1 Timothy 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Stay the Course

Revenge builds a lonely house. Space enough for one person. The lives of its tenants are reduced to one goal: make someone miserable.  They do.  Themselves!
Keep a sharp eye out for the weeds of bitter discontent. God's healing includes a move out of the House of Spite, toward the spacious ways of grace, away from hardness toward forgiveness. Can he really, you wonder?  Can He really clean up this mess? This history of sexual abuse? This raw anger at the father who left my mother? Can God heal this ancient hurt in my heart?
Begin the process of forgiveness.  Turn your attention away from what they did to you to what Jesus did for you. Stay the course. You'll spend less time in the spite house and more in the grace house. And as one who's walked the hallways of both, believe me, you're going to love the space of grace.  You'll get through this!
From You'll Get Through This

1 Timothy 6
New International Version (NIV)
6 All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. 2 Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare[a] of their slaves.

False Teachers and the Love of Money

These are the things you are to teach and insist on. 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Final Charge to Timothy

11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith.

Grace be with you all.

Footnotes:

1 Timothy 6:2 Or and benefit from the service


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Psalm 8

For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] A psalm of David.

1 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
    and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Footnotes:

Psalm 8:1 In Hebrew texts 8:1-9 is numbered 8:2-10.
Psalm 8:1 Title: Probably a musical term
Psalm 8:4 Or what is a human being that you are mindful of him, / a son of man that you care for him?
Psalm 8:5 Or him
Psalm 8:5 Or than God
Psalm 8:5 Or him
Psalm 8:6 Or made him ruler . . . ; / . . . his

Dreams Of Childhood

October 15, 2013 — by Randy Kilgore

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength. —Psalm 8:2

Years ago, I asked fifth-grade students to prepare a list of questions to ask Jesus if He were to show up in person the following week. I also asked groups of adults to do the same thing. The results were startlingly different. The kids’ questions ranged from adorable to poignant: “Will we have to sit around in robes and sing all day in heaven? Will my puppy be in heaven? Were the whales in or out of the ark? How’s my grandpa doing up there with You?” Almost without fail, their questions were free from doubt that heaven existed or that God acts supernaturally.

Adults, on the other hand, featured a completely different line of questioning: “Why do bad things happen to good people? How do I know You’re listening to my prayers? Why is there only one way to heaven? How could a loving God let this tragedy happen to me?”

For the most part, children live life unfettered by the cares and sorrows that burden adults. Their faith lets them trust God more readily. While we adults often get lost in trials and sorrows, children retain the psalmist’s view of life—an eternal perspective that sees the greatness of God (Ps. 8:1-2).

God can be trusted, and He longs for us to trust Him the way children do (Matt. 18:3).

O Father, may I find again the dreams of childhood
when thoughts of You filled me with peace
and I longed to know You more. Give me
a faith that trusts You implicitly.
An intimate walk with God lifts our eyes from today’s trials and into eternity’s triumphs.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 15, 2013
The Key to the Missionary’s Work (2)

He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world —1 John 2:2

The key to the missionary’s message is the propitiation of Christ Jesus— His sacrifice for us that completely satisfied the wrath of God. Look at any other aspect of Christ’s work, whether it is healing, saving, or sanctifying, and you will see that there is nothing limitless about those. But— “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”— that is limitless (John 1:29). The missionary’s message is the limitless importance of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins, and a missionary is someone who is immersed in the truth of that revelation.

The real key to the missionary’s message is the “remissionary” aspect of Christ’s life, not His kindness, His goodness, or even His revealing of the fatherhood of God to us. “. . . repentance and remission of sins should be preached . . . to all nations . . .” (Luke 24:47). The greatest message of limitless importance is that “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins . . . .” The missionary’s message is not nationalistic, favoring nations or individuals; it is “for the whole world.” When the Holy Spirit comes into me, He does not consider my partialities or preferences; He simply brings me into oneness with the Lord Jesus.

A missionary is someone who is bound by marriage to the stated mission and purpose of his Lord and Master. He is not to proclaim his own point of view, but is only to proclaim “the Lamb of God.” It is easier to belong to a faction that simply tells what Jesus Christ has done for me, and easier to become a devotee of divine healing, or of a special type of sanctification, or of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But Paul did not say, “Woe is me if I do not preach what Christ has done for me,” but, “. . . woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). And this is the gospel— “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Identifying the Killer - #6982
Tuesday, October 15, 2013

