Max Lucado Daily: He Calls It Worship
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He Calls It Worship
Posted: 18 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” Genesis 22:5 NKJV
Abraham is about to sacrifice his only son—and what word does he use to describe the act? “Worship.” He’s headed up the mountain to place the biggest part of his life on an altar and he calls it “Worship.”
When we think of worship we typically think of offering a song, or a prayer, or a gift. But when Abraham worshiped, he offered his son. He offered the biggest part of his life to God.
Micah 1
1 God's Message as it came to Micah of Moresheth. It came during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. It had to do with what was going on in Samaria and Jerusalem. God Takes the Witness Stand
2Listen, people—all of you.
Listen, earth, and everyone in it:
The Master, God, takes the witness stand against you,
the Master from his Holy Temple.
3-5Look, here he comes! God, from his place!
He comes down and strides across mountains and hills.
Mountains sink under his feet,
valleys split apart;
The rock mountains crumble into gravel,
the river valleys leak like sieves.
All this because of Jacob's sin,
because Israel's family did wrong.
You ask, "So what is Jacob's sin?"
Just look at Samaria—isn't it obvious?
And all the sex-and-religion shrines in Judah—
isn't Jerusalem responsible?
6-7"I'm turning Samaria into a heap of rubble,
a vacant lot littered with garbage.
I'll dump the stones from her buildings in the valley
and leave her abandoned foundations exposed.
All her carved and cast gods and goddesses
will be sold for stove wood and scrap metal,
All her sacred fertility groves
burned to the ground,
All the sticks and stones she worshiped as gods,
destroyed.
These were her earnings from her life as a whore.
This is what happens to the fees of a whore."
8-9This is why I lament and mourn.
This is why I go around in rags and barefoot.
This is why I howl like a pack of coyotes,
and moan like a mournful owl in the night.
God has inflicted punishing wounds;
Judah has been wounded with no healing in sight.
Judgment has marched through the city gates.
Jerusalem must face the charges.
10-16Don't gossip about this in Telltown.
Don't waste your tears.
In Dustville,
roll in the dust.
In Alarmtown,
the alarm is sounded.
The citizens of Exitburgh
will never get out alive.
Lament, Last-Stand City:
There's nothing in you left standing.
The villagers of Bittertown
wait in vain for sweet peace.
Harsh judgment has come from God
and entered Peace City.
All you who live in Chariotville,
get in your chariots for flight.
You led the daughter of Zion
into trusting not God but chariots.
Similar sins in Israel
also got their start in you.
Go ahead and give your good-bye gifts
to Good-byeville.
Miragetown beckoned
but disappointed Israel's kings.
Inheritance City
has lost its inheritance.
Glorytown
has seen its last of glory.
Shave your heads in mourning
over the loss of your precious towns.
Go bald as a goose egg—they've gone
into exile and aren't coming back.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
James 1
1I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello! Faith Under Pressure
2-4Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
5-8If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.
9-11When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don't ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.
February 19, 2010
If Day
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READ: James 1:1-11
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. —James 1:2-3
February 19, 1942, was a fascinating day for Canada. It was “If Day”—a World War II staging of a fake Nazi invasion of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The intent was to show what it would be like “if” Canada fell under the harsh occupation of Nazi forces, and so that Canadians would support the war effort more fully.
As one person described the event: “If Day brought home the reality of Nazi occupation. Manitobans got a very bitter taste of nearly every aspect of Nazi brutality.” The key word there is nearly. While “If Day” was a valiant attempt to educate people about danger in the world, it could not begin to recreate the actual suffering that was sweeping Europe.
Real trials in life are not ifs—they are whens. In fact, life’s most profound lessons cannot simply be observed, they must be experienced. It is there, in actual seasons of heartache and loss, that we gain greater insights into life, faith, and our need of God. To that end, James wrote, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3).
Trials come because we live in a broken world, but we decide if we will learn the lessons taught. There are no “ifs” about it—it is an important way to grow. — Bill Crowder
Though you cannot see the outcome,
Trust the Lord—He knows what’s best;
Be assured He sees your trial,
And He’s with you in your test. —Hess
Tough times can teach us to trust.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 19, 2010
Taking the Initiative Against Drudgery
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READ:
Arise, shine . . . —Isaiah 60:1
When it comes to taking the initiative against drudgery, we have to take the first step as though there were no God. There is no point in waiting for God to help us— He will not. But once we arise, immediately we find He is there. Whenever God gives us His inspiration, suddenly taking the initiative becomes a moral issue— a matter of obedience. Then we must act to be obedient and not continue to lie down doing nothing. If we will arise and shine, drudgery will be divinely transformed.
Drudgery is one of the finest tests to determine the genuineness of our character. Drudgery is work that is far removed from anything we think of as ideal work. It is the utterly hard, menial, tiresome, and dirty work. And when we experience it, our spirituality is instantly tested and we will know whether or not we are spiritually genuine. Read John 13. In this chapter, we see the Incarnate God performing the greatest example of drudgery— washing fishermen’s feet. He then says to them, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet" (John 13:14 ). The inspiration of God is required if drudgery is to shine with the light of God upon it. In some cases the way a person does a task makes that work sanctified and holy forever. It may be a very common everyday task, but after we have seen it done, it becomes different. When the Lord does something through us, He always transforms it. Our Lord takes our human flesh and transforms it, and now every believer’s body has become "the temple of the Holy Spirit"
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Fog Cannot Win - #6030
Friday, February 19, 2010
Even though I was really busy speaking at a conference, I was blessed with a beautiful mountain cabin as my accommodation while I was there. The best time, and about the only time I could enjoy it, was early in the morning. This cabin has a large porch from which you can see majestic forest views and an awe-inspiring tapestry of green mountains and deep valleys. As I stepped out onto that porch one morning, the scenery had undergone a significant makeover. The fog was winning. I watched as these large clouds of fog billowed up. First they filled the valley below and then steadily rising to totally obscure the mountains. It looked almost as if the mountains were being consumed by the fog. So, the morning light from the sun that should have been illuminating the area by that time was nowhere to be seen. Well, briefly. You know what happened. The sun continued to rise behind that conquering fog, and in a short time, that fog began to quickly shrink and pretty soon totally disappear.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Fog Cannot Win."
The fog never really stands a chance; it's no match for the inevitable victory of the sun in a majestic mountain landscape, or in the dark moments of your life and mine. And maybe you're just in one of those seasons right now. It's been a time of loss, of grief, of doubt and confusion, maybe a prodigal loved one, or just no answers. Maybe you've been walking through a fog where evil seems to be winning; where injustice seems to be prevailing. The fog has rolled into your life and it's obscured things that you once were really sure of. It's covered the joy you once had with a sense of sadness and fear and maybe even thoughts of giving up.
But if you belong to the Sovereign Lord, the One who rules the galaxies and cares about your daily bread, the fog cannot ultimately win! The sun of God's power and love on your life is more powerful than the fog in your valley, no matter how dense, no matter how stubborn that fog may seem to be. Psalm 84:11 promises that "the Lord God is a sun and a shield...no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless."
And in our word for today from the Word of God, you have five hope-filled words straight from your Father's heart to yours. They're in Psalm 112:4, "Even in darkness light dawns." OK, let's get the context of that promise for every foggy day. "Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man." Don't let the darkness change the kind of person you are. Your mission is to keep on being gracious, keep on being upright, and keep on being compassionate. Don't let the light inside you go out. Psalm 112 goes on to say: "Good will come to him...surely he will never be shaken...he will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord...in the end he will look in triumph on his foes."
Bottom line: the fog that seems so impenetrable right now actually stands no chance against the rising sun of your Lord's breakthrough. The evil may have its hour of filling your horizon, but the Son's going to win! The grief will not last forever. Your prodigal will one day be carried home on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd. The doubts you're having in the darkness can't change what you heard from God when it was light. The answers you need will break through your confusion and struggle. The sadness of the fog is going to succumb to the joy of God's much more powerful sunlight.
Yes, the fog's been billowing up, it's been filling your view and maybe even making you forget the sun sometimes. But the fog can never ultimately win. Don't lose hope now. Don't stop trusting now. Don't stop doing what you know is right just because the fog has rolled in. The light may have been delayed, but there's no way it can be cancelled. The sun's coming up, and the fog doesn't stand a chance!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Amos 3, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Two Gardens
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Two Gardens
Posted: 17 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“The Son gives life.” John 5:21
The Bible is the story of two gardens: Eden and Gethsemane. In the first, Adam took a fall. In the second, Jesus took a stand. In the first, God sought Adam. In the second, Jesus sought God. In Eden, Adam hid from God. In Gethsemane, Jesus emerged from the tomb. In Eden, Satan led Adam to a tree that led to his death. From Gethsemane, Jesus went to a tree that led to our life.
Amos 3
Witnesses Summoned Against Israel
1 Hear this word the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt:
2 "You only have I chosen
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your sins."
3 Do two walk together
unless they have agreed to do so?
4 Does a lion roar in the thicket
when he has no prey?
Does he growl in his den
when he has caught nothing?
5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground
where no snare has been set?
Does a trap spring up from the earth
when there is nothing to catch?
6 When a trumpet sounds in a city,
do not the people tremble?
When disaster comes to a city,
has not the LORD caused it?
7 Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing
without revealing his plan
to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared—
who will not fear?
The Sovereign LORD has spoken—
who can but prophesy?
9 Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod
and to the fortresses of Egypt:
"Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria;
see the great unrest within her
and the oppression among her people."
10 "They do not know how to do right," declares the LORD,
"who hoard plunder and loot in their fortresses."
11 Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
"An enemy will overrun the land;
he will pull down your strongholds
and plunder your fortresses."
12 This is what the LORD says:
"As a shepherd saves from the lion's mouth
only two leg bones or a piece of an ear,
so will the Israelites be saved,
those who sit in Samaria
on the edge of their beds
and in Damascus on their couches. [a] "
13 "Hear this and testify against the house of Jacob," declares the Lord, the LORD God Almighty.
14 "On the day I punish Israel for her sins,
I will destroy the altars of Bethel;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down the winter house
along with the summer house;
the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed
and the mansions will be demolished,"
declares the LORD.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalms 62:1-12 (NIV) Ps 1 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. 3 How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down-- this leaning wall, this tottering fence? 4 They fully intend to topple him from his lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. Selah 5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah 9 Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. 10 Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. 11 One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, 12 and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.
February 18, 2010
Tell It All
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 62
Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. —Psalm 62:8
A clerk who helped me purchase a small digital voice recorder told me that he kept one just like it in his car when he worked in California. “When I began driving home after work I switched it on,” he said, “and I talked about everything that happened that day on the job, good and bad. When I pulled into my driveway, I hit the erase button.” Then he smiled. After telling everything to his voice recorder, he apparently had no need to go over the day’s problems with his wife or family.
It reminded me of how often I needlessly rehearse my disappointments and problems to others instead of telling them to God. The psalmist wrote: “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us” (Ps. 62:8). Twice he spoke of waiting silently for God, his rock and salvation (vv.1-2,5-7).
While there is great comfort in sharing our difficulties with a friend, we miss the greatest help if we fail to bring them to the Lord. Joseph Scriven said it so well:
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer! — David C. McCasland
No matter where we are, Jesus is only a prayer away.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 18, 2010
Taking the Initiative Against Despair
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READ:
Rise, let us be going —Matthew 26:46
In the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples went to sleep when they should have stayed awake, and once they realized what they had done it produced despair. The sense of having done something irreversible tends to make us despair. We say, "Well, it’s all over and ruined now; what’s the point in trying anymore." If we think this kind of despair is an exception, we are mistaken. It is a very ordinary human experience. Whenever we realize we have not taken advantage of a magnificent opportunity, we are apt to sink into despair. But Jesus comes and lovingly says to us, in essence, "Sleep on now. That opportunity is lost forever and you can’t change that. But get up, and let’s go on to the next thing." In other words, let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him.
