakable, shocking sin—
And you’ve been at it ever since.
And Gibeah will mark the end of it
in a war to end all the sinning.
I’ll come to teach them a lesson.
Nations will gang up on them,
Making them learn the hard way
the sum of Gibeah plus Gibeah.
11-15 Ephraim was a trained heifer
that loved to thresh.
Passing by and seeing her strong, sleek neck,
I wanted to harness Ephraim,
Put Ephraim to work in the fields—
Judah plowing, Jacob harrowing:
Sow righteousness,
reap love.
It’s time to till the ready earth,
it’s time to dig in with God,
Until he arrives
with righteousness ripe for harvest.
But instead you plowed wicked ways,
reaped a crop of evil and ate a salad of lies.
You thought you could do it all on your own,
flush with weapons and manpower.
But the volcano of war will erupt among your people.
All your defense posts will be leveled
As viciously as king Shalman
leveled the town of Beth-arba,
When mothers and their babies
were smashed on the rocks.
That’s what’s ahead for you, you so-called people of God,
because of your off-the-charts evil.
Some morning you’re going to wake up
and find Israel, king and kingdom, a blank—nothing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, December 04, 2016
Read: Psalm 119:161–168
I’ve been slandered unmercifully by the politicians,
but my awe at your words keeps me stable.
I’m ecstatic over what you say,
like one who strikes it rich.
I hate lies—can’t stand them!—
but I love what you have revealed.
Seven times each day I stop and shout praises
for the way you keep everything running right.
For those who love what you reveal, everything fits—
no stumbling around in the dark for them.
I wait expectantly for your salvation;
God, I do what you tell me.
My soul guards and keeps all your instructions—
oh, how much I love them!
I follow your directions, abide by your counsel;
my life’s an open book before you.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. It uses eight different Hebrew words (each of them found between nineteen and twenty-five times in the chapter) related to God’s “law”—God’s written Word. Often Psalm 119 describes God’s Word as being more precious than gold (see vv. 72, 127). If God’s Word is your most treasured possession, how is that reflected in your life? Have you considered memorizing verses that stand out in your mind as you hear them proclaimed, sung, or read? How might you plan during this annual season to incorporate more of Scripture’s joyful message into your life?
The Treasure in Tomb 7
By Keila Ochoa
I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil. Psalm 119:162
In 1932, Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Caso discovered Tomb 7 at Monte Alban, Oaxaca. He found more than four hundred artifacts, including hundreds of pieces of pre-Hispanic jewelry he called “The Treasure of Monte Alban.” It is one of the major finds of Mexican archaeology. One can only imagine Caso’s excitement as he held a jade cup in its purest form.
Centuries earlier, the psalmist wrote of a treasure more valuable than gold or rock crystal. He said, “I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil” (Ps. 119:162). In Psalm 119, the writer knew how valuable God’s instructions and promises are to our lives, so he compared them to the great treasure that comes in hand with the victory of a conqueror.
God’s Word is a valuable possession and a guide to life.
Caso’s name is remembered today because of his discovery in Tomb 7. We can enjoy it if we visit a museum in Oaxaca. However, the psalmist’s treasure is at our fingertips. Day by day we can dig into the Scriptures and find diamonds of promises, rubies of hope, and emeralds of wisdom. But by far the greatest thing we find is the person whom the book points to: Jesus Himself. After all, He is the Author of the book.
Let us seek diligently with the confidence that this is the treasure that will enrich us. As the psalmist said, “Your laws are my treasure; they are my heart’s delight” (v. 111 nlt).
Father, I want to value the Scriptures as a treasure. Help me enjoy Your Word every day.
God’s Word is a valuable possession and a guide to life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, December 04, 2016
The Law of Opposition
To him who overcomes… —Revelation 2:7
Life without war is impossible in the natural or the supernatural realm. It is a fact that there is a continuing struggle in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual areas of life.
Health is the balance between the physical parts of my body and all the things and forces surrounding me. To maintain good health I must have sufficient internal strength to fight off the things that are external. Everything outside my physical life is designed to cause my death. The very elements that sustain me while I am alive work to decay and disintegrate my body once it is dead. If I have enough inner strength to fight, I help to produce the balance needed for health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a strong and active mental life, I have to fight. This struggle produces the mental balance called thought.
Morally it is the same. Anything that does not strengthen me morally is the enemy of virtue within me. Whether I overcome, thereby producing virtue, depends on the level of moral excellence in my life. But we must fight to be moral. Morality does not happen by accident; moral virtue is acquired.
And spiritually it is also the same. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation…” (John 16:33). This means that anything which is not spiritual leads to my downfall. Jesus went on to say, “…but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.
Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Hosea 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Revamped Expectations
How do you respond when you hear something like this: I'm sorry-you didn't get the job. We just felt our other candidate was more qualified!
It's not easy when God doesn't do what we want, is it? Never has been. Never will be. But faith is the conviction that God knows more than we do about this life and He will get us through it. Remember, disappointment is cured by revamped expectations!
I like the story about the fellow who went to the pet store for a singing parakeet. He was a bachelor and his house was too quiet. The store owner had just the bird for him, so the man bought it. The next day the bachelor came home to a house full of music. He went to the cage to feed the bird and noticed for the first time that the parakeet had only one leg. He felt cheated. So he called and complained. "What do you want," the store owner responded, "a bird who can sing or a bird who can dance?" Good question for times of disappointment!
From Grace for the Moment
Hosea 9
Starved for God
9 1-6 Don’t waste your life in wild orgies, Israel.
Don’t party away your life with the heathen.
You walk away from your God at the drop of a hat
and like a whore sell yourself promiscuously
at every sex-and-religion party on the street.
All that party food won’t fill you up.
You’ll end up hungrier than ever.
At this rate you’ll not last long in God’s land:
Some of you are going to end up bankrupt in Egypt.
Some of you will be disillusioned in Assyria.
As refugees in Egypt and Assyria,
you won’t have much chance to worship God—
Sentenced to rations of bread and water,
and your souls polluted by the spirit-dirty air.
You’ll be starved for God,
exiled from God’s own country.
Will you be homesick for the old Holy Days?
Will you miss festival worship of God?
Be warned! When you escape from the frying pan of disaster,
you’ll fall into the fire of Egypt.
Egypt will give you a fine funeral!
What use will all your god-inspired silver be then
as you eke out a living in a field of weeds?
7-9 Time’s up. Doom’s at the doorstep.
It’s payday!
Did Israel bluster, “The prophet is crazy!
The ‘man of the Spirit’ is nuts!”?
Think again. Because of your great guilt,
you’re in big trouble.
The prophet is looking out for Ephraim,
working under God’s orders.
But everyone is trying to trip him up.
He’s hated right in God’s house, of all places.
The people are going from bad to worse,
rivaling that ancient and unspeakable crime at Gibeah.
God’s keeping track of their guilt.
He’ll make them pay for their sins.
They Took to Sin Like a Pig to Filth
10-13 “Long ago when I came upon Israel,
it was like finding grapes out in the desert.
When I found your ancestors, it was like finding
a fig tree bearing fruit for the first time.
But when they arrived at Baal-peor, that pagan shrine,
they took to sin like a pig to filth,
wallowing in the mud with their newfound friends.
Ephraim is fickle and scattered, like a flock of blackbirds,
their beauty dissipated in confusion and clamor,
Frenetic and noisy, frigid and barren,
and nothing to show for it—neither conception nor childbirth.
Even if they did give birth, I’d declare them
unfit parents and take away their children!
Yes indeed—a black day for them
when I turn my back and walk off!
I see Ephraim letting his children run wild.
He might just as well take them and kill them outright!”
14 Give it to them, God! But what?
Give them a dried-up womb and shriveled breasts.
15-16 “All their evil came out into the open
at the pagan shrine at Gilgal. Oh, how I hated them there!