My wife and I had some of the most special weeks of our lives on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico. But there was a cloud over one visit during a summer ministry we had there. See, there had been this mystery illness; it was all over the news. It had already taken some 20 lives. People suddenly were developing severe breathing problems, and in a short time they were gone. Well, since then, that same disease has surfaced in places all over the country. That demonstrated that the killer was not a reservation disease. But in the early stages, there was panic on the reservation.
Health experts and researchers from all over descended on the area to find the cause. Finally, they isolated this rodent-born cause that they called the Hantavirus, and then victims had some hope of recovery. Before that, the medical personnel were just trying to treat the symptoms, but everyone knew that the killer would continue to claim victims until the culprit was identified.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Identifying the Killer."
The Bible-God's book-identifies the greatest killer of all time; the greatest problem you and I have. Strangely, many of us wouldn't even put this disease on our list of problems that need a solution. We'd put its deadly symptoms on our list. We see the damage from this disease in our family, our working relationships, some of the dark feelings inside of us, in the brokenness between people.
Okay, here's the diagnosis. Isaiah 59:1-2, our word for today from the Word of God. "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save nor His ear too dull to hear. But our iniquities (That's our sins; our wrong doings.) have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear." There is a killer on the loose in your world and mine called sin. And because of it the Bible says here we are away from God, and that single missing relationship is responsible for so much of our misery.
First of all, sin needs a definition. What is it? Well, I think the middle letter says it pretty well - s-I-n. "I will run my life, not you, God." No matter how religious we are, the Bible says we have all made that defiant choice about the central control of our life. Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fallen short of God's glorious ideal." And out of that hijacking of our life has come thousands of little life choices that disregard what God wants and just plow ahead with what we want.
This sin virus puts a wall between us and the God that we can't live without. The symptoms? They read like a list of the greatest struggles and needs of our life: chronic loneliness. Why? We're lonely for God. We're away from Him. A low view of our own worth. Why? Because we're away from the One who gave us our worth. Disappointing relationships. Why? Because we haven't got the central relationship right and all the others aren't working, a lot of times because of selfishness.
Those dark feelings that frighten us sometimes, depression and anger. They're there because there's no God to help us control them and change them. We're nervous about death and we're nervous about eternity because we're not ready to meet God; we are away from Him. We've got struggles in our marriages, in our parenting, in finding peace and trying to find some closeness. It's all so hard because we're doing it without the love of God; without the power of God.
Maybe you have battled the symptoms all your life without knowing what caused them - the sin virus. If you're ready for a cure, listen to Isaiah 53:5-6. "The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him (that's Christ). We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity (the sin) of us all." Jesus took the punishment for your sin when He died on the cross, and the wall between you and God comes down the moment you make the Savior your Savior by saying, "Jesus, I'm pinning all my hopes on You. Come into my life. Forgive my sin and bring me into a relationship with my God."
If you're not sure you've begun that relationship and you want to, I would love to help you by just visiting our website ANewStory.com. Join me there and let me explain to you how to be sure you belong to Him.
Right now, right where you are, you can open your life up to the One, not who has the cure. No, He is the cure.

Ezekiel 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Let God Do His Work

Let God Do His Work ·

Were your growing up years hard years?  Family pain is the deepest pain because it was inflicted so early; it involves people who should have been trustworthy. You were too young to process the mistreatment. You didn’t know how to defend yourself. Besides, the perpetrators of your pain were so large. Your dad, mom, uncle, big brother—they towered over you, usually in size, always in rank. When they judged you falsely, you believed them.

As a result, you’ve been operating on faulty data.  “You’re stupid, slow, dumb like your daddy, fat like your momma.”  Decades later, these voices of defeat still echo in our subconscious. But they don’t have to! Romans 12:2 says to let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

You are God’s child.  His creation. You’ll get through this!  You’re part of His family.

From You’ll Get Through This

Ezekiel 13

False Prophets Condemned

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘Hear the word of the Lord! 3 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish[b] prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! 4 Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among ruins. 5 You have not gone up to the breaches in the wall to repair it for the people of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord. 6 Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. Even though the Lord has not sent them, they say, “The Lord declares,” and expect him to fulfill their words. 7 Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, “The Lord declares,” though I have not spoken?

8 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because of your false words and lying visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. 9 My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.

10 “‘Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, 11 therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. 12 When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?”

13 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. 14 I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it[c] falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord. 15 So I will pour out my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, “The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, 16 those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign Lord.”’

17 “Now, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them 18 and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils of various lengths for their heads in order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare the lives of my people but preserve your own? 19 You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.

20 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds. 21 I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 22 Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives, 23 therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

Ezekiel 13:3 Or wicked
Ezekiel 13:14 Or the city


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Matthew 13:1-9

The Parable of the Sower

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Seeds & Soils

October 14, 2013 — by Brent Hackett

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. —2 Peter 3:18

If you like growing pumpkins, you have probably heard of Dill’s Atlantic Giant variety of premium pumpkin seeds. Developed on a family farm in Atlantic Canada, the pumpkins grown from these seeds have set records around the world. In 2011, a pumpkin grown in Quebec set a new world record at 1,818.5 pounds (825 kg). That size of pumpkin could yield almost 1,000 pieces of pie!

When news reporters asked how this pumpkin could grow to such a size, the farmer replied that it had to do with the soil. The seeds were of a special large variety, but the soil still had to be right or the pumpkin wouldn’t grow properly.

The Lord Jesus used an illustration in which He compared different types of ground to a person’s response to God’s Word (Matt. 13). Some seeds were eaten by the birds, others started to grow but were choked by the weeds, and some grew up instantly but had no soil to further their growth. But the seeds that fell on the good soil “yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (v.8).

Each of us needs to ask, “What kind of soil am I?” The Lord wants to plant His Word in our hearts so we can grow in our knowledge of Him.

More about Jesus let me learn,
More of His holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my teacher be,
Showing the things of Christ to me. —Hewitt
The fruit of the Spirit grows in the soil of obedience.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 14, 2013

The Key to the Missionary’s Work (1)

Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ’All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . .’ —Matthew 28:18-19

The key to the missionary’s work is the authority of Jesus Christ, not the needs of the lost. We are inclined to look on our Lord as one who assists us in our endeavors for God. Yet our Lord places Himself as the absolute sovereign and supreme Lord over His disciples. He does not say that the lost will never be saved if we don’t go— He simply says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . .” He says, “Go on the basis of the revealed truth of My sovereignty, teaching and preaching out of your living experience of Me.”

“Then the eleven disciples went . . . to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them” (Matthew 28:16). If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him myself. I must take time to worship the One whose name I bear. Jesus says, “Come to Me . . .”— that is the place to meet Jesus— “all you who labor and are heavy laden . . .” (Matthew 11:28)— and how many missionaries are! We completely dismiss these wonderful words of the universal Sovereign of the world, but they are the words of Jesus to His disciples meant for here and now.

“Go therefore . . . .” To “go” simply means to live. Acts 1:8 is the description of how to go. Jesus did not say in this verse, “Go into Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria,” but, “. . . you shall be witnesses to Me in [all these places].” He takes upon Himself the work of sending us.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you . . .” (John 15:7)— that is the way to keep going. Where we are placed is then a matter of indifference to us, because God sovereignly engineers our goings.