There will be experiences like this in each of our lives. We will have times of despair caused by real events in our lives, and we will be unable to lift ourselves out of them. The disciples, in this instance, had done a downright unthinkable thing— they had gone to sleep instead of watching with Jesus. But our Lord came to them taking the spiritual initiative against their despair and said, in effect, "Get up, and do the next thing." If we are inspired by God, what is the next thing? It is to trust Him absolutely and to pray on the basis of His redemption.
Never let the sense of past failure defeat your next step.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Taking Back What the Enemy Stole - #6029
Thursday, February 18, 2010
I've been privileged to have many friends in law enforcement over the years. Not because I was in their custody. Some of them have the intriguing, and harrowing, assignment of being involved with both a SWAT team and the Hostage Negotiating Team. Needless to say, they are specialists who are called in when there's an especially dangerous situation; often involving people who are being held hostage by a felon. Their mission, one way or another, is to do whatever it takes to bring out those who have been taken captive.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Taking Back What the Enemy Stole."
That could be the mission God is asking you to go on right now. There's something, or someone, that our enemy Satan has stolen. And your Lord wants you to fight to get back what your enemy has no right to have.
There's a memorable picture of this in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Samuel 30, beginning with verse 3. While David and his warriors have been out on a military mission, their mortal enemies, the Amalekites, launch a sneak attack on David's camp and take prisoner the Bible says, "the women and all who were in it. When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive." The Bible says they wept until "they had no strength left to weep." It's just a heartbreaking scene.
But those tears turned to bitterness. "Each one was bitter in his spirit," the Bible says. "But David found strength in the Lord his God." So, "David inquired of the Lord" the Bible says, and as a result of God's direction, he led his men to take back what the enemy had stolen. And the Bible says, "David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken...nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back."
That could be God's word to you today, because your enemy has stolen something or someone he has no right to. Maybe he's stolen a child of yours or the love that was once in your marriage. Maybe he's stolen the joy you once had in serving your Lord, or the love and the unity your church once knew, or the sense of calling you once had. Satan also steals reputations...even years of your life, by keeping you from Jesus. Now when you've lost something to an enemy ambush, it's easy, like David's men, to succumb to bitterness and to feel like surrendering. But, like David, you need to "find strength in the Lord your God" instead of finding discouragement in what you've lost.
Then you pray for God's strategy for fighting back to recover what the enemy has stolen. Declare war on whatever has been keeping you from recovering what you should never forfeit to the darkness. Maybe you've been accepting a loss that you never should have surrendered to. You know what God is saying? It's time to fight back, and realize that the Messiah, Jesus, who descended from David, has the power to "bring everything back." You're no match for this enemy from hell, but he's no match for your Jesus!
And Jesus told us that we could pray and bind that strong man, and one stronger than he is (speaking of Jesus himself) will come and overpower him and take away his possessions. Those are possessions he never should have had in the first place. The enemy may have his hand on something or someone right now he has no right to. It's time for you to follow General Jesus into the battle to take back what the enemy has stolen!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two Gardens
Posted: 17 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“The Son gives life.” John 5:21
The Bible is the story of two gardens: Eden and Gethsemane. In the first, Adam took a fall. In the second, Jesus took a stand. In the first, God sought Adam. In the second, Jesus sought God. In Eden, Adam hid from God. In Gethsemane, Jesus emerged from the tomb. In Eden, Satan led Adam to a tree that led to his death. From Gethsemane, Jesus went to a tree that led to our life.
Amos 3
Witnesses Summoned Against Israel
1 Hear this word the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt:
2 "You only have I chosen
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your sins."
3 Do two walk together
unless they have agreed to do so?
4 Does a lion roar in the thicket
when he has no prey?
Does he growl in his den
when he has caught nothing?
5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground
where no snare has been set?
Does a trap spring up from the earth
when there is nothing to catch?
6 When a trumpet sounds in a city,
do not the people tremble?
When disaster comes to a city,
has not the LORD caused it?
7 Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing
without revealing his plan
to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared—
who will not fear?
The Sovereign LORD has spoken—
who can but prophesy?
9 Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod
and to the fortresses of Egypt:
"Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria;
see the great unrest within her
and the oppression among her people."
10 "They do not know how to do right," declares the LORD,
"who hoard plunder and loot in their fortresses."
11 Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
"An enemy will overrun the land;
he will pull down your strongholds
and plunder your fortresses."
12 This is what the LORD says:
"As a shepherd saves from the lion's mouth
only two leg bones or a piece of an ear,
so will the Israelites be saved,
those who sit in Samaria
on the edge of their beds
and in Damascus on their couches. [a] "
13 "Hear this and testify against the house of Jacob," declares the Lord, the LORD God Almighty.
14 "On the day I punish Israel for her sins,
I will destroy the altars of Bethel;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down the winter house
along with the summer house;
the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed
and the mansions will be demolished,"
declares the LORD.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalms 62:1-12 (NIV) Ps 1 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. 3 How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down-- this leaning wall, this tottering fence? 4 They fully intend to topple him from his lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. Selah 5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah 9 Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. 10 Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. 11 One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, 12 and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.
February 18, 2010
Tell It All
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Psalm 62
Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. —Psalm 62:8
A clerk who helped me purchase a small digital voice recorder told me that he kept one just like it in his car when he worked in California. “When I began driving home after work I switched it on,” he said, “and I talked about everything that happened that day on the job, good and bad. When I pulled into my driveway, I hit the erase button.” Then he smiled. After telling everything to his voice recorder, he apparently had no need to go over the day’s problems with his wife or family.
It reminded me of how often I needlessly rehearse my disappointments and problems to others instead of telling them to God. The psalmist wrote: “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us” (Ps. 62:8). Twice he spoke of waiting silently for God, his rock and salvation (vv.1-2,5-7).
While there is great comfort in sharing our difficulties with a friend, we miss the greatest help if we fail to bring them to the Lord. Joseph Scriven said it so well:
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer! — David C. McCasland
No matter where we are, Jesus is only a prayer away.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 18, 2010
Taking the Initiative Against Despair
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Rise, let us be going —Matthew 26:46
In the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples went to sleep when they should have stayed awake, and once they realized what they had done it produced despair. The sense of having done something irreversible tends to make us despair. We say, "Well, it’s all over and ruined now; what’s the point in trying anymore." If we think this kind of despair is an exception, we are mistaken. It is a very ordinary human experience. Whenever we realize we have not taken advantage of a magnificent opportunity, we are apt to sink into despair. But Jesus comes and lovingly says to us, in essence, "Sleep on now. That opportunity is lost forever and you can’t change that. But get up, and let’s go on to the next thing." In other words, let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him.
There will be experiences like this in each of our lives. We will have times of despair caused by real events in our lives, and we will be unable to lift ourselves out of them. The disciples, in this instance, had done a downright unthinkable thing— they had gone to sleep instead of watching with Jesus. But our Lord came to them taking the spiritual initiative against their despair and said, in effect, "Get up, and do the next thing." If we are inspired by God, what is the next thing? It is to trust Him absolutely and to pray on the basis of His redemption.
Never let the sense of past failure defeat your next step.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Taking Back What the Enemy Stole - #6029
Thursday, February 18, 2010
I've been privileged to have many friends in law enforcement over the years. Not because I was in their custody. Some of them have the intriguing, and harrowing, assignment of being involved with both a SWAT team and the Hostage Negotiating Team. Needless to say, they are specialists who are called in when there's an especially dangerous situation; often involving people who are being held hostage by a felon. Their mission, one way or another, is to do whatever it takes to bring out those who have been taken captive.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Taking Back What the Enemy Stole."
That could be the mission God is asking you to go on right now. There's something, or someone, that our enemy Satan has stolen. And your Lord wants you to fight to get back what your enemy has no right to have.
There's a memorable picture of this in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Samuel 30, beginning with verse 3. While David and his warriors have been out on a military mission, their mortal enemies, the Amalekites, launch a sneak attack on David's camp and take prisoner the Bible says, "the women and all who were in it. When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive." The Bible says they wept until "they had no strength left to weep." It's just a heartbreaking scene.
But those tears turned to bitterness. "Each one was bitter in his spirit," the Bible says. "But David found strength in the Lord his God." So, "David inquired of the Lord" the Bible says, and as a result of God's direction, he led his men to take back what the enemy had stolen. And the Bible says, "David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken...nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back."
That could be God's word to you today, because your enemy has stolen something or someone he has no right to. Maybe he's stolen a child of yours or the love that was once in your marriage. Maybe he's stolen the joy you once had in serving your Lord, or the love and the unity your church once knew, or the sense of calling you once had. Satan also steals reputations...even years of your life, by keeping you from Jesus. Now when you've lost something to an enemy ambush, it's easy, like David's men, to succumb to bitterness and to feel like surrendering. But, like David, you need to "find strength in the Lord your God" instead of finding discouragement in what you've lost.
Then you pray for God's strategy for fighting back to recover what the enemy has stolen. Declare war on whatever has been keeping you from recovering what you should never forfeit to the darkness. Maybe you've been accepting a loss that you never should have surrendered to. You know what God is saying? It's time to fight back, and realize that the Messiah, Jesus, who descended from David, has the power to "bring everything back." You're no match for this enemy from hell, but he's no match for your Jesus!
And Jesus told us that we could pray and bind that strong man, and one stronger than he is (speaking of Jesus himself) will come and overpower him and take away his possessions. Those are possessions he never should have had in the first place. The enemy may have his hand on something or someone right now he has no right to. It's time for you to follow General Jesus into the battle to take back what the enemy has stolen!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Jonah 1, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily:Slow Down
“Man . . . heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.” Psalm 39:6, NIV
We need one day in which work comes to a screeching halt. We need one twenty-four hour period in which the wheels stop grinding and the motor stops turning. We need to stop . . .
Slow down. If God commanded it, you need it. If Jesus modeled it, you need it . . . Take a day to say no to work and yes to worship.
Jonah 1
Jonah Flees From the LORD
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Isaiah 43
Israel's Only Savior
1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush [a] and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.'
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth-
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."
8 Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,
who have ears but are deaf.
9 All the nations gather together
and the peoples assemble.
Which of them foretold this
and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,
so that others may hear and say, "It is true."
10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD,
"and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD,
and apart from me there is no savior.
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God.
13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it?"
February 17, 2010
In The Car Wash
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Isaiah 43:1-13
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. —Isaiah 43:2
I’ll never forget my first experience using an automatic car wash. Approaching it with the dread of going to the dentist, I pushed the money into the slot, nervously checked and rechecked my windows, eased the car up to the line, and waited. Powers beyond my control began moving my car forward as if on a conveyor belt. There I was, cocooned inside, when a thunderous rush of water, soap, and brushes hit my car from all directions. What if I get stuck in here or water crashes in? I thought irrationally. Suddenly the waters ceased. After a blow-dry, my car was propelled into the outside world again, clean and polished.
In the midst of all this, I remembered stormy times in my life when it seemed I was on a conveyor belt, a victim of forces beyond my control. “Car-wash experiences,” I now call them. I remembered that whenever I passed through deep waters my Redeemer had been with me, sheltering me against the rising tide (Isa. 43:2). When I came out on the other side, which I always did, I was able to say with joy and confidence, “He is a faithful God!”
Are you in the middle of a car-wash experience? Trust God to bring you through to the other side. You’ll then be a shining testimony of His keeping power. — Joanie Yoder
How wonderful to know that He
Who watches from above
Will always keep us sheltered in
His ever-present love! —King
A tunnel of testing can produce a shining testimony.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 17, 2010
Taking the Initiative Against Depression
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Arise and eat —1 Kings 19:5
The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive— only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.
