Max Lucado Daily: God Created
God Created
Posted: 08 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“In the beginning God created . . .” Genesis 1:1
A mighty hand went to work . . .
Out of nothing came light. Out of light came day . . .
Canyons were carved. Oceans were dug. Mountains erupted out of flatlands. Stars were flung. A universe sparkled.
The hand behind it was mighty.
He is mighty.
Numbers 25
Moab Seduces Israel
1 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the LORD’s anger burned against them.
4 The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the LORD’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
5 So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”
6 Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; 9 but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
10 The LORD said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. 12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. 13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”
14 The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Kozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.
16 The LORD said to Moses, 17 “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them. 18 They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: John 1:9-14
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Helpful Love
May 9, 2011 — by Dennis Fisher
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. —John 1:14
At the end of my mother’s earthly journey, she and Dad were still very much in love and shared a strong faith in Christ. My mother had developed dementia and began to lose memories of even her family. Yet Dad would regularly visit her at the assisted living home and find ways to accommodate her diminished capacities.
For instance, he would take her some saltwater taffy, unwrap a piece, and place it in her mouth—something she could not do for herself. Then as she slowly chewed the candy, Dad would quietly sit with her and hold her hand. When their time together was over, Dad, beaming with a wide smile, would say, “I feel such peace and joy spending time with her.”
Though touched by Dad’s great joy in helping Mom, I was more affected by the reality that he was depicting God’s grace. Jesus was willing to humble Himself to connect with us in our weaknesses. In reflecting on Christ’s incarnation, John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14). Taking on human limitations, He did countless acts of compassion to accommodate us in our weakness.
Do you know anyone who might benefit from Jesus’ helpful, accommodating love that could flow through you to them today?
Love is giving for the world’s needs,
Love is sharing as the Spirit leads,
Love is caring when the world cries,
Love is compassion with Christlike eyes. —Brandt
To be a channel of blessing, let Christ’s love flow through you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 9th, 2011
Reaching Beyond Our Grasp
Where there is no revelation [or prophetic vision], the people cast off restraint . . . —Proverbs 29:18
There is a difference between holding on to a principle and having a vision. A principle does not come from moral inspiration, but a vision does. People who are totally consumed with idealistic principles rarely do anything. A person’s own idea of God and His attributes may actually be used to justify and rationalize his deliberate neglect of his duty. Jonah tried to excuse his disobedience by saying to God, “. . . I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm” (Jonah 4:2). I too may have the right idea of God and His attributes, but that may be the very reason why I do not do my duty. But wherever there is vision, there is also a life of honesty and integrity, because the vision gives me the moral incentive.
Our own idealistic principles may actually lull us into ruin. Examine yourself spiritually to see if you have vision, or only principles.
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?
“Where there is no revelation [or prophetic vision]. . . .” Once we lose sight of God, we begin to be reckless. We cast off certain restraints from activities we know are wrong. We set prayer aside as well and cease having God’s vision in the little things of life. We simply begin to act on our own initiative. If we are eating only out of our own hand, and doing things solely on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on a downward path. We have lost the vision. Is our attitude today an attitude that flows from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done before? Is there a freshness and a vitality in our spiritual outlook?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
How to Act When the Seasons Change - #6346
Monday, May 9, 2011
Hey, I really like Florida, and it's a great place, but I probably will never live there. I do enjoy going there, but my problem is I'm a four-seasons freak. I just enjoy the changes of season, and I think I would miss that a lot. Of course, I grew up in the north and so I probably got used to that.
But, you know, it's kind of neat when the fall colors come in, and then a hundred bags of leaves that we used to take out of our yard every fall. And when the fall changes to winter, there's a whole new set of sports and activities and fun, and you know festivities. It goes a little long some places; I could stand to cut a month or two off of that one.
And then, all of a sudden you're driving along one day and you'll see this burst of yellow. When we lived in New Jersey it was forsythia. Where we live now, you see the daffodils coming out...these beautiful flowers are exploding in color! It's spring; it feels so good to be warm again. And then you head into all the fun of summer and the relaxation and things you can only do there. And, you know, you don't have to wear all those coats. Each season has its unique lifestyle, wardrobe, equipment.
There's sort of a cycle of putting away your boots, and your coats, and your skis. And then you get out your shorts, and your lawn chairs, and your beach umbrella. Then you put them away and you get out your boots, your coats...you know how all that goes.
Well, God seems to be into seasons too. After all, He thought them up. Actually, it doesn't matter if you live at the North Pole or the Equator; you live in God's changing seasons, and your life is in one of those right now.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You about "How to Act When the Seasons Change."
God's people seem to live in three seasons. The reason I can tell that is I've been studying them in the book of Exodus, where we're going to find our word for today from the Word of God. Now, as the children of Israel left Egypt and came to the Red Sea, and then after the Red Sea parted, and they went on through toward the Promised Land, it's evident in three kinds of water that they found, that they lived in three seasons.
And their seasons are the same as your or mine. In fact, at any given point in your life, it's very possible you're in one of these three. That means right now you are. And each one, just like the meteorological seasons, has an appropriate way for you to live. Three waters that God's people encountered and they still do, and they represent a season and a way to live.
In Exodus 14, for example, here's the first kind of water. They are up to the Red Sea. "As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them." It says, "Moses answered the people 'Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians (and I love this) you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still.'"
The first season is the season of barrier waters. You ever been there? The Red Sea is behind you; there's nothing there to move. The chariots are coming at you; there is no exit. It's impossible. Well, God's instructions during that period of time are to stay where you are and pray. God parts the waters. That's His job. You know what you do? You leave it to Him. You wait for Him to act.
Then they went on. In Exodus 15 it says, "They came to Marah where they could not drink the water because it was bitter, until Moses cried to the Lord and the Lord showed him a piece of wood which he threw in the water and the water became sweet." OK, now there are the bitter waters. You've got the barrier waters, and God parts those; you leave that to Him. And then when you hit bitter waters, God sweetens the bitter water seasons in your life. Your job is to look for the sweetener. What can you throw into that situation that would sweeten it?
And then finally it says, "They came to Elim where there were 12 springs and 79 palm trees." That's the bubbling waters. Maybe you're in that season now. God surprises us with bubbling waters. And you know what your job is? You soak it up; you store it up. You won't stay in any one season though. God will keep changing the seasons. In a barrier time, you wait for Him to act supernaturally. In a bitter time, you seek the sweetener. In a bubbling time, you enjoy it.
They're all designed to teach us to depend on Him. And you can be sure the seasons will change, but the Savior will not.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Numbers 24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)
Max Lucado Daily: Let Us Wait
Let Us Wait
Posted: 07 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“The day of the Lord will come like a thief.” 2 Peter 3:10
Paul says “we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently” (Romans 8:25).
Peter tells us: “You should live holy lives and serve God, as you wait for and look forward to the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:11-12).
Hope of the future is not a license for irresponsibility in the present. Let us wait forwardly, but let us wait.
Numbers 24
1 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to divination as at other times, but turned his face toward the wilderness. 2 When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him 3 and he spoke his message:
“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
4 the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,[d]
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
5 “How beautiful are your tents, Jacob,
your dwelling places, Israel!
6 “Like valleys they spread out,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the LORD,
like cedars beside the waters.
7 Water will flow from their buckets;
their seed will have abundant water.
“Their king will be greater than Agag;
their kingdom will be exalted.
8 “God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
and break their bones in pieces;
with their arrows they pierce them.
9 Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse them?
“May those who bless you be blessed
and those who curse you be cursed!”
10 Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. 11 Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the LORD has kept you from being rewarded.”
12 Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, 13 ‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD—and I must say only what the LORD says’? 14 Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.”
Balaam’s Fourth Message
15 Then he spoke his message:
“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
16 the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,
who has knowledge from the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
17 “I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls[e] of[f] all the people of Sheth.[g]
18 Edom will be conquered;
Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,
but Israel will grow strong.
19 A ruler will come out of Jacob
and destroy the survivors of the city.”
Balaam’s Fifth Message
20 Then Balaam saw Amalek and spoke his message:
“Amalek was first among the nations,
but their end will be utter destruction.”
Balaam’s Sixth Message
21 Then he saw the Kenites and spoke his message:
“Your dwelling place is secure,
your nest is set in a rock;
22 yet you Kenites will be destroyed
when Ashur takes you captive.”
Balaam’s Seventh Message
23 Then he spoke his message:
“Alas! Who can live when God does this?[h]
24 Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus;
they will subdue Ashur and Eber,
but they too will come to ruin.”
25 Then Balaam got up and returned home, and Balak went his own way.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 66:7-13
7 “Before she goes into labor,
she gives birth;
before the pains come upon her,
she delivers a son.
8 Who has ever heard of such things?
Who has ever seen things like this?
Can a country be born in a day
or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
than she gives birth to her children.
9 Do I bring to the moment of birth
and not give delivery?” says the LORD.
“Do I close up the womb
when I bring to delivery?” says your God.
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her,
all you who mourn over her.
11 For you will nurse and be satisfied
at her comforting breasts;
you will drink deeply
and delight in her overflowing abundance.”
12 For this is what the LORD says:
“I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
and dandled on her knees.
13 As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
Learning To Trust
May 8, 2011 — by Julie Ackerman Link
Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. —Psalm 37:3
When I stuck my camera into the bush to take a picture of the baby robins, they opened their mouths without opening their eyes. They were so used to having mama robin feed them whenever the branches moved that they didn’t even look to see who (or what) was causing the disturbance.
That is the kind of trust that loving mothers instill in their children. That is the kind of mom I am blessed to have. Growing up, I could eat whatever food she put on the table without fear that it would harm me. Although she made me eat things I didn’t like, I knew she did so because they were good for me. If she cared only about what was easy for her, she would have let me eat junk food. No matter what Mom told me to do, or not to do, I knew she had my best interest in mind. She wasn’t trying to keep me from having fun; she was trying to protect me from being hurt.
That is the kind of relationship we have with God, who compared Himself to a mother: “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you” (Isa. 66:13). As His children, we have no reason to fear what happens to us nor to envy what happens to others: “Do not . . . be envious of the workers of iniquity” (Ps. 37:1). When we trust His goodness, we are fed by His faithfulness.
Lord, we’re thankful for this example of motherhood.
But even more, we’re grateful for Your faithful
“mothering” of us displayed in Your compassion
day by day. Help us to find rest in You. Amen.
God’s care surrounds us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 8h, 2011
The Faith to Persevere
Because you have kept My command to persevere . . . —Revelation 3:10
Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.
God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You . . .” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.
Let Us Wait
Posted: 07 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“The day of the Lord will come like a thief.” 2 Peter 3:10
Paul says “we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently” (Romans 8:25).
Peter tells us: “You should live holy lives and serve God, as you wait for and look forward to the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:11-12).
Hope of the future is not a license for irresponsibility in the present. Let us wait forwardly, but let us wait.
Numbers 24
1 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to divination as at other times, but turned his face toward the wilderness. 2 When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him 3 and he spoke his message:
“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
4 the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,[d]
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
5 “How beautiful are your tents, Jacob,
your dwelling places, Israel!