“None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus . . .” (Acts 20:24). That is how to keep going until we are gone from this life.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Still Missing - #6981

Monday, October 14, 2013

You know, I flew out of Newark Airport a lot. And I was usually in a hurry when I was there. And because I was in a hurry, I was focused on getting to my gate, and I wasn't real observant of the little changes at the airport. But one day I was flying down the concourse when a little poster grabbed my attention. It was a picture of a smiling, attractive teenage girl, and there were two words in bold, black letters that grabbed me - STILL MISSING. Now the smaller print revealed that she lived more than a thousand miles away, but someone who loves this girl has spread the word all over the place. Those two words on that poster went straight to my heart.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Still Missing."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke chapter 15. There are posters in many places with a picture and name of some lost child. Somewhere that means that there's a parent desperately hoping that "Still Missing" will somehow come home. I want you to know God knows that feeling.
Here we go! Luke 15:3, "Then Jesus told them this parable. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me. I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent."
Boy, this is a good news story, because Jesus is saying here that the shepherd notices every missing sheep. And he not only hopes that the sheep will come home, he goes looking for him or her. Now, the Shepherd is really our Heavenly Father, and the sheep are His children. And some of them are gone.
Could it be that, in a sense, there's a poster in heaven with your name and your picture on it with those two words "Still Missing?" Today through this visit your Father is trying to bring you home. See, most of God's children who get away from Him didn't plan to.
The Bible says all of us have wandered away like sheep. You don't run away from Him usually; you wander away. Little steps at a time, and suddenly you realize you're away from the One that you used to be so close to. Or maybe you realize you've never really been close to Him.
Maybe others can't even tell. Maybe you haven't done anything terribly rebellious outwardly. In fact, you're doing the same things, going to the same meetings, saying the same religious words maybe. But in your heart, if not in your lifestyle, you know you're away. Maybe the question is, "How do I start home?" First of all, you tell Jesus, "I want to come home." See, He has to come after you. Lost sheep never find their way back to the shepherd. The shepherd comes looking for them. And tell Jesus you're sorry you got away. Retrace your steps back to the first detour. Where did you start to leave Him? Then go back and ask for His forgiveness beginning right there, that first step away from Him, and then each step after that.
And then think about the times you were closest to Jesus. What were you doing differently then? Would you do that again now? Start with just one day with Him. Pray your real heart to Him. Look for something in His Word that you can apply to today, and then stay in touch with Him all day long. And tell some other believers that you need their help and you need their prayer so you can come home. Don't let pride stop you. Don't let stubbornness stop you. Don't let fear of failure stop you. Don't let any person stop you. They don't love you as much as He does. They can't. He loves you unconditionally.
Maybe you've never begun a personal relationship with this Jesus. You've never allowed Him to bring you home on His shoulders and say, "Rejoice! I've found this lost sheep." If you're a lost sheep, you probably know you are. If you'd like to come home to the relationship you were made for, that Jesus died to give you, would you tell Him that today? Go to our website. Let me show you there how to be sure you belong to Him. That's ANewStory.com.
You come home to Jesus, there'll be a party in heaven in your honor. Till now it's been saying "Still Missing" over your picture. But today it could say, "Found". Or better yet, "Home."

Ezekiel 12,bible reading and devotionals.

Max Lucado Daily: Who Can We Trust

We can come before God’s throne where…we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it. Hebrews 4:16

Don’t we need someone to trust who is bigger than we are? Aren’t we tired of trusting the people of this earth for understanding? Aren’t we weary of trusting the things of this earth for strength? A drowning sailor doesn’t call on another drowning sailor for help… He knows he needs someone who is stronger than he is.

Jesus’ message is this: I am that person.

Ezekiel 12

The Exile Symbolized

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.

3 “Therefore, son of man, pack your belongings for exile and in the daytime, as they watch, set out and go from where you are to another place. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious people. 4 During the daytime, while they watch, bring out your belongings packed for exile. Then in the evening, while they are watching, go out like those who go into exile. 5 While they watch, dig through the wall and take your belongings out through it. 6 Put them on your shoulder as they are watching and carry them out at dusk. Cover your face so that you cannot see the land, for I have made you a sign to the Israelites.”

7 So I did as I was commanded. During the day I brought out my things packed for exile. Then in the evening I dug through the wall with my hands. I took my belongings out at dusk, carrying them on my shoulders while they watched.

8 In the morning the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “Son of man, did not the Israelites, that rebellious people, ask you, ‘What are you doing?’

10 “Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This prophecy concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the Israelites who are there.’ 11 Say to them, ‘I am a sign to you.’

“As I have done, so it will be done to them. They will go into exile as captives.

12 “The prince among them will put his things on his shoulder at dusk and leave, and a hole will be dug in the wall for him to go through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land. 13 I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylonia, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die. 14 I will scatter to the winds all those around him—his staff and all his troops—and I will pursue them with drawn sword.

15 “They will know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries. 16 But I will spare a few of them from the sword, famine and plague, so that in the nations where they go they may acknowledge all their detestable practices. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

17 The word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, tremble as you eat your food, and shudder in fear as you drink your water. 19 Say to the people of the land: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says about those living in Jerusalem and in the land of Israel: They will eat their food in anxiety and drink their water in despair, for their land will be stripped of everything in it because of the violence of all who live there. 20 The inhabited towns will be laid waste and the land will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

There Will Be No Delay

21 The word of the Lord came to me: 22 “Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: ‘The days go by and every vision comes to nothing’? 23 Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel.’ Say to them, ‘The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled. 24 For there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations among the people of Israel. 25 But I the Lord will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious people, I will fulfill whatever I say, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

26 The word of the Lord came to me: 27 “Son of man, the Israelites are saying, ‘The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.’

28 “Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Acts 9:20-30

New International Version (NIV)
20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,[a] but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Footnotes:

Acts 9:29 That is, Jews who had adopted the Greek language and culture

Facing Our Past

October 13, 2013 — by David C. McCasland

He tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. —Acts 9:26

Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, spent 40 years helping people hear and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. When he died in April 2012, one newspaper article carried the headline, “Charles Colson, Nixon’s ‘dirty tricks’ man, dies at 80.” It seemed surprising that a man so transformed by faith should be identified with things he did as a politically ruthless presidential aide decades earlier before he knew the Savior.