When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things-things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How We Flock to Destruction - #6028
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
No one has ever claimed that sheep were the smartest animals on earth. A few weeks ago, in a village in Turkey, they lived up to their not-so-bright reputation actually. One sheep wandered away from the flock to the edge of a nearby cliff, and he decided it would be fun to jump off. Of course it was the last thing he ever did. Suddenly, all the sheep decided to play "Follow the Leader" and 1,500 sheep leaped off that cliff to the rocks below, creating at the bottom the world's largest sweater. Actually, it was no joking matter. The town lost more than $100,000 in the great sheep massacre.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How We Flock to Destruction."
It's not an accident that over and over the Bible likens us humans to sheep. I'd rather be a lion or a bear or a wise old owl. But the Bible says I'm a sheep. Why? Because we tend to follow where the crowd is going, no matter what that may cost us. Let's face it. There's peer pressure at every age and stage in your life, isn't there? Obviously, young people are pressured to follow where their friends are going, to be what the youth culture tells them they're supposed to be, no matter what heartache that may cause. Everybody's going; I've got to go with them.
But then, there's parent peer pressure too - for you to do and allow what all the other parents are doing and allowing. After all, who wants to be an "un-cool" mom or dad? Right? There's tons of pressure in your business to do things the way that's "smart" even if what "everybody does" is against the ways of Jesus. If you're in the academic world, you face pressure to do what's considered the intelligent thing in your area, even if it contradicts the revealed Word of God in the Bible. But who wants to be ostracized or written off as primitive or simple? There's even religious peer pressure to simply follow what your church or religion says is the way to God and the way to live for God, no matter what the Bible says.
Here's what Jesus said about our decisions to follow what most of the flock is doing. It's in Matthew 7:13-14, our word for today from the Word of God. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is that gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Jesus said that the right way is usually the road not taken, or at least the road not taken by many. The wrong road is easy - at its beginning. But the farther you go on it, the harder it gets...until it takes you right over the cliff. The right road is hard and it's even lonely at first, but it's the one that leads to life. Make a destination choice - not the one that will win you the most friends right now, but the one that will take you where you want to end up.
Jesus' statement suggests that a whole lot of people who think they're going to end up in heaven when they die aren't going there. "Few," He said will find life. That's why it's dangerous just to follow a religious flock and hope that they know what they're doing. Your religion won't take you to heaven. Only Jesus can do that because only Jesus died to remove the sin that will keep you out of heaven. Only Jesus rose from the dead to be a living Savior for you. The question isn't, "What religion are you?" It's "What are you counting on as the reason God will let you into His heaven?" If it's anything other than Jesus, anything in addition to Jesus, it's the wrong road, no matter how many people are on it. The Bible talks about a way "...that seems right to a man but it ends in death."
Even your Christianity won't get you to heaven, because Christianity isn't Christ. It's about Christ, but it's Christ you've got to have to get into heaven. If you're not sure you belong to Him, it's not smart to wait another day to get things settled with Him. You need to tell Him today, "Jesus, I give up my trust in everything but You. You died for my sin, and I give up my sin to turn to you and put all my trust in You."
If you want to know that security, I would suggest you just check out that brief explanation at our website that I've put there to help you know how to begin your relationship with Jesus Christ. The website is YoursForLife.net.
It's time to start following Jesus. Then you can go to sleep tonight knowing your eternal destination - you're going to heaven with the One who died to take you there.
“Man . . . heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.” Psalm 39:6, NIV
We need one day in which work comes to a screeching halt. We need one twenty-four hour period in which the wheels stop grinding and the motor stops turning. We need to stop . . .
Slow down. If God commanded it, you need it. If Jesus modeled it, you need it . . . Take a day to say no to work and yes to worship.
Jonah 1
Jonah Flees From the LORD
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Isaiah 43
Israel's Only Savior
1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush [a] and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.'
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth-
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."
8 Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,
who have ears but are deaf.
9 All the nations gather together
and the peoples assemble.
Which of them foretold this
and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,
so that others may hear and say, "It is true."
10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD,
"and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD,
and apart from me there is no savior.
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God.
13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it?"
February 17, 2010
In The Car Wash
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Isaiah 43:1-13
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. —Isaiah 43:2
I’ll never forget my first experience using an automatic car wash. Approaching it with the dread of going to the dentist, I pushed the money into the slot, nervously checked and rechecked my windows, eased the car up to the line, and waited. Powers beyond my control began moving my car forward as if on a conveyor belt. There I was, cocooned inside, when a thunderous rush of water, soap, and brushes hit my car from all directions. What if I get stuck in here or water crashes in? I thought irrationally. Suddenly the waters ceased. After a blow-dry, my car was propelled into the outside world again, clean and polished.
In the midst of all this, I remembered stormy times in my life when it seemed I was on a conveyor belt, a victim of forces beyond my control. “Car-wash experiences,” I now call them. I remembered that whenever I passed through deep waters my Redeemer had been with me, sheltering me against the rising tide (Isa. 43:2). When I came out on the other side, which I always did, I was able to say with joy and confidence, “He is a faithful God!”
Are you in the middle of a car-wash experience? Trust God to bring you through to the other side. You’ll then be a shining testimony of His keeping power. — Joanie Yoder
How wonderful to know that He
Who watches from above
Will always keep us sheltered in
His ever-present love! —King
A tunnel of testing can produce a shining testimony.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 17, 2010
Taking the Initiative Against Depression
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Arise and eat —1 Kings 19:5
The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive— only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.
When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things-things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How We Flock to Destruction - #6028
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
No one has ever claimed that sheep were the smartest animals on earth. A few weeks ago, in a village in Turkey, they lived up to their not-so-bright reputation actually. One sheep wandered away from the flock to the edge of a nearby cliff, and he decided it would be fun to jump off. Of course it was the last thing he ever did. Suddenly, all the sheep decided to play "Follow the Leader" and 1,500 sheep leaped off that cliff to the rocks below, creating at the bottom the world's largest sweater. Actually, it was no joking matter. The town lost more than $100,000 in the great sheep massacre.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How We Flock to Destruction."
It's not an accident that over and over the Bible likens us humans to sheep. I'd rather be a lion or a bear or a wise old owl. But the Bible says I'm a sheep. Why? Because we tend to follow where the crowd is going, no matter what that may cost us. Let's face it. There's peer pressure at every age and stage in your life, isn't there? Obviously, young people are pressured to follow where their friends are going, to be what the youth culture tells them they're supposed to be, no matter what heartache that may cause. Everybody's going; I've got to go with them.
But then, there's parent peer pressure too - for you to do and allow what all the other parents are doing and allowing. After all, who wants to be an "un-cool" mom or dad? Right? There's tons of pressure in your business to do things the way that's "smart" even if what "everybody does" is against the ways of Jesus. If you're in the academic world, you face pressure to do what's considered the intelligent thing in your area, even if it contradicts the revealed Word of God in the Bible. But who wants to be ostracized or written off as primitive or simple? There's even religious peer pressure to simply follow what your church or religion says is the way to God and the way to live for God, no matter what the Bible says.
Here's what Jesus said about our decisions to follow what most of the flock is doing. It's in Matthew 7:13-14, our word for today from the Word of God. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is that gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Jesus said that the right way is usually the road not taken, or at least the road not taken by many. The wrong road is easy - at its beginning. But the farther you go on it, the harder it gets...until it takes you right over the cliff. The right road is hard and it's even lonely at first, but it's the one that leads to life. Make a destination choice - not the one that will win you the most friends right now, but the one that will take you where you want to end up.
Jesus' statement suggests that a whole lot of people who think they're going to end up in heaven when they die aren't going there. "Few," He said will find life. That's why it's dangerous just to follow a religious flock and hope that they know what they're doing. Your religion won't take you to heaven. Only Jesus can do that because only Jesus died to remove the sin that will keep you out of heaven. Only Jesus rose from the dead to be a living Savior for you. The question isn't, "What religion are you?" It's "What are you counting on as the reason God will let you into His heaven?" If it's anything other than Jesus, anything in addition to Jesus, it's the wrong road, no matter how many people are on it. The Bible talks about a way "...that seems right to a man but it ends in death."
Even your Christianity won't get you to heaven, because Christianity isn't Christ. It's about Christ, but it's Christ you've got to have to get into heaven. If you're not sure you belong to Him, it's not smart to wait another day to get things settled with Him. You need to tell Him today, "Jesus, I give up my trust in everything but You. You died for my sin, and I give up my sin to turn to you and put all my trust in You."
If you want to know that security, I would suggest you just check out that brief explanation at our website that I've put there to help you know how to begin your relationship with Jesus Christ. The website is YoursForLife.net.
It's time to start following Jesus. Then you can go to sleep tonight knowing your eternal destination - you're going to heaven with the One who died to take you there.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Joel 2, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: An Ungoverned God
An Ungoverned God
Posted: 15 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” I John 3:20
You and I are governed. The weather determines what we wear. The terrain tells us how to travel . . .
God—our Shepherd—doesn’t check the weather; He makes it. He doesn’t defy gravity; He created it.
God is what He is. What He has always been.God is Yahweh—an unchanging God, an uncaused God, and an ungoverned God.
Joel 2
An Army of Locusts
1 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming.
It is close at hand-
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was of old
nor ever will be in ages to come.
3 Before them fire devours,
behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
behind them, a desert waste—
nothing escapes them.
4 They have the appearance of horses;
they gallop along like cavalry.
5 With a noise like that of chariots
they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
like a mighty army drawn up for battle.
6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
every face turns pale.
7 They charge like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,
not swerving from their course.
8 They do not jostle each other;
each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
without breaking ranks.
9 They rush upon the city;
they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;
like thieves they enter through the windows.
10 Before them the earth shakes,
the sky trembles,
the sun and moon are darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
11 The LORD thunders
at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
and mighty are those who obey his command.
The day of the LORD is great;
it is dreadful.
Who can endure it?
Rend Your Heart
12 "Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is their God?' "
The LORD's Answer
18 Then the LORD will be jealous for his land
and take pity on his people.
19 The LORD will reply [a] to them:
"I am sending you grain, new wine and oil,
enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
an object of scorn to the nations.
20 "I will drive the northern army far from you,
pushing it into a parched and barren land,
with its front columns going into the eastern sea [b]
and those in the rear into the western sea. [c]
And its stench will go up;
its smell will rise."
Surely he has done great things. [d]
21 Be not afraid, O land;
be glad and rejoice.
Surely the LORD has done great things.
22 Be not afraid, O wild animals,
for the open pastures are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
23 Be glad, O people of Zion,
rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you
the autumn rains in righteousness. [e]
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
25 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm [f]—
my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the LORD your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.
The Day of the LORD
28 "And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said,
among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Galatians 1:3-10 (New International Version)
3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
No Other Gospel
6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
10Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
February 16, 2010
Detecting Toxins
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Galatians 1:3-10
There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. —Galatians 1:7
San Francisco and New York City are using bluegill fish to check for the presence of toxins in their water supply, which could be a possible target for a terrorist attack. A small number of bluegills are kept in a tank at the bottom of some water treatment plants because the fish are sensitive to chemical imbalances in their environment. When a disturb-ance is present in the water, the bluegills react against it.
Like these bluegills, Paul wanted the Galatians to beware of and react against any toxic disturbance in the “true gospel” that was being preached. The toxin was defined as the false principle that God grants acceptance to people and considers them righteous on the basis of their obedience to a set of rules (especially circumcision and dietary laws). In short, obedience to the law was needed, apart from faith in Jesus. This false teaching was a toxic disturbance of the truth and the Galatians were told to react strongly against it. Paul said that anyone preaching a gospel that is not based on grace through faith in Christ alone should be accursed (Gal. 1:8-9).