6 “Like valleys they spread out,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the LORD,
like cedars beside the waters.
7 Water will flow from their buckets;
their seed will have abundant water.
“Their king will be greater than Agag;
their kingdom will be exalted.
8 “God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
and break their bones in pieces;
with their arrows they pierce them.
9 Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse them?
“May those who bless you be blessed
and those who curse you be cursed!”
10 Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. 11 Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the LORD has kept you from being rewarded.”
12 Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, 13 ‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD—and I must say only what the LORD says’? 14 Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.”
Balaam’s Fourth Message
15 Then he spoke his message:
“The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
16 the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,
who has knowledge from the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
17 “I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls[e] of[f] all the people of Sheth.[g]
18 Edom will be conquered;
Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,
but Israel will grow strong.
19 A ruler will come out of Jacob
and destroy the survivors of the city.”
Balaam’s Fifth Message
20 Then Balaam saw Amalek and spoke his message:
“Amalek was first among the nations,
but their end will be utter destruction.”
Balaam’s Sixth Message
21 Then he saw the Kenites and spoke his message:
“Your dwelling place is secure,
your nest is set in a rock;
22 yet you Kenites will be destroyed
when Ashur takes you captive.”
Balaam’s Seventh Message
23 Then he spoke his message:
“Alas! Who can live when God does this?[h]
24 Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus;
they will subdue Ashur and Eber,
but they too will come to ruin.”
25 Then Balaam got up and returned home, and Balak went his own way.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 66:7-13
7 “Before she goes into labor,
she gives birth;
before the pains come upon her,
she delivers a son.
8 Who has ever heard of such things?
Who has ever seen things like this?
Can a country be born in a day
or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
than she gives birth to her children.
9 Do I bring to the moment of birth
and not give delivery?” says the LORD.
“Do I close up the womb
when I bring to delivery?” says your God.
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her,
all you who mourn over her.
11 For you will nurse and be satisfied
at her comforting breasts;
you will drink deeply
and delight in her overflowing abundance.”
12 For this is what the LORD says:
“I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
and dandled on her knees.
13 As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
Learning To Trust
May 8, 2011 — by Julie Ackerman Link
Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. —Psalm 37:3
When I stuck my camera into the bush to take a picture of the baby robins, they opened their mouths without opening their eyes. They were so used to having mama robin feed them whenever the branches moved that they didn’t even look to see who (or what) was causing the disturbance.
That is the kind of trust that loving mothers instill in their children. That is the kind of mom I am blessed to have. Growing up, I could eat whatever food she put on the table without fear that it would harm me. Although she made me eat things I didn’t like, I knew she did so because they were good for me. If she cared only about what was easy for her, she would have let me eat junk food. No matter what Mom told me to do, or not to do, I knew she had my best interest in mind. She wasn’t trying to keep me from having fun; she was trying to protect me from being hurt.
That is the kind of relationship we have with God, who compared Himself to a mother: “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you” (Isa. 66:13). As His children, we have no reason to fear what happens to us nor to envy what happens to others: “Do not . . . be envious of the workers of iniquity” (Ps. 37:1). When we trust His goodness, we are fed by His faithfulness.
Lord, we’re thankful for this example of motherhood.
But even more, we’re grateful for Your faithful
“mothering” of us displayed in Your compassion
day by day. Help us to find rest in You. Amen.
God’s care surrounds us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 8h, 2011
The Faith to Persevere
Because you have kept My command to persevere . . . —Revelation 3:10
Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.
God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You . . .” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Numbers 23, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)
Max Lucado Daily: Jesus Gives Mercy
Jesus Gives Mercy
Posted: 06 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43
A condemned criminal was sent to his death by his country. In his final moments, he asked for mercy. Had he asked for mercy from the people, it would have been denied . . . But it wasn’t to these he turned for grace. He turned instead to the bloodied form of the One who hung on the cross next to his and pleaded, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus answered by saying, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Numbers 23
Balaam’s First Message
1 Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 2 Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.
4 God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
5 The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”
6 So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials. 7 Then Balaam spoke his message:
“Balak brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’
8 How can I curse
those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce
those whom the LORD has not denounced?
9 From the rocky peaks I see them,
from the heights I view them.
I see a people who live apart
and do not consider themselves one of the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number even a fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,
and may my final end be like theirs!”
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”
12 He answered, “Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
Balaam’s Second Message
13 Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.” 14 So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”
16 The LORD met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”
17 So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?”
18 Then he spoke his message:
“Arise, Balak, and listen;
hear me, son of Zippor.
19 God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
20 I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
21 “No misfortune is seen in Jacob,
no misery observed[a] in Israel.
The LORD their God is with them;
the shout of the King is among them.
22 God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
23 There is no divination against[b] Jacob,
no evil omens against[c] Israel.
It will now be said of Jacob
and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’
24 The people rise like a lioness;
they rouse themselves like a lion
that does not rest till it devours its prey
and drinks the blood of its victims.”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”
26 Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?”
Balaam’s Third Message
27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.” 28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
29 Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 18:21-35
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[a]
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Peace And Reconciliation
May 7, 2011 — by David C. McCasland
Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? —Matthew 18:33
When the US Civil War ended in 1865, more than half a million soldiers lay dead, the economy was shattered, and people remained deeply divided politically. The observance of Mother’s Day in the United States began with two women’s efforts for peace and reconciliation during this time of anguish. In 1870, Julia Ward Howe called for an International Mother’s Day on which women would unite in opposing war in all its forms. A few years later, Anna Reeves Jarvis began her annual Mother’s Friendship Day in an effort to reunite families and neighbors alienated by the war. There is always great suffering when friends and families are fractured and unwilling to forgive.
The gospel of Jesus Christ brings the promise of peace and reconciliation with God and with each other. When Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive a brother who sinned against him (Matt. 18:21), the Lord surprised everyone with His answer of “seventy times seven” (v.22). Then He told an unforgettable story about a servant who had received forgiveness and failed to pass it on (vv.23-35). As God freely forgives us, so He requires that we extend what we have received to others.
With God’s love and power, forgiveness is always possible.
Oh, what joy and peace we forfeit,
When forgiveness we withhold;
Fellowship with God is broken,
And the heart grows hard and cold. —D. De Haan
Forgiveness is Christianity in action.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 7th, 2011
Building For Eternity
Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it . . . —Luke 14:28
Our Lord was not referring here to a cost which we have to count, but to a cost which He has already counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, the unfathomable agony He experienced in Gethsemane, and the assault upon Him at Calvary— the central point upon which all of time and eternity turn. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. In the final analysis, people are not going to laugh at Him and say, “This man began to build and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:30).
The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple ” (Luke 14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion— those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work.
Jesus Gives Mercy
Posted: 06 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43
A condemned criminal was sent to his death by his country. In his final moments, he asked for mercy. Had he asked for mercy from the people, it would have been denied . . . But it wasn’t to these he turned for grace. He turned instead to the bloodied form of the One who hung on the cross next to his and pleaded, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus answered by saying, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Numbers 23
Balaam’s First Message
1 Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 2 Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.
4 God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
5 The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”
6 So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials. 7 Then Balaam spoke his message:
“Balak brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’
8 How can I curse
those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce
those whom the LORD has not denounced?
9 From the rocky peaks I see them,
from the heights I view them.
I see a people who live apart
and do not consider themselves one of the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number even a fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,
and may my final end be like theirs!”
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”
12 He answered, “Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
Balaam’s Second Message
13 Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.” 14 So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”
16 The LORD met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”
17 So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?”
18 Then he spoke his message:
“Arise, Balak, and listen;
hear me, son of Zippor.
19 God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
20 I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
21 “No misfortune is seen in Jacob,
no misery observed[a] in Israel.
The LORD their God is with them;
the shout of the King is among them.
22 God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
23 There is no divination against[b] Jacob,
no evil omens against[c] Israel.
It will now be said of Jacob
and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’
24 The people rise like a lioness;
they rouse themselves like a lion
that does not rest till it devours its prey
and drinks the blood of its victims.”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”
26 Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?”
Balaam’s Third Message
27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.” 28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
29 Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 18:21-35
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[a]
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Peace And Reconciliation
May 7, 2011 — by David C. McCasland
Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? —Matthew 18:33
When the US Civil War ended in 1865, more than half a million soldiers lay dead, the economy was shattered, and people remained deeply divided politically. The observance of Mother’s Day in the United States began with two women’s efforts for peace and reconciliation during this time of anguish. In 1870, Julia Ward Howe called for an International Mother’s Day on which women would unite in opposing war in all its forms. A few years later, Anna Reeves Jarvis began her annual Mother’s Friendship Day in an effort to reunite families and neighbors alienated by the war. There is always great suffering when friends and families are fractured and unwilling to forgive.
The gospel of Jesus Christ brings the promise of peace and reconciliation with God and with each other. When Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive a brother who sinned against him (Matt. 18:21), the Lord surprised everyone with His answer of “seventy times seven” (v.22). Then He told an unforgettable story about a servant who had received forgiveness and failed to pass it on (vv.23-35). As God freely forgives us, so He requires that we extend what we have received to others.
With God’s love and power, forgiveness is always possible.
Oh, what joy and peace we forfeit,
When forgiveness we withhold;
Fellowship with God is broken,
And the heart grows hard and cold. —D. De Haan
Forgiveness is Christianity in action.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 7th, 2011
Building For Eternity
Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it . . . —Luke 14:28
Our Lord was not referring here to a cost which we have to count, but to a cost which He has already counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, the unfathomable agony He experienced in Gethsemane, and the assault upon Him at Calvary— the central point upon which all of time and eternity turn. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. In the final analysis, people are not going to laugh at Him and say, “This man began to build and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:30).
The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple ” (Luke 14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion— those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Mark 15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)
Max Lucado Daily: No More
No More
Posted: 05 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, NIV
Have you ever wondered what that command will be? It will be the inaugural word of heaven.
I could very well be wrong, but I think the command that puts an end to the pains of the earth and initiates the joys of heaven will be two words: “No more.”
Mark 15:26-47 (New International Version, ©2011)
26 The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.
27 They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. [28] [a] 29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!” 31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
The Death of Jesus
33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).[b]
35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.
37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,[c] he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
40 Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph,[d] and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.
The Burial of Jesus
42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Proverbs 6:6-11
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
The Wise Ant
May 6, 2011 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
[The ant] provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. —Proverbs 6:8
Every year I do something special to celebrate the arrival of spring —I buy ant traps. Those little invaders continually march into our kitchen in search of any crumb left on the floor. They aren’t picky; a shard of potato chip, a grain of rice, or even a speck of cheese will do.
Although ants may be a nuisance, Solomon praised them for their steadfast work ethic (Prov. 6:6-11). He pointed out that ants are self-directed. They have “no captain, overseer, or ruler” (v.7), yet they are very productive. The ants also keep busy even when it’s not immediately necessary, providing supplies in the summer and gathering food in the harvest (v.8). By the time winter arrives, they’re not worried about what they will eat. Little by little, these hard workers have saved up enough to sustain themselves.