The apostle Paul’s conversion and his early Christian witness were greeted with skepticism and fear. When he began preaching that Jesus is the Son of God, people said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose?” (Acts 9:21). Later when Paul went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples, they were afraid of him (v.26). In years to come, Paul never ignored his past, but spoke of it as evidence of the mercy of God (1 Tim. 1:13-14).

Like Paul, we don’t need to parade our failures or to pretend they didn’t happen. Instead, we can thank the Lord that through His grace and power, our past is forgiven, our present is changed, and our future is bright with hope for all He has prepared for us.

Transformed by grace divine,
The glory shall be Thine;
To Thy most holy will, O Lord,
We now our all resign. —Burroughs
Only Jesus can transform our life.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 13, 2013

Individual Discouragement and Personal Growth

. . . when Moses was grown . . . he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens —Exodus 2:11

Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. After he launched his first strike for God and for what was right, God allowed Moses to be driven into empty discouragement, sending him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that time, God appeared to Moses and said to him, ” ’. . . bring My people . . . out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ’Who am I that I should go . . . ?’ ” (Exodus 3:10-11). In the beginning Moses had realized that he was the one to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in his individual perspective, but he was not the person for the work until he had learned true fellowship and oneness with God.

We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and yet when we start to do it, there comes to us something equivalent to Moses’ forty years in the wilderness. It’s as if God had ignored the entire thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged, God comes back and revives His call to us. And then we begin to tremble and say, “Who am I that I should go . . . ?” We must learn that God’s great stride is summed up in these words— “I AM WHO I AM . . . has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). We must also learn that our individual effort for God shows nothing but disrespect for Him— our individuality is to be rendered radiant through a personal relationship with God, so that He may be “well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). We are focused on the right individual perspective of things; we have the vision and can say, “I know this is what God wants me to do.” But we have not yet learned to get into God’s stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead.

Ezekiel 11, bible reading and devotionals.

MaxLucado.com: He Dismissed the Crowd

A world of insight is hidden in four words in Matthew 14:22: “He dismissed the crowd.”  This wasn’t just any crowd that Jesus dismissed.  This was a multitude with a mission. They’d followed Jesus around the sea.  They’d heard Him teach.  They’d seen Him heal.  And they were ready to make Him King.

No one would turn down an opportunity to minister to thousands of people—right?  Jesus did.  He dismissed the crowd!  Why?

Matthew 14:23 says, “After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray.”

Jesus said no to the important in order to say yes to the vital!  It wasn’t a selfish decision.  It was a deliberate choice to honor priorities.

If Jesus thought it necessary to say no to the demands of the crowds in order to pray—don’t you think you and I should to?

From In the Eye of the Storm

Ezekiel 11

New International Version (NIV)
God’s Sure Judgment on Jerusalem

11 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the Lord that faces east. There at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. 2 The Lord said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city. 3 They say, ‘Haven’t our houses been recently rebuilt? This city is a pot, and we are the meat in it.’ 4 Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man.”

5 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on me, and he told me to say: “This is what the Lord says: That is what you are saying, you leaders in Israel, but I know what is going through your mind. 6 You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the dead.

7 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: The bodies you have thrown there are the meat and this city is the pot, but I will drive you out of it. 8 You fear the sword, and the sword is what I will bring against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. 9 I will drive you out of the city and deliver you into the hands of foreigners and inflict punishment on you. 10 You will fall by the sword, and I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11 This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. 12 And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”

13 Now as I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell facedown and cried out in a loud voice, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?”

The Promise of Israel’s Return

14 The word of the Lord came to me: 15 “Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, ‘They are far away from the Lord; this land was given to us as our possession.’

16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’

17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’

18 “They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. 19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

22 Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. 23 The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. 24 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia[a] in the vision given by the Spirit of God.

Then the vision I had seen went up from me, 25 and I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Isaiah 40:25-31

New International Version (NIV)
25 “To whom will you compare me?
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
    Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
    not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

I’m Invisible

October 12, 2013 — by Anne Cetas

[The Lord] gives power to the weak. —Isaiah 40:29

My friend Jane said something at a work meeting and no one responded. So she repeated it and again no one responded; her co-workers just ignored her. She realized that her opinion didn’t matter much. She felt disregarded and invisible. You may know what that’s like as well.

The people of God felt that way as a nation (Isa. 40). Only they believed it was God Himself who didn’t see or understand their daily struggle to survive! The southern kingdom had been carried away captive into Babylon, and the exiled nation complained: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God” (v.27).

While Isaiah agreed that compared to God “the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales” (v.15), he also wanted the people to know that God gives power to the weak and strength to those who need it (v.29). If they waited on the Lord, Isaiah said, He would renew their strength. They would mount up with wings like eagles; they would run and not be weary (v.31).

When you’re feeling invisible or disregarded, remember that God does see you and He cares. Wait on Him, and He’ll give you renewed strength.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.
Thy mercies how tender! How firm to the end!
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. —Grant
Even when we don’t sense God’s presence, His loving care is all around us.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 12, 2013


Getting into God’s Stride

Enoch walked with God . . . —Genesis 5:24

The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (seeJohn 1:35-37 and John 3:30). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him— it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself. The individual person is merged into a personal oneness with God, and God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited.

It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus— “He will not fail nor be discouraged . . .” (Isaiah 42:4) because He never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God’s Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be possible which before were impossible. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now— get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose.