Let’s faithfully study the Scriptures so we can detect the toxins of false teaching and proclaim the truth of God’s wonderful salvation through faith in Jesus. — Marvin Williams
Lord, teach us from Your holy Word
All error to discern,
And by Your Spirit’s light help us
From Satan’s snares to turn. —Bosch
If you know the truth, you can discern what’s false.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 16, 2010
The Inspiration of Spiritual Initiative
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Arise from the dead . . . —Ephesians 5:14
Not all initiative, the willingness to take the first step, is inspired by God. Someone may say to you, "Get up and get going! Take your reluctance by the throat and throw it overboard— just do what needs to be done!" That is what we mean by ordinary human initiative. But when the Spirit of God comes to us and says, in effect, "Get up and get going," suddenly we find that the initiative is inspired.
We all have many dreams and aspirations when we are young, but sooner or later we realize we have no power to accomplish them. We cannot do the things we long to do, so our tendency is to think of our dreams and aspirations as dead. But God comes and says to us, "Arise from the dead . . . ." When God sends His inspiration, it comes to us with such miraculous power that we are able to "arise from the dead" and do the impossible. The remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life and power comes after we "get up and get going." God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as weovercome. When the inspiration of God comes, and He says, "Arise from the dead . . . ," we have to get ourselves up; God will not lift us up. Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand, "Stretch out your hand" (Matthew 12:13 ). As soon as the man did so, his hand was healed. But he had to take the initiative. If we will take the initiative to overcome, we will find that we have the inspiration of God, because He immediately gives us the power of life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Where to Go When It's Impossible - #6027
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen - they were reporters of The Daily Planet newspaper in a city called Metropolis. At least according to the story of a "man of steel" called Superman. He was, according to the old Superman TV show, "faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound." He had been sent here as a baby from the planet Krypton by parents on a dying planet. And he came to earth with, as the announcer liked to say, "powers far beyond those of mortal man." So when Lois and Jimmy faced a situation that no normal person could possibly resolve, they would invariably say those words that always precede an amazing solution, "This is a job for Superman!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where to Go When It's Impossible."
I hope this doesn't come as a shock to you or ruin your day, but there is no Superman. But there is one the Bible calls Sovereign Lord and the Most High God. And if you're facing a situation or a need that's going to require "powers far beyond those of mortal man," you have this awesome God to turn to. And that's when you get a ringside seat to see the greatness of the Most High God.
There's a thrilling picture of going to God for your "mission impossible" in our word for today from the Word of God in Daniel 2, beginning with verse 17. King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, where Daniel has been taken as a captive and elevated to being a royal advisor, has had a very troubling prophetic dream. He calls in all of his astrologers and spiritual advisors, and asks them to not only figure out what his dream meant, but what his dream was or die. See, he doesn't want any magician scamming him with some made-up interpretation. If a man can tell him the dream, then he can trust his interpretation of the dream.
Of course, no one can tell him what he dreamed. Then Daniel, God's man at court, is called in as the king's last resort. Even for Daniel, it's "mission impossible." What Daniel did is a pattern for us when we're facing our "mission impossible." "Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends; he urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: 'Praise be to the name of God forever and ever; wisdom and power are His.'" What follows is a powerful prayer of extravagant praise. When Daniel reveals the mystery to the king, he says, "No wise man can explain the mystery, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries."
There's the plan for your "mission impossible." First, recruit prayer partners to intercede for you and for this situation. The battle will be pre-won in prayer. Step two: focus on the power of your God rather than the impossibilities of the situation. Then, as Daniel did, download resources only God has. Daniel said, "You have given me wisdom and power, You have made known to us the dream of the king." God has resources that no one on earth could ever give you. And the last step in this plan for winning in your "mission impossible" is to give God all the glory for the breakthrough. Folks may express amazement or admiration for you. You let them know that it all belongs to the mighty Lord you serve. You don't have the answers - He does. And He chose to send this particular answer, this particular solution through you.
Well, are you kind of like Daniel, facing something that's far beyond what earth could do? Then, do a Daniel - "This is a job for the God of heaven...the Lord who is my God!"
An Ungoverned God
Posted: 15 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” I John 3:20
You and I are governed. The weather determines what we wear. The terrain tells us how to travel . . .
God—our Shepherd—doesn’t check the weather; He makes it. He doesn’t defy gravity; He created it.
God is what He is. What He has always been.God is Yahweh—an unchanging God, an uncaused God, and an ungoverned God.
Joel 2
An Army of Locusts
1 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming.
It is close at hand-
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was of old
nor ever will be in ages to come.
3 Before them fire devours,
behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
behind them, a desert waste—
nothing escapes them.
4 They have the appearance of horses;
they gallop along like cavalry.
5 With a noise like that of chariots
they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
like a mighty army drawn up for battle.
6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
every face turns pale.
7 They charge like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,
not swerving from their course.
8 They do not jostle each other;
each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
without breaking ranks.
9 They rush upon the city;
they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;
like thieves they enter through the windows.
10 Before them the earth shakes,
the sky trembles,
the sun and moon are darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
11 The LORD thunders
at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
and mighty are those who obey his command.
The day of the LORD is great;
it is dreadful.
Who can endure it?
Rend Your Heart
12 "Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is their God?' "
The LORD's Answer
18 Then the LORD will be jealous for his land
and take pity on his people.
19 The LORD will reply [a] to them:
"I am sending you grain, new wine and oil,
enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
an object of scorn to the nations.
20 "I will drive the northern army far from you,
pushing it into a parched and barren land,
with its front columns going into the eastern sea [b]
and those in the rear into the western sea. [c]
And its stench will go up;
its smell will rise."
Surely he has done great things. [d]
21 Be not afraid, O land;
be glad and rejoice.
Surely the LORD has done great things.
22 Be not afraid, O wild animals,
for the open pastures are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
23 Be glad, O people of Zion,
rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you
the autumn rains in righteousness. [e]
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
25 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm [f]—
my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the LORD your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.
The Day of the LORD
28 "And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said,
among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Galatians 1:3-10 (New International Version)
3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
No Other Gospel
6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
10Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
February 16, 2010
Detecting Toxins
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Galatians 1:3-10
There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. —Galatians 1:7
San Francisco and New York City are using bluegill fish to check for the presence of toxins in their water supply, which could be a possible target for a terrorist attack. A small number of bluegills are kept in a tank at the bottom of some water treatment plants because the fish are sensitive to chemical imbalances in their environment. When a disturb-ance is present in the water, the bluegills react against it.
Like these bluegills, Paul wanted the Galatians to beware of and react against any toxic disturbance in the “true gospel” that was being preached. The toxin was defined as the false principle that God grants acceptance to people and considers them righteous on the basis of their obedience to a set of rules (especially circumcision and dietary laws). In short, obedience to the law was needed, apart from faith in Jesus. This false teaching was a toxic disturbance of the truth and the Galatians were told to react strongly against it. Paul said that anyone preaching a gospel that is not based on grace through faith in Christ alone should be accursed (Gal. 1:8-9).
Let’s faithfully study the Scriptures so we can detect the toxins of false teaching and proclaim the truth of God’s wonderful salvation through faith in Jesus. — Marvin Williams
Lord, teach us from Your holy Word
All error to discern,
And by Your Spirit’s light help us
From Satan’s snares to turn. —Bosch
If you know the truth, you can discern what’s false.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 16, 2010
The Inspiration of Spiritual Initiative
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Arise from the dead . . . —Ephesians 5:14
Not all initiative, the willingness to take the first step, is inspired by God. Someone may say to you, "Get up and get going! Take your reluctance by the throat and throw it overboard— just do what needs to be done!" That is what we mean by ordinary human initiative. But when the Spirit of God comes to us and says, in effect, "Get up and get going," suddenly we find that the initiative is inspired.
We all have many dreams and aspirations when we are young, but sooner or later we realize we have no power to accomplish them. We cannot do the things we long to do, so our tendency is to think of our dreams and aspirations as dead. But God comes and says to us, "Arise from the dead . . . ." When God sends His inspiration, it comes to us with such miraculous power that we are able to "arise from the dead" and do the impossible. The remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life and power comes after we "get up and get going." God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as weovercome. When the inspiration of God comes, and He says, "Arise from the dead . . . ," we have to get ourselves up; God will not lift us up. Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand, "Stretch out your hand" (Matthew 12:13 ). As soon as the man did so, his hand was healed. But he had to take the initiative. If we will take the initiative to overcome, we will find that we have the inspiration of God, because He immediately gives us the power of life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Where to Go When It's Impossible - #6027
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen - they were reporters of The Daily Planet newspaper in a city called Metropolis. At least according to the story of a "man of steel" called Superman. He was, according to the old Superman TV show, "faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound." He had been sent here as a baby from the planet Krypton by parents on a dying planet. And he came to earth with, as the announcer liked to say, "powers far beyond those of mortal man." So when Lois and Jimmy faced a situation that no normal person could possibly resolve, they would invariably say those words that always precede an amazing solution, "This is a job for Superman!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where to Go When It's Impossible."
I hope this doesn't come as a shock to you or ruin your day, but there is no Superman. But there is one the Bible calls Sovereign Lord and the Most High God. And if you're facing a situation or a need that's going to require "powers far beyond those of mortal man," you have this awesome God to turn to. And that's when you get a ringside seat to see the greatness of the Most High God.
There's a thrilling picture of going to God for your "mission impossible" in our word for today from the Word of God in Daniel 2, beginning with verse 17. King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, where Daniel has been taken as a captive and elevated to being a royal advisor, has had a very troubling prophetic dream. He calls in all of his astrologers and spiritual advisors, and asks them to not only figure out what his dream meant, but what his dream was or die. See, he doesn't want any magician scamming him with some made-up interpretation. If a man can tell him the dream, then he can trust his interpretation of the dream.
Of course, no one can tell him what he dreamed. Then Daniel, God's man at court, is called in as the king's last resort. Even for Daniel, it's "mission impossible." What Daniel did is a pattern for us when we're facing our "mission impossible." "Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends; he urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: 'Praise be to the name of God forever and ever; wisdom and power are His.'" What follows is a powerful prayer of extravagant praise. When Daniel reveals the mystery to the king, he says, "No wise man can explain the mystery, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries."
There's the plan for your "mission impossible." First, recruit prayer partners to intercede for you and for this situation. The battle will be pre-won in prayer. Step two: focus on the power of your God rather than the impossibilities of the situation. Then, as Daniel did, download resources only God has. Daniel said, "You have given me wisdom and power, You have made known to us the dream of the king." God has resources that no one on earth could ever give you. And the last step in this plan for winning in your "mission impossible" is to give God all the glory for the breakthrough. Folks may express amazement or admiration for you. You let them know that it all belongs to the mighty Lord you serve. You don't have the answers - He does. And He chose to send this particular answer, this particular solution through you.
Well, are you kind of like Daniel, facing something that's far beyond what earth could do? Then, do a Daniel - "This is a job for the God of heaven...the Lord who is my God!"
Monday, February 15, 2010
2 Chronicles 26, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: He’s Here
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He’s Here
Posted: 14 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength.” Psalm 138:3, The Message
Where is God when we hurt? Where is he when sleep won’t come? Where is he when we awaken in a hospital bed with pain that won’t subside? He’s right here! He hung on the gallows to prove once and for all, with pierced hands and blood-stained face—that he’s here—that he didn’t create the hurt, but he came to take it away.
When you hurt, God hurts with you.
2 Chronicles 26
Uzziah King of Judah
1 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, [j] who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 2 He was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his fathers.