Because of their evil practices,
I’ll kick them off my land.
I’m wasting no more love on them.
Their leaders are a bunch of rebellious adolescents.
Ephraim is hit hard—
roots withered, no more fruit.
Even if by some miracle they had children,
the dear babies wouldn’t live—I’d make sure of that!”
17 My God has washed his hands of them.
They wouldn’t listen.
They’re doomed to be wanderers,
vagabonds among the godless nations.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, December 03, 2016
Read: James 1:22–27
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.
26-27 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
INSIGHT:
The Bible consistently portrays God as the defender of the weak, the poor, the outcast, and the marginalized. Solomon says, “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done” (Prov. 14:31; 19:17). In today’s reading, James encourages believers to care for those in need and to “look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). How would the church be different if all believers tried to provide for each other’s needs?
Listeners and Doers
By Amy Boucher Pye
Look after orphans and widows in their distress. James 1:27
The phone rang in the night for my husband, a minister. One of the prayer warriors in our church, a woman in her seventies who lived alone, was being taken to the hospital. She was so ill that she was no longer eating or drinking, nor could she see or walk. Not knowing if she would live or die, we asked God for His help and mercy, feeling particularly concerned for her welfare. The church sprang into action with a round-the-clock schedule of visitors who not only ministered to her but showed Christian love to the other patients, visitors, and medical staff.
James’s letter to the early Jewish Christians encouraged the church to care for the needy. James wanted the believers to go beyond just listening to the Word of God and to put their beliefs into action (1:22–25). By citing the need to care for orphans and widows (v. 27), he named a vulnerable group, for in the ancient world the family would have been responsible for their care.
Help us to love Your people as You love them, for we are made in Your image.
How do we respond to those who are at risk in our church and community? Do we see caring for the widows and orphans as a vital part of the exercise of our faith? May God open our eyes to the opportunities to serve people in need everywhere.
Father God, Your heart beats for the vulnerable and for those who are alone. Help us to love Your people as You love them, for we are made in Your image.
True faith demands not only our words, but our actions.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, December 03, 2016
“Not by Might nor by Power”
My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power… —1 Corinthians 2:4
If in preaching the gospel you substitute your knowledge of the way of salvation for confidence in the power of the gospel, you hinder people from getting to reality. Take care to see while you proclaim your knowledge of the way of salvation, that you yourself are rooted and grounded by faith in God. Never rely on the clearness of your presentation, but as you give your explanation make sure that you are relying on the Holy Spirit. Rely on the certainty of God’s redemptive power, and He will create His own life in people.
Once you are rooted in reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith. But nothing can ever change God or the reality of redemption. Base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God Himself. Once you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again. That is the meaning of sanctification. God disapproves of our human efforts to cling to the concept that sanctification is merely an experience, while forgetting that even our sanctification must also be sanctified (see John 17:19). I must deliberately give my sanctified life to God for His service, so that He can use me as His hands and His feet.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
How do you respond when you hear something like this: I'm sorry-you didn't get the job. We just felt our other candidate was more qualified!
It's not easy when God doesn't do what we want, is it? Never has been. Never will be. But faith is the conviction that God knows more than we do about this life and He will get us through it. Remember, disappointment is cured by revamped expectations!
I like the story about the fellow who went to the pet store for a singing parakeet. He was a bachelor and his house was too quiet. The store owner had just the bird for him, so the man bought it. The next day the bachelor came home to a house full of music. He went to the cage to feed the bird and noticed for the first time that the parakeet had only one leg. He felt cheated. So he called and complained. "What do you want," the store owner responded, "a bird who can sing or a bird who can dance?" Good question for times of disappointment!
From Grace for the Moment
Hosea 9
Starved for God
9 1-6 Don’t waste your life in wild orgies, Israel.
Don’t party away your life with the heathen.
You walk away from your God at the drop of a hat
and like a whore sell yourself promiscuously
at every sex-and-religion party on the street.
All that party food won’t fill you up.
You’ll end up hungrier than ever.
At this rate you’ll not last long in God’s land:
Some of you are going to end up bankrupt in Egypt.
Some of you will be disillusioned in Assyria.
As refugees in Egypt and Assyria,
you won’t have much chance to worship God—
Sentenced to rations of bread and water,
and your souls polluted by the spirit-dirty air.
You’ll be starved for God,
exiled from God’s own country.
Will you be homesick for the old Holy Days?
Will you miss festival worship of God?
Be warned! When you escape from the frying pan of disaster,
you’ll fall into the fire of Egypt.
Egypt will give you a fine funeral!
What use will all your god-inspired silver be then
as you eke out a living in a field of weeds?
7-9 Time’s up. Doom’s at the doorstep.
It’s payday!
Did Israel bluster, “The prophet is crazy!
The ‘man of the Spirit’ is nuts!”?
Think again. Because of your great guilt,
you’re in big trouble.
The prophet is looking out for Ephraim,
working under God’s orders.
But everyone is trying to trip him up.
He’s hated right in God’s house, of all places.
The people are going from bad to worse,
rivaling that ancient and unspeakable crime at Gibeah.
God’s keeping track of their guilt.
He’ll make them pay for their sins.
They Took to Sin Like a Pig to Filth
10-13 “Long ago when I came upon Israel,
it was like finding grapes out in the desert.
When I found your ancestors, it was like finding
a fig tree bearing fruit for the first time.
But when they arrived at Baal-peor, that pagan shrine,
they took to sin like a pig to filth,
wallowing in the mud with their newfound friends.
Ephraim is fickle and scattered, like a flock of blackbirds,
their beauty dissipated in confusion and clamor,
Frenetic and noisy, frigid and barren,
and nothing to show for it—neither conception nor childbirth.
Even if they did give birth, I’d declare them
unfit parents and take away their children!
Yes indeed—a black day for them
when I turn my back and walk off!
I see Ephraim letting his children run wild.
He might just as well take them and kill them outright!”
14 Give it to them, God! But what?
Give them a dried-up womb and shriveled breasts.
15-16 “All their evil came out into the open
at the pagan shrine at Gilgal. Oh, how I hated them there!
Because of their evil practices,
I’ll kick them off my land.
I’m wasting no more love on them.
Their leaders are a bunch of rebellious adolescents.
Ephraim is hit hard—
roots withered, no more fruit.
Even if by some miracle they had children,
the dear babies wouldn’t live—I’d make sure of that!”
17 My God has washed his hands of them.
They wouldn’t listen.
They’re doomed to be wanderers,
vagabonds among the godless nations.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, December 03, 2016
Read: James 1:22–27
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.
26-27 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
INSIGHT:
The Bible consistently portrays God as the defender of the weak, the poor, the outcast, and the marginalized. Solomon says, “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done” (Prov. 14:31; 19:17). In today’s reading, James encourages believers to care for those in need and to “look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). How would the church be different if all believers tried to provide for each other’s needs?
Listeners and Doers
By Amy Boucher Pye
Look after orphans and widows in their distress. James 1:27
The phone rang in the night for my husband, a minister. One of the prayer warriors in our church, a woman in her seventies who lived alone, was being taken to the hospital. She was so ill that she was no longer eating or drinking, nor could she see or walk. Not knowing if she would live or die, we asked God for His help and mercy, feeling particularly concerned for her welfare. The church sprang into action with a round-the-clock schedule of visitors who not only ministered to her but showed Christian love to the other patients, visitors, and medical staff.
James’s letter to the early Jewish Christians encouraged the church to care for the needy. James wanted the believers to go beyond just listening to the Word of God and to put their beliefs into action (1:22–25). By citing the need to care for orphans and widows (v. 27), he named a vulnerable group, for in the ancient world the family would have been responsible for their care.
Help us to love Your people as You love them, for we are made in Your image.