1 Timothy 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Defiant Joy

My friend Rob cried freely telling his story about his young son's challenging life.
Daniel was born with a double cleft palate, dramatically disfiguring his face.  He had surgery, but the evidence remains, so people constantly notice and occasionally make remarks.
Daniel, however, is unfazed! He just tells people God made him this way so, what's the big deal?  He was named student of the week, so was asked to bring something to show his classmates for show and tell. Daniel told his mom he wanted to take the pictures that showed his face prior to the surgery. His mom was concerned. "Won't that make you feel a bit funny?" she asked. But Daniel insisted, "Oh, no, I want everyone to see what God did for me!"
Try Daniel's defiant joy and see what happens. God has handed you a cup of blessings. Sweeten it with a heaping spoonful of gratitude!
From You'll Get Through This

1 Timothy 5
New International Version (NIV)
Widows, Elders and Slaves

5 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. 6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7 Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. 8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

9 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

11 As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. 12 Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. 13 Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to. 14 So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. 15 Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.

16 If any woman who is a believer has widows in her care, she should continue to help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.

17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18 For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,”[a] and “The worker deserves his wages.”[b] 19 Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. 20 But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning. 21 I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.

22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

24 The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. 25 In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.

Footnotes:

1 Timothy 5:18 Deut. 25:4
1 Timothy 5:18 Luke 10:7


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Romans 8:1-11

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.[c] And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[d] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

Footnotes:

Romans 8:2 The Greek is singular; some manuscripts me
Romans 8:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 4-13.
Romans 8:3 Or flesh, for sin
Romans 8:10 Or you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive
Romans 8:11 Some manuscripts bodies through

“Gorgeous Inside”

October 11, 2013 — by Dave Branon

To be spiritually minded is life and peace. —Romans 8:6

It’s a rather nondescript house that sits on a busy thoroughfare. With no distinctive characteristics, this rather plain home is easy to ignore. But as I drove past it the other day, I noticed a “For Sale” sign in the yard. Attached to the sign was a smaller notice that happily announced: “I’m gorgeous inside.” While I’m not in the market for a new house, that sign intrigued me. What could make this otherwise forgettable house gorgeous inside?

It also made me wonder: Could that sign apply to us as followers of Jesus? Think about it. No matter what we look like on the outside, shouldn’t there be within us a beauty that reveals God’s love and work in our lives?

What does the Bible say about inner beauty? We might start with Romans 7:22, which says, “In my inner being I delight in God’s law” (niv). A few verses later in Romans 8:6, Paul speaks of a Spirit-controlled mind that is characterized by “life and peace.” And in Galatians, we see that letting the Spirit take charge of our inner being will build in us the “fruit of the Spirit” (5:22), a beautiful array of qualities such as love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness.

Delighting in Scripture and allowing the Spirit to work in our heart will make us look good on the inside—and will pay off in a life that honors God.

Dear Lord, I pray that through the work of Your
Spirit dwelling within me I will be transformed
into a grand display of the fruit that will attract
others to You and reflect glory back to You.
Righteousness in your heart produces beauty in your character.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 11, 2013

God’s Silence— Then What?

When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was —John 11:6

Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35).

A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, “I know that God has heard me.” His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

How to Walk Through the Wreckage - #6980

Friday, October 11, 2013

There's one vacation spot our family always wanted to go back to-Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. As you walk through this bustling, restored Colonial capital, suddenly you say, "Whoa, it's not "now" anymore." You feel like you're in the 1770s again. I mean the buildings, and the gardens, and the elegant rooms carry this charm that even children can sense. But it wasn't always that way.
This was the capitol of Virginia in Revolutionary War times, but over 150 years a lot of buildings changed, deteriorated and were torn down. Then along came the Rockefellers in the 1930s. A local minister had dreamed of the town being restored to its former beauty and to the glory that it once had. And that was the beginning of a whole new episode in the history of Colonial Williamsburg. It was really something rundown until someone committed his resources to restoring it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Walk Through the Wreckage."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the Old Testament prophet Joel. It's in chapter 1, verse 4. "What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten." What you're getting here is an image here of total destruction in the land.
It's symbolic, because verse 6 says, "A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my figs trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white." What the Bible was talking about here is a devastating past; maybe like yours.
And then comes the hope. Chapter 2, verse 25, "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm." Then he says, "Then you will know that I am in Israel; that I am the Lord your God and there is no other. Never again will my people be ashamed." Boy, here is the promise of a great restoring work.
Time and neglect had done a lot of damage to old Colonial Williamsburg. But then someone with a lot of resources committed themselves to restoring it. And that commitment made all the difference. In many ways that's Joel's picture here. God has seen the wreckage of the past, and He knows sometimes maybe that you have that sort of Humpty-Dumpty feeling: All the kings horses and all the kings men can't put you together again. But the King can.
A Christian psychiatrist once told me, "Ron, I think only a Christian can dare to truly face his or her past." Yes, because you're not facing it alone. You're facing it with a Savior, the healer, the carpenter who rebuilds what others have given up on. There is a Savior who will walk with you through those memories and help heal them, who will put them in perspective, who can loosen their grip on you. That Savior can give you a brand new identity; not being the victim any more, but the victor. He can turn your pain into sensitivity for the similar pain of others. And then He can make you a make-a-difference person for those who are walking through that same valley. Something deeply healing happens when you take Jesus Christ into each painful episode from the past. The Bible says, "He's carried all our grief and sorrows."
You do not have to be trapped in the wreckage of the past any longer. Jesus stands poised with His infinite resources to tackle the damage you could never fix and to restore you to a new beauty that you never thought possible.
And listen with me to the words from a hymn that captures that restoring miracle. It says, "Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, feelings lie buried that grace can restore. Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness, cords that are broken will vibrate once more." That's what Jesus can do for you this very day.