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother's name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 4 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. 5 He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear [k] of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.
6 He went to war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. He then rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. 7 God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal and against the Meunites. 8 The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful.
9 Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the angle of the wall, and he fortified them. 10 He also built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain. He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.
11 Uzziah had a well-trained army, ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officials. 12 The total number of family leaders over the fighting men was 2,600. 13 Under their command was an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies. 14 Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army. 15 In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.
16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. 18 They confronted him and said, "It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God."
19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD's temple, leprosy [l] broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the LORD had afflicted him.
21 King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house [m] —leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.
22 The other events of Uzziah's reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 23 Uzziah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in a field for burial that belonged to the kings, for people said, "He had leprosy." And Jotham his son succeeded him as king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Hebrews 11:24-34 (New International Version)
24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea[a] as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[b]
32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
February 15, 2010
Defining Failure
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Hebrews 11:24-34
Who through faith . . . out of weakness were made strong. —Hebrews 11:33-34
During the Great Depression, many people in the US lived in shantytowns made up of plywood, tarps, and blankets. These decrepit dwellings, known as “Hoovervilles,” housed those who had been evicted from their homes. Many blamed President Herbert Hoover for the economic woes.
Ironically, Hoover’s apparent ineffectiveness as a leader was in sharp contrast to his previous record. Earlier, Hoover’s expertise in geological engineering led to successful mining projects in Australia and China. He also effectively spearheaded humanitarian efforts. But when the stock market crashed in October 1929, President Hoover was in circumstances beyond his control. He would be forever tied with the economic depression of the 1930s.
One major fiasco, however, does not mean one’s whole life is a failure. What if we remembered Abraham only as a deceiver (Gen. 12:10-20), Moses as disobedient to God (Num. 20:1-13), or David as a murderer? (2 Sam. 11). Despite their sins, these men are remembered for their persevering faith: “who through faith . . . out of weakness were made strong” (Heb. 11:33-34).
Our life is not a failure if we’ve repented of our sins. God can still use us to serve Him. — Dennis Fisher
The lessons we learn from our failures
Are lessons that help us succeed,
And if we are wise and we heed them,
Then failure is just what we need. —D. De Haan
Success often rises out of the ashes of failure
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 15, 2010
"Am I My Brother’s Keeper?"
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
None of us lives to himself . . . —Romans 14:7
Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people? For instance, if I allow any turning away from God in my private life, everyone around me suffers. We "sit together in the heavenly places . . ." ( Ephesians 2:6 ). "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it . . ." ( 1 Corinthians 12:26 ). If you allow physical selfishness, mental carelessness, moral insensitivity, or spiritual weakness, everyone in contact with you will suffer. But you ask, "Who is sufficient to be able to live up to such a lofty standard?" "Our sufficiency is from God . . ." and God alone (2 Corinthians 3:5 ).
"You shall be witnesses to Me . . ." ( Acts 1:8 ). How many of us are willing to spend every bit of our nervous, mental, moral, and spiritual energy for Jesus Christ? That is what God means when He uses the word witness. But it takes time, so be patient with yourself. Why has God left us on the earth? Is it simply to be saved and sanctified? No, it is to be at work in service to Him. Am I willing to be broken bread and poured-out wine for Him? Am I willing to be of no value to this age or this life except for one purpose and one alone— to be used to disciple men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. My life of service to God is the way I say "thank you" to Him for His inexpressibly wonderful salvation. Remember, it is quite possible for God to set any of us aside if we refuse to be of service to Him— ". . . lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified" ( 1 Corinthians 9:27 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Proof You Are Loved - #6026
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Valentine our four-year-old grandson got from his grandparents must have meant a lot to him. He doesn't get to see these grandparents real often, so it's nice to get their love in the mail. When his Valentine arrived, his mom read it to him. Several times that day, he asked her to read it to him again. Later, as they were driving around town, he actually began repeating verbatim the love words from that Valentine! They meant so much to him, he had memorized them, and he just kept going over them!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Proof You Are Loved."
A little boy heard words that described how much somebody loves him, and he moved those words from the card they came in to his heart. In a world where real love is so hard to come by and so easy to lose, we could use some words of love to hang onto couldn't we?
And the person who loves you most has given you words like that. They may be words you've heard a thousand times before, or they might be words you've never heard. But they are the proof of how very much you are loved by the God of the universe. They are, in fact, our word for today from the Word of God in John 3:16 - just 26 words. Listen to these 26 words of love as if your life depends on them. It does. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Those are words worth having in your heart. They are a reason to make sure today that the Christ they talk about is in your heart.
However others may have treated you, however you may think God feels about you, God loves you. So much that He sent His one and only Son all the way from heaven to die this horrible death for you on a rugged cross. It was the only way you could have every wrong thing you have ever done forgiven by God. Sin has to be paid for with a death penalty. God's love for you is so great that He sacrificed the only One who could die in your place - His sinless Son, Jesus. So when you open your heart to Jesus, you're opening your heart to the greatest love in the universe. When your heart remains closed to Him, you're turning your back on the greatest love in the universe.
Some years ago a noted photographer decided to make a photo journal of people that he photographed visiting the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D. C. One morning he got there very early and he noticed this little memorial that hadn't been there the day before. It displayed a picture of a soldier, a picture of Jesus, a service medal, and a simple, three-word inscription. As he knelt to snap a picture of it, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he heard this elderly man saying, "Do you like it?" He explained that's why he was photographing it. The old man said, "I'm glad. I put it there." Suddenly, that three-word inscription took on deep meaning for that photographer. It simply said "Only one Son."
On the cross, God sacrificed His "only one Son" for you. Now He's asking, "What do you think of what He did for you?" Your eternity hinges on your answer. John 3:16 says that if you "believe in Him," you will not die for your sin but instead you'll live with Him in heaven forever. When you think "believe" in the Bible sense, think of a drowning person hanging onto a lifeguard with everything he's got. When you do that with Jesus - trusting completely in His death for you - you are saved; you are rescued by Him.
I can't think of a greater tragedy, a greater mistake for you to make, than for you to miss what Jesus gave His life for you to have - for you to end up paying the eternal price that Jesus already paid for you. How does that happen? If you don't reach out and take by faith what He died to give you. If you want to do that, you can talk to Him about it in words something like this: "Lord, thank You for Your love for me, for the sacrifice You made to pay for my sin on the cross. I realize that's my only hope of having my sins forgiven - of going to heaven. So, right now, "I am Yours."
We've actually set up our website to help you make that kind of beginning with Jesus Christ. Would you visit us there as soon as you can today? It's yoursforlife.net.
This is the love you were made for; it's the love you've been looking for. His name is Jesus, and you're one prayer away from belonging to Him.
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He’s Here
Posted: 14 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength.” Psalm 138:3, The Message
Where is God when we hurt? Where is he when sleep won’t come? Where is he when we awaken in a hospital bed with pain that won’t subside? He’s right here! He hung on the gallows to prove once and for all, with pierced hands and blood-stained face—that he’s here—that he didn’t create the hurt, but he came to take it away.
When you hurt, God hurts with you.
2 Chronicles 26
Uzziah King of Judah
1 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, [j] who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 2 He was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his fathers.
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother's name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 4 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. 5 He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear [k] of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.
6 He went to war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. He then rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. 7 God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal and against the Meunites. 8 The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful.
9 Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the angle of the wall, and he fortified them. 10 He also built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain. He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.
11 Uzziah had a well-trained army, ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officials. 12 The total number of family leaders over the fighting men was 2,600. 13 Under their command was an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies. 14 Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army. 15 In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.
16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. 18 They confronted him and said, "It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God."
19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD's temple, leprosy [l] broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the LORD had afflicted him.
21 King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house [m] —leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.
22 The other events of Uzziah's reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 23 Uzziah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in a field for burial that belonged to the kings, for people said, "He had leprosy." And Jotham his son succeeded him as king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Hebrews 11:24-34 (New International Version)
24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea[a] as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[b]
32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
February 15, 2010
Defining Failure
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READ: Hebrews 11:24-34
Who through faith . . . out of weakness were made strong. —Hebrews 11:33-34
During the Great Depression, many people in the US lived in shantytowns made up of plywood, tarps, and blankets. These decrepit dwellings, known as “Hoovervilles,” housed those who had been evicted from their homes. Many blamed President Herbert Hoover for the economic woes.
Ironically, Hoover’s apparent ineffectiveness as a leader was in sharp contrast to his previous record. Earlier, Hoover’s expertise in geological engineering led to successful mining projects in Australia and China. He also effectively spearheaded humanitarian efforts. But when the stock market crashed in October 1929, President Hoover was in circumstances beyond his control. He would be forever tied with the economic depression of the 1930s.
One major fiasco, however, does not mean one’s whole life is a failure. What if we remembered Abraham only as a deceiver (Gen. 12:10-20), Moses as disobedient to God (Num. 20:1-13), or David as a murderer? (2 Sam. 11). Despite their sins, these men are remembered for their persevering faith: “who through faith . . . out of weakness were made strong” (Heb. 11:33-34).
Our life is not a failure if we’ve repented of our sins. God can still use us to serve Him. — Dennis Fisher
The lessons we learn from our failures
Are lessons that help us succeed,
And if we are wise and we heed them,
Then failure is just what we need. —D. De Haan
Success often rises out of the ashes of failure
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 15, 2010
"Am I My Brother’s Keeper?"
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READ:
None of us lives to himself . . . —Romans 14:7
Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people? For instance, if I allow any turning away from God in my private life, everyone around me suffers. We "sit together in the heavenly places . . ." ( Ephesians 2:6 ). "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it . . ." ( 1 Corinthians 12:26 ). If you allow physical selfishness, mental carelessness, moral insensitivity, or spiritual weakness, everyone in contact with you will suffer. But you ask, "Who is sufficient to be able to live up to such a lofty standard?" "Our sufficiency is from God . . ." and God alone (2 Corinthians 3:5 ).
"You shall be witnesses to Me . . ." ( Acts 1:8 ). How many of us are willing to spend every bit of our nervous, mental, moral, and spiritual energy for Jesus Christ? That is what God means when He uses the word witness. But it takes time, so be patient with yourself. Why has God left us on the earth? Is it simply to be saved and sanctified? No, it is to be at work in service to Him. Am I willing to be broken bread and poured-out wine for Him? Am I willing to be of no value to this age or this life except for one purpose and one alone— to be used to disciple men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. My life of service to God is the way I say "thank you" to Him for His inexpressibly wonderful salvation. Remember, it is quite possible for God to set any of us aside if we refuse to be of service to Him— ". . . lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified" ( 1 Corinthians 9:27 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Proof You Are Loved - #6026
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Valentine our four-year-old grandson got from his grandparents must have meant a lot to him. He doesn't get to see these grandparents real often, so it's nice to get their love in the mail. When his Valentine arrived, his mom read it to him. Several times that day, he asked her to read it to him again. Later, as they were driving around town, he actually began repeating verbatim the love words from that Valentine! They meant so much to him, he had memorized them, and he just kept going over them!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Proof You Are Loved."
A little boy heard words that described how much somebody loves him, and he moved those words from the card they came in to his heart. In a world where real love is so hard to come by and so easy to lose, we could use some words of love to hang onto couldn't we?
And the person who loves you most has given you words like that. They may be words you've heard a thousand times before, or they might be words you've never heard. But they are the proof of how very much you are loved by the God of the universe. They are, in fact, our word for today from the Word of God in John 3:16 - just 26 words. Listen to these 26 words of love as if your life depends on them. It does. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Those are words worth having in your heart. They are a reason to make sure today that the Christ they talk about is in your heart.