How do we respond to those who are at risk in our church and community? Do we see caring for the widows and orphans as a vital part of the exercise of our faith? May God open our eyes to the opportunities to serve people in need everywhere.
Father God, Your heart beats for the vulnerable and for those who are alone. Help us to love Your people as You love them, for we are made in Your image.
True faith demands not only our words, but our actions.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, December 03, 2016
“Not by Might nor by Power”
My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power… —1 Corinthians 2:4
If in preaching the gospel you substitute your knowledge of the way of salvation for confidence in the power of the gospel, you hinder people from getting to reality. Take care to see while you proclaim your knowledge of the way of salvation, that you yourself are rooted and grounded by faith in God. Never rely on the clearness of your presentation, but as you give your explanation make sure that you are relying on the Holy Spirit. Rely on the certainty of God’s redemptive power, and He will create His own life in people.
Once you are rooted in reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith. But nothing can ever change God or the reality of redemption. Base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God Himself. Once you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again. That is the meaning of sanctification. God disapproves of our human efforts to cling to the concept that sanctification is merely an experience, while forgetting that even our sanctification must also be sanctified (see John 17:19). I must deliberately give my sanctified life to God for His service, so that He can use me as His hands and His feet.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
Friday, December 2, 2016
Romans 15:14-33, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT JESUS
My dad, a man of few words, told my brother and me, “Boys, Christmas is about Jesus!” In one of those bedtime, book-time moments, somewhere between the fairy tales and the monkey with the lunch pail, I thought about what he had said. I began asking the Christmas questions, and I’ve been asking them ever since!
God knows what it’s like to be a human. When we talk to him about deadlines or tough times, he understands. He’s been there. He’s been here. Because of Bethlehem, we have a friend in Jesus. Christmas begins what Easter celebrates. The child in the cradle became the King on the cross. He doesn’t tell us, “Clean up before you come in.” He offers, “Come in and I’ll clean you up.” It’s not our grip on him that matters, but his grip on us! And his grip is sure!
From Because of Bethlehem
Romans 15:14-33
Personally, I’ve been completely satisfied with who you are and what you are doing. You seem to me to be well-motivated and well-instructed, quite capable of guiding and advising one another. So, my dear friends, don’t take my rather bold and blunt language as criticism. It’s not criticism. I’m simply underlining how very much I need your help in carrying out this highly focused assignment God gave me, this priestly and gospel work of serving the spiritual needs of the non-Jewish outsiders so they can be presented as an acceptable offering to God, made whole and holy by God’s Holy Spirit.
17-21 Looking back over what has been accomplished and what I have observed, I must say I am most pleased—in the context of Jesus, I’d even say proud, but only in that context. I have no interest in giving you a chatty account of my adventures, only the wondrously powerful and transformingly present words and deeds of Christ in me that triggered a believing response among the outsiders. In such ways I have trailblazed a preaching of the Message of Jesus all the way from Jerusalem far into northwestern Greece. This has all been pioneer work, bringing the Message only into those places where Jesus was not yet known and worshiped. My text has been,
Those who were never told of him—
they’ll see him!
Those who’ve never heard of him—
they’ll get the message!
22-24 And that’s why it has taken me so long to finally get around to coming to you. But now that there is no more pioneering work to be done in these parts, and since I have looked forward to seeing you for many years, I’m planning my visit. I’m headed for Spain, and expect to stop off on the way to enjoy a good visit with you, and eventually have you send me off with God’s blessing.
25-29 First, though, I’m going to Jerusalem to deliver a relief offering to the followers of Jesus there. The Greeks—all the way from the Macedonians in the north to the Achaians in the south—decided they wanted to take up a collection for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. They were happy to do this, but it was also their duty. Seeing that they got in on all the spiritual gifts that flowed out of the Jerusalem community so generously, it is only right that they do what they can to relieve their poverty. As soon as I have done this—personally handed over this “fruit basket”—I’m off to Spain, with a stopover with you in Rome. My hope is that my visit with you is going to be one of Christ’s more extravagant blessings.
30-33 I have one request, dear friends: Pray for me. Pray strenuously with and for me—to God the Father, through the power of our Master Jesus, through the love of the Spirit—that I will be delivered from the lions’ den of unbelievers in Judea. Pray also that my relief offering to the Jerusalem believers will be accepted in the spirit in which it is given. Then, God willing, I’ll be on my way to you with a light and eager heart, looking forward to being refreshed by your company. God’s peace be with all of you. Oh, yes!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, December 02, 2016
I love God because he listened to me,
listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn;
then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
“Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
7-8 I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
9-11 I’m striding in the presence of God,
alive in the land of the living!
I stayed faithful, though bedeviled,
and despite a ton of bad luck,
Despite giving up on the human race,
saying, “They’re all liars and cheats.”
INSIGHT:
From this marvelous passage of Scripture, we can see the truth that bringing the God of the Bible into our daily experience alters our perspective. His grace and truth is available in our ever-changing circumstances. Even in our most difficult life circumstances, He is present and available to deliver us. Although our heart may endure trauma, it can still find a place to rest through looking at the past faithfulness of God. Fear of death, emotional anguish, and the struggle for daily direction all find their remedy in the faithful care of the living God who made us. Life for God’s children should be spelled with a capital L since He energizes, directs, and protects us.
Quiet Conversations
By James Banks
Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Psalm 103:2
Do you ever talk to yourself? Sometimes when I’m working on a project—usually under the hood of a car—I find it helpful to think aloud, working through my options on the best way to make the repair. If someone catches me in my “conversation” it can be a little embarrassing—even though talking to ourselves is something most of us do every day.
The psalmists often talked to themselves in the Psalms. The author of Psalm 116 is no exception. In verse 7 he writes, “Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” Reminding himself of God’s kindness and faithfulness in the past is a practical comfort and help to him in the present. We see “conversations” like this frequently in the Psalms. In Psalm 103:1 David tells himself, “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” And in Psalm 62:5 he affirms, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.”
Reminding ourselves about God's goodness can keep us filled with His peace.
It’s good to remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness and the hope we have in Him. We can follow the example of the psalmist and spend some time naming the many ways God has been good to us. As we do, we’ll be encouraged. The same God who has been faithful in the past will continue His love for us in the future.
Dear Lord, please help me to stay in touch with Your heart today by reminding myself of Your faithfulness and love.
Reminding ourselves about God's goodness can keep us filled with His peace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, December 02, 2016
Christian Perfection
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect… —Philippians 3:12
It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life’s determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call the evidence of God in your life. How can we say, “It could never be God’s will for me to be sick”? If it was God’s will to bruise His own Son (Isaiah 53:10), why shouldn’t He bruise you? What shines forth and reveals God in your life is not your relative consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your genuine, living relationship with Jesus Christ, and your unrestrained devotion to Him whether you are well or sick.
Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that hits you is the pointlessness of the things you have to do. The next thought that strikes you is that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives may leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary— that through your own human effort and devotion you can attain God’s standard for your life. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, December 02, 2016
Your Internal Guidance System - #7800
I remember seeing it first in the news from the first Gulf War, and then in Afghanistan. Well, you continue to see it as we have conflicts around the world; those amazing high-tech weapons that hit their target with this pinpoint accuracy. Oh, yeah, they say that there are "targeting errors", but for the most part, those weapons go right to their intended target – weapons like Cruise missiles or what they call "smart bombs". I still remember back in that first Gulf War, a correspondent was in Baghdad, and he described this Tomahawk missile roaring in over the city. It paused, and then it literally made a sharp turn to the left and went straight down into this military facility. Apparently, its tracking system determined that it was slightly off course, so it corrected it, and "boom!" it went right to the target. That's amazing stuff!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Internal Guidance System."