Ezekiel 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily:

God Notices the Grateful Heart

God notices the grateful heart. He took a praise-singing shepherd boy and made him a king.
There's no hint of God getting out of sorts if we aren't thankful. But there is evidence that we are affected by our own ingratitude. What of the disastrous days?  The nights I can't sleep and the hours I can't rest?  Am I grateful then?  Jesus was.
The Bible records, "On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it."  (I Corinthians 11:23). It's not often you see the words betrayed and thanks in the same sentence, much less in the same heart. In the midst of the darkest night of the human soul, Jesus found a way to give thanks.
Anyone can thank God for the light. Jesus teaches us to thank God for the night. He says to us, "You'll get through this!"  And we will.
From You'll Get Through This

Ezekiel 10

God’s Glory Departs From the Temple

I looked, and I saw the likeness of a throne of lapis lazuli above the vault that was over the heads of the cherubim. 2 The Lord said to the man clothed in linen, “Go in among the wheels beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And as I watched, he went in.

3 Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. 4 Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord. 5 The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty[b] when he speaks.

6 When the Lord commanded the man in linen, “Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,” the man went in and stood beside a wheel. 7 Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand to the fire that was among them. He took up some of it and put it into the hands of the man in linen, who took it and went out. 8 (Under the wings of the cherubim could be seen what looked like human hands.)

9 I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like topaz. 10 As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 11 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about[c] as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. 12 Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. 13 I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.” 14 Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

15 Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the living creatures I had seen by the Kebar River. 16 When the cherubim moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the cherubim spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not leave their side. 17 When the cherubim stood still, they also stood still; and when the cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

18 Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 19 While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

20 These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and I realized that they were cherubim. 21 Each had four faces and four wings, and under their wings was what looked like human hands. 22 Their faces had the same appearance as those I had seen by the Kebar River. Each one went straight ahead.

Ezekiel 10:5 Hebrew El-Shaddai
Ezekiel 10:11 Or aside


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Acts 1:1-9

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

Footnotes:

Acts 1:5 Or in
Acts 1:5 Or in

Being A Witness

October 10, 2013 — by Bill Crowder

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me. —Acts 1:8

When I was a teen, I witnessed an auto accident. It was a shocking experience that was compounded by what followed. As the only witness to the incident, I spent the ensuing months telling a series of lawyers and insurance adjustors what I had seen. I was not expected to explain the physics of the wreck or the details of the medical trauma. I was asked to tell only what I had witnessed.

As followers of Christ, we are called to be witnesses of what Jesus has done in us and for us. To point people to Christ, we don’t need to be able to explain every theological issue or answer every question. What we must do is explain what we have witnessed in our own lives through the cross and the resurrection of the Savior. Even better is that we don’t have to rely on ourselves alone to do this. Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

As we rely on the Spirit’s power, we can point a hurting world to the redeeming Christ. With His help, we can witness to the life-changing power of His presence in our lives!

I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true;
It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do. —Hankey
Our testimony is the witness of what God has done for us.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 10, 2013


How Will I Know?

Jesus answered and said, ’I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’ —Matthew 11:25

We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step— we either have a relationship or we do not. God does not continue to cleanse us more and more from sin— “But if we walk in the light,” we are cleansed “from all sin” (1 John 1:7). It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly perfected. But if we turn away from obedience for even one second, darkness and death are immediately at work again.

All of God’s revealed truths are sealed until they are opened to us through obedience. You will never open them through philosophy or thinking. But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. Let God’s truth work into you by immersing yourself in it, not by worrying into it. The only way you can get to know the truth of God is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. If you obey God in the first thing He shows you, then He instantly opens up the next truth to you. You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, “I suppose I will understand these things someday!” You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming one of the “wise and prudent.” “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know . . .” (John 7:17).



A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Listening for My Language - #6979

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Years ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to be in Geneva, Switzerland. Or as they say, "Geneve." (I'm not sure about my French.) But anyway it's a beautiful, French-speaking city in Switzerland. And since we were with our host most of the time, my wife and I got along just fine. But one day they left us on our own to do a little shopping, and we don't speak French. The first I knew I was going to have a problem is when we went into this pharmacy, which, of course, was identified in French on the outside. I looked around, I had a couple of questions, and the pharmacist looked at me with a blank stare. Our English wasn't getting through.

Later on, our friend said to us, "Here in this place, if you don't speak their language, tough!" I said, "Even if it means money for them? We were trying to buy something." They said, "Hey, those people don't listen until you communicate in their language."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Listening for My Language."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts chapter 2, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 4. It's the powerful Day of Pentecost where 3,000 people come to Christ in one day. But before that happened, listen. "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem where there were God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard them speaking in his own language."

Now, these early Christians had the most powerful message in the world; the one who had been crucified in that city only weeks earlier was now alive and available to be their Savior. But the apostles could have talked all day, like me in that store in Geneva, and never have gotten through - unless they communicated the message in the language of the listener.

And it wasn't a language that was easy for the one who was doing the speaking. Every foreign missionary knows that you've got to do language study before you do anything else. You don't go to Peru and say to somebody there, "Now, as soon as you learn to speak English I have some great news about God for you." Of course not! If you want to communicate Christ to the lost people around you, you've got to say it in their language. That's true in our culture today. We will have to use words that the lost people around us understand; not our "Christianese" that we talk all the time at church.

There's a lot of people, I think, who aren't rejecting our Savior so much as they're rejecting our vocabulary. They don't understand all this Christian talk. It's time we begin to practice the Gospel in everyday language; telling people that there's a relationship you're supposed to have and that you don't have because of running your own life. But you can have because Jesus paid the death penalty for that, and it's a relationship you must choose. We've got to find some non-religious way to tell them.

Let's think about this; we should be using music they understand if we're going to use music at all, because music is the language of a generation. If we insist that they hear about Christ in the traditional music we're used to, that we like, we'll probably forfeit them to the darkness. We have to think of music as missionary languages, not so much a battle ground over style.

We're going to have to reach people in settings where they're comfortable, not where we're comfortable. We're talking about evangelism in a living room, or a park, or a Bible study at work or at school. If we wait for them to come to our religious turf, we'll probably leave them lost. It's time for God's people to break out of the walls of the church and reach people in places where they already are; addressing subjects they already care about.