However others may have treated you, however you may think God feels about you, God loves you. So much that He sent His one and only Son all the way from heaven to die this horrible death for you on a rugged cross. It was the only way you could have every wrong thing you have ever done forgiven by God. Sin has to be paid for with a death penalty. God's love for you is so great that He sacrificed the only One who could die in your place - His sinless Son, Jesus. So when you open your heart to Jesus, you're opening your heart to the greatest love in the universe. When your heart remains closed to Him, you're turning your back on the greatest love in the universe.
Some years ago a noted photographer decided to make a photo journal of people that he photographed visiting the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D. C. One morning he got there very early and he noticed this little memorial that hadn't been there the day before. It displayed a picture of a soldier, a picture of Jesus, a service medal, and a simple, three-word inscription. As he knelt to snap a picture of it, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he heard this elderly man saying, "Do you like it?" He explained that's why he was photographing it. The old man said, "I'm glad. I put it there." Suddenly, that three-word inscription took on deep meaning for that photographer. It simply said "Only one Son."
On the cross, God sacrificed His "only one Son" for you. Now He's asking, "What do you think of what He did for you?" Your eternity hinges on your answer. John 3:16 says that if you "believe in Him," you will not die for your sin but instead you'll live with Him in heaven forever. When you think "believe" in the Bible sense, think of a drowning person hanging onto a lifeguard with everything he's got. When you do that with Jesus - trusting completely in His death for you - you are saved; you are rescued by Him.
I can't think of a greater tragedy, a greater mistake for you to make, than for you to miss what Jesus gave His life for you to have - for you to end up paying the eternal price that Jesus already paid for you. How does that happen? If you don't reach out and take by faith what He died to give you. If you want to do that, you can talk to Him about it in words something like this: "Lord, thank You for Your love for me, for the sacrifice You made to pay for my sin on the cross. I realize that's my only hope of having my sins forgiven - of going to heaven. So, right now, "I am Yours."
We've actually set up our website to help you make that kind of beginning with Jesus Christ. Would you visit us there as soon as you can today? It's yoursforlife.net.
This is the love you were made for; it's the love you've been looking for. His name is Jesus, and you're one prayer away from belonging to Him.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
2 Chronicles 25, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: All Things
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All Things
Posted: 13 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“Love . . . bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” I Corinthians 13:4-7, NKJV
The apostle is looking for a ribbon to wrap around one of the sweetest paragraphs in Scripture. I envision the leathery-faced saint pausing in his dictation . . . Checking off his fingers, he reviews his list. “Let’s see, patience, kindness, envy, arrogance. We’ve mentioned rudeness, selfishness and anger, forgiveness, evil, and truth. Have I covered all things? Ah, that’s it—all things. Here, right this down. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
2 Chronicles 25
Amaziah King of Judah
1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin [d] ; she was from Jerusalem. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly. 3 After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king. 4 Yet he did not put their sons to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins." [e]
5 Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered those twenty years old or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men ready for military service, able to handle the spear and shield. 6 He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents [f] of silver.
7 But a man of God came to him and said, "O king, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the LORD is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim. 8 Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow."
9 Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?"
The man of God replied, "The LORD can give you much more than that."
10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage.
11 Amaziah then marshaled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir. 12 The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.
13 Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back and had not allowed to take part in the war raided Judean towns from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off great quantities of plunder.
14 When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them. 15 The anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, "Why do you consult this people's gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?"
16 While he was still speaking, the king said to him, "Have we appointed you an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?"
So the prophet stopped but said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel."
17 After Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisers, he sent this challenge to Jehoash [g] son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel: "Come, meet me face to face."
18 But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: "A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. 19 You say to yourself that you have defeated Edom, and now you are arrogant and proud. But stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?"
20 Amaziah, however, would not listen, for God so worked that he might hand them over to Jehoash , because they sought the gods of Edom. 21 So Jehoash king of Israel attacked. He and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth Shemesh in Judah. 22 Judah was routed by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 23 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, [h] at Beth Shemesh. Then Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate—a section about six hundred feet [i] long. 24 He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of God that had been in the care of Obed-Edom, together with the palace treasures and the hostages, and returned to Samaria.
25 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 26 As for the other events of Amaziah's reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? 27 From the time that Amaziah turned away from following the LORD, they conspired against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish, but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. 28 He was brought back by horse and was buried with his fathers in the City of Judah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 13
Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet
1It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.[a]
2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
John 13:33-35
Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage
33"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
February 14, 2010
Showing Real Love
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READ: John 13:1-5,33-35
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. —John 13:35
Chinese New Year happens to fall on the same day as Valentine’s Day in 2010. While these two festivals have very different origins, there are some similarities in how they are celebrated. In both cases, loved ones give gifts to express love for one another. Whether it is giving roses to your beloved on Valentine’s Day or hong bao (red packets with money) to family and friends on Chinese New Year, they represent tokens of love.
Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to “love one another,” because “by this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
The love that our Lord wants His disciples to have for one another is different from the romantic kind displayed between loving couples and the brotherly kind shown between friends or family. It’s an unselfish love. The Greek word John used in Jesus’ command is agape—God’s kind of love that expects nothing in return. That was what Jesus showed to His disciples when He “poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet” (v.5). That is the kind of love He displayed when He went to the cross for us.
Today, look for someone to whom you can show such unselfish love. — C. P. Hia
Lord, teach us the secret of loving,
The love You are asking today;
Then help us to love one another;
For this we most earnestly pray. —Anon.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. —Galatians 6:2
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 14, 2010
The Discipline of Hearing
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READ:
Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops —Matthew 10:27
Sometimes God puts us through the experience and discipline of darkness to teach us to hear and obey Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and God puts us into "the shadow of His hand" until we learn to hear Him (Isaiah 49:2 ). "Whatever I tell you in the dark. . ."— pay attention when God puts you into darkness, and keep your mouth closed while you are there. Are you in the dark right now in your circumstances, or in your life with God? If so, then remain quiet. If you open your mouth in the dark, you will speak while in the wrong mood— darkness is the time to listen. Don’t talk to other people about it; don’t read books to find out the reason for the darkness; just listen and obey. If you talk to other people, you cannot hear what God is saying. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else once you are back in the light.
After every time of darkness, we should experience a mixture of delight and humiliation. If there is only delight, I question whether we have really heard God at all. We should experience delight for having heard God speak, but mostly humiliation for having taken so long to hear Him! Then we will exclaim, "How slow I have been to listen and understand what God has been telling me!" And yet God has been saying it for days and even weeks. But once you hear Him, He gives you the gift of humiliation, which brings a softness of heart— a gift that will always cause you to listen to God now.
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All Things
Posted: 13 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“Love . . . bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” I Corinthians 13:4-7, NKJV
The apostle is looking for a ribbon to wrap around one of the sweetest paragraphs in Scripture. I envision the leathery-faced saint pausing in his dictation . . . Checking off his fingers, he reviews his list. “Let’s see, patience, kindness, envy, arrogance. We’ve mentioned rudeness, selfishness and anger, forgiveness, evil, and truth. Have I covered all things? Ah, that’s it—all things. Here, right this down. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
2 Chronicles 25
Amaziah King of Judah
1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin [d] ; she was from Jerusalem. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly. 3 After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king. 4 Yet he did not put their sons to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins." [e]
5 Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered those twenty years old or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men ready for military service, able to handle the spear and shield. 6 He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents [f] of silver.
7 But a man of God came to him and said, "O king, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the LORD is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim. 8 Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow."
9 Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?"
The man of God replied, "The LORD can give you much more than that."
10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage.
11 Amaziah then marshaled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir. 12 The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.
13 Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back and had not allowed to take part in the war raided Judean towns from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off great quantities of plunder.
14 When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them. 15 The anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, "Why do you consult this people's gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?"
16 While he was still speaking, the king said to him, "Have we appointed you an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?"
So the prophet stopped but said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel."
17 After Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisers, he sent this challenge to Jehoash [g] son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel: "Come, meet me face to face."
18 But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: "A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. 19 You say to yourself that you have defeated Edom, and now you are arrogant and proud. But stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?"
20 Amaziah, however, would not listen, for God so worked that he might hand them over to Jehoash , because they sought the gods of Edom. 21 So Jehoash king of Israel attacked. He and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth Shemesh in Judah. 22 Judah was routed by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 23 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, [h] at Beth Shemesh. Then Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate—a section about six hundred feet [i] long. 24 He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of God that had been in the care of Obed-Edom, together with the palace treasures and the hostages, and returned to Samaria.
25 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 26 As for the other events of Amaziah's reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? 27 From the time that Amaziah turned away from following the LORD, they conspired against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish, but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. 28 He was brought back by horse and was buried with his fathers in the City of Judah.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 13
Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet
1It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.[a]
2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
John 13:33-35
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33"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
February 14, 2010
Showing Real Love
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READ: John 13:1-5,33-35
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. —John 13:35
Chinese New Year happens to fall on the same day as Valentine’s Day in 2010. While these two festivals have very different origins, there are some similarities in how they are celebrated. In both cases, loved ones give gifts to express love for one another. Whether it is giving roses to your beloved on Valentine’s Day or hong bao (red packets with money) to family and friends on Chinese New Year, they represent tokens of love.
Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to “love one another,” because “by this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
The love that our Lord wants His disciples to have for one another is different from the romantic kind displayed between loving couples and the brotherly kind shown between friends or family. It’s an unselfish love. The Greek word John used in Jesus’ command is agape—God’s kind of love that expects nothing in return. That was what Jesus showed to His disciples when He “poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet” (v.5). That is the kind of love He displayed when He went to the cross for us.
Today, look for someone to whom you can show such unselfish love. — C. P. Hia
Lord, teach us the secret of loving,
The love You are asking today;
Then help us to love one another;
For this we most earnestly pray. —Anon.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. —Galatians 6:2
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 14, 2010
The Discipline of Hearing
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READ:
Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops —Matthew 10:27
Sometimes God puts us through the experience and discipline of darkness to teach us to hear and obey Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and God puts us into "the shadow of His hand" until we learn to hear Him (Isaiah 49:2 ). "Whatever I tell you in the dark. . ."— pay attention when God puts you into darkness, and keep your mouth closed while you are there. Are you in the dark right now in your circumstances, or in your life with God? If so, then remain quiet. If you open your mouth in the dark, you will speak while in the wrong mood— darkness is the time to listen. Don’t talk to other people about it; don’t read books to find out the reason for the darkness; just listen and obey. If you talk to other people, you cannot hear what God is saying. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else once you are back in the light.
After every time of darkness, we should experience a mixture of delight and humiliation. If there is only delight, I question whether we have really heard God at all. We should experience delight for having heard God speak, but mostly humiliation for having taken so long to hear Him! Then we will exclaim, "How slow I have been to listen and understand what God has been telling me!" And yet God has been saying it for days and even weeks. But once you hear Him, He gives you the gift of humiliation, which brings a softness of heart— a gift that will always cause you to listen to God now.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
2 Chronicles 24, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: To Prove His Love
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To Prove His Love
More Than Forgiveness
A Likeable Savior
To Prove His Love
Posted: 12 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“In the past God spoke . . . at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” Hebrews 1:1-2, NIV
God, motivated by love and directed by divinity, surprised everyone. He became a man. In an untouchable mystery, he disguised himself as a carpenter and lived in a dusty Judean village. Determined to prove his love for his creation, he walked incognito through his own world. His calloused hands touched wounds and his compassionate words touched hearts. He became one of us.
2 Chronicles 24
Joash Repairs the Temple
1 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother's name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. 2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years of Jehoiada the priest. 3 Jehoiada chose two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.
4 Some time later Joash decided to restore the temple of the LORD. 5 He called together the priests and Levites and said to them, "Go to the towns of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the temple of your God. Do it now." But the Levites did not act at once.