The secret of hitting the target is, of course, an internal guidance system for a missile and for you and me. And the Bible clearly describes what that guidance system should be for those of us who belong to Jesus Christ.
One place it's described is in Proverbs 11, beginning in verse 3. It's our word for today from the Word of God. The Lord says, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity...the righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness."
So, your integrity is supposed to be the guidance system in you that always determines where you'll go and how you'll do things. When you make up your mind that you're always going to do the honest thing, the right thing, what has integrity, then you'll be making a "straight way" for yourself. In other words, you won't be one way one time and another way another time. You won't live by one set of principles with one group and then in another setting you've got a whole other set of rules you play by. You'll be the same in all your dealings and everybody will know it, no matter where, no matter with whom and no matter what it costs. You're always fair, you always tell the truth, you always keep your promises to the best of your ability, and you do what you said you'd do. That's integrity.
When integrity is your internal guidance system, you've actually pre-made a thousand decisions that will come up along the way you don't even know you'll have. It really simplifies decision-making, because doing what's right will usually rule out most of your other options. The motto of any person, any business, any ministry that's committed to integrity and wants God's blessing is going to be, "Always take the high road."
Paul actually modeled that for us in 2 Corinthians 8. He was assigned to deliver this large offering to needy believers in Jerusalem. He said, "We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men." That's interesting, "Taking pains to do what is right". That's the kind of integrity that God blesses mightily. Frankly, sometimes doing what's right is a pain. It's taking pains to do it, but it is so worth it.
There's a great guideline in Psalm 4:5 that says, "Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord." The Bible also guarantees us that, "He that honors Me, I will honor." You stake everything on the promise of God."
So, as you're facing the choices ahead of you right now, remember it is the "integrity of the upright" that "guides them", that makes a "straight way for them". If you follow your culture, if you follow the way other people do things, or your emotions, you will go off course and you'll miss where you're supposed to be. But the man or woman who makes integrity their deciding factor will always end up hitting the target.
My dad, a man of few words, told my brother and me, “Boys, Christmas is about Jesus!” In one of those bedtime, book-time moments, somewhere between the fairy tales and the monkey with the lunch pail, I thought about what he had said. I began asking the Christmas questions, and I’ve been asking them ever since!
God knows what it’s like to be a human. When we talk to him about deadlines or tough times, he understands. He’s been there. He’s been here. Because of Bethlehem, we have a friend in Jesus. Christmas begins what Easter celebrates. The child in the cradle became the King on the cross. He doesn’t tell us, “Clean up before you come in.” He offers, “Come in and I’ll clean you up.” It’s not our grip on him that matters, but his grip on us! And his grip is sure!
From Because of Bethlehem
Romans 15:14-33
Personally, I’ve been completely satisfied with who you are and what you are doing. You seem to me to be well-motivated and well-instructed, quite capable of guiding and advising one another. So, my dear friends, don’t take my rather bold and blunt language as criticism. It’s not criticism. I’m simply underlining how very much I need your help in carrying out this highly focused assignment God gave me, this priestly and gospel work of serving the spiritual needs of the non-Jewish outsiders so they can be presented as an acceptable offering to God, made whole and holy by God’s Holy Spirit.
17-21 Looking back over what has been accomplished and what I have observed, I must say I am most pleased—in the context of Jesus, I’d even say proud, but only in that context. I have no interest in giving you a chatty account of my adventures, only the wondrously powerful and transformingly present words and deeds of Christ in me that triggered a believing response among the outsiders. In such ways I have trailblazed a preaching of the Message of Jesus all the way from Jerusalem far into northwestern Greece. This has all been pioneer work, bringing the Message only into those places where Jesus was not yet known and worshiped. My text has been,
Those who were never told of him—
they’ll see him!
Those who’ve never heard of him—
they’ll get the message!
22-24 And that’s why it has taken me so long to finally get around to coming to you. But now that there is no more pioneering work to be done in these parts, and since I have looked forward to seeing you for many years, I’m planning my visit. I’m headed for Spain, and expect to stop off on the way to enjoy a good visit with you, and eventually have you send me off with God’s blessing.
25-29 First, though, I’m going to Jerusalem to deliver a relief offering to the followers of Jesus there. The Greeks—all the way from the Macedonians in the north to the Achaians in the south—decided they wanted to take up a collection for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. They were happy to do this, but it was also their duty. Seeing that they got in on all the spiritual gifts that flowed out of the Jerusalem community so generously, it is only right that they do what they can to relieve their poverty. As soon as I have done this—personally handed over this “fruit basket”—I’m off to Spain, with a stopover with you in Rome. My hope is that my visit with you is going to be one of Christ’s more extravagant blessings.
30-33 I have one request, dear friends: Pray for me. Pray strenuously with and for me—to God the Father, through the power of our Master Jesus, through the love of the Spirit—that I will be delivered from the lions’ den of unbelievers in Judea. Pray also that my relief offering to the Jerusalem believers will be accepted in the spirit in which it is given. Then, God willing, I’ll be on my way to you with a light and eager heart, looking forward to being refreshed by your company. God’s peace be with all of you. Oh, yes!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, December 02, 2016
I love God because he listened to me,
listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn;
then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
“Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
7-8 I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
9-11 I’m striding in the presence of God,
alive in the land of the living!
I stayed faithful, though bedeviled,
and despite a ton of bad luck,
Despite giving up on the human race,
saying, “They’re all liars and cheats.”
INSIGHT:
From this marvelous passage of Scripture, we can see the truth that bringing the God of the Bible into our daily experience alters our perspective. His grace and truth is available in our ever-changing circumstances. Even in our most difficult life circumstances, He is present and available to deliver us. Although our heart may endure trauma, it can still find a place to rest through looking at the past faithfulness of God. Fear of death, emotional anguish, and the struggle for daily direction all find their remedy in the faithful care of the living God who made us. Life for God’s children should be spelled with a capital L since He energizes, directs, and protects us.
Quiet Conversations
By James Banks
Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Psalm 103:2
Do you ever talk to yourself? Sometimes when I’m working on a project—usually under the hood of a car—I find it helpful to think aloud, working through my options on the best way to make the repair. If someone catches me in my “conversation” it can be a little embarrassing—even though talking to ourselves is something most of us do every day.
The psalmists often talked to themselves in the Psalms. The author of Psalm 116 is no exception. In verse 7 he writes, “Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” Reminding himself of God’s kindness and faithfulness in the past is a practical comfort and help to him in the present. We see “conversations” like this frequently in the Psalms. In Psalm 103:1 David tells himself, “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” And in Psalm 62:5 he affirms, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.”
Reminding ourselves about God's goodness can keep us filled with His peace.
It’s good to remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness and the hope we have in Him. We can follow the example of the psalmist and spend some time naming the many ways God has been good to us. As we do, we’ll be encouraged. The same God who has been faithful in the past will continue His love for us in the future.
Dear Lord, please help me to stay in touch with Your heart today by reminding myself of Your faithfulness and love.
Reminding ourselves about God's goodness can keep us filled with His peace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, December 02, 2016
Christian Perfection
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect… —Philippians 3:12
It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life’s determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call the evidence of God in your life. How can we say, “It could never be God’s will for me to be sick”? If it was God’s will to bruise His own Son (Isaiah 53:10), why shouldn’t He bruise you? What shines forth and reveals God in your life is not your relative consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your genuine, living relationship with Jesus Christ, and your unrestrained devotion to Him whether you are well or sick.
Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that hits you is the pointlessness of the things you have to do. The next thought that strikes you is that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives may leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary— that through your own human effort and devotion you can attain God’s standard for your life. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, December 02, 2016
Your Internal Guidance System - #7800
I remember seeing it first in the news from the first Gulf War, and then in Afghanistan. Well, you continue to see it as we have conflicts around the world; those amazing high-tech weapons that hit their target with this pinpoint accuracy. Oh, yeah, they say that there are "targeting errors", but for the most part, those weapons go right to their intended target – weapons like Cruise missiles or what they call "smart bombs". I still remember back in that first Gulf War, a correspondent was in Baghdad, and he described this Tomahawk missile roaring in over the city. It paused, and then it literally made a sharp turn to the left and went straight down into this military facility. Apparently, its tracking system determined that it was slightly off course, so it corrected it, and "boom!" it went right to the target. That's amazing stuff!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Internal Guidance System."
The secret of hitting the target is, of course, an internal guidance system for a missile and for you and me. And the Bible clearly describes what that guidance system should be for those of us who belong to Jesus Christ.
One place it's described is in Proverbs 11, beginning in verse 3. It's our word for today from the Word of God. The Lord says, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity...the righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness."
So, your integrity is supposed to be the guidance system in you that always determines where you'll go and how you'll do things. When you make up your mind that you're always going to do the honest thing, the right thing, what has integrity, then you'll be making a "straight way" for yourself. In other words, you won't be one way one time and another way another time. You won't live by one set of principles with one group and then in another setting you've got a whole other set of rules you play by. You'll be the same in all your dealings and everybody will know it, no matter where, no matter with whom and no matter what it costs. You're always fair, you always tell the truth, you always keep your promises to the best of your ability, and you do what you said you'd do. That's integrity.
When integrity is your internal guidance system, you've actually pre-made a thousand decisions that will come up along the way you don't even know you'll have. It really simplifies decision-making, because doing what's right will usually rule out most of your other options. The motto of any person, any business, any ministry that's committed to integrity and wants God's blessing is going to be, "Always take the high road."
Paul actually modeled that for us in 2 Corinthians 8. He was assigned to deliver this large offering to needy believers in Jerusalem. He said, "We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men." That's interesting, "Taking pains to do what is right". That's the kind of integrity that God blesses mightily. Frankly, sometimes doing what's right is a pain. It's taking pains to do it, but it is so worth it.
There's a great guideline in Psalm 4:5 that says, "Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord." The Bible also guarantees us that, "He that honors Me, I will honor." You stake everything on the promise of God."
So, as you're facing the choices ahead of you right now, remember it is the "integrity of the upright" that "guides them", that makes a "straight way for them". If you follow your culture, if you follow the way other people do things, or your emotions, you will go off course and you'll miss where you're supposed to be. But the man or woman who makes integrity their deciding factor will always end up hitting the target.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Romans 15:1-13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: I LOVE CHRISTMAS
Let the sleigh bells ring! I love Christmas. Let the carolers sing. The more Santas the merrier. I don’t complain about the crowded shops. I don’t grumble at the jam-packed grocery store. Well—it’s Christmas.
I love it because someone will ask the Christmas questions. What’s the big deal about the baby in the manger? Who was he? What does his birth have to do with me? The questioner may be a soldier stationed far from home. She may be a young mom who, for the first time, holds a child on Christmas Eve. The Christmas season prompts Christmas questions…and answers.
Because of Bethlehem, God is always near us. Always for us. Always in us. We may forget Him, but God will never forget us. He called Himself “Immanuel”—God with us!
From Because of Bethlehem
Romans 15:1-13
Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”
3-6 That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:
Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!
And this one:
Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!
And again:
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!
And Isaiah’s word:
There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 01, 2016
Read: John 1:1–14
The Life-Light
1 1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
3-5 Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
6-8 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.
9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
INSIGHT:
The Lord Jesus gives the gift of light (John 8:12) and life (14:6) to all who believe in Him so they may enter into and experience eternal life with God (3:15–16; 6:47; 17:3). God has given us light embodied in Jesus (the living Word; John 1:1) and expressed in print in the written Word of God, the Bible (Ps. 119:105). As we focus on Jesus and immerse our minds responsively in God’s words, we find light shining more and more upon our daily path. Then we are better able to be what God intended us to be.
The View from 400 Miles
By David McCasland
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. John 1:9
“My perspective on earth changed dramatically the very first time I went into space,” says Space Shuttle astronaut Charles Frank Bolden Jr. From four hundred miles above the earth, all looked peaceful and beautiful to him. Yet Bolden recalled later that as he passed over the Middle East, he was “shaken into reality” when he considered the ongoing conflict there. During an interview with film producer Jared Leto, Bolden spoke of that moment as a time when he saw the earth with a sense of how it ought to be—and then sensed a challenge to do all he could to make it better.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the world was not the way God intended it. Into this moral and spiritual darkness Jesus came bringing life and light to all (John 1:4). Even though the world didn’t recognize Him, “to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (v. 12).
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. John 1:9
When life is not the way it ought to be we are deeply saddened—when families break up, children go hungry, and the world wages war. But God promises that through faith in Christ anyone can begin to move in a new direction.
The Christmas season reminds us that Jesus, the Savior, gives the gift of life and light to everyone who will receive and follow Him.
Father in heaven, may we share the light and life of Jesus with others today.
Share the hope of Christmas with your family and friends. Visit us at ourdailybread.org/GiftofGrace for outreach resources.
God is at work to make us who He intends us to be.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 01, 2016
The Law and the Gospel
Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. —James 2:10
The moral law does not consider our weaknesses as human beings; in fact, it does not take into account our heredity or infirmities. It simply demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never changes, either for the highest of society or for the weakest in the world. It is enduring and eternally the same. The moral law, ordained by God, does not make itself weak to the weak by excusing our shortcomings. It remains absolute for all time and eternity. If we are not aware of this, it is because we are less than alive. Once we do realize it, our life immediately becomes a fatal tragedy. “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Romans 7:9). The moment we realize this, the Spirit of God convicts us of sin. Until a person gets there and sees that there is no hope, the Cross of Christ remains absurd to him. Conviction of sin always brings a fearful, confining sense of the law. It makes a person hopeless— “…sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). I, a guilty sinner, can never work to get right with God— it is impossible. There is only one way by which I can get right with God, and that is through the death of Jesus Christ. I must get rid of the underlying idea that I can ever be right with God because of my obedience. Who of us could ever obey God to absolute perfection!
We only begin to realize the power of the moral law once we see that it comes with a condition and a promise. But God never coerces us. Sometimes we wish He would make us be obedient, and at other times we wish He would leave us alone. Whenever God’s will is in complete control, He removes all pressure. And when we deliberately choose to obey Him, He will reach to the remotest star and to the ends of the earth to assist us with all of His almighty power.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. My Utmost for His Highest, January 6, 736 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 01, 2016
Women Watching Their Men - #7799
There's this poignant scene from the epic novel and movie, "Grapes of Wrath". You might remember that's John Steinbeck's story about families that were living in the Depression-era in the Dust Bowl of mid-America, and that's a time when lives and families were changed forever. Huge dust storms were wiping out the life's work of a lot of farmers. In this one scene, an Oklahoma farm family has gathered in front of their house to watch the approach of this massive, foreboding dust storm. The working men in the family are looking toward the horizon, no doubt wondering what this storm is going to do to their world. The children are hanging onto their parents' knees, and their eyes are on the horizon, too. But not the women. No, the women are watching only their men's faces. What they need to know is there.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Women Watching Their Men."
That scene actually is a pretty revealing picture of where a wife's sense of security and well-being is supposed to lie – in the man she married. In fact, our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 14:26 describes the home of a real man this way: "He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge." Wow! A secure fortress – that's the kind of environment a man should provide for his wife and for his children.
God seems to have designed the home in such a way that the man is the thermostat – his marriage and his home reflect whatever climate he sets. That climate can be peaceful or stressful, it can be affectionate or cold, it can be communicating or just silent and disconnected. I mean, a man could be setting a climate that's sort of harsh, or it could be selfish or it could be unselfish, positive or negative. The woman seems to be the thermometer of the family, reflecting the temperature that's set by her thermostatic man. And I guess you might say that the children are the seismograph who register every disturbance.