We can learn from the ant. When God gives us times of plenty, we can prepare for times when resources may be low. God is the provider of all that we have, including our ability to work. We are to work diligently, be wise stewards of what He has provided, and then rest in the promise of His care (Matt. 6:25-34).
Let’s remember Solomon’s advice: “Go to the ant . . . . Con-sider her ways and be wise” (Prov. 6:6).
The humble ant’s keen industry
Can teach us all a lesson,
If in creation we will see
God’s classroom is in session. —Gustafson
Trust God for today—and prepare for tomorrow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 6th, 2011
Liberty and the Standards of Jesus
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free . . . —Galatians 5:1
A spiritually-minded person will never come to you with the demand—”Believe this and that”; a spiritually-minded person will demand that you align your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One whom the Bible reveals (see John 5:39-40). We are called to present liberty for the conscience of others, not to bring them liberty for their thoughts and opinions. And if we ourselves are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty— the liberty that comes from realizing the absolute control and authority of Jesus Christ.
Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke, and His alone; and always be careful never to place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one true liberty— the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.
Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you— with patience and with gentleness. But never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, “Go . . . and make disciples. . .” (Matthew 28:19), not, “Make converts to your own thoughts and opinions.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Answers in the Graveyard - #6345
Evang3300
Friday, May 6, 2011
Now, if you like putting puzzles together, oh you'll love trying to piece together your family genealogy. My wife knows; she's been working on ours lately. As you start climbing your family tree, you find all kinds of holes in your information, dates and places that sometimes seem contradictory, illogical.
And one place you go to solve some of the mysteries happens to be some old graveyards. I've been in a few in recent years. And sometimes the information on a tombstone or in cemetery records provides an important missing piece of the puzzle. And all along, you're hoping you'll find a king or a president...you know, someone important; hopefully, not a famous outlaw or scalawag! But you actually can find some missing answers in a graveyard.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I'd like to have A Word With You Today about "Answers in the Graveyard."
You know, actually, people have been finding answers in a graveyard for 2,000 years! Answers to the big questions - not about some ancestor, but about you! Like, why am I here? What's the point of it all? How can I have a life that matters? What happens when I die?
Now here's the wild thing: the grave where our answers begin is empty! It's Jesus' grave, and He blew the doors off His grave and off death when He walked out of that grave under His own power. That "explosion in the graveyard" on that first Easter is the single most significant event in the history of this planet, because no event has changed more lives. No event has the power of this one to change eternities!
The Bible records these bottom line words from Jesus in our word for today from the Word of God: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades" (Revelation 1:18 ).
Every other religious leader, prophet, teacher is in their grave today. But if you visit Jesus' grave, don't bother bringing flowers. He' gone! Death couldn't hold him. As the Bible says, "Christ Jesus...has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10 ). Any discussion of where ultimate truth is found ends at the empty tomb of Jesus.
But it's not about Christianity the religion. The answers to our ultimate questions aren't in a religion - they're in a man; the Man who died to remove the penalty for our sin - that wall that separates us from the God who put us here. He went to that cross to restore us to the God who gives life its meaning. That's why Jesus said "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full" (John 10:10 ).
And this is the Man who said, "Because I live, you also will live (John 14:19 ). He promises eternal life to all those who belong to Him. But you can't give what you don't have, and only the Man who conquered death can deliver eternal life.
So if you're pinning your hopes on anything or anyone else, it's false hope. With every other belief system or spirituality on earth, you can't know if you were right until you die. But when you belong to Jesus, you're pinning your hopes on a Savior whose resurrection is not just some religious ideas but a provable historic fact.
Jesus walked out of His grave so He can walk into your life today. His timeless invitation: "Come to Me...and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28 ). He's done it for millions of us across the centuries, and He is waiting to do it for you right now. Right where you are, you could say, "Jesus, I admit that I have been a sinner; I have run my own life; I deserve the penalty for that. But I believe You paid the penalty for that, and I am willing to stop driving my life. You drive. I am giving me to You, because You're the only One who died to pay for my sin. You're alive and I'm Yours."
Check out our website. A lot of people have found a lot of help in beginning their relationship with God there. I think you might too. YoursForLife.net. The biggest question of all - where you'll spend eternity - can be answered this very day at the feet of Jesus, who is alive; who's waiting to love you. Your search of a lifetime is almost over.
No More
Posted: 05 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, NIV
Have you ever wondered what that command will be? It will be the inaugural word of heaven.
I could very well be wrong, but I think the command that puts an end to the pains of the earth and initiates the joys of heaven will be two words: “No more.”
Mark 15:26-47 (New International Version, ©2011)
26 The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.
27 They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. [28] [a] 29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!” 31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
The Death of Jesus
33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).[b]
35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.
37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,[c] he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
40 Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph,[d] and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.
The Burial of Jesus
42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Proverbs 6:6-11
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
The Wise Ant
May 6, 2011 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
[The ant] provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. —Proverbs 6:8
Every year I do something special to celebrate the arrival of spring —I buy ant traps. Those little invaders continually march into our kitchen in search of any crumb left on the floor. They aren’t picky; a shard of potato chip, a grain of rice, or even a speck of cheese will do.
Although ants may be a nuisance, Solomon praised them for their steadfast work ethic (Prov. 6:6-11). He pointed out that ants are self-directed. They have “no captain, overseer, or ruler” (v.7), yet they are very productive. The ants also keep busy even when it’s not immediately necessary, providing supplies in the summer and gathering food in the harvest (v.8). By the time winter arrives, they’re not worried about what they will eat. Little by little, these hard workers have saved up enough to sustain themselves.
We can learn from the ant. When God gives us times of plenty, we can prepare for times when resources may be low. God is the provider of all that we have, including our ability to work. We are to work diligently, be wise stewards of what He has provided, and then rest in the promise of His care (Matt. 6:25-34).
Let’s remember Solomon’s advice: “Go to the ant . . . . Con-sider her ways and be wise” (Prov. 6:6).
The humble ant’s keen industry
Can teach us all a lesson,
If in creation we will see
God’s classroom is in session. —Gustafson
Trust God for today—and prepare for tomorrow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 6th, 2011
Liberty and the Standards of Jesus
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free . . . —Galatians 5:1
A spiritually-minded person will never come to you with the demand—”Believe this and that”; a spiritually-minded person will demand that you align your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One whom the Bible reveals (see John 5:39-40). We are called to present liberty for the conscience of others, not to bring them liberty for their thoughts and opinions. And if we ourselves are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty— the liberty that comes from realizing the absolute control and authority of Jesus Christ.
Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke, and His alone; and always be careful never to place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one true liberty— the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.
Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you— with patience and with gentleness. But never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, “Go . . . and make disciples. . .” (Matthew 28:19), not, “Make converts to your own thoughts and opinions.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Answers in the Graveyard - #6345
Evang3300
Friday, May 6, 2011
Now, if you like putting puzzles together, oh you'll love trying to piece together your family genealogy. My wife knows; she's been working on ours lately. As you start climbing your family tree, you find all kinds of holes in your information, dates and places that sometimes seem contradictory, illogical.
And one place you go to solve some of the mysteries happens to be some old graveyards. I've been in a few in recent years. And sometimes the information on a tombstone or in cemetery records provides an important missing piece of the puzzle. And all along, you're hoping you'll find a king or a president...you know, someone important; hopefully, not a famous outlaw or scalawag! But you actually can find some missing answers in a graveyard.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I'd like to have A Word With You Today about "Answers in the Graveyard."
You know, actually, people have been finding answers in a graveyard for 2,000 years! Answers to the big questions - not about some ancestor, but about you! Like, why am I here? What's the point of it all? How can I have a life that matters? What happens when I die?
Now here's the wild thing: the grave where our answers begin is empty! It's Jesus' grave, and He blew the doors off His grave and off death when He walked out of that grave under His own power. That "explosion in the graveyard" on that first Easter is the single most significant event in the history of this planet, because no event has changed more lives. No event has the power of this one to change eternities!
The Bible records these bottom line words from Jesus in our word for today from the Word of God: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades" (Revelation 1:18 ).
Every other religious leader, prophet, teacher is in their grave today. But if you visit Jesus' grave, don't bother bringing flowers. He' gone! Death couldn't hold him. As the Bible says, "Christ Jesus...has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10 ). Any discussion of where ultimate truth is found ends at the empty tomb of Jesus.
But it's not about Christianity the religion. The answers to our ultimate questions aren't in a religion - they're in a man; the Man who died to remove the penalty for our sin - that wall that separates us from the God who put us here. He went to that cross to restore us to the God who gives life its meaning. That's why Jesus said "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full" (John 10:10 ).
And this is the Man who said, "Because I live, you also will live (John 14:19 ). He promises eternal life to all those who belong to Him. But you can't give what you don't have, and only the Man who conquered death can deliver eternal life.
So if you're pinning your hopes on anything or anyone else, it's false hope. With every other belief system or spirituality on earth, you can't know if you were right until you die. But when you belong to Jesus, you're pinning your hopes on a Savior whose resurrection is not just some religious ideas but a provable historic fact.
Jesus walked out of His grave so He can walk into your life today. His timeless invitation: "Come to Me...and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28 ). He's done it for millions of us across the centuries, and He is waiting to do it for you right now. Right where you are, you could say, "Jesus, I admit that I have been a sinner; I have run my own life; I deserve the penalty for that. But I believe You paid the penalty for that, and I am willing to stop driving my life. You drive. I am giving me to You, because You're the only One who died to pay for my sin. You're alive and I'm Yours."
Check out our website. A lot of people have found a lot of help in beginning their relationship with God there. I think you might too. YoursForLife.net. The biggest question of all - where you'll spend eternity - can be answered this very day at the feet of Jesus, who is alive; who's waiting to love you. Your search of a lifetime is almost over.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Numbers 22, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)
Max Lucado Daily: A Sure God
A Sure God
Posted: 04 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful, because he cannot be false to himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13
Our moods may shift, but God’s doesn’t. Our minds may change, but God’s doesn’t. Our devotion may falter, but God’s never does. Even if we are faithless, He is faithful, for He cannot betray himself. He is a sure God.
Numbers 22
Balak Summons Balaam
1 Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.
2 Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, 3 and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.
4 The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.”
So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River, in his native land. Balak said:
“A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. 6 Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”
7 The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.
8 “Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the LORD gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him.
9 God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”
10 Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: 11 ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’”
12 But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”
13 The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”
14 So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”
15 Then Balak sent other officials, more numerous and more distinguished than the first. 16 They came to Balaam and said:
“This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, 17 because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.”
18 But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God. 19 Now spend the night here so that I can find out what else the LORD will tell me.”
20 That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”
Balaam’s Donkey
21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.
24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.
26 Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. 28 Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”
29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”
30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”
“No,” he said.
31 Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.
32 The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.[g] 33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”
34 Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”
35 The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.
36 When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory. 37 Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”
38 “Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”
39 Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. 40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the officials who were with him. 41 The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 70
For the director of music. Of David. A petition.