We need to meet people where they are with a testimony out of our life that relates to their lives. Thousands came to Christ on this Day of Pentecost; the day that each one heard them speaking in his own language. Would you ask God to show you today how to speak the language of the people around you; to reach them with the words, the music, the issues, and the testimony that they will understand?

And remember, you've got life or death information to deliver to the people within your reach. Their eternity depends on it, and they're listening for their language.

Ezekiel 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Thank you, God

If you feel the world owes you something, brace yourself. You'll never get reimbursed! Henry Ward Beecher said, "A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves."  The sky is never blue enough, the steak isn't cooked enough, the universe isn't good enough to deserve a human being like you.
Pursue gratitude.  The grateful heart is like a magnet, sweeping over the day, collecting reasons for gratitude. Thank you, God.  Your lungs inhale and exhale 11,000 liters of air every day. Thank you, God. For the jam on our toast and the milk on our cereal, the blanket that calms us and the joke that softens us and the warm sun that reminds us of God's love. Gratitude leaves us looking at God and away from dread. It does to anxiety what morning sun does to valley mist. It burns it up!
Thank you God.
From You'll Get Through This

Ezekiel 9

Judgment on the Idolaters

Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, “Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.” 2 And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

3 Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side 4 and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

5 As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. 6 Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.

7 Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city. 8 While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”

9 He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’ 10 So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.”

11 Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded.”


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: John 6:25-35

Jesus the Bread of Life

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[a]”

32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Footnotes:

John 6:31 Exodus 16:4; Neh. 9:15; Psalm 78:24,25

Life Without Bread

October 9, 2013 — by Marvin Williams

I am the bread of life. —John 6:48

In cultures with an abundance of food choices, bread is no longer a necessary part of the diet so some choose to live without it for various reasons. In the first century, however, bread was viewed as an essential staple. A diet without bread was a foreign concept.

One day a crowd of people sought out Jesus because He had performed the miracle of multiplying loaves of bread (John 6:11,26). They asked Him to perform a sign like the manna from heaven that God had provided for His people in the desert (6:30-31; Ex. 16:4). When Jesus said He was “the true bread from heaven” (John 6:32), the people didn’t understand. They wanted literal daily bread. But Jesus was saying that He had been sent to be their spiritual bread; He would supply their daily spiritual needs. If they, by faith, applied and took His words and life into their very souls, they would experience everlasting satisfaction (v.35).

Jesus doesn’t want to be an optional commodity in our diets; He desires to be the essential staple in our lives, our “necessary” food. As first-century Jews could never imagine life without physical bread, may we never attempt to live without Jesus, our spiritual bread!

For Further Thought
What are some ways you can let Jesus, the
Bread of Life, and His words satisfy the
hunger pangs of your soul today?
Only spiritual bread satisfies the hunger of the soul.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 9, 2013

Building on the Atonement

. . . present . . . your members as instruments of righteousness to God —Romans 6:13

I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it. If I construct my faith on my own experience, I produce the most unscriptural kind of life— an isolated life, with my eyes focused solely on my own holiness. Beware of that human holiness that is not based on the atonement of the Lord. It has no value for anything except a life of isolation— it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every kind of experience you have by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.

The atonement of Jesus must be exhibited in practical, unassuming ways in my life. Every time I obey, the absolute deity of God is on my side, so that the grace of God and my natural obedience are in perfect agreement. Obedience means that I have completely placed my trust in the atonement, and my obedience is immediately met by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.

Beware of the human holiness that denies the reality of the natural life— it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the trial or test of the atonement and ask, “Where is the discernment of the atonement in this, and in that?”



A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Who Validates Your Ticket? - #6978

Our friends were expecting their baby in about six weeks.

Our friends were expecting their baby in about six weeks. But the baby didn't get the message. They had flown in from Denver to attend a convention in Chicago; we were all at the same convention. Since I was living in Chicago at that time, I said, "Hey, if anything happens, call me. I'll get you to the hospital in plenty of time. Hey, it's my city. You don't have anything to worry about." We were all laughing. I wasn't laughing at 6:00 A.M. the next morning when I got a phone call in my hotel room saying, "She's in labor!" Of course, I'm going crazy. I've got to get them to the hospital.

I ran down to the garage after throwing on some clothes, and in the parking garage there at the hotel I said, "Lady, I need my car. Bring up my car." And she said, "You must have your ticket validated." I said, "Lady, there's somebody about to have a baby! I don't have time to go up and get my ticket and go to the desk and have my parking ticket validated." She said, "You must have your ticket validated." I said, "Ma'am, there is going to be a lady having a baby right in front of you, right here in the parking garage." She said, "I'm sorry. You must have your ticket validated."

Well, the good news is we finally did get to the hospital and even though there was quite an adventure just getting there, the baby was fine. But no thanks to the parking lot lady. Now, that situation isn't usually that dramatic in a parking lot, but the rules are pretty consistent. You are not going anywhere until you get your ticket validated.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Who Validates Your Ticket?"

Our word for today from the Word of God; Galatians 3:26. "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, (In other words racial identities aren't really the issue.) slave nor free (Okay, it's not your class identity that really matters.), male nor female (Gender isn't really the basis of your identity.), for you are all one in Christ Jesus." See, you've been clothed with Christ. There's only one thing that matters, "I belong to Jesus Christ." There's only one solid basis for identity and for security - who I am in Christ.

For most people, their validation comes from someone else. We spend a lot of time and effort trying to get other people to validate our ticket; to make us feel good about ourselves. The problem is that no one on earth can give you a secure identity. Is your validation your company? If the company says you're okay, is that it? The opposite sex? If you have a husband or wife, you think you're okay? A friend of yours; maybe a business friend? All the people we try to get approval from. Well, you could be on your first step to freedom if you understand that the source of our identity is the One who gave you your life in the first place.