When Eve ate the forbidden fruit, do you notice who God came looking for? He came looking for Adam, because it was the man God that held accountable for the condition of that first family. When Sarah laughed at God's promise of a son in her old age, God didn't come looking for Sarah. He came looking for Abraham and He confronted him about her unbelief. The buck stops with the man. Guys, it's us!
In our wedding ceremony, I asked God to help me be for my Karen – and these are the words we used – "the harbor for which the heart of woman truly longs". I don't think I always was that harbor, but I knew that that is what God expected of me and what I needed to try to be more and more.
You know, it's hard for a woman to feel secure in her husband's love when he doesn't even take time to listen to her heart, when he often criticizes her, when he seldom praises her, when he speaks harsh words to her in anger that he forgets and she can never forget. It's hard for her to trust him when his eyes keep wandering, when he doesn't seem to value what she does. A man has incredible power to build a woman up or to tear her down.
And she has every right to expect what God expects – that the man will be the spiritual leader in his home; leading them to pray, leading them to consult God's Word, leading them into godly choices.
The man may be scanning the horizon, weighing what he needs to do. But if you're married, your wife is looking at you to decide whether she's safe or not. See, you're her horizon. Don't let her down.
Let the sleigh bells ring! I love Christmas. Let the carolers sing. The more Santas the merrier. I don’t complain about the crowded shops. I don’t grumble at the jam-packed grocery store. Well—it’s Christmas.
I love it because someone will ask the Christmas questions. What’s the big deal about the baby in the manger? Who was he? What does his birth have to do with me? The questioner may be a soldier stationed far from home. She may be a young mom who, for the first time, holds a child on Christmas Eve. The Christmas season prompts Christmas questions…and answers.
Because of Bethlehem, God is always near us. Always for us. Always in us. We may forget Him, but God will never forget us. He called Himself “Immanuel”—God with us!
From Because of Bethlehem
Romans 15:1-13
Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”
3-6 That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:
Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!
And this one:
Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!
And again:
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!
And Isaiah’s word:
There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 01, 2016
Read: John 1:1–14
The Life-Light
1 1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
3-5 Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
6-8 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.
9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
INSIGHT:
The Lord Jesus gives the gift of light (John 8:12) and life (14:6) to all who believe in Him so they may enter into and experience eternal life with God (3:15–16; 6:47; 17:3). God has given us light embodied in Jesus (the living Word; John 1:1) and expressed in print in the written Word of God, the Bible (Ps. 119:105). As we focus on Jesus and immerse our minds responsively in God’s words, we find light shining more and more upon our daily path. Then we are better able to be what God intended us to be.
The View from 400 Miles
By David McCasland
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. John 1:9
“My perspective on earth changed dramatically the very first time I went into space,” says Space Shuttle astronaut Charles Frank Bolden Jr. From four hundred miles above the earth, all looked peaceful and beautiful to him. Yet Bolden recalled later that as he passed over the Middle East, he was “shaken into reality” when he considered the ongoing conflict there. During an interview with film producer Jared Leto, Bolden spoke of that moment as a time when he saw the earth with a sense of how it ought to be—and then sensed a challenge to do all he could to make it better.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the world was not the way God intended it. Into this moral and spiritual darkness Jesus came bringing life and light to all (John 1:4). Even though the world didn’t recognize Him, “to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (v. 12).
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. John 1:9
When life is not the way it ought to be we are deeply saddened—when families break up, children go hungry, and the world wages war. But God promises that through faith in Christ anyone can begin to move in a new direction.
The Christmas season reminds us that Jesus, the Savior, gives the gift of life and light to everyone who will receive and follow Him.
Father in heaven, may we share the light and life of Jesus with others today.
Share the hope of Christmas with your family and friends. Visit us at ourdailybread.org/GiftofGrace for outreach resources.
God is at work to make us who He intends us to be.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 01, 2016
The Law and the Gospel
Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. —James 2:10
The moral law does not consider our weaknesses as human beings; in fact, it does not take into account our heredity or infirmities. It simply demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never changes, either for the highest of society or for the weakest in the world. It is enduring and eternally the same. The moral law, ordained by God, does not make itself weak to the weak by excusing our shortcomings. It remains absolute for all time and eternity. If we are not aware of this, it is because we are less than alive. Once we do realize it, our life immediately becomes a fatal tragedy. “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Romans 7:9). The moment we realize this, the Spirit of God convicts us of sin. Until a person gets there and sees that there is no hope, the Cross of Christ remains absurd to him. Conviction of sin always brings a fearful, confining sense of the law. It makes a person hopeless— “…sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). I, a guilty sinner, can never work to get right with God— it is impossible. There is only one way by which I can get right with God, and that is through the death of Jesus Christ. I must get rid of the underlying idea that I can ever be right with God because of my obedience. Who of us could ever obey God to absolute perfection!
We only begin to realize the power of the moral law once we see that it comes with a condition and a promise. But God never coerces us. Sometimes we wish He would make us be obedient, and at other times we wish He would leave us alone. Whenever God’s will is in complete control, He removes all pressure. And when we deliberately choose to obey Him, He will reach to the remotest star and to the ends of the earth to assist us with all of His almighty power.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. My Utmost for His Highest, January 6, 736 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 01, 2016
Women Watching Their Men - #7799
There's this poignant scene from the epic novel and movie, "Grapes of Wrath". You might remember that's John Steinbeck's story about families that were living in the Depression-era in the Dust Bowl of mid-America, and that's a time when lives and families were changed forever. Huge dust storms were wiping out the life's work of a lot of farmers. In this one scene, an Oklahoma farm family has gathered in front of their house to watch the approach of this massive, foreboding dust storm. The working men in the family are looking toward the horizon, no doubt wondering what this storm is going to do to their world. The children are hanging onto their parents' knees, and their eyes are on the horizon, too. But not the women. No, the women are watching only their men's faces. What they need to know is there.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Women Watching Their Men."
That scene actually is a pretty revealing picture of where a wife's sense of security and well-being is supposed to lie – in the man she married. In fact, our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 14:26 describes the home of a real man this way: "He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge." Wow! A secure fortress – that's the kind of environment a man should provide for his wife and for his children.
God seems to have designed the home in such a way that the man is the thermostat – his marriage and his home reflect whatever climate he sets. That climate can be peaceful or stressful, it can be affectionate or cold, it can be communicating or just silent and disconnected. I mean, a man could be setting a climate that's sort of harsh, or it could be selfish or it could be unselfish, positive or negative. The woman seems to be the thermometer of the family, reflecting the temperature that's set by her thermostatic man. And I guess you might say that the children are the seismograph who register every disturbance.
When Eve ate the forbidden fruit, do you notice who God came looking for? He came looking for Adam, because it was the man God that held accountable for the condition of that first family. When Sarah laughed at God's promise of a son in her old age, God didn't come looking for Sarah. He came looking for Abraham and He confronted him about her unbelief. The buck stops with the man. Guys, it's us!
In our wedding ceremony, I asked God to help me be for my Karen – and these are the words we used – "the harbor for which the heart of woman truly longs". I don't think I always was that harbor, but I knew that that is what God expected of me and what I needed to try to be more and more.
You know, it's hard for a woman to feel secure in her husband's love when he doesn't even take time to listen to her heart, when he often criticizes her, when he seldom praises her, when he speaks harsh words to her in anger that he forgets and she can never forget. It's hard for her to trust him when his eyes keep wandering, when he doesn't seem to value what she does. A man has incredible power to build a woman up or to tear her down.
And she has every right to expect what God expects – that the man will be the spiritual leader in his home; leading them to pray, leading them to consult God's Word, leading them into godly choices.