1 Hasten, O God, to save me;
come quickly, LORD, to help me.
2 May those who want to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
3 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
turn back because of their shame.
4 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
“The LORD is great!”
5 But as for me, I am poor and needy;
come quickly to me, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
LORD, do not delay.
Time To Pray?
May 5, 2011 — by David H. Roper
Make haste to help me, O Lord! —Psalm 70:1
One morning, when I was a young child, I was sitting in the kitchen, watching my mother prepare breakfast. Unexpectedly, the grease in the skillet in which she was frying bacon caught fire. Flames shot into the air and my mother ran to the pantry for a bag of flour to throw on the blaze.
“Help!” I shouted. And then I added, “Oh, I wish it was time to pray!” “It’s time to pray” must have been a frequent household expression, and I took it quite literally to mean we could pray only at certain times.
The time to pray, of course, is any time—especially when we’re in crisis. Fear, worry, anxiety, and care are the most common occasions for prayer. It is when we are desolate, forsaken, and stripped of every human resource that we naturally resort to prayer. We cry out with the words of David, “Help me, O Lord!” (Ps. 70:1).
John Cassian, a 5th-century Christian, wrote of this verse: “This is the terrified cry of someone who sees the snares of the enemy, the cry of someone besieged day and night and exclaiming that he cannot escape unless his Protector comes to the rescue.”
May this be our simple prayer in every crisis and all day long: “Help, Lord!”
Any hour when helping others,
Or when bearing heavy care,
Is the time to call our Father,
It’s the proper time for prayer. —Zimmerman
There is no place or time we cannot pray.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 5th, 2011
Judgment and the Love of God
The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God . . . —1 Peter 4:17
The Christian servant must never forget that salvation is God’s idea, not man’s; therefore, it has an unfathomable depth. Salvation is the great thought of God, not an experience. Experience is simply the door through which salvation comes into the conscious level of our life so that we are aware of what has taken place on a much deeper level. Never preach the experience— preach the great thought of God behind the experience. When we preach, we are not simply proclaiming how people can be saved from hell and be made moral and pure; we are conveying good news about God.
In the teachings of Jesus Christ the element of judgment is always brought out— it is the sign of the love of God. Never sympathize with someone who finds it difficult to get to God; God is not to blame. It is not for us to figure out the reason for the difficulty, but only to present the truth of God so that the Spirit of God will reveal what is wrong. The greatest test of the quality of our preaching is whether or not it brings everyone to judgment. When the truth is preached, the Spirit of God brings each person face to face with God Himself.
If Jesus ever commanded us to do something that He was unable to equip us to accomplish, He would be a liar. And if we make our own inability a stumbling block or an excuse not to be obedient, it means that we are telling God that there is something which He has not yet taken into account. Every element of our own self-reliance must be put to death by the power of God. The moment we recognize our complete weakness and our dependence upon Him will be the very moment that the Spirit of God will exhibit His power.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
You Can't Run Fast Enough - #6344
Thursday, May 5, 2011
We were waiting in front of a restaurant with our children, and my son saw a parent trying to keep his two-year-old occupied. Now, you know, it's tough enough for the parents to wait to get into a restaurant; it's a little hard to keep a two-year-old boy busy. And there's something in a child that wants freedom. And this child was no exception, because as soon as the parent would let this little guy go, he'd start to chug the other direction as fast as he could. It almost appeared as if he thought he really was going to get away from his dad. Not a chance! Dad started after him, you know, looking like it was hard to catch him. You know it wasn't.
Now, my teenage son was watching all this in amusement; he was sort of the observer of the world scene kind of guy. And he said, "Dad, it's so funny watching a kid get away from his parent." I said, "Why?" He said, "Because you know they'll lose every time." Well, it's true...they will. So will you and I.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You Can't Run Fast Enough."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from the book of Jonah 1 . You know the word of the Lord came to Jonah, and you remember what he did? "Go to the great city of Nineveh," God said, "and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord" - there you go - "and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port."
"You may remember a great storm comes upon that ship, the sailors cast lots; they find out that it fell on Jonah as the one who's to blame." The Bible says, "And then the sailors said to each other, 'Come, we'll find out who the person is.' And they cast lots and it fell on Jonah. So they asked him, 'Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us. What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?' And he answered, 'I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the land.' This terrified them and they asked, 'What have you done?' (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)"
All right, here's a child of God trying to run away from his Father, and you know his Father is going to catch him. And He does in the mouth of a great fish, when Jonah's thrown into the water. Now, in some strange, providential way, it could be that God has brought you and me together today for this little visit because He knows you're running. You're running from something that He's told you to do, or running from the first place you know that He deserves in your life.
If we were to see a picture drawn by God right now, there He would be with His arms extended, and there you would be running the other direction just as surely as Jonah did. Well, consider the cost of running from God. If you read Jonah chapter 1, it cost Jonah his money, money he never had to spend. But it cost him money to get away from God, and it cost him his sleep; he wasn't sleeping very well. And maybe you know about that part.
And it cost him his prayer contact with God. He wasn't even praying during this great storm because well, I think he felt like there was something between him and God. And you maybe know about that. He'd lost his sensitivity to other people. He didn't care what was happening to them. He was too busy surviving. And he lost his testimony to these people, and he lost the welfare of those close to him.
When you're running from God, you are a destabilizing force on everything and everyone around you, and God is pursuing you even to this moment today. It's a good thing isn't it that parents always catch their children? Because if they didn't, eventually you know those kids would run into disaster or death. Well, God is catching you. Isn't it time to stop running, and to turn and face your Father? Let Him hold you in His arms. Let Him have you; He bought and paid for you with His Son. You have nothing to fear from being with Him. You have everything to fear from being away from Him.
When it comes to running from God, you could just ask Jonah. You can't run fast enough!
A Sure God
Posted: 04 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful, because he cannot be false to himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13
Our moods may shift, but God’s doesn’t. Our minds may change, but God’s doesn’t. Our devotion may falter, but God’s never does. Even if we are faithless, He is faithful, for He cannot betray himself. He is a sure God.
Numbers 22
Balak Summons Balaam
1 Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.
2 Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, 3 and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.
4 The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.”
So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River, in his native land. Balak said:
“A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. 6 Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”
7 The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.
8 “Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the LORD gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him.
9 God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”
10 Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: 11 ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’”
12 But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”
13 The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”
14 So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”
15 Then Balak sent other officials, more numerous and more distinguished than the first. 16 They came to Balaam and said:
“This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, 17 because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.”
18 But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God. 19 Now spend the night here so that I can find out what else the LORD will tell me.”
20 That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”
Balaam’s Donkey
21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.
24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.
26 Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. 28 Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”
29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”
30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”
“No,” he said.
31 Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.
32 The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.[g] 33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”
34 Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”
35 The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.
36 When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory. 37 Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”
38 “Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”
39 Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. 40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the officials who were with him. 41 The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 70
For the director of music. Of David. A petition.
1 Hasten, O God, to save me;
come quickly, LORD, to help me.
2 May those who want to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
3 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
turn back because of their shame.
4 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
“The LORD is great!”
5 But as for me, I am poor and needy;
come quickly to me, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
LORD, do not delay.
Time To Pray?
May 5, 2011 — by David H. Roper
Make haste to help me, O Lord! —Psalm 70:1
One morning, when I was a young child, I was sitting in the kitchen, watching my mother prepare breakfast. Unexpectedly, the grease in the skillet in which she was frying bacon caught fire. Flames shot into the air and my mother ran to the pantry for a bag of flour to throw on the blaze.
“Help!” I shouted. And then I added, “Oh, I wish it was time to pray!” “It’s time to pray” must have been a frequent household expression, and I took it quite literally to mean we could pray only at certain times.
The time to pray, of course, is any time—especially when we’re in crisis. Fear, worry, anxiety, and care are the most common occasions for prayer. It is when we are desolate, forsaken, and stripped of every human resource that we naturally resort to prayer. We cry out with the words of David, “Help me, O Lord!” (Ps. 70:1).
John Cassian, a 5th-century Christian, wrote of this verse: “This is the terrified cry of someone who sees the snares of the enemy, the cry of someone besieged day and night and exclaiming that he cannot escape unless his Protector comes to the rescue.”
May this be our simple prayer in every crisis and all day long: “Help, Lord!”
Any hour when helping others,
Or when bearing heavy care,
Is the time to call our Father,
It’s the proper time for prayer. —Zimmerman
There is no place or time we cannot pray.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 5th, 2011
Judgment and the Love of God
The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God . . . —1 Peter 4:17
The Christian servant must never forget that salvation is God’s idea, not man’s; therefore, it has an unfathomable depth. Salvation is the great thought of God, not an experience. Experience is simply the door through which salvation comes into the conscious level of our life so that we are aware of what has taken place on a much deeper level. Never preach the experience— preach the great thought of God behind the experience. When we preach, we are not simply proclaiming how people can be saved from hell and be made moral and pure; we are conveying good news about God.
In the teachings of Jesus Christ the element of judgment is always brought out— it is the sign of the love of God. Never sympathize with someone who finds it difficult to get to God; God is not to blame. It is not for us to figure out the reason for the difficulty, but only to present the truth of God so that the Spirit of God will reveal what is wrong. The greatest test of the quality of our preaching is whether or not it brings everyone to judgment. When the truth is preached, the Spirit of God brings each person face to face with God Himself.
If Jesus ever commanded us to do something that He was unable to equip us to accomplish, He would be a liar. And if we make our own inability a stumbling block or an excuse not to be obedient, it means that we are telling God that there is something which He has not yet taken into account. Every element of our own self-reliance must be put to death by the power of God. The moment we recognize our complete weakness and our dependence upon Him will be the very moment that the Spirit of God will exhibit His power.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
You Can't Run Fast Enough - #6344
Thursday, May 5, 2011
We were waiting in front of a restaurant with our children, and my son saw a parent trying to keep his two-year-old occupied. Now, you know, it's tough enough for the parents to wait to get into a restaurant; it's a little hard to keep a two-year-old boy busy. And there's something in a child that wants freedom. And this child was no exception, because as soon as the parent would let this little guy go, he'd start to chug the other direction as fast as he could. It almost appeared as if he thought he really was going to get away from his dad. Not a chance! Dad started after him, you know, looking like it was hard to catch him. You know it wasn't.
Now, my teenage son was watching all this in amusement; he was sort of the observer of the world scene kind of guy. And he said, "Dad, it's so funny watching a kid get away from his parent." I said, "Why?" He said, "Because you know they'll lose every time." Well, it's true...they will. So will you and I.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You Can't Run Fast Enough."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from the book of Jonah 1 . You know the word of the Lord came to Jonah, and you remember what he did? "Go to the great city of Nineveh," God said, "and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord" - there you go - "and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port."