Ephesians 2:10 says Jesus gave you your worth before you were born. "You are" it says, "God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do." See, you are created by God, you're purchased by God when He died on the cross to pay for your sins. You're loved by God and He's prepared works for you that only you can do. That's all you need to know. What can anybody else give you to add to your worth?

See, you got your worth the day you were born. No one on earth gave you your worth, and no one on earth can take it away. So any validation you get from someone on earth is a bonus, because all earth approval is written in pencil. God's OK is stamped on your life in indelible ink. It all starts the day you ask Him to remove from your heart and your life and His record the sin of a lifetime. How can you even ask Him to do that? Because Jesus died for it; walked out of His grave and is alive today. And when you give yourself to Him, you belong to Him and you are home in the identity and the security and the love you were made for.

If you've never begun that relationship, I invite you to join me at our website. Find out how to do that. It's ANewStory.com. You won't need to have your identity validated so many other ways. You'll have the OK of Jesus. He's all you need.

Ezekiel 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The Grateful Heart

Some things were not made to co-exist. Long-tailed cats and rocking chairs?  Bad combination. Bulls in a china closet?  Not a good idea. Blessings and bitterness? That's the mixture that doesn't go over well with God. Perhaps you've sampled it?  Gratitude doesn't come naturally. Self-pity does. Bellyaches do. Yet they don't mix well with the kindness we've been given.
I attended a banquet where a soldier was presented with the gift of a free house. He nearly fell over with gratitude. He hugged the guitar player in the band, the woman on the front row.  He thanked the waiter, the other soldiers.  He even thanked me and I didn't do anything. Shouldn't we be equally grateful?
John 14:2 says Jesus is building a house for us.  Our deed of ownership is every bit as certain as that of the soldier! The grateful heart sees every day as a gift.
From You'll Get Through This

Ezekiel 8

Idolatry in the Temple

In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there. 2 I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man.[a] From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. 3 He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood. 4 And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.

5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy.

6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

7 Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.

9 And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” 10 So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. 11 In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

12 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz. 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”

16 He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.

17 He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! 18 Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Deuteronomy 24:19-22

19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

God Provides, But How?

October 8, 2013 — by Julie Ackerman Link

He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread. —Proverbs 12:11

Outside my office window, the squirrels are in a race against winter to bury their acorns in a safe, accessible place. Their commotion amuses me. An entire herd of deer can go through our back yard and not make a sound, but one squirrel sounds like an invasion.

The two creatures are different in another way as well. Deer do not prepare for winter. When the snow comes they eat whatever they can find along the way (including ornamental shrubs in our yard). But squirrels would starve if they followed that example. They would be unable to find suitable food.

The deer and the squirrel represent ways that God cares for us. He enables us to work and save for the future, and He meets our need when resources are scarce. As the wisdom literature teaches, God gives us seasons of plenty so that we can prepare for seasons of need (Prov. 12:11). And as Psalm 23 says, the Lord leads us through perilous places to pleasant pastures.

Another way that God provides is by instructing those with plenty to share with those in need (Deut. 24:19). So when it comes to provision, the message of the Bible is this: Work while we can, save what we can, share what we can, and trust God to meet our needs.

Thank You, Lord, for the promise that You will
meet our needs. Help us not to fear or doubt.
We’re grateful that You’re watching over us
and that our cries for help reach Your ear.
Our needs will never exhaust God’s supply.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
October 8, 2013

Coming to Jesus

Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28

Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things about which we will not come to Jesus Christ. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words— “Come to Me . . . .” In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, “Just as I am, I come.” As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to “Come . . . .”

“Come to Me . . . .” When you hear those words, you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so.

How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away thinking, “I’ve really received what I wanted this time!” And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, “Come to Me. . . .”

The Good Stuff Takes a Little Longer - #6977

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

We were traveling a good distance and it took a couple of days. We needed to get there at a certain time, so we had a lot of drive-through meals, and therefore a lot of fast food. That means our eating decisions were pretty simple. We didn't make them on the basis of flavor, or nutrition, or elegant surroundings. No, they were based on whoever was the fastest, the closest to the road and whatever we could eat the most quickly while traveling. Now, our sons have a really high tolerance for fast food. But even they have their limit. After a couple of days of fast food, when it was time to get dinner, even they said, "Please, let's stop at a restaurant and eat. We know we'll have to slow down a bit. We know we'll lose time. But we'd had enough fast food. It's time for real food."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Good Stuff Takes a Little Longer."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke chapter 18. "Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said, 'In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the pleas, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'"

Now, even though the judge didn't care, she just kept coming and she just kept asking. This was Jesus' parable, and let's make it very clear that the judge is in no way a picture of our God. That's not the God we know, the one who cares deeply enough to have His Son die for us. He actually welcomes us coming to Him. See, this widow is sort of a picture of what we ought to be. Jesus wants us to keep coming, "Always pray and don't give up" He says.

Maybe you feel like giving up because it looks like nothing is happening. He says, "Don't give up." He doesn't want us to give up. That might be the word He knew you needed to hear this very today. See, it could be why you're listening right now. He's telling us to keep coming to Him, not based on how we feel, or what's happening with our circumstances, but on the strength of His unchanging Son.

Listen to 1 John 5:14-15. "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we have asked of Him." He hears, He responds as long as it's in the boundaries of His will. He's promised that. He wants us to ask Him; to keep coming to Him with our need. In fact we should ask more what He wants actually than what we want. And He wants us to keep at it.

God's not keeping an account on how many times you come. But He knows that our relationship is more important than we thought if we continue to develop that relationship by continually seeking His presence. He wants to give a closeness to us, and He often uses a waiting time to develop Christ like faith that we would never have if we had the answer right away.

Now, you and I don't want to take time for God to cook up a real answer. We'd rather pick it up at drive-through. But the quick answer is seldom the one that's the best answer. Keep bringing your requests to your Father, asking Him to change you while you're waiting for Him to change your circumstances. He's preparing you for His answer.

As my tired of fast food sons will tell you, the good stuff takes a little longer, but it's worth the wait.