The man may be scanning the horizon, weighing what he needs to do. But if you're married, your wife is looking at you to decide whether she's safe or not. See, you're her horizon. Don't let her down.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Hosea 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: OUR BATTLE STRATEGY
Today’s problem is not necessarily tomorrow’s problem. Don’t incarcerate yourself by assuming it is. Resist self-labeling. I’m just a worrier. Gossip is my weakness. My dad was a drinker, and I guess I’ll carry on the tradition. Stop that! These words create alliances with the Devil. They grant him access to your spirit. Turn a deaf ear to the old voices and make some new choices.
The Psalmist said, “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance” (Psalm 16:6). Live out of your inheritance, not your circumstance. God has already promised a victory. Paul urged us to stand “against the wiles of the Devil” (Ephesians 6:11). He is not passive or fair. Satan is active and deceptive; he has designs and strategies. Consequently we need a strategy as well. And God gives us one– let God do the fighting for us!
From God is With You Every Day
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Hosea 8
Altars for Sinning
“Blow the trumpet! Sound the alarm!
Vultures are circling over God’s people
Who have broken my covenant
and defied my revelation.
Predictably, Israel cries out, ‘My God! We know you!’
But they don’t act like it.
Israel will have nothing to do with what’s good,
and now the enemy is after them.
4-10 “They crown kings, but without asking me.
They set up princes but don’t let me in on it.
Instead, they make idols, using silver and gold,
idols that will be their ruin.
Throw that gold calf-god on the trash heap, Samaria!
I’m seething with anger against that rubbish!
How long before they shape up?
And they’re Israelites!
A sculptor made that thing—
it’s not God.
That Samaritan calf
will be broken to bits.
Look at them! Planting wind-seeds,
they’ll harvest tornadoes.
Wheat with no head
produces no flour.
And even if it did,
strangers would gulp it down.
Israel is swallowed up and spit out.
Among the pagans they’re a piece of junk.
They trotted off to Assyria:
Why, even wild donkeys stick to their own kind,
but donkey-Ephraim goes out and pays to get lovers.
Now, because of their whoring life among the pagans,
I’m going to gather them together and confront them.
They’re going to reap the consequences soon,
feel what it’s like to be oppressed by the big king.
11-14 “Ephraim has built a lot of altars,
and then uses them for sinning.
Can you believe it? Altars for sinning!
I write out my revelation for them in detail
and they pretend they can’t read it.
They offer sacrifices to me
and then they feast on the meat.
God is not pleased!
I’m fed up—I’ll keep remembering their guilt.
I’ll punish their sins
and send them back to Egypt.
Israel has forgotten his Maker
and gotten busy making palaces.
Judah has gone in for a lot of fortress cities.
I’m sending fire on their cities
to burn down their fortifications.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Read: 1 Peter 1:17–23
You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way. But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.
18-21 Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.
22-25 Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That’s why the prophet said,
The old life is a grass life,
its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers;
Grass dries up, flowers droop,
God’s Word goes on and on forever.
This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.
INSIGHT:
In today’s reading Peter tells his readers that Christ has redeemed them from an empty way of life. In the original language, the word translated “redeemed” (v. 18) means “to set free.” It is often used when talking about slaves who have been liberated from their bondage. They had been set free from the bondage of a futile and useless way of life that has been handed down to them from their ancestors. And this redeeming love of Christ was present even before sin entered the equation (vv. 18-20). Have you ever thought about the fact that Christ loves you knowing everything about you, even your sin? How does it make you feel that you have been or can be set free from the slavery of sin and death?
What Are You Worth?
By Bill Crowder
It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed . . . but with the precious blood of Christ. 1 Peter 1:18–19
There is a story that in 75 bc a young Roman nobleman named Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates and held for ransom. When they demanded 20 talents of silver in ransom (about $600,000 today), Caesar laughed and said they obviously had no idea who he was. He insisted they raise the ransom to 50 talents! Why? Because he believed he was worth far more than 20 talents.
What a difference we see between Caesar’s arrogant measure of his own worth and the value God places on each of us. Our worth is not measured in terms of monetary value but by what our heavenly Father has done on our behalf.
Our worth is measured by what God paid to rescue us.
What ransom did He pay to save us? Through the death of His only Son on the cross, the Father paid the price to rescue us from our sin. “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18–19).
God loved us so much that He gave up His Son to die on the cross and rise from the dead to ransom and rescue us. That is what you are worth to Him.
Father, thank You for the love You have shown to me and for the price You paid for my forgiveness. Help my life to be an ongoing expression of gratitude, for You are the One whose worth is beyond measure.
Our worth is measured by what God paid to rescue us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
“By the Grace of God I Am What I Am”
By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain… —1 Corinthians 15:10
The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him. We say things such as, “Oh, I shouldn’t claim to be sanctified; I’m not a saint.” But to say that before God means, “No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are opportunities I have not had and so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible.” That may sound wonderfully humble to others, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.
Conversely, the things that sound humble before God may sound exactly the opposite to people. To say, “Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,” is in God’s eyes the purest expression of humility. It means you have so completely surrendered yourself to God that you know He is true. Never worry about whether what you say sounds humble before others or not. But always be humble before God, and allow Him to be your all in all.
There is only one relationship that really matters, and that is your personal relationship to your personal Redeemer and Lord. If you maintain that at all costs, letting everything else go, God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Room in Your Lifeboat - #7798
When I'm in a new city, I don't usually make visiting a local cemetery one of my sightseeing priorities. But I did in a ministry trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I visited the cemetery where 121 passengers of the doomed Titanic are buried; many with their names still unknown.
Not long after the midnight radio transmission, "Have struck iceberg," three telegraph cable repair ships were dispatched from Halifax to make the 500-mile trip to the collision site to pick up the bodies of the victims. In a way, the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic is a tale of two ships. One was the Carpathia, the ship that rescued hundreds who had made it into lifeboats, and then took them into New York Harbor. The Carpathia carried a ship full of rescued people, but not the Mackay Bennett. No, that was the first funeral ship to arrive at the scene of the sinking. All they found was 328 people, floating in their lifejackets, frozen to death. The first one they found was a little two-year-old boy, floating face up. They were devastated.
By the time they sailed into Halifax Harbor with every church bell in town tolling, there were three long rows of bodies on their deck – every one a person who did not have to die. See, those lifeboats had been half empty. But as the people in the water cried out for help, the people in the lifeboats just kept rowing away. So one ship carried those who had been rescued, and the other ship carried those no one cared enough to rescue.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Room in Your Lifeboat."
Those people in the water died, not because the Titanic sank; they survived that. But because the people who were already saved did nothing for those who were dying. Dear God, is that us – the already saved, secure in our half-empty lifeboat, doing nothing about the spiritually dying people all around us? We're enjoying the fellowship of the folks already in the lifeboat, singing our lifeboat songs, maybe even making the lifeboat bigger or more comfortable for us. But our coworkers, our fellow-students, our neighbors who don't have a relationship with Jesus, the only one who could forgive their sin, they just go on living and dying without Him.
Our word for today from the Word of God paints a portrait of stark contrast as it describes the destinations of those who were rescued and those who never were. It's in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10. "When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels, He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and the majesty of His power." Think about it! Those are real people, condemned to pay for the sins Jesus already paid for on the cross – some because they didn't take what Jesus died to give them and others because no one ever told them how.
The Bible goes on to describe this as the day when "He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed." Look, don't you want the people you know, the people who you love to be there? Then whatever has kept you from telling them about Jesus – your fears, your inadequacy, your hang-ups – can they possibly be as important as rescuing someone who's dying?
In a sense, eternity will be a place where the ones someone rescued will sail to one port where there will be celebration and reunion. While those no one rescued will go to another port where there is only death and sorrow.