"You may remember a great storm comes upon that ship, the sailors cast lots; they find out that it fell on Jonah as the one who's to blame." The Bible says, "And then the sailors said to each other, 'Come, we'll find out who the person is.' And they cast lots and it fell on Jonah. So they asked him, 'Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us. What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?' And he answered, 'I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the land.' This terrified them and they asked, 'What have you done?' (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)"
All right, here's a child of God trying to run away from his Father, and you know his Father is going to catch him. And He does in the mouth of a great fish, when Jonah's thrown into the water. Now, in some strange, providential way, it could be that God has brought you and me together today for this little visit because He knows you're running. You're running from something that He's told you to do, or running from the first place you know that He deserves in your life.
If we were to see a picture drawn by God right now, there He would be with His arms extended, and there you would be running the other direction just as surely as Jonah did. Well, consider the cost of running from God. If you read Jonah chapter 1, it cost Jonah his money, money he never had to spend. But it cost him money to get away from God, and it cost him his sleep; he wasn't sleeping very well. And maybe you know about that part.
And it cost him his prayer contact with God. He wasn't even praying during this great storm because well, I think he felt like there was something between him and God. And you maybe know about that. He'd lost his sensitivity to other people. He didn't care what was happening to them. He was too busy surviving. And he lost his testimony to these people, and he lost the welfare of those close to him.
When you're running from God, you are a destabilizing force on everything and everyone around you, and God is pursuing you even to this moment today. It's a good thing isn't it that parents always catch their children? Because if they didn't, eventually you know those kids would run into disaster or death. Well, God is catching you. Isn't it time to stop running, and to turn and face your Father? Let Him hold you in His arms. Let Him have you; He bought and paid for you with His Son. You have nothing to fear from being with Him. You have everything to fear from being away from Him.
When it comes to running from God, you could just ask Jonah. You can't run fast enough!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Numbers 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)
Max Lucado Daily: Run to Jesus
Run to Jesus
Posted: 03 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“When I was desperate, I called out, and God got me out of a tight spot.” Psalm 34:6, THE MESSAGE
Run to Jesus. Jesus wants you to go to him. He wants to become the most important person in your life, the greatest love you’ll ever know. He wants you to love him so much that there’s no room in your heart and in your life for sin. Invite him to take up residence in your heart.
Numbers 21
Arad Destroyed
1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. 2 Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy[b] their cities.” 3 The LORD listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.[c]
The Bronze Snake
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,[d] to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
The Journey to Moab
10 The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. 11 Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise. 12 From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley. 13 They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says:
“. . . Zahab[e] in Suphah and the ravines,
the Arnon 15 and[f] the slopes of the ravines
that lead to the settlement of Ar
and lie along the border of Moab.”
16 From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”
17 Then Israel sang this song:
“Spring up, O well!
Sing about it,
18 about the well that the princes dug,
that the nobles of the people sank—
the nobles with scepters and staffs.”
Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah, 19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
Defeat of Sihon and Og
21 Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:
22 “Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
23 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. 24 Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified. 25 Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements. 26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.
27 That is why the poets say:
“Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt;
let Sihon’s city be restored.
28 “Fire went out from Heshbon,
a blaze from the city of Sihon.
It consumed Ar of Moab,
the citizens of Arnon’s heights.
29 Woe to you, Moab!
You are destroyed, people of Chemosh!
He has given up his sons as fugitives
and his daughters as captives
to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 “But we have overthrown them;
Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon.
We have demolished them as far as Nophah,
which extends to Medeba.”
31 So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.
32 After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there. 33 Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.
34 The LORD said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”
35 So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: James 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Two Words
May 4, 2011 — by Dave Branon
Submit to God. —James 4:7
In the annals of US advertising history, one of the most efficient slogans ever is the California milk producers’ two-word question, “Got milk?” With that phrase, the group captured almost everyone’s attention. In surveys, the slogan was recognized by more than 90 percent of the people polled.
If “Got milk?” is so good at reminding people to drink “cow juice,” perhaps we can create some two-word slogans to remind ourselves to live more godly lives. Let’s turn to James 4 and try it. This passage gives four specific guidelines.
1. Give in! Verse 7 tells us to submit to God. Our sovereign God loves us, so why not let Him run the show? Submission helps us resist the devil. 2. Get close! Verse 8 reminds us of the value of drawing near to God. It’s up to us to close the gap between us and God. 3. Clean up! Verse 8 also reminds us to make sure our hearts are clean. That happens through confessing our sins to God. 4. Get down! James says we need to be humble before God (v.10). That includes viewing our sin as something to weep over.
Give in! Get close! Clean up! Get down! These pairs of words may not look as good on a T-shirt as “Got milk?” But they sure will look good on us.
Lord, help me live a godly life
Of faith and love and purity
So those who watch my life will see
Reflections of Your work in me. —Sper
The most powerful testimony is a godly life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 4th, 2011
Vicarious Intercession
. . having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus . . . —Hebrews 10:19
Beware of thinking that intercession means bringing our own personal sympathies and concerns into the presence of God, and then demanding that He do whatever we ask. Our ability to approach God is due entirely to the vicarious, or substitutionary, identification of our Lord with sin. We have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus.”
Spiritual stubbornness is the most effective hindrance to intercession, because it is based on a sympathetic “understanding” of things we see in ourselves and others that we think needs no atonement. We have the idea that there are certain good and virtuous things in each of us that do not need to be based on the atonement by the Cross of Christ. Just the sluggishness and lack of interest produced by this kind of thinking makes us unable to intercede. We do not identify ourselves with God’s interests and concerns for others, and we get irritated with Him. Yet we are always ready with our own ideas, and our intercession becomes only the glorification of our own natural sympathies. We have to realize that the identification of Jesus with sin means a radical change of all of our sympathies and interests. Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.
Am I stubborn or substituted? Am I spoiled or complete in my relationship to God? Am I irritable or spiritual? Am I determined to have my own way or determined to be identified with Him?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Why Mission Impossible Isn't - #6343
A Word With You - Your Mission
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Now it's been a while since it was a primetime television show. You might catch it every once in a while in the odd hours of the morning. But there was a time when it was a block-buster on television, and then it became some block-buster movies. When it was on TV, I tried never to miss it. It was called Mission Impossible.
Now, maybe if you're old enough, you can remember the theme music. It always began with Jim Phelps, who was the head of the Impossible Missions Force. He'd get this tape and later on video - depending on the technology, he would get the latest thing. And then he'd get some photos that described a mission that was considered by his superior virtually impossible. You remember the voice would come on and say, "Your mission, Jim, should you choose to accept it is..." And then they'd go on. And then in the old days they'd say, "This tape will self-destruct in 30 seconds." And it just all kind of blew up at that point.
Well, Jim would then go back and put together his team, and the rest of the story was how they pulled off this assignment that was supposedly undoable. Now, I haven't seen Mission Impossible for a long time, but I don't need to. I live it. And maybe you do too...or you could.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Mission Impossible Isn't."
Well, do you ever look at the week ahead, or the day ahead, or the month and just say, "Mission impossible! It can't work! I can't do it!" I do that. I did two weeks ago. I mean, I saw a week ahead of me that was a mountain of deadlines, and decisions, and responsibilities, and people. And I tell you the truth; I know what it is to panic when I look at that wall-to-wall, jam-packed week or month ahead.
Well, at that point, I had been reading 2 Corinthians for my personal time with the Lord each morning, and that morning, (and you know, the Lord is good about this), I just read the next passage, and He lovingly gave me a verse that changed everything. Now you might be facing a challenge or challenges that look like some unmovable mountain right now. Maybe it's family, or school, or at work, or maybe you've got some relational mountains to move. Maybe it's a ministry you're doing; maybe it's medical issues. It's not the tape that's about to self-destruct like that Mission Impossible; it's you.
Well, listen to this beautiful, redemptive verse in 2 Corinthians 9:8 . I committed it to memory at that moment. "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." You say, "Whoa! Where is that?" That's 2 Corinthians 9:8 . No loopholes... all, all, all, all, all. "God is going to give you all grace, in all things, at all times, having all that you need." There's no attorney on earth who could find a loophole there.
And you know what the word abound means? It says, "God will make you abound..." Well, His grace abounding to you so you can abound in every good work. It means literally from the Greek, "more than enough," or "to be left over," or "to make extremely rich." It was the same word used to describe the feeding of the 5,000. Remember, they thought there wouldn't be enough for the crowd, and then instead they had 12 baskets of fragments left over - lunch to spare. That's the same word - leftovers, lots to spare.
It you depend on the adrenalin of God's grace for this mountain, you will get it done and you will have resources left over if you're using His resources. And that impossible week I told you about a couple of weeks ago - it was one of the most supernatural weeks I've ever experienced, because I was riding on this promise. Everything happened; it happened better than I could have ever dreamed.
See, God makes you extremely rich in grace so you can make others extremely rich through the good works you have to do. God plenty's us so we can plenty those around us. You have in Christ more than enough grace for every assignment God has given you.
And that's why Mission Impossible isn't impossible.
Run to Jesus
Posted: 03 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“When I was desperate, I called out, and God got me out of a tight spot.” Psalm 34:6, THE MESSAGE
Run to Jesus. Jesus wants you to go to him. He wants to become the most important person in your life, the greatest love you’ll ever know. He wants you to love him so much that there’s no room in your heart and in your life for sin. Invite him to take up residence in your heart.
Numbers 21
Arad Destroyed
1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. 2 Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy[b] their cities.” 3 The LORD listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.[c]
The Bronze Snake
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,[d] to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
The Journey to Moab
10 The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. 11 Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise. 12 From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley. 13 They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says:
“. . . Zahab[e] in Suphah and the ravines,
the Arnon 15 and[f] the slopes of the ravines
that lead to the settlement of Ar
and lie along the border of Moab.”
16 From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”
17 Then Israel sang this song:
“Spring up, O well!
Sing about it,
18 about the well that the princes dug,
that the nobles of the people sank—
the nobles with scepters and staffs.”
Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah, 19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
Defeat of Sihon and Og
21 Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:
22 “Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
23 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. 24 Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified. 25 Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements. 26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.
27 That is why the poets say:
“Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt;
let Sihon’s city be restored.
28 “Fire went out from Heshbon,
a blaze from the city of Sihon.
It consumed Ar of Moab,
the citizens of Arnon’s heights.
29 Woe to you, Moab!
You are destroyed, people of Chemosh!
He has given up his sons as fugitives
and his daughters as captives
to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 “But we have overthrown them;
Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon.
We have demolished them as far as Nophah,
which extends to Medeba.”
31 So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.
32 After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there. 33 Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.
34 The LORD said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”
35 So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: James 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Two Words
May 4, 2011 — by Dave Branon
Submit to God. —James 4:7
In the annals of US advertising history, one of the most efficient slogans ever is the California milk producers’ two-word question, “Got milk?” With that phrase, the group captured almost everyone’s attention. In surveys, the slogan was recognized by more than 90 percent of the people polled.
If “Got milk?” is so good at reminding people to drink “cow juice,” perhaps we can create some two-word slogans to remind ourselves to live more godly lives. Let’s turn to James 4 and try it. This passage gives four specific guidelines.