6 Therefore the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, "Why haven't you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?"
7 Now the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the temple of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.
8 At the king's command, a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the temple of the LORD. 9 A proclamation was then issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God had required of Israel in the desert. 10 All the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly, dropping them into the chest until it was full. 11 Whenever the chest was brought in by the Levites to the king's officials and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this regularly and collected a great amount of money. 12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to the men who carried out the work required for the temple of the LORD. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the LORD's temple, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the temple.
13 The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it. 14 When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made articles for the LORD's temple: articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, and also dishes and other objects of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the LORD.
15 Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. 16 He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.
The Wickedness of Joash
17 After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. 18 They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God's anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem. 19 Although the LORD sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.
20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, "This is what God says: 'Why do you disobey the LORD's commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.' "
21 But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the LORD's temple. 22 King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah's father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, "May the LORD see this and call you to account."
23 At the turn of the year, [a] the army of Aram marched against Joash; it invaded Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus. 24 Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the LORD delivered into their hands a much larger army. Because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, judgment was executed on Joash. 25 When the Arameans withdrew, they left Joash severely wounded. His officials conspired against him for murdering the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him in his bed. So he died and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
26 Those who conspired against him were Zabad, [b] son of Shimeath an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrith [c] a Moabite woman. 27 The account of his sons, the many prophecies about him, and the record of the restoration of the temple of God are written in the annotations on the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Revelation 19
Hallelujah!
1After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:
"Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants." 3And again they shouted:
"Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever."
4The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:
"Amen, Hallelujah!"
5Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
"Praise our God,
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
both small and great!"
6Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
"Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)
9Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' " And he added, "These are the true words of God."
February 13, 2010
Reunion Dinner
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Revelation 19:1-9
Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb! —Revelation 19:9
Many Chinese go to great lengths to attend a traditional annual reunion dinner with their families. Held on the eve of the Lunar New Year, the reunion dinner usually takes place at the home of their parents or eldest sibling.
Chinese working overseas have to arrange their travel bookings early to ensure they have tickets for the heavily booked airline flights and bus journeys. To fail to book early is to risk missing out on the family reunion.
The Bible tells of an even more important reunion dinner in heaven. Revelation 19:9 calls it “the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Unlike the Lunar New Year reunion dinner, however, no one knows the date for this event except God (Matt. 24:36). Nor do we have to worry about making travel arrangements.
Who is invited to this heavenly reunion dinner? All those who belong to God’s family will be there, “those who believe in [Jesus’] name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).
Will you be at the reunion dinner in heaven? You can secure your place at the heavenly banquet by trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today. — C. P. Hia
How Can You Have The Assurance Of Heaven?
Recognize your sinfulness (Rom. 3:23); believe Jesus died for you (Acts 16:31); receive Him as Savior (John 1:12); trust His promise (John 20:31).
Christ believed is salvation received and heaven assured.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 13, 2010
The Devotion of Hearing
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Samuel answered, ’Speak, for Your servant hears’ —1 Samuel 3:10
Just because I have listened carefully and intently to one thing from God does not mean that I will listen to everything He says. I show God my lack of love and respect for Him by the insensitivity of my heart and mind toward what He says. If I love my friend, I will instinctively understand what he wants. And Jesus said, "You are My friends . . ." ( John 15:14 ). Have I disobeyed some command of my Lord’s this week? If I had realized that it was a command of Jesus, I would not have deliberately disobeyed it. But most of us show incredible disrespect to God because we don’t even hear Him. He might as well never have spoken to us.
The goal of my spiritual life is such close identification with Jesus Christ that I will always hear God and know that God always hears me (see John 11:41 ). If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God all the time through the devotion of hearing. A flower, a tree, or a servant of God may convey God’s message to me. What hinders me from hearing is my attention to other things. It is not that I don’t want to hear God, but I am not devoted in the right areas of my life. I am devoted to things and even to service and my own convictions. God may say whatever He wants, but I just don’t hear Him. The attitude of a child of God should always be, "Speak, for Your servant hears." If I have not developed and nurtured this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God’s voice at certain times. At other times I become deaf to Him because my attention is to other things— things which I think I must do. This is not living the life of a child of God. Have you heard God’s voice today?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Prove His Love
More Than Forgiveness
A Likeable Savior
To Prove His Love
Posted: 12 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“In the past God spoke . . . at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” Hebrews 1:1-2, NIV
God, motivated by love and directed by divinity, surprised everyone. He became a man. In an untouchable mystery, he disguised himself as a carpenter and lived in a dusty Judean village. Determined to prove his love for his creation, he walked incognito through his own world. His calloused hands touched wounds and his compassionate words touched hearts. He became one of us.
2 Chronicles 24
Joash Repairs the Temple
1 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother's name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. 2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years of Jehoiada the priest. 3 Jehoiada chose two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.
4 Some time later Joash decided to restore the temple of the LORD. 5 He called together the priests and Levites and said to them, "Go to the towns of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the temple of your God. Do it now." But the Levites did not act at once.
6 Therefore the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, "Why haven't you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?"
7 Now the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the temple of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.
8 At the king's command, a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the temple of the LORD. 9 A proclamation was then issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God had required of Israel in the desert. 10 All the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly, dropping them into the chest until it was full. 11 Whenever the chest was brought in by the Levites to the king's officials and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this regularly and collected a great amount of money. 12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to the men who carried out the work required for the temple of the LORD. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the LORD's temple, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the temple.
13 The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it. 14 When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made articles for the LORD's temple: articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, and also dishes and other objects of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the LORD.
15 Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. 16 He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.
The Wickedness of Joash
17 After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. 18 They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God's anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem. 19 Although the LORD sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.
20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, "This is what God says: 'Why do you disobey the LORD's commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.' "
21 But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the LORD's temple. 22 King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah's father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, "May the LORD see this and call you to account."
23 At the turn of the year, [a] the army of Aram marched against Joash; it invaded Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus. 24 Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the LORD delivered into their hands a much larger army. Because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, judgment was executed on Joash. 25 When the Arameans withdrew, they left Joash severely wounded. His officials conspired against him for murdering the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him in his bed. So he died and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
26 Those who conspired against him were Zabad, [b] son of Shimeath an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrith [c] a Moabite woman. 27 The account of his sons, the many prophecies about him, and the record of the restoration of the temple of God are written in the annotations on the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Revelation 19
Hallelujah!
1After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:
"Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants." 3And again they shouted:
"Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever."
4The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:
"Amen, Hallelujah!"
5Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
"Praise our God,
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
both small and great!"
6Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
"Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)
9Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' " And he added, "These are the true words of God."
February 13, 2010
Reunion Dinner
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: Revelation 19:1-9
Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb! —Revelation 19:9
Many Chinese go to great lengths to attend a traditional annual reunion dinner with their families. Held on the eve of the Lunar New Year, the reunion dinner usually takes place at the home of their parents or eldest sibling.
Chinese working overseas have to arrange their travel bookings early to ensure they have tickets for the heavily booked airline flights and bus journeys. To fail to book early is to risk missing out on the family reunion.
The Bible tells of an even more important reunion dinner in heaven. Revelation 19:9 calls it “the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Unlike the Lunar New Year reunion dinner, however, no one knows the date for this event except God (Matt. 24:36). Nor do we have to worry about making travel arrangements.
Who is invited to this heavenly reunion dinner? All those who belong to God’s family will be there, “those who believe in [Jesus’] name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).
Will you be at the reunion dinner in heaven? You can secure your place at the heavenly banquet by trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today. — C. P. Hia
How Can You Have The Assurance Of Heaven?
Recognize your sinfulness (Rom. 3:23); believe Jesus died for you (Acts 16:31); receive Him as Savior (John 1:12); trust His promise (John 20:31).
Christ believed is salvation received and heaven assured.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 13, 2010
The Devotion of Hearing
ODB RADIO: | Download
READ:
Samuel answered, ’Speak, for Your servant hears’ —1 Samuel 3:10
Just because I have listened carefully and intently to one thing from God does not mean that I will listen to everything He says. I show God my lack of love and respect for Him by the insensitivity of my heart and mind toward what He says. If I love my friend, I will instinctively understand what he wants. And Jesus said, "You are My friends . . ." ( John 15:14 ). Have I disobeyed some command of my Lord’s this week? If I had realized that it was a command of Jesus, I would not have deliberately disobeyed it. But most of us show incredible disrespect to God because we don’t even hear Him. He might as well never have spoken to us.
The goal of my spiritual life is such close identification with Jesus Christ that I will always hear God and know that God always hears me (see John 11:41 ). If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God all the time through the devotion of hearing. A flower, a tree, or a servant of God may convey God’s message to me. What hinders me from hearing is my attention to other things. It is not that I don’t want to hear God, but I am not devoted in the right areas of my life. I am devoted to things and even to service and my own convictions. God may say whatever He wants, but I just don’t hear Him. The attitude of a child of God should always be, "Speak, for Your servant hears." If I have not developed and nurtured this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God’s voice at certain times. At other times I become deaf to Him because my attention is to other things— things which I think I must do. This is not living the life of a child of God. Have you heard God’s voice today?
Thursday, February 11, 2010
2 Kings 11, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: A Likable Savior
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Likable Savior
Posted: 10 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“Be agreeable, by sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble.” I Peter 3:8, The Message
They called Jesus a blasphemer, but they never called him a braggart, They accused him of heresy, but never arrogance. He was branded as a radical, but never unapproachable.
There is not hint that he ever used his heavenly status for personal gain. Ever. You just don’t get the impression that his neighbors grew sick of his haughtiness and asked, “Well, who do you think made you God?”
His faith made him likable.
2 Kings 11
Athaliah and Joash
1 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. 2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram [a] and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. 3 He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the LORD for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.
4 In the seventh year Jehoiada sent for the commanders of units of a hundred, the Carites and the guards and had them brought to him at the temple of the LORD. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath at the temple of the LORD. Then he showed them the king's son. 5 He commanded them, saying, "This is what you are to do: You who are in the three companies that are going on duty on the Sabbath—a third of you guarding the royal palace, 6 a third at the Sur Gate, and a third at the gate behind the guard, who take turns guarding the temple- 7 and you who are in the other two companies that normally go off Sabbath duty are all to guard the temple for the king. 8 Station yourselves around the king, each man with his weapon in his hand. Anyone who approaches your ranks [b] must be put to death. Stay close to the king wherever he goes."
9 The commanders of units of a hundred did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each one took his men—those who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off duty—and came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 Then he gave the commanders the spears and shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of the LORD. 11 The guards, each with his weapon in his hand, stationed themselves around the king—near the altar and the temple, from the south side to the north side of the temple.
12 Jehoiada brought out the king's son and put the crown on him; he presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They anointed him, and the people clapped their hands and shouted, "Long live the king!"
13 When Athaliah heard the noise made by the guards and the people, she went to the people at the temple of the LORD. 14 She looked and there was the king, standing by the pillar, as the custom was. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her robes and called out, "Treason! Treason!"
15 Jehoiada the priest ordered the commanders of units of a hundred, who were in charge of the troops: "Bring her out between the ranks [c] and put to the sword anyone who follows her." For the priest had said, "She must not be put to death in the temple of the LORD." 16 So they seized her as she reached the place where the horses enter the palace grounds, and there she was put to death.
17 Jehoiada then made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people that they would be the LORD's people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people. 18 All the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
Then Jehoiada the priest posted guards at the temple of the LORD. 19 He took with him the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, the guards and all the people of the land, and together they brought the king down from the temple of the LORD and went into the palace, entering by way of the gate of the guards. The king then took his place on the royal throne, 20 and all the people of the land rejoiced. And the city was quiet, because Athaliah had been slain with the sword at the palace.