You've got room in your lifeboat and there's still time. Why don't you spend the rest of your life pulling as many dying people into your lifeboat as you can?
Today’s problem is not necessarily tomorrow’s problem. Don’t incarcerate yourself by assuming it is. Resist self-labeling. I’m just a worrier. Gossip is my weakness. My dad was a drinker, and I guess I’ll carry on the tradition. Stop that! These words create alliances with the Devil. They grant him access to your spirit. Turn a deaf ear to the old voices and make some new choices.
The Psalmist said, “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance” (Psalm 16:6). Live out of your inheritance, not your circumstance. God has already promised a victory. Paul urged us to stand “against the wiles of the Devil” (Ephesians 6:11). He is not passive or fair. Satan is active and deceptive; he has designs and strategies. Consequently we need a strategy as well. And God gives us one– let God do the fighting for us!
From God is With You Every Day
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Hosea 8
Altars for Sinning
“Blow the trumpet! Sound the alarm!
Vultures are circling over God’s people
Who have broken my covenant
and defied my revelation.
Predictably, Israel cries out, ‘My God! We know you!’
But they don’t act like it.
Israel will have nothing to do with what’s good,
and now the enemy is after them.
4-10 “They crown kings, but without asking me.
They set up princes but don’t let me in on it.
Instead, they make idols, using silver and gold,
idols that will be their ruin.
Throw that gold calf-god on the trash heap, Samaria!
I’m seething with anger against that rubbish!
How long before they shape up?
And they’re Israelites!
A sculptor made that thing—
it’s not God.
That Samaritan calf
will be broken to bits.
Look at them! Planting wind-seeds,
they’ll harvest tornadoes.
Wheat with no head
produces no flour.
And even if it did,
strangers would gulp it down.
Israel is swallowed up and spit out.
Among the pagans they’re a piece of junk.
They trotted off to Assyria:
Why, even wild donkeys stick to their own kind,
but donkey-Ephraim goes out and pays to get lovers.
Now, because of their whoring life among the pagans,
I’m going to gather them together and confront them.
They’re going to reap the consequences soon,
feel what it’s like to be oppressed by the big king.
11-14 “Ephraim has built a lot of altars,
and then uses them for sinning.
Can you believe it? Altars for sinning!
I write out my revelation for them in detail
and they pretend they can’t read it.
They offer sacrifices to me
and then they feast on the meat.
God is not pleased!
I’m fed up—I’ll keep remembering their guilt.
I’ll punish their sins
and send them back to Egypt.
Israel has forgotten his Maker
and gotten busy making palaces.
Judah has gone in for a lot of fortress cities.
I’m sending fire on their cities
to burn down their fortifications.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Read: 1 Peter 1:17–23
You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way. But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.
18-21 Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.
22-25 Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That’s why the prophet said,
The old life is a grass life,
its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers;
Grass dries up, flowers droop,
God’s Word goes on and on forever.
This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.
INSIGHT:
In today’s reading Peter tells his readers that Christ has redeemed them from an empty way of life. In the original language, the word translated “redeemed” (v. 18) means “to set free.” It is often used when talking about slaves who have been liberated from their bondage. They had been set free from the bondage of a futile and useless way of life that has been handed down to them from their ancestors. And this redeeming love of Christ was present even before sin entered the equation (vv. 18-20). Have you ever thought about the fact that Christ loves you knowing everything about you, even your sin? How does it make you feel that you have been or can be set free from the slavery of sin and death?
What Are You Worth?
By Bill Crowder
It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed . . . but with the precious blood of Christ. 1 Peter 1:18–19
There is a story that in 75 bc a young Roman nobleman named Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates and held for ransom. When they demanded 20 talents of silver in ransom (about $600,000 today), Caesar laughed and said they obviously had no idea who he was. He insisted they raise the ransom to 50 talents! Why? Because he believed he was worth far more than 20 talents.
What a difference we see between Caesar’s arrogant measure of his own worth and the value God places on each of us. Our worth is not measured in terms of monetary value but by what our heavenly Father has done on our behalf.
Our worth is measured by what God paid to rescue us.
What ransom did He pay to save us? Through the death of His only Son on the cross, the Father paid the price to rescue us from our sin. “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18–19).
God loved us so much that He gave up His Son to die on the cross and rise from the dead to ransom and rescue us. That is what you are worth to Him.
Father, thank You for the love You have shown to me and for the price You paid for my forgiveness. Help my life to be an ongoing expression of gratitude, for You are the One whose worth is beyond measure.
Our worth is measured by what God paid to rescue us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
“By the Grace of God I Am What I Am”
By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain… —1 Corinthians 15:10
The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him. We say things such as, “Oh, I shouldn’t claim to be sanctified; I’m not a saint.” But to say that before God means, “No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are opportunities I have not had and so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible.” That may sound wonderfully humble to others, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.
Conversely, the things that sound humble before God may sound exactly the opposite to people. To say, “Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,” is in God’s eyes the purest expression of humility. It means you have so completely surrendered yourself to God that you know He is true. Never worry about whether what you say sounds humble before others or not. But always be humble before God, and allow Him to be your all in all.
There is only one relationship that really matters, and that is your personal relationship to your personal Redeemer and Lord. If you maintain that at all costs, letting everything else go, God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Room in Your Lifeboat - #7798
When I'm in a new city, I don't usually make visiting a local cemetery one of my sightseeing priorities. But I did in a ministry trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I visited the cemetery where 121 passengers of the doomed Titanic are buried; many with their names still unknown.
Not long after the midnight radio transmission, "Have struck iceberg," three telegraph cable repair ships were dispatched from Halifax to make the 500-mile trip to the collision site to pick up the bodies of the victims. In a way, the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic is a tale of two ships. One was the Carpathia, the ship that rescued hundreds who had made it into lifeboats, and then took them into New York Harbor. The Carpathia carried a ship full of rescued people, but not the Mackay Bennett. No, that was the first funeral ship to arrive at the scene of the sinking. All they found was 328 people, floating in their lifejackets, frozen to death. The first one they found was a little two-year-old boy, floating face up. They were devastated.
By the time they sailed into Halifax Harbor with every church bell in town tolling, there were three long rows of bodies on their deck – every one a person who did not have to die. See, those lifeboats had been half empty. But as the people in the water cried out for help, the people in the lifeboats just kept rowing away. So one ship carried those who had been rescued, and the other ship carried those no one cared enough to rescue.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Room in Your Lifeboat."
Those people in the water died, not because the Titanic sank; they survived that. But because the people who were already saved did nothing for those who were dying. Dear God, is that us – the already saved, secure in our half-empty lifeboat, doing nothing about the spiritually dying people all around us? We're enjoying the fellowship of the folks already in the lifeboat, singing our lifeboat songs, maybe even making the lifeboat bigger or more comfortable for us. But our coworkers, our fellow-students, our neighbors who don't have a relationship with Jesus, the only one who could forgive their sin, they just go on living and dying without Him.
Our word for today from the Word of God paints a portrait of stark contrast as it describes the destinations of those who were rescued and those who never were. It's in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10. "When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels, He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and the majesty of His power." Think about it! Those are real people, condemned to pay for the sins Jesus already paid for on the cross – some because they didn't take what Jesus died to give them and others because no one ever told them how.
The Bible goes on to describe this as the day when "He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed." Look, don't you want the people you know, the people who you love to be there? Then whatever has kept you from telling them about Jesus – your fears, your inadequacy, your hang-ups – can they possibly be as important as rescuing someone who's dying?
In a sense, eternity will be a place where the ones someone rescued will sail to one port where there will be celebration and reunion. While those no one rescued will go to another port where there is only death and sorrow.
You've got room in your lifeboat and there's still time. Why don't you spend the rest of your life pulling as many dying people into your lifeboat as you can?
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