1. Give in! Verse 7 tells us to submit to God. Our sovereign God loves us, so why not let Him run the show? Submission helps us resist the devil. 2. Get close! Verse 8 reminds us of the value of drawing near to God. It’s up to us to close the gap between us and God. 3. Clean up! Verse 8 also reminds us to make sure our hearts are clean. That happens through confessing our sins to God. 4. Get down! James says we need to be humble before God (v.10). That includes viewing our sin as something to weep over.
Give in! Get close! Clean up! Get down! These pairs of words may not look as good on a T-shirt as “Got milk?” But they sure will look good on us.
Lord, help me live a godly life
Of faith and love and purity
So those who watch my life will see
Reflections of Your work in me. —Sper
The most powerful testimony is a godly life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 4th, 2011
Vicarious Intercession
. . having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus . . . —Hebrews 10:19
Beware of thinking that intercession means bringing our own personal sympathies and concerns into the presence of God, and then demanding that He do whatever we ask. Our ability to approach God is due entirely to the vicarious, or substitutionary, identification of our Lord with sin. We have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus.”
Spiritual stubbornness is the most effective hindrance to intercession, because it is based on a sympathetic “understanding” of things we see in ourselves and others that we think needs no atonement. We have the idea that there are certain good and virtuous things in each of us that do not need to be based on the atonement by the Cross of Christ. Just the sluggishness and lack of interest produced by this kind of thinking makes us unable to intercede. We do not identify ourselves with God’s interests and concerns for others, and we get irritated with Him. Yet we are always ready with our own ideas, and our intercession becomes only the glorification of our own natural sympathies. We have to realize that the identification of Jesus with sin means a radical change of all of our sympathies and interests. Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.
Am I stubborn or substituted? Am I spoiled or complete in my relationship to God? Am I irritable or spiritual? Am I determined to have my own way or determined to be identified with Him?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Why Mission Impossible Isn't - #6343
A Word With You - Your Mission
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Now it's been a while since it was a primetime television show. You might catch it every once in a while in the odd hours of the morning. But there was a time when it was a block-buster on television, and then it became some block-buster movies. When it was on TV, I tried never to miss it. It was called Mission Impossible.
Now, maybe if you're old enough, you can remember the theme music. It always began with Jim Phelps, who was the head of the Impossible Missions Force. He'd get this tape and later on video - depending on the technology, he would get the latest thing. And then he'd get some photos that described a mission that was considered by his superior virtually impossible. You remember the voice would come on and say, "Your mission, Jim, should you choose to accept it is..." And then they'd go on. And then in the old days they'd say, "This tape will self-destruct in 30 seconds." And it just all kind of blew up at that point.
Well, Jim would then go back and put together his team, and the rest of the story was how they pulled off this assignment that was supposedly undoable. Now, I haven't seen Mission Impossible for a long time, but I don't need to. I live it. And maybe you do too...or you could.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Mission Impossible Isn't."
Well, do you ever look at the week ahead, or the day ahead, or the month and just say, "Mission impossible! It can't work! I can't do it!" I do that. I did two weeks ago. I mean, I saw a week ahead of me that was a mountain of deadlines, and decisions, and responsibilities, and people. And I tell you the truth; I know what it is to panic when I look at that wall-to-wall, jam-packed week or month ahead.
Well, at that point, I had been reading 2 Corinthians for my personal time with the Lord each morning, and that morning, (and you know, the Lord is good about this), I just read the next passage, and He lovingly gave me a verse that changed everything. Now you might be facing a challenge or challenges that look like some unmovable mountain right now. Maybe it's family, or school, or at work, or maybe you've got some relational mountains to move. Maybe it's a ministry you're doing; maybe it's medical issues. It's not the tape that's about to self-destruct like that Mission Impossible; it's you.
Well, listen to this beautiful, redemptive verse in 2 Corinthians 9:8 . I committed it to memory at that moment. "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." You say, "Whoa! Where is that?" That's 2 Corinthians 9:8 . No loopholes... all, all, all, all, all. "God is going to give you all grace, in all things, at all times, having all that you need." There's no attorney on earth who could find a loophole there.
And you know what the word abound means? It says, "God will make you abound..." Well, His grace abounding to you so you can abound in every good work. It means literally from the Greek, "more than enough," or "to be left over," or "to make extremely rich." It was the same word used to describe the feeding of the 5,000. Remember, they thought there wouldn't be enough for the crowd, and then instead they had 12 baskets of fragments left over - lunch to spare. That's the same word - leftovers, lots to spare.
It you depend on the adrenalin of God's grace for this mountain, you will get it done and you will have resources left over if you're using His resources. And that impossible week I told you about a couple of weeks ago - it was one of the most supernatural weeks I've ever experienced, because I was riding on this promise. Everything happened; it happened better than I could have ever dreamed.
See, God makes you extremely rich in grace so you can make others extremely rich through the good works you have to do. God plenty's us so we can plenty those around us. You have in Christ more than enough grace for every assignment God has given you.
And that's why Mission Impossible isn't impossible.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Numbers 20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)
Max Lucado Daily: Next Door Savior
Next Door Savior
Posted: 02 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. ” Philippians 3:8, RSV
He was the single most significant person who ever lived . . . The head of the parade? Hardly. No one else shares the street. Who comes close? Humanity’s best and brightest fade like dime-store rubies next to him . . .
A just-God Jesus could make us but not understand us. A just-man Jesus could love us but never save us. But a God-man Jesus? Near enough to touch. Strong enough to trust.
Numbers 20
Water From the Rock
1 In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! 4 Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”
6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7 The LORD said to Moses, 8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
9 So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
13 These were the waters of Meribah,[a] where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he was proved holy among them.
Edom Denies Israel Passage
14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying:
“This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us. 15 Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors, 16 but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.
“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. 17 Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”
18 But Edom answered:
“You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”
19 The Israelites replied:
“We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”
20 Again they answered:
“You may not pass through.”
Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. 21 Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.
The Death of Aaron
22 The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. 23 At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor. 26 Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there.”
27 Moses did as the LORD commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. 28 Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, 29 and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Hebrews 13:1-8
Concluding Exhortations
1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”[a]
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”[b]
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Never Alone
May 3, 2011 — by Bill Crowder
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” —Hebrews 13:5
Having played intercollegiate soccer, I’ve never lost my love for “The Beautiful Game.” I especially enjoy watching the English Premier League. One reason is the skill and speed with which the game is played there. Also, I love the way the fans sing in support of their beloved “sides.” For instance, Liverpool has for years had “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as its theme. How moving to hear 50,000 fans rise as one to sing the lyrics of that old standard! It’s an encouragement to players and fans alike that together they will see each other through to the end. Walk alone? Never.
This sentiment has meaning for everyone. Because each of us is made for community, isolation and loneliness are among the most painful of human experiences. During painful times, our faith is vital.
The child of God never needs to fear abandonment. Even if people turn on us, friends forsake us, or circumstances separate us from loved ones, we are never alone. God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). This is not just a nice tune or clever lyrics offering an empty sentiment. It is the promise of God Himself to those who are the objects of His love. He is there—and He isn’t going away.
With Christ, you will never walk alone.
God’s unseen presence comforts me,
I know He’s always near;
And when life’s storms besiege my soul,
He says, “My child, don’t fear.” —D. De Haan
God’s presence with us is one of His greatest presents to us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 3rd, 2011
Vital Intercession
. . . praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit . . . —Ephesians 6:18
As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought. The danger in this is that we begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting up to a totally different level in direct answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from our close identification with God’s interest and concern for others and step into having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone. We have then put our sympathy and concern for them in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.
It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God. And the greatest destroyer of that confident relationship to God, so necessary for intercession, is our own personal sympathy and preconceived bias. Identification with God is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is because of our sympathy with others, not because of sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with God, but sympathy will. It is sympathy with ourselves or with others that makes us say, “I will not allow that thing to happen.” And instantly we are out of that vital connection with God.
Vital intercession leaves you with neither the time nor the inclination to pray for your own “sad and pitiful self.” You do not have to struggle to keep thoughts of yourself out, because they are not even there to be kept out of your thinking. You are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests and concerns in other lives. God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Checking Your Cargo - #6342
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
It was the end of World War II, and the city of Berlin was being divided up by the allies. Now, the East Berliners, in what was to become Communist Berlin, drove a dump truck over to the west side to free Berlin. It was filled with garbage, and they just let it all be dumped out and then they drove away. Nice, huh?
Well, the people from West Berlin said, "OK, two can play this game." So they thought, "We'll pick up all that garbage, we'll put it in our truck and we'll dump it right back on the east side." They thought again about that, and they decided maybe that wasn't the best way to handle it. So, instead, they filled the dump truck, but they filled it with canned goods and non-perishable food items. Then they drove the truck over to the east side of Berlin, stacked all the food neatly, and put a little sign beside it. Here's what it said: Each gives what he has to give. Pretty devastating, huh? It was true in Berlin then, and well, it was true where you were today.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Checking Your Cargo."
Well, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 12 , and I'm going to begin reading at verse 34. Jesus says, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." What Jesus is saying here is that your words continually betray what you heart is full of. It's kind of like what they said in Berlin, "Each gives what he has to give."
Now, we unload verbally whatever cargo we have to give to people. It would be revealing, wouldn't it, to hear tape excerpts of your conversations over the last few days. How would you like to listen to the tapes? I wonder, would we hear a lot of complaining, or down talk, where you're picking apart other people? Maybe we'd hear some dark talk - negative, depressing kinds of things?
Or maybe we would hear too much dirty talk; little innuendoes, being quick to pick up a double meaning in something, bedroom humor, or bathroom humor. Is that what's inside? Or is it about money, or the new toys you're buying for yourself, the new clothes. Is it about you all the time? Is that what your heart is full of - you talking about yourself all the time? Is it pressure that comes out, stressful talk, anger, bitterness?
What are you dumping on people: garbage or goodies? How do they feel after they have been with you? Do they feel lighter, or do they feel heavier? Do they feel bigger or feel smaller? See, you're giving them what you've been storing up. It's a result of what you've been reading, and watching, and who you've been hanging around with, what you've been laughing at, and what you talk about on the phone, or do on the Internet all the time.
Verse 37 says, "For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Your words will be the basis for your judgment. Maybe it's time to evaluate your mental and emotional diet. Commit yourself to positive friends, to positive music, to positive books and websites, and above all, a non-negotiable time in the presence of Jesus before you drive your truck out of the garage every morning.
Let Him fill you up with good cargo for today. People around you have enough garbage dumped on them. Why don't you leave a stack of goodies?
Next Door Savior
Posted: 02 May 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. ” Philippians 3:8, RSV
He was the single most significant person who ever lived . . . The head of the parade? Hardly. No one else shares the street. Who comes close? Humanity’s best and brightest fade like dime-store rubies next to him . . .
A just-God Jesus could make us but not understand us. A just-man Jesus could love us but never save us. But a God-man Jesus? Near enough to touch. Strong enough to trust.
Numbers 20
Water From the Rock
1 In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! 4 Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”
6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7 The LORD said to Moses, 8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
9 So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
13 These were the waters of Meribah,[a] where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he was proved holy among them.