21 Joash [d] was seven years old when he began to reign.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
James 4:13-17 (New International Version)
Boasting About Tomorrow
13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
February 11, 2010
The Other Side
ODB RADIO: Listen Now | Download
READ: James 4:13-17
What is your life? It is even a vapor. —James 4:14
When someone said to my friend, “See you in a year,” it sounded odd when he replied, “Yes, see you on the other side.” He meant that he’d see him on the other side of a one-year deployment for the US Navy. But because the phrase is often used of heaven, it made me think about the uncertainty of life. I wondered, Who will be here in another year? Who might by then be on the other side—in heaven?
We certainly don’t know what the next year—or hour—will bring. In his epistle, James wrote about this uncertainty. He rebuked the greedy merchants for boasting about what they would do that day, the next day, or even the next year (4:13). Their sin wasn’t that they were making plans; it was forgetting God and arrogantly boasting about those business plans.
James reminded them: “What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (v.14). Commentator Peter Davids says that James was pointing out their foolishness and saying, in essence, “Come now, you who make plans—you don’t even understand how little control you have over life itself.”
No part of life is outside the control of God. So when we make plans, we need to remember, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that” (v.15). — Anne Cetas
Tomorrow’s plans I do not know,
I only know this minute;
But He will say, “This is the way,
By faith now walk ye in it.” —Ryberg
Write your plans in pencil and let God have the eraser.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 11, 2010
Is Your Mind Stayed on God?
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READ:
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You —Isaiah 26:3
Is your mind stayed on God or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life. If you have never used your mind to place yourself before God, begin to do it now. There is no reason to wait for God to come to you. You must turn your thoughts and your eyes away from the face of idols and look to Him and be saved (see Isaiah 45:22 ).
Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. You should seek to be "bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ . . ." ( 2 Corinthians 10:5 ). This will be one of the greatest assets of your faith when a time of trial comes, because then your faith and the Spirit of God will work together. When you have thoughts and ideas that are worthy of credit to God, learn to compare and associate them with all that happens in nature-the rising and the setting of the sun, the shining of the moon and the stars, and the changing of the seasons. You will begin to see that your thoughts are from God as well, and your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to God.
"We have sinned with our fathers . . . [and] . . . did not remember . . ." ( Psalm 106:6-7 ). Then prod your memory and wake up immediately. Don’t say to yourself, "But God is not talking to me right now." He ought to be. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. Encourage yourself to remember, and your affection for God will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Painful Road to Greater Results - #6024
Thursday, February 11, 2010
When it comes to growing things, I'm not exactly Seedling Sam the Gardening Man. I grew up in an apartment in the city, OK? But my farm girl wife and some friends who have amazing green thumbs have taught me a lot about how things grow and flourish. I was reminded of one of those lessons when I read an article about growing blueberries. The writer of the article is a recognized expert on blueberries. He explained how one of his most important steps in making blueberry bushes fruitful is to chop off branches. That sounds destructive, but it's actually constructive. He prunes away a lot of top branches so the interior branches are exposed to the sunlight. The result? Big blueberries and lots of them!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Painful Road to Greater Results."
I need to understand this pruning thing. It's one of God's most important tools in growing me - and you, for that matter. In fact, some of the difficulty and loss that you're experiencing right now may actually be your Heavenly Father cutting you back to help you grow. And the results are going to be far greater than they ever could have been if He left what He has been taking away.
As Jesus was in His final hours before the cross, He prepared His disciples for the battles and the assignments ahead of them with some powerful teaching. And since they saw grapevines often, He chose that as an analogy of their, and our, relationship with Him. In John 15, beginning with verse 1, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus says: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." In short, leaving you less so you can do more.
Jesus went on to explain that all the things we do for Him have to flow from our deep relationship with Him, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing...If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you." If you keep loading up on Jesus and getting ever closer to Him, it's going to be really fruitful. You're going to make a greater and greater difference with the rest of your life than you've ever made before. You're going to be more and more spiritually magnetic and having you around is going to be more and more like having Jesus around.
But before the fruit, comes the pruning. I imagine if a vine could talk, he'd say to the pruner, "You're killing me, man!" And the gardener would say, "I know it hurts, but I'm actually removing things you don't really need so you can explode with greater fruit." That may be exactly what's happening in your life right now. It doesn't feel good, but it is good. God is lovingly removing things you think you need, but things that may be holding you down, holding you back, or holding you captive. The cutbacks are painful, but your Lord is taking out and subtracting so He can shine on what's left and do what He could have never done if you still had what you've lost.
Pruning is actually God's loving surgery to let His light go deeper into your life than it has ever gone before. You may not enjoy the process. You probably won't enjoy the process, but you and everybody else, is going to love the results!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Likable Savior
Posted: 10 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“Be agreeable, by sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble.” I Peter 3:8, The Message
They called Jesus a blasphemer, but they never called him a braggart, They accused him of heresy, but never arrogance. He was branded as a radical, but never unapproachable.
There is not hint that he ever used his heavenly status for personal gain. Ever. You just don’t get the impression that his neighbors grew sick of his haughtiness and asked, “Well, who do you think made you God?”
His faith made him likable.
2 Kings 11
Athaliah and Joash
1 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. 2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram [a] and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. 3 He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the LORD for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.
4 In the seventh year Jehoiada sent for the commanders of units of a hundred, the Carites and the guards and had them brought to him at the temple of the LORD. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath at the temple of the LORD. Then he showed them the king's son. 5 He commanded them, saying, "This is what you are to do: You who are in the three companies that are going on duty on the Sabbath—a third of you guarding the royal palace, 6 a third at the Sur Gate, and a third at the gate behind the guard, who take turns guarding the temple- 7 and you who are in the other two companies that normally go off Sabbath duty are all to guard the temple for the king. 8 Station yourselves around the king, each man with his weapon in his hand. Anyone who approaches your ranks [b] must be put to death. Stay close to the king wherever he goes."
9 The commanders of units of a hundred did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each one took his men—those who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off duty—and came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 Then he gave the commanders the spears and shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of the LORD. 11 The guards, each with his weapon in his hand, stationed themselves around the king—near the altar and the temple, from the south side to the north side of the temple.
12 Jehoiada brought out the king's son and put the crown on him; he presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They anointed him, and the people clapped their hands and shouted, "Long live the king!"
13 When Athaliah heard the noise made by the guards and the people, she went to the people at the temple of the LORD. 14 She looked and there was the king, standing by the pillar, as the custom was. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her robes and called out, "Treason! Treason!"
15 Jehoiada the priest ordered the commanders of units of a hundred, who were in charge of the troops: "Bring her out between the ranks [c] and put to the sword anyone who follows her." For the priest had said, "She must not be put to death in the temple of the LORD." 16 So they seized her as she reached the place where the horses enter the palace grounds, and there she was put to death.
17 Jehoiada then made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people that they would be the LORD's people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people. 18 All the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
Then Jehoiada the priest posted guards at the temple of the LORD. 19 He took with him the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, the guards and all the people of the land, and together they brought the king down from the temple of the LORD and went into the palace, entering by way of the gate of the guards. The king then took his place on the royal throne, 20 and all the people of the land rejoiced. And the city was quiet, because Athaliah had been slain with the sword at the palace.
21 Joash [d] was seven years old when he began to reign.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
James 4:13-17 (New International Version)
Boasting About Tomorrow
13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
February 11, 2010
The Other Side
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READ: James 4:13-17
What is your life? It is even a vapor. —James 4:14
When someone said to my friend, “See you in a year,” it sounded odd when he replied, “Yes, see you on the other side.” He meant that he’d see him on the other side of a one-year deployment for the US Navy. But because the phrase is often used of heaven, it made me think about the uncertainty of life. I wondered, Who will be here in another year? Who might by then be on the other side—in heaven?
We certainly don’t know what the next year—or hour—will bring. In his epistle, James wrote about this uncertainty. He rebuked the greedy merchants for boasting about what they would do that day, the next day, or even the next year (4:13). Their sin wasn’t that they were making plans; it was forgetting God and arrogantly boasting about those business plans.
James reminded them: “What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (v.14). Commentator Peter Davids says that James was pointing out their foolishness and saying, in essence, “Come now, you who make plans—you don’t even understand how little control you have over life itself.”
No part of life is outside the control of God. So when we make plans, we need to remember, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that” (v.15). — Anne Cetas
Tomorrow’s plans I do not know,
I only know this minute;
But He will say, “This is the way,
By faith now walk ye in it.” —Ryberg
Write your plans in pencil and let God have the eraser.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 11, 2010
Is Your Mind Stayed on God?
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READ:
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You —Isaiah 26:3
Is your mind stayed on God or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life. If you have never used your mind to place yourself before God, begin to do it now. There is no reason to wait for God to come to you. You must turn your thoughts and your eyes away from the face of idols and look to Him and be saved (see Isaiah 45:22 ).
Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. You should seek to be "bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ . . ." ( 2 Corinthians 10:5 ). This will be one of the greatest assets of your faith when a time of trial comes, because then your faith and the Spirit of God will work together. When you have thoughts and ideas that are worthy of credit to God, learn to compare and associate them with all that happens in nature-the rising and the setting of the sun, the shining of the moon and the stars, and the changing of the seasons. You will begin to see that your thoughts are from God as well, and your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to God.
"We have sinned with our fathers . . . [and] . . . did not remember . . ." ( Psalm 106:6-7 ). Then prod your memory and wake up immediately. Don’t say to yourself, "But God is not talking to me right now." He ought to be. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. Encourage yourself to remember, and your affection for God will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Painful Road to Greater Results - #6024
Thursday, February 11, 2010
When it comes to growing things, I'm not exactly Seedling Sam the Gardening Man. I grew up in an apartment in the city, OK? But my farm girl wife and some friends who have amazing green thumbs have taught me a lot about how things grow and flourish. I was reminded of one of those lessons when I read an article about growing blueberries. The writer of the article is a recognized expert on blueberries. He explained how one of his most important steps in making blueberry bushes fruitful is to chop off branches. That sounds destructive, but it's actually constructive. He prunes away a lot of top branches so the interior branches are exposed to the sunlight. The result? Big blueberries and lots of them!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Painful Road to Greater Results."
I need to understand this pruning thing. It's one of God's most important tools in growing me - and you, for that matter. In fact, some of the difficulty and loss that you're experiencing right now may actually be your Heavenly Father cutting you back to help you grow. And the results are going to be far greater than they ever could have been if He left what He has been taking away.
As Jesus was in His final hours before the cross, He prepared His disciples for the battles and the assignments ahead of them with some powerful teaching. And since they saw grapevines often, He chose that as an analogy of their, and our, relationship with Him. In John 15, beginning with verse 1, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus says: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." In short, leaving you less so you can do more.
Jesus went on to explain that all the things we do for Him have to flow from our deep relationship with Him, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing...If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you." If you keep loading up on Jesus and getting ever closer to Him, it's going to be really fruitful. You're going to make a greater and greater difference with the rest of your life than you've ever made before. You're going to be more and more spiritually magnetic and having you around is going to be more and more like having Jesus around.
But before the fruit, comes the pruning. I imagine if a vine could talk, he'd say to the pruner, "You're killing me, man!" And the gardener would say, "I know it hurts, but I'm actually removing things you don't really need so you can explode with greater fruit." That may be exactly what's happening in your life right now. It doesn't feel good, but it is good. God is lovingly removing things you think you need, but things that may be holding you down, holding you back, or holding you captive. The cutbacks are painful, but your Lord is taking out and subtracting so He can shine on what's left and do what He could have never done if you still had what you've lost.
Pruning is actually God's loving surgery to let His light go deeper into your life than it has ever gone before. You may not enjoy the process. You probably won't enjoy the process, but you and everybody else, is going to love the results!
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