Max Lucado Daily: Who Can We Trust
Who Can We Trust
Posted: 12 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
We can come before God’s throne where…we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it. Hebrews 4:16
Don’t we need someone to trust who is bigger than we are? Aren’t we tired of trusting the people of this earth for understanding? Aren’t we weary of trusting the things of this earth for strength? A drowning sailor doesn’t call on another drowning sailor for help… He knows he needs someone who is stronger than he is.
Jesus’ message is this: I am that person.
Trust Me.
Job 19
Job
1 Then Job replied:
2 "How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
3 Ten times now you have reproached me;
shamelessly you attack me.
4 If it is true that I have gone astray,
my error remains my concern alone.
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
and use my humiliation against me,
6 then know that God has wronged me
and drawn his net around me.
7 "Though I cry, 'I've been wronged!' I get no response;
though I call for help, there is no justice.
8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;
he has shrouded my paths in darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He tears me down on every side till I am gone;
he uproots my hope like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me;
he counts me among his enemies.
12 His troops advance in force;
they build a siege ramp against me
and encamp around my tent.
13 "He has alienated my brothers from me;
my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14 My kinsmen have gone away;
my friends have forgotten me.
15 My guests and my maidservants count me a stranger;
they look upon me as an alien.
16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
though I beg him with my own mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own brothers.
18 Even the little boys scorn me;
when I appear, they ridicule me.
19 All my intimate friends detest me;
those I love have turned against me.
20 I am nothing but skin and bones;
I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth. [d]
21 "Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
for the hand of God has struck me.
22 Why do you pursue me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
23 "Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,
24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on [e] lead,
or engraved in rock forever!
25 I know that my Redeemer [f] lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. [g]
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet [h] in [i] my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
28 "If you say, 'How we will hound him,
since the root of the trouble lies in him, [j] '
29 you should fear the sword yourselves;
for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
and then you will know that there is judgment. [k] "
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Mark 2:13-17
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.
14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Approachable
October 13, 2010 — by David C. McCasland
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. —Mark 2:17
When people ask Michael St. Jacques, a Franciscan brother, what he’s wearing, he says, “It’s called a habit.” He wears the distinctive brown robe for a definite reason. St. Jacques told Hemispheres magazine, “We have the choice to wear it, and a lot of us make a real effort to because it acts as a magnet. People tell me things they’ve never told anyone. Complete strangers will confess something they did 30 years ago and ask if God can forgive them.” You might say that Michael is clothed in “approachability.”
Throughout the Gospels, we find that all types of people approached Jesus wherever He went. They came to be taught, helped, healed, accepted, and forgiven. When some criticized Jesus for associating with tax collectors and sinners, people they considered undesirable, Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17).
Do people see us as aloof or accessible? When we become so focused on our own plans that we have no time for others, we are not clothed with the spirit of Christ.
When the Savior lives through us, His open arms invite people to open their hearts and unburden their souls.
Our world around us surges—duties vie
For all our time, our energies, our care;
But greater duty urges; don’t pass by
A hurting heart whose burden we may share. —Gustafson
Being available for the needs of others honors Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 13th, 2010
Individual Discouragement and Personal Growth
. . . when Moses was grown . . . he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens —Exodus 2:11
Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. After he launched his first strike for God and for what was right, God allowed Moses to be driven into empty discouragement, sending him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that time, God appeared to Moses and said to him, ” ’. . . bring My people . . . out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ’Who am I that I should go . . . ?’ ” (Exodus 3:10-11). In the beginning Moses had realized that he was the one to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in his individual perspective, but he was not the person for the work until he had learned true fellowship and oneness with God.
We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and yet when we start to do it, there comes to us something equivalent to Moses’ forty years in the wilderness. It’s as if God had ignored the entire thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged, God comes back and revives His call to us. And then we begin to tremble and say, “Who am I that I should go . . . ?” We must learn that God’s great stride is summed up in these words— “I AM WHO I AM . . . has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). We must also learn that our individual effort for God shows nothing but disrespect for Him— our individuality is to be rendered radiant through a personal relationship with God, so that He may be “well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). We are focused on the right individual perspective of things; we have the vision and can say, “I know this is what God wants me to do.” But we have not yet learned to get into God’s stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How Your Life - And Your Death - Can Really Count - #6198
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
It was one of those unexpected phone calls that leaves you stunned. Our friend Curt, one of the most experienced private pilots we know, had crashed two hours earlier. He was landing on a grass strip near his home, a strip where he's landed hundreds of times. This time he somehow went into a skid that propelled his plane right into a tree. The plane caught fire and then it exploded and our friend Curt was in heaven. As a beloved leader in our community, his death rocked a lot of people, including me. Because of a collapsed wheel, he had been in a crash 14 months earlier actually; one which should have been fatal but from which he escaped with serious but survivable injuries. I can't tell you how grateful I am that he didn't die then. See, something very important happened between those two crashes.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Your Life - and Your Death - Can Really Count."
It was my privilege to be asked by Curt's wife to talk about his faith at the funeral and the powerful changes that had taken place since that first crash. The word for that day from the Word of God is our word today. It's like a scale on which you can weigh the significance of your life and what you're living it for. Philippians 1:20-21 - "I eagerly expect and hope that...Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Now, we all need to honestly fill in the blank, "For to me to live is _________." See, the true answer - not the spiritual answer - might be, "For me to live is my business, my sports, my home, my kids, my success, my family, my friends, my education, my dream. Or maybe you should just put the name of the most important person in your life in that blank to fill it in honestly. Here's the problem: if you're living for any of those things, to die is to lose it all. It's only when for you "to live is Christ" that to die will be gain.
When our friend Curt went down the first time, I'm not sure what he was living for. He was always a good man, but I think he would have said he wasn't always God's man. But after that crash he said, "God spared me for a reason." And he concluded that one major reason was for him to live for Christ in such a way that the people he cared about, the people who looked to him, would want his Jesus so they could be in heaven with him someday. He began to live in such a way that "Christ would be exalted" by his life. And because he did, Christ was really exalted by his death.
In the past months, Curt had boldly told so many people in his large circle of influence about the Christ who died for him and for them. So it was only logical that his funeral would do the same thing - to give those he had touched the opportunity he had had - a wakeup call from a plane crash that would bring them into a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. But if you haven't lived to show Christ to people, your death really can't lift Him up. The death of a man or a woman who has really lived passionately for Christ can have such incredible meaning - helping others be in heaven with you. But a life not lived for Christ just can't have that kind of meaning. Death destroys every reason for living but one - living for Jesus and what matters to Him.
If Curt were here today, I believe he would tell you, "Don't wait to surrender your life and your influence to Jesus Christ. You never know how many days you have left to make your life count for something that will last forever." And, for sure, Jesus would tell you that. In fact, I believe He is - right now. "Someday" isn't soon enough to give everything you've got to Jesus. It needs to be this day.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Job 18, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: My Defender
My Defender
Posted: 11 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
He is my defender; I will not be defeated. Psalm 62:6
What does God do when we are in a bind? ... He fights for us! He steps into the ring and points us to our corner and takes over. “Remain calm; the Lord will fight for you” (Exodus 14:14).
His job is to fight. Our job is to trust.
Just trust. Not direct. Or question.
Or yank the steering wheel out of His hands. Our job is to pray and wait.
Job 18
Bildad
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 "When will you end these speeches?
Be sensible, and then we can talk.
3 Why are we regarded as cattle
and considered stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
Or must the rocks be moved from their place?
5 "The lamp of the wicked is snuffed out;
the flame of his fire stops burning.
6 The light in his tent becomes dark;
the lamp beside him goes out.
7 The vigor of his step is weakened;
his own schemes throw him down.
8 His feet thrust him into a net
and he wanders into its mesh.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare holds him fast.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
a trap lies in his path.
11 Terrors startle him on every side
and dog his every step.
12 Calamity is hungry for him;
disaster is ready for him when he falls.
13 It eats away parts of his skin;
death's firstborn devours his limbs.
14 He is torn from the security of his tent
and marched off to the king of terrors.
15 Fire resides [c] in his tent;
burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
16 His roots dry up below
and his branches wither above.
17 The memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name in the land.
18 He is driven from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.
19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
no survivor where once he lived.
20 Men of the west are appalled at his fate;
men of the east are seized with horror.
21 Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;
such is the place of one who knows not God."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.
Why Is There Color?
October 12, 2010 — by David H. Roper
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. —Psalm 19:1
Why do some trees turn into a collage of radiant maroon, red, orange, and yellow colors in the fall? Trees are green in the summer because chlorophyll, a green pigment in the leaves, absorbs red and blue light from the sun. The light reflected from the leaves appears green to our eyes.
Chlorophyll is an unstable substance, and bright sunlight causes it to decompose rapidly. Therefore, plants must continuously synthesize and regenerate it. The shortening days and cool nights of autumn, however, interfere with this process. As chlorophyll breaks down, the green colors of the leaves begin to fade. Some trees change from green to bright yellow as the chlorophyll degrades. In others, the action of sugar in the leaves creates a red pigment, causing the leaves to turn maroon, purple, and bright red as the chlorophyll fades.
But why do we have color? It seems to serve no practical purpose—at least none that scientists can discern. And why are there photoreceptors in our eyes that enable us to see it?
I believe that God’s goodness is the point of His creation. He is “good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Ps. 145:9). He colored the world for our childlike delight. He’s like that, you know.
God, the engineer of all creation,
Spoke the word, and beauty was begun,
Then He gave to us His great salvation
Through the sacrifice of His own Son. —Hess
God’s glory shines through His creation.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 12th, 2010
Getting into God’s Stride
Enoch walked with God . . . —Genesis 5:24
The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (seeJohn 1:35-37 and John 3:30). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him— it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself. The individual person is merged into a personal oneness with God, and God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited.
It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus— “He will not fail nor be discouraged . . .” (Isaiah 42:4) because He never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God’s Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be possible which before were impossible. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now— get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
God's Strange But Wonderful Recipes - #6197
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
It's one of my wife's favorite recipes, and she served it to our Team at one time. I always smile when she serves what she calls "Javanese dinner" because I know what's going to happen. She'll tell the guests what's in the dinner and instruct them to go through the line and pile the ingredients on in the order that they're served. And several guests will look at one another as if to say, "You've got to be kidding." The ingredients include rice, chicken, celery, coconut, pineapple, noodles, onions, cheese and a hot broth poured over the whole thing. (Now listen, please don't send for the recipe. I don't do recipes. I just eat them, so I can't send you a recipe.) Now listen, there's lots of skepticism about this menu, you know. Then the guests go through the line, they risk it and they love it. I saw the person who had the most doubts about what all those ingredients would be like when you put them all together go back for seconds and thirds.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's Strange But Wonderful Recipes."
When you look at the separate ingredients in my wife's sure-to-please recipe, it can leave a lot of doubts. But when all those ingredients get put together, it's one great experience. Sounds a lot like the recipes of God for your life and mine. I can't tell you the number of times when I have looked at some of the ingredients that God's mixed into my life and wondered why some of them were on my table. Until the time He put them all together. It was delicious.
One of the most leaned-on verses in the Bible actually promises that kind of outcome. It's Romans 8:28 , and it's our word for today from the Word of God. As familiar as this verse may be to you, would you let it be God's light to help illuminate what you're going through right now. Believe it now for this situation. The Bible says, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." All things, including those ingredients you don't like, you don't understand. Ephesians 1:11 tells us that our lives are unfolding "according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will." Everything! So "why?" is probably the wrong question to ask about what's happening. Why don't you try this one. "How can God use this?"
At any given point in time, you can look at your situation and say with all confidence, "What I see isn't what I get." Because with God, there is always something bigger going on than what you can see. The ways of God include a wide variety of people and tools that ultimately bring about His loving plan for you. His divine recipe for you includes some breakthroughs and some battles; some trials and some triumphs; some victories and some defeats; and a few things that seem unbearable or unexplainable. They're part of the plan. Nothing comes into the life of a child of God without Him either sending it or allowing it, because it will contribute to His plans for you. Plans which He guarantees are "to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11 ).
If you don't belong to Jesus Christ, you are, in the Bible's words, "lost." You're missing the plan you were put here for because you're missing the God who put you here. Jesus died to bring you back to Him. When you give yourself to Jesus, you get a personal relationship with God - you get the meaning you were made for.
Listen, if you want to begin that relationship, you want to pursue that relationship with Him, would you check out our website. It's yoursforlife.net. Or if you'd like I'll send you the booklet about this called Yours For Life. The number is 877-741-1200. And if you know you're His child through Jesus then don't walk by the recipe God is laying out on the table of your life just because you don't like some of the ingredients. Take what He serves you and do what He tells you. When God finally puts all those ingredients together, you're going to love what He's been making for you! So, trust the Cook - and trust His recipe!
My Defender
Posted: 11 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
He is my defender; I will not be defeated. Psalm 62:6
What does God do when we are in a bind? ... He fights for us! He steps into the ring and points us to our corner and takes over. “Remain calm; the Lord will fight for you” (Exodus 14:14).
His job is to fight. Our job is to trust.
Just trust. Not direct. Or question.
Or yank the steering wheel out of His hands. Our job is to pray and wait.
Job 18
Bildad
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 "When will you end these speeches?
Be sensible, and then we can talk.
3 Why are we regarded as cattle
and considered stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
Or must the rocks be moved from their place?
5 "The lamp of the wicked is snuffed out;
the flame of his fire stops burning.
6 The light in his tent becomes dark;
the lamp beside him goes out.
7 The vigor of his step is weakened;
his own schemes throw him down.
8 His feet thrust him into a net
and he wanders into its mesh.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare holds him fast.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
a trap lies in his path.
11 Terrors startle him on every side
and dog his every step.
12 Calamity is hungry for him;
disaster is ready for him when he falls.
13 It eats away parts of his skin;
death's firstborn devours his limbs.
14 He is torn from the security of his tent
and marched off to the king of terrors.
15 Fire resides [c] in his tent;
burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
16 His roots dry up below
and his branches wither above.
17 The memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name in the land.
18 He is driven from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.
19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
no survivor where once he lived.
20 Men of the west are appalled at his fate;
men of the east are seized with horror.
21 Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;
such is the place of one who knows not God."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.
Why Is There Color?
October 12, 2010 — by David H. Roper
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. —Psalm 19:1
Why do some trees turn into a collage of radiant maroon, red, orange, and yellow colors in the fall? Trees are green in the summer because chlorophyll, a green pigment in the leaves, absorbs red and blue light from the sun. The light reflected from the leaves appears green to our eyes.
Chlorophyll is an unstable substance, and bright sunlight causes it to decompose rapidly. Therefore, plants must continuously synthesize and regenerate it. The shortening days and cool nights of autumn, however, interfere with this process. As chlorophyll breaks down, the green colors of the leaves begin to fade. Some trees change from green to bright yellow as the chlorophyll degrades. In others, the action of sugar in the leaves creates a red pigment, causing the leaves to turn maroon, purple, and bright red as the chlorophyll fades.
But why do we have color? It seems to serve no practical purpose—at least none that scientists can discern. And why are there photoreceptors in our eyes that enable us to see it?
I believe that God’s goodness is the point of His creation. He is “good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Ps. 145:9). He colored the world for our childlike delight. He’s like that, you know.
God, the engineer of all creation,
Spoke the word, and beauty was begun,
Then He gave to us His great salvation
Through the sacrifice of His own Son. —Hess
God’s glory shines through His creation.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 12th, 2010
Getting into God’s Stride
Enoch walked with God . . . —Genesis 5:24
The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (seeJohn 1:35-37 and John 3:30). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him— it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself. The individual person is merged into a personal oneness with God, and God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited.
It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus— “He will not fail nor be discouraged . . .” (Isaiah 42:4) because He never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God’s Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be possible which before were impossible. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now— get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
God's Strange But Wonderful Recipes - #6197
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
It's one of my wife's favorite recipes, and she served it to our Team at one time. I always smile when she serves what she calls "Javanese dinner" because I know what's going to happen. She'll tell the guests what's in the dinner and instruct them to go through the line and pile the ingredients on in the order that they're served. And several guests will look at one another as if to say, "You've got to be kidding." The ingredients include rice, chicken, celery, coconut, pineapple, noodles, onions, cheese and a hot broth poured over the whole thing. (Now listen, please don't send for the recipe. I don't do recipes. I just eat them, so I can't send you a recipe.) Now listen, there's lots of skepticism about this menu, you know. Then the guests go through the line, they risk it and they love it. I saw the person who had the most doubts about what all those ingredients would be like when you put them all together go back for seconds and thirds.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's Strange But Wonderful Recipes."
When you look at the separate ingredients in my wife's sure-to-please recipe, it can leave a lot of doubts. But when all those ingredients get put together, it's one great experience. Sounds a lot like the recipes of God for your life and mine. I can't tell you the number of times when I have looked at some of the ingredients that God's mixed into my life and wondered why some of them were on my table. Until the time He put them all together. It was delicious.
One of the most leaned-on verses in the Bible actually promises that kind of outcome. It's Romans 8:28 , and it's our word for today from the Word of God. As familiar as this verse may be to you, would you let it be God's light to help illuminate what you're going through right now. Believe it now for this situation. The Bible says, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." All things, including those ingredients you don't like, you don't understand. Ephesians 1:11 tells us that our lives are unfolding "according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will." Everything! So "why?" is probably the wrong question to ask about what's happening. Why don't you try this one. "How can God use this?"
At any given point in time, you can look at your situation and say with all confidence, "What I see isn't what I get." Because with God, there is always something bigger going on than what you can see. The ways of God include a wide variety of people and tools that ultimately bring about His loving plan for you. His divine recipe for you includes some breakthroughs and some battles; some trials and some triumphs; some victories and some defeats; and a few things that seem unbearable or unexplainable. They're part of the plan. Nothing comes into the life of a child of God without Him either sending it or allowing it, because it will contribute to His plans for you. Plans which He guarantees are "to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11 ).
If you don't belong to Jesus Christ, you are, in the Bible's words, "lost." You're missing the plan you were put here for because you're missing the God who put you here. Jesus died to bring you back to Him. When you give yourself to Jesus, you get a personal relationship with God - you get the meaning you were made for.
Listen, if you want to begin that relationship, you want to pursue that relationship with Him, would you check out our website. It's yoursforlife.net. Or if you'd like I'll send you the booklet about this called Yours For Life. The number is 877-741-1200. And if you know you're His child through Jesus then don't walk by the recipe God is laying out on the table of your life just because you don't like some of the ingredients. Take what He serves you and do what He tells you. When God finally puts all those ingredients together, you're going to love what He's been making for you! So, trust the Cook - and trust His recipe!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Job 17, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Blessed are the Merciful
Blessed are the Merciful
Posted: 10 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7, NIV
The merciful, says Jesus, are shown mercy. They witness grace. They are blessed because they are testimonies to a greater goodness. Forgiving others allows us to see how God has forgiven us. The dynamic of giving grace is the key to understanding grace, for it is when we forgive others that we begin to feel what God feels.
Job 17
1 My spirit is broken,
my days are cut short,
the grave awaits me.
2 Surely mockers surround me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
3 "Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
Who else will put up security for me?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 If a man denounces his friends for reward,
the eyes of his children will fail.
6 "God has made me a byword to everyone,
a man in whose face people spit.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.
8 Upright men are appalled at this;
the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
9 Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
and those with clean hands will grow stronger.
10 "But come on, all of you, try again!
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered,
and so are the desires of my heart.
12 These men turn night into day;
in the face of darkness they say, 'Light is near.'
13 If the only home I hope for is the grave, [a]
if I spread out my bed in darkness,
14 if I say to corruption, 'You are my father,'
and to the worm, 'My mother' or 'My sister,'
15 where then is my hope?
Who can see any hope for me?
16 Will it go down to the gates of death [b] ?
Will we descend together into the dust?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Colossians 3:1-10
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Visible Reminders
October 11, 2010 — by Joe Stowell
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. —Colossians 3:2
What’s the first image you see when you turn on your computer? Maybe it’s a family portrait or a special vacation picture. Or perhaps your favorite pro athlete.
How about an artist’s rendition of Jesus? A man once wrote to me about his lengthy battle with pornography—a disheartening cycle that punctuated seasons of victory with crushing forays back into an online world of empty lust. Finally, he found that putting a visible reminder of Jesus in the corner of his computer screen helped him achieve lasting victory. That constant reminder of the One who set him free caused the offensive Web sites to lose their appeal. The man wasn’t tapping into some gigabyte good-luck charm. He was giving himself a simple reminder of the teaching of Colossians 3 where Paul says, “put to death . . . fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness” (v.5).
When we turn our eyes toward Jesus, He becomes a powerful reminder that our old life “died, and [our] life is hidden with Christ in God” (v.3). Whether it’s a verse taped to the dashboard of your car or a picture on your computer, choose a tangible way to lift your thoughts into the presence of Jesus.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace. —Lemmel
The best way to keep sin at a distance is to make sure Jesus stands between you and temptation.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 11th, 2010
God’s Silence— Then What?
When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was —John 11:6
Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35).
A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, “I know that God has heard me.” His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Wreckage of a Runaway Mouth - #6196
Monday, October 11, 2010
"Made you look!" That's a classic line from when we were kids. As we're driving through some of this continent's steep mountain ranges, We have seen a sign that's guaranteed to make me look. You usually see it on a long drive down a steep mountain. The sign says, "Runaway truck ramp ahead." Of course I immediately look in my rear view mirror! If some big old semi with failed brakes is barreling down the mountain, about to run me over, I would like to be the first to know! I'm not sure what I'd do about it, but at least I'd like a moment for my whole life to flash before me. Those ramps are long emergency ramps, usually covered with something like sand that will help a truck grind to a halt. Now, if you've ever smelled the hot rubber of overworked brakes on a mountain, and you probably have, you know that providing a way to stop runaway trucks is really a good idea. And they must be needed. I often see fresh truck tracks in that sand!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Wreckage of a Runaway Mouth."
Highway engineers know that you have to find a way to stop a runaway truck. A truck with no brakes can do a lot of damage. So can a mouth with no brakes - something that's a lot more common than runaway trucks. Now, many of us know all too personally the damage that can be inflicted by a runaway mouth. We still carry the memories, and the scars, and the negative effects of the names we've been called, the putdowns, the backstabbing, the verbal cruelty, intended or unintended. Sadly, though, we're not just the victims of someone else's runaway mouth. We're also the victimizers. We've been hurt by harsh words, but we've done the hurting, too.
The Bible is brutally frank about what we do with our words. It says: "Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark". "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell...It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:6-8 ). Man! Raging fire - deadly poison! When we know so painfully how reckless and angry words have hurt us, why do we keep on spewing them ourselves, often hurting most the people we love most? There is incredible wisdom in David's cry to God in Psalm 141:3 - "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips."
Jesus said our words aren't really the problem; they're the symptom of a much deeper problem. In Matthew 12:34 , our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus says: "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." He went on to say that "men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Our runaway mouths are serious business. And Jesus said the heart of the problem is our heart. Our words are symptoms of our deadly heart disease. The disease, well it's sin - the hijacking of our life from the God who gave it to us. We're out of control because we're away from God.
Thankfully, there's hope. God's provided a place where a life hurtling toward the cliffs of eternity can stop its deadly downward race. It's not a ramp. It's a cross. The cross where Jesus died to absorb all that our sin could do to us: its shame, its guilt, its power, its eternal punishment. All so He could do this miracle described in His Word: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you...I will put My Spirit in you...I will save you from all your uncleanness" (Ezekiel 36:26-28 ). A new heart - a heart with the desire and power to do it God's way. When your heart is full of God's love, it starts to change what comes out of your mouth.
Jesus has done this new heart miracle for countless people over 2,000 years. He's waiting to do it for you if you'll give yourself to the Savior who gave His life for you, so you could be forgiven of your sin and free from your sin. Just tell Him right now, "Jesus, I'm Yours." And let us help you get started in your relationship with Him. Just go to our website, that's what it's there for. It's yoursforlife.net.
The day you give yourself to this awesome Savior, a new you is born. Let it begin today.
Blessed are the Merciful
Posted: 10 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7, NIV
The merciful, says Jesus, are shown mercy. They witness grace. They are blessed because they are testimonies to a greater goodness. Forgiving others allows us to see how God has forgiven us. The dynamic of giving grace is the key to understanding grace, for it is when we forgive others that we begin to feel what God feels.
Job 17
1 My spirit is broken,
my days are cut short,
the grave awaits me.
2 Surely mockers surround me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
3 "Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
Who else will put up security for me?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 If a man denounces his friends for reward,
the eyes of his children will fail.
6 "God has made me a byword to everyone,
a man in whose face people spit.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.
8 Upright men are appalled at this;
the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
9 Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
and those with clean hands will grow stronger.
10 "But come on, all of you, try again!
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered,
and so are the desires of my heart.
12 These men turn night into day;
in the face of darkness they say, 'Light is near.'
13 If the only home I hope for is the grave, [a]
if I spread out my bed in darkness,
14 if I say to corruption, 'You are my father,'
and to the worm, 'My mother' or 'My sister,'
15 where then is my hope?
Who can see any hope for me?
16 Will it go down to the gates of death [b] ?
Will we descend together into the dust?"
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Colossians 3:1-10
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Visible Reminders
October 11, 2010 — by Joe Stowell
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. —Colossians 3:2
What’s the first image you see when you turn on your computer? Maybe it’s a family portrait or a special vacation picture. Or perhaps your favorite pro athlete.
How about an artist’s rendition of Jesus? A man once wrote to me about his lengthy battle with pornography—a disheartening cycle that punctuated seasons of victory with crushing forays back into an online world of empty lust. Finally, he found that putting a visible reminder of Jesus in the corner of his computer screen helped him achieve lasting victory. That constant reminder of the One who set him free caused the offensive Web sites to lose their appeal. The man wasn’t tapping into some gigabyte good-luck charm. He was giving himself a simple reminder of the teaching of Colossians 3 where Paul says, “put to death . . . fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness” (v.5).
When we turn our eyes toward Jesus, He becomes a powerful reminder that our old life “died, and [our] life is hidden with Christ in God” (v.3). Whether it’s a verse taped to the dashboard of your car or a picture on your computer, choose a tangible way to lift your thoughts into the presence of Jesus.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace. —Lemmel
The best way to keep sin at a distance is to make sure Jesus stands between you and temptation.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 11th, 2010
God’s Silence— Then What?
When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was —John 11:6
Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35).
A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, “I know that God has heard me.” His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Wreckage of a Runaway Mouth - #6196
Monday, October 11, 2010
"Made you look!" That's a classic line from when we were kids. As we're driving through some of this continent's steep mountain ranges, We have seen a sign that's guaranteed to make me look. You usually see it on a long drive down a steep mountain. The sign says, "Runaway truck ramp ahead." Of course I immediately look in my rear view mirror! If some big old semi with failed brakes is barreling down the mountain, about to run me over, I would like to be the first to know! I'm not sure what I'd do about it, but at least I'd like a moment for my whole life to flash before me. Those ramps are long emergency ramps, usually covered with something like sand that will help a truck grind to a halt. Now, if you've ever smelled the hot rubber of overworked brakes on a mountain, and you probably have, you know that providing a way to stop runaway trucks is really a good idea. And they must be needed. I often see fresh truck tracks in that sand!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Wreckage of a Runaway Mouth."
Highway engineers know that you have to find a way to stop a runaway truck. A truck with no brakes can do a lot of damage. So can a mouth with no brakes - something that's a lot more common than runaway trucks. Now, many of us know all too personally the damage that can be inflicted by a runaway mouth. We still carry the memories, and the scars, and the negative effects of the names we've been called, the putdowns, the backstabbing, the verbal cruelty, intended or unintended. Sadly, though, we're not just the victims of someone else's runaway mouth. We're also the victimizers. We've been hurt by harsh words, but we've done the hurting, too.
The Bible is brutally frank about what we do with our words. It says: "Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark". "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell...It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:6-8 ). Man! Raging fire - deadly poison! When we know so painfully how reckless and angry words have hurt us, why do we keep on spewing them ourselves, often hurting most the people we love most? There is incredible wisdom in David's cry to God in Psalm 141:3 - "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips."
Jesus said our words aren't really the problem; they're the symptom of a much deeper problem. In Matthew 12:34 , our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus says: "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." He went on to say that "men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Our runaway mouths are serious business. And Jesus said the heart of the problem is our heart. Our words are symptoms of our deadly heart disease. The disease, well it's sin - the hijacking of our life from the God who gave it to us. We're out of control because we're away from God.
Thankfully, there's hope. God's provided a place where a life hurtling toward the cliffs of eternity can stop its deadly downward race. It's not a ramp. It's a cross. The cross where Jesus died to absorb all that our sin could do to us: its shame, its guilt, its power, its eternal punishment. All so He could do this miracle described in His Word: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you...I will put My Spirit in you...I will save you from all your uncleanness" (Ezekiel 36:26-28 ). A new heart - a heart with the desire and power to do it God's way. When your heart is full of God's love, it starts to change what comes out of your mouth.
Jesus has done this new heart miracle for countless people over 2,000 years. He's waiting to do it for you if you'll give yourself to the Savior who gave His life for you, so you could be forgiven of your sin and free from your sin. Just tell Him right now, "Jesus, I'm Yours." And let us help you get started in your relationship with Him. Just go to our website, that's what it's there for. It's yoursforlife.net.
The day you give yourself to this awesome Savior, a new you is born. Let it begin today.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Matthew 10, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Be Like Jesus
Be Like Jesus
Posted: 09 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5, NKJV
What does it mean to be just like Jesus? The world has never known a heart so pure, a character so flawless. His spiritual hearing was so keen He never missed a heavenly whisper. His mercy so abundant He never missed a chance to forgive. No lie left His lips, no distraction marred His vision. He touched when others recoiled. He endured when others quit. Jesus is the ultimate model for every person.
Matthew 10
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
1He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil[a] spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[b]drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
11"Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
17"Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 6:60-69
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?
62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
Popularity
October 10, 2010 — by C. P. Hia
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. —John 6:66
Popularity is fickle. Just ask a politician. Many of them watch their ratings to see how their constituents view their policies. They may start with a high rating, but then it steadily declines during their term.
Jesus also experienced a sharp decline in popularity. His popularity reached its peak after He fed the 5,000 (John 6:14-15). It plummeted when He told His listeners that He had “come down from heaven” (v.38). Their response to His stupendous claim was, essentially, Who does this guy think He is?! (see v.41).
Jesus’ popularity continued to dip when He explained how they could have Him as spiritual bread (vv.51-52). Perplexed by what they heard, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” (v.60). As a result, many left Him.
The crowds followed Jesus conditionally. They were happy only as long as Jesus supplied their needs and met their wants. They balked when He asked for commitment.
Jesus’ question to His disciples was “Do you also want to go away?” (v.67). Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (v.68). Will you, like Peter, choose to ignore the world’s rating of Jesus and follow Him daily?
Those searching to know life’s true meaning
Can find it in only one way:
By serving the Lord with commitment,
And living for Him day by day. —Branon
Commitment to Christ is a daily calling that challenges us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 10th, 2010
How Will I Know?
Jesus answered and said, ’I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’ —Matthew 11:25
We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step— we either have a relationship or we do not. God does not continue to cleanse us more and more from sin— “But if we walk in the light,” we are cleansed “from all sin” (1 John 1:7). It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly perfected. But if we turn away from obedience for even one second, darkness and death are immediately at work again.
All of God’s revealed truths are sealed until they are opened to us through obedience. You will never open them through philosophy or thinking. But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. Let God’s truth work into you by immersing yourself in it, not by worrying into it. The only way you can get to know the truth of God is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. If you obey God in the first thing He shows you, then He instantly opens up the next truth to you. You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, “I suppose I will understand these things someday!” You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming one of the “wise and prudent.” “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know . . .” (John 7:17).
Be Like Jesus
Posted: 09 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5, NKJV
What does it mean to be just like Jesus? The world has never known a heart so pure, a character so flawless. His spiritual hearing was so keen He never missed a heavenly whisper. His mercy so abundant He never missed a chance to forgive. No lie left His lips, no distraction marred His vision. He touched when others recoiled. He endured when others quit. Jesus is the ultimate model for every person.
Matthew 10
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
1He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil[a] spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[b]drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
11"Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
17"Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 6:60-69
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?
62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
Popularity
October 10, 2010 — by C. P. Hia
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. —John 6:66
Popularity is fickle. Just ask a politician. Many of them watch their ratings to see how their constituents view their policies. They may start with a high rating, but then it steadily declines during their term.
Jesus also experienced a sharp decline in popularity. His popularity reached its peak after He fed the 5,000 (John 6:14-15). It plummeted when He told His listeners that He had “come down from heaven” (v.38). Their response to His stupendous claim was, essentially, Who does this guy think He is?! (see v.41).
Jesus’ popularity continued to dip when He explained how they could have Him as spiritual bread (vv.51-52). Perplexed by what they heard, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” (v.60). As a result, many left Him.
The crowds followed Jesus conditionally. They were happy only as long as Jesus supplied their needs and met their wants. They balked when He asked for commitment.
Jesus’ question to His disciples was “Do you also want to go away?” (v.67). Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (v.68). Will you, like Peter, choose to ignore the world’s rating of Jesus and follow Him daily?