Edom Denies Israel Passage
14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying:
“This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us. 15 Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors, 16 but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.
“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. 17 Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”
18 But Edom answered:
“You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”
19 The Israelites replied:
“We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”
20 Again they answered:
“You may not pass through.”
Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. 21 Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.
The Death of Aaron
22 The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. 23 At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor. 26 Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there.”
27 Moses did as the LORD commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. 28 Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, 29 and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Hebrews 13:1-8
Concluding Exhortations
1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”[a]
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”[b]
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Never Alone
May 3, 2011 — by Bill Crowder
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” —Hebrews 13:5
Having played intercollegiate soccer, I’ve never lost my love for “The Beautiful Game.” I especially enjoy watching the English Premier League. One reason is the skill and speed with which the game is played there. Also, I love the way the fans sing in support of their beloved “sides.” For instance, Liverpool has for years had “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as its theme. How moving to hear 50,000 fans rise as one to sing the lyrics of that old standard! It’s an encouragement to players and fans alike that together they will see each other through to the end. Walk alone? Never.
This sentiment has meaning for everyone. Because each of us is made for community, isolation and loneliness are among the most painful of human experiences. During painful times, our faith is vital.
The child of God never needs to fear abandonment. Even if people turn on us, friends forsake us, or circumstances separate us from loved ones, we are never alone. God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). This is not just a nice tune or clever lyrics offering an empty sentiment. It is the promise of God Himself to those who are the objects of His love. He is there—and He isn’t going away.
With Christ, you will never walk alone.
God’s unseen presence comforts me,
I know He’s always near;
And when life’s storms besiege my soul,
He says, “My child, don’t fear.” —D. De Haan
God’s presence with us is one of His greatest presents to us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 3rd, 2011
Vital Intercession
. . . praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit . . . —Ephesians 6:18
As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought. The danger in this is that we begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting up to a totally different level in direct answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from our close identification with God’s interest and concern for others and step into having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone. We have then put our sympathy and concern for them in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.
It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God. And the greatest destroyer of that confident relationship to God, so necessary for intercession, is our own personal sympathy and preconceived bias. Identification with God is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is because of our sympathy with others, not because of sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with God, but sympathy will. It is sympathy with ourselves or with others that makes us say, “I will not allow that thing to happen.” And instantly we are out of that vital connection with God.
Vital intercession leaves you with neither the time nor the inclination to pray for your own “sad and pitiful self.” You do not have to struggle to keep thoughts of yourself out, because they are not even there to be kept out of your thinking. You are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests and concerns in other lives. God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Checking Your Cargo - #6342
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
It was the end of World War II, and the city of Berlin was being divided up by the allies. Now, the East Berliners, in what was to become Communist Berlin, drove a dump truck over to the west side to free Berlin. It was filled with garbage, and they just let it all be dumped out and then they drove away. Nice, huh?
Well, the people from West Berlin said, "OK, two can play this game." So they thought, "We'll pick up all that garbage, we'll put it in our truck and we'll dump it right back on the east side." They thought again about that, and they decided maybe that wasn't the best way to handle it. So, instead, they filled the dump truck, but they filled it with canned goods and non-perishable food items. Then they drove the truck over to the east side of Berlin, stacked all the food neatly, and put a little sign beside it. Here's what it said: Each gives what he has to give. Pretty devastating, huh? It was true in Berlin then, and well, it was true where you were today.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Checking Your Cargo."
Well, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 12 , and I'm going to begin reading at verse 34. Jesus says, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." What Jesus is saying here is that your words continually betray what you heart is full of. It's kind of like what they said in Berlin, "Each gives what he has to give."
Now, we unload verbally whatever cargo we have to give to people. It would be revealing, wouldn't it, to hear tape excerpts of your conversations over the last few days. How would you like to listen to the tapes? I wonder, would we hear a lot of complaining, or down talk, where you're picking apart other people? Maybe we'd hear some dark talk - negative, depressing kinds of things?
Or maybe we would hear too much dirty talk; little innuendoes, being quick to pick up a double meaning in something, bedroom humor, or bathroom humor. Is that what's inside? Or is it about money, or the new toys you're buying for yourself, the new clothes. Is it about you all the time? Is that what your heart is full of - you talking about yourself all the time? Is it pressure that comes out, stressful talk, anger, bitterness?
What are you dumping on people: garbage or goodies? How do they feel after they have been with you? Do they feel lighter, or do they feel heavier? Do they feel bigger or feel smaller? See, you're giving them what you've been storing up. It's a result of what you've been reading, and watching, and who you've been hanging around with, what you've been laughing at, and what you talk about on the phone, or do on the Internet all the time.
Verse 37 says, "For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Your words will be the basis for your judgment. Maybe it's time to evaluate your mental and emotional diet. Commit yourself to positive friends, to positive music, to positive books and websites, and above all, a non-negotiable time in the presence of Jesus before you drive your truck out of the garage every morning.
Let Him fill you up with good cargo for today. People around you have enough garbage dumped on them. Why don't you leave a stack of goodies?
Monday, May 2, 2011
Mark 15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)
Max Lucado Daily: The Hands of Jesus
The Hands of Jesus
Posted: 30 Apr 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole.” Job 5:18 NKJV
Oh, the hands of Jesus. Hands of incarnation at his birth. Hands of liberation as he healed. Hands of inspiration as he taught. Hands of dedication as he served. And hands of salvation as he died . . .
The same hand that cleansed the Temple cleanses your heart.
The hand is the hand of God.
Numbers 19
The Water of Cleansing
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 2 “This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. 5 While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines. 6 The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
9 “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. 10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.
11 “Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12 They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean. 13 If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the LORD’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.
14 “This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, 15 and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
16 “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
17 “For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. 19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. 20 But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean. 21 This is a lasting ordinance for them.
“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. 22 Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Two Rules To Live By
May 2, 2011 — by Joe Stowell
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. —Matthew 22:40
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by rules and expectations? Think of how the Jewish people must have felt as they tried to keep up with more than 600 rules from the Old Testament and many more that had been imposed on them by the religious leaders of their day. And imagine their surprise when Jesus simplified the pursuit of righteousness by narrowing the list down to just two—“love the Lord your God” (Matt. 22:37) and “love your neighbor as yourself” (v.39).
In essence, Jesus is telling us that the way God knows we love Him is by how we treat people. All of them. Let’s face it—loving our neighbor can be a challenge. But when we do it to express our love to God, we unleash a powerful motivation that loves whether the person deserves it or not. And as we love God and our neighbor, everything else falls into place. If I love my neighbor, I won’t bear false witness against him, covet his wealth or his wife, or steal from him. Loving others for God’s sake even provides the grace and strength to forgive those who have heaped injustices upon us.
Who needs to see God’s love today through you? The more unlovable the person, the greater the statement about how much you love God!
To love your God with all your heart,
Your soul, your strength, your mind,
Enables you to love someone
Who’s hurtful and unkind. —Sper
Loving God is the key to loving others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 2nd, 2011
The Patience To Wait for the Vision
Though it tarries, wait for it . . . —Habakkuk 2:3
Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults. Having the vision of God is the source of patience because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration. Moses endured, not because of his devotion to his principles of what was right, nor because of his sense of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God. “. . . he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue— he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it. Things come to you with greatness and add vitality to your life because everything is energized by God. He may give you a time spiritually, with no word from Himself at all, just as His Son experienced during His time of temptation in the wilderness. When God does that, simply endure, and the power to endure will be there because you see God.
“Though it tarries, wait for it . . . .” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have already grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. The psalmist said, “What shall I render to the Lord . . . ? I will take up the cup of salvation . . .” (Psalm 116:12-13). We are apt to look for satisfaction within ourselves and say, “Now I’ve got it! Now I am completely sanctified. Now I can endure.” Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. Paul said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on . . .” (Philippians 3:12). If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Oscars and Empty Houses - #6341
Evang3300
Monday, May 2, 2011
Well, once again the cinema's "beautiful people" were there for Hollywood's annual celebration of itself. It's all about that little gold guy they call Oscar.
Well, for some reason, the Hollywood news takes me back to a tour that our family did at Universal Studios some years ago. The tram took us through some scenes that would be familiar to veteran moviegoers - like a street in 1920s Chicago (you know, Al Capone style?), an Old West town, a World War II French village. Impressive stuff.
It made you want to go in some of those buildings and check it out. Don't bother. When you open the door, there's nothing there. It's only a set. It looks really good on the outside, but it's empty on the inside.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Oscars and Empty Houses."
Now, sadly, there are a lot of lives like that. Oh, the outside looks great: smiles, style, success. Just don't open the door.
Years ago, I was working with our local high school football team, and they actually won the state championship. And, I had some good relationships with the players, and I took one of their star linemen out to lunch after he had won it all you know, and we're talking about his aspirations for his senior year and he said, "Ron, when I was a junior I had three things I wanted. I wanted to win a championship, I wanted a scholarship, and I wanted lots of friends." I said, "Yeah." And he said, "Man, I got 'em all." I said, "That's awesome!"
And then, well it was crazy. I'd never seen him with tears in his eyes, even when he was on the sidelines experiencing a lot of pain in the game. But he had tears in his eyes right in this restaurant. And he said, "Ron, I got everything I wanted." And then he said, "Why am I so empty?" Well, I'll tell you what...that's a question that lurks behind the "set" in a lot of people's hearts, "Why am I so empty?"
The woman Jesus met at a well one day; she was one of them. As her story unfolds, we learn that she had had a lot of men in her life. We can guess she was pretty attractive, I guess, and even pursued. Well, she came to that well to draw water. And Jesus said, "Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again."
Think about those words, "Thirsty again." See, that's the problem with every "well" we go to for satisfaction in life - we inevitably end up "thirsty again." For this woman, every relationship - every guy - had been a well that left her empty inside. But then Jesus said, "Every one who drinks of the water I give him will have in him a well springing up to everlasting life" (John 4:13 ). Wow! Well, that day, that woman traded never-lasting for everlasting.
Now, that was not an easy offer to make to us. See, He's still making that offer to all of us thirsty people today, because the hole in my heart is so big that only God can fill it. But for Jesus, it meant going to a cross to pay for the sins that separate us from God; that make a wall between us; that caused God to say in the Bible, "Your sins have separated you from your God." That's in Isaiah 59:2 . And so, here is this wall between me and the God whose love I was made for, who knows the reason I'm here, and who has the keys to the heaven that I want to go to someday.
But Jesus came and made the offer after a life of never-lasting things. "I can give you that which is everlasting. I want to put the well inside you so you don't have to depend on something outside you ever again." And He's the well.
I wonder if there's ever been a time in your life when you've actually opened up your heart and said, "Jesus, I'm Yours?" Now, you may be religious and you may really do a lot of Christian things, and know a lot of Christian teachings. But there's never been that moment when you've made Him yours. Why don't you get that done today? Tell Him that today.
Maybe you'll go to our website. I want to invite you to go there because I think you'll find some help in making sure you belong to Him. It's YoursForLife.net. I hope you'll check it out today.
Life with Jesus is more than a hollow set. There's life inside.
The Hands of Jesus
Posted: 30 Apr 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole.” Job 5:18 NKJV
Oh, the hands of Jesus. Hands of incarnation at his birth. Hands of liberation as he healed. Hands of inspiration as he taught. Hands of dedication as he served. And hands of salvation as he died . . .
The same hand that cleansed the Temple cleanses your heart.
The hand is the hand of God.
Numbers 19
The Water of Cleansing
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 2 “This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. 5 While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines. 6 The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
9 “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. 10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.
11 “Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12 They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean. 13 If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the LORD’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.
14 “This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, 15 and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
16 “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
17 “For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. 19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. 20 But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean. 21 This is a lasting ordinance for them.
“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. 22 Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Two Rules To Live By
May 2, 2011 — by Joe Stowell
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. —Matthew 22:40
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by rules and expectations? Think of how the Jewish people must have felt as they tried to keep up with more than 600 rules from the Old Testament and many more that had been imposed on them by the religious leaders of their day. And imagine their surprise when Jesus simplified the pursuit of righteousness by narrowing the list down to just two—“love the Lord your God” (Matt. 22:37) and “love your neighbor as yourself” (v.39).
In essence, Jesus is telling us that the way God knows we love Him is by how we treat people. All of them. Let’s face it—loving our neighbor can be a challenge. But when we do it to express our love to God, we unleash a powerful motivation that loves whether the person deserves it or not. And as we love God and our neighbor, everything else falls into place. If I love my neighbor, I won’t bear false witness against him, covet his wealth or his wife, or steal from him. Loving others for God’s sake even provides the grace and strength to forgive those who have heaped injustices upon us.
Who needs to see God’s love today through you? The more unlovable the person, the greater the statement about how much you love God!
To love your God with all your heart,
Your soul, your strength, your mind,
Enables you to love someone
Who’s hurtful and unkind. —Sper
Loving God is the key to loving others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 2nd, 2011
The Patience To Wait for the Vision
Though it tarries, wait for it . . . —Habakkuk 2:3
Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults. Having the vision of God is the source of patience because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration. Moses endured, not because of his devotion to his principles of what was right, nor because of his sense of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God. “. . . he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue— he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it. Things come to you with greatness and add vitality to your life because everything is energized by God. He may give you a time spiritually, with no word from Himself at all, just as His Son experienced during His time of temptation in the wilderness. When God does that, simply endure, and the power to endure will be there because you see God.
“Though it tarries, wait for it . . . .” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have already grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. The psalmist said, “What shall I render to the Lord . . . ? I will take up the cup of salvation . . .” (Psalm 116:12-13). We are apt to look for satisfaction within ourselves and say, “Now I’ve got it! Now I am completely sanctified. Now I can endure.” Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. Paul said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on . . .” (Philippians 3:12). If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Oscars and Empty Houses - #6341
Evang3300
Monday, May 2, 2011
Well, once again the cinema's "beautiful people" were there for Hollywood's annual celebration of itself. It's all about that little gold guy they call Oscar.
Well, for some reason, the Hollywood news takes me back to a tour that our family did at Universal Studios some years ago. The tram took us through some scenes that would be familiar to veteran moviegoers - like a street in 1920s Chicago (you know, Al Capone style?), an Old West town, a World War II French village. Impressive stuff.
It made you want to go in some of those buildings and check it out. Don't bother. When you open the door, there's nothing there. It's only a set. It looks really good on the outside, but it's empty on the inside.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Oscars and Empty Houses."
Now, sadly, there are a lot of lives like that. Oh, the outside looks great: smiles, style, success. Just don't open the door.
Years ago, I was working with our local high school football team, and they actually won the state championship. And, I had some good relationships with the players, and I took one of their star linemen out to lunch after he had won it all you know, and we're talking about his aspirations for his senior year and he said, "Ron, when I was a junior I had three things I wanted. I wanted to win a championship, I wanted a scholarship, and I wanted lots of friends." I said, "Yeah." And he said, "Man, I got 'em all." I said, "That's awesome!"
And then, well it was crazy. I'd never seen him with tears in his eyes, even when he was on the sidelines experiencing a lot of pain in the game. But he had tears in his eyes right in this restaurant. And he said, "Ron, I got everything I wanted." And then he said, "Why am I so empty?" Well, I'll tell you what...that's a question that lurks behind the "set" in a lot of people's hearts, "Why am I so empty?"
The woman Jesus met at a well one day; she was one of them. As her story unfolds, we learn that she had had a lot of men in her life. We can guess she was pretty attractive, I guess, and even pursued. Well, she came to that well to draw water. And Jesus said, "Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again."
Think about those words, "Thirsty again." See, that's the problem with every "well" we go to for satisfaction in life - we inevitably end up "thirsty again." For this woman, every relationship - every guy - had been a well that left her empty inside. But then Jesus said, "Every one who drinks of the water I give him will have in him a well springing up to everlasting life" (John 4:13 ). Wow! Well, that day, that woman traded never-lasting for everlasting.
Now, that was not an easy offer to make to us. See, He's still making that offer to all of us thirsty people today, because the hole in my heart is so big that only God can fill it. But for Jesus, it meant going to a cross to pay for the sins that separate us from God; that make a wall between us; that caused God to say in the Bible, "Your sins have separated you from your God." That's in Isaiah 59:2 . And so, here is this wall between me and the God whose love I was made for, who knows the reason I'm here, and who has the keys to the heaven that I want to go to someday.
But Jesus came and made the offer after a life of never-lasting things. "I can give you that which is everlasting. I want to put the well inside you so you don't have to depend on something outside you ever again." And He's the well.
I wonder if there's ever been a time in your life when you've actually opened up your heart and said, "Jesus, I'm Yours?" Now, you may be religious and you may really do a lot of Christian things, and know a lot of Christian teachings. But there's never been that moment when you've made Him yours. Why don't you get that done today? Tell Him that today.
Maybe you'll go to our website. I want to invite you to go there because I think you'll find some help in making sure you belong to Him. It's YoursForLife.net. I hope you'll check it out today.
Life with Jesus is more than a hollow set. There's life inside.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Numbers 19, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)
Max Lucado Daily: The Hands of Jesus
The Hands of Jesus
Posted: 30 Apr 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole.” Job 5:18 NKJV
Oh, the hands of Jesus. Hands of incarnation at his birth. Hands of liberation as he healed. Hands of inspiration as he taught. Hands of dedication as he served. And hands of salvation as he died . . .
The same hand that cleansed the Temple cleanses your heart.
The hand is the hand of God.
Numbers 19
The Water of Cleansing
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 2 “This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. 5 While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines. 6 The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
9 “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. 10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.
11 “Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12 They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean. 13 If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the LORD’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.
14 “This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, 15 and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
16 “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
17 “For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. 19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. 20 But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean. 21 This is a lasting ordinance for them.
“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. 22 Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Kings 10:23–11:4
23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.
26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,[a] which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue[b]—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. 29 They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty.[c] They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.
1 Kings 11
Solomon’s Wives
1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
If I Could Stop The Clock
May 1, 2011 — by Julie Ackerman Link
The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. —1 Kings 8:11
Every year when May rolls around in Michigan, I want to stop the clock. I rejoice when death is defeated by fragile sprouts that refuse to be confined by hardened clay and brittle branches. Over a few weeks, the naked landscape transforms into fully clothed trees adorned by bright, fragrant flowers. I can’t get enough of the sights, sounds, and scents of springtime. I want time to stop moving.
Also in May, I come to 1 Kings in my Bible reading schedule. When I get to chapter 10, I have the same feeling: I want the story to stop. The nation of Israel has bloomed. Solomon has become king and has built a magnificent dwelling place for God, who moved in with a blaze of glory (8:11). Finally united under a righteous king, they are at peace. I love happy endings!
But the story doesn’t end there. It continues: “But King Solomon loved many foreign women” (11:1), and “his wives turned his heart after other gods” (v.4).
Just as the seasons of the year continue, so do the cycles of life—birth and death, success and failure, sin and confession. Although we have no power to stop the clock while we’re enjoying good times, we can rest in God’s promise that eventually all bad times will end (Rev. 21:4).
Father, our days are filled with pleasures and struggles.
We would like for life just to have the joys, but we know
that’s not realistic in this sinful world. Help us to wait
patiently for You to bring us Home. Amen.
In good times and bad, God never changes.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 1st, 2011
Faith— Not Emotion
We walk by faith, not by sight —2 Corinthians 5:7
For a while, we are fully aware of God’s concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above.
If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, “I cannot do anything else until God appears to me”? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard.
The Hands of Jesus
Posted: 30 Apr 2011 11:01 PM PDT
“He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole.” Job 5:18 NKJV
Oh, the hands of Jesus. Hands of incarnation at his birth. Hands of liberation as he healed. Hands of inspiration as he taught. Hands of dedication as he served. And hands of salvation as he died . . .
The same hand that cleansed the Temple cleanses your heart.
The hand is the hand of God.
Numbers 19
The Water of Cleansing
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 2 “This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. 5 While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines. 6 The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
9 “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. 10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.
11 “Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12 They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean. 13 If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the LORD’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.
14 “This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, 15 and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
16 “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
17 “For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. 19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. 20 But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean. 21 This is a lasting ordinance for them.
“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. 22 Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Kings 10:23–11:4
23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.
26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,[a] which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue[b]—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. 29 They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty.[c] They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.
1 Kings 11
Solomon’s Wives
1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
If I Could Stop The Clock
May 1, 2011 — by Julie Ackerman Link
The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. —1 Kings 8:11
Every year when May rolls around in Michigan, I want to stop the clock. I rejoice when death is defeated by fragile sprouts that refuse to be confined by hardened clay and brittle branches. Over a few weeks, the naked landscape transforms into fully clothed trees adorned by bright, fragrant flowers. I can’t get enough of the sights, sounds, and scents of springtime. I want time to stop moving.
Also in May, I come to 1 Kings in my Bible reading schedule. When I get to chapter 10, I have the same feeling: I want the story to stop. The nation of Israel has bloomed. Solomon has become king and has built a magnificent dwelling place for God, who moved in with a blaze of glory (8:11). Finally united under a righteous king, they are at peace. I love happy endings!
But the story doesn’t end there. It continues: “But King Solomon loved many foreign women” (11:1), and “his wives turned his heart after other gods” (v.4).
Just as the seasons of the year continue, so do the cycles of life—birth and death, success and failure, sin and confession. Although we have no power to stop the clock while we’re enjoying good times, we can rest in God’s promise that eventually all bad times will end (Rev. 21:4).
Father, our days are filled with pleasures and struggles.
We would like for life just to have the joys, but we know
that’s not realistic in this sinful world. Help us to wait
patiently for You to bring us Home. Amen.
In good times and bad, God never changes.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 1st, 2011
Faith— Not Emotion
We walk by faith, not by sight —2 Corinthians 5:7
For a while, we are fully aware of God’s concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above.
If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, “I cannot do anything else until God appears to me”? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)