Those searching to know life’s true meaning
Can find it in only one way:
By serving the Lord with commitment,
And living for Him day by day. —Branon
Commitment to Christ is a daily calling that challenges us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 10th, 2010
How Will I Know?
Jesus answered and said, ’I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’ —Matthew 11:25
We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step— we either have a relationship or we do not. God does not continue to cleanse us more and more from sin— “But if we walk in the light,” we are cleansed “from all sin” (1 John 1:7). It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly perfected. But if we turn away from obedience for even one second, darkness and death are immediately at work again.
All of God’s revealed truths are sealed until they are opened to us through obedience. You will never open them through philosophy or thinking. But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. Let God’s truth work into you by immersing yourself in it, not by worrying into it. The only way you can get to know the truth of God is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. If you obey God in the first thing He shows you, then He instantly opens up the next truth to you. You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, “I suppose I will understand these things someday!” You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming one of the “wise and prudent.” “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know . . .” (John 7:17).
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Job 16, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Enter the Throne Room
Enter the Throne Room
Posted: 08 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Now we can come fearlessly right into God’s presence.” Ephesians 3:12, TLV
Christ meets you outside the throne room, takes you by the hand, and walks you into the presence of God. Upon entrance we find grace, not condemnation; mercy, not punishment…
Because we are friends of God’s Son, we have entrance to the throne room. This gift is not an occasional visit before God but rather a permanent “access by faith into this grace by which we now stand.” (Romans 5:2, NIV)
Job 16
Job
1 Then Job replied:
2 "I have heard many things like these;
miserable comforters are you all!
3 Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?
4 I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.
5 But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
6 "Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I refrain, it does not go away.
7 Surely, O God, you have worn me out;
you have devastated my entire household.
8 You have bound me—and it has become a witness;
my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
9 God assails me and tears me in his anger
and gnashes his teeth at me;
my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
10 Men open their mouths to jeer at me;
they strike my cheek in scorn
and unite together against me.
11 God has turned me over to evil men
and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
12 All was well with me, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
13 his archers surround me.
Without pity, he pierces my kidneys
and spills my gall on the ground.
14 Again and again he bursts upon me;
he rushes at me like a warrior.
15 "I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
and buried my brow in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping,
deep shadows ring my eyes;
17 yet my hands have been free of violence
and my prayer is pure.
18 "O earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry never be laid to rest!
19 Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.
20 My intercessor is my friend [e]
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
21 on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as a man pleads for his friend.
22 "Only a few years will pass
before I go on the journey of no return.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 86
1 Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.
10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.
14 The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life-- men without regard for you.
15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant.
17 Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Bull’s-Eye!
October 9, 2010 — by Joe Stowell
Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth. —Psalm 86:11
If we’re not careful, we may become like the man who prided himself on being an expert archer. The secret to his success was that after he shot his arrow at the side of a barn, he painted a bull’s-eye around the arrow.
It’s easy to live our lives doing what we want and thinking that our ways and instincts are right on target when in reality our “bull’s-eye” shots at life are not on target at all. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Sometimes it may feel right to seek revenge, hoard money, chase pleasure, or yell at people who yell at us. But God’s ways are different from ours. He has painted a bull’s-eye on forgiving those who have hurt us, on giving generously to those in need, on living to please Him rather than ourselves, and on turning the other cheek. We need to pray, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth” (Ps. 86:11). And then we need to aim to follow His ways in all that we do and say.
But we all need help to aim at the right target. Thankfully, the bull’s-eye is already painted in the brushstrokes of God’s truth as revealed in His Word. When we aim our lives at God’s Word, we’ll discover that His ways are right on target—every time!
God’s given us His holy Word
To help and guide our way;
And if we read and follow it,
We will not go astray. —Sper
God’s ways are our targets for living.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 9th, 2010
Building on the Atonement
. . . present . . . your members as instruments of righteousness to God —Romans 6:13
I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it. If I construct my faith on my own experience, I produce the most unscriptural kind of life— an isolated life, with my eyes focused solely on my own holiness. Beware of that human holiness that is not based on the atonement of the Lord. It has no value for anything except a life of isolation— it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every kind of experience you have by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
The atonement of Jesus must be exhibited in practical, unassuming ways in my life. Every time I obey, the absolute deity of God is on my side, so that the grace of God and my natural obedience are in perfect agreement. Obedience means that I have completely placed my trust in the atonement, and my obedience is immediately met by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.
Beware of the human holiness that denies the reality of the natural life— it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the trial or test of the atonement and ask, “Where is the discernment of the atonement in this, and in that?”
Enter the Throne Room
Posted: 08 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Now we can come fearlessly right into God’s presence.” Ephesians 3:12, TLV
Christ meets you outside the throne room, takes you by the hand, and walks you into the presence of God. Upon entrance we find grace, not condemnation; mercy, not punishment…
Because we are friends of God’s Son, we have entrance to the throne room. This gift is not an occasional visit before God but rather a permanent “access by faith into this grace by which we now stand.” (Romans 5:2, NIV)
Job 16
Job
1 Then Job replied:
2 "I have heard many things like these;
miserable comforters are you all!
3 Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?
4 I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.
5 But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
6 "Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I refrain, it does not go away.
7 Surely, O God, you have worn me out;
you have devastated my entire household.
8 You have bound me—and it has become a witness;
my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
9 God assails me and tears me in his anger
and gnashes his teeth at me;
my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
10 Men open their mouths to jeer at me;
they strike my cheek in scorn
and unite together against me.
11 God has turned me over to evil men
and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
12 All was well with me, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
13 his archers surround me.
Without pity, he pierces my kidneys
and spills my gall on the ground.
14 Again and again he bursts upon me;
he rushes at me like a warrior.
15 "I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
and buried my brow in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping,
deep shadows ring my eyes;
17 yet my hands have been free of violence
and my prayer is pure.
18 "O earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry never be laid to rest!
19 Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.
20 My intercessor is my friend [e]
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
21 on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as a man pleads for his friend.
22 "Only a few years will pass
before I go on the journey of no return.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 86
1 Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.
10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.
14 The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life-- men without regard for you.
15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant.
17 Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Bull’s-Eye!
October 9, 2010 — by Joe Stowell
Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth. —Psalm 86:11
If we’re not careful, we may become like the man who prided himself on being an expert archer. The secret to his success was that after he shot his arrow at the side of a barn, he painted a bull’s-eye around the arrow.
It’s easy to live our lives doing what we want and thinking that our ways and instincts are right on target when in reality our “bull’s-eye” shots at life are not on target at all. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Sometimes it may feel right to seek revenge, hoard money, chase pleasure, or yell at people who yell at us. But God’s ways are different from ours. He has painted a bull’s-eye on forgiving those who have hurt us, on giving generously to those in need, on living to please Him rather than ourselves, and on turning the other cheek. We need to pray, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth” (Ps. 86:11). And then we need to aim to follow His ways in all that we do and say.
But we all need help to aim at the right target. Thankfully, the bull’s-eye is already painted in the brushstrokes of God’s truth as revealed in His Word. When we aim our lives at God’s Word, we’ll discover that His ways are right on target—every time!
God’s given us His holy Word
To help and guide our way;
And if we read and follow it,
We will not go astray. —Sper
God’s ways are our targets for living.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 9th, 2010
Building on the Atonement
. . . present . . . your members as instruments of righteousness to God —Romans 6:13
I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it. If I construct my faith on my own experience, I produce the most unscriptural kind of life— an isolated life, with my eyes focused solely on my own holiness. Beware of that human holiness that is not based on the atonement of the Lord. It has no value for anything except a life of isolation— it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every kind of experience you have by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
The atonement of Jesus must be exhibited in practical, unassuming ways in my life. Every time I obey, the absolute deity of God is on my side, so that the grace of God and my natural obedience are in perfect agreement. Obedience means that I have completely placed my trust in the atonement, and my obedience is immediately met by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.
Beware of the human holiness that denies the reality of the natural life— it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the trial or test of the atonement and ask, “Where is the discernment of the atonement in this, and in that?”
Friday, October 8, 2010
Job 15, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: It’s Not Too Late
It’s Not Too Late
Posted: 03 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” Luke 5:10, NASB
Christ . . . doesn’t abandon self-confessed schlemiels. Quite the contrary, he enlists them . . .
Contrary to what you may have been told, Jesus doesn’t limit his recruiting to the stout-hearted. The beat-up and worn-out are prime prospects in his book, and he’s been known to climb into boats, bars, and brothels to tell them, “It’s not too late to start over.”
Job 15
Eliphaz
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 "Would a wise man answer with empty notions
or fill his belly with the hot east wind?
3 Would he argue with useless words,
with speeches that have no value?
4 But you even undermine piety
and hinder devotion to God.
5 Your sin prompts your mouth;
you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;
your own lips testify against you.
7 "Are you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Do you listen in on God's council?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know?
What insights do you have that we do not have?
10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men even older than your father.
11 Are God's consolations not enough for you,
words spoken gently to you?
12 Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13 so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such words from your mouth?
14 "What is man, that he could be pure,
or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?
15 If God places no trust in his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
16 how much less man, who is vile and corrupt,
who drinks up evil like water!
17 "Listen to me and I will explain to you;
let me tell you what I have seen,
18 what wise men have declared,
hiding nothing received from their fathers
19 (to whom alone the land was given
when no alien passed among them):
20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.
21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
when all seems well, marauders attack him.
22 He despairs of escaping the darkness;
he is marked for the sword.
23 He wanders about—food for vultures [d] ;
he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
24 Distress and anguish fill him with terror;
they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
25 because he shakes his fist at God
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
26 defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield.
27 "Though his face is covered with fat
and his waist bulges with flesh,
28 he will inhabit ruined towns
and houses where no one lives,
houses crumbling to rubble.
29 He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the land.
30 He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots,
and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away.
31 Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless,
for he will get nothing in return.
32 Before his time he will be paid in full,
and his branches will not flourish.
33 He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
34 For the company of the godless will be barren,
and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb fashions deceit."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 14:1-6
1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
4 You know the way to the place where I am going."
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Imagine
October 8, 2010 — by Dave Branon
Let not your heart be troubled. —John 14:1
Our church’s young people did what they could to “construct heaven.” It was time for the spring banquet, and the creative teens used lights, Styrofoam, and other materials to turn the auditorium into their best idea of heaven.
The theme of the banquet was “I Can Only Imagine,” from the song by MercyMe. Our daughter Melissa helped transform the church. When I visited to see how the kids were doing, she was in the rafters hanging stars. The night of the banquet, my wife and I were able to hear one of Melissa’s friends sing the theme song as we all thought about this faraway place called heaven.
Of course, we never could have imagined that Melissa would be entering the real heaven just 6 weeks later. The imaginary would become reality.
Jesus told us about heaven as a way of untroubling our hearts. He said, “Let not your heart be troubled; . . . in My Father’s house are many mansions . . . . I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-2).
Heaven is a prepared place for prepared hearts—a place of unimaginable beauty, splendor, and majesty. It’s where God is caring for our believing loved ones, and someday for us. Imagine heaven, and rejoice!
The Lord has promised to prepare
A place in heaven above—
A home where we will always be
With Him and those we love. —Sper
Jesus is preparing a place for us and preparing us for that place.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 8th, 2010
Coming to Jesus
Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28
Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things about which we will not come to Jesus Christ. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words— “Come to Me . . . .” In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, “Just as I am, I come.” As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to “Come . . . .”
“Come to Me . . . .” When you hear those words, you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so.
How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away thinking, “I’ve really received what I wanted this time!” And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, “Come to Me. . . .”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How to Make the World a Little Less Lonely - #6195
Friday, October 8, 2010
If the firstborn in a family is a girl, the younger children often end up with a bonus feature; they get two mothers instead of one! Big sister's often happy to be another mother for her younger siblings, whether they're happy about it or not! But the instinctive motherly concern of a big sister came out loud and clear in our three-year-old granddaughter a few days ago. She's got a brand new baby brother whose life is pretty much eating and sleeping; mostly sleeping...until he needs something. A few nights ago, some friends were visiting our son and daughter-in-law, and there was a lot of talking and laughing going on. Suddenly, our little granddaughter said, "Shhhh. Shhhh. I hear my brother crying." He was. And she was the only one who heard it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Make the World a Little Less Lonely."
How our world needs people with their ears tuned to those who need help and attention! You and I who belong to Jesus Christ need to be that person in our personal world. he one who says, "I hear my brother crying." Unfortunately, so many of us are so busy and so preoccupied with our own agenda - so self-absorbed - that we run right by many people who are crying, at least inside.
The life of Jesus leaves us an unmistakable example of living with your "need-ometer" always on, looking for the needs around us. In Luke 18 , beginning with verse 35, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says: "As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging (used to being ignored, no doubt). When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, 'Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.' He called out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!'" I love these next two words, "Jesus stopped." For the need that no one else had time for. For the man everyone else treated like a nuisance, but not Jesus. He hears a brother crying and He stops, and He heals that man.
When He's surrounded by a crushing crowd, Jesus stops to meet the need of one woman who, in desperate faith, has touched the hem of His robe. With hundreds pushing on Him, He responds to one woman who needed Him. Even on the cross, when His own agony gave Him every reason to just be thinking about His own need, Jesus responds to the need of His mother, His friend John, and the thief on the cross next to Him.
If you're going to follow Jesus, if you're going to be like Jesus, you can't be so busy that you can't stop for someone in need. That need may be physical, financial or emotional. It may surface through an e-mail you get, or a letter, or a call, or just by the Holy Spirit laying someone on your heart who He knows needs you. Don't shrug that off. Don't just keep running your marathon. Do what your Savior did. Stop for that person who needs help or attention, who needs a hug, or a prayer, or some praise, or some encouragement. While others are walking by or walking away, you be the one who walks in. Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."
Often the key to being the conduit for Jesus' love is what I call the second question. Everybody asks the first question, "How are you doing?" And we robotically answer, "Fine." But the second question asks, "Really?" You'll be amazed how that simple demonstration that you really care how they're doing will often open up a heart-cry that's been buried just beneath the surface. And you get to experience the love of Jesus reaching into their life through you. And remember, the greatest gift you can give that person is to pray with them right there; asking God to show you how to pray for a need that only He fully understands. It's nice to let them know you'll pray for them. It's powerful to pray with them.
So in the midst of the clamor, in the midst of all the noise of all you have to do, keep your ears tuned to hear the needs around you at home, at work, at school, as you run your errands. So many people are crying, unheard, unhelped. Be the one who hears your brother or sister crying.
It’s Not Too Late
Posted: 03 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” Luke 5:10, NASB
Christ . . . doesn’t abandon self-confessed schlemiels. Quite the contrary, he enlists them . . .
Contrary to what you may have been told, Jesus doesn’t limit his recruiting to the stout-hearted. The beat-up and worn-out are prime prospects in his book, and he’s been known to climb into boats, bars, and brothels to tell them, “It’s not too late to start over.”
Job 15
Eliphaz
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 "Would a wise man answer with empty notions
or fill his belly with the hot east wind?
3 Would he argue with useless words,
with speeches that have no value?
4 But you even undermine piety
and hinder devotion to God.
5 Your sin prompts your mouth;
you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;
your own lips testify against you.
7 "Are you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Do you listen in on God's council?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know?
What insights do you have that we do not have?
10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men even older than your father.
11 Are God's consolations not enough for you,
words spoken gently to you?
12 Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
13 so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such words from your mouth?
14 "What is man, that he could be pure,
or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?
15 If God places no trust in his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
16 how much less man, who is vile and corrupt,
who drinks up evil like water!
17 "Listen to me and I will explain to you;
let me tell you what I have seen,
18 what wise men have declared,
hiding nothing received from their fathers
19 (to whom alone the land was given
when no alien passed among them):
20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.
21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
when all seems well, marauders attack him.
22 He despairs of escaping the darkness;
he is marked for the sword.
23 He wanders about—food for vultures [d] ;
he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
24 Distress and anguish fill him with terror;
they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
25 because he shakes his fist at God
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
26 defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield.
27 "Though his face is covered with fat
and his waist bulges with flesh,
28 he will inhabit ruined towns
and houses where no one lives,
houses crumbling to rubble.
29 He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the land.
30 He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots,
and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away.
31 Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless,
for he will get nothing in return.
32 Before his time he will be paid in full,
and his branches will not flourish.
33 He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
34 For the company of the godless will be barren,
and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb fashions deceit."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 14:1-6
1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
4 You know the way to the place where I am going."
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Imagine
October 8, 2010 — by Dave Branon
Let not your heart be troubled. —John 14:1
Our church’s young people did what they could to “construct heaven.” It was time for the spring banquet, and the creative teens used lights, Styrofoam, and other materials to turn the auditorium into their best idea of heaven.
The theme of the banquet was “I Can Only Imagine,” from the song by MercyMe. Our daughter Melissa helped transform the church. When I visited to see how the kids were doing, she was in the rafters hanging stars. The night of the banquet, my wife and I were able to hear one of Melissa’s friends sing the theme song as we all thought about this faraway place called heaven.
Of course, we never could have imagined that Melissa would be entering the real heaven just 6 weeks later. The imaginary would become reality.
Jesus told us about heaven as a way of untroubling our hearts. He said, “Let not your heart be troubled; . . . in My Father’s house are many mansions . . . . I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-2).
Heaven is a prepared place for prepared hearts—a place of unimaginable beauty, splendor, and majesty. It’s where God is caring for our believing loved ones, and someday for us. Imagine heaven, and rejoice!
The Lord has promised to prepare
A place in heaven above—
A home where we will always be
With Him and those we love. —Sper
Jesus is preparing a place for us and preparing us for that place.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 8th, 2010
Coming to Jesus
Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28
Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things about which we will not come to Jesus Christ. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words— “Come to Me . . . .” In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, “Just as I am, I come.” As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to “Come . . . .”
“Come to Me . . . .” When you hear those words, you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so.
How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away thinking, “I’ve really received what I wanted this time!” And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, “Come to Me. . . .”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How to Make the World a Little Less Lonely - #6195
Friday, October 8, 2010
If the firstborn in a family is a girl, the younger children often end up with a bonus feature; they get two mothers instead of one! Big sister's often happy to be another mother for her younger siblings, whether they're happy about it or not! But the instinctive motherly concern of a big sister came out loud and clear in our three-year-old granddaughter a few days ago. She's got a brand new baby brother whose life is pretty much eating and sleeping; mostly sleeping...until he needs something. A few nights ago, some friends were visiting our son and daughter-in-law, and there was a lot of talking and laughing going on. Suddenly, our little granddaughter said, "Shhhh. Shhhh. I hear my brother crying." He was. And she was the only one who heard it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Make the World a Little Less Lonely."
How our world needs people with their ears tuned to those who need help and attention! You and I who belong to Jesus Christ need to be that person in our personal world. he one who says, "I hear my brother crying." Unfortunately, so many of us are so busy and so preoccupied with our own agenda - so self-absorbed - that we run right by many people who are crying, at least inside.
The life of Jesus leaves us an unmistakable example of living with your "need-ometer" always on, looking for the needs around us. In Luke 18 , beginning with verse 35, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says: "As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging (used to being ignored, no doubt). When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, 'Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.' He called out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!'" I love these next two words, "Jesus stopped." For the need that no one else had time for. For the man everyone else treated like a nuisance, but not Jesus. He hears a brother crying and He stops, and He heals that man.
When He's surrounded by a crushing crowd, Jesus stops to meet the need of one woman who, in desperate faith, has touched the hem of His robe. With hundreds pushing on Him, He responds to one woman who needed Him. Even on the cross, when His own agony gave Him every reason to just be thinking about His own need, Jesus responds to the need of His mother, His friend John, and the thief on the cross next to Him.
If you're going to follow Jesus, if you're going to be like Jesus, you can't be so busy that you can't stop for someone in need. That need may be physical, financial or emotional. It may surface through an e-mail you get, or a letter, or a call, or just by the Holy Spirit laying someone on your heart who He knows needs you. Don't shrug that off. Don't just keep running your marathon. Do what your Savior did. Stop for that person who needs help or attention, who needs a hug, or a prayer, or some praise, or some encouragement. While others are walking by or walking away, you be the one who walks in. Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."
Often the key to being the conduit for Jesus' love is what I call the second question. Everybody asks the first question, "How are you doing?" And we robotically answer, "Fine." But the second question asks, "Really?" You'll be amazed how that simple demonstration that you really care how they're doing will often open up a heart-cry that's been buried just beneath the surface. And you get to experience the love of Jesus reaching into their life through you. And remember, the greatest gift you can give that person is to pray with them right there; asking God to show you how to pray for a need that only He fully understands. It's nice to let them know you'll pray for them. It's powerful to pray with them.
So in the midst of the clamor, in the midst of all the noise of all you have to do, keep your ears tuned to hear the needs around you at home, at work, at school, as you run your errands. So many people are crying, unheard, unhelped. Be the one who hears your brother or sister crying.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Job 14, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Remember Jesus
Remember Jesus
Posted: 06 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.” Isaiah 25:9, NKJV
When people don’t listen, remember Jesus. When tears come, remember Jesus. When disappointment is your bed partner, remember Jesus. When fear pitches his tent in your front yard. When death looms, when anger simmers, when shame weighs heavily. Remember Jesus.
Remember the dead called from the grave with a Galilean accent. Remember the eyes of God that wept human tears.
Job 14
1 "Man born of woman
is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He springs up like a flower and withers away;
like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
3 Do you fix your eye on such a one?
Will you bring him [a] before you for judgment?
4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
No one!
5 Man's days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed.
6 So look away from him and let him alone,
till he has put in his time like a hired man.
7 "At least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.
10 But man dies and is laid low;
he breathes his last and is no more.
11 As water disappears from the sea
or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
12 so man lies down and does not rise;
till the heavens are no more, men will not awake
or be roused from their sleep.
13 "If only you would hide me in the grave [b]
and conceal me till your anger has passed!
If only you would set me a time
and then remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my hard service
I will wait for my renewal [c] to come.
15 You will call and I will answer you;
you will long for the creature your hands have made.
16 Surely then you will count my steps
but not keep track of my sin.
17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;
you will cover over my sin.
18 "But as a mountain erodes and crumbles
and as a rock is moved from its place,
19 as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy man's hope.
20 You overpower him once for all, and he is gone;
you change his countenance and send him away.
21 If his sons are honored, he does not know it;
if they are brought low, he does not see it.
22 He feels but the pain of his own body
and mourns only for himself."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 31:1-8
1 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel:
2 "I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, 'You shall not cross the Jordan.'
3 The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said.
4 And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land.
5 The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you.
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.
8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
Hold My Hand
October 7, 2010 — by Anne Cetas
Do not fear nor be dismayed. —Deuteronomy 31:8
The waves of Lake Michigan were high and splashing onto the pier one day as I followed a young family out to a lighthouse. I overheard the young girl say to her father: “Daddy, please walk alongside me and hold my hand at this scary part.”
Sometimes life can be scary for us too: Loss of loved ones. Financial woes. Health problems. As we carry these heavy burdens and cares, we long for a strong hand to hold ours to keep us steady and secure.
When Joshua took over the leadership of Israel, Moses reminded him of God’s help in tough times. In the difficult days to come, Joshua would need to remember to trust God and His promises. Moses said, “The Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed” (Deut. 31:8).
Isaiah 41:13 encourages us with these words from God: “I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’?” When life gets scary, God is with us, we can hold His strong hand.
This song by Lowell Alexander reminds us of God’s presence: “You will face mountains so steep, deserts so long, and valleys so deep. Sometimes the journey’s gentle, sometimes the cold winds blow. But I want you to remember, I want you to know you will never walk alone. . . . Jesus will be right beside you all the way.” He’ll walk alongside us and hold our hand at the “scary” parts.
Fears flee in the light of God’s presence.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 7th, 2010
The Nature of Reconciliation
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21
Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.
The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son “to be sin” that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. . .” and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.
A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
That Life-Changing Limp - #6194
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Our son can usually tell when the weather's about to change. His knee is his own personal "weather channel." He seems pretty young to have pain like that, but it actually goes back to one day on a football field in high school. When one hit tore his anterior cruciate ligament - that infamous "ACL" injury so many athletes dread. Since he was five, his dream had been to play football, and he did and he was good, but then the injury. I was with him in the office of a sports medicine specialist when the doctor said, "You'll never play football again." That was the day his dream died. And, as he says now as part of his life testimony, it was the day his god died. His sports dream was dead. But that began a series of events that led to a time of tearful repentance, then the redirecting of his life goals, and ultimately to the incredible ways God has used him among Native American young people. And lest he forget who's in charge, he's got this alarm in his knee.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "That Life-Changing Limp."
God has given our son a lifelong reminder of his need to be surrendered completely to God, and the pain is part of that reminder. It's one of the strange but wonderful ways of God. And it may help explain some of what you're experiencing right now and some of what's gone on in your past.
To get the view from the Bible, we'll go to our word for today from the Word of God in Genesis 32, beginning with verse 24. It's part of Jacob's life story, a man for whom God has plans but who had plans of his own. Jacob - the schemer, the man who always found a way to make it happen, to get his way no matter what. He's on his way to a climactic reunion with the brother that he has stepped on to get where he is when he has this defining moment at the ford of a brook called the Jabbok.
"Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, 'Let me go, for it is daybreak.' But Jacob replied, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.' The man asked him, 'What is your name?' 'Jacob,' he answered. hen the man said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob (which, by the way, suggests his devious ways), but Israel" (which means "prince with God"). Jacob's life was changed forever from that moment on. It was the day he finally realized that it's got to be God; that's it's all about surrendering to God's plans instead of pushing your own.
But he left that encounter with a lifetime reminder of who's in charge. The Bible says, "So Jacob called that place Peniel" - that means "face of God" - "'because I saw God face to face'...the sun rose above him...and he was limping because of his hip." He would limp for the rest of his life. God does that. He gives us a reminder of the battle we fought with Him and the surrender that gives us His best. For you, that "life-changing limp" may be some lingering consequences from some past sin, a rebellious child, a difficult marriage, some past failures, some lasting results of wrong choices in your past, or maybe even some physical pain like Jacob or our son.
Our son says of that injury that broke his body and broke his heart, "The worst thing that ever happened to me was the best thing that ever happened to me." It was that pain that led to his surrender to God and a much bigger life than he could have ever dreamed. It is the ongoing pain that is God's reminder that it's always got to be God. If He's given you a painful reminder of the futility of self-reliance, the price of sin, and the glory of His work in your life, then thank Him for it. Let the "limp" that God gave you when you wrestled with Him make you strong for the rest of your life!
Remember Jesus
Posted: 06 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.” Isaiah 25:9, NKJV
When people don’t listen, remember Jesus. When tears come, remember Jesus. When disappointment is your bed partner, remember Jesus. When fear pitches his tent in your front yard. When death looms, when anger simmers, when shame weighs heavily. Remember Jesus.
Remember the dead called from the grave with a Galilean accent. Remember the eyes of God that wept human tears.
Job 14
1 "Man born of woman
is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He springs up like a flower and withers away;
like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
3 Do you fix your eye on such a one?
Will you bring him [a] before you for judgment?
4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
No one!
5 Man's days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed.
6 So look away from him and let him alone,
till he has put in his time like a hired man.
7 "At least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.
10 But man dies and is laid low;
he breathes his last and is no more.
11 As water disappears from the sea
or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
12 so man lies down and does not rise;
till the heavens are no more, men will not awake
or be roused from their sleep.
13 "If only you would hide me in the grave [b]
and conceal me till your anger has passed!
If only you would set me a time
and then remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my hard service
I will wait for my renewal [c] to come.
15 You will call and I will answer you;
you will long for the creature your hands have made.
16 Surely then you will count my steps
but not keep track of my sin.
17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;
you will cover over my sin.
18 "But as a mountain erodes and crumbles
and as a rock is moved from its place,
19 as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy man's hope.
20 You overpower him once for all, and he is gone;
you change his countenance and send him away.
21 If his sons are honored, he does not know it;
if they are brought low, he does not see it.
22 He feels but the pain of his own body
and mourns only for himself."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Deuteronomy 31:1-8
1 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel:
2 "I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, 'You shall not cross the Jordan.'
3 The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said.
4 And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land.
5 The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you.
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.
8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
Hold My Hand
October 7, 2010 — by Anne Cetas
Do not fear nor be dismayed. —Deuteronomy 31:8
The waves of Lake Michigan were high and splashing onto the pier one day as I followed a young family out to a lighthouse. I overheard the young girl say to her father: “Daddy, please walk alongside me and hold my hand at this scary part.”
Sometimes life can be scary for us too: Loss of loved ones. Financial woes. Health problems. As we carry these heavy burdens and cares, we long for a strong hand to hold ours to keep us steady and secure.
When Joshua took over the leadership of Israel, Moses reminded him of God’s help in tough times. In the difficult days to come, Joshua would need to remember to trust God and His promises. Moses said, “The Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed” (Deut. 31:8).
Isaiah 41:13 encourages us with these words from God: “I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’?” When life gets scary, God is with us, we can hold His strong hand.
This song by Lowell Alexander reminds us of God’s presence: “You will face mountains so steep, deserts so long, and valleys so deep. Sometimes the journey’s gentle, sometimes the cold winds blow. But I want you to remember, I want you to know you will never walk alone. . . . Jesus will be right beside you all the way.” He’ll walk alongside us and hold our hand at the “scary” parts.
Fears flee in the light of God’s presence.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 7th, 2010
The Nature of Reconciliation
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21
Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.
The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son “to be sin” that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. . .” and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.
A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
That Life-Changing Limp - #6194
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Our son can usually tell when the weather's about to change. His knee is his own personal "weather channel." He seems pretty young to have pain like that, but it actually goes back to one day on a football field in high school. When one hit tore his anterior cruciate ligament - that infamous "ACL" injury so many athletes dread. Since he was five, his dream had been to play football, and he did and he was good, but then the injury. I was with him in the office of a sports medicine specialist when the doctor said, "You'll never play football again." That was the day his dream died. And, as he says now as part of his life testimony, it was the day his god died. His sports dream was dead. But that began a series of events that led to a time of tearful repentance, then the redirecting of his life goals, and ultimately to the incredible ways God has used him among Native American young people. And lest he forget who's in charge, he's got this alarm in his knee.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "That Life-Changing Limp."
God has given our son a lifelong reminder of his need to be surrendered completely to God, and the pain is part of that reminder. It's one of the strange but wonderful ways of God. And it may help explain some of what you're experiencing right now and some of what's gone on in your past.
To get the view from the Bible, we'll go to our word for today from the Word of God in Genesis 32, beginning with verse 24. It's part of Jacob's life story, a man for whom God has plans but who had plans of his own. Jacob - the schemer, the man who always found a way to make it happen, to get his way no matter what. He's on his way to a climactic reunion with the brother that he has stepped on to get where he is when he has this defining moment at the ford of a brook called the Jabbok.
"Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, 'Let me go, for it is daybreak.' But Jacob replied, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.' The man asked him, 'What is your name?' 'Jacob,' he answered. hen the man said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob (which, by the way, suggests his devious ways), but Israel" (which means "prince with God"). Jacob's life was changed forever from that moment on. It was the day he finally realized that it's got to be God; that's it's all about surrendering to God's plans instead of pushing your own.
But he left that encounter with a lifetime reminder of who's in charge. The Bible says, "So Jacob called that place Peniel" - that means "face of God" - "'because I saw God face to face'...the sun rose above him...and he was limping because of his hip." He would limp for the rest of his life. God does that. He gives us a reminder of the battle we fought with Him and the surrender that gives us His best. For you, that "life-changing limp" may be some lingering consequences from some past sin, a rebellious child, a difficult marriage, some past failures, some lasting results of wrong choices in your past, or maybe even some physical pain like Jacob or our son.
Our son says of that injury that broke his body and broke his heart, "The worst thing that ever happened to me was the best thing that ever happened to me." It was that pain that led to his surrender to God and a much bigger life than he could have ever dreamed. It is the ongoing pain that is God's reminder that it's always got to be God. If He's given you a painful reminder of the futility of self-reliance, the price of sin, and the glory of His work in your life, then thank Him for it. Let the "limp" that God gave you when you wrestled with Him make you strong for the rest of your life!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Matthew 9:18-38, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: Heaven Knows Your Heart
Heaven Knows Your Heart
Posted: 05 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.” Luke 12:15, The Message
Who you are has nothing to do with the clothes you wear or the car you drive . . . Heaven does not know you as the fellow with the nice suit or the woman with the big house or the kid with the new bike. Heaven knows your heart . . .
When God thinks of you, he may see your compassion, your devotion, your tenderness or quick mind, but he doesn’t think of your things . . . And when you think of you, you shouldn’t either.
Matthew 9:18-38 (New International Version)
A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman
18While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."
22Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.
23When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26News of this spread through all that region.
Jesus Heals the Blind and Mute
27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
28When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they replied.
29Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; 30and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." 31But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
32While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."
34But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."
The Workers Are Few
35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 2:1-11
1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Itinerary Of Redemption
October 6, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who . . . made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant. —Philippians 2:5-7
In his book The First Man, James Hansen chronicles Neil Armstrong’s flight to the moon. The author explains how each astronaut was asked to fill out a report upon completion of the flight. The report listed how they traveled from Houston, Texas, to Cape Kennedy, Florida, to the Moon, to the Pacific Ocean, to Hawaii, and returned to Houston, Texas. What a list of destinations!
There is another itinerary that outshines any trip ever taken. Imagine this itinerary of our Savior, Jesus Christ: Place of origin—the heavenly places; Initial destination—Bethlehem; Mode of travel—the virgin birth; Reason for travel—the redemption of sinners; Return destination—the right hand of the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11 eloquently describes Christ’s coming to earth to provide our redemption. One Bible commentator considers this passage a hymn of praise to the glory of the Suffering Servant who became exalted for His obedience: “Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, . . . humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death . . . . Therefore God also has highly exalted Him” (vv.5-9).
Our Lord’s extraordinary itinerary of redemption should fill our hearts with gratitude and praise!
Our gracious redemption was carefully planned,
The gulf between heaven and earth has been spanned,
The portals are open, the passage is free,
Oh, wondrous salvation, it’s even for me! —Johnson
God broke into human history to offer us the gift of eternal life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 6th, 2010
The Nature of Regeneration
When it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me . . . —Galatians 1:15-16
If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature— His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.
The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God— “. . . until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, “Blessed are you . . .” (Matthew 5:11). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.
Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Highest Bid You've Ever Had - #6193
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
When you live and work on a remote Indian reservation, as our sons have done for a number of years, you get good at shopping without going anywhere. Because anywhere is so far away! Our sons have gotten to be very skilled Internet shoppers. They've found gifts there, I didn't even know existed, and they've found bargains I was jealous of. Sometimes, I've been able to watch over their shoulder as they bid on an item that's being auctioned on the Internet. They've gotten pretty good at knowing what it's going to take to own what's being auctioned. For all the little tricks of the trade, there's one decisive bottom line. Everyone knows that it belongs to the one who bids the most.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Highest Bid You've Ever Had."
Years ago, Bob Dylan had a hit single with a simple message. He said, "You gotta serve somebody. It may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody." Consciously or unconsciously, we all make choices about what or who we're going to give ourselves to. We pour ourselves into a relationship, a family, a business, a church, a hobby, into making money, or into pleasing our friends. It's almost as if they're all bidding for your time, your energy, and your commitment.
But really you should belong to the highest bidder - the one who paid the most for you. That would be Jesus. He announced His personal mission in our word for today from the Word of God in Mark 10:45 . Referring to Himself with the title "Son of Man," Jesus said: "The Son of Man came...to give His life as a ransom for many." What's a ransom: that's the price you pay to get someone back. Jesus spells out here the price He paid to get you back - it was His life.
In another place, the Bible says: "You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price" (1 Corinthians 6:20 ). Yeah, a very high price - the life of His one and only Son. Which raises a question. Why did Jesus go through the torture and humiliation and brutal death by crucifixion? Honestly, my sin is so bad, that's what it took to pay for it. All of us have repeatedly said, in essence, "No, God, I won't do it Your way. I'll do what I want." We have openly and repeatedly defied the God who made us. And that spiritual hijacking of our life carries a death penalty: eternal separation from the God who is the source of everything good.
But the Bible makes this stunning little statement: "Christ died for our sins" (Romans 5:8 ). I did the sinning. Jesus did the dying for it. Then He rose again from the dead to offer you and me what we could never deserve - an eternity in heaven.
But the price for you was very high. Jesus was beaten until His back was ripped apart. He carried a cross on that bloody back, a crown of thorns was jammed on his head, spikes were driven into His hands and feet, and worst of all, His Father turned His back on Him because He was carrying your sin so God would never have to turn His back on you. The Bible says Jesus was "so disfigured one would scarcely know He was a person" (Isaiah 52:14 ). All that was for you...to pay for you.
Is it any wonder then that God bases your entire eternity on what you do with His Son? It's possible that you've believed about Jesus for a long time, but you don't belong to Jesus, because there's never been a time when you've totally given yourself to Jesus as your only hope of being forgiven from your sin - your only hope of going to heaven.
Has there ever been a time when you did that? If you're not sure you belong to Him, I encourage you to make sure today. The greatest tragedy of your life would be that Jesus went through hell to save you and you never grabbed your Rescuer. You can do that today. Right where you are, talk to Him. Tell Him you're ready to turn from your sin and to hold onto Him like He's your only hope. That's a step we'd love to help you take. In fact, we've set up our website to do just that. Will you check it out today? It's yoursforlife.net. Or I'll send you my little booklet about this called "Yours For Life" if you'll just call and ask for it. The number is 877-741-1200.
Everything Jesus did on that cross He did because He loves you. Isn't it time you started to live for the One who loves you the most?
Heaven Knows Your Heart
Posted: 05 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.” Luke 12:15, The Message
Who you are has nothing to do with the clothes you wear or the car you drive . . . Heaven does not know you as the fellow with the nice suit or the woman with the big house or the kid with the new bike. Heaven knows your heart . . .
When God thinks of you, he may see your compassion, your devotion, your tenderness or quick mind, but he doesn’t think of your things . . . And when you think of you, you shouldn’t either.
Matthew 9:18-38 (New International Version)
A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman
18While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."
22Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.
23When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26News of this spread through all that region.
Jesus Heals the Blind and Mute
27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
28When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they replied.
29Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; 30and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." 31But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
32While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."
34But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."
The Workers Are Few
35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Philippians 2:1-11
1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Itinerary Of Redemption
October 6, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who . . . made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant. —Philippians 2:5-7
In his book The First Man, James Hansen chronicles Neil Armstrong’s flight to the moon. The author explains how each astronaut was asked to fill out a report upon completion of the flight. The report listed how they traveled from Houston, Texas, to Cape Kennedy, Florida, to the Moon, to the Pacific Ocean, to Hawaii, and returned to Houston, Texas. What a list of destinations!
There is another itinerary that outshines any trip ever taken. Imagine this itinerary of our Savior, Jesus Christ: Place of origin—the heavenly places; Initial destination—Bethlehem; Mode of travel—the virgin birth; Reason for travel—the redemption of sinners; Return destination—the right hand of the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11 eloquently describes Christ’s coming to earth to provide our redemption. One Bible commentator considers this passage a hymn of praise to the glory of the Suffering Servant who became exalted for His obedience: “Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, . . . humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death . . . . Therefore God also has highly exalted Him” (vv.5-9).
Our Lord’s extraordinary itinerary of redemption should fill our hearts with gratitude and praise!
Our gracious redemption was carefully planned,
The gulf between heaven and earth has been spanned,
The portals are open, the passage is free,
Oh, wondrous salvation, it’s even for me! —Johnson
God broke into human history to offer us the gift of eternal life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 6th, 2010
The Nature of Regeneration
When it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me . . . —Galatians 1:15-16
If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature— His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.
The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God— “. . . until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, “Blessed are you . . .” (Matthew 5:11). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.
Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Highest Bid You've Ever Had - #6193
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
When you live and work on a remote Indian reservation, as our sons have done for a number of years, you get good at shopping without going anywhere. Because anywhere is so far away! Our sons have gotten to be very skilled Internet shoppers. They've found gifts there, I didn't even know existed, and they've found bargains I was jealous of. Sometimes, I've been able to watch over their shoulder as they bid on an item that's being auctioned on the Internet. They've gotten pretty good at knowing what it's going to take to own what's being auctioned. For all the little tricks of the trade, there's one decisive bottom line. Everyone knows that it belongs to the one who bids the most.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Highest Bid You've Ever Had."
Years ago, Bob Dylan had a hit single with a simple message. He said, "You gotta serve somebody. It may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody." Consciously or unconsciously, we all make choices about what or who we're going to give ourselves to. We pour ourselves into a relationship, a family, a business, a church, a hobby, into making money, or into pleasing our friends. It's almost as if they're all bidding for your time, your energy, and your commitment.
But really you should belong to the highest bidder - the one who paid the most for you. That would be Jesus. He announced His personal mission in our word for today from the Word of God in Mark 10:45 . Referring to Himself with the title "Son of Man," Jesus said: "The Son of Man came...to give His life as a ransom for many." What's a ransom: that's the price you pay to get someone back. Jesus spells out here the price He paid to get you back - it was His life.
In another place, the Bible says: "You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price" (1 Corinthians 6:20 ). Yeah, a very high price - the life of His one and only Son. Which raises a question. Why did Jesus go through the torture and humiliation and brutal death by crucifixion? Honestly, my sin is so bad, that's what it took to pay for it. All of us have repeatedly said, in essence, "No, God, I won't do it Your way. I'll do what I want." We have openly and repeatedly defied the God who made us. And that spiritual hijacking of our life carries a death penalty: eternal separation from the God who is the source of everything good.
But the Bible makes this stunning little statement: "Christ died for our sins" (Romans 5:8 ). I did the sinning. Jesus did the dying for it. Then He rose again from the dead to offer you and me what we could never deserve - an eternity in heaven.
But the price for you was very high. Jesus was beaten until His back was ripped apart. He carried a cross on that bloody back, a crown of thorns was jammed on his head, spikes were driven into His hands and feet, and worst of all, His Father turned His back on Him because He was carrying your sin so God would never have to turn His back on you. The Bible says Jesus was "so disfigured one would scarcely know He was a person" (Isaiah 52:14 ). All that was for you...to pay for you.
Is it any wonder then that God bases your entire eternity on what you do with His Son? It's possible that you've believed about Jesus for a long time, but you don't belong to Jesus, because there's never been a time when you've totally given yourself to Jesus as your only hope of being forgiven from your sin - your only hope of going to heaven.
Has there ever been a time when you did that? If you're not sure you belong to Him, I encourage you to make sure today. The greatest tragedy of your life would be that Jesus went through hell to save you and you never grabbed your Rescuer. You can do that today. Right where you are, talk to Him. Tell Him you're ready to turn from your sin and to hold onto Him like He's your only hope. That's a step we'd love to help you take. In fact, we've set up our website to do just that. Will you check it out today? It's yoursforlife.net. Or I'll send you my little booklet about this called "Yours For Life" if you'll just call and ask for it. The number is 877-741-1200.
Everything Jesus did on that cross He did because He loves you. Isn't it time you started to live for the One who loves you the most?
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Job 13, Bible reading and Daily Devotions
Max Lucado Daily: What is Grace?
What is Grace?
Posted: 04 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
What is grace? It’s what someone gives us out of the goodness of his heart, not out of the perfection of ours. The story of grace is the good news that says when we come, he gives. That’s what grace is . . .
Grace is something you did not expect. It is something you certainly could never earn. But grace is something you’d never turn down.
Job 13
1 "My eyes have seen all this,
my ears have heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 But I desire to speak to the Almighty
and to argue my case with God.
4 You, however, smear me with lies;
you are worthless physicians, all of you!
5 If only you would be altogether silent!
For you, that would be wisdom.
6 Hear now my argument;
listen to the plea of my lips.
7 Will you speak wickedly on God's behalf?
Will you speak deceitfully for him?
8 Will you show him partiality?
Will you argue the case for God?
9 Would it turn out well if he examined you?
Could you deceive him as you might deceive men?
10 He would surely rebuke you
if you secretly showed partiality.
11 Would not his splendor terrify you?
Would not the dread of him fall on you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.
13 "Keep silent and let me speak;
then let come to me what may.
14 Why do I put myself in jeopardy
and take my life in my hands?
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
I will surely [e] defend my ways to his face.
16 Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance,
for no godless man would dare come before him!
17 Listen carefully to my words;
let your ears take in what I say.
18 Now that I have prepared my case,
I know I will be vindicated.
19 Can anyone bring charges against me?
If so, I will be silent and die.
20 "Only grant me these two things, O God,
and then I will not hide from you:
21 Withdraw your hand far from me,
and stop frightening me with your terrors.
22 Then summon me and I will answer,
or let me speak, and you reply.
23 How many wrongs and sins have I committed?
Show me my offense and my sin.
24 Why do you hide your face
and consider me your enemy?
25 Will you torment a windblown leaf?
Will you chase after dry chaff?
26 For you write down bitter things against me
and make me inherit the sins of my youth.
27 You fasten my feet in shackles;
you keep close watch on all my paths
by putting marks on the soles of my feet.
28 "So man wastes away like something rotten,
like a garment eaten by moths.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 18:6-13
6 In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
The Right Help
October 5, 2010 — by Bill Crowder
In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; . . . my cry came before Him, even to His ears. —Psalm 18:6
On a recent radio program, the hosts spoke with a “crisis management” expert about how a celebrity can recover from a public relations disaster. This specialist said one of the keys was to build strong allies who can help the star rehabilitate his or her image. In other words, it is vital when in trouble to get the right help.
That is wise counsel, for at the heart of all crisis management is recognizing that we can’t accomplish everything on our own. Some challenges are too big. Some mountains are too high. In our own seasons of crisis, it is critical that we have help. That’s why it’s comforting to know that we have the strongest ally possible.
King David knew about that ally. In Psalm 18:6, he affirmed, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.” There is no greater help in our time of need than God. He alone can carry us through the trials and crises of life, and we have His word that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).
When crisis hits, we don’t have to stand alone. We have the right help. We can depend on God to be the greatest ally we could ever know. Lean on Him.
When a crisis looms before you,
Don’t face it on your own;
Seek advice from godly counsel,
And take it to God’s throne. —Sper
Our greatest hope here below is to get help from God above.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 5th, 2010
The Nature of Degeneration
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . ” (John 3:19).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How Good Soldiers Go Down - #6192
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
They had the mightiest armies ever seen up until that time. And yet the seemingly invincible legions of the Roman Empire eventually fell to ransacking hordes who were once confined to Rome's far borders. What happened? Actually, many things happened that led to their defeat, but one of them was clearly spelled out by one fourth-century Roman General. Here's what he said: "When, because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary armor began to feel heavy since the soldiers rarely, if ever, wore it. Therefore, they asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates and mail and then the helmets. So our soldiers fought the Goths without any protection for the heart and head, and they were often beaten by archers. Although there were many disasters, which led to the loss of great cities, no one tried to restore the armor to the infantry. They took the armor off, and when the armor came off - so, too, came their integrity."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Good Soldiers Go Down."
In Rome many years ago, and among God's spiritual soldiers today, when you neglect your armor you will go down to your enemy. If you belong to Jesus Christ, and especially if you are or hope to be making any difference for Him, you can be sure you have shown up on hell's radar. And a lot of the battles you're encountering right now are, at their core, spiritual attacks conceived in hell.
We know that from our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 6 , beginning with verse 11. "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood" - you can insert there many of the earth-folks and earth-issues that seem to be what you're battling. "Your struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Paul goes on to repeat the order to put on your full spiritual armor so that "when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground."
The word used four times here for "stand" means to "hold a critical position while you're under attack." The implication is that the Satanic strategy you're supposed to stand against is the devil's effort to take back ground that God has gained in your life. Your enemy is trying to pressure and attack and tempt you to retreat to the old you, to old ways of thinking and coping and responding and treating people...to get you to doubt during this dark time what God told you in the light. And again and again, God says, "Do not give ground. Do not retreat. Defy this attack!"
And the key is the armor, spelled out in the verses that follow. The belt of truth - which means each new day you declare, "Only the truth, no deceit." Since lies are the devil's main weapon, when you compromise the truth, you defect to his side. The armor includes the breastplate of righteousness - which means "only what's pure, nothing corrupt allowed in my heart." The shoes that anchor you to the ground are, as Ephesians 6 says, "the gospel of peace." Each new day you declare "only God's peace today, not my worry." Taking up the shield of faith means you declare, "Only faith today, not fear!" The helmet of salvation, well that's what guards the way you think - salvation is the cross, and you put on that helmet when you declare, "Only the cross and no other power to trust in." And then there's that sword of the Spirit - the Word of God. Picking up that sword each day means you declare, "Only what God says, not my feelings."
Those six declarations defy the very things Satan always uses to get you to retreat - your deceit, unclean input, worry, fear, trusting in something other than the cross, and believing your feelings. Putting on your armor means consciously choosing the spiritual resources of Jesus as the ways you will respond to every attack. Don't concentrate on the attack that's coming your way. Concentrate instead on the things that make you strong - the full armor of God that makes Satan retreat!
What is Grace?
Posted: 04 Oct 2010 11:01 PM PDT
“My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
What is grace? It’s what someone gives us out of the goodness of his heart, not out of the perfection of ours. The story of grace is the good news that says when we come, he gives. That’s what grace is . . .
Grace is something you did not expect. It is something you certainly could never earn. But grace is something you’d never turn down.
Job 13
1 "My eyes have seen all this,
my ears have heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 But I desire to speak to the Almighty
and to argue my case with God.
4 You, however, smear me with lies;
you are worthless physicians, all of you!
5 If only you would be altogether silent!
For you, that would be wisdom.
6 Hear now my argument;
listen to the plea of my lips.
7 Will you speak wickedly on God's behalf?
Will you speak deceitfully for him?
8 Will you show him partiality?
Will you argue the case for God?
9 Would it turn out well if he examined you?
Could you deceive him as you might deceive men?
10 He would surely rebuke you
if you secretly showed partiality.
11 Would not his splendor terrify you?
Would not the dread of him fall on you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.
13 "Keep silent and let me speak;
then let come to me what may.
14 Why do I put myself in jeopardy
and take my life in my hands?
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
I will surely [e] defend my ways to his face.
16 Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance,
for no godless man would dare come before him!
17 Listen carefully to my words;
let your ears take in what I say.
18 Now that I have prepared my case,
I know I will be vindicated.
19 Can anyone bring charges against me?
If so, I will be silent and die.
20 "Only grant me these two things, O God,
and then I will not hide from you:
21 Withdraw your hand far from me,
and stop frightening me with your terrors.
22 Then summon me and I will answer,
or let me speak, and you reply.
23 How many wrongs and sins have I committed?
Show me my offense and my sin.
24 Why do you hide your face
and consider me your enemy?
25 Will you torment a windblown leaf?
Will you chase after dry chaff?
26 For you write down bitter things against me
and make me inherit the sins of my youth.
27 You fasten my feet in shackles;
you keep close watch on all my paths
by putting marks on the soles of my feet.
28 "So man wastes away like something rotten,
like a garment eaten by moths.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 18:6-13
6 In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
The Right Help
October 5, 2010 — by Bill Crowder
In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; . . . my cry came before Him, even to His ears. —Psalm 18:6
On a recent radio program, the hosts spoke with a “crisis management” expert about how a celebrity can recover from a public relations disaster. This specialist said one of the keys was to build strong allies who can help the star rehabilitate his or her image. In other words, it is vital when in trouble to get the right help.
That is wise counsel, for at the heart of all crisis management is recognizing that we can’t accomplish everything on our own. Some challenges are too big. Some mountains are too high. In our own seasons of crisis, it is critical that we have help. That’s why it’s comforting to know that we have the strongest ally possible.
King David knew about that ally. In Psalm 18:6, he affirmed, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.” There is no greater help in our time of need than God. He alone can carry us through the trials and crises of life, and we have His word that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).
When crisis hits, we don’t have to stand alone. We have the right help. We can depend on God to be the greatest ally we could ever know. Lean on Him.
When a crisis looms before you,
Don’t face it on your own;
Seek advice from godly counsel,
And take it to God’s throne. —Sper
Our greatest hope here below is to get help from God above.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 5th, 2010
The Nature of Degeneration
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . ” (John 3:19).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How Good Soldiers Go Down - #6192
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
They had the mightiest armies ever seen up until that time. And yet the seemingly invincible legions of the Roman Empire eventually fell to ransacking hordes who were once confined to Rome's far borders. What happened? Actually, many things happened that led to their defeat, but one of them was clearly spelled out by one fourth-century Roman General. Here's what he said: "When, because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary armor began to feel heavy since the soldiers rarely, if ever, wore it. Therefore, they asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates and mail and then the helmets. So our soldiers fought the Goths without any protection for the heart and head, and they were often beaten by archers. Although there were many disasters, which led to the loss of great cities, no one tried to restore the armor to the infantry. They took the armor off, and when the armor came off - so, too, came their integrity."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Good Soldiers Go Down."
In Rome many years ago, and among God's spiritual soldiers today, when you neglect your armor you will go down to your enemy. If you belong to Jesus Christ, and especially if you are or hope to be making any difference for Him, you can be sure you have shown up on hell's radar. And a lot of the battles you're encountering right now are, at their core, spiritual attacks conceived in hell.
We know that from our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 6 , beginning with verse 11. "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood" - you can insert there many of the earth-folks and earth-issues that seem to be what you're battling. "Your struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Paul goes on to repeat the order to put on your full spiritual armor so that "when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground."
The word used four times here for "stand" means to "hold a critical position while you're under attack." The implication is that the Satanic strategy you're supposed to stand against is the devil's effort to take back ground that God has gained in your life. Your enemy is trying to pressure and attack and tempt you to retreat to the old you, to old ways of thinking and coping and responding and treating people...to get you to doubt during this dark time what God told you in the light. And again and again, God says, "Do not give ground. Do not retreat. Defy this attack!"
And the key is the armor, spelled out in the verses that follow. The belt of truth - which means each new day you declare, "Only the truth, no deceit." Since lies are the devil's main weapon, when you compromise the truth, you defect to his side. The armor includes the breastplate of righteousness - which means "only what's pure, nothing corrupt allowed in my heart." The shoes that anchor you to the ground are, as Ephesians 6 says, "the gospel of peace." Each new day you declare "only God's peace today, not my worry." Taking up the shield of faith means you declare, "Only faith today, not fear!" The helmet of salvation, well that's what guards the way you think - salvation is the cross, and you put on that helmet when you declare, "Only the cross and no other power to trust in." And then there's that sword of the Spirit - the Word of God. Picking up that sword each day means you declare, "Only what God says, not my feelings."
Those six declarations defy the very things Satan always uses to get you to retreat - your deceit, unclean input, worry, fear, trusting in something other than the cross, and believing your feelings. Putting on your armor means consciously choosing the spiritual resources of Jesus as the ways you will respond to every attack. Don't concentrate on the attack that's coming your way. Concentrate instead on the things that make you strong - the full armor of God that makes Satan retreat